Volume Four, Chapter 36: The Emperor
Chapter 36 of the Imperial Master
When Chen Congyun warmly received Kang Youwei, Ouyang Quan was always watching patiently from the side. When he saw Chen Congyun showing a hint of pity for Kang Youwei, Ouyang Quan felt a slight chill all over his body. The reason for the slight chill was that he was standing in Shen Congyun's camp.
It is difficult for Ouyang Quan to understand that Chen Congyun does not have much experience in political struggles. In many cases, Chen Congyun is quite naive in politics, but such a slightly naive person can smoothly reach the top of the wave of history and become a person who can control the fate and future of the country.
What kind of person is Chen Congyun? Ouyang Quan's biggest feeling is that he is calm, calm and a little cold. Not to mention the distance, the reform of 1898 has evolved into a bloody reform, which can actually be avoided. At that time, as long as Chen Congyun stood up and shouted to show his support for the reform, Empress Dowager Cixi in Beijing did not dare to act rashly towards Guangxu. The attitude of a magistrate with heavy troops in his hands. After Li Hongzhang stepped down, Chen Congyun was not the second person to think. Chen Congyun's attitude could undoubtedly influence the results of the reform of 1898, but Chen Congyun did not stand up and unswervingly supported Guangxu's reform. Instead, he waited until the heads of Yang Rui and others fell to the ground in the reform of 1898, and Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai before he came out to "respect the king". This seemed very intriguing.
To go further, in the war during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Chen Congyun could actually send troops in advance as long as he wrote to the court. However, Chen Congyun was patiently waiting for Li Hongzhang's Beiyang soldiers to fight hemiplegia, and then he expressed his willingness to send troops. Of course, this is not ruled out that the court and Li Hongzhang's suspicion of Chen Congyun, but at the root of it, Chen Congyun consciously waited for the out of control of the situation and the opportunity to replace Li Hongzhang.
With such foresight, Ouyang Quan even once doubted whether Chen Congyun could predict the future.
The fate of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao and others was already destined, and the fate of Emperor Guangxu and Cixi was also destined. This was the conclusion that Ouyang Quan gave when he watched Kang Youwei leave and rest.
"Sir, Weihai's call has just arrived. Dai Zongqian and Niu Xubing led their troops to surrender, and the Beiyang Navy has fallen into his pocket." Ouyang Quan squeezed out a smile and handed the message he had just received to Chen Congyun.
Chen Congyun received the telegram and smiled and said, "Haha, in fact, we really need to be grateful for the corruption of the Qing government, and for these bureaucrats who are afraid of life and death or have their own thoughts. Otherwise, how could our army be so smooth?"
Ouyang Quan took the speech without saying a word and said, "General General Keze, suggesting that our Nanyang Navy will go south quickly and threaten Fuzhou?" Chen Congyun shook his head repeatedly and said, "No, it is not the time. Send a telegram to Liu Buchan and ask him to stare at the Japanese. As long as there is any movement in the Japanese fleet, report it immediately."
Chen Congyun was in a very happy mood at this moment. Although the Beiyang Navy was different now, there were only four new cruisers, including Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and the power of Zhenyuan was not small. Unfortunately, Rongluqi was one step away and forced Li Hongzhang to anger. The elite of the Beiyang Navy belonged to him. I wonder what Li Hongzhang felt now.
Li Hongzhang didn't have the heart to pay attention to the Beiyang Navy now. When he came out of the Cining Palace in the Forbidden City, his eyes turned black when he walked. Cixi actually agreed to the Russian conditions. Li Hongzhang felt that his bones were soft. Such a contract was really going to be signed. I guess he would be buried underground if he died.
What's even more outrageous is that Rong Lu came to report just now and said that Japan had already agreed that as long as North Korea promised to protect Japan alone, Japan would send troops to help China "quell the rebellion."
Cixi happily ordered Li Hongzhang to contact Japan and Russia immediately to finalize the issue of the two countries' interference. As for Ronglu, she was left directly by Cixi, saying that she wanted to discuss avoiding disaster.
Li Hongzhang left the Forbidden City and did not go to the Japanese and Russian Embassy immediately, but returned home first. Yang Shixiang and Zhang Peilun were waiting anxiously in Li Hongzhang's study for his return.
"Empress Dowager, what do you say?"
"It's OK!" Li Hongzhang tried his best to calm his expression, but the lethality of this sentence was too great. After hearing this, Zhang Peilun sat on the chair. Yang Shixiang also had a look of dirt and whispered: "Why did you agree? How could you agree?"
Zhang Peilun suddenly stood up, rolled and crawled in front of Li Hongzhang, grabbed Li Hongzhang's hand with both hands and said, "You must not be kind! With this move, you will become a sinner forever! Even if the empress dowager agrees, you cannot sign a contract alone."
Yang Shixiang didn't say anything for a long time. Seeing Zhang Peilun shouting like a mourning, Li Hongzhang stood there dumbly, and couldn't help but feel cold all over his body and whispered in a trembling state: "My kindness, the matter is now, there is only one word!"
Li Hongzhang sighed: "Say!"
Yang Shixiang gritted his teeth and said viciously: "Drag!" When Zhang Peilun heard this, he immediately became energetic and stood up and shouted: "Well, that's it. Shen Congyun is now a banner of serving the king. After all, Shen Congyun is an official of the Qing Dynasty. With the relationship between Shen Congyun and Enxiang, he just needs to drag it up and wait for Shen Congyun..., hum!"
Seeing Li Hongzhang's face hesitation, Yang Shixiang quickly added a knife and said, "Empress Dowager is leaving. Shen Congyun has already captured Changxindian and Tongzhou. You only need to delay for one and a half days. In short, the charge of traitoring the country cannot be blamed. Besides, the Japanese are defeated by Shen Congyun's subordinates. Russians have always only benefited but not done anything, and they may not be reliable."
Li Hongzhang slowly walked to the table and sat on the chair. Zhang Peilun and Yang Shixiang shouted in unison: "Ye Xiang!..." Li Hongzhang shook his hand and signaled to think about it.
"Let's go, take a few people with us, let's stay at the German Embassy for a few days!" Li Hongzhang finally made up his mind. Zhang Peilun and Yang Shixiang showed relief together.
………………………………………
"Yang Du, Hunan! Come and ask for a meeting!" When he heard the guard's report, Shen Congyun, who was drafting a policy on how to treat prisoners in the civil war, couldn't help but pause in the pen, then smiled softly and said, "This guy is finally here."
"The real knowledge of the emperor's way is now the past. Doctors save the country, and there will be future generations." This is the elegiac couplet written by Yang Du for himself. Few people know that this imperial teacher of Yuan Shikai in history, a former crazy supporter of constitutional monarchy, joined the Communist Party in 1929 shortly after Jiang launched the 4-12 Incident, shortly after Jiang launched the 4-12 Incident, he joined the Communist Party. It should be said that although Yang Du is superstitious about the imperial doctrine, he did not have the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, the reparations of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, and the experience of studying abroad in Japan, Yang Du may not be a crazy supporter of constitutional monarchy. Japan's rapid rise in the Sino-Japanese War may very well be the root cause of Yang Du's superstitious belief in constitutional monarchy.
In any case, after Chen Congyun saw that Yang Du joined the Communist Party in the terrifying era of whiteness, his evaluation of Yang Du could not help but increase his evaluation of Yang Du a little.
Indeed, Chen Congyun would not accept the fact that becoming an emperor. Chen Congyun even had to establish a concept in his lifetime that it would be better if China had no emperor. In his personal opinion, it was far from being able to complete the work of changing the concept of the people in one or two generations. China is too big and too backward after all. Of course, in Shen Congyun's lifetime, Chen Congyun would choose a relatively dictatorial way to overdo it.
"Yang Du is here to persuade me to be the emperor, right?" Chen Congyun smiled and stood up slowly. When this thought flashed through his mind, he couldn't help but whisper: "Please come in."
A young, thin man stood in front of Shen Congyun, stood with his head held high, and looked up and down with his eyes. After the two looked at each other, they sighed softly and said, "Yang Du may have been wrong!"
Chen Congyun couldn't help laughing when he heard the sound, "How can I see it?"
Yang Du twitched the corner of his mouth slightly and sneered: "There is a sarcasm in Lord Shen's eyes, which shows that Lord Shen is not the person Yang Du is looking for."
Chen Congyun smiled undeniably and nodded slightly, "If Mr. Yang has free time, he might as well walk around and look around in my new army."
Chen Congyun's proposal did not receive Yang Du's response. Yang Du smiled slightly, raised his head and turned around and said, "There are different things to do, don't make plans!" Chen Congyun was stunned when he heard this, but he didn't expect that someone would say this to him.
Yang Du left like this, returning to Hunan without looking back. This was the closest time to the emperor after Chen Congyun traveled through time, but Chen Congyun gave up. Although history was written by the winner, time still needs to be verified. After all, time will turn out a lot of things. Even if someone wants to destroy something, it is difficult to do it cleanly. Chen Congyun firmly believes in this.
After Yang Du left, Chen Congyun realized that Yang Du came with Kang Youwei, but he asked for a visit alone. This person's nature can be seen. Thinking of the fact that Yang Du was entrusted to compilation of "General History of China" in history, it can be seen that his talent is also obvious. Unfortunately, he could not use it for himself for the time being, Chen Congyun couldn't help but feel a slight regret.
Chen Congyun travels through time and can give an answer without any thought. Democratic regimes are indeed better than monarchy. However, in China, Chen Congyun has no time to consider whether to be democratic or imperial. What Chen Congyun is most urgent to consider is how to improve their living environment in the shortest time in the face of 400 million hungry people, and how to use iron and blood to seek a broader living space for China.
…………………………
Almost at the same time that Changxindian and Tongzhou were conquered, a "Vietnam Guard Division" led by Carlmondo, under the cover of two cruisers of the Nanyang Navy, the rapid-fire cannon symbolically bombed Shanhaiguan for several rounds. The small steamer pulled the sampan and began to land. When a battalion of the front troops approached Shanhaiguan carefully, he found that there was no bird in it and had already run away cleanly. The victory came so quickly that the Frenchman stood on the head of Shanhaiguan and sighed: "This is not a war, it's simply a boat trip!"
Yuan Shikai soon found himself on the back. After the train ran to Tanggu, he soon found that all the motorcycles that were affected by Tanggu had no air valves. I don’t know which unethical guy did it. This was not counting. I wanted to replenish some coal, but I couldn’t find it after searching for a long time. But at this time, I learned that the Nanyang New Army behind was chasing here on a train. Yuan Shikai was not even on the hot side in Tanggu, so he had to continue running forward. The few three locomotives, when the parking lot was stopped and added water, the air valve was actually unloaded. This was undoubtedly a good thing for the omnipres Military Bureau. Helplessly, Yuan Shikai could only lead his subordinates to hike towards Shanhaiguan. At this time, Carmondo had already arrived from Shandong to Shanhaiguan. When Carmondo was drinking coffee on the top of Shanhaiguan, Yuan Shikai was still rushing on the way.
Of course, the two legs could not escape the train wheels. Although Yuan Shikai ordered the destruction of a considerable section of the road, with the guidance of the military commander-in-chief, the damaged railway was quickly restored with the close cooperation of the military commander-in-chief and the engineer-in-chief. Zhao Youlian was also prepared for this move by the Beiyang New Army and sent a fast force to chase it. In this way, Yuan Shikai had no time to destroy the railway vigorously, so he could only escape in a hurry.
The gunshots behind him became increasingly dense, and the retreat of Yang Xinjun had turned into a runaway. Looking at the messy formation, Feng Guozhang knew that this was not a good thing, so he quickly took a few people to find Yuan Shikai who was resting on the roadside for a temporary rest.
"Sir, running like this is not a solution. We have to retreat in a planned manner. Look at how the team is in chaos?"
"Hua Fu, just say what you think." Yuan Shikai's face looked a little ugly, and he was sitting on the side of the road, gasping for breath. Yesterday, his butt was not even hot in Tanggu, and the gunshots followed him. The rapid march along the way made Yuan Shikai lose his usual calm demeanor.
"Sir, Guozhang is willing to lead a team to break the rear. Please quickly integrate the team and maintain a complete formation." At this time, Duan Qirui also frowned and came up. Hearing Feng Guozhang say this, he responded loudly: "Qirui is willing to lead a battalion of artillery teams to break the rear. You can't let someone chase after you, right? You need the Nanyang New Army to see the majesty of the Beiyang New Army."
"That's all!" Yuan Shikai sighed.
The rapid pursuit force sent by Zhao Youlian was the first regiment of the division. In order to catch up with Yuan Shikai as soon as possible, Zhao Youlian distributed all the animals he could draw to the first regiment.
The first regiment commander Qi Chenggong was a graduate of the first phase of Shanghai Martial Arts Academy. Since the establishment of Shanghai Martial Arts Academy was relatively complete, most of the students graduated from the new army. There were very few officers at the first level of the platoon and battalion level. Qi Chenggong sat in the position of the regiment commander because of his outstanding ability.
Qi Chenggong is from Xiangtan, Hunan. This is a place where people are outstanding. Qi Chenggong's ancestors were once a Jinshi. The origin of a scholarly family allowed the young Qi Chenggong to receive a good education. Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and others, the older Hunan heroes of the Xianfeng period, were idols admired by Qi Chenggong when he was young. Qi Chenggong, who was determined to be a Confucian general, loved reading military books since he was a child. Qi Chenggong was a scholar at the age of 13 and passed the juren at the age of 16. During the Jiawu period, Qi Chenggong went to Beijing to take the exam. Qi Chenggong, who was successful at the age of 1998 was full of confidence and failed.
During the process of Beijing, Qi Chenggong witnessed the corruption and darkness of the officialdom, witnessed the defeat of the Beiyang Army on the battlefield, and even witnessed the powerful combat effectiveness of the new army in the South of Yunnan. And inspired by the slogan proposed by Chen Congyun that China needed reform, his family originally asked him to stay in the capital to study and wait for the next examination, Qi Chenggong secretly ran to Shanghai, originally hoping to see the hero Chen Congyun in his mind. He never thought that he had not even approached the gate, so he was bombarded by the guards.
Qi Chenggong, who was unwilling to accept it, began his trip to the two rivers and three provinces. In Jiading, he saw the light industrial base of the Sino-US United Group, the modern steel mill in Ma'anshan, and a new school. The content learned was so novel.
Between Liangjiang, Shanghai Wubei Academy recruited students. Qi Chenggong heard that Chen Congyun was an honorary principal, so he plunged in and became the first student of Wubei Academy as the first student.
In the school, Qi Chenggong often put forward some new tactical views due to his outstanding academic performance and published a large number of articles in the New Army's Battlefield News. During his two-year study career, Qi Chenggong's outstanding performance soon entered Chen Congyun's gaze. After graduation, he was immediately transferred to the General Staff. After working in the General Staff for half a year, Qi Chenggong took the opportunity to meet Chen Congyun and proposed to go to the army. Chen Congyun had always admired such a young talent and immediately issued a letter of appointment, allowing Qi Chenggong to serve as a deputy battalion commander of the Third Division at that time.
Chapter completed!