Chapter Thirty-Five: Borrowing a Topic to Elaborate

  How many of those who dared to rebel with their heads held high would be willing to unconditionally obey others? Moreover, having played a crucial role in the Huangmudang Uprising, a sense of "who else but me" pervades the entire Guanzhi Xueshe, with some arrogant undertones. They form cliques and exclude dissenting voices. Many officers from Jiangsu, Anhui, and even parts of Hubei have expressed dissatisfaction to Zhao Bei, but he can only smooth things over and has no solution. For now, his power is insufficient, and before he fully controls the troops, he can only hold his nose and endure. Besides, the reason he let Guanzhi Xueshe draft the list of military officers in the first place was to make them jump, and the more they jumped, the more enemies they would make.

  Now the Qunzhixueshe is taking advantage of the "Yuedian" incident to launch an attack, apparently feeling that its own strength has grown. However, this also gives Zhao Bei an opportunity to test the current influence of the Qunzhixueshe.

  Zhao Bei stood with his hands behind his back, pondered for a moment, and said: "As for the telegram, I have nothing to say. Now I can only tell you one thing, that is, Yuan Shikai is absolutely not a loyal minister of the Qing court! The person who will give the Qing court a fatal blow in the future must be this man! My sending of the telegram was to alienate Yuan Shikai from the fake Qing government, and not to fawn on Yuan Shikai. You must understand this point."

  "How can this statement convince people?" Yang Wangpeng was insistent. "Please, Commander-in-Chief, give us a serious explanation to dispel our doubts."

  Zhao Bei said: "Since you want to get to the bottom of it, I'll tell you. Do you think the revolutionary situation is really all good? If you really think so, then you're greatly mistaken! Not counting the local defense battalions, the Qing dynasty's new army now has a total of 1.2 million people, and Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army occupies more than 60% of that! Compared to the Beiyang Army, our southern new army is at a disadvantage in terms of training and equipment. Take artillery for example, the Hubei New Army participated in the Zhangde Autumn Exercise, you should have seen the Beiyang Army's cannons, those are the most advanced weapons. Now look at our southern new army, most of the cannons are old-fashioned recoilless guns, which are the leftovers that the Beiyang Army didn't want. The few new-style recoilless guns have small calibers and limited ammunition, and many of the shells are still loaded with black gunpowder. In comparison, it's clear who's superior and who's inferior. If the Qing court mobilizes the Beiyang Army to march south, accompanied by the naval fleet, do you think that our revolutionary bravery can stop the Beiyang Army's attack? I issued that telegram precisely to drive a wedge between Yuan Shikai and the Qing court, making them suspect each other. This is an open strategy, not a secret plot. If everything goes smoothly, it will either be Yuan Shikai overthrowing the Qing dynasty or the Qing dynasty overthrowing Yuan Shikai. The Beiyang Army will be in disarray, everyone will be in danger, and when the time comes, our revolutionary army will have secured half of southern China. With a flourish of our arms, we can conquer the north and settle the fate of the empire."

  Yang Wang Peng and others were stunned, they didn't expect Zhao Bei to answer this way. However, after calming down and thinking carefully, this statement is not unreasonable. Yuan Shikai's achievements are high and shocking, anyone with some knowledge can see that he has mastered the Beiyang Army, his students and old friends are all over the world, he has a high reputation, deep resources, and is also favored by foreigners. Such a powerful minister in power would make any dynasty uneasy, let alone being a flag person in charge of the country. Last year, the Qing court transferred him from his post in Beiyang, which was actually a plan to remove the tiger from the mountain. However, everyone still couldn't understand why Zhao Bei was so certain that Yuan Shikai would betray the Qing court?

  Since ancient times, no powerful minister who overawed the emperor has ever had a good ending. Even Dorgon, the regent of the Qing dynasty back then, couldn't escape the emperor's suspicion. This was how even princes were treated. As for Yuan Shikai, a Han Chinese official, he really didn't have any qualifications to gain the trust of the Qing court. But did he truly have the audacity and confidence to go against the Qing court? Or could General Zhao predict the future?

  Deng Gang, who was standing beside Yang Wangpeng, stood up and said: "The Commander-in-Chief keeps saying that the Beiyang Army is powerful, but I don't quite understand. The Commander-in-Chief has never clashed head-on with the Beiyang Army before, so why is he so certain that the Southern New Army can't defeat the Northern New Army?"

  Does this still need to be asked? This is a real war example in history! In the Xinhai Revolution, if it weren't for Yuan Shikai's intention to sit back and watch the tigers fight, benefiting from the fishermen's gains, not only Wuhan Sanzhong, but also Nanjing and Shanghai could have been captured by the Beiyang Army. Compared with the well-equipped Beiyang New Army, the Southern New Army was completely defeated in terms of personnel quality, weapon equipment, and logistics supply. The only advantage was bravery and popular support.

  Of course, these words can't be said out loud, and even if they were, no one would believe them. Zhao Bei felt like running away in frustration.

  Suppressing the fire in his heart, Zhao Bei tried to speak in a calm tone: "Comrade, do you really think that bayonets can defeat cannons? Do you really think flesh and blood can withstand the hail of bullets?"

  "In the past few years of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army used the 'human bullet' tactic to defeat the Russian army, and bayonet charges could capture victory." Deng Gang's words made Zhao Bei go crazy again.

  "Where did you hear that?" Zhao Bei gave Deng Gang a glance. "That's just Japanese bragging! Take the Battle of 203 Hill for example, Japan initially used bayonet charges, but suffered heavy casualties. Later, they brought in fortress cannons to provide cover fire and advance slowly, with the shells exploding right in front of their own infantry. That's how they took the hill. During the Russo-Japanese War, Russia was at a disadvantage in terms of both troop numbers and firepower, plus their logistics supply lines were too long, and supplies couldn't keep up, and there were revolutions breaking out domestically, so Japan just got lucky. If this battle had been fought in Europe, Japan would have definitely lost."

  Zhaobei felt a bit helpless. The people of the Qunchu Xueshe had enough revolutionary enthusiasm, but their military literacy was too poor. This also seemed to explain why the Wuhan Revolutionary Army could not beat the Beiyang Army during the Xinhai Revolution - they were lacking in both hardware and software. However, this couldn't be entirely blamed on them. After all, before joining the army, they had not received regular military education. They were either illiterate or unemployed scholars, and a few who had studied in Japan hadn't put their minds to learning. In this era, it was the imperial court and the Beiyang Group that truly controlled the military talent!

  It seems that Deng Gang still wants to entangle in this topic, Zhao Bei waved his hand and said: "Modern warfare is not just a fight of willpower between soldiers, but also a contest of firepower and logistics! Don't think that the revolutionary army's soldiers are braver than the Beiyang army's soldiers. Revolutionary passion cannot replace the fear of death! The lives of soldiers are precious too, and absolutely cannot be wasted in meaningless attacks! The spirit of bayonet charge is commendable, and sometimes it can even play a crucial role, but if you insist on going against cannons and machine guns with your life, you will only end up with a bloody head, which is not worth the cost."

  "The commander is right, now it's the era of big guns speaking, the era of lining up and firing rifles in formation has passed! The Beiyang Army's equipment is much better than ours. If we can avoid a head-on confrontation with the Beiyang Army, let's try to avoid it. Our strength is still very weak, and we can't even get bullets from the arsenal. If we can drive a wedge between Yuan Shikai and the Qing court, our revolutionary cause will be half done." Xiong Bingkun stood up, openly supporting Zhao Bei. According to the new troop deployment, he was now the commander of the Republican Army's Engineer Corps, responsible for commanding the corps. He took the lead, and several Hubei officers also stood up to express their support for Zhao Bei. Most of them were originally soldiers from the New Army's 8th Division, who had conducted actual combat drills against the Beiyang New Army in the north and had a deep impression of the Beiyang Army's firepower advantage.

  "This is defeatism! Boosting others' morale while destroying your own prestige! How can you make a revolution if you're afraid of death?" Deng Gang criticized mercilessly. "In the past, in Huangmigang, you also insisted that Anqing was impregnable, which was also defeatism!"

  But before Deng could continue his criticism, Bai Wenwei, a member of the alliance sitting in the front row, stood up and turned around to rebuke him: "Deng Gang, is this how you speak to the Commander-in-Chief? Do you have any discipline?"

  Several Anhui and Jiangsu officers also stood up, loudly condemning Deng Gang. A group of Huizhou gang leaders followed suit, and the military meeting was on the verge of turning into a struggle session.

  Obviously, the influence of Qunzhixueshe in the troops was limited, and Zhao Bei felt relieved.

  "Are you afraid of death? If you're afraid of death, then you wouldn't be participating in the revolution! Not a single person here is afraid of death! Deng Gang, your words have severely hurt your comrades. Considering this is your first time attending a high-level military meeting, I won't hold it against you this time and will only give you a major demerit. What needs to be reminded is that although the Republican Army's military meetings emphasize freedom of speech, this doesn't mean that subordinates can slander their superiors! As soldiers, our duty is to follow orders! Our discipline is to respect our superiors! If everyone were like you, casually pointing fingers and making faces at their comrades, I think it would be better for the Republican Army to disband early on, lest we end up getting shot in the back by our own people on the battlefield... Defeatism? I don't see any defeatism here, but rather a lack of discipline! Without discipline, what's the point of fighting?"

  For the first time, everyone saw the commander-in-chief lose his temper so badly. All the officers present were stunned, and some who had intended to step forward to mediate immediately shut their mouths tight.