As a soldier, Yang Xingguo was very happy, and as soon as he came up, he asked Xu Shichang: "I don't know what Lord Yuan asked for you?" Who are you Lord Yuan going to ransom from my Liaodong Army? Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"All the officers and men of the Beiyang Army captured by your army. If you can, our marshal also wants to redeem all the weapons and equipment captured by your army in the six towns of Beiyang. Xu Shichang was not hypocritical, and replied directly.

"You Lord Yuan's appetite is not small!" Yang Xingguo replied with a smile. Then the conversation changed and asked directly: "If you want to redeem all these things, there is no problem, as long as you Lord Yuan can afford the price, I can give it all to you!" ”

"But I would like to remind Lord Xu that these prisoners and weapons and equipment are the results of the great sacrifices made by the Liaodong Army, and if there is no price that satisfies me and my soldiers. Even if I agree, the soldiers under my command who have sacrificed so much will not agree. ”

After thinking about the bottom line that Yuan Shikai gave himself, Xu Shichang, who had a bad premonition in his heart, still replied stubbornly: "One million taels of silver, the soldiers of the Beiyang Army captured by the Liaodong Army should not exceed 50,000, and the price of twenty taels of silver per person should not be too low." As for weapons and equipment, let's calculate separately, according to the price of second-hand weapons sold by the Liaodong Army, we will give as much silver as we want. ”

Yang Xingguo couldn't help but sneered: "Twenty taels of silver alone, are you Lord Yuan sending Huazi?" The prisoners captured by our Liaodong Army were all veterans who had been trained for more than three months, and half of them were even veterans who had been in the army for more than half a year. ”

"As far as I know about your Beiyang Army, it will cost you at least fifty taels of silver to train such a veteran. As for those veterans who have been more than half a year, the various expenses even exceed one hundred taels. You will use twenty taels of silver to fool me, is it because you see that my Liaodong army is easy to bully? ”

"By the way, I almost forgot, among these captives there are more than ** thousand officers, and the price of officers cannot be calculated by ordinary soldiers. Since you are not sincere, let's not talk about it, anyway, there are mines outside the gate, send them to the mine to mine, and it won't take half a year to earn me a million taels of silver. ”

After speaking, Yang Xingguo put on a posture of leaving.

Xu Shichang, who vowed to bring all the officers back, immediately realized that Yang Xingguo looked young, but he was not as easy to deal with as he imagined, and he was even a little scheming.

In order to avoid the breakdown of the negotiations, Xu Shichang, who temporarily had a request for the Liaodong Army, could only block in front of Yang Xingguo regardless of his identity, and then said eagerly: "Commander Yang, we can negotiate the specific price again." We don't want ordinary soldiers, just officers. One million taels of silver was redeemed for all officers, and weapons and equipment were counted separately. ”

Seeing that Yang Xingguo still shook his head, he looked like he was going to leave.

Xu Shichang could only ask helplessly: "Commander Yang, what price do you want?" We can discuss anything! ”

Hearing this, Yang Xingguo finally returned to his seat. Xu Shichang stared at Yang Xingguo with a pair of angry and aggrieved eyes to see how big Yang Xingguo's appetite was.

To Xu Shichang's disappointment, Yang Xingguo did not answer directly, but asked thoughtfully: "Lord Xu, you are a member of the imperial court, I want to know, the six towns of Beiyang that I captured, how many products are they in the imperial court?" There are also co-commanders, standard commanders, battalion management belts, sentry officers, platoon commanders, and sheds under the command, which are several military attachés. ”

Although I don't know why Yang Xingguo asked this question, in order not to interrupt the negotiations, Xu Shichang still replied stubbornly: "According to the convention, the town control system is the third-grade military attache of the imperial court, the co-unification is the fourth-grade military attaché, the standard is the fifth-grade military attaché, the battalion management belt is the sixth-grade military attaché, the sentry officer is the seventh-grade military attaché, and the platoon commander and shed have no grade. ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Shichang directly asked rhetorically: "Commander Yang, does their grade have anything to do with the negotiation?" ”

"Of course there is, and there is a lot of stake. Because, the ransom of the captives in my hands is calculated according to their rank in the imperial court. The higher the grade, the more valuable they are. ”

Xu Shichang's heart jumped, and he immediately had a very bad premonition.

Sure enough, as soon as this premonition appeared, Yang Xingguo in front of him continued: "Lord Xu, you are a member of the imperial court, and the ransom is 200,000 taels of silver. I won't cheat you Lord Yuan, all the Beiyang Army prisoners in my hands will be based on your ransom Lord Xu, the grade is one level lower, and the ransom will be halved on the basis of the previous grade. ”

"The highest grade among the remaining captives is the third grade, on the basis of Lord Xu, after half of the half, it will be 50,000 taels of silver, 25,000 taels of silver for the co-unification, and 12,500 taels for the standard, I don't want a fraction, count 12,000 taels. The battalion manager brought six thousand taels of silver each, and the sentry officer had three thousand taels of silver each. ”

"The platoon commander has no grade, so it is considered one thousand taels and five hundred taels of sheds."

"Hiss......" After hearing Yang Xingguo's decision, Xu Shichang, who was dumbfounded, had no other words to describe his mood at the moment except shock.

According to the price given by Yang Xingguo, if the marshal wants to redeem the officers above the sentry commander, he must prepare at least 2.5 million taels of silver.

This is at least, more than 2.5 million taels of silver.

More importantly, if a unit wants to form combat effectiveness, it is not enough to have officers at or above the sentry level. Platoon commanders and booths with extensive combat experience are just as important as those senior officers.

If all those low-level officers are counted, five million taels of silver may not be enough.

What is the concept of five million taels of silver for the marshal, the annual salary of the 100,000 elites of the Beiyang Army is almost this number. And with Dashuai's current strength, even if he takes out all his family funds, he can't make up enough five million taels of silver.

Of course, even if Yuan Shikai scraped together enough five million taels of silver to redeem all the officers. Yuan Shikai, who was close to bankruptcy, would also be unable to use these redeemed officers to expand his army because he had no money. For Yuan Shikai, these officers are redeemed for nothing, and they have no effect.

Xu Shichang, who couldn't help but gasp, slowly reacted from the shock, and subconsciously thought of sitting on the ground to repay the money.

But as soon as the words came out, Yang Xingguo replied with a smile: "Are you sure that your Lord Yuan is unwilling to give out this silver." ”

"If that's the case, I'm going to do justice to the captives. They risked their lives for Lord Yuan, but in the end they were treated unfairly. Even if I block them from going back in the end, they will no longer be as loyal to you Lord Yuan as they did before. ”

"Because, it is the same as selling his life to Lord Yuan, Lord Yuan is willing to spend money on you, but he is reluctant to spend silver on them, which is obviously looking down on these generals."

"When the news spreads, not only the prisoners in my hands, I believe that the remaining towns of the Beiyang Army in the pass will also be dissatisfied with Lord Yuan because of his unfair treatment."

Hearing this, Xu Shichang looked at him again with a shocked face as if he had re-acquainted Yang Xingguo.

Not only that, but two words directly appeared in my heart, trap.

From the very beginning, Yang Xingguo laid a big trap, and he didn't notice it until Yuan Shikai stepped in. (To be continued.) )