Master Yuan, start!

However, Yuan Shikai had no intention of unifying the country in one go when he went south this time. He sent troops only to alleviate the dissatisfaction in the court caused by the long-standing unresolved issue of the Golden Elixir Dao.

The power of the feudal lords has been established, so it is normal to fight on and off.

On the contrary, it was the Japanese who were so eager to instigate him to go to war with the south and even said they would help, which aroused Yuan Shikai's vigilance.

What benefits will the Japanese get from the National Defense Army moving south?

Take the opportunity to invade North Korea?

No, the British have a fleet stationed on Jeju Island, and the "conquer Korea" theory in Japan has gradually lost its market. In addition, the people in Korea have already stabilized their hearts, so the Japanese government should not do such a thankless task.

Then why did Ito Hirobumi come to me and claim that he would help me go south?

After all, even if the Japanese wanted to interfere in China's affairs, there was no need for them to look for me, who had a grudge against them. Why couldn't they look for Liu Kunyi or Li Hongzhang? Why did they have to ask me for help?

Do I have any talents that these two people cannot possess?

To q零伞:.ZhongQU:!

Yuan Xiangcheng suddenly remembered the hidden chess he had planted in Russia before.

Could it be that the Russians did something that forced the Japanese to seek me out for support?

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng's eyes gradually brightened.

The Japanese probably thought that the three northeastern provinces faced Russia directly. If the Russian army attacked Japan by sea in the future, we could quickly counterattack from land.

Even if I dare not take action because I am afraid of the Russians, the main force of the Wehrmacht will move south and will not have the energy to intervene in the Russo-Japanese dispute, so I will not become Russia's helper.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng immediately smiled, picked up the hot water on the small stove beside him, and made a cup of strong green matcha for Ito Hirobumi.

"China and Japan are neighbors separated by a narrow strip of water and are friendly neighbors. Mr. Ito, the previous incident with North Korea was purely a misunderstanding. Friendly cooperation between China and Japan is the right path."

9131.0109 Monthly fee?

Don't hit a smiling person. When Ito Hirobumi heard Yuan Shikai say that what happened in Korea was a "misunderstanding", although his mouth twitched, he could only accept the olive branch he extended.

"Mr. Ito, I hope the Great Japanese Empire will pay more attention to the southward march. The Japanese Combined Fleet must defeat the South China Sea Fleet and establish its reputation as the number one navy in East Asia!"

Since it didn't cost any money, Yuan Shikai didn't mind flattering the Japanese at all. He cooperated with the performance and pretended to be very eager for Japan to help him, which made Ito Hirobumi very satisfied.

"Okay, that's no problem, but it's a bit of empty talk between you and me, isn't it?" Knowing that things were about to be done, Ito Hirobumi quickly hinted at signing the treaty.

"It's my fault, my fault. I say I want to follow Western methods, but I'm not familiar with the Western way of doing things." Yuan Xiangcheng pretended to blame himself and asked Mingye to quickly get paper and pen from the study in the backyard.

In this way, a document called the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Commerce, but later more people preferred to call it the Yuan-Japan Secret Agreement, was signed in Shengjing City in 1894.

西历1894年6九月134日，光绪0二十4年五月八日，明伍治二十七年五月八日。

His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and His Majesty the Great Emperor of Japan, wishing to enable the people of China and Japan to exchange what they have and what they need,

Thus, Yuan Xiangcheng, the Third-Class Loyal and Brave Protector of the Qing Dynasty and Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces, and Ito Hirobumi, the Special Envoy of the Great Japanese Empire, Marquis, and President of the House of Peers, are about to exchange their full powers for review and verification, and establish the following terms:

9163 0; demon 0 money

Article 1: The export of goods from the three northeastern provinces and North Korea to Japan shall not be hindered, and vice versa. In case of any dispute, the two parties shall establish a special agency to mediate.

Article 2: The people of both parties have the right to purchase land in the other party's territory, but not for non-commercial purposes unless otherwise agreed.

Article 3: The two parties agreed that their respective ships, except warships, have the right to temporarily anchor and resupply in the other party's ports.

Section 4.

Article 5.

Signed in Shengjing.

Generally speaking, such a document basically discusses economic and trade matters between North China and Japan.

Yuan Shikai did not think that signing this treaty was an overstepping of authority. As long as he submitted a memorial afterwards, Guangxu would agree.

After all, Li Hongzhang had also done this kind of thing under Cixi, signing the contract first and then reporting it.

Furthermore, the South has been doing business with the Japanese, so reopening trade with the North can be considered a natural move.

But if this were the case, this treaty would not be called the Yuan-Japan Secret Treaty in later generations.

What Yuan Xiangcheng reported were the terms on the surface, but in fact, he also kept

Hidden clause.

Article 1: If a third party invades the northern part of China, the three northeastern provinces and the territory of Korea, the two parties agree that if this happens, all naval and land forces that can be mobilized at the time will be dispatched to assist each other, and they will also do their best to provide arms and food.

Paragraph 2: If a third party invades Japanese territory, as described above.

Article 8: When war breaks out, in case of emergency, all ports on both sides will allow their respective warships to enter, and if necessary, local officials should do their best to provide assistance.

The fourth paragraph...

The fifth one,...

Signed in Shengjing.

Yuan Xiangcheng originally intended to write "Southern Rebellious Army" to test it out, but as expected, Ito Hirobumi insisted on changing it to "Third Party"

Yuan Xiangcheng's guess became more true.

In this way, Article 2 of the treaty, "occupation of Japanese territory by a third party," can be applied to the event of a Russian invasion.

Ito Hirobumi had a good plan, and Yuan Shikai did not expose it. After all, the Japanese were cunning, and he was by no means an ordinary person.

The Japanese thought that the first type would only be used against the south, but who said that he had to attack the south when he went south? He could also attack Jiangning and Guangzhou all the way north.

The Japanese wanted to attack Russia, but Yuan Shikai might not necessarily want to fight back. As long as the timing was right, he could take action.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai did not have too much entanglement with Ito Hirobumi over the specific meaning of the clause, and they just deceived each other.

So, after the two of them drank cup after cup of matcha, the terms were finally negotiated, written in both Chinese and Japanese, and sealed in a bag.

After the incident, Yuan Xiangcheng was still a little uneasy and decided to delay Ito Hirobumi for a few days to wait for his guess to be finally verified.

"Mr. Ito, the Shengjing Railway completion ceremony will be held in a few days. I hope you will stay for a few more days. I will personally announce the reopening of trade between China and Japan."

"Okay, then I will respectfully obey your command."

Ito Hirobumi used another ancient Chinese saying, then raised his head and the two looked at each other.

This Qing man finally got the message. All my earnest advice paid off. Ito Hirobumi picked up the last cup of matcha brewed by Yuan Xiangcheng and looked at him with a smile.

The Japanese are still trying to trick me. Let me show you how I can make you suffer a loss. Yuan Xiangcheng also picked up the cup and looked at Ito Hirobumi with a bright face.

qIt was already evening after seeing off Ito Hirobumi.

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Yuan Xiangcheng looked at the empty yard, shook his head, walked into the study silently, and picked up a thick stack of telegrams.

4 History once again came to a critical fork in the road, but Yuan Xiangcheng was confident that with the 10 years of savings he had gained from time travel, he could step onto the East Asian poker table and decide the future trend.

"Next, I need to carefully calculate how much wealth I have."

Yuan Xiangcheng spread out a piece of white paper, picked up a graphite pencil, and wanted to write the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

If China wants to determine its position in the world, the best way is to find a reference, and right now, the most suitable one is Japan.

5Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng wrote the two big characters "Yuan" and "Ri" on the white paper.

"First of all, the military strength." Yuan Xiangcheng said as he wrote.

In the original time and space of the Sino-Japanese War of 7-24, the Japanese regular army had a total of troops, plus the troops mobilized subsequently, a total of troops.

"In terms of numbers, I can't compare."

Yuan Xiangcheng looked up and recalled the military expansion over the past three years.

Despite the calculations with Ito Hirobumi, after the National Defense Army expanded to 10 regular troops, the annual salary required reached a sky-high price of 500 million taels of silver.

Even if the Guangxu court was willing to reimburse 4% of it, the remaining 6% would still have to be solved by Yuan Shikai.

The National Defense Army was different from the new armies that were transformed from militia forces such as the Huai Army and the Hunan Army. The National Defense Army paid monthly salaries.

Li Hongzhang's Huai Army pay was based on the principle of "33 days, 3 taels, 3", and was not paid monthly. In other words, only 9 months of pay was needed each year, which was called "koujian" by people at the time.

In addition, if someone in the team dies or is eliminated and is not replaced in time, there will be vacancies, and the money for the vacancies will be saved. This method is called "intercepting vacancies".

By relying on "withholding construction" and "intercepting the wilderness", Li Hongzhang accumulated millions of taels of silver in his hands after decades of Huai Army operations, all of which were placed in the "Huai Army Silver and Money Office".

In the original time and space, Li Hongzhang's money finally reached a huge amount of 800 million taels. After he lost power in the Sino-Japanese War of -, he did not spend it. Finally, it went around and around and was passed to Yuan Shikai, the later Governor-General of Zhili.

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It was precisely because of this "windfall" that Yuan Shikai was able to firmly control the morale of the six Beiyang armies despite the extremely poor financial situation of the Qing government in the late Qing Dynasty.

Otherwise, how could he, a Han minister who was unemployed at home, remotely control the six Beiyang towns from his hometown in Henan and force the Qing court to ask him to come out of retirement?

You know, in the first few years after the establishment of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai had the reputation of "the founder of the Republic of China" and was also praised as a great contributor to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. He was not a speculator who "stole the fruits of the revolution" as described in later history books.

But why, in 1916, when Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor, the Beiyang Army, which had vowed to "follow Marshal Yuan" five years ago, abandoned him in the blink of an eye?

One reason was certainly that he risked the world's condemnation by proclaiming himself emperor, but on the other hand, it was because Yuan Shikai had no money.

Another piece of evidence is the Twenty-One Demands. If he had not been in a hurry to borrow money, he would not have been willing to sign such a humiliating treaty.

When World War I broke out, countries such as Britain, France, Russia and Germany, which had major interests in China, were unable to respond to Yuan Shikai. The "post-war loan" borrowed from the Five-Nation Bank Group in 1913 had long been spent, so Yuan Shikai had to turn to the Japanese.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng smiled self-deprecatingly:

"What a pity! I am Yuan Shikai, not Yuan Xiangcheng. Li Hongzhang led the Huai Army to Guangzhou, and the Huai Army's money and property will not fall into my hands."

Therefore, in order to avoid falling into the same situation as in the original time and space, Yuan Shikai took the initiative to stop recruiting soldiers through the full conscription system when the National Defense Army expanded to 10 troops, and began to explore the possibility of a compulsory military service system.

Soon, he set his sights on the people of Guandong.

The people outside the Great Wall can now be roughly divided into two categories. One category is those who had come here before the establishment of the Farmers’ Association, and the other category is those who were transferred here according to plan after the establishment of the Farmers’ Association.

The former had already cultivated their own land, and even if they joined the farmers' association, they still retained some autonomy. This type of people were not the main candidates for joining the army.

The latter brought his family to the outside of the Great Wall, and all their food, clothing and other expenses on the road were paid for by the Northeast Border Reclamation Bureau. After arriving outside the Great Wall, they were also given a small piece of cultivated land for farming.

Of course, these things are not free, and the people have to pay a part of the price to get the benefits.

That is to join the army.

Along with the construction of the railway, the patrol battalion swept through the banditry along the railway line.

Soon after, more people came to Guandong with their families.

Whether they have wives and children or are traveling with their parents, people in North China basically no longer venture into Guandong alone.