The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 650 Teng Yuzao's Thoughts

When they were still some distance away from the two-story office building, a major in the uniform of the Zhili Army came up and saluted Duan Qirui, but did not say much. He took Duan Qirui's suitcase from Officer Zhang and led Duan Qirui towards the office building.

Although there were no obvious sentries or guards outside the office building, Duan Qirui, who had been in the army for a long time, had already discovered that there were many young people who looked like tourists scattered outside this ordinary office building. From their vigilant eyes, Duan Qirui could tell that they were definitely not ordinary tourists, but well-trained soldiers.

There is no doubt that there must be a big shot in this ordinary office building.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the building, Duan Qirui saw Teng Yuzao, who was dressed in cool casual clothes, standing in the small front hall with Wei Jinghai, Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang, a logistics officer, Tang Shaoyi, and a casually dressed old man in his fifties, all of whom were looking at him with smiles on their faces.

Before Duan Qirui could speak, Teng Yuzhao had already walked towards him quickly, smiling happily and speaking to him.

"Brother Zhiquan, long time no see!"

As he said this, he reached out and grabbed Duan Qirui's hand and held it tightly.

Duan Qirui smiled bitterly and said, "Xingfu, I am now a commoner. This time I am going back to my hometown to retire. I am deeply grateful that you care about our friendship as classmates."

"It would be fine if you just came here alone, but why did you bother so many adults to come here?"

As Duan Qirui spoke, he let go of Teng Yuzhao's hand, clasped his hands toward Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang, and Wei Jinghai, and exchanged polite words with them.

But when he reached the old man in plain clothes, Duan Qirui turned his gaze to Teng Yuzhao.

Duan Qirui did not recognize the old man and could only ask Teng Yuzhao for help.

"This is Navy Minister Ye Zugui." Teng Yuzao introduced Duan Qirui with a smile.

Although Duan Qirui had never met Ye Zugui, he knew Ye Zugui's name and knew that Teng Yuzao valued Ye Zugui very much. He smiled and greeted Ye Zugui.

Finally, Duan Qirui greeted Tang Shaoyi.

Since Duan Qirui and Tang Shaoyi both worked under Yuan Shikai, they were very familiar with each other.

Duan Qirui also knew that Tang Shaoyi went to XZ to negotiate with the British. He just returned to Tianjin yesterday, so he couldn't help asking about it.

This time Tang Shaoyi went to XZ to negotiate with the British and achieved very good results, although the British would not offer any compensation, let alone an apology.

But at least the British had evacuated from LS and retreated to their previous starting point, the so-called East Indies.

However, this time, with Teng Yuzhao present, Tang Shaoyi naturally could not take the lead, so he simply told Duan Qirui the results of the negotiations.

Seeing that Duan Qirui was still trying to be polite with everyone, Teng Yuzhao hurriedly said with a smile.

"Brother Zhiquan, don't tell me that you want to go back to your hometown to retire. I have come here specially to wait for you, just to show you a wonderful thing you have never seen before. After you see it, it will not be too late for you to make a decision on where to go next. What do you think?"

Duan Qirui smiled bitterly and said, "Xingfu, I'm already here. If I don't follow your advice, how can I leave?"

"Besides, you not only pleaded for me, but also spent so much time on my behalf after I was fired. I should at least be grateful. At least I should follow you to see what good things I haven't seen. First, I can broaden my horizons, and second, I can bother you a little bit."

After Duan Qirui finished speaking, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Duan Qirui's words were full of sarcasm, and Teng Yuzhao was really at a loss for words to answer. However, Wei Jinghai smiled and came to Teng Yuzhao's rescue.

"General Manager Duan, the Marshal has indeed put a lot of thought into your case. The night you arrived in the capital and fell into the trap, the Marshal was worried that you would be assassinated by Tie Liang, so he specially arranged for people to rush to the capital to secretly protect you. He even selected a team from the Marshal's personal special guard squadron to rush to the capital overnight and prepare for the prison break."

"It was not until yesterday that I learned that you were only dismissed that the Marshal felt relieved."

Duan Qirui had no doubt about Wei Jinghai's words. After all, from the time he left the courtyard until he came here by train, he was accompanied by people arranged by Teng Yuzhao.

Duan Qirui was about to thank Teng Yuzao again when the sound of a car engine was heard outside the building. Teng Yuzao said with a smile.

"Zhiquan, the car is here, let's get in and talk while we walk."

Duan Qirui looked outside through the glass window on the door, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

I saw a row of more than a dozen strange-looking grass-green cars driving in front of the building.

These small cars are weird because, although they are not much different in length from ordinary cars, they are much taller than cars and they don't have lids.

Duan Qirui thought to himself that riding in such a car would be quite cool in such hot weather, but it might be a bit troublesome on rainy days.

This fleet of cars was not all empty. Only the three in the middle had only one driver, while the rest of the cars were filled with fully armed officers and soldiers of the Zhili Army.

That’s not all. Some vehicles even have brackets with long ammunition chains hanging on them. They are obviously guns like the Maxim machine gun, but this type of gun is obviously lighter than the Maxim and has a longer barrel.

As for the officers and soldiers on the vehicle, they were obviously responsible for guarding the convoy.

Although Duan Qirui had never seen these small cars before, he didn't care and pointed at the cars and said.

"These are the cars Xingfu was talking about. I have never seen them before."

Duan Qirui's words made Teng Yuzhao laugh.

"These small vehicles have extremely strong off-road capabilities. Although they are very useful, they can even be used on the battlefield, especially in grasslands and Gobi Deserts. They can even follow troops in pursuit operations."

"But I'm not talking about them."

"So Xingfu is talking about that newfangled machine gun? I've never seen such a gun before."

Teng Yuzao shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about that either. This machine gun is a new light machine gun we developed. It's very light and easy for soldiers to carry and chase."

"Although it is much lighter than the Maxim, its sustained firepower is not worse than the Maxim. However, it is not the good stuff I want to show Brother Zhiquan."

"Moreover, we actually have another model of this light machine gun, which has already been partially assigned to the troops and directly deployed to the platoon."

Wei Jinghai on the side added proudly, "General Manager Duan, the two light machine guns of our Zhi Army were invented by the Marshal. No country in the world is currently equipped with such machine guns." The light machine guns of the Zhi Army were designed by Teng Yuzhao based on the Lewis light machine gun, combining the advantages of the Danish Madsen and the British Bren light machine guns.

Now, there is still no sign of the Bren light machine gun. Although the Madsen was finalized two years ago, mass production will have to wait until next year. Wei Jinghai is not wrong.

Everyone was talking as they walked, and before leaving the building, at Teng Yuzao's suggestion, everyone put on sunglasses.

Then, under the leadership of Teng Yuzao, they went straight to the convoy, where several officers had already opened the low half doors on both sides for them.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Brother Zhiquan, let's get in the car."

Although Duan Qirui was secretly surprised by Teng Yuzhao's words, he did not expect that the Zhi Army not only had new machine guns that the powerful countries did not have, but also that they were designed by Teng Yuzhao.

In particular, if this kind of machine gun is deployed in the platoon, how fierce will the firepower of the Zhi army be! How can the new army in China be a match for the Zhi army!

Although Duan Qirui was very surprised, he still got into a strange-looking car with Teng Yuzhao, and the others also got into the car.

Teng Yuzao and Duan Qirui sat in one car, Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang were together, and Wei Jinghai accompanied Ye Zugui in the third car.

They all sat in the back seat, with an officer sitting in the passenger seat. After they got in the car, two guards with pistols on their waists stood on the pedals on both sides of the back seat.

Although the highest-ranking military and political officials of the Beiyang clique, including Teng Yuzao, wore baton masks and even put on new sunglasses when they walked out of the building, there was still a certain risk in sitting in such an uncovered car.

Duan Qirui did not think the guards were being so vigilant.

After leaving Langfang Station, the convoy did not head straight to Tianjin along the flat asphalt road, but turned southeast, drove onto a dirt road, and then headed straight for Baodi.

Duan Qirui understood that Teng Yuzhao came to Langfang to pick him up, obviously not intending to take him back to Tianjin by car, so Duan Qirui did not ask where he was going in the car.

However, he soon discovered that the strange-looking little car they were riding in was running very steadily on the not very flat road, without even any severe bumps, which made Duan Qirui greatly admire it.

As the car speed gradually increased, although the sun was still scorching overhead, the wind blowing in the face was no longer warm, but brought bursts of freshness.

"Xingfu, this car is great. Is it also produced by the Beiyang joint venture automobile factory?"

Duan Qirui could not help but continue to ask, "Was it the Germans or the Americans who did it?"

Qirui knew that Beiyang had two joint venture automobile factories with Germany's Mercedes-Benz and the United States' Ford.

"Yes."

Teng Yuzao said loudly, "However, this car was not made by foreigners. It was made by us."

Duan Qirui was surprised by Teng Yuzhao's words.

However, Duan Qirui did not know that this car was an idea proposed by Teng Yuzhao, and its prototype was the Hummer of the United States in later generations. The prototype was designed by Zhou Xuexi, who also applied for relevant patents.

As expected, European powers, including the Germans, had no interest in this car. But the Americans liked it very much and had already purchased the license for it in the United States and Europe.

Moreover, it is said that Ford's Hummer has signed a large contract with the US Department of Defense.

After the car arrived in Baodi, it did not stop in Baodi County, but passed through the city and drove directly into the mountains.

Although it is called a mountainous area, there are actually no very high mountains here, only hills. After driving for another half an hour, a large plain appeared in front of us.

Whether it was at the Beiyang Military Academy or the small station, Duan Qirui had stayed in Tianjin for a long time. He was not unfamiliar with Tianjin and Baodi, which should belong to the river impact type plain area. After the Beiquan convoy entered an area closely guarded by the Zhi army and bypassed a dense forest, Duan Qirui saw a huge airship parked in the open space in the distance.

Although he had seen the huge and imposing airship, and even though the Beiyang government already had an airline that operated airships, Duan Qirui had never ridden on one. Duan Qirui, who was full of thoughts, did not have much interest in airships.

Knowing that they were supposed to take an airship to somewhere, Duan Qirui was not interested. He just wanted to have a meal and then figure out what Teng Yuzao had done recently. He even wanted to persuade his old classmate, if Teng Yuzao could listen to him.

But he didn't expect that as soon as he got off the car, Teng Yuzhao spoke to him apologetically.

"Brother Zhiquan, we still have to take the airship for a few hours, let's deal with it on the airship."

Although he didn't know where Teng Yuzao was going to take him, Duan Qirui could feel that the place they were going to was probably very far away, and Teng Yuzao did this to save time.

With this understanding, Duan Qirui would naturally follow suit.

Duan Qirui was still unfamiliar with airships, so after getting on the airship he naturally felt that everything was new and novel.

Duan Qirui could not even finish the bread and sausages produced by the Aurora Food Factory prepared on the airship. He looked around with the bread in one hand and the sausage in the other.

Seeing Duan Qirui's expression, Wei Jinghai had no choice but to patiently answer his questions one by one.

When the airship began to take off, Duan Qirui could no longer sit still. He leaned over the downward observation mirror, carefully watching the ground gradually moving away.

Teng Yuzao, Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang, Ye Zugui and others just smiled at each other, and no one disturbed Duan Qirui who was in high spirits.

These people all knew that Teng Yuzao was determined to recruit Duan Qirui. Only Tang Shaoyi was somewhat puzzled by Teng Yuzao's actions.

In Tang Shaoyi's opinion, there was no need for Teng Yuzao to go to such great lengths to recruit Duan Qirui. Moreover, Duan Qirui had been stripped of all his titles. If he was still unwilling to join the Zhi army, there was no need for Teng Yuzao to care about their friendship!
Teng Yuzao looked at Tang Shaoyi with a puzzled look, his eyes constantly wandering between himself and Duan Qirui, and Teng Yuzao couldn't help but smile bitterly.

If it was just Duan Qirui who was unwilling to help him, it would not be a big deal, but Duan Qirui had a very deep connection with Yuan Shikai and the Henan Army, which made Teng Yuzhao pay great attention to it.

Teng Yuzhao knew very well that if he wanted to ultimately seize power, Yuan Shikai and his Henan Army would be the biggest obstacle he would have to face.

He wanted to take Duan Qirui as an example and make the Henan Army generals realize that he, Teng Yuzhao, not only valued talents, but also had the tolerance to tolerate others.

If he could successfully attract other Henan Army generals to join him, Duan Qirui would definitely be worth his efforts to recruit him and even use him!

(End of this chapter)