"Brother Di Sun, I haven't seen you for a long time" A fat man with a turmeric face gave his hand, if it weren't for the gray-skinned military uniform on his body, he would be a rich man in Shanxi if he put on a Shu brocade robe. "What kind of team is this, why are you dressed like this?"

"Brother Nanyan, don't you know, this is the Chamber of Commerce."

"You mean the New Army?"

"Who else are they?" This fellow, known as Di Sun, was an assistant staff officer in the third town, and he did not belong to the same town as the businessman-like quartermaster, but because they were both from Henan, it was not surprising that they were familiar with each other in the Daqing Army, where the township party was rampant. "Whose new army is willing to equip the big soldiers with two guns, one long and one short, and then look at the spear, ten percent of the new German Mauser, the cannons are all more than seven and five heavy artillery, and the number of Makqin is too much to count. If it weren't for guarding the golden mountain of the Shandong Chamber of Commerce, their Wuyi New Army might be a regimental exercise, and if they could mix up this belongings, they would be able to kill him. ”

"What Brother Di Sun said is very true, I think that I have tens of thousands of tigers in Beiyang, and I have been on the battlefield for more than ten years, and I have not tasted a single defeat. The court did not give a penny of silver more. Brother Nan Yan shook his head and sighed as he spoke, looking like he had no way to serve the country, "A bunch of silverfish who forget their righteousness for profit and righteousness actually raise such a luxurious team, it is simply a discipline." You see, we are all the commanders of one side, and they are just cotton uniforms of forty yarns of Indian cotton, and these young master soldiers are all British tweed jackets, and they have all caught up with his mother's queen lobster soldiers. Is this what raising soldiers looks like? It's just a waste of money. ”

"Brother Nanyan is observant, and the younger brother admires it."

"Where, brother, my family used to have some silk and satin cloth business in the capital." Brother Nanyan changed his righteous indignation just now, and his face became vivid, "I don't know what kind of character this quartermaster of the Wuyi New Army is, such a gold and silver mountain is spent, and this is not enough to earn a family business that has been used for three generations." ”

This envious quartermaster is in the house of Hejian Mansion, and the officers below the battalion level must be stationed with the troops, but officers at the town standard level like Xiao Mingfeng, He Dazhuang, and Xu Shuzheng will inevitably welcome the communication they are sent to, so it is naturally inconvenient to live in a tent in the field. No, the quartermaster was renting a silk merchant's mansion with the help of a local merchant as a temporary residence for Xiao Daguan's people, completely unaware that the two Beiyang generals on the opposite side of the Kuixing Pavilion were holding binoculars and watching their movements in a grand manner.

"Brother Zhongshan, have you ever seen the swagger of these township groups today?" Wang Yingkai turned his head to the bald fat man next to him and said, "These grandsons are all dressed like foreign devil soldiers, aren't they deliberately sneering us?" Isn't it just that the Chamber of Commerce piles up millions of taels of silver every year, by the way, could it be that Wu Chenxuan has something to do with the British, and this gang of Ziwuyi New Army will not be privately adopted by the British, right? ”

"Brother Wang, what do you think of this new army of martial arts compared to our two towns and three towns?" Cao Kun, who put down the binoculars, did not have his usual honest smile, but looked a little preoccupied. "Brother, have you noticed, the few guards brought by the quartermaster, although they followed him everywhere in the east and west alleys, they have always maintained a state of vigilance. You see, another shop entered, except for two guards entering, and two of the remaining four people were wandering around in front of the door, and the other two, huh? I'm in the alley, ah, it's the back door. ”

Wang Yingkai, who was holding the telescope and observing again, looked silently for a while, and under Cao Laosan's reminder, he found that these seven Wuyi New Army who seemed to be hanging out like other Beiyang soldiers were indeed not simple, the quartermaster did not say, these six soldiers had a clear division of labor, and they cooperated tacitly, this kind of loose defense on the outside and tight on the inside was not something that the general new army could have, and speaking of which, Wang Yingkai's personal guard may not be able to have this level. There are only two possibilities, one is that the identity of this quartermaster is not ordinary, maybe he is a big figure, and Xiao Zhizhi, who led the team, has to send elite guards, and the other possibility is that these guards of the Wuyi New Army are just ordinary guards, so the training level of the Wuyi New Army can also be seen.

Wang Yingkai couldn't help but sigh: "Brother Zhong Shan, your eyes are like torches, and the younger brother really hasn't seen it, this group of soldiers is really not to be underestimated, but I don't know if it's the average level of their martial arts new army?" If they are unfortunate, then they will definitely be the great enemies of our Beiyang in the future. ”

"Brother Wang, don't worry too much, after all, this new army of martial arts was trained with our help, and it can be stronger than our veterans who have been trained for seven or eight years in just two or three years." Cao Kun's words made Wang Yingkai nod his head when he heard it, and he also restored the arrogance of the six towns of Beiyang in the past.

When the two elite divisions of Beiyang and the Wuyi New Army were hurriedly training in the river, another army wearing gray Beiyang military uniforms was facing the attack of the Wuyi New Army in Huainan Town.

A grenade flew by, and the soldiers in the uniform of the Beiyang New Army at the head of the city unconsciously bowed their bodies. With a bang, a makeshift observation tower was blown apart.

"Phew, what kind of team is this, Captain Wu. Why cannons and machine guns, the brothers can't raise their heads, how can this city still be defended? An officer with a command knife and breeches spat out the sand in his mouth and said to a young man who was not wearing a military uniform, "When will the Japanese munitions that Mr. Qiao promised to arrive at the dock, and if it is too late, it will be all cheap, these iron-hat turtles." ”

"Mr. Qiao has already made arrangements, and the brothers of the Green Gang have also anchored, and I believe that the first batch will be delivered in less than three days." The young man's brow was full of gloom, but he still tried to calm the emotions of the new army. However, looking at the new troops around him who are holding their heads and saying nothing, it is conceivable that his words can have a certain effect. However, now Taizhou has been besieged, and there is no way to escape, so these soldiers have to go to the city to defend in order to survive.

"Good job." Wu Chenxuan, who was wearing an unmarked Wuyi New Army officer's uniform, was holding a bottle of chilled soda in one hand, and went to the city to watch in the artillery mirror. "Two more rounds of covered shooting, let those turtle grandsons of the self-improvement army suffer a little."

"Yes." Although Wu Luzhen ruled a town, he now had to be an ordinary combat staff officer, turned around and picked up the phone, shook it a few times, and then connected to the artillery battalion, so the German Krupp Qisheng Mountain Cannon and Qisheng Seven direct-fire guns of the artillery battalion fired a salvo again, and two rounds of eighteen shells blew up the head of Taizhou Xiguan into ruins. Then an infantry battalion guarded a city gate. The west gate is left alone for the time being, and now the rebellious self-strengthening army has to open the city gate blocked by bricks and stones even if they want to break through the west gate, and they have to face the resistance of the artillery battalion and engineer battalion outside the city to clear the passage. The other city gates were already aware of the arrival of the Qing army, because the four infantry guns of the infantry battalion also greeted the defenders of Taizhou City warmly, and by the way, told them that you were already a turtle in the urn.

Wu Chenxuan received news from the Chamber of Commerce in the city of Taizhou that a revolutionary student organization affiliated with the Xingzhong Society had launched the uprising. Speaking of the late Qing government and the revolutionary party are really a pair of wonders, the Qing government found that its Eight Banners Green Battalion was all useless, and thought of establishing a new army, and because it was afraid that the Han people would seize military power and divide and rule, the Beiyang, Nanyang, Ziqiang Army and the provincial new army were established successively, of course, the Wuyi New Army. It would have been wise for the Manchus to have a good grasp of these armies, but neither the Manchus nor the later Beiyang warlords, until the chairman of the committee, did not seem to understand that the army was composed of a group of thoughtful young people, and often regarded soldiers and low-ranking officers as consumables for food and guns, so the mastery of the army completely depended on the co-optation and control of senior officers.

The Revolutionary Party would have had a chance to control the grassroots army, but it has to be said that these low-eyed scholars have more than enough success, poor organization, loose discipline, different ways of doing things, and kindergarten-like divisions and integrations, I don't know if they are carrying their heads to make a revolution or participating in a weekend snooker club. If it weren't for the Manchu government, it would have uprooted the revolutionary party long ago. Just like this Taizhou uprising, it was supposed to start a month later, but because a guy who returned from Japan couldn't change his habit of visiting custom places, he leaked the arrangements for the uprising in bed for a while. Although the response of the prefect's yamen was also sluggish, several turtles who did not wait for overseas arms had to coax and deceive the self-improvement army that had been contacted, and revolted in advance. At present, the self-strengthening army actually revolted only one target infantry, and only three or five officers below the battalion level actually joined the revolutionary party, and the others were either sympathetic to the revolution or had to follow the crowd because they feared that they would be innocently killed because of the uprising in their headquarters. Biaotong Talib, a son of the Eight Banners of Mongolia, was placed under house arrest in the Yamen of the Biaotong Command after refusing the uprising demands of his battalion officials. However, just like Qiao Cannon's usual style, lip service is not enough, and the promised 1,000 30-year-old small guns and 100,000 eagles are still rippling on the slogan, and even Wu Shigu, the captain of the Standing Guard who was ordered to organize the uprising, and Tong Huchen, the official of the self-improvement military camp who initiated it, were also a little shaken in confidence.

"Report to the general seat, our department has completed the encirclement of the Taizhou bandits, and all departments have been in place and can attack the city at any time." Wu Luzhen collected the reports of his subordinates, knowing that the deployment of each battalion had been in place, and he was ready to go down in one go, but unfortunately Wu Chenxuan's purpose this time was not to fight quickly.

"Ao, okay, Shouqing, did you say that Kuroko has started autumn exercises now?" Wu Chenxuan didn't seem to understand Wu Luzhen's instructions at all.

"Oh, according to the time calculation, it should be this afternoon to start the autumn exercise."

"Well, that's good. Shouqing, order all departments to strengthen their vigilance and camp on the spot. ”

"Yes, be on guard and camp on the spot. Ah, camping? Wu Luzhen, who was full of question marks, really couldn't understand what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd of this Wu Dashuai.