Song Biao had already had lunch, but Jiang Yanxing and they definitely hadn't eaten, and they arrived here all the way, and the road was really not easy, and when the new chief instructor sent by the Tsarist Far East Army Command Major Denikin and Major Legvich of the Cossack cavalry arrived, the luncheon on the side of the division headquarters was also prepared.

Because there were Russian chefs in the division, Song Biao just invited everyone to have a big meal that combined Chinese and Western, one plate of steak per person, plus eight hot dishes and six cold dishes, as well as four jars of white wine and two bottles of Russian Volga.

Everyone talked while eating, since they were all military people, they must be interested in the battle of Heigoutai that Song Biao won, and they all asked Song Biao to carefully talk about the situation of the battle of Heigoutai, but Song Biao did not refuse, neither added fuel nor vinegar, nor highlighted his own talk, and objectively evaluated the tactics and combat level of the two armies, which can be regarded as a tactical explanation lesson for Jiang Fangzhen and Cai Yi and others.

Major Denikin and Major Legvich just watched from the sidelines, and they didn't understand Chinese very well, not to mention that there were Xiangzhejiang dialects mixed in, and they left in advance very early, and when they left, Cai Gong asked Song Biao with great curiosity: "General Song, where did you learn modern military theory, I heard that in your speech, several times you quoted foreign [***] theory?" ”

Almost all of the theories quoted by Song Biao came from Suvorov's "The Science of Winning", and only one sentence was taken from "Introduction to the Art of War". ”

Cai Yi said: "The army has its own compiled theories, but they mainly push Clausewitz's "Theory of War", and we mainly study "Theory of War", in addition, "The Art of War" annotated by Yue himself and "Introduction to the Art of War" by the French, in addition to "Five Wheels", but I am afraid that only they are interested in this thing. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly, but said: "This shows that you haven't learned it well, and the sentence I said 'the best defense is offense, and all defense must serve offense' comes from the preface of Jomini's "Introduction to the Art of War", and it also appears twice in the final summary text. The two Western military treatises I admire the most are "The Science of Winning" by Russian Commander Suvorov and "Introduction to the Art of War" by Jomini. Clausewitz's "On War" is also commendable, but there are some trade-offs. In short, these are the three books at most. ”

Cai Ye became more and more curious and asked, "Where did the general learn these theories?" ”

Song Biao replied simply: "I know Russian, just study it by myself, before you came, I was still reading the Russian version of "On War". If you really read them all, you will have a more comprehensive understanding of war, but that's all, and whether you can really lead troops to fight a war depends not on theory, but on courage and experience. ”

Everyone listened to this speech, and they were all very teachable and nodded silently in acknowledgement.

felt that they had talked about it almost as well, and there was really a shortage of people on their side, so Song Biao took this opportunity to ask everyone: "You almost know what I think now, I am indeed very short of people at the moment, and I urgently need your help, I don't know if you are willing to be an officer with me?" ”

Jiang Yanxing immediately smiled and said: "We are waiting for the general's words, as long as you want us, we can't ask for it." ”

Cai Ye also said: "That's right. ”

Song Biao smiled: "Then let's even if we have two slaps, I want it, you want to stay!" Okay, then let's talk directly about treatment, position, position and authority, this is the most realistic thing, and it is also the foundation for everyone to show what they have learned. In this way, you are all talents who I want to stay at all costs, and you can tell yourself what you want to do with me, as long as you don't want to be a military commander or something, everything is fine. ”

Everyone was even happier when they heard this, except for Zhang Xiaohuai and Jiang Fangzhen, who had just graduated, the other people actually had errands within the Manchu court, but these errands definitely could not satisfy them, because almost all of them were instructors, and they were generally not allowed to be reused, and there was a gap of 108,000 miles from their original dream.

Jiang Yanxing immediately said: "General Song, I am now an alternate commander, if you have a company commander's errand here, I will definitely do it here for you, no matter how good the treatment and position given in other places, I will not go." ”

At present, this is the case in China, these graduates are also looking for jobs everywhere after returning to China, and some of the more famous ones are hired everywhere, Cai Yi, Lan Tianwei, Jiang Fangzhen are all typical of this, they not only have positions, but also can choose the best among the errands of various governors and governors.

Jiang Yanxing, Xu Baoying, and Shu Fangde were the first batch of students to stay in the country, but their luck was not very good, and the three of them were currently instructors in the primary schools of the New Army in various provinces, and they were depressed.

Song Biao pondered for a moment, and said to Jiang Yanxing: "Start with the battalion commander, you were all instructors before, and you have no experience in actually leading troops to fight. In fact, it is better to start as a company commander, and I can really sharpen some things that will last a lifetime, but I am really very short of people here. I will open a non-commissioned officer battalion for you, and your task is to train a group of young non-commissioned officers who can be platoon commanders for me within half a year, so that they can be used first, and then spend two years, or even four or five years, to slowly polish it, and the road will always be walked step by step. ”

Jiang Yanxing was overjoyed and said, "Then thank General Song." ”

Song Biao nodded and asked the others, "What about you?" ”

Jiang Yanxing has already mixed up the position of a battalion commander, everyone is naturally very passionate, and they have also asked to start from the "company commander", Song Biao met their requirements, Xu Baoying went to the artillery battalion as the deputy battalion commander, this is because the Russian Far East Army sent a senior artillery captain as the battalion commander, Xu Baoying's level is definitely not as good as others.

Because Shu Fangde was proficient in English, his family had been in business for generations, and he had learned a lot, so he asked to be a company commander, and Song Biao kept him by his side as a staff officer in the command camp, which was actually an adjutant for Song Biao.

Jiang Fangzhen was the same, he stayed by Song Biao's side as a staff officer, but he was solely responsible for preparing for the establishment of a staff operations section, while Cai Ye and Zhang Xiaohuai were both sent down as battalion commanders at the same time.

During this period, Song Biao's recruits were almost complete, and the number of personnel in the division was about to reach his expected 13,000, which could be regarded as the prototype of a division-level combat strength.

No matter how much there is a gap between the ability and knowledge of Zhao Tingzhu and Cai Yi, Jiang Yanxing and others, the position of the regiment commander must not be transferred, and Song Biao will not inexplicably give himself the position of regiment commander to the person he just knew, and he actually does not trust, and take the troops of thousands of people under him.

What Song Biao lacks in front of him is precisely some available battalion commanders.

After recruiting these six people and arranging suitable positions according to their wishes, Song Biaocai and Jiang Yanxing, Cai Yi and others said: "Actually, I am still very short of talents here, if you want to talk about salary, the salary I can offer is definitely not low, if you want to talk about space and ambition, I am definitely much stronger than the Qing army here, even if one day, my troops accept the imperial court's recruitment, I believe that I will not be subject to too much moderation, because we can use the power of the Russians to resist the imperial court." I don't need to analyze the trend of the world, the awakening of the nation, and the will of the people, you may know better than me, this is the situation now, and if you want to do great things, you must have your own arms. I'm definitely the best stage here, but a lot of people misunderstand me very much right now. Therefore, I hope that you will try your best to recruit more like-minded people for me, and do not follow the path of Aoki Daisa, we Chinese are benevolent and righteous, and debts must always be paid off, and it is better to borrow less of my personal debts. ”

Jiang Yanxing immediately said: "If you really want to contact, we can contact many friends and classmates, the salary is a trivial matter, the key is to explain clearly to the classmates." In this case, let's write to our best classmates as soon as possible and invite them to work together. ”

Cai Yi said: "Yes, yes." ”

Song Biao made a general observation, and knew that the six of them came here to observe for a while, and I am afraid that it would take a while for these invitation letters to be written, but fortunately, he could afford to wait.

He does not have high demands, as long as he can recruit 20 graduates from the military non-commissioned officer school, it will basically be enough for the time being, and with the internal training of his own troops and other methods, within three years, he will almost be able to formally move his armed forces into the road of modern modernization and regular militarization.

Song Biao's attention to Cai Ye and Jiang Yanxing was naturally very high, not only personally entertaining them, giving each of them a shell gun as a gift, but also personally leading them to visit the training in various camps in the afternoon.

At this time, Song Biao had built a large-scale Maoshan training camp in the Maoshan area in the north of the county, where more than 6,000 recruits from all over the Kanto region were concentrated, and 34 recruit companies were temporarily set up according to the company level. Jovanovic. Major Denikin Infantry served as the chief instructor.

Major Kornilov also knew a little Chinese, while this Denikin infantry major could not understand a word of Chinese, and he did not bother to learn the ignorant language of this Asian race, and he looked down on Chinese from the bottom of his bones.

After serving as the chief instructor of the Manchurian Infantry Division, Major Denikin and Song Biao did not get along well, and indiscriminately abolished the four-phase training method previously formulated by Song Biao, trying to train these Kwantung mercenaries within two or three months, and then put them into the battlefield, without wasting every ruble paid by the Russian army.

Denikin's training was so brutal that the soldiers wailed and wailed, and countless old brothers came to Song Biao's side every day to complain, but even so, Song Biao continued to delegate the overall training of the troops to Denikin with a tolerant attitude.

Both of them have their uses.

Because of the large-scale shortage of non-commissioned officers, at this time, as long as they are literate young people, they can directly start from the squad leader or even the platoon leader as soon as they enlist in the army, and at the same time participate in the non-commissioned officer training camp in charge of Major Denikin.

Before the Battle of Heigoutai, Song Biao had recruited a group of young people with a little foundation in Chinese language in the Hunjiang, Shenyang, and Fushun areas, and after this period of tempering and battlefield baptism, they were successively promoted to the position of company commander.

It's just that at the level of battalion commanders, the size of the vacancy in the Manchurian Infantry Division is very striking.

The boot camp training presided over by Major Denikin was indeed cruel, so much so that Cai Yi, Jiang Yanxing and others, who had interned in the army, felt that it was too strict and had objections, but they also felt shocked.

Song Biao knew very well in his heart that if these soldiers were Russians, Denikin should not be so cruel, otherwise, Denikin's fate seemed to change, and the truth of the matter was that Denikin tried in vain to transform his soldiers into the most loyal cannon fodder and wild dogs of the Russian army.

Denikin wanted to use the Manchurian Infantry Division, while Song Biao took advantage of Denikin's lowly racist ambitions.

At the same time as the scale of the Maoshan training camp was gradually expanding, Song Biao also organized a new artillery company training camp here, and four artillery companies were using the Russian army's M1904 76mm field guns for training, and the Russian army would not provide these artillery guns at all, so these artillery pieces were traded from the army.

After visiting the Maoshan training camp, Song Biao personally went through the enlistment procedures for Jiang Yanxing's six people, each of whom was issued two sets of officer uniforms according to the position of battalion commander, and each person had an additional 100 oceans of settling-in allowance, and even the accommodation place was personally arranged by Song Biao.

On the third day after the arrival of Jiang Yanxing's six men, they had not yet adapted to the new life of the Manchurian infantry division, and the first batch of Chen Wu and Xue Changqing's caravan brigade to complete the recruitment of new recruits returned to Tonghua at this time.

Xue Changqing's transport regiment and caravan brigade is the third time to go back and forth between Hunjiang and Fengtian, Song Biao also successfully sold 30,000 quintals of grain in the Fengtian area, with the surge of Manchurian infantry division personnel, his food here is not as generous as before, during this time, Song Biao also gave Zhang Yahu in Huinan County, let Zhang Yahu buy grain in Huinan and Meihekou.

Nowadays, the price of grain in the entire Kwantung region is high, Huichun, Harbin and other places because of the Russian army forcibly requisitioned grain, the price of grain is naturally not low, Huinan, Meihekou, Liuhe The big granary is not disturbed by the Russian army, the price of grain is lower than that of the surrounding areas, but there are many bandits, no one dares to transport grain out to sell, which is cheaper for Song Biao's troops.

Selling the grain in his hand, Song Biao now has a large amount of silver in his hand to make capital, so he will continue to do reselling business, planning to continue to buy grain in Huinan and send it back to make military food, and then sell it to the Fengtian area.

Hearing that Xue Changqing was back, Song Biao was naturally very happy, and with great interest, he brought a team of cavalry to meet them in person, and took Jiang Fangzhen and Shu Fangde, the two staff adjutants, with him.

When Song Biao led the team to arrive at Sanhe Fort, he happened to see Xue Changqing's horse gang.

On the north bank of the Hunjiang River, where the spring is warm and green, the mighty horse gang of more than 6,000 people walked between the green mountains and the clear water, the banner of the "Manchurian Infantry Division" written in Russian and Chinese was fluttering in the wind, and the big banner of "Kwantung Biao" hung on dozens of poles was even more mighty, and they hunted in the wind.

Jiang Fangzhen, who had just become Song Biao's staff adjutant, was still a little uncomfortable with his new work and life, as well as the food and climate of Kanto.

He and Shu Fangde beside him both had a certain peculiar sense of surprise, they really didn't expect that they would follow Song Biao out of the city for the first time, this task was like welcoming relatives, and the team in front didn't seem to be the official armament of the Manchurian infantry division, but the six thousand horses were really scary, and they seemed to be able to arm a cavalry brigade.

Sanhe Fort is also a military fortress area that Song Biao focused on building, and the construction of the defense line here was built by those bandits, and the first two return of the Mabang Brigade to Tonghua were also stationed here.

The sun is setting, the golden light on both sides of the Hunjiang River is brilliant, and the mighty caravan brigade is even more majestic in the reflection of the river and the twilight.

Song Biao personally led the team to meet them, halfway up, waiting for their arrival on the north bank of the Hunjiang River, and saw Song Biao's guard company flag from a distance, and some people in the horse gang team rushed out quickly.

After a while, Xue Changqing and Chen Wu rode their horses together, and when they saw Song Biao, the two of them hurriedly jumped down with other brothers to salute Song Biao, and said, "My subordinates have seen the master's seat!" ”

Song Biao took the reins of the horse and turned the horse, returned the salute with Xue Changqing, Chen Wu and more than ten other people, and asked Xue Changqing with a smile: "How is it, this time it should be all good news, right?" ”

Xue Changqing said with a smile: "Don't worry, Shizuo, my trip back and forth is all good news, in fact, it is not bad from the previous times, we sold a batch of grain, and brought back a batch of arms and materials, this time with rifles and ammunition." Before I came back, Brigadier General Madenidov personally talked to me, saying that we had fought a lot of small bandits during this time, and the logistical pressure of the Russian army had stopped, and the commander-in-chief was very happy, saying that he wanted to praise us. ”

Song Biao laughed and said, "That's good, get on the horse, go back to Sanhe Fort early, where I prepared a large table of wine and food and white bread for the brothers, and kept them for the brothers to eat." ”

Xue Changqing laughed, hurriedly got on the horse and said: "Or the master knows the thoughts of our brothers, there is wine and white bread, isn't this happy enough?" Oh, by the way, Master, I was about to tell you, do you remember that Lieutenant Colonel Sheyenisky, who came with us this time, in the army. ”

Song Biao's originally happy mood was slightly stunned, and he always felt that this thing was a bit strange. Song Biao's evaluation of Lieutenant Colonel Sheyenisky has always been low, and he has not had many contacts, and during the Battle of Heigoutai, he basically robbed Lieutenant Colonel Sheyenisky of his job as a staff adjutant, and the two did not get along very well.

He really didn't think that Lieutenant Colonel Sheyenisky had come to catch up with him this time.

That's not good!

Song Biao was a little suspicious, and then he was not in a hurry to think about it, and introduced Jiang Fangzhen and Shu Fangde to Xue Changqing and Chen Wu to introduce them to both of them.

It is always a good thing to be strong, I heard that Jiang Fangzhen and Shu Fangde are both literati who graduated from the military non-commissioned officer school, Xue Changqing and Chen Wu are also very welcome, everyone greeted each other on the bank of the river, Xue Changqing and a few people went back to Sanhe Fort to station, while Song Biao continued to stay to greet Lieutenant Colonel Xie Yenisky behind.

(To be continued)