Xiao Jianjun said: "I have also considered this. In fact, when we first participated in the war, we did not need 25 divisions. First, our delivery capacity was limited, and the delivery of 25 divisions would take at least 3-4 months to complete; second, the width of the battlefield in the early stage was limited. The army must have landing operations at the beginning, and investing 3-4 divisions of troops. If we use more troops, we will not be able to expand. In addition, the subsequent troops entering the battlefield in the later stage will be invested in 5-6 divisions in the first three months of the battle. In addition, it will take about 3 divisions to defend Shandong and Tianjin, and there will be reserved forces of 3 divisions, so we only need to protect.

Holding a standing force of 12 divisions is enough, and it can handle the battle within the first 3-6 months of war. The remaining troops can be scattered to various places, formed in the form of militia, and conducted certain military training, so that it will not attract the attention of other countries. When the war begins, a small number of officers can be equipped immediately. Within 6 months, 5-6 divisions will be organized first and put into the battlefield in the northeast, which can basically ensure the needs of the battlefield; within the next 6 months, 5-6 divisions will be organized to be organized to enter the battlefield according to the actual situation at that time; after the war is over, you can retire and go home."

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "This idea is indeed good. You can list the civilian army as a reserve service, so that you can use troops to the people. You can only retain an elite army of a limited scale. As long as you can ensure the security of the East China government and medium-sized foreign combat, you can also ensure the labor force for economic construction. In addition, the civilian army can maintain local order in normal times, so you can make a detailed plan according to this idea. However, you cannot only focus on combat troops, as well as logistics auxiliary troops and labor service for the army. How many logistics auxiliary troops and labor service for the 25 divisions need to be used, and how these personnel are collected and arranged, they all need to be calculated and planned."

Xiao Jianjun nodded, carefully recorded Xia Bohai's opinion in his notebook, and then continued: "There is also weapons. In addition to the five warships, the weapons we brought through, such as two tanks, warrior cars, helicopters, etc., must be maintained, because these weapons will play a major role in the moment of combat construction. Moreover, ordinary conventional weapons, such as various firearms, artillery, mortars, grenades, etc., must be self-produced, so as to ensure that weapons and ammunition can be self-sufficient in the war. In addition, if some new weapons, such as light machine guns and armor plans proposed by the Army, can also increase our chances of victory."

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "These things need to be negotiated with the arsenal and the research institute. Find some time another day to gather all the professionals to discuss them."

Xiao Jianjun said: "The last point is whether the plan we have formulated needs to be discussed and voted in the Senate?"

Xia Bohai was stunned for a moment and did not answer for a moment.

Qin Zheng said: "If you are worried about the voting issue, you don't have to worry about it. I will find a way to get this plan to pass."

Xiao Jianjun shook his head and said, "I am not worried about whether the plan will be passed, but this is our largest military secret at present. If it is placed in the House of Commons, who can guarantee that it will not leak? After all, there are too many people in the House of Commons, and there are about 14 or 50 staff members. Who can make sure that everyone will not leak intentionally or unintentionally."

Everyone was silent for a while, and then Xia Bohai said: "Then it will not be discussed in the House of Commons. As long as it is approved at the Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow, it will be officially confirmed."

Wang Yunpeng hesitated for a moment before saying: "If such a major matter is not passed by the House of Commons, it is enough to just pass it at the Executive Yuan meeting. Isn't it a bit inappropriate? When the East China government was established, the administrative system we formulated was to implement democratic decisions internally. Major decisions related to the development of the East China government must be voted and approved by the Senate House."

Qin Zheng said: "I also think there is no need to vote in the Senate House. Let the leaks aside first. Strictly speaking, this is just a plan to prepare for war, not a major decision, and it is a military secret. Therefore, this is not a violation of the system. Only when we want to officially participate in the war can we vote and pass it in the Senate. And according to our system, the president of the government has the power to order the army to fight with executive orders, and then pass the Senate. Democratic decisions are correct, but they cannot be made into extreme democratization."

Xu Jichao said: "But what should I do if I prepare for the funds? The fiscal withdrawal also needs to be voted and passed in the Senate."

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "This is easy to deal with? All preparations for war can be voted and passed in the Senate House by special funds, such as the construction of ships and the establishment of the army has special military funds, and the development of weapons has special R&D costs, so the approval of various funds is not a problem. Guan Jian is that we need enough funds."

Xia Bohai said: "This is another issue, so I won't discuss it here, but I think there are still some points to pay attention to. First, we only discussed the time to participate in the battle, but did not discuss the time to end the war. That is to say, what is our goal of participating in the war? According to our previous preliminary plan, there are three goals: one is to recover the three northeastern provinces; the second is to weaken the strength of Japan and Russia; and the third is to force the two countries to pay compensation. But these three goals are set too rough. From the first point, the scope of the three northeastern provinces is based on the three northeastern provinces of our era or the three northeastern provinces now. If there is a chance to occupy more places, such as Boli, Miaojie, San Vladivostok, etc.

Whether to break through this range; and to what extent is the weakening of Japan and Russia? If we only take back the three northeastern provinces, then Russia still has a large amount of territory and strongholds in the Far East, and the same is true for Japan. Does it need to attack Japan's mainland? There are also demanding compensation from both countries, but Japan and Russia are not as weak as the Qing court. They are afraid of it when they fight. It is not so easy to make compensation for them. In the old time and space, although Russia lost this war, it did not pay compensation to Japan. The Japanese's tenacity can also be said to be stubborn, let alone, so what if they insist on not being willing to compensate? Should we give up, or continue the war?"

After a pause, Xia Bohai said again: "The most important point is whether there will be interference from external forces after we participate in the war, that is, intervention from other countries. Although in the old time and space, the only two sides of the war were Japan and Russia, after we intervene, it became a war of the Three Kingdoms. Russia has France as an ally, and Japan is also Britain behind it, and even the United States is secretly supporting Japan. Therefore, after we join the war, what actions will these forces take after we defeated Japan and Russia? Will they watch their agents fail? Will they interfere in the war, or even actively intervene in the war? If there is a 'Three Kingdoms interference and return to Liao incident' during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, how should we deal with it?"

"If we do not consider these things, even if we have won the battlefield, we cannot achieve the goal of participating in this war. We must know that military is a continuation of politics, and it is just a means to achieve political goals. Victory on the battlefield alone is far from enough. In the old time and space, there are examples of victory on the battlefield, but political failures are common. The Vietnam War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War are all like this. Therefore, before the war begins, we must consider how the war should end."

After hearing Xia Bohai's words, everyone was silent. It was Xiao Jianjun that he realized that he was really incomplete in his consideration.

Xia Bohai said: "But these things cannot be discussed in one day today, and we still have enough time to prepare for war and discuss them slowly. But before the war begins, we must make these things clear. I will sort out this idea tonight. When the Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow, we will formally raise these issues and discuss them together."

Xu Jichao said: "Also, Russia rejected the second phase of withdrawal, but instead proposed seven agreements. So how do we deal with it? What should we do if the second batch of Russian prisoners who should be released in June this year as agreed?"

Xiao Jianjun said: "What else can we do? Of course, we should continue to stay and be a coolie. Since we don't want to withdraw our troops, do we still want us to release all the prisoners?"

Wang Yunpeng smiled bitterly and said, "In this way, we will not receive the prisoner redemption fee. This is more than one million taels of silver."

It turned out that Wang Yunpeng was responsible for specific administrative affairs. Knowing the financial situation of the East China government, the Russian army's prisoner redemption fee was also calculated by Wang Yunpeng. However, now the East China government refuses to release the Russian prisoner, and the redemption fee is gone. Therefore, Wang Yunpeng was quite depressed.

Xia Bohai was able to understand Wang Yunpeng's mood and said, "This is a matter of political stance, and there is no way to do it. Let's think of other ways to do this amount of money."

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "Although this money is less, it is more than 15,000 yuan in free labor, which may not be a loss-making transaction."

Wang Yunpeng also knew that Russia refused to withdraw its troops from the Northeast, and the East China government was indeed impossible to release Russian prisoners. This was by no means a matter of a mere million taels of redemption fee. It was just that Wang Yunpeng was most concerned about the financial issues of the East China government, so he asked this question and nodded, saying, "That's all."

Qin Zheng said: "I think at this time, we should immediately issue a statement to reprove Russia's counter-article behavior, and make it clear that we will never accept Russia's newly proposed withdrawal conditions. If Russia does not withdraw its troops as promised, then we will not release the remaining Russian prisoners as promised."

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "Yes, let's discuss it together at the Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow."
Chapter completed!