On February 17th, Shi Yanglin sat in the carriage and entered the West Garden, and the many lights around him could still make him feel the festive atmosphere of yesterday's Lantern Festival.

However, Shi Yanglin now didn't have any intention to reminisce about yesterday's Lantern Festival ball, and he had been busy with the battle plan for crossing the river for the past few days, finalizing the details of the final plan, and preparing to report it to Zhao Dongyun.

The battle plan for crossing the river has been delayed for too long, and not only Zhao Dongyun has urged it many times, but even the people of the Quartermaster Department have urged it many times, because the Quartermaster Department also needs a follow-up battle plan to arrange the supply and transportation plan, and transport the materials needed by the troops to the designated place in advance to supplement the loss of the combat troops. It can't be said that the plan is decided today, and the war will be fought tomorrow, in that case, if you don't have to fight the Feng army, you will have to collapse!

When Shi Yanglin arrived at the first conference room in Jurentang, he already saw that there were already two people in the conference room, including Lieutenant General Duan Zhigui, Director of the Military Attache Division of the Presidential Palace, and Lieutenant General Hong Putao, Chief of the Quartermaster Department of the General Headquarters.

The military ranks of these two are higher than Shi Yanglin, so Shi Yanglin also regards himself as a junior.

In the face of Shi Yanglin's salute, Hong Putao was calm and accepted it very unceremoniously, and the reason was simple, although Shi Yanglin was the head of the Operations Department and one of the best major generals in the Feng army, he was only a major general. Although Hong Putao is not serving in the field army, but like Fang Biyong and Zhao Dongping, he is a general who prefers a civilian nature, but as the chief of the quartermaster department, his status in the Feng army is actually not inferior to Fang Biyong, and even more important than the lieutenant generals and division commanders of those field troops, so when facing Shi Yanglin, he also put on the face of his predecessors in the officialdom.

However, Duan Zhigui on the side was much more enthusiastic about Shi Yanglin, not only got up to welcome, but also greeted him a few words, Duan Zhigui's posture was so low, it was also related to his status in the Su family.

Duan Zhigui, this historical figure is also a well-known figure in the past few years, in 1902 when he served as the general office of the General Staff Office of the Beiyang Military and Political Division, he was still one of the high-level officials in Beiyang, but soon he was transferred to deal with patrol affairs, although he climbed back to the General Staff and Supervisor of the Zhili Supervision and Training Office after a few years, but he never got the opportunity to enter the standing army.

In 1906, after the Beiyang army overthrew the former Qing Dynasty, the Zhili Supervision and Training Office was changed by Wang Yingkai to the Zhili Staff Department, and served as the chief of staff with his henchmen, and this Zhigui was forced to be kicked out.

When he first went to that meeting, he first hung up the title of first-class adviser in the adviser's office, and after a few months of confusion, he served as the chief of staff of the Shenyang Defense Command, and later Zhao Dongyun abolished the three major defense commands on the eve of the Fengjun army's entry into the customs, and after moving into Beijing, Zhao Dongyun established the Military Attache Office of the Presidential Palace, and was transferred to Duan Zhigui to serve as the director of the Military Attache Division, with the rank of lieutenant general.

The Military Attache Office of the Presidential Palace, in addition to the escort team led by Bao Ganlong, deputy director and captain of the escort team, is mainly composed of military attaches dispatched by the navy and army, and these military attaches of the navy and army mainly follow Zhao Dongyun at any time, answer some questions of the navy and army for Zhao Dongyun, and act as the representative military attache of foreign affairs.

Duan Qirui, as Zhao Dongyun's attendant military attaché, will follow Zhao Dongyun to participate in some military meetings every day, but he also knows that his identity is a little embarrassing, and he is despised by many generals of the Feng army, so every meeting is a stuffy gourd, and he has achieved a good habit of never opening his mouth when no one asks him, and over time, including Shi Yanglin, he is also used to this person appearing in some important meetings, but he will choose to ignore him.

For example, Fang Biyong, the chief of staff who came in later, was as if he didn't see Duan Zhigui!

With the arrival of Fang Biyong, chief of the General Staff Department, Zhao Dongping, chief of the Ordnance Department, Cheng Biguang, director of the Navy Division, Cao Kun, the new commander of the 15th Division, Li Chun, commander of the 7th Mixed Brigade, and Hua Zhenji, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade who had just returned to Beijing to report on their duties, the senior generals of the Soviet Fengjun Army in Beijing had basically arrived.

Among these people, the one with the lowest military rank is Shi Yanglin, a major general, and the rest of them all have the epaulettes of lieutenant generals on their shoulders, including Fang Biyong and Hong Putao, and other major generals such as Cao Kun, Li Chun, Hua Zhenji, etc., who also have the epaulettes of lieutenant generals.

When Zhao Dongyun's footsteps stepped into the conference room, everyone present stood up and saluted, Zhao Dongyun raised his right hand and pressed it as he walked in: "It's not an outsider, sit down!" ”

Zhao Dongyun said so, but no one really dared to sit down by himself before Zhao Dongyun sat down, and after Zhao Dongyun sat down, everyone sat down one after another.

Sitting down with everyone was Yang Shande, the first secretary of the secretariat, but he didn't follow Zhao Dongyun to attend the meeting today to speak, he just came to take the work of meeting minutes, and when he sat down, he picked up a pen and paper to prepare for the record.

Today's meeting is related to the future operational strategy of the Feng Army, and the matters discussed are absolutely confidential, so it is not suitable for ordinary second and third secretaries to take minutes of the meeting.

After they all sat down, Zhao Dongyun just spoke: "All the gentlemen here are also busy people, in order to save everyone's time, let's start now!" ”

As he spoke, he just set his eyes on Fang Biyong, the chief of staff!

Immediately, Fang Biyong said in response: "Today's topic is mainly to discuss the battle plan for crossing the river and the strategic arrangements for the follow-up direction of Henan and Hubei!" Before that, let me briefly talk about the current situation of our army, the Anhui army, the Southern Federation and other armies! ”

After a slight pause, Fang Biyong continued: "At present, in the Jiangbei direction, our army has deployed the First Army, the Second Army, and the Fourteenth Division, and the above-mentioned troops are deployed in Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Jinling, Chuzhou, Chaohu, Hefei, and Anqing, with a total of six divisions, two mixed brigades, one cavalry brigade, two independent heavy artillery regiments, and three independent mortar battalions, with a total of about 100,000 field troops. In addition, in the Jiangbei area, our army has seven regiments and a patrol force of 15,000 people. ”

"The above-mentioned troops are the main forces of our army in the south of the Yangtze River, and in addition, depending on the development of the war situation, a certain number of troops can also be appropriately transferred from Henan in the future, and a certain number of troops can also be reinforced from Zhili to the south, but on the whole, the southward crossing of the river still relies on the above-mentioned troops."

"In the Henan direction, the Third Army of our army is deployed, with the 8th, 11th, and 13th Divisions, as well as four patrol regiments. The troops in this direction are mainly to guard against the enemy in Hubei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi to ensure the smooth flow of the Jinghan line! ”

"Our army still has the 15th Division, the 5th Mixed Brigade, the 7th Mixed Brigade, the 9th Mixed Brigade, the 10th Mixed Brigade, the 11th Division Mixed Brigade, the 1st Cavalry Brigade, and eight patrol cavalry battalions in the three eastern provinces, Zhili, and Shandong. In addition, there are 18 regiments of patrol troops totaling 35,000 personnel deployed in the above-mentioned areas. ”

After talking about the deployment of Fengjun's own troops, Shi Yanglin's words did not stop, but continued to briefly introduce the deployment of other forces in the country: "According to the intelligence information collected by the intelligence department, the deployment of other armies in the country is as follows:

In addition to the Second Division of the Central Army, Wu Shuai of Shanxi also has the first, second, and third mixed brigades of the Shanxi Army, with a total strength of about 40,000 troops, and is currently fighting in the border areas of Shaanxi and Shanxi and the Zhao Erxun Department of the Southern Federation. ”

"In addition to the main forces of the Sixth Division of the Central Army, the Third Mixed Brigade of the Central Army, and the Eighth Mixed Brigade of the Central Army, Wang Shuai of Hubei still has the First Division, the Second Division of the Hubei Army, and a number of troops with unknown numbers, with a total strength of about 70,000 at present.

After talking about these two warlord forces who had reached an alliance agreement with Zhao Dongyun, Fang Biyong turned the topic to the Anhui army.

"On the side of the Liangjiang and Anhui Army, in the past two months, Duan Qirui has vigorously rebuilt the Seventh Brigade of the Fourth Division, and intelligence shows that the unit has been fully reloaded, and the Second Mixed Brigade of the Central Army of the Anhui Army has also urgently moved north from Guangdong, with a total of about 35,000 men in the above two divisions, rich combat experience, high morale, and full equipment of artillery and heavy machine guns, and its combat strength should not be underestimated, and it is the primary enemy of our army's river-crossing operations.

Another central unit of the Anhui Army, the Sixth Mixed Brigade of the Central Army of Jiang Guidi, is still in the direction of Guangdong, and it has been found that this unit is engaged in fighting with the Duanfang headquarters in the western part of Guangdong, and it is unlikely that it will go north in a short time.

In addition to the above-mentioned three Central Army units, there are still a number of provincial army units on the Liangjiang side, among which many of the Liangjiang Army divisions that were defeated by our army last year have been rebuilt, and it has been found that the Anhui Army has the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth divisions of the Liangjiang Army. The numbers of the 1st Mixed Brigade, the 3rd Mixed Brigade, the 4th Mixed Brigade, and the 3rd Mixed Brigade of the Zhejiang Army of the Liangjiang Army were uneven in the combat effectiveness of the above-mentioned provincial armies, and the Liangjiang Sixth Division was the strongest in combat effectiveness, while the combat effectiveness of the newly formed and reconstructed units was much worse.

The total strength of the above-mentioned Anhui army should be about 200,000. ”

Fang Biyong's words are not exaggerated, Duan Qirui's ability to expand the army is not much worse than Zhao Dongyun, although Duan Qirui is limited by human and material factors, the cost of expanding the army is much greater, but he can't stand the fact that people have money, Duan Qirui, who lost tens of thousands of people in Jiangbei last year, didn't blink, it's only been two months, and he has rebuilt those defeated troops again.