In addition to the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Qing court also had four important official positions, namely the Minister of Beiyang, the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, the Governor of Zhili, and the General Control of the Five Armies of the Wuwei. Before the First Sino-Japanese War, except for the general control of the Fifth Army of the Armed Guard, the other three were all concurrently held by Li Hongzhang.

Theoretically, he could manage the trade and foreign affairs of the three provinces of Zhili (present-day Hebei), Shandong, and Fengtian (present-day Liaoning), and handle matters related to foreign affairs, coastal defense, customs duties, and government-run military industries. Such an important position was naturally handed over to the Manchurians, so it was filled by Prince Qing.

The Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office was initially in charge of foreign affairs, trade, customs and other affairs, and later it was also in charge of the construction of railways, mining mines, the manufacture of guns and munitions, and other affairs, and the manufacture of guns and munitions, and other affairs, which also came under its management, and there was a considerable overlap with the Beiyang minister, mainly because before the noon, these two posts were held by Li Hongzhang, and now they have returned to foreign affairs, trade, customs and other affairs, and of course Li Hongzhang, who is the most proficient in this field, is in charge.

The general control of the Wuwei Fifth Army is actually the army of the governor of Beijing, although the position is not high, but it is very important, it has always been Rong Lu to serve, and now of course it is no exception.

And Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, did not enter the military plane, so it seems that the Manchus and Hans are evenly divided, but in fact, the Manchus are slightly superior, and Cixi made such an arrangement, which is also painstaking.

After the main government officials were determined, Cixi issued a [Proposal and Straightforward Edict], also known as the [Xin Chou Reform Edict], in the name of Guangxu, officially announcing the Qing court's reform of the law, and conducting a profound review of the Qing court's previous actions. And required that local officials could propose reforms to the imperial court system, which was the famous New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty in the old time and space.

At the same time, the Qing court also set up a special agency to deal with the reform of the new policy, called the Office of Supervision and Administration, which was responsible for handling the reform of schools, the official system, the imperial examination, the administration of officials, finance, military and political affairs, and other affairs. Prince Qing, Li Hongzhang, Rong Lu, Wang Wenshao, Zhao Shuqiao, Lu Chuanlin, Qu Hongzhen and others served as the supervising ministers of state, and Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others participated in the meeting. It is responsible for formulating various measures for the "New Deal," accepting the rules and regulations of officials from all over the country, and handling affairs such as schools, the official system, the imperial examination, the administration of officials, finance, military and political affairs, commerce, diplomatic relations, and criminal law.

In fact, when she was in Xi'an, Cixi had already begun to reflect on her previous actions, one thing is certain, that is, the imperial court system has indeed reached the point where it must be changed, and the Qing Dynasty must not lose the country, not to mention that the great trouble of the imperial court is not only foreigners, but also the tiger of overseas Chinese, and the threat of overseas Chinese to the imperial court is even greater.

Now Cixi also regrets it very much, and finally went around to the road of changing the law, so why bother in the first place. In fact, from Cixi's heart, she does not reject the change, and she is a conservative, which is inevitably a little wronged, if Cixi is really conservative, there will be no Westernization movement, and Cixi is most concerned about her own power, it is precisely because the Wuxu change threatens her power, so Cixi did not hesitate to abolish the change and imprison Guangxu, but now that I think about it, it is better to preside over the change by myself, first, it will not be messed up by Guangxu, and second, I can keep my power. But now it's too late to regret it, so I can only go back and pick up the banner of law change.

Of course, after the Qing court returned to Beijing, the issue of the partition of Tianjin could not be delayed any longer, although the overseas Chinese would not turn against the imperial court for the time being, but the problem of transporting grain, taxes and silver had to be solved immediately, so Cixi immediately issued an order, ordering Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, to immediately negotiate with the overseas Chinese to solve the problem of the partition of Tianjin as soon as possible.

Yuan Shikai did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent an official letter to Tianjin, demanding that consultations be held immediately to implement the agreement on the partition of Tianjin in the Qingdao secret treaty, and after Li Songchen received Yuan Shikai's official letter, he also immediately reported to the East China government.

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"The weakness of my China lies in the fact that the habits are too deep, the grammar is too dense, there are many vulgar officials, and there are few heroic people. The grammar is used by the mediocre as a solid place to hide, and the officials rely on it as a talisman for profit. Official affairs are exchanged with documents without reality, and talents are limited by qualifications and are becoming increasingly consumed. Those who misunderstand the country are in a private word, and those who are trapped in the country are in a case word......"

Xia Bohai said with a smile: "This edict of the Qing court is very good, and the review of the general section is indeed very profound." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "What's the use of reviewing profoundly, how can Guan Jianyu do it?"

Wang Yunpeng nodded and said, "Political Commissar Qin, what do you think of the Qing court's new policy, is it possible to succeed?"

Qin Zheng shook his head and said, "It can't be said that there is no chance of success at all, but the probability will never exceed 5%. ”

After receiving Li Songchen's report, the East China government immediately convened an executive meeting to negotiate with the Qing court to resolve the issue of the partition of Tianjin. Originally, Qin Zheng should not have attended this kind of administrative meeting, because he was a legislature, but the Qingdao secret agreement was negotiated between Qin Zheng and Li Hongzhang, and Qin Zheng was familiar with history, so he still invited Qin Zheng to participate in this administrative meeting.

Wang Yunpeng said: "Political commissar, why is the success rate of the Qing court's new policy not high?"

Qin Zheng said: "First of all, the motive for changing the law is not pure, it cannot be said that Cixi did not carry out the new policy for the sake of the Qing court's prosperity and strength, but this is by no means the main reason, and the main reason is to maintain Cixi's power, which is destined to make it almost impossible for the new policy to touch the root of the Qing court system, the imperial power autocracy, but can only be amended in some irrelevant places such as the imperial examination, military, finance, official system, etc." Of course, any change is not achieved overnight, first reform the simple, then change the difficult, it is also a step-by-step method, in the old time and space there are many historians believe that as long as the Chun court is given enough time, the Qing court can complete this change. There is nothing wrong with such a statement in theory, but the problem is that the Qing court did not have time, because of the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, The Gengzi Revolution reduced the prestige of the Qing court to the lowest point, and the people, mainly the provincial governors and gentry class, had lost the patience for slow change, but pinned their hopes on a rapid one-step change, which was bound to provoke a conflict of interest between the imperial court and the Manchu aristocracy and the provincial governors and gentry class, and the result of this conflict intensification could only lead to the rapid demise of the Qing court, so in the old time and space, the demise of the Qing court was by no means accidental, but a general outbreak of contradictions. In this time and space, the time of the Qing court is even less, and we will not let the Qing court drag it out until 1911. ”

At this time, Xia Bohai said: "We don't have to worry about the affairs of the Qing court, but what should we do now?"

Jia Zhenzhaoxiao, a member of the Finance Committee: "The issue of the partition of Tianjin was already negotiated in the Qingdao Secret Agreement, and it should be fulfilled now, and the loss of an old city of Tianjin is not a loss for us, the center of Tianjin is in the original concession, and the Shanghai New Area, as well as the shipping right, is of great importance to us." The Shanghai New Area is a window for us in Shanghai, and its role is basically similar to that of Hong Kong in the early days of reform and opening up in the old time and space, and it is even greater than Hong Kong, because the Shanghai New Area belongs to our territory, and all the benefits belong to us, and the interests of shipping rights are extremely great, and our five-year plan and shipbuilding plan are still needed to realize, and a lot of funds are needed, so these two departments are what we need, and the sooner the better?"

Wang Yunpeng said: "The person in charge of the Shanghai New Area has been selected, but the person in charge of shipping has not yet been decided, and in addition, to operate shipping, we must first set up a shipping company, and now we have to start it, is it too late?"

You Mingqian, a member of the Postal Commission for the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, said: "I don't think it's too difficult, don't we have a transport fleet now? Moreover, we have actually started to operate the shipping business from Qingdao to Tianjin, including part of the shipping business from Tianjin to Shanghai, and we will set up a shipping company on the basis of this fleet, and the person in charge of the fleet can be the person in charge of the shipping company." ”

Civil Commissioner Zhang Yuming shook his head and said: "We have formulated an employment system, and in the face of the recruitment of all personnel, and the process is completely open and transparent, we should still do it according to the system, don't mess with the rules." ”

Xia Bohai said: "I agree with Comrade Zhang Yuming's opinion, but after the system is settled, it must be implemented according to the system, and the recruitment of the person in charge of the shipping company will be organized immediately." ”

Wang Yunpeng said: "Is the recruitment coming now?"

Qin Zheng said: "Of course, it is extremely coming, first of all, the negotiation of the partition of Tianjin will take a few days, and the negotiation of shipping rights will also take a few days, which will add up enough for us to recruit, if it is really too late, let the transport fleet take over first, act as an agent for a few days, and wait for the selection of people to officially take up the post." ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "Okay, it's decided, and the Civil Committee will organize recruitment immediately." Inform Li Songchen and ask Yuan Shikai to come to Tianjin and negotiate with the Qing court in accordance with the principle of Qingdao's secret treaty. ”

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After receiving Li Songchen's notice, Yuan Shikai immediately rushed to Tianjin and prepared to negotiate with Li Songchen on the procedures for taking over the old city.

After arriving in Tianjin, Yuan Shikai found that the city wall of the old city of Tianjin had been demolished, leaving only four city gate towers and about 20 meters of city walls on both sides of the gate tower. On the site of the original southern wall, a flat and wide road has been built. Although the demolition of the city wall of the old city of Tianjin was a secret agreement reached by Qingdao, Yuan Shikai did not expect that the overseas Chinese would start so quickly and tear down all the city walls at once.

Although the traversers decided to return the old city of Tianjin to the Qing court in exchange for the Shanghai New Area, the existence of the city wall was a great threat to the Tianjin New Area, because once a war broke out with the Qing court, the Qing army set up artillery on the city wall, and the firepower could cover almost the entire new area. Moreover, the Tianjin city wall is very strong and tall, and with the current power, it is difficult to use artillery to open the Tianjin city wall, so the city wall must be demolished to ensure that in the event of war, the threat to the Tianjin New Area is minimized.

The traversers preemptively demolished the Tianjin city wall, one was afraid that the old city would be handed over to the Qing court and there would be new changes, so they simply demolished it first; the other was that the bricks after the demolition of the city wall were excellent building materials, which could save a lot of manpower and material resources. It can not only be used for the infrastructure construction of Tianjin, but also part of it is transported to Qingdao for the construction of the administrative region. The city gate was left undemolished at the request of some of the traversers, on the grounds that the ancient city wall is a cultural heritage building, and it is natural that part of it should be retained.