Zhili Yongping Prefecture (most of the present-day cities of Tangshan and Qinhuangdao) has been the choke point from the interior to the northeast since ancient times, and the purpose of the military exercise here is obvious, targeting the Tsarist army in the north and the Korean army.

The provincial armies of the Qing court gathered more than 70,000 or 80,000 troops here, and held a military exercise codenamed "Yongping Qiuying" in the vast area from Baishuzhuang west of Luanzhou to the north of Guizi Mountain, within a radius of more than 100 miles.

The parade ground is located in the south of Tuozitou Village, on the vast ground with a radius of more than 10 miles. On the opposite side is a temporary barracks where 70,000 or 80,000 troops live, with a grand layout, and a large number of craftsmen are recruited, which costs a lot.

In late September, the new troops from various provinces were stationed in the barracks one after another, and Prince Gong and Prince Qing came to review the rehearsals in advance on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and they were not satisfied until everything was properly rehearsed.

During this period, Yi was very responsible, and put forward various revisions, while Yi Liang secretly counted the silver and didn't care about any serious things.

During the rehearsal process, the performance of the new troops in the provinces, including the Ziqiang Army, was no different from before, because their military uniforms and uniforms had not changed, and they were still the number uniforms, so there was nothing new in the rehearsal.

As the host, Wang Chenhao's Zhili New Army is not in the Yongping military camp, and has been training in the Tianjin Military Horse Farm. Yi and Yi had to go to the military horse farm for review and rehearsal.

At this time, the Zhili New Army was in the final stage of the combined exercise, and it was proposed by General Speder-Steinier and Hannagan that after the final divisional and regimental level combined exercise, Wang Chenhao would use the provisional Second Division as an imaginary enemy to carry out a confrontation exercise with the newly built First Division, and because the officers and men of the Provisional Second Division did not admit defeat and were always looking forward to surpassing the First Division, they exerted all their strength in the confrontation exercise with the First Division, forcing the First Division to use greater will and technology to deal with them, which greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the First Division.

Although the result was still the victory of the First Division, the Second Provisional Division made a deep impression on the German instructors, and General Stanley even suggested that Wang Chenhao remove the provisional number of the Second Division and officially call it the Second Division of the New Army. It can be seen that the officers and men of the Second Division who have been eliminated have been able to catch up with each other after five months of hard work, which is really admirable.

Wang Chenhao also had this idea, but after discussing with Wang Shizhen and other staff, he believed that the current attitude of the imperial court was ambiguous, and it was not easy to expand the second division before Qiu Ying won, otherwise it would give the imperial court a handle.

So Wang Chenhao had no choice but to ignore this matter first, but after discussing with Li Hongzhang, Yang Shixiang proposed that the Second Division temporarily use the Huai Army number, but exercise the rules of the new army's training. In this way, the establishment of the new army was maintained, and the court had nothing to say.

On the last day of September, the first division of the new army under the supervision of Wang Chenhao completed the final divisional composite training, and exceeded the tasks set by the outline, and the strength of the combat power even the German iron and blood handed over to General Stanley were admired, he said in the final army speech: "This is an elite army I have seen, although this army is only a year old, and has not participated in real battles, but whenever I stand in front of them, I will always feel the momentum that belongs to the strong." ”

On this day, Yi and Yi led a large group of military intelligence and military officials to review the new army of Zhili. In the rehearsal exercise, the new army of Zhili was well-trained and the military appearance was strictly organized, and Yi and others immediately praised and praised them after watching it, and the rehearsal was passed in one go, while the other troops rehearsed at least several times before they barely passed.

On October 4, 1895, on August 16, the 21st year of Guangxu in the lunar calendar, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Guangxu and Cixi's cars arrived at the Yongping Parade Ground to inspect the new army units participating in the exercise.

The review was very simple, that is, the new troops trained by the provinces passed in front of the dragon shed where Cixi and Guangxu were. The dragon shed is actually more than two hundred meters away from the parade procession, Cixi and Guangxu are high above and basically can't see the appearance of the army passing below, they can only look at it roughly, and only know who trained the soldiers with the female official next to them.

The new army in all provinces wore uniforms, but the new army in Zhili wore new-style military uniforms, wore big caps, and wore leather boots.

Cixi saw that Guangxu was silent, knowing what he was thinking, so she deliberately asked Li Hongzhang, who was sitting next to him, "This is Wang Chenhao's new army?" ”

Li Hongzhang hurriedly got up and said, "Empress Dowager Qiyu is the new army trained by Wang Chenhao. ”

Cixi said: "One move is ten thousand feet, one order is ten thousand sounds, the army is neat, it is worthy of being a mighty army, this new army should be trained like this." ”

Li Hongzhang hurriedly thanked Wang Chenhao.

Guangxu next to him was not happy and said: "Queen Mother, this new army can't just look at appearance. The bright surface does not mean that there is ability, this army is a sharp weapon of the country, and you can't just look at the surface. ”

Li Hongzhang got up again and said to Guangxu: "What the emperor said is very true, I have only been training the new army for eight months, but the results are remarkable, and the military attaches of various countries are full of praise after watching the training, and some even say that the new army of Zhili is comparable to the German army, which is known as the world's first army, and I believe that it will live up to the expectations of the queen mother and the emperor in the subsequent exercises." ”

When Li Hongzhang spoke, he put the Empress Dowager Cixi in front of him, naturally indicating that the Empress Dowager was the biggest, and Cixi said happily: "Look at this Wang Chenhao's ability, he can train into the world's first army in only eight months, so that the emperor will be rewarded heavily!" ”

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly in his heart, this Cixi is very good at understanding cutting her head and tail, but the cowhide is blowing into the sky, Li Hongzhang can only look forward to Wang Chenhao's better performance.

Guangxu looked at Li Hongzhang's proud appearance, and felt very unhappy, but now it was obvious that the Empress Dowager Cixi and Li Hongzhang were wearing a pair of pants and a nostril to vent, so he said: "The son respectfully obeys the will of the Empress Dowager, if Wang Chenhao wins in the autumn season, he will definitely be rewarded, and he will never lose the hero." ”

Then he said coldly to Li Hongzhang: "I hope that as the Qing family said, don't be smiling and generous, this time Guanying invited ministers and military attaches from various countries, and more domestic and foreign reporters reported, if it is harmful to the prestige of the country, I will not agree." ”

"The old minister understands." Li Hongzhang knew that Guangxu was going to find an excuse to be angry with him, but he now had enough confidence in Wang Chenhao, because the German military attachés in China had already privately compared the Zhili New Army and the Ziqiang Army, and thought that the Zhili New Army had a very good chance of winning, so Li Hongzhang was reassured, so he dared to play tricks in front of Guangxu and Cixi.

After the review of the new army in various provinces, people from all walks of life at home and abroad had a very weak impression of the new army in other provinces, except for the new army in Zhili, and even the self-strengthening army in Liangjiang was also covered up.

In the first round, the new army of Zhili took the lead and won the jackpot, and the Beiyang people were very happy, but the Nanyang side was sullen after losing the first move.

In the next seven days, the first five days will be the infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers, and baggage units, and since the results of the assessments are related to the evaluation and reference of the confrontation exercise, the formal competition between the two sides in the north and south has also begun, and Wang Chenhao convened a meeting of officers at all levels of the division to make work arrangements for the strengths and weaknesses of the self-strengthening army.