The whole ceremony took place in a very congenial atmosphere, followed by a short press conference. Even if Yuan Shikai omitted all the cumbersome details, when this set of steps was finished, it was already more than six o'clock in the evening.

Although the Russians retreated, the war was far from over, and a small celebration could lift the mood of the soldiers and civilians, but it would be very inappropriate to celebrate it with great fanfare as if the war had been won. When Lao Maozi pounces again, the momentum will inevitably be much more ferocious than this time. There is not much time for China to prepare, and there are a lot of problems to be solved.

The first is the formation of government agencies and the integration of the army, although the Northeast and Beijing have not yet negotiated the details, or even exchanged views with each other, but there is a consensus between the two sides, that is, when the Russians come again, China's fists must be tightly clenched! This is definitely an all-out war, and if there are still three government teams and three armies, then China may not have to fight.

Lao Yuan immediately submitted to Chen Tianhua the opinions of the Beiyang side on the integration of government agencies, and at the same time officially announced to the outside world that the steps of integration will be taken tomorrow. Regarding the opinions raised by some people about whether to wait for Mr. Sun Wen, Yuan Shikai did not give a positive answer.

In fact, this is the same as the principle of being a human being, if you want others to respect you, you have to do those things that are worthy of others' respect. And Mr. Sun's performance at this time when China is facing a crisis, although he stood his ground at the last moment, there really is no place for Yuan Shikai to respect him.

So in Lao Yuan's opinion, the negotiation with the Northeast is a negotiation, Sun Wen came, let him sign the prepared documents, and it was enough.

And about the merger of the army, the south has no right to speak, when Chen Tianhua and Yuan Shikai negotiated, Commander Yang had already come to Duan Qirui's combat command room, Yang Xiaolin and Yuan Shikai said clearly. The army is different from the government, the government can integrate first and then operate, but the army cannot, and now the Beiyang Army must obey its own dispatch.

Lao Yuan is not the kind of bastard who doesn't understand military affairs, he completely agrees with what Yang Xiaolin said, so the question of who unifies who has to be discussed, but the command must be immediately handed over to Commander Yang, the army chief of the republic.

Commander Yiyang came to the operational command room of the Beiyang Army that night to perform his duties. He must immediately find out the current situation of the Beiyang Army, how much combat strength Lao Yuan's troops have, and what problems need to be solved.

"Commander. There are now 370,000 registered soldiers in our Beiyang Army, 280,000 troops on the front line in Beijing, and General Duan Zhigui is now leaving Xinjiang with 20,000 troops. The rest of the troops were all in the Shaanxi and Gansu areas. ”

Jiang Baili first gave a general explanation of the current situation of the Beiyang Army, and then began to talk about the problems of the army: "The combat effectiveness of the Beiyang soldiers is uneven, and some units have been greatly improved from this battle with the Russians, but I think the gap between us and the Russian troops is still quite obvious, and the troops must be reorganized for a period of time. ”

Yang Xiaolin smiled: "Baili, not bad!" Being able to recognize the gap between ourselves and our opponents is the first condition for us to defeat our opponents. How to lay out the next battle. Do you have any comments? When I was talking with President Yuan just now, he said that it was time to take advantage of the lack of Russian forces to recover Mongolia, did he mean or did your entire Beiyang Army have such an idea? ”

Duan Qirui didn't give Yuan Shikai face at this time: "Commander Yang, this is what the president meant." We are not in favor of this option. It is not realistic to recover Mongolia now, Baili and I have the same attitude on this matter, and we can only defend at the moment! ”

Yang Xiaolin nodded lightly, the generals of the Beiyang Army were obviously relatively calm. Lao Yuan's starting point is completely from the political needs of a president. As soon as he came to power, he immediately recovered Mongolia, which is indeed possible. It must also make him very beautiful. But the question is, what will you do after the reconquest of Mongolia? Send troops to guard the border with the Russians?

In that case, China would have to send a steady stream of food, ammunition, and reinforcements to the far north! This is a very difficult task for China, which is already very difficult.

There is a node in any war, and if you grasp this node, you can guarantee victory, and if you move through it, you will move from victory to defeat.

That's why the Russians lost this time, they went too far. If the Far Eastern Group Army stopped after annihilating Cao Kun's troops and held on to the fruits of victory in the Jinzhou area, Commander Yang would have no way to take Lao Maozi.

When their reinforcements arrived and then launched an attack on Beijing, Yuan Shikai could not find a chance to counterattack at all. The Russians were too confident, they thought that they could defeat the resistance of the Beiyang Army in the short term with their own strength, so the Far Eastern Army wanted to take advantage of Yang Dagui's breath to kill Yuan Shikai.

When the Beiyang Army showed extraordinary tenacity, when the volunteers desperately threw themselves into the battlefield, the Russians could only drop the victory in their hands and swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.

The same was true of Germany in World War II, when it was invincible all the way, it launched a war against the Soviet Union, and the mustache thought that he was well prepared, thinking that the Soviet Union was vulnerable, but when he took this step, he brought his empire from victory to destruction.

Duan Qirui asked, "Commander, what do you mean?" ”

Yang Xiaolin smiled at him: "Our opinions can be said to be completely consistent, what I mean is to set up a strong defense line around Beijing and let the Russians come to fight Beijing!" Lao Maozi had to travel through the whole of Mongolia from their country to Beijing, and according to the current transportation capacity of the Russians, this was also a great challenge for them! And we can easily obtain all kinds of strategic materials we need in Beijing, and this will bring us and the Russians a lot closer in combat effectiveness. ”

Jiang Baili was really excited when he heard Commander Yang agree with their opinion: "What the commander said is extremely true! We can also send troops to support Zaitao, and even send more generals to Mongolia to fight guerrillas, harass the Russian transport lines, and make them have to send a large number of troops to stay in Mongolia. ”

Commander Yang's hand was on the position of Beijing: "We will use this battlefield to attract them, and spend their materials and troops as much as possible in this place!" At the same time, we must build a solid base for counter-offensives. The most important thing is that we must have an arsenal that can provide us with enough weapons and ammunition, this war is not to be beaten, we have to prepare forces to counterattack, only by knocking the Russians down can we win. ”

Duan Qirui nodded, the ammunition of the Beiyang Army was indeed running out, they had several small arsenals, but the output was simply not enough to support a large-scale battle: "Commander, where do you think our base is appropriate?" ”

Yang Xiaolin had already thought about this problem, and his finger pointed at Shandong, the place where old Yuan started: "It's here!" General Duan, you give those Russians outside a few days to surrender? ”

"Three days."

"Give them a few more days, and when Sun Wen's troops come, let them come to fight the main attack. We must dispel the fear of the Russians in the hearts of those soldiers in the south, and we must let them storm the position, otherwise we will not be able to train them by training alone. ”

"Yes."

Yang Xiaolin is not the kind of arrogant Yelang, and he can see very clearly where the gap between him and the Russians is. He acknowledges the gaps and fills them. Until he thinks that his strength is not close to his opponent, he will definitely not rush up and fight the Russians.

The combat effectiveness of those revolutionary armies is really not flattering. Although the battle in Gu'an was said to have been a mistake made by Huang Xing's command, if it was replaced by the Volunteer Army, or even the Beiyang Army, it would not be said that more than half of the people who were killed and wounded by the artillery fire! They have to train.

Shandong is a good place for military training, and Lao Yuan chose it well. Commander Yang also planned to train troops in that place, and all the troops in the south must be trained and reorganized.

Yang Xiaolin and Beiyang were still unified in terms of the general combat policy, and when he was thinking about asking Jiang Baili what his plans were for the defense of Beijing, Yuan Shikai pushed the door in from the outside.

Lao Yuan's face was a little not good-looking, and after entering the door, he first asked about the results of their negotiations, and after Yang Xiaolin vetoed his opinion on recovering Mongolia, Yuan Shikai did not object. He just said softly: "Commander Yang, Mr. Sadaoyi will leave Beijing tomorrow, and the British government has just officially issued a diplomatic letter, announcing the severance of diplomatic relations with us, and at the same time, it will also adopt an economic and military blockade against us, and the British will review all merchant ships that come to China in the future." ”

Yang Xiaolin's expression changed after hearing this, and the finger holding the cigarette shook violently, and the cigarette ash was scattered on his own body.

From this action, Lao Yuan could see that Yang Dagui was very angry in his heart! Lao Yuan too.

Not to mention that they are in urgent need of assistance in the current war, it is impossible to say that China can develop itself at home, even if it is developing in the future. Commander Yang really wants to be in line with the world, and Lao Yuan also thinks so. But this blockade line of the British is a rope around the neck of China, and it will strangle us alive!

Jiang Baili and Duan Qirui stood aside and didn't know what to say, Yuan Shikai tried to calm his tone: "The machine you asked for from Germany a while ago has arrived, but it was detained by the Japanese. Mumo has made solemn representations to the Japanese side, but it seems that there is little hope. You just said that you want to build a large arsenal in Shandong within one month, Commander Yang, can you still say this now? ”

Yang Xiaolin didn't answer Yuan Shikai's words, threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and lit another one, and after taking a sharp breath, his fingers tapped twice on the table: "Yuan Gong, I need three months." Within three months, I'll build an arsenal on our current terms! ”

Commander Yang paused here for a moment, and suddenly remembered a famous saying from Taizu, which really reflected his current mood, and also made him feel that there was nothing more appropriate than this sentence: "Let the British blockade go, he will blockade for ten or eight years, and we have everything!" ”

An obvious gasp occurred in Yuan Shikai's nose: "Say it lightly!" (To be continued......)