Yuan Fang, like Ma Cheng, came out of the patrol battalion system, did not go to a new-style school, did not stay in school, but this person's training ability is not weak, and he was appreciated by Sun Daoren when he was in the thirty-seventh standard and then promoted to be a battalion officer. The reason why he surrendered to Chen Jingyun before, on the one hand, was that he was at a disadvantage at that time, and if he didn't surrender, it would be a dead word, and on the other hand, he could be regarded as seeing the general trend of the world clearly, and he didn't want to die with the Manchu Dynasty. However, he did not have a good opinion of the revolutionaries, and when he saw Sun Daoren's letter and met Chen Jingyun, he could be regarded as having joined Chen Jingyun's side.

In his view, throwing himself under Chen Jingyun and joining the revolutionaries were two different things.

Sure enough, in just two days, he found that those people in the alliance seemed to be on the wrong path with Chen Jingyun, especially Lin Wenying, Peng Shousong and others. When Peng Shousong wanted to pull out a gun to threaten Chen Jingyun that night, Yuan Fang decisively killed Peng Shousong, thus throwing a vote. At least in his opinion, the original choice was right, and Chen Jingyun really gave him the position of brigade commander when he programmed the Third Brigade, realizing the original promise of 'if a brother comes to vote, he is willing to entrust him with a heavy responsibility'. No, before seven or eight days of hard work, the four or five hundred people under his hands became more than three thousand.

Since Chen Jingyun dares to believe him and use him, then he is not the kind of person who knows how to repay his kindness. This time, he went south to Quanzhou and Zhangzhou with the confidence that he would win.

Yu Shaoying, who was beside him, saw Yuan Fang showing an inexplicable smile, and immediately walked over two steps and said, "Brother Yuan, but I am idle in my heart the concubine I just accepted the day before yesterday!" ”

Yuan Fang turned around and scolded with a smile: "you!" ”

After the two smiled and said a few more words, Yuan Fang ordered: "Hurry up, arrive in Xinghua before dark, and then rest for a day!" ”

Fujian is mountainous, the road is not passable, it has been three days from Fuzhou to the Xinghua boundary, to get to Quanzhou there is still a way to go!

While the 3rd Brigade had already set off for southern Fujian, the 1st Brigade and the 2nd Brigade were already on their respective routes, the 1st Brigade went to Funing Province in the northeast, and the 2nd Brigade went north to Yanping Province.

"How is the Guard Regiment doing now?" Chen Jingyun drank tea, put down the teacup and looked at Lin Chengkun: "The Fourth Brigade has just received more than 2,000 recruits and has not yet formed an army, and now there is only one guard regiment left in Fuzhou, you have to pay more attention!" ”

Of course, Lin Chengkun knew everything about his troops, and immediately replied: "Don't worry, the guard regiment is the old foundation of the pro-guard team, and a few days ago I asked for more than a dozen people from the second battalion from Ma Cheng, and the foundation is solid." I also keep an eye on the recruits every day to train, although the time is shorter, but there is no problem in deterring Fuzhou City! ”

"That's good!" Chen Jingyun pondered and said: "Although there is a revolution now, the surrounding situation is still unstable, and this guard regiment is the bottom line for you and me." Don't let up! ”

Lin Chengkun stood up and said, "I, Lin Chengkun, have to train the guard regiment even if I don't eat or drink!" ”

"If it sounds good, it's forgiven, and I'll go on patrol in two days." Chen Jingyun pondered, and after a while, he said: "By the way, Chen Kui came yesterday and said that his seventh regiment already has a general shelf, and he wants to ask me for weapons!" How's it going at the armory! ”

Hearing Chen Jingyun talk about ordnance, Lin Chengkun didn't dare to slack off, and immediately took out a small notebook that he carried with him: "I have always been in charge of this armory, and the ordnance has been going in and out according to the governor's orders these days!" Since the formation and training of the four brigades and one regiment (four brigades and one guard regiment), all the guns of the whole army have been temporarily collected and redistributed, and a total of 12,500 guns have been made in the old and new Hanyang, and 4,000 have been taken away from the first, second, and third brigades respectively. There were also more than 400 imported Mauser (1888 Committee rifles, i.e., Hanyang-made imported versions) seized and stockpiled, plus the remaining 300-odd Hanyang-made rifles were prepared for the three brigades to be replaced. It is said that there are about 2,000 of them in the 30-year model, and these are equipped with guard regiments, and there are more old Manlisha, about 3,000 of them, and there are nearly 1,000 miscellaneous guns such as other water beads, but the models are too miscellaneous, and we don't have many matching stock bullets, so we can't use them for a while. If the Fourth Brigade is formed in the near future, it will only be able to use these 3,000 Charlimans first. ”

When Chen Jingyun heard Lin Chengkun say that there were only three thousand Manlixia weapons left in the inventory that could be used, his brows immediately furrowed, he knew that the ordnance was tight, but he didn't expect it to be in short supply to this point.

In fact, the main reason is that Chen Jingyun did not expect that the expansion of the army would be so fast, although he planned to expand the army at the beginning of the incident, but he did not expect that it would be expanded to more than 10,000 troops in just ten days, and it was originally expected that Hanyang Zao, which was enough to arm a reorganized division, would be left after being allocated to three brigades, and now even the guard regiment is equipped with a type rifle. As for the batch of Manlixia in the armory, he also knew that it was purchased from Beiyang in the early years, and it had been many years, and Sun Daoren only came from the War Department when Beiyang changed its outfit a few years ago, but it didn't take long for the new army here to be built in Hanyang, so this batch of Manlixia was given to the patrol battalion, the green battalion and other old armies, and after the recovery of Fuzhou, it was also collected from the Qing army that surrendered or was defeated.

"In that case, let's allocate this batch of Manlisha to the Fourth Brigade first! Use it first! Chen Jingyun thought for a while and said, "You go to the foreign bank and ask, see if you can buy ordnance!" ”

Lin Chengkun thought about it after hearing it and said: "Actually, in the past few days, a few foreign companies have heard that I am in charge of military and political axes and ordnance, so several foreigners have already approached me to sell ordnance!" However, the purchase of ordnance belongs to the category of equipment logistics, and the subordinates dare not exceed their authority! Just excuse yourself! ”

"Oh, is there such a thing?" Chen Jingyun has not heard of a foreign company coming to me in the past few days: "Since they have come to the door, you will lead them to see me tomorrow!" ”

After saying that, Chen Jingyun knocked on the table with his fingers, and immediately said: "Don't wait, you can call someone now, I'll wait!" ”

After Lin Chengkun was ordered to go out, Chen Jingyun shouted: "Someone! ”

Immediately, his new guard captain hurried in, and this person's name was Chen Cai! The name is a bit vulgar but like Chen Kui, he was born in the Chen family in his early years, and later came to the barracks as Chen Jingyun's personal soldier, after Lin Chengkun was transferred to the guard regiment as the head of the regiment, Chen Kui took over Lin Chengkun's position, and after Chen Kui also took over as the head of the seventh regiment, Chen Cai took over as the captain of the guard, which was Chen Jingyun's henchman.

"Go and call the people in charge of the Machinery Bureau and the Harbour Master's Bureau, and say I want to see them!" The Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau mentioned by Chen Jingyun is also the Mawei Shipbuilding Bureau and shipyard. Founded in 1866 by Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it is the most important warship production base in modern China. Later, under the painstaking management of his successor Minister Shen Baozhen, the Shipmaster became the largest shipyard in the Far East at that time. The Fujian Machinery Bureau was originally attached to the Mawei Shipyard, and later read the power factory, after the fire in 1907, it was rebuilt, and it was re-put into production last year, mainly producing bullets and shells, and also made guns in the early years, but the high price and quality did not continue. After the recovery of Fuzhou, there was no need for Chen Jingyun's orders, Zheng Zuyin, who was in charge of civil affairs, and others organized the resumption of production; due to scale and technical problems, they could only make bullets and shells at present, and the quantity was not large.

The purpose of calling the directors of these two factories is naturally for the sake of ordnance. At present, there is a shortage of ordnance in Fujian, and it is fashionable to purchase arms from outside for a while, but it is absolutely not possible to buy them for a long time. Therefore, it is better to build it by himself or by himself, not to mention that Chen Jingyun also wants to see if he can get mortars, grenades and the like out, so as to alleviate the problem of lack of heavy artillery support.

Lin Chengkun's speed was very fast, and in less than an hour, he led a foreigner in! Then he walked quickly to Chen Jingyun and introduced: "This is York from Lihe Foreign Company?" Henry! ”

Then he said loudly: "This is Chen Jingyun, the governor of my Fujian military and political axe and the commander-in-chief of the Fujian National Army!" ”

York looked like a standard white man, with a square face and a high nose, wearing a black tuxedo, a staff in his hand, and wearing a bowler high hat After seeing Chen Jingyun, he was not as respectful and fearful as others, but took off his hat and bent slightly: "I have seen Your Excellency General!" ”

After the two sat down, Chen Jingyun signaled for tea: "Mr. Henry's Chinese is good!" I guess I've been in China for a long time! ”

After Henry sat down, like Chen Jingyun, he picked up the teacup, shook the tea lightly with the lid of the cup, took a sip, and put down the teacup after hearing Chen Jingyun speak: "The general is too famous!" I've been in the Far East for fifteen years, and I've been in China all the time, except for the first few years in Tokyo! ”

When it was over, Henry pointed to the tea and said, "The general's tea is good!" ”

Chen Jingyun nodded and smiled: "This tea is indeed a good thing, it was left over from the Governor's Mansion before!" ”

The two didn't mention the purchase of arms for a while, but they chatted about each sentence, Henry is a China expert, Yanjing Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan and Yucheng have all been there, it can be said that they have traveled all over China, and they probably know more about China's various customs than Chen Jingyun, and it is a set of things. Henry was also surprised by Chen Jingyun's insight, not only did he have a great understanding of the situation in Europe, but he could also say a few unique insights on some social phenomena in Europe. After the two talked this time, the two of them were not in a hurry, but made Lin Chengkun, who had already drunk four cups of tea next to him, anxious.

Just when Lin Chengkun thought that he couldn't help but interject, Henry suddenly pulled the topic from the Austro-Hungarian princess to the Austro-Hungarian army, and then his voice sank slightly: "As far as I know, Fujian also has a lot of Austro-Hungarian ordnance!" ”

After talking for so long, he finally turned the topic to ordnance, Chen Jingyun looked at Henry's still calm face and felt a little funny, originally he planned to ask about ordnance directly, but at the beginning, Henry blocked Chen Jingyun's several tentative questions in a row, and he Chen Jingyun didn't mention his surname, and accompanied him to talk nonsense, which has been nonsense for more than half an hour, this Henry finally stopped talking nonsense.

Chen Jingyun said: "There is a batch!" ”

"As far as I know, your army is expanding very quickly, this ordnance should be nervous!" Henry asked.