Chapter 22 of the fourth part: Immortal jumps?

The first snow in 1896 came a little late. When the snow fell, the crows that stopped on the dead trees made a bleak scream.

Along the pebbly path, the little eunuch followed with an umbrella. Li Lianying walked all the way. He was not the greetings of the eunuch palace maid he met, but Li Lianying seemed to have not even seen it.

Hearing the footsteps of Li Lianying, he sat in front of the window with his hands in the stove and watched the snowflakes falling. He looked sad and said in a low voice: "Is it Little Li?"

"Empress Dowager, it's a slave." Li Lianying said, patted the snow beads on her body, walked gently to Cixi and whispered: "Empress Dowager, the news came from the Office of the Internal Affairs just now was from Prince Gong's mansion."

"What did you say?" Cixi sat up suddenly as if she was stabbed by a needle.

"It's said that the prince is almost out of control! The imperial doctor asked to prepare for his funeral." Li Lianying said in a low voice, raising his hand to cover the quilt that had fallen on Cixi's feet tightly.

Cixi was shocked when she heard the sound, and her eyes were dazed outside the window. After a while, she leaned back weakly. Her face was pale. She closed her eyes and whispered: "Little Li Zi, go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay 10,000 taels of silver, carry a sedan chair and go to the palace in person."

"Yeah!" Li Lianying responded and stepped back gently.

The palace of Prince Gong was filled with sadness. The busy eunuchs walked lightly, afraid of quarreling at Yi Xin on the sickbed. Cixi's arrival immediately caused a stir. After a group of relatives knelt down to welcome her, Cixi waved her hand gently and said, "Are you exempted from ordinary etiquette, hurry up and serve the prince."

Yi Xin on the sickbed opened her turbid eyes slightly, then slowly closed her eyes. There was no trace of blood on her pale face, and her chest was fluctuating violently. After a heavy breathing, a drop of turbid tears slowly flowed out of the corners of her eyes.

"Too, Queen Mother! It's snowing day......" Yi Xin stopped halfway through his words, and his slightly raised hand fell back.

"Sixth Master, the Ai family is not in trouble. Don't move, lie down and talk." Cixi hurried over and sat on the chair beside the bed.

Yi Xin on the sickbed raised his hand again. The concubine next to him knew what he meant and immediately grabbed a pillow and placed it behind him.

Yi Xin took a long mouthful, and a hint of flush appeared on her face, as if she had a slight sense of spirit. The imperial doctor next to her couldn't help but look dark when he saw it. This was a sign of a flash of light.

At this time, there was another commotion outside, and amid the sound of asking for peace, Emperor Guangxu stepped in quickly.

"My son went to pay tribute to his father, and then he realized that his father had come to see his uncle sixth, so he followed him."

Cixi reluctantly smiled and said, "It's just right here. Your sixth uncle should have something to say to you."

Yi Xin on the sickbed bowed slightly at Guangxu, and the rosy on her face became clearer, and the veins on her forehead were like twisting snakes.

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Yixin seems to be...nothing. Before leaving... some words may be...tabolic, don't take it to your heart..."

Cixi showed a sad smile on her face, and quickly followed her and said, "Sixth Master, just say something."

"Since the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, it has been more than ten dynasties and hundreds of years. Now it is almost over. People are about to die and their words are good. If Manchus want to continue to stay in this Forbidden City, the ancestors' laws are about to change. If they do not change the laws and seek new things, the world of Manchus will be over."

Yi Xin said intermittently, and Cixi's face turned pale and changed her face. A layer of cold sweat appeared on Guangxu's nervous forehead. He kept watching the change of expression on Cixi's face from the corner of his eyes, and did not dare to say a word.

"Sixth Master, say a few words. Your body will be fine. After this winter, you will still be alive." Cixi reluctantly smiled and comforted her. Yi Xin on the sickbed suddenly gasped violently. She didn't know where the strength came from. She sat up and said loudly to Cixi: "Sister-in-law, you and I have been fighting for decades. Now I am a dying person. Just listen to me. The Qing Dynasty must be reformed, otherwise..."

With a "puff!", the excited Yi Xin suddenly tilted his head and spurted out blood. The ones falling on the ground were small pieces of black blood clots.

After squirting blood, Yi Xin suddenly fell backwards. When the person next to him quickly supported him, Cixi's eyes met Yi Xin's helpless, panic, and eager eyes at the last moment. After watching Yi Xin trying hard to raise his hand again, she failed to succeed, her eyes closed and her head tilted.

The snow in the yard became even more urgent. The snowflakes that had no end in the sky had long been decorated with silver in the world. A lonely crow in the sky was flying weakly on the empty fields, making a series of wailing sounds, "Wow! Wow!"

"Wow!" The imperial doctor slowly withdrew his hand, and as soon as he shook his head gently, there was a sudden sound of crying in the ward. Cixi, who had been paying attention, also sat back suddenly, staring blankly at the people in the room crying and wailing.

………………………………………

We will change. We not only require the soldiers to obey orders absolutely, but also let them know who they are fighting for when they are in the army."

In a barracks west of Shanghai, the gates were heavily guarded. On the pillar next to the big sign of the "Shanghai Martial Arts School", a German wolfhound was tied, and a maximus was built in the fortress made of sandbags.

"Generals are wise, soldiers are ignorant! This set of troops has probably become a rule for governing the army. When they are in the army, they only need to obey orders, but they don't need to know anything else. According to my opinion, this set of old rules is now about to change. We not only require soldiers to obey orders absolutely, but also let them know who to fight for when they are in the army."

In the central auditorium, more than 500 officers from all levels of the new army were sitting upright, listening to Shen Congyun's speech on the stage.

"We are the New Army. As officers of the Political Department of the New Army, you must communicate with the soldiers more and talk to them about world affairs. Let them understand that only when we are in the army are not afraid of death and win on the battlefield can we ensure that our wives and children at home are not bullied by foreigners. Why were foreigners rampant in China these days? Isn't it because the Qing Dynasty army was defeated once in a battle? What did I do when I came back from the West? Didn't I just want China to get rid of the fate of being bullied by the great powers and work hard?"

These more than 500 officers were selected by Shen Congyun from young students who came from all over the country. The educated ones set up a separate political department. The content of learning is mainly to understand everything, politics, economy, thoughts, etc. in developed Western countries. Shen Congyun not only set up such a department, but other students must also receive political education every day after entering the military academy.

The branch was built in the company, which was a major innovation by Taizu. It was this innovation that ensured absolute control of the army. Chen Congyun could not talk to the soldiers about ethnic thoughts or democratic thoughts. He could only set up a political training representative in the company-level units, a political training group above the regiment, and a political training department above the division. The main task is to help soldiers understand the world and instill absolute loyalty to Chen Congyun to ensure absolute control of the army.

"After a year of hard study, you have become qualified soldiers, but this is not enough. Without each of you, you should be a fire, spreading the idea of ​​striving for the rise of China. To do all this, not just propaganda in the army, but also among the people. Why is the country behind? Why is the people suffering? In the final analysis, our system is backward. I have drawn up a charter to persuade people to reduce rent interest, which will be issued to all parts of Liangjiang soon this year for compulsory implementation. Everyone here basically has hundreds of acres of land at home, right? You must set a good example so that you will not be in vain to come here for hard study and training in order to pursue the ideal of enriching the country and strengthening the army."

China is a major agricultural country, and Liangjiang is an important production base. If you want to stabilize Liangjiang, you must first let the people under your jurisdiction have something to eat. The movement to reduce rent and interest is the first measure taken by Chen Congyun. Indeed, Chen Congyun also wants to take the "beaten and divide the land of the local tyrants", but now it seems obviously unrealistic.

Everything is actually an attempt and a beginning. The first person to bear the brunt of all this is the new army that Chen Congyun relied on for his life.

The regulations that encouraged the reduction of rent interest received strong resistance in the implementation process. The rent paid by ordinary landlords and tenants every year is more than 60% of the per mu, and some are as high as 80%. Chen Congyun implemented a policy of 50% of the rent. Even after a month of notice, the regulations issued in this way still had a reaction like a rock. Except for a few enlightened gentlemen who collected not high rent, most landlords were waiting and watching, and had no intention of actively reducing rent.

Officials from various provinces also opposed this issue and wrote letters to ask Chen Congyun to take back his life.

"Is it just a little rent reduction? It took their lives?"

After a month of publicity and mobilization, Chen Congyun was furious when he saw the report sent back. He grabbed a report and threw it hard on the table.

"Look at this report. The Li family in Luzhou, Anhui, dared to let the servants beat our people." Hu Xueyan, chief financial officer of Chen Congyun, sneered and threw a report in his hand to Chen Congyun.

"Sir, are you a little too hasty about this? You should have had some fun with officials from various provinces before and ask for Li Zhongtang's meaning to be safe." Ouyang Quan persuaded him with some concern. The scope of this incident was too great.

Chen Congyun leaned back, covered his eyes with his hands, took a long deep breath, sat up and said, "Send a telegram to Li Zhongtang immediately, ask him to cooperate. In addition, it's time to prepare. I want to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. Which of these wealthy people has clean butts?"

Chen Congyun's gloomy tone made Ouyang and Hu Xueyan shudder for no reason. They really didn't understand that even if such a small thing didn't work, there was no need to be murderous intent, right?

The reason why Hu Xueyan and Ouyang Quan think this is because it is difficult for them to understand Chen Congyun’s current feelings.

Chen Congyun, who had traveled through time, was undoubtedly a person who liked to read history books very much. In the long history of Chinese history, the history that left Chen Congyun the most sad and angry moments was the Qing Dynasty. Chen Congyun clearly remembered that once he visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and saw that in that photo, a pregnant woman was raped by a Japanese soldier and then opened her stomach with a bayonet. After lying on the side of the road with a numb expression, Chen Congyun had the urge to hit people.

If you fall behind, you will be beaten. China's backwardness began in the Qing Dynasty. The so-called Kanggan prosperous era was the craziest era of literary inquisition. The Ming Dynasty case, Dai Nanshan's sentence "The breeze cannot read, why do you read randomly?" By the Siku Quanshu in the Kangxi year, China's slightly more outspoken thoughts disappeared under the crazy butcher knife of the Qing Dynasty rulers.

Slaves, all the Qing government needs is slaves. What’s ridiculous is that among the two sacred monarchs called Kangxi in the Kanggan era, he was a master who was well-versed in Chinese and Western learning.

Impressive! Emperor Kangxi, who clearly saw the gap between the East and the West, was doing something to kill and catch up. The so-called strange and lustful skills mentioned by the Qing Dynasty were just a weapon to knock on the door of China.

Ouyang Quan and Hu Xueyan really find it difficult to understand. Chen Congyun's urgent mood overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and changed China, and he has no way to know that the changes that Shen Congyun talked about in the history textbooks he learned were accompanied by naked blood and death, and there was no second way to go.

Therefore, Chen Congyun refused the Japanese surrender on the battlefield, and gave a gloomy smile and murderous aura at this time.

Chen Congyun, who had traveled through time, was actually a white-collar worker with no lofty ideals in that era of high material civilization. He lived a dull life all day long, and he was concerned about how much salary he could get into his pocket every month. The national justice and the country was prosperous, and these things seemed very far away. After coming to this world, Chen Congyun felt strongly what the times are creating heroes!

After more than ten years of hard work, Chen Congyun had already stood at a considerable height, and his heart was even more urgent to change the world. However, in this era when Chinese people have been accustomed to having an emperor above their heads and being slaves for two thousand years, Chen Congyun knew that only bloodshed can awaken the Chinese people. In history, Mr. Sun and his colleagues did it, Tan Sitong did it, Qiu Jin and Xu Xilin did it, too.

However, what they did not do thoroughly. The result of the Wuchang Uprising was only formally overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. The republic was just a symbol and had little real meaning.

What Chen Congyun needs to do is to act from the root, so first of all, the people under their rule know that as long as they unite, they can gain greater living space. Of course, this is just the beginning. Of course, Chen Congyun is not going to engage in any peasant movement. Chen Congyun just wants the people under their rule to know that as long as Chen Congyun is on the stage, the possibility of starvation is smaller.

Arriving from Wuhu, the small steamer on the river for a day and a night, finally saw the shadow of Anqing City. Shen Congyun, who was wearing casual clothes and standing at the bow of the boat, could only sigh at the garbage in the traffic these days.

Anqing, a city famous for Huangmei Opera, in this era when water transportation occupied an important position, Anqing on the Yangtze River was undoubtedly a military and economic center. In that era before Chen Congyun crossed, Anqing seemed to be inferior to Wuhu after being replaced by Hefei.

"Sir, Li Zhongtang has called back from Germany to ensure that the Li family in Luzhou will do their best to cooperate with him. Now only Enming, the governor of Anhui, is left. Relying on his identity as Manchu, he has no intention of cooperating with the rules of advising him to reduce rent interest." Ouyang Quan was also wearing casual clothes, dressed in Mr. Zhang Fang, standing respectfully beside Shen Congyun.

"Haha, in terms of talent, Enming is still one of the few capable people. Unfortunately, he did not cooperate under my rule, so I had to move him away." Chen Congyun said with murderous intent. Ouyang Quan couldn't help but hopped his eyelids, and he showed a worried expression and walked forward, "Sir, Enming is a popular person. It's not easy to move, and it's not suitable to move."

Chen Congyun smiled faintly and said, "In terms of the officialdom, I am much worse than Li Hongzhang. If it weren't for your masters' help and reminders, and when he was in Vietnam, the emperor was far away, I could not handle the plot and twists and turns in the officialdom. However, now I have been surrendering to ten times with one force, and I will not come to the officialdom with him at all. As long as the new army's gun is held in my hands for a day, the court will not dare to touch me easily. As long as I don't explicitly shout for rebellion, the court can only watch it even if the court is suspicious. Humph! Fighting with the sky is endless, fighting with people is endless, and I don't have the time to do it."

Ouyang Quan hesitated for a moment and whispered: "I want me to say, sir, you don't need to go there yourself. You just need to instruct the people from the intelligence department to collect the crimes of Weaving Enming, and a memorial was written on him, and he could be pulled away and brought down."

Chen Congyun shook his head gently and said, "It's not that easy to get him away. It's easy to write a book about him. The court will naturally send someone to investigate. What do you think can be found? So I want to personally grasp his handle and get him away. "

Ouyang Quan looked at Anqing City worriedly and whispered: "Sir, Anqing is Enming's territory that has been in a state of two years. If he is anxious and takes risks,..."

Chen Congyun looked back at Ouyang Quan, smiled meaningfully, "I can't ask for anything!"

Seeing that the little steamer had arrived at the dock in less than half an hour, it slowed down at this time and leaned up to a small dock by the river. Ouyang Quan saw that Chen Congyun had no expression on his face, and looked at the dock with his eyes. Only then did he notice that more than a dozen people on the shore were already waiting there with their horses.

Walking off the boat from the pedal, before Shen Congyun could stand on the dock, Wang Chao, who had been waiting for a long time, came up with a quick step, scruples of others' attention, Wang Chao just stood attentively and bowed slightly, "Military! Thank you for your hard work!"

Ouyang Quan recognized Wang Chao. When he saw Wang Chao, he was a little surprised and then quickly realized that Wang Chao's Sixth Brigade might have been stationed in some place around Anqing.

Sure enough, Chen Congyun Chao smiled and said, "How is it? How do Enming feels about the arrival of the Sixth Brigade? Is it great to ensure the smooth flow of the Yangtze River water transportation? "

Speaking of Enming, Wang Chao smiled disdainfully and said, "What else can he do? He dared to drive us away? He was so scared that he didn't even let us in. He didn't think about it. Anqing City was covered with a holey city wall that could withstand my heavy artillery? It would be fine if he listened to the military throne honestly, and just took him down if he didn't listen."

"It's better to say less of such a bastard. Do you want to rebel? At least they are bound by a province, but they have soldiers in their hands." Chen Congyun's face had a satisfied smile, and he had no intention of being angry at all. In fact, what Chen Congyun wanted was this effect. As long as he gave his order, the new army would take it down no matter who was opposite.

Chen Congyun said as he walked out of the dock, and Wang Chao quickly followed up and said, "Military, only the three thousand shrimp soldiers and crab generals under his command, I will send a regiment. I can't take Anqing City within a long time, so I will come to see you."

Ouyang Quan listened and smiled bitterly from behind. This was Chen Congyun's new army. Since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he has become more lawless. There is only one Chen Congyun in his eyes. In fact, it has been more than ten years since Chen Congyun, and Ouyang Quan had already understood that Chen Congyun would never be satisfied with a governor of the Liangjiang River.

"How far is this place from Anqing? What's the place name?"

"This town is called sludge port! Also called Wulibu, it means that it will take only a few minutes to march from Anqing."

The town is not big, the bluestone street is narrow, there are not many shops in two rows, and there are not many pedestrians on the street.

"Is this place so quiet usually?" Chen Congyun stopped and looked at the only street in the town that stretched towards Anqing.

"It's almost too close to Anqing. It's only when the market is on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar month will it be more lively."

Chen Congyun turned over and the carriage that Wang Chao had prepared, and said to Wang Chao: "Okay, let's get here. Don't send it. Send a brother to follow him and be responsible for passing the message."

The sound of horse hooves in Tita Tower recalled Wang Chao standing there, watching Chen Congyun's back disappear at the end of the street, and turned around to explain to his soldiers dressed in plain clothes and said, "You guys keep up quietly, remember to stay away, and be sure to ensure the safety of the military captains. If you lose any hair, I will shoot you."

As soon as Chen Congyun left the town, the guard commander Li Xiaosan quickly followed and said softly to Chen Congyun: "Sir, there is a tail behind him, it seems to be Wang Chao's person."

Chen Congyun smiled faintly and said, "As expected, let them follow!"

A carriage, two gentlemen in long gowns, four followers with short beatings, and several other people looked like the boss and the job of collecting accounts. The taxpayer at the gate of the city casually checked a few words, collected a silver dollar tax on the city tax, and waved to let Chen Congyun and the others enter the city.

The location of Chunlai Inn is not conspicuous, and the sign is shaking weakly in the wind. In the off-season, there is no business in the store. Two jobs are bored and the frowning shopkeepers are plucking the abacus at the counter.

When the carriage was parked in front of the store, the two tasks inside suddenly raised their ears alertly. At this moment, they suddenly had their eyes shining, and they didn't look like a friend in an inn.

"Customer, are you staying in a hotel?" A guy came up with a towel on his shoulder and smiled like that.
To be continued...