When Yuan Shikai heard this, he couldn't help but cry bitterly in his heart, why did Cixi target him at this time, but Cixi asked, and he couldn't help but say it, and he couldn't talk nonsense, because Cixi was not a person who was easy to fool.

However, Yuan Shikai is Yuan Shikai after all, and he quickly thought of a set of rhetoric, saying: "Back to the Queen Mother and the Emperor, the ministers think that foreigners are treacherous, so they must not be gullible." ”

Guangxu was a little impatient and said, "Isn't the Queen Mother asking you?

Yuan Shikai said: "Although the proposal between Britain and France seems feasible at first glance, the consequences are unpredictable, so please think twice about it."

Guangxu said: "What are the consequences, Yuan Shikai, you can make it clear." ”

Yuan Shikai said: "The minister is only afraid that the rebels will be in a hurry, and they will jump over the wall in a hurry, loot by force, or forcibly occupy my Qing Dynasty territory, and now the rebels have occupied Shanghai, and the navy of the rebels is quite powerful, if the imperial court decrees that businessmen and the rebels trade with the rebels, the rebels will not be able to continue, and they will take risks, and go up the Shuojiang River to capture Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anzheng, and Hubei, and the imperial court must not ignore it." ”

When Guangxu heard this, he couldn't help but hesitate, although he couldn't see that stopping trade with the East China government would not work at all, but he still understood Yuan Shikai's words, and he also knew that once the war started, the Qing court would never be the opponent of the East China government.

In the past few years, he has occupied Henan, attacked Hebei, went down to Jiangsu, entered Hubei, forcibly occupied Shanghai, attacked the city and plundered the land, is it true that the bandits have not been able to stop trading with the bandits, and the bandits have not been able to stop since then?"

Yuan Shikai shook his head and said: "Otherwise, now the rebels are at war with Japan, Russia, Britain, France, and the Netherlands, although they have won, but they are already seriously injured, and it will take time to recover, and the rebels have just occupied the land of Manchuria outside the Guan, and their foothold is not stable, and it will take time to operate. But if the coercion is too much, I am afraid that it will be desperate and dangerous, and it will do great harm. ”

Na Tong snorted and said: "The vitality of the rebels is greatly damaged, and the imperial court is just raising troops to conquer, even if they do not carry out military reform, they should also be cut off from the source of their financial support, how can I use my strength to make up for their shortcomings and help the enemy recover." ”

The two of them argued like this, but Guangxu was confused, and he only felt that what everyone said made sense, but he didn't know how to decide.

At this time, Cixi snorted softly, and Yuan Shikai and Na Tong immediately stopped talking, and stood with their hands down. Cixi said slowly: "This matter will be handed over to the Military Aircraft Department for discussion slowly." ”

Everyone hurriedly said in unison: "Yes." ”

Cixi said again: "What is the situation now, all of you also know that this disaster of rebels is better than the rebellion of the boxers and bandits, the rebellion of Gengzi, the court has done something wrong, the emperor and I were forced to hunt west, this time we can't be wrong, if you have any good ideas, you might as well say it directly, right or wrong, there is always a discussion." ”

Everyone listened, and they couldn't help but beat a little drum in their hearts, they didn't understand what Cixi meant, Gengzi Guochang was a taboo topic in front of Cixi, and no one dared to mention it, this time it was Cixi herself who mentioned it, even Yuan Shikai, who has always been good at figuring out Cixi's intentions, was deliberately confused, peeking at Prince Qing, thinking that he was by Cixi's side, Fujin often entered the official to play cards with Cixi, and her daughter often lived in the palace and served by Cixi's side, so she should know Cixi's intentions. But Prince Zhiqing shook his head slightly, saying that he didn't know either.

At this moment, Zhang Zhidong said: "The queen mother, the emperor, the minister thinks that what Yuan Shikai said is reasonable, after the war, the rebels need to recuperate, and there will be no big move in a short time. ”

Guangxu glanced at Cixi and saw that Cixi had no intention of speaking, so he said: "Zhang Zhidong, according to your opinion, how should you prevent it." ”

Zhang Zhidong said: "According to the minister's opinion, when between Beijing, Tianjin, Beijing, and Shandong, choose the most dangerous places, arrange heavy troops, build fortifications, and purchase artillery, ammunition and other materials in case of unforeseen needs. ”

Yuan Shikai listened, he was a little disapproving, and thought that Zhang Zhidong had any good insight, it turned out to be this, in fact, after the establishment of the East China government, the Qing court has been guarding against the East China government, and two of the six towns in Beiyang are specially designed to guard the direction of Tianjin and Shandong. In fact, however, everyone knows that even Britain, France, Japan, and Russia cannot resist the East China Government's troops, and is it not a fool's dream to expect the Qing army to block the attack of the People's Army? Therefore, Zhang Zhidong's remarks are nothing more than a repetition of the same old tune, that is, coaxing old ladies and children.

But at this moment, Cixi's eyelids suddenly twitched, and she said, "What about the second?"

Yuan Shikai's heart suddenly flipped over, and he faintly felt that something was wrong, with Cixi's mansion, he should not ask this sentence, unless he heard Zhang Zhidong's words, but he didn't hear it.

Zhang Zhidong said: "Now the rebel bandits are big, the court is weak, can fight when the battle, can not fight when defending, can not guard when leaving, so please also ask the court to make plans as soon as possible, if it is really invincible to the bandits, do not prevent the southern crossing of the Jin and Song dynasties, even if it is a move to hunt west, there is no need to rush." ”

After listening to Zhang Zhidong's words, Yuan Shikai shouted in his heart, he didn't expect this, in fact, Cixi also understood in her heart that the Qing court was by no means the opponent of the East China government, so she had to be ready to run away.

Sure enough, Cixi also breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, in the past few days, she has not just lost her temper in the palace, but is seriously thinking about what to do? Fighting will definitely not be able to defeat the East China government, this Cixi is also very clear in her heart, and the foreigners are also unreliable, Britain and France proposed to prohibit merchants from trading with the East China government, the Qing court is simply unable to do it, so there is only one word that can be thought of - run.

Cixi has experienced two escapes in her life, but these two times were hasty escapes, since it was the one six years ago, it can almost be regarded as a lost dog, the hard work is embarrassing, the risk is frightening, Cixi still has palpitations when she thinks about it now. Judging from the current situation, the third escape is inevitable, but this time, of course, you must prepare in advance, after all, you are now an old man over 70 years old, and compared with 6 years ago, her physical condition is much worse, and she can't stand the toss anymore.

But Cixi couldn't say it clearly, so she could only hint in her words to see who could understand her painstaking efforts, but the result was that Zhang Zhidong's mind was flexible and he first understood his own mind.

So Cixi also nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave this matter to you and Zaifeng, and make good arrangements." ”

Zhang Zhidong and Zaifeng immediately said: "Yes." ”

Cixi said again: "Yuan Shikai." ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said: "The minister is here." ”

Cixi said: "Prepare the back road, just in case of unforeseen needs, Beijing's defense still cannot be relaxed, you are the minister of military training, this matter will be left to you." ”

Yuan Shikai complained bitterly in his heart, this is not a good errand, because the Qing court will definitely not be able to defeat the East China government, and it is completely thankless for him to defend himself against the attack of the East China government. But now Yuan Shikai is not allowed to refuse, so he has to say: "Yes." ”

Cixi nodded and said, "Okay, let's disperse today." When everyone heard this, they saluted Cixi and Guangxu together, and then withdrew.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Qing court issued two orders for personnel changes: one was to transfer Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Liangguang, to Beijing to serve as the secretary of the criminal department and participate in the new policies of the Qing court; and the other was to promote Wu Yong, the governor of Shanxi Province, to the governor of Shanxi.

Cen Chunxuan and Wu Yong were in Gengzi country, after Cixi fled in panic, the two of them have been escorting Cixi to Xi'an, so they won Cixi's trust, and after Cixi returned to Beijing, the two were also promoted, Cen Chunxuan was successively appointed by the Gansu political envoy to Shanxi, the governor of Sichuan, the governor of Liangguang and other important positions, and became the feudal official of the Qing court;

This time the two of them changed their positions, and also said that Cixi made arrangements for another escape, and the escape was nothing more than two preparations, one is to have a capable person around to protect him, and the other is to have a trustworthy person along the way to respond, although now the Qing court is reusing Yuan Shikai, but Cixi knows very well that Yuan Shikai can not be convinced that this time to escape, or to reuse others, so Cixi appointed Zhang Zhidong, Zaifeng was in charge of the preparations for the escape, Zhang Zhidong was the patriarch of the Qing court, and Zaifeng was the child of the clan that Cixi focused on cultivating, and Cixi was still at ease with the two of them, but these two people were old and young, and they needed competent people to assist them.

In the past few years, Cen Chunxuan has made a lot of achievements in implementing new policies in the local government, organizing and training new troops, promoting education and teaching, and punishing dirty officials, and Cen Chunxuan is 45 years old this year, when he is in the prime of life, he is no better as Zhang Zhidong and Zaifeng's helper, and in recent years, Yuan Shikai has also been a little too floating, and someone needs to suppress him.

Compared with Cen Chunxuan, Wu Yong's career is much more plain, in addition to his starting point being lower than Cen Chunxuan, another important reason is that Wu Yong's personality is too upright and not very good at being an official, so Cixi always puts Wu Yong in the place, in fact, it is also to protect Wu Yong, otherwise with Wu Yong's character, he will inevitably offend a large group of people when he arrives in Beijing. At that time, I am afraid that even Cixi will not be able to protect him.

And this time the Qing court fled to the old road of 6 years ago, both to Taiyuan and then to Xi'an to gain a foothold. Then depending on the situation, you can enter Sichuan from Xi'an. At this time, Wu Yong came into play, and he was promoted to Wu Yong as the governor of Shanxi, just to respond to Cixi's escape.

Only then did Yuan Shikai know that Cixi had probably considered escaping a long time ago, but she just used herself as a backing for the imperial court, and it seemed that she should also find a way out.