At present, there are three kinds of military systems in the three eastern provinces, the first is the Central Army with official numbers, they are the Third Division, the Ninth Division, the Tenth Division, the Fourth Mixed Brigade, the Fifth Mixed Brigade, and the First Cavalry Brigade.

The second is the provincial army, such as the Seventh Mixed Brigade, the Second Cavalry Brigade, and the First Division, and their official names are the No. XX Division and XX Brigade of the Army of the Three Eastern Provinces.

The above two types are both units of the field army, and their establishment is the same, but there is a difference between the Central Army and the provincial army in the number, but in fact there is no actual difference between the two.

In addition, there is a third type, that is, the patrol force, the official number of the patrol force is the patrol regiment of the three eastern provinces, there is no brigade, division, and no prefix of the army.

Although Zhao Dongyun can also ask the Beijing Division for the number of the Central Division, but the Central Committee will not give the number and silver, and it will also expose the scale and speed of its own army expansion, so it is better to directly adopt the number of the provincial army to avoid the outside world from discovering the true strength and establishment of the Feng Army.

Zhao Dongyun said the number, and then said: "You can't relax, there is news from the Beijing Division, saying that Wang Yingkai's two new divisions are also dissatisfied with the progress, and they have already trained two regiments, and your first division must be formed within half a year."

Fang Biyong said: "We have rich experience in organizing and training the new army, as long as we follow the procedure to form a division within half a year, there will be no problem!" ”

This is not bad, Zhao Dongyun's Feng army expansion is already experienced, from 1905, began to expand the army rapidly, a year later in 1906 expanded to three divisions, and half a year later expanded to three divisions and five brigades, now the three divisions and five brigades have just become an army, half a year later there will be another division into the army. To be honest, the speed of this army expansion is no less than the speed at which Yuan Shikai formed the Beiyang Standing Army, or even faster.

Of course, the expansion speed of other warlords in Beiyang cannot be slow, Wang Yingkai was only one division at the end of last year, and now he already has two and a half divisions, and it will not take long to have four divisions, and Duan Qirui has also developed from one division to one division and three brigades.

And the faster is the Southern Federation, the number of their new army at the end of last year is only a handful, but half a year later, it is said that there are more than 30 'town' level numbers, and more than 30 mixed association numbers, according to Zhang Zhidong, Duanfang, Tieliang Their exaggerated statement is that the Northern Expedition of the Southern Federation has more than 800,000 troops.

Of course, this number is extremely high, but there are still more than 200,000, at least there are at least 100,000 troops in the three towns of Wuhan, and there are more than 100,000 troops in Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

However, the combat effectiveness of these newly expanded troops of the Southern Federation is generally poor, and they can still fight a few old troops formed in the former Qing Dynasty, mainly a few troops such as the Eighth Town, the Ninth Town, the Jiangbei Mixed Association, and the 21st Mixed Association of the former Qing Dynasty, and most of them are lacking soldiers and weapons, especially the extreme lack of heavy weapons, and the Southern Federation has purchased a large number of German arms in the past six months, plus the output of the two factories of Hanyang and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, this light weapon is still not lacking, but the artillery is a very big gap.

If these newly formed troops were all units that were strictly organized and expanded with Zhao Dongyun, Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen would have been driven back long ago, and they would not have retreated from the Southern Federation with a small number of troops that could still fight.

For example, in Hefei, Anhui Province, since Bengbu was conquered by the Beiyang Army, the Duan side relied on Hefei and other cities to continue to stubbornly resist Duan Qirui's southward offensive, and finally led the two sides to break out in Hefei in early May.

Two towns under the command of Duanfang, more than 20,000 troops and Zhang Huaizhi's fifth division had a fierce battle, six days later, the two towns under the command of Duanfang suffered casualties of more than 3,000 people, and finally fled to Anqing, Zhang Huaizhi successfully conquered Hefei, and continued to lead the army south to Anqing.

At this time, in addition to Anqing still being controlled by the Southern Federation, many areas north of the Yangtze River had already fallen into the hands of Beiyang.

There is no doubt that in May 1907, the situation was very good for the republican government in the north, in the direction of Hubei, the Second Army led by Wang Shizhen had arrived at the city of Wuhan Three Towns, and in the direction of Anhui, Zhang Huaizhi had conquered Hefei and was about to attack Anqing. In the direction of Jiangsu, Duan Qirui led the Fourth Division of the Yan Department to conquer Yangzhou, Taizhou, Nantong and other places. In the direction of Shanxi, Wu Fengling also conquered most of Shanxi after expanding his army for a few months, and personally led the second division to encircle and annihilate a mixed association under Zhao Erxun in Linfen, which caused Zhao Erxun's troops to suffer a heavy blow and was forced to withdraw from the southern part of Shanxi and retreat back to Shaanxi.

At this time, there were also some changes in the navy, and a number of naval ships led by Sa Zhenbing to the Southern Federation quietly sailed away from Nanjing, and then went to Shanghai to declare the republic, including the Haiqi.

In this way, the Southern Federation in the direction of the two rivers is even more tragic!

The north-south occupation has developed to this day, and it may be difficult for Wang Shizhen to make a breakthrough on the Hubei side, but in the southeast direction, in the face of Duanfang, which has suffered several crushing defeats, Duan Qirui's first army crossing the Yangtze River is just around the corner.

However, this situation is very good, but many people in the country are frowning.

Jingshi Jurentang, Wang Yingkai frowned: "The federal army on the other side of Nanjing and Zhenjiang has really reached the last desperate situation? ”

"If there is no big accident, it is impossible for them to hold southern Jiangsu, as short as one month, as long as March, the end side will be defeated!" Wang Zhanyuan also looked not very good.

"What about Zhang Huaizhi? What is the situation in Anqing? Wang Yingkai asked again.

"Anqing now has about 20,000 defenders, and most of them are remnants of the defeated army, if the Fifth Division launches an attack, they will definitely not be able to stop it!" Wang Zhanyuan said.

"Looks like things are getting a little out of control!" Wang Yingkai turned around, looked at the map of China on the table, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "Your seventh division is ready!" ”

Wang Zhanyuan was slightly shocked when he heard this: "Oh, this is going south?" ”

Wang Yingkai shook his head: "No, you go to Shandong!" ”

"I'm going to Shandong? In this case, Zhang Zizhen ...... "Wang Zhanyuan is worried, he doesn't want to go to Shandong, but Shandong is Zhang Huaizhi's territory, although Zhang Huaizhi has now gone to Anhui to fight, but everyone knows that this Shandong is Zhang Huaizhi's territory.

"Don't worry about Zhang Zizhen, he is now in Anhui, and this Anhui has just been fought, no one can take care of it, I will let him concurrently serve as the governor of Anhui, as for you to go to Shandong, only garrison troops, not the governor!" Wang Yingkai said.

Wang Zhanyuan is a smart person, and he guessed Wang Yingkai's thoughts at once, nothing more than that Duan Qirui's progress in the south was too smooth, and Duan Qirui was going south to Jiangsu, Anhui and even the south of the Yangtze River, and when Duan Qirui owned the land of the two rivers, he could quickly grow into the richest warlord in the country by relying on the Jiangnan region, but at that time, the opponent of Wang Yingkai and others was not the Southern Federation, but Duan Qirui.

So although Wang Yingkai drove Duan Qirui to Liangjiang, he didn't think about letting Duan Qirui Shunshun Lìli take Liangjiang, according to his assumption, it should be Duan Qirui who went south and Duanfang and they fought for both defeats, and then trained a few divisions in the north and then went south to clean up the mess, and then accept the remnants of Duan Qirui and Wang Shizhen in one fell swoop. and Zhao Dongyun to fight the winner.

As long as Zhao Dongyun is defeated in the end, then he will be able to truly unify Beiyang, well, by the way, unify China.

However, this strategic concept is in a predicament because the troops of the Southern Federation are too scum, and now his Wang Yingkai's newly expanded troops have not yet been formed, and the 11th and 12th divisions will not be able to form an army until the end of the year, but now Duan Qirui is about to go south to Liangjiang, which is not something he wants to see.

If it is said that Zhang Huaizhi is concurrently the governor of Anhui, although it will increase Zhang Huaizhi's strength and influence, it will also greatly weaken Duan Qirui's strength, which is good for Wang Yingkai.

As for letting Wang Zhanyuan go to Shandong, it is for the sake of military control of Shandong, and it can also prevent Duan Qirui from suddenly going north to Shandong, as for not letting Wang Zhanyuan serve as the governor of Shandong, it is also to win over Zhang Huaizhi, although Zhang Huaizhi has taken refuge in Wang Yingkai, he also has his own little abacus, if he takes Shandong away completely, it is estimated that Zhang Huaizhi will turn his face!

Of course, it is not enough for him Wang Yingkai to do these things alone, he has to pull another person, who? Zhao Dongyun!

"Hmph, I don't want Duan Qirui to be big, and he Zhao Dongyun naturally doesn't want to either!" Wang Yingkai knows very well that Zhao Dongyun, like himself, is full of thoughts about being the boss of Beiyang, unifying Beiyang and the like, and it is not in the interests of Zhao Dongyun that any of the warlords in Beiyang has risen sharply.

As for letting Duan Qirui grow up, and then fighting Wang Yingkai with Zhao Dongyun, once Duan Qirui grows up in the land of the two rivers, he will be able to control the southern provinces such as Zhejiang, Fujian and even Guangdong, such a Duan Qirui will replace Wang Yingkai and become Zhao Dongyun's number one enemy, and then Zhao Dongyun will not unite with Duan Qirui to fight Wang Yingkai, but with Wang Yingkai to kill Duan Qirui first.

In fact, whether it is the Southern Federation, Duan Qirui, or anyone else who controls Liangjiang and the southern provinces, they will all become the common enemies of Zhao Dongyun and Wang Yingkai.

"Send a telegram to Shenyang and ask Ziyang what he means!" After Wang Yingkai waved his hand, he let Wang Zhanyuan go out, and then look at the map of China on the table, many provinces on the map are of different colors, and you can clearly see that contemporary China has actually been divided, Zhao Dongyun in the northeast, Wang Yingkai in Shandong in Zhili, Wu Fengling in Shanxi, Zhao Erxun in Shaanxi, Zhang Zhidong in Hunan, Duanfang in Liangjiang, Tieliang, Duan Qirui in Jiangbei, Zhang Huaizhi in Anhui, Wang Shizhen in Hubei and Henan, and Wang Ruxian in northern Henan.

There is a huge China, with a republic in the north and a federation in the south, and dozens of warlords and warlords who hold real power!

These are chaotic times!

And looking at the chaotic map-sized forces, Wang Yingkai felt a deep sense of powerlessness!

Unification, why is it so difficult!