After returning to Changsha, the next goal of the advisory group was to go to the battlefield to observe in person. After all, Yuan Jun's training was just about the content and there was nothing to read. So Yuan Shikai accompanied the advisory group to the Guzhangping Camp, which was preparing to be the breakthrough point for the attack. After Duan Qirui, the commander of the Yuan Jun front line, also rushed to Guzhangping Camp to meet with Yuan Shikai and the advisory group.

Everyone first exchanged the situation of the war. Now the closest positions on the front lines of the two sides are less than 200 meters apart. Of course, there are not many soldiers arranged at the front. They mainly aim to set up early warnings. However, there have been basically no large-scale battles in recent months. Of course, the squad-level battles have never stopped. In addition, both sides have sent many soldiers with good shooting skills to lurk on the front lines and shoot enemy soldiers, which means a bit of sniper combat.

However, this also led to the advisory group not being able to observe the enemy's positions at the forefront, but could only observe on a few small hills and high ground in the rear. Of course, there is no big difference if there is a telescope.

After a few days of observation, the advisory group could basically confirm that the enemy positions that were similar to those built during training in Changsha were indeed similar to 7 or 8 points. Overall, the defects of this position were very large. First of all, the depth of the trenches was not enough, and they were too straight and lacked corners, and the defense of artillery was insufficient. Of course, the Yuan army now only had 75mm artillery, so the impact of this defect was not great. The other side was that the position was not deep enough, and the depth of the entire position was about 1,000 meters. During World War I, the depth of the position was usually 5-10 kilometers. The position arranged by the Yuan army was actually half a pound, and both sides were equal.

Of course, the firepower and combat effectiveness of both sides cannot be compared with the armies of the allies and allied countries during World War I, so it is really appropriate to call the miniature version of the World War I.

However, the advisory group also noticed that the morale of Yuan's soldiers was not high. They were always lazy in their positions. They looked dull and numb when they were resting. They only had a little energy when they were eating and paying wages.

The advisory group responded to this situation to Yuan Shikai. After hearing this, Yuan Shikai could only smile bitterly and shake his head. Of course, he knew that his army was not very morale, but he was unable to solve it. After all, both sides have been holding on to each other for more than half a year, and they are just rushing into the trenches, blowing the wind and sun, and are always facing the threat of death. In addition, they miss their relatives and families, so over time, the soldiers will naturally become numb.

In fact, Yuan Shikai was very good at managing the army. On the one hand, he never deducted the soldiers' military pay and rations, and also made some excitement from time to time, giving soldiers some stimulating things such as tobacco and alcohol, or improving their diet, adding some fish and meat, and at the same time paying attention to the military's rest, and never letting a unit stay on the frontier positions for a long time; on the other hand, Yuan's military discipline was also extremely strict. Once a deserter was found, he would not only kill him after he was caught, but also his family members were all in charge. This way, he could avoid force and maintain the stability of the army.

In comparison, the Deyou army on the opposite side was even more unbearable. According to the instructions of the prisoners, deserters were found in many positions. In addition, the soldiers' diet was much worse than that of the Yuan army. The soldiers in some positions could not even fill their stomachs. As for military pay, it was very good to be able to get 70% of the soldiers. This was also the traditional skill of the Qing court, so if you were worse than this, the Yuan army was actually quite good.

After hearing this, the advisory group could only be speechless. After all, the People's Army and Yuan's army had different ideas for the establishment of the army. The People's Army followed the PLA's army's ideas in the old time and space, fighting for the country and the people. Although the organization and system of the Yuan army were consistent with the modern army, they were essentially Yuan Shikai's private army.

At the same time, the advisory group also evaluated the defense of both sides' positions, believing that a division of the People's Army was completely enough to break through the positions of both sides, and of course there would be certain losses, because a standard division of the People's Army was equipped with 56 75mm artillery, 24 100mm artillery, plus more than 200 mortars of various calibers, and more than 200 machine guns. Therefore, in terms of firepower alone, it is much stronger than the army of both sides. Of course, Yuan's army concentrated 500 75mm artillery, which was obviously better than one of the People's Army's divisions, but a division of the People's Army had 24 100mm artillery, which was much greater than the 75mm artillery. This was not simply filled by quantity, and the training and quality of the People's Army were far better than both sides. If it were Yuan's army, the advisory group believed that it was 50% sure. The specific result depends on the command and dispatch of the front line.

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In Chengdu Prefecture, Sichuan, British Consul Sheringham and French Consul Giratino, visited Prince Su Qishan, the military aircraft chief of Deyou court.

After the meeting between the two sides, Sheringham said: "Prince, on behalf of the governments of Britain and France, we will submit a diplomatic note to you." He said that, and submitted a folder to Qishan's follower and submitted it to Qishan.

Qishan opened it and wrote it in Chinese and English, with three requirements:

As soon as he asked the Deyou court to immediately hand over the command of the Deyou army's army on the front line to the head of the military advisory group, Colonel Rama, the Frenchman;

2. Severely punish corruption in the court, and those with serious corruption will be sentenced to death;

Third, the War Materials Administration Bureau was established, led by the consuls of various countries, and comprehensively managed the material arrangement and distribution work of the Deyou court;

Finally, Britain and France made it clear that the Deyou court must accept all these three requirements, otherwise Britain and France, as well as other countries, will announce that they are not supporting the Deyou court and will evacuate all personnel in the Deyou court.

After reading it, Qishan's face changed drastically and he said angrily: "Sir, your request is too much."

Deyou's court entered Sichuan for three years, and now it has basically stabilized. Although it lost the First Southern War, it had little impact on Sichuan. After it stabilized, the Qing Dynasty's royal family members were revealed and they all picked up traditional skills. On the one hand, they fought for power and profit in the court, and attacked each other continuously; on the other hand, they were profitable and corruption and bribery.

It turned out that during the Qing Dynasty, the army was a severely affected area of ​​corruption, and the Deyou court was no exception. Now the war is in a stalemate. The Deyou army's troops on the front line have reached 280,000. Such a huge army requires a huge amount of supplies and soldiers' military pay every day. Therefore, all kinds of monsters and monsters flock to the crowd like mosquitoes that see blood. The geese pass by and pluck the hair, the beast leaves the skin, and even the iron rooster has to scrape off a layer of iron. As a result, it can only make the soldiers on the front line suffer. It is considered good if they can get half of the military pay. The food rations are not only cut, but also used inferior products as superiors, or sand and stones.

In fact, Qishan knew all of these situations, because the military officers, procurement, clerks, accounting, etc. who do these things are all white gloves. Behind them are high-ranking officials of the Deyou court. The real fat meat was eaten by the high-ranking officials. These people actually could only drink a few sips of soup, and Qishan didn't think there was anything wrong. Didn't the Qing Dynasty have been like this for more than 200 years? What's wrong with it? Several deacons in Qishan's family became the procurement officer, and in the past few months, they earned 20,000 taels of silver.

Therefore, in Qishan's view, foreigners are completely taking advantage of the situation. At present, they are just to control the Deyou court. Because according to the diplomatic notes between Britain and France, it is equivalent to requiring Deyou court to hand over the power of the general and financial power to the foreign people.

At this time, Giratino said: "Prince, it's not that we have to force others to do something, but the corruption in the Deyou court is too serious. If it is in peacetime, we won't care. But now the war is an emergency. The corruption in the Deyou court has seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the army and will cause serious consequences."

Qi Shan said: "I also know the corruption situation, and the court is also improving it, but the three requirements put forward by you two countries are really hard to force others! You don't take the court seriously at all!"

Sheringham said: "Prince, we have no intention of disrespecting the Deyou court, but we have warned the Deyou court for this before. In the past two months, we have not seen any effective measures taken by the Deyou court to improve the corruption of the army. Therefore, we have reason to believe that relying solely on the strength of the Deyou court, the current corruption of the army cannot be changed. The Deyou court must accept these three requirements, otherwise the consequences have been explained in the diplomatic note. I think the Prince does not need us to repeat them again."

Qishan was shocked and angry. He could not have expected that the foreigners were so tough this time. He wanted to say a few tough words and reject the foreigners' rude requests, but he couldn't say it. Because Deyou's court's weapons and ammunition were almost entirely supplied by foreigners. Once the foreigners really gave up Deyou's court, before Yuan Shikai was exhausted, Deyou's court could not survive. Therefore, Qishan naturally could not be tough, so he had to say, "Okay, this matter is of great importance. I need to report to the emperor, and it also takes time to negotiate. Therefore, please ask the two consulates to be graceful for a few days."

Sheringham nodded and said, "Yes, we can give Deyou court three days to consider, but after three days, we need a clear reply and will not listen to any explanation. As long as the reply is not 'accepted', we will all be regarded as rejection."

After saying that, the two consuls said goodbye and left. After the two left, Qishan finally couldn't help but suppress the anger in his heart, picked up the tea bowl at hand, fell heavily to the ground, smashed it, and said angrily: "Damn it, damn it, it's really abominable. He actually wants our military power and financial power to deceive people too much, it's really abominable."
Chapter completed!