The carriage in which Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun rode was made by the Tianjin Vehicle Factory, which was established just a month ago, and was a two-frame carriage for both passengers and goods. The total length of the www.biquge.info is 3.15 meters, the width is 1.35 meters, the roof height is 2.45 meters, the diameter of the front wheels is 0.65 meters, and the diameter of the rear wheels is 8.35 meters.

The front half of the carriage is a fully enclosed structure with a row of double seats, and the doors and front and rear baffles are covered with glass to protect from the wind and rain, and the rear half of the carriage is unroofed, with the baffles on three sides that can be removed to load goods. Of course, it can also be used to pretend to be a person if necessary.

Because of the moderate size of this type of carriage and the fact that it carried people and goods, it was quite popular with the army, and it was equipped with 20 vehicles, and another 30 were customized in the Tianjin Vehicle Factory. This time, it was not only to send two people to Dagukou, but also to transport a batch of goods to Dagukou.

However, although it is called a horse-drawn carriage, it is now drawn by mules and donkeys, not horses. Because of the limited number of horses in the traverser, they can only use donkeys and mules to pull the carts, which looks very incongruous. However, the carriage is equipped with a suspension system, and the road is very smooth, Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun sit in the carriage, which is very stable.

After nearly two hours of driving, the carriage arrived at the gate of the Dagukou Naval Base, where Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun got off and took off their luggage, while the carriage drove to the place of delivery.

Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun showed their documents and the orders of the Military Commission to the doorman. The Dagukou Naval Base received a notice from the Central Military Commission yesterday, knowing that the company commander and deputy company commander of the cavalry company had officially taken up their posts today, and that the guards had received orders early in the morning, and when they saw them arriving, they immediately notified the base and sent people out to pick them up.

After a short time, I saw an officer striding from the base to the door, saw the two of them, saluted, and said, "Are you two Company Commander Cheng and Company Commander Zhao?"

The two nodded, saluted back, and each announced their names. The officer listened and said, "My name is Zhu Kai, and I am the battalion commander of the shore-based guard battalion of the Dagukou Naval Base, and I am now in charge of the daily training of the cavalry company. ”

Originally, Zhu Kai was a team leader of the guns department of the Taihu warship, but now the Taihu ship is basically in a semi-retired state, and most of the officers and men on the ship have been transferred to other posts. However, handing over the shore base of the navy to the army guards is not only very inconvenient in terms of mobilization, but also the navy will not be able to get by in terms of face.

Although the current KPA has more troops than the navy, it is in a subordinate position, and the main combat strength of the KPA is still the navy, and the shore base is also a part of the navy, so naturally it cannot be defended by the army. Fortunately, the navy now has a lot of people, and it is completely possible to set up a shore-based guard battalion with a number of 600 people to be responsible for shore-based security work, so after Zhu Kai came down from the Taihu ship, he was appointed as the battalion commander of the shore-based guard battalion. The soldiers of the cavalry are temporarily training with the navy, so they are naturally under the control of Zhu Kai.

Because they are all traversers, and Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun were also soldiers, so after the three exchanged names and surnames, they quickly became acquainted, Zhu Kai said: "Company Commander Cheng and Company Commander Zhao welcome your arrival, you are all people from the cavalry, after coming, the training of the cavalry can finally be on the right track, I really didn't expect that we still have cavalry soldiers in us." ”

Cheng Yajie apologized and said: "Where, where, we were all veterans from the army, but this time we are re-demobilized, Battalion Commander Zhu has trained them for more than two months, and there are still many places to learn from Battalion Commander Zhu." ”

Zhu Kai laughed and said: "You praise me too much, I don't know anything about the cavalry, I don't even know how to ride a horse, I tried to ride twice, and I was thrown by a horse once, and then I didn't dare to ride again, so if I want to lead a good cavalry company, I have to rely on professionals like you." This is not the place to talk, I'll take you to the dormitory first, and put your luggage down first. ”

So Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun picked up their luggage and followed Zhu Kai to the depths of the base. While walking, Cheng Yajie asked: "Battalion Commander Zhu, how is the situation of the cavalry company now, how many people, how many horses, and how is it organized?"

Zhu Kai said: "Now there are a total of 112 people in the cavalry company, 146 horses, and at the most, there are 158 horses, and in the past two months, 12 have died before and after. ”

Zhao Lijun said: "12 horses have died in more than two months, this mortality rate is a little high, could it be some horse plague." ”

Cheng Yajie said: "Probably not, if it is horse plague, then it is not only 12 horses that died, but pieces of death, maybe it is a disease of the base, or it may not be a disease, it is other reasons, I haven't seen a horse, it's hard to say anything." ”

Zhu Kai said: "I also know that it is not normal to die so many horses, but I am a navy, I don't know how to raise horses at all, and there is no veterinarian in the base, and the matter of raising horses is handed over to the cavalry company to do it themselves, I only see that they feed the horses every day, and also clean the stables, but how to feed the horses, we don't know." As for the current establishment of the cavalry company, for the time being, they are only divided into four squads, each with a captain who is responsible for managing the whole team, and they are not organized according to squad platoons, and we do not know whether the cavalry is organized in this way. ”

Zhao Lijun said: "Where did the soldiers of the cavalry company come from?"

Zhu Kai said: "Of course, they are recruited from army soldiers, as long as they can ride horses." However, I have read the archives of the cavalry, most of them used to be landlords and relatives of large families, and some people were originally landlords and large families, a few were originally Qing soldiers, and more than a dozen did the Boxers. ”

Zhao Lijun said: "This is so messy, and most of them are landlords." ”

Zhu Kai said: "There is no way to do this, horses in this era are not as popular as cars in the old time and space? Ordinary people, who can afford to raise horses? Only the landlord and the old rich can afford to raise horses? And none of us can ride horses, so we can only choose warriors who can ride horses. ”

Cheng Yajie asked again: "Then how is the training of the cavalry arranged?"

Zhu Kai said: "The basic training in ordinary times is naturally with the shore-based guards, and I am in charge of it, but the equestrian training can only be taken care of by the captains of each team. ”

The three of them walked while talking, and after about ten minutes, they came to the officer's dormitory, each of them had a single room, the room was not small, but there was no bathroom, so they could only go to the public bathroom. It turns out that the Dagukou Naval Base is the former Dagukou Barracks, and the houses used are all the houses of the original barracks, and the original structure is like this, and the public toilets are later renovated and added. But it's not an insurmountable obstacle.

The two put down their luggage, and Zhu Kai said: "You come from afar, just rest first, this morning the cavalry company and the shore-based guard team will train together, and when it comes to twelve o'clock in a while, I will take you to the canteen to eat, you have a special officer canteen, and you will have a meal card." In the afternoon, we will arrange for you to meet with the cavalry company officially. ”

Cheng Yajie said: "Battalion Commander Zhu, we are not tired, take this opportunity, can you take us to the stable to see, what is the reason why the mortality rate of war horses is so high, if it is really a disease, we must find a way as soon as possible." ”

Zhao Lijun also said: "Yes, I also want to see how the quality of these war horses is?"

Seeing that both of them said this, Zhu Kai was not easy to refuse, and he also admired the work attitude of the two in his heart, this is the person who did the work, so he said: "Okay, even if you all want to go to the stable, then I will lead you there." ”

After finishing speaking, Zhu Kai left the dormitory with the two and came to the stable. Originally, there was a stable in the Dagukou military camp, and the facilities were very complete, and there was also a racetrack the size of half a football field, so after the army captured the war horses, they were all kept in the naval base.

At this time, there were only a few staff guards in the stable, and when they saw that Zhu Kai brought someone here, he immediately opened the door of the stable and let the three people in.

The stable of the barracks is a long structure, enter the stable from the main entrance, there is a row of horse pens on the left and right, about 3 meters apart, all of them are made of wooden fence structure, about 1 meter high, about every 10 meters or so, there is a wooden fence separated, forming a horse pen one by one, there are 4-5 horses in each horse pen, the direction of the horse head is towards the main entrance walkway, and there is a row of food troughs, which put some forage and water. The horsetail faces the wall, and there is also a passage and a door on the horse pen for the horse to enter and exit. Because there are not many horses now, they only occupy half of the stalls, and in the other pen, there are some donkeys, mules, cattle and other livestock.

After the three of them entered the stable, they immediately aroused the reaction of horses, cows, donkeys, mules and other livestock, and all kinds of screams, and Cheng Yajie and Zhao Lijun left Zhu Kai, came to the stable, and took a closer look at each horse. Pat the horse's head, pull the horse's ears, and sometimes pull the horse's mouth open to see the horse's teeth. At the same time, he also looked at the feed in the manger, and grabbed a few handfuls of feed to feed the horse, Zhao Lijun also reached out and dipped it in the manger, and put it in his mouth to compensate. And exchanged glances from time to time, whispered conversations, Zhu Kai faintly only heard: "How to do this", "This can't work", "It's a pity", "It's okay, there is a way", "It's only like this", "What else do you want" and other words.

After looking at the horses, the two also asked some questions to the staff guarding the stables, and then walked out of the stables with Zhu Kai.