Master Yuan, start!

Kuang Chunhua, who was in charge of the Machinery Bureau's construction and production, replied, "Chief Instructor, the Incheon Machinery Bureau is still in its infancy, and some equipment still needs to be imported from overseas. Currently, they're reassembling the equipment from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau that was dismantled before the fall of Tianjin. They can only produce black powder, and full production won't begin until the end of the year."

Kuang Chunhua was a returned Malaysian Chinese who presented a replica of the Maxim to Yuan Shikai before the Battle of the Capital.

Seeing Yuan Xiangcheng's unwavering expression, Kuang Chunhua thought that Yuan Xiangcheng was dissatisfied with him, so he quickly said, "Chief Instructor, the Incheon Machinery Bureau is much larger than the Tianjin Machinery Bureau. It is normal for it to start slowly at this stage. As soon as the equipment and materials are in place, large-scale production can begin. The workers are all transferred from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau."

After the Tianjin Machinery Bureau was destroyed in the war, although some of the equipment was intact, no one cared about its reconstruction after Li Hongzhang left his post.

Yuan Xiangcheng also took the opportunity to recruit employees. After eliminating those who did not want to come to Korea, about 2000 of the more than 1000 people in the original factory agreed to follow Yuan Xiangcheng to Korea to participate in the construction of the Incheon Machinery Bureau.

"That's good." Yuan Xiangcheng was not dissatisfied with Kuang Chunhua, but he felt that it was really not easy to build an industrial project from scratch.

Patting Kuang Chunhua on the shoulder, Yuan Xiangcheng encouraged him, "In addition to the equipment, we also need to keep up with the industrial talents of the Jiashen Right Army. I will leave the educational affairs of the Mechanical School to you. Just train a few more industrial talents for me."

After establishing his own base, Yuan Shikai felt that there was a shortage of talent, so he began to search for Western-educated people from all sides. In addition to poaching talents from various Western affairs departments of the Qing Dynasty, he also set his sights on Chinese children studying in the United States.

In the program for sending young children to study in the United States, initiated by Yung Wing and approved by Li Hongzhang, more than 1872 young geniuses went to study in the United States over the four years starting in 120.

Among them, more than 50 people were engaged in industry, mining, railways, telegraph, and education, and the rest also shined in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

Railway engineer Zhan Tianyou, Foreign Minister Tang Shaoyi, and Minister of Communications Liang Dunyan all came from this group of Chinese students studying in the United States.

Therefore, in order to further promote the process of its own industrialization, Yuan Shikai had already written to the United States to seek help from Yung Wing, but he has not received a reply yet.

The most urgent task is to improve the production capacity of the Incheon Machinery Bureau. In addition to the most basic imitation of the Winchester rifle equipped by the Jiashen Right Army, it is also necessary to produce gunpowder and artillery shells.

In addition, Yuan Xiangcheng also specifically asked Kuang Chunhua to trial-produce something.

"Kuang Chunhua of Hanyang, have you completed the trial production of the hand grenades I instructed you to produce earlier?"

When Kuang Chunhua reported that the Incheon Machinery Bureau could only produce black powder for the time being, Yuan Xiangcheng began to think about developing grenades.

In the harsh environment of the Anti-Japanese War in the original time and space, people were able to make homemade grenades using black gunpowder. There is no reason why he cannot make it now.

The production conditions at that time were not necessarily as good as those in Yuan Xiangcheng today.

Hand grenades were very popular during the Napoleonic era, and the army even had a special organization of grenadiers. Since the shooting accuracy of modern weapons was far inferior to that of later weapons equipped with precise sights, hand grenades that could cause large-scale casualties were naturally targeted by Yuan Shikai.

The more backward the battle situation, the greater the power of the grenade. Yuan Xiangcheng did not expect to develop a mortar now, he just wanted to develop the grenade.

This thing is very easy to use. Once taught, even a recruit who has never fired a gun can throw it.

Just pull it, throw it hard, and wait for it to explode.

Moreover, there is no loss during training, and there is no need to feed bullets like new recruits practicing with guns. Training can be done with imitations made of wood or iron. After all, it is throwing training, so the weight can be consistent.

Warfare at the end of the 19th century was in a period of rapid change. The previous tactics of line shooting had been abandoned, and the trench bombardment schemes of the First World War had not evolved.

There was no large-scale war in the world, and various countries were constantly exploring their military combat plans. Yuan Shikai was also facing small-scale combat, so it was necessary to equip him with grenades.

It would be best if everyone in the Jiashen Right Army could become a grenadier. This is the focus of Yuan Xiangcheng's visit to the Incheon Machinery Bureau today.

Seeing the dozen or so long-handled grenades in front of him, Yuan Xiangcheng couldn't let go.

Although it only contains black gunpowder and is far less powerful than a grenade filled with yellow gunpowder, at this stage, Yuan Xiangcheng does not seek perfection, as long as it has it, it is already very good.

Overall, the framework of the Incheon Machinery Bureau has been set up, and it is just a matter of gradually expanding its scale.

Chapter 71: Rectifying Thoughts

At the end of the year, Seoul was filled with joy both inside and outside the city.

Logically, Yuan Shikai's taking control of the Korean customs should have been reported to the Qing court, but Cixi had no time to deal with Yuan Shikai at the moment. She was busy dealing with the surging public sentiment in the court and the wave of opposition from scholars who had submitted petitions to the emperor.

When Yuan Shikai returned to Korea, the court had already been purged by Cixi on the pretext that the peace treaty was too embarrassing.

Originally, the Grand Council had checks and balances from Yi Xin and Yan Jingming, but after the two resigned, all five Grand Council ministers were Cixi's men.

Li Hongzhang led his Huai Army to Guangdong, and Ronglu was ordered to rebuild the Jiashen Four Armies, adding the Zhili Green Camp and Zhili Training Army near the capital.

It can be said that the area around the capital was entirely controlled by Cixi's people. However, who would have thought that after gaining control of the military power, Cixi would lose ground in public opinion.

From time to time, children's songs were spread in the capital, mocking Cixi for clinging to power and not wanting to give it back. This frightened Yi Xin so much that he quickly reported to Cixi, saying that it had nothing to do with him, and asked Cixi to choose a strict teacher to teach Guangxu, without mentioning the matter of returning power at all.

On the one hand, Cixi appeased Prince Chun Yixuan, and on the other hand, she secretly searched the capital to find out where the rumor came from. For a time, everyone in the capital was in danger, and even several well-known restaurants were so scared that they hung up signs saying "Don't talk about political affairs."

When Xu Shichang returned to Korea and went straight to Yuan Xiangcheng's residence to attend the routine meeting of the Red Confucian Society, he was still frightened by the turbulent situation in the country.

However, Yuan Shikai, who was in Korea, was very worried about the internal problems that had occurred in the past few months after returning to Korea.

The first issue is the vernacular Chinese. In order to simultaneously promote the development of Chinese in Korea, Yuan Shikai temporarily compiled more than a dozen articles in vernacular Chinese, and the signature was naturally still "East Asian National Scholar".

However, once these articles were published, they were ridiculed by many Korean scholars. They did not ridicule the views contained in them, but ridiculed the words and phrases used in the articles. Many people criticized the words as "vulgar and unbearable to read."

However, vernacular Chinese was very popular among the lower classes who had just learned Chinese. Yuan Shikai ignored the opposition and compiled it into a teaching booklet for basic Chinese teaching. It was not only used in literacy night school classes, but was also quickly promoted in the Jiashen Right Army.

By learning together with pinyin, it only takes seven or seven months for the junior officers and soldiers of Liujia Shenyou Army to master hundreds of Chinese characters.

Yuan Shikai had no intention of launching a New Culture Movement at this moment. He just emphasized that in the future, more writing and communication should be done in the army and in meetings. Fortunately, there were no literati in the Jiashen Right Army and the Red Confucian Society, so the implementation of this order was relatively smooth.

...

Xu Shichang arrived in Korea and, upon meeting Yuan Xiangcheng at the meeting, laid out the situation in Beijing. He then asked, "Chief Instructor, what do you think Cixi is planning now? Will she take the initiative to withdraw the curtain?"

Xu Shichang had been in the capital to deal with the final matters after the Jiashen Right Army returned to the court, and he experienced all the turmoil in the court in the capital.

"Has Ronglu been transferred in any way?" Yuan Xiangcheng did not rush to ask about the situation in Beijing, but instead asked about the military arrangements.

Xu Shichang worriedly said, "Before I left, Ronglu was given the title of Ambassador of the Capital's Defense, and ordered to lead the Jiashen Central Army to garrison in Nanyuan. It doesn't look like he's planning to withdraw."

Yuan Xiangcheng was also very worried about the current situation in the country, but for now he could only sigh and say, "Yes, Empress Dowager Cixi is in power at the moment. How could she back down just because some scholars colluded and wrote a petition?"

Duan Qirui nodded upon hearing this, only to hear Yuan Xiangcheng's analysis: "The Qing court is afraid that the dispute between the emperor and the empress will be exposed. Although Yixin, as Guangxu's biological father, has submitted a letter of surrender, unless he does not want Guangxu to rule personally, he will sooner or later take action to help Cixi remove the curtain."

Hearing this, Han Bei on the side was a little confused: "No matter what, Cixi still has tens of thousands of troops at her disposal. The current situation of the imperial party is unclear. Is there really a way to make Cixi withdraw?"

Yuan Xiangcheng glanced at Han Bei and thought to himself that you still don't understand Cixi. She was able to put Guangxu under house arrest after he took power, so what's the big deal about deposing an emperor before Guangxu took power?

Speaking of which, Yuan Shikai himself had made great contributions at the foot of the capital. In the Jiashen Year, all the soldiers of the Right Army thought that Lord Yuan was going to become successful. Even the comrades in the Red Confucian Society thought that the chief instructor was going to take root and develop in the country.

The entire army and the whole meeting were eagerly waiting for the Jiashen Right Army to choose a place in the north to make a fortune. Some comrades in the meeting were even prepared for house confiscation and land reform.

But under such circumstances, Yuan Shikai chose to lead his troops into Korea, away from the glamorous world of the Central Plains, and go to the remote and poor land of Korea to establish a base.

Although the troops were dissatisfied, they could not say much due to Yuan Shikai's consistent power.

The lower-level Jiashen Right Army soldiers did not have much to say about receiving pay for their service, but the middle-level Red Confucian Society had a lot of opinions, especially some radical nationalists among them.

Because this is different from what Yuan Xiangcheng said to them at the plenary meeting. Yuan Xiangcheng clearly promised to "respect Confucianism and ancestors, and restore China", but when he was in the capital at that time, he clearly had the ability to catch all the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop. Why was Yuan Xiangcheng unwilling to do it?

After noticing this trend within the meeting, Yuan Shikai became very alert. On the one hand, he asked Duan Qirui and Sheng Fei about the situation of the soldiers in the Jiashen Right Army. On the other hand, he called Ma Xiangbo, who was engaged in political work, and asked him about the progress of the political training in the camp.

After discovering that only some members of the Red Confucian Society had some confusion in their thinking, Yuan Xiangcheng decided to hold the first general meeting of the Red Confucian Society to unify their thoughts.

“I have only told a few people why I want to re-enter North Korea. Now that all of you are here, I will take this opportunity to reiterate it to everyone.

Now the governors and governors-general of various parts of the Qing Dynasty still have military forces, and the Qing Dynasty has not yet been despised by the people of the world, especially the scholars, who still have illusions about the Qing Dynasty. It is undoubtedly wishful thinking for us, with more than 10,000 people, to raise the banner of anti-Qing.

"Ma Xiangbo, you are responsible for the ideological education work within the association. Tell everyone how the ideological transformation work of Jiashen Youjun is going." Yuan Xiangcheng pointed to Ma Xiangbo, who was in charge of ideological education, and asked him to give a detailed explanation to the participants.

"Most of the grassroots soldiers in the Jiashen Right Army agree with the theories of respecting Confucianism and ancestors and social justice that we promote. But most of them are not interested in restoring China. They all want to join the army to fight, earn money, return home, and marry and have children. Therefore, the Red Confucian Society's communication effect among grassroots soldiers is quite poor." Ma Xiangbo also spread his hands helplessly.

It is easy to rally an army without actively raising the banner of rebellion, but it is quite difficult to unify thoughts. Only when someone is confirmed to be trustworthy will the Red Confucian Society choose to absorb him into the society.

Most of the political instructors of the Jiashen Right Army were not members of the Red Confucian Society. Only a few who were recognized by Ma Xiangbo joined the society secretly.

If they do not join the society, they cannot be promoted to anti-Qing ideas, and can only be instilled with some simple patriotic concepts of "defending the country and resisting foreigners and Japanese invaders."

Yuan Shikai also felt deeply the awkward situation, but there was no other way. Having chosen this path, he could only walk on it awkwardly. At least he had to wait until the dispute between Cixi and Guangxu became intense before any changes could happen.

Thinking of this, he put on a firm face and said to the crowd: "You have all heard what Comrade Xu Shichang said just now. The struggle for the highest power within the Qing Dynasty is intensifying. We can wait until the contradictions intensify before taking the next step, rather than letting the blood of our soldiers be shed in vain on the enemy's butcher knife.

Or, because you won a battle against the French, you're so arrogant that you think you're the best in the world. I tell you, that's a wrong way of thinking. It's a radical left-leaning idea!"

Yuan Xiangcheng glanced at the dozens of people present at the meeting, and they all lowered their heads, not daring to look him in the eye.

He was not worried that these people would not understand his leftist ideas. During the nearly one year of getting along with each other, most of the members of the Red Confucian Society had read works such as Capital and A Critique of the German Ideology. Although it was impossible for them to understand them completely, they knew the general meaning.

Ming Ye lowered his head. He was also a member of the radical faction. After the banquet in Gyeongbokgung Palace, he thought Yuan Shikai would show his talents in Korea, but he unexpectedly became silent. He just built a few factories, opened a few schools, and wrote a few articles, and then there was no further news.

He saw it with his own eyes and was anxious in his heart, which led to unstable thoughts and restlessness among the people in the association.

Seeing that everyone kept silent, Yuan Xiangcheng continued, "Yes, I admit that it was easy for the Jiashen Right Army to expand to 2 men, and it would have been possible to reach Beijing and capture Cixi alive. But have you ever thought about what to do after capturing Cixi?

The whole of China will be against us, and by then the whole country will be in chaos. The peaceful situation that we have maintained with great difficulty by defeating the French will be destroyed, and Britain, Russia, Japan and France will all be waiting for an opportunity to act.

Do we have the military strength to repel the invasion of these countries by then?"

"Chief Instructor, I was wrong. I shouldn't have been so impatient." Ming Ye took the initiative to admit his mistake, and Han Bei also planned to stand up and admit his mistake.

However, Yuan Xiangcheng pressed his hand, signaling Mingye not to rush to admit his mistake, and said, "In addition to taking into account the invasion of foreign powers, the current situation is also beneficial to us in that it gives us enough time to develop. We can recruit Western talents under the banner of the Qing court and expand our influence.

Moreover, no one came to interrupt us. Apart from some stubborn North Korean conservatives and the Japanese who were eyeing us covetously, was there any resistance from North Korea that could stand in our way?

In the era of industrialization, the most important things are coal, steel and grain. Now North Korea has coal fields and mines, and the Northeast, which is only a hundred miles away, is a major granary. After a few years of stable development, our troops can expand on a large scale.

Comrades, think about these prospects. Compared with these prospects, giving up the position of governor or prefect in a certain place in the Central Plains is nothing. " His mouth was dry after speaking, but Yuan Xiangcheng did not feel tired.

Because this was the first time that Yuan Xiangcheng expressed his true feelings in front of so many like-minded people, but fortunately his words were very effective. Some of the restless young people in the meeting were able to calm down after hearing these words. Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng believed that this meeting was also a successful one.

Seeing that everyone's expressions were gradually becoming firm, Yuan Xiangcheng decided to give them a sweet date: "I will start the land reform in Korea in the near future, but before that, the military discipline of the Jiashen Right Army must be rectified.

After returning to Korea, many soldiers thought they had won a victory under the capital, and they basked in their achievements and boasted about it every day. For such people, those who were included in the membership examination should be immediately excluded, and those who were not included should also be dismissed.

I have told you all that in the future the Jiashen Right Army will gradually become a subordinate army of the Red Confucian Society. At that time, it will not be me who will command the Jiashen Right Army, but you members of the Red Confucian Society.

Could you just sit back and watch this kind of scum appear among the Jiashen Right Army?"

Upon hearing this, Duan Qirui and Sheng Fei showed a different light in their eyes, but they quickly adjusted themselves and gave a guarantee to Yuan Xiangcheng, promising to strictly rectify the Jiashen Right Army.

Yuan Xiangcheng was still worried and urged: "You should know that the reason why our current development has not been hindered is because we are not against the Qing Dynasty, but because we are not against the Feng Dynasty.

The resistance of feudal society cannot weigh on us yet. Once the land reform in North Korea begins, we will face the counterattack of countless yangban nobles and feudal forces in the eight provinces of North Korea.

Only then will we truly see the capabilities of our Red Confucian Society and our Jiashen Right Army. If we can't even take over a small country like Korea, then what's the point of talking about the Northeast and China? We should just go home and farm.

We are currently taking advantage of the situation, using the power of the Qing Dynasty to attack the power of North Korea. The most important thing about taking advantage of the situation is to hide our ultimate goal, otherwise we will be attacked by both sides and be the first to be eliminated.

Have you remembered everything?!" Yuan Xiangcheng's final reminder startled everyone present.

The major reorganization of the Jiashen Right Army also began after the meeting. At one time, the army reorganization, factory construction, court situation, and railway construction all came at once, and Yuan Shikai was a little overwhelmed.

Money, every project needs money, and Yuan Xiangcheng only wants to make money now.

Chapter 72: Half a Year of Preparation to Lure the Snake Out of its Hole

The New Year has passed, but the severe cold has not yet dissipated, and pedestrians on the road are still wrapped in thick clothes.

In the more than six months since returning to Korea, Yuan Shikai has gradually learned to delegate power. He handed over official negotiations with Korea to Xu Shichang, industrial affairs to Kuang Chunhua, and daily military training to Duan Qirui and Sheng Fei.