When it comes to Beiyang warlords, the most famous is of course the six towns of Beiyang, that is, the six towns from one to six. Among the six towns, except for the first town, which is composed of banner soldiers, and Yuan Shikai cannot fully control it, the other five towns can be said to be the descendants of the lineage.

In the period of the Republic of China, that is, after the abdication of the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai not only reorganized the six towns of Beiyang into divisions (that is, the first to sixth divisions), but also reorganized the original twentieth town and twenty-third town of the two new armies in the late Qing Dynasty into divisions, that is, the twentieth division and the twenty-third division of the Beiyang Army, and the division commanders were Zhang Shaozeng and Meng Enyuan. At this point, Beiyang was expanded from the original six divisions to eight divisions.

Not long after, Yuan Shikai changed the original 13th Association of the Army in the late Qing Dynasty to the 19th Division of the Beiyang Army. At the same time, the front and middle routes of the Fengtian Fifth Route Army (the original 8th Route and 40th Battalion of the Old Army in Fengtian Province, that is, the patrol battalion) were changed to the 27th Beiyang Division, and the remaining roads were changed to the 28th Division of the Beiyang Army, and the division commander was Feng Delin (Zhang Zuolin's early opponent).

After the reorganization of the 20th, 23rd, 19th, 27th, and 28th divisions, Yuan Shikai's strength expanded to 11 divisions. In addition to the above, there are more than ten mixed associations such as the Fengtian Mixed Association, the Zhili Mixed Association, the Second Mixed Association of the Army, the 13th Mixed Association, the 29th and 43rd Mixed Associations...

These troops are the reasons why Sun Yat-sen and the League will give up the post of provisional president after the Xinhai Revolution. Without him, if he really fights, Yuan Shikai will crush the revolutionary army without pressure.

However, despite this, in addition to the six towns in the old Beiyang, only the 19th Division, the 20th Division, the 23rd Division and Zhang Xun's Braided Army were not bad, and the remaining divisions, such as the 27th, 28th Divisions and some other mixed brigades, were not very good in combat effectiveness.

So in 1913, that is, on the eve of the Second Revolution, Yuan Shikai expanded the Seventh and Eighth Divisions of the Beiyang Army (Lei Zhenchun and Yang Shande), as well as three other mixed brigades, so that Yuan Shikai had thirteen divisions and nineteen mixed brigades.

The above troops are also the reason why Huang Xing said that force cannot be trusted before the Second Revolution. And the facts also proved Huang Xing's view, during the Second Revolution, the armed forces relied on by the Yuan army were simply vulnerable in front of the Beiyang Army.

(The above information is from: Beiyang Army Equipment and Establishment, A Brief Discussion on the Establishment and Ordnance Equipment of the Beiyang Army, Beiyang Warlord Force Sequence, Second Revolution - Military Confrontation between Yuan Shikai and the Revolutionary Party, History of the Beiyang Army, etc...) ）

Anyway, if you don't check the information, it would be funny if you really got a Beiyang 9th Division, 10th Division or something...

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The news of the loss of Badong soon reached the ears of people with hearts, such as Hunan Governor Tan Yanmin or something...

When they learned that Badong was lost, Zhang Shaozeng and Meng Enyuan didn't care much about it, after all, the main responsibility for the loss of Badong County was the Hubei army, not their Beiyang. As for the battle situation in Hubei? Although they were a little worried, the two didn't care very much, after all, there were 100,000 troops in Hubei, and more than 70,000 of them were the elite of Beiyang led by Feng Guozhang and Duan Qirui.

In their opinion, although the National Social Army is also a very capable force, but only tens of thousands of National Social Army want to compete with the 100,000 army in Beiyang? This is obviously an impossible thing to do.

But...

"It's really boring to have no fight..."

In the headquarters of the 20th Division of the Beiyang Army, Zhang Shaozeng was holding a wine bowl and gulping down spirits.

As an orthodox soldier, although he doesn't like to fight very much, he can only watch others fight in his hometown when there is a war, which is definitely a feeling that Ma Bond and his ilk can't understand. What's more, now there are more than 100,000 troops in Hubei Province just on the surface, and it may even exceed 200,000 in a short time.

"Ugh..."

Just when Zhang Shao was holding a wine bowl and drinking stuffy wine, Xia Hongjun, the chief of staff of the 20th Division, suddenly walked in from outside (Xia Hongjun, the name is good. ps: This one is really the chief of staff of the 20th Division in history ... ）。

"Commander, are you still drinking?"

Seeing that Zhang Shaozeng was sitting there alone and drinking, and the others, including the orderlies, were hiding far away, Xia Hongjun asked with a smile.

"Alas... Watching others fight in front, but I can only watch from behind, this is uncomfortable..."

Saying that, Zhang Shaozeng rubbed the wine stains on his beard with his sleeve, and he didn't know what kind of aesthetic he was, so he deliberately left this kind of beard.

However, looking at Zhang Shaozeng like this, Xia Hongjun smiled and raised the telegram in his hand.

"Commander, what do you think this is?"

Seeing Xia Hongjun like this, Zhang Shaozeng was also a little confused, but he still took it and asked while dismantling.

"What's in there?"

Taking advantage of Zhang Shaozeng's efforts to dismantle the telegram, Xia Hongjun also poured himself a bowl of wine, and waited until he had poured a full sip before speaking.

"It's the order you thought about going out to fight."

"Expedition order?"

Hearing Xia Hongjun say this, Zhang Shaozeng's movements paused.

"Expedition order? What's going on? ”

"Yuan Gongbao's order, let us and Master Meng enter the customs to fight."

Hearing Meng Enyuan, Zhang Shaozeng, who was reading the telegram, paused for a moment, and then asked in some surprise.

"How can there be a matter of Lao Meng? That guy is in Jilin! ”

If it's just his twentieth division, it's okay to say, although Fengtian is not close, but it's not too far, and it won't take much time to enter the customs if you march hard, but Meng Enyuan? The station of his 23rd Division is in Jilin, and if he really wants to wait for him to enter the customs, won't the daylilies be cold?

However, looking at Zhang Shaozeng's appearance, Xia Hongjun just smiled and said.

"Gong Bao has already thought about this." As he spoke, Xia Hongjun walked to the map of the three eastern provinces of the division headquarters. "Gong Bao means that the 23rd Division of Commander Meng traveled to Changchun by train via the China Eastern Railway, and then to Lushun by the South Manchurian Railway in Changchun. So do we..."

"Lushun..."Zhang Shaozeng frowned. I remember that Port Arthur is my own, will they agree to let us take a boat there..."When mentioning Lushun, although Zhang Shao was an army general, he still felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

"Absolutely." Xia Hongjun motioned to Zhang Shaozeng to read the contents of the telegram. "Palazzo has already contacted the Russians and himself, and they have agreed that we will use the Eastern Railway, the South Manchurian Railway, and the Port of Arthur to transport troops..."

"I'm afraid it's not a simple matter to get myself and the Russians to agree..."

"Of course." Xia Hongjun smiled bitterly. "Neither the Russians nor the Russians themselves are unprofitable guys, how can they be willing to help without benefits? I just don't know what benefits the palace guards promised them..."

Both the Russians and the Sayman himself are notoriously greedy, and both covet the northeastern part of China. If Yuan Shikai didn't provide any benefits, it was obvious that the two would not open the door for Yuan Shikai.

In fact, Yuan Shikai is also very helpless, although the shelf in Beiyang is very large now, with 13 infantry divisions and 19 mixed brigades, there are actually very few troops that can be used. Like the 27th and 28th Divisions, they were all reorganized from the original patrol battalions, how can the combat power be imagined?!

The second, fourth, fifth, and sixth of the remaining six towns of Beiyang have been dispatched, and the newly built seventh and eighth have also been dispatched, leaving only the first and third divisions to keep watching, and only the twentieth and twenty-third divisions can be used at this time. Although these two divisions are not from the old Beiyang, they also have the foundation of the new army there, and their combat power is much stronger than those newly built mixed brigades, and at least they will not make any jokes when they are sent out, which is why Zhang Shaozeng and Meng Enyuan's troops are in the northeast, but Yuan Shikai still mobilizes them.

That's right, the shelves in Beiyang are big, but the places you need to see and live are also big, and there are too few that can be hit...

As for whether there will be any problems with the transfer of the 20th and 23rd Divisions to the northeast? Now that there are still the 27th and 28th Divisions and several mixed brigades in the northeast, coupled with the mutual checks and balances between himself and the Russians, Yuan Shikai does not need to worry too much.

At this time, in the headquarters of the 20th Division, Zhang Shaozeng shook his head and stopped thinking.

"Forget it, anyway, as long as we can get a kick in it..."

Zhang Shaozeng did not want to know about Yuan Shikai's deal with the Russians and himself, and he was not interested in knowing, what he was concerned about now was how to gather the troops scattered in various places.

"Lao Xia, this matter will be handed over to you."

Xia Hongjun, who knew what Zhang Shao was talking about, nodded.

"Don't worry, Commander."

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After receiving Yuan Shikai's order, the 23rd Division stationed in Harbin and the 20th Division stationed in Mukden spent two days assembling, and then took the train to Lushun Military Port in batches.

There, he and the British had helped prepare dozens of passenger and cargo ships, which would help Yuan Shikai transport the 20th and 23rd Divisions to Shanghai, where they would transfer ships to Wuhan.

Thanks to the intelligence network of the Military Intelligence Bureau in Shanghai, Zhili, and Mukden, the 20th and 23rd Divisions had just made a move, and Yan Guang, who was far away in Chengdu, already knew about it.

"Are there two new divisions?" Yan Guang nodded after reading the information about the 20th and 23rd Divisions. It seems that there is nothing wrong with transferring the navy to Padang..."

As he spoke, Yan Guang looked at Wang Yaowu and the others.

"You say, do you want to send some reinforcements to Zhu Qinglan and Yang Shan?"

(To be continued)