Wang Shizhen seemed to be accustomed to the strange eyes of others, and he didn't care about Sun Yuanqi's scrutiny, and after entering the house to serve tea, he asked straight to the point: "Premier Sun, I heard that you plan to fight a war with Japan in Shandong?" ”

Sun Yuanqi didn't answer and asked: "What's the matter, Brother Pingqing already knows about this?" ”

Wang Shizhen replied angrily: "You have sent troops from Gansu, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Hunan all the way to Shandong, and your movements almost stabbed you into the sky, and the others are not deaf and blind, how can you not know?" ”

Sun Yuanqi touched his nose: "Originally, I wanted to hide it for a while, even if I can't hide the eyes and ears of the world, at least let Japan relax its vigilance, and don't mobilize so many divisions and regiments for a while."

In fact, Sun Yuanqi also knew that he had mobilized troops from the six surrounding provinces to enter the Shandong territory, and he had informed the Beiyang departments to make way and change people, and the movement was too great to hide from others. Especially at present, the Japanese are sitting and spying all over China, and they are afraid that the Japanese side will know better about their own troop deployment than the people up and down the Beiyang. The current changes in the situation between China and Japan should not only depend on how many troops Sun Yuanqi has mobilized, but also on whether Japan has any other movements besides the mobilization of the 18th Division.

Wang Shizhen ignored Sun Yuanqi's ridicule, and asked again: "How much does that Baixi know about the Japanese military?" ”

Speaking of business, Sun Yuanqi immediately sat upright and replied solemnly: "Yuanqi was not born in the army, and he almost knows nothing about military affairs, so he can only roughly analyze Japan's military strength based on the intelligence collected by others. First of all, the Japanese Navy currently has 0 warships, 9 destroyers, 28 torpedo boats, and other ships, and the total displacement of ships capable of participating in the battle exceeds 200,000 tons. There is no doubt that they have an overwhelming advantage over our ruined and decaying navy, and if we have no chance of winning a confrontation with it at sea, this also requires that if we start a war with Japan, we must try our best to avoid the range of the ship's heavy artillery!

"As for the Japanese Army, it is mainly to imitate the German army formation. There are three types: the Standing Army, the Territorial Defense Force, and the Militia. Except for the one and a half divisional guards currently stationed in the northeast of our country in the name of guarding the South Manchurian Railway, which requires special attention, our main concern is the standing army. The standing army is divided into infantry, artillery, engineers, baggage troops, and police units according to the types of arms, and the highest tactical units are divisions and regiments, each of which has two infantry brigades, a cavalry wing, an artillery wing, and other units, with about 20,000 personnel. At present, Japan has the exception of the Guards Division that guards Gyeonggi. A total of 1st to 188th divisions were organized. The total number of soldiers is nearly 250,000. If the whole country is mobilized urgently, it is estimated that the number of troops can reach one million.

"Of course, there is absolutely no need for an emergency mobilization of the whole country to deal with our old empire. Even the 8 standing divisions did not need to be dispatched. Because the Japanese infantry was strong, hardworking, absolutely obedient to orders, and was often instilled with the spirit of bushido and the chauvinistic idea that the leadership of Asia belonged to the Japanese nation and the Japanese army, they were not afraid of death from top to bottom, and their combat effectiveness was extremely strong. The quality of our soldiers is not at all the same as that of the same day, and it is estimated that only seven or eight divisions and regiments can sweep across the entire East and North China! ”

Cao Kun, who was silent on the side, couldn't help but ask at this time: "Then Prime Minister Baixi still wants to take the initiative to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army in Shandong?" ”

Sun Yuanqi immediately replied: "No war? Do we give up the land of Qilu and the hometown of Confucius and Mencius? ”

Wang Shizhen said: "What is the chance of winning for Prime Minister Baixi?" ”

Sun Yuanqi shook his head: "As long as there is a 1 in 10,000 chance of winning, Sun will do his best 100 percent." But if Brother Pingqing asks Sun what chance of winning, the younger brother actually has no bottom in his heart. Because the odds of victory are not the strength of Sun's command, but the number of troops sent by Japan, and whether Beiyang colleagues can help honestly! ”

Wang Shizhen twisted his beard and asked slowly, "How do you say this?" ”

Sun Yuanqi replied: "The reason is very simple, if Japan uses the momentum of Mount Tai to the top and the lion to fight the rabbit, in one fell swoop, it sends more than ten divisions and regiments to attack China in two ways, all the way from the northeast to Gyeonggi. One route was assisted by the navy to attack Shandong, and our army was overwhelmed by one loss and the other, and could only be routed for thousands of miles. Of course, Japan will not and will not dare to adopt this style of fighting for their lives, because if they are not careful, they may die in front of us! ”

"Oh?"

Sun Yuanqi went on to explain: "Actually, Japan has been playing with fire since the mid-to-late Meiji era, and their strategy is to borrow money to expand its military. Then the whole country went to war, and finally made a profit and paid back. In a short period of 20 years, aside from the costly navy, the Japanese Army has expanded from six to nine standing divisions alone, and recently the military has proposed to build two more divisions to be stationed in Korea as a permanent occupation force of the Korean army. They are like a crazy gambler, every time they fight for their lives against the fortunes of the country, and their means are extremely despicable, especially good at undeclared war, including the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.

Although the gambler was able to make a profit again and again by using a thousand tricks, he only made a small profit after all, and the big head was looted away by the loan sharks. Therefore, although Japan has successively defeated China and Russia and annexed Ryukyu and Korea, its foreign debt has reached 2 billion yen, which is six times more than the tax revenue of the same year, and it is even difficult to pay interest. Heavy taxes, high land rents, and low wages in the country have made the broad masses of the people live in extreme poverty, and the 'Constitutional Protection Movement' in which all social strata demand freedom and democracy and oppose the arbitrariness of the military department continues to ferment, and the political situation is extremely unstable.

"At present, Japan's finances are somewhat similar to China's, the treasury is empty, the outside is heavily indebted, there is nowhere to borrow money, there is no money to repay, and the British, French, American and other powers that ask for money are not good people. The reason why Japan covets Shandong is nothing more than that it wants to do some business without capital, plunder some property, appease public opinion internally, and repay debts externally. How much military expenditure is needed to mobilize ten divisions and regiments at once, plus the dispatch of naval ships? Not to mention that Japan can't take it out now, even if it can, how long can it last? ”

Wang Shizhen said approvingly: "Premier Baixi said very well, if Japan dispatches more than ten divisions and regiments in one fell swoop, it is indeed very likely to die in front of us!" In that case, what else is Baixi worried about? ”

Sun Yuanqi smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Pingqing, you are a Beiyang veteran, and you fought a big war with Japan in Korea during the First Sino-Japanese War, do you think the Beiyang elite, which is known as the strongest army in China, will face the Japanese standing division, what will be the result?" ”

Before and after the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, Wang Shizhen, who was then an instructor of the Shanhaiguan Artillery Corps, accompanied Ye Zhichao, the commander of Zhili, to North Korea to help and was stationed in Pyongyang. At that time, the Qing army stationed in Pyongyang had a total of 35 battalions and 15,000 people; The Japanese army attacking Pyongyang had more than 16,000 troops, and the strength of the two sides was comparable. However, Pyongyang's terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the Qing army has the broad support of the Korean government and the opposition.

As a result, Ye Zhichao, the commander of the Qing army, was greedy for life and afraid of death, and when the battle situation was stalemate, he even raised a white flag to stop resisting and ordered the whole army to retreat. During the retreat, the Qing army was ambushed, and the formation was in chaos, with nearly 2,000 dead and more than 500 captured. The rest of the army ran 500 miles in six days, all the way to the Yalu River, causing the Japanese army to march all the way and occupy the entire territory of Korea.

Hearing Sun Yuanqi mention the First Sino-Japanese War, Wang Shizhen suddenly shook his head again and again: "Hey, Wang is really ashamed to mention the First Sino-Japanese War, don't say it!" However, if you want to say that the six towns of Beiyang are against the standing divisions of the Japanese army, regardless of the disparity in weapons and ammunition, I am afraid that the morale quality alone will be a little worse. It is not for the morale of others to extinguish their own prestige, it is estimated that our two or three divisions of the Beiyang Army can barely defeat a regular Japanese division! However, now the strong brigade under the command of Premier Baixi is better than the blue, and a regiment can easily defeat tens of thousands of troops and horses, and the battle outside the mouth is to completely annihilate a cavalry brigade in Beiyang and defeat a reorganized division with a mixed brigade. In terms of combat effectiveness, Prime Minister Baixi's headquarters may not be able to compete with the Japanese army in a short and short time! ”

Sun Yuanqi said: "Whether it is the Battle of Guangzhou or the Battle of Kouwai, the magic weapon for our department to win is not how strong the quality of the soldiers is and how high the morale is, but to bully the other party who has never seen planes and tanks, and wins by surprise when caught off guard. This kind of thing is not to be relied upon. If you really want to encounter a fierce and arrogant enemy like the Japanese army, you will be inferior by three points after all! Fortunately, we occupy a favorable location and can arrange in advance, and if the Japanese army only comes with about two divisions, we still have the confidence to deal with them. But if there are more, I'm afraid I will have to rely on the help of all the Beiyang sages! ”

Cao Kun shook his head and said: "The marshal is now driving the crane west, the hearts of the people in Beiyang have long been scattered, the governors are doing their own thing, the division and brigade commanders are surrendering, and the rebels are rebelling, how can they still exert any strength?" ”

Sun Yuanqi naturally knew what Cao Kun was thinking, and immediately patted his chest and said: "Sun is still the same sentence, 'Brothers are on the wall, and they are insulted outside'." At present, the Japanese invasion is imminent, we should only ask whether the general is competent or not, why should we force ourselves to distinguish between the northwest and the northwest? If Brother Zhong Shan intends to serve the country and kill the enemy, the younger brother is still willing to ask you to go out of the mountain to serve as the commander of the First Division of the Central Army, and lead the unit out of the customs to face the battle! ”

Why didn't he ask Cao Kun to return to his old unit, the Third Division? There are three reasons: First, Tang Tianxi, who sold him to Sun Yuanqi, is still serving as the deputy division commander of the Third Division, and he must not let the two of them live together. second, it is precisely because the Third Division is his old unit that he can't let Cao Kun kill him, otherwise the Third Division will become his mountain, and it will not be able to fall off in the future; For the same reason, Cai Chengxun, the commander of the 1st Division, was transferred to the 2nd Division of the Outer Mongolian Army, which was newly formed in the northwest, as a division commander. Third, because the military strength of the First Division is close to Shanhaiguan, it saves the need to toss back and forth.

After speaking, Sun Yuanqi said to Wang Shizhen again: "Brother Pingqing, don't you want to be the shame of Yixue's defeat back then? As long as you are willing to go out, the younger brother is willing to stay as the deputy chief of the staff headquarters and the acting chief of the general, and you will go out to supervise and lead the Beiyang troops to resist the invasion of the Japanese army! ”

ps：

The new month is coming, Uncle He is masked and armed with a knife, robbing the monthly pass!

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