At the time of the change of prime minister in Italian politics, the war in the Far East was unaffected and continued.

After the world-renowned naval battle in the Yellow Sea, the Italian expeditionary force did not stop at all. Just eight hours after the naval battle, the task force patronized the Japanese landing ground at Qinglong Bay. After two hours of shelling, the exhausted Italian fleet departed, leaving only the same picture as the Shura field.

Although many things have been transferred to the landing ground of the Japanese army, the blow to the morale of the Japanese army is huge, after all, there is a way to retreat and there is no way to retreat, how can this be the same.

Of course, what had a greater impact on the landing Japanese troops was the arrival of reinforcements, and the day after the shelling, the 4th Regiment of the 1st Guards Division went ashore in Weihaiwei. Although the foreign soldiers are still weak after floating on the sea for so many days, this is stronger than anything else to boost the morale of the defenders, and the reward cannot be compared.

On the side of the landing Japanese army, the rear road was cut off one after another, and the enemy's reinforcements had reached a double blow, so there was still morale to continue to attack Weihaiwei, and on the day the Italian reinforcements arrived, the Japanese army could not continue the attack, and the next day they withdrew, and the siege of Weihaiwei was declared over.

In the more than ten days that the Japanese army attacked Weihaiwei, the Qing army lost nearly 10,000 people, and the Japanese army lost more than 3,000 people. Although the Japanese suffered small losses, their ammunition consumption was quite expensive, especially the need to transport them from the landing site step by step, which made it more difficult for the Japanese to attack. Fortunately, otherwise it would have been difficult for the defenders to resist the Japanese offensive. (Don't ask why the Japanese army retreated when they saw reinforcements, why they didn't decide to make a surprise attack, the Japanese army in the First Sino-Japanese War was not the Japanese army we were familiar with in later generations.) ）

After the Japanese retreated, in the following ten days, the 1st Guards Division of the Italian Expeditionary Force arrived at Weihaiwei one after another, with more than 10,000 horses and their equipment, which not only made Weihaiwei impregnable, but also became a rallying point for the Qing army. That's right, this war is a war between the Qing and Japan, and if there is no Qing army, this cannot be justified.

Li Zhongtang was thoughtful, how could he let others talk like this. So under his order, the Huai army, which originally reinforced Weihaiwei, was unified under the command of Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division.

Li Zhongtang chose a naval commander to command the army?

This is also something that can't be helped, although there are many battalion leaders in the Huai army, there are few who can serve the public. Wei Rugui and Ye Zhichao have been escorted to Beijing to await punishment because they were beaten by the Japanese army. As for Nie Shicheng's lack of qualifications, plus he currently needs to defend Shengjing, he can't make the trip. Therefore, I can only order Admiral Ding's generals, and he is responsible for commanding the soldiers.

Well, this is also the best use of things, although Admiral Ding is not good at naval warfare, he is still very good at land warfare. Although this was more than ten years ago, at least when managing the various camps, Ding Ruchang was still very convincing to the public.

Of course, this matter is not easy to handle with Admiral Ding alone, and Zhou Fu, who is not the right-hand man of Lord Zhongtang, was temporarily transferred to the post of governor of Shandong to coordinate the affairs of the 1st Guards Division under the command of Major General Pulev.

"Senior Officer Zhou, are our food ready?"

In his own command post, Major General Pulev asked about Zhou Fulai. Don't blame Major General Pulev for not knowing the post of governor, because it is a bit difficult for a foreigner to know more about the official position in China, especially Pulev, who has only just arrived. So he can only use the official position he understands to put on Zhou Fu.

After the interpreter passed on Major General Pulev's words to Zhou Fu, he opened his mouth. "General Plev, what you need is ready. 30,000 shells, and 3 million rounds of ammunition, we have already transported them to the city of Tianjin. In addition, 5,000 quintals of rice and flour, 1,000 cattle and sheep, and 3,000 horses have already reached most of them, so please rest assured that they will be shipped to you at the specified time. ”

Zhou Fu's words gave the translator a little headache, after all, he didn't know how to translate with this kind of measurement. But fortunately, he converted it to express it in tons.

Major General Pulev was very satisfied after listening to Zhou Fu's answer, only to see him nod. "Very well, as long as you can deliver the supplies on time, then the attack on the Japanese army will proceed as scheduled."

After listening to Pulev's words, Ding Ruchang on the side said happily. "In this way, our army will not let go of this group of Oriental pirates."

Ding Ruchang's words made Major General Pulev look at him, although he didn't want to admit it, but after several days of observation, he thought that if there were no these friendly troops to drag down, the 1st Guards Division would be more relaxed.

Don't blame Pulev for thinking so, because after arriving in Weihaiwei, he spent most of his time observing his own allies, except for dealing with the affairs of the 1st Guards Division. He was very dissatisfied with the result, his own friendly forces were really bad. If he had followed his opinion, all of them should have been disbanded, and none of them would have been left behind.

According to statistics, more than 60% of these friendly troops have been in the army for less than three months, and one-third of them still use cold weapons, and among the hot weapons, there are homemade earthen guns, as well as hundreds of years old arquebuses, and there are also many single-shot rifles, of course, there are also advanced rifles, but the number is not much, only about 2,000 people.

Moreover, in addition to their lack of training, these people also have a rather fatal problem, that is, they do not understand modern military theories, and they learn tactics from decades ago.

The training of platoon shooting, he saw too much in Weihaiwei. This is not bad, the soldiers who use cold weapons also train the ancient cold weapon combat methods.

Of course, the Weihai Guard garrison is still good, but this is only good when it has strong fortifications, and if it is out of the fortifications, its training and lack of technology and tactics are just as serious.

It can be said unceremoniously that of these more than 10,000 friendly troops, he only needs one reinforced regiment to defeat them all. Because even if they are given enough weapons, these people still won't use them, and they won't use them correctly to achieve the desired effect.

Pulev now understands a little why the Japanese army is so effective in the Qing army, which is completely a foil for friendly forces.

Of course Pulev thinks so, but he can't do it. I saw him smile and say to Ding Ruchang. "General Ding, when the time comes, I hope that Your Excellency's army can protect my flank, and in order to improve the training level of your army, I hope to be able to send a regiment to help your army reorganize before the war."

The meaning of Pulev's words, how could the two of them not understand, this is obviously not optimistic about them. However, it is normal not to be optimistic, there can be a regiment of more than 2,000 foreign soldiers to help, and those Qiu Ba can also have some confidence.

"Thank you General Plev for your help."

Zhou Fu took Ding Ruchang and thanked Major General Pulev together.

Then Major General Pulev called Kosenz.

"Lieutenant Colonel Kosenz, your 4th Regiment is responsible for training our friendly troops, and when we attack, for protecting our flanks."

Although he was assigned to train friendly troops to protect the flanks, what else could Kosenz say, he could only accept.

After all, his four regiments are the weakest in combat effectiveness, and he has the least qualifications, so what do you want to do if you don't do this.

"Yes, Commander."

With a stomach full of depression, the head of the Kosenz regiment left.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked out of the division commander's room, he was stopped.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cosenz, wait a minute."

I saw an officer walking in front of him with a slightly chubby Qing countryman.

"Lieutenant Colonel Cosenz, this Lieutenant Colonel Yuan is the person sent by the Qing State to connect with you, if you have any requirements in the future, you can convey them through this Lieutenant Colonel Yuan."

Well, it's still that question, the officer surnamed Yuan's position The officer in the division department didn't understand it, but in view of the principle of reciprocity, he casually gave him the position of lieutenant colonel, regardless of whether the Qing army had the rank of lieutenant colonel.

When Kosenz heard that it was an officer who was docking with Qing Guo, he immediately showed a smile. "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Yuan."

"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Kosentz, you can call me Yuan Weiting."

This lieutenant colonel named Yuan Weiting, whose mouth of Italian surprised Kosenz a little, and it was the first time he had seen someone who could speak Italian in the Qing Kingdom, except for a translator.

This time, Cosentz's smile was much more sincere, "Lieutenant Colonel Yuan, you speak Italian well." ”

"Thank you!"