In the end, the high-level discussions in the Northeast only formulated a general policy, and as for the specific operation, it depends on Feng Yong's means. Feng Delin and Li Jun are in charge of the government, after all, knowing Feng Yong's big moves in the future, they naturally need more powerful financial support, and half a year is really not a long time. Jiang Baili and Zhang Zuolin, on the other hand, continued to carry out the reform of the national defense force system.

As the war progressed, the demand for weapons and ammunition by the major powers in the South became increasingly tight, and the weapons and equipment in the world arms market were too expensive. As a result, the forces of all sides began to pay attention to the northeast. After all, the Northeast and Japan are fighting, and the powerful firepower is ready to make all sides red. All parties also know that the Northeast Arsenal has not reduced its output because of the stagnation of the war, but is still operating at full capacity, and batches of military industrial enterprises are still under construction. In order to prevent the Northeast from hoarding sufficient ammunition, almost all the forces sent orders to their representatives in the capital to meet with Young Marshal Feng and want to buy weapons and ammunition. At present, the Northeast weapons are not well-known in the world, and it is difficult to break into the international market. Regarding the weapon needs of various forces in the country, Feng Yong decided to release a weapon after repeated consideration. Of course, the weapons sold were not Chinese Type 16 rifles, but special imitation rifles, of which the imitation of Japanese Type 38 was the mainstay. Although the style of this domestic gun is very similar to the 38 style, its durability is far worse than the original Japanese 38 style. After all, pirated things are always inferior to the original ones in terms of durability, and the current Northeast does not have the ability to imitate the later Celestial Empire. Moreover, Feng Yong also has requirements for these domestically sold guns, as long as they reach the level of domestic general imitation rifles. The Northeast will not produce high-quality guns to supply the enemy. Even the current Tang Jiyao has made Feng Yong support him because of his ambiguous attitude, and Cai Yi is still alive, and Feng Yong is still a little partial to the governor of the southwest. Nearly half of the limited guns released in the northeast fell into Tang Jiyao's hands, which allowed Tang Jiyao's strength to increase and always maintain an advantage on the battlefield.

The price of imitation guns in the Northeast is not as high as that of rifles produced in the countries of the great powers. However, the price is much higher than that of Hanyang in China. This makes all parties see the importance of the arsenal. Among them, the Hanyang Arsenal, which has the highest production capacity, has become the focus. In order to get the Hanyang Arsenal, Hunan Xu Shuzheng led the army to storm Hubei despite the danger of the nest being captured by Cao Kun, aiming at the Hanyang Arsenal. Although Hunan also has an ordnance institute, it only has the ability to repair guns, and it is difficult to satisfy the problem of weapons and ammunition production.

In order to protect the Hanyang Arsenal, Feng Guozhang had to transfer 20,000 troops from Wu Peifu's hands to the west of Hubei, and together with the local garrison, he resisted Xu Shuzheng's attack, and at the same time constantly sent telegrams urging Cao Kun to speed up. For a time, because of the battle for the Hanyang Arsenal, the internal military duel in Beiyang reached the most tense moment.

Having lost 20,000 elite soldiers, Wu Peifu only had 30,000 strength in his hands. However, the strength of the coalition army of Zhao and Yan Xishan has more than 40,000 people, and the strength is still increasing, Zhao Wei has been operating in Henan for many years, deep-rooted, and stronger than Wu Peifu in terms of supplementation, and Yang Aiyuan of the Jin army is also a tiger general, with the help of Henan's geographical advantages, and Wu Peifu is entangled together, although Wu Peifu is a famous general, but under the enemy's intention to dodge, it is difficult to end the war in a short time.

On the battlefield in Anhui, Zhang Xiaozhun led the newly formed army to press forward step by step. Zhang Xun's pressure has increased greatly, and he has already come up with the idea of softening. But when he heard that his captured soldiers had been absorbed by Beiyang and that all the officers had been beheaded, Zhang Xun understood that the only way out was to resist. So, Zhang Xun also went crazy. Although he was conservative in his thinking, he still had thoughts about the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he still retained the pigtail army with the Manchu Qing symbol. His thinking does not conform to the mainstream ideology of China at present, but the whole country is so large, the degree of openness is low, and there are still many local old and young people who are yearning for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, especially in Anhui under the rule of Zhang Xun, this kind of thinking is becoming more and more intense. Therefore, for the new formation of the Beiyang Governor's Palace, the march in Anhui was not smooth. Zhang Xiaozhun was extremely strict in governing the army, and the troops were not allowed to disturb the people, and the generals who had received Western education attached great importance to military regulations and military discipline. After all, strict military discipline can make a unit more combative. Under the encouragement of the local remnants and the young, the common people resisted the new army greatly, although no one dared to do it, but this phenomenon of running away when he saw the army crossing the border still made Zhang Xiaozhun very depressed.

As one county seat after another was taken, the pressure on Zhang Xun became more and more intense. In the end, Zhang Xun also became ruthless, used all the weapons and ammunition in the arsenal, and led the remnants of the 20,000 troops to fight a decisive battle with Zhang Xiaozhun's new army ten miles away from Hefei City. The battle was fought in the dark. Although the Braided Army is an army with an old system, it is undeniable that Zhang Xun has gained great support for being close to the old and young of the Manchu Qing Dynasty under the banner of conservatism. At the very least, his arsenal is far more abundant than Beiyang. After all, the time for the reconstruction of the Beiyang Governor's Mansion in Nanjing is too short, and the finances are tight, and the training of the new army has already cost an astonishing amount. Not to mention the large-scale procurement of weapons and ammunition.

This battle is a hard-fought battle without any skill. Zhang Xiaozhun did not expect Zhang Xun to be so bloody to start a decisive battle with him, he was not well prepared for a while, and there was no artillery support, after Zhang Xun's artillery entered the battle, Zhang Xiaozhun's new army did not last long and became unstable. After all, this is a group of troops made up entirely of new recruits, and they can only fight with the wind. Once the war is frustrated, it is easy to have a major collapse.

Zhang Xiaozhun had to order the army to disperse and break through, and escaped in embarrassment under the protection of his own soldiers. It was only after abandoning two county towns in succession that he shook off the attack of the pigtail army. Then gather the rout and prepare for another battle.

This sudden defeat dealt a great blow to Zhang Xiaozhun's reputation, and Zhang Xiaozhun's reputation as "Lu Shi Sanjie" made people expect more from him. The battle with Zhang Xun's pigtail army, the beginning of the victory made the Beiyang high-level have greater hopes for it, but this defeat made the voices against Zhang Xiaozhun within Beiyang reappear, and there was an intensifying posture. After all, Zhang Xiaozhun is not from Beiyang, because he and Cai Yi and Jiang Baili are both "Lu Shi Sanjie", so the position of the commander of the training army will fall on him. Now that the current army has been defeated, it is natural that people's perception of him will be hindered, and opposition will arise from it. After the Beiyang direct line took power in Nanjing, the internal competition was still fierce, after all, the direct line was already a fairly large force, and the internal interests were complicated, if it were not for Feng Guozhang's support, Zhang Xiaozhun An outsider would not be able to sit in such a prominent position.

Regarding the voice inside Beiyang, Feng Guozhang expressed silence. Although he is the leader of the direct line, after all, he does not have Yuan Shikai's control over Beiyang, and in his opinion, the sudden outbreak of internal contradictions is not necessarily a bad thing. As for Zhang Xiaozhun, who asked for punishment on the front line, Feng Guozhang also comforted, after all, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers. Feng Guozhang is also a person who knows the soldiers, and it is precisely because of the soldiers that he knows that Zhang Xiaozhun is still qualified to command the army. The blame for this defeat was that the new army was a rookie unit and lacked combat experience.

Zhang Xiaozhun was greatly moved by Feng Guozhang's tolerance, and gave birth to the feeling that a confidant was dead. So Zhang Xiaozhun began to regroup. Although the new army was defeated in this battle. The soldiers scattered and broke through, and most of them escaped. Zhang Xiaozhun tried his best to retract it, and recalled nearly 15,000 people in a few days. Although some of them were wounded, these people had been on the battlefield, and although they were defeated by the big ones and their morale was low, they were different from those who had never seen blood. At the same time, in order to win over the morale of the army as soon as possible, Zhang Xiaozhun began to break up and reorganize these troops, and those officers who were the first to escape in the war were all dismissed. Jang Hyo-joon began to promote those who had excelled in the war, and as for what kind of storm these eliminated officers would cause. It's not something that Zhang Xiaozhun should consider. As a soldier, on the battlefield, everything is about victory.

After reorganization, the strength of the new army shrank by half, but the combat effectiveness did not decrease but increased, and Zhang Xiaozhun finally raised his courage and fought against Zhang Xun's pigtail army again. This time, Zhang Xiaozhun learned the lesson of rash advance, used troops very cautiously, and encroached on the territory under Zhang Xun's rule step by step. After receiving the news of the continuous loss of his county, Zhang Xun was furious at the same time, but he was a little helpless. After all, now they are also beginning to run out of weapons and ammunition. It is hard to do it in a hard-fought battle like last time.

Hefei.

"Overseer, I contacted a merchant from the Northeast, who can get weapons from the Northeast and smuggle them into our Anhui." Zhang Xun's staff said.

"Merchants from the Northeast? Will he be able to get arms? Zhang Xun looked stunned for a moment, and then showed a look of disbelief.

"Yes, this businessman has a deep relationship behind the scenes, and I heard that he has a relationship with Feng Delin, the governor of the Northeast. Therefore, it can be eaten in both black and white dishes in the Northeast. It is also possible to get weapons that are strictly prohibited from being exported in the Northeast. The Beijing government has agreed to export too few weapons, and it also values personal relationships, and the southwest has received a majority of the share because of Cai's relationship. We won't be able to get the rest. But now we can smuggle arms from the Northeast through this relationship. Although the price is a little more expensive, it is available in unlimited quantities. The staff said excitedly.

"Really?" As soon as he heard about the infinite supply, Zhang Xun's face was overjoyed. Although Zhang Xiaozhun is now attacking with sufficient momentum, their forces are limited after all, and most of the huge Anhui is still in their hands. Anhui is a place with sufficient population in the Central Plains, and Zhang Xun's subordinates are not short of soldiers, but lack of weapons and ammunition.

"Yes, this is what Mr. Liu Kaiyuan said personally. And he himself is now in Hefei. The staff said.

"Great. Invite him to meet me! "Zhang Xun wants to talk to him personally. Smuggling weapons from the Northeast, no one inside is not to think about it. What kind of person is Feng Shaoshuai, no one dares to brush the tiger's whiskers now. And Zhang Xun is not too suspicious of the internal smuggling in the Northeast, after all, in the current China, the involvement of high-level internal leaders in smuggling is too common, this is absolutely profitable, and the profits are staggering, all forces in the world are like this, Zhang Xun does not believe that cats in the Northeast do not eat fish.

(To be continued)