At dawn on September 22, the small building on Paris Road was busy, and this was the day Liang Hong and his family left. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoLast night, Wu Peifu and the students who signed the contract have been sent to a rented small steamer and will leave for Africa together today. Except for the two medical students, the remaining six were from the Telegraph School and the Peiyang University Hall.

With the application of the telegraph, news in the capital can be spread everywhere at any time. Yesterday, the imperial court officially announced the edict of Emperor Guangxu, announcing the Empress Dowager Cixi's training. On the same day, Kang Youwei, the director of the Ministry of Industry, formed a party for personal gain, and disrupted the government, and handed over the brothers Kang Youwei and Kang Guangren to the Criminal Department for punishment. The infantry commander led his troops to surround the Nanhai Hall, Kang Youwei absconded, and Kang Guangren was arrested. It was still a bad reputation for the chaos and bandits that day, and he was dismissed from the position of Song Lubo and never used.

The news from the capital completely cut off Shen Mingxuan's last glimmer of hope, the failure of the law change will cause bloodshed, and he doesn't know how much he will shed and to which level. Similarly, the students of the academy who were worried about being connected by their families were also completely dead, Kang Youwei presided over the new policy, and Zhulian went to Kang Guangren to be imprisoned, and it was even rumored that he would be sentenced to death.

At seven o'clock, the small steamer Figo left the Haihe dock with a whistle.

Everyone was on the deck looking out at the fading city, and it was a sad thing to be uprooted from home.

"This country has lost a chance to become stronger, the weak eat the strong, and in the future, it will only be emasculated by the great powers."

The people around him were all knowledgeable and understood the meaning of Liang Hong's words, and even some vulnerable students were secretly sobbing.

"Every plunder by the great powers began in Tianjin, and the two Opium Wars were all the same. Take a good look at the city, it may not be long before she will be bathed in the flames of war. ”

The tragedy of the Eight-Nation Alliance is the eternal pain of this land, can I save it? Liang Hong asked himself secretly in his heart.

"Brother Liang, is the country really hopeless?"

It was Shen Yue, a weak woman, who asked directly, looking at the appearance of the students in the school who wanted to speak and stopped, Liang Hong sighed, most of the people who chose to flee at this time wanted to protect themselves, and they had a little cowardice in their bones.

"Yes, it can only be saved with guns and blood."

"The New Army?"

This time it was Wu Peifu who spoke.

"It's a new army, and the ideas and weapons are brand new troops. The Manchus had been raised into waste by hardcore crops, and the only way to resist foreign humiliation and maintain Manchu rule was to rely on the new army of the Han Chinese. But once the army has a mind of its own, the muzzle of the gun may not necessarily be pointed at anywhere. ”

Liang Hong patted Wu Peifu on the shoulder, "Now the only one that can be called a new army is Yuan Shikai's new army, but the combat effectiveness is probably not as good as the second-rate army of the great powers." ”

"What about the mine guards?"

"The goal is to build a first-class army with first-class weapons, first-class training, and first-class tactics."

Liang Hong said confidently that what he actually had in mind was super-first-class. Only in this way will it be possible to turn the tide on this land in the future.

At noon, the steamer Figo arrived at the mouth of the Yellow River, where four ocean-going steamers had finished boarding and were waiting to set sail.

The fleet maintained a speed of fifteen knots per hour, much faster than an ordinary freighter. In fact, the Adventurer steamer that Liang Hong himself was on was a passenger and cargo ship. The upper deck is the guest cabin, and the two lower decks below the deck are the cargo holds, but now the cargo hold has also been converted into the master's Chase Room, which houses more than 2,000 strong teenagers between the ages of eighteen and twenty. From recruitment to now, after nearly a month of full meal training, their physical condition has improved considerably.

For landlubbers who have no sailing experience, the long sea bumps are extremely uncomfortable, and many people vomit despite the preparation of cool oil and other Chinese medicine to prevent seasickness. However, Wu Peifu is one of the few exceptions, he was born in Penglai County, on the coast of Shandong, and served as a student soldier in the sailor battalion, so he is immune to seasickness.

The words of the manager of the foreign bank when he drove the ship aroused the heroic spirit in his bones. The hero complex has been there since he was a child, and before he was born, his father happened to dream of Qi Jiguang, the big hero of this county. Qi Jiguang is Peiyu, and Wu's father named the son of the Fu generation Peifu, the word Ziyu, hoping that he can become a hero in the world. Later, his father died early, and in order to earn military salaries to support his family, he joined the Dengzhou Navy Battalion as a cadet. Then he apprenticed to study, half a soldier and half a student for five years, and finally won the show in the Dengzhou boy test the year before last. Just when life seems to be bright, under the influence of the heroic spirit in his bones and the pedantic spirit that comes out of reading, he smashed the troupe of the county magistrate to celebrate his birthday, and was not only dismissed from Xiucai, but also wanted by sea fishing. Fleeing to Beijing, he was destitute and could only make a living by telling hexagrams and selling characters. Just in time for Nie Shicheng to recruit troops, he went to Tianjin to enlist and became the escort of the battalion.

The unfortunate family and country are where heroes can be useful, and he is eager to learn the latest Western-style tactics of foreigners. But the officer training that the manager of the foreign bank said is really so magical? He sat in the ship's dining room and waited in disbelief.

After the meal, the cafeteria was cleared out and used as a temporary lecture hall. The teaching team of nearly 100 people, except for those who reacted too strongly to seasickness, more than 80 team members sat neatly. The star officer on duty is served by the squad leaders of the teaching team in turn, and it is Zhou Zirong's turn today. He was a landlubber from land, and although the seasickness was quite severe, he was able to hold on with one breath. The family is a small businessman and has a natural sensitivity to business opportunities. This is an opportunity, a chance to widen the gap with others, and those who are left behind may never catch up.

With a bang, several people worked together to bring in a machine gun, a black powder Maxim machine gun bought from the concession before leaving. The team members had barely seen such a weapon, and they exchanged words with each other.

"Silence!"

As the star officer, Zhou Zirong shouted and suppressed, stood up and scanned the audience majestically. This is the authority of the officer on duty, and he has the right to deal with any violation of discipline on the spot in accordance with military law. The head to ear was drunk, and the team members resumed their posture of sitting upright. Zhou Zirong glanced at Wu Peifu, who had been sitting upright, and intuitively felt that this person was not simple, he never squinted, and he didn't show the slightest curiosity. Zhou Zirong didn't know that Wu Peifu had not only seen machine guns, but also seen machine guns firing and strafing.

Seeing Liang Hong walk into the restaurant, Zhou Zirong hurriedly withdrew his gaze and shouted loudly.

"Stand and Salute"

After finishing his duties, Liang Hong pointed to the machine gun in front of him.

"This is the Maxim machine gun, capable of firing 600 rounds in one minute, with the same firepower as a hundred soldiers with a single-shot rifle, or dozens of people with a magazine rifle. Five years ago in Africa, four of these machine guns killed nearly 3,000 indigenous warriors in positional warfare. Liang Hong glanced at the team members, "By the way, in the eyes of Westerners, we are also indigenous, yellow-skinned Asian natives." ”

Despite the discipline, the shocking lethality of the weapon still made many people exclaim, and the words added by Liang Hong later made them shudder, as if a machine gun bullet had hit them.

"This machine gun will be the suppressive firepower that we will often use in the future, and the density of the deployment is roughly equivalent to one per 100 people on average."

"Ahh

It was Wu Peifu who exclaimed this time, obediently, the more than 10,000 people in their entire Wuyi Army were only two machine guns, and they were hidden by Nie Dashuai and were reluctant to use them, saying that shooting was throwing silver out.