Chapter 3: Advisor

On the playground of the Right Association of the Imperial Guards, neat steps stirred up dust. Teams of soldiers formed a squadron, first to step, and then passed by a group of inspectors in a straight stance. Each soldier was fully equipped, new military uniforms, new backpacks, new military boots and blankets, carrying a bayonet-style 88-style German-made rifle, without looking sideways, but was focused on the officer's command voice.

These officers of different backgrounds from Beiyang and South China all stood at the forefront of the team. Each company (group) had a chief and deputy officer, and three sentry officers. The army was impeccable and walked with the command knife even more standard than the soldiers.

The Right Association is the army led by Li Yunzong, and this deep man is basically a training devil. He absolutely agrees with the absolute strict discipline that Xu Yifan deliberately requires and the use of discipline and crazy training to cultivate soldiers. Among the entire Right Association, the military appearance and hood are the most proficient. Xu Yifan arranged this inspection to hope that others could see this. He has only been in the army for several months, lacking cadres, and is alone in another place, and has experienced riots in the middle. It is impossible to talk about the tactics of the troops and military literacy. If you want to show it to others, you can only look at the development of the style and quality of the soldiers.

It is to tell others that no matter how short his Imperial Guards were established or how big the flaws they had, they were indeed a modern and prohibited army!

But his ability ended here. He became a military army, especially a modern army. He could not feel pain when he stood and talked. But when he was really facing the head, he would do it from scratch with his own hands. Only when he was immersed in the scene did he know how difficult it was!

How to select and allocate talents, how to rated the organization, how to allocate ammunition, how to establish and implement discipline, how to establish command agencies, what channels should be conveyed by military orders, how to manage military politics... Since it was established as a combat force that can be fought in the field, there is additional work, how to establish the geography of the soldiers, what databases are needed, how to prepare the military and wartime organization, what kind of firepower equipment is most suitable for the current situation, what training plans and training methods should be adopted, the wartime mobilization plan, the resource mobilization and cooperation plan of the territory he masters, various channels should be established, plans, and means... The solutions to these problems ultimately point to a term: modern staff system.

The development of modern military is almost a science that requires precise calculations. Xu Yifan obviously does not have this qualities, and he does not have so much energy to manage the specific military establishment. The Beiyang Academy officials under his command are already the best military literacy, but they were all trained as soldiers, and some of the military courses at that time were quite outdated. Not to mention Nanyang Academy officials, who are almost the same as the soldiers they command, are older brothers and second brothers, so don’t laugh at anyone.

Some foreign instructors hired from Beiyang have some experience in developing the quality of soldiers, but the commander-in-chief of the army and the staff of the army still shook their heads faster. Those who wandered the East were amazing, they were inferior officers at the time. They assisted in troop training, were familiar with weapons, and were still able to train shooting, but they could not go to the next level.

During the eight months of military construction, Xu Yifan and his confidant had four words, and they were confused and confused. They established some temporary regulations and management systems, and also experienced a low-intensity anti-riot war, received a little training, and the troops were also tempered. More often than not, it was the young officers who were full of passionate youth who set an example and did everything ahead. In addition, the military discipline that made the soldiers develop the habit of conditioned reflexes, which made the troops look like this.

In Xu Yifan's mind, the two words "Jiangwu" were always hanging there, reminding him from time to time and urging him. It also made him understand that the current imperial guards are still not enough! The former lieutenant colonel Koonc of the General Staff of the German Imperial Army, and some of his entourages, whom Lie Nobita recruited by Li Daxiong were one of the talents he longed for.

These days, Koonc and his team were accompanied by senior officers of the Imperial Guards, and made a formal greeting and arranged the best place to live. Xu Yifan did not talk to them for a while, nor did he even talk to Li Daxiong and Tan Si. He just arranged for someone to accompany them around the base on the banks of the Datong River, while eliminating the lack of travel, and let them observe it on their own. He also quietly sent himself to Goshha to mingle with their accompanying team, unable to understand their German, and could see their attitude and reaction... What he wanted was the introduction of talents that could really help him build the army, rather than the foreign diners invited by a large salary!

These days, he also carefully studied the materials of Lieutenant Colonel Kontz. Kontz was born in a small landlord family in East Prussia, not Junker or military aristocrats. His ancestors are said to be a knight of the German Knights. The family has a history of intermarriage with Polish people. He was upright and lonely, and followed the old Moltke very early. In the process of reforming the Prussian military system, he made countless enemies. In addition, he was not of aristocratic blood and did not have the heavy backing of other noble officers. Many times he was simply used as a shield for the General Staff... It is said that he also advocated that the reform of the General Staff should be from beginning to end, rather than thinking that the military system of the German Empire had been perfect and reached the extreme. As a result, a large number of people were offended in the General Staff. As for how to propose what kind of reform methods, Li Daxiong was not familiar with the military, and he did not mention it in the materials.

These are not fatal, but Lieutenant Colonel Kontz is a loyal believer in Prime Minister Bismarck's strategic thinking. He believes that because of his natural strategic disadvantage in the inside line, Germany should slowly seek the European hegemony of the German Empire. He should not suddenly challenge the maritime power. Germany's current status in Central and Europe is based on the balance of all aspects, and he should not rashly break this balance----The old German captain Bismarck stepped down three years ago, and the German Emperor William II

A large number of trusted officers of the world entered the General Staff. The 52-year-old lieutenant colonel was also disgraced and was kicked out of active service. Who would have been willing to listen to a stubborn old man calling over there all day. He took some resignation money and returned to Koenigsburg to become a squire. The old man was in trouble. His land was in debt for several years, and his little stocks and government debts fell to nothing due to the Moroccan crisis. His only daughter needed a lot of dowry to get married, which forced the old man to lose his money.

Li Daxiong did a perfect job of analyzing the economic situation of the old lieutenant colonel. Xu Yifan couldn't help but cry of sympathy for the old man.

Adding all kinds of things together, the former German Imperial Army Lieutenant Colonel Koonc Fleischer, who was 55 years old this year, had a monthly salary of 2,400 yuan, equivalent to the extremely high salary of 1,200 yuan and 400 pounds. Lieutenant Colonc Koonc suddenly felt something and collected some of his old subordinates who had been unlucky with him. Xiao Ranli Ou and rushed to North Korea, the end of the sea.

The dust stirred up by the soldiers' footsteps fluttered around the inspecting crowd. Xu Yifan was wearing the same brand new military uniform, his armed belt was tightly tied, and he pressed his command knife to look at Koonts and the former German staff elites in old-style Prussian military uniforms around him.

Li Yunzong stood beside him, his face as deep as water, just staring at his team tightly. He paid attention to every tiny detail. Whenever his steps were a little confused and his shoulder gun salute was not in place, his expression was a little darker. He was too lazy to look at Koonc and the others.

Kontz is already fifty-five-year-old, and his waist is still straight. His hair is mostly gray, and he is wearing Prussian monocle glasses with a scheming expression. His face is expressionless. His eyes are blue in his deep eye sockets. He watches the army pass by in front of him. Every time he passes by a row, he hears the slogans, the light in his eyes becomes brighter. His waist is even more straighter. Many of the old subordinates who once followed him, who are wearing old military uniforms, look like squire. Seeing the neatly passing queues in front of him, each of them is a little emotional. He occasionally looks at each other and then turns his eyes away.

Unexpectedly, in a distant country that I had never heard of, those yellow people who were said to be weak, with braids and smoked smokers had also trained such an orderly and high morale!

Amid the command, Xu Yifan suddenly turned around and spoke in German: "Mr. Koonc, what do you think? For this army that needs you to further improve the establishment?"

To Koncz, Xu Yifan's German grammar is strange, but his pronunciation is quite standard. He unexpectedly glanced at this overly young Qing Dynasty minister, and according to his official title, Li Daxiong, who hired him, said that it was equivalent to the second or third minister of the German Army. (The difference between the Minister of the Ministry of War of the Qing Dynasty and the Second Minister of the German Army, the difference in the official powers of the two countries, Li Daxiong did not understand, and Xu Yifan was too lazy to explain.)

He can speak German!

Kontz put on his glasses and looked at Xu Yifan coldly. The standard general staff officer did not easily move his emotions: "Your army has been well developed - according to East Asian standards. The equipment can even be called excellent. I also saw the equipment with the Mauser 88 rifle produced by the original German factory. The dock is unloaded with Armstrong's new three-inch rapid-fire cannon. When some of our German army's infantry teams were still using bronze mount retard guns, you had equipped the latest retard guns... In addition to these, the most important thing is that I saw an army! It is obvious that the soldiers' awe and obedience to discipline, and they can receive a large amount of rigorous training..."

When talking about training the word, Kontz's tone of his tablet was slightly raised, which seemed a bit ridiculous.

"………The officers are young and energetic, have an identity with their officers, and have a conscious understanding of the dignity of the officers. Although I don't know how you did it, congratulations."

While Koonz was speaking, Li Yunzong tilted his head slightly and asked in a low voice about the Nanyang translation that had been following these Germans. After listening to his translation in full, Li Yunzong was still calm, and his handsome face was still tense, as if he was comparing with these Germans who were cooler.

Xu Yifan smiled and was about to say something modest. His town is a Nanyang consortium that is rich enough to rival a country. It has half of the resources of North Korea and a large amount of other sources of wealth that have been plundered. Can the equipment be bad? Timely and good supply, dignified income, and the self-esteem of the officer group supported by the pride of pacifying a country. Of course, his own brainwashing and bewitching...... He kicked out such a new army with one hand, and sometimes he felt that he was really capable.

The old German soldier suddenly changed his tone: "......but this is far from being a perfect army that can undergo various tests and can fight effectively! Without a perfect military order system, who commands this army? You only need the commander to be responsible for you! The military and political management system is also crude. The officers are taking it for granted by their enthusiasm. We have been observing for a few days. There are no reports, lack of written documents for exchanges in your management and command system at all levels, and there is no system management regulations to follow. The so-called staff officer is just the troop leader's attendant and cannot support such a management system..."

Xu Yifan left the old lieutenant colonel with a very high opinion of himself for a few days, and it seemed that he was really resentful. However, the old man was still calm and even emotional, just talking about it with a cold tablet.

"... The army, in addition to perfect management, must be prepared for combat. To effectively fight, it is necessary to have an effective plan to use this army. Mobilization plan, logistics plan, staff plan... I have not seen any level command center with a complete map, and the modern staff system has developed completely from map surveying and geography. The staff members are completely in their minds about the place where you are in the geography of soldiers, and they do not even have the skills to master these soldiers, geography! Not to mention the higher level of mobilization and logistics supply cooperation plan...

In addition to planning, there are also long-term and hard training, which is an important source of the army's combat effectiveness. But what I see is only day after day physical training, simple shooting training, and marching training. An army needs to have a complete training outline and training plan. I have not seen any weekly training, monthly training, and quarterly training plans! Soldiers need to know how to marching, shooting, communication, alerting, artillery cooperation, building cities, reconnaissance, search... need to know how to cooperate with companies and companies, and the cooperation between regiments and regiments. Officers also need to master the content of company command, battalion command, regiment command, and even the command of combat corps! These are all based on a complete and gradual training outline and planning. What I see now is that only soldiers are constantly conducting absurd and excessive tormenting training... This may be beneficial to soldiers' obedience, but it is definitely not a training method for an army that can effectively fight!

besides…………"

Contz kept talking, and the most amazing thing was that he could maintain the tone without any ups and downs. In the end, he believed that all the officers of Xu Yifan were now unqualified, at least imperfect. The military system was extremely crude and needed a complete set of strict systems, from military orders to military and political affairs. Officers, especially staff officers, needed to be rebuilt. Soldiers also needed thorough training!

Li Yunzong's face was already ashen. His right assistant crossed North Korea and was regarded as a heavenly soldier. He believed that even if he had been pulled out, he could compete with the long-trained Huai Army. The left assistant pacified Seoul and defeated the Japanese Embassy Guard in one fell swoop. He admitted that the troops still needed to be improved, but he did not expect that they would be so unbearable!

But the excitement of emotions appeared on his face, which was only a matter of moment for Li Yunzong. In the blink of an eye, he calmed down and continued to watch without hesitation.

Xu Yifan does not have the knot of Li Yunzong. Li Yunzong is a person of this era. Even if he compares it, he will compare the most familiar Huai Army. Xu Yifan knows what the real modern and modern army looks like. He just smiled at the moment: "Mr. Kontz, you understand very well. This is why I hired you and you to come to this place. Are you willing to help me develop a modern and powerful army?"

At this moment, Xu Yifan's smile reached 120,000.

These former German staff elites were indeed not covered. After a few days of observation, they found so many problems and explained them in such a systematic and clear manner. Maybe they had already held a small meeting in private. Although their expressions were so cold and picky, Xu Yifan didn't care at all.

Kontz looked at Xu Yifan quietly, and the former officers around him turned their heads. Kontz gently took off his lenses and slowly took out a silk handkerchief from his front chest pocket to wipe the lenses. After a while, he spoke slowly, with a cold tone: "Your Excellency, why do we need to help you? According to my understanding, your army is already sufficiently elite in its own country, even on the Asian continent. It is equipped with so many rifles and cannons, arranged and set off, and cannons can kill many people. Why do you... need a modern army regiment that exceeds the level of Asia? Our arrival is not to be involved in any political vortex, nor to shame our names to the ambitious people."

Your uncle, you are trying to lose money for your family, and for the salary of 2,400 taels. In addition to the group of treasures under your command who were driven into the reserve service, you have to pay 10,000 taels of silver for a month before you get here!

Xu Yifan almost couldn't help but turn his back on his face and scold him, wanting to be a bitch, and wanting to set up a archway. What's the point of discrimination against Asians in the bones of Europeans, coupled with the rigidity and vanity of old soldiers, which led to their attitude. These old guys insisted on finding a reason for them to come out before they could feel at ease to get the money...

Xu Yifan just smiled faintly. Fortunately, their conversations were all in German, otherwise Pu Beizi would have jumped up behind him.

"If it's just for me to continue to be promoted in the Qing Dynasty, then it would be enough to master such an army. Anyway, everyone in the Qing Dynasty is looking at quantity rather than quality... many things cannot be solved by the army. In internal affairs, the army is like a person who wants to hit mice in a porcelain shop, with too many concerns about use.

But don’t forget that for us Asian nations, the army is not only a tool for internal control, but also a force to defend our nation-state! The nationalist movement in Prussia created the great German. I want to build such an army, and I also want to defend our nation! As the founders invited by this army, you will stay in the history of this nation that has been passed down for five thousand years. It records your achievements in the rejuvenation of a great nation..."

Xu Yifan said casually, Kontz had put on his lenses again and listened carefully. Some of the former officers behind him subconsciously changed from a slight stance to a standing attentive position.

"……Napoleon once said, let this lion sleep. And the cause you are involved in is to wake up this lion! You will be as great as him! I will give you full authority as the general counsel of the Imperial Guards. Any order needs to be implemented by the deputy officer of your consultants at all levels. You will recruit whatever talents you want, and you will establish any school you want. I don't even mind you building a school that spreads the gospel of the Lord! You will carry out any revolution in the military system, and you can realize all your unfulfilled ambitions! And most importantly, you have no moral concerns. No matter how powerful the Imperial Guards are, they will not cause any trouble to your mother country!

Trust, honor, dignity, unfinished ideals, helping a nation’s historical status and power………What else do you need?”

After Xu Yifan finished speaking, the surroundings were quiet. Although the officers of the Imperial Guards and the Goshhas around him did not understand German, they were also moved by Xu Yifan's sonorous tone and full enthusiasm, and stood at attention silently.

Kontz looked back at his old subordinates and suddenly smiled - in fact, it just touched the muscles of the mouth: "Your Excellency, you are willing to serve you. We will give you the greatest rewards you will give..."

Xu Yifan felt relieved in his heart. German has been useless for so long, and his tongue hurts just now. When he heard the foreigner selling himself and surrendering, his mind relaxed, and he stretched out his hand and held Koonc's hand and shook it hard: "Transaction! Within half a year, can the Imperial Guards be trained to the level of an elite army regiment of your country?"

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 is just in front of me, so I have to hurry up……

Koonz took off his lenses again, looked at Xu Yifan seriously, and sighed slowly: "Your Excellency, I am a retired old soldier, not God..."

"God of Lafayette, this is the constitution agreed by Li Hongzhang and the Japanese. I submitted it to invite Lafayette to give it my purpose..."

Li Lianying lowered her hands and stood respectfully in the small pavilion in the flower hall outside Leshou Hall. Cixi was being held by two girls and was walking in the flower hall. Looking out of the window, she saw the blue waves of Kunming Lake rippling and autumn floating.

The weather now is also the highest and clear season for the Emperor's Capital of Beijing.

The two girls who were holding Cixi, one was cloned and her eyes were as if she was too weak to wear. She was the princess Xiuning of the royal family. The other was also quite handsome and had big braids, but she always looked a little rustic. However, she was Li Lianying's niece of the clan, Sister Li.

These two girls are the most favored younger girls around Cixi now.

With the two of them accompanying him, the old lady smiled, like a kind grandmother in the countryside. She threw Li Hongzhang there for a while and had enough strolled before she turned to the small pavilion in the flower hall. She glanced at the yellow box placed on the stone table and frowned: "Li Hongzhang is really, how can he bother me? With the emperor there, why don't you send him there? I'm just trying to have some worry-free fun now, he still won't stop!"

Li Lianying quickly laughed and said, "Although the Lord of the Lady is prosperous, but the world is important, isn't it that the Lord of the Lady holds the rudder? No matter how big the water is, it can't be overflowing the Bodhisattva. Li Zhongtang still understands this principle. Lord of the Lady nodded so that he can present it to the emperor with treasures..."

Cixi nodded slowly: "The Sino-Japanese negotiations are indeed a big deal, and it's nothing to do if I'm just trying to be a little diligent..." As she said that, she was about to sit down. Xiuning had carefully spread the handkerchief tied on the collar on the stone bench, for fear that Cixi would get sick. Sister Li quickly glared at Xiuning with her eyebrows and lowered her eyebrows and bit her lip secretly.

Cixi smiled at Xiuning with kindness and asked her to pinch her shoulders gently. Sister Li quickly opened the yellow box and took out the note presented by Li Hongzhang. Cixi looked at it for a while, and then said for a long time: "What? Let Xu Yifan go to Japan to apologize and throw away the imperial guards. Does Li Hongzhang have the intention to take over?"

Xiuning's hand shook, but remained silent. Li Lianying was smiling and refused to answer. This was all wrong. The Imperial Guard's Empress Dowager looked at it and said that if Li Hongzhang added another ten thousand strong soldiers, there were people in the court and the country. Even Cixi himself beat Li Hongzhang for almost ten years. This time, Ronglu fell, and he was allowed to walk to the front of the stage.
Chapter completed!