The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 530: Scruples and Calculations

Although the wine was brought, the cups were the smallest. These people were not as good as Liu Shijiu, Cao Futian, and Pan Jinshan. They were just in a good mood and could not drink much.

At Yang Shixiang's suggestion, he toasted Teng Yuzhao three times.

No wonder the theme of the toast is to admire Teng Yuzhao's noble character, his resourcefulness, his wisdom, his ability to plan and plan in the tent, and his superb military strategy, which turned the tide for the court.

After three cups of wine, seeing that Xu Shichang and the general public represented by Ning Xingpu and Zhou Xuexi were also eager to toast, Teng Yuzhao quickly put down his glass and said.

"Now that we have finished talking about the peace talks, let's talk about our own affairs."

Knowing that this was Teng Yuzhao's arrangement for post-war matters in Zhili, several people gave up the idea of ​​toasting Teng Yuzhao.

After lighting a cigarette, Teng Yuzao said carefully,

"There are a few things you may not know. The Queen Mother asked Prince Duan to give me the news in advance. First, the court is planning to transfer Yuan Weiting to Henan as the governor. The vacant position of Shandong governor will be left to me to recommend someone. Of course, the defense of Shandong will also be the responsibility of the vanguard army."

"The second thing is that the court is going to set up a Ministry of the Army in imitation of the Western model. There will be a minister and two deputy ministers. Both the minister and deputy minister are required to be people familiar with military affairs. Their ranks are equivalent to the six ministries. The governors and governors-general of various places are required to recommend them, and the final decision will be made by the court."

"The third thing is that the court will train new troops in each province, with two regiments in each province. Sichuan, as a large province, will have three regiments. Each province can initially have one regiment, and the rest will be added later. The military expenses for training new troops in each province must be uniformly handed over to the Ministry of Army, and then the Ministry of Army will make unified allocations. The court will also take out a portion of silver for military expenses every year."

"The fourth thing is that since the new army will be formed, the green camps will be eliminated. The court is worried that these people will cause trouble, or even provoke a mutiny. The local governments are responsible for suppressing it. They are also afraid that these people will collude with the laid-off personnel and lead to incidents like the Self-Reliance Army."

"Therefore, the court wants the Vanguard Army, the Wuwei Right Army, and the Huguang New Army to be stationed in various places so as to suppress the rebellion in time."

"At the same time, the above-mentioned troops stationed in other provinces will be responsible for their own military expenses, and only partial subsidies will be provided by the provinces at their discretion."

"Specifically, the Seventh Regiment of Huguang will be relocated to Sichuan; the suppression forces in Huguang and Jiangxi will be led by the original First Association of Huguang, which will be responsible for both suppression and training; the Wuwei Right Army will be responsible for the training of the new army in the five provinces of Henan, Anhui, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu. These provinces have relatively few green camps and training troops, so in principle, the Wuwei Right Army will send corresponding troops to each province.

"The Wuwei Left Army moved to Rehe and was reorganized and reorganized into a new army. Guangxi and Yunnan also had fewer green camps and trained soldiers, so the court thought they were not to be feared and allowed them to train on their own."

"Our vanguard army is responsible for the training of new troops in the six provinces of Zhili, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, as well as the three provinces of Northeast China, a total of nine provinces."

"Fifth, this time, although the Dutch did not send troops, they are also a country that the court has declared war on. It is a bit unreasonable for the Dutch to continue to build the Luhan Railway. The court is worried that it will cause criticism from the people and even cause trouble."

"Therefore, the court is preparing to abolish the construction contract with the Dutch and change the Lu-Han Railway to self-construction. The relevant terms will basically be based on the contract signed with the Dutch. Ask Zhili whether it is interested in this."

"Of course, the imperial court will not pay a penny. The money invested by the Dutch in the early stage must also be repaid by the person who takes over."

Teng Yuzao took a puff of cigarette, glanced at everyone and said, "Let's discuss these five things together. Who of you can speak first?"

The three things Teng Yuzao brought up were somewhat unexpected, especially since Ning Xingpu, Xi Ligong and Huang Chujiu had never participated in government affairs, and they didn't know what to do for a while. Yang Shixiang, Xu Shichang and Zhou Xuexi all frowned and thought about it.

After a brief thought, Yang Shixiang smiled bitterly and said, "Marshal, the Queen Mother asked Prince Duan to give you a tip first. In my opinion, the court is worried about you, and is even plotting against you and the vanguard army."

Yang Shixiang's words stunned everyone except Xu Shichang and Teng Yuzao.

Yang Shixiang sighed and said, "Almost all of these things are related to the Marshal. If the Marshal interferes, I'm afraid these things will be difficult to implement."

Zhou Xuexi was surprised and said with a little dissatisfaction, "Mr. Lianfu, I believe that all this is related to the Marshal, but it is a bit sensational to say that the court is plotting against the Marshal!"

Yang Shixiang smiled bitterly and waved his hand at Zhou Xuexi, saying, "Jizhi, just listen to me first, and then you can tell me whether I am exaggerating or just talking nonsense."

Zhou Xuexi wanted to continue to refute Yang Shixiang, but Teng Yuzhao did not say anything. He just waited quietly for Yang Shixiang's next words and then stopped talking.

Yang Shixiang seemed quite angry. He drank the glass of white wine in front of him in one gulp and then sighed and said.

"Let's talk about it one by one, starting with the matter of having Yuan Shikai and the Wuwei Right Army transferred to Henan."

"There are German troops stationed in Qingdao, Shandong, and there are many foreign missionaries. In addition, the people of Shandong are tough and it is easy for mistakes to happen. The slightest mistake will cause public resentment and attract criticism from both the government and the public. If the Marshal takes over Shandong, it will leave a hidden danger for him."

Zhou Xuexi said dissatisfiedly, "Mr. Lianfu, I don't understand what you said. Yuan Weiting was doing well in Shandong, so why did he become a hidden danger when he came to the Marshal?"

Xu Shichang on the side said, "Jizhi, Yuan Weiting can do it, but the Marshal can't. You should know this."

"Yuan Weiting was in Shandong and vigorously suppressed the Boxers, so the Boxers fled to Zhili."

Zhou Xuexi was even more puzzled and said, "Not only has the court issued a clear order to arrest the Boxers in various places, but the Marshal forcibly disbanded and expelled the Boxers when he was in the capital. Could it be that the Marshal would condone the Boxers in Shandong?"

Seeing Zhou Xuexi's confusion and continued questioning, Yang Shixiang had no choice but to take over the conversation, "Yuan Shikai can do it, but the Marshal can't, because there are so many people in the vanguard army who came from the Boxers. If the Marshal takes over, it will easily cause trouble."

At this moment, Zhou Xuexi suddenly realized, opened his mouth, but finally closed it in disappointment and stopped talking.

Yang Shixiang then said to Teng Yuzao, "General, in my opinion, it is better not to take on this hot potato. Or you can just nominate a candidate for governor, but resolutely not station troops in Shandong to avoid future troubles."

It cannot be said that what Yang Shixiang said was unreasonable. Teng Yuzhao even believed that the imperial court should think so. To be precise, it was Cixi who thought so. Once something happened, it would affect his reputation, including the reputation of the vanguard army.

Even more, the imperial court could find some excuses to punish the Shandong governor and use this as an excuse to suppress their own power.
(End of this chapter)