The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 637 The Marshal Called Back

Baoding, in the open space in front of the Military Academy Arsenal.

Thousands of students from the first term of the Military Academy, who no longer had their braids, were crowded in front of the armory, clamoring to break open the lock and take out the guns and ammunition in the armory for self-defense.

Zhang Xiyuan, the assistant director of the military academy, was standing on a chair in front of the tightly locked armory door, sweating profusely. He held an electric megaphone in his hand and shouted over and over again in a hoarse voice, patiently and tirelessly persuading the students to stay calm and not do anything out of line.

Behind him were more than 40 instructors who, like Zhang Xiyuan, were wearing the uniforms of the Zhili Army, with belts around their waists and Browning pistols hanging on them. They were blocking the door of the armory in a tight manner.

These instructors were either from the former Beiyang Military Academy or from the former Wuwei Front Army's school.

Whether it was the instructors of the Beiyang Military Academy or the Wuwei Vanguard Army's Military Academy, they had all been recruited by Teng Yuzhao one after another. Naturally, the instructors became members of the Vanguard Army and the current Zhi Army, and their military uniforms were exactly the same as those of the Zhi Army.

The original instructors of the Beiyang Military Academy all had ranks and were regular officials of the imperial court. Their ranks generally ranged from the fourth to the eighth rank. For example, when Teng Yuzhao was an instructor at the Beiyang Military Academy, his rank was the fifth rank.

As the Wuwei Vanguard Army's camp school was opened by Nie Shicheng himself in the army, the instructors there had no ranks. However, Nie Shicheng did not treat them unfairly and paid them military salaries according to their positions as sentry leaders.

In other words, although the teachers in these two schools were both teaching and training modern military talents, their identities and status were different because one was recognized by the imperial court and the other was a private military school run by Nie Shicheng.

However, they all have one thing in common, that is, regardless of whether the instructors have rank or not, they are not soldiers.

The instructors at the military academy were not soldiers, which seemed a bit inappropriate to Teng Yuzhao. It seemed as if the future officers were not learning military knowledge and skills from them, but rather were taking cultural classes.

Therefore, after Teng Yuzhao incorporated these two schools and merged them into one, he incorporated them into the Zhi army system. All the instructors not only wore military uniforms, but also were given military ranks. These instructors became officers of the Zhi army.

Of course, the Zhi Army belonged to the new army. The officers of the new army not only had ranks, but also their ranks were not low. The highest could be designated as a standard commander, and the lowest was also a sentry leader. The rank of Zhang Xiyuan, who was the general manager at the time, was naturally the highest in the academy. His rank was already major general when he was demarcated.

This time they were assigned to the military academy, and the instructors' salaries did not change at all.

Although the salaries that the Ministry of the Army gave to the Officers' School were not as generous as those of the Zhili Army, Teng Yuzao would make up the difference on a monthly basis and deposit it into their account at the Aurora Bank.

People around Teng Yuzao were quite puzzled about this matter. They believed that since the Ministry of the Army had taken over the Officers School, these people naturally no longer belonged to the Zhili Army, and there was no need for Teng Yuzao to make up the difference for them.

However, Teng Yuzhao remained unmoved and insisted on doing so, which made these instructors grateful to Teng Yuzhao. Many of them even believed that they were still members of the Zhi army.

It is also because of this that although Zhang Xiyuan is now an assistant director, his authority in the military academy is not low. Except for a few instructors who were recruited later, the vast majority of instructors still follow his lead.

These instructors who were recruited later were all people who had received military and general education in Britain, France and Japan. However, these people generally did not hold high positions in military academies. The main reason was that the instructors of the former Beiyang Military Academy and the former Wuwei Front Army, including Duan Qirui, were familiar with and accepted the German military system.

Moreover, Duan Qirui also highly recognized the German officers recruited by Teng Yuzhao to serve as instructors in the military academy. Duan Qirui, who had received military education in Germany, was even fluent in German and used German when communicating with these German instructors.

As for the reason why the instructors, including Zhang Xiyuan, were still wearing the uniforms of the Zhi army, it was very simple. The military academy was originally proposed by Teng Yuzhao, and these people were the instructors. They came to Baoding wearing this uniform.

There were a dozen instructors from the German Military Academy, who were hired by the Zhili Army after Teng Yuzhao had talked to the Germans about it long ago. However, the military academy was later taken over by the Ministry of Army, and then Duan Qirui was assigned to serve as the general manager, so it was nominally separated from the Zhili Army system.

However, since Duan Qirui was not liked by Tie Liang, and Duan Qirui was also lukewarm towards the people in the Ministry of Army, Tie Liang came a few times in the beginning. However, Duan Qirui was not only very cold to his immediate superior, but could even be described as extremely disrespectful, which made Tie Liang feel very embarrassed, and he came less and less often.

Especially as the Shuntian Army continued to expand, Tieliang was so busy that he had almost no time to take care of the military academy. Therefore, no one cared about the uniforms of these instructors. They still had to receive them from the Zhi Army, and even their military ranks were still those of the Zhi Army.

Duan Qirui's military uniform has always been the uniform of the former Henan Army.

This morning, some instructor accidentally let it slip that the Army Department had sent troops to Baoding, saying that their haircutting was related to the GMD, and that they would not only arrest Duan Qirui and Zhang Xiyuan, but also the instructors and the students who cut their hair, and bring them to justice.

This obviously distorted news immediately caused an uproar among the students.

The students first angrily denounced the Army Department's arrogance in the dormitory, and then gradually began to denounce the court's rulers as ignorant, self-righteous fools. The words even became increasingly fierce and sharp, and there was no shortage of treasonous words.

As the atmosphere became more and more agitated, some students began to walk out of their dormitories and gather on the school ground. Then, students walked out of their dormitories and began to gather there.

The students were all between sixteen and twenty-four or twenty-five, at the age of full vigor and vitality, so someone soon suggested opening the armory, taking out weapons, and arming themselves to stop the Army Department from arresting people.

Naturally, this proposal was widely accepted by the students as soon as it was put forward. They first ran to the Armory to ask the school to open the armory. After being rejected, they simply rushed to the door of the armory, ready to break it open and take the weapons themselves.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Zhang Xiyuan panicked and sent people to notify the German teachers to stay in the dormitory and not go out. At the same time, he arranged for a dozen teachers to rush to the school gate to guard the gate and do their best to prevent outsiders from entering the school.

Then, Zhang Xiyuan and a group of teachers rushed to the armory and stopped the students who were breaking the lock in time.

Zhang Xiyuan had been shouting for more than half an hour, and his mouth was dry. However, the students not only refused to disperse, but their emotions seemed to be getting more and more intense.

"Students, I will say this again. Listen to me. General Manager Duan and I will take care of everything. We will not allow the army sent by the Army Department to arrest you."

"Also, I have sent a telegram to Marshal Teng in Tianjin, asking him to organize the Army Department."

Zhang Xiyuan's speech was interrupted again by the excited students, and someone in the crowd shouted.

"We believe that the assistant and General Manager Duan will do their best to protect us, and we also believe that Marshal Teng will make the decision for us, but Marshal Teng is in Tianjin and cannot solve the current urgent problem. We need to protect ourselves now."

Someone else shouted, "The troops sent by the Army Department are the Shuntian Army directly under the Army Department. They will not listen to your advice, and you can't stop them."

"Yes, we appreciate the kindness of the assistant and general manager Duan! But we are worried!" "Yes! We have to take up arms ourselves to protect our safety and wait for the help of Marshal Teng."

The students shouted loudly and rushed towards the armory door again.

The teachers behind Zhang Xiyuan hurriedly came to Zhang Xiyuan again to form a human wall, trying their best to block the students who were rushing in.

But these dozens of teachers were no match for the pushing and shoving of more than a thousand hot-blooded students. They kept retreating step by step, almost squeezing Zhang Xiyuan off his chair.

Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Zhang Xiyuan was so anxious that sweat was running down his cheeks. Just as he was thinking about how to calm the students' excitement, excited shouts suddenly came from the direction of the school gate.

This excited shout, which was almost heard, immediately attracted the attention of the students and instructors including Zhang Xiyuan. Not only did the students stop attacking the armory, they also looked in the direction of the shout.

I saw an instructor guarding the gate running towards me. He was so excited that he waved a piece of paper in his hand wildly and shouted loudly while running.

And in the distance behind him, a major wearing the uniform of the Zhi army was striding towards him with a messenger.

"Assistant! Assistant! Marshal Teng has sent troops to protect us!"

"Marshal Teng has sent troops to protect us!"

"Marshal Teng has sent troops to protect us!"

"Marshal Teng has sent troops to protect us!"

Although Zhang Xiyuan knew very well that the Zhi army did not have a large number of troops stationed in Baoding, and there was only a battalion of guards in the arsenal, because the Zhi army's troops in Zhili were concentrated near Tianjin and in the direction of Shanhaiguan at this time, Zhang Xiyuan's heart immediately calmed down when he heard the instructor's shout.

He knew that Teng Yuzhao had received the telegram he sent to Tianjin and responded.

As long as Teng Yuzao knew about this and was willing to send people to the school, it meant that Teng Yuzao wanted to intervene in this matter. With Teng Yuzao's intervention, nothing would be a big deal.

In fact, it was not just Zhang Xiyuan who thought so, all the instructors from the Zhi army had the same idea.

This was because, whether it was the invincibility of Teng Yuzao since he started his rebellion, or the fact that he saved the lives of the culprits from the hands of the foreign coalition forces and the imperial court, or the fact that Teng Yuzao kept his word and the great success of the Westernization Movement he promoted in Zhili and Shandong, all these things made these people feel a sense of trust and reliance on him, that is, Teng Yuzao was a man of his word and there was nothing he could not do.

The teacher ran breathlessly to the chair where Zhang Xiyuan was standing, breathing heavily and still speaking loudly and excitedly.

"Assistant, Teng Shuai called."

Zhang Xiyuan bent down and snatched the telegram from the instructor's hand. After quickly reading the telegram, he was overjoyed!

Zhang Xiyuan hurriedly waved the telegram in his hand, his face flushed as he shouted loudly to the thousands of students who were looking at him nervously at the moment.

"Students, Marshal Teng called back!"

"The Marshal said that he thinks you guys are getting your hair cut just for training and study, and it has nothing to do with GMD. He can vouch for you!"

"For this reason, the Marshal has sent an urgent telegram to the Queen Mother, asking her to immediately stop the Army Department's unreasonable actions and not to arrest any students from the military academy."

"Also, the Marshal is worried that during this period, people sent by the Army Department will rush into the school and harm you, so he specially ordered the Baoding Arsenal Guard to come to the school to protect you!"

As soon as Zhang Xiyuan finished speaking, thousands of students burst into cheers, and many students even hugged each other excitedly and cheered.

At this moment, the major officer following behind the instructor had also come to Zhang Xiyuan, saluted Zhang Xiyuan neatly, and spoke loudly.

"Reporting to the General Manager, Major Liu Zhengang of the Baoding Arms Factory pays tribute to Assistant Manager Zhang!"

Only in the Zhi Army was there anyone who called him General Manager Zhang Xiyuan, especially the students who graduated from the Vanguard Army's school.

Although Zhang Xiyuan did not recognize the major in front of him, he just felt that he looked somewhat familiar, but he could basically determine that this Liu Zhengang should be his student.

Liu Zhengang's voice was loud, loud enough for the thousands of students who were concentrating and listening carefully to hear it clearly.

"We are here to protect the safety of the military academy under the order of Marshal Teng. The Marshal has ordered that no one is allowed to enter the school without the permission of Assistant Director Zhang. Our troops will resolutely stop them."

"The Marshal also said that no matter who it is, as long as they do not listen to the advice and force their way into the military academy, my troops can shoot to stop them if necessary. If anyone enters the military academy without permission, I will be held accountable."

"Now, our troops have set up a guard position outside the military academy, please rest assured, Assistant Director Zhang!"

Liu Zhengang's powerful words made the students cheer excitedly again.
Then, Liu Zhengang had a brief exchange of information with Zhang Xiyuan.

Zhang Xiyuan and his students learned from Liu Zhengang that Ma Longbiaoxie, a member of Wang Yingkai's unit of the Sixth Regiment of the Shuntian Army, had already arrived in Baoding by train in the morning.

According to the estimated time, Ma Longbiaoxie had already got off the train at Baoding Station and should be on his way to the military academy, so Liu Zhengang hurried back to the gate of the military academy.

The Baoding Military Academy was not located in Baoding City, but on the outskirts of the city. After getting off the train, Ma Longbiao's troops had to walk to get there.

According to the agreement between Zhang Xiyuan and Liu Zhengang, Zhang Xiyuan had to persuade the students to return to the dormitory to avoid stray bullets from accidentally injuring the students if a conflict broke out between the two sides.
(End of this chapter)