Pax's Alternate History Snippet repository.

[Faralis]

very funny to read,how soviet belived in powerfull England plot!

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In paper, the UK was the most powerful empire in the world atm. We know they were almost ruined by WWI, but they didn't. And it's just 3 or 4 years since the brits stopped officially supporting the Whites.

Is an over exaggeration, but they had reasons to distrust the brits.

Weimar was already building "tractors" in the SU, so no idea why they included them in the conspiracy.

 

[Imperator Pax]

That's one that we should be seeing more of is socially English conspiracies were a popular fear of the time because of London / the British empire s hitherto dominant capital financial position

Germany and France both also got hit with this to a lesser extent due to cultural stigma / inertia

 

[ATP]

In paper, the UK was the most powerful empire in the world atm. We know they were almost ruined by WWI, but they didn't. And it's just 3 or 4 years since the brits stopped officially supporting the Whites.

Is an over exaggeration, but they had reasons to distrust the brits.

Weimar was already building "tractors" in the SU, so no idea why they included them in the conspiracy.

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Yes.Book i mentioned was made on soviet intelligence papers which stopped to be secret,and soviets really belived that there is british mastermind which control both Germany and Poland as if they were their puppets.
Which is bullshit - but soviets really belived it.

That's one that we should be seeing more of is socially English conspiracies were a popular fear of the time because of London / the British empire s hitherto dominant capital financial position

Germany and France both also got hit with this to a lesser extent due to cultural stigma / inertia

Click to shrink...

Agree,althought London City arleady was replaced by NY Wall Street as dominant financial position.
Another thing - soviet agent i mentioned should go to China and Tibet next year.Here:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich&ved=2ahUKEwiHiZmomcOIAxXuCRAIHd-0LoQQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0Szlb8RjKiKo9tFovh3nmX

Dude really belived that he could create buddhism which could support soviets,which,of course,was bullshit.
But - you could use his expedition as comic relief.

And most of his paintings are good.

 

[Imperator Pax]

"he's an artist, he paints fine, but boy are his ideas queer." - Young Carter probably.

 

[Imperator Pax]

April 1924
The 10th ​Division of the Army had reached strength on schedule for the summer drill... it was just that the drill the previous year had started a little earlier than originally laid out. Right now they were herewith 1st​. The active portions of the 5th​ were currently on the border with Hupeh, and the 7th​ were with Bill at the lake. It was a fairly typical deployment... at least it was on paper. Typical meant most would mean that the reading would be largely taken in stride.

The reality though was what having the10th​ at strength meant. Percy had reminded him that Xian's triangular divisions were roughly equivalent in size to British ones. Admittedly there were slight differences but by and large it was a close enough thing. "We don't have a navy," Or if he had wanted to be an asshole he could have pointed out the lack of outstanding debt to the United States which was something of a repeated topic of discussion in Europe... but the Brits at least seemed good for the money unlike the French.

"You might one day."

"I respect my neighbors borders as long as they respect mine. I respect their property when they respect mine."

"But you do carry a very large stick," Percy returned borrowing from one of Teddy Roosevelt's stump speech arguments, "You have gunboats now, that is a start."

He bit down at the riposte as Percy scored the point, because that was true, and the expedition had been a thing, "Cole has riverine craft that frankly will need something other than the 1PDRs they were built with," The 1PDR had been on cutters and small navy boats when he'd gotten to the Philippines and even though the Army had taken them to war, and Black Jack had had them in Europe too, they were long in the tooth. The issue had been that Cullen had been in the process of looking at other artillery... the 25mm autocannon had still been in development, the 3 inchers of the regular army had been against his preference and the heavier 122mm with its better high explosive was not ready. The latter had currently the least amount of work put into it, but given time and probably ten years then they'd have something that met his standards, "If any of us will have a navy, it will be Powell, and I wish him all the luck for that endeavor." He'd need it, Allen expected, Navies seemed impossibly expensive things... but then ten years ago he would have thought ten divisions would have been too great a burden financially to support... but then the war in Europe had occurred "So the 10th​?"

"Its not so much the tenth, though their timing could hardly be missed," Percy stated, "Its the question of what goes from here," The englishman remarked. "And I will not deny that Minister Schurman," Always Minister not Doctor from the English bluebloods, but he supposed that the South was not that different in the distinction either... "has also questions. You plan to expand."

"And if we do it will be on a similar time frame, but for the moment we expect no new divisions." He paused, and offered the englishman an out, if he needed one, "Is this about Zhang?"

"In part yes, I understand that whatever complaints exist between Mukden Xian are unlikely to come to blows. And," Percy paused, " to be certain Zhang has ties to America, and similar positive sentiments exist with Japan, even with the passing of Prince Yamagata. Zhang purchases a great deal of materiel."

"From Britain."

"Yes, of course, but Germany and Italy as well. He enjoys the benefit of international trade, which are within the letter of the law," He might protested the Jordan embargo as not being the law but there was little point for as Percy had just outlined for all the griping done about enforcement in the interests of business, and politics the letter of the law rather than Jordan's intentions were the important thing... even the letter was flaunted frequently enough. "Zhang's arsenals, his factories they're productive... and its heavy industry. I don't need to point that out to you of course, but it exasperates the divide with the south, where some of my colleagues in the Foreign Service are already drawing comparisons between Northern Italy and Southern Italy." Which had been something that probably had been bound to happen, but also highlighted the change in opinions voiced by the British diplomats. "But it also brings to mind concerns that China is going to break apart, not just north and south but that the north will splinter unless something is done. The Chinese themselves understand this from their own history spawning that idiom about kingdoms dividing."

Japan been worried about that as well. As had the States. China, her myriad of provinces were densely peopled. It had been hard in the early years for the Cadre to grasp what administering even a 'small' Chinese province entailed... and the devastation of China's civil war in their grandfathers' days when the states had similarly been enjoined in conflict.

Allen stood up, and rifled through a series of papers. All intended for public disclosure all documents for which the cadre planners, and the general staff had furnished to each other, and also to the legislature's lower house, "I cannot speak to that," For the truth was domestic sentiment was complicated... efforts to bring the south back into line had bled the north of treasure and men and more to the point had failed. Yunnan was just the most conspicuous, and every year Manchuria seemed further and further distant from Peking... and xian as well regardless for which the salt gable and other taxes were sent to the beiyang government in the capital. It was the public sentiment of the north which grew disaffected with the idea of a parliament of fools. "Tenth division is up. If we plan to establish further divisions, it will follow something along this model," The public records were clear on the procedure at this point.

Percy understood that, "Yes John Allen, I was here for when the process was begun. Zhang has 27 Brigades now." Twenty seven brigades for the three provinces of Manchuria, which came out to about a brigade per million people, if one only counted army, "and then the air force and his small navy." Thus Zhang Tsolin on paper had 9Divisions under his command, and a sizable air force to represent a wealthy industrialized small country the likes of Manchuria, but there were complicating factors... "But that's the example, isn't it? The planned expansion will be more than two brigades, or two divisions even. You'll lay it out so everyone will know its coming, but that transparency for whatever it wins you with the public, is not as reassuring to people outside Xian as you might think."

and yet, while it was sometimes hard to discern the new president's feelings but Hughes generally seemed favorable to the cadre's influence both here, and Powell's work as head of the MAK. Hughes also was favorably disposed to Britain thus it plausible that a cordon around the soviets was practicable. What Harding's death meant... well the Cadre was not expecting a full break from isolationist talk but Coolidge did not seem likely to extend recognition to the bandits in moscow which was a relief.

 

[ATP]

"he's an artist, he paints fine, but boy are his ideas queer." - Young Carter probably.

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Yup.Buddhist-leninism is queer,no matter how you look at it,becouse dude really tried to sell locals in China and Tibet that Lenin is Maitreia which was supposed to come for buddhists !

That aside - you could buy cheaply some small naval gun for your gunboats from A-H or germany,for example

Škoda 7 cm guns - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Skoda 66mm naval gun,should be enough for river warships.
Here,i found list of most naval guns used :

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_naval_guns_by_caliber&ved=2ahUKEwjw8qyRuY-PAxXJgSoKHeEJJcUQFnoECBQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw05rO2pg8DMZphQjLm4OiYw

You should found something there for your boats !

P.S Roerih claimed,that brits tried to sabotage his expedition,here it could be done by your americans!
By the way - maybe you made Shamballa and Agharta real in your story? Himmler belived in second,and even send at least 3 expedition to Tibet to ally with them! but - it would be before 1939,not in 1924.

 

[Unik]

How hard is administering China, let alone a province? Are the provinces that huge and powerful? Btw how is the Cadre administering their zone of control and how is the logistics of the army at the moment?

 

[Imperator Pax]

How hard is administering China, let alone a province? Are the provinces that huge and powerful? Btw how is the Cadre administering their zone of control and how is the logistics of the army at the moment?

Click to shrink...

The simple answer is railways... and yes the biggest issue with Chinese administration is that in this period is that infrastructure both in material and manpower had been neglected for so long that there were provinces that had degenerated to the point where some counties in Sichuan were fielding local armies in the tens of thousands of troops its not that they're powerful per se its that the lack of effective centralized bureaucracy and infrastructure meant that force projection in most provinces never mind the the post Yuan Shikai Beiyang government in Beijing just lacked the ability to stop seasonal warfare which ussually ended up destroying or at least preventing maintenance on dikes and roadways b/c these provincial armies frequently impressed laborers as baggage carriers for their campaigns.

For the Cadre this is why the railways are so important because it largely obviates the traditional importance of baggage carriers as well as goes into administration since the railways started as a way to carry goods, tax revenue and provide postal services and the rail allows a reliable functionally all weather way to move both in between counties in a province, and in between provinces i.e. between Shansi and Shensi or out west through Gansu, or into Tibet to Lhasa There is also the industrial urbanization component which weakens though not all together eliminates the importance of seasonal work which reinforces centralized leadership [and again all of us are used to both the Post War bureaucratic expansion and also a much more rapid flow of information across the bureaucracy, and public spheres]

 

[Imperator Pax]

1924
His attention lifted from the note as the Texan spoke up, "That from Louie?" He questioned, as Allen recognized he should have been looking at other time tables...mostly for new automotive engines larger more powerful V8 and Edsel's V12. There were a lot of talks going on about such things for combat cars as well as pushing the envelope with the tanks... they had taken the first one over the winter to see what Edsel's engine would do with in a british mark radio carrier.. not that the marks were all that useful for them. Griswold thought the results had been promising in the paper he'd put out. "Well?"

Bill was the only one who called him that, Dickie was what everyone else close enough did. It was hard to fathom that it had been eight years since the first letter they'd received by a then midshipman. A lot had changed in those years, at least in China. Britain too, Louis hadn't needed George the Fifth to catch a bullet in the arm to distrust the Bolsheviks. Of course the Russians were still fighting sporadically with blacks, greens, and the whites. Though admittedly the borders with the latter had stabilized. The conflict in the west had taken priority with the Baltics, and Poland, and the Ukraine. There had been some squabbling too with the Turks, but it didn't seemed to have amounted to much.

It wasn't really their business. "It is," He finally responded before putting it aside, "Just the usual, come visit England, and all that. I've half a mind to send you, and Phillips." Griswold was acting like a bloody menace with his tanks especially with him having received a few more of Edsel's V12 Diesels to play with.

"Yan is a bit worried about Zhang actually doing something." when the summer started.

"What are he and Griswold jousting with their tanks now?" He was only half joking. The big man of Manchuria might not have gone to school, but he liked every new industrial means of war, whether it was armored trains, tanks, or airplanes. He'd been on a big shopping trip to the former Hapsburg lands more than once. Japan was happy to use Manchurian troops to shore up their legitimacy in 'protecting' their de facto gains further north from the Bolsheviks. Yan really didn't like the reds, but also didn't trust Zhang so it wasn't like this w as new, "Really whats the problem?"

"That was my response at first too, but he's right, Zhang does have a lot of guys, and as far as Manchuria is concerned that 'arms embargo' ain't worth shit." Bill replied. "All those Skoda guns he's brought over. His new Mauser." The list went on... and Zhang was a tall fella he could easily control the full power Mauser cartridge.

Oh the Japanese Legation had claimed left right and center that they weren't exporting arms into China, but everyone knew they were lying. It would have been one thing if it had just been Zhang... still would have been a hard sale but there were a lot of Arisakas, and even more Muratas floating around in Shandong, never mind parts south. Absolutely none of that was why Yan distrusted the Japanese. Ironic since Yan still pushed a lot of doctrine inline with Japanese... it was the whole reason the carbines had Enfield like bayonets. Thus why they even bothered still doing bayonet drill... well that and the reality of horse charges still being a thing in this part of the world... and that the Red Cavalry seemed to preen pretty for pictures at least.

"Alright, and?" He asked. Asa member of the cadre it wasn't like Yan couldn't have brought this up... which he probably would. No this was probably him feeling out whatever it was. "What does he want?"

"You really need to ask?"

"I want to hear you say it." He replied.

"Statuorily the Reserves, is authorized to a strength of one hundred thousand men. There are five divisions presently organized." Each of which contained three regiments which entailed two thousand infantry privates who could be called upon. It was an all volunteer force, but it was also part time, like the state militia state side even if in practice the reserve divisions were not strictly territorial guards divisions...the regiments were geographically located by garrison.

"We've talked about standing a division up for Kokonur." Allen replied, but the truth was that they just weren't there yet... not a full 'national guard' division That was about the only thing the committee could agree on. There ostensibly plans for next years new five year plan, but right now those were also still in committee. This whole five year plan thing was ... well this one was mostly about trying to get enough infrastructure to set up to make it possible todo anything at all outside of the existing power bases. "The logistics just aren't there yet. The brigades that exist should be able to support Kansu," The division responsible for, "if they need to do something." There was some lingering animosity with the Tibetans down south that was probably going to flare up. Then again it might not but like with Yan's distrust of Zhang, "We're due for a fight anyway." It was a wonder the fighting on the coast, and Zhili hadn't spilled over given Wu had control of Hanyang.

"Its that too," Bill replied, "But he thinks Wu and Zhang are going to go at it again."

Allen bit a curse down, at the reiteration because "Thats the last thing we need." He muttered in lieu of. Wu was trickier than Zhang, when you got right down to it. Neither had messed with free transit going to coastal ports, but it had always been a precarious thing and tenuous agreements during the last war had always felt as if they'd collapse at any minute. It made people nervous. That wasn't exactly conducive to business... and even though they were far from just businessmen now, they had been closer to those roots in 1922."Alright what then, I shall ask again, does he want for christmas?" Never mind it wasn't even July yet... and never mind still that they'd probably start an avalanche within the cadre over which and what should have priority.

Bill shrugged at the quip. "I don't think there is any heading it off." There had after all been war scares a few times now... the lincheng outrage the year before had probably put pressure on both sides to back down especially as shrill nonsense spewed out from Shanghai... but things had been left to simmer. "our best option is to reassure people that things are stable. We don't have to have a division in kokonur just yet, but the Guard is needed to deal with other problems." The texan was meandering ... wandering around all the points that he'd no doubt have to hit for swinging different members of the Cadre and whose votes would be needed.

In the grand scheme of things... well it was complicated being a legislature, controlling the purse strings for an army made their lives complicated in a way they'd never imagined. "We are obliged to pay for the army,"

"No doubt, and truthfully," Bill helped himself to a glass and the decanter, "most of our fella figure the British statute ... the ideas that if the law says we should have X at a certain strength we ought to be right up on it." He poured, took a breath, "Shit, Hodges being dead makes a mess of things... we let him handle Tibet for so long cause of the war," In Europe, "And now that he's gone... now that the war is over... its a mess out there, and-" And there had been the Foreign Secretary running off at the mouth during Lloyd George's tenure... and even though Curzon was out... "We need to be more involved there."

"I know that." Allen replied, but they didn't have anyone... and Lhasa was one thing. It was majority Han merchants, and it was a commercial center but the surrounding countryside was different. "Peking says we're the legal government," That Tibet officially had a Xian style provincial constitution and had county level bureaucrats in the eastern portion of the country, "but I don't know if Curzon ever thought about it like that... or hell maybe he did, but that would just raise a mess of other questions." Bill raised the glass in agreement. The Government in India similarly had distanced itself from the Simla question as well... they hadn't wanted to wade into the question of exactly how recognition of governments in China was supposed to work... and exactly what 'autonomous states' inside of a suzerain were supposed to be doing... that was probably the smart thing given how it might effect British Imperial Foreign Policy... not just for India but on Canada, and South Africa and the Anzac lot.


It was a detail that couldn't be ignored... despite plenty of people doing that. The British Empire was not monolithic... and even whitehall was no longer just two old parties.
--
Notes: the Liberty Tank ran off a wartime v12 outputting 300 horsepower, the Mark VII really doesn't do much for the cadre its big its heavy so the ones in inventory are mostly test beds for radio carrier / command vehicles / recovery vehicles theyre not being used as 'tanks' but they're also being used to test out more powerful engines even though truthfully at this point in time the Liberty V12 is actually still quite competitive but this will eventually lead to Xian's standard V 12 diesel tank engine and eventually heavy truck engine particularly of the post war years.

 

[ATP]

In 1924 Skoda arleady had new version of their 100mm howitzer,and many other things.Here,Skoda weapons from interwar period,you could choose something for your China :

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Czechoslovakia_interwar_period_weapons&ved=2ahUKEwimo_mn-6qPAxXTHBAIHW3wAzEQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3plXg2_uBbvAZDPoGCsDYp

Especially,if they fall on schedule in 1938 - you could get those weapons cheap.

Speaking about cheap weapon for your China - i read,that german HC Blucher was sunk in 1940 by norwegians using old A-H naval guns they buyed cheaply after WW1.
You could buy some for your shore defense,too.

 

[Imperator Pax]

1924

Two hours after he had left the meeting Allen had taken the inner city train line to his next appointment. The new elecetric inter urban had opened the year before into what had once been part of the Manchu city. Now it was the industrial district, built up by the infl;ux of of money driven by the need for goods to expoirt to the entente. Ironically despite being the city old buddha had run for as the eight nation expedition had marched on Peking, the hui here had been the ones to butcher most of the Manchus. There weren't hardly any original ones left from before the Xinhai revolution. That made Xian's hui different from most... of course that had been before...

A lot had happened. It had been twenty years since Russia and Japan had gotten into it. It'd been nearly ten since Bai Lang had tried to make a run west across the country. He'd raged at the lack of revolutionary sentiment, and lack of republican leanings of the hui... before a sniper's bullet had broken the wolf's jaw.

Bai Lang had dropped in a cloud of blood in a summer heat... some of his men had pulled him clear and broken from the fighting... but they'd been running in foreign country. Allen still wasn't sure which of the cousins had gotten their head chopped off for trophy taking, but it didn't really matter a decade down the road.

There were men from all races in factory coveralls, and the place smell of methyl, and the rest of industrial work from the provinces naptha supplies. The no. 217 plant was up and running at full capacity, or near enough that the difference couldn't be told. It didn't change the fact that the way you got around the country was by railroad. They were building normal highways, but it was easier, faster, and less hassle to ship via rail most of the time.

At the core of the infantry division were three regiments, who's core were three infantry battalions. Several hundred men could really only practically be moved by train quickly, that was just obvious. The roads just weren't up to it, but that might not always be the case. In the mean time there was always exporting synthetic rubber, and plenty of other products of heavy chemical industry. It was not just here of course, Taiyuan had expanded similarly with its ammunition production. in truth he suspected that Yan would have likely tried todo so even if they hadn't been here, but there was something to be said for scale production.

"How are we doing?" He asked easily turning to the staff officer at his right.

"I pushed the notice to senior officers." The men who had the experience to know what to expect, but also hopefully the wisdom to be on their toes for new developments. "Fuel stocks and vehicle readiness will be replied to by monday." He gave the young staff officer a nod. "Should I push recall orders to the men at training?"

"No." No if it came to that Allen would get on a train and up to the camp himself to brief the men there and then bring them back east personally. "Make sure fuel and ammunition is ready if we end up with a fight. Armored Cars had been used during the fighting in Shanghai but that had been brief, one of the lessons that had not been learned there for lack of exposure had been the question of weight.

Ford's trucks were good in their factory layout, but putting additional weight, such up engine-ing them, or increasing weight by the addition of armor put further wear on the suspension. That lead to increased wear and tear on the machines, which lead to breakages. That was why they preferred relying on rail car and flat bed transport to fortified step off points which operated from the conventional wisdom that any head on attack needed overwhelming firepower. On the southern border this was the Bashan defensive cordon that was aimed at blunting any attempt by a Szechwanese warlord from rallying enough manpower to be a danger... but Szechwan remained divided showing no signs that the province would unify any time soon.

On the north china plain maneuver was still staged from fortified posts but had started much later ironically. Zhengzhou facing south with the river looked into problems with the honanese. It was Zhengzhou where they were going to start rolling cars to if things didn't start calming down, which from the angry posturing going over the wires didn't seem too likely.

He took a breath, glanced sideways "The engine." Allen questioned making a point of changing the subject back to the official business at hand.

The Engines in this case were Edsel's V12 diesel, which were mounted for the moment ETS test vehicles. The Racers had settled on the torsion bar for the suspension for overland reliability. "It represents a much more reliable option than the British option," But then the British tank had been operating under war time constraints so that was something, it was a bit ironic that the engine Edsel wanted to power tractors... something old man Ford didn't want had such a robust performance for a war side application... but it was also true that the V12 might actually be too much engine for most tractor work... it was hard to say given the size of most farms, especially after the farm crash when the war had ended, "We don't have enough of them, but we haven't had a problem with coolant," Oil, "Starting them in the cold might be an issue according to one report."

That would be something to watch for he supposed. "Can they be pushed to Zhengzhou?"

"In theory yes, in practice, they've heavy, our biggest concern will be the limitations on w;here we would be able to ford, as bridges could not feasibly support their weight." That was the advantage of up armoring Ford's cars and putting machine guns in turrets was that they were only so so heavy... something built with tracks and with purpose build armor plate massed more.

"Are you in agreement with the consensus?"

"Wheeled vehicles are going to be more practical regardless of suspension, until we can develop and mount a gun," The artillery officer admitted, "in a turret the V 12 does not adequately justify itself where a V 8 would suffice in a wheeled vehicle." The competing protected infantry vehicle using a ford v 8 had a smaller turret but they were still testing the belt fed improved 20mm gun...it wasn't there yet either... and some of that was just ammunition tolerances... they wouldn't be ready for this... chances were if fighting happened in Zhengzhou this summer it wouldn't much different to the Manchu restoration in terms of the armored cars in action.

 

[ATP]

polish light armored cars used during 1920 war ,and made on Ford truck chasis,were too heavy,too,and could be used only on good roads.

And tanks - best design you have is Fiat 3000,but still do not worth mass producing.Wait for Vickers E,improve it like soviets and built something like T.26.
Good enough for everything Japan had in OTL, and till 1940 good for soviets,too.

 

[Imperator Pax]

1924
The rain might have passed, but they were taking full advantage of the soaking it had done the ground to evaluate things. Tires and tracked vehicles both were being watched by junior and senior officers alike. Percy too watched the review with obvious interest, which was a welcome change from breakfast where they had somehow managed to get on the topic of Queen Victoria's death in January of 1901. "The British Army is spread thin across the empire, but I can see how this would be useful."

"Shouldn't have gone and saved the French then." Cole's friend sneered as british 'radio tanks' phoned in to the post.

Percy almost started, and nearly took the baited comment, likely thrown out there since the man had been deep in the Philippine brush when Edward VII had come to the throne, "The Army was spread thin across the Empire before hand," France had made itself very unpopular since the end of the war with the English speaking world, but Percy was right. The British Army of the pre war years had relied on its Indian regiments to police the empire, to give it the manpower to sustain that. Administering an empire that the sun never set upon was expensive business, as was the cost of that army, and of the Navy which safeguarded the seas.

Admittedly those same protections, that same empire, caused plenty to view King George's empire with suspicion much as they had feared London under Victoria when she had ruled.

"You'd dowell to spend money on your army." The man replied turning away from the men at the banks of receivers, "Spend money on training, and modernizing. We'll be killing Bolsheviks at some point." His comment met with nods of agreement from other officers both those who had been at Ekatrinburg to save the Tsar on behalf of the British government and those who had not. "Only reason I reckon the French didn't break outside of Paris, you fools were there to put some steel in their spines, but they did show their yellow bellies eventually." The former cavalry man continued.

Percy sputtered since despite the French reputation for being lacking in Martial Vigor since at least 1870 Percy's upbringing had suggested not airing such in public... especially not in the present company of junior officers... but for southern gentry the implication for cowardice was something to bite down and tear at more or less at any given opportunity... even if it might not have been the right time.

In front of the men was not the right time.

Allen sighed. The man was excellent at scouting and training the men, and he had Cole's proxy vote when he was absent most of the time... but the virginian had a mean streak a mile wide. If he hadn't already had a grudge on France before the mess in North Africa, before the war, the French attitude towards repaying the war debts might have b een a minor grumbling point... but he'd come to China sour on the French and the French legation especially the French Legation in Shanghai had not done his opinion any favors. "No sense arguing about it. We'll keep our watches."

The cavalryman grinned, a gesture his staff agreed with as they stood in their riding boots. For as mean as he could be, the man was well liked by his command. He had been with the defense of Xian in Van force against Bai Lang, and he had sortied from Ba Shan on more than one occasion. His men liked him though it was also well established that he planned to hang up the spurs and retire once the ETS work was done... which most likely meant he'd put this papers in once Xian actually had a cavalry branch.

Most likely so that one of his senior staff might be in the running for the first general of the cavalry as a branch. One of the front runners made a comment about the armament.

The grin turned wider and he leaned towards the railing as the combat cars moved over, past the antennae festooned radio tanks "Thats them, we'll find the bandits, fix them in place let the big army rail them down." He told a captain beside them...probably due to ship for the staff college in the next class. "I can't wait for Griswold to ready those new gun though." Much like gunboats in the Philippines the turrets of the combat cars mounted the venerable 1PDRs. They were reliable guns, they rarely jammed even if they were a bit anemic... and they had a lot of them, but the change over was going to have to come sooner rather than later now... they had probably waited too long... but Griswold promised that the simplification of the improved bekker gun with its simplified breach block and other adjustments to the cutting and milling would result in a reliable gun with far fewer parts and thus cheaper.

"These are the ones with the new suspensions then?"

"Thats right." The Virginian drawled. "Should see them go out over the mud, they do well. I may miss riding a horse in the field, but I like cars as a replacement. That V 8 is good. The racers have done a fine job with the work." He continued grandly. "I look forward very much to our work this summer," Exercises in Kansu he meant the ones well away from the public eye for the public would not see cavalry just yet... though it was also possible he had real action in mind as well.

That was the consensus across the cadre, and across the General Staff. Ford's trucks in factory condition had been good in that condition and the adding of stuff had shown vulnerabilities. The additional weight strained the original suspension... the torsions bars first designed for racing cars had proven the answer for reinforced off road action.

Percy nodded at the answer. "And the radios."

The virginian scowled at the truth, and Percy deserved a point awarded for it "Just the lead car of a platoon." He replied, "We don't have enough radios and frankly the ones we do have have other limitations." It was the sort of thing that would eventually get worked out but for the time being it was a reality They were not quite so bad as to be playing with stand ins. All of the vehicles in this ETS unit were actually armored and carried live weapons... it was just production of radios was such that there was a bottleneck. "In a few years, this one," He indicated one of his majors, "Will have radios in all his cars capable of relaying aircraft and artillery onto targets but we're not there yet."

Percy started a little at the declaration especially out front of junior officers.

"We will eventually field cavalry brigades- divisions even." Waite commented, "though I'm not quite sure how we'll structure them until we're further along." There were weapons on this review that they could not yet test. Waite had initially liked Bobby Mitchel's idea of a large single inertia guided missile that the Signals Corp in the states had been testing but it just didn't have the accuracy and it was expensive given its motor. If they hit they were amazing but for the sort of fighting being done it was too expensive and not accurate enough.

His solution was to return to the bombardment launchers and apply some of the lessons learned with mortar bomb fuselage construction. There was still something of an accuracy issue, but they were cheap, and the chemical industry produced a potent fuel for the rocket engines that Waite thought had good potential... but Waite wanted trucks for them and he would have to wait for that before he could truly test more than a battery or so at a time.

That lesson was largely true for here. They needed radios put in operating units, and that limited the number which could be mounted in experimental sections. He wondered if Percy understood that distinction or if the cavalryman persnickety orneriness had caught him off guard today.

The Combat Cars with their torsion bar suspension squealed through the mud, their engines driving them through it, splashing all the way. They moved not as quick as they would have over hard flat terrain but quick enough to outpace ponies at gallop... and their turrets as they moved towards sent tracing red streaks towards straw and stick building targets.

The 1PDRs were little different than the ones used at ekatrinburg but were on much newer better trucks, and more importantly the squadron moving was information in much significant numbers. "What do you make of it? Too many, or too few cars?"

"I like five as a number sir." The virginian answered, "Commander has his radio and is in a position to form a base of fire and direct with his brothers. As I said, I will be grateful when Griswold has the new guns." The one pounders had given good service for the decades they had been in but they were a weapon of the previous century and one now anemic to the needs, but they made do with them until a replacement was ready even if the Virginian was hardly the only one chomping at the bit for the arsenals to build more of theautocannons that were improvements of Bekker... but part of thatchange over was that the bekker gun just kept being modified, and now simplified in the process since they finally had settled on a lengthened cartridge; just over seven inches.

--
Notes: It shouldbe noted that the French reputation for cowardice in the Englishspeaking world is old, it was a cliche in the 19th​century, and probably has its roots in English middle aged folk loreto some degree or another, but it does appear in English and Americanpapers in the 1800s. Now that being said the French reputation forsurrender at the drop of a hat does largely stim from World War 2,but English speaking accusations of French cowardice and duplicity iscommon place to the point that both American and British commentators on the Franco Prussian war at the time largely agreed that the Frenchwere too emotional and lost their nerve and this was ascribed to theFrench being cowardly and effiminate. [It certainly doesn't help thatBritain was at the time latched onto the Martial Race theory, and bagging on France was popular at home] These accusations had alsobeen rendered before, as well as would be again regarding French behavior in China as well as during the war scares particularly over Egypt and in North Africa with the various jingoistic papers.

By the 1920s,flat out these kind of attitudes due to both French tariffs and thedefault on war debts these atitudes became exceedingly acrimonious invarious British and American circles... and by this point the Frenchlegation was already providing political protection for the youngchinese communist party in Shanghai much as it had done with the anarchists before this... which is another issue. That was not to saythat there were not francophiles in the English speaking world, thereabsolutely were, but for much of the 19th​ century Francewas to use the term of the day 'the racial enemy' of English speakingnations, that included the United States who remained very sore overthe French invasion of Mexico as well as French prescence in the newworld.

If not forKaiser Wilhelm being needlessly antagonistic a war between Franceagainst either the British Empire or the US was very probable indeedFrance had considered going to war against Japan on Russia's behalfwhich would have triggered the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and likewise,the dogger bank incident could well have brought England into the waragainst Russia (thus bringing France in to war under the terms of itsalliance). Ironically had this happened this would well have headedoff much of the anglo-german naval race (though it also probablywould insured Wilhelm would do something stupid and unintentionally antagonistic to England such as demand French colonies africa or asiaor something likewise stupid potentially putting Germany and Englandinto the possibility of a future conflict) as the price for'mediating a peace treaty' or some such nonsense that only Wilhelm would think was a good idea.