In this exercise of the Third Army, whether it is the tactical system or artillery, these are all things that Beiyang has never been in contact with, exercises and exercises, drill habits, in the case of quasi-combat, find out their own problems, familiar with the process of combat, follow Yuan Shikai, are all outstanding soldiers, the greatest ability of soldiers is to fight, especially excellent soldiers, directly substitute themselves into the position of the opponent.

Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Wang Shizhen, Wu Peifu, they all control several towns, and they have at least 150,000 or even 200,000 troops under their commands.

As always, the Northwest Army has shown good civil work, and Beiyang has learned these civil works, which has also improved Beiyang's strength a lot, but now it seems that it is still a skin, and there are still many places to learn.

It stands to reason that it is always good to learn something, but in the follow-up progress of the Third Army's exercises, we learned that it is useless to learn, and the northwest can use mortars to strike at the enemy in the trenches with accurate attacks, and if the fortification system is not perfect enough, it is easy to be broken by the northwest if the application of trenches and so on is not to a certain extent.

Mortars, this new type of artillery that has only appeared now, there are almost no in Beiyang, mortars are new products, since the European war, when all countries are stepping up production, there is no outflow of mortars at all, and some are only equipped with their own armies. North-west, perhaps in other small arms. Even light and heavy machine guns can be sold in small quantities. Rifles and bullets are even more open to buy, but mortars. This largest invention in the Northwest is rarely sold to the outside world.

At present, Beiyang only has two mortars that are occasionally obtained, one of which was accidentally picked up during the war, and the shells were obtained through foreign companies in the United States, but such artillery has a short distance. The power is not great, in their opinion, there is no benefit, at most it is to act with the infantry, that number is very demanding, this is not something that Beiyang can get.

During the exercises of the Third Army, they finally understood that mortars should belong to the support firepower at the battalion, company and platoon level, responsible for solving the distance. Similar to light and heavy machine guns, it is slightly higher in applications, mostly used to remove fire points, support attacks and clear trenches. It needs to reach a certain level in order to be able to play an important role.

Sanjie sighed, it seems. The Northwest has long been prepared for the current situation. If they had access to the mortars in advance, perhaps. It will be different, when the time comes, vigorously import these, and in the face of this northwest civil industry, there will not be no ability to resist at all.

Mortar is just one of the many shocks, mortars are just the basics, then the next heavy artillery, is another feeling, countless heavy artillery gathered together, with the help of high-explosive shells and armor-piercing shells, after leveling a mountain, everyone stopped talking, this target, they have checked, it is a real stone mountain, granite, with a long time to blow up, but in the face of dense artillery fire, it is impossible to resist, after a painful artillery attack, these mountains are all rubble, Never to be seen again.

The mountains are still like this, not to mention the flesh and blood, unless they also have the same level of artillery in Beiyang, otherwise, no matter how many people come to die, there is no possibility of surviving at all, and in the face of such an opponent armed to the teeth, how can they fight.

Sanjie stopped talking, and the other officers were even more dumbfounded, they deeply felt the strength of the northwest, among them, Wu Peifu was the deepest, his military talent, even more than the Beiyang Sanjie, look at the problem more deeply, Beiyang Sanjie is more of a feeling, the Third Army is very strong, the Beiyang Army under their command, can't be defeated at all, but how strong it is, then I don't know.

However, Wu Peifu had participated in the operation against the northwest, and the first division, which was still in the embryonic stage at that time, made the Beiyang Army desperate, and under a round of artillery bombardment, one town was heavily damaged, and another town was defeated. Later, I learned that it was not they who blocked it, but the Northwest Army did not continue the offensive, and the next thing was peace talks, and by the way, Beiyang also got a batch of munitions.

The process is very simple, and it only takes a few days to take over the battle, and the fight is over after the fight, but in Wu Peifu's heart, it is different, the opponent is very strong, well-trained, powerful firepower, and the execution is very good, from this day on, Wu Peifu also put a lot of thought into training, he knows where the opponent is strong, and trains according to the strength of the other party, after all, one day, he may surpass the other party.

After several years of training, he has a little confidence in his soldiers, of course, for the Northwest Army's ability to hold on, Wu Peifu knows that there is no way, in the face of a large number of 203 and 150 mm heavy artillery fortress, smashing it not only requires stronger firepower, but also requires a certain amount of luck, defense is easier than attack, this is doomed, but Wu Peifu is confident, in the field, under the same number of circumstances, will not fall behind.

But today, the exercises of the Third Army, even if they are not combat but exercises, have proved that his men are far from being opponents of the Third Army, and they are a little inferior in physical fitness, a little worse in foundation, a little worse in marching, much worse in civil fortifications, much worse in machine guns and artillery, and there is no heavy artillery of more than 100 mm.

It seems that most of the things are just a little bit worse, but in the army, one aspect is a little less, and when put together, it is the effect of crushing, not to mention the two items of artillery and machine guns, it is not a little less, it is a lot less, the power of more than 150 mm heavy artillery salvo, Wu Peifu has experienced, let alone running and defense, a heavy artillery comes over, even if it is only a high-explosive shell, most people will be shocked to death in the range covered by heavy artillery, if you replace it with infantry anti-personnel shells, just look at the results of the exercise, With a radius of several hundred square meters, countless steel balls are densely packed, and the deepest one is almost about 70 centimeters in the soil.

I thought that in 3 years, under the control of enough money and weapons, the distance between the two sides could be recovered, but when I really saw it, I found that this distance not only did not catch up, but it was widened, the strength of the northwest before, but they can also see some, the current strength, has been so strong that there is no margin, and even in terms of the personal quality and organizational quality of the soldiers, the northwest is far above the Beiyang, this is not a weapon or anything, this is the most fundamental training, relying on continuous training in addition to continuous training, It's everyone's talent.

What is the magic power in the northwest, in just a few years, the army has undergone such great changes, it is impossible to screen out talented people from all over the country to get into this so-called third army.

Wu Peifu is full of curiosity about the training in the northwest, what kind of training is it, it is so effective, the old man's withdrawal is already a certainty, he is still young, unwilling, so he quit the army and went to be a charterer.

Perhaps, Wu Peifu, who has a flexible mind, naturally thought of a possibility, and perfected it in his heart, the Beiyang Army may cease to exist after this time, he does not want to leave the army, defection to the revolutionary party, this is impossible, he Wu Peifu also does not look down on the revolutionary party's army, then the northwest will become the only choice, Wu Peifu thinks that he will not be worse than anyone else, maybe he can learn the secret of military training in the northwest from the middle.

But how to get in touch, Wu Peifu has not joined Beiyang for a long time, and the relationship with the northwest is not very close, it seems that an old subordinate once said that he came to the northwest, but where is the specific place, in which unit, I really don't know, maybe ask slowly, I can't find the officer in the northwest so rashly, saying that I defected to the Northwest Army, that is too abrupt, and it is easy to have problems.

Yan Xishan's all-out display actually produced such a change in the hearts of Wu Peifu and other Beiyang officers, which is a good thing, Wu Peifu's mind is still in his heart for the time being, and he has not put it into practice, and in the hearts of others, the chorus did not rise to similar thoughts, but more or less.

The three-day military parade brought Beiyang a shock, they understood what Yuan Shikai was, there would be that kind of thought, the strength is not an opponent at all, how to fight, if the other party only has so many people, it can be delayed, not to mention the garrisons in other places, just the army in Baotou, there are more than 100,000 people, in Shandong, against the Japanese million army, there are more than 200,000, what about the rest, is there no killer left in the northwest, the huge northwest, there are too many places to hide soldiers.

A main force like the Third Army, with 500,000 troops, can sweep the world, and the railways in the northwest all over China have become the basis for rapid marching, unless they dig first and destroy the railways and highways, so as to slow down the pace of the northwest.

Three days later, the Beiyang officers stopped talking, before there were people who mentioned what existed in the troops, so that the northwest did not dare to act rashly, now they turned to talk about something else, not even the military involved, some people even visited the northwest, bought a lot of things, luxury jewelry and clothing, etc., the northwest is the core of the whole China, always after the northwest is popular, it will be popular in all parts of the country, finally came here, most of the Beiyang officers are dragging their families, and it is good to give a little gift to their families. (To be continued......)