In early July, officers and generals of the three major group armies, the air force, and navy, including the border defense forces, gathered in Beijing for a three-month training. In addition to the Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia border troops, other generals should be present. The uniforms of the Wehrmacht were slightly changed in accordance with the uniforms of the original Shandong Column, and all the uniforms were required to be changed. At this time, sitting in the auditorium of the large command center of the Ministry of National Defense, the uniform military uniforms of the generals added to the distinctive momentum. Due to the removal of the bells and whistles of the official uniform in the early days of the Republic of China, it looks more neat, clear and solemn.

Jiang Fangzhen, vice minister of the army, first made an opening remarks, in which he focused on explaining the necessity and significance of this military training. It emphatically expounded the meaning of the national defense forces' performance as belonging to the state, and emphasized that the national defense forces can only be mobilized by the Ministry of National Defense, and that no organization or individual can issue any order to mobilize a single soldier. Then Jiang Fangzhen led all the generals to stand up and swear: to be loyal to the government of the Republic of China and shoulder the sacred mission of protecting the family and defending the country. Each general stepped up to the front desk and solemnly swore an oath to express his determination.

After the oath-taking ceremony, Ge Yunfei made his debut. Ge Yunfei said, in front of everyone's eyes: "Everyone, what the responsibilities of the National Defense Force are, everyone knows in their hearts, but I must repeat it. Since the beginning of the Opium War, the land of China has been repeatedly invaded by external aggression and internal strife, and there are many reasons for this. Putting aside other factors, the most important thing is that we do not have a strong national defense force, and we do not have an army that is resolutely loyal to the country. The Huai Army, the New Army, and the Beiyang Army, including former President Yuan Shikai, were at best private armies serving individuals. ”

"From today onwards, there will be no more private armies in China. The duty of the National Defense Force is to be loyal to the country, and it shoulders the heavy responsibility of defending the country against the aggression of external enemies, and it also shoulders the responsibility of stabilizing the domestic situation and allowing the people to live and work in peace and contentment. In the future, there will be no emperor in China, the supreme commander of the country, who will need to be democratically elected to succeed him. At present, the Senate and the House of Representatives are electing members of the House of Representatives, and we must elect wise men of high moral character, patriotism, and knowledge, who are trusted and supported by the people, to the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the future, the Senate and the House of Representatives will play a decisive role in the new presidential candidates. ”

"Some generals may think that it is still a time of war, and the powerful Japanese army is eyeing the Korean Peninsula, so we are not singing a high note. So let's get down to business, the front is to throw bricks and lead the way. According to what we know, after more than three years of war against Japan, Japan's domestic production capacity has dropped by 20 percent, and Japan's steel production before the war was 150,000 tons. In 1914, Japan's steel production soared to 200,000 tons, which was stimulated by the war. ”

"Japan's steel production began to decline in 1915 and fell sharply in '17. According to what we know, Japan's steel production in the first half of the year was only more than 70,000 tons, and even if Japan maintains its production in the first half of the year, steel production will not exceed 140,000 tons. Japan's steel production has fallen so sharply because of the lack of iron ore raw materials in the Japanese archipelago, which now Japan has to import iron ore from as far away as Australia. In addition, Japan's steel production is far from meeting domestic demand, and it needs to import a large amount of scrap steel from the United States. ”

"Soon this will change, and Japan will gradually lose access to steel scrap from the United States. Before the war, the steel output of the Republic of China government was less than 20,000 tons, and at the end of last year, the first blast furnace of Anshan Iron and Steel Plant was put into production, and it is expected to produce 180,000 tons of steel by the end of the year, that is to say, our steel output can reach 200,000 tons this year, and next year and even in the following years, as of 1920, our steel output can reach more than 2 million tons. Steel is the cornerstone of a great power, and what does Japan do to compete with us. ”

In addition, due to Japan's poor resources, most of the industrial raw materials need to be imported, which greatly limits the development of the Japanese economy. Through the perspective of Japan's economy in the first half of this year, the industrial products on which it depends have declined to varying degrees, Japan's share of the Nanyang market has declined rapidly, and our economic war has achieved initial results. Ladies and gentlemen, the war is about logistics, and I am responsible for telling you that Japan has launched a large-scale attack, and its strategy is to hold the Korean Peninsula, and can only use space in exchange for time. But the time of the Japanese is in our hands, and it is also a matter of time before the mighty Japanese Empire finally fails. ”

At noon after Ge Yunfei's tirade ended, Jiang Fangzhen announced that the meeting would be dismissed and that he would rest in the afternoon and continue training tomorrow. In the so-called training, in fact, only Ge Yunfei was the only instructor, and he had to spend a month brainwashing so that the military commanders present at the meeting would have a full understanding of the world's military field and modern military theory. In the next two months, the generals were allowed to digest and absorb and conduct assessments, and at noon, Ge Yunfei hosted a banquet for the chief officers of the major corps, border defense units, air force units, and navy units, and expressed the friendship of the landlords.

The next day, formal training began in the auditorium of the Ministry of Defense. Since Ge Yunfei was the only one in the lecture, he could only sit and explain. Ge Yunfei looked around at the generals and said: "Regarding the strategy and tactics and military theories in the military field, it is necessary to combine them with the European war to be of more practical significance, so that everyone can feel the battlefield filled with gunpowder. The European war has entered the third stage this year, and the signs of victory and defeat have already appeared. In order to support the Allies in the war, the Nationalist Government had sent 10,000 men to Europe, and they were working diligently for the final victory of the Allies. ”

"Last year's battles of the Somo River and Verdun, in which millions of people were thrown in by both sides, staged a horrific battle unprecedented in human history, and the battlefield was a meat grinder, a slaughterhouse and a hell. Nearly 1 million casualties on both sides of the war can be described as miserable. In the Shandong War against Japan and even the Liaodong Peninsula Campaign, the total number of troops invested by China and Japan was about 1 million, the number of casualties was about 300,000, the casualties of Chinese and Japanese soldiers were about 150,000, and we captured about 20,000 Japanese officers and soldiers. Therefore, our war against Japan is not the same as that of the European theater. ”

"In March of this year, the revolution that overthrew the Tsarist regime broke out in Russia, and then it succeeded, and Russia withdrew from the war. At present, two major political regimes have been formed in Russia, and the contradictions between the two major regimes are rapidly sublimating, and a contest between who is in charge of the ups and downs is about to be staged. The change of dynasty in Russia is definitely a blessing for us. We have already begun to act on what strategy to adopt against Russia in the future. As for the strategy towards Russia, this is not a topic to be discussed. Let me explain the European competition situation in detail ······. Ge Yunfei's familiarity with the situation of the two warring sides shocked the generals present.

Ge Yunfei's explanation is simple and clear. The listener seems to feel the smoke of the battlefield, and can clearly understand the mistakes made by the two warring sides. About a week later, in connection with Shandong's war against Japan, Ge Yunfei gave a detailed explanation of how the Shandong column defeated the strong with the weak, and how it made a meticulous analysis of the defensive warfare included in regular operations, active defense (local counterattack operations), movement warfare, guerrilla warfare, and so on. In addition, he gave a detailed explanation of how to use regular combat artillery fire, how to cooperate with the open ground and so on.

The generals present here only know that the Shandong Column fought beautifully, but how do they know that the Tao is quite profound and how difficult it is to command the operation, which is by no means a day's work. On this day, Feng Guozhang had a drink with Jiang Fangzhen, Cai Yi, and Zhang Zuolin. Zhang Guotao said: "In the past, when leading troops to fight, the top asked them to do what they wanted, but now they require the use of flexible and mobile strategies and tactics, if the battle situation changes, the front-line commander can boldly change the combat intentions of his superiors according to the actual situation on the battlefield, which is contrary to the tradition of my Rong Ma for many years, and it is indeed difficult to understand to be honest." ”

"This is called the general outside the king's life is not subject to it, I Lao Zhang is in favor of this flexible maneuver, this is like fighting bandits in the grassland in the past, you must judge the whereabouts and tactics of the bandits at any time, they have never played cards according to common sense. However, this military theory made me feel foggy. What does not seek the world is not enough to seek a time, and those who do not seek the overall situation and not enough to seek a domain should be a question for the government to consider. Zhang Zuolin said depressedly. Jiang Fangzhen glanced at Cai Yi, and Cai Yi smiled and said: "Commander Zhang, this passage is a passage that Chen Chenran said in the anthology of the previous dynasty, and now domestic strategists worship this passage, and Chief Ge attaches great importance to it. ”

Jiang Fangzhen interjected: "Brother Zhang, what this sentence means: strategy is a grand strategy to manage the overall situation and macro, mainly to determine the future development direction and overall goal, so as to lead and integrate all forces to achieve the predetermined goal along the established direction. The right or wrong strategic decision is the key to success or failure. If you make a mistake in strategic decision-making, you may face the doom of losing everything, and you will suffer huge losses as a result, and it will never be possible to make up for it from the campaign and tactics. The reason why President Ge has achieved today's achievements is that he has always been on the right path in terms of strategy. ”

Cai Yi added: "The most important thing for General Commander Ge to lead his troops to fight is to clearly see the weakness of the Japanese army at a strategic height and firmly grasp the initiative in the overall situation. In fact, before the war against Japan, the Japanese army was strategically willing to bow to the upper hand, as the so-called knowing oneself and knowing the other side would not be defeated in a hundred battles. "Brother Jiang, you repeat Fang Cai's words, I understand this explanation." Zhang Zuolin took out his notebook. Feng Guozhang said with a smile: "Chief Ge has issued an order, the army is no longer allowed to use classical Chinese, all use vernacular, Brother Yuting, generals with shallow culture don't have to worry in the future!" ”

The generals and officials exchanged ideas with each other, forming a new atmosphere of learning. A month passed quickly, and Ge Yunfei made a concluding speech in the last class: "Ladies and gentlemen, after a month of intense study, everyone has a clear understanding of modern military theory. It's a short time, but you still have two months to digest and absorb it. Don't take chances and try to get by. If one fails to pass the examination, he will be given a chance to take a make-up examination, and if he fails again, he will be transferred from the combat unit to serve in the logistics unit. An unqualified commander must not indiscriminately fill up the position of commander. ”

"Due to the busy military affairs of this officer, Jiang Fangzhen is fully responsible for the next stage of study. I wish you all the best and everyone can pass the assessment smoothly! The purpose of Ge Yunfei's military training is naturally to have a plan, the purpose is to eliminate a group of old generals and officers, so as to improve the military quality of the generals. At the same time, it also warns those who are messing around in the army to resign voluntarily if they know the times!

Next, Ge Yunfei set his sights on the Eastern Railway, and now Russia is in a mess, and he will not let go of such a good opportunity.