Since he surrendered to Zhao Dongyun, Lu Yongxiang has always been very low-key, and there are several reasons, first of all, he led the troops in Tangshan, Jingshi and Fengjun to the death, and there were not a few Fengjun soldiers who died under him, which led many Fengjun generals to have a personal hostile attitude towards Lu Yongxiang.

The second is that although he was not surrounded and annihilated on the battlefield and forced to surrender, but Wang Yingkai took the initiative to lead the troops to surrender after going into the field, but he still couldn't get rid of the identity of a general, in the eyes of many people, he was forced to surrender after being defeated by the Feng army, and as a general, he was naturally not treated by many people in the Feng army.

Third, in order to avoid suspicion of Zhao Dongyun, the embarrassment of his identity has made Lu Yongxiang keep a low profile, and he basically does not speak in the military meeting of the First Army, and he will not take the initiative to put forward any battle plans. At the same time, he also maintained a blind attitude towards Zhao Dongyun's installation of many old Soviet officers in the First Division, and even stopped contacting many old subordinates in the original direct army, all he wanted was to sit firmly in the position of the First Division, and after a few years, he might unload his armor and return to the field after unification, so as to engage in politics or business.

Although he also thought about continuing to mix in the Feng army and possibly mixing into the position of general, he thought that he should not have any chance to enter the core power system of the Feng army in the future.

However, now Zhao Dongyun's appointment broke him, and even broke the minds of many people, Zhao Dongyun did not care about his status as a general, but reused him as the new commander of the First Army.

This incident was almost unexpected by many people, including Lu Yongxiang himself.

Lu Yongxiang was appointed as the commander of the First Army, and the vacated position of the commander of the first division was taken over by Li Chun, compared to Lu Yongxiang's appointment was unexpected, Li Chun's appointment is much more normal, Li Chun was originally a senior Soviet backbone general, and he was also outstanding in the First Battle of Tangshan, and it is not surprising that he is now further promoted to division commander.

Before he left the capital division to go south to take up his post, he was summoned by Zhao Dongyun like other generals before taking office, and the two were talking while walking on the gravel road in Zhonghai, and Zhao Dongyun, who was walking, suddenly stopped, and then said to him with a solemn face: "I hope you don't live up to my expectations of you, and don't live up to the expectations of the country and the nation!" ”

When Zhao Dongyun looked at him with sincere eyes, Li Chun had an indescribable feeling in his heart, a sense of joy of being valued, a heavy sense of pressure, and a feeling of dying for a confidant.

Like many Soviet generals, Li Chun did not say too deep personal loyalty to Zhao Dongyun, although he was loyal to Zhao Dongyun, but this had nothing to do with personal loyalty, he was not loyal to Zhao Dongyun as an individual, but to the system of the Soviet system, and Zhao Dongyun was only the leader of this system.

The high-level military and political dignitaries of the Soviet system, except for Lin Yongquan, a special exception, are actually relatively rational, and they will not say that they regard Zhao Dongyun as heaven and earth and regard loyalty to Zhao Dongyun as the most basic principle, just like those advanced students.

Including Meng Enyuan and Chen Guangyuan, most of them are like this.

There are many reasons why they choose to be loyal to Zhao Dongyun, some think that Zhao Dongyun is the best choice to lead China's unification and rise, and some think that Zhao Dongyun can lead them to power and glory, but there are few personal loyalties mixed here, and if an equally outstanding person becomes the leader of the Beiyang Soviet system, they will also choose to be loyal to that person.

However, today, Li Chun looked at Zhao Dongyun and remembered the years he had followed Zhao Dongyun, growing from an unknown middle and lower-level officer to the head of today's first division, if there was no appreciation and cultivation of Zhao Dongyun, there would be no him Li Chun today, when gratitude combined with admiration for Zhao Dongyun, finally turned into a trace of loyalty!

After seeing off Li Chun, Zhao Dongyun continued to stay in Zhonghai, and then he met with the graduates of the advanced training class of 1908.

Due to the tense war situation and the urgent need for a large number of middle-level officers in the expansion of the Feng Army, the graduation time of the two classes of advanced students in 1907 and 1908 was advanced by a certain time.

Originally, the duration of the refresher course was two years, but during the refresher course of the Fengtian Military Academy, there was an increase in the daily teaching time, and the students often completed their studies one or two months in advance, and then entered the army in advance, after the establishment of the Army University last year, the school system and the content of the teaching were all continued during the Fengtian Military Academy refresher class, and the shortened teaching time was also continued, for example, this year's 1908 graduates were originally scheduled to graduate in July this summer, But just as last year's Class of 1907 was brought forward to June, this year's Class of 1908 was brought forward and affected by the imminent battle to cross the river.

The graduates walked out of school five months early!

Today, these early graduates were invited to Xiyuan Zhonghai to participate in the graduation ceremony supported by Zhao Dongyun.

Standing on the podium in the open space, Zhao Dongyun looked at the students below, and it was rare to feel emotional in his heart, the forty-six advanced students sitting in the audience are the top military talents who can be cultivated in the contemporary Feng army, they are the best grassroots officers in the Feng army before entering the school, some of them are from the outstanding graduates of the Fengtian Military Academy, and some are from the military students who have returned from Germany and Japan, and these people all have the same characteristic, that is, they are excellent enough to be personally recommended by those senior generals. Because of that, I was able to qualify for the entrance exam, and then after being recommended by hundreds of candidates every year, I fought my way out and won my own admission qualification.

At present, there are not many teachers in the Army University, but most of them are retired generals hired from Germany, France, etc., in addition to those officers from the Berlin Military Academy After returning to China, no matter what position they hold, they generally serve as instructors of the Army University, and some of the more outstanding senior generals, such as Gu Lanyu and other famous generals recognized in the army, are also holding the title of part-time instructor in the Army University. As long as you are in Beijing, you usually have to find time to teach at the Army University.

Not to mention Zhao Dongyun himself, he will find time to teach in person every month.

Therefore, although the scale of the current army university is very small, with only about 100 students, it is far inferior to the scale of the more than 1,000 cadets of the Fengtian Military Academy, which is now known as the 'Central Army Military Academy,' but although the scale is small, it has all kinds of organs, and the courses are all modeled after the Berlin Military Academy and the Japanese Army's University.

Although many of them are only half-baked, far inferior to Yang Deming and Li Xiang, the decent elites from the Berlin Military Academy, but looking at China, they can be regarded as high-end military talents.

It's just that Zhao Dongyun looked at these people in the audience, but he remembered a question in his heart, how many of these people can live to see the reunification of China?

Including the graduates of the class of 1908, the total number of trainees serving in the army is only more than 200 people, but because most of the newly graduated trainees are often assigned to the front line to serve as battalion commanders, coupled with the fact that the trainees have a sense of honor and loyalty that far exceeds that of ordinary officers, the trainees are brave and brave in battle, and at the same time, the casualty rate of the trainees has remained high.

Among the 1907 trainees who had just graduated from last year and joined the army to participate in the Tangshan Campaign and many battles in the south, there were 38 people in the graduation photo, but so far seven have been killed on the battlefield, and more than half have been wounded, and this casualty ratio is far higher than the casualty ratio of the officers in the Feng army.

It is foreseeable that after graduating in a hurry, the 1908 class of advanced students will be assigned to serve as battalion commanders and deputy regiment commanders in the southbound troops that urgently need a large number of outstanding middle-level officers, and then participate in the river-crossing operation and the subsequent southward operations in various provinces, and in the process, it is very likely that the tragedy of the 1907 graduates will be repeated with excessive casualties.

Under the backdrop of such an era, how many of these advanced students in the audience today are living in the post-war period? Forty? Thirty people? Twenty or even less?

Zhao Dongyun didn't know!

When the top three outstanding graduates were awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel, Zhao Dongyun smiled encouragingly, and then said: "I look forward to you bringing glory to the country and the nation!" ”

Looking at the expressions of those people who were obviously excited and excited, but forced to be calm, Zhao Dongyun was a little sentimental for a while!

It's not a good feeling to send students who have been teaching for years to the battlefield and then sit back and wait for the news of their death to come!

After the ceremony, Zhao Dongyun left with a slightly heavy heart, and the trainee officers who had a straight face showed their own smiles, cheering for their graduation and looking forward to the departure to the south.

"Brother Quan Yang, you are lucky, you have been assigned to a strong army like the Third Division, and you are fortunate to fight under General Gu, he is famous in the world, don't forget a few of our brothers!" In a small circle of four, a tall young lieutenant colonel said so.

"You still need to envy me, you are the second in our class, this time you are going south to become the chief of staff of the 15th Brigade, in the future, you will be promoted to major general, I'm afraid we are still in the battalion!"

"Hehe, what about the chief of staff, the Eighth Division is located in Henan, there has been no war for a long time, how easy it is to accumulate merit and be promoted!" The tall lieutenant colonel smiled, to be honest, he was not very satisfied with his appointment, he was the second among the trainees in this year, unlike other ordinary graduates who were awarded majors, but the rank he was awarded after graduation was lieutenant colonel, he knew very well that he had entered the sight of the high-level, this time he went south to the 15th Brigade of the Eighth Division to become the chief of staff, at most it was a transition, and the boss had the intention to let him be transferred to the combat department after a few months of training, and it may not be long before he could be promoted to the commander of an infantry regiment in the future.

It's just that although the career is worry-free, this is not what he wants, what he wants is to go to the front line now as a real officer!

At this time, another young major also said: "Tomorrow, the two of you will go south, I will also go to the 10th Brigade of Fengtian to serve, and Brother Haoyuan will also go to Baoding, I don't know when we can meet here today, go, we will not get drunk today!" ”

Chen Haoyuan, who was slightly low next to him, said: "Don't be in a hurry to drink, let's go to the photo studio to take pictures first, and then get drunk after the shooting!" ”

"Good!" The rest of the people replied one after another.

In a short time, in the Xiangfu photo studio, the four young graduates stood in a row, all dressed in winter officers' uniforms, with the rank of major or lieutenant colonel on their shoulders, their bodies slightly sideways, each wearing a white gloved hand and carrying a military sword.

At this time, Chen Haoyuan suddenly said: "I'm afraid today is the last day we get together!" ”

Li Quanyang on the side kept his expression unchanged: "What are you afraid of, it's a big deal that we will reunite in Valhalla one day!" ”

As he said this, the photographer in front of him shouted, "It's time to shoot!" ”

The four of them immediately did not speak again, but turned their eyes to the camera, but no one was smiling, and their expressions were mostly heavy and stern.

As the spotlight flickered, the figures of the four young officers remained in this black-and-white photo forever.