The "operational meeting" of the Yugoslav Army has just ended. Presiding over the meeting was Feng Guozhang, the chief judge of the Yugoslav Army, who informed the commanders of the Yugoslav Army of the drill plan determined by the Parade Office (Parade Office). Because there is a strict plan for the exercise, the exercise mainly depends on the training level and execution ability of the troops, and it does not require the commander's decision on the spot. Rao is like this, the Southern Army handed over the command to Li Yuanhong, the commander of the 21st Mixed Association, which still surprised Feng Guozhang, although this result had already been reported to the parade office.

It must be known that Zhang Biao is the commander of the eighth town of Zheng'er Bajing, while Li Yuanhong is only an assistant commander, and there is also the word "provisional" in front of his unit number.

Speaking of which, Li Yuanhong is also in the Beiyang lineage, but Feng Guozhang is the first time he has seen it, and he only knows that this person was born in the sailor system, graduated from the Beiyang Sailor School, and won the appreciation of Yan Fu and Sa Zhenbing, and also fought in the First Sino-Japanese Naval War...... Later, he transferred to the army and became the leader of the Hubei New Army.

Look at it like this, Zhang Biao is probably a straw bag, and the Southern Army really has to rely on this fat-headed, big-eared and like-looking Li Xietong.

"The Shandong soldiers have arrived last night," Feng Guozhang remembered, "Did Lord Li send someone to contact them?" After all, people came all the way from Shandong with a pair of feet...... "Actually, it is not far from Dongchang to Zhangde, but the 19th standard troops set off from Qingzhou, but Feng Guozhang is not clear about this.

"That's, that's, let's go there in person......" Li Yuanhong was extremely humble.

"That's not necessary," Zhang Biao said, touching his beard, "just send someone to inform them." Anyway, there are not many of them, and there are not many of them......"

"It's better to go for a ......," the notice said that the fifth town of Shandong had only sent one step mark. Indeed, as Zhang Biao said, the Southern Army is not bad at this step. However, Li Yuanhong is a well-known Li Bodhisattva, with a surprisingly good temper and personality, and he feels a little unhappy.

"Report to your lords, please see Zhou Yi of the Fifth Town." The officer on duty came in to report.

"Oh, Zhangde is very evil on the ground, say Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived." Feng Guozhang smiled, "Then please." "His feelings for the Shandong Army are more complicated. Not as hateful as Li Chun. But he didn't have a good impression of Wang Pingqing. Although they had fought each other a few years ago, time has passed, and they have long been indifferent to the victory or defeat. This time, he was won by Yuan Shikai as the chief judge of the Southern Army, and the main thing was to ensure the victory of the Northern Army commanded by Duan Qirui. The reform of the imperial court has not yet been introduced. It is a foregone conclusion that the War Department will be abolished and the War Department will be added.

Zhou Yi, Ye Yanbing, Jiang Yiliu and Cai Yi entered the fish. Cai Ye first reported to his home. Then introduce Zhou, Ye, and Jiang to the commanders of the Southern Army.

"Oh, didn't the Dragon Army Gate come? This official has been admiring Admiral Long for a long time, please take a seat. Please be seated, you have worked hard all the way. Zhang Biao stood up, "Before leaving, Xiangshuai also asked me to pay tribute to Long Junmen, and if it is convenient, please ask Lord Long to go to Wuchang...... I didn't expect the Dragon Army Gate to come, it's a pity. After that, Zhang Biao introduced the main generals of the Southern Army to Zhou Yi and the others, and only later did he introduce Feng Guozhang, the chief judge of the Southern Army.

Zhou Yi and his party greeted the generals of the Southern Army one by one.

After taking a seat, Ye Yanbing carefully looked at Li Yuanhong and Feng Guozhang, but he didn't care about Zhang Biao. There is no him, because Long Qian once talked about these two people. After Ye Yanbing and Chen Xian established the relationship, they naturally got a lot closer to Long Qian, even if they were away with troops, the correspondence between the two was frequent, mainly exchanging experiences in military training, but Long Qian had talked about the Beiyang generals in his letter, but in the Southern Army, Long Qian only mentioned Li Yuanhong alone.

"How? Are the troops all settled? Is there a problem with the grain and grass? Li Yuanhong asked with concern.

"Our army arrived at the designated assembly place at the appointed time." Zhou Yi replied without humility or arrogance, "Thank you Lord Li for your concern, this is the first peak to ask about our army's supplies." ”

"Shangfeng didn't dare to be. The Zhou Association was the assistant commander of the regular army of the imperial court, and I was only in command of a temporary mixed ...... If there is no problem with grain and grass, Staff Officer Cai can coordinate the allocation. ”

"Thank you for your concern. Our army has brought its own grain and grass, which is still enough. Zhou Yi replied lightly.

"Ha Luha, Lord Li was going to visit your army just now," Feng Guozhang took over, "I just had a meeting, the meeting will be officially held the day after tomorrow, let's talk about business first, did Lord Li inform Zhou Xietong of the deployment of this army?" ”

"Okay," Li Yuanhong began to explain to the map the plan of the drill and the deployment of the Southern Army.

The day after tomorrow, that is, on October 22, the parade will be officially launched, and the Shandong army will move 25 miles south from Dajingzi to Guojiayao to assemble and temporarily be incorporated into the 21st Mixed Association. The exercise on the 22nd did not have anything to do with the Shandong Army, because the plan drawn up by the parade office was a cavalry confrontation. However, on the second day, a duel between the main forces will be launched, and the plan is to attack in the south and defend in the north, with the 15th Association of the 8th Town on the left flank and the 21st Mixed Association on the right flank, which will cross the Tang River and attack and advance to the north, and the artillery will seize the high ground north of the Loess Gang to cover the decisive battle of the main force of the infantry looking for the "enemy".

"Understood, our unit will arrive at the designated assembly site on time at eight o'clock tomorrow morning." Zhou Yi looked at the map and expressed his attitude, "Please send a few maps to our army, and the rest of our army will solve it by itself." ”

"Of course, of course." Li Yuanhong promised, "I will send a liaison officer to follow your unit." ”

"Lord Zhou, I have heard the soldiers of the fifth town in Hubei for a long time. This time, the parade office assigned your unit to the Southern Army, and the certainty of defeating the Northern Army is even greater! This time, Xiang Shuai gave the old man a death order, and he must not lose the face of the Southern Army...... "Zhang Biao is very enthusiastic about the Shandong Army.

"Please rest assured, Master Zhang, our department will definitely abide by the military order and achieve the mission." Zhou Yi expressed his position firmly.

What Zhang Biao said was the truth. As the founder of the Hubei New Army, Zhang Zhidong regards this military exercise as a competition for the results of the training of the New Army between the North and the South, and attaches great importance to this. After receiving the notice from the Ministry of War, the Eighth Town and the 21 st Mixed Association not only made preparations in advance, but also practiced all the way, first holding a small-scale exercise in Hubei, and then another exercise after taking a train to Zhengzhou. When they marched to Zhangde, they conducted targeted exercises when they passed through Weihui and Qixian, and their desire for victory was clearly revealed. Feng Guozhang, who lives in the Southern Army, already knows all this. After looking at the equipment and morale of the Southern Army in the past two days, Feng Guozhang couldn't help but feel a little worried. Although Yuan Shikai also made full preparations for this exercise, Duan Qirui's third town was a first-class unit in Beiyang, and the Fifth Association, which was transferred to participate in the exercise, was the main force of the third town, and although the first mixed association commanded by Cao Kun was formed temporarily, the troops came from the sixth and fourth towns where they were trained, and the first town of the flag battalion only transferred one battalion each of horses and artillery...... The reason why it is necessary to organize a mixed organization association is to let as many Beiyang troops participate in the exercise as possible. Now it has joined a standard of the Shandong Army, and the Shandong Army has defeated Beiyang many times in history, and Cao Kun is the defeated general of the Shandong Army. That's not a drill. It's a contest of real knives and guns. Even himself, who was also defeated by the Shandong army...... At the beginning of Wuding's flood fighting, Feng Guozhang had already learned the strength of the elite soldiers of the fifth town. In recent years, Shandong has been thriving, and it is said that even cannons can be made by themselves. Do you know how much progress the Fifth Town has made?

Feng Guozhang was thinking nonsense there. Li Yuanhong asked. "If your army has any other requirements, just ask for it."

"The mission is clear. Lord Long once confessed his humble duties and came to participate in the parade with the attitude of learning from friendly troops. Therefore, in addition to Ye Biaotong's nineteen standards, the fifth town also sent several officers from the staff office, cavalry and artillery. It is hoped that they will be allowed to observe the exercise live. ”

"It's fine." Li Yuanhong immediately nodded and agreed.

"By the way, this Ye Biaotong is a relative of Long Junmen?" Feng Guozhang looked at Ye Yanbing, who had not said a word since he entered the conference room, and suddenly remembered something.

"The lowly son is the wife and sister of Long Junmen." Ye Yanbing bowed and replied.

"Ye Biaotong is really good-looking." Zhang Biao praised.

"We are soldiers, and we rely on our skills on the battlefield." Ye Yanbing was disgusted by others praising his appearance. I'm not a woman, do I have to rely on my appearance to eat?

"If nothing happens, I will resign." Zhou Yi saw that someone had already sent the map.

"Can you leave now? Tomorrow there is one more day to prepare. Besides, you won't have anything to do the day after tomorrow, and you'll come back after dinner! In the evening, we have a good drink, we are all in the army, and it is rare to get together. Master Feng, did you say? Li Yuanhong hurriedly dissuaded.

"Ah, yes. I'll go back after dinner. Cai Yi interjected. Although he was valued by Yuan Shikai, after all, the official was soft-spoken, and the people gathered here were also the standardists with the lowest positions.

It was ten o'clock in the evening when Zhou Yi and his entourage returned to Dajingzi. Cai Yi followed Zhou Yi back, but Yuan Benchao and others stayed at the headquarters of the Southern Army, and they would return to the parade the next day. The reason why Cai Yi went with Zhou Yi was to observe the training situation in the Fifth Town up close. After graduating from the non-commissioned officer school, he is very good at discerning the training level of an army from the subtleties. Cai felt that he didn't have many opportunities to observe this somewhat mysterious army in a grand manner.

Zhou Yi couldn't refuse Cai's request.

After settling Cai Yi, Zhou Yi notified the main officers to hold a meeting. Ten minutes later, Ye Yanbing, Jiang Yiliu, Jiang Yun, Gong Kaichen, Chi Chunxian, Liang Huada and several other senior officers gathered in the west side hall where Zhou Yi lived to listen to Zhou Yi's assignment for tomorrow.

Cai was not notified to participate.

This time when he came to Zhangde to participate in the exercise, Long Qian appointed Zhou Yi as the commander of the detachment, which was equivalent to giving him the highest decision-making power. did not personally command the troops, nor did he send Situ Jun and Wang Mingyuan to come, but gave himself the opportunity to appear in front of the military leaders of the imperial court on behalf of the Mengshan Army, Zhou Yi felt a lot of pressure. His relationship with Long Qian in the past two years has been a little estranged, firstly, he has not been able to see each other all the year round, and secondly, he feels that Long Qian rarely discusses some major matters with him, which is far inferior to when he served as deputy commander. This time he was appointed to lead the team, both because the 19th Standard was the 10th Association Force, or because there were other considerations, Zhou Yi felt that he had to seize this opportunity.

Zhou Yi saw that everyone had arrived and announced the meeting. First of all, let Jiang Yiliu, deputy director of the General Staff Office, talk to the map about the plan of the exercise and the tasks of the detachment.

"Brethren, the task is basically clear. Although they don't value us so much. Zhou Yi stood up and walked back and forth in the small room, the candlelight projecting his figure on the wall and shaking constantly, "Although the commander has no special explanation, we can't lose face to the commander." So, this time we're going to give it all our all. Now I order that tomorrow morning the troops will have dinner at half past five and set off at half past six, and that the detachments of the 19th standard and the 19th standard will be led by Ye Yanbing and arrive in the designated area at 8 o'clock in the morning. ”

"Yes. Guarantee the completion of the task" Ye Yanbing stood up and took the order. He was most worried that Zhou Yi would directly interfere in the command of the Nineteenth Standard, so that he would be hollowed out, and now it seems that Zhou Yi is not ready to do that.

"Chi Chunxian and Jiang Yiliu will lead the cavalry detachment to set off at six o'clock tomorrow morning to survey the terrain against the map."

"Yes!" Chi Chunxian and Jiang Yiliu stood up to receive the order. This is a must, in an unfamiliar area, you can't just rely on the map given by others. Long Qian always emphasized the detailed investigation of the battlefield, which was originally the business of the cavalry reconnaissance team and the staff office. This time, Chi Chunxian was specially recalled from Wuding, and he was ordered to bring a cavalry company of the guard battalion to follow, and he was directly under the command of the detachment.

"I'm in charge of the adjournment. After the brigade is deployed, the station should be leveled and cleaned. Liang Biaotong, this piece is handed over to you. ”

"Obedience!" Liang Huada is leading the order.

Director Jiang...... What do you have to say? Zhou Yi's gaze fell on Jiang Yun's face the most. At the end of the day, Long Qian sent Jiang Yun and the intelligence department action team, but did not explain their tasks. After arriving at Dajingzi, Jiang Yun scattered his people out of the air, chattering with gods. Zhou Yi knew that Jiang Yun must have received a special order from Long Qian.

"Commander Zhou's arrangement is extremely appropriate. According to the information obtained by the humble officials, this time the discipline of the Beiyang Nanyang New Army was excellent, and the people in the Zhangde area had a good reputation. It is said that Duan Qirui also personally questioned the people in the garrison to see if there was any violation of discipline. At this point, our Mengshan Army cannot be left behind. As for the deployment of the Northern Army, the lowly post was tried to get it before the war. ”

"Good." Zhou Yi nodded, "Pay attention to the staff officer surnamed Cai, he seems to care about us very much." ”

"Rest assured, Commander. Wang Zhifeng specially accompanied him. Jiang Yun replied lightly. (To be continued......)