The office of Xu Zhongshu of the Hanyang Arsenal is very simple, without the elegance and luxury of the officials of the day, except for a set of antique Nanmu sofas, which is a bit imposing, and two sets of desks are placed in the large space.

At this moment, on the huge table in the center of the center, there are already two new water-cooled heavy machine guns, and four rifles that have not yet been stripped of protective oil.

The accompanying civil and military officials were almost all gathered around the huge table, and the side in the back was reserved for Wu Peifu, who looked shameless and unashamed, and Xu Zhongshu, who talked endlessly.

Xu Zhongshu said for more than ten minutes in one breath, but still did not mean to stop, but became more and more excited, leaned over and opened the cover above the receivers of the two heavy machine guns again, compared back and forth, compared and explained, and finally complained rather sadly:

“…… The general saw it, right? Just a firing mechanism is embarrassing, although we can produce it ourselves, but because of the aging of the equipment, the scrap rate can not be controlled, the cost can not be reduced, after more than half a year of efforts, it is not easy to gradually compress from more than 60 yuan to 42 yuan, and the material and process accuracy can not be guaranteed, there will be problems if a 250-round cartridge belt is not installed, and it is not comparable to the export products of the Sichuan Huaxi Company Arsenal.

"However, the price sold to us by Huaxi Company is only 36 yuan a set, and the service life is far more than several times that of our own production. Knowing that Huaxi Company may cut off the supply of parts at any time, we also have to buy their products, otherwise we will not be able to complete the heavier and heavier production tasks...... This home is difficult to be! ”

Wu Peifu and the surrounding generals were in a particularly heavy mood, facing the machine gun samples on the table and Xu Zhongshu's sad face, no one knew what to say.

Wu Peifu's beard with a slight upturned upper lip trembled a few times, secretly exhaled turbidity, grabbed the sample gun on the table with a ten-round magazine unloaded, looked carefully from beginning to end, pulled the bolt a few times, and asked Xu Zhongshu very politely:

"This kind of rifle that can shoot ten rounds at a time has long been famous, it is said that all the Sichuan troops stationed on the Indo-Tibetan border used this kind of gun, and in the three battles with the Indian colonial army, it showed great power, completely suppressed the British Lee Enfield rifle, but it has not been sold so far, can it be imitated on the Han-style rifle we produce?"

"It's not difficult to modify, it's this that is difficult."

Xu Zhongshu picked up the exquisite work of the magazine: "This ten-round magazine is made of thin steel plate stamping and welding, the process is simple, the material is not difficult to find, the key is to mass produce the required stamping machine and mold, at present, only Sichuan Huaxi Company has the corresponding stamping equipment, the most difficult thing is the group of compression springs inside...... "Oh, just this thing with four high-quality spring plates, only Huaxi Company can make it, of course, you can order directly from the European and American arsenals, but people are afraid that they don't only sell magazines, Don't count on buying it from Sichuan, just like the steel helmet of the Sichuan army, you can't buy it with money. ”

The Hanyang Factory is already regarded as a leader in the same industry in China, and it is far more powerful than the Dagu, Shanghai, Jinling, and other arsenals that have collapsed and are in the process of collapsing, but it is not comparable to Sichuan at all -- not to mention that it is not comparable with Xiao Yimin's own Huaxi Company, which has very advanced technology and equipment, and even the old Sichuan Arsenal under the name of Sichuan Province's political axe, and the gap is not one or two points, but it is backward in all aspects.

This objective reality made the ambitious Wu Peifu deeply worried and frustrated, as early as many years ago, Wu Peifu listed the Hanyang Arsenal as an important goal to achieve, but now that he has it, he suddenly found that it is far from being as good as he expected.

In the face of the dilemma of the Hanyang factory and Xu Zhongshu's complaints, Wu Peifu, who was becoming more and more calm, did not express his position on the spot, and it was not until the fast horse came to urge Wu Peifu to grab Xu Zhongshu's hand and put forward his promises and requirements very firmly:

"Go to my place in a few days, I will allocate 500,000 cash to you, first buy back the Moore-type electric furnace, ferrosilicon furnace and stamping machine, I only have this 500,000 for the time being, if it is not enough, I will find a way, as long as I am still in Hubei for a day, I will give you the allocation on time, before that...... If you can't produce parts, continue to buy them from Sichuan, but I hope to solve the problem within two years. ”

Wu Peifu rushed back to the Yamen of the Overseer, and the old commander Cao Kun, the commander of the 8th Division Wang Ruxian, the commander of the 20th Division Fan Guozhang, and the commander of the 16th Mixed Brigade Feng Yuxiang had been waiting for a long time.

Cao Kun personally led the arrival of the army, and finally alleviated the crisis in the two lakes, Wu Peifu very respectfully and decently greeted the generals, and at Cao Kun's suggestion, immediately convened a military meeting.

The first topic of the meeting was to determine the intentions of the Sichuan army and estimate the strength of the Sichuan army.

Before Cao Kun led his troops south, he received telegrams from Xu Shichang, Feng Guozhang, and Duan Qirui, and he had a deeper understanding of the ambitious Sichuan army and the rapidly developing Mingzhu Party.

The large map of the two lakes was hung high, and more than a dozen retinue generals gathered around Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, and Wu Peifu personally raised the baton to report the movements of the Sichuan army:

"The morning before yesterday, a brigade of the Sichuan Army suddenly went south to Shishou and took over the remnants of more than 1,000 remnants thrown by Wang Jinjing. The department is already under the watchful eye of our army, and if there is any change, we will be informed immediately. ”

"Wait for Ziyu first, is the news of the reorganization of the entire Sichuan Army accurate?" Cao Kun interrupted Wu Peifu's words.

Wu Peifu nodded: "It has been confirmed, the Sichuan army is indeed being reorganized, according to the news secretly sent back by Yichang, the flood peak of the Yangtze River has just passed, and the transport ships from Sichuan to Yichang have almost never been broken, almost all the ships are docked at the newly built military wharf on the south bank of Yichang, and a large number of military supplies and food have been sent to the Yichang military station built by the Sichuan army on the south bank." The station was so large that it took only four months to build and use, which was three times the size of the Wuhan munitions depot under our control. ”

Cao Kun looked at his chief of staff Xiong Bingqi with some dissatisfaction, but Xiong Bingqi's face was at a loss, obviously not only did he not get the news, but Yanjing obviously didn't know about it, but such an important information was not understood, which was undoubtedly a dereliction of duty on the part of the Beiyang Army.

Wu Peifu didn't seem to see Cao Kun's dissatisfaction, paused slightly, and continued to report:

"The second important news is that three days ago, the Fifth Division of Liu Xiang of the Sichuan Army stationed in Jingzhou began to change its outfit, and the whole division was replaced with a new type of short rifle produced in Sichuan, which was called the M1918 short rifle within the Sichuan Army, and the bayonet was also changed to a three-edged bayonet of the kind of Tsarist Russia, and it was also equipped with a combat vest that could carry 100 rounds of ammunition and hang four grenades and other items, and the Sichuan Army called it a 'multi-functional combat vest', which was first tried in the Sichuan border army and has now been fully promoted. It can be seen from this that the Sichuan army is reorganizing and changing its outfits, and there will not be much movement in a short period of time. ”

Cao Kun asked: "A while ago, the French newspaper first published the news of the reorganization of the Sichuan Army, but there was no specific content, does Ziyu know anything about this?" ”

Wu Peifu shook his head: "There are all kinds of news, but none of them have been confirmed, I personally think that the news that the Sichuan Army has canceled the brigade-level establishment is very likely to be true, after all, the third and fourth divisions of the Sichuan Army have been tried out a year ago, and I remember that Xiao Yimin also published such articles, his main purpose is to reduce the command link, the division level is the highest combat unit, directly commanding the regiment, and also said that this is a development trend of modern warfare, and many people in the army have raised objections to this, including myself." ”

"Brother Ziyu, is it possible for the Sichuan Army to take this opportunity to change its clothes and complete the reorganization of the army by the way? According to newspaper propaganda, the Sichuan army has been recruiting troops in Jingxiang and western Hubei for half a year, including more than 1,000 people under the command of Wang Jinjing, who defected to the Sichuan army in the near future, and more than 5,000 escaped officers and soldiers of Li Tiancai and Shi Xingchuan, and a rough estimate shows that the total number of new people in the Sichuan army is not less than 15,000, and it may be as high as 20,000, but so far, we have not seen the Sichuan army add a new number, don't you think it's a bit strange? ”

Chief of Staff Xiong Bingqi raised his doubts, which immediately sparked heated discussions.

Feng Yuxiang said loudly: "I think the Sichuan army is likely to be expanding, as Brother Ziyu said, the Sichuan army will not make any big moves in the short term, but what about after we continue to gallop south to help Hunan?" The Sichuan army on the front line of Jingxiang has a strength of up to 60,000 people, and the number of Lu army and Hubei army who defected to the Sichuan army is nearly 10,000, most of them are veterans with rich combat experience, and they can be put into the battlefield with a little rectification. ”

Although Wu Peifu did not want Cao Kun and others to stay in Hubei for a long time, Wu Peifu still knew how to make a choice in the face of the threat posed by the Sichuan army that was eyeing him at night

Xiao Yimin, commander-in-chief of the Sichuan Army, who is far away in Yichang, is also holding a military enlargement meeting, and the plan for the reorganization of the whole army to abolish the brigade-level establishment has been quietly launched.

The new division has three infantry regiments, a special service battalion, a machine gun battalion, an engineer battalion, and a baggage battalion, with a total of 9,500 officers and men. Artillery equipped with field artillery and mountain artillery came out of the divisions and brigades, and an artillery regiment was established under the direct jurisdiction of the military headquarters.

In addition to Yang Sen's 1st Division and Liu Xiang's 10th Division, the 11th Tang Shizun Division was added under the command of Wang Lingji, who was still the commander of the First Army.

Xiao Yimin himself served as the commander of the newly established Seventh Army, which was under the jurisdiction of the Fourth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Divisions.

Wang Jian, commander of the Fourth Division, was promoted to deputy commander and commander of the Fourth Division, with three regiments and four directly subordinate battalions under his command, from the original 10th Brigade and the Lu Army of Toucheng; He Qiwu, the former chief of staff of the Fourth Division, was promoted to the commander of the 12th Division, which was expanded from the 12th Brigade; The 11th Brigade of the original 4th Division was expanded to the 13th Division, and Lu Yixuan, chief of staff of the General Headquarters, was promoted to commander of the 13th Division.

After the reorganization of the front-line units and brigades, Bao Jiqing, chief of the General Staff, and Xu Xiaogang, minister of the army, will be responsible for the reorganization work, and the third refitting will be carried out in phases and batches.

After the reorganization summary meeting in Yichang ended, it immediately entered a state of intense preparation, always guarding against the sudden attack of Cao Kun and Wu Peifu.

Although in essence, the Sichuan Army and the Beiyang Army have torn their faces, neither is willing to fire the first shot, and neither is sure that they will defeat the other at once.

Xiao Yimin will not really stand still because the Beiyang Army has reinforced, even if he looks on the wall and reaps profits, it is impossible for the Beiyang Army to win, and big moves cannot be done, but small actions are indispensable.

(To be continued)