An attack that was originally just a fire reconnaissance, but in the end it turned into a forced attack, and more importantly, it was taken down with small casualties, which made Liu Fufu himself extremely surprised, originally he saw that the bandits behind the low wall were blown up by mortars, and he was ready to send one or two platoons of troops to reinforce the direction of the ditch in the north, and then launch an attack as the main attack direction.

But before he could send reinforcements, the second platoon took down the low-walled position defended by the bandits, and after getting this position, it almost opened the passage to attack Hongjiatun from the north, and obtained the advance base for directly attacking the hinterland of Hongjiatun.

As long as they were forced step by step, the remaining 200 or so bandits were either killed one by one, or fled to the east and fell into the ambush of Meng Enyuan's cavalry.

"That Xi Hezhi did a good job this time!" Liu Fu was still quite satisfied with Xi Hezhi's expression, and he was already thinking of mentioning his name in this battle report.

A few days later, a battle report with Xi He's well-known characters had appeared on Zhao Dongyun's desk, and in this battle report on the encirclement and suppression of Lu Shuanggun's headquarters by the northward detachment of the bandits, the names of Xi Hezhi and Wei Anpo, two grassroots officers, appeared many times, and Meng Enyuan repeatedly mentioned that Wei Anpo's mortar team had practiced well and achieved quite good results, and more than 200 shells were fired in the two days before and after the requisition of Lu Shuanggun, creating a favorable opportunity for the victory of the encirclement and suppression. And Xi He knew that this was only a platoon officer, and the most junior officer in the Beiyang system also led his subordinates to break through the bandit positions twice, and killed and injured hundreds of bandits at the cost of killing one of them and wounding less than ten people.

Although there were more than 1,000 troops participating in the anti-bandit operation this time, only the mortar team and an infantry team under Liu Fu really participated in the actual battle, and the second platoon of the left team had always undertaken the main attack task because it was at the forefront of the battle.

For these grassroots officers who emerged under his command, Zhao Dongyun also wrote down their names one by one, and he would think of their promotion and appointment when employing people in the future.

Zhao Dongyun didn't care too much about the details of the battle, these detailed tactics were what the grassroots officers needed to pay attention to, Zhao Dongyun wanted to pay attention to the casualty ratio and the final results, and he would also pay attention to the role played by the various new tactics used by the troops, but these things would be known after being summarized and reported by the Education Section.

In this battle report, among the many units under Meng Enyuan's command, a total of three people were killed, 17 were seriously wounded, not counting minor injuries, and more than 270 mortar shells, more than 2,000 machine gun bullets, and more than 20,000 rifle bullets were consumed. The result was that more than 150 bandits were killed and more than 200 bandits, including the wounded, were captured. More than 90 Russian-style Mosin Nagant rifles, more than 5,000 Russian-style smokeless bullets, more than 300 miscellaneous old guns, and more than 10,000 miscellaneous bullets were seized.

All of the above were normal seizures, and the guns, including Mosin Nagant, could only be thrown into the warehouse, and the only thing that could be used was the horses.

In addition, more importantly, they scavenged a lot of floating wealth and goods from Hongjiatun, which were worth at least 70,000 taels of silver.

Seeing the 70,000 taels of silver, Zhao Dongyun's face couldn't help but change, he didn't expect to be a bandit and make so much money, but what he didn't expect was that it was even more profitable to suppress bandits!

"With this batch of money, it is estimated that it will not be a problem to purchase dozens of mortars!" Zhao Dongyun put down the battle report, and then said to Lin Yongquan beside him: "The money for the purchase of mortars and shells is also counted, have you done a good job in the establishment of the mortar team?" ”

Lin Yongquan said: "Because mortars are a new business, the first to imitate the establishment of the artillery battalion, but the mortar is lightweight, and at the same time, because the firing range is too close and needs to be deployed closely, so the colleagues in the education department believe that mortars should not be integrated into the artillery team and fight with field artillery." You can imitate the machine gun team, independently organize and train as a battalion, train intensively in peacetime, and fight in wartime for all units! ”

Zhao Dongyun nodded after hearing this: "Oh, that's okay, but how to match it in wartime?" How is it compiled? ”

Lin Yongquan said: "According to the actual combat situation in Hongjiatun, the mortar fire is extremely fast, and a team of six is enough to meet the artillery support needs of an infantry battalion, so each battalion can be equipped with a team of six mortars in wartime!" In the early stage, if the military resources were insufficient, one battalion and four teams could be trained first, and then each battalion could be dispatched for use in wartime. ”

After hearing this, Zhao Dongyun said: "The mortar rate of fire is extremely fast, and the ammunition consumption is also large, is there too many six guns in this battalion, and can the battalion be borne by the logistics unit at that time?" ”

Lin Yongquan looked embarrassed when he heard this: "I haven't discussed this logistics in detail for the time being, but it shouldn't be a problem!" ”

Zhao Dongyun's face changed: "If there is a problem, there is a problem, and if there is no problem, there is no problem!" ”

"Logistics is the top priority, don't slack off, you go back and straighten out this part of the logistics!" When Zhao Dongyun said this, he was already dissatisfied.

This Lin Yongquan has become more and more difficult to satisfy him recently, when he was still building a new machine gun battalion, this Lin Yongquan's ability was okay, but by the time of the Third Association, his lack of ability and experience had already shown problems, but it was acceptable. However, since the Third Association became the Third Mixed Association, Zhao Dongyun's stalls have become bigger and bigger, not only the Third Mixed Association itself, but also a supplementary standard, at the same time, Zhao Dongyun also supervised the Jinzhou Patrol Battalion, the total strength of the new army and the old army, the soldiers and auxiliaries add up to more than 9,000 people under his control, more than 2,000 more than the 7,000 people who came to Jinzhou.

Almost most of the miscellaneous affairs of such a large army, including recruits, training and other affairs, are in the hands of the Education Section, and with Lin Yongquan's ability and experience, it is becoming more and more difficult to support the many complicated affairs of the Education Section.

Perhaps, it is time to split the education department, and it would be better to separate the supervision and training department and find a professional chief of staff supervision and training office, he feels that he needs a professional chief of staff to assist him more and more, otherwise if he continues like this, sooner or later there will be problems, this Lin Yongquan is still suitable for ordinary camp affairs and other miscellaneous things, and the recruitment and training of recruits are good everywhere, but it is very insufficient in terms of troop establishment, development direction, and operational command.

At this time, Lin Yongquan didn't know that Zhao Dongyun had already thought of splitting the education department, so he could only continue to answer: "Yongquan knows, I'll do this when I go back!" ”

Zhao Dongyun said again at this time: "The one battalion and four teams you said, each team has six teams, and the first-level establishment is too large, and if there are only four teams, it is not good to give six foot battalions in wartime." ”

Zhao Dongyun said while picking up a pen and paper to write and draw on the paper, he was initially calculating the cost of training mortar troops and his own logistics capacity, this mortar is less naturally can not play the advantage of low price, but more is not good, although the mortar is not expensive, but it can't stand the launch of too many shells, this is too much logistical pressure at the same time, the challenge to military spending is also an aspect.

"Today's 80-millimeter mortars can be modeled after the artillery team, with four guns in one team and four teams in one battalion. However, because the mortar needs to be close to cooperate with the infantry team, this mortar battalion can be directly assigned to the jurisdiction of the infantry standard, and the infantry standard will be called by itself in wartime! Zhao Dongyun's words not only reduced the establishment of the mortar team level, but also further increased the direct force allocation of the infantry target.

In today's Beiyang military system, the fire support of the three levels of standard, association and town is generally responsible for the field artillery directly under the standard, although the mortar is powerful, but limited by the firing range and in order to better play its high mobility, it is destined to be only the support firepower below the standard, unless it is the kind of large-caliber mortar of more than 120 mm in later generations, otherwise there is no need to be directly under the jurisdiction of the town \ mixed association.

"First train a battalion for the ninth and tenth standards, and then wait for the funds to be less tight, and then add a battalion to the supplementary standard!"

After hearing this, Lin Yongquan secretly said in his heart: In this way, the two battalions will have 32 mortars, and 800 new recruits will be trained, if it is 50,000 or 60,000 taels of silver, I am afraid that I will not even be able to get up.

If he knew that Zhao Dongyun also planned to purchase 60 mm and 120 mm mortars in large quantities, I don't know how to feel.

Although the Fuyuan Machinery Factory currently only has 80 mm caliber mortars, their barrels are imported anyway, so there is not much technical difference between 80 mm and 60 mm or even 120 mm. At the same time, the development of a 120-mm mortar has already begun on the basis of this mortar design of a 60-mm mortar with a reduced caliber.

It is expected that in the near future, Zhao Dongyun's Third Mixed Association will be able to form a different firepower network with mortars of different calibers.

After sending Lin Yongquan away, Zhao Dongyun began to reply to Meng Enyuan, this time Meng Enyuan captured more bandits, and the reason why these bandits with Lu Shuanggun were captured was because they surrendered voluntarily after being stunned, so it was not easy to deal with them as sloppily as those bandits before.

In the battle of Hongjiatun, the main battle took place in the first two days, when the combat effectiveness of these two days was Lu Shuanggun, those bandits were not afraid of death, but in order to avoid the fate of the annihilation of the whole army under heavy casualties, they were finally forced to lay down their arms and surrender voluntarily.

Meng Enyuan wrote that the bandits suffered as many casualties as high as forty percent under the fierce fire of their own side, but they still did not disperse, which was replaced by other bandits and even those regular troops, and it is estimated that they would have collapsed long ago, and then Lu Shuanggun was able to let his subordinates hold on, and finally surrendered under the leadership of Lu Shuanggun, the leader of the bandits.

In other words, although they were defeated, they were not defeated, which is a very difficult thing for a bandit army.

Moreover, after Lu Shuanggun and several other bandit leaders surrendered, they expressed their willingness to join the official army and follow the work of dogs and horses.

This made Zhao Dongyun hesitate a little, he had thought about the inclusion of bandits before, but found that it was not very cost-effective, and more importantly, he didn't know how long he could stay in the Northeast, if he was transferred back to Guannai after the Russo-Japanese War, the bandits could not be taken away. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the bandits that were incorporated was really not flattering, and what Zhao Dongyun wanted was not some kind of garbage army that was indiscriminate, but a new army with combat effectiveness, and the formation adapted from those bandits was at best the level of a patrol battalion, but it was of little use.

However, seeing Meng Enyuan's letter saying that the bandits under Lu Shuanggun's men were able to maintain their ability to maintain their collapse despite forty percent casualties, he couldn't help but be curious, this Lu Shuanggun is a character, if there is such a bandit led by such a bandit under his hand, it can also help him to eliminate other bandits in the north of Jinzhou in the future.

"Since the Lu Department is willing to serve, you can first form a cavalry team and temporarily return it to the Jinzhou patrol battalion for use!" Zhao Dongyun did not object to Meng Enyuan's acquisition of Lü Shuanggun's Jianyi, but he did not directly classify Lü Shuanggun's bandits into the third standard of the cavalry, but assigned them to the Jinzhou patrol camp, on the one hand, to avoid letting Lü Shuanggun and these bandits affect the atmosphere and suzhì of the cavalry of the new army, and on the other hand, it can be regarded as enriching the strength of the Jinzhou patrol battalion, so as to ask General Shengjing for more military spending.

A few days ago, they were fighting to the death, but this turn turned into a friendly army, which made the soldiers and bandits on both sides very unaccustomed!

However, the next work of suppressing bandits in northern Jinzhou is progressing smoothly, and Lu Shuanggun and others are naturally clear about the bandits there, and in order to show their loyalty, they take the lead, and without Meng Enyuan's new army, he himself led people to eliminate several bandit dens, and let the Third Mixed Association gain a lot of goods.

When Zhao Dongyun was busy expanding his army and suppressing bandits, time gradually entered the deep season, and at this time, a major event happened in China again.

On October 14, 1903, the Qing court formally established the 'Military Training Office' to coordinate the formation and training of the new army across the country.

The rapid rise of Zhao Dongyun in the Beiyang system caused the pace of expansion of the Beiyang army much faster than in history, and it was not until 1904 that Yuan Shikai was initially organized into the three towns of the Beiyang Standing Army, and half of them were still empty shelves. However, now in the summer of 1903, the Beiyang Standing Army already had two towns and one mixed association.

The acceleration of the expansion of the Beiyang army naturally further accelerated the pace of the Qing court's formation and training of the new army and the consolidation of the military power of the local provinces, so it is not surprising that this training office appeared ahead of schedule.

It is worth noting that in addition to the nominal supreme person in charge of the department, Prince Qing Yixuan, only Tie Liang can barely be regarded as a person from a non-Beiyang faction, but he was also recommended by Yuan Shikai to become the minister of the Xiangban, and the rest are all important members of the Beiyang, among which the meeting is Yuan Shikai, Xu Shichang, who was promoted to Yuan Shikai's staff, Liu Yongqing, the chief envoy of the Military and Political Department, and Lu Jiagu, the deputy envoy of Yuan Shikai's staff; The main envoy of the Military Orders Department is the direct subordinate supplement Duan Qirui, and the deputy envoy is Feng Guozhang; The main envoy of the Military Science Department is the candidate Wang Shizhen, and the deputy envoy is Lu Jianzhang.

As soon as the military training office was established, on October 16, Yuan Shikai unceremoniously called for the expansion of the army and put forward a plan for the formation and training of the four towns of the Beiyang Standing Army.

The recital says: When the four towns are trained for backup, the original first town and the second town remain unchanged, check the third mixed association to Jinzhou to form two supplementary battalions, reorganize the old army in Tangshan to get one battalion, and then train two battalions of artillery and three battalions of infantry, and one battalion of baggage and engineering for the third town, and the minister has sent many people to Shandong and Henan to recruit troops, and the newly recruited soldiers plan to build a fourth town.

The Third Mixed Association was already expected to become the third town, and Zhao Dongyun was more concerned about whether he could become the commander of the third town? Or is there some bigwig being sent over to be the commander of the third town?