After a whole night of thinking and speculation, Song Biao had already decided to take a risk and try to defeat the army in advance, but he was not in a hurry to announce his idea.

The next morning, he called Xue Changqing and Chen Wu to his office very early.

Chen Wu was particularly excited, and took the first step to enter the door and saluted: "Tell the division, I have taken the lead in completing the first batch of recruitment, and the strength of the Third Infantry Regiment of our department has reached 2,300 people, and now it has two infantry battalions, a baggage company, an artillery company, and a reconnaissance company. ”

Xue Changqing then stepped into the door and saluted: "Master." ”

He is old, he speaks and does things steadily, and he also holds his own identity, so he can't tell everything like Chen Wu as soon as he enters the door.

Song Biao was having breakfast, a bowl of mung bean porridge, two steamed buns and a boiled egg.

He hurriedly beckoned the two to come in and talk, and before they could sit down, he asked, "Have you eaten, if you haven't eaten, you can eat with me, and I will let Dayun give you a few more white breads." ”

Xue Changqing said with a smile: "Let's eat at Sanhe Fort, and come over early to report to the master." The leopard is in a hurry, and he can finish his little in one breath, so I have to talk about it here. ”

Song Biao was in a very happy mood, because he had already known in advance that he had bought the franchise of Fushun Coal Mine, and said to Xue Changqing with a smile: "Then I won't pay attention to it, I will listen while eating, and I won't delay time." ”

Xue Changqing smiled: "Okay." Division, we can be regarded as really earning this time, 200,000 rubles will take the franchise of Fushun coal mine, Zengqi that Manchurian people can't stand the scare at all, let's find the Russians to come forward to intimidate a few words, he immediately signed and drawn, Fushun, Benxi and Tieling 30 years of coal and iron franchise rights to us, we originally expected that Fushun coal and iron management rights need 200,000 rubles, the other two places, can be discussed, the asking price is then negotiated, but I didn't expect Zengqi, the Manchurian general, to be so bad, can't stand the scare, Signed without talking about the price. ”

Song Biao laughed and said, "This thing is done well, it's good, you have to do it like this." ”

Xue Changqing said: "Because we bought land deeds and land deeds in the area of Shenyang City, and the funds were very tight, Brigadier General Madenidov asked Daosheng Bank to make a loan for us, using our Russian army salary as collateral, taking advantage of the recent chaos, I bought the most prosperous shops in the area of Chaoyang Street and Zhengyang Street." ”

Song Biao nodded, feeling that this business was also good.

Seeing that Song Biao was satisfied with this matter, Xue Changqing was naturally even happier in his heart, so he said: "Master, we have already collected 14,700 hectares of land in the surrounding area of Shenyang, and the fields in Liaozhong and Liaoyang have also taken the risk of collecting more than 6,000 hectares of land, and the land over there is cheaper, but it is not so easy to collect, and we can't go to the land of Yuben to collect the land deed, but when we meet a large family who has fled, they sell a land deed, so we will buy one at a low price." There are a lot of harvests in the fields, but I don't dare to plant grain this year, it is another year of waste, looking at this posture, I am afraid that next year will be a great famine. At the moment, the grain and silver rubles in our hands are almost spent, and it is estimated that there is not much food left on your side, and if you have to do this business in the future, you will have to go to other places to collect grain and transport it over. ”

Song Biao said: "I still have more than one million yuan in my hand, and some time ago I exchanged it into silver yuan, so that Huzi could collect grain in Huinan and Meihekou, and the price of grain there was not bad, and a load of sorghum rice was only forty oceans." Now it is estimated that 20,000 quintals have been collected. I still have 10,000 quintals of grain in the inventory in Niujiapu and Balichuan, which is basically enough for our expenses for four months, in Vladivostok, I asked Chang Wanchun to ask the price, but I can buy American grain, the price of corn and potatoes is not outrageous, but the cost of shipping it is too high, plus it is all purchased by the Russian army, so we will not consider it for the time being. Lieutenant Colonel Sheyensky and I talked about something, and I guess we may have to continue to the front, and it just so happens that you have returned with the transport regiment and the caravan brigade, so hurry up and put things in order. The caravan brigade continued to let Lao Jintou take him with him, and asked him to go to Huinan and Mudanjiang to be responsible for consignment of supplies. If you really want to go to the front, your transport group will have to come with me. Therefore, this grain business almost had to be put on hold for the time being. ”

Xue Changqing was taken aback and asked Song Biao: "What's the matter, do the Russians think that we haven't done our best to eliminate the bandits?" ”

Chen Wu immediately became energetic, and suddenly stood up and said: "Master, it's a good thing, it's not that we haven't fought Xiao Yueben, so let's continue to fight, my two thousand brothers are waiting to start a war!" ”

Song Biao waved his hand indifferently slightly, motioned for Chen Wu to sit down and talk to him, and said to Xue Changqing: "The Russians feel that a decisive battle is imminent, especially General Mishuchenko, and he still wants us to go back to help him." The specific conditions have not yet been discussed, but I estimate that it will be very generous, and the decision of whether to return or not is in my hands, I am still pondering, and I also want to hear what the brothers mean. ”

Xue Changqing immediately said: "If you want me to say, then beat him hard, the grain in our hands is almost sold, and the benefits are all enough." You think, Shizuo, let's transport grain from Huinan to Shenyang, and the intermediate freight is not low, especially those Yanma thieves in Xiao Yueben can eat, and they don't eat damn things, if it's only twice the profit, we might as well go up and grab my equipment. It's just that Xiao Yueben is also very bad, although there are more brothers than before, but we still can't fight hard with Xiao Yueben, we have to continue to let the Russians stand in front of us, and we will follow behind to grab things. ”

Song Biao sighed and said, "It's easy to say, how can there be so many good things." The Battle of Heigoutai is only a medium-sized battle, both sides have not tried their best, and now it is a large-scale decisive battle, with the cumulative investment of at least 700,000 troops on both sides, and we will have to lose all our lives if we are not careful. Where is the war money so easy to make? ”

When Xue Changqing heard this, he turned to ask, "Then listen to the meaning of the master's seat...... Let's not go, continue to fight bandits in the rear, and make our money. ”

Song Biao didn't rush to answer and continued to eat his breakfast.

Xue Changqing and Chen Wu could only sit next to them and watch dryly, and they didn't dare to say a word.

After eating his plate of steamed buns and a big bowl of porridge, Song Biao picked up a towel from the table and wiped his mouth and hands, and then continued with the two: "The battle is to be fought, you can fight as hard as you can, as for how to fight, I will consider it." For us, making money and training the army are both a kind of development, and the latter is more important, this opportunity is just around the corner, fleeting, and we can't afford to wait. You two continue to follow me, in addition, I plan to bring Huzi and Tiesheng's team over, leaving the pillar and a cavalry regiment of the Russian army to guard Tonghua City here, and Niujiabao can only shrink a little. Tonghua is not lost in this place, and the army basically does not dare to go to Niujiabao. After calculating the calculations, I will bring three infantry regiments over, and the engineer regiment and transport regiment will definitely go, and there is no problem for these artillery companies to come together to form an artillery battalion. ”

Xue Changqing pondered for a while and asked, "Division, is it too risky for us to leave three thousand people and a Russian cavalry regiment of no more than a thousand people to guard Tonghua City?" ”

Song Biao said: "It's not a big problem, the army can't take out many troops at the moment, plus our patrol teams in various tunzi, get together, in fact, there are more than 5,000 people, even if the army sends an infantry wing over, they may not be able to withstand it, if they send a little more, they really can't take it." ”

After a pause, he added: "At the moment, it is really a decisive battle with all his might, at this time, the army does not dare to send a brigade to Tonghua to take risks, in case of failure, morale will plummet, not to mention that it is the final decisive battle, and the transportation line and the like are already secondary matters." ”

Chen Wu gritted his teeth and said: "Master, then let's go fight, brother, I have itchy hands for a long time, and I look forward to fighting every day." ”

Song Biao glanced at him coldly and said, "I am very happy that you want to fight, but your troops have been practicing for a few days, except for the more than 1,500 people who came back first, thirty percent of the troops on your side are recruits without any training, even if the batch that came back in advance has only been practicing for half a month." Leopard, you have indeed fought a lot of victories with me, but as a general and a regimental commander, there are still many things you have to learn. I have a few military attachés and students studying abroad in the Chinese army, and I only have theory but not actual combat, so I will send one to you as a battalion commander, and just as you can be an operational staff officer, you can learn more from the other side and learn from each other. People are people who have read books, you should be humble at that time, don't think that if you follow me earlier, you can look down on others. If you are really this kind of favoritism, I will not let you bring a main regiment and let Brother Tie Sheng lead a reserve regiment. In all fairness, Tiesheng's team is the most trained unit, but it just lacks opportunities. ”

Chen Wu was taught in a low-key manner, and replied very sincerely: "Master, you can rest assured, I must humbly follow others to learn, others have read foreign ink, we can't compare." The only thing we are better than them is to follow you, which is called early and early light. Since they have already come, they are all brothers, then we are in the same boat, we are brothers, why should we look down on them. ”

Song Biao was also very satisfied with his head slightly, but he was still stern and almost harsh and reminded Chen Wu: "I hope you can do what you say, I attach great importance to them, just like you." My subordinates do not only have the four great King Kongs, but have the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, at this point, old subordinates like you must understand things best, seize all the time to make up for their shortcomings, and don't fall behind. Life is long, I will go on this way must be very difficult, if one day, you fall behind, I will still attach importance to you, understand our feelings, but are you willing? It's always good to learn more, learn more. ”

Chen Wu only felt a very heavy mood at this moment, and the joy when he returned from Shenyang suddenly turned into yesterday's spring mud, but when he thought that Yang Tiesheng was squeezed into the reserve team by his own team, he understood that it would not be easy for anyone to go on this way.

Whether Biao Ye has love or not, the brothers who have fought together know and understand, but Biao Ye's ambition is big, and the brothers also understand it.

Everyone understands in their hearts that Biao Ye is so capable, if he wants to be a governor of Zhili or something, isn't it easy? Maybe Biao Ye is like Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, pulling the army all the way up, more domineering than the Hunan army back then, and the brothers are governors, governors, admirals or something all the way.

Maybe there will be a day.

Chen Wu felt that his life was very promising, he thought, once upon a time, he could have such a beautiful place today, thinking about this, he gritted his teeth fiercely.

Song Biao glanced at Chen Wu slightly, and could probably understand what he was thinking, so he patted Chen Wu on the shoulder and said, "Do it well, don't think about those things that you have and don't have, you remember that if you have me, Song Biao will have you for a day." ”

"Alas, the subordinates understand very well!"

Chen Wuting happily agreed, and secretly swore that if he followed Song Biao to the front line again this time, he would have to do something more beautiful, earn himself more breath of his mother, and let other brothers see his leopard's ability clearly.

After eating this breakfast, Song Biao also talked to Xue Changqing and Chen Wu about the same, so he asked the two of them to go back early to prepare, and arranged for someone to urgently send a message to others, regardless of whether the recruitment task had been completed or not, they had to return to Tonghua in advance.

It stands to reason that Song Biao's best choice is to take Zhao Tingzhu, Zhang Yahu, and Chen Wu into battle, and continue to leave Yang Tiesheng to take care of the family, which is more reasonable from the arrangement of their return route.

Song Biao still thinks about a lot of things, Tonghua must be defended, Zhao Tingzhu is the most suitable person, as for whose troops follow him into battle, it doesn't actually matter, because he either doesn't go to the battlefield, as long as he goes, he must still directly command the Russian army to fight, let the Russian army rush to the front, and he can't use his own recruit troops to fight hard.

As for how to fight this Fengtian Armageddon, Song Biao has already calculated very clearly in the past two months, and he is really going to go, and when all the necessary conditions are met, he firmly believes that he can send the so-called famous generals of the army, such as Dashan Yan, Ximu Nonori, and Nozu Guandao, to the Yasukuni Shrine as tablets.

In a way, that's why he wanted to fight this battle.

He is a soldier, how many opportunities can he encounter in his life to fight against Oyama Iwa and Nozu Kando?

He is a Chinese [***] person, and he would rather help the Russians win the land war, and he also wants to cut the likes of Daiyama and Nozu Kando as his defeated subordinates, and send them to grab a front-row spiritual seat at the Yasukuni Shrine.

In fact, war is not complicated, and the simplest strategy is to find a systematic military theory to restrain the opponent, unswervingly carry out the theory to the end, implement it to every detail, and then seize the opponent's fatal key at the most appropriate opportunity.

There was a click.

Just like chopping wood with an iron axe, as long as you work hard, you can easily chop those so-called famous generals into seven or eight pieces.

After talking with Chen Wu and Xue Changqing, Song Biao knew that most of the brothers would not be reluctant to go to the battlefield, to be precise, the brothers were willing to follow him to do anything.

On this morning, Song Biao did not go to the Maoshan training camp again, and he continued to invite Jiang Yanxing and Cai Ye to his office.

Due to some historical factors, Song Biao actually paid more attention to Cai Ye and Jiang Fangzhen, but he also understood that Cai Ye, Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Xiaohuai were all freshmen who had just graduated, and they did not have the actual experience of leading troops in combat, nor did they have much life experience to speak of.

Jiang Yanxing, Shu Fangde, and Xu Baoying are different, they have been graduated for three years, and they have been working as instructors in military academies and crash courses in various provinces.

After the six of them arrived in a hurry, Song Biao invited them to sit down, and said directly to the point: "Although you have just come to our department, your talents are not ordinary, I attach great importance to you, I think, you can also understand my hard work." There's one thing I'd like to discuss with you, and if you don't agree and prefer to leave me, then I can understand that. ”

As soon as they heard this, Jiang Yanxing and the six people were very surprised, they didn't even sit on the buttocks, just arrived here, everyone was holding the position of battalion commander, but they hadn't started their official work yet, how could there be a new change?

In addition to being stunned, Jiang Yanxing, as the eldest senior among the six, first expressed his attitude with Song Biao: "The general is serious, and the soldier takes the execution of the order as his duty, no matter whether we oppose it or agree, as long as the general gives the order, we will carry it out, and we will never deviate from the general." ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sheyenissky of the Second Army of the Russian Far East Army and I am also a Russian general who has a good relationship, and he came to me yesterday, in fact, he wanted to lead the Manchurian Infantry Division back to the battlefield and cooperate with their Second Army to fight. Rather than cooperating with the operation, I may still send a part of the main force to command and deploy to me, responsible for annihilating the main force of the army. His Excellency Kuropatkin, Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army, also has this intention, but the decision is still in my hands, if I prefer to clear out bandits in the rear and maintain security in the rear, this is also a good thing for the Russian army, and if I am willing to go to the front, His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief is naturally more welcome. In your opinion, should our troops go to war? ”

As soon as Song Biao's words fell, Cai Ye hurriedly persuaded him: "General, it's not appropriate to go." In the past few days, I have carefully observed the training situation of our division, and on the whole it is still in the recruit stage, which is far from the army, not to mention that our unit seriously lacks qualified non-commissioned officers, and the unit is completely vacant at the level of battalion commander, and the regiment headquarters can only directly command the company headquarters. In addition, when Russia fights each other, we can not only seek benefits, expand our own strength, and prepare for major events, but also win enough time and space for our department to develop. ”

Jiang Fangzhen also actively persuaded at this time: "General, you really can't go." Offending the Yue army is not a big deal, the key is that the Russians are extremely greedy, and it is indeed a shame to help them. Now that Russia has formed a long-term struggle in Mukden, it is the most favorable time for our department. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly, but looked at Jiang Yanxing and asked, "What do you think of this problem?" ”

Jiang Yanxing thought for a while and replied cautiously: "If the general has a strange strategy, let's go and make a profit, then it is not impossible." If we really want to lead our troops to rush to the front line and fight to the death with the army, then we really can't go, and if the Russians have such a plan, they must be uneasy and kind. ”

Song Biao had already made up his mind, and resolutely replied: "Yes, how could I be stupid enough to use my own recruit division to fight against the elite main division formed by the army for a long time?" I have already thought about it, if General Mishuchenko really wants me to preside over the front-line battle, then my conditions are also very simple, that is, I must be given enough troops and power, and I will have full authority to decide on a decisive battle with a certain main division of the Japanese army with the strength of half a group army, and give the Japanese army a severe blow at a critical time and place. As in the past, I said that my long-term threat was greater than that of Russia, and that Russia now has a very large number of revolutionary forces in the country, and if it spreads like this, even if Russia wins the war, they will no longer be able to rampantly occupy the northeast for a long time, and Britain and the United States will not stop there. My judgment is this, as far as I know, the Russian Navy is basically not able to pin hope at the moment, and I am afraid that the naval battle will be lost again. If Russia will have a great victory in the land area, or even annihilate the main force of the army and expel the army from the northeast, Britain and the United States and other countries will certainly intervene to promote peace talks between the two sides, and in the process strive for the best situation for the army, forcing Russia to suspend its all-out aggression in the northeast. Although Russia is large, its economic strength is only at the second-rate level of the European and American powers, and it will basically not last long at the moment. ”

Cai Yi anxiously persuaded: "I'm afraid that after the Russians defeat the Yue army, they can't wait to force the imperial court to cede the northeast?" ”

Song Biao thought about it quietly, his face became cold, and said: "Then let's make all the preparations, and prepare to accept possible help from other countries, and fight the Russian army together with the imperial court." If I really get to that point, I will think very carefully, at that time, I will break up into pieces, scatter a division into hundreds of small units, entrenched in dangerous and difficult places everywhere, and constantly attack the Russian army, forcing the Russians into a long-term chaotic war, depleting their economy, making it impossible for them to plunder the resources of the Northeast on the one hand, and on the other hand, they will continue to invest money and troops to maintain the rule of the Northeast. No matter how strong the opponent is, as long as we want to fight, we must have the most suitable tactics. ”

Hearing this, everyone fell back into deep thought.

After a long time, Cai Yi said: "Since the general already has such a determination, what else do his subordinates say, the general has made up his mind, and he intends to control the Russian Ke, so my subordinates will go all out with the general." ”

Song Biao immediately high-fived and said, "Yes, what I want is your determination." Don't worry too much, this battle, I have been thinking about it alone for two months, even if we can't find a way to defeat the Yue army, and even encounter the situation where the Russian army is defeated, I still have a way to retreat with everyone, but the nest of Tonghua still has to be defended. ”

Jiang Yanxing and the others said yes in unison, and they seemed to be more stable in their hearts, but they didn't know how powerful Song Biao was, and they were even suspicious of what Aoki Xuanchun said before.

With their understanding of modern military affairs, it should be absolutely impossible to really get out of the decisive battle of that scale.

With this suspicious mentality, even Jiang Yanxing suspected that he had given up his stable errand in the Qing army to join Song Biao's Manchurian Infantry Division, which was probably the worst decision.

(To be continued)