The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 67: The Thoughtful Governor-General of Zhili
Teng Yuzao said solemnly, "I will obey the order of the Lord General. I will train diligently and strive to form an army as soon as possible to repay the Lord General's kindness in cultivating me!"

At Teng Yuzao's level, all generals would call themselves "subordinates" when answering him, the highest commander of Zhili. For example, He Yongsheng, Lu Benyuan, Luo Rongguang and other generals did so. Sometimes they would even use the word "I" to refer to themselves. Nie Shicheng, a fellow townsman of Li Hongzhang, the former governor-general of Zhili, often did so.

Only Teng Yuzhao, who was promoted by him as an exception, called himself "humble official" when replying to him, which made Yulu very happy. He now regarded Teng Yuzhao as his confidant and someone he could rely on, and the vanguard army had long been included in his own direct lineage.

Yu Lu nodded again with great satisfaction and said, "Okay! I'm waiting for the day when you can report another victory, Xingfu."

After calming down the excited Teng Yuzao, Yu Lu then said to He Yongsheng, "General He."

"My subordinate is here."

Although He Yongsheng was not very concerned about the war, he still did a good job of pretending to be strong. He had already stood up and answered loudly with full energy.

Yu Lu paced on the ground and continued, "If we go to war with the foreigners, the Beiyang Army will suffer heavy casualties, so your training troops must also be expanded. I will allow you to immediately expand the training troops by three battalions."

"In order to make up for the shortage of officers in your army, all officers above the platoon leader level from the three battalions of soldiers transferred to the vanguard army will be transferred to you so that the training of the new three battalions can be completed as soon as possible. I hope that General He will supervise the training diligently."

"I will follow your orders, sir."

In the Qing army, almost all troops withheld military pay, and the Wuwei Army was no exception, but the extent of the withholding varied. For example, Nie Shicheng's Wuwei Front Army and Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army withheld military pay to a much lesser extent.

With more soldiers under his command, he could naturally withhold more military pay. How could He Yongsheng not be happy? This time, his answer was extremely loud.

Teng Yuzhao was naturally even happier. Yu Lu's move helped him a lot. Teng Yuzhao was very troubled by those old officers. Those officers who were unfamiliar with modern military affairs were handed over to him, and he had no good way to place them except returning them to Yu Lu.

Of course, if these people accept training, he can also accept them, but these people probably won't be willing to do so.

On the second day, which was the 19th, the small parade ground in the huge Xigu warehouse area was crowded with people. Commands kept coming out, and then teams of Green Camp soldiers in uniforms and nearly a thousand tall, strong and curious young men lined up and waited on the side. Under the command of the vanguard army officers, these Green Camp soldiers in uniforms and young men began to run around the parade ground in teams.

Li Xianze and his men maintained order inside and outside the venue.

Several staff officers including Li Jinyu and more than ten vanguard soldiers were supervising in the training ground.

These are the first batch of new recruits sent back last night and the Green Camp soldiers from the Third Battalion of Luo Rongguang who were sent over by He Yongsheng early in the morning. They need to undergo assessment before they can be officially accepted.

These Green Camp soldiers came here empty-handed, carrying only their personal belongings. Their weapons, including a small number of war horses, were left behind by He Yongsheng, who would use them to form a training army.

These people have been selected. The cavalry and artillery have been selected by Liu Changfa and Xue Zhiqian. They are arranged into two separate teams. They also need to undergo assessment, but their assessment is one level lower than that of the infantry.

In addition, all the soldiers in the Green Camp who are familiar with firearms were also selected. These people will soon be incorporated into the two regiments of Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze and Liu Bingyi's guard battalion.

Wei Jinghai and Li Xiance were responsible for the reorganization of these people. There was only one item in the assessment of new recruits and green camp soldiers, which was the physical fitness test.

That is running. Each infantryman needs to run three kilometers unarmed, and cavalry and artillery personnel need to run two kilometers.

Li Yulin and Xue Zhiqian, with dozens of cavalrymen, were busy receiving 500 war horses that had just been sent by the Zhili Governor-General's Office, as well as more than 600 war horses and mules that Li Yulin had arranged to buy from the horse market in Tianjin City.

Tianjin is the largest open port city in the north and has a large number of foreigners, so it is a very fashionable place.

Since there was a racecourse in the concession, the horse market in Tianjin was very prosperous. All the war horses prepared for racing were collected by Li Yulin and brought to the Vanguard Army. Fortunately, the horse dealers had heard that the cavalry was being formed to fight the foreign devils, and they did not take the opportunity to raise the price. In addition, some wealthy families took the initiative to sell their horses to the Vanguard Army at a low price, and some even gave them away for free.

As for mules and horses, this is the second batch that Li Yulin has bought. He has almost bought out all the mules and horses in Tianjin City. Now he has sent people to the surrounding counties and towns to buy more.

The parade ground was bustling with activity. Outside the parade ground, Sun Shijun and Liu Changfa were also busy. They were sweating profusely as they led people to help the instructors and students of the Kaiping Camp School, who were escorted by Hu Dianjia, to find accommodation.

Even Liu Yuzhi was not idle. Liu Bingyi was checking the defense of the expanded camp. Liu Yuzhi and his regiment had not had a rest since last night. They not only dismantled all the wood and rails of the four machine gun bunkers at the Beiyang Military Academy and transported them back, but also dismantled all the beams, door panels and solid wood of the houses in the Military Academy except the main hall and teaching area, and transported them all back to Xigu.

The three cavalry captains of the Wuwei vanguard army who came with Hu Dianjia have returned to the camp early after meeting with Teng Yuzhao. After getting Teng Yuzhao's approval tomorrow, the three will go back to select cavalry instructors, and they will report in the afternoon.

In short, the Xigu warehouse area is full of busy scenes.

The one who had the most leisure was Teng Yuzhao, who was now accompanying Hu Dianjia out of the reservoir gate.

Looking at Liu Yuzhi and his group, who were escorting the endless stream of timber brought back by carts driven by hired villagers from surrounding towns and villages, Hu Dianjia said with a wry smile.

"Xingfu, you are going to tear down our entire school!"

Teng Yuzao laughed dryly and said, "Xuanqing, please stop bullying me. I didn't dare to touch the main hall and classrooms of the school. Besides, I really have no choice. If we don't hurry up to build bunkers in Xigu, once the coalition forces come, the weapons and ammunition here will not be preserved."

Hu Dianjia asked Teng Yuzao doubtfully, "Are you sure Seymour will pass through Xigu when he returns to the army? Can't he just take a detour and return to the concession?"

"They boarded the train from Laolongtou Railway Station on their way there. If they attacked from behind on their way back, they would definitely inflict heavy casualties on the Third Battalion of the Left Army and the several thousand militiamen under Cao Futian who were besieging Laolongtou Railway Station."

Thanks to the support of book friends such as Aijojo, Yunyouxi, Shenlan, etc.

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(End of this chapter)