Master Yuan, start!

Li Hongzhang asked thoughtfully, "What's the situation in the capital now?"

Yu Shimei replied, "From what I saw along the way, most of the unrest had been quelled. This must have been a move by Yuan Xiangcheng to ensure a smooth exit from the city. Once he escaped, the unrest in the capital subsided considerably."

"How many troops are we bringing to Beijing this time?" Li Hongzhang began to think about how to escape from the vortex of the capital.

Yu Shimei thought for a moment and said, "Except for the dozens of guards who accompanied us to Beijing, there are more than a thousand newly-formed Huai Army troops left in Tianjin, and the Dingyuan and Zhiyuan ships are anchored at Dagukou."

"Too little." Li Hongzhang frowned.

Yu Shimei lowered his voice, approached Li Hongzhang and said, "Sir, don't forget Liu Shengxiu!"

"Huh?" Li Hongzhang glared at Yu Shimei, but Yu Shimei didn't think he had done anything wrong and stood straight to meet Li Hongzhang's gaze.

Liu Shengxiu is the current commander of the Jiashen front army, but he also has another identity as the commander of the former Mingzi Camp, and he is from Hefei!

The Jiashen Front Army was said to be directly under the imperial court, but which of the soldiers and instructors were not drawn from the Huai Army?

Even the cannons were purchased from the Jiangnan Arsenal at that time, which was an enterprise established by Li Hongzhang.

4 If we talk about the connection, I am afraid that the connection between the Jiashen Front Army and Li Hongzhang is even greater. As long as the military pay is spent, the Jiashen Front Army can transform itself from defending the capital to threatening the capital.

0 However, Li Hongzhang obviously did not think so. Even in his most glorious time, when he was the Minister of Beiyang in his left hand and the Governor-General of Zhili in his right hand, with 6 Zhili Huai Army under his command, he never thought of extending his hand to the army directly under the court.

That's why he glared at Yu Shimei: "Yu Shimei, are you trying to force me to rebel like Yuan Xiangcheng?"

"Sir, it's just a brief contact, how can it be considered a rebellion?" Yu Shimei comforted Li Hongzhang a little.

But Yu Shimei changed the subject and said to Li Hongzhang indifferently, "But sir, we must be on guard against the Heyin Incident."

Even if he pretended to be calm, Li Hongzhang's heart was still rippled by these words.

Yes, it was the same situation of the emperor and empress fighting each other, and the same powerful ministers made their fortune by suppressing rebellions.

The difference is that the Empress Dowager of the Northern Wei Dynasty poisoned her son, while the Empress Dowager of the Qing Dynasty was exposed before she could do anything.

What will happen next? Will Yuan Shikai lead his army back to the capital and massacre all the officials of the Hou Party?

Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang shuddered. Although he did not agree in his heart that he belonged to Cixi's party, what could he do if Yuan Shikai killed people indiscriminately?

The more Li Hongzhang thought about it, the more he felt that it was dangerous to stay here, so he immediately decided to leave Beijing and return to Guangdong. At the very least, his hometown of Hefei was better than staying in Beijing.

Li Hongzhang prepared for the worst: "Liu Shengxiu is stationed in Wuqing and cannot be transferred without orders. How can he come to Beijing?"

"Your Excellency may not know that Liu Shengxiu is indeed stationed between Beijing and Tianjin, but recently there have been frequent acts of violence and violence in the Zhili area, including attacking cities and breaking through strongholds, and he has been transferred to quell the rebellion.

Therefore, we can rush to the capital without military orders." Yu Shimei told Li Hongzhang the good news.

Yu Shimei's words made Li Hongzhang feel a little relieved. There were two huge ships and more than a thousand newly formed Huai Army in Tianjin, and there was also a town of Liu Shengxiu's Jiashen Front Army near the capital. Even if not everyone listened to him, at least most of them could be mobilized.

Not to mention, there are tens of thousands of New Huai Army troops trained by him in Guangdong and Guangxi!

The best solution now is to run away!

Li Hongzhang was just about to pack up and leave the capital, but before he could even leave the house, he heard a burst of heavy footsteps outside his residence.

The housekeeper went to check the situation, but he didn't expect that they were soldiers from the Infantry Yamen, hundreds of them wearing armor and holding steel knives, and it seemed that they had just dealt with a riot.

However, upon seeing Li Hongzhang, the leading commander still said politely: "Sir Li, we are here by order of the Empress Dowager to invite you to the Forbidden City for a meeting."

Li Hongzhang was knowledgeable and experienced, and when he saw this situation he knew that he could not leave now.

So he said calmly, "I understand. Please wait outside while I change into court clothes."

After the people from the Infantry Yamen left, Li Hongzhang quickly instructed Yu Shimei, "Huiruo, contact Liu Shengxiu as soon as I enter the palace. Don't delay!"

"Yes, Lord Li!"

"Send a telegram to my elder brother, detailing the situation in the capital so he can prepare early!"

"Yes!"

In less than a quarter of an hour, Li Hongzhang changed into his court robes and leisurely followed a group of people from the Infantry Yamen to the Forbidden City.

The Infantry Office was quite polite and even found a sedan chair for Li Hongzhang, having the soldiers dismount and carry him.

When he arrived at the classroom of the Grand Council, Li Hongzhang found that the other grand councilors and the remaining governors had already arrived, and Cixi had also been sitting in the first seat, waiting for Li Hongzhang.

When she saw Li Hongzhang arriving, Cixi said nothing, but asked someone to bring a large piece of paper and spread it on the ground.

Sighing, Cixi held her forehead and said, "Look, this is a telegram just sent from Tianjin by the Zongli Yamen Telegraph Office. It says something about an announcement, not just to the capital, but to any place with a telegraph office in the entire Qing Dynasty."

The ministers looked intently and saw hundreds of words written in a fluent manner:

"The false emperor, the Yehenara clan, was not docile by nature and came from a humble background. Fortunately, she was favored by Emperor Wenzong and was allowed to change her clothes and serve him.

He was ungrateful, and instead of flattering his lord, he deceived him and killed him in Rehe. He murdered loyal officials, killed regents, and seized power for himself. He ceded land and paid compensation, and carried out large-scale construction projects, putting the people in dire straits.

As the young emperor grew older, he harbored evil intentions again, trying to steal the sacred artifacts and depose the emperor to establish himself!

Xiang Cheng was worried day and night, fearing that the world would collapse in an instant and China would perish at the hands of this woman. Therefore, he saved the emperor from danger and was determined to bring peace to the world.

I hope that all Chinese men, from Baiyue in the south to Heilongjiang in the north, who are willing to join the army to fight against the rebellion, can go to Korea to join the cause of saving the country!

The savior of the country, Yuan Xiangcheng! "

The Grand Council was silent, and no one dared to speak first, for fear of angering Cixi.

This article, titled "Fengtian Telegram to Ask for Cixi", is a bit simple and not very literary, but its meaning is expressed very clearly.

Resolutely oppose Yiqi's unusual behavior. Tong Li's residence is still left with ZhongqN: Cixi!

After more than an hour, Cixi finally spoke: "I feel sorry for Emperor Wenzong and for the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty.

I had originally thought that I would hand over power to the emperor after his wedding, but I didn't expect that the emperor would fall ill and fall into a coma. I had no choice but to enthronize the eldest prince as a precaution.

After I woke up, I was kidnapped by Yuan Shikai again and no one knew where he hid me. He labeled me a vixen from Xishan and said that I had drugged the emperor.

My dear ministers, tell me, has there ever been such a panacea since ancient times? I'm afraid he heard it from a strange story novel and is slandering me.

The emperor and I have always had a very close relationship. He must know that no one will believe such evil words.

So he abducted the emperor and took him out of the capital, and even issued a proclamation to attack me. He is truly domineering. If everyone were like him, how could the Qing Dynasty survive?

Hearing Cixi's calm and collected words while putting the blame on others, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but think of Confucius' old saying: Only women and villains are difficult to raise.

Regardless of whether the knockout drug Yuan Xiangcheng mentioned is true or false, it is indeed too shocking that there is a knockout drug in the world that can last for more than ten days.

But it's obvious that you don't want to give up power. The wedding is just an excuse. Who among the people in the capital doesn't know that the Queen Mother and the Emperor are not in harmony?

How can you shamelessly say "deep feelings"?

Just when Li Hongzhang was silent, Zeng Guoquan unexpectedly stood up with the air of a loyal minister and said: "I request that the Hunan Army from Liangjiang be dispatched north to land in Korea. At the same time, the generals from the eastern provinces and the armored Eight Banners be dispatched south. With a pincer attack from both north and south, Yuan Shikai will have nowhere to escape!"

"Ok?"

Li Hongzhang looked at Zeng Guoquan. How come he became a loyal minister of the Empress Dowager?

Chapter 125: Emperor Baoqing

When Cixi heard Zeng Guoquan's words, she was a little surprised, but she immediately guessed Zeng Guoquan's implied meaning.

On the surface, Zeng Guoquan said that he wanted to lead the Hunan Army northward to attack Yuan Shikai's retreat, but the focus of this sentence is the first half rather than the second half.

If he were really let go, would he rebel against Yuan or against the Queen?

Thinking of this, Cixi pretended to be happy and said, "Zeng Qing is indeed a loyal and virtuous man. I am very pleased.

However, Yuan Shikai had tens of thousands of troops, Western-style armaments, and used new methods to train his troops. He had been entrenched in Korea for a long time and even drove the Japanese out to sea. His prestige was unmatched.

Moreover, everyone knows that he kidnapped the emperor, and I am afraid that scholars all over the world have been deceived by him!"

"No!" Zeng Guoquan still insisted on his opinion.

"The central government holds the supreme righteousness. All salt, iron, and customs duties in the country are sent to the capital. The traitor Yuan Shikai has fled with the emperor, thus cutting himself off from the world. If he is not quickly eliminated, the imperial court's power will decline day by day, and rebellions will break out in the regions."

Zeng Guoquan made a lot of high-sounding speeches and portrayed himself as a patriotic and loyal minister, but what he really wanted was to leave Beijing as soon as possible.

Like Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guoquan knew that Cixi had lost a major bargaining chip after he learned that Yuan Shikai had escaped from Beijing with the emperor. Now she could only fight passively and had no possibility of taking the initiative to attack.

But before he could respond, Cixi invited him to the Forbidden City and put him under semi-house arrest, forcing them to express their stance.

"How about releasing the King of Korea and causing chaos in Yuan Shikai's city?" Cixi asked tentatively.

The sound was not loud, but it caused a huge uproar.

"No!" As soon as these words were spoken, even several governors who were calm and composed and didn't want to get involved spoke out in opposition!

Your Queen Mother and the Emperor have been fighting each other, but in the end both sides are suffering. But if you let North Korea lose it again, you will become a national sinner!

Seeing that her opinion was rejected, Cixi felt a little embarrassed and quickly asked Xiang Ronglu: "How is the defense around the capital?"

Ronglu answered honestly, "The left and right armies of Jiashen have already rushed to Shanhaiguan. The front army of Jiashen is suppressing the rebellion, and the middle army of Jiashen is stationed in Nanyuan, the capital."

Hearing that the Jiashen Front Army was being used to suppress the rioters, Cixi frowned: "The Jiashen Five Armies are known as elite troops, why are they being used to suppress the rebellion?"

"This..." Ronglu was speechless. He couldn't say that the Jiashen Front Army had a deep conflict with the Huai Army, and it was unsafe to station near the capital under the current circumstances, right?

Li Hongzhang was right next to him, but he couldn't say anything.

After thinking for a moment, he could only come up with a lame excuse: "The front army of Jiashen was stationed in Wuqing, close to the rioters, so I ordered them to suppress the rebellion."

Cixi said: "Call them back and let the Zhili army suppress the rioters."

"I will obey the Queen Mother's decree!"

Ronglu felt that the Zhili army was okay. Although it was not a modern military system and was still mainly equipped with swords and spears, some of them were still equipped with firearms, which was much better than the unusable Green Camp.

Prince Qing Yiliao has carefully planned and made all the arrangements, but the only solution now is to minimize the impact of Yuan Xiangcheng holding the emperor hostage!"

As for the issue of national sovereignty, no matter how Cixi issued orders in the Forbidden City, the vast majority of people naturally felt that the emperor was the master of the country.

Even though Cixi is in control of the court now, with the emperor as his card, Yuan Shikai can theoretically command all directions!

Sun Yuwen, the military minister who had been silent on the side, suggested at this time: "Why not follow the example of Emperor Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty and make the eldest prince the new emperor?

They claimed to the outside world that the emperor had been abducted by Yuan Xiangcheng, and that his life and death had long been controlled by Yuan Xiangcheng, so they had no choice but to obey Yuan's orders.

Hearing this, Cixi's eyes lit up. Yes, wouldn't it be enough to just abolish Guangxu's status as emperor?

But she couldn't bring this up on her own initiative, otherwise it would seem too urgent.

"Since you are all here, I will not lie. The emperor has been abducted, which is a sign of chaos. I have thought of ways to deal with it, but I have never thought of establishing a new emperor."

It is really worthy of listening to the operas of those nine-man troupes of four children. They also perform the four in a very precise manner.

Li Hongzhang couldn't help but admire him, but he also admitted that Sun Yuwen's proposal was indeed good. At least it could maintain stability in the court. In his heart, stability was the most important thing.

"A country cannot be without a ruler for a single day. If the emperor is not in power, local scoundrels will inevitably stir up trouble. A king is needed to appease the people."