King of Beiyang

"Gentlemen, I have already spoken to His Excellency the Grand Secretary. All graduates from the Military Academy this year and the next two years will be assigned to us. Furthermore, if you know any graduates from previous years who are truly capable, you can also invite them over."

The 1st Marine Division has many battalion commanders, company commanders, and even platoon leaders.

Over the next two weeks, everyone should first get the framework of each unit up and running.

Then, you can go to various places to recruit soldiers.

The Grand Secretary has agreed that we can now recruit soldiers in Zhili, Henan and Shandong provinces.

However, I suggest that you recruit as many respectable young men as possible, as well as the strong and able-bodied among the refugees.

Anyone willing to join the Marine Corps will receive a monthly military salary of five taels of silver. In addition, they will receive a resettlement allowance of twenty taels of silver.

However, physical fitness must be up to standard. At the very least, one cannot have a disability.

Furthermore, anyone who smokes opium will not be accepted!

Li Jingyuan emphasized.

In the Qing Empire at that time, the people were generally impoverished. Therefore, malnutrition was a widespread phenomenon. The vast majority of people looked pale and sickly.

Of course, things weren't much better on the Japanese side either.

However, the Japanese army had already begun Western-style training. At the same time, the army's supplies were guaranteed.

Thanks to long-term training and ample nutrition, the Japanese soldiers, though shorter in stature, were very strong. Coupled with their superior individual combat skills, the Japanese soldiers undoubtedly surpassed most of the Qing Dynasty's soldiers.

But in Li Jingyuan's view, these are things that can be made up for later.

Even if you are a little thin, as long as you strengthen your training and get adequate nutrition, you can still succeed.

After a period of time, it will be able to become strong.

Li Jingyuan has already sent a telegram to Europe, asking them to help purchase grain and meat and transport them by sea.

The Marines will undoubtedly face tough training, but their food rations will be guaranteed.

Over a year or two, the physical condition of these soldiers will definitely undergo a complete transformation.

Even if we were to confront the Japanese head-on, there wouldn't be much of a difference.

Of course, this is also why Li Jingyuan's family and business are so large. Whether it's the Oriental Pharmaceutical Company, the Radio Communication Technology Company, or the armor steel license sold to Krupp, they are all constantly creating wealth for him.

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It was precisely because of this income that Li Jingyuan was able to act with greater freedom.

Otherwise, even with the support of Li Hongzhang, the leader of the Beiyang clique, there wouldn't be enough money to do this!

In order to build a truly elite force, Li Jingyuan naturally couldn't care less about anything else.

In any case, the first priority is to ensure victory in future wars.

Otherwise, no matter how much money there is, it will have to be paid as reparations to the Japanese.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to use the money to expand military strength, so that at least we can fight the Japanese devils when the time comes.

Subsequently, Li Jingyuan distributed the organizational chart of the Marine Corps to everyone.

Everyone was stunned after they understood Li Jingyuan's plan.

In their original expectations, the 1st Marine Division would be a division of just over 10,000 men. European army divisions typically have between 12,000 and 15,000 men.

This is because division-level units were established in just over a decade.

Previously, countries generally used regiments or battalions as their military units, even when deployed in combat.

But to everyone's surprise, the army that Li Jingyuan wanted to build was a division with a total strength of more than 28,500 men.

Such a division, in terms of manpower, is equivalent to two divisions in Europe.

However, no one seemed to mind; on the contrary, they were even more excited.

This means that they can command even more troops.

"Commander, if each company is to be equipped with two Maxim heavy machine guns, wouldn't that mean a battalion would have eight heavy machine guns? A regiment would have 24! Isn't that a bit too extravagant? Even the German Imperial Army didn't have such a high density of firepower!" Wang Shizhen exclaimed.

Despite this, the Maxim heavy machine gun had already demonstrated its terrifying lethality on the battlefield.

A few dozen soldiers of the British Empire, armed with Maxim machine guns, were able to withstand an attack by thousands of African natives.

However, Maxim Nordenfeldt is still making every effort to promote this heavy machine gun to various countries and sell production licenses.

The importance that countries attach to the Maxim heavy machine gun is still far from sufficient.

Li Jingyuan's intention was to directly increase the firepower density of the Beiyang Marine Corps to the highest level!

"I purchased a thousand Maxim heavy machine guns from Ludwig Levey Company, and naturally I wanted to equip the troops with as many heavy machine guns as possible."

Besides, the Japanese we're about to face have been preparing for war for over twenty years.

Putting everything else aside, the Japanese marksmanship alone is extremely accurate. It would be virtually impossible for our soldiers to catch up with the Japanese in a short period of time.

Therefore, increasing the firepower of our troops as much as possible will undoubtedly make us more composed when dealing with the Japanese!

Li Jingyuan answered.

It should be noted that during this period, each infantry regiment of the Japanese army was only equipped with four Hotchkiss or Maxim heavy machine guns.

The main reason is that heavy machine guns consume too many bullets.

The Japanese were poor and simply couldn't afford to use such automatic weapons.

Originally, Li Jingyuan planned to equip each infantry platoon with one. However, the water-cooled heavy machine gun was too heavy, and each heavy machine gun team required a considerable number of people.

Therefore, Li Jingyuan temporarily placed the heavy machine guns in the company-level units.

Once the weight is successfully reduced in the future, or a lighter, air-cooled heavy machine gun is developed, it will be assigned to the infantry platoon level.

"Commander, what are mortars and infantry guns?" Cao Kun asked.

"A mortar is a very lightweight artillery piece that can fire indirect fire. An infantry gun, on the other hand, is a very lightweight artillery piece that can fire directly and has a very high rate of fire," Li Jingyuan explained.

Neither mortars nor infantry guns are particularly difficult to manufacture.

Li Jingyuan planned that after the arsenal was built and put into operation, it would produce 75mm mountain guns and 105mm light howitzers, which were licensed from Krupp.

On the other hand, they organized personnel to develop mortars and infantry guns of various calibers.

Mortars are relatively easy to develop, and in another timeline, they have already begun to appear on the battlefield during the war between the Japanese and the Russians.

Li Jingyuan simply replicated or improved upon it more than ten years in advance.

As for the prototype of the infantry gun, Li Jingyuan planned to imitate the M1916 infantry gun developed by the Gauls during World War I.

This is a lightweight artillery piece with a combat weight of only 108 kg. It can be disassembled into two parts: the gun barrel and the tripod, and is transported by mules and horses.

This artillery piece has a caliber of 37 mm and can fire shells weighing up to half a kilogram. Its maximum rate of fire is 25 to 35 rounds per minute, and its maximum range is 1,500 meters.

Using direct fire, it poses a significant threat to enemy bunkers and machine gun emplacements.

Once the Beiyang Marine Corps was equipped with mortars and infantry guns on a large scale, it was practically armed to the teeth in that era!