Pax's Alternate History Snippet repository.

[ATP]

Right now, and into the early to mid thirties most of the air craft are light bombers, and transport aircraft, I wasn't really thinking of the SM 81 but that is a pretty good option with the only issue being it only shows up inm thearly thirties.

Click to shrink...

True,but you have both technology to built it,and dudes who could made it.Wait for your engine man to built stronger engines,and you could have SM81 mass produced in,let say,1927 or 1928.

 

[Imperator Pax]

August 1921
The standing committee held a number of men with austrian knots, and a half dozen officers of rank with red dragons banding their collars, and every man present was in field gray regardless of the caps resting on the table. Reinsch would have complained about the lack of civilian suits regardless of whether it was peace or war time. "There is going to be a naval conference in Washington."

Allen nodded... or really most shrugged, "Yeah, I was told." he replied, and truth be told he was surprised Powell had made the trip never mind was bringing it up. They were meeting railway production targets and shipping engines both into Kirghiz, and across the Pacific to the port of Quetzal which Powell had been expanding to handle the arrival of heavy industry.

"Its Hughes's baby." He continued, "But China, and Belgium are both planning to attend... nine countries," Portugal, the Dutch, Italy as well with of course the states, the brits, Japan, and the French. "So far as the talks going around its the exact opposite strategy of Tillman in terms of plans." The Senator from South Carolina was dead now but the idea had been to have the states build the biggest meanest ship afloat for the battle line and then focus on cruisers of a more modest size to busy southern yards to protect commercial shipping, but in short to settle out the question of who had the best battleship once and for all.

That list was good news in a way. The Germans wouldn't be attending but neither would the bolsheviks... that Harding not recognizing Lenin's group of thugs was a good sign. "And what will that," Both the conference, and the abscence of a nod from the White House, "mean for Siberia?"

"I don't think Hughes gives a damn personally, Harding... some of the others... that's a harder read," The red leg replied, "The brits and Japanese have agreed in their cables to recognize the borders as they exist, I think in order to get Britain and Japan to agree Harding will agree to that." Some people might not like that, but ... Harding was not adventurous.

If things held that was good. The shooting, the injuring of the British King might have been seen as a good thing for revolutionaries committed to the cause, might have been seen as a step in the right direction for hard liners. That kind of talk though would get a man punched in the mouth given present English sentiment...George the fifth was a popular man, more so than Lloyd George as it seemed the Welsh Wizard was starting to have outstayed his welcome. Certainly the Anglo-soviet trade discussions so soon before the shooting proved a problem for him.

It was bad timing all around.

There was a pause, "Hughes isn't going to invite the Bolsheviks. He is going to invite France, and Italy." Griswold remarked. "We needn't give a damn about Italy, but the Frogs are making mouth noises about the Chinese markets... and then there is Shantung to consider as well. Koo is going to run off at the mouth."

There was an exasperated grown from a former cavalry officer, "He doesn't even like the Fukien clique," and besides that the Beiyang government was in no position to spend money on the Navy... which wasn't to say that there hadn't been talk of buying ships that would otherwise go to the breakers.

"They're not going for the navy." Waite commented, "No this is about the open door, and the age old argument about what open door even means. Best case Lansing and Ishi's understanding holdings and we get the British in agreement with that." No Germans to worry about. No Russians... but still the frogs grabbing at english speaking coattails like that cartoon.

"Powell?" Allen asked.

"There is talk about an immigration bill."

"Another one?"

There had been one in 1917. "Its still in talks I don't think they'll get to it anytime soon but its something that will happen. Harding wants a renewal of the previous one, but I figure they're going to want more."

"What do you want done about it?"

Powell shrugged, "I want to get around it, of course. Its stupid, but in a way it benefits us. The gentleman's agreement with Tokyo is silly and going back on it is worse. I'll happily take anyone from China or Japan who wants an honest job and I need Italians and Germans for the works as well. Poland just got its country back so I'll trade with them but things are what they are." The red leg declared a gallic shrug to punctuate the statement.

It was in this that there was an inherent driving idea with regards to society. Xian's constitution profoundly declared all men equal under the law. Circulars that went out espoused a promotion by merit and ability that encouraged studying, and excellence. That same borrowing of ideas shaped the mission statement of the Middle American Cadre and its own documents, both in their newspapers and the charters of their corporate towns.

But neither cadre, and certainly not the much smaller European based purer business interests had the influence to set or shape immigration policy. The collections of men could say what they wanted with regards to immigration but it was outside of their ability to make that policy in 1921 at home, and certainly abroad. "The Conference is in Washington proper isn't it?" Allen questioned.

"It is, I figure that I should have no trouble sailing through the canal, and reaching the capital." Powell replied, "I'll take notes on what all I can find out," He paused for a moment, looking around at the other side of the table. No one joined the conversation. The truth was while Powell's mission, the MAK's aims to have a merchant shipping portion which could carry goods over the sea had a basis in lessons learned or ecognized long ago in the phillipines and reiterated with the European war the Cadre here in Xian simply did not have the ports under its own control. It had not interest in trying to finangle that given it passed through wei hai wei and shantung under long standing agreements with the tariff commission operated on behalf of China largely by the British.

--
Notes: This is going up early real life impaied the completion of the next segment of rabid fox which is what was otherwise scheduled for today's post so I will most likely be pushing things a day forward with things back to normal on Sunday with Ghost going up.

 

[ATP]

Tillman monsters - pity,that they were never built.It would change notching,but be more cool!
migrants rejected by USA going to your China - good for you.

P.S maybe you manage to buy some battleships send to scrapyards and use them as mobile batteries?They could not be send to other navies,but if it was army buing them and naming,let say,as division of heavy artillery,it could work!

 

[Imperator Pax]

September 1921
He could remember in 1913 talks of the first regiment... or the argument over even calling it an army. The question 'what should the army be used for' would have a very different answer in twenty years, the cadre had always been leery of haying to far one way or another, but in 1921 the conclusion more or less established by conditions on the ground was that the army had to be able to perform some degree of law enforcement capacity. It had been the unpopular consensus basically since the army had formalized, but the opposing position had agreed that regardless of how the states did things posse commitatus was not a good fit for China. The Army had to be available for such duties as there was no civilian bureaucracy available to them even in 1921 which was of sufficient size to undertake the sure backlog of work in addition to all the new incidents of bandit fighting.

But just as they had papers which published and spoke on their particular positions, there were in circulation papers in Szechwan. The province was divided under the control of different warlords yes, but which still reached regional audiences. He tossed the paper into a stack with the others published by 'their side', the article didn't read like it was one of Jun's and it wasn't one of her pen names but almost certainly someone she had approved of for it to receive a front page publication. It spoke in the melding the old ways with the new, of a synthesis of both learning new things and adapting old ways for modernity.

The article was quick to call up the annals of the warring states when speaking of modern events, and the expressions of that period. To enrich the country, and strengthen the army, and their neighbor to the south wasn't ignorant of that growing strength. They'd let Kansu units and other Ma clique brigades pass over the border to raid bandits... and settle grudges... it had let them defend the border with limited troops and he didn't regret that decision. The border defenses especially those ancient, storied historical towns passes and highways that went back two thousand years were better protected now.

Not that they had had much ability to stop the Ma family from doing so... but they had had the option, it had been their choice to support them. Part of the labors undertaken by the new bureaucracy was an unvarnished look of history... of the historical record. It had started out as just looking at the previous dynasty.

The realization that China hadn't bothered with a proper census and tax roll reform since the first Ming Emperor had been a shock to the system when they had first learned of such. There had already been objections to the Qianlong Emperor's reign, and some of the decisions of the Kongxi Emperor for fiscal policy especially as the cadre had adopted tax powers as part of its bailiwick. The history writing had expanded to all of Chinese history and that included the focus on the first emperor's tomb, and the papers wrote themselves.

During Qianlong's reign the landed gentry had in the face of government corruption created their own private militias. The newspaper in question was quick to associate the Ma clique's brigades of Kansu to those in comparison. That was not flattering. It was at best a back handed compliment.

"We recognize a militia's right to exist."

"If its well regulated." Waite replied, emphasizing the line cribbed from the Bill of Rights. "He's asserting-"

"I know what he's asserting." The other red leg grunted. Griswold twisted in his seat to look at him, "Fundamentally the Ma clique lost its head when Old Ma died. They lost steam without leadership, there are still some old men with influence, but Hongkui has been going over the border up and over up and over for years. He's spent as a force and most of the Hui in Kansu, and Xinjiang are looking more towards us than the central government."

That was true.

It was also true that Hongkui's efforts while appreciated were looked at as a dated response, a relic as compulsory education, and growing jobs in Kansu pushed eligible, desirable recruits towards the cadre lead provincial army or in less martial families sending sons to factory work, or to coal mines or into the city to work as shop keepers as towns grew larger and expanded.

It was also true in Tibet according to Hodges. Lhasa was mostly Han merchants, but Hodges was expanding the Cadre's interests and while he was fond of Buddhism and enjoyed the company of monks and learned men, he was also dead set that there were things that had to be done. That meant compulsory education.

"Here," The historical record being compiled also relayed on the information not just of the Qing themselves but freelance Chinese scholars writing in the time of Jiaqing emperor during the literary loosening of censorship, but also the number of active english sources, and the result of looking back at that were that they had to look at, "This is the Han river islands mess, see here is Hupeh, Shansi," and of course Szechwan, which was the real, larger concern.

At the end of the 18th​century when the states had been young the crisis had forced the local gentry to form their own militias... not that that was new of course... which of course why newspapers could draw historical comparisons, "I don't like that comparison," Waite replied, "The Qing claimed to have killed a hundred thousand rebels, and leaving aside corruption in Qianlong's day and inflated numbers that was with pike and shot and bow and spear not repeating rifles." The rebellion in the early years of the 19th century though had had a religious component, something in Szechwan that they were thankfully unlikely to face. On the other hand the armies of the various warlords, and bandit kings of Szechwan of note easily dwarfed that of Wang Lung from over a century earlier. "It was most certainly not what happens when a 15cm Krupp battery opens up from a hill six miles away."

There were nods from the men. That was another point regarding why Hongkui's ranks were thinning. His cavalry needed fodder but more than that horses were hard to replace ... and HOngkui's independent brigades while shock in szechwan for performance couldn't stay on scene and lacked the baggage to support more than a handful of machine guns. Kansu's brigades were built much akin to colonial frontier armies of the British Empire in Africa dashing hither and dither as they moved but relying on square and maxim gun to show off superior enemy numbers.... which had worked for them these past several years, but they still suffered attrition, and a lack of an ability to replace materiel as well.

 

[Imperator Pax]

Tillman monsters - pity,that they were never built.It would change notching,but be more cool!
migrants rejected by USA going to your China - good for you.

P.S maybe you manage to buy some battleships send to scrapyards and use them as mobile batteries?They could not be send to other navies,but if it was army buing them and naming,let say,as division of heavy artillery,it could work!

Click to shrink...

Under Washington you couldn't buy the ships (this was partially something everyone agreed to tp orevent Britain from giving Australia / Canada tons of ships to keep in reserve or for them to sell them to latin america) but the artillery on the other hand well those guns are going to be available and can be mounted on trains.

 

[ATP]

Under Washington you couldn't buy the ships (this was partially something everyone agreed to tp orevent Britain from giving Australia / Canada tons of ships to keep in reserve or for them to sell them to latin america) but the artillery on the other hand well those guns are going to be available and can be mounted on trains.

Click to shrink...

Pity,i really wanted to see some battleship sailing as regiment of heavy artillery!
But,rail guns would work here.

 

[Imperator Pax]

September 1921
At the beginning of the month Wood had accepted Harding's invitation to the post of Governor General to the Phillipines. It wouldn't meaningfully change anything, per se...there were possibilities. The Cadre governed provinces were all in northern china, they were not readily suited to the growing of paddy rice, which had originated in the south, but the Philippines... well the islands could grow rice fine.

That presented the opportunity to import rice for those who wanted to buy it at market. There were urban dwellers who wanted that. It had been a topic among the last of the conference... that in terms of administration with agriculture starting to get a bit more normal they could see about trades in non necessity goods.

So after emergency grain stocks, and coffee as the crack had went to the laughs at the table. The talk of trade should have been a good thing. Trading for things... and buying rice from the Philippines would mean shorter turn around times. Rather than trying to buy them from the southern states, which would have been an option. There would have been talks about quality of course, and the breed of rice, but if not for the war then the shipping would have been available. Trade was good though.

Trade was normal.

Trade would be the nice part of normal.

Normal though entailed other things. "Wood is going to want to comment on our police," Waite observed, "Will want to talk about the elections wouldn't be surprised if the old man doesn't want to stick his nose in everything we do, and tell us everything we're doing wrong."

"You think?"

"That's because you were the favorite," Waite replied, and he wasn't likely wrong. Certainly Wood's endorsement had helped secure him a position as observer with the Japanese Army during the war against the Russians, and that had helped secure him elsewhere. The promotion to major after had been endorsed by Wood. "If we're lucky he'll happily write to the state department and the president with all praise for it." He shook his head, "Look that'd be the best thing for us, I don't know what Harding thinks of us, but Wilson was crazy at the end of his term but State is talking to Powell about this business in Nicaragua." The cable had come in this morning from Washington... a trip there for the naval conference where Powell would also be seeing what was going on with the other delegations.

They were reading everyone's mail after all.

He had no problem with that. Akashi would have approved after all... which was just a reminder that so many of their mentors and other friends were dead. He'd written to Edenborn after all concerned for the Louisianans mortality, which had always seemed more apparent then Colonel McCulloch. There was no getting around that though... but that was still a reminder of how they had gotten here... and standing on their own now more or less. "State's goodwill would only help us, but it can't make or break us. Trade would be good for the provinces, short distances are better for trade so if we can buy rice from the Philippines that's good."

They wanted trade. That was important. A prosperous people tended to want things from the market that theycouldn't make for themselves... and the truth was that as people moved in from the farm they needed to use their wages to buy goods for life that they didn't make. Shellman was quick to point out concerns about the population but he was also not wrong about the concerns of fire, and for the matter sickness. They needed to plan public layout for a much larger populace than they had especially as they moved westerly. The Navy doctor had a horrific fear of what mercury or other heavy metals might do if it got into the water table... which of course just encouraged him to make conversation about good stewardship in general of the waste.

There were concerns about smallpox again, which Shellman was right needed to be handled. Hodges agreed... and unfortunately that meant that they had to look back at some of the things Yuan Shikai had done when he'd been president. Officially Tibet's capital was Lhasa, as the head of the local cadre Hodges was within his constitutional rights to organize as needed for public safety, and health measures against small pox... but the provincial borders were not the same as how far their actual reach extended.

Lhasa was mostly ethnic Chinese after all. As inclined to be conciliatory as Hodges was he was also adamant that the provincial constitution applied to the entirety of the old Qing province. Any agreements to which China had not signed on be damned... by which he meant a rejection of the Simla Convention.

The problem there in was Curzon had told the government in Peking he meant to treat Tibet as an autonomous state. "Which makes no damned sense given our situation, does he mean to extend that to all the provinces?"

Surely not, Allen imagined, and Curzon even admitted to contemplating that would like create a furor at the state department regardless of any good will they presently enjoyed. The cadre's position time and again had always been to recognize the beiyang government in Peking as the legitimate government... and as it related to Tibet as a province one represented in the national assembly.

Curzon's motivations might well have been driven by his time as viceroy of India or as Bill succinctly but it, "He could just be an arrogant son of a bitch." ... but that didn't change the communicated memorandum to the Chinese that the Foreign Secretary wanted to treat Tibet as separate from China as a whole.... or how other powers might then start acting. The anglo-russian accord was in the trash... but there was breathing space there, so the more immediate concern was Manchuria with regards to Japan following Curzon's policy, or the French with regards to Yunnan.

Harding would never say such things were normal. Harding supported the idea of the open door in principle, but what worried the cadre was that even at the beginning there had always been a disagreement between the great powers exactly what was meant by the open door... and Curzon's statement to Peking was worrying. More worrying especially because of exactly what they had become, they had compiled a census of the provinces a census that they had originally prepared to carry out a decade earlier for the old dynasty.

A decade earlier still the cadre not that it had existed as such in 1900 had been a gathering predominantly of young officers who opposed, rejected the old Jeffersonian notions of a provincial, farmer's republic that was as Long had put it was 'safe behind its oceanic walls.' They had been looking for adventure, and a part of voices that had come together to advocate for a more expansive US policy, and the victory in early may had been an affirmation because only an expansive US policy would have insured that they wouldn't languish as lieutenants.

That had been a selfish consideration, but they had all been twenty some things back then. They were older now, more mature now with the adventures of the Philippines behind them, and they'd been here in China for a long time. "I think it would be prudent that we discuss it with Crane's replacement," Which was the problem... they had known that Crane wasn't going to be around forever, and it was all well and good to see a friendly familiar face in the Philippines, and they benefitted from Iseburo being viceroy in all but name on the great lake to the north of themselves. "We got complacent," Hodges admitted after a moment where the heavier set man had glanced around the small room that was crowded with just the six of them favoring his good leg, "We were used to the Legation being stable," So little turn around in Tietsin, and even that hadn't been really accurate... the European war had been an anomaly of course John Jordan and Reinsch would be recalled home and replaced with other men, and there would have been no reason to assume that their replacements would stay on as long... but they had assumed. "So we should talk with the new one, for ever have long the yankee has the post, and Wood in the Philippines."

Bill nodded at the comment, "Phineas has been talking about the railway work in Texas, Edenborn has been busy, and there is talk about a line to Dallas," Whether or not either the Louisianan or the McCulloch family were interested in supporting more rail infrastructure in the Philippines immediately Edenborn could probably be expected to support the founding of schools in the Philippines, agricultural work, and research, and of course efforts to combat disease. That was exactly the idea Powell had for Middle America as well but there would have to be separate commissions ... they had been gone too long from the Philippines to really cement leadership of something like what Powell had underway there, but there was still a lot of work to be done... but that was nothing new.

--
Notes: So first and foremost the computer crash earlier in the summer mulched a couple of the August updates hence rapidly going from July to September as we did, butthis is part of the internetional arc where there is that transitionin the governments of going 'back to normal' on a number of points,and on the British side is Curzon as Foreign Secrectary, Harding hitting the usual US talking points of hte period without actuallycoming out and defining what things like the Open Door actually entailed in the US conception as well as other other policy decisions(and of course there is the naval discussions and other treaty considerations in Washington, there are post war finances, there isthe change of from Wilson to Harding (Harding has only been in office for a handful of months by this point) with Wilson by and large havebeen ignored by the incoming government... which is something that should have otherwise gotten more screen time in the previous updates, but will probably be commented on in the following september updates).

 

[ATP]

So Curzon was cunt in Asia,too.In Europe,he want sell Poland to soviets.Which would lead to soviet Europe,and later England,but idiots in England though like that.
They would toss others to placate monster,and that monster would be nice and do not eat them.

I almost wish that we lost in 1920 and soviet take over,only to see dudes like Curzon in gulag.

 

[Imperator Pax]

So Curzon was cunt in Asia,too.In Europe,he want sell Poland to soviets.Which would lead to soviet Europe,and later England,but idiots in England though like that.
They would toss others to placate monster,and that monster would be nice and do not eat them.

I almost wish that we lost in 1920 and soviet take over,only to see dudes like Curzon in gulag.

Click to shrink...

Curzon from his writings always seemed stuck in the 19th century / pre war political positions and always stuck his foot in his mouth

 

[ATP]

Curzon from his writings always seemed stuck in the 19th century / pre war political positions and always stuck his foot in his mouth

Click to shrink...

Well,it explain his stupidity.he though,that soviets are still russians...germans made the same mistake in Rapallo,when they allied with soviets.

To be honest,they were lucky that Hitler win election in 1933,any democratic leader would made alliance with Sralin in 1939,but do not have guts to backstab him later.
And soviets in 1942 would take entire Europe,and later Africa and Asia.

We could all be in gulags now.or massgraves.

 

[Faralis]

any democratic leader would made alliance with Sralin in 1939

Click to shrink...

Not so sure, up as late as 38, everyone feared the Soviets more than the Nazis, and without Hitler, Stalin would probably blunders in Finland and he could have ended at war with almost all of Europe...

 

[Imperator Pax]

September 1921
Allen recognized there was more to Curzon's high handed comment to Peking than the man probably realized; it didn't take a genius to see the man seemed intent on replaying the great game. Alston at least seemed to realize that as well, if not perhaps to the extent that the man in Tietsin should have given the disquiet the memorandum had caused. Tibet was the frontier of China. The Anglo Russian treaty's becoming defunct was no great loss, but the cadre was cognizant of the 'unequal treaties' as historical artifice ... but equally so, "The situation with the soviets is one thing that Percy at least admits that much is something, but Tibet is part of the frontier, Tibet, and Xinjiang both have a long border with the Szechwanese and on our side there are longstanding tensions with the Hui."

There was a nod of agreement from the rest of the sub comittee.

In the view of history, after the great war historians would write expansively of how it was domestic policy as much as foreign policy for the Cadre of the day. Then, of course the inevitable round debates about what was idealist versus realist policies of government. In the waning summer, early fall of 1921 the cadre wasn't thinking in those terms, they appeared no where within internal memos or the records kept.

What was kept were the changes of security, and the emphasis of internal bureaucracy taking shape. Ma Hongkui's independent brigades had been operating over the border into Szechwan for years, and that had taken its toll on the units and with little really to show for it. That wasn't to say that they had done nothing, but the expense of the command relative to incomes by the Ma clique had a much harder time in 1921 to justify itself as more and more of its responsibilities, and respectability were subsumed by the emerging provincial authorities.

That Hongkui's Gansu brigades had been adopting reforms as they had come in meant he was also having trouble retaining troops, as well as recruiting replacements. Which was why Allen expected the young Ma general would retire from the military and go into a civilian provincial position, whether he would later make a run for the provincial assembly that was debatable but Hongkui was adamant that what he had undertaken had been against bandits.

Anti-bandit raiding had been the accepted policy after all. It was the old accepted policy. Publicists and official historians were rapidly, since the formalization of the provincial constitutions, had shifted to commenting on the policies as continuations of Qing policies. "These are the estimates," And they were the estimates which were what cemented Xian's military leadership against subsidizing the continuation of those raids.

Domestic cultivation of Opium had begun in China during the Song dynasty, even only in small volumes on the southern frontier, a thousand years earlier, but in the last century consumption of the poppy had so expanded that it was not hundreds of thousands out of a population of hundreds of millions... but rather millions of addicts... China had transformed over the course of the Ming, and Qing by the import of new world crops originally brought by the Portuguese that was very much self evident, and that had fed a growth of both cities and bringing more marginal land under cultivation. Opium cultivation in the south, in szechwan in particular provided a massive financial incentive to the half dozen competing petty tyrants. South China was not just producing opium for the massive consuming populace it was now an exporter... and the money from that trade purchased weapons that the Green Gang in Shanghai to support different factions.

"And is precisely these numbers to which state complains in support of Jordan's embargo." Because it was by the opium trade that the bandits and warlords in the south traded with gangsters for foreign guns and that in turn agitated the New Englanders of high society. It didn't matter the details, all the papers and their readers would care about was that it was part of it. It also didn't change the facts that the embargo demonstrated the critical need to have domestic production. "What do you want to do about it?"

"The proposal for military expansion is premature, in so far as we're not there yet." But if not the scare along the border with the soviets then it was the much more realistic concern with Szechwan's fractious rat nests, "Even if it weren't premature the current legislature," The current lower house wasn't prepared to form a bill for spending and preparing to train new divisions which was ultimately what the Patriotic League was advocating in their broadsheets. Broad sheets that they knew Percy was reading, and were probably being read by both sides of the Legation in Tietsin

"They're getting more coherent."

"Yes, which is why we will move forward with the existing plan for more brigades." Waite replied joining the conversation. They had this conversation almost a year earlier and they were just as likely to have it again because of the publicly available minutes of the cadre. A man should know what the public policy of his government was after all, and Yan Xishan was adamant that despite the statutory strength of the National Guard it was within their means to to field a still larger force. The Dujun of Shansi was not wrong, which was a publicly acceded to matter. "Which goes into have men with the requisite experience to command those formations."

Brigades were as they had argued ten months earlier were combined arms formations, which placed young generals in command of specialist formations with significantly different abilities to even rifle divisions. They were independent minded commands and more so than most were commands where high authority was to outline an objective and expect those one stars to figure out how best to accomplish it in support of the broader objective. It was why the 6th​ brigade had been built up to support 3rd​ Division over the past year.

It was very much one thing for staff officers, and men in education to join the general staff to advocate that each Rifle Division, 1st​, 3rd​, and 8th ​should be supported by flying, independent brigades but actually in practice the matter of supporting those was a whole other kettle offish. Talking about each Rifle Division having two or three brigades in theory sounded wonderful except when it came to the logistical bottleneck of each such 'battle group' save when they were operating in the close vicinity of the large rail depots and staging grounds.

Szechwan's roads were abominable and the many internal divisions to the sprawling province meant no local strong man had any reason to try and cooperate with his neighbors to construct such public works given the need for constant alertness.

The argument from both 8th's commanding officer, and others was that that also cut the other way. The benefit of a functional government was that their presence in both eastern Tibet, and the Kansu corridor was such that they could effectively build infrastructure and secure their own zone of control over the region. In a way that the Qing had never been able to do, precisely because of lack of roads and lack of sufficient central authority.

That was another reason for the growing pressure inside political society. The professional officer corp lacked the idealistic optimism of their western counterparts either in the states or in England or in western Europe. Especially not with it being impossible to not have Curzon open mouth insert foot for the public to hear about.

"What are you planning to do?" Allen remarked, turning to the Texan.

Bill shrugged, "Well I've talked to Lee, and in a week or so I'll put out a short tract. It won't be anything fancy, but it'll be focused on the responsibilities of an army officer." A trio of responsibilities the first of which was the organizing, equipping and training of the force, "Then I'll probably as an addendum to that point out that while we have the population base to support a larger army and we could probably even get away with having that half a million men on the basis of pre war armies a lot has changed since 1914." The greatest impediment toa mass expansion of the army would be its supply, and the moving of those supplies because of the lack of horses, which only one part of arguments. Officers on the General Staff, and at Xian's war college had drawn up proposals modelled on the British Expeditionary Force of Six Divisions as the nominal triangle division structure of Xian's existing divisions were based on British models. What they were asking for were Six Rifle Divisions intended for expeditionary warfare. That was the more modest of the proposals as the 'aggressive' wing of the staff college called for at minimum supporting brigades for them. In its most conservative form that expansion suggested 6 Rifle Divisions supported by 5 Brigades ...again likely numbers borrowed whole sale by the staff officers from the BEF model ... to be arranged as a Corp.

That was of course the second principle of the professional officer. That the general staff was committed to the formulation of planning for the army's actions. Xian's war planning was predominated by the notion of fighting the Bolsheviks. It studied Iseburo's defense of Irkutsk, and the fortresses, the red legs were asking for rail deployed heavy cannon. Other officers were not just asking for more radios, and spotter planes, but reissuing calls for an independent air force... whether that had anything to do with the formation of the Royal Australian Air Force was debatable.

The final third principle was the direction of operations in and out of combat, and it was in that the third principle that resistance to many of the above expansionary ideas most expressed themselves. The existing division Rifle and Infantry were geographically located. That had done because while the expansion of the army was to reflect the consensus that posse commitatus had no place in North China, that for the Cadre had to be available and active as a peace time instrument of policy both insecurity terms as well as a part of public safety.

"Which is an argument that everyone accepts." Waite replied, 1st​, 3rd​,and now the 8th​ routinely, particularly during the months of hard rain after the drought had broken, had to operate in and amongst the provincial civilian population. Cadre policies and management of resources had kept famine at bay of course but flood control was organized through the Corp of Engineers who expected the divisions to contribute during emergencies and that included regular professional troops as well as Guardsmen from the Reserves.

 

[ATP]

Fighting bandits seems as good idea to me.Your army need experienced soldiers,and,if they would soviets in future,then fighting bandits should be enough.
Japan - it is another thing,it would be good to avoid war with them.

Rail guns - good,but planes would be even better.Soviets were infamous for shitty air forces,and Japan had good pilots,but their planes were fragile.Just get some light bomber/maybe invent dive bomber early/ , transport-bomber,and fighter.
You do not need more now.

And any german or A-H fighter prototype from 1918 would be still good at least till to 1930.

 

[Imperator Pax]

October 1921
As fall came to north china much of the focus built into business ventures. Kerosene, and coal were to be consumed of course by house holds. They were needed for light and heating and cooking and so forth. Both had been consumed by households long before the Cadre had arrived in Xian, and before they had turned back Bai Lang from the city in the hail of artillery and aimed magazine rifle fire... what had changed though was its consumption after 1914 as the urban character of the city became a center of renewed banking and also industrial work.

It was the industry that facilitated the whole ability to support an army. Spanish silver had flowed into China from the New World since the time of the Ming, Spanish silver coinage, Mexican silver dollars now and since the time of Qianlong had been the currency of choice due to Qing restrictions on Chinese pure silver coinage... and its comparative scarcity. The Mexican silver dollar was and had been ideal for trade... and still was prolifically used.

Xian's central bank held the currency in reserve, but as with Manchuria there were changes as industrialization effected the provinces. The trio of maritime provinces had had their own well planned banking reforms... and now both Xian and Manchuria were well underway to issuing their own paper currency to supersede either the Customs Dollar or the Mexican Silver dollar.

"We're not entirely sure Zhang's actual specie volume but his numbers seem sound," And the paperwork appeared to be in order... it would have so much easier if Zhang Tsolin could have been able to definitively prove he had the ponytail general's specie currency from the bank to which the latter had been the major player behind... but that didn't seem to be the case, "But our own gold reserves are sufficient for our needs." More than sufficient, the train which had originally departed Ekatrinburg and the retreating Czech legions had been loaded with the Tsar's bullion... the Czechs eager to depart the fighting for their newborn country had offered them a portion.

It had never actually gone to a formal cadre vote. The freight cars with the gold had never officially existed on manifest as such. The Cadre had never officially remarked of its intake per se, and its only entry into the official record had been in the lead up to the financial planning commission ahead of the formalization of the provincial constitution under the declared assets. Assets which had of course included the sums paid to industry for war materiel from 1914 hence, just as it included the goods Japan had purchased that were for its civilian markets at home because European goods and American goods could not be readily shipped overseas but could be put upon trains and sent via Korea and across the straits, or from Tietsin or Shanghai to Japanese ports.

The actual decision to implement a domestic currency had been controversial. The only way it had probably survived committee was that local currency had historically been a thing, the history of varied silver currency, historical copper cash, and the use of paper money. Manchuria, and Zhang's reforms had helped clear the last resistance, the remaining hold outs but it had been political hurdles not practical ones that had been in the way. That didn't eliminate the use of the currency dollar, or the Mexican silver dollar those were too ubiquitous in circulation in trade, and they were in no small part because of how the old dynasty had managed their currency.

The map turned to the south, "Sun keeps speaking of using Canton as the springboard of a northern expedition." Waite warned him, reiterating the same warning Cole had made the afternoon previous as part of a different committee, but here Waite was more concerned of the money matter, "Now Chen, and the Cantonese have their own economic development plans, but Sun is a smooth talker."

Jiongming could probably be reasoned with. He wouldn't, or did not seem to be inclined to support any such an expedition. "You'll think he'll pull it off?" Allen questioned. Cullen was certainly concerned that there would be a fight, if not necessarily this year then Sun would do something stupid in the coming one.

"I think Chen could be left be he could do something like us or Zhang are doing, but," But the south was less stable, there was too much uncertainty and too many bandits. "And yeah, I think Sun means to do something stupid, I think he's convinced he has to do it because he's spent so much time talking about it and raising money for it that he has to try and make good on it."

But Canton was far to the south... and while close to Hong Kong, and the river system being what they were it was still far from them. "We will have to watch it, 1st​and 3rd​ divisions will be receiving their magazine rifles," Would be completing the transition over in the new year. It was the primary break with the otherwise excellent idea of 1913 pattern rifle, the decision to go to a detachable magazine. 1st and 3rd and 8th later were regulars and their rifle fire was accurate for it. It was a floor plate change so the reserves would receive rifles with fixed magazines, and from what they understood the missions to the Czechs and Poles alike preferred the increased simplicity of the fixed magazine... so in short they would likely adopt a 'carbine' length 98 version of the 1913 in 8mm Mauser. The Finns seemed like they were going to stick with the old Russian cartridge, but the Poles seemed prepared to make the transition for the cost that the rifle would save them in the long term. "I don't see us needing to push them to Ankang and Zhengzhou at this point."

"Not yet." Waite agreed. "But the truth be told I know we also need to watch the north east, I guess the east in general." He muttered. "A war with Lenin seems inevitable, him and Trotsky, well Trotsky mostly keep talking about this bridge to Germany, world revolution."

"You've been talking to Churchill." It wasn't a question, and the truth was the needed to keep open with the brits "But yeah, I agree. Peace is an imposition of exhaustion or overwhelming force." And while Black Jack had wanted to impose peace by overwhelming force the war in Europe had been peace by exhaustion, and that meant that once they found there feet a continuation was inevitable. He distrusted the bolsheviks more than the new Weimar Germans, but it didn't change the fact that when war came back to Europe it would be with the English speaking world they would trade goods in support.

 

[ATP]

According to what i read,soviets made alliance with germans in 1922,and all german goverments till Hitler tried to made another partition of Poland with them - but,soviets still tried to made revolution there in 1926,and in 1926,when Piłsudzki made his putch in Poland,they belived that it is England work,and that they use united forces of Poland and germany to attack soviets with 120 dyvisions.

Which is bullshit,Poland was in cold war with Germany,end even if we allied,we could gather max 50 divisions then.

So,soviets in those times were really strange - they at the same time allied with germans,planned to conqer them,and feared german attack....

 

[Imperator Pax]

October 1921
The cable from Powell was a report from Washington, not from Middle America... though no doubt the rest of the MAK there had put together their own reports... or were in the process of doing so. Allen though understood that Powell was free to communicate whatever he personally thought, where as the more junior cadre was no doubt in committee trying to determine how best to make good of the situation.

The idea of a central american republic had great appeal in the States, and with the state department's latin america desk. The proposal in September had been to make the honduran town, he'd spent so long in Asia it was too small to call it a city, of Tegucigalpa capital of the proposed reunified republic. Powell believed that the success of reunification of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras could only be a good thing... and likely he must have been confident in the state department's support.

"What do you think?"

"Ultimately what he's asking for is a fresh round of investment." Into Honduras to expand their holdings there," Powell had outlined his thinking that if they could just invest into Honduras as they had done in Guatemala that it would stabilize the country by discouraging rebels from being able to hide in the countryside. That was probably optimistic, though expanding the great trunk would help but more realistic was his recommendation for further arms sales of goods under a proposal for a standard 'CAR' Army... and the railway expansion ideas were all well and good as well. "I expect Powell has the good sense to have learned what we got right, and where we had trouble... and he'll be closer to home."

Allen nodded to the response. That was all probably very true but he could also easily see that being closer to the states ... and the state department would be double edged. He wasn't entirely convinced on how well the three existing independent republics were going to fit back together and reunify either. Not easily anyway.

Powell had made a lot of hay over how small, relative to China, Honduras and even for that matter Guetemala were. Shansi by itself was larger than the three countries all together which amounted to a little under four million people. That was however still a lot of people, and Powell thought that they'd benefit from immigration from Europe and Asia as the manpower flowed in to build and staff new industries much as the States had two generations earlier. That was optimistic, for a number of reasons, but ultimately still boiled down to money.

They had invited them in years ago, but the ability to actually build railways, when the States were subject and still subject to some war time controls had meant that they had already outstripped what United Fruit had been able to construct on their own. That wasn't to say the telegraph and rail lines, and mail services that the banana man's people had been doing at the government's behest hadn't been an important first step, but they had been able to expand upon that and with alacrity do so while attention was elsewhere. The fact that there were now having problems at home on Wall Street or among share holders and competition with other fruit companies... as the average soldier came home with money in his pocket, well...

... well that was hardly cadre business. Powell certainly seemed convinced it shouldn't be an issue... but Powell focused as he was on his own backyard, and his own area of operations, was not looking at China. There was a pause, "There is the other thing, the Pashas are gone now, but the army still is in the same mess." That also probably wasn't the companies business, but Allen let the other man continue, "I think, regardless of what the British, and the States think, that if we accept that this is half time at best, then it would behoove us," And here from across Dawes started to stir, and look at the speaker "that we suggest strongly to who we can not just the adoption of the heavier 200 grain bullet our mausers shoot but the adoption of the simplified M1918," What was just an 8mm version of the Enfield 1914/17 pattern.

It would not be well received by the men in Europe and in England who insisted that peace was here to stay. In Eastern Europe where the Bolsheviks were near by and in the center where things were even more uncertain, especially with so many young governments born out of the war. It was likely to be unpopular with Britain and France because it was the German cartridge, but it was something they could easily manage, and the cartridge was common.

It was unlikely to effect countries with established arms industries or wide ranging holdings. England would go back to the [Lee] Enfield because the army was rapidly shrinking back down, and the lee Enfield did have nice features even if the brits kept their damned dwarf. The cadre, in committee, had even in the face of John Jordan's foolhardy and infuriating arms embargo spoken of how if only England the States would agree to commonly adopt the Government cartridge, 3006, then it would justify the cadre changing over. That had been a minority position but it had still been discussed; such that the MAK had a small minority agreeing.

"And where," Here Dawes paused, "Exactly all would this commission range for?"

"The Czechs, obviously," The unified state of czechoslovakia, "The balkans," Yugoslavia, "The Turks," And at that point the conversation dissolved into an argument for which there was little hope of holding a civil conversation, whatever the original point of the discussion or the logic of so many countries which were now building armies and who would benefit from the economy of scale selling such a singular model of rifle design firing a modern cartridge could entail.


It was so far as such subjects when an issue of realism versus idealism in political theory. There was a logic that called for and recognized the utility of the excellence of the Pattern 1913 and its action, and the ubiquitous commonality of the cartridge coupled with other features ... but then there was the political dimension It didn't matter the confusion of post war arsenals there was also the question of money too, which was the larger practical hurdle to any such things.

Some hours later Dawes sat on one side of the table, "We also don't know who will side with who in the next go round." The prevailing wisdom in Paris, and London was that the Germans and Soviets both were pariahs, but that they wouldn't make common cause. Allen wasn't convinced of that. Black Jack had written that the Germans should have been pursued by force all the way to Berlin and to not to do so meant there would have to be a war, because the Germans hadn't been shown to be defeated in battle. That the only way done would have been to force their unconditional surrender, and in spite of that the French had still dictated peace... that was going to have consequences. "The reichsmark is losing value, that's good for us John, we can pay men like we always have in dollars, or pounds and in truth they'll be plenty who will leave Germany for better lives abroad, Austria too but Lloyd George wants to invite them and the Bolsheviks to the convention next year in Italy."

That had been of course before George the Fifth had been shot and before the outcry, so the Welsh wizard still had the chance to disavow it, but it was equally possible the pressured to return to the gold standard would in addition to the mess made of the continent force the conference forward.

"We will have to wait and see, but Europe is a long way off," He replied, "And Canton, and Sun are much closer, and much more likely to give us a headache sooner." As Jun had reminded him, and was likely to do so again when he returned home this evening. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, I don't think this proposal came out of the aether. The lower house wants to sponsor a bill endorsing the creation of an independent air force."

"Oh really?"

"They have the numbers to support the taxes for it, and also for an expanded fact finding mission to the continent." Dawes continued. "And also we know from Zhang that England and Italy will both flaunt John Jordan's embargo when it comes to aircraft." Allen had already heard as much from Percy, just as Percy had no issue assuring them that Vickers would happily allow them access to tanks. It established, with Zhang being able to purchase them, that John Jordan's embargo with the old man gone would have only a narrow reading of articles effected. "So ironically if we do start selling rifles and such to other countries well..."

"If we get to that point I will write to John Jordan on the cadre's behalf." He replied, "Aircraft mission to the continent, that will be easy to approve... and a standing air force?"

"Cullen circulated a copy of Smutts report that lead to the RAF but they had the advantage of having a larger body of fliers for the war,"

"They were reduced to a tenth of their war time numbers," He replied. Ten years ago in 1914 the idea of having 300 thousand or even just a quarter of a million men under arms in the army would have been a lot... "The current flying apparatus is largely a reconnaissance one, does the lower house understand that?"

"We will have to see."

"What about engine production for this air force, from what I recall the armed forces committee and the road committee in the lower house are all for cars and trucks?"

Dawes glanced at Waite and spread his hands in a plaintive gesture.

 

[ATP]

Thanks for chapter !
1.United fruit company would get state - do not matter,they stolen from indian their land there anyway in OTL.And do not need state for that.

2.There was still Turkey-Greece war then,so:
Weapons for balkans - if they sell more to Turkey,they could win quickly and keep more land.
If they sell more to Greece,they could hold more land,or even destroy Turkey.They almost did it in OTL

Or,you could change notching by giving the same amount of weapons to both sides.Your decision,you could have OTL countries,stronger Greece,or stronger Turkey.Whatever suit you better.

Czech - they had Skods factory,so they do not need your weapons.But Poland in 1920 do not have even rifle factory,si we should buy from your China here.If we buy more,including some good stuff for production in Poland,we could fight better in 1939.
We had ammo for 3-6 months of fighting,but fall after one.

3.Air forces - good idea,but you need constructor.Julius von Berg who made Aviatik/Berg fighters for A-H would be best,becouse his planes were as good as others,but easiest to made.Even in bicycle manufactures.
And you arleady welcomed Otto Hieronymus for making engines,so you do not need another.Well,if dude do not die here in car crash,like in OTL....
When Ferdynand Porshe left in Austria,and could help german lost war like in OTL making useless things for Hitler.

And,you could sell both planes and licence for production to Poland,so we would have some good planes in 1939 to fight longer.