Master Yuan, start!

"After receiving the telegram informing the Koreans of the recapture of the capital, the Emperor instructed the Grand Council to decide on the appropriate rewards for Lord Yuan." Weng Tong explained, "Does Lord Yuan still have any questions?"

"Yes," Yuan Xiangcheng reached out and touched his non-existent braid, and asked Weng Tong: "May I ask, sir, is the evil Empress Cixi's fault the only one?"

Ok?

Not only Weng Tong, but also Li Hongzao, Shiduo and others were stunned.

Chapter 150: Stars of the National Defense Forces Gather

"Is it the Demon Queen's fault alone?"

Yuan Xiangcheng's rhetorical question made the group of important officials who stayed behind feel a little nervous.

"Could it be that Yuan Xiangcheng is looking for a pretext to implicate others?"

However, Yuan Shikai was not as violent as they imagined. He just wanted to further expose the skin of these high-ranking Qing officials.

A conservative disguised as a progressive.

After thinking about it in his mind, Yuan Xiangcheng smiled slightly at Weng Tong and others.

"Sir Weng, is the current state of the imperial court entirely the fault of the Demon Queen?"

Weng Tong found this ridiculous. If you, Yuan Xiangcheng, think it is not the Queen Mother's fault, then why bother to rebel?

Now that the Queen Mother has fled south, instead of chasing her, you are blaming the officials in the capital.

However, seeing Yuan Xiangcheng pressing forward step by step, everyone understood that he wanted to find someone to take the blame.

But who is willing to carry it on his back?

This betrayal means the complete end of his political career. After finally getting rid of the empress dowager, how could anyone fail at this last moment?

Everyone was speechless. Except for a few people who had been dismissed from office by Cixi before, the rest had held some official position during Cixi's reign.

"My Lords, do you think that while the Demon Queen is here, you can serve as the Empress Dowager, and when the Emperor comes, you can continue to serve as the Emperor?"

Yuan Xiangcheng had a gloomy face and questioned his ministers.

"A loyal minister should never serve two masters. After the Emperor fell into misfortune, why did you take up your positions?"

Even a clay man has his temper. How could Weng Tong, the imperial tutor and former Grand Councilor, endure being humiliated in person by a second-rank governor?

"Master Yuan, do you want me to resign and return home?" Weng Tong put away the imperial edict and took a half step forward. "Does Master Yuan have the emperor's order?"

Weng Tong naturally also knew that Yang Chongyi had been dismissed from his post outside Chaoyang Gate a few hours ago, but he never thought that Yuan Xiangcheng would dare to do the same to him.

"Of course I don't have an imperial edict." Yuan Xiangcheng spread his hands. "But I still say the same thing, Lord Weng, if you feel you have served the country loyally, you can provide evidence."

Yuan Xiangcheng looked at his ministers and found an excellent positive example: "Prince Li once sent his legitimate son to Korea. This is the act of a loyal minister!"

After saying this, Yuan Xiangcheng pretended to bow to Prince Li Shiduo in the crowd, and then said:

"If you have never done anything to show your loyalty, you gentlemen should write a letter to the emperor, confessing your true feelings. Only when the emperor forgives you will it be considered true forgiveness."

Yuan Shikai's words were a way of flattering Emperor Guangxu.

After all, after conquering the capital, the next step is for Guangxu to return to the Forbidden City. What's the next step? Undoubtedly, it is to govern.

Before the campaign to support the king, there were loud calls for reform, but after the campaign, it was impossible to go back to the old ways.

If Guangxu adopted new laws and implemented new policies, the first person he would recommend would definitely be Yuan Shikai. However, it was impossible for Yuan Shikai to sincerely help Guangxu to carry out the reforms.

What he wanted to do was to create a new situation, rather than to patch up the existing situation of the Qing Dynasty.

Yuan Xiangcheng didn't want to be a paperhanger.

But it was impossible for him to let Guangxu cooperate with this group of feudal remnants.

First, they are incapable of doing it. If they were asked to carry out reforms, it would at most be a siplus version of the Westernization Movement during the Guangxu period.

Secondly, it would be detrimental to Yuan Xiangcheng's actions in the local area. After all, he had a lot of drastic things to do in the Northeast. If the conservatives in the center kept blocking him, he couldn't always send troops to Luoyang, right? At least he had to give the National Defense Army some time to develop.

So what Yuan Shikai could do was to make Guangxu face the reality and create rifts between Guangxu and these people.

If these people were willing to write a confession, it would mean that they admitted their behavior of "loyal ministers serving two masters", which would in fact declare the end of their political life.

If they were unwilling to write, Guangxu would not dare to use these people who had submitted to Cixi, and could only activate the reform faction composed mainly of middle and lower-level officials.

Moreover, even if someone shamelessly wrote a confession, Yuan Xiangcheng did not believe that they were truly repentant. Once the reform was carried out, they would definitely jump out again to stop it.

You know, in the original time and space, it was not Cixi who interrupted the Hundred Days' Reform by arguing with important officials. Instead, it was with the support of conservatives that Cixi stopped the Hundred Days' Reform.

In the original time and space, Guangxu implemented new policies with the title of emperor, but he failed to suppress the officials and was eventually backfired.

Given Guangxu's impatience, I'm afraid that things will be even more radical in this time and space.

Although the conservatives in this time and space cannot find Cixi to make decisions for them, they will definitely have to secretly create obstacles and pretend to obey while implementing the new policies.

At that time, the reformists employed by Guangxu and this group of conservatives would inevitably fight each other.

Regardless of whether they are reformists or conservatives, the methods they propose are not sufficient to resolve the contradictions currently facing China.

So no matter who wins in the end, they will still face a mess.

而到时2袁项城只需9要看着就行4，等光0绪将4新政推3行的一塌糊涂5，他自然会出6来收拾残4局。

Before this, since the situation in the mainland was complicated and the implementation of the new policy would affect the interests of many parties, there would not be many people who opposed its implementation in the sparsely populated Northeast.

If you object again, ask the tens of thousands of national defense forces whether they agree.

After all, the central government Yuan Xiangcheng has no intention of taking it. If the people in the capital are still blind and want to get involved in the Northeast, then don't blame Yuan Xiangcheng for being rude.

Having made up his mind, Yuan Xiangcheng turned around and left without saying any more words.

The unpleasant meeting ended just like that.

Yuan Shikai did not accept the imperial edict drafted by the Grand Councilor, and few of the important officials who stayed behind admitted their mistakes in person.

...

The two groups of people were stuck in the capital. It was late spring and the temperature was rising rapidly. It was no longer so cold.

Although the situation in the officialdom was tense, the atmosphere among the people had long since recovered. After all, the emperor would be returning from Korea soon, and the capital was about to be stabilized. Naturally, every household that survived the disaster would hang up lights and decorate their houses to celebrate the new life.

Shuntian Times published newspapers praising Yuan Shikai before he came to Beijing. After the National Defense Army entered Beijing, Yuan Shikai's tabloids were restarted and began to report on the war in detail.

After all, victory on the battlefield is far from enough. If you want the whole world to know about it, you still need to use paper and pen to publicize it, and now the best carrier is newspapers.

All matters depend on publicity to achieve their maximum value. Yuan Xiangcheng, who is well aware of this, naturally does not want to miss this opportunity.

Not only must we do a good job in internal propaganda within the National Defense Forces, but we must also not slack off in external propaganda facing the people of the world.

Today, Yuan Xiangcheng happened to be at home, and he gathered with Ming Ye and Xu Shichang, Ming Ye and others who arrived later to comment on the newspapers in Beijing.

"Chief Instructor, look," Ming Ye said, pointing to one of the reports. "Luo Xinping, captain of the National Defense Army's hot air balloon team, braved the hurricane and ascended to heaven many times. He truly is the Eagle of National Defense."

Yuan Xiangcheng only ordered Yuanshen tabloids to spread the news of this battle in many ways, but he never expected that the literati and poets in the late Qing Dynasty were very keen on giving nicknames.

A number of outstanding Wehrmacht generals were given the title of "X of National Defense".

The hot air balloon captain Luo Xinping was the first air force talent to die, which was quite tragic. Yuan Shikai had previously attached great importance to him, so the newspaper praised him as the Eagle of National Defense.

In addition, several other generals who performed outstandingly in the battle to enter the Pass were also praised one by one.

Bai Dingshan's behavior was said to be abandoning the dark and joining the light. He pretended to surrender to Ronglu, but in fact his heart was towards orthodoxy. Although he had not yet been incorporated into the National Defense Army, he was also known as the Fox of National Defense. Fox means cunning.

Duan Qirui commanded with confidence and rushed for hundreds of miles. He never gave up the attack even when he encountered the fortified Xifengkou. He was like a tiger descending from the mountain. He found a breakthrough on Xifeng Mountain and took Xifengkou in one fell swoop. He was hailed as the tiger of national defense. Tiger means brave and fierce.

Sheng Fei used the old tactics of the Hunan Army and blew up Shanhaiguan in two days like a wild bull. He was hailed as the bull of national defense. Bull means brutal and domineering.

"Eagle, Fox, Tiger, Ox." Yuan Xiangcheng considered them one by one. These nicknames were indeed correct. "Are there any more? The newspaper only mentioned these four people?"

"Of course there is, Chief Instructor." Ming Ye hesitated, trying to suppress a smile, "I just don't know whether I should say it or not."

"What's wrong with saying this? Is it slander?" Yuan Xiangcheng said happily.

"That's not the case, I'm just afraid that the commander being referred to will be unhappy." Seeing Ming Ye couldn't help laughing, Xu Shichang simply grabbed the newspaper and put it in Yuan Xiangcheng's hand.

"Weiting, look," Xu Shichang said, pointing to a row of small characters, "what's said in this newspaper is a bit too harsh. Does it need to be revised?"

Oh?

Seeing the two of them talking back and forth, with some intention of blaming the newspaper, Yuan Xiangcheng also became interested.

He took the newspaper and looked at it carefully, only to see the words written on it: Dad

"Feng Guozhang, commander of the Third Regiment of the National Defense Army, marched hundreds of miles and stormed Juyong Pass.

However, a wolf travels a thousand miles to eat meat, and a dog travels a thousand miles to eat shit. When Commander Feng arrived in the capital, the National Defense Army had already cleared the capital area.

Therefore, Commander Feng can be regarded as the dog of national defense."

"Hahaha"

Yuan Xiangcheng couldn't help laughing when he saw this: "A dog eats shit after traveling a thousand miles. This is really, really heartless."

It turned out that Feng Guozhang was blocked for several days when he attacked the Gubeikou Great Wall. He actually used his "active thinking" and ran all the way west to Juyongguan!

Counting from Gubeikou, it was 300 miles. If counting from Shanhaiguan to Juyongguan, it was more than 800 miles.

But when Feng Guozhang arrived at Juyongguan and spent several days to capture the city, he received the news that Ronglu had died.

In other words, Feng Guozhang did not get any credit and wasted more than half a month.

It’s not his fault. Who would have thought that Yuan Shikai would have Bai Dingshan as a hidden chess piece?

In fact, in the original time and space, Feng Guozhang was also known as the "Dog of the Beiyang", but that was a nickname given by Westerners. In the eyes of Westerners, dogs are companions and have a high status.

"You old dog!"

This sentence is not an insult in English, but is often used to praise someone for being sophisticated and loyal.

In the English context, the word "dog" is often associated with the Chinese words "cow" and "horse", which have the tenacious character.

However, when the Chinese call Feng Guozhang "the dog of national defense", it has a sense of ridicule and even sarcasm.

After laughing, Yuan Xiangcheng also felt that the Chaoyang Times's remarks calling Feng Guozhang a dog were a bit too much.

"Mingye," Yuan Xiangcheng ordered, "tell the editor of the Chaoyang Times that Feng Guozhang should be called the Wolf of National Defense. Don't talk about him being a dog or not."

"Yes, Chief Instructor!" Ming Ye went out after receiving the order.

"Weiting, have we achieved our goal by entering the pass this time?" Xu Shichang asked when he saw Yuan Xiangcheng restrain his smile.

"Of course it was achieved," Yuan Xiangcheng narrowed his eyes.

"The credit for retaking the capital has been won.