When Yuan Shikai fought for military spending from the Qing court to expand the four towns, Beiyang also caused great turmoil because of the expansion of the four towns, just like when the second town was established this summer, countless people's eyes were fixed on the many positions of the newly established third town and the fourth town.

There is not much to say about those below the pipe band, but the competition for several positions above the standard system is fierce, and the competition for the position of the two towns is the most fierce.

From last year's struggle for the right town wing chief, the summer battle for the control of the second town, to today's struggle for the control of the third town and the fourth town, the struggle between the factions within Beiyang has never stopped, and it has even become more and more intense.

If Zhao Dongyun's qualifications were relatively low before, and his status was not enough to compete for the position of the commander of the first town, then after several years of development, especially the deep foundation laid by the Third Mixed Association, it was enough for Zhao Dongyun to join the competition for the position of the commander of the third town.

If Zhao Dongyun's qualifications, age, prestige and other factors are not considered, then Zhao Dongyun will be able to rise from the position of the commander of the Third Mixed Association to the third town.

However, the problem is here, he Zhao Dongyun is not qualified enough, his age is too young, and his prestige cannot be compared with Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and Wang Shizhen, in this case, whether Zhao Dongyun can become the commander of the third town has become a question mark.

After all, there are only four new military towns in Beiyang now, but there are several bigwigs waiting to take office, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen, Liu Yongqing, Wang Yingkai, Wu Changchun are all Zhao Dongyun's competitors, and at the same time, in addition to these first-echelon bigwigs, there are also a few second-echelon people who are also waiting to expand the army and take office, such as Ma Longbiao, Zhang Huaizhi, Lei Zhenchun, they are all old qualified people, especially Zhang Huaizhi has served as the first town co-commander for many years, According to his qualifications, it is enough to sit in the position of ruler and enjoy it.

If he relied solely on factors such as Zhao Dongyun's personal ability and Yuan Shikai's trust in him, Zhao Dongyun would not have much confidence in competing for the position of the third town.

However, he also has conditions that others do not have, that is, the Third Mixed Association was established by him, that is to say, the future Third Town is the army he has trained, and it is impossible for Yuan Shikai to ignore this factor.

In order to compete for the position of the third town commander, Zhao Dongyun also can't care about face, if he wasn't in Jinzhou, he would have gone to visit Yuan Shikai to win over the relationship, and now he can only frequently send telegrams to Baoding, on the one hand, it is sent to Xu Bangjie, Cao Kun and several other people who have a good personal relationship with him to ask about the situation in Baoding, on the other hand, he also sent several long telegrams to Yuan Shikai, the content of the telegram is naturally not directly to say how awesome my Zhao Dongyun's ability is, you let me be the third town commander or something, Instead, he turned a corner and reported on the Jinzhou bandits and Jinzhou's defense.

He said that since the suppression of bandits began in September, not only have the bandits been exterminated within 100 miles of Jinzhou and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment, but the soldiers have also gained combat experience, and the combat effectiveness of the Third Mixed Association has been greatly improved. Then he said that since supervising the defense of Jinzhou, the three major defense lines of Songshan, Jinzhou, and Cuiyan have been constructed, and if Russian troops come to attack, they must reject the enemy and the western Liaoning corridor.

Although there is no arrogant sentence in half a word in this telegram, everyone is also an understanding person, and naturally knows that this is already Zhao Dongyun's self-recommendation for the third town control.

Zhao Dongyun sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai to recommend himself, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang also have their own means, but although they are all fighting, it is not them who can really make a decision, but Yuan Shikai.

No matter how many factions are fighting within Beiyang now, but on the whole, Yuan Shikai is still firmly in control of the Beiyang New Army, he said that whoever is the commander of the third town, then whoever is the commander of the third town, if the candidate does not meet everyone's expectations, it is only dissatisfied or complaining, and no one has the courage to oppose Yuan Shikai's decision.

After the establishment of the training office, the large-scale expansion of the Beiyang New Army into four towns is already a certainty, in order to be able to quickly expand the army, Yuan Shikai naturally will not delay the selection of the towns to control and co-unify as before, and this time he did not ask his subordinates what they meant, but made his own decisions independently and quickly.

On the eighteenth, after the imperial court officially approved Yuan Shikai's four-town expansion plan, Yuan Shikai once again took two chapters, the first one was an excerpt for the promotion of the generals in Beiyang, up to Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and other bigwigs, down to Cao Kun, Wang Zhanyuan These middle-level officers, including almost all the middle and senior officers in Beiyang, naturally Zhao Dongyun's name is indispensable.

The part about Zhao Dongyun in that long excerpt is not long, only a few dozen words: Zhao Dongyun, the alternate prefect of Liuzhi, is proficient in Chinese and foreign military affairs, and since last year, he has been very effective in running a new machine gun battalion and the third mixed association.

In addition to the long and terrifying plea for grace, there is also a detailed charter for the expansion of the four towns in Beiyang, the most important of which is the appointment of the chief of the four towns!

It has to be said here that Yuan Shikai did not ask the imperial court to approve the appointment of the chief officers of the various departments of the Beiyang New Army, but informed that the difference here is very large, the former represents that the imperial court still has the ability to control the personnel power of the Beiyang New Army, while the latter represents Yuan Shikai who controls the personnel power of the Beiyang New Army.

At the same time as Yuan Shikai played the chapter, the official appointment telegram from the training department had also arrived in Jinzhou!

Looking at the appointment telegram in his hand, Zhao Dongyun still felt endless joy even though he was mentally prepared, Yuan Shikai did not care about his age and qualifications, but directly appointed Zhao Dongyun as the commander of the third town.

Lin Yongquan, Chen Guangyuan and the others beside him couldn't wait to say at this time: "Congratulations to Lord Commander!" ”

Zhao Dongyun forcibly endured the joy on his face, and then waved his hand: "It's all my own family, so I don't need to be polite!" ”

Meng Enyuan had some indescribable feelings on his face, he was quite unconvinced when he saw Zhao Dongyun in his twenties at the beginning of the year, but now Zhao Dongyun has risen to the position of a town commander, if Zhao Dongyun can only be regarded as half a foot in the first echelon of Beiyang before, then now Zhao Dongyun is already a veritable first-echelon of Beiyang high-level.

And he, Meng Enyuan, is still a standard at nearly fifty years old, which is infuriating in comparison.

However, Meng Enyuan didn't feel good in his heart, but at this moment, he naturally didn't dare to talk nonsense, and immediately smiled: "My lord single-handedly founded my third town, and now sitting in this position of control is what everyone expects!" ”

Zhao Dongyun faced the congratulations and compliments of his subordinates, and they all accepted them one by one, and then once again fell on the telegram in his hand, this time Yuan Shikai not only appointed Zhao Dongyun as the commander of the third town, but also appointed Duan Qirui as the acting commander of the fourth town.

If this situation had been placed before the first half of the year, it would have been absolutely impossible, because at that time Zhao Dongyun was still Duan Qirui's men, but this summer, because of the establishment of the Third Mixed Association, after Duan Qirui's desire to control the right town was frustrated, the alliance between the two of them can be said to be over.

This time, the third and fourth towns were established, and Yuan Shikai could not continue to let other factions unite to suppress Duan Qirui, so he let Duan Qirui act as the fourth town with a stroke of the pen.

As for Zhao Dongyun's appointment as the commander of the third town, the most important reason is that the third town will be expanded from the third mixed association, if this third town is not Zhao Dongyun but someone else who has served in the past, there will be many problems, and now is the critical juncture of Beiyang's army expansion, Yuan Shikai does not want any problems, and Yuan Shikai, who focuses on stability, will no longer care about Zhao Dongyun's age and qualifications.

Anyway, in recent years, Beiyang has become younger and younger, and there are already a few officers who have returned from studying abroad and are less than 30 years old as the standard commander, and it is estimated that after this expansion of the army, there will be several more young co-commanders, and it will not be so eye-catching to let Zhao Dongyun serve as the commander of a town.

Sending away a group of subordinates with smiles on their faces and eyes full of expectation, Zhao Dongyun turned around and went back to the study, preparing to send a report to Yuan Shikai, in addition to expressing gratitude and trust, he also began to recommend the newly established heads of the departments of the Third Town in accordance with Beiyang custom.

If it is said that Yuan Shikai decides the candidates for the control of each town in this system, then most of the co-ordinators, standard systems, and management bands under the town are decided by the town chiefs, of course, Yuan Shikai sometimes decides in person, but most of the time he will refer to the opinions of the town chiefs.

After the establishment of the third town, there will be two associations, the Fifth Association and the Sixth Association, under which there are four infantry standards, the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth standards, in addition to the third standard of the artillery team and the third standard of the cavalry.

For the candidates for the chief officers of these troops, Zhao Dongyun already had a case earlier, first of all, the third standard of the cavalry, this does not need to be changed, just continue to use Meng Enyuan. In the case of the third standard of the artillery team, Liu Tinggui, the commander of the third battalion of the original artillery team, has a good ability, and he can be brought up to serve as the standard commander of the artillery team.

The two co-ordinators, one of them must be given to Chen Guangyuan, although this person was at odds with him earlier, but in any case, he is the backbone of the third mixed association, and in the distance, this person's qualifications are not much shallower than Zhao Dongyun, and his ability is not weak.

Therefore, it is logical to arrange for him to be promoted to the position of the Fifth Coordinator!

However, the other co-ordinator is not easy to arrange.

The first chapter on the shelves, thank you for your subscription and support, there is nothing to repay on a rainy day, so I can only continue to bury my head in the code word to conceive a wonderful plot to return to everyone.

The Russo-Japanese War is imminent, and I've always been a guy who doesn't like to abide by history on rainy days, so you will see a Russo-Japanese War that is completely different from history, so stay tuned!