Autumn drill is a unique term in ancient Chinese military science, which means drill in autumn. In the era of cold weapons, cavalry was one of the most powerful types of troops. The three autumn gatherings, the grass is full of horses and fat, and the emperors of the past dynasties chose to hold military drills combining cavalry or infantry cavalry at this time, which is for the autumn exercises.

Why did you choose the location of the autumn exercise in Zhangde? Since this autumn exercise is a joint autumn exercise of the new army stationed in several provinces, Henan is located between Zhili, Hubei, and Shandong, and the geographical position is superior, and the interests of all parties can be taken care of. Secondly, because the terrain around Zhangde is suitable for exercise, mainly plains, but also mixed with hills, suitable for infantry, artillery and cavalry movements.

On the morning of October 20, several horses galloped across a wooden bridge over the Tang River and galloped eastward, raising smoke and dust all the way, causing several women in raccoon clothes to look up at the bridge. The leader was a thin young officer, wearing a gray Beiyang military uniform, he was Cai Yi, who was hired by Yuan Shikai from Hunan to Beiyang as a staff officer last year. He is now going to pick up the Shandong soldiers who have come all the way on foot.

Almost all the inns in Zhangde Mansion were full, representatives of governors and governors from all over the country, media reporters gathered in Zhangde, military attaches of various countries in China almost all arrived in Zhangde Mansion, and more than 100 foreign reporters from major cities alone came to observe and report on the large-scale military confrontation exercises of the Manchurian and Qing Army. These people had already chartered all the inns, because the number of guests and friends who came to Zhangde exceeded expectations, and even the few inns reserved for Shandong were ordered by higher-level leaders to be used by foreign journalists. Cai Ye went here, not only to greet politely, but also to explain relevant affairs for the Shandong army. One of them is the problem of accommodation, presumably there are a lot of military and political leaders in Shandong, these people always have to live in the city, and now there is not even a decent inn, some of which are unreasonable. The second is a change in the procedure of the exercise, which was originally scheduled to be reviewed first and then exercised, but now the military parade office has been changed to exercise first and then review. Moreover, the time was advanced to the early morning of the day after tomorrow, that is, the early morning of October 22. It was a bit unfair for the Shandong army, and they had just arrived (they arrived at the designated assembly place last night). The terrain is unfamiliar. The command system is not familiar, and it is purely a supporting role, which is indeed a bit of a bully. Therefore, Cai Yi proposed to Yuan Shikai to go to Dajingzi, and Yuan Shikai agreed after a little thought. But Tie Liang gave Cai Ye a task. It is okay to communicate the matter. But by the way, we must strictly investigate the military discipline of the fifth town in Shandong. Don't let it go. Tie Liang also sent a trusted officer named Yuan Benchao to Dajingzi with Cai Yi.

In April, the Jinghan Railway was officially opened to traffic under the auspices of Zhang Zhidong, and the troops participating in the exercise in Nanyang and Beiyang had to take a train, but the troops from the Fifth Town in Shandong had to take two legs. Walk all the way from Shandong.

Cai is a native of Baoqing, Hunan Province, and is 24 years old this year. He graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school the year before last, and that class was somewhat special, the top three were actually three Chinese, the first place was won by Jiang Fangzhen, and the second place was Cai Gong. The third place was originally Zhang Xiaozhun, another Chinese student, but it was temporarily moved to the fifth place by the Japanese officer who read the ranking - what a shame! There are only four Chinese in this issue, and they actually occupy the top three, and even the emperor's saber was taken by the Chinese, which really makes the Japanese unbearable. According to the tradition of the non-commissioned officer school, those who graduated first received a saber from the Emperor, which was a great honor for Japanese army officers who enthusiastically supported the emperor.

Now, Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Xiaozhun went to the customs to train the new army, and after returning to his hometown Hunan for a year, he was recruited to Beiyang by Yuan Shikai, which was quite important. Only another classmate, Xu Chongzhi, a native of Guangdong, returned to Guangdong, and he didn't know what he was doing. However, in terms of military attainments, Xu Chongzhi is not as good as Jiang, Cai, and Zhang, but in terms of familiarity with people and worldliness, Xu Chongzhi is above the three.

Cai Ye is not yet 24 years old. The deeds of him and Jiang Fangzhen and others in the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School were transmitted back to China, and they were highly valued by the military bigwigs, and became the "sweet and sweet" who competed to solicit them, but no one knew his previous history, he participated in the Hunan Self-Reliance Army uprising organized by Tang Caichang in 1900, and only ran to Japan after the failure, mainly to avoid subsequent arrests, and after he arrived in Japan, he worshiped under Liang Qichao's door, and often published articles in the "Xinmin Serial" sponsored by Liang Qichao, expounding his ideas for saving the country. Perhaps under the influence of Liang Qichao, Cai Ye did not join the League like Zhang Xiaozhun, but planned to take another path, which was to oppose the Qing Dynasty by military. Only by holding an army can we achieve great things.

When Cai Ye entered the Yuan Shikai shogunate, he felt the hostility of the Beiyang generals to the fifth town of Shandong, and only then did he know that the fifth town was actually an outlier in Beiyang, and General Long Qian, who led the fifth town, actually had a legendary color, and a ringing horse leader who appeared in the year of Gengzi actually created a strong army that made Beiyang feel a deep headache and controlled Shandong Province. Wu Luzhen, who later got acquainted, told some of the past events when he followed Yixuan Tieliang to Shandong two years ago to inspect the Fifth Town, and he was deeply interested in the description of Long Qian's origin, and Wu Luzhen's judgment on the Fifth Town's combat power was even more surprising to him. So he continued to collect relevant information about the fifth town, and he regretted that he was blinded and ran to Baoding instead of Shandong, which may have been a mistake.

At about half past ten, Cai Ye and his entourage of six people arrived at Dajingzi, and saw from a distance that a large tent had been erected in the field outside the village where the crops had just been harvested, which was undoubtedly the temporary military camp set up in the fifth town that arrived last night.

"Stand still, dismount and be inspected!" Two soldiers with guns jumped out of the roadside and stopped Cai Ye and his party, who were slowing down.

"Blind your dog's eye! We are liaison officers sent by the parade! This is Officer Cai! Take us to meet Long Qian! Yuan Benchao stepped forward and scolded the sentry loudly.

"I know which onion you are, you give it down to me!" The sentry stepped forward and grabbed Yuan Benchao and dragged him off his horse. Yuan Ben scolded and touched the pistol on his waist, but was forced by the sentry with a rifle with a bayonet, and the bolt was pulled, and the bullet was loaded.

"Don't mess around, we're really sent by the parade, this is the guard." Cai Ye took out the "letter of introduction" issued by Linlai and handed it over with the big seal of the parade.

Another sentry took the letter and read it, "You are Chief Officer Cai?" Everyone, please dismount. I'll take you to the detachment headquarters. ”

Cai Yi stopped Yuan Benchao's anger and led the horse to follow the sentry to the depths of the barracks.

"Commander Zhou has an order, except for the heralds, no horses are allowed to gallop in the barracks." The sentry returned the letter to Cai.

Cai Ye looked at the soldier's military uniform and weapon with great interest, the gun was a German-made Type 98 rifle, the color and style of the military uniform were completely different from Beiyang's, and the head was not wearing Beiyang's new large-brimmed hat, but a barrel-shaped soft hat, the military uniform was dark yellow, and a leather armed belt was tied around the waist. There are two yellow leather bullet boxes on the left and right of the waist. He was wearing yellow suede boots.

"The Fifth Town is really well-equipped...... "Cai Yi muttered in his heart, "Has General Long Qian arrived?" ”

"Nope." The soldier replied.

"What? Didn't the dragon rule come? ”

"Isn't it just a drill? We don't need our commander to come in person! We competed with the Germans, but Commander Long didn't go. ”

Long Qian didn't come! Cai was a little disappointed. He looked around at the camp of the Shandong army, and was surprised to find that the Shandong soldiers who arrived last night had actually dug trenches and bunkers! Not far away, two Maxim machine guns were erected in front of the woods. Several soldiers were reinforcing machine-gun positions.

"These trenches. When was it dug up? Yuan Benchao asked in surprise. He found that the Shandong army had actually arranged a defensive line in the direction of Zhangde Mansion.

The sentry gave him a cold look and did not answer.

Ten minutes later, Cai and his party were led by the sentry to a ruined temple. "Report, I received six people including Staff Officer Cai sent by the parade office, and they carried the official document from the parade office to see Commander Zhou." The sentry saluted an officer with a pistol holster approaching and reported loudly.

"Very well, go back to your mission." The officer returned the salute and saluted Cai Ye and the others seriously, "Please come with me." ”

Before entering the temple gate, Cai Ye had already observed the camp temporarily set up by the Shandong army, and saw that the officers and soldiers were in strict order, and the officers and soldiers who came and went were serious and neat, full of spirit, not at all like a tired soldier who had traveled a long distance, but like a unit stationed here for a long time, and he couldn't help but have a great impression of the fifth town. Did they really arrive last night?

"It's here, please wait, I'll go and inform Commander Zhou." The officer stopped Cai Ye and the others and entered a house guarded by a sentry in the West Side Palace, which should be the residence of the highest commander of the Shandong Army.

Zhou Yi, Ye Yanbing, Jiang Yiliu and others greeted them.

When Cai Yi reported the relevant affairs to Zhou Yi, he kept looking at the expressionless co-ordinate and several young officers around him, and saw that Zhou Yi was also in his early thirties, with a white face and beard, wearing exactly the same military uniform as the sentry, the difference was that he did not wear any weapons, let alone a military cap, and his shiny bald head was shining. I have long heard that the Fifth Town does not wear braids, until this spring, the imperial court finally agreed to the new army to braid, but it is said that the Fifth Town has not kept braids since the formation of the army, I really don't know how they persuaded the imperial court.

"So, the confrontation exercise will start tomorrow morning?" Zhou Yi waited for Cai Ye to finish speaking, and asked softly.

"Yes."

"Our army was incorporated into the Southern Army, right? What is the mission? Where is the staging place of our army? Also, did the map bring? Ye Yanbing, who had been standing beside Zhou Yi, asked anxiously, and without waiting for Cai Yi to answer, he continued, "Where is the command post of the Southern Army?" We need to meet with the Supreme Commander of the Yugoslav Army. ”

These are the tasks of Cai Yi's trip, "Zhou Xietong, I can take you to meet Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong...... Specific tasks, they will explain. Cai Ye was surprised by the youth of the commanders who led the army in the Fifth Town, "Ladies and gentlemen, you still have a day and a half to prepare. ”

"First of all, we changed the procedures and time of the exercise, so that our army almost couldn't catch up. Then our troops were not allowed to enter the city...... It is enough not to arrange a station, and the most excessive thing is that even food and vegetables are not provided. Zhou Yi said coldly to Cai Yi, "Staff Officer Cai, is this also the treatment of the Beiyang Army?" ”

"This, I think the person who came to contact me last night has already explained. As for the issue of provisions, Zhou Xietong can report it to the parade office. The lowly office is only here to contact about the exercise. Cai Yi pulled down Yuan Benchao's shirt and replied respectfully.

"Okay, we'll see you on the drill ground. Now that time is pressing, I will not entertain you. Ask Staff Officer Cai to lead the way to meet the commander of the Southern Army. (To be continued......)