While constantly expanding the number of troops, Yan Xishan has also made unremitting efforts to improve the quality of his troops and enhance the combat effectiveness of their troops, and has also painstakingly managed and developed military industry. The history of the Taiyuan Arsenal shows that as early as the 1920s, Yan Xishan was keenly aware of the need for military modernization and decided to make his own weapons.
Yan Xishan's experience of staying in Japan made him deeply appreciate the important role of weapons in enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army. In China during the Republic of China period, most of the weapons of various warlords were imported, and their dependence on foreign countries was very strong. Shanxi's geographical location is remote, located inland, surrounded by high mountains, and the external traffic is inconvenient and relatively closed.
In September 1912, Sun Yat-sen toured the Jin Dynasty, and when he learned about Shanxi's resource advantages, he had the foresight to propose, "Set up a steel mill in Shanxi, manufacture the latest weapons, and develop an independent military industry for the purpose of expanding the armaments throughout the country." "This played a very good guiding role in the economic development of Shanxi later, and steelmaking plants, arsenals, and large coal mines were established one after another." After Yan Xishan took over the military and political power in Shanxi, in order to consolidate his rule and reorganize his armaments, he made up his mind to establish his own arms manufacturing industry from 1917.
First, raise a large amount of funds to support military and political expenses
Since Yan Xishan grasped the military and political power in Shanxi, he adopted a series of measures in the political, economic, military, and cultural fields to consolidate his rule, and all of this needed corresponding financial support. But at that time, Shanxi's finances were extremely poor and weak. In order to solve this fundamental problem, Yan Xishan successively set up the Great Han Bank, the Shanxi Guanqian Bureau, the Jinsheng Bank, the Tongyuan Bureau, and the Machinery Bureau.
In 1918, the establishment of the Copper Yuan Bureau laid the material foundation for the development of Shanxi's military industry. In 1919, the Bank of Shanxi Province was formally established, and the real Jin banknote began to be produced. The purpose of Yan Xishan's establishment of the Bank of Shanxi Province was to raise a large amount of funds to support military and political expenses and develop his economic strength, and he continued to set up branches, operate real estate, and invest in industry.
With the backing of the provincial government and the provincial finances, the Shanxi Provincial Bank quickly accumulated sufficient economic strength for Yan Xishan; the soaring revenue of the provincial treasury made the tense situation of Shanxi's military and political expenditure fundamentally improved. At the same time, bureaucratic capital enterprises also continued to emerge, and by 1930 there were 21 actual enterprises in Shanxi Province, and Yan Xishan personally ran many private enterprises.
Qiu Zengyi, former director of the Shanxi Department of Finance and Finance, said in his memoirs: "Since 1913... In terms of expenditure, the army expenditure is the largest, the internal affairs expenses are second, the judicial and financial expenses are second, and the rest are education, agricultural and commercial expenses, and so on."
Yan Xishan racked his brains to raise funds to make him more capable of expanding his army and expanding the scale of arms production. After the Central Plains War, an important reason for the total collapse of Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army was the lack of strong economic support, and the fundamental reason why the Jin clique was able to dominate the Three Jins for a long time was that it could support political, military, and cultural development for a long time, especially in terms of energy and transportation. Before the Central Plains War, Shanxi's industrial construction was mainly focused on military industry.
Second, the military industry has gradually grown
Before the Xinhai Revolution, there was only one Shanxi Machinery Bureau that mainly repaired firearms and made primary firearms. Since Yan Xishan took the political power of the general in his hands, the repair center developed rapidly with the attention of Yan Xishan and the continuous expansion of the Jin army.
At that time, Hanyang Arsenal and Shenyang Arsenal were already quite large-scale. In early 1920, after the merger of the armament repair institute and the Copper Yuan Bureau, Yan Xishan's military industry took shape, and then named it "Shanxi Military Industrial Practice Factory", which achieved a qualitative leap in a few years and developed rapidly. Under the jurisdiction of the aircraft factory that can imitate aircraft, and at the same time vigorously build the Yucai Ironmaking Factory and the Yucai Machine Factory, specially providing raw materials and basic equipment for its arms industry, Shanxi Gunpowder Factory was established in the same year.
At this point, the jin sui army's military industrial scale system was generally complete, the number of employees increased to more than 11,000, the number of equipment increased to 2,300, and the monthly output of more than 10 artillery, 900 submachine guns, 30 machine guns, and more than 30,000 bombs.
After continuous development, Yan Xishan's military industry has greatly increased in the variety and quantity of products, and the technical level has also made marked progress and development.
From 1928 to 1930, before the Central Plains War, the monthly output of Taiyuan Arsenal was: 35 light and heavy artillery, 100 mortars, 3,000 rifles, 15 machine guns, 900 submachine guns, 15,000 shells, 9,000 mortar shells, and 4.2 million bullets.
It was thus found that the weapons and equipment of the Jin Sui Army were outstanding among the warlord factions, and their munitions were continuously replenished. With these advanced weapons and equipment, the strength of the Jin Sui Army developed rapidly, and some warlords also came to purchase weapons.
In the history of the Republic of China, there were three major arsenals, namely taiyuan arsenal, Shenyang arsenal and Hanyang arsenal. Although the Taiyuan Arsenal was built the latest, it is a leader in both modernization and scale, and its leading level continued until the eve of the founding of New China.
It can be said that the reason why Yan Xishan has made a storm and responded to a hundred responses, and why Chiang Kai-shek and others are afraid of three points, is because of the strong military industry as a strong guarantee. The warlords and powerful factions that once went hand in hand with them, some flaunted their might and power for a while, and some were taken under chiang kai-shek's command, and the fatal reason was the lack of an independent military industrial system.
From 1917 to 1927, Yan Xishan expanded his army several times, and the number of his Jin Sui army had reached 150,000. In order to ensure the supply of guns and ammunition and other materials for the troops, he further expanded his military career, and in 1927 he changed the "Shanxi Military Craft Practice Factory" to the "Taiyuan Arsenal", and in the four years until the outbreak of the Central Plains War in 1930, it can be said that it was the peak period of the development of Yan Xishan's military industry.