Zhao Dongyun didn't know that this time the competition for the right commander of the horse team was much more fierce than the competition for the coordinate commander of the horse team not long ago, and the reason was simple, because the right mark of the horse team was assigned to the right town of the Beiyang Standing Army in the future, which also represented the competition for the position of the wing chief of the right town of the Beiyang Standing Army in the future.

Several factions come and go, and in the end, no one is willing to fall behind, and almost fell into the same situation as the fifth and sixth standards of the Third Association at the end of last year.

Last year, when the major factions competed for the position of the fifth and sixth standard, even Yuan Shikai had a big headache, and in the end, like the mud, he gave the fifth bid to Chen Guangyuan, who was jointly launched by Wang Yingkai, Feng Guozhang and others, and at the same time let Zhao Dongyun concurrently serve as the commander of the sixth standard, which can be regarded as calming the controversy.

So much so that until now, the leader of the sixth standard of the Third Association is still Zhao Dongyun himself

Now the same situation appears in the competition for the position of the right standard leader of the horse team, watching many of his subordinates fighting back and forth, and when there is no result, Yuan Shikai is also impatient, and overcomes the arguments of Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wang Yingkai and others, and directly appoints Meng Enyuan as the right standard leader of the horse team.

Meng Enyuan, this person belongs to the Beiyang officers from the old Huai Army, like many middle and high-level officers in Beiyang, he is also an old man during the period of the new army, he was the leader of the right team of the new army horse team, and the Beiyang New Army under Yuan Shikai expanded greatly after the Gengzi year, and most of the Beiyang descendants continued to serve in the new army, but as one of the only few cavalry generals under Yuan Shikai, Meng Enyuan was transferred by Yuan Shikai to serve in the Baoyang training army horse team.

Because the cavalry of the Beiyang New Army was limited around the Gengzi year, the cavalry forces in the old army system were needed to strategically cooperate with the Beiyang New Army, and these cavalry units used to cooperate with the Beiyang New Army were placed in the hands of those old-style officers, Yuan Shikai was naturally not at ease, so he sent Meng Enyuan to the Baoyang Horse Team.

Now that the Beiyang New Army is training cavalry, the Baoyang Horse Team has completed its historical mission, and it is natural to transfer Meng Enyuan to the right standard of the horse team in this case.

It's just that because this Meng Enyuan is from the old Huaijun and is relatively old, he is naturally not a subordinate of Duan Qirui or Wang Yingkai and others, so this person can actually be regarded as a neutral person without factions.

It's just that he is not at the core level of Beiyang like Wu Changchun and Liu Yongqing, he is just a middle-level officer, and there is no one above to help, so when the front turned over and everyone competed for the position of the right standard leader of the horse team, naturally no one mentioned him.

But it's also his luck, Duan Qirui and Wang Yingkai and others have been fighting for a long time, which makes Yuan Shikai feel bored, and although this Meng Enyuan has not taken refuge in Duan Qirui and others, he is an old man in the training period of the new station anyway, and Yuan Shikai naturally trusts him in the Beiyang New Army, so after passing over the others, Yuan Shikai transferred Meng Enyuan to the right side of the horse team as the commander.

"Brother Meng, you're here!" Zhao Dongyun smiled, strode out to welcome Meng Enyuan, and said at the same time: "You don't know, I've been sad about my gray hair for this right mark in the past half a month!" ”

Meng Enyuan looked at the young Zhao Dongyun in front of him, and felt a little weird, he was forty-seven years old this year, although he said that he joined the army late, but at this age he was able to be one of the only two horse team commanders in the Beiyang Standing Army, which was not too slow.

However, what about this Zhao Dongyun in front of him, if Meng Enyuan is not mistaken, this person is only twenty-four years old, and his sons are older than Zhao Dongyun! At the age of twenty-four, he is already the commander of the First Association, and the most important thing is his direct boss, which makes Meng Enyuan embarrassed!

Although the Beiyang New Army is now known for its youthfulness, the main generals in the army, including Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui, are all around 40 years old, while most of the middle-level officers are between 30 and 40 years old, Cao Kun, Wang Zhanyuan and Lin Yongquan under Zhao Dongyun are all like this.

As for those under the age of 30, most of them are mixed below the pipe belt, and only a very small number of lucky people can break through the restrictions of the pipe belt and become a position of command or rank, last year's Zhao Dongyun is one of them, and Li Zejun, who has just returned from studying abroad, is also counted as one, and then there are outstanding non-commissioned officers and students who have returned to China in the past two years.

Although it is surprising that under the age of thirty to become a commander, it is not uncommon in the Beiyang New Army, although there are not many similar people, but it cannot be said that there are few.

But Xiang Zhao Dongyun, who became the leader of the First Association at the age of twenty-four, is not even one of the few, because there is no second one except Zhao Dongyun.

Perhaps in two or three years, as the Beiyang New Army continues to expand, there will be many co-commanders, town wing commanders or commanders under the age of 30, and this is indeed the case in history.

However, at the beginning of 1903, the twenty-four-year-old commander of the First Association was still Zhao Dongyun's only one for the time being!

In fact, it is precisely because Zhao Dongyun served as the commander of the third co-leader that he was considered the leader of the second echelon of Beiyang, otherwise he could only be compared with Cao Kun, Wang Zhanyuan and others.

In the face of such a young and excessive boss, although Meng Enyuan felt strange in his heart, but the rank in the army was very strict, and his age did not mean that he could be presumptuous in front of Zhao Dongyun.

So Zhao Dongyun can smile and call him Brother Meng with a friendly smile, but Meng Enyuan must not reply 'Little Brother Zhao', he instead gave Zhao Dongyun a high-raised hand salute according to the etiquette of the new army, and also said: "The deputy general Meng Enyuan has seen the commander!" ”

As the so-called superior has the position of superior, and subordinates have the position of subordinate, Meng Enyuan doesn't care what he thinks in his heart, but in front of Zhao Dongyun, he has to do enough courtesy.

On the contrary, Zhao Dongyun continued to smile, raised one hand and returned a military salute and said: "This is not outside, you are welcome, come in, I will introduce you to our colleagues of the Third Association!" ”

Zhao Dongyun's cordiality and personal introduction can be regarded as giving Meng Enyuan enough face, and the reason why Zhao Dongyun did this naturally has his deep meaning.

When he heard that Yuan Shikai directly crossed the recommendation of Duan Qirui and others and directly appointed Meng Enyuan as the commander of the right standard of the horse team, he didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when he flipped through Meng Enyuan's resume, he found that he didn't belong to any of the major factions in Beiyang today.

This is a rare thing, you must know that in the Beiyang system, it is almost impossible to maintain independence without investing in any faction, taking Zhao Dongyun himself as an example, although he did not deliberately pursue it, but unconsciously, he has become the core role in Duan Qirui's faction, which also shows that you may be able to choose which faction to join, but it is impossible to remain neutral.

If you insist on remaining neutral, you may offend everyone, and this can also explain why Meng Enyuan is only a leader at the age of forty-seven!

Since this person has no other identity, Zhao Dongyun also feels that if he can win him over, even if he is not drawn into his own faction, as long as he maintains a friendly and cooperative relationship, it will also be of great significance for him to completely control the Third Association.

The Third Association now has three command positions, but only two command belts, among which Chen Guangyuan is still Zhao Dongyun's sworn enemy, and now there is one more Meng Enyuan, Zhao Dongyun feels the need to win him over, instead of excluding him aside, and then being co-opted by Chen Guangyuan and others, and finally becoming his opponent.

Meng Enyuan, who was kindly brought into the headquarters of the Third Association by Zhao Dongyun, soon saw a group of people inside, and the dozen or so officers in front of him were all the battalion pipe belts and various standard belts in the Third Association.

Like Zhao Dongyun and others, they all wore the blue-gray military uniforms of the Beiyang Standing Army, some wore traditional old-fashioned riding boots, and some wore polished black leather shoes.

Originally, during the period of the new army and the Wuwei Right Army, most of the officers wore traditional old-style riding boots, but after the Gengzi year, many senior Beiyang officers would only change into riding boots during training and combat, and usually changed to black leather shoes, which was also a small change in the comprehensive Germanization of military uniforms.

In fact, after changing into leather shoes, and then putting on the anti-German officer's uniform, these officers of the Beiyang Standing Army already look like modern soldiers from the front, of course, you can't look from the side or back, otherwise the dangling big braid will make you depressed.

Those present were all the core officers of the Third Association, and standing at the forefront and being introduced by Zhao Dongyun was naturally Chen Guangyuan, the commander of the fifth standard, and Chen Guangyuan's status was second only to Zhao Dongyun among everyone.

followed by Lin Yongquan beside Zhao Dongyun, and then came the two gang commanders, including Pei Lianying, because Zhao Dongyun was the leader of the sixth target, but Zhao Dongyun had to manage a huge third association, and he usually didn't have the energy and time to manage many business affairs of the sixth target, so most of the affairs of the sixth target fell on Pei Lianying, the gang leader.

As a result, this Pei Lianying has become the actual person in charge of the sixth standard, and Kong Weibei, who is also a gang leader, is much inferior, the fifth standard is under the control of Chen Guangyuan, and he has been in a state of no real power for a long time as the fifth standard gang leader, but even if he has no power, he has to endure it, because he was sent by Zhao Dongyun to contain Chen Guangyuan, if he shouts bitterly and is tired of anything, then he doesn't have to mix with the Beiyang New Army, just go home and take the children.

Originally, there was a third gang leader in the third association, that is, the right standard gang leader of the horse team, but the head has not been appointed for the time being, so it is temporarily missing.

Then there are the pipe bands of each battalion, and the number is not large, there are six infantry battalions, one machine gun battalion, and four cavalry battalions, and these eleven pipe bands are already the core officers of the Third Association, so naturally they should be highlighted.

There are other military seats next, Zhao Dongyun will not introduce them one by one, and after the acquaintance, everyone is divided into three tables to open the table, which can be regarded as a reception banquet for Meng Enyuan.

When the table was settled, it was Zhao Dongyun, Chen Guangyuan, Meng Enyuan, Lin Yongquan, plus the two gang commanders Kong Guanbei and Pei Lianying, and the rest of the pipe belts and other military seats were divided into two tables.

The people present were all soldiers, and all of them drank a lot of people, not only Meng Enyuan was poured into the wind and couldn't walk, but even Zhao Dongyun couldn't resist the toast of his subordinates, and drank a lot, and when he went out, he felt that the surrounding houses were running around.