On the eighth day of the 20th month of Guangxu, Fengtai camp

The First Army of the Imperial Army of the Qing Dynasty has been fully assembled. On the school field, the companies lined up in a neat phalanx waiting for the review, and no one in the school field, where tens of thousands of people gathered, made a sound, and even the war horses no longer neighed. Only the banner that covered the sky was waving in the bitter north wind, and the hunt sounded.

The rifle was already loaded with bayonets and was carried on the back of the soldier. Behind them, the cannons were also lined up, and they were about to go to Jiangnan. Launched a winter military exercise with the Royal Independent Division in Jiangnan. The parade was conducted by the General Staff, and after the review was completed, all the troops marched into the Fengtai Railway Station, loaded their trucks and headed south to Xuzhou for assembly. It can be said that Fengtai Railway Station is a military railway station specially set up for Fengtai Daying. It was to facilitate the transfer of officers and men and materials of the 1st Division. And the train can only go to Xuzhou, and the railway from Beijing to Shanghai is only built to Xuzhou, because this is the section of the road that the Germans are responsible for. And the section from Xuzhou to Shanghai was built by the British, and the damned British had to build it from south to north. Now it's only repaired to Jiangning.

The winter military exercise was the emperor's intention, that is, the emperor felt that in the First Sino-Japanese War, he was surrounded by the cold winter weather and the reinforcements were fought two kilometers away and failed to rush in for a whole day. If it weren't for the first division crossing the Liao River to reinforce, the result would be really hard to say. Therefore, at the post-Sino-Japanese War review meeting, Chief of Staff Wang Shizhen believed that in addition to the supply at that time, the ground was frozen smooth like a mirror in winter, and the ground that had been bombarded by artillery fire became muddy, which also greatly affected the charge of the troops. The soldiers were injured a lot in the process of charging because of the reasons under their feet, and the cold winter also made the tactical movements in the process of charging dull and even deformed, and the casualties also increased sharply. Therefore, it is a foregone conclusion that an exercise will be launched this winter.

The original plan was to be carried out after the New Year, but the emperor suddenly proposed: It is the traditional thinking of the Chinese to have money and no money to go home for the New Year. But war is never guaranteed not to happen during the Chinese New Year, so it is necessary to overcome homesickness. Therefore, the military exercise should be held in advance during the entire Chinese New Year.

The emperor's proposal was agreed by the vast majority of the staff members. When the General Staff Department was busy with military exercises, German instructor Michael learned about the difference in the geographical environment between the north and south of China during a casual chat with Wang Shizhen half a month ago. The terrain in the north is gentle and dry, while the south is hilly and covered with a dense network of water. It occurred to Michael that wasn't exactly the kind of environment in southeastern Europe? Why not use China to test its military capabilities to fight in a mountainous, wet, and humid environment?

Therefore, he strenuously advocated that the exercise in the northeast be changed to be held in Jiangnan. As soon as his proposal came out, it aroused collective opposition from the general staff and combat units. If he wants to do this according to his idea, wouldn't the small half year of preparation for the Northeast Winter Exercise be in vain? What's more, how much more will it cost to re-transfer the materials mobilized in advance for the exercise to Jiangnan, and now the emperor has subsidized all the money earned by the royal enterprises to the government for the sake of national construction, and there is not even a single palace maid in the palace, and no one agrees to waste the money here.

Seeing that he could not convince the General Staff to agree, Michael turned to persuade the German Minister in China, and with the help of the German Minister, Michael met with the Qing Emperor. The Qing Emperor not only agreed with him, but also personally came to the General Staff to give his will.

"War never gives the enemy enough time to prepare, and the situation on the battlefield is so rapid that it is impossible to move step by step according to a set plan. So the army has to fight without any preparation. The military must be able to respond to any sudden military changes. When Guangxu made a decision, it was only five days away from the original plan.

Artillery in this era was also a tactical auxiliary weapon for infantry attacks. Guangxu was the first to propose the centralized use of artillery and the reorganization of artillery into divisions into strategic units. Judging from the First Sino-Japanese War, there are still many commendable places in the concentration of artillery, such as the Haicheng counterattack. New tactical concepts needed to be put to the test, and Guangxu had questions about the mobility of heavy weapons such as artillery. In the end, it was decided that the artillery division originally stationed in Mukden would also load its vehicles and go south to participate in the winter southern exercise. And exercises in the north will also be carried out.

No matter how you look at the maneuver of two divisions against one division, there is no possibility that an independent division will win. So the exercise was changed accordingly. The exercises began immediately after the arrival of the 1st Division and the Artillery Division in Xuzhou. Independent divisions could begin their deployment south of the Huai River in advance and call up reserves.

The reserve is a period of time when young people of appropriate age are concentrated in paramilitary training. Because the time to participate in training is all leisure time. Moreover, during the training time, the participants are provided with free food, lodging and silver (although only half of the salary of ordinary soldiers). Not only that, but the army will also teach you to read and write. It's just that all those who participate in reserve training are all registered, and they are drafted into the army when needed. Everyone thinks very openly, if it is time to really catch the strong man, he can have more skills to save his life on the battlefield. And it doesn't take up his own farming time, he can read and write even if he has money for food and housing, so he is still very enthusiastic to participate.

This is also one of Guangxu's military plans, because I don't know the effect of the implementation The most important thing is that Guangxu can't get that much money, so he can only try it out in Liangjiang first. Since it is a reserve force, the officers and soldiers of the government in various places will naturally not be left behind. Mainly, these people do not need to pay any additional money.

Therefore, after receiving the order, Liang Huadian immediately doubled the salary of the reserve and fully recruited the reserve. Armament began with the assistance of German instructors who arrived early. The 1st Division and the Artillery Division could only rely on their own divisional staff to move, and all other staff officers of the General Staff Department had to participate in the military exercises in the northeast. The left-behind staff officer of the General Staff is Zhang Zuolin. The secretary of the military department, Euro Zhenhua, also left the capital as the referee of the Northeast Military Exercise.

Just when the winter military exercises in the northeast and south of the Yangtze River were in full swing, Shiduo did not recuperate at ease because of the arrival of the Spring Festival. He was collecting all the information, carefully estimating the size and distribution of the various forces around the capital.

"Lord Wang, the artillery division of Fengtian has gone south to Xuzhou today." Baylor came in excitedly and reported to the priest. Zai Yi had no reason not to be excited, when the emperor was trapped in Tianzhuang Terrace in the first year of the first Wu year, the queen mother ordered him to take his son Pu Jun into the palace to say hello. The queen mother saved a once the emperor was unexpected, and the meaning of changing Pu Jun was in it. Now everyone wants to launch an army to ask the Queen Mother to train the government, although at the moment, for the sake of the court situation, the emperor will not be abolished and set up separately. But the queen mother can put her mind at ease and let the emperor sit down all the time. As time goes by, the Queen Mother will depose the emperor to stabilize the political situation after stabilizing the situation. At that time, his son Pu Jun would have a chance to ascend to the position of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, then he would be the prince, could he not be excited! So when Shi Duo told him that the Queen Mother intended to train the government, he was the most active person.

In order to achieve this goal, Zai Yi sent all his coated minions out to find out the news. Just three days after the departure of the 1st Division from the capital. As soon as the train on which the artillery division was stationed in Mukden left the capital, he reported the news to Shidor. He sincerely looked forward to the soldiers' actions as soon as possible.

"Stabilize the point, the artillery division has just left the capital." Looking at Zai Yi, who was full of excitement from the bottom of his bones, Shi Duo glared at him fiercely: "You are the commander of the new Eight Banners Battalion, and the most important thing now is to return to the barracks and take your soldiers well." As soon as the Queen Mother's will arrives, she will send troops to ask the Queen Mother to train the government. ”

Looking at Zai Yi who staggered away, Shi Duo let out a long sigh. If you didn't see that his son might ascend the throne and scolded him in advance, it would be impossible for him to become the commander of this new Eight Banners Battalion. Shi Duo shook his head, Zai Yi had no ability, and he was impatient. I don't know how the emperor agreed to let him be the commander of this new Eight Banners Battalion.

Come to think of this. Suddenly, Shidor realized that something was wrong. The emperor has always been strict in governing the army, and it means that the officers and men in the army are better to be lacking than excessive. If the emperor does not attach importance to the new Eight Banners Battalion and looks down on the combat effectiveness of the New Eight Banners Battalion, then there is no need to be so angry in the court. And the emperor is also full of people, so he can't just rely on the Han people to defend his country, judging from the latest firearms issued to the New Eight Banners Battalion. The emperor still has certain expectations for the new Eight Banners Battalion. In this case, the emperor still agreed to let Zai Yi be the governor of the new Eight Banners, which has another deep meaning. I believe that the emperor can also see that it is impossible to train any tiger and wolf division with Zaiyi's ability. Other words. The emperor deliberately did this to make the new Eight Banners Battalion ineffective. Does that mean the emperor knows what they're going to do?

Shi Duo in the cold winter broke out in a cold sweat, but after careful analysis, he found that even if there was no New Eight Banners Battalion, the emperor had no chance of winning. On that day, Rong Lu's Jiumen Admiral Yamen and Fengtai's New Eight Banners Battalion would take over the defense of the outer city of the Beijing Division, and the main force attacking the imperial city would be the Xishan Ruijian Battalion and Dong Fuxiang's Gan Army, which was quietly stationed in Xishan. In the entire Gyeonggi Zhili, the emperor only has more than 600 people in the imperial guard battalion and inner palace guards in the Forbidden City, plus a company in the Jingshi University Hall and a company stationed in the General Staff. Could it be that the emperor is not worried that the situation in the capital may change at all, or that the emperor is so confident that he can defeat the nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses in the entire capital with these 1,000 people, or that the emperor has another ambush in the capital?

Come to think of this. Shi Duo immediately went to the Yamen of the Admiral of the Nine Gates. Up to now, everyone is pinning their heads to the waistband of their trousers and doing rebellious things, and there is no room for mistakes. can only let Rong Lu step up his investigation inside and outside the capital. See if you find anything else.

In fact, Shi Duo thought too much, and Guangxu didn't take a fancy to this new Eight Banners Camp in his heart. Can you expect them to be able to train like ordinary soldiers? Not to mention going to the battlefield to fight, even being a guard of honor at the palace gate is not something they can do. Giving them the latest firearms is just not to reassure them. Guangxu's purpose in forming the New Eight Banners Battalion was to find an excuse to completely pull out the hardcore crops of the Manchurian people in the future. Come to think of it, nearly 30 million taels of hardcore crops are spent every year for these wastes, which is enough to raise another Pacific Fleet.

"Your Majesty, the news from the Summer Palace and Prince Li's Mansion has been confirmed, and they have launched it in the past few days. Moreover, Dong Fuxiang's Gan army has already entered the Xishan camp. Leng Jun knelt on the ground, his head bowed deeply. Leng Jun never said much, but tried his best to complete the errand assigned by the emperor. The emperor has orders, but it is nothing more than death. But as the chief of the guard, his first task is to ensure the safety of the emperor, and now the emperor is in danger, so he has to say a few more words: "The emperor is responsible for the prosperity of the country, and the slave is willing to ask the emperor to think twice." ”

"I've not only thought twice, I've already thought nine times." Guangxu stood in front of the window with his hands in his hands, looking at the smooth ice surface of the South China Sea. I didn't know how dangerous it was, but what else could I do about it. Domestically, economic reforms, monetary reforms, and industrial construction have been blocked...... Even the construction of the railroad was hampered by the efficiency of conservative officials. Abroad, the newly ordered warships of the Japanese army will return in just over a year. In addition to Germany's guarantee of delivery of the warships ordered by the Qing Dynasty, Britain and the United States have revealed that they may be delayed. If it's just a delay, if they resell the warships of the Qing Dynasty to Japan, what will the Qing Dynasty do? At present, Huludao has not even been able to complete the construction of test ships, and the progress of artillery development on Guangxu Island has also been delayed. And in the north of the Qing Dynasty, Tsarist Russia was hoarding large quantities of supplies to the Far East. And Japan is arming immigrants on the Korean Peninsula......

And these people are short-sighted, only looking at their own one-third of an acre of land, and only knowing their own personal interests. They don't understand that their interests are based on the fact that they are officials of the Qing Dynasty, and they only know that the Qing Dynasty is very big and the land is vast and rich. Anyway, if you cede so much territory, it's not bad to cede that point again, as long as you don't lose it. If the country does not exist, why should the officials be attached......

I've had enough, and if I go outside, I must first settle inside. Internal discord, how to work together to revitalize China. In order to defeat Japan at the time of the first day, it was already a desperate situation, and it was not a dangerous place to come again. Let all the officials of the Queen Mother's party be exposed, and let all those who oppose the new deal appear. I have 100,000 strong troops in the north and south, and I also have the Western powers at the head of the word to draw on.

Tsarist Russia, which is ready to move, and Japan that is not dead, are the cornerstones of our regaining power. As long as I take power in the country again, the Queen Mother's party will be a rebellion. Since ancient times, it has been a matter of course to kill and rebel, and at that time, I occupied the name of righteousness, and no one could resist if I held up the butcher's knife. It will no longer be the same as it is now, but we will also worry about the stability of the situation, worry about the balance of governance, worry about this, worry about that. I have so many concerns that I can't afford to waste any more time. Tsarist Russia and Japan, you must not let me down, and you must help me.

Guangxu interrupted the cold and stubborn exhortation: "I am the Son of Heaven, and the monarch is divinely endowed." How can a small night do harm? I was not afraid of it at the beginning of the first day, and now I have nothing to fear it. ”