Chapter 3576
Shi Chengwu was transferred from Hangzhou to Nanjing to take over the local defense after Haihan signed the armistice agreement with Ming Dynasty in July last year. It has been almost a year now.
Although there were no major combat operations in the Nanjing direction during Shi Chengwu's tenure, the position of "garrison commander" was not a sinecure, and there were indeed many matters that required his care.
Shi Chengwu said: "My biggest realization is that taking charge of local military affairs is much more complicated than just leading troops to fight in the past."
For Haihan, Nanjing was not only an important town in East China, but also a frontline fortress in the stalemate between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty. The west bank of the Yangtze River, just across the river from Nanjing, is still an area controlled by the Ming Dynasty. Although the two countries have signed an armistice agreement, both sides have been fighting for so many years. They both understand that this is only a phased armistice. When one of the parties completes it, Prepare for war, and the war will surely reignite again.
If the Ming Dynasty wanted to regain the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it had to regain Nanjing before it could send its troops to the various state capitals in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River; and if Haihan wanted to advance to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, he also needed to use Nanjing as his base camp to launch an offensive.
Nanjing, a big city on the Yangtze River, is most likely the starting point of the next stage of the war.
Therefore, the mission of Shi Chengwu, the garrison commander, must be inseparable from war preparations. Not only must the garrison troops maintain their due combat effectiveness, but they must also advance various war preparations.
These war preparations cannot be completed by garrison troops alone. In particular, the preparation, storage, and transportation of various military supplies must rely on the coordination and coordination of local governments.
Shi Chengwu was not the leader of the military and political affairs in Nanjing, so he did not have the power to issue orders on local government affairs. He could only achieve his goal by enlisting the assistance of the consul Tao Hongfang.
However, as the governor of Nanjing, Tao Hongfang's preparations for war were definitely not his first priority. At the very least, they had to be placed behind people's livelihood. After all, that was the main criterion for the Executive Committee to measure his political performance.
Therefore, there will of course be certain differences in the understanding and level of investment between the two people in preparing for war, and some disagreements will inevitably arise.
For example, last autumn, Shi Chengwu hoped to transfer the new rice collected by the government into reserve military grain and hand it over to the garrison troops for processing. However, Tao Hongfang believed that the tens of thousands of refugees outside Nanjing who were in urgent need of assistance needed this food more, and the government's food reserves were already seriously insufficient, so they eventually used the new food as relief food.
Originally, many military camps of the Ming Army inside and outside Nanjing had been taken over by the garrison. However, in order to resettle the refugees, Tao Hongfang asked the garrison to vacate most of the barracks. As a result, the garrison had to live in several more camps. Moon tent.
As for the arrangements for the garrison troops to be dispatched to rescue the people and participate in infrastructure projects, there were countless arrangements. Sometimes Shi Chengwu felt that his troops were being used as free labor by Tao Hongfang.
Measures such as this requiring garrison troops to make way for people's livelihood have indeed taken place a lot this year, but afterwards the local people only credited Tao Hongfang, the parent official, with no actual benefits for Shi Chengwu. .
Moreover, as time went by, various war preparations would be affected to some extent, and the progress expected by Shi Chengwu was not achieved.
Although Shi Chengwu did not express dissatisfaction with this, his cooperation was definitely not willing, and he still had some resentment in his heart. Shi Diwen patiently listened to his son's story and asked in a deep voice: "So you think that preparations for war have been hindered because the local government did not cooperate with your needs?"
Shi Chengwu said: "That's not to say that. It's just that Ha'er feels that if the officials in charge of Nanjing can cooperate with Ha'er more tacitly, perhaps the progress of war preparations will be much better than the current situation."
Shi Diwen said: "As far as I know, Tao Hongfang has an excellent reputation as a leader in Nanjing. Even if you feel that he is not in tune, the executive committee will probably not transfer him."
Tao Hongfang came to Nanjing to serve as consul, which was originally arranged by his father Tao Donglai. As long as Tao Hongfang did not make any big mistakes in Nanjing, no one would be able to shake his official position. What's more, Tao Hongfang has a good official reputation after taking office and has successively achieved some outstanding political achievements. The Executive Committee will definitely not Because of the minor differences in governance concepts between him and Shi Chengwu, he began to replace Nanjing's governor candidates.
Shi Diwen continued: "In the first year of occupying Nanjing, ensuring local stability was the top priority. This was the tone set by the Executive Committee, so policy measures need to be tilted towards people's livelihood. Now the situation in Nanjing has basically stabilized , I will talk to Tao Dong to see if Tao Hongfang’s governing style can be adjusted.”
"But you have to remember that you and Tao Hongfang are ruling partners, not rivals. Don't have any thoughts of a winner. I already said this once when you took office last year. I hope you will keep it in mind. In my heart!”
Shi Chengwu didn't dare to say anything more and agreed respectfully, knowing in his heart that if his father came forward to talk to Tao Donglai, it would probably have immediate results, so he felt a lot more relaxed.
After saying this, Shi Diwen asked him again: "During your stay in Nanjing, did you pay attention to the changes in the situation at home and abroad? Let me know if you have any insights."
Ishiro Takedo: "My son has always been very concerned about the war that his father was running in Japan. Unfortunately, he was too busy to go to Japan to observe and learn."
Shi Diwen said: "The events in Japan have detailed records before and after. I will send them to you to study slowly in the future. As for the war there, it is not of much value to observe. The scale and intensity are far less than what we had with Ming Dynasty last year." The battle between armies.”
Shi Chengwudao: "With Japan in chaos, our country will no longer be threatened in the East China Sea. From now on, our East China Sea Region will be able to concentrate resources and specialize in the Ming Dynasty. However, several overseas regions have made big moves this year. I don't know if it will affect future distribution. Give us military resources.”
Shi Diwen said: "Today's executive committee meeting also talked about this matter. The final decision must give priority to overseas operations. In terms of resource allocation and financial budget, we must first take into account the needs of overseas regional military operations, and internal ones. The impact is probably inevitable.”
Shi Chengwu hurriedly asked: "What about Nanjing?"
Shi Diwen said: "The intuitive impact is that the distribution of military expenditures and the supply of combat readiness materials this year and next may be reduced to varying degrees. This will continue until the overseas military operations come to an end, or until the financial solution is reached The issue of funding sources for the military budget”
Shi Chengwu Dao: "Does father have a way to solve the problem?"
Shi Diwen said: "Finance, military industry, and logistics are not the areas I am in charge of. How can we crack it? Unless the executive committee changes its mind and concentrates its efforts on solving the Ming Dynasty first. But judging from the current situation, This matter is not urgent and is not enough for the Executive Committee to make major changes to the current strategy.”