Chapter 762: Attitude toward morality

In late November, the weather gradually turned colder, and it was a cold rain in Nanjing that was drizzling, causing people who were traveling to hide behind thick scarves with their necks. After the Party Affairs Meeting of the National People's Progressive Council, Song Jiaoren and Cen Chunxuan began to incite party members to carry out publicity according to the new party program.

The universal suffrage in the House of Representatives officially ended the day before yesterday. The number of votes counted by various provinces quickly came to an end, and the list of elected members was announced immediately. Among the 248 seats, the Beiyang Democratic Party occupied 98 seats. Most of the northern provinces were members of the Beiyang Democratic Party. These people easily gained the election advantage through their relationship and reputation during the Beiyang government period. The southern provinces were Progressive Party, the National Progressive Council, the Union and the Chinese Democratic Party were all among them, and the relative proportion was much different.

In the end, the Progressive Party occupied 66 seats, the National People's Progressive Party occupied 73 seats, and the rest were small parties and non-partisans. Although China *** occupied several seats, it was a small share in the end.

The Senate election has reached its final stage, and some provinces that started the election first have already appeared on the Senate member list, but it is still too early to say it. The Progressive Party and the National People's Progressive Association have all begun to invest in large-scale propaganda, publishing their political policies that benefit the country and the people in major newspapers, and there are countless speeches and public welfare activities in various places.

Wu Shaoting knew that the reason why the Senate election was not over was that Feng Guozhang deliberately instructed the northern provinces to slow down the process and cooperated with his actions as the central government consul. There are many reasons for slowing down the process, either because the provincial prefectures and county governments failed to popularize it, or because the votes were being counted, or because the candidates had some trivial situations.

Since meeting with the Minister of the ***, Wu Shaoting knew that his attitude would anger the *** government, but all this was in his plan. Taking advantage of the time he used diplomacy to win, he must speed up his preparations for the Qingdao incident. The Beijing headquarters and the German government delegation studied the latest information every day and formulated various combat plans. The strategic cooperation between China and Germany was not just to defend Qingdao, but to open up an important support point in the Far East to restrain Europe. Qingdao's combat was just the beginning.

On the afternoon of the 27th, the Ministry of National Defense received a finalization plan from the Beijing Navy Department. Several veteran naval generals in Beijing decided to go south in early December to convene a national naval consultation meeting with the Ministry of National Defense to determine the reorganization plan of the Navy Department. At the same time, the reorganization of various fleets across the country also had detailed arguments. The Beijing Navy Department planned to respect Wu Shaoting's reorganization suggestions and divide the Chinese Navy into three major combat sequences, namely: the Yangtze River Fleet, the Beiyang Fleet, and the Nanyang Fleet.

The Beiyang Fleet is a few former Beiyang Fleet ships stationed in Tianjin, Huludao, Shandong and other places. The Beiyang Fleet has long been in a slump. The total number of cruisers, gunboats and torpedo boats is only more than 70, of which small combat speedboats still account for the majority. The Beiyang Fleet will be divided into three teams according to the defense zone, responsible for the defense of the Beihai and East China Sea waters.

The Yangtze River Fleet is currently the most powerful Chinese Navy. It was composed of the previous Wuhan Fleet, Jiujiang Fleet and Shanghai Fleet. The eleven latest cruisers drawn from Guangzhou a few years ago are now under the Changhai Fleet. The Yangtze River Fleet is also subdivided into three teams, but it is expected that the fourth team stationed in Nanjing will be established within two years.

The Nanyang Fleet is composed of the Guangzhou Navy, Xiamen Fleet and Fuzhou Fleet. Although it is slightly inferior to the Yangtze River Fleet, Wu Shaoting instructed the Ministry of National Defense to reorganize the Nanyang Fleet in the next fifteen years and the scale will be expanded by nearly ten times. At the same time, it will vigorously focus on cultivating the Marine Corps in Fuzhou and Xiamen, and will set up special training camps for the Marine Corps as soon as possible if conditions permit.

On the last day of November, the Nanjing government received a message from Zhejiang that the Fujian-Zhejiang Railway Line was officially completed and opened to traffic today. It took more than half a year to build the railway line from the end of the Fujian War to the victory of the Hangzhou Battle. It took a total of six months to complete the connection between the two sections of the railway. The railway from Fuzhou to Wenzhou alone took four months.

Wu Shaoting decided to set up a company jointly run by the government and the people. After all, part of the railway funding in Fujian and Zhejiang section was his private investment, part of which was not directly used for German aid investment through the Ministry of Finance, and part of which was private fundraising, which had almost no relationship with the government. As for the Guangdong-Guangdong section, the investment during the Guangdong-Guangdong section was an investment during the Guangdong-Guangdong section, it can also be regarded as his own private asset.

The equity of the railway company was invested by the Nanjing government of 3 million to obtain 37% of the shares, Wu Shaoting privately accounted for 13% of the shares, Zhang Shengting's company accounted for 29%, and the remaining shares were owned by private investors who had previously invested in railways. Since the railways that are truly under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing government are limited to the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang, the railway is called Southern Railway, and the name of the railway company is Zhang Shengting's Southern Railway Operation Company.

In the next few years of development, when the Southern Railway is connected with the Yunnan Railway and connected to the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, Zhang Shengting Railway Company will also establish a special business department. This business department is nominally responsible for railway security, but in fact it has evolved into the world's first commercial mercenary institution, mainly targeting professional military services in Vietnam, Siam and North Korea.

Wu Shaoting originally planned to attend the opening ceremony of the Southern Railway in person, but on this occasion, Colonel Philip, the chief representative of the Tiande *** official regiment, arrived in Nanjing from Qingdao and urgently wanted to discuss military deployment. He had to send Deng Keng to Wenzhou to attend the ceremony on his behalf. He first asked Wu Peifu to lead Colonel Philip to the temporary war room of the "Hunting Eagle" in the Zhonghua Gate. After handling some important official duties, he took it and rushed over.

On the third floor of the newly expanded administrative building of Jinling Arsenal, there is a semi-enclosed office at the end of the corridor. The General Staff Office of the Ministry of National Defense is located here. There is a single room inside this office, and the "Hunting" war room is temporarily located here.

When Wu Shaoting walked into the "Hunting Eagle" war room, Cai E, He Fuguang and Colonel Philip were already here, and they were discussing around the sand table map of Jiaozhou Bay.

"Ri'an, Colonel Philip, I'm very happy to see you. What's the latest news in Qingdao?" Wu Shaoting walked to the front of the sand table map and greeted him.

"Oh, this time I came to visit Wu Zhizheng. On the one hand, on behalf of Governor Melwadek, thanking Wu Zhizheng for his position when he met with the Minister *** a few days ago. This incident made the Governor see Wu Zhizheng's tough attitude, so he was very grateful. On the other hand, the Qingdao Command has predicted the offensive position of the *** warship and landing ships. Before the Far East strategy was established, the Governor believes that China and Germany should start working together to prepare for the defense of Qingdao first." Colonel Philip said in an official manner.

Wu Shaoting did not rush to answer. Of course, he knew the importance of preparation in advance. Now there is too much tacit understanding between China and Germany. After running in for so long, he should take some practical actions to test the coordination between the two sides. He first looked at the simulated defensive map on the sandbox map. Obviously, this was a carefully designed defensive design by Germany. Both China and Germany each took their needs, showed their strengths, and matched them in an orderly manner.

He glanced at Cai E and He Fuguang again. From their faces, he could see that before he arrived, the two sides had exchanged views on the issue of defense. Now the defensive formation of the sand table is the best way to match both China and Germany.

"I have to say that if you want to play a defensive game head-on, such a defensive line is almost impeccable, and even the British army in Weihaiwei cannot attack the flanks. However, I still have to say some things in front. It is obvious that the Qingdao Command has been blindly studying stereotyped defensive strategies, and has not even planned to consider my opinion." Wu Shaoting said with a serious expression.

"Mr. Wu may have misunderstood. This time I came here to discuss the defense arrangement with Wu Zhuzheng on behalf of Qingdao Command. Naturally, I will carefully consider Wu Zhuzheng's opinions. I had a preliminary discussion with General Cai and General He before. In fact, the defense layout you see now is the result of the correction after General Cai and General He." Colonel Philip was a little confused, but he still maintained the rigorous attitude of the soldiers and said in an orderly manner.

"No, no, no!" Wu Shaoting stretched out a hand and shook it while smiling, "Col. You don't understand what I mean. Although I promised to abide by the Sino-German alliance and stand on your side in the Far East, I have never expressed that in the defense of Qingdao, we China must participate in the battle on the front battlefield."

He Fuguang and Cai E exchanged glances. The former was a little strange, while the latter was relieved.

Since Cai E returned, he gradually learned about the latest strategic deployment formulated by Wu Shaoting. China will adopt a tough diplomatic attitude towards the *** to curb the expansion of *** ambitions, and the behind-the-scenes power supporting tough diplomacy is naturally a military confrontation. Although Cai E agrees with such a strategy, he does not agree with the battle involved in the European camp because of the ***. After all, with China's current strength, it is difficult to deal with the ***, so how can even offend European powers regardless of the overall international situation? Fortunately, Wu Shaoting is not reckless now, and it is irrational to participate in the battle to aid Germany head-on.

Colonel Philip's face changed drastically, and he frowned and asked, "Please allow me to be rude, I don't seem to understand what you mean."

Wu Shaoting took his hands leisurely and smiled slowly: "Col. Philip, don't worry. I will not let the people of Dechang and their ambitions, and will definitely ensure the safety of German allies in Qingdao. The Far East Axis Strategy formulated by the Youth Committee of the Communist Party of China has made a very clear statement. With our current strength, China is not enough to be involved in the European camp duel, and your country has no intention to let us intervene in this war. But if you follow the Colonel's deployment, this will make us go to war with the United Kingdom, which will directly lead to China's disclosure of the Sino-Germany Covenant, and the result will be self-evident."
Chapter completed!