Chapter 20 of Part 4: The Beginning of Part 4

I got on the train from Tianjin and sat in a luxurious car that was originally dedicated to Li Hongzhang. Ronglu forced his eyes to close his eyes and rested, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

"Woo!" The train made a harsh whine, and a flag man on the side was so shocked that he covered his ears with his hands tightly. Ronglu opened his eyes and saw this scene without any notice. He couldn't help but smile a self-deprecatingly bitterly on the corner of his mouth.

"The railway has been built from Tianjin to Jinan Prefecture! Li Hongzhang has been in Beiyang for many years, and Yu and the Westernization Department have done a lot of things." When this thought flashed through Ronglu's mind, he remembered the comments with Cixi before leaving.

"When I go to Zhili, I should do my best to train a new Eight Banners for the court and the Manchus." When Rong stood in the Summer Palace and promised Cixi with confidence, it was exchanged for Cixi's helpless sigh.

"Eight Banners? Are you still counting on those yellow bands? You go all over the streets, and you will see that you can fight cocks and horses, and you can't take a shoulder or hold your hands. You can find a few decent people among the people, and the Ai family doesn't have to let Li Hongzhang stay in Beiyang for more than twenty years. Ronglu, the Eight Banners that followed Taizu to capture this great country are gone, and now the world is actually dominated by Han people. Shen Congyun from Nanyang, if you don't provoke him, don't provoke him." Cixi said halfway, Ronglu is not a fool, so he naturally understands Cixi's meaning. How can Shen Congyun be troubled? Now he is still a rank of the imperial court. As long as he doesn't fall to the emperor, the empress dowager can tolerate him. The most critical reason for Li Hongzhang to sit in Zhili for more than twenty years is that Li Hongzhang always stood on the side of the empress dowager at critical moments.

"Can it be possible that this is another Li Hongzhang?" Ronglu asked himself in his heart, and shook his head in a slight sense of distaste.

Bang, bang, bang, the train made a rhythmic sound, and it was shaking violently in the turn. Ronglu opened his closed eyes and looked at the scenery behind the window like lightning. Yuan Shikai submitted a message to the court. As the equipment purchased from Shanghai was in place, the Beiyang New Army had begun to take shape, so he specially invited Ronglu to support the military formation ceremony.

Yuan Shikai did this to show Ronglu his loyalty, and Ronglu knew very well. Ronglu did not have complete trust in Yuan Shikai, but he really couldn't find a talent that could be used. The Eight Banners were all filled with wine bags and could not bear the big things. Taking advantage of Yuan Shikai's opportunity to train troops, Ronglu still made a lot of money. Some Manchu yellow belts who had lost their jobs at home were very hard to find ways to walk and respect a lot of money. Ronglu threw these people to Yuan Shikai. Maybe under Yuan Shikai, he could still train a general who could make Manchu himself.

Ronglu didn't give much hope to the fact that he could develop generals among the Manchus, especially after listening to Cixi's words, when he felt the helplessness deep in the empress dowager's heart, Ronglu was even more cold. Over the years, Ronglu had basically seen it clearly. Since the Qing Dynasty fought the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Eight Banners had already become festered. Now, the Manchu emperors could still live in the Forbidden City, which was maintained by the court's means of balancing between the Han people.

When Li Hongzhang was in Zhili, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong, Weng Tonghe, which of these people were tempted by Li Hongzhang? Now that Li Hongzhang has stepped down, another Shen Congyun appeared. Who would the court use to balance Shen Congyun at this time? After thinking about it, no one could do this, so the position of the Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang fell on Ronglu's head.

Thinking of this, Ronglu was shocked and a layer of fine cold sweat appeared on his forehead. "No wonder Chen Congyun reported the railway connecting Jinan to Xuzhou, and the court suppressed it. The men in the Military Affairs Office often took advantage of Chen Congyun's benefits, and they were all against this issue." Ronglu thought to himself: "The water network in Jiangnan is scattered. It is said that Chen Congyun built a railway from Shanghai to Jinling, and another from Jinling to Xuzhou. If he really asked him to build the railway from Xuzhou to Jinan, plus a Luhan Railway, if there is something wrong in the future, Chen Congyun will instantly take advantage of the convenience of the railway to form a horn between the north and south roads."

Thinking of Chen Congyun's sudden emergence to his current uncontrollable force, Ronglu's mood became heavier.

"Yuan Shikai, if you have something to do next day, can you stop Chen Congyun?" Ronglu wanted to ask Yuan Shikai very much, but if you really want to ask, it would be equivalent to making some things clear. If you really want to ask Yuan Shikai so clearly, Ronglu would not be worthy of staying in the position of the governor of Zhili.

After shook his head hard, Ronglu wanted to get rid of the troubles brought by Chen Congyun, but unfortunately, Chen Congyun's troubles have not been completely eliminated. Another thing that happened in Guangzhou recently made Ronglu alert again.

It is investigated that an organization called Xingzhonghui attempted to launch a rebellion in Guangzhou, thanks to the timely discovery by the new governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Tan Zhonglin, was strangled in the cradle. It was found that the scale of the rebellion this time was likely to reach 10,000. The leader of this organization called Xingzhonghui was a man named Sun Wen, and the slogan was "Expel the Tartars, reply to China, and establish the Hezhong government."

These rebels are different from Shen Congyun. They are trying to dig the ancestral graves of the Manchus. If this rebels really become a climate, it is really a place where death will not be burial.

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In the spring of 1896, the south of the Yangtze River was already a season when grass was growing and warblers were flying, and the north was still a frozen scene. In the courtyard where Yan Fu, the general office of the Tianjin Beiyang Naval Academy, had three feet of snow on the walls, before the snow had dissipated, it had been dyed much darker by the flying coal ash.

Chang Su bent down with difficulty, stuffed the red brazier from charcoal to the table, put on the shelf, then clapped his hands and turned to Yan Fu and smiled, "Master, it's done. What else do you have to give?"

Yan Fu, who had a white face and a lush beard under his nose, waved his hand gently and indicated that it was nothing. Chang Sui then smiled and said, "Master, I'm going to make tea for you."

When he was on the chair in front of the table, Yan Fu looked at the neatly placed manuscripts on the table. "The Evolution of Heaven" has been in operation for half a year. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, Japan has been defeated and has lost money. Yan Fu was stimulated and has always wanted to combine Western evolution theory to systematically propose a theory of power. Therefore, the creation of "The Evolution of Heaven" was put on the agenda. The original name of "The Evolution of Heaven" was "Evolution and Ethics", which is actually the manuscript of two collections of British biologist Huxley's thesis translated by Yan Fu, and then took away the basic principle of "things are chosen by nature, and the fittest survive" to sound the alarm bell for the Chinese people to save the nation.

Yan Fu introduced Huxley's theory into race and international relations, and proposed that this is also a big competitive pattern. In this competitive pattern, China is strong and weak. China has fallen behind a lot. Now the Japanese dare to come to the door. Without reform, in order to strengthen themselves, the day of the country and the country will be destroyed.

Yan Fu has always paid great attention to Chen Congyun, who is far away in the south of the Yangtze River. He believes from the bottom of his heart that Chen Congyun is undoubtedly a great man for today. Chen Congyun's bold Westernization in Liangjiang is undoubtedly a good thing. However, Yan Fu is still very worried that Chen Congyun will become the second Li Hongzhang and will fall in another foreign war. In Yan Fu's heart, the Westernization Movement is not a real solution to China's problems.

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In Shanghai, when Chen Congyun received a telegram from Beijing, his face turned very ugly. An incident in history did not evade the tragic victory of the Sino-Russian War, but it still happened. As Li Hongzhang's first battle to travel west, Russia prepared a big gift to Li Hongzhang - "Secret Agreement between China and Russia".

The failure of Sino-Japanese War made Li Hongzhang's fear of Western powers reach an unprecedented peak. In fact, Li Hongzhang could avoid such a contract, but Li Hongzhang still signed it. (Note: You can check the history books for details of the China-Russia secret contract, and we will not repeat it here.)

It is really hard for Chen Congyun to imagine Li Hongzhang's mentality at that time. Do you really want Russia to protect China's Northeast China? Next, I believe that Li Hongzhang will sign the "Middle East Railway Contract"? The China Dongsheng Railway Company established by the Russians through this contract has become Russia's right to use the Middle East Railway to transport arms to Dalian Lushun, but it also seized the privileges of administrative power, police power, mining rights and trade tax exemption and other privileges along the railway, which is actually equivalent to turning the railway into the sphere of influence of the Russians.

These two contracts are undoubtedly complete treason contracts. Chen Congyun knew that in history, there was a saying that Li Hongzhang accepted huge bribes from the Russians. Regardless of whether this statement is true or not, it was a beginning and a great power that crazily divided China.
Chapter completed!