Yuan Shikai said: "As Lord Shixu said, overseas Chinese have rebelled against the imperial court and established themselves as kings, rebellious ministers and thieves, why did the imperial court not send troops to conquer in order to prevent future troubles?"

Listening to Yuan Shikai's words, except for Cixi, who still closed her eyes and recuperated, everyone else's faces were a little unpleasant, in fact, the Qing court naturally did not want to send troops to attack the East China government, but it was still a little self-aware, knowing that it would not be able to defeat the East China government at all, but these words were clear in everyone's hearts, and they could not be put on the table.

However, anyone can do the superficial article, and Shi Xu immediately said: "It's not that the court is unwilling, but since the Gengzi State Change, it has only been three years since he returned to Beijing, and the vitality of the court has not recovered. ”

Na Tong also said: "Could it be that Lord Yuan has any good plans to defeat overseas Chinese?"

Yuan Shikai shook his head and said, "I don't have any good plans, and what Lord Shixu said is extremely true, now the imperial court should be resting and recuperating, and it is indeed not appropriate to start the sword soldiers lightly." ”

At this time, Prince Qing, Zhang Zhidong, Qu Hongzhen and other old ministers all showed their thoughtful strategies, they were all old fritters in the officialdom, and they had vaguely heard Yuan Shikai's meaning, but Na Tong had not yet reacted, and said: "I thought Lord Yuan had any high opinions!" It turns out that it was nothing more than that. ”

Yuan Shikai sneered and said: "Even if the imperial court should not lightly start the sword soldiers at this time, then Prince Su's move is really unwise, and it is against the will of the imperial court to provoke overseas Chinese for no reason, in case it attracts the retaliation of overseas Chinese, in case it provokes overseas Chinese to meet with the imperial court's swords, where will the imperial court be." ”

When Na Tong and Shi Xu heard this, they also opened their mouths and couldn't say a word. And Yuan Shikai ignored them, faced Cixi and Guangxu, and owed a debt, and said: "The queen mother, the emperor, Prince Su's move is disrespectful, making friends with bandits, acting recklessly, recklessly, recklessly, regardless of the safety of the court, provoking strong enemies, it is really a great crime, and it is not forgivable, the ministers do not remember the feelings of their clans, but if they are not severely punished, if the ministers of the court and the central government imitate it, I am afraid that there will be a disaster of Gengzi, so the ministers are all dead, and please think twice." ”

In fact, in the past few days, Yuan Shikai has been wondering in his heart, what is Cixi's attitude towards Prince Su, whether she intends to severely punish Prince Su, most of the staff think that Cixi will not severely punish Prince Su, the reason is that Cixi is quite hostile to overseas Chinese, Prince Su's behavior at least created considerable trouble for overseas Chinese, and it can be regarded as helping Cixi breathe a sigh of relief; and Prince Su is a clan after all, Cixi wants to stabilize her power, and the clan's support for her is quite important, so when dealing with Prince Su, there will still be some scruples。

However, Yuan Shikai did not easily believe these opinions, and after his careful analysis, he finally believed that Cixi actually wanted to severely punish Prince Su, first of all, if the East China government is completely regarded as a hostile regime, then Prince Su's behavior is very ridiculous, although it caused a certain loss to the Shanghai New Area, but it has no impact on the overall strength of the East China government, so it is obviously quite unwise to pick a strong enemy when the Qing court obviously does not have enough strength. Others did not see this layer because they subconsciously saw the East China government as a separatist force within the Qing court, rather than a completely independent hostile force.

The second is Prince Su's action, which has received strong support from Japan, whether it is used as a gun by Japan or not, but it is a fact that there is collusion with Japan, and Prince Su's action was not informed to the imperial court, but it was notified to many clan ministers, and it has also received a lot of support among the clan ministers, and these points are the most taboo things for Cixi, colluding with foreign countries, befriending the clan, and going alone, these articles actually constitute a major crime of raiding the family and destroying the door, so Yuan Shikai believes that Cixi wants to severely punish Prince Su in her heart.

But Yuan Shikai also missed a little, that is, although Cixi wanted to severely punish Prince Su in her heart, Prince Su's clan identity still made Cixi have some scruples, so there needs to be someone who comes out to sing black face and block the hatred of the clan for himself, and this candidate is naturally Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai has a deep contradiction with the clan, and Yuan Shikai will definitely attract the anger of other clans, and if it is really the time to do so, you can also ease the relationship with the clan by suppressing Yuan Shikai.

When Cixi asked Yuan Shikai by name to express his position, Yuan Shikai also understood what Cixi meant, that is, to let himself be this wicked person. However, Yuan Shikai didn't mind this wicked person, because now the contradiction between him and the Qing court clan faction is very deep, so even if he is not a villain, the clan faction will not let him go, so it is better to take the initiative himself, so that he can not only fight the power of the clan faction, but also sell Cixi a favor.

Of course, Yuan Shikai is also very clear that if the clan faction makes trouble again, Cixi is likely to pull herself out and suppress it again to ease the mood of the clan faction, but this suppression is mainly formal, falling on himself, the position of the Minister of Military Aircraft is most likely unkept, and the governor of Zhili is not very reliable, but the position of the minister of military training is estimated to be reserved for himself, after all, he is blocking the gun for Cixi this time, and the court still needs people who can do practical things after all, when it comes to military training, there are indeed few people in the entire Qing Dynasty who can surpass Yuan Shikai。 Like Tieliang and Rongqing, although they are both known as knowing soldiers, they are actually on paper, and Yuan Shikai is a person who has experienced the real battlefield, which is completely incomparable with Tieliang and Rongqing. For Yuan Shikai, it doesn't matter if he is the Minister of Military Aircraft, the Governor of Zhili or anything, as long as he has military power in his hands, he has capital.

And after Yuan Shikai finished speaking, Cixi really cooperated and sank her face, and snorted. When Shi Xu and Na Tong heard this, their hearts couldn't help but tremble, knowing that it was bad, the two of them were not incompetent, of course they knew what Cixi was most taboo about, so when Yuan Shikai said "Gengzi's disaster", the two knew that Prince Su's matter was irreparable.

During the Gengzi National Revolution, the clans such as Zaiyi, Zaixun, and Zailan, who were in charge of the DPRK at that time, colluded together and did a lot of things that worsened the situation at that time behind Cixi's back It was this article that completely angered Cixi, so that Cixi, who was still vacillating between war and peace at that time, declared war on the eight countries at the same time, and finally the situation became out of control.

At this time, I only heard Cixi say: "Okay, you still have something to say." ”

At this time, everyone could hear that Cixi had already made a decision, and it was definitely to severely punish Prince Su, so naturally no one spoke, and Shi Xu and Na Tong glanced at each other and lowered their heads, after all, it was useless to say anything now.

Seeing that no one was talking, Cixi said slowly: "Prince Qing and Zhang Zhidong stay, and everyone else is kneeling." ”

A few people left the palace of nourishing the heart, and returned to the military plane, and before they could enter the house, they only heard the sky, and there was a "click" in the middle of the thunder, and the world of heavy rain fell down, and a layer of water accumulated on the dry earth.

Although they hurried and hurried, they were still a step late, and several people were half-wet from the rain, so after entering the military plane, they were busy taking off their tops and cleaning up their wet official uniforms, but fortunately, they were not completely soaked, so that they didn't need to take them off.

Yuan Shikai stood at the door, looked at the dense rain curtain outside, and said with a smile: "It's such a heavy rain, this rain can relieve the heat, and it will be cooler tonight." ”

Just as he was talking, he saw Prince Qing and Zhang Zhidong, accompanied by several little eunuchs with umbrellas, also returned to the military aircraft, and Li Lianying also came with them. Yuan Shikai hurriedly lifted the curtain and let them in, and said, "Lord Wang, Xiangshuai, the two of you have worked hard. ”

Prince Qing smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay, this rain is so heavy." ”

Shi Xu also hurried over and said, "Lord, how did Prince Su fall." ”

Prince Qing glanced at Li Lianying and said, "Gonggong Li, let's talk about it." ”

Li Lianying nodded, straightened her chest, and said in her throat: "I offer an edict, Prince Su is good and old, he has no regard for the law of the country, acts recklessly, forms a party for personal gain, and is a traffic bandit, endangering the society of the country and the country, corrupting the political program of the dynasty, and specially punished to remove the prince, demote to a concubine, and send Xi'an to serve for five years, thinking of the clan, so the crime is not as good as the relatives, and he is limited to three days to leave." Chin. ”

Shi Xu and Na Tong listened, they were also taken aback, although it did not affect the family, but this punishment is quite severe, at most I thought that the title was downgraded a few levels, even if it was not Baylor, it could also be mixed with the Duke of Zhenguo, the Duke of Fuguo or something, but I didn't expect the prince to be dismissed directly, and he had to be sent to Xi'an to serve for five years, although as Prince Su, even if he didn't have any title, he wouldn't really go to hard labor after arriving in Xi'an, but this life was completely over.

Therefore, Shi Xu immediately said: "What? This is too ruthless, isn't it? Even if Lao Su is at fault, it won't be so miserable! ”

Li Lianying said: "Lord Shixu, this is the emperor himself, we are only servants who are ordered to pass on the decree, so we know some military affairs, you ask me, but I am blind." ”

When Shixu heard this, he glared at Yuan Shikai angrily and said, "Yuan Shikai, you are all the troublemaker, if it weren't for your nonsense just now, how could Lao Shan have fallen like this." ”

Yuan Shikai snorted and said: "I'm talking nonsense? So just now in front of the Queen Mother and the Emperor, why didn't Lord Shixu point it out to the Queen Mother and the Emperor? In fact, it's not too late to point it out now, Lord Shixu can enter the palace again to make suggestions to the Queen Mother and the Emperor. ”

Shixu was squeezed by Yuan Shikai and couldn't speak, and Na Tong couldn't look at it, and said: "Yuan Laosi, you don't have to play here, we have written down today's things, and sooner or later you will be good-looking." ”

Prince Qing frowned, and said: "Shixu, Natong, you two are also ministers of military aircraft, what is this like, punishing Prince Su is the decision of the Queen Mother and the Emperor, are you going to question the Queen Mother and the Emperor?" Although Prince Qing is also a member of the clan, he is not a member of the clan faction, but he is in a party with Yuan Shikai, so he naturally wants to help Yuan Shikai speak at this time.

But questioning the big hat of the queen mother and the emperor, Shixu and Natong couldn't bear it, so the two glared at Yuan Shikai fiercely, and regardless of the rules of the military aircraft department, they flicked the curtain and went out in the rain.