The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 66 Generous Nie Shicheng
General Luo was the general Luo Rongguang who died in Dagukou. Although he was stationed in Dagukou, he still had three battalions of soldiers left in Tianjin City, and they jointly defended Tianjin City with He Yongsheng's three battalions of training troops.

Although Luo Rongguang's troops were not as good as the newly formed troops like the Wuwei Army, they could be regarded as the second-rate troops of the Beiyang Army and were also equipped with a large number of modern weapons. The only thing they lacked was artillery and machine guns. The training they received was not Western-style training and was still in the situation of decades ago when they fought against the Taiping Army.

Based on the memories gained from textbooks in his previous life, Teng Yuzhao knew that when Luo Rongguang first joined Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army, when Li Hongzhang, who was Zeng Guofan's student, was training the Huai Army, Zeng Guofan allocated more than a dozen battalions of the army to Li Hongzhang at one time in order to strengthen the strength of Li Hongzhang's Huai Army, and Luo Rongguang was among them.

He once served in the Shanghai Rifle Corps and was quite knowledgeable about foreign rifles and cannons. Since then, he had been in charge of the artillery battalion management in the Huai Army. Since Li Hongzhang attached importance to Western weapons, the cannons in the Huai Army were basically Western artillery, which made the Huai Army's artillery battalion extremely powerful. Li Hongzhang was able to quickly pacify the important towns in southern Jiangsu, and the artillery battalion played an indispensable role. Luo Rongguang was promoted to general early on due to his merits.

After the Taiping Army and the Nian Army were defeated successively, the Hunan Army, the Huai Army and other Qing troops that suppressed the Taiping Army and the Nian Army were disbanded one after another. Not only were Luo Rongguang's troops not disbanded, but he was promoted to deputy general and led his troops to guard Dagukou. It has been 26 years since then. Luo Rongguang is already 67 years old. He had just received an order to be transferred to the post of governor of Kashgar in Xinjiang. Before he could take up the post, he caught up with the invasion of the Allied Forces and died in battle.

Due to their experience of serving in the foreign rifle team, Luo Rongguang's troops are far more proficient in the use of Western firearms than other Green Camp troops. It can be said that they are elite even in the whole country. Getting these three battalions of troops will be of great benefit to quickly improving the combat effectiveness of the vanguard army.

Teng Yuzao was about to stand up excitedly when Yu Lu turned to Nie Shicheng and said with a smile, "Gongting, since we are now focusing on defense, there is no place for cavalry. Can you temporarily put the three battalions of cavalry stationed near Xigu under Xingfu's command to help him form a cavalry army?"

"besides."

Without waiting for Nie Shicheng to answer, Yu Lu continued, "Xingfu is expanding its army. The first batch of recruits will arrive in Xigu tomorrow. The vanguard army still needs to train in Xigu for a while. Can Gongting send your camp school to Xigu to help him train soldiers and horses, so that he can form an army as soon as possible and become a great help to Gongting in fighting the enemy."

Nie Shicheng did not hesitate and bowed to Yu Lu, "Yes."

Nie Shicheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Also, I want to leave the rear team in the city as our support force. The rear team leader Hu Xuanqing can supervise the three battalions of cavalry and the camp school to assist Brother Xingfu in training."

"Choose Qing."

Nie Shicheng turned around and called Hu Dianjia's name, and Hu Dianjia stood up in response.

"After we return to the camp, you will take a cavalry patrol and enough horses to Kaiping to escort all the students of the military school to Xigu."

"I humble my duty and obey my orders."

After Hu Dianjia answered, Nie Shicheng smiled and said to Teng Yuzao, "Xingfu, Zhongtang has worked hard to make your vanguard army complete as soon as possible. I can't be too stingy. I will also give Xingfu a small gift. The students who graduated this year from the Wuwei Vanguard Army have not been assigned yet. You can arrange and use those students."

"Good! Good!"

Yu Lu excitedly said two good words, "Gong Ting has taken the overall situation into consideration and is worthy of being the backbone of our Beiyang Army."

If it can be said that Yu Lu's care for the vanguard army was somewhat selfish, then Nie Shicheng's move showed that he was upright and took the overall situation into consideration. Teng Yuzhao could not help but thank Nie Shicheng repeatedly.

Teng Yuzao knew the school of the Wuwei Front Army. Nie Shicheng had tried his best to recruit people and teachers to set up this school. The school was completely modeled after the Beiyang Military Academy, and the subjects were exactly the same. He even hired German instructors to teach in his school. Teng Yuzao remembered that many figures came out of this school run by Nie Shicheng, and many of them were in the Beiyang system. Moreover, Nie Shicheng's school was the predecessor of the Baoding Military Academy. How could he not be grateful to Nie Shicheng for handing over the graduating students to him?

When Teng Yuzao thought of this, he suddenly had an idea. He bowed to Nie Shicheng again and said, "General Nie... I have another favor to ask of you."

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao was so excited that he was a little incoherent, Nie Shicheng was also happy. He admired Teng Yuzhao's record of winning two games in a row and hoped to work closely with Teng Yuzhao in the future. Since he had already reluctantly sent away a group of students whom he regarded as his treasures, he might as well be a good person and do Teng Yuzhao a favor.

"Xingfu, just tell me. I won't refuse anything I can do."

Seeing that Nie Shicheng readily agreed, Teng Yuzao hurriedly said, "I was entrusted by an old friend to look after a man named Wu Ziyu. I heard that the man is in your front army, but I don't know which battalion he is in. Please give him to me so that I can take care of him at any time."

Nie Shicheng had no impression of Wu Peifu. He knew in his heart that this man was probably not an officer, so he turned around and looked at the generals behind him.

The leader of the front team, Zhou Dingchen, stood up and said, "General, my front team's left battalion commander Shen Yu'an has a stableman named Wu Ziyu. I remember him because he passed the imperial examination. He is from Penglai, Shandong. I wonder if this is the person General Teng is talking about."

"Yes, yes, that's the man."

After Teng Yuzhao finished speaking, he looked at Nie Shicheng eagerly.

Wu Ziyu is a famous figure in later generations. In Teng Yuzhao's opinion, Wu Ziyu is definitely the most talented person in the Beiyang after Yuan Shikai. He is not only the first Chinese to appear on the cover of the American "Time" magazine, but the most commendable thing is that this person has national integrity.

Hearing that it was just a stable boy in the camp, Nie Shicheng nodded and said, "Xingfu, no problem, let him report to you early tomorrow morning."

After thanking Nie Shicheng, Teng Yuzao turned to Yu Lu.

Teng Yuzhao was deeply moved by Yulu's thoughtful consideration for him and the vanguard army. He straightened his military uniform and bowed deeply to Yulu, almost to the ground.

Yu Lu not only gave him the green light to recruit soldiers and expand the army, but also considered the training of his troops so carefully. It can almost be said that he took care of him in every possible way. How could Teng Yuzhao not be truly grateful?

Seeing Teng Yuzao's heartfelt gratitude towards him, Yu Lu was almost in tears of gratitude. He couldn't help but feel secretly proud. He walked up to Teng Yuzao with a smile, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Xingfu, train your troops well and strive to achieve meritorious service again soon!"

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(End of this chapter)