Song Biao had already had lunch, but Jiang Yanxing and the others definitely had not. It was a long and dusty journey to get here. The road was really not easy to walk. They were waiting for the new chief instructor Major Denikin and the new chief instructor sent by the Tsarist Russian Far East Army Headquarters.

After Major Legovich of the Cossack Cavalry arrived, the luncheon at the division headquarters was also prepared.

Since there was a Russian chef in the division, Song Biao treated everyone to a feast of Chinese and Western dishes. Each person had a plate of steak, eight meat and vegetable hot dishes and six cold dishes, as well as four jars of Shaodaozi liquor and two bottles of

Russian Volga.

Everyone was chatting while eating. Since they were all in the military, they must be interested in the battle at Heigoutai that Song Biao won. They all wanted to ask Song Biao to talk about the battle at Heigoutai in detail. Song Biao did not refuse.

He did not add any jealousy or highlight his own opinions. He made a very objective evaluation of the tactics and combat levels of the Japanese and Russian armies. It was regarded as a tactical explanation class for Jiang Fangzhen, Cai E and others.

Major Denikin and Major Legevich were just spectators and could not understand much Chinese, not to mention the Hunan and Zhejiang dialects mixed in. They left early in advance. After they left, Cai E looked particularly curious and asked Song Biao

He said: "General Song, where did you learn modern military theory? I heard that you quoted the theory of foreign affairs several times in your speech?"

Almost all the theories cited by Song Biao came from Suvorov's "The Science of Victory", and only one sentence was taken from "Introduction to the Art of War". After thinking about it for a while, he first asked Cai E: "

What theories did you learn in Japan?"

Cai E said: "The Japanese army has its own compiled theories, but they mainly promote Clausewitz's "On War". We also mainly study "On War", and the other is "Sun Tzu's Art of War" annotated by the Japanese themselves.

And the French's "Introduction to the Art of War", in addition to "The Theory of Five Wheels". But I'm afraid this thing is only interesting to them."

Song Biao nodded slightly, but said: "This shows that you have not learned it well. The sentence I said, 'The best defense is offense, and all defense must serve the offense' comes from Jomini's "Introduction to the Art of War"

The preface and final summary also appear twice in the article. The two introductions to Western military that I admire most are the "Science of Victory" by Russian commander Suvorov and "Introduction to the Art of War" by Jomini. Clausewitz

"On War" is also worthy of admiration, but there are some trade-offs. In short, these are the three books at most."

Cai E became more and more curious and asked: "Where did the general learn these theories?"

Song Biao simply replied: "I know Russian, I can just teach myself. Before you came, I was still reading the Russian version of "On War". I will take a look when I have time. Think about it. I really want to understand it all.

If you do it, you will have a more comprehensive understanding of war, but that's all. Whether you can truly lead troops to fight does not depend on theory, but on courage and experience."

Everyone listened to these words and nodded silently in acknowledgement.

Feeling that the conversation with them was almost over, and that he was really in urgent need of people, Song Biao took this opportunity to ask everyone: "Now you almost know what I think. I am really in short supply right now."

I am in urgent need of your help, so I wonder if you would be willing to serve me as an officer?"

Jiang Yanxing immediately smiled and said: "We are just waiting for what the general says. As long as you want us, we will get it."

Cai E also said: "That's exactly it."

Song Biao smiled and said: "Then let's just slap each other, I want it. You want to stay! Okay, then let's just talk about salary, position, duties and powers. This is the most realistic

Things are the foundation for everyone to show off what they have learned. Let's do it. You are all talents that I want to keep at all costs. You can tell yourself what you want to do with me. As long as you don't want to be a military commander or something like that,

Everything is fine.”

Everyone was even more happy when they heard this. Except for Zhang Xiaohuai and Jiang Fangzhen who had just graduated, these people actually had errands within the Manchu Qing court, but these errands were definitely not satisfactory to them, because almost all of them were instructors.

They are generally not allowed to be reused and are far from their original dreams.

Jiang Yanxing immediately said: "General Song, I am now a candidate for General Manager Qian. If you have a company commander's job here, I will definitely do it here. No matter how good the treatment and position provided elsewhere, I will not do it."

not going."

This is the case in China right now. These graduates are looking for jobs everywhere after returning to China. Some of the more famous ones are still being hired everywhere. Cai E, Lan Tianwei, and Jiang Fangzhen are all such examples. Not only do they have positions, but they can also serve as governors and governors.

Choose the best among the errands.

Jiang Yanxing, Xu Baoying, and Shu Fangde were the first batch of students studying in Japan, but their luck was not very good. The three of them are currently instructors in the New Army primary schools in various provinces, and they are frustrated.

Song Biao thought for a moment and said to Jiang Yanxing: "Let's start with the battalion commander. You have been an instructor before and have no experience in actually leading troops in war. Your position is too high to learn experience and courage. In fact, starting from the company commander

You need to be better at starting out, and you can really hone something that will last a lifetime, but I am really short of people here. I will open a non-commissioned officer battalion for you, and your task is to train a group of people who can serve as platoons for me within half a year.

For young non-commissioned officers who have grown up, they should be able to make do with it first, and then spend two years, or even four or five years slowly polishing it, the road always has to be walked step by step."

Jiang Yanxing was overjoyed and said, "Then I'll thank General Song."

Song Biao nodded and asked the others: "What about you?"

Jiang Yanxing had already mixed up the position of battalion commander, and everyone was naturally very enthusiastic. They also asked to be promoted from "company commander". Song Biao fulfilled their request, and Xu Baoying went to the artillery battalion as deputy battalion commander. This is

Because the Russian Far Eastern Army sent a senior artillery captain as the battalion commander, Xu Baoying's level was definitely not as good as others.

Because Shu Fangde was proficient in English, his family had been in business for generations, and he had a lot of knowledge, he asked to be the company commander, but Song Biao kept him by his side as the staff officer of the command battalion. In fact, he served as Song Biao's adjutant.

The same was true for Jiang Fangzhen, who stayed with Song Biao as a staff officer, but he was solely responsible for preparing a staff combat section, while Cai E and Zhang Xiaohuai were both sent to serve as battalion commanders at the same time.

During this period, Song Biao had almost recruited new soldiers, and the number of the entire division was about to reach his estimate of 13,000, which was regarded as the prototype of a division-level combat force.

No matter how different the capabilities and knowledge of the group leaders like Zhao Tingzhu are from Cai E, Jiang Yanxing and others, the position of the group leader cannot be transferred, and Song Biao will not inexplicably give it to someone he has just met. Moreover, he does not actually trust him.

He was given the title of regimental commander and led thousands of troops under him.

What Song Biao lacked right in front of him was some available battalion commanders.

After recruiting these six people and arranging suitable positions according to their wishes, Song Bocai, Jiang Yanxing, Cai E and others said: "Actually, I am still in urgent need of talents here. If we want to negotiate salary,

The salary I can offer is definitely not low. If you want to talk about space and ambition, my place is definitely much better than the Qing army. Even if one day, my army accepts recruitment from the imperial court. I believe the restraint I receive will not be too great.

Many. Because we can use the power of the Russians to resist the imperial court. I don’t need to analyze the power of the world, the awakening of the nation, and where the public opinion lies. You may know it better than me. This is the situation now. To do big things, you must have something.

Arm yourself. My place here is definitely the best stage, but many people now misunderstand me deeply. Therefore, I hope you can recruit as many people of the same mind for me as possible, and don’t follow the path of Colonel Aoki again. We in China

People are benevolent and righteous, and debts must always be repaid, but it is better for the Japanese to borrow less in favor of others."

Jiang Yanxing immediately said: "If you really want to contact us, we can contact many friends and classmates. Salary is a trivial matter. The key is to explain it clearly to our classmates. Let's all write letters to our close classmates as soon as possible.

, invite them to work together.”

Cai E said: "It should, it should."

Song Biao made a general observation. He knew that the six of them would come here to observe for a while, and it would probably take a while for these invitation letters to be written out. Fortunately, he could afford to wait.

His requirements are not high. As long as he can recruit twenty people from the Japanese Military Academy graduates, it will be enough for the time being. With the internal training of his own army and other methods, he can almost make his own armed force within three years.

The official path to modern times and formal militarization.

Song Biao naturally attached great importance to Cai E and Jiang Yanxing. He not only entertained them personally and gave them each a shell gun as a gift, but also personally led them to visit the training camps at each camp in the afternoon.

At this time, Song Biao had built a large-scale Mushan training camp in the Mushan area in the north of the county. More than 6,000 recruits from all over Kanto were concentrated here. For the time being, there were 34 recruit companies based on company-level organization.

, Russian Infantry Major Anton Jovanovich Denikin, invited by Song Biao through Brigadier General Madnidorf, served as the chief instructor.

Major Kornilov also knows a little bit of Chinese, but Major Denikin cannot understand a word of Chinese. He does not bother to learn this ignorant language of Asian people. He looks down on China from the bottom of his heart.

people.

After serving as the chief instructor of the Manchurian Infantry Division, Major Denikin did not get along well with Song Biao. He indiscriminately abolished the four-phase training method previously formulated by Song Biao, trying to recruit these Kanto soldiers within two or three months.

The soldiers are trained and then put into the battlefield without wasting every ruble paid by the Russian army.

Denikin's training was so cruel that the soldiers wailed repeatedly. Every day, countless old brothers came to Song Biao to complain. Even so, Song Biao still took a tolerant attitude and focused on the overall training of the army.

Continue to entrust Denikin with responsibility.

Everyone has their uses.

Because there is a large-scale shortage of non-commissioned officers, basically any young man who is literate at this time can start directly as a squad leader or even a platoon leader as soon as he joins the army, and at the same time participate in the special training camp for non-commissioned officers run by Major Denikin.

Before the Battle of Heigoutai, Song Biao had already recruited a group of young people with some basic knowledge of Chinese in Hunjiang, Shenyang and Fushun. After this period of training and baptism on the battlefield, they were successively promoted to serve as company commanders. Every night, Song Biao would personally serve as an instructor, tutoring them in modern military knowledge and simple theoretical courses on frontline command.

However, at the level of battalion commander, the scale of vacancies in the Manchurian Infantry Division is astonishing.

The training in the recruit camp hosted by Major Denikin was indeed cruel. Cai E, Jiang Yanxing and others who had interned in the Japanese army felt that it was too harsh and had objections after visiting it, but they were also shocked.

Song Biao knew very well that if these soldiers were all Russians, Denikin would not be so cruel. Otherwise, Denikin's fate would seem to have changed. The truth is that Denikin was trying to destroy his soldiers. They have all been transformed into the most loyal cannon fodder and wild dogs of the Russian army.

Denikin wanted to make use of the Manchurian infantry divisions, and Song Biao took advantage of Denikin's lowly and racist ambitions.

While the scale of the Maoshan training camp gradually expanded, Song Biao also organized a new artillery company training camp here. Four artillery companies are training using the Russian M1904 76mm field guns. The Russian army will not provide these at all. Artillery, so these artillery were traded from the Japanese army.

After visiting the Maoshan training camp, Song Biao personally went through the enlistment procedures for the six Jiang Yanxings. Each of them was issued two sets of officer uniforms according to the position of battalion commander. Each person also received a settlement allowance of 100 yuan. Even the accommodation was provided by Song Biao personally implemented the arrangements.

On the third day after the arrival of Jiang Yanxing and his six men, they had not yet adapted to the new life of the Manchurian Infantry Division. At this time, Chen Wu and Xue Changqing's caravan brigade, who had completed the recruitment of new recruits, returned to Tonghua.

This was the third time that Xue Changqing's transportation group and caravan brigade traveled between Hunjiang and Fengtian. Song Biao also successfully sold 30,000 dans of grain in Fengtian. With the increase in the number of Manchurian infantry divisions, his food supply also increased. Not as generous as before. During this period, Song Biao also sent a message to Zhang Yahu in Huinan County, asking Zhang Yahu to buy grain in the Huinan and Meihekou areas.

Nowadays, the price of food in the entire Guandong remains high. In Huichun, Harbin and other places, because the Russian army has forcibly requisitioned food, the price of food is naturally not low. The large granaries in Huinan, Meihekou, and Liuhe have not been disturbed by the Russian army, so the price of food is high. It was lower than the surrounding areas, but there were many bandits and no one dared to transport food to sell. This made Song Biao's troops cheaper.

After selling the grain in his hand, Song Biao now also had a large amount of money that could be used as capital, so he continued to engage in reselling business. He planned to continue to purchase grain in Huinan and transport it back to be used as military ration, and then sell it to Fengtian area.

Hearing that Xue Changqing was back, Song Biao was naturally very happy. He excitedly led a group of cavalry to greet them personally, and took two staff adjutants, Jiang Fangzhen and Shu Fangde, with him.

When Song Biao led his team to Sanhe Fort, he happened to see Xue Changqing's large caravan.

On the north bank of the Hunjiang River, where the spring is warm and the water is green, the mighty caravan of more than 6,000 people is walking between the green mountains and clear water. The flag of the "Manchurian Infantry Division" written in Russian and Chinese is fluttering in the wind.

The ten flags with "Guandong Biao" hanging on them are even more powerful, hunting in the wind.

Jiang Fangzhen, who had just become Song Biao's staff adjutant, was still a little unaccustomed to the new work and life, as well as the food and climate of Guandong. He was a Zhejiang native with a strong literary temperament, and his expression and behavior were very refined.

He and Shu Fangde beside him both had a strange feeling of surprise. They never thought that it would be their first time to follow Song Biao out of the city. This mission was like welcoming a bride, and the team in front did not seem like Manchurian infantry.

The formal arm of the division, but the 6,000 horses are really scary. They seem to be able to arm a cavalry brigade.

Sanhe Fort is also a military fortress area that Song Biao focused on building. The defense line construction here was built by those bandits. The caravan brigade was also stationed here during the first two returns to Tonghua.

The setting sun gradually sets, and the golden light shines brightly on both sides of the Hun River. The mighty caravan team looks even more majestic in the reflection of the river water and the twilight.
To be continued...