Beiyang reactionaries

"General Duan, I now somewhat understand why the general was able to go from being a commander of bandit suppression in western Henan to his current position in just over four years. The students really admire the general's judgment of the general situation."

"Mr. Yang, I don't dare to be a student when you say the word student, I don't dare to be."

"Then general, don't call me Mr., I don't dare to be."

Yang Yongtai kept his posture very low.

"Then I will call you Brother Changqing. Brother Changqing, I have been waiting for you for a long time."

"Hey--"

Yang Yongtai sighed and said: "I am dissatisfied with the general. Although I was very moved at the time, I still want to see it again. The general said it is good. Lu Rongting has a limited structure and cannot make a big deal after all. This law protection war has been beneficial several times. He didn't seize every opportunity, lacked courage, and watched the opportunity slip away. Of course, the most important thing is that all the things the general said have come true in the past few months."

"Haha."

Duan Xun smiled, how could Yang Yongtai know that he is a person who knows history.

Although Yang Yongtai talked about the past few months, in fact, Yang Yongtai has read Duan Xun's information more seriously in the past few months, and studied the process of Duan Xun's fortune.I found that Duan Xun started from western Henan to Sichuan, and went through the war of protecting the country, the dispute between Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui, the restoration of Zhang Xun and other major events. Every time he made a choice, he seemed very reckless, but the final result It is all beneficial to Duan Xun.

Yang Yongtai doesn't think Duan Xun is so reckless every time.

After careful study, Yang Yongtai had an idea.That is, every time Duan Xun seems to be reckless, but he takes every step faster than others, occupying a favorable position.Every time Duan Xun made a bet, he succeeded.It is precisely because I go faster than others every time, so I can get several times more benefits than others after every big event.

This is amazing.

Every time Duan Xun judged the situation, it was too accurate.It was even scary to be accurate, so Yang Yongtai finally decided to go to Duan Xun.

"General, I want to hear your opinion on the Hunan War."

"Okay, then I'll talk about it."

146 Department of Political Science 3

"Brother Changqing (Yang Yongtai), now the troops from Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces seem to have the upper hand, and they have taken Yueyang again. But there are too many internal conflicts between them. The contradiction between Mr. Zhongshan and Lu Rongting is getting more and more serious, and the split is inevitable. Yes. And the Hunan-Guangdong-Guangxi Allied Forces hastily expanded their troops in Yuezhou in order to guard against our Beiyang Army. I have information that they have expanded their troops to 8 in Yuezhou. Isn’t this a joke? They had only 3 troops in Yuezhou before , it became 8 people in one fell swoop. What kind of military expansion speed is this? They don’t have enough officers to withstand such an expansion, and more importantly, they don’t have so many weapons and equipment to equip their troops. Such an expansion will lead to The combat effectiveness of the army has declined rapidly, and it is self-defeating."

Not to mention the poorly regularized troops in Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, even the Beiyang Army expanded its army before and after the Second Revolution, which resulted in a rapid decline in the combat effectiveness of the troops.

It can be seen during the national defense war.

For example, Wu Xiangzhen's Fourth Mixed Brigade, Zhang Jingyao's Seventh Division, and the three mixed brigades in western Hunan, although there were many other factors in their defeat, their combat effectiveness against the Beiyang Army declined rapidly, and the quality of the grassroots officers in these units declined rapidly. Great relationship.

Just look at Cao Kun's third division.

During the War to Protect the Nation, if you want to attack, you can attack.Even if you don't want to fight, the retreat of the troops is orderly, and there will be no major rout of the troops.There is also a more typical unit, that is Feng Yuxiang's No.16 mixed brigade.

Compared with Cao Kun's troops, Feng Yuxiang's choice in the war to protect the country is worth talking about.During Feng Yuxiang's war to protect the country, his attitude was vacillating.The national defense army attacked them without giving face, and they chose to retreat several times after the fight was almost finished.However, every time Feng Yuxiang's troops retreated, it seemed that they were running for their lives in a hurry, but after the final retreat, it could be seen that Feng Yuxiang's troops were not short at all, and their organization was not chaotic at all.On the contrary, when retreating, it was able to incorporate other scattered Beiyang Army troops, almost doubling the number of troops.It can really be said that if you want to go up, you can go up, and if you want to retreat, you can retreat.

But Wu Xiangzhen's [-]th Mixed Brigade and Zhang Jingyao's [-]th Division are also direct troops of the Beiyang Army.But with a little carelessness, the troops were completely disintegrated and suffered heavy casualties.This is why the fighting power is so poor.

In terms of the officer reserve of the Beiyang Army, the combat effectiveness of the army has declined rapidly after the expansion.Not to mention the troops from Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi.Their officer reserves are simply not comparable to those of the Beiyang Army, especially Lu Rongting's troops are even worse in this regard.

Because it was an army adapted from bandits, when Lu Rongting's army expanded, all the officers were his old brothers.As a result, the quality of the grassroots officers in their troops is very low.It is the same as the current Zhang Zuolin's troops.

The fighting power is very poor.Once you encounter a large-scale war, you don't know how to fight it at all.

Moreover, the weapons and equipment of the Hunan-Guangdong-Guangxi Allied Forces are not as good as those of the Beiyang Army, because they do not have any outstanding arsenals in their hands.From 3 people, in just over a month, the army has become 8 people.Where did they get so many weapons.

Anyway, in Duan Xun's eyes, this is nonsense.

Duan Xun is currently the overlord of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. He keeps poaching people from Baoding Military Academy, Yunnan Lecture Hall, and Wuchang Army Middle School. He also controls a Sichuan Army University.But the expansion of the army to 10,000+ is very worrying.For fear of affecting the quality of grassroots officers.

"I'm not talking about other troops. I'm just talking about Cao Kun's third division and several Zhili mixed brigades under Cao Kun. This time Wu Peifu should personally lead the third division and several Zhili mixed brigades to attack Yue I can't guarantee other troops, but Cao Kun's third division is the most elite unit in the entire Beiyang Army. As long as the third division attacks, the situation in Hunan will change immediately."

"General, what do you think..."

"Come on, take a look. At present, my Fifth Division, the First Mixed Brigade, has 2 troops in the Zhijiang and Yongshun areas. I have also deployed an infantry brigade and an infantry regiment in Yichang. A military police brigade. And I have enough troops in Guizhou, ready to support Xiangxi at any time. My idea is very simple. I don’t care about the positions of the governor of Hunan and the governor of Hunan. Because it is impossible for me to be outside Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, It also owns Hunan. But since my troops have already entered Hunan, I cannot give up places like Changde, Yongshun, Chenzhou, and Baoqing.”

Yang Yongtai looked at the map of Hunan. Although he was not sure about Duan Xun's judgment, he did have more confidence in Duan Xun.Because Duan Xun had his own judgment, the troops had already been sent out.

As long as things really go as Duan Xun expected, half of Hunan will be in Duan Xun's hands.Especially occupying Changde directly threatens Changsha.Moreover, Duan Xun is also the commander-in-chief of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so the headquarters can be placed in Yuezhou.

Once this happens, Duan Xun's troops will control Changde and Yueyang, no matter who is in Changsha, it will all depend on Duan Xun's face.Moreover, Duan Xun's troops can enter Changsha anytime and anywhere.

However, Yang Yongtai still asked suspiciously: "Then, General. Who do you think will be the Governor of Hunan?"

"Brother Changqing, what do you think?"

"According to the current situation, it should be Wu Peifu. After all, the third division in Wu Peifu's hands is the strongest, and this time it is also the main offensive task. If it is true that the French Guardians are driven out of Hunan, Wu Peifu is estimated to have contributed the most. And Duan After all, Hefei (Duan Qirui) wants to win over Cao Kun. Wu Peifu is the first direct descendant of Cao Kun, so he should give Cao Kun a little sweetness. I think it is most appropriate for the Hunan Governor to hand over to Wu Peifu."

Duan Xun smiled and shook his head.

"General, do you disagree?"

Yang Yongtai was a little unconvinced.

Yang Yongtai is not an ordinary literati.Yang Yongtai is a man of both sides. Not only is he a member of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, but he also flirts with the southwest warlord Lu Rongting, and has connections with many senior officials of the Beiyang government.

There is still a lot of news.

Duan Qirui used the position of vice president to seduce Cao Kun, so Cao Kun fought back and sided with Duan Qirui.Since Duan Qirui wants to win over Cao Kun, he will definitely give Cao Kun some sweetness.Before supporting Cao Kun to become vice president, there must be other rewards.Only in this way will Cao Kun work harder.

The easiest thing at this stage is to benefit Wu Peifu.

Governor of Hunan.

This location is not big, but it is not small.Therefore, Yang Yongtai judged that after Duan Qirui captured Hunan, he would hand over the position of Hunan Governor to Wu Peifu.But Duan Xun shook his head, which made Yang Yongtai not very convinced.

"I can say with certainty that it is definitely not Wu Ziyu (Wu Peifu). The position of the Governor of Hunan will most likely fall on Zhang Jingyao's head."

"Zhang Jingyao?"

"Yes."

Duan Xun nodded affirmatively.

Then he sighed and said, "Brother Changqing, you still don't know enough about Premier Duan. Premier Duan is very stubborn in some aspects, and you can even say that he is very vengeful. After Zhang Xun was restored back then, the best way was actually to let Li Huangpi ( Li Yuanhong) continues to be the president, which is far better than letting Feng Hejian (Feng Guozhang) be the president. But Prime Minister Duan has a grudge against Li Huangpi, and he will not let Li Huangpi return to the central government. It is the same this time."

"Do you think Prime Minister Duan really has no grudges against Cao Kun by using the position of vice president to win Cao Kun this time? Cao Kun and the three governors of the Yangtze River stabbed Premier Duan once, and let him go to the field at the most important moment of Prime Minister Duan. The Prime Minister kept it in mind. That's why Premier Duan let Zhang Zuolin's troops enter the customs, and he said that whoever has the most credit will be the vice president. It is absolutely impossible for Wu Peifu to become the governor of Hunan. As for Zhang Jingyao, don't look at him The military discipline of the army is not good, and the combat effectiveness is not good. Every time he goes to war, he will embarrass Premier Duan. But Zhang Jingyao is the direct descendant of Premier Duan. Reward Zhang Jingyao. In this regard, Premier Duan..."

Duan Xun said that he didn't finish here.

Because although it was with Yang Yongtai in private, Duan Xun couldn't talk about Duan Qirui's problem.Duan Qirui is absolutely inferior to Yuan Shikai in this respect.Too focused on one's own faction to the exclusion of others.

Wherever there is a good position, he will prepare it for his direct descendants.Although this is of great benefit to uniting one's direct lineage, it will not be able to bring in people from other factions.

If Duan Qirui was a local warlord, there would be no problem.But Duan Qirui is the actual person in charge of the entire country at present, so there is a big problem.But Duan Xun is always bad at speaking ill of Duan Qirui in front of others.

"Is that so?"