Shi continued: "Lord Zhang, aren't there still Britain and France to support us? Britain and France are the first and second strongest countries in the world today, and no matter how strong overseas Chinese are, they will always be stronger than Britain and France. Why should we be afraid of overseas Chinese?"

Zhang Zhidong sighed, thinking in his heart that he would be the Minister of Military Aircraft with such knowledge, but Shixu was always better than Tie Liang and Liangbi, and he would not do anything against Hanchen, so he patiently explained: "Western countries are not trustworthy, Britain and Japan, France and Russia all have alliances, this move is obviously to help their allies, and let me go to the Qing Dynasty to be the enemy of overseas Chinese, uneasy and kind, how can we be fooled." ”

Liangbi was a little unconvinced, and said: "Lord Zhang's words are clearly afraid of overseas Chinese like tigers, such a concession will only increase the arrogance of overseas Chinese, and all the trends of overseas Chinese today are too connived in the past in the imperial court, and the queen mother and emperor must not listen to his greedy words." ”

Zhang Zhidong also said angrily: "According to your intentions, it is to gamble the imperial court, how can national affairs be such a child's play?"

Liangbi was about to speak, when he heard a eunuch come in and report: "The Empress Dowager, the Emperor, there is Yuan Shikai and Lord Yuan waiting for the decree outside, and there is an important military situation to face the Empress Dowager and the Emperor." ”

Guangxu was also a little surprised, because Yuan Shikai should only be able to return to Beijing tomorrow, why did he come back today, is it really an important military situation? Guangxu glanced at Cixi, saw Cixi nodded slightly, and said: "Xuan Yuan Shikai will come to see." ”

After a short time, Yuan Shikai came from outside the palace, and after saluting, he said: "The Empress Dowager, the Emperor, the minister received an urgent report from Hebei yesterday that there was a civil uprising, Handan, Jizhou, and the three states of Daimyo were lost, and the minister did not dare to conceal it, so he hurried back to Beijing to report to the Queen Mother and the Emperor. ”

After listening to Yuan Shikai's words, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were shocked, although Handan, Jizhou, and Daimyo were all in the south of Hebei Province, far from Beijing, but Bi Jing was still in the territory of Hebei Province, and it was the first popular uprising in Hebei after the uprising of Jing Tingbin, Zhao Sanduo and other Boxer remnants in Hebei.

In fact, now everyone knows that the bandits living in Henan and Hubei are actually a branch of the East China government, but they have not expanded into Hebei, and they mainly operate among the villages, rarely capture the county seats, and do not seem to pose much threat, so they all pretend not to see it, in fact, the actual area controlled by the river and lake base areas has reached nearly half of the two provinces of Henan and Hubei, and in terms of the territory controlled by them, they have surpassed Shandong.

Now this gang of bandits has finally attacked Hebei. At this time, most people also understood that this was the most severe warning issued by the East China government to the Qing court. If the Qing court insisted on sending troops to the northeast, then the East China government would expand in Hebei.

Zhang Zhidong immediately said: "The queen mother, the emperor, you must first settle the inside, now that the people of Hebei are changing, we must not sit idly by, and send troops outside the border, let's stop talking about it for the time being." ”

At this time, Cixi said: "Okay, let's put aside the affairs outside the customs first, and you can talk about what should be done about the Hebei people's uprising? Zhang Zhidong, what do you think should be done?"

Zhang Zhidong hesitated for a moment and said, "The minister thinks that he should send someone to negotiate with the overseas Chinese, or he can persuade the overseas Chinese to retreat." Zhang Zhidong understood very well that the East China government was only doing this to warn the Qing court, and it would not turn against the Qing court, after all, the center of gravity of the East China government is now in Liaodong. Therefore, as long as the Qing court promised to send troops to the northeast, the East China government would stop, and even give up the three state capitals it had taken, and Zhang Zhidong still had considerable confidence.

Cixi snorted and said, "Yuan Shikai, what do you think?"

Yuan Shikai said: "Returning to the Queen Mother, according to the minister's opinion, it is tolerable, which is unbearable, overseas Chinese are so rampant, the court can no longer swallow its anger, and should raise troops to recruit her, quell the civil unrest, and recover the three states." ”

Rao is Cixi has been silent, at this time can't help but be surprised, in fact, Cixi is quite annoyed, a few years ago she can repeatedly tolerate the East China government, but she didn't expect the East China government to get an inch, this time actually brazenly threatened herself, but Cixi also knew that Zhang Zhidong's suggestion was indeed the most feasible way, but she always felt a little uncomfortable in her heart. However, Yuan Shikai's attitude towards overseas Chinese has always been based on forbearance, and he didn't expect to put forward such a radical suggestion this time.

Cixi hadn't spoken yet, and Guangxu said: "Yuan Shikai, is it feasible for the imperial court to send troops to quell the chaos?"

Yuan Shikai said: "Of course it is feasible, overseas Chinese sending troops outside the customs can also be said to recover the country, or can be coaxed for a while, and it is inevitable that there will be some slander when the imperial court sends troops outside the customs, but the overseas Chinese conniving at the people to make rebellion in the customs are unforgivable, and the imperial court sent troops to ask for it, which is justifiable; The Russian war, naturally flawless scruples in the Guannei, the imperial court sent troops to quell the rebellion, when the situation is like a bamboo, not to mention that the imperial court has been training troops for several years, which is being used at this time, and the minister is unwilling to lead the army to go out to quell the rebellion, in order to boost the prestige of the Qing Dynasty and repay the favor of the imperial court. ”

Guangxu was also quite excited when he heard it, it turned out that when the traverser first came ashore, Guangxu once regarded the traverser as his own hope, fantasizing that with the help of the traverser, he would regain power, take charge of the government, and then pull out the chaos. However, the later actions of the traverser also completely broke Guangxu's illusions, and only then did he understand that the overseas Chinese wanted to change the dynasty and completely replace the Qing court, so Guangxu's attitude towards the East China government changed greatly, after all, he was still the emperor of the Qing court, and it was impossible to allow the Qing court to be subverted.

However, Guangxu also knew that the Qing court could not completely offend the East China government, and should be cautious in handling relations with the East China government, and focus on forbearance, so that it was quite consistent with Cixi. However, listening to Yuan Shikai's words, Guangxu was also a little tempted, because what Yuan Shikai said was indeed reasonable, taking advantage of the fierce war between the East China government and Japan and Russia on the battlefield in Liaodong, tidy up their subordinates in Henan, not only will not excessively provoke overseas Chinese, but also show the achievements of the imperial court's military training in the past few years, and also frustrate the arrogance of overseas Chinese. But although Guangxu is now freer than before the Gengzi Kingdom Change, he can't decide anything, so he turned to Cixi and said, "What does the Queen Mother think." ”

At this time, Tie Liang said: "The queen mother, the emperor, the slave thinks that Lord Yuan's words are reasonable, this is a great opportunity to crack down on overseas Chinese, and the slave is willing to lead the army to go out and do his best for the country." ”

Generally speaking, Tie Liang will oppose anything that Yuan Shikai approves of, and this time he agrees with Yuan Shikai's suggestion, which is really the first time in the world. Because of listening to Yuan Shikai's words, Tie Liang also realized that this was a great opportunity. The bandits who made trouble in Hubei were also comrades of overseas Chinese, but they Bi Jing was the nature of grass bandits, and it was of course much easier to deal with than the regular People's Army, if they led the army to go out on the expedition, they could not only establish meritorious deeds, but also take the opportunity to take away the military power from Yuan Shikai, who was Yuan Shikai to Cixi to ask for war, Tie Liang even decided that Yuan Shikai must not be allowed to rob this errand, otherwise it would be difficult to take the military power from Yuan Shikai's hands, so Tie Liang also hurried out to lead the army.

Cixi hesitated, Yuan Shikai's words also made Cixi quite tempted, and it was good to have the opportunity to teach overseas Chinese a lesson, but Cixi was much more cautious now, because although Cixi played political power tricks to the fullest, she was not very proficient in military affairs, so she couldn't judge how sure Yuan Shikai's words were, and she couldn't make up her mind for a while.

After a long while, Cixi said, "Zhang Zhidong, what do you think?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Back to the Queen Mother, the minister also thought that this proposal was feasible. ”

Cixi frowned and said, "Although it is a top priority for the imperial court to send troops to quell the chaos, if overseas Chinese take this opportunity to defeat the Japanese and Russian armies and occupy the land of Liaodong, how should they deal with it?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Japan and Russia are not weak, even if the overseas Chinese want to defeat Japan and Russia, it is not easy, even if they defeat Japan and Russia, their own casualties will be heavy, then the land of Liaodong has been repeatedly warned, the place is dilapidated, it will take time to restore tranquility, so the ministers expect that the overseas Chinese will defeat Japan and Russia, restore Liaodong, at least 5 years, more than 10 years can no longer use the sword, at that time the new army of the imperial court has been completed, the national strength has been restored, and there is no fear of overseas Chinese." What's more, Japan and Russia may not be willing to lose, and the recuperation troops are back, and the overseas Chinese are still flawless in taking care of themselves, so how can they have the spare strength to take care of others. ”

In fact, after Yuan Shikai finished speaking, Zhang Zhidong was also weighing the success or failure of the expedition if he sent troops to conquer, although he and Yuan Shikai did not have a deep friendship, but he also knew that Yuan Shikai would not joke about this kind of thing, since he said so, he was naturally a little sure, or that he had reached some kind of agreement with overseas Chinese, which is completely possible, because the East China government's current goal is not in Hebei, but on the battlefield in Liaodong, so their subordinates are making trouble in Hebei, but acting to save Zhao from Wei, as long as they can drag the imperial court for a few months, or even 1 year。 Although Zhang Zhidong has never fought a war, he has trained as a soldier, and he has experienced the Sino-French and Sino-Japanese wars, so he has a somewhat practical understanding of the war, which is much stronger than people like Tie Liang and Liang Bi who talk about war on paper.

In addition, the communication channels between the Qing court and the East China government are mainly maintained by Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, Zhang Zhidong is mainly responsible for communication at the government level, just like this time the East China government issued a threat of war to the Qing court through Zhang Zhidong, and Yuan Shikai is maintained in private, after all, Yuan Shikai is still the governor of Zhili, and the governing office is located in Tianjin, and he and the East China government can communicate at any time. In recent years, some people have been impeaching Yuan Shikai for collusion with the East China government, although they are all over, but there is no wind and no waves, so Zhang Zhidong also believes that Yuan Shikai is indeed likely to reach an agreement with overseas Chinese, and sending troops is also a fake fight, the East China government has won time, and Yuan Shikai has won the war and each takes what he needs, otherwise with Yuan Shikai's character, he will never be so reckless.