Dayu controls the water, nine through the door without entering.

In the months following the birth of his daughter, Song Biao also spent too much time in the field, during which time he was actively engaged in the final stage of mobilization and training for the overthrow of the Manchus.

Song Biao also wanted to take his wife Shu Xuan to the grassland of western Liaoning to have a look, but he failed to do so several times, this time because his daughter was too young, Song Biao could only continue to go to the Western Liaoning Military and Pastoral Bureau to inspect alone.

Through the establishment of the three major military and pastoral bureaus of Liaoxi, Xing'an League, and Hulunbuir, and by virtue of the strength and the strategy of dredging the Mongolian banner lords and nobles, as well as the purchase of land, leasing and other means, it controlled the Zhelimu League, the Zhaowuda League, and the Zhuosuotu League of the six Mongolian leagues in southern Mongolia, and basically controlled the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, and even the railway was built to the Xilin Gol League.

Among these areas controlled by the governor's offices of the three eastern provinces by virtue of their strength, except for Chifeng County, which was officially assigned to Jinzhou Prefecture, the Qing government axe neither recognized nor dared to deny other places.

Similarly, the governors' offices of the three eastern provinces also adopted a semi-open strategy to manage and govern the eastern part of the southern desert, for example, the nominal headquarters of the Liaoxi Military and Animal Husbandry Bureau is located in Heichengzi in the Daling River Valley, which is actually an agricultural reclamation area, mainly planting corn, soybeans and buckwheat, and the real headquarters of the Military and Animal Husbandry Bureau is in Ao Han Banner, the Second Cavalry Division of the Northeast New Army is also stationed in Ao Han Banner, the railway from Jinzhou to Chifeng and the railway from Xing'an League to Chengde also meet here, and there is also a special line railway from Fuxin to Ao Han.

Song Biao arrived at Aohanqi directly by train, and then rode a horse to the garrison of the Second Cavalry Division to inspect.

Xiao Kaigui, the commander of the Second Cavalry Division of the Northeast New Army, and Jiang Zhaojian, the chief of instruction, accompanied Song Biao to ride a war horse around the division headquarters to inspect a circle, both of them were born in the second phase of the cavalry section of the Chinese students of the Lu Shi, and they were both from Wuhan, Hubei, because they studied cavalry, they were not allowed to be reused in the Hubei New Army, and they were transferred to the Northeast New Army very early at the invitation of the infantry students, and were responsible for the formation of the Second Cavalry Regiment, and from 1907 to 1908, they went to the French Cavalry Military Academy in batches for further study and internship. At the same time as the brigade was promoted to the division, Lieutenant Colonel Kalipochov, the instructor of the Second Cavalry Brigade, was transferred to the post of instructor and director of the Far Eastern Army Cavalry Section, Jiang Zhaojian served as the chief of instruction and staff officer, and the French Army Major Pongoli served as the division adviser.

Xiao Kaigui and Jiang Zhaojian were both smart people, and they had obvious revolutionary tendencies in this period, and under the recommendation of Jiang Fangzhen, the two also joined the Chinese Revolutionary Association and the Xinhua Association very early, and studied French in strict accordance with Song Biao's requirements, and were sent to France in turn to intern cavalry command and military staff courses.

Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared.

At the time of the new year, there is still snow on the grassland of Ao Han Banner, and the mountains and fields in the distance are still covered with snow, and the clear snow water flows in the small river, rolling up the broken ice and snow, and the grassland is already green.

In the distance, herders are driving their flocks of sheep and cattle to graze, and about thousands of livestock are in the vast grasslands, which look as small as a boat in the sea.

In recent years, the military reclamation system has implemented a wide range of fixed grazing system and scientific pasture management mechanism, introduced new forage and forage artificial cultivation and improvement, implemented strict rotational grazing system and mixed sowing system for various pastoral areas, unified allocation of feed from the three eastern provinces, and also introduced a large number of new livestock for dairy sheep, fur sheep, semi-fine wool sheep, fine wool sheep, cashmere goats, The large-scale introduction of dairy cattle and new beef cattle is gradually changing the structure of animal husbandry in eastern Mongolia and the three eastern provinces, as well as the total output value.

The large-scale introduction of new pastures, new pastures and fodder is more obvious, and the more scientific pasture management mechanism is to prevent the desertification of pastures.

Galloping on the vast green prairie, Song Biao could feel an unprecedented self-release, all the pressure on his body, and those heavy thoughts seemed to be left behind.

The vision is infinitely far away, and the mind is suddenly opened, as if it can encompass the world and the world.

At this moment, he thought leisurely, who said that China is not a good place?

Song Biao rode a new medium-sized war horse that was being cultivated by the Liaoning West Military Pastoral Bureau, in order to breed it as soon as possible, so it took a shortcut, and directly bred the first generation of the Liaoxi horse on the basis of the Newton hippopotamus and the Uzhumuqin horse, and then used the Orlov fast horse, Hanoverian horse, Anglo-Arabian horse, and Anglo-Normandy horse to improve in different directions, which is the second generation of the Liaoxi horse, through the selection of the best part of the second generation, and then used for the first generation of Liaoxi horse mating and breeding, Select a good breed with relatively stable genetics as a stallion, in order to quickly form a stable new horse breed in 10 to 20 years.

Song Biao rode the first generation of bloodline of Liaoxi horses, there are currently more than 60,000 horses, the average height of this generation of Liaoxi horses is between 130 cm and 155 cm, due to the instability of genetic factors, they are very different from each other, so they are not suitable as stable military horses, and only the second cavalry division is currently used in the selection part.

Due to the fact that an astonishing number of new and old Don hippos, Orlov horses and other Russian horses were inherited from the Russian Far Eastern Army, most of the military horses currently used by the entire Northeast New Army are still dominated by Don hippos, supplemented by Mongolian horses and Oriental horses, and the Uzhumuqin horses are mainly selected among Mongolian horses.

Riding on the grassland around the division headquarters, Song Biao has a very good feeling about this Liaoxi horse, the horse steps are very coordinated, it belongs to the walking horse, the feeling of riding is very comfortable, the person is also relaxed, the horse's height, size, speed and agility are very good.

In fact, he also knew that this was a good horse selected by the Second Cavalry Division and the Liaoxi Military Pastoral Bureau, and it had been strictly trained, but it could be regarded as one of the locally bred horse breeds, and it would be very good to have such results.

After a circle on the grassland, Song Biao took the horse's head back to the division headquarters, and everyone continued to follow him back quickly.

The three major cavalry divisions of the Northeast New Army each have six regiments, namely three cavalry regiments, one reserve cavalry regiment, one baggage regiment, one cavalry artillery regiment, 3,135 cavalry regiments, 2,890 horses, 5,282 baggage regiments, 4,922 horses, 3,885 sets of baggage harnesses, 3,130 cavalry artillery regiments, 3,110 horses, 36 M1877/1907 87mm cavalry field guns (360 kg, 18 times the barrel diameter), and 12 other artillery.

Together with the command battalion attached to the division headquarters, the baggage battalion, the division hospital, and the health team, the total number of people in the division is 22,500.

It is absolutely difficult to imagine that such a large cavalry division is standing in the Ao Han Banner, and the deterrent power of the entire eastern region of Mongolia is absolutely unimaginable, this division can not only go north to support the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, enter Outer Mongolia, but also go south to directly approach the Beijing Division, and advance westward to threaten the whole of Inner Mongolia, and the detour can directly enter Shanxi.

Back at the division headquarters, Song Biao went directly to the animal husbandry base of the Military Husbandry Bureau to inspect, and the more than 10,000 Liaoxi horses kept here were carefully selected stallions in the first generation, and the rest of the Xinton hippopotamus, Uzhumuqin horses, Orlov fast-walking horses, Hanoverian horses, Anglo-Arabian horses, and Anglo-Normandy horses totaled another 12,000 horses, and it is currently the largest stallion breeding center among the three major military and pastoral bureaus.

This is the second time that Song Biao has inspected the Ao Han Banner Military Horse Breeding Ground of the Western Liaoning Military and Pastoral Bureau, the last time he came here two years ago, the scale was definitely not so large, accompanied by Qi Hao, director of the Military and Pastoral Bureau, and Xiao Kaigui, commander of the Second Cavalry Division, Song Biao was very interested in re-inspecting.

Seeing so many excellent war horses, Song Biao's heart was full of joy of harvest, in order to breed excellent war horses that can adapt to the three eastern provinces, the Mongolian steppe, and northern China, he invested a lot of money here, and also took great political and military risks to occupy this place, and now he finally sees some results.

The 12 sub-fields of the entire Liaoxi military horse breeding farm are densely distributed along the Laoha River, Mengke River and Jiaolai River in the Ao Han Banner, and there are also sheep, cattle and pasture cultivation stations to provide excellent pasture and pasture for local herdsmen, and there is also a military reclamation farm in the Laoha River, which is responsible for providing grain varieties for the surrounding areas and popularizing agricultural production management experience.

The military horse breeding ground inspected by Song Biao is close to the military headquarters of the Second Cavalry Division and is also the location of the main station, with more than 3,000 fine stallions.

These are all gratifying achievements.

Song Biao looked at these thousands of excellent stallions in a number of separate horse breeds of fenced grass area wanton activities, at a glance are all famous horses from all over the world, the first generation of Liaoxi horses carefully selected 1,200 horses here as stallions, generally have a height of 1.4 meters to 1.5 meters, compared with the Western military horses is still shorter, moderate body size and slightly wider, with the appearance characteristics of Uzhumuqin horses and Mongolian horses, compared with Mongolian horses, the body shape is relatively more symmetrical, the coat color is maroon, jujube red, black color, yellow, There are few other colors, and in order to distinguish the Don hippopotamus from each other, the main colors in the selection of colors are dark black, sturgeon, maroon, and jujube.

The horse's mane is moderate, not as long as that of the Mongolian horse, comparable to that of the Don hippopotamus, but it is thicker, and in terms of sideburns, it is still very beautiful.

Qi Hao, director of the Western Liaoning Military and Pastoral Bureau, is the first person in charge of the cultivation of horses in western Liaoning, and his research and investigation on this is very rich.

Song Biao is not the first time to the Liaoxi Military and Pastoral Bureau, the entire cultivation of Liaoxi horses is more understanding, this kind of body size is neither tall nor graceful, Liaoxi horses are really suitable for China's good military horses, strong adaptability, rough and cold resistance, high horse walking rate, surname Ge gentle and alert, endurance and speed are good, weight capacity is also moderate, belongs to the medium size of the excellent military horse.

Song Biao looked at it like this, he was very happy, thinking that twenty years later, he believed that the whole army would officially adopt Liaoxi horses on a large scale, sweeping the entire Mongolian Plateau, and even approaching Siberia in the north and sweeping Central Asia.

Seeing that Song Biao was also in a good mood, Xiao Kaigui couldn't wait to step forward and praised Song Biao: "General seat, the current military horses of our new army are really too good to be better, but fortunately, Director Qi of our Military Pastoral Bureau, if we continue to develop like this for more than ten years, our Northeast Cavalry will definitely be the most powerful cavalry, no worse than the Cossack cavalry." ”

Song Biao rarely showed a smile for a moment, and was quite satisfied with Qi Hao, director of the Western Liaoning Military and Animal Husbandry Bureau, and praised: "You have really done a very good job in the Western Liaoning Military and Animal Husbandry Bureau over the years, which is obvious to all. ”

Qi Hao was of course very happy to hear such praise, he and Cai Ye were both from the third Lushi Cavalry Department of the Third Yueben, and they were also recommended by Cai Jie, everyone's fate is very peculiar, because at that time, Song Biao received hundreds of thousands of military horses from the Russian army at a low price, and he happened to appoint him to be in charge of this matter first, and he did it very well, and then he has been in charge of the military horse work of the Northeast New Army, and then went to Yueben to study military horse breeding, and then went to France and Germany to investigate this matter.

After Qi Hao returned from the Franco-German investigation, he gave Song Biao a lot of very good suggestions, including the scattered cultivation of horses in various military reclamation bureaus, and later when the Western Liaoning Military Pastoral Bureau, Song Biao's first choice was to let Qi Hao be in charge of the Western Liaoning Military Pastoral Bureau, and put the military horse cultivation work of the Northeast New Army in the bureau by Qi Hao.

The breeding of horse breeds in Northeast China is mainly responsible for the military reclamation system, with the three major military and pastoral bureaus of Liaoxi, Xing'an League, and Hulunbuir as the mainstay, and the task of the Liaoning West Bureau is the heaviest and most urgent, and the achievements are also the most significant.

It should be said that Qi Hao did a very good job in the position of director of the Western Liaoning Military and Animal Husbandry Bureau, and Song Biao was also very satisfied.

Song Biao is also satisfied with the work performance of Xiao Kaigui and Jiang Zhaojian, the difference is that the responsibility is different, the pressure is different, after praising Qi Hao, Song Biao said to Xiao Kaigui very seriously: "Can it be compared with the Cossack cavalry, I'm afraid it's not just a matter of saying a few words, and it's not something that can be concluded with a good military horse, or continue to work hard, and can't be complacent." ”

Xiao Kaigui is really the kind of person who is easy to be complacent, and immediately smiled: "General seat, whether our Second Cavalry Division can compare with the Cossack cavalry, it's hard to say, but if it is said to be sweeping the pass, then there must be no problem." ”

Song Biao raised his eyes slightly, glanced at Xiao Kaigui coldly, and asked in a very harsh tone, "Is it?" ”

Xiao Kaigui was startled and didn't dare to speak.

Song Biao was a little regretful, and gently slapped Xiao Kaigui's shoulder with the horsewhip in his hand, and said: "It turns out that you don't have real confidence, you don't have such confidence, why be conceited!" ”

"The total seat ......!"

Xiao Kaigui's face turned red, and he didn't know how to answer.

The staff adjutant accompanying Song Biao is Chen Qicai, since Shu Fangde was promoted to director of the Defense Department, the post of director of the Secretariat of the New Army has always been held by Chen Qicai, and there are many graduates of the New Army, Chen Qicai is the first batch of squad leaders with the best grades, and he is also the first senior commander when he studied in the first staff section of the Far Eastern Army, and he cannot take advantage of Jiang Yanxing and Cai Yi, but he is an authentic senior and senior in front of Xiao Kaigui and others.

Chen Qicai belongs to a more gloomy kind of person, unlike Shu Fangde, who is known for his sincerity and elegance, he watched Xiao Kaigui suffer but didn't speak, and respectfully bowed his head behind Song Biao, if Shu Fangde was here, he would definitely excuse Xiao Kaigui.

Jiang Zhaojian and Song Biao persuaded him: "The general seat, we respect the general seat, how dare we say more, I am afraid that if we are overconfident, we will be conceited." ”

Song Biao actually has a good evaluation of Xiao Kaigui and Jiang Zhaojian, he has always felt that Xiao Kaigui is a person who can fight and governs the army very strictly, so he can stand out in Song Biao's system that has always pursued strict management of the army, and Jiang Zhaojian is a steady and careful person.

Song Biao has always been suitable for his subordinates, but also to enlighten more, hoping that all the troops under his command can become good generals, so he commented lightly: "Kaigui, the general's self-confidence comes from understanding himself and the troops, how well you know yourself and the troops, how much self-confidence you can have." If you are not confident enough, or you are too conceited, it means that you do not know your troops and are far away from the officers and men in the army. Division commander, division commander, it has just begun, we must adhere to the principles of our army, the general should be able to reach the top and respect the virtuous, and the next will be able to advance and retreat with the soldiers, eat the same bowl of rice, sleep on the same kang, and work hard together. ”

Xiao Kaigui bowed his head and admitted his mistake and replied: "The lesson of the general seat is that his subordinates must continue to adhere to this principle. ”

Song Biao actually didn't know in his heart whether Xiao Kaigui could accept his teaching, the final test could only be on the battlefield, he just sighed, pointed ahead, and said: "Go to the cavalry artillery regiment and the baggage regiment to take a look, your cavalry regiment has seen too many times here, and you must have prepared me very well." ”

Having just been instructed by Song Biao's "gentleness", Xiao Kaigui replied as modestly as possible: "Commander, our whole division is very well prepared, and there is no negligence, if there is an omission, I will be punished for the soldiers below." ”

Song Biao agreed with his attitude and said, "Okay, let's do it." ”

Song Biao paid attention to the words "strict" and "pro" in governing the army, emphasizing that there should be strictness first and then there should be relatives; he said in a lecture on Lu Shi in the Far East that a figurative metaphor is called "strict as a master and apprentice, as close as a father and son", strict should be like a master and apprentice in the old society, and a close person should be like a father and son, and this is the relationship between the upper and lower levels of the army that he admired.

The company commander to the platoon commander, the platoon commander to the squad leader, and the squad leader to the recruits should be like a master and apprentice father and son, teaching and helping each other.

At present, the Northeast New Army has three major cavalry divisions and two cavalry brigades, the first cavalry division is deployed in Jinzhou, the second cavalry division is deployed in the Liaoxi Military Pastoral Bureau, the third cavalry division is deployed in Jilin, the fourth cavalry brigade is deployed in Hulunbuir, and the fifth cavalry brigade is under the direct jurisdiction of the military headquarters.

The source of the First Cavalry Division and the Fifth Cavalry Brigade were all horse gangs recruited before the Battle of Liaoyang, and the earliest regiment commander was Chang Wanchun, after Chang Wanchun was transferred to the Yanji Military Reclamation Bureau as the director, Cai Ye has been serving as the brigade commander and division commander, and then it was divided into two to supplement the Fifth Cavalry Brigade.

The Second Cavalry Division, the Third Cavalry Division, and the Fourth Cavalry Brigade are all completely newly built cavalry units, and they have not been able to withstand the real test of war except for participating in the encirclement and suppression of bandit forces; in the entire process of completion, Song Biao can only mix a few units with the Russian cavalry brigade, and through long-term study and imitation with the Russian cavalry units, he gradually tempers non-commissioned officers at all levels of the troops, and only two years ago was formally organized into the second and third cavalry brigades, and after the brigade was reorganized into a division, the fourth cavalry brigade was expanded at the end of last year.

The Second Cavalry Division has always been deployed in the form of the main force throughout the whole process, and its personnel have been carefully selected, and its achievements in all military exercises and training camps have not been weak, giving the First Cavalry Division a lot, and it is better than the other three cavalry units, and it has always claimed to be the main force of the Northeast Cavalry Army that is by no means worse than the First Cavalry Division.

Song Biao went to inspect the Cavalry Artillery Regiment and the Baggage Regiment, and picked out some problems very harshly, but he did not criticize Xiao Jiang and the others too harshly.

The war is imminent, at this time it is still necessary to take security as the general, usually strict requirements, use time cronies, or usually cronies, use time strictly, these two strategies are the common sense of the imperial general, the so-called "cronies", here means to take the root meaning of the original meaning of "close trust".

According to Song Biao's design, it is necessary to carry out a large-scale mobile operation that spans thousands of miles across the region and marches all the way to the exercise, and at the same time involves four tactical exercises: capturing small cities, encircling operations, dividing operations, and setting up positions to intercept them.

This is because the combat mission of the Second Cavalry Division is to carry out long-distance cross-regional operations, and the scope of operations is extensive, mainly to advance on the Mongolian Plateau, Shanxi, and Shaanxi regions, and it must have the ability to adapt to the hills and the Gobi.

The exercise lasted for half a month, and it was also the largest exercise in the history of the Second Cavalry Division, and the units that coordinated the exercise were the patrol detachments of the Xing'an League, the Liaoning West Military Pastoral Bureau, and the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions.

This exercise was very important to Song Biao, and he now directly inserted the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Infantry Divisions, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st Artillery Brigade, and the 2nd Artillery Brigade into the Beijing Division, and the Beiyang Army was almost 100 percent sure of defeating the Beiyang Army.

As long as the Second Infantry Division completes this task, the fall of the Qing Dynasty will be very fast, and Song Biao will also directly control Hebei and Shanxi, and then he can use 100,000 patrol troops to cooperate with the three main infantry divisions to go south, occupy the entire area north of the Yangtze River, and finally enter Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang, so far, he can establish a real Chinese empire.

Considering that the Northeast New Army and the patrol forces of the three eastern provinces still need to retain a large number of main forces to guard against the two countries, Song Biao can only take out half of his strength to deal with the Qing political axe and the new armies of the provinces, and after he defeats Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huguang, he must suspend the forward offensive, as long as the remaining provinces remain stable, he is willing to Mingjin to withdraw his troops, and then find a way to deal with Liangguang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningbo.

After he dominated most of the provinces, he sent new recruits to train the army on the spot, and really held 500,000 iron troops in his hands, and then it was the moment for him to unify the whole country, in fact, it was just another three years to wait for another three years to take advantage of the First World War to clean up all kinds of disobedient thieves in the country, especially in Outer Mongolia, Xinjiang Province and Tibet Province.

All of this was based on the fact that Xiao Kaigui's Second Cavalry Division had to make a detour to Zhangjiakou to Shijiazhuang.

Song Biao's confidence in this matter is really not very high, and he sometimes regrets that he did not let Cai Ye and Wu Luzhen's First Cavalry Division sit in Liaoxi, and now it is too late to regret it.

Therefore, a wise man must make a mistake if he thinks a thousand times.

(To be continued)