Master Yuan, start!

Seeing Li Hongzhang enter the palace, Prince Chun Yixuan, the real powerful figure in the royal family, asked Li Hongzhang:

"What's going on? Is there any news from the south?"

Although Li Hongzhang was walking along with someone supporting him, he was sixty years old after all. He only had time to reply: "Your Highness, it's not the South, it's Korea." Then he was out of breath.

Yi Liangzhuang was also very anxious and immediately shouted to the young eunuch, "Hurry up and let Master Li take a seat and serve tea!"

group:

Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, Li Hongzhang slowly unfolded the telegram in his hand and said to the ministers in the hall:

"Yuan Xiangcheng just called and said the rebellion in Hancheng has been quelled!"

"Ah? It's only been one day, how come it's so fast!?" The buzz of discussion suddenly sounded again in the hall.

However, this time, both the peace faction and the war faction began to discuss who this Yuan Shikai was.

Chapter 19 Sir Yuan got promoted!

"Master Li, are you serious?"

"Prince Qing, based on my understanding of Yuan Xiangcheng, he is not the kind of person who speaks nonsense. The Korean turmoil was indeed quelled in just two days." Li Hongzhang drank his tea slowly and gave a speech to the unbelievable Yi in front of him.

"But didn't Yuan Shikai send a telegram two days ago, claiming that the unrest in Seoul this time was far worse than that in the Renwu period?" Prince Chun Yixun was also puzzled.

Regarding the Korean mutiny two days ago, Yuan Shikai bluntly stated that the enemy army was very powerful and the Qing army was very small in number.

But this is just Yuan Xiangcheng's little trick. If he doesn't exaggerate the difficulties, how can he have the nerve to ask for a reward?

After Yuan Shikai submitted the first telegram, the ministers in the court had been asking about the latest situation in Korea over the past two days.

When he heard the news that merchants traveling to and from Korea were all talking about the Japanese's continuous infiltration and how Queen Min, who was in power in Korea, appointed her cronies, excluded dissidents, and sold official positions and titles.

They all believe that the domestic situation in North Korea is critical and corruption is already evident.

Coupled with the urgency expressed by Yuan Shikai in the telegram, an argument broke out in the court.

The war faction believed that the Celestial Empire had an obligation to help vassal states quell rebellions and end disasters. In recent years, the imperial court had lost many vassal states, first with Japan's invasion of Ryukyu and then with France's invasion of Annam.

If the Qing Dynasty cannot even protect North Korea, which is right under its nose, how can it have the face to call itself the Celestial Empire?

The peace advocates believed that the current unrest in Korea was not a one-day disaster, but was actually a continuation of the previous Immo War.

There are many forces in the country fighting against each other, and the infiltration of Japan and Russia is deepening. If you intervene rashly, you will easily get into trouble.

Even if it is quelled as quickly as it was two years ago, it will only be a waste of national treasury and will be of no use to the country.

What's more, in order to guard against the French, more than half of the Qing troops stationed in Korea had already been withdrawn back to China, and this time the Korean rebellion involved the Japanese.

If we are not careful, we may bring disaster upon ourselves and cause unrest in the Northeast.

The argument continued unabated until Li Hongzhang received Yuan Shikai's second telegram of good news.

Whether it is the peace faction or the war faction in the court, each has its own reasons and no one can do anything to the other.

Seeing that the dispute was getting too intense and they were about to report to the Empress Dowager, Li Hongzhang unexpectedly brought the good news that the Korean rebellion had been quelled.

How can this not be unbelievable?

"If that's true, Yuan Xiangcheng can be said to be a fierce general."

"What about Wu Changqing? Isn't it Wu Changqing's responsibility to quell the Korean rebellion?"

"Wu Changqing died of illness in Jinzhou half a year ago. Now, Wu Zhaoyou and Yuan Xiangcheng are in charge of North Korea."

Li Hongzhang said with emotion that after all, Wu Changqing was also a powerful general under his command.

Now he died in Jinzhou in a confused manner, which is really a pity.

"So, after Wu Changqing left, what about Wu Zhaoyou? Isn't Wu Zhaoyou the commander-in-chief of the Korean garrison?"

"According to Yuan Shikai's telegram, Wu Zhaoyou was ambushed and killed by rebel soldiers in a gambling house when the rebellion broke out." Li Hongzhang felt quite embarrassed when he said this.

As a military general, being greedy for money, lustful, and fond of gambling are not a problem. As long as he is not afraid of the enemy and not afraid of death when fighting in the battlefield, who can criticize him?

But being killed by a mob in a casino is really embarrassing.

Fortunately, Yuan Xiangcheng saved his face a little [D: Erju: linsisanwuzi.

Within the palace.

Although he didn't say anything and just watched the ministers talking in the court, the corners of Li Hongzhang's mouth had already slightly risen.

Prince Chun Yixuan and Li Hongzhang had always had a good relationship. Only with the strong support of the former was the latter able to put aside the criticism in the court and vigorously build the Beiyang Navy.

Then Yixuan smiled and said to Li Hongzhang, "Young Master Li Hongzhang, because of the Korean riot a few days ago, you were slandered by the Qingliu in the court. The memorials to the Empress Dowager were piled up several feet high.

Now that a bad thing has turned into a good thing, I want to congratulate you."

"That's right. Thanks to Lord Li's insightful judgment, the situation in Korea has not deteriorated to the point of being out of control." Prince Qing Yilie Cangshenyuan Kaihuai

Although these two people seemed to be congratulating Li Hongzhang, their words and actions gave the impression that they were praising Li Hongzhang to death.

Although the differences between Manchus and Han people in the court are still insurmountable, in order to deal with the surveillance of Western countries, the court has to delegate power to local Han officials.

Coupled with the booming Westernization Movement, the Qing Dynasty was becoming more and more powerful day by day.

Since everyone is happy, it seems that the Qing Dynasty's cake is getting bigger and bigger, and the Manchu leaders don't mind sharing some power with the Han people.

However, there are also some rules to sharing power.

However, Li Hongzhang is now over 60 years old, and he still has the ability to read people's expressions.

Adhering to the principle of "better safe than sorry", he continued to reply to the two princes: "Thanks to the two princes' leadership, we have the current situation."

"But it's all thanks to that Yuan Xiangcheng. If he hadn't acted swiftly and rescued the King of Korea and immediately left the city, I'm afraid this rebellion would have dragged on for a long time." Prince Qing Yi Le Di An was very angry and quickly sent Li Hongzhang to ask:

"Lord Li, where did Yuan Xiangcheng come from, and why is he so fierce?"

"Yuan Xiangcheng's great-uncle was Yuan Jiasan, the governor of the grain transport system who suppressed the Nian Rebellion during the Xianfeng period. He lost his father at a young age and later went to the camp of Wu Changqing, a family friend of his adoptive father." Li Hongzhang had paid attention to Yuan Xiangcheng two years ago, so he knew his life story easily.

"You two princes don't know that two years ago, when the Korean Immo Rebellion occurred and the imperial court sent Wu Changqing to suppress it, Yuan Shikai led the troops in person, and whenever he encountered an enemy formation, he would always be ready to die.

Later, the old ministers saw his bravery and awarded him a fifth-rank official position as assistant military affairs officer in Korea, and ordered him to train the new army in Korea.

After hearing about this story, the two of them looked up to Yuan Xiangcheng even more, especially Prince Qing Yili.

Born into a wealthy family, but then their family falls into poverty, many people would sink to despair at this point and never rise again.

On the contrary, it was Yuan Xiangcheng who made his own way in Korea without relying on the influence of his ancestors.

Yi Liemu cadmium system said stunned other thoughts.

Since the rise of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuzhen, more and more local forces have emerged in the court. First, there was Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army, then Zuo Zongtang's Chu Army and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. The central government had to use one faction to fight another.

Although the Empress Dowager used the Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai case to severely damage the reputation of the Hunan Army.

It was obvious that the Hunan Army had weakened, but now the Huai Army and the Chu Army were rising again in the court.

If Li Hongzhang had not been respectful in his daily life, the Empress Dowager might have found a reason to remove him from his position as Governor of Zhili.

Yuan Xiangcheng, who had a clean background and had not received much favor from Li Hongzhang, finally emerged. It seemed that he could be trained as a hidden chess piece to curb Li Hongzhang's Huai Army.

Yi Liao thought about it and had the answer in his mind.

Find a book

"Yuan Xiangcheng led his army to suppress the Korean rebellion twice and achieved remarkable feats outside the country.

I heard he's only 26, a truly rare and powerful general. Lord Li, how do you plan to reward Yuan Xiangcheng?

Li Hongzhang had experienced ups and downs in officialdom for more than forty years, so how could Yilie not see it?

It's just like what I said: 0 Yi Si Ke Lu has done this year and things have become serious. He himself has the personality of a paperhanger.

With the idea that less trouble is worse than more, Li Hongzhang followed Yilian Muba Dan Haiba, who was originally a deputy general under Wu Changqing and was awarded a fifth-rank military officer two years ago. Now, I think it is enough to promote him to a higher rank, but not too high, and give him a substantive assignment, making him responsible for the overall affairs of Korea and ensuring that no more trouble occurs in Korea.

"A fourth-rank official? That's a bit harsh. Our Qing Dynasty has always rewarded those who have made contributions. It's a bit unreasonable to only promote him to the next level after such a great achievement," Yili Naoxin Xie Cricket Bei said slowly.

Li Hongzhang, seeing this, was also happy to take advantage of the situation: "Then, according to your opinion, what position should be awarded?"

However, he also had to consider Li Hongzhang's face: "In my opinion, let's do as you just said, Lord Li, and let Yuan Shikai be the Prime Minister of Korean affairs, but this official position can be promoted to a higher position, like a third-rank provincial governor?"

"In that case, then let's do as the prince says."

Chapter 20 Before Returning to China

Once the decision was made in the court, it was immediately handed over to the officials, who were ordered to proceed with the matters of promotion and reward.

Li Hongzhang also sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai in advance, ordering him to return to Beijing to report on his work and receive the reward after settling the affairs in Seoul.

At this time, Yuan Xiangcheng was in a dilemma about a marriage.

After the Seoul Rebellion was suppressed by Yuan's army, the government structure was reshuffled. People felt at ease, and Queen Min also began to have her own little thoughts.

Because she was afraid that she would be retaliated against after Yuan Xiangcheng returned to the capital because she had lost all her power, Queen Min tentatively asked Yuan Xiangcheng if he was married and said that she wanted to marry her niece to Yuan Xiangcheng.

Yuan Xiangcheng did not have much ill will towards Queen Min, nor did he have a favorable impression of her. He simply regarded her as a powerful foreign queen, and did not care whether she would suffer backlash from the Korean people after she lost power.

However, the farce caused by Queen Min has given Yuan Shikai a lot of headaches.

"Your Majesty, I have no intention of offending you, but marrying is simply not a reasonable and logical choice for me."

Yuan Xiangcheng really didn't want so many women. He was used to seeing countless beauties in the era of information explosion in later generations. The women of this era were far from attractive enough to him.

She applied powder made of some unknown material, making her face pale and lifeless, and then painted a small, thick red on her lips.

It is quite similar to the image of Japanese geisha women in later film and television dramas.

When he traveled through time, Yuan Xiangcheng discovered that there was a concubine stationed in Korea with the army who had the same makeup style. It took a lot of effort to get her to give up that inappropriate way of dressing.

He was not as lustful as Yuan in the original time and space, who married nine concubines. During the years he was stationed in Korea, he took in three Korean concubines out of hunger.

Therefore, he could only clasp his fists and say to Concubine Min:

"As for the situation, I, a foreign minister, married my wife in my hometown of Henan long ago, and I also took a concubine before I was stationed in Korea. Now that the daughter of the royal family is remarrying, how can I be inferior to others?

Logically, foreign ministers are generals stationed abroad by the Celestial Empire. If they receive any rewards, they must report them to the Ministry of Rites to see if they are in accordance with etiquette and laws. They must not act rashly."

After some refusal, he gave up the idea of ​​Queen Min forcing him to have a wife.

However, in order to please Queen Min, he still ordered Ming Ye to take hundreds of Koreans from the Incheon New Army to guard the royal palace.

As soon as they left the palace and had no time to rest, Ming Ye and Duan Qirui brought a telegram from Beijing to congratulate Yuan Shikai.

"Congratulations, Master Yuan! The court has called back!"