Chapter 97 Third Town

An attack that was originally just fire reconnaissance turned into a forced attack. More importantly, it was taken down with small casualties, which surprised Liu Fu himself. Originally, he was ready to send one or two platoons to reinforce the north after seeing that the bandits behind the low wall were forced to blow up one side. In the direction of the ditch, and then launch an attack as the direction of the main attack.

But before he sent reinforcements, the second row took down the low wall position defended by the bandits. After getting this position, it almost opened the passage to attack Hongjiatun from the north and obtained a forward stronghold to directly attack the hinterland of Hongjiatun.

Next, as long as they are forced step by step, the remaining 200 bandits will either be killed one by one, or run east and fall into the ambush of Meng Enyuan's cavalry.

"That Hezhi did a good job this time!" Liu Fufu is relatively satisfied with Xi Hezhi's performance, and he has already wanted to mention his name in this war report.

A few days later, the battle report recording Xi Hezhi's name had appeared on Zhao Dongyun's table. In this war report on the suppression of the northward detachment to encircle and suppress Lv Shuanggun, the names of the two grassroots officers Xi Hezhi and Wei Anpo appeared many times. Meng Enyuan repeatedly mentioned that Wei Anpo's mortar team practiced and the results of the battle Quite good. In the two days before and after the expropriation of Lv Shuanggun, more than 200 shells were fired, creating a favorable opportunity for the victory of the encirclement and suppressing. Xi He knew that this was just a platoon officer, and the most basic officers in the Beiyang system also led their troops to break through the bandit positions twice, killing and wounding hundreds of bandits at the cost of one person and injuring less than ten.

Although there are more than 1,000 troops involved in the fight against bandits this time, only the mortar team and a team of infantry under Liu Fu's subordinates actually participated in the actual combat, among which the second platoon of the left team has been under the main attack task on the front line.

Zhao Dongyun also wrote down the names of these grassroots officers emerging from his subordinates one by one, and he will remember their promotion and appointment in the future.

Zhao Dongyun doesn't care much about the detailed history of the battle. These detailed tactical passages are what those grassroots officers need to pay attention to. Zhao Dongyun should pay attention to the casualty rate and the final results. In addition, he will also pay attention to the role played in various new tactics adopted by the army, but these things need to be more It will be known only when it is summarized and reported by the Education Section.

In this war report, among the many troops under Meng Enyuan's jurisdiction, a total of three were killed, 17 seriously injured, minor injuries, more than 270 grains were consumed, more than 2,000 machine gun bullets and more than 20,000 rifle bullets. The result was the killing of more than 150 bandits and the capture of more than 200 bandits, including the wounded. More than 90 Russian Mosinagan rifles, more than 5,000 Russian smokeless bullets, more than 300 miscellaneous old guns, more than 10,000 miscellaneous bullets, and then more than 600 horses were captured. After testing, more than 200 of them can be used as riding horses, and the remaining 400 can be used as Used by horse-puller.

All of the above are normal seizures. Those guns, including Mosinagan, can only be thrown into the warehouse, and the only ones available are those horses.

In addition, more importantly, they have collected a lot of floating wealth and goods from Hongjiatun, which are generally worth at least 70,000 taels of silver.

Seeing this 70,000 taels of silver, Zhao Dongyun's face couldn't help changing. He didn't expect to make so much money as a bandit, but he didn't expect to make more money by suppressing bandits!

"With this amount of money, it is estimated that it will not be a problem to purchase dozens of mortars!" Zhao Dongyun put down the war report and said to Lin Yongquan beside him, "The money for purchasing mortars and shells is also available. Have you finished the establishment of the mortar team?"

Lin Yongquan said: "Because the mortar is a new business, it first imitates the formation of the artillery battalion, but the mortars are light, and at the same time, because the range is too close and they need to be deployed, so colleagues in the education department believe that the mortars should not be integrated into the artillery team and field artillery to fight together. You can imitate the machine gun team, independently train it into a battalion, train intensively at ordinary times, and fight for all troops in wartime!"

Zhao Dongyun nodded: "Oh, that's okay, but how to match it in wartime? How about the specific preparation?

Lin Yongquan said: "According to the actual combat situation of Hongjiatun, the rapid fire of mortars is extremely fast, and a team of six is enough to meet the support needs of a battalion, so each battalion can be equipped with a team of six mortars in the battle! In the early stage, the military resources are insufficient, so you can practice one battalion and four teams first, and then dispatch each battalion in wartime.

After hearing this, Zhao Dongyun said, "The mortars are firing extremely fast and consume a lot of ammunition. Are there too many six guns in this battalion? Can the battalion's logistics force bear it at that time?"

Lin Yongquan looked embarrassed after hearing this: "We have not discussed this logistics in detail for the time being, but it should not be a problem!"

Zhao Dongyun's face changed: "If there is a problem, there is a problem. If there is no problem, there is no problem!"

"Logistics is the top priority. Don't neglect it. You can straighten out this part of logistics!" Zhao Dongyun was already dissatisfied when he said this.

It has become more and more difficult for Lin Yongquan to satisfy him recently. When he was still building a new machine gun camp, Lin Yongquan's ability was not bad, but by the period of the Third Association, his ability, experience and other shortcomings have shown problems, but it is acceptable. However, since the Third Association became the Third Mixed Association, Zhao Dongyun's stalls have become larger and larger. There is not only only the troops of the Third Mixed Association itself, but also a supplementary bid. At the same time, Zhao Dongyun also supervises the Jinzhou patrol battalion. The total strength of the old army of the new army, the auxiliary soldiers and other additionally, the number of people under his management has been 9,000. Many people are more than 2,000 more than the 7,000 people who came to Jinzhou.

Almost all the sundries of such a large army, including recruits, training and other affairs, are managed by the education department, and it has become more and more difficult to support many complicated affairs of the education department with Lin Yongquan's ability and experience.

Maybe it's time to split the education section and find a professional chief of staff supervision office. He felt that he needed more and more a professional chief of staff to assist him. Otherwise, if he continued like this, sooner or later there would be problems. Lin Yongquan was still suitable for ordinary operations and other miscellaneous affairs. The recruitment and training of new recruits are good everywhere, but they are very insufficient when it comes to troop formation, development direction and operational command.

At this time, Lin Yongquan did not know that Zhao Dongyun had the idea of splitting the education department, so he could only continue to answer, "Yongquan knows, I will do this when I go back!"

Zhao Dongyun said again at this time, "The first battalion and four teams, each team's six teams are too large. If there are only four teams, it is difficult to give six battalions in wartime."

As Zhao Dongyun spoke, he picked up a pen and paper to write and drew pictures on paper. He was initially calculating the cost of training the mortar force and his own logistical capacity. Naturally, the mortar could not play the advantage of low price, but it can't be more. Although the mortar is not expensive, it can't withstand the launch. There are too many shells, which is too much pressure on logistics, and it is also a challenge to military spending.

"Today's 80mm mortar can be imitated by the formation of the artillery team, with four units, four teams and one battalion. However, because the mortar needs to cooperate with the infantry, this mortar battalion can be directly under the jurisdiction of the infantry standard, and it will be called by the infantry standard in wartime!" Zhao Dongyun's words not only reduced the formation of the mortar team, but also further increased the direct allocation of infantry targets.

In today's Beiyang military system, the fire support of the three-level troops of the standard, association and town is generally the direct field artillery. Although the mortar is powerful, it is limited by its range and in order to better play its high mobility, it is destined to be only the support firepower below the standard, unless it is the 120 of later generations. Large-caliber mortars above millimeters, otherwise there is no need to be directly under the jurisdiction of the town.

"First, practice a battalion for the ninth and tenth standards, and the follow-up funds are not so tight, and then add a battalion as a supplementary standard!"

After hearing this, Lin Yongquan secretly said to himself: In this way, the two battalions will have 32 mortars and train 800 new recruits. If there are 560,000 taels of silver, I'm afraid they won't even be able to get up.

If he knows, Zhao Dongyun also plans to purchase 60mm and 120mm mortars in large quantities.

Although Fuyuan Machine Factory only has 80mm mortars at present, their barrel is imported anyway, so there is not much technical difference between 80mm and 60mm or even 120mm. Now Fuyuan Machine Factory has heard that the 80mm mortars are stable and their performance can be used. , which has been quickly called the 80mm mortar for the benefit of 80mm mortar. At the same time, according to the design of this mortar, the 60mm mortar has been developed.

It is expected that in the near future, Zhao Dongyun's Third Mixed Association will be able to form different firepower networks with mortars of different calibers.

After sending Lin Yongquan away, Zhao Dongyun began to reply to Meng Enyuan. This time, Meng Enyuan captured more bandits, and the reason why these Lv Shuanggun bandits were captured was that they took the initiative to surrender after being stunned, so it was not easy to deal with them as the previous bandits.

In the battle of Hongjiatun, the main battle took place two days ago. When the combat effectiveness of these two days was Lv Shuanggun and the bandits were not afraid to die, but in order to avoid the fate of the destruction of the whole army, they were finally forced to put down their weapons and surrender.

Meng Enyuan wrote that under the fierce fire attack of his side, the bandits suffered as many as 40% casualties but still did not disperse. This was replaced by other bandits and even those regular troops, which probably collapsed long ago, and then Lv Shuanggun was able to keep his men to hold on and finally surrendered. He surrendered under the leadership of Lu Shuanggun, the bandit leader.

That is to say, although they were defeated, they were not beaten and collapsed, which is very difficult for a bandit force.

And after surrendering, Lv Shuanggun and several other bandit leaders expressed their willingness to return to the officers and soldiers to serve the service of dogs and horses.

This made Zhao Dongyun hesitate. He had also thought about the collection of bandits before, but he found that it was not very cost-effective. More importantly, he did not know how long he could stay in the northeast. If he was transferred back to the customs after the Russo-Japanese War, the bandits could not be taken away. In addition, the combat effectiveness of the bandits is really not flattering. What Zhao Dongyun wants is not a waste army, but a new army with combat effectiveness. The formations adapted by those bandits are at best at the level of a patrol battalion, which is of little use.

However, seeing Meng Enyuan's letter saying that the bandits under Lv Shuanggun could not collapse with 40% of casualties, he couldn't help but be curious. Lv Shuanggun is a figure. If there is such a bandit force led by a bandit, he can also eliminate other bandits in northern Jinzhou after his own. Helpful.

"Lv's Ministry is willing to take effect, so he can first arrange a cavalry team to temporarily supervise the Jinzhou patrol camp!" Zhao Dongyun did not oppose Meng Yuan's proposal to collect Lv Shuanggun, but he did not directly classify the bandits of Lv Shuanggun into the third standard of the cavalry, but to the Jinzhou patrol camp. On the one hand, he avoided letting Lv Shuangqiang and other bandits affect the atmosphere and quality of the new army cavalry. On the other hand, it was also to enrich the Jinzhou patrol. The strength of the defense battalion is to ask General Shengjing for more military expenses.

A few days ago, he was still alive and killed. As soon as he turned around, he became a friendly army, which made the soldiers and bandits on both sides very uncomfortable!

However, the next work of suppressing bandits in northern Jinzhou is progressing smoothly. Lv Shuangqiang and others are naturally clear about the bandits there. In order to show loyalty, they are even more the first. Without Meng Enyuan's new army to take action, he took away several bandit nests and let the Third Mixed Association harvest a lot of money. .

When Zhao Dongyun was busy expanding his army and suppressing bandits, time gradually entered the deep season, and at this time, another big event happened in China.

On October 14, 1903, the Qing court officially established the 'Training Office' to coordinate the training of the national new army.

The early appearance of the training office is also one of the butterfly effects caused by Zhao Dongyun's arrival. Zhao Dongyun's rapid rise in the Beiyang system has caused the pace of expansion of the Beiyang army much faster than in history. Historically, Yuan Shikai did not initially compile the three towns of the Beiyang Standing Army until 1904, and half of them The number is still empty. However, by the summer of 1903, the Beiyang Standing Army already had two towns and a mixed association.

The acceleration of the expansion of the Beiyang army naturally further accelerated the pace of the Qing court's training of the new army and the collection of military power in local provinces. It is not surprising that this training office appeared in advance.

It is worth noting that in addition to the nominal supreme prime minister, Prince Qing Yiqian, only Tieliang is barely a non-Beiyang faction. However, he was also recommended by Yuan Shikai to become the minister of Xiang Office, and the rest are all Beiyang officials, among which will be handled. It was Yuan Shikai, who was transferred to Xu Shichang, the staff of Yuan Shikai. The military and political department was Liu Yongqing, and the deputy envoy was Yuan Shikai's staff Lu Jiagu. The military order department was Duan Qirui and the deputy envoy was Feng Guozhang. The military secretary was the candidate Wang Shizhen, and the deputy envoy was Lu Jianzhang.

As soon as the training office was established, Yuan Shikai rudely asked for the expansion of the army and put forward a plan to train the four towns of the Beiyang Standing Army.

This is what the chapter says: When the four towns are trained for standby, the original first town and the second town remain the same. Check the third mixed association to Jinzhou to supplement the two battalions, reorganize the Tangshan old army to get one battalion, and you can practice the two battalions of the artillery team and the three battalions of the foot team, and one battalion of the heavy and the project as the third town. In addition, I have sent many personnel to Shandong and Henan to recruit. Soldiers, the newly recruited soldiers plan to build a fourth town.

Zhao Dongyun had already expected that the Third Mixed Association would become the third town. Zhao Dongyun was more concerned about whether he could become the control of the third town? Or will a boss be sent to be the third town control?