Zhou Wen, on the other hand, once again enhanced his influence and status in the eyes of the principal through the Great Wall War of Resistance, and the conditions for taking back control of the Second Regiment were basically mature.
And now even if the principal wants to reach out, he must consider the balanced relationship in the military. It's because the military salary Zhou Wen promised to the Second Regiment was in accordance with the standards of the teaching corps.
Looking at the military salary provided by the teaching corps, no army in the country can afford it.
Even the logistics soldiers can get 15 yuan per month, and the soldiers of the second regiment have all made meritorious service on the Songhu battlefield, and at least they started as non-commissioned officers. Corporal 20 yuan, sergeant 25 yuan, staff sergeant 30 yuan, warrant officer 40 yuan, second lieutenant 50 yuan, lieutenant 60 yuan, captain 70 yuan, major 150 yuan, lieutenant colonel 200 yuan, colonel 300 yuan.
When Zhao Xiaojin joined the mercenary group, because they belonged to the first detachment, there were no soldiers in the first detachment and all were officers. Therefore, Zhou Wen is not considered to be showing favoritism, but is awarded according to the lowest rank in the first detachment, which is also the standard for the rank of second lieutenant. But just like that, when Zhao Xiaojin took his military pay home in the first month, his wife was also shocked.
The Second Regiment has an establishment of 1,500 people. Not to mention other logistical supplies, the military salary alone costs nearly 40,000 yuan per month, which is more than 400,000 yuan a year.
If the principal wanted to take it, it would not be impossible to get the money, but it would break the balance among other troops.
You must know that the world is not plagued by poverty, but by inequality.
Even in the most elite Central Military Army, the monthly military salary for an ordinary soldier is only about 7 yuan. Moreover, some troops may be deducted at all levels, and the soldiers only get about 5 yuan. If we insist on comparison, the salary of soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the training corps is nearly twice as high as that of the Central Army.
If the principal takes over this army, under what standards will the military pay be distributed?
Hey, if you lose their military spirit and sense of belonging, it will be greatly reduced. Who will do their best to work for you? If there are too many, what will happen to our Central Army? Also raise military pay? That's an astronomical number.
So while the principal secretly scolded Zhou Wen for being cunning, he had no choice but to give up.
Zhou Wen had previously negotiated with the principal to move the second regiment of the teaching corps to Pukou. This was actually a hint to the principal that he wanted to take back control of the second regiment. The principal is also aware of this, but it is just a matter of face, so there is no need for anyone to say it openly.
Zhou Wen wanted to move the Second Regiment to Pukou and take back control, in fact, for the security of Yangtze River shipping.
As mentioned before, Zhou Wen wanted to develop in Shanghai, but he only made up his mind to start Yangtze River shipping when he was in Shanghai last year.
It was only after many discussions and consultations with Su Jixian and Mr. Du that he realized that this was an opportunity for him.
Haha, others who have money don't have soldiers, and those who have soldiers dare not do it for fear of being tabooed by the principal.
I have money and soldiers, and now I have actually jumped on the big boat of the principal and the Military Commission. What can I not dare to do?
Those water bandits, Jiang Ba, just drove the gunboats and carried the troops over to eliminate them, while also maintaining the combat effectiveness of the troops. As for the warlords and local forces along the line, who dares not to give some face to the principal who has millions of Central Army soldiers?
Besides, it's not that I don't pay tolls, but you also have to be a little bit confident in your mind, don't be a lion and just open your mouth.
And once the scale of shipping becomes larger and larger, and the water flows down, it will be a big profit for these local forces. Isn't it better than if you are now guarding the river with both manpower and strength, but after all the trouble, you may not see a big ship of some tonnage for a few days, and you can only exploit those small boat gangs who are already poor?
Zhou Wen believes that anyone who can become a warlord is not a fool.
Moreover, Zhou Wen did not plan to open up the entire Yangtze River at once, as long as he could reach Wuhan first.
Because the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hubei that this route passes through are almost within the principal's sphere of influence, and the local governments and garrisons along the way are either direct relatives of the principal, or warlords who are more obedient to the principal. Zhou Wen believes that as long as he uses the banner of the Military Commission, no one will deliberately create difficulties.
The main obstacles are the water bandits and local wealthy families along the way.
During the Republic of China, due to wars and warlord separatism, the government's management institutions were relatively sound at the provincial and municipal levels, but in towns and even some remote counties, there was no management at all. As a result, although many remote villages and towns also have government personnel stationed there, they are at most under the management of the Republic of China government in a symbolic sense. In fact, the people in charge are the local wealthy families.
In some places, the appeal of clans is much higher than that of the government, and clan rules are higher than national laws. And the patriarchs of those clans are the local emperors, who can decide life or death with a single word.
Such a wealthy family has a strong reputation for family righteousness and is good at deceiving the local people. Their appeal is not low. And due to the war to protect themselves and resist bandits, almost these large clans have their own weapons, not to mention rifles and pistols, some even have machine guns.
Su Jixian once said that in the past, there were occasionally merchant ships running across the river from Shanghai, but local fishermen led by local tycoon clans in Anhui set up jams on the river, demanding and blackmailing the merchant ships passing through. It is said that the river is densely packed with fishing boats, with guns and artillery mounted on them. You don’t dare to actually drive your boat to hit them, so you can only pay for it.
What's more, he works for the people during the day and as a bandit at night. The clan tycoon took the local people to openly rob the river at night, and then killed all the people on the merchant ship. You still couldn't find any excuses, and you were afraid of being responsible for forcing the people to rebel, so in the end you just had to Can't let it go.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the local government's fist is not big enough and not powerful enough, so it naturally lacks means of deterrence.
Moreover, during this period of the Republic of China, local county governments did not have sufficient security forces at all.
Normally, a county should at least have a security team, right? However, most of the members of the security team are young people belonging to the clan. If you dare to let the security team destroy their own family members, they may have your county magistrate's head moved that night.
If there happens to be a garrison around the county, it will be even more difficult to ask the garrison to take action. The sky-high opening fee is already prohibitive, and it's possible that these soldiers' extortion methods will be even more ruthless than the bandits when they enter the city.
This is the real reason why many powerful and wealthy people dare not get involved in Yangtze River shipping. The situation along the way is too complicated and dangerous. If you have to bribe and persuade each family, you don’t even know which month or year you want to go.
