Correct. Those "Chinese forces" were Zhang Zongchang's historic army, to be specific. Which is why I voted to do just that, before the 1926 update. Specfically, I voted:
- Using the connections among Zhang's Russian wives and concubines (making an honest effort to remember their names throughout), travel to Harbin and shore up support with the multitude White Russian emigres left stateless by the Bolshevik takeover of Russia. This may be done as seems prudent by offering them protection, granting citizenship and potentially even status as the 'sixth people' of Manchuria if necessary & the Japanese are amenable, in addition to holding festivities and investing in important persons.
- If possible, recruit willing White Russians into service as mercenaries; many of either gender have been hardened by war against the communists, and it would be a great boon to have experienced cavalrymen to traverse the vast distances of the northeast as well as nurses to tend to the wounded and sick. Certainly the unskilled bandits of Zhang Zongchang's army could stand to learn from their training.
See the result in 1926. I got militias and they seem comfortable in their autonomous communes, but nothing much about advances in medical care for the army. Feel free to spend the vote if you like, you may have a better roll in that respect, but I think it may be worth investing in something different based off of my experience.
