Super dictator.

Cixi squinted her eyes, and was thinking of a way to prevent Wei Jichen's popularity from continuing to grow. The reason why Wei Jichen attracted the attention of the whole country at once was because he stood out from the crowd, and all the troops were silent and retreated steadily. Time to win.

This naturally aroused everyone's favor at once, and later, because Guangxu delegated power to him and appointed him as a military affairs assistant, this gave him the power to control the battles of the armies, and he led the armies to win again and again. , and the main credit for these victories naturally belongs to the president.

Just like the results of the Battle of Elm Castle, although Wei Jichen's Wei Zijun won it, Feng Sheng'a dared to fight for it, because Wei Jichen belonged to Feng Sheng's restraint at that time, if Feng Sheng's death hadn't been so embarrassing and bizarre, Wei Jichen must have Most of the credit for him has really gone to him.

Therefore, Cixi first thought about how to deprive him of the power to control the army.

"Has Wei Jichen made any mistakes recently?" Cixi asked Li Lianying beside her slowly.

"Returning to Lafayette, I have never heard of Wei Jichen embezzling his own pockets and deducting the soldiers' pay, nor has he ever heard of Wei Jichen's greed for life and fear of death, and hesitation." Li Lianying read so many information about Wei Jichen, but she really couldn't find any overreach.

When Cixi heard Li Lianying's words, she became even more jealous of Wei Jichen in her heart. As a subject, you have no shortcomings at all. How can this be done? The perfect person can only be the emperor.

Cixi stood up annoyed, and two court ladies immediately stepped forward to support her left and right arms.

"This Wei Jichen has really become a saint and a savior in the hearts of the people." Cixi said to herself in a strange way.

But for a while, he had no choice but to sit down with Wei Jichen.

at this time.

"Lafayette, Prince Rui is asking for an audience outside the palace." It was said that the eunuch came in and reported softly.

"Why is Zaiyi here? Tell him to come in. The Ai family hasn't seen him for a long time, and I don't know what he's been up to these days." Zaiyi's son, Pu Jun, is very popular with Cixi. By the way, she I also love this niece and son-in-law very much.

After a while, Zaiyi followed the little eunuch and walked in.

"Kneel down to Lafayette." Zaiyi made a big salute.

Cixi waved her hand lightly, and asked with a smile: "Why hasn't Pu Jun come into the palace these days to see Ai's family?"

"Lafayette, this kid has been studying literature and martial arts so hard recently that he doesn't even have time to eat. For this reason, the slave also blamed him. Who ever wanted him to tell the slave loudly, 'The Japanese Koubian, as a member of the Aixinjueluo family? My son, be self-reliant, so that I can share the worries of Lafayette in the future." Zaiyi imitated his son's voice so vividly that it made Cixi laugh heartily.

"This child is full of filial piety. Compared with the one in the Forbidden City, he has a lot more conscience. The one in the Forbidden City has not come to greet Ai's family for three consecutive days. It seems that Ai's family is old and can't take care of things, and the front door has gradually become cold. " Cixi complained casually in front of Zaiyi like an ordinary old man.

It was thought that his complaint made Zai Yi think of something else.

"Lafayette, the emperor is busy with political affairs, so naturally he has a lot less time. I heard that the emperor is now working hard to govern, and wants to learn from the West and reform the system to improve it." Zai Yi praised.

"Restructuring to be strong? Hmph, I am still too young to know the heights of heaven and earth. Throughout history, every reform has caused chaos in the world, but there are very few successful ones. My Qing Dynasty is now suffering from internal and external troubles, and it is even more unbearable. Tossing and tossing, the Ai family has supported Li Hongzhang in foreign affairs all these years, so why not strive for strength? This road has to be taken step by step, and the emperor wants to run before he learns to walk. He will not give up until he falls into a big somersault." Cixi said unhurriedly, and then seemed to feel that what she said was too off-topic, touched her nails, and asked aloud: "By the way, why did you come into the palace today when you have time? Could it be true? Come to visit the lonely family of Aijia?"

Zai Yi smiled sheepishly, and then with a straight face, he said seriously: "Lafayette, the slave entered the palace today, and asked the Queen Mother to be the master of my bannerman. Now my status as a man is really declining, and I can hardly compare to the status of the Han people. .”

Cixi snorted noncommittally, and said softly, "Get to the point."

Zaiyi didn't dare to sigh any more, and hurriedly said: "Lafayette, it's a long story, and this servant will make a long story short. It's all because of Wei Jichen's incompetence. When he was in Liaodong, he killed one of the people in my banner for no reason. Man, the bannerman who was killed by the servant was Feng Sheng'a's nephew, and later I heard that Vice Dutong Feng also died for no reason because of this incident, and I don't know if it has anything to do with Wei Jichen."

Zaiyi recounted the matter emphatically.

Originally, Cixi was listening with her eyes closed and didn't care. When she heard the three characters Wei Jichen, her closed eyes suddenly opened. After Zaiyi finished speaking, a smile appeared on her face again. .

"This Wei Jichen is really too presumptuous. Without the court's order, he dared to kill the generals of the court privately. Although he has won many battles and made many achievements, he can't do anything recklessly and ignore the court. , That's okay, little Lizi, get Sun Yuwen, Minister of Military Aircraft." Cixi turned her head and said to Li Lianying without thinking.

"Hey, I'm going to announce it now." Li Lianying didn't know what the main force was thinking, she really wanted to doze off, and Prince Rui immediately brought a pillow.

Zaiyi didn't expect that this matter would go so smoothly and unexpectedly, he got the tens of thousands of taels of silver with almost no effort.

Cixi also looked at Zaiyi more and more pleasing to the eye, and said kindly: "Prince Rui, when Pu Jun is free, let him come and walk around the palace more. None."

"From Lafayette, it is his blessing that Pu Jun can enter the palace to meet you. This servant thank Lafayette for his kindness on behalf of the dog." Prince Rui quickly knelt down to thank him.

Things in the palace are easy to spread, not to mention that Cixi doesn't want to hide it at all.

It didn't take long for the news that Lafayette was angry because Wei Jichen killed a Manchu chief for no reason.

In the imperial court, there were a lot less scriptures that originally wanted to show Wei Jichen's merits and virtues. The direction of the wind above has changed, and of course the direction below will also change accordingly.

The capital, Xu Shichang's residence.

Yuan Shikai was drinking and chatting with his allied brother Xu Shichang. The ambitious Yuan Shikai naturally didn't want to be an official in charge of logistics. No, once he returned to the capital, he asked his brother to discuss this matter.

Xu Shichang, courtesy name Bu Wu, was funded by Yuan Shikai to go north to take the exam. He was first selected as a candidate, and then a Jinshi. He is now an editor of the Imperial Academy. The news is very well-informed, so he has been at ease for several years, otherwise he would have asked to be released.

"Weiting, the imperial court has set up a department to supervise military affairs. After the war is over, it intends to reorganize the old army and retrain the new army. Now Guangxi's procuratorate, Hu Yufen, has recruited new troops and started training at the Tianjin Horse Factory. This civil servant Hu Yufen Family background, ignorance of military affairs, this is a good opportunity to comfort you." Xu Shichang told Yuan Shikai one by one the news he got.

Yuan Shikai took a piece of food with chopsticks, put it into his mouth, and replied with some depression: "I also know that this is a great opportunity, but unfortunately, I, Yuan Shikai, like Hu Yufen, was born as a civil servant. I don't know if the court will appreciate it."

Xu Shichang shook his head and said, "Weiting, what you said is wrong. When you were the prime minister of North Korea, didn't you help North Korea train the army? How can you say you don't know soldiers?"

Yuan Shikai's eyes lit up, and he shook his head decadently and said, "Compared to those generals who have actually been on the battlefield, my old Yuan is still not qualified."

"I said, Wei Ting, why are you so inexperienced? As long as you operate properly, even if you haven't been on the battlefield in person, you will be able to gain a great reputation and get the reputation of being a military official. As for whether you can train recruits well, that's a question Don't worry, although there are not many new talents nowadays, those students who graduated from the Tianjin Military Academy can't be recruited properly, let alone foreign instructors, so why worry about not being able to train well?" Xu Shichang talked eloquently. , pointing Yuan Shikai said.

"Big brother, what do you mean?" Yuan Shikai beat him up and looked at him with surprise. Yuan Shikai had already seen that Xu Shichang had two talents, so he funded him to go to Beijing for the exam and became sworn brothers with him.

Now, he has indeed become a good counselor for himself.

Xu Shichang took a sip of the wine first, then put down his chopsticks unhurriedly, then raised a finger, and said with a smile: "Weiting, you need to do two important things now, one of which is to become famous, because the imperial court Now I tend to use Western methods to train troops, you can translate some military records of various Western countries in Songyun Cottage, and vigorously advocate the use of Western methods to train troops, so that others will know that you are a "knowledge of soldiers and civil servants."

Yuan Shikai's eyes sparkled and he nodded repeatedly.

Xu Shichang raised his second finger again, and continued: "The second is to find someone you can rely on in the court. Now that the Supervising Military Affairs Department has just been established, it is organized by Prince Gong Yixin and Prince Qing Yikuang. , Li Hongzao, Weng Tongsu, and Ronglu will handle it together, so you need to find a way for these people."

Yuan Shikai suddenly realized, and immediately felt that a broad road was in front of him.

He couldn't help but carefully weighed in his heart that he could win some connections with these few people. After all, his uncle was also a minister of the court before, so he still left some connections for him.

The first is Prince Gong. Prince Gong has been suppressed by Cixi for nearly [-] years. Recently, Cixi invited him out of the mountain because of the need to negotiate peace with Japan. Therefore, as long as he is worshiped as a high and high Buddha.

It would be easier to get in touch with Prince Qing Yikuang. This person has no talent, but is very greedy for money, and he can get some yellow and white things.

As for Prince Gong, Prince Qing, Li Hongzao, and Weng Tongsu, these people are all ministers of military affairs, and they are busy with their affairs. It is presumed that the specific affairs of the Military Affairs Department will fall on this Ronglu.

Who is Rong Lu? He is Lafayette's confidant, and there are some rumors that Rong Lu and Lafayette have some unclear relationship. Although he is not well-known now, he has a bright future.

In a short while, Yuan Shikai analyzed these people in his heart, and then found the most beneficial person for him.

Yuan Shikai was relieved, drank a glass of wine happily, and said with a smile: "Brother is indeed very human, and his talent is not as good as that of a younger brother. In the future, after I, Yuan Shikai, become famous, I will definitely not forget the kindness of my brother's guidance."

Yuan Shikai is not only good at drilling, but also good at winning people's hearts.

Hearing his words, Xu Shichang couldn't help but said displeasedly: "Why does Weiting say the words of the two families? You and I are brothers. If you didn't support me in the past, I, Xu Shichang, must be down and out. I don't know where to go from Weiting. Don't say that in Weiting's future." .”

Yuan Shikai raised his cup with shame on his face and drank three cups in a row, saying: "It's all because of my clumsy mouth, I should punish myself for three cups, and I hope you don't take offense."

The two drank a few glasses of wine, and Yuan Shikai sighed again and said: "The students who graduated from the Tianjin Armed Forces Academy have never been to the battlefield. Believe it, if I, Old Yuan, have to train new soldiers, it must be done with old and new talents."

It's not that Yuan Shikai didn't want to find some veterans to help him, but no one would ignore him if he was famous. That's why Xu Shichang suggested that he recruit talents from the military training school.

Hearing what Yuan Shikai said, Xu Shichang suddenly smiled and asked, "Weiting, who do you think is the most famous general in the Qing Dynasty?"

Yuan Shikai said without hesitation: "It goes without saying, of course it is Wei Jichen. I met him in Ximu City. He was a small general soldier at that time. The level of the world."

Yuan Shikai continued with annoyed expression: "I regret it. At that time, when I heard that the Japanese were coming to attack Ximu City, I, old Yuan, took the first step. I didn't become close friends with that Wei Jichen."

Xu Shichang put down his chopsticks, smiled lightly, and said softly: "This young man is about to be in trouble."

"Oh, how do you say that? Wei Jichen's reputation is so high after a series of victories. Could it be that the court has already become jealous of him?" Yuan Shikai immediately reacted and asked in disbelief.

Xu Shichang nodded heavily, looked left and right, lowered his head and said, "Nowadays there are rumors in the palace that Lafayette is very displeased with him. Tell me, if Lafayette thinks about him day and night, can he have a good end?"

Yuan Shikai said regretfully: "What the imperial court did is tantamount to self-destructing the Great Wall. It seems that we still don't trust us Han people. Although Wei Jichen and I have not been together for a long time, I can also see that he is full of economics and proficient in all military strategies. It is because he also has a very detailed knowledge of Western-style military law, which can be said to be unmatched by the Qing Dynasty."

If Wei Jichen knew that Yuan Shikai commented on him like this, he might not know whether to laugh or cry. He and Yuan Shikai talked nonsense that day, and he used the knowledge of later generations to blow up the military systems and national conditions of Britain, the United States, Germany, and France. After all, Wei Jichen's knowledge is much higher than that of people of this era. Yuan Shikai was secretly startled at that time, calling for talents in his heart, so he would drink with Wei Jichen from time to time and make friends with him.