But Zaitao said too mysteriously, for the sake of safety, Cixi still asked cautiously: "Is there any risk in doing this, don't lose your wife and lose your soldiers!" ”

Zaitao replied confidently: "No problem, six of the dozen or so people who have been arrested now have begged for mercy directly in prison, begging the court to let them live and let them make meritorious contributions." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

If the minister thinks of a way, except for the three diehard traitors who are loyal to Yuan Shikai, the rest can be used by me. With them assisting the imperial court anyway, we will definitely be able to wipe out all the officers that Yuan Shikai has placed in the forbidden army. ”

Yuan Shikai did not know that the imperial court was purging the influence of the Beiyang Army in the forbidden army step by step.

The officers of the forbidden army, who had been secretly in contact with him, still continued to be in contact. Although there were a few people missing, these few people were beheaded by Zaitao, the commander of the forbidden army, for various reasons such as disobedience.

In addition, the officers who still secretly contacted him did not express their suspicions in the correspondence, Yuan Shikai did not have too many suspicions, and still believed that as these officers became more and more powerful in the forbidden army, the forbidden army also fell into his hands step by step.

Within a few days, the imperial court sent 1.5 million taels of silver for buying rifles, 300,000 taels of silver for selling light and heavy machine guns and artillery, plus 100,000 taels of silver for buying intelligence from Yang Xingguo, totaling 1.9 million taels of silver.

Zhou Zhongju, who personally escorted 50,000 rifles and a large number of other weapons and ammunition, completed the transaction at Shanhaiguan in only five days, and then went to Yingkou with the silver to complete the follow-up transaction of purchasing all the equipment of the rifle factory and shipyard from Germany.

At this time, 500 elites and more than 200 intelligence officers carefully selected by Dashanyan from the army had already lurked on the only way from Yingkou to Mukden.

Liaozhong is close to the coastline, and if the enemy launches an attack by sea like the last imperial court, the arsenal arranged by the Liaodong Army in Liaozhong will definitely be devastated by the enemy.

If the army is the foundation of its foothold in the Qing Dynasty, then the ever-larger arsenal is the foundation.

Once the Liaodong Army, which had already controlled the entire three northeastern provinces, lost its arsenal, plus the external passage was blocked. The Liaodong Army, which had lost the source of weapons and ammunition, could not hold out for long no matter how powerful it was.

Therefore, from the beginning of taking the three eastern provinces, Yang Xingguo was considering moving the arsenal to the hinterland of the three eastern provinces step by step.

If there is really a war in the future, unless the Liaodong Army is completely destroyed, the enemy will definitely not be able to destroy the arsenal, and it will not be able to cut off the source of the tone of the Liaodong Army.

Fengtian is located in the hinterland of the three northeastern provinces, and with convenient transportation, it is very convenient to transport industrial raw materials and weapons and ammunition out, and it is also the military industrial base of the Northeast Army in history. Yang Xingguo set the location of the relocation of the arsenal here.

The rifle factory that has not yet been built is the first arsenal branch of Fengtian in Yang Xingguo's mind.

After taking over all the equipment from the Germans at the Yingkou wharf in the middle of the week, he would take the equipment and the technicians from the arsenal directly back to the rifle factory that had been built in Mukden from Yingkou.

Two days later, Zhou Zhongju, who had already taken over all the equipment, rushed to the direction of Mukden with hundreds of carts full of various equipment, under the protection of a guard battalion.

The size of the entire convoy was too large, and the cautious Zhou Zhongju wanted to leave the Yingkou pier quietly, but he couldn't do it at all.

The Japanese troops with a radio station attacked the troops, and it took less than an hour to receive a telegram that the target had set off.

More than 700 elite Japanese troops immediately mobilized and used the terrain to build ambush positions.

Zhou Zhongju didn't expect the Japanese army to be so bold and target the equipment they escorted in the territory of the Liaodong Army.

Therefore, Zhou Zhongju did not have any suspicions, and directly led the convoy into the pocket formation prepared for him by the Japanese army.

In order to complete the task assigned to him by the military department, Dashan Yan spared no effort.

Because of the inconvenience of carrying heavy machine guns, he equipped his 500 subordinates with 30 light machine guns.

So many light machine guns and hundreds of rifles fired together, and in an instant, an impenetrable network of bullets formed around the convoy.

The soldiers of the guard battalion guarding the sides of the convoy were beaten into a hornet's nest in pieces, and even a bullet was hit in the thigh in the middle of the week.

If it weren't for the quick reaction of the guards around him, he blocked other bullets with his body. Zhou Zhongju must have been beaten into a hornet's nest at this moment, and he couldn't die anymore.

As the elite unit of the Liaodong Army second only to the special operations detachment, the guard unit directly under the Liaodong Army Headquarters has a fast response speed.

Despite the loss of nearly 300 men at once, the remaining soldiers quickly lay on the ground and counterattacked.

Dozens of guards gathered around Zhou Zhongju surrounded more than a dozen carts full of equipment in the face of bullets, and used these carts as cover to counterattack around.

In this case, the gilded guards battalion soldiers gathered to the position of Zhou Zhongju.

Soon more than 100 people gathered, and the officers and men of the mortar company directly under the guard battalion also brought two mortars and dozens of shells.

Zhou Zhongju, who endured the pain, did not say a word, and immediately ordered the artillery to counterattack and destroy the enemy's fire points as much as possible.

Light and heavy machine guns managed to suppress enemy fire, covering the officers and men of the guard battalion who were still alive around to continue to move closer here.

After the two mortars fired more than a dozen shells in a row, the dense bullets fired by the Japanese finally had a loophole.

In addition, the guard company had six or seven light and heavy machine guns staring at the Japanese army at one point to counterattack, which directly hit the Japanese soldiers here on their backs, and the battlefield situation was finally no longer one-sided in favor of the Japanese army.

The task of the Japanese sneak attack on the convoy was to destroy all the equipment for the production of rifles, not to eliminate the escort troops.

Therefore, the Japanese army leading the team saw that the Liaodong Army had organized a large-scale counterattack, and immediately changed the combat plan.

Half of the remaining troops continued to fight around the middle of the week, and the remaining Japanese troops immediately rushed to the pipeline with explosives packs, ready to completely destroy the equipment.

A convoy of hundreds of large trucks was nearly two kilometers in front and back.

With the effective range of light and heavy machine guns, the surviving guard battalion could only guarantee that no Japanese troops would dare to attack on the official road three or four hundred meters before and after.

Farther on the official road, no matter how unwilling Zhou Zhongju was, he could only watch the Japanese troops rush up the pipeline, and then blow up the equipment into scrap metal in a violent explosion.

In the middle of the week, it was not easy to wait for reinforcements from the surrounding garrisons, and the equipment of nearly a hundred carts was destroyed. The guard battalion of more than 600 people also suffered heavy losses, and less than 200 people were still alive.

As for the Japanese army's sneak attack on the troops, after leaving behind more than 200 corpses, the Japanese troops who were still alive quickly withdrew from the battlefield before the arrival of the garrison.

However, the Japanese army did not have time to take away more than 200 corpses, weapons and ammunition, and the confidant revealed the identity of the attacker as a Japanese.

"Is the radio still good?" It was only then that Zhou Zhongju realized that he had a radio station with him.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Zhou Zhongju immediately ordered with anger: "Send a telegram to the commander immediately, we are being attacked by the Japanese army here, and the purpose of the Japanese is to destroy military equipment." At present, nearly 500 Japanese troops have escaped, please contact the surrounding garrisons to eliminate them. ”

"Also, contact the Intelligence Bureau, I want to find out how the Japanese knew about this batch of equipment and who leaked the information.