After five days of intense assessment, the results of the new army assessment in various provinces came out.

The assessment results of the autumn season are divided into excellent, good, passing, failing, and poor five, and the Zhili New Army occupies the first place in the overall list with the first place in the single list of the five arms of infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineering, and baggage, and the results are excellent. The second-place Liangjiang Self-Improvement Army's results were a whole level worse and barely good.

The three armies of Dong Fuxiang in Gansu, Song Qing in Shengjing, and Nie Shicheng in Shandong ranked third, fourth, and fifth respectively, and their results were also second-class good.

As we all know, Zhang Zhidong temporarily acted as the governor of Liangjiang and helped Liu Kunyi to act in charge of Liangjiang affairs.

In the past, Nanyang had a tacit understanding, and the provincial armies were all qualified, and the top five in Beiyang accounted for three places, and Nanyang accounted for two places, and this pattern lasted for more than 30 years.

Li Hongzhang happily ran to Guangxu and Cixi with the assessment list and asked for merit and rewards, so there is no need to elaborate, but Zhang Zhidong hurriedly dismissed the officers and soldiers of Huguang who participated in the assessment, and called Zhang Xianzhi, the president of the Self-improvement Army, to scold him very badly.

The self-improvement army lost its momentum in the first round of military parades, and wanted to earn back face in the second round of military evaluation, so he selected a team in the army for this purpose, preparing to kill the arrogance of the new army of Zhili, but the rules were suddenly changed, and the examiners randomly selected officers and soldiers from each army. After eight months of training, the combat effectiveness of this self-strengthening army has indeed improved, and it is stronger than the original, but it is not much stronger under the influence of the old army and old customs. There are elites in the self-improvement army, but there are also many people who are vegetarian in the corpse position, and this random selection of people suddenly exposed this problem, and their results directly dragged them back. On the other hand, the new army of Zhili, because it pays close attention to training in peacetime, there are no people who eat idle meals in it, and there is no problem of high or low grades, so the total results will naturally surpass that of the self-improvement army.

Zhang Xianzhi lost two rounds in a row, and he was scolded by Zhang Zhidong again, and this stomach really suffocated him.

"My lord, the lowly job was originally well prepared, but this Wang Chenhao had to take the whole random test, and the people under the rules changed and didn't adapt to it, so the results didn't play well, and the lowly job promised to earn back face next time!"

"Is there a next time?"

Zhang Zhidong glared at Zhang Xianzhi angrily, and said unhappily: "I made excuses!" What Wang Chenhao said is reasonable, random sampling can see the true combat effectiveness of an army. If you train well, all the soldiers have real skills and excellent results, are you still afraid of random sampling by him? Aren't all the test results the same? ”

"Yes, yes, what the adults have taught me is that I have been convicted of my sins." Zhang Xianzhi knew that he was at a loss, so he didn't dare to say more.

At this time, Zhang Zhidong picked up the assessment report card, and the five arms of the Zhili New Army all held the first place steadily, while the self-strengthening army only ranked second in infantry and artillery, and cavalry, engineering, and baggage all ranked third.

"Not even a first? How do you train? If this continues, I don't think it's better to participate in the confrontation exercise, the old man can't afford to lose that person! ”

Zhang Zhidong slapped the table hard, which frightened Zhang Xianzhi into a cold sweat behind his back.

"Your Excellency is angry." Zhang Xianzhi picked up a report card and recalled the scene of the assessment at that time, only a wry smile.

Zhang Zhidong is also a person who does not admit defeat, but his thinking is not stubborn, and he can sum up experience, otherwise he would not have changed from the Qing school to the Westernization school.

"Tell me what's going on? The veterans of the self-improvement army can't fight the recruits of Zhili, and I'm really angry. ”

Zhang Xianzhi received the order, so he said: "In the infantry assessment, we were not left behind in target shooting, marching, and queues, and we were still ahead in the fight alone when fighting bayonets, but when we fought together, I didn't know what method Wang Chenhao used, and after the end, two-thirds of our soldiers were killed, and they were less than a quarter, and the referee directly announced that our infantry army was disabled and lost its combat effectiveness." ”

Zhang Zhidong frowned and said: "The army is not a place to fight heroes alone, otherwise it is enough to directly hire people in the rivers and lakes martial arts, what else do you want the army to do?" ”

"That's what your lord said!" Zhang Xianzhi explained: "There are too many veterans who think that we are defeated in the army, and they only care about themselves when they start a war, and they don't care about others at all, and the formation will fall apart as soon as it goes up. The new army of Zhili did cooperate with each other to cover the flanks of their teammates, which was the case when they charged, and they also covered alternately when retreating, and the formation was always not chaotic, so we suffered a big loss in the melee. ”

Zhang Zhidong nodded and asked, "What about the artillery team?" Didn't you say that the artillery team of the self-strengthening army is the strongest? ”

Zhang Xianzhi suddenly said embarrassedly: "I am arrogant and arrogant, I underestimated that Duan Qirui, please forgive me." ”

Zhang Zhidong said slowly: "Duan Qirui graduated with the first place in the artillery department of the Beiyang Armed Forces Academy, and was sent to the Berlin Military Academy in Germany to study artillery command, which is also the first five graduates, and after graduation, he studied artillery manufacturing in the Krupp Artillery Factory. ”

Zhang Zhidong's praise made Zhang Xianzhi even more embarrassed, and said: "The six 80 infantry guns commanded by Duan Qirui fired 72 shells in 3 minutes, with a direct hit rate of 66% and a damage rate of 43% at 1,000 meters. According to the number of shells fired by the direct-aim artillery x the rate of direct aim hit x the damage rate = the number of targets destroyed, the referee concluded that Duan Qirui's shelling directly destroyed 14 guns, while our score was only 8. In the end, the examiner counted Duan Qirui's eighteen 150 heavy howitzers, and as you know, our guns are all 80 calibers, which are not comparable to them in terms of equipment. ”

Zhang Zhidong said with some envy: "Eighteen heavy howitzers, our Qing Dynasty, that is, Li Hongzhang, can afford to buy them." ”

Zhang Xianzhi nodded and said, "We lost a big score in this assessment, and we must win it with a big score in the confrontation exercise, otherwise we can only admit defeat." ”

Although Zhang Zhidong was a little pessimistic, he still had to save face, and asked, "Are you sure?" This Zhili New Army is not a fuel-efficient lamp, this Wang Chenhao's brain is always turning over new tricks to make us hit a wall. ”

Zhang Xianzhi gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Don't worry, my lord, I will teach him a hard lesson tomorrow." ”