October 22 was the first day of the parade, and the theme was the cavalry assault battle between the northern and southern armies. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Southern Army horse team set out from outside Tangyin County and headed north, and arrived near Xiaotan Village two hours later. The Northern Army Horse Team set off from outside Anyang County at 7:50 and arrived near Nandian Village at 10:40. Both the northern and southern armies sent sentinels to reconnoitre, and when the two armies were eight or nine miles apart, they discovered each other almost at the same time, and immediately reorganized their formations to engage each other, and in an instant, the two armies intersected and charged each other.

According to the plan of the exercise parade office, the forward battle should be the defeat of the northern army and the pursuit of the main force of the southern army. However, the Southern Army ran in the wrong direction, and its leading troops plunged into the cavalry brigade of the Northern Army, and the follow-up main force followed too slowly, so the parade ruled that the Southern cavalry was lost.

On the first day of the exercise, the Northern Army started victoriously.

The process of the "fighting" of the northern and southern cavalry was naturally under the observation of the "observation missions" of all sides. Ye Yanbing, as the chief officer of the infantry participating in the fifth town, has been with Chi Chunxian, the commander of the cavalry, tracking the whereabouts of the cavalry of the Southern Army, and basically observing the process of cavalry warfare.

After the two armies were forcibly separated by the magistrates and returned to their own teams, Ye Yanbing asked Chi Chunxian, "How is it?" ”

Chi Chunxian sighed, "The cavalry is really going to be finished. I didn't believe it at first. ”

"Why do you say that?"

Chi Chun first replied, "The northern army is stronger than the southern army." At least the horses were better than the Confederates. This judgment is fair. My fear is that there will really be no large-scale cavalry engagements in the future, and the commander is right not to develop cavalry. Chi Chunxian, the oldest cavalry officer in the Mengshan Army, sighed.

The cavalry of the Mengshan Army started very early, but at present, it is said to be a target formation. However, the battalion structure was abolished, and six cavalry companies were directly under the jurisdiction, one of which was still a cavalry company, equipped with six 37mm rapid-fire guns produced by the Huayuan Artillery Factory and two heavy machine guns. The large-scale cavalry standard, which had grown to three battalions and nine companies, was dismantled, and four main companies were transferred to strengthen the infantry standard.

"The chances of the cavalry brigade ramming the opponent's main cavalry force are too small. What would happen if one of their side attacked your footmark? Chi Chunxian squinted at the cavalry on both sides and returned to the camp and asked Ye Yanbing.

"If I build a position, it's a massacre. Machine guns and rapid-fire guns will tear the cavalry to shreds! But if it is too late to build a position, it is difficult to say, after all, the impact of the cavalry is still amazing. ”

"You have a riding company in your hand, and you have already opened the power search curtain! Not even a 1 in 10 chance of having you raided! It seems that the commander's prediction was correct, and the cavalry can only be reduced to vassals of the infantry. Chi Chunxian sighed again.

"Ha Lu Ha. The same cannot be said either. Didn't the commander speak about it at the military academy. The princes of Outer Mongolia are detached from the country, and maybe one day you will take a large group of cavalry to the steppe to show off your might, where the cavalry is the world. ”

"I hope so." Distant ideas can't arouse Chi Chunxian's interest, "Such an exercise." No ball. "Chi Chun turned the horse's head first." Let's go back. It's up to you tomorrow. Didn't Zhou Yi say it? You're fully responsible for tomorrow's drills, he doesn't care. ”

"Let you have 10,000 hearts! The nineteenth standard will not lose face for our Mengshan army. Ha Lu Ha. Ye Yanbing caught up with Chi Chunxian on his horse, and was full of confidence in the main duel between the infantry that would start tomorrow.

After receiving a notice from the command of the Southern Army inviting him to a military meeting. Zhou Yi thought about it for a long time and decided to give up the command of this exercise. Ye Yanbing commanded the troops to complete the next exercise. After making a decision, he sent someone to inform Ye Yanbing.

Since the formation of the army in the fifth town, although he is an assistant commander, he has felt that he has been outside Long Qian's inner circle in the past two years. Long Qian's inner circle is in Jinan, absorbing a large number of people outside the military, needless to say Chen Chao, it is Fang Shengyuan, an outsider, whose status in the Mengshan Army is also higher than himself. Now the Mengshan Army is no longer a simple military group, since the use of Gengzi Nian Qinwang to make a large amount of gold and silver after the construction of Huayuan and Zhongxing, the Mengshan Army began to develop into Shandong political circles. Since Long Qian, several people have a clear division of labor, and it is Long Qian himself who controls Huayuan and Zhongxing, and Song Jinguo is the main assistant in his army in this matter. Military reorganization training and military academies mainly rely on Situ Jun. And Ning Shijun, the old chief of staff he has always relied on, is in charge of the reserve army of the fifth town, the patrol battalion. Jiang Yun's intelligence department is becoming more and more mysterious, and it is certain that Long Qian has already built an intelligence network all over the country through Jiang Yun, and this network has even penetrated into the outside of the Guan, otherwise it is difficult to explain how Long Qian knew so well about the course and outcome of the Russo-Japanese War.

Of course, the inner circle will not be missing the two senior senators of the fifth town. One - Long Qian's father-in-law Chen Chao did not care about the affairs of the army, he was mainly busy with rural affairs, using the troops to be stationed in all directions, and promoted rural autonomy from Lunan to the state capital where the troops were stationed, and the farm originally used to house disabled soldiers was also under Chen Chao's responsibility.

Another officially appointed senior staff member in the army, Fang Shengyuan, is mainly responsible for supervising officers' disciplinary violations and supervising the day-to-day affairs of the Youth Army Federation. Unlike Chen Chao, who has a good reputation in the army, there are not a few middle and senior officers who are hostile to Fang Shengyuan, but because of Long Qian's full support, Fang Shengyuan's position in the army is unwavering. In addition to these two major events, Fang Shengyuan is also responsible for propaganda work, and the editor-in-chief of the "Fifth Town Newsletter" is Fang Shengyuan, who gathered a group of literati to shake their lips and sing praises for the Fifth Town. Now, the public edition of the Fifth Town Newsletter has been released to the public and is said to have garnered hundreds of subscribers. Propaganda, coupled with the organizational control of middle- and lower-ranking officers by the Youth Army Federation, constituted a major aspect of Long Qian's plot to conquer the world.

Of course, the core strength that Long Qian relied on was still the fifth town, which is the Mengshan Army in general colloquial language. Two associations, four infantry standards, one artillery standard, one cavalry standard, one engineer standard, and one baggage standard, plus other troops directly under Zhentai and the troops directly under the two associations, the number of troops in the fifth town has exceeded 20,000! Far more than the strength of an army town in Beiyang!

Theoretically, the person in charge of this well-trained and increasingly well-equipped new army should be him, Zhou Yi, who is one of the two infantry associations. Long Qian's request to the Infantry Association was that in the defense, he could rely on his own force to calmly deal with the attack of a fully equipped army town in Beiyang. During the attack, it can break through the defensive position of a town in Beiyang with the assistance of the artillery directly under it. For this reason, both the Ninth and Tenth Associations are equipped with more and more types of troops, such as baggage troops, which were originally a battalion, and now they are mixed battalions of six companies. The same is true for artillery, which originally did not have seven-and-a-half-caliber cannons, but now it has been organized into a company (four). Vaguely, he guessed that Long Qian was going to expand the two step associations into towns if conditions permitted! With the tens of thousands of patrol troops in Ning Shijun's hands, it can almost be organized into three army towns immediately. The gap with Beiyang will be greatly narrowed.

But. The Tenth Association is not under his control, at least he can't fully control the Ninth Association like Wang Mingyuan. Although the Ninth Association has a Feng Guozhu whose qualifications are not inferior to Wang Mingyuan, there is no obstacle, and the personal relationship between Feng and Wang is excellent. will not give Wang Mingyuan a problem. But I can't do it myself. The main force of the 10th Association is two steps. Feng Lun is a little unruly, while Ye Yanbing has a special identity. Long Qian seemed to realize the problem of the Ten Associations and changed the station. The chief of staff was changed, and Lan Xinzhi, who was more consistent with himself, was transferred to Wang Mingyuan and replaced with Hu Zongyu, who was born in the military justice system. Not only that, Long Qian also switched Feng Lun and Ye Yanbing! For what purpose, he couldn't judge accurately, but it was certain that this was Long Qian's warning to Feng Lun. Since the establishment of the Tenth Association, Feng Lun has repeatedly done things that dissatisfied Long Qian, taking concubines, soliciting prostitution, and Zhou Yi are all knowledgeable. The concubine couldn't hide it from Long Qian, and Long Qian didn't say anything, but the dissatisfied voice was heard, saying that senior officers should be clean and self-loving, and not be too shameless! Long Qian's words reached Zheng Chan's ears, and he praised Commander Long vigorously, as if he also wanted to take a concubine. Feng Lun had a hot fight with a bitch in Yanzhou, and he once warned Feng Lun, saying that the commander was very concerned about these things and asked him to restrain himself. With the capabilities of the Judge Advocate General's Office and the Intelligence Department, it is impossible for Feng Lun to hide that little thing from Long Qian! Changing the nineteen bids that Feng Lun brought out of him to the twentieth mark must be a warning to Feng Lun.

Long Qian's "ill-intentionedness" has long been a tacit thing among the senior officers of the Mengshan Army. No one dissuaded Long Qian. On the contrary, many people encouraged Long Qian to go further. Zhou Yi himself did not have any sense of belonging to the Manchu court, and his history of rebellion was longer than Long Qian's.

Long Qian is trying to establish a Long family court, Zhou Yi is also thinking about his future, it is said that he is not dissatisfied with his current position, according to this development, if Long Qian is really the true son, he Zhou Yi will not be able to run a founding prince. But the bad thing is that since Long Qian was attacked on Yanzhou Road and confirmed that his eldest brother Zheng Cheng was the mastermind, Zhou Yi felt that there was a high wall between himself and Long Qian. Since then, Zhou Yi's life has been cautious, not to mention his own self-love, the training and military discipline of the army are very tight, only Dinosaur Qian grabbed his little pigtails to make a fuss. With his qualifications and position, it is relatively "excessive" to participate in the army's morning drills most of the time, and this is not for Long Qian.

And Long Qian did it more beautifully, and he was relieved that he got a step association when the Fifth Town was reorganized. This time, Long Qian asked him to take the 19th Association to participate in the Zhangde Autumn Exercise, which was unexpected. On the surface, it seems that Long Qian still trusts him, and Long Qian also shows a talent-only and open-minded temperament on the surface. In fact, Zhou Yi thought that it was not like that, there were more and more unsightly things behind Long Qian, and those things surprised him.

The first is local interference. On the surface, Long Qian does not interfere in local affairs, let alone judicial cases. However, Zhou Yi noticed that Chen Chao encountered resistance from the gentry in the implementation of rural autonomy, and basically handled it with the patrol battalion, without the regular troops of the fifth town. When Zhou Yi was stationed in Yanzhou, he heard more than once that some powerful people who obstructed autonomy were arrested for various violations of the law, and some were even killed inexplicably, such as the famous Xiao family in Yanzhou Prefecture, who had a lot of money and more than a dozen gunmen to protect the hospital, and ignored the demand for rent and interest reduction. But the head of the family, Xiao Wanchang, actually moved his head on a dark and windy night, and the murderer touched Xiao Wanchang's bedroom, knocked his sleeping concubine unconscious, and cut off Xiao's head with a machete! It became a big case known to everyone in Yanzhou last year! However, the government's severe arrest of the murderer has not yielded any results, and the murderer has been at large for a long time and does not know what happened. Finally, someone suspected that Jiang Yun's intelligence department was involved, but there was no evidence. No one dares to say. The Xiao family was frightened, and within three months, they sold most of their land and ran to Tianjin. Naturally, the obstacles to self-government activities have been removed. Some people say that they have seen Wang Zhifeng appear near Xiao's house, but that guy has a mysterious action team, and it is said that he has received personal training from Long Qian, who knows if Lu Dao is Wang Zhifeng's masterpiece? As the governor of a province, Long Qian controlled the industrial group to obtain huge financial support, but also extended his hand into the vast countryside, and won the support of farmers by means of rent and interest reduction, poverty alleviation and poverty alleviation. Who believes that he has no ambition?

The second is the establishment of the Youth Army Federation. Zhou Yi immediately joined this organization and swore allegiance to Long Qian under the oath of Wu Nian and Hu Zongyu. Death! What is this for? A group of middle-ranking officers were instigated by Fang Shengyuan to make up this organization. Isn't that Long Qian's measure to control the army? What is it that does not swear allegiance to the imperial court but swears allegiance to Long Qian, not for the sake of rebellion? There are really few people who dare to resist the Youth Army Federation except Situ Jun, and most of the senior officers have adopted a supportive attitude towards the Youth Army League out of their own interests. Now the Youth Army Federation is rampant. There are some signs of public activity. The junior officers knew it. If you don't join the Youth League, you won't be reused. Who would oppose this organization?

Zhou Yi is not Feng Lun, although he was born in a reckless background, he still has some insight under the advice of his uncle. I have also read a few books, such as the "Compendium of Easy Knowledge" that my uncle guided him to read, and the heroes in history are not openly and secretly? Didn't the one who stepped on the bloody corpse ascend to the throne they hoped for? Long Qian is definitely not as gentle and frugal as he seems, Zhou Yi is sure.

Weighing the pros and cons, Zhou Yi decided to delegate the command of tomorrow's exercise to Ye Yanbing. This drill was a major review of the imperial army, and there were many famous figures, but Long Qian hid in Shandong and did not show up. This is in line with his usual style, working silently, not easily showing his head and showing off. But thinking about it from another angle, Long Qian definitely hopes that Ye Yanbing will show his face, not only to win glory for the fifth town, but also to pave the way for Ye Yanbing's future promotion. Since Long Qian wants to make his brother-in-law meritorious, let's fulfill him. Zhou Yi is confident in the 19th standard, this standard has participated in the regimental scale exercises with the German army, and is the most experienced unit in the whole army, not to mention that Long Qian also strengthened its subordinate detachment, against the Beiyang Army, even if it can't win, it will not lose, the worst result is two points, and it will not fall into the reputation of the Mengshan Army.

"That's it. Yanbing, you are fully responsible, the nineteen standards are yours. From now on, all subordinate detachments will be under your command. Which one is disobedient, tell me. ”

Ye Yanbing didn't have Zhou Yi's deep thoughts, but he was a little surprised by Zhou Yi's big go, but he still happily agreed. There are many levels of command operations, and Zhou Yi is the best, "That's good." I'm going to the meeting now. I will report back to you when I receive the assignment. Ye Yanbing saluted Zhou Yi and turned to leave.

The exercise on the 23rd did not have anything to do with the Shandong Army! On the second day of the autumn exercises, the subjects planned were encounters between the main forces of the two sides. The main forces of the Southern Army were to cross the Tang River and attack northward. The subjects of the exercise had already been determined, and the Shandong army was still on the road at that time. Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong were even prepared that the Shandong Army would not be able to catch up with the exercise, so there was no place for the Shandong Army in the deployment made by the staff officers of the Southern Army. Now that the troops had been deployed, Li Yuanhong was unwilling to change his deployment, so he decided that the Shandong Army, as the reserve force of the 15th Association, would follow the 15th Association and cross the Tang River to the north.

Ye Yanbing was naturally dissatisfied with this deployment. After all, exercises are different from fighting wars, so what is it to act as a reserve for others? To put it mildly, this Zhangde Autumn Drill has really become an armed parade for the 19th Standard and its subordinate detachments.

Ye Yanbing put forward his own opinions at the end of the meeting. But Feng Guozhang, who presided over the meeting, vetoed, "Who said that the reserve team is out of business?" This infantry offensive battle was to be fought for two days. If the 15th Association doesn't go well, it's your turn. ”

A military order is a military order. So the 19th Association acted as a "spectator" in the exercise on the 23rd. From Zhou Yi downwards, the commanders of each battalion and each team handed over their troops to their deputies and formed a "visiting group" to arrive at the Tang River after breakfast to watch the troops of the 15th Association cross the river.

The deployment of the Southern Army was heavy on the left and light on the right, of which the main force of the 15th Association (including the main force of Zhentai artillery) was deployed on the left flank of the battle line, and the 21st Mixed Association (owed two battalions) was deployed on the right flank of the battle line. Li Yuanhong's intention was to use the left flank as a fist and slam a left hook at the Northern Army, hoping to crush the Northern Army's front.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the troops of the 15th Association of the Eighth Town began to erect pontoon bridges and "forcibly cross" the Tang River. The Tang River is not deep, and it can be crossed on foot, but bridges must be built, the first is that the baggage, especially the artillery, needs bridges, and the second is the deep autumn season, taking into account the health of the officers and soldiers.

"It's fucking bad! For such a river, to erect such a low-demand bridge, the materials are ready-made, and it took nearly an hour to erect two! Ye Biaotong, are you talking to them? Let my people get on, we have two seats here. "It was Liang Huada who was on a horse, who was the standard commander of the Fifth Town's sapper standard. This time, he brought a team of engineer standards, plus the engineer team of the 19th Association, Liang Biaotong had two engineer teams in his hands, of which the team he brought was a professional boat and bridge team, and the game was bridge building.

"Okay." Ye Yanbing also saw the nest, thousands of people and horses were blocked on the riverbank, if there was really a war, and an artillery shot on the other side, the casualties would be certain. Ye Yanbing couldn't help it, beat his horse and went to the command post not far away, brought back the task after a while, and said to Liang Huada, "Come on, do the work beautifully." ”

Two engineering teams of the Mengshan Army joined the ranks of building bridges, and Li Yuanhong came to observe them, and he couldn't help but admire in his heart, that is, in 40 minutes, two pontoon bridges with different regulations were erected.

"Report to the commander, this one on the left can only pass through the infantry, and the one on the right can pass through all vehicles!" Liang Huada explained to Li Yuanhong.

"Good, well done."

The artillery corps began to cross the river and seize the high ground north of the Loess Gang, which was the intended artillery position. The exercise began, and a large number of infantry crossed the Tang River and searched north.

"It's stupid. If it were me, I would never put artillery here. Zhang Zhenming, chief of staff of the artillery standard, said to Gonggong Kaichen, "This place is too obvious, everyone knows that the artillery is good here, unless the northern army is a fool." ”

Gong Kaichen pursed his lips and held a telescope to observe, "Yes, they are just exercising." But we're not, it's a war, a war! "The nearby terrain has been repeatedly seen yesterday, Zhang Zhenming is right, the artillery should also be taken by surprise, you must know that the artillery of the northern army is not weaker than the southern army.

When the Southern Army advanced north, the Northern Army marched south in three routes. At about half past eleven in the morning, the main forces of the two sides encountered, the "battle" began, and the artillery of the Northern Army concentrated on the eastern flank, that is, the 21st mixed side of the right flank of the Southern Army, and the right flank of the Southern Army began to waver. However, the left flank made progress, and with the superior forces and the suppression of artillery fire, the 15th Association formed a semi-encirclement posture against the Northern Army. The scuffle lasted until 3:30 p.m., when the parade called a halt to the exercise, and it was judged that both sides had gains and losses. It's a draw. The troops of the two sides will be stationed on the spot and will continue the competition tomorrow. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish book friends a happy May Day!