March 13, 1892, the fifteenth day of the second lunar month,

Keelung Bay, at this time in the harbor of northern Taiwan, more than a dozen warships moored in the berth area, the sampans in the bay kept loading fresh vegetables and fruits onto the warships, the flags fluttering on these warships were both the dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty, and the British rice flag, in this huge group of ships the most attractive is probably the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" two ironclad ships, in the morning sun two ironclad giant ships only look very powerful. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Did you see? That's the ironclad ship of our Great Qing Kingdom! ”

Zhou Baiting, standing on the bow of the ship, staring at the two giant ships, his eyes were full of longing, he was born in the local clan of Yonghe, Taiwan, graduated from the Harbour Master School, and has been serving in the Nanyang Naval Division in the past few years, but when he returned to his hometown a year ago, he unexpectedly met Yuan Shikai, and when he learned that he was serving in the Nanyang Naval Division, he immediately invited him to serve in the Taiwan Naval Division.

The reason why Yuan Shikai appointed Zhou Baiting as the deputy general of the Taiwan Naval Division Association is that in addition to his intention to rectify the Taiwan Naval Divisions Association, a more important reason is that because of his ancestral hometown of Henan martial arts, in addition to being half a fellow countryman with Yuan Shikai, more importantly, the Zhou family is one of the first batch of people to reclaim Taipei, and they are the local clans of Yonghe, and Yuan Shikai and Taiwan's new policies are inseparable from the support of the local clans.

However, after taking office as the deputy general of the Taiwan Naval Divisions Association, Zhou Baiting did not disappoint Yuan Shikai, while rectifying the naval divisions, recruiting strong men, eliminating old and weak soldiers, and strengthening training, thus making the Taiwan Naval Divisions Association look new and significantly improve its combat effectiveness. On the one hand, Western training methods were introduced to train the officers and men of the Naval Divisions Association, although the naval divisions and artillery of the Naval Divisions Association were still lagging behind. The most advanced person is none other than the gunboat "Zhenbian" that last year's governor Yuan asked from Beiyang to come to him now. can be in the last six months. The Association of Sailors lived up to its expectations and cut off the smuggling of tobacco from the mainland to Taiwan, so that the governor's yamen could smoothly implement the tobacco monopoly policy.

It is precisely because of the smuggling crackdown by the Naval Masters Association that Taiwan's Tobacco and Soil Monopoly Bureau can now make a profit of more than 300,000 taels per month, which has become the help of Yuan Shikai to start a new policy in Taiwan, set up foreign affairs, and train the new army, and on the other hand, Zhou Baiting has also become Yuan Shikai's confidant.

"Yu An, don't just envy them. One day, this will buy a warship for the Mariners' Association! ”

Once again, Yuan Shikai comforted Zhou Baiting with words, in the past for a while, Zhou Baiting did not mention the purchase of new warships, but for Yuan Shikai, the most important thing now is to run a good foreign enterprise and the new army, as for this sailor...... It's not something that Taiwan can play with.

"However, this purchase requires a lot, and you still need to think in the long run!"

As soon as the words turned, Yuan Shikai pointed to the Beiyang Fleet in the bay and said.

"I sent someone to ask Lord Nakado. After the new ship built in Beiyang returns to China, this old ship. I hope that a few ships will be allocated to the South Seas, and when the time comes, I will see and ask Lord Zhongtang for personal favors, maybe we can also have two! ”

Compared with the rich resources of North Korea, where Tang Haoran is located, Taiwan does not have rich resources for Yuan Shikai to build a mine for sale, and the only Keelung coal mine is just out of coal, but its coal quality is far inferior to North Korean coal, so naturally it cannot be sold at a high price.

However, Zhongtang also helped him a lot, just like this time when the coalition army entered Hong Kong, the imperial court allocated 500,000 taels of silver to Taiwan. It is precisely because of this that Yuan Shikai attaches great importance to this dispatch.

"Yu An, this time our Taiwan New Army sent a battalion of soldiers to cooperate, although you are the deputy general of the Naval Divisions Association, but after all, you are the highest commander of our Taiwan Army to the Ryukyus, when you get there, you have to supervise everyone, don't fall into the reputation of the Taiwan Army, and ......"

The words sank slightly, and Yuan Shikai stared at Zhou Baiting and said.

"Lord Zhongtang, you can wait to see the effect of our new military training, if there is a mistake, I'm afraid that Lord Ben will not be able to explain it to the imperial court!"

In a long sigh, Yuan Shikai's face showed a little melancholy, but the bottom of his heart was hard to hide the excitement, the new army that had been trained for a year finally came in handy, although there was only one battalion of soldiers, but the key was to let Zhongtang and the imperial court see the difference between the new army and the defense army, if it was recognized by the imperial court, I am afraid that the Taiwan New Army Association could be expanded into a new army.

By then......

"Please rest assured, your humble position will never disappoint your adults!"

Zhou Baiting, who knew that this matter was related to the future of adults, hurriedly responded.

Feel relieved?

Yuan Shikai, who left the gunboat "Zhenbian", thought about Zhou Baiting's words, but muttered in his heart, how could he rest assured? If the performance of the Taiwan army is unsatisfactory, then it will be what will happen if the court blames it, and if it disappoints Lord Nakado......

Nakado-sama......

For Yuan Shikai, compared to the imperial court, he is more concerned about Lord Zhongtang's opinion of himself, although he has never had the luxury of taking over Lord Zhongtang to take charge of Beiyang, but Yuan Shikai clearly knows that after decades of peace, the Huai Army, which could be described as a tiger and wolf, is no longer as good as a stubble, and the reason why Lord Zhongtang instructed him to train the new army in Taiwan last year, and even sent assistants, is not because he knows the illness of the Huai Army?

For the Zhongtang Lord who started in the army, the current status of the Beiyang depends on the land and sea division, and the Beiyang fleet on the side of the sea division cannot collapse the scene, but on the Huai army's side, although the Huai army is now stationed throughout the country, its combat power is not as good as in the past...... can only rely on the new army to support the scene, if the new army trained by himself can't support the stage, how to explain to Lord Zhongtang at that time?

Thinking like this in his heart, Yuan Shikai thought of another person - Duan Qirui, the old man of Zhongtang, and now the co-commander of the Taiwan New Military Association, this person, like Shang Dequan and others, had studied in Germany and was familiar with the Western Army. But the weather is the weather, after all, the training of this new army is only ten months, and it will be too early to send it to the Ryukyus now.

In the event of a loss...... For a time, Yuan Shikai, who suffered from gains and losses, found that he could not calm down at all, and for him, who finally achieved the post of governor, he naturally did not want to sit back and watch himself be reprimanded by the imperial court because of the unfavorable training of the new army. And then disappointed Zhongtang. Thus affecting their own future.

"What a good thing that is!"

Often sigh. Yuan Shikai's brows were tightly locked, and as the boat headed towards the trestle, he pointed at the New Army barracks outside Keelung Street not far from the pier.

"Let's go to the barracks!"

"One-two-one......"

Before the people entered the barracks, Yuan Shikai heard the sound of the command with a southern Fujian accent coming from the barracks, unlike the Huai army in the past, which were all recruited from Anhui, Shandong, Zhili, Henan and other places, most of the soldiers of the Taiwan New Army came from the local area, which Yuan Shikai insisted. Through the inspection of the Huai army and the defense battalion stationed in Taiwan, it was found that the Huai army was not accustomed to the water and soil, and died one after another in the summer months, and even more so the brave soldiers even used the excuse of smoking to avoid miasma, and how to talk about training in the long run, so the combat strength was no longer what it used to be.

It is precisely because of this that Yuan Shikai will take the opportunity of training the new army to redefine the battalion system, and the recruitment of the new army will be mainly based on Tuyong. However, unlike in the past, Tuyong was controlled by the local gentry in Taiwan, but now the new officers are all from the Tianjin Wubei Academy, and the 4,000 recruits come from all over Taiwan, thus avoiding the local gentry from interfering in the new army.

Of course, it also avoided Duan Qirui and others from controlling the new army, and then overthrowing him as the governor. It was this separation of officials and courage that enabled Yuan Shikai to firmly control the new army as governor. Whether it's North Korea's experience or the lessons learned at home. He was well aware of the necessity of mastering military power, and naturally he would not relax his grip on the new army.

"Your Excellency!"

Duan Qirui, who was originally talking to the commander of the third step team and battalion, heard that the governor was coming, so he hurriedly ended the training and led the officers of the third step team and battalion to the camp gate to greet Yuan Shikai.

"I'm just coming to see it, Shibaquan, come and walk with me! Well, and Yujie! ”

The close Duan Qirui pulled closely, and Yuan Shikai said to Li Shenli, the commander of the battalion, because the scale of the new army is not large, Yuan Shikai can call out the name of each battalion commander, and he also knows his hobbies and personality. This Li Shenli graduated from the Wubei Academy, and was not appointed in the Huai Army in the past, and was also a fellow villager with Yuan Shikai, and was one of the more than a dozen new officers he dug out from the Huai Army stationed in Taiwan.

"It's my lord!"

Duan Qirui and Li Shenli glanced at each other, and hurriedly followed Yuan Shikai in the camp who had already taken a step into the camp, looking at the new officers and soldiers in the camp who were training, Yuan Shikai asked casually.

"Zhiquan, in your opinion, how is our new army in Taiwan compared to the Japanese army?"

"Lord Hui, the sophistication of Taiwan's new ordnance artillery is far beyond the reach of the Japanese army!"

Duan Qirui was telling the truth, in the formation and training of Taiwan's new army, the Beiyang Yamen side was extremely generous, and allocated 10% of the 50,000 newly purchased 50,000 five-shot Mauser guns to Taiwan, and allocated 12 camp guns.

"I heard that the new army stationed in North Korea still uses the French-made Xia Pos, which are all obsolete goods of the Ordnance Bureau, and this brave soldier does not rely on the sophistication of the gun!"

Unlike most of the officials in Beiyang who were superstitious about the quality of weapons and cannons, Yuan Shikai's experience in the Korean army made Yuan Shikai not very superstitious about this, unlike others, who believed that as long as they had excellent weapons and cannons, they could defeat the enemy with the advantages of artillery.

"The lesson of the adults is very good!"

Although he has been in Taiwan for nearly a year, Duan Qirui is still adapting to the difference between Yuan Shikai and others, at least he is still adapting to the lack of good weapons.

"Yujie, tell me, if you go to Ryukyu and face a team of Japanese troops, the new army will have the strength to fight!"

"Your Excellency!"

Taking a deep breath, he glanced at Duan Qirui first, and then Li Shenli replied in a deep voice.

"Taiwan's Tuyong has been accustomed to fighting in the countryside since childhood, and the courage is not inferior to the mountains, and after ten years of hard training, most of the marksmanship is quite fine and brave to bayonet impact, in the words of the Westerners, its brave combat power is not inferior to the West, not inferior to the Japanese, please rest assured, if the Japanese fight, the humble duty should lead the whole battalion of officials to swear to die!"

Compared with Duan Qirui, Li Shenli, who came to Taiwan as early as six years ago, is very aware of the difference between Taiwan's Tuyong and the mainland's Tuyong, and unlike the stability of most areas of the mainland, a large number of immigrants have come to Taiwan in the past two hundred years, and there are many conflicts of interest between the ethnic groups that came first and came first. For example, irrigation water rights, fighting for land reclamation, building houses and temples, and so on. The large ones can easily reach 10,000 people, and the small ones can also be thousands, and the elderly can last for several months, and even affect half of Taiwan, so that the imperial court has to send heavy troops to suppress it.

In the aftermath of the fight, the victors often seized the losing side's houses and rebuilt temples and beliefs. In order to settle disputes or avoid trouble, the losing side with a small population usually migrated to a distant village in a less favorable location or gradually assimilated with the victor.

Therefore, whenever there is a fight, the two sides are endless, in addition to the two hundred years of uninterrupted fighting between the immigrants, and because of the reclamation of land and the raw and mature mountains also often fight. In this way, the locals who are accustomed to fighting with weapons and never stop fighting are naturally very brave.

However, it is precisely because of this that Li Shenli, as the commander of the battalion, has a headache every time he encounters a battle between the villagers in the camp, so that now in the new army, he treats the battle of the villagers with a rate of 30 military sticks regardless of right or wrong, so as to maintain order in the camp, which may be much quieter in the barracks.

"Swear to death!"

With a deep groan, Yuan Shikai looked at the soldiers who were carrying the five-ring new Mauser on their shoulders, and said seriously.

"This battle is not only related to whether my Chinese vassal can return to China, but also related to the international reputation of our Qing Dynasty, if I am defeated, I am afraid that the ambition of foreigners will be attracted, if it leads to the ambition of foreigners to invade my Qing Dynasty, then you and I will be sinners of the Qing Dynasty!"

In this exclamation, it was all about worrying about the country and the people, and only Duan Qirui and Li Shenli bowed their heads and expressed their determination loudly, all of them looked like they would never dare to disappoint the adults and the court.

"There are two elder brothers' words, Shi Kaiyan can not worry!"

After the two expressed their determination, Yuan Shikai said with a smile.

"If our Taiwan New Army can show the power of the New Army in the Ryukyus this time, then Shi Kai will play the imperial court to ask for merit for two people, one is to ask for merit, and these two will naturally organize my Taiwan New Army into a town!"

As soon as Yuan Shikai's words fell, both Duan Qirui and Li Shenli were all hot, for Duan Qirui, he immediately thought of the position of the commander of a town, but what Li Shenli thought of was the position of the unification of the association, the two of them had different moods, but they were successfully provoked by Yuan Shikai The ambition in their hearts.

The change in the expressions of the two fell in Yuan Shikai's eyes, and he just smiled secretly in his heart, if you want others to do their best, the easiest way is to use hats and silver, in comparison...... Thinking of Tang Ziran, who was in charge of North Korea, Yuan Shikai became curious, what did he use to win people's hearts!

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