Master Yuan, start!

Fortunately, under the joint suppression of two important officials in the court, Weng Tong and Li Hongzao, this trend came and went quickly.

After more than a week, it gradually faded away.

But Yuan Shikai's intelligence agency was so developed that when some censors of the Censorate in the capital were in collusion, the news had already been delivered to him.

Later, he received news that someone was plotting an assassination, so he decided to take advantage of the situation and did not wait for orders from the capital. He insisted on returning to the capital before the decisive battle and deliberately acted "angry".

However, Li Hongzao didn't know that Yuan Xiangcheng was acting and was still trying to find nice things to say.

"It's just a trivial matter, Lord Yuan, there's no need to thank me." Li Hongzao twirled his white beard and sighed, "Liu Kunyi today is like the King of Chu before the Siege of Gaixia. The situation is hopeless.

The fact that Lord Yuan was able to forgo Liu Kun's temptation and resolutely return to the capital is sufficient proof of his unwavering loyalty to the Qing Dynasty!"

"Master Li, you understand me."

Yuan Xiangcheng showed sincere eyes, as if he had suffered a great injustice: "When it comes to loyalty to the emperor, who else in the world can be more loyal than me?

I fled the capital on my wedding night, encountered hardship while traveling east to Korea, and entered the country in the cold winter. If I had any second thoughts, how could I have waited until today?

That Sun Wen kid, whoever feeds him is his mother, must have accepted 50 francs from the French to smear the relationship between me and the Emperor!"

As he spoke, Yuan Xiangcheng wanted to tear open his jacket, revealing the scars on his upper body, to show off his military achievements over the past ten years.

However, just as he exerted force with his hand, he seemed to remember something and put it down again without making a sound.

"Of course I know it, and all the dignitaries in the court know it too." Li Hongzao nodded in agreement.

He knew that this was unfair to Yuan Xiangcheng, but since ancient times, officials have always had to suffer some grievances. If everyone was like you, Yuan Xiangcheng, who would give up at the slightest provocation, that would be disastrous.

That is to say, the emperor respects you now. If it were in the past, if you were accused of disobeying the emperor's orders, you would be in trouble even if you were the Duke of Protectorate.

Of course, Li Hongzao only dared to think about these words in his heart. Facing the powerful Yuan Shikai, he did not dare to offend him. He could only adhere to the principle of not interfering easily and quickly bring him to the palace.

...

Li Hongzao, who was outside the capital, was thinking about sending the hot potato to the palace as soon as possible. The people in the palace were also thinking about how to deal with Yuan Shikai's unauthorized entry into the capital.

"Your Majesty, you see, Yuan Xiangcheng knows the importance of things. He only brought a few hundred people to the capital and had no intention of forcing us.

Before this, no one knew who was spreading the rumor, inside and outside the palace, saying that Yuan Shikai was going to bring a large army back to the capital to prove his innocence.

It is pure fabrication and nonsense.”

Weng Tong looked at the note handed to him by the young eunuch and said to Guangxu in a soothing tone.

He had to speak to comfort Guangxu, because Yuan Shikai's move of "returning to Beijing without an imperial order" made Guangxu feel a little embarrassed.

In Guangxu's view, he had placed great trust in Yuan Xiangcheng, but Yuan Xiangcheng ran back without listening to any explanation. How could this be possible?

"Master Weng, I have never believed those rumors, but I don't understand why Master Yuan is unwilling to believe me."

He frowned and looked at Weng Tong in the hall with a puzzled look.

Guangxu was born in 1871 and is now 24 years old. However, although he has been emperor for nearly 20 years, he has only been in power for the last four years.

He was ignorant when he was young, and when he grew up, he expelled Cixi with the support of Yuan Shikai and Xiang Yu.

The throne came to him too easily, so he had never experienced the power game with ministers, and his ideas were still somewhat naive.

In the original time and space, when Cixi was still alive, he dared to make the childish move of dismissing Weng Tong and fully embracing Kang Youwei.

In this time and space, Yuan Xiangcheng's "forcing growth" has exacerbated his immaturity.

To use the words of later generations, it is polarized thinking.

Cixi, bad, kill, kill, kill.

Master Yuan, great, great, great.

With Weng Tong inside and Yuan Xiangcheng outside, with the assistance of these two masters, Guangxu felt that the Qing Dynasty was thriving.

So, when Yuan Shikai, one of the two pillars, made excessive moves, Guangxu panicked.

Master Yuan, a good man, why doesn't he obey orders?

Seeing Weng Tong remained silent, Guangxu said:

"When an official of the imperial court is impeached, he should be dismissed pending investigation. But even so, can't Master Yuan send a telegram to report first?

Yes, there have been some noises in the court recently, saying that the National Defense Army is standing still and is afraid of being bullied by the enemy.

But I didn't go to urge him, so it's true that he was angry.

But now that he has given up, doesn't it just confirm the rumors among some people in the court that he is domineering?

Even though I am the emperor, I cannot suppress the ministers' words."

It was a hot day, and as he was talking, Guangxu was so anxious that he took off the Ruyi hat on his head, revealing half of his bald forehead.

Although Weng Tong remained silent, his heart was already filled with bitterness. He looked at the student in front of him whom he had taught, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

This Yuan Xiangcheng really puts the emperor above all the officials, and he is in a dilemma [D: 2940435?64

9?6?67?91?025

"Your Majesty, it's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."

Weng Tong coughed twice and said with a stiff upper lip, "Instead of causing confusion in the palace, why not have the emperor speak to Yuan Xiangcheng in person?

He returned to the capital with only a few hundred men, and he also believed deeply in the emperor's sincerity. The emperor negotiated with him, and even if Xiangcheng still felt aggrieved, it should disappear. "

Weng Tong knew that for a student like him who was a bit young and ambitious, instead of explaining the pros and cons behind the scenes, it would be better for him to learn from the common people and say whatever he wanted to say to his face. This was the best way.

"Okay." Guangxu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he grabbed the Ruyi hat and put it on his head:

"I can't wait even a moment longer. I'm leaving the palace right now and will ask Master Yuan about this on the way!"

Before he could finish his words, Guangxu had already stepped out of the palace gate and ran out of the palace. Even the eunuch who was holding the banner almost didn't react.

"Eh?"

Weng Tong, who had just smiled and thought the matter was resolved, was dumbfounded. How could the emperor leave the palace so rashly?

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, wait for this old minister!"

The sixty-year-old man Weng Tong hurriedly turned around and tried hard to keep up with the young emperor's back.

Chapter 251 The city defense is empty

In Beijing, under the scorching sun, the barracks of the Infantry Commander-in-Chief’s Office.

"Are you going? Brothers, here are 10 taels of silver!"

"Is this true? Isn't the monthly salary 5 taels? Why are they giving me 5 taels right after I get there?"

"These 10 taels are for resettlement allowance. The recruiter at Bannerman Town said that the higher-ups want to pay Bannermen high salaries, but today is the last day. If you don't go now, it will be too late!"

"But here at the Infantry Yamen..."

"Why should we be afraid of him? We went to Bannerman Town. How could we capture a Han Chinese like him in Gongbao Village? Do you think Lord Tieliangtie is a pushover?"

"Yes, we Bannermen must also open our eyes to the world and follow whoever pays the most!"

"Okay, let's go."

"Go together, go together!"

Gong Baotunsi, the general of the right wing of the Infantry Yamen, braved the scorching sun and frowned as he watched the bannermen in the barracks gathered together and talked.

The Nine-Gates Commander-in-Chief is both an official position and a department.

It can also be called the Infantry Commander's Office, an institution that combines the nature of "military" and "police".

It houses the Eight Banners Infantry Battalion, which is affiliated with the Ministry of War and conducts daily drills according to military regulations.

Another part is the familiar police functions, including but not limited to arrest and reconnaissance, litigation and judgment, fire fighting and martial law, etc.

In the past few days, the Jingxi Governor Tie Liang has been frantically recruiting bannermen to join the army under the slogan of high salaries, attracting almost half of the bannermen who made up half of the staff of the Infantry Yamen.

Originally, these bannermen were not qualified to join the new army.

At the beginning, Guangxu recruited people in Beijing and wanted to form the 10th Regiment of the National Defense Army as a sample of the Banner Army. However, because the conditions were too harsh, the proportion of Han people in the 10th Regiment was extremely high, and it could not be considered a Banner town at all.

Although the commander was a genuine Manchu, Murcha Tieliang, it was not a "full-banner squad" after all. For an imperial Manchu, this matter always bothered Tieliang.

Later, before Yuan Shikai's southern expedition, in order to reassure Emperor Guangxu, he proposed recruiting a brand new "Manchu and Mongolian Bannerman Town" that did not belong to the National Defense Army. There was no time limit, and training would begin when the recruitment was complete.

This matter was also handed over to Tieliang for responsibility.

At the beginning, Tie Liang held the idea of ​​"better to have nothing than to have someone of poor quality" and carefully selected bannermen from inside and outside the Great Wall to form a real bannerman army.

Therefore, the lazy, opium-smoking, and smooth-talking bannermen in the capital's Infantry Commander's Office were not taken into consideration at all.

But after Prince Zhuang's persuasion, Tie Liang no longer cared about so much. In order to minimize the number of defenders in the capital, he offered a salary that was five times that of the Infantry Yamen, and accepted everyone regardless of their age, weakness, illness or disability.

In a short period of time, with this trick, Tie Liang recruited a large number of bannermen who originally did not meet the four conditions. Even the bannermen serving in the Infantry Yamen were attracted by the favorable conditions and secretly participated in the selection.

Until today, the news could no longer be concealed. Most of the bannermen in the barracks heard that the new Manchu and Mongolian bannermen army really accepted everyone.

Moreover, when he was told that if he went today, he would be given 10 taels of silver as settling-in expenses, he immediately started making a fuss in the camp, shouting that he didn't want to do this crappy job of patrolling the city.

"Taiwanese General Gong, why didn't you report the high salary recruitment for the new banner army to the Ministry of War in advance? Now most of them have fled, and the brothers who were deployed to defend the army can't find anyone to take over!"

The deputy general was very anxious. When Yuan Shikai returned to Beijing, the security work should have been the responsibility of the Infantry Commander-in-Chief's Office.

But now almost everyone has run away, how can we deploy defenses?

This Infantry Commander's Office was originally a place for bannermen to retire. Over the past few hundred years, countless people with connections had been squeezed in, and there were not many Han people.

He just relies on the title of the Nine-Gate Commander to scare the people. If a real war breaks out, he will probably flee at the first sign of danger. He is not even as good as the local militia.

But the deputy general didn't expect it to be such an easy job, and now the bannermen don't want to do it anymore.

It was a hot day and the deputy general was sweating with anxiety. Too many bannermen had left and he hadn't found new ones to replace them. If he was discovered by the censor, his future would be ruined by an impeachment.

"Taiwanese Governor, a few Bannermen from Guanyin Temple Alley said they don't want this month's pay. They took off their uniforms and left. We couldn't stop them!"

"Taiwan, you have to think of a way!"

The deputy general had no choice but to ask for help from the right wing general, Gong Baotun.

Before Guangxu escaped from the capital, he was blocked at Chaoyang Gate by Zhan Shaoan, an imperial guard beside Cixi. It was Gong Baotun who turned against him and killed Zhan Shaoan from behind, which allowed Guangxu and Yuan Shikai to leave the city smoothly.

After returning to the throne, Guangxu generously rewarded Gong Baotun, directly promoting him from a sixth-rank captain to a second-rank general of the right wing of the Infantry Yamen.

The ranks of the Infantry Yamen officials are arranged from top to bottom: the Nine Gates Commander, the Right Wing General, the Left Wing General, the Right Wing Lieutenant, the Left Wing Lieutenant, and the deputy generals of the patrol camp.

It can be said that Gong Baotun is the person with the most military power in the capital during peacetime, second only to the Nine Gates Admiral.