Welp. This looks quite bad. Let's hope the Republic doesn't go the way the Spanish one did...
[X]Liao Zhongkai
-[X] Plan War for Rights
1. The military will reform in the following manner (Cheng Qian):
- Zhang Guotao will be asked to step down as Special Plenipotentiary of War, replaced by Cheng Qian.
- Increased numbers of sniper teams shall be trained, with Cheng Qian foreign officers and experienced guerrillas creating a doctrine (squad-level, supporting snipers, with emphasis on camouflage) for their use.
Billy Sing and any companions will be invited (trip/housing/job given) to help organize the manner of use of and train more snipers.
- Borodin and the Bureau of Supply will work to ensure the army's supply lines and support units work efficiently and have greater capacity (that is, that they can still work correctly if the army/land expands greatly) and ensure there is no corruption in it. (Mikhail Borodin)
- A plan for army modernization will be made and applied, using knowledge from foreign officers, and our own experienced ones, with the aim of further modernizing the army and training, while still keeping the "irregular" formations and the doctrine as is.
2. The industrial advantage must be kept, so the military industry shall be expanded in three ways: An expansion of Howell production, enough to supply the NRA by end of the year. At the same time, artillery and airforce production will be expanded as much as possible. Standardized production of more usual equipment (uniforms, helmets, binoculars, grenades, sights, radios, knives, cavalry equipment... etc) shall also be developed. Any spare/unused trains shall be turned into armored trains, while industry shall be supplemented by buying limited amounts of "rocket launchers" from Zhuhai Fireworks (paying with silver, gold, or jade).
3. The military industry of the Left-KMT is the finest in China- however, it is still largely artesanal and inefficient. It must be reformed to gain more efficiency and production, and free up further manpower. Thus, it will be mechanized/automated as much as possible (if proyections say production will increase, and there are enough resources), electrification shall be continued, and industrial expertise (foreign, Soviet, Chinese…) used to be more efficient (assembly lines, etc). Factory quotas shall be slightly lowered so that they are possible to reach while following industrial laws, and the idea that strikes in military industries can only be done after negotiation has failed be insisted upon, particularly in this time of war (without using military force against workers).
4. The Republic is currently on the defensive, and internally divided. Unity must be achieved without repression (Liao Zhongkai and Soong Ching-Ling):
- The Republic is currently at war: Issue an internal call for unity and cooperation to defend the fragile freedoms China has achieved.
- Left-KMT members will be used to spread propaganda in all areas. To aid this, the Revolutionary Commitee will dissolve itself, declaring that there is no need for top-down internal party-pressure groups, as the party's decisions must be made in a collective, democratic manner. At the same time, KMT members will be encouraged to create party organizations (charity, education, medicine...) including pressure groups (peasant, urban workers, intellectuals, centrists...). To aid in this, anti child-work laws shall be provisionally lowered in rural areas, with children older than 12 allowed to work.
- The United Front will continue, with Zhang Guotao stepping down as SP of War, and Chen Duxiu being named President of the Examination Yuan, reforming it to his standards. The war effort will be fought together, using miltary forces in conjunction.
5. Persecution of the War:
- The war this year will mostly be fought on the defensive, in C-KMT territory, where the citizens will hopefully voluntarily support the military effort. Thus, should any offensives come, the response will be a delaying defense-in-depth (using the superior mobility of irregulars) strategy with partisan support when possible. As artillery numbers are in their favour, operations will be done so that the small-arms and home territory advantage can be best used. Two offensives shall be done:
-One from the South to Changsha will be done to defeat the K-KMT there, while a breakout attempt from the North (with reserves and militias holding the city and area, expecting attack from both Qing and K-KMT) will aid in the fight. The objectives of this operation are to reconnect with Changsha, Shaoyang, and the trapped army, and if possible, eliminate the armies in this sector as a fighting force. Should this be done, then an encirclement campaign against the forces in Jiangxi will be done, with the objective of defeating the enemy in that province.
- One South at the start of the year, with the idea of winning before Qing reinforcements arrive, retaking Canton, attempting to provoke a riot/rebellion in it to aid the assault. Any industry retaken shall be moved well out of range of naval guns.
- Organise and supply partisans (Tongmenghui, communists, etc) wherever possible, in all areas of China.
- Use the partisans to blow up the Qing railroad, in as many places as possible, and to carry out attacks on supply lines and weak military forces all around China, as well as organizing insurrections and revolts if they think they can last.
- Promise and give good conditions to surrendering soldiers and rewards to anyone that comes with information/intelligence.
- The general use of the airforce will be attacking supply, doing recon, and bombing military targets, though if there is a battle, they will be rerouted to support.
6. The National Revolution has gone hot, so a larger army is necessary:
- Expand the NBIS, to aid in intelligence operations and partisan/guerilla creation.
- Issue calls for more soldiers to join the army, as many as possible (experienced workers in areas pertinent to the war effort shall not be allowed to join). Raise pay and conditions slightly, and create military orphanages and pensions to make the Army more attractive. Should there be a need of low-ranking officers, they shall either be elected, or chosen by the officer above. The support groups shall be expanded accordingly, and the supply forces greatly expanded.
- In areas under attack, call for mass mobilization, with volunteer militias being armed and trained, and civilians asked to voluntarily fortify cities and military positions under threat, and help produce war materiel and food ("
victory gardens") . In particular, mobilize the city of Changsha. Use local C-KMT members/sympathizers and soldiers to help organize them.
- Organize mobile officer training, with groups of teachers, and wounded/crippled officers/veterans, training unprepared/untrained officers.
For everyone: as always, critique/suggestions welcome
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I also think it was our largest update yet on pure word count but I'm not 100% sure.
Yep, by 1.1K words.
Now, a quibble and some questions:
*
-- Reform the Chinese Central bank to be more efficient and work better, and to combat inflation
while still using the silver yuan. At the same time, it will create a new unit of currency, named the Republican Chinese Dollar, which will be accepted as legal tender by the Goverment, but not convertible to silver (
fiat money). It will be accepted as legal tender for taxation (to show confidence in it), and initially given the same value as the silver yuan. It will not be printed on a massive scale, to avoid high inflation.
The final straw would be the elimination of the silver backed yuan in favour of a fiat Republican Chinese dollar.
The idea wasn't to swich currencies, it was to do like Zuolin did historically:
A number of currencies were circulating in the province, as was the custom in China, and the paper notes issued by the provincial government had experienced a steady depreciation in value. Wang decided to switch to a
silver standard and set the initial value of the new
silver yuan equal to the
Japanese gold yen, which was accepted throughout
Korea and Manchuria. Much to the surprise of the Chinese the new currency even gained in value against the gold yen, although Japanese businessmen claimed that it was not backed up by sufficient silver reserves. Wang then used the newly gained credibility to introduce another note, the
Fengtian dollar, which was not convertible into silver anymore. However, it was accepted by the government for the payment of taxes, a sign of faith in its own currency.
And have two official currencies around at the same time, one that was sure to be stable (silver) and one to make sure there was always money when necessary. Apologies if I was unclear.
* What amount of the military uses Howell guns curently? How long would it take, at the current rate of production, and assuming no losses , for Howells to be standard equipment?
*On which side of the frontline are the officers from the Changsha officer school? Or were they captured?
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@Shaseyu
Coalition or opposition? Any changes you want to do?
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@The Sandman
Given that Cai Yuanpei was member of the KMT OTL, as were most of the CBA, would you accept a temporary United Front, until the war is not so threatening? Cai Yunpei can be made Minister of Education, and attempt to reform it on the French model, as he did historically (but without using it to spread propaganda in schools, and if anti-religiousness could be toned down a bit, that would help in not alienating the population).
