Chapter 13 Beiyang Opportunities

Wang Shizhen, the Beiyang dragon, scolded him, and even Xu Shuzheng did not dare to contradict him, so he had to keep looking at Duan Qirui for help. Duan Qirui seemed to have not seen it, and just held the teacup and sipped it there, not knowing what he was planning.

When Wang Shizhen saw Duan Qirui giving him face and said nothing, his face slowed down. Unlike Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, his Beiyang dragon has no strength and naturally does not have so many small calculations, so he is thinking about the problem completely from the perspective of the Beiyang system. He also read the "On the War and Saving the Country" when he was idle. Although he was suspected of talking about it on paper, he was indeed helping Beiyang to provide advice! The starting point is always good, so he actually had a good impression of Chang Ruiqing and others who proposed this letter. After all, this year and month, they were opposed to Beiyang or dig up the corners of Beiyang. How many people really want to help Beiyang?

Zhang Xun on the other side didn't speak. Zhang Bianshuai had never heard of "Theory of Participating in the War and Saving the Country". But it was not a good thing! Well, if you say saving the country, you are not a good person. The Kuomintang just keeps talking about this kind of sayings every day? But Xiao Xu is Duan Qirui's heart after all. It's better not to be guilty or not, so he kept drinking tea there.

The room was extremely quiet. After a long time, I heard Duan Qirui coughing, nodding to Wang Shizhen, and smiled bitterly: "If we don't be the Prime Minister, we don't know how strong our country is. The little hope of self-improvement has been blocked by the great powers with various treaties. Now this European war has given us a little chance to Beiyang and open a hole." He sneered: "I have seen the international affairs over the years. In the final analysis, it is just a comparison of who is harder! And isn't this fist an army? If we can train millions of elite soldiers in the name of participating in the European war! Do those foreign powers in the East dare to treat us like this? As for whether we should send these millions of elite soldiers to Europe, we can't help but those foreigners?"

A trace of hesitation flashed across Wang Shizhen's face and asked slowly: "If we go back on our word, can those great powers let us go?"

Duan Qirui touched his two small beards and said with a contemptuous look: "We don't say no, we just want to drag it down. We are good at this matter! If we really can't delay, we will send tens of thousands of people to Europe to deal with it. After a while, the European war will almost end. If Germany wins, the British and French powers do not have the strength to cause trouble. If Britain, France and Russia win, we will declare war and send troops. They can't send troops to conquer just because we are slower in sending troops, right? I heard that Britain and France are all democratic constitutional, and they are the system that the people have the final say. Now the people in their place have regretted this time of European war. How could they promise the government to continue to fight endlessly?"

"That's the truth, but there are different opinions among the great powers!" Wang Shizhen reminded in a deep voice: "That Japan probably doesn't want us to train millions of elite soldiers by participating in the war, right?"

"Teacher, the key is our Beiyang!" Xu Shuzheng took over this question. He calculated Wang Shizhen with his fingers: "Although Japan is known as a great power, their national strength cannot be compared with Britain and France, especially their navy. Although the Japanese defeated us and the Russian fleet in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and Russo-Japanese War, it is still vulnerable to the British Empire's navy! After defeating the German team in the Jutland Battle from May 31 to June 1, the British Navy has firmly controlled the sea power of the North Sea and has the strength to send a fleet to the East. As long as Britain and France decide to let us send a large army to Europe to participate in the war, Japan will not dare to react too much. At most, it will make some small moves in private.

Therefore, the key to China's participation in the European War this time is not Japan's opposition, but our Beiyang's own performance! Whether our Beiyang can unite and support participating in the war is the key to whether Britain and France will support China in the European War! Because as long as the Beiyang is united, the central government will have the ability to recruit and train a real army! Only then can we have value worthy of investment in Britain and France."

As he said that, Xu Shuzheng hugged Zhang Xun and said sincerely: "Xuan Shuai (Zhang Xun's name is Shaoxuan), you are now the leader of the seven provinces alliance and the leader of the governor of our Beiyang system. If you can take the lead in announcing the support of the State Council's claim to declare war on Germany, our governor of the Beiyang system will definitely follow us. At that time, the British and French powers will see our determination to join the war!"

"Yes, Xuan Shuai, the situation of our Beiyang ZTE is in your hands!"

"As long as Xuan Shuai shook his head, it would be a response from the world. Who else has such prestige besides Xuan Shuai?"

As soon as Xu Shuzheng finished speaking, several Beiyang generals in the room also agreed, and all the words were persuaded to take the lead in supporting the declaration of war on Germany.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Xun's expression became cold, but he just looked at Duan Qirui coldly. It turned out that Duan Qirui invited him and the governor to Beijing for a meeting this time. He really wanted to use them, such as the governors from other provinces, to suppress Beijing's President Li Yuanhong, and a vote of Kuomintang lawmakers who specifically sang against the State Council system to agree to participate in the war.

He took a deep breath, and the expression on his face returned to normal, and he forced a smile: "I am grateful to you for your respect for me, Mr. Zhang, but the matters in the Federations of various provinces and regions are not something I can decide on in one sentence, and I have to listen to opinions from many parties. As for the declaration of war on Germany, I still have to think carefully, after all, the matter of participating in the war is not a joke."

After saying that, he got up and bowed to Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen bowed, ignored Xu Shuzheng and others, and went out alone.

...

"Brother Tiezhu, has Lingtang's illness improved?"

Chang Ruiqing was wearing ordinary soldier clothes, with a hypocritical expression of concern on his face. He was looking at the queue, a seventeen-year-old soldier who was in gratitude and tears, asking what he was asking. Several officers from the model battalion followed him, secretly admiring his boss's skills to win people's hearts with small favors!

These days, as long as Chang Ruiqing has the ability to spend time, he will spend with hundreds of soldiers in the Model Battalion. He will talk to them one by one, and he will talk to them with a heart-to-heart talk with them carefully. He will ask about the situation in their homes carefully. If the other party is really in trouble, he will immediately donate generously. Just like this little soldier now, our battalion commander Chang Da heard that there was a high hall in his house where he was ill in bed, and without saying a word, he took out a few dollars for him to take home to buy medicine for the old lady to see a doctor.

Of course, Chang Ruiqing still understands the principle of both being strong and kind. Although he is so kind to the soldiers now, he will be trained later, but he really wants to be ruthless, and the military sticks are punished corporally without any mercy! Battalion Commander Chang's military pay of 480 cents a month, as well as the food that is full of white flour, fat meat, and full food is not so easy to earn!

Chang Ruiqing spent a lot of effort on how to train this battalion, who has long been regarded as "personal political capital", to train. In addition to the necessary queues and physical training, Chang Ruiqing attaches most importance to thorns and shooting training. Among them, thorns and shooting training is particularly strict, and there is no way to do it. If you want to train shooting with bullets, there is no such condition for the cooperation of guns and multiple armies. For the army of the Republic of China at present, the most reliable thing is hand-to-blade assault!

Therefore, the hand-to-hand combat training of the Model Battalion is completely practiced according to the standards in the Japanese Army Infantry Training Code, and all the officers leading the team must come out to teach training skills in person. For new recruits who fail to pass the sting training, you have no discussion on how to beat the military stick with a stick!

Although our Battalion Commander Chang already considers himself a red revolutionary, he still has a reactionary officer's style in the army no matter how he looks at it.

The recruit with the nickname Tiezhu and Zhang Tiezhu in front of him naturally fooled Chang Ruiqing. While crying, he patted his chest and shouted: "Okay, my mother's illness has been cured. My mother also asked someone to send a message to me to work hard for Commander Chang and help Commander Chang conquer the world!"
Chapter completed!