The Manchu Qing Dynasty originally had a very wonderful idea of the three eastern provinces, which can be simply understood as the oriental, or the Qing Empire's political art, that is, by appointing Song Biao as the governor of the three eastern provinces, Song Biao and his troops were recruited to skillfully regain control of the three eastern provinces from Russia, and then used the division and clamping of power to contain Song Biao and the Northeast New Army with the garrison generals of the three provinces and the Fengtianfu Yin.

They understand this as a two-pronged solution.

It is a pity that the demonstration of the Fengtian New Army, which is "not big or small, not small", gave a very loud slap in the face to the princes of the Manchu political axe and shattered all their illusions.

Even if there is no demonstration of the Fengtian New Army this time, various conflicts between Song Biao and the Manchu political axe for power, as well as those slaps that do not give face, will be fired again and again, and the situation will continue to expand, which will only make the self-righteous Manchu political axe more embarrassed.

Facts have proved that in Song Biao's view, he does not need to take the court in his eyes at all.

In this wonderful psychological struggle and confrontation, the Manchu political axes finally realized how stupid their so-called clever plan was, and everything returned to the original point of the Russian War, and almost everyone knew that it was Song Biao and his army who controlled the three eastern provinces, not the Qing political axe. After this series of struggles, Qing Zhengaxe is finally very soberly aware of this.

Even if she found various steps for herself, the imperial family, and the Qing Zheng Axe, Cixi actually knew very well in her heart that under the premise of being unable to clear and suppress the Northeast New Army, continuing to fight and entangle with Song Biao in power would only have one result - that is, the Qing Zheng Axe would completely lose control of the three eastern provinces, and even territorial rights.

She was already very old and tired, and she couldn't do such a stupid and humiliating thing before she died.

In short, regardless of whether the Qing political axe is willing to accept this fact, the facts are also very clear, at this time, Song Biao is recognized by all countries and parties as the lord of the three eastern provinces. This kind of posture of almost equal autonomy and secession allowed Song Biao to actually control all the power in the three eastern provinces, and he was already the king of the Northeast before the Qing Dynasty.

After this series of small struggles, Song Biao is also aware of this, he is the unyielding king of the Northeast, and the good development of the Northeast will give him the opportunity to continue to take a big step forward.

…… Before officially leaving Dalian to negotiate the financial issues of the three eastern provinces, Song Biao set up several permanent institutions within the governor's yamen beyond the regular official laws of the Qing Empire, in addition to the secretariat, he also set up a new political bureau, a research bureau, a foreign exchange bureau, and a defense bureau.

In his political planning, each of these five permanent establishments had very important powers, and the Secretariat maintained the operation of the Governor's Office, which was called the Standing Governor's Office, and dealt with clerical and confidential work, as well as special work; The New Politics Bureau is responsible for formulating new policies, promulgating new laws, and setting up various sections to monitor the implementation of various new policies in the three provinces. The Research Bureau is equivalent to a think tank, which provides statistical data, researches countermeasures, and examines domestic and foreign industrial and economic development policies; The official translation of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Russian and English is the "Administration of Foreign Citizens of the Three Eastern Provinces", which is responsible for issuing naturalization certificates, residence permits, and other special residence permits to foreign citizens and immigrants in the three eastern provinces, including counting the total number of foreign citizens in the three eastern provinces, implementing appropriate policies for the absorption of foreign skilled immigrants and investment immigrants, and even inviting foreign experts to work in the three eastern provinces according to their surnames.

The Defense Agency is the most special of the five agencies, and it has three roles: first, the role of an intelligence agency, which collects military intelligence in various places; Second, it has jurisdiction over local police and militia organizations, which belong to a military management body with a soft surname; Third, it is nominally responsible for the construction of the new army, that is, on the surface, the governors of the three eastern provinces have jurisdiction over the Northeast New Army through the Defense Bureau, but not the commander of the Northeast New Army who supervises all important military and political affairs in the entire three eastern provinces.

In fact, the National Defense Bureau is the newly established Third Staff Department of the Northeast New Army, but it is just a different sign and hangs it outside.

After designing the entire system of institutions for his own authority, Song Biao must gradually establish these institutions and maintain them in good operation, but before that, he must give priority to solving the problem of financial power, and before going to Dalian, he must deal with the problem of the steady construction of the Northeast New Army.

Because, the Northeast New Army is the foundation of Song Biao's foothold in the three eastern provinces.

According to the plan, Song Biao should make simultaneous efforts in the four aspects of equipment adjustment, personnel allocation, soldier training, and non-commissioned officer education in the second phase of the new army, so as to promote the comprehensive development of the Northeast New Army in the general direction of "rapid, mobile, and fierce attack."

After the completion of the second phase of training, the Northeast New Army will formally organize six infantry regiments, two artillery regiments, two cavalry regiments, one command regiment, one transport regiment, and one engineer regiment, and the Russian army's subordinate units will be reduced to one infantry regiment, one cavalry brigade, and one artillery brigade.

At this stage, the entire Northeast New Army has a very distinctive characteristic, that is, the flattening of the command structure, and the troops actually have only three levels of command: corps, regiment, and company, and the command scale of the army headquarters, regiment headquarters, and company headquarters is relatively large.

In addition to the original first staff officer and the second staff officer, the third staff department in charge of the militia and local police bureaus has been added, and the Russian advisory office, the intelligence office, the logistics office, the military industry office, and the academic affairs office have been set up, and the intelligence department has set up a number of special service companies, and in the future, according to the agreement reached with the French military attaché in China, the French advisory office will be added.

The overall establishment characteristics of the Northeast New Army are very special, and this is also related to the development path of the Northeast New Army, and it is also limited by the combat level of non-commissioned officers and generals; the grass-roots combat units are companies, and the grass-roots command units are regiments, and the scale of each infantry company is about 185 people, and the size of each infantry regiment is about 4,500 people.

According to Song Biao's plan for gradually developing and perfecting the army, it will take about three years for the core operations and command units to be upgraded from regiments to divisions, with the size of each infantry division at about 22,000 and each infantry regiment cut to 3,500 men.

Song Biao is not in a hurry to build the Northeast New Army in one step, three years later, his Northeast New Army will have six infantry divisions, two artillery brigades, three cavalry brigades, he will be ready to overthrow the Qing political axe, before the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, take advantage of the imperial cabinet, railway official offices and other domestic contradictions to defeat Yanjing in one go, defeat the Beiyang Army, kill all the Manchu princes, pick up equipment with one hand, and collect military expenses with the other, and continue to wave the army south to unify the country.

The role of the three cavalry brigades was to detour through Inner Mongolia to seize Shanxi, Xi'an, and Baoding, strangle Shanxi Yinhao to give the Qing Dynasty a chance to continue blood transfusion, and block the road for the Manchu princes and nobles to retreat to Shanxi and Nanchang, so that he had the opportunity to block these people in Beijing, and kill and rob them all without leaving behind.

The Beiyang Army and the Revolutionary Army were all to be defeated in one go, except for the Southwest, Liangguang, Fujian, Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang Provinces, and he had to control them all at once, especially the three big granaries of Zhili, Huguang, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and then gradually deal with them one by one, completely unify the whole country, and leave no place for the warlords.

The second phase of the Northeast New Army's training plan will involve many aspects, and it will be difficult to formulate them all in a short period of time, including artillery and cavalry that Song Biao is not familiar with, which all need to rely on Russian staff officers.

Before deciding to use this time to go to Dalian first, Song Biao took the time to send someone to invite Colonel Martos over that night.

Before Colonel Martos arrived, when he returned to his office, Song Biao read several drafts of the second phase of the training jointly drawn up by the First and Second Departments of the Staff Officers.

The Russo-Russian War and the First World War have fully proved that the level of Russian staff officers is no more than that, but it is still much higher than that of Chinese staff officers at this time.

Most of the sub-division plans for the second phase of the training in Song Biao's hands were formulated by the first staff officer, and the second staff department led by Jiang Fangzhen was only responsible for formulating some details and supplementing work, of course, in the process of cooperating with the Russian staff officers, Song Biao and the six officers of the second staff department were also constantly studying.

Colonel Martos came over quickly, and as he passed through the corridors, his iron-spiked buckskin boots made a constant loud clatter on the ground, but he was a man of such emaciation that there was a suspicion that he could be blown away by the wind when the northeast wind blew.

Seeing Colonel Martos, Song Biao personally got up to greet him and invited Colonel Martos to sit down at his desk.

Song Biao has never been the kind of person who drags mud and water, and he asked directly: "Artur. Krznovik. Colonel Martos, are you Polish, or Russian? ”

Colonel Martos was slightly stunned, he hadn't thought clearly about what Song Biao wanted to talk to him about, let alone expected this kind of problem.

He thought for a moment and asked Song Biao, "What do you think, Your Excellency General?" ”

Song Biao sat comfortably in his chair, playing with the gold ruble coin with the double-headed eagle logo that had been captured in the Hunjiang River before, and thought for a moment before saying, "Obviously a Pole." ”

Colonel Martos thought for a moment and replied cautiously: "It is true, but in a way, I am also a citizen of the Tsarist Russian Empire, depending on what you think. ”

Song Biao continued: "If there was a chance for you to restore Poland's freedom, would you do it?" ”

Colonel Martos had already roughly understood what Song Biao meant at this time, and said with a smile: "Of course you will do this, then, what about you?" Do you want to gather some anti-Russian military men now and go to war against Russia in order to restore freedom and sovereignty in the Northeast? ”

Song Biao said: "My situation is obviously better than yours, my country has not died at least yet, of course, I am only fifty steps and a hundred steps." Fifty Steps and One Hundred Steps is one of our proverbial stories, which tells that in the rout of war, a man who escaped fifty steps laughs at the person who ran away a hundred steps in front of him, saying that the other party is a coward. ”

Colonel Martos lamented: "In the past year, I have become more and more aware of the longevity of your country's history and culture, and there should be countless such proverbs and stories in your culture, each of which is very wise, and together it represents the long history and profound heritage of this nation." So, many times I really don't understand why your nation is ruled by the Manchus? ”

Song Biao replied: "Just as Russia was once ruled by the Mongols, the cavalry was always the king of the land until the musket developed by leaps and bounds. Greece had created a very glorious human civilization, but they were conquered before the sword and shield of the Roman Empire. For us Han Chinese, with the development of the new weapon age, the overthrow of Manchu rule by the Han people is actually a matter of immediacy, and for the Poles, when they will be able to achieve national reading power, I am afraid it will take more strength and luck. If possible, I will support the Polish dream of a free state, just as you have helped me so generously. ”

Colonel Martos confessed: "With all due respect, I have little hope of the establishment of Poland, and I would rather have Poland as part of a mighty empire than be torn by war, rather than be caught between Russia and Germany as a weak country." War was brutal, and there was always a huge price to pay for reading, and for Poland, the price was indeed too great. It's just that I would prefer Poland to be part of the German Empire than Russia, which is a foreign power and a strong country in the middle. Of course, I am very grateful for your kindness, and if one day, there is a Pole who is willing to fight for freedom, I will definitely give him all the support and expectations, and if you are willing to support him, I will be especially grateful. ”

Song Biao proposed: "Let's find a way from now on, I don't know how many Polish soldiers are in the [***] team of the Tsarist Emperor, if there is a certain number, I hope you can find a way to contact some of them and gradually replace the Russian [***] officers in the staff office." ”

Colonel Martos pondered for a while and asked, "Are you dissatisfied with the Russian staff officers in the staff department?" With all due respect, the staff officers of the Russian army are generally at this level, which is quite good here, and you must be more aware that when the New Manchurian Infantry Division was formed, and then the 14th Army, the Far Eastern Army had already sent the best staff officers to assist you. ”

Song Biao thought for a moment and said, "Let's still consider the long-term and the special circumstances in case!" ”

Colonel Martos pouted slightly, indicating that he could roughly understand Song Biao's meaning, and said: "Theoretically, there should be no problem, most of the graduates of the Warsaw Army School are Polishes, but the school is currently under the restrictions of the Tsarist Empire, and many subjects are already decaying. It will take me a little time to pick out some suitable Polish lieutenants to serve as staff officers, or, perhaps, we may hire some from France and Germany. ”

Song Biao said: "There is no hurry for the time being, just complete the replacement before and after the third phase of training." ”

The Staff Department was composed of mid- and high-ranking staff officers of the Russian army, with Colonels Martos and Pajerov being the main officers, followed by von Colonels. Several old units, including Lieutenant Colonel Esker, remained as staff officers for the time being, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Tuvanier and Lieutenant Tonokov.

Lieutenant Tonokov is definitely a strange thing in this, although he graduated from the Moscow Non-commissioned Officer School, but soon after the start of the war, he has been trying to stay in the logistics unit, and after being captured by Song Biao's department, he has always refused to return to the Russian army, preferring to stay in Niujiapu as a teacher and other work.

In the end, Song Biao could only prove that he had indeed suffered a very serious injury in the attack of the army, and had been recuperating in Niujiabao, and was not considered a deserter, so as to avoid being punished by the Russian army, after being promoted to lieutenant because of his military qualifications, he continued to stay in the Northeast New Army as an instructor, and was responsible for handling some miscellaneous tasks with Lieutenant Colonel Tuvaniel in the staff department, and doing some work related to mathematical calculations and logistics statistics, and his performance was actually very good.

It's easy for anyone to look down on.

Song Biao used to think that Captain Tonokov was the most scummy type in the Russian army, and he was completely a waste among the soldiers, but now he found out that he also has a specialty, that is, he refuses to go to the battlefield to die, because the Russian military lieutenants have service files, which contain the other party's report card in the non-commissioned officer school.

If you just look at the report card, Lieutenant Tonokov is still a very good non-commissioned officer.

Among the Russian [***] officers in the first staff department, seven people, including Lieutenant Colonel Tuvanier and Lieutenant Tonokov, can be replaced, but only Colonel Martos and Colonel Pajerov are really very level, and if the two of them are replaced, the level of the entire staff officer will plummet by several levels. Colonel Pakilov's attainments in the field of artillery are indeed unique, not only rich in actual combat experience, high command level, but also a high level of theoretical level.

At the time of the Battle of Liaoyang, two artillery brigades of the Yue Army were beaten by one of Pakirov's artillery brigades, and even Song Biao had to admire.

In the military field, Song Biao did not understand four things: one did not understand the navy, the second did not understand the air force, the third did not understand the cavalry, and the fourth did not understand artillery.

He understands an infantryman.

People are always learning and progressing, after all, Song Biao is still very young, and he is also insisting on learning every day, especially learning the combat and command knowledge of cavalry and artillery, and constantly accumulating experience in this area. Brigadier General Brusilov, Grigorovich. Colonel Pakilov maintained a very good personal relationship, often discussing and studying with them, and making up for his own shortcomings.

Artillery is important, there is no doubt about this, and cavalry is still very important at least until the Second World War, in the development of modern warfare, the first weakening of cavalry is the birth of the Minne rifle, the second is the large-scale use of the Maxim machine gun, the third is the tank and modern motorization, the first two only said that the frontal charge tactics of the cavalry were abolished, and the latter was to completely gradually bring the cavalry out of the historical stage.

Before the advent of tanks and modern motorization, even if the frontal charge tactics of cavalry could not be used, the speed and mobility of cavalry were still very important, especially considering the special situation in Mongolia, Xinjiang Province, Tibet Province and other regions, cavalry in China still had at least fifty years of the Silver Age, in this regard, China and Russia are very similar, cavalry is too important.

Without cavalry, China would not have been able to control Mongolia and Xinjiang provinces, and even in Tibetan provinces, plateau cavalry was the most important armed force.

Don't look at Song Biao's basic understanding of cavalry, but his understanding of this aspect is very thorough, after withdrawing from the Liaodong Peninsula, he has already started the construction of cavalry, set up three horse breeding stations in Hunjiang and Hunchun, introduced Don hippos and Orlov horses, and used the Anglo military horses captured from the Yue army and local Mongolian horses to breed war horses, and hired breeding experts from Russia to breed excellent medium-sized horses for both pulling and riding.

After becoming the governor of the three eastern provinces, he also set out to control the Daling River Horse Farm and Yingkou Horse Farm, which were traditionally operated by the Qing Dynasty, and introduced a large number of Orlov horses and Anglo-Norman horses to improve on the basis of the Mongolian war horses carefully selected by the Manchu Qing Dynasty for many years.

In this regard, he has already received the support of Russia and France, and this time he will go to Dalian to formally sign an agreement with the two countries on this matter, and hire Russian and French experts to start the large-scale cultivation of local excellent horse-riding horses, so as to breed the Kwantung horse he wants as soon as possible.

For a long time that he had anticipated, good horses would be very important to China, and for a country like China, the possibility of using motorized transport on a large scale would not be possible for fifty years, and the only way to do that was to provide a large number of military horses on vast pastures.

In the cultivation of military horses, Song Biao also consulted Brigadier General Brusilov in many aspects.

Before officially leaving for Dalian to discuss the financial rights of the three eastern provinces and the issue of railways, Song Biao hosted a banquet at the guest house for the Russian military advisory group and the main Russian generals of the Far Eastern Non-commissioned Officer School.

After negotiating with Colonel Martos about the staff officer's office, Song Biao went to the guest house with Colonel Martos to attend a dinner. The Northeast New Army wants to quickly surpass the Beiyang Army to become China's most powerful local military force, and the Far East Noncommissioned Officers School wants to surpass the Yueben Army Noncommissioned Officers School and become the best army noncommissioned officer school in Asia.

The so-called Cai Ye and Jiang Fangzhen, after all, have just graduated from the non-commissioned officer school, and it is unrealistic to place high hopes on them now, even if they have experienced more training in the Russian War and have made great progress in the process of working with Russian generals, there is still a great distance from the height that Song Biao hopes to reach.

This dinner party was basically Russian-style, bought a lot of good wine, spent a lot of money on Song Biao, and the more than 20 colonel-level officers present were basically the old department that Song Biao was familiar with. Lieutenant Colonel Eske, Aleksandrovich. Lieutenant Colonel Neznamov ...... These people have followed Song Biao before and after I don't know how many tough battles.

Objectively speaking, without them, there would be no great victory in the Battle of Liaoyang.

The dinner lasted for a long time, everyone was very happy, Song Biao said a lot of very enthusiastic words before and after, and finally everyone gave a very thick red envelope, which was regarded as a Christmas gift and this year's year-end bonus, with an average of more than 600 rubles per person.

The next day, Song Biao continued to entertain the generals and officers of the headquarters for dinner, in addition to Zhao Tingzhu and Yang Tiesheng, the generals who were promoted from the old department, the number of non-commissioned officers and students who stayed in the department was almost 40, and there were ten people who recently returned to China from Yueben and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang, including very talented young non-commissioned officers like Fu Liangzuo and Chen Qicai, as well as old friends like Lao Jintou and Lao Guo Tou, who opened eight tables in the guest house, and each of them finally gave a New Year's Day gift, with an average of more than 400 silver yuan per person.

After the end of the dispute between Zhao and Song, Song Biao firmly controlled the military and civilian financial power of the three eastern provinces, and he was naturally very happy, especially after Yin Chang visited him in the military camp for a few days, and it was determined that there was no dispute between the governors and governors in the future.

Therefore, at the two reception banquets, Song Biao announced on the spot that all the generals and lieutenants of the Northeast New Army and the instructors of the Far East Non-commissioned Officer School would receive an additional year-end allowance, and the soldiers also had it, but the officers' allowances were more generous, and the soldiers were equivalent to an extra month's military salary.

Warlords, killing people like hemp, spending money like dirt, as long as the military power in his hands is stable, it is not easy to make money?

What's more, this warlord is still His Excellency Song Biao.

(To be continued)