After lunch, Song Biao asked Qiu Jin to leave first, and left Shu Xuan to ask a few more questions about the publication of the poem.

During her visit to the Americas, Shu Xuan finally brought Walter to the Americas. Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" was translated and delivered to the Far Eastern Printing Company for publication, and Song Biao read the entire manuscript, and in his opinion, even people who do not know poetry appreciation can find the joy of reading and the feeling of freedom in this poetry collection.

Because the manuscript of the poem is about to be published, Shu Xuan is very happy, she has been working hard for a whole year, and she can't wait to see the results, and Song Biao is really happy for her persistence and hard work.

After talking about the manuscript of the poem, Song Biao personally sent Shu Xuan out of the organ building, and when he walked out of the door, Song Biao thought about it before asking Shu Xuan: "How are you working in the art troupe, do you feel happy?" ”

Shu Xuan smiled without thinking: "It's good, now there is head Qiu Jin to accompany me to do those interesting things, it's very good!" ”

Hearing this, Song Biao didn't plan to say anything else.

He now regrets recruiting Shu Xuan to the art troupe, but since Shu Xuan likes this job very much, he must continue to support her.

Song Biao just hopes that Shu Xuan will not be overly involved in it, and that she must understand what she wants, and she doesn't necessarily have to care about what others want.

Qiu Jin was still waiting at the door of the organ building, sending Shu Xuan to Qiu Jin, but Song Biao did not continue to send it, and returned to the office to discuss the matter of the third phase of training with Colonel Maltos, who was already waiting for him.

Colonel Martos was still as thin as ever, and he still liked to smoke so much that he smoked in Song Biao's office.

In the entire Northeast New Army, Colonel Martos was one of the very few senior officers who did not regard Song Biao as an absolute leader and superior, and when he saw Song Biao come in, he did not need to salute, and continued to sit cross-legged in the elm chair in front of the desk.

He took out a cigarette from the cigarette case in his hand and threw it to Song Biao, saying, "For the sake of safety, I suggest that the whole army continue to maintain the second phase of training. ”

Song Biao didn't rush to speak, sat at the desk and poured himself a cup of tea, and thought for a moment before answering, "I'm afraid the right situation is needed." ”

Colonel Martos said: "Quite simply, we will make the military exercise more difficult, it is just a matter of design. The 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments were very few units that had better preserved their strength in the Battle of Liaoyang, and Yang Tiesheng's 6th Infantry Regiment was well-trained, and the problem always lay in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Infantry Regiments. Objectively speaking, the overall level of training of the new army is stricter than that of the Russian army as a whole, but in my opinion, there is still a certain practical gap from your requirements. ”

Song Biao was not in a hurry to decide, but continued to ask: "How is the plan for the third phase of training?" ”

Colonel Martos said: "Jiang Fangzhen is not here, the coordination between the first and second staff departments is not very smooth, and Chen Qicai still needs a while to get used to it." It may take another two weeks for the plan for the three phases of the training to be more fully formulated. In general, the three-phase training programme is inherently complex. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly.

The four-phase training method was originally adopted by Song Biao according to the basic fact that the soldiers in the army were poor, and the one-year comprehensive training of soldiers was divided into four stages, namely, the recruit period, the strengthening period, the improvement period, and the excellent period.

In the four phases of training currently being implemented, the first phase of the recruit period will first carry out queue training and firearms skills training, gradually adjust and improve the physical fitness of the soldiers, implement tactical movements and tactical execution training, and the three-month recruit period will end before the improvement period.

Previously, according to the regulations, the training of the new army in cultural classes began in the third phase, but now it is carried out in the second phase, in which all companies are strictly required to popularize cultural guidance and education, and each company is to set up two different cultural guidance classes according to the level of literacy, and each company is guaranteed to have at least five cultural soldiers to serve as counselors.

In addition to the requirements of the cultural course, the second phase of the training foundation requires all soldiers to be proficient in the 22 rules in the "Soldier's Combat Basics Manual", and further emphasizes tactical action and tactical execution training on the basis of the new recruit period.

The third phase belongs to the intensive period of training, in which more stringent skill training and tactical training are emphasized, and more abundant physical fitness and fighting will are emphasized, including such things as the fist of the new army, rifle bayonet fighting, 5-kilometer cross-country with heavy loads, and 60-kilometer rapid marching, all of which must reach a higher level, and combat exercises should also be more severe, and combat training and exercises should be increased to enhance combat capability.

The fourth phase emphasizes actual combat exercises and combat experience at a higher level and on a larger scale, emphasizes tactical execution and command capabilities, and conducts rigorous reconnaissance and field combat training, including adaptation training in various environments such as snow, mountains, and deserts, including drills in various combat capabilities, such as training in fortifications, transportation, ambushes, reconnaissance and other tasks.

As in the previous fourth phase of training, after completing the excellent training, some of the best performing soldiers will be transferred to the position of squad leader, or to scouts, field troops, or directly recommended to the Far Eastern Army Sergeant's non-commissioned officer crash course training, as a deputy platoon commander and other positions. After a period of investigation, this group of grassroots noncommissioned officers will again be sent to the Far East to participate in a long-term study course to prepare for such posts as platoon commanders and company commanders.

The second phase of the Northeast New Army's training period is six months long, which is twice as long as expected, because when the current training plan was first formulated, it was considered that the troops would continue to expand, and the headquarters would double to 60,000, and the Russian military headquarters would continue to shrink from 40,000 to 25,000 at the same time.

Considering the various problems brought about by such drastic changes, Song Biao deliberately set up a relatively long-term second-phase training period from the very beginning, in order to keep the whole army in sync, and at the same time transferred the cultural class to the second-phase training, so as to ensure that all soldiers in the army can achieve a basic understanding of 300 conventional characters and reach the level of being able to memorize military regulations and military discipline and the 22 basic principles of soldiers' operations.

Troop training is a very simple thing, and there are many things that need to be paid attention to in the process of implementation, and even the details are how many sets of soldiers' uniforms should be equipped, how to change and clean, the arrangement of training in different places, the obstacle setting of the training site for a few weeks, the adjustment of more than 30 detailed subjects in physical training, and the improvement of specific requirements.

Colonel Martos and Song Biao talked a lot, and in general, he was not very satisfied with the second phase of the training of the New Army.

He asked Song Biao a question, that is, in October, he randomly selected 100 soldiers from Chen Wu's Third Infantry Regiment to assess the familiarity of the "Soldier's Basic Combat Manual".

As a result, 70% of the soldiers could not recite all of them, only 14 soldiers were able to write silently, and many soldiers did not have the right order of 22 points.

Colonel Martos actually put all his heart and soul into this Northeast New Army, so he was very dissatisfied, but he was not the supreme commander of the Northeast New Army, and everyone respected him very much, but he didn't take it too seriously.

Colonel Martos called Chen Wu over and criticized him at that time, and the two sides had a very unpleasant quarrel.

Speaking of this matter, Colonel Martos and Song Biao calmly suggested: "General, I don't want to stir up trouble here, or take the opportunity to take revenge, but I really think that the whole army has not met your requirements. To be honest, the Russian military department will not meet your requirements, and the army of the entire Tsarist Russian Empire will not meet this requirement, but the Russian military department is not your direct subordinate army after all, and it may be transferred in the future. From the worst point of view, the Russian Army relies on the strength of the number of people and races to win, and all previous wars have relied on the number of people who are not afraid of death to impact the opponent, but your side is different, there are so many troops at present, if you do not take the road of elite soldiers, it is completely unpromising. ”

Song Biao nodded silently, he thought about it very carefully for a long time, and finally said to Colonel Martos: "After the end of this exercise, you will transfer 300 soldiers from each regiment, randomly draw according to the roster, and then take out the assessment and write the "Soldier's Combat Basic Manual", my requirement is that 100% of the standard must be met, which regiment does not meet the standard, which regiment will continue to repeat the second phase of training for a month, and if the two repeated training is unqualified, the regiment commander will all resign, either go to Lu Shi for further study, or go to be the battalion commander of the recruit battalion. ”

Colonel Maltos agreed: "Yes, it should be so harsh. Oh, by the way, I remembered one more thing, I received news from the Russian War Department that the Russian army imported a batch of 7.62mm Madsen machine guns with Nagant rifle cartridges from Denmark, which weighed only 9.5 kilograms, which was very suitable for use in combat units at the squad level. I calculated that as long as two soldiers were added to each squad, one as a machine gunner and the other as a machine gunner, and the other was responsible for carrying ammunition, the other soldiers could fully combine the surplus labor to fully exploit the value of this light machine gun. Although it is impossible for each squad to be equipped with one unit, if it can be installed in a large area, the combat capability of the troops will certainly be greatly enhanced, and the combat mode will be more comprehensive. This machine gun has been installed in Russia for some time and has proven to be very reliable, and the War Department has even planned to introduce a production license for mass production. ”

Song Biao nodded cautiously in approval, and said: "We can definitely buy more, if the price is right, we will buy three thousand first, and it is best to introduce the license at the same time, and see if it can be produced in the joint venture military factory between us and DWM." ”

Colonel Martos said: "There should be no problem, our current adjustment of the equipment of the new army is mainly towards higher mobility and more fierce firepower. With the gradual transfer of mortars to the platoon and company levels, the Madsen machine gun should also be equipped at the platoon level, and the Maxim heavy machine gun needs to be equipped at the company level. ”

Song Biao was thinking about these things in his heart, because the Northeast New Army particularly focused on mobility, and in the current environment, the mobility and firepower of the troops were always a contradictory standard. Mortars and machine guns require a large amount of ammunition, and in the process of high-speed transfer, a large amount of ammunition requires a lot of manpower and horsepower to carry it.

According to the planning of the entire Northeast New Army, each infantry regiment has a baggage battalion, with 1,850 people and 1,175 horses. Each infantry battalion also has a baggage company, with a standard of 580 men and 385 horses.

During the entire Second World War, the German Army conscripted a total of 1.21 million military horses, 95% of which were used to transport supplies, and the Soviet Union mobilized twice as many military horses as Germany during the entire World War II, which had an extremely serious negative impact on the agricultural production of the Soviet Union and Germany and the whole of Eurasia.

Song Biao didn't know much about cavalry, but he was still very clear about this number, such a huge country as China, the foundation of the machinery industry is weak, and the foundation of the oil industry is even weaker, if there is not enough good and enough horses, it will be an extremely terrifying shadow and fatal flaw for the Chinese army in 50 years.

Therefore, Song Biao now attaches great importance to the cultivation of horses, especially the cultivation of medium-to-heavy excellent military horses.

Of course, the Northeast New Army is not short of military horses at present, and the Russian army will cheaply dispose of about 300,000 military horses to Song Biao during a large-scale retreat, because it is also a big problem for Russia to use the railway to haul these military horses back, and the number of military horses discarded and captured in the war during the retreat of Jinzhou is also very large.

Even in this case, considering the rate of consumption of large quantities of materials in war, especially in high-speed mobile operations, when a large number of troops are lightly armed and marching in a surprise attack, and quickly interspersed with battles in the enemy's line, the help that the baggage troops can provide is very limited.

Under such a limited circumstance, how to ensure the balance of firepower and mobility of the troops determines the characteristics and style of a unit.

Looking back at the influence of military thinking on the troops, Song Biao and the Northeast New Army chose Suvorov's idea of "mobility, rapidity, and onslaught", that is, "quickly concentrating superior forces in key areas to annihilate the enemy's main forces", always requiring a faster surprise attack than the enemy's army, suddenly surrounding the enemy with a large number of superior forces when the enemy army is unable to react, encircling and annihilating the opponent's main force with several times the superiority of troops, and destroying the opponent's key forces to occupy the key position of the enemy's army.

For example, in the choice of mortars, light machine guns, infantry guns, and heavy machine guns, the Northeast New Army will focus more on mortars and light machine guns, and heavy machine guns must be equipped, while infantry artillery is basically not required.

If you have to choose between mortars and light machine guns, it must be to choose more and more popular light machine guns, of course, the conflict between the two is not big, because the Northeast New Army is currently mainly equipped with 60mm caliber mortars at the infantry platoon level, and 77mm mortars at the company level.

In Song Biao's prediction and hope, in the future, 81mm caliber mortars will be directly installed at the battalion level, and 105mm mortars will be equipped at the battalion level, and infantry artillery will never be used except for rapid-fire machine guns of 20mm caliber and 37mm caliber. However, if it is a large-scale military operation at the division level, the troops must be equipped with two types of light field artillery of 75mm and 105mm caliber on a large scale, and a large number of 120mm and 150mm howitzers and cannons in the artillery brigades.

The reason why Song Biao wanted to build the army in this way was precisely because China's territory was too large, which was completely different from that of European countries, and even more different from the original language, so there was no need for the Northeast New Army to rigidly copy Germany's military theory.

Based on this guiding ideology of the Northeast New Army, Colonel Martos knew very well that Song Biao definitely wanted this kind of Madsen machine gun, especially when the machine gun cartridges were compatible, and the Northeast New Army must be equipped with Madsen machine guns on a large scale, and it should be installed at the squad level as much as possible.

Even if this infantry squad does not need mortars, it must have Madsen machine guns, and the mortars will be uniformly placed at the platoon level.

Because the cost of the Madsen machine gun is expensive, and there are many problems involved in buying 3,000 at a time, Song Biao and Colonel Martos discussed all kinds of possible things.

The main reason is that the Northeast New Army has reached a basic conclusion in the Battle of Liaoyang, and the main reason is that it is too difficult to supply.

The Northeast New Army installed 60mm caliber mortars at the platoon level, and adopted the idea of setting up a separate mortar squad for each platoon, which was equipped with 12 people and had two mortars.

Song Biao actually discussed with Colonel Maltos a 30mm caliber infantry howitzer, which is the same principle as a mortar, which is the grenadier of the German and Japanese armies, trying to be installed at the squad level, and the firing range requirement is 100m.

Considering the problem of Madsen's light machine gun after it was installed, Song Biao felt that the troops must be equipped with howitzers, and the corresponding grenades must be made of an imperial spherical shape, so that the grenades and gun grenades have completely different combat characteristics in use, and they can be used in conjunction with each other.

If this series of problems can be solved, and a separate heavy machine gun platoon is set up at the company level, equipped with three heavy machine guns, there is no doubt that it will be more complete, and the basic combat strength of the entire army will be greatly improved.

The problems caused by a light machine gun were very many, and Song Biao and Colonel Martos discussed this for a long time, and at this time it was decided that the second phase of the training must be restarted, and the third phase of the training would be considered three months later.

In this way, the end of the fourth phase of the training will already be in September next year, and the recruitment of new recruits will begin around June, and in September the troops will be expanded into three reserve infantry regiments, one reserve cavalry regiment, one baggage regiment, one engineer regiment, and one artillery regiment, and by about September 1908, the main regiments of the whole army will begin to expand to the brigade level, and by about 1910, the whole army will complete the overall expansion of six infantry divisions, three cavalry brigades, and three artillery brigades, and the strength of the whole army headquarters will be sharply expanded to 180,000 people.

According to this speed of expansion, basically in 1910, Song Biao had the ability to advance to the whole country, but it is still necessary to consider the possible surname of Russian intervention, and the possible surname of Russian intervention is not too big, and it is very difficult to say.

In other words, even if Song Biao began to promote the Liberation Revolution and send troops to the Guannei, he must retain enough troops in the Kanto region to prevent any eventuality, or even leave the main elite in the Kanto region to deter the capital.

(To be continued)