"This question can be answered by me," Long Qian glanced at Fang Shengyuan, and from his account of the evolution of the situation in the Northeast, it can be concluded that the Fang clan had illusions about the Manchu court on this issue, and he knew that the Manchu Qing would never take the initiative to intervene in the Northeast War, "The imperial court will never intervene, if the Russo-Japanese war breaks out, it will give Yuan Shikai a reason to continue to expand the Beiyang Army." The imperial court must adopt the method of partial neutrality and sit back and watch the Japanese and Russian armies fight on the land of the northeast. ”

"Then we shouldn't go on this trip to the troubled waters," Feng Lun continued, "Even if our Mengshan Army is fully exhausted, it will be insignificant compared to the strength of Japan and Russia. I don't think it's possible to go. ”

"I don't agree with Feng Lun's opinion," Wang Mingyuan stood up, "We have fought against the Japanese and the Russians, and there is nothing remarkable." At the beginning in Xigu, our equipment was not as good as it is now, and the training level was not as strong as it is now. The most fundamental thing is that the Northeast is our land, and the people are oriented to our country's army. If the court is incompetent, it depends on our Mengshan army. The commander has said many times at the military academy with the battalion, what does the army do? It's to defend the country! I think it should go! But what Feng Lun said is right, if you can't go with the whole army, what should you do with Shandong? Lu Nan, what should we do with those costs? Only a small force can be sent to go. ”

Feng Lun didn't sit down, and immediately retorted, "I was present in the battle of Xigu, and the first one to fight an assault was my third battalion!" Who is afraid of the Japanese and Russians? I think that since the court is pretending to be a grandson, our Mengshan Army has this kind of capital. It's not easy to get it now, and I can't do it for the court. When he said this, Feng Lun thought of the company commander Fei Ning who died in battle, and remembered the heavy casualties in the Battle of Xigu, and couldn't help but shudder in his heart.

This resonated with many people, since the establishment of the Mengshan Army, the heaviest casualty was the Battle of Xigu, which lost hundreds of elite soldiers in the First World War, how many of them were old brothers from Mengshan? Lu Shan stood up and said, "The vast majority of us here have participated in the fight between Xigu and the foreign devil coalition. Feng Lun has a certain truth in what he said. But. Now is the best time to enter the Northeast, the more chaotic, the more opportunities we have. If the Northeast is too peaceful, let's send hundreds or thousands of people in. The old Russian devils won't let us stand on our feet easily. What Mingyuan said was. To go. Just send a small army to go, and I Lushan is willing to ask for a trip to the northeast! It is said that there are many people in Jiaodong who break into the eastern part of the country, and there must be a lot of Shandong villagers there. We may not lose money. ”

Lu Shan and Wang Mingyuan have listened to Long Qian talk about the importance of the Northeast during this time, and he, like Wang Mingyuan, must support Long Qian's decision on this occasion.

"Lu Shan said it very well." Long Qian nodded and looked at Zhou Yi who was sitting in the front row, "What is Zhou Biaotong's opinion?" ”

Zhou Yi coughed lightly and stood up, "The first time I heard about the situation in the Northeast, I felt very complicated. Our army seems to be strong, but to occupy the whole province of Shandong, the strength is very tight, considering the attitude of the imperial court, I agree with Feng Lun's opinion. ”

"Okay, that's it for the discussion. I ask those who are attending the meeting today to write an article on the situation in the northeast and our army's countermeasures, and hand it over to me directly tomorrow. Emphasize that the point of view must be one's own, and it is good to give the reason. Okay, let's move on to the next topic. ”

Ning Shijun stood up, "The second item of the meeting, Zhou Yi Biaotong, Lu Shan Biaotong and Commander Wang Mingyuan respectively summarized the flood control situation. First of all, please talk about Zhou Biao. ”

After Zhou Yi arrived in Tianzhen, he and Ning Shijun had reported to Long Qian about the situation of Caozhou's flood fighting, and Long Qian also informed him of the topic of this meeting, so Zhou Yi was prepared, and reported the overall situation of the second bid and the first engineer battalion in Caozhou in a concise and concise manner, and it took 20 minutes to work, especially praising the performance of Cheng Erhu's second battalion.

Lu Shan and Wang Mingyuan each reported in a shorter period of time on the process of their troops' fighting the flood, and Lu Shan focused on reporting on the situation of the first standard and the main force of the engineer battalion blocking the breach in Jinan Prefecture, and praised the role of the engineer battalion, which sacrificed two soldiers of the engineer battalion, and their bodies were salvaged 40 miles downstream and ceremoniously buried in Tianzhen.

"The last item is the last one, please ask the commander of the dragon to talk about the reorganization." Ning Shijun continued to preside over the meeting, using Long Qian's latest job title.

"Brothers, before I announce the reorganization, I want to briefly say a few words about the significance of our army's main force fighting floods," Long Qian paced, "Before the troops set off, I heard some different voices, thinking that our army has no obligation to manage the Yellow River, but whether it is the first standard, the second standard, the reserve forces and the battalions directly under it, after entering the front line of the river defense, the performance is basically very good, which is manifested in: first, treating the defense of the river as a war, giving full play to the spirit of not being afraid of hardship and death, and holding the embankment without breaching, It was praised by the people along the river. One person was sacrificed in the second standard, two people were sacrificed in the engineer battalion, countless people were wounded, and as far as the troops in Wuding Province were concerned, there were at least seventy people who were tired and sick and their nails fell off! Battalion Commander Xiong Xun insisted on staying on the embankment with a high fever, which was very touching. The people of the counties of Wuding Prefecture sent a large number of condolences to the troops, and even more young and strong people asked to join the army. The imperial court also affirmed the achievements of our army in fighting floods and defending river defenses, and issued a special decree to commend and reward 10,000 taels of silver. What does this mean? It means that the influence of our Mengshan Army has expanded to Caozhou, Wuding and more places. The common people are simple and know best who is good to them. And when we reorganize the army from Mengshan, one of the biggest rules is to love the people. Therefore, on the whole, the dispatch of troops to fight the flood was successful, and I am satisfied. The headquarters has already made a decision to ask all units participating in the war to report a list of meritorious officers and soldiers, and the 10,000 taels of silver will be distributed without a penny left, and will be given to the meritorious officers and men as a reward. The three soldiers who died were included in the list of martyrs of our army and were given bereavement benefits as if they had died in battle. Here, I will arbitrarily reward the officers and soldiers of the engineer battalion with 1,000 taels of silver, which will be distributed by battalion commander Liang Huada at full discretion. Just now, Lu Shan Biao has praised the engineer battalion, they not only showed a heroic and tenacious spirit, but also showed a very high level of technical skills, reflecting the results of their military training in peacetime, for this reason, the headquarters decided to make a great contribution to the battalion commander Liang once, and reward 200 silver dollars. ”

Ning Shijun took the lead in applauding. There was a round of applause from the audience. Liang Huada, whose face was flushed, stood up and saluted Long Qian, and then saluted the generals present.

Since the establishment of the regulations on meritorious service, the Mengshan Army has been very cautious in its work, and its meritorious service is divided into major merits, inferior merits, and small merits, and so far, only seven people have made great merits, including the company commander Fei Ning, who died bravely in the Battle of Xigu, so Liang Huada was deeply excited.

"But. There have also been a number of violations of discipline in the troops. The second bid department has not yet reported the relevant disciplinary violations. However, there were signs of bad behavior in the first standard, the reserve force, and the directly subordinate detachments, such as the logistics department forcibly buying vegetables from the people, the soldiers of the 10th company of the 3rd battalion of the 1st standard beating the people, and the 3rd reserve battalion forcibly occupying civilian houses and threatening the residents. The Judge Advocate General's Office has made decisions in accordance with the regulations. I state it again here. No matter what the case may be. They must not violate military discipline, no matter what level of officer they have, and what merits they have made. No matter how old the seniority is, it is not a reason to disobey military discipline. The headquarters has already notified the decision on the handling of officers and men who have violated discipline, and Director Song Jinguo has already received a demerit punishment, and the commander of the 10th company of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Standard and the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Reserve Force have been dismissed. Du Sanli and Zhang Yulin, the two battalion commanders, were both warned and fined military salaries, and if they had the mentality of a savior, thinking that we were here to help the people along the river, we could bully the people, it would be a big mistake! The officers and soldiers of the Mengshan Army must regard the people as their parents, and it is a matter of course for sons to honor their parents, so how can they bargain? If you can't figure this out, if you can't do this, you are not worthy of being an officer of the Mengshan Army! ”

Du Sanli and Zhang Yulin both drooped their heads. Like meritorious service, being punished is also a very severe thing, and at least it will be affected in terms of promotion, especially when it is punished at the juncture of the large-scale expansion of the troops, and it is natural that I am very depressed in my heart, and I can't help but scold my subordinates who violate discipline countless times in my heart.

"Brothers, the main force of our whole army is dispatched to fight the flood, which is a demonstration in front of the whole country, and competing with the Beiyang Army is not only better than military quality, but also more than political quality. The imperial court is looking at it, and our expansion into the fifth town of the army has a direct relationship with this flood fight. In the future, our fifth town will take over the defense of Shandong Province, and we will encounter a situation similar to the great flood this year, and we will appear in the most dangerous and urgent places as the children of Shandong to help the people tide over the difficulties.

"Brothers, we have been reorganizing the army since Mengshan, but in just four years, the army has expanded from three or four hundred people to its current size, and the next step, according to the order of the Ministry of War, the army will be expanded. By what? In my opinion, there are two most important things: one is to strictly enforce military discipline and truly enforce orders and prohibitions, and the second is to take the correct line and not take detours or wrong paths. Let's go back and think about it, isn't that so? Now we have walked from a mere Mengshan cottage to the whole province of Shandong, which is very proud. When I decided to accept the government's recruitment, the troops did have different voices, and I understand. However, it turns out that we are on the right track. Without accepting Zhao'an at the beginning, without the king of Qinwang in the north, and without our hard work in Lunan, we would not be in today's situation. Now that we have a big spread and a thick family background, do we have the idea of satisfaction and pride? I think there is. All of you here, four years ago, you were still ordinary soldiers, or just chiefs, squad leaders, or errands in the front army of Wuwei and the right army of Wuwei, or you are still the children of farmers in the area of Zhengjiazhuang, in four years, everyone became the battalion commander, division chief, deputy standard, standard, and brought hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command, and with a lot of net worth, do you think you are very remarkable? Is there a comfortable life that can be fully enjoyed and can be heated by wives and children? I think some people have it, and it's serious. This idea is wrong, it is short-sighted, it is short-sighted, we can't see the glorious future of the Mengshan Army, we can't see that there are greater difficulties and more dangers in front of us, and sooner or later we will be stumped! Just like the officers who were dismissed from their posts after being punished for fighting the flood this time, be unlucky! These words are addressed to you as well as to myself. It would be good to pour a little cold water on everyone before the big expansion of our whole army. As far as military is concerned, we are just one of the six towns of Beiyang, and there is nothing remarkable. In terms of territory, it only owns one Shandong province, which is only a few tenths of the country. Moreover, in the Beiyang Army, there are not a few who regard us as ringing horses and as opponents. As far as Shandong Province is concerned, apart from the two states of Lunan Province, how many of the other states regard us as their own soldiers? This time we gathered in Tianzhen, and many of the officers present were in high spirits and expressed their unusually happy mood to me, and I was actually worried. Should I be happy? Should. But more importantly, we must see the difficulties after our military expansion, the funding, weapons, the government, the people, and the general trend of the world that is unfavorable to us. If we can't see this, we may follow the old path of King Li Chuang, who was more majestic than us at the beginning, and even occupied Beijing, with nearly a million men under his command, and it was a matter of one or two years if he failed! We should keep this lesson in our hearts every day and think about it several times a day. ”

Fang Shengyuan was deeply grateful. It is very rare for Long Qian to be able to keep a cool head in the face of gaining power. And the strict military discipline of the Mengshan Army was completely out of his expectations. The so-called "crime" of the officers was not worth mentioning at all in Fang Shengyuan's eyes, and it seemed that there was some fuss. But he understood how important discipline was for an army with great plans! Looking at the demeanor of the officers below, he also felt that Long Qian had a super ability to control the troops. What I knew about Mengshanjun before was just watching the scenery through the window, but now that I am in it, I feel that I have made the right move to choose Mengshanjun. It would be naïve to think about the pretentious revolutionary parties overseas.

"Well, it's a festive day, after all. At the beginning, we worked hard, and finally we have today's situation. This situation is the result of everyone's joint efforts, and it is by no means my Long Qian's personal credit. Without our group, nothing will be accomplished for anyone! Next, I would like to announce the programme for the integration of the troops. ”

The officers below were nervous.

"According to the reply of the Ministry of War, the fifth town has the ninth and twelfth associations, each of which has two step standards, and the numbers are the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth respectively. Each association also has a battalion of guards, communications, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and baggage. The headquarters directly under the jurisdiction of the first battalion of guard communications, one standard for artillery, one standard for cavalry, one standard for engineers and one standard for baggage......"

Zhou Yi, Lu Shan, Wang Mingyuan, Ning Shijun, Situ Jun and others have studied the approval of the Ministry of War, and what Long Qian just announced has gone beyond the approval of the Ministry of War, and the directly subordinate engineers and baggage have been expanded to the scale of the target, and each association has a complete establishment of special forces.

"Each standard has jurisdiction over three battalions, four teams per battalion, in order to cope with the inspection of the imperial court, the company will be renamed the team in the future, everyone should pay attention to changing the habit, isn't it just a title. Each battalion has four teams, which are called four teams at the front and back, left and right, and are equipped with a company of firearms, a platoon of engineers, and a company of baggage, so as to ensure that the infantry standard independently undertakes the needs of combat missions. ”

Long Qian paused and asked everyone to digest what they had just said.

"In this way, the actual strength of our army will exceed the approval of the Ministry of War, of course, we don't need to be honest, anyway, the military funds given by the imperial court in recent years are far from enough, and we have to find our own way to find a shortage. Now, I have a task for you, which is to recommend candidates for the governors at all levels......"

As soon as these words came out, the following immediately turned heads and ears into a mess. What they are most concerned about is who will serve as the assistant commander, the standard commander and other positions, but who knows that the commander actually wants everyone to elect them......

"Be quiet!" Ning Shijun knocked on the table, "Listen to the commander." ”

"Brothers, the imperial court trusts me, Long Qian, and orders me to report the list of candidates for the head of the department, in fact, giving me the power to form the fifth town. But our Mengshan Army has a tradition, that is, personnel openness! I have always believed that this is one of the magic weapons of the invincibility of our Mengshan army. I, Long Qian, naturally have my own plans, but I am still willing to know everyone's choice. Commanders at all levels are the key to ensuring that the troops carry out their tasks, and it is necessary to put officers with high prestige and ability in their appropriate posts, and not all of them depend on my personal feelings. Brethren, we are now a complete army town, and in Japan, it is a complete division. It is important to know that after the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the first batch only formed six divisions. If we go to the battlefield of the national war again, it will be my first goal to be able to independently resist and defeat one of the Japanese divisions. Since we have the Mengshan Army, we must not stage the tragedy of the Gengzi national disaster again! Therefore, don't discuss when you go back, complete this task independently, write a note to the candidates of the co-ordinator, the standard commander, the deputy co-ordinator, the deputy standard-unification and the chief of staff of each department, and hand it over to me directly. It's okay to sign or not to sign. I just want to see, who do you really want? When this is done, I will announce the results of the appointment. Time is the day after tomorrow. I'm done talking. ”

Ning Shijun announced the adjournment of the meeting. (To be continued......)