Chapter Seven has benefits of course take it

  A farm in Xinmin suburbs. // This is Zhang Guandai's private property, temporarily vacated to accommodate the people of Chenjiazhuang.

  Zhang Guandai was very thoughtful and arranged for a large quantity of grain and hay to be purchased and sent to the farm. He knew that the people from Chenjiazhuang had arrived in a hurry and had many horses, so he estimated that they hadn't brought much food or fodder. The people from Chenjiazhuang settled down and planned to wait until the end of the Russo-Japanese War before returning to their original place to rebuild their village.

  Zhang Guandai hastily ran over to pay his respects to Old Man Chen and then rushed back to Xinmin City overnight.

  The Japanese at Taishan Bridge quickly repelled the Russians, who had to retreat to Liaoyang.

  Although Xinmin is located west of the Liao River, it seems to be outside the war zone where the imperial court and various countries are at war. But who knows if the bloodthirsty Japanese and Russian people will not rush towards nearby Xinmin. Especially now, a large number of Liaoyang civilians have also fled to Xinmin, the city's security is tense, and everyone is in a state of panic. As the main military force of Xinmin City, Zhang Guan's patrol battalion naturally has increased pressure and cannot often leave the barracks.

  There is food and clothing in the farm, Chen An and others are naturally not worried at all. Zhang Jinghui, the deputy director of Zhang, occasionally sneaked out to run into the village to accompany Old Man Chen to drink a few cups of wine and see if there was anything he could help with. Chen An did have ideas, but Old Man Chen was thinking about disturbing others in his heart, so he didn't let Chen An bring it up.

  It's nothing much, Chen An just wanted to go and stir up some trouble with the Russians. Zhang Bangban happened to hear this news and thoughtfully smiled at Chen An.

  Wu Ziyu is also going back to the front line.

  Two days before departure, Wu Ziyu unexpectedly called Chen An and others to attend a two-day tactical training course. In this shortest crash course, Wu Ziyu straightforwardly taught some methods of using weapons, drawing and using maps, as well as tactics for attacking and defending. As long as he could remember, Wu Ziyu told Chen An, Liu Shi, Lin Yushan and others to listen, without caring whether the other party could remember or not.

  Chen An and others knew that Wu Ziyu was about to leave, this opportunity to receive training in the new regular army was extremely rare, and they were determined to make the most of it. One spoke desperately until his mouth was dry and his tongue was parched, another studied diligently until he felt dizzy and his head spun.

  In the last afternoon, Wu Ziyu rubbed his own swollen head and made a summary of his tactical class.

  "In terms of firepower, the artillery is extremely powerful and can suppress machine guns, while the machine gun's power destroys formations and suppresses rifles. However, without rifle defense and offense, the artillery and machine guns would become a pile of scrap iron. It's just that our national strength is weak, and we can't even afford to equip with artillery and machine guns, as ammunition is too expensive."

  "As for cavalry, you can see from the Japanese and Russian formations that cavalry is absolutely not the main force of the army. Its role is to search and expand the results after defeating the enemy. It's extremely foolish to use cavalry to charge against a line equipped with machine guns and artillery. As long as some sharp stakes or barbed wire are set up in front of the line, cavalry can only become targets for machine guns. Of course, we can't afford to use barbed wire."

  Finally, Wu Ziyu said, "Using superior firepower to destroy the enemy should be the best tactical choice, just like the Mongol army in those years, hanging enemies far away and shooting them. But we can't do it, we can only rely on close combat and use human lives to fight against the enemy. Of course, if there is a way to stab the enemy's vital point with one knife, it is also possible to change the battlefield situation. Long-range warfare looks at firepower, close combat looks at manpower. If three or four Chinese people die and kill one Russian, it is worth it. We lack everything else, but we don't lack people, remember, benevolence does not control the military."

  Chen An patted his slightly dizzy head and nodded.

  After some thought, Wu Ziyu finally asked, "Mr. Chen, is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

  Chen An's mind turned around and said, "Or, you analyze this time Japan and Russia's war?"

  Wu Ziyu was taken aback, and after some thought, "My analysis is too superficial and may not be accurate. After the Japanese captured Jinzhou and repelled the Denglisi Temple reinforcements, they have already established a foothold in Liaodong and surrounded Dalian. The Battle of Dashiqiao was just a firepower reconnaissance by the Japanese vanguard, and Liaoyang will definitely have a big battle to come."

  "If the Russians continue to lose at the Battle of Liaoyang, the Japanese will gain the strategic initiative in the entire war and join forces with the army advancing towards Korea, which would give them an opportunity to defeat Russia. However, it is impossible for the Russians to surrender so easily, I estimate that they will need to fight one or two more battles, or Port Arthur falls to the Japanese, before they acknowledge their defeat."

  "If the Russians win the victory of Liaoyang, the strategic initiative will fall into the hands of the Russians, and it is very likely that they will retake Dashi Bridge in the south and join forces with the Russian army in Lushun to thoroughly defeat the Japanese."

  Chen An was surprised, "I didn't expect Liao Yang to become the key."

  Wu Ziyu hastily waved his hand, "I was just talking, it may not be in line with reality." Chen An smiled and didn't ask any more questions.

  A few people saw Wu Ziyu off to the outside of the village, Chen An took a small bag from Hu Zi's hand and handed it to Wu Ziyu, "There is some loose silver inside, take it with you, it can be used as travel expenses."

  Wu Ziyu smiled and took the bag with one hand, pulling Chen An to a quiet place with the other. He said softly, "Mr. Chen, people's hearts are unpredictable, don't let trouble come from your mouth." After some thought, he added, "What I said two days ago was too vague after all. If you'd like, once you're settled, send someone to find me in the capital and I'll try my best to bring you the teaching materials from back when I was training."

  Chen An bowed his fist and saluted, saying softly, "Thank you, Brother Zi Yu."

  Without saying much more, Wu Ziyu turned around and bid farewell to everyone, then galloped away on horseback.

  A few days later, Zhang Bangban, who was relatively idle, suddenly invited Chen An to have dinner at a restaurant in the city. Unaware of what had triggered Jinghui's strange behavior, Chen An arrived at the largest restaurant in Xinmin City as scheduled.

  As soon as they entered the elegant room on the second floor, Chen An smiled and said to Zhang Bangban, "Jinghui brother, if you want to drink, it's better to do it at the villa, why come all the way to the city with no one to accompany you?" Before he finished speaking, Chen An immediately shut his mouth, for there were actually two other people in the elegant room.

  Zhang Jinghui burst out laughing and hastily explained, "I'm introducing you to the heroes of our time, this is the best in Xinmin, how can we go to other taverns?" He was also very mindful, deliberately ignoring Chen An's slip of the word "Zhuangzi".

  Chen An's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately greeted the other person with courtesy.

  "Mr. Chen An." One of them greeted politely, with a slightly strange tone. However, it was clear that he was very familiar with Chen An's identity and background, and may have even known about the destruction of Chenjiazhuang, which is why he had come to contact Chen An specifically.

  Japanese?! Chen An quickly reacted and stared at Zhang Jinghui in shock.

  "This is Lieutenant Anshu Kurihara of the Japanese Manchurian Army's General Staff, and next to him is his attendant, who is specially responsible for contacting us patriots who resist the brutal rule of Tsarist Russia."

  Chen An suddenly felt absurd, in front of him was Wu Ziyu who was ordered to help the Japanese army gather intelligence, and now Zhang Jinghui was helping the Japanese pull a fast one. The Russians were definitely bad, but were the Japanese necessarily good? Mr. Lin had named his son Yushan, precisely so that Lin Yushan would not forget the White Jade Mountain at Lüshunkou, where thousands of innocent civilians of Lüshun had been slaughtered by the Japanese and buried, including Lin Yushan's own mother.

  Without batting an eyelid and chatting with Japan, Chen An quickly understood the intention of Lieutenant Kuribayashi Yasushi.

  The Japanese were desperately buying up "horse thieves" everywhere, hoping they could raid the Russian rear lines and alleviate as much pressure on the front-line Japanese troops as possible.

  I'd love to beat up Russians, but there's no benefit for you guys to be cannon fodder and end up with your heads crushed by the door. Chen An awkwardly revealed this meaning in the midst of coming and going toasts.

  Kuribayashi Anshu lieutenant showed an expression of "as expected", and started to haggle with Chen An in fluent Chinese.

  Chen An was taken aback for a moment, then began to haggle with great interest.

  After much deliberation, both sides finally reached an agreement. Lieutenant Kuribayashi Anshu wiped away the sweat that had formed on his forehead, "Chen Anjun, I've met many good men, others want gold and silver, of course they want rifles and bullets even more, but someone like you who wants a cannon and a machine gun, this is indeed the first time I've encountered." The bandit wanting a cannon was a bit intimidating to him.

  Zhang Jinghui stared blankly at the two men's transaction, and after a while, he said, "Master Chen, what do you want cannons and machine guns for? Are you going to attack Xinmin City? If you come to Xinmin, how dare Old Zhang block your way?"

  Chen An was suddenly at a loss for words, and hastily explained, "Can't I just put it in the village to practice anti-thief measures? I want to be a horse bandit and rob grain, I don't need that thing."

  Zhang Bangban was speechless, you are basically a corrupt official and a bandit in the same family, which horse thief dares to rush into your mansion?

  The banquet ended with this.

  The Japanese acted quickly. The next afternoon, Zhang Jinghui took the initiative to bring two trucks of military supplies to Zhuangzi with his own men. Chen An no longer wanted money and converted everything into military supplies.

  Chen An casually asked, "Jinghui brother, have those old guns in Zhang's hands been eliminated?"

  Zhang Jinghui didn't mind, and replied casually, "Just changed them, those broken ones were all taken away." Immediately, he reacted, laughing and scolding, "Good one, Chen An, stealing my words!"

  Chen An chuckled a few times, and the two of them tacitly fell silent.

  Did Zhang Dage also surrender to the Japanese? He used to stand on the side of the Russians. It seems that Zhang Guandai also doesn't think much of the Russians, although they are powerful, but when the wall falls, everyone will push it, Chen An thought to himself.

  The Japanese sent a cumbersome 75mm cannon, a Hotchkiss machine gun using 8mm bullets, and ten Arisaka rifles using round-nose bullets. To drive away these greedy bandits who opened their eyes to money, the Japanese cut off the Russian army's logistics supply line at great expense, especially when there were not enough troops on the front line, they were willing to send out a battery of cannons.

  Having taken advantage of it, one has to do something, otherwise it would be very embarrassing. Chen An began to ponder where he could go to play the role of a horse thief for a few times.