At 8 o'clock in the morning, preparations for the big contest were about to begin, and first more than 4,200 veterans, recruits, and civilians stood in the school grounds, and then the whole army began to sing, singing the military song of the Beiyang Army, "Three Records and Eight Points of Attention" -- no, it was a tune of the "Military Song of the Beiyang Army." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After the roar of info was sung, the whole army began to review through the rostrum as a team (company), and the review troops finally returned to the original position in the school field.

The whole process was like a sports meeting in later generations, and then Wang Yongtai announced loudly that the 24th Beiyang New Army mixed up into an association, and the veteran and recruit competition officially began. The guards on the side fired twenty-four shots into the air, marking the start of the game. Subsequently, under the leadership of the captains, they sat in the established seats around the school grounds. The school field is a little big, so after the soldiers sit around, there is still a part of it empty, Wang Yongan's heart suddenly came alive, and he said in his heart, can you buy tickets for these free places? He looked at the elated Wang Yongtai, and said in his heart that he would not talk about it for the time being, otherwise the second brother would have to kick me off the rostrum......

There are a total of 10 competitions for recruits and veterans, which are divided into two days, and the arrangement time is to fight and sing in the morning of the first day, and lunch is steamed buns and vegetable soup at noon. After everyone has eaten, it is the afternoon competition, and in the afternoon, they will have hand-to-hand fighting, text memory, and 300-meter obstacle run; The second day was a 100-meter crawl in the morning, a 100-meter parade, and a five-kilometer run for shooting and a fully armed race in the afternoon.

The number of people in the competition was selected by co-commander Wang Yongtai from the new barracks and the veteran barracks to form a temporary standing team to represent the new barracks and the veteran barracks respectively. Since Yang Zhenshan and Xi Wusheng, who were in charge of the veterans, had known the rules in advance, they did not oppose it, and Wang Yongan and Fang Xianwu, who were in charge of the recruits, would not have objected to it -- this ghost idea was come up with by Wang Yongan.

Subsequently, Feng Hengzhou, the chief of staff, stepped forward and put two boxes with soldiers' information in front of Wang Yongtai, one box said recruits, and the other box said veterans.

Wang Yongtai was quite fresh about this, looked left and right, and said with a smile: "How many recruits and veterans are there?" ”

Adjutant General Wang Yongan immediately said: "There are 2,000 recruits, 1,200 veterans, not counting the people, and the cavalry and artillery standards are responsible for safety and refereeing, so they did not participate in the competition." ”

Wang Yongtai said: "The number of participants is a little smaller, and there are only 200 people participating in the ten projects. ”

Wang Yongan said with a smile: "This is the first time it will be held, and we can expand the scale next time, but because it is the first time, we don't need to make such a big show, so as not to make any mistakes." ”

Wang Yongtai laughed, looking at a large Qing dragon flag fluttering around the school yard and the twenty-four red flags planted around the wind, and his heart was proud.

Yuan Shikai did not design a military flag when he established the Beiyang New Army, so he used the Qing Dragon Flag as the military flag, so this flag is the national flag of the Great Qing Dynasty and the military flag of the Beiyang New Army. The background of the Qing Dragon Flag is yellow, so it is also called the Yellow Dragon Flag, and the pattern is a cyan five-legged flying dragon swallowing the sun. Among them, the yellow background pattern is not the yellow flag of the Manchu Qing Dynasty that some people in later generations think, but Li Hongzhang took into account that the Chinese ethnic groups originated from the Yanhuang tribe when designing the national flag, and since ancient times, all dynasties have respected yellow, and in the traditional Chinese five elements gossip, red is happy, yellow is respected, and green is the beginning, and the dragon pattern has two meanings, one is because the dragon represents the royal family, and the other is because the dragon is a totem of the Han nationality, so Li Hongzhang also has some selfish motives when designing the Qing national flag. At that time, although the Empress Dowager Cixi considered that the Manchu totem was Haidongqing (Eagle Falcon), the dragon represented the royal family, so she allowed the Yellow Dragon Flag to be the national flag of the Qing Dynasty. As soon as the Yellow Dragon Flag appeared, it was accepted by the whole country, especially in 1877, when the Qing Dynasty's China Merchants Steamship Bureau merged with the American steamship company Qichang Steamship Company, and 27 ships of various types of the Qichang Steamship Company lowered 27 American Star-Spangled Flags at the Bund Wharf in Shanghai at the same time, raising the Yellow Dragon Flag, which was briefly cited as a beautiful talk by the whole country.

In the middle of the 24 red flags is embroidered with gilded yellow characters "Beiyang New Army 24th Mixed Association", which is the 24th mixed army flag designed by Wang Yongan, of which the word "Beiyang" is the first line of big characters, and "The 24th New Army Mixed Association Association" is the second line of small characters. Wang Yongtai didn't think that there was any role in designing the military flag, and even he felt that it was a bit redundant, the Beiyang New Army did not have a military flag, so why should they make their own military flags. However, today, when the 24 military flags were unfurled in the wind, Wang Yongtai was proud in his heart, and it seemed that this design was indeed exciting, especially the red flags made people's blood boil.

"Report! The boot camp is complete! Fang Xian reported loudly.

"Report! The veteran barracks are in order! Yang Zhenshan reported loudly in a higher voice.

Wang Yongtai transferred the transfer force back and said: "The first competition of the veteran and new recruit competition can officially begin!" Then Wang Yongan took the lottery box and put it in front of Wang Yongtai, Wang Yongtai took out twenty notes in the box and handed them to Wang Yongan, Wang Yongan then announced: "The first item of the veteran recruit competition, the stabbing competition, the representative of the recruit battalion, the fourth squad of the first squadron of the third brigade, Ma Yuan!" ”

A herald took the note, ran off the rostrum quickly, came to the new barracks, and shouted: "The fourth squad of the first squadron of the third brigade of the new barracks, Ma Yuan is out of the ranks!" ”

"Here!" A lean, but tall young man stood up.

"The school field is concentrated, and you have been selected as the representative of the recruit stabbing project!"

"Yes!"

The recruits in camouflage uniforms around him immediately cheered with encouragement, and Ma Yuan scratched his head shyly and said, "Brothers, I'm going, don't worry, I will definitely not be ashamed." ”

"If you embarrass our boot camp, the brothers won't spare you."

"Pony, kill those veterans!"

"Kill them!"

"You have to show your face, don't embarrass my brother with his grandmother!"

Ma Yuan stood in the middle of the school field at a trot, and then the referee team composed of soldiers from the artillery battalion handed over a 1.5-meter-5 wooden stick to him, and put on a stab-proof suit and a thorn helmet, one end of the wooden stick was wrapped tightly by his face, and he needed to be dipped in red powder before stabbing him, and once the red powder was stained on the opponent's body, the referee team immediately judged that the opponent was "killed".

"The first squad of the fourth squadron of the fifth brigade, Zhao Changshan!"

"Here!"

"First Squadron, First Squadron, Second Squad, Xia Ming!"

"Dao!"

"Third Brigade ......"

Twenty recruits came out and neatly occupied the city in four rows and five columns, looking neat and full of morale. Wang Yongtai looked at the recruits and nodded with satisfaction, Fang Xianwu winked at Wang Yongan, and the two laughed in unison.

Two days ago, the General Staff Department determined that there were 20 representatives from each side of the stabbing project, and after Wang Yongan got the news, he immediately told Fang Xianwu, who immediately held a meeting with the instructors and demanded that in this competition, no matter which recruit was selected, he must stand in line according to the order, and must not change the order and position.

The recruits were trained many times, standing mechanically according to the standard, only to find that the formation they had trained had actually boosted morale at this time, and they raised their heads one by one. As we all know, today's game is not only about your own face, but also about the distribution of new recruits.

No commander likes a soft egg to be his own soldier, and the two thousand recruits will be assigned to the various battalions in a few days, and there is a rumor among the recruits that those who are not selected among them may be cleared and driven away, and no one wants to be driven away in this harsh winter season. Not to mention the face problem, just talk about the treatment, in this era of landlords and old money, the treatment of three meals a day ensures that everyone has no worries about survival. The most important thing is that just yesterday, three months' worth of military salaries was handed out to the recruits, and all the soldiers were so happy that they almost cried. That's real money! Seven taels and five dollars of silver for three months, not to mention that many soldiers have never touched silver when they are so old, even some people who have had unclean experiences did not expect that the barracks would truthfully pay military salaries, and there is no need to pay for food and clothing wear, and there is no need to distribute protection money to the commander. Although the treatment is not as good as the six main towns of the Beiyang New Army, the 24th Mixed Association is far better than other armies of the same era, and no one wants to leave here - except for being soldiers, these young men can only be bandits, but for the vast majority of people, don't they have to recruit gangsters in the end.

Fang Xianwu came to the recruits, glanced at everyone, and asked, "Do you have confidence, my wolf cubs!" ”

"Yes!"

The recruits roared loudly, their nervous faces and eyes were red, and their bodies exuded murderous and enthusiastic, although there were only twenty people, but these twenty people gave people an impressive momentum.

Fang Xianwu nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Okay, I have nothing to explain, you are all good, this is the first game, win a jackpot for the two thousand brothers in the new barracks, do you win?" ”

"Medium!"

A soldier from Yu Province accidentally shouted: "Beat him a turtle grandson!" ”

"Hahaha......"

The crowd burst into laughter.

On the rostrum, Wang Yongtai said with a smile: "It seems that the new barracks are very well prepared." ”

Wang Yongan said: "Don't say anything else, in terms of boosting morale, Fang Xianwu is a good hand, but it's a pity to be the acting director of the military affairs department, he can lead the troops." ”

Wang Yongtai touched the beard on his chin and nodded thoughtfully, Wang Yongan also said no more, lest it would be useless to say more and harm Fang Xianwu.