Master Yuan, start!

Among them, Xu Shichang resigned from his idle position in the Zongli Yamen in Beijing and came to join Yuan Shikai. He also served as a political instructor in the school. As for Duan, Sheng and Ming, who were supposed to be in Korea, they were specially called to Tianjin by Yuan Shikai.

Nan and Bei followed Yuan Shikai from Beijing to Tianjin for the Sino-Japanese negotiations, to the establishment of the Beiyang Tianjin School, and then to Yuan Shikai's orders to enroll in school to study military theory.

Seeing everyone seated, Yuan Xiangcheng turned to Duan Qirui and asked, "Zhiquan, has the Korean side's military training been going smoothly in the past six months?"

"Chief Instructor, the training of the new army in Incheon is progressing steadily. At present, including the four battalions of 2000 new troops at the end of last year, the total number of new army personnel is one regiment, including two infantry brigades, one artillery regiment, one cavalry regiment, plus the baggage train and engineering team, totaling about 8000 people, barely forming an army." Duan Qirui replied.

However, Duan Qirui later added: "However, due to the high professional requirements for artillery personnel, recruitment has been slow. In addition, the weather has improved since the beginning of spring, and the recruitment of refugees has slowed down. Currently, the 8000-plus personnel are not fully staffed, and there are still about 2000 vacancies."

Yuan Xiangcheng was quite satisfied with the overall progress of the Korean New Army. In just six months, the army had expanded from 2000 to nearly . He then asked Sheng Fei, who was sitting next to Duan Qirui, "Are there any different opinions among the Incheon New Army regarding the new training plan? Tell us."

"In response to the chief instructor, the training program implemented by the chief instructor is different from the military training programs of Germany, France and Russia, so the newly joined officers are still adapting." Sheng Fei answered honestly.

"The principle of unity among grassroots officers and soldiers that I promoted in the army did not involve officers above the battalion level. Can't it be implemented like this?" Yuan Xiangcheng was a little puzzled.

When he instructed Ma Xiangbo to carry out political education in the army, he also implemented the principle of unity between officers and soldiers in the new army in Incheon. However, due to the limitations of the times, it was not fully implemented, but only implemented among the middle and lower levels.

It was thought that this would make grassroots troops more efficient in daily exercises and training, and at the same time, it would discover bright minds in the army and make it easier for them to study at the Beiyang Incheon School.

But now it seems that since Yuan Shikai has been in Tianjin, the training of the new army in Incheon has not progressed very well.

Yuan Xiangcheng pondered for a moment, then remembered something and asked Ming Ye, "Is the training group under the leadership of Mr. Ma Xiangbo also included in these 8000-plus new troops?"

Ming Ye, who had been sitting quietly listening, stood up when he heard the question being asked and answered, "Yes, according to the instructions of the chief instructor, Mr. Ma, in addition to serving as the political instructor of the Beiyang Incheon School, also serves as the chief instructor of the Incheon Town New Army. In addition, at the current level, the association, regiment, and battalion are all equipped with several military instructors. Due to staffing constraints, the squadrons, platoons, and tents below them have not yet been fully staffed."

It turned out that the organization had not reached the grassroots level. No wonder the implementation was slow. Yuan Xiangcheng immediately said, "We should find more hardworking soldiers in the army to accept Mr. Ma's teachings. He and I often exchange letters and know what I am thinking. His thoughts are my thoughts."

Yuan Xiangcheng was worried that Ming Ye wouldn't prioritize the advancement of Ma Xiangbo's team of instructors, so he gave another warning: "Only one instructor above battalion level will be retained. The rest will be sent down to the grassroots level. Ensure there are instructors at the team, platoon, and tent levels. We must prioritize the role of instructors. Do you understand?"

At this point, Duan Qirui, Ming Ye, and Sheng Fei in North Korea all stood up and answered loudly: "Yes!"

"Hahaha, Weiting, your position as an army instructor is really unique. The most taboo in military command is to issue multiple orders. But you, regardless of the rank of the commander-in-chief, must be accompanied by a deputy instructor. Doesn't this weaken the commander-in-chief's authority? It's not good for commanding the troops." The speaker was Wang Desheng.

He came from the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion during the Xianfeng period, and served under the command of Yuan Jiasan, the great-uncle of Yuan Xiangcheng, for a period of time. Later, he fought in campaigns across the country and was once promoted to the general of Nan Gan Town in Jiangxi. Although it was a nominal position, he had fought his way up through mountains of swords and seas of blood.

Although he later retired and returned home, he was actually forced to take off his armor after the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion and the Qing court's disbanding of militia. He still had the idea of ​​leading troops to fight.

Only then did he come out of retirement at the invitation of Yuan Shikai to serve as the deputy instructor of the infantry at the Beiyang Tianjin Academy, and train officers together with the invited German instructor.

Because of his friendship with his great-uncle, Yuan Xiangcheng had always respected Wang Desheng. Therefore, after hearing Wang Desheng's words, he did not feel angry because of being questioned. He explained carefully: "Master Wang, even the famous Warring States general Wu Qi knew how to use the method of sucking pus out of his soldiers' wounds to win their hearts. Does that mean that the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty can only be driven by gold, silver and jewelry to fight.

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Only when soldiers deeply identify with their own identities, understand the importance of fighting for their families, their country, and their compatriots, and have a sense of honor, can the army remain unbroken and undefeated.

Over the past six months, Yuan Xiangcheng had been reading newspapers in front of all the teachers and students from time to time to promote Western ideas. Therefore, it was not difficult for Wang Desheng to understand the words "compatriots" and "sense of honor" that Yuan Xiangcheng used.

Yuan Xiangcheng turned around and said to the crowd, "A few months ago, the Guangxi garrison won a great victory at Zhennan Pass. You should all be aware of this."

"As for the great victory at Zhennan Pass, I know about it."

"Although I'm in North Korea, I've also heard the news."

"Yes, the French prestige was severely destroyed. I heard that the French cabinet fell and the prime minister resigned because of this!" Everyone in the room responded, especially the younger Ming Ye, Qu Nan and Han Bei, whose faces were filled with excitement and excitement.

"But I read in the foreign newspapers that the French did not ask for peace and stop fighting. Instead, they clamored to make our Qing Dynasty pay the price," Yuan Xiangcheng said slowly, clasping his hands together and looking at the crowd.

Chapter 42 Your name is known to everyone

"Is this really true?" Wang Desheng said in disbelief. "Didn't Lord Li Hongzhang send people to Guangzhou to negotiate with the French a long time ago? Didn't he realize that the French had no intention of seeking peace?"

"Yeah, I don't know what the French think."

Listening to the discussion in front of him, Yuan Xiangcheng felt a little uneasy. Judging from the current information, history has already changed.

After the great victory at Zhennan Pass, the French did not accept the Qing court's request for peace as they did in the original time and space. Instead, they allocated funds to the French army in the Far East again in an attempt to make a comeback.

Although no one knew where the French army would launch another attack, tensions arose in Guangxi, the coastal areas of Fujian and Taiwan, as well as Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Even the north stepped up its defense measures. Yuan Shikai received a military order to take the Tianjin New Army, which had been trained for half a year, to garrison Jinzhou and do the same job as his old superior, guarding against the French moving north.

"Lord Rong asked the Tianjin Town under the Jiashen Front Army to garrison in Jinzhou, and the Incheon Town will remain stationed in Korea to guard against the Japanese moving north and causing chaos in Korea." Yuan Xiangcheng told the information he received.

Although the five armies of Jiashen were nominally the same as the Jiashen New Army, they still formally had a military leadership system where soldiers served as generals, but they relied on the central government to provide logistics and food and wages.

The memorial written by Yuan Shikai to the emperor requesting the training of new troops only gave Cixi an excuse to train new troops. In reality, the training was conducted separately. The five armies in front, back, left, right and center were not under the command of each other and were all under the control of Ronglu.

The commanders of the other armies did not realize the importance of the Beiyang Tianjin Academy. They only sent their generals in batches to learn military knowledge, which gave Yuan Shikai the opportunity to serve as the chief instructor.

The five armies of Jiashen each had their own garrisons. The Jiashen Front Army, which was mainly composed of the Huai Army, was stationed in Lutai and Kaiping in northern Zhili.

The Jiashen rear army, mainly composed of the Yu army, was stationed in Jizhou, which was later located in the northern part of Tianjin.

The Jiashen Left Army, mainly composed of Chu troops, was stationed in the central part of Zhili, which was later the border area between Hebei and Tianjin.

The Jiashen Central Army directly led by Ronglu were all bannermen, so they were stationed in Nanyuan, sixty miles south of the capital.

Yuan Shikai's Jiashen Right Army was originally expected to garrison part of its troops inside and outside Shanhaiguan, and part of its troops in Jinzhou, Dalian in later times. However, in view of the unstable situation in Korea, the Korean part was not withdrawn for the time being, and the part stationed in Shanhaiguan was moved to Jinzhou.

Yuan Xiangcheng knew very well that his future development would depend on how the Sino-French War ended. If he could take advantage of this opportunity to gain an unconstrained external environment, he would have the hope of ending China's humiliating history before the 4th century and leading the country onto a new path.

Yuan Xiangcheng has been traveling through time for more than three years and has accumulated a group of talented people under his command. Although the organization is still very primitive, the structure has been established, and he can reorganize it when he returns to Korea.

In terms of military strength, it has nearly 2 troops. The Jiashen Right Army Incheon Town has more than 8000 people. If quality is not a priority, it can easily raise a force of more than 5000. The Jiashen Right Army Tianjin Town has a framework of more than people and can be expanded to at any time.

With these 20,000 men at his disposal, where in northern China could he not go?

Of course, it is unrealistic to rely on these 2000 people to fight for the world. Among these people, at most there are more than people who followed Yuan Shikai wholeheartedly before the Jiashen Coup.

When the time came to fight with the Qing court, it was hard to say who the newcomers pointed their guns at.

But it doesn't matter. He won't overthrow the Qing Dynasty until the right time comes. He wants to be a parasite, relying on the Qing Dynasty's nutrients to nourish himself step by step. Only when the Qing Dynasty suffers repeated defeats and the world sees the true face of this court, will he have a chance.

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Without a showdown with the Qing Dynasty, he was still very confident that he could gain the trust and even recognition of the soldiers of the Jiashen Right Army. Not only because Yuan Shikai was their superior, but also because Yuan Shikai served as a political instructor at the Beiyang Academy, and from time to time he told the students about Chinese and foreign history, especially European history, from the perspective of future generations.

Therefore, Yuan Xiangcheng was not only admired by them as a military superior, but also respected by the students as a teacher. Now Yuan Xiangcheng's name can be said to be extremely famous both in the court and among the people.

During this half year, Yuan Shikai successively plagiarized articles on the rise of great powers: Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain, from later generations, and published them in Shenbao under his real name, attracting the attention of many scholars from the north and south. Teahouses and restaurants were full of scholars and candidates talking about the rise of these Western countries.

Driven by this trend, even ordinary people who usually don't have the habit of reading newspapers asked others to buy a few copies of the declaration, wanting to see what France, Germany, Russia and the United States wrote at the end, which directly led to a 30% to 40% increase in the declaration bookings.

This time, The Rise of Great Powers is Yuan Shikai's combination of the advantages of the original series The Rise of Great Powers, deleting some content that does not conform to the background of the times, exploring the experiences and lessons of the rise of great powers from the unique Chinese perspective, and adding comments that conform to the historical background. It is tantamount to opening a new door to understanding world history for Qing Dynasty scholars in the late 19th century.

Competing newspapers, Zilin Hubao and Wanguo Gongbao, also wrote to Yuan Xiangcheng several times to invite him to write one or two articles in their newspapers, but Yuan Xiangcheng declined them all on the grounds of insufficient preparation.

After reading Yuan Shikai's "The Rise of Great Power Britain", the General Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Sir Robert Hart, praised Yuan Shikai highly in front of Li Hongzhang and requested to meet him several times.

This news even reached Yilianduoli in the Zongli Yamen, and was later circulated in the current newspaper and even discussed in the Grand Council.

He only wrote about four of the eight countries, but it attracted a lot of attention from both inside and outside the court. People said that he was the little Zhuge Liang, who was able to conquer Seoul single-handedly and shock the world with his four articles. As for the court, he was even more excited, especially Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Chun Yixun.

Cixi felt that she had discovered a new talent with both civil and military talents. Ever since Ma Xinyi, the Governor-General of Liangjiang and Cixi's confidant in the Ma assassination case, was assassinated by the Hunan Army, he had lost the support of the ironclad military forces in the court.

Ronglu, a military general within the central government, was loyal but incompetent, and could only serve as the governor of the Nine Gates to maintain his dignity; Ma Xinyi was capable and loyal, but unfortunately he was killed; civil officials such as Zhang Zhiwan and Sun Yuwen were loyal and had some ability, but they had no soldiers and could not be relied upon when something happened.

They could only rely on the mutual checks and balances of the militias in Hunan, Chu, Huai, Henan, and the Northwest, and only then did they manage to survive for more than ten years in peace.

Now that a talent with both civil and military talents has finally emerged, and he has little connection with the Hunan and Huai factions, she is naturally extremely precious. If several ministers of the Grand Council had not stopped her, she would have wanted to reward Yuan Shikai with a three-eyed peacock feather when she read Yuan Shikai's article on the rise of a great power.

However, he still issued an imperial edict praising Yuan Shikai and encouraging him to train his troops well. He also told him to go directly to the Ministry of Revenue for any shortage of money and grain. He also asked him to quickly write down the names of the remaining four countries, but not to rush to publish them in the newspaper, but to submit the memorial to her first.

As for Yixun, he was secretly delighted. He felt he had given Yuan Xiangcheng instructions within the palace. With Cixi aging and Guangxu growing older, the curtains would soon be lifted. The more capable Yuan Xiangcheng became, the more secure he felt his son's future throne would be. With Yuan Xiangcheng's assistance, he would at least avoid the internal and external troubles that had plagued the Tongzhi Emperor upon his arrival.

Therefore, both the court and the people recognized Yuan Shikai's writing skills and his actual achievements in suppressing the rebellion.

So now, although Yuan Shikai has only been emerging among the people of the world for a year, his performance has already proved that he has the ability to stand on his own. As long as he can gain enough political capital in the Sino-French War, he can convert his current fame into real achievements.

At that time, Yuan Shikai will be able to take charge of Korea based on his achievements, which will be much better than going to Korea alone with a third-rank military official position. He will also be more confident in what he says, and similarly, the transformation of Korean society will be smoother.

Chapter 43: Reconciliation between Satsuma and Choshu, Collaboration between Japan and France

In a secluded restaurant near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, several high-ranking officials of the Meiji government are discussing a decision that will determine the future of Japan.

Hirobumi Ito, Kaoru Inoue, Aritomo Yamagata, Masayoshi Matsukata, Tsumichi Saigo and others gathered around a long oval table with freshly caught Fukushima specialty seafood in front of them.

Ito, Inoue, and Yamagata were from Choshu domain, while Matsukata and Saigo were from Satsuma domain. These two groups of people, who should have been incompatible, were able to sit together and discuss political affairs. If the officials of the Tokyo government saw this, it would probably make headlines in the newspapers.

However, the five people in the room didn't care about reputation at all. After the maid left, several pages of paper were spread in front of everyone, some of which were newspapers, and some were covered with Western words.

Everyone was somewhat excited about the statement published by the Europeans in the North China Herald refusing to cease fire with the Qing Dynasty.

7. "Mr. Ito, after we secretly contacted the French, we supported their attack on the Qing Dynasty. Now the French really refuse to negotiate an armistice as you said." Inoue Kaoru held the newspaper in his hand, his shoulders shaking slightly, showing that he was not calm inside.

Upon hearing this, Matsukata Masayoshi and Saigo Tsumichi put down their wine glasses and looked up at Ito Hirobumi who was sitting in the main seat.

Ito Hirobumi put down his newspaper and said to the two men with great vigor, "What is the result, Matsukata-kun and Saigo-kun? At the end of last year, you clamored in front of His Majesty the Emperor to punish the Qing Dynasty. If I hadn't intervened, the Great Japanese Empire would have been plunged into war with the Qing Dynasty."

Ito Hirobumi took advantage of the situation and said, "Since we can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, why should we try to fish for the French in troubled waters? Isn't it better to be a fisherman watching the snipe and the clam fight?"

Yamagata Aritomo, also from the Choshu domain, picked up a piece of sashimi and said while chewing, "That's right. My special envoy from Great Japan set out from Ryukyu and established contact with the French General Courbet in Taiwan. Although it took several months, it finally achieved results.

Saigo-kun, it is better to agree with the French to jointly control Taiwan without sacrificing a single soldier than to send soldiers to Korea to fight a major battle with the Qing Dynasty."

Saigo Jōmichi was bullied, both openly and covertly, by the three powerful leaders of the Choshu clan. As the leader of the Satsuma clan, he was somewhat angry, but he couldn't get angry, so he resorted to drinking with Matsukata Masayoshi, who was also from the Satsuma clan.

Half a year ago, when Inoue Kaoru returned to Japan with the Sino-Japanese Tianjin Treaty, demonstrations were taking place in various parts of Tokyo.

Students from various schools in Tokyo gathered in Ueno Park to demonstrate, sticking pig heads on bamboo poles, a symbol of contempt for the Qing Dynasty, and calling for "punishment of the Qing Dynasty."

Even if government officials did not advocate going to war, they suggested further supporting the Enlightenment Party regime to destabilize the political situation in North Korea.

Satsuma leaders like Saigo Tsunemichi even reiterated his brother Saigo Takamori's theory of conquering Korea, threatening to send troops to Korea and even go to war with the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, this is because the Satsuma clan did not hold a dominant position in the government. Most of its power was in the military, and it wanted to expand its power through war.

Fortunately, Ito Hirobumi wrote to the Emperor, overcoming all objections and approving the Treaty of Tianjin. He even swore at a meeting of all preparatory cabinet ministers that Japan would acquire Taiwan within a year at the latest, thus slowly extinguishing the flames of war.

Seeing this, the bigwigs of Satsuma Domain had no choice but to give up and wanted to see how Ito Hirobumi would take Taiwan in one year.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan actually had the prototypes of the later continental and ocean factions, but their goals were not as exaggerated as those of later generations.

In later Japan, the goal of the continental faction was to annex Korea, swallow up Manchuria and Mongolia, and conquer China; the goal of the maritime faction was to annex Taiwan and colonize the entire Southeast Asia.

Now the debate is more about the faction of conquering Korea and the faction of conquering Taiwan. The idea of ​​conquering Korea has existed in Japan since ancient times. During the Ming Dynasty, Japan's Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea several times, but was defeated by the counterattack of the Ming army.

Therefore, North Korea has become a thorn in the hearts of these Japanese officials.

The theory of conquering Taiwan gradually emerged after the Meiji Restoration. Those who supported the theory believed that Korea was connected to the Qing Dynasty by land and was adjacent to the ancestral land of Manchuria. Once Korea resisted fiercely, it would likely cause Qing Dynasty intervention. The gap in land power between Japan and Qing was too great, so the conquest of Korea should be abandoned.

On the contrary, Taiwan is isolated overseas, and the Qing navy is far less powerful than the army appears, so Japan can slowly make plans.

The discussion on conquering Taiwan was originally lukewarm, but after Japan annexed the Ryukyu Islands a few years ago, it became a hot topic among officials in Tokyo. Everyone longed for the land of Taiwan, which was as tempting as North Korea.

When the Qing Dynasty was caught up in the Sino-French War, the French army occupied Keelung. Ito Hirobumi keenly saw this as an opportunity for Japan, but he was unwilling to fight a major battle with the Qing Dynasty in Korea, believing that on the one hand there would be a risk of failure, and on the other hand it would be an advantage for the French.

After all, if Japan and the Qing Dynasty fought in Korea, France could take advantage of the situation to occupy Taiwan, and Japan's way to the south would be blocked.