Chapter 16 pointing out the country
Seeing Zhao Dongyun's inadvertent toast, Feng Guozhang was slightly stunned at first, but soon his expression recovered as usual. He also raised the wine glass in his hand and returned a glass to Zhao Dongyun.
On this occasion, Zhao Dongyun and Feng Guozhang are in a similar situation. They are not affiliated with Wang Yingkai's faction, and it is impossible to defect to Wang Yingkai. However, in the face of Wang Yingkai's personal invitation, it is difficult for them to refuse directly. They can only come to the banquet bravely, which is also since they came. Gu himself drank flower wine.
It's just that Zhao Dongyun and Feng Guozhang drink flower wine separately, but it doesn't mean that others are the same as them.
When Zhao Dongyun and Feng Guozhang talked and laughed with the beautiful women around them while drinking, the others were already full of national events, and they all began to guide the country.
Cao Kun drank two more glasses, put down his glass and suddenly patted the table. He blushed and shouted, "Those Russians really bullied people too much. Obviously, they had signed the Xinchou Agreement last year, but they still occupied the three eastern provinces and refused to leave, trying to invade my territory and yellow Russia. , it's really hateful!"
Bao Guiqing also drank too much. After hearing Cao Kun's words, he also stood up: "I want to say that when we build the standing army, we will immediately march to the northeast and drive those old hairs back to the north!"
"Our standing army has not yet formed an army. Even if it has become an army, the number is rare. I'm afraid that at least ten towns are needed to recapture the Northeast. We should write a letter to build more new army. As long as we have ten towns of the new army in Beiyang, there is no need to worry about not returning to the three eastern provinces!" He Zonglian, on the other end, also has a big tongue and dares to say anything.
Build ten new towns! Even Yuan Shikai dares not think of this kind of thing now.
Zhao Dongyun listened to these people's words and had a feeling of crying and laughing. Isn't it said that all the northern warlords are traitors? Why did he see all hot-blooded patriotic young people today, who feel like young soldiers?
Thinking of this, he can't help but think of an old saying that people will always change. Who doesn't have a young time!
Just as he lamented these messy things, Cao Kui, who was sitting next to him, turned around and said to Zhao Dongyun, "Brother Ziyang, you have served in the Prussian Army. Tell me, how many people does the Prusian Army need to defeat the 100,000 Russian army?"
While studying in Germany, Zhao Dongyun not only studied theory at the Berlin Military Academy, but also entered the Prusssian Army for an internship, which is funny. In 1900, Germany and China were at war, while Zhao Dongyun served in the Prussian Army at that time.
Zhao Dongyun paused slightly and said, "If it is Prussia's regular field army, only three divisions are enough to defeat the Russian army in the northeast!"
At this time, Cao Kun added, "Our Beiyang New Army was built by the Prussian Army. According to you, how much of the essence of the Prussian Army has our army? How many people will be needed to defeat the 100,000 Russian troops in the three eastern provinces!"
As soon as this topic came out, all the people present turned their eyes to Zhao Dongyun. Obviously, they were very concerned about the answer to this question!
Zhao Dongyun, who can obviously feel the eyes of others, sighed in his heart, should I tell the truth or keep some confidence for them?
Seeing that Zhao Dongyun was slow to answer, Wang Yingkai also said, "Dongyun, how much do you think our Beiyang new army can get the Prussian army?"
Zhao Dongyun looked around the people present at this time, and then said in a low voice, "In my Beiyang army, the vanguard is an old wine and new bottle. Although there is a new army, it is still an old army in the background. Compared with the Prussian army, I'm afraid that 20% of the fighting power is not!"
Zhao Dongyun's first sentence did not directly say that the Wuwei Right Army or the Standing Army, but about the vanguard of the Wuwei Right Army. Although this vanguard is not good, it is also a direct force of Beiyang. Naturally, we can't forget them when he said that Beiyang New Army.
However, on this occasion, there were people present by the Standing Army and the Wuwei Right Army. None of them were the vanguard of the Wuwei Right Army. In addition, Beiyang has always despised the vanguard, so everyone did not feel disgusted with Zhao Dongyun's demeaning the Wuwei Right Army vanguard, but nodded one by one. Wang Yingkai also said: "First The vanguard is indeed a little worse. If you want to fight against the army of the great powers, I'm afraid that 20% of the combat power will not be exerted!"
At this time, Zhao Dongyun continued: "On the side of the self-improvement army, not to mention the small number of people, and the camp system is similar to the pioneers, with a strong smell of the old army. Although the training and equipment are slightly better than those of the pioneers, it is also limited. If you fight, it is 20%!"
Everyone nodded again. The self-improvement army was a new army trained by Zhang Zhidong before the Gengzi Incident. It was only a few thousand people. Last year, it was tricked by Yuan Shikai to get into the Beiyang system. Today's self-improvement army in the Beiyang is naturally a serious sideline. In the hearts of the Beiyang generals, its status is even worse than that of the vanguard.
"As for our Wuwei Right Army, because it is pure Western French training, the military equipment is a new type of ordnance. Whether it is a gun or artillery, it is not inferior to the army of the great powers. If it is calculated according to the full state last year, it can be 50% of the combat strength of the Prussian Army!" Zhao Dongyun's words have obvious boasting elements, 50% combat power? This is too high for the right army of Wuwei.
However, all the people present also understand why Zhao Dongyun raised the combat effectiveness of the Wuwei Right Army, because Zhao Dongyun is a member of the Wuwei Right Army, and it would be abnormal if he did not boast about his own army.
Therefore, when everyone heard Zhao Dongyun's words, they did not directly object, but when they heard it, they consciously lowered the data mentioned by Zhao Dongyun. They felt that the Wuwei Right Army certainly did not have 50% of the German combat strength, but 30% or 40% of the combat strength should not be a big problem.
After talking about the Wuwei Right Army, Zhao Dongyun said about the Standing Army: "In terms of the newly built Beiyang Standing Army, the operation and battalion system are more reasonable than the Wuwei Right Army. As the first modern army of our army, the military has also maintained a new continuous fast guns and new artillery, and the military commanders are mostly when I trained in Beiyang Station. The old man, and the soldiers are also good family members. If I can get an adequate supply of ordnance, ammunition and food and salaries in wartime, then my standing army can be 70% of the strength of the Prussian army.
As soon as this came out, the officers of the standing army present laughed one by one. Zhao Dongyun said that the standing army had 70% of the combat strength of the German army. Even if there was another discount on this data, it made everyone very satisfied.
Of course, they all intentionally or unintentionally ignored one of the sentences in Zhao Dongyun's words: if they can get an adequate supply of ordnance, ammunition and grain in wartime!
Since ancient times, the war has been fought against logistics, and even more so in modern times. The supply of logistics directly affects the victory or defeat of the war. The question now is, can many new armies in Beiyang maintain logistics supply in the war?
Impossible!
Although the Beiyang New Army adds up to only 50,000 to 60,000, it consumes more ammunition than other troops in China, and Beiyang itself does not have a large arsenal. Not only do rifles and artillery need to be imported, but even rifle bullets and shells need to be imported. The only thing that can be self-sufficient All that is enough is food and money.
If the Beiyang New Army and the forces of the great powers engage in a high-intensity war, even if the personnel quality of the Beiyang New Army can be comparable to that of the great armies.
But even so, the ammunition stored in Beiyang will consume a light at most, and how can it be fought without ammunition?
If you want to change this situation, there can only be two ways. The first is naturally to build an arsenal, and the second is to increase imports and hoard a large amount of weapons and ammunition. The above two points are not realistic for the current Beiyang. The reason is very simple: because Yuan Shikai has no money!
As mentioned above, Yuan Shikai in 1902 was very short of money. He not only cleaned up a lot of mess in the Gengzi Incident, but also carried out the reform of the education system, developed industry and commerce, built railways, etc. Of course, more importantly, the expansion of Beiyang military power, including the expansion of the Wuwei Right Army and the reorganization of the Wuwei Right. The military vanguard, as well as the construction of the Beiyang Standing Army and the reconstruction of the Beiyang Marine Division, all cost a lot of money.
In fact, Yuan Shikai in early 1902 was proud of his appearance, but he was actually quite bitter. In addition to constantly intrigued with the Qing court, he had to wrestle with the southern governors and try to squeeze out oil and water from the southern provinces to train the new army.
Yuan Shikai, who has no money, has enough headaches to build a new army. It is impossible to spend millions to set up an arsenal or hoard a large amount of ammunition in a short period of time.
As long as there is not enough ammunition, it is false to talk about how much combat effectiveness Beiyang has.
However, tonight, everyone obviously selectively forgot this. When Zhao Dongyun said that the combat strength of the standing army could get 70% of the Prussian army, Wang Zhanyuan said: "As Brother Ziyang said, even if our military's combat strength is not as good as that of the Prussian army, even if my standing army has 50% of the Prusian army, then As long as my standing army of ten towns marches into the northeast, it will definitely break the Russians!"
"Yes, although the Russians have a lot of troops in the northeast, their Far East Railway has not been built, the logistics supply is extremely poor, and it is impossible to reinforce too many troops in a short period of time. As long as our army moves to recover the northeast quickly, it will not be a problem!" Cao Kuan also said haha.
Looking at the high-spirited look of everyone, Zhao Dongyun has an indescribable feeling. Do they really think things are that simple?
In the following time, everyone was still ** high, and Zhao Dongyun also said more or less, but he drank more. When he came out of Chongyu Tower, he walked a little shakenly.
Stepping out of the door of Chongyu Tower, the cold wind also made him slightly sober. At this time, Wang Yingkai didn't know when he came to his side.
"Do you think their words are unrealistic?" Wang Yingkai suddenly said this.
Zhao Dongyun was slightly stunned, but did not answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Do you think we can really build ten towns in a year?"
Wang Yingkai laughed and did not answer Zhao Dongyun's words, but said, "People, you always need to look forward to it!"
For a while, Zhao Dongyun seemed to understand why Cao Kui on the wine table just now rose up because Russia occupied the Northeast and did not leave. He also understood Wang Zhanyuan's brilliance when the army of ten towns swept the Northeast.
Do they really not know the current situation in China?
They know that they just don't want to admit it!
The reality is cruel enough, and there is no need to let their dreams be stained with the ugliness of reality, so their fantasy of the Beiyang New Army is invincible, and the recovery of Northeast China is just around the corner!