Chapter 11 The Battle of the King

Yuan Shikai's face was not as surprised or excited as others. His face was still full of harmony, but his words did not hide his appreciation of Zhao Dongyun: "It seems that you have also worked hard to study in Germany and did not waste Wen Zhonggong's cultivation in those years!"

As Yuan Shikai, being able to say this represents his great appreciation for Zhao Dongyun, but this is not enough. He paused for a while and said, "You can write a detailed charter for the machine gun team. I want to read it!"

Zhao Dongyun had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and immediately came forward and said, "The Ministry of Service takes the order!"

When the sound of these heavy machine guns stopped, it also meant that the live-fire exercise came to an end. Although this live-fire exercise did not last long, it left a deep impression on everyone!

This exercise in the winter of 1901 can be said to have been carried out with a vigorous preparation in the early stage, but the real exercise ended insipidly. Zhao Dongyun used heavy machine guns to defend the No. 4th and No. 5 small highlands, firmly guarded the front passage of the southern army's attack on Ping Villa, forcing the southern army to During the five-day exercise, they were planning how to break through the machine gun position held by Zhao Dongyun. Finally, at the end of the exercise, the exercise court ruled that the Northern Army's defense was successful. At the same time, it ruled that the Confederate Army suffered more than 2,000 casualties when attacking Heights 4 and 5!

Although this was not a real battle, the exercise with great results still caused a great shock. Even before the exercise was over, Duan Qirui, Wang Yingkai, Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen and others successively wrote to Yuan Shikai requesting the official start of the machine gun team.

As Zhao Dongyun, who set off a machine gun storm, also ushered in a great opportunity!

At the end of the exercise, he was officially appointed as the second battalion commander. The word 'temporary signature', which made Zhao Dongyun extremely embarrassed, was finally removed. However, Zhao Dongyun was very clear that he removed the word interim signature and officially appointed himself as the second battalion commander of the right wing, which had been determined at the beginning of the exercise. It can be said that as long as Zhao Dongyun does not make mistakes in the previous exercise and shows a normal level, the word 'temporary signature' will be removed.

However, Zhao Dongyun's performance in this exercise is far more than normal. His machine gun team can be said to have brightened the eyes of Yuan Shikai and others. What surprised Yuan Shikai and others was not only the power of machine guns, but also the specific tactics of using machine guns.

Everyone knows the power of the machine gun, but what should this machine gun be used for? What tactics should be used? Nowadays, there are only a handful of soldiers who know these in China, and even few people around the world know what tactics should be used to maximize machine gun firepower.

For example, the oblique cross-shooting used by Zhao Dongyun in the previous exercise, the application tactic of this heavy machine gun only appeared during World War I, because the soldiers at that time found that the machine gun was not effective in shooting towards the front. Instead, if they were shot towards the side, they had to fall down as soon as they swept the enemy, so that the side slowly developed side Wing crossfire tactics. But now it is only 1901, and everyone's understanding of machine guns is still in the initial state. Generally speaking, they only know that the speed of machine guns is so fast. As for others, we don't know much about it, otherwise the number of heavy machine guns of the great powers of various countries before World War I will not be so small.

Zhao Dongyun's chance is that he knows this!

As the saying goes, a successful person is not done by others, and others don't understand, and Zhao Dongyun understands it. This is his advantage, and it is also a unique advantage!

Behind the curtain of the Baoding Winter Exercise, Yuan Shikai finally officially submitted to the Qing court and requested to train the Beiyang Standing Army!

In fact, before Yuan Shi officially reported, the preparation of the standing army in Beiyang had already begun. Wang Shizhen, Wang Yingkai and other Beiyang heavyweight generals had begun to go to various places to recruit new soldiers as a few months ago. At the same time, the scheduled officers of all levels were basically in place. It can be said that the overall frame of the Beiyang Standing Army The son has already been set up, and there is only a formal name left.

The Qing court was very contradictory about Yuan Shikai's request to expand the Beiyang army. On the one hand, they needed Yuan Shikai's army to control the capital. However, on the other hand, they were also uneasy about Yuan Shikai's control of so many troops, so the magnate magnates in the court were approving Yuan Shikai's establishment of Bei At the same time, the foreign standing army also asked Yuan Shikai to help train a Beijing flag standing army.

At the same time, the Qing court also officially ordered the provinces to follow the example of Beiyang and Nanyang to prepare for the old courage and practice. Of course, only God knows whether they can practice it.

It is a big deal to prepare for the establishment of the Beiyang Standing Army. Almost during this period, the whole Beiyang has been running for it. As a middle-level officer under the Beiyang system, it is naturally impossible for Zhao Dongyun to promote the general development that affects these things, but Zhao Dongyun has already played a role in some related small things, such as heavy machine guns. It came out with the influence it should have and changed history a little.

Zhili Governor's Office.

Zhao Dongyun sat up straight, turned his head slightly and looked at Yuan Shikai, who was at the top, and looked respectfully listening.

"According to Engely, France, Prussia, Russia and other European powers have set up machine gun teams. Not only that, even the East Japan has set up a machine gun team, so naturally we can't fall behind!" Speaking of this, Yuan Shikai looked around and immediately glanced at Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and others, but in the end, he focused on Zhao Dongyun, who was sitting at the bottom: "The machine gun team is going to do, but what to do is a problem, Dongyun, please talk about it!"

Zhao Dongyun knows that his main task today has come. He can sit with Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and others today to have a meeting with Yuan Shikai. This does not mean that he is qualified to sit with the above people, but today's meeting is for machine guns, and the Beiyang army is now going to If you start the gun, then you can't avoid Zhao Dongyun, so he can sit with the bosses today. After all, although he is not qualified to talk about other topics, he still has a sufficient say in what to do with the machine gun team.

So he came today mainly to explain the detailed regulations of the machine gun team.

Zhao Dongyun immediately stood up and looked around at you before he said, "According to the investigation of the Ministry, the English Army's machine guns are set up in the battalion, two in each battalion, and so is its Prussian Army. There are 24 organic guns in a town. Based on this, the number of machine guns of our army should be quite a lot!

However, now our army knows that there are few sergeants in machine gun tactics, and it is extremely difficult to train personnel. It takes at least a month to train a skilled machine gunner, even if it is a live-fire drill every day; and it takes at least a machine gun commander, even from the existing grassroots army. Selective training will take at least three months; if you want to train a machine gun leader who can command a machine gun team, it is no less difficult than training a gun team leader!"

Sure enough, Yuan Shikai and others frowned slightly after hearing Zhao Dongyun's words. If the training of a machine gunner only takes a month and they can accept it, then Zhao Dongyun said that the difficulty of training the leader of a machine gun team is the same as the leader of the training artillery team, then for Beiyang It's very difficult.

"Due to the difficulty of training the machine gun team, the machine gun team can be concentrated in one place for training in the early stage, and then assigned to each army after its initial success, which can also greatly speed up the time for the formation of the machine gun team to form combat power!"

This is not what Zhao Dongyun said, but that after he did not want to set off the trend of setting up a machine gun team by himself, the armies would train separately, and in that case, Zhao Dongyun would have nothing to do.

If the machine gun force is gathered together, then Zhao Dongyun hopes to be in charge of this machine gun force.

At this time, Duan Qirui interrupted and said, "Dongyun is right. If the machine gun team can set up a battalion following the example of the artillery team under the artillery battalion, it can effectively and greatly speed up the formation of the machine gun team."

Duan Qirui's words not only affirmed Zhao Dongyun's centralized training, but also added his own private goods, that is, he proposed that the machine gun team should belong to the artillery. And he naturally said it not nonsense, but for his own reasons.

Duan Qirui's status in the Beiyang system is very special, which is roughly equivalent to the artillery commander-in-chief of the Beiyang New Army. Whether it is the Wuwei right army, the vanguard or the standing army, as long as it is related to the artillery, he is basically under his control, and he swung up the ranking of all the real power bosses in the today's Beiyang system. It used to be the first.

Later generations knew about the three heroes of Beiyang, but few people knew that in the early days of the Beiyang New Army, Duan Qirui and Wang Yingkai were Yuan Shikai's confidants. Feng Guozhang was not accepted by Yuan Shikai until the Boxer Rebellion, that is, on the eve of the Gengzi Incident, and officially stepped into the ranks of the senior officials of Beiyang. As for Wang Shizhen, he wanted to be more Later, it was not until two years after the Gengzi Incident that he gradually entered the core high-level of Beiyang.

Today in 1902, in fact, another boss in Beiyang who can compete with Duan Qirui is Wang Yingkai.

Although Wang Yingkai is not famous in later generations, he is an important general in the early Beiyang New Army. In terms of power status, he is not inferior to Duan Qirui!

Before his death in 1908, one of the two major factions in Beiyang was Duan Qirui and the other was Wang Yingkai. This can be seen from the historical autumn of 1905 when he and Duan Qirui served as the control of the Southern Army and the Northern Army respectively. After 1911, Feng Guozhang was so strong in the future because he took over the original power of Wang Yingkai. In the future, direct generals such as Wang Zhanyuan, Sun Chuanfang and others turned out to be Wang Yingkai's subordinates. To some extent, the dispute between direct Anhui throughout the Republic of China for more than 20 years began with Duan Qi in the early days of the Beiyang New Army. The battle between Rui and Wang Yingkai.

Now that the Beiyang Standing Army has been built, middle-level officers such as Zhao Dongyun want to seek a practical military position. However, Duan Qirui and Wang Yingkai are competing for the leading power of the Beiyang Standing Army. In such a process, Duan Qirui has to constantly increase his share in Yuan Shikai's mind. Quantity.

And put the machine gun team under the artillery. In the future, when the machine gun team becomes an army, he can get extra points in Yuan Shikai's heart!

Wang Yingkai, who was a little fat, took a look at Duan Qirui, and then coughed and said, "Zhiquan is right. The machine gun team is now in the beginning. It should concentrate on training first and be assigned to each department in the future. However, the machine gun team will be assigned to each battalion in the future. It is impossible for the leaders of those battalions to not know what the machine guns are. "