The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 81 There is a good student

Teng Yuzhao had a large number of German military uniforms obtained through exchange. When he proposed to exchange the uniforms for prisoners, Teng Yuzhao had the idea of ​​changing the uniforms of the Vanguard Army.

The uniform style of the vanguard army was originally German uniform, so this time they simply adopted the German uniform style completely.

However, the color of the German military uniforms at that time was not the famous field gray in later generations, so these uniforms had to be washed and dyed again when they reached Teng Yuzhao. Li Yulin's camp office dyed the uniforms of the vanguard army into field gray. Although there were some differences between the field gray of the vanguard army's uniforms and the real field gray due to dyeing and washing and dyes, the color was already very close.

Teng Yuzao nodded and said, "Of course I have to change. How can I, the commander-in-chief of the Vanguard Army, not change my uniform? I will change it immediately."

There were two sources of uniforms for the Vanguard Army. Except for those exchanged from the Allied Forces, the rest were urgently made by the Camp Affairs Office in Tianjin City at a price of one tael of silver for ten sets of uniforms. Due to the rush of time, the uniforms of the Vanguard Army were not completely unified. The exchanged uniforms all had copper buttons, while the newly made uniforms had wooden buttons.

If it were in the past, finding Christian's Lihe Foreign Trade Company in Tianjin would have completely solved the button problem, but now...

Except for the buttons and colors, the uniform style of the vanguard army was exactly the same as the mainstream uniform of the Prussian Army.

In addition, there is another special feature of the Vanguard Army uniforms. That is, the armies of Western powers generally do not have collar badges, while the Vanguard Army uniforms have not only shoulder straps showing military rank, but also collar badges, and cap badges are also in the works.

The military ranks and collar insignia are made of red velvet, and the Vanguard Army emblem on the left arm is a blue background with white letters that all officers and soldiers use.

Teng Yuzhao's own new military uniform did not have any military rank insignia because Teng Yuzhao was quite hesitant about his own military rank.

Teng Yuzhao would be unwilling to accept a low rank, but if it was too high, he was worried that it would give people a chance to criticize him in the future. For example, if he was given the shoulder straps of lieutenant general or general, he might be criticized in the future.

Although Teng Yuzao did not set a military rank for himself, he asked Li Yulin to put a real gold five-pointed star on the collar and epaulettes of his military uniform. The gold star on the collar was slightly smaller, while the gold star on the epaulettes was much larger. Coupled with the glittering copper buttons, he looked very majestic. Anyone could see at a glance that he was different from all the members of the vanguard army and was obviously a cut above in momentum.

While changing into his new uniform with the help of Wu Peifu, Teng Yuzao asked casually, "Zi Yu, do you understand what I told Li Yaoting?"

While helping Teng Yuzao to tidy up his uniform, Wu Peifu whispered, "In reply to your words, you have been very kind to me. I only know to obey your orders and follow your will. I dare not speculate on your words."

Wu Peifu's answer was both within Teng Yuzhao's expectations and beyond his expectations, but this answer was exactly what Teng Yuzhao was thinking.

Judging from Wu Peifu's answer, he had already heard or guessed what Teng Yuzhao was thinking.

But if Wu Peifu answered directly that he understood or didn't understand, it would be inappropriate. Then he would not be Wu Peifu. Wu Peifu was able to become a hot-selling giant in Beiyang more than 20 years later. It was not obtained for no reason. He got it through his brains. To put it more eloquently, it was the reward he got for his wisdom. Teng Yuzao nodded secretly and stopped entangled in this question. Instead, he turned to ask Wu Peifu, "Ziyu, have you reported to the school?"

Wu Peifu had already helped Teng Yuzao change into his military uniform. When he heard Teng Yuzao asking again, he hurriedly said, "I've been there, but the camp school has classes all day and you're not allowed to leave at will, so I didn't go there to study. I just asked them for the textbooks of the infantry department of the military school. After reading them, I think I can learn the content by myself, so that I can stay by the military commander's side and serve him at all times."

Although Teng Yuzao saw through Wu Peifu's reluctance to leave him, he also admired Wu Peifu's confidence when he answered that he could teach himself the infantry textbooks of the Military Academy. Teng Yuzao opposed blind confidence, as he believed it was a kind of arrogance, but he liked Wu Peifu's confidence because he knew that Wu Peifu had the capital and confidence to do so.

Teng Yuzao hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, since you don't want to go to the camp school, you can stay in the headquarters as a staff officer."

Teng Yuzao smiled and said to Wu Peifu, "Zi Yu, it is very important to learn modern Western military knowledge. These advanced things of the Western powers are extremely important for us to defend our country and build a strong national defense army. Only by mastering these advanced military skills and military ideas can we become a qualified vanguard army officer."

Teng Yuzhao did not say anything for the court or the emperor, but only talked about defending the country. He did not even mention anything like the Qing army, but only emphasized the national defense army and the vanguard army. He was intentionally passing on his ideas to Wu Peifu subtly.

Teng Yuzao did not think that his few words could solve Wu Peifu's outdated thinking of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. The same was true for other military officers. This was a long process that had to be carried out unnoticed.

Without waiting for Wu Peifu to answer, Teng Yuzao continued, "If you have any questions when you are studying on your own, you can ask me. You may not know that I, the president, am not only a student of Beiyang Wubei Academy, but also the first graduate. I even studied military affairs in Germany. After returning to Beiyang, I taught at Wubei Academy for several years. I am qualified to be your teacher, but I don't know if you are willing to be my student."

As soon as Teng Yuzao finished speaking, Wu Peifu knelt on the ground with a "thump" and kowtowed to Teng Yuzao three times. "My dear teacher, please accept my student's greetings."

Teng Yuzao's smile grew even wider. This was Wu Peifu, who almost became the first person in the Beiyang government in the future! Being his teacher was worth it even if it took some effort.

It was still very cost-effective to accept Wu Peifu as a student. From a historical perspective, Wu Peifu was a man who attached great importance to his promises, and the ancients paid great attention to respecting teachers. With such a talented student-general, Teng Yuzhao had more confidence to compete with Yuan Shikai.

Moreover, poaching from Beiyang was only the first step. In Teng Yuzhao's plan, all the talented people in Beiyang throughout history were his targets for winning over.

At the same time, Teng Yuzao was also very happy with Wu Peifu's cleverness. He helped Wu Peifu up with a smile and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Zi Yu, work hard and don't let me down."

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(End of this chapter)