At the same time that the envoys of Britain, France, and the United States received the news of the military parade, the Beiyang side and the revolutionary party also received the news of the exercise, and after Yang Yuanzhao wrote it, the invitation was sent to them almost at the same time.

Beiyang was received by Yang Du and Xu Shichang, Yang Du flipped it, saw that it was a military parade, smiled slightly, and threw it directly to Xu Shichang, saying: "Military matters, you can decide to see what happens." ”

Himself, Xu Shichang didn't care, under Yang Du's reminder, Xu Shichang noticed that there were nearly 200 phalanxes, among them, there were sequences, from the first division to more than 100 divisions, which belonged to more than 30 group armies and some independent troops.

Xu Shichang, who was already a little sensitive to the strength of the Northwest, suddenly widened his eyes and said in disbelief: "You mean, the Northwest has a total of more than 100 divisions!" ”

Yang Du nodded and said: "If you have a regular number, it should be like this, plus the logistics troops and independent troops, the number of regular troops in the northwest is almost 4 million." ”

Xu Shichang stopped talking, it may be with the final result, these are obviously two concepts, in the previous cognition, he has understood that the strength of the northwest is more than that of Beiyang, they have an army of about 1.5 million in Beiyang, that is, more than 30 divisions in the northwest, he was still a little lucky before, maybe, from the information obtained from several sides, there will be some omissions, it is impossible to clearly show the total strength of the northwest, maybe one-third, or even one-half of the coincidence, Then the strength of the northwest is more than 2 million, although it is also terrifying, but it is not as powerless as it is now. 4 million, armed to the teeth. An army equipped with a large number of light and heavy weapons and artillery is completely not something that Beiyang can deal with.

"The parade is tomorrow. You'll find out when you go and see it. ”

Yang Du's attitude has been very clear, even if it is Xu Shichang, he does not dare to be directly pro-Japanese, the purpose of being pro-Japanese is to obtain benefits from the Japanese, not to completely surrender to the Japanese, now, under the premise that the strength of the northwest greatly exceeds the estimate, any rash action will gamble his life. This is unacceptable to him.

"Look, you're looking?"

Yang Du saw Xu Shichang's expression and movements in his eyes, and said lightly: "I don't have to watch it, I don't participate in military affairs, I also asked a friend to listen to the play, and I left first!" ”

Yang Du shook his body and went out, but Xu Shichang had a solemn expression, after coming with a real knife and a real gun in the northwest. They are well aware of what combat effectiveness the regular army in the northwest has. In the past few years, although the northwest is strong, it is also a good talk. Some things may not be said on their own initiative, but once they are said, it is certainly not a bluff. If you say you will hit you, you will be beaten, and if you say that you will be given a weapon, you will be given a weapon. There were still people in Beiyang who ridiculed it before, and the northwest was obviously an enemy. How can anyone give weapons and equipment to their opponents, as long as they continue to develop in Beiyang, they may be able to catch up from behind.

However, after reading the military parade invitation in his hand, combined with Yang Du's words, he knew that the actions of the northwest were hidden below the water, in peace, quietly accumulating strength, and when they sold arms, they were not worried about their rebound, and the general direction was in the hands of the northwest.

Now I want to see the poor dagger, no matter what the reason for the Northwest, show the muscles at this time, but this means that the Northwest has this self-confidence, and dealing with all the problems after showing the muscles, this is the biggest problem. Xu Shichang was completely speechless at this time, he was the one to deal with the military affairs, it seemed simple, Yang Du could not know what this invitation letter represented?

In the first battle of Zhangjiakou that year, there were also combat logs written by the generals who participated in the war, even now, after consulting for several years, the strength of the Beiyang army is no longer the same as before, whether Beiyang can deal with the division of that year, no general is sure that in this sense, the combat effectiveness of the regular army in the northwest is far above Beiyang. Now, looking at the introduction of the parade, there are more than 100 regular troops now, even in terms of strength, compared with the previous elite, it is slightly insufficient, just more than 3 million, it is enough to overwhelm, Beiyang is not an opponent at all.

Xu Shichang was flustered, he promised Japan before, but also to see the strength of Japan, in addition, Beiyang can get benefits from the middle, as long as Beiyang itself is strong and overwhelms the northwest, then after getting control of the whole of China, then consider the problem of Japan, I didn't expect that it was a wrong choice, I knew that the northwest was so strong, why did he bother to hold the stinky feet of the Japanese.

Such a big thing, Xu Shichang couldn't make a rash decision by himself, waited until Yang Du came back, and continued to ask Yang Du, Yang Du didn't say anything, just kicked the ball back again, about the Northwest Thing, he didn't know much, according to Yuan Shikai's request, lead the team to participate in this Northwest Conference, or don't care

Xu Shichang was helpless, he also knew that Yang Du was dissatisfied with him, and at this moment, he couldn't get angry with Yang Du, so he had to investigate through his channels, as the right and left hand of the training period from Yuan Shikai's small station, Xu Shichang almost single-handedly participated in the establishment process of the Beiyang Army, and there were a lot of old things in the Beiyang Army, and some officers of the Northwest Military could also be found through relationships.

The early officers of the Northwest Army came from Beiyang, recruited by Feng Yuxiang, and some were optimistic about the development of the Northwest and took the initiative to defect to them, among these people, there were Xu Shichang's old subordinates, who were only the lowest level of existence back then, and now there are some regiment commanders, brigade commanders, and even division commanders, if you really want to say it, Feng Yuxiang, vice chairman of the Northwest Military Commission and commander-in-chief of the Northwest Military Forces, also belonged to Beiyang, although he was only a battalion at that time.

Xu Shichang can contact Feng Yuxiang, but he is also self-aware, and when he comes into contact with Feng Yuxiang, people may not be able to bird him, so he has to choose from the data he got before, and finally selected a few targets, and began to come to the door.

Xu Shichang has no way not to do this, he is also in a hurry to go to the doctor, but what should I do if I don't do this, how many regular combat divisions does the northwest have, how many total troops, how are the weapons and equipment, and what is the combat effectiveness, it is all a matter of one brain, if you don't figure this out, Beiyang will be in trouble next, he won't do the thing of eggs touching stones, and the same is true for those who are deceived.

It stands to reason that the army's numbers and combat effectiveness, this should be top secret, anyone who also intentionally or unintentionally divulges this issue can be punished for treason, or espionage, whether it is civilian or military, for this crime, it is definitely the heaviest punishment, whether it is the army or the civilian, it is basically the result of shooting.

Strict discipline is the fundamental reason why the Northwest has always kept its strength secret for so many years. From Yang Du, after knowing Yuan Shikai's hesitant attitude now, things changed slightly, the northwest was originally preparing to show strength to Yuan Shikai, in order to shake his mentality, and strive to be able to accept the territory of Beiyang peacefully, Xu Shichang's small actions, almost at the first time, were detected by the Intelligence Bureau and reported to Yang Yuanzhao, so that he could decide how to deal with it.

Yang Yuanzhao is very happy, he is afraid that he is not interested, as long as he is interested and wants to investigate, then he will go to investigate, and even here, he will give some convenience, 2 years of accumulation, so that the northwest has enough confidence, and the northwest is not as careful as it was in 1911 and 1912. The research and development and investment in various weapons have greatly increased the strength of the northwest, and the 4 million troops are at least qualified soldiers who have been trained for more than a year, and the most are professional soldiers who have been trained for six years.

In the environment of the northwest, 6 years is enough time for every soldier to transform. Strength represents status, the northwest now, there is no need to hide, millions of troops, for other countries, is also a deterrent, the whole of China, has its own ability to defend itself, even if it is the enemy of the world, not to mention, the current war situation in Europe is in full swing, they cannot concentrate on fighting China.

With Yang Yuanzhao's approval, this is like Shang Fang's sword, this general direction is sent out from top to bottom, what Xu Shichang wants to know, he must let him know, if he is unconscious, if he doesn't know, find a way to let him know. One party has a heart, one side has intentions, and with the cooperation of both sides, many things are logical, Xu Shichang almost hit a wall at first, but when he touched and touched, he almost ran into a time when he was not confident, and some useful news was fed back, in order to avoid attracting his attention, the news leaked by these people was only their own and related, but after summarizing, Xu Shichang counted the numbers, and almost got a result that shocked him, the northwest currently has an army of millions, Compared with the simple process above the parade invitation, it is basically consistent.

More than 100 divisions, each division has 27,000 to 35,000 troops, adding up to nearly 4 million troops, almost has been confirmed, which makes Xu Shichang speechless, what is this northwest, it is too low-key, obviously has such a strong strength, but it is still hidden, pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, making Beiyang and the revolutionary party jump on China's affairs, and now there is really a feeling of jumping clowns.

What shocked Xu Shichang the most was that a regiment commander who seemed to be enthusiastic gave a general situation of each division. It's not very detailed, just the number of weapons, the number of automatic firearms, and the number of artillery to report, not to mention the personnel and basic weapons, the automatic firearms of a division in the northwest are equivalent to 10 Beiyang towns, as for artillery, it can't be compared, as far as 75 guns are concerned, it is also equivalent to 10, but 75 guns are not the main artillery fire in the northwest, the northwest has 108 mm and 155 mm guns, these weapons that cannot be obtained in Beiyang are in every regular main division, This is the real strategic artillery. (To be continued......)