The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 661 A secret that is not a secret

Wei Jinghai nodded in admiration and said, "Marshal is wise. I agree with organizing our troops in this way."

After expressing his agreement with Teng Yuzhao's guiding ideology for the reform, Wei Jinghai said again.

"Marshal, since we have changed the organization, we might as well change the names of the military units. The town will be called a division, the platoon will be called a brigade, the regiment will be called a regiment, and the sentry will be called a company."

"In this way, our military organization and the organization names of other countries will be unified. What do you think, Marshal?"

For some unknown reason, the organization of the New Army in the late Qing Dynasty always seemed a hodgepodge. It included both Western platoon and battalion organizations, as well as organizations such as tents, outposts, flags, associations, and towns. This was not so bad within the country, but sometimes it required some explanation when fighting or communicating with the great powers.

Regarding this issue, Teng Yuzhao had already made changes when he withdrew from Tianjin, but they were ultimately rejected by Cixi. If he made decisive changes at this time, it would show Cixi his determination to change.

Wei Jinghai brought it up again at this time, and Teng Yuzhao thought about it for a moment before nodding and agreeing with Wei Jinghai's suggestion.

"Well, yes."

Since the topic of staffing reform had already come up, Teng Yuzhao simply spoke out everything that was on his mind.

"According to the new organization idea, Liu Yuzhi's Jiangnan Command will be the First Army Group. The Second, Third, and Sixth Regiments can be organized into ten to twelve divisions. Liu Yuzhi will be the commander-in-chief of the First Army Group, and Hu Dianjia and Pan Jinshan will serve as deputy commanders."

"Li Xianze's Northern Command was renamed the Second Army, with Li Xianze as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army and Liu Bingyi as the deputy commander; Liu Jiujiu, Cao Futian, and Wang Decheng's troops were renamed the Third Army, with Liu Jiujiu as the commander-in-chief of the Third Army and Wang Decheng and Cao Futian as deputy commanders respectively; Jiangbei Command was renamed the Fourth Army, with Wu Ziyu as the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army and Li Jinyu as the deputy commander."

"Handsome."

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao had already given instructions to Wei Jinghai and the confidential staff officer, Yang Shixiang suddenly spoke.

But when Teng Yuzhao looked at Yang Shixiang and waited for him to continue speaking, Yang Shixiang hesitated and stopped talking.

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and said, "Lianfu, why are you starting to be hesitant when talking to me? This is not the character of the Yang Lianfu I know."

Yang Shixiang had no choice but to smile bitterly and said, "Marshal, I want to say that if something happens to Hu Xuanqing..."

"I mean just in case"

Seeing that Teng Yuzhao's face showed no sign of surprise, Yang Shixiang continued.

"If that happens, the secret of our mortar may be difficult to keep."

Upon learning that Yang Shixiang was worried about the mortar, Teng Yuzhao was slightly stunned, and then he laughed.

"The Lian family is worrying too much!"

Teng Yuzao said calmly, "You don't know that just two months ago, the old Russians who were defending Lushun were cornered by the Japanese hiding in the trenches. Their artillery officer Leonid Nikolayevich Gobiato, together with their Lushun defense commander General Kondratenko, designed a mortar based on the characteristics of the high trajectory and short range of the mortar." "Although the name of the mortar they designed is different from ours, it is modified from a naval mortar, has a short range, is very heavy, and cannot be disassembled into portable parts, making it inconvenient to use, but the principle is the same as our mortar."

"Whether our mortars are leaked out or not doesn't matter much anymore."

Teng Yuzao smiled slyly and said, "Besides, we have already exchanged what we need from the Germans with the technology of this mortar. Even if all the great powers know about it, it is no big deal for us."

Teng Yuzao knew very well that although the mortar designed by Leonid was no different from the real mortar in principle, it was not taken seriously by the great powers in history because it was too bulky.

It was not until World War I that the British Sir Winfred Stokes invented the Stokes trench mortar in 1915, and the modern decomposable and portable mortar came into being.

However, if the great powers saw the mortars of the Zhi Army, they would definitely attach great importance to them, because the mortars of the Zhi Army fully met almost all the characteristics of modern mortars, which would definitely attract the attention of all the great powers. They would all follow suit and imitate them, and mortars would no longer have to wait until World War I to be equipped in large quantities.

History has already changed because of him, so let it change even more!

Originally, some people in later generations called the Russo-Japanese War the Zeroth World War. Teng Yuzao didn't mind turning this so-called Zeroth World War into the hellish war on the European battlefield during World War I. At least in terms of weapons and equipment, he would have what was there in World War I.

But Teng Yuzhao was well prepared. He would not take out, or to be more precise, he could not take out too advanced weapons and equipment now. However, based on the current technical strength, it is still entirely possible for him to take out slightly more advanced weapons and equipment from the First World War.

Especially when it comes to weapons and equipment with higher difficulty, it won't be a problem to get the Germans to work together.

Teng Yuzhao even thought that since he had brought out many new weapons that would not appear until several years or even decades in advance, the types of weapons and equipment in the World War I a few years later would be infinitely close to those in the World War II in history, which was not impossible.

Teng Yuzao firmly believed that as long as he brought out new weapons that had appeared in advance in the war with Japan and Russia, the great powers such as Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Japan would flock to it and compete to invest in research and development.

The world's top powers such as Britain, France, the United States and Germany will definitely not be stingy with their investment. The funds and technical talents of the European and American powers, including Russia, are far beyond what he can match now.

Yang Shixiang was still a little worried. "Marshal, if the Japanese and Russians also have mortars, their artillery firepower will not be weaker than ours. Can we still defeat them then?"

Seeing that Xu Shichang, Ye Zugui, Tang Shaoyi, Duan Qirui and others all looked worried, Teng Yuzao knew that it was not only Yang Shixiang who had such concerns, but also several other people outside except Wei Jinghai who knew the inside story.

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Teng Yuzao, who had originally wanted to stop talking and change the subject, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He had to reveal something today, otherwise it would be difficult to dispel the doubts in these people's hearts.

Thinking of this, Teng Yuzhao smiled calmly.

"You can rest assured. Even if the Russians and Japanese have mortars, they won't be able to gain any advantage here."

"I should have told you this a long time ago, so I'll just be honest with you. But everything I say today is our secret, including the plane, so we must keep it strictly confidential..."

(End of this chapter)