At 5 a.m. on 14 March, Yuan Shikai received a secret telegram from the telegraph office, saying that Rong Lu had died of illness. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info This news is good news for him. Because Rong Lu is the chief military aircraft, as soon as he dies, this Cixi will have no backbone, and she will inevitably have to find a new candidate.

Of course, it can't be him Yuan Shikai, but this is an opportunity, to install his own accomplice, and he is worried that he will not have a chance to be promoted in the future. Obviously, there are only three people in the court who can make up for Ronglu now, one is Prince Zaifeng, one is ****** Yixuan, and the other is Prince Su Shanqi.

Among the three people, if he had to choose, it would of course be his old friend, ****** Yixuan. Now only he Yuan Shikai knows the news of Rong Lu's death, so the most important thing is to block the news first, and then make it public when he has arranged everything.

Therefore, he immediately informed the telegraph office that if there was a telegram from the Military Aircraft Department, it must be pressed until dawn before sending it.

blocked the news, so he telegraphed to the Beiyang Office and sent someone to mourn Ronglu, and at the same time sent someone to invite his military advisor Yang Shixiang. When he saw Yang Shixiang, he handed over the telegram and said:

"Rong Zhongtang is gone!"

Yang Shixiang read the telegram and asked, "Does the Military Aircraft Department know?" ”

"The telegraph office has been told to press it."

"Good! As long as King Qing can stabilize the position, there will be no mistakes. Yang Shixiang seemed to be very sure.

"But he doesn't know yet, why don't you bother to inform him," he said, pulling out a silver ticket worth 200,000 taels from his sleeve and handing it to him, "to make him calm down." ”

Qingwang Yixuan had just gotten up, and before he finished washing, Yang Shixiang walked in.

"Lord Wang, morning!" Yang Ganxiang greeted King Qing with a smile.

"Lord Yang, there must be something important to come here so early, right?" Yi asked him.

"Yes! If there is no urgency, I don't dare to bother the prince so early! He said, took out a red sleeve seal, held it in front of Yixuan with both hands, and said, "Yuan Weishuai wants the prince to accept it, it will be useful!" ”

Yixuan took the sleeve and opened it to see that there was nothing in it except a silver ticket of 200,000 taels. He opened his eyes wide, stared at Yang Shixiang, and asked, "What does this mean, someone actually sent money to the door early in the morning?" ”

"Lord Wang, Rongzhongtang has passed." He put his mouth in Yixuan's ear and said. Yixuan understood and knew how to spend this silver ticket. He really admired Yuan Shikai's courage and talent.

After sending Yang Shixiang away, Yixuan sent his cronies to find Li Lianying and asked him to come freely. The telegram of Rong Lu's death had been sent to the military aircraft, and while the Empress Dowager Cixi was discussing with the Minister of Military Aircraft how to deal with Rong Lu's funeral, Li Lianying took the time to come to King Qing.

Rong Lu had a very close relationship with Li Lianying before his death, and as soon as Rong Lu died, Li Lianying was naturally a little unhappy in her heart, and her face was sad. Seeing Li Lianying come in with a heavy heart, King Qing took out a red sleeve from his sleeve, which was on the table. looked at Li Lianying, and then pointed to the set of seals.

Li Lianying listlessly picked up the sleeve and pulled out a silver ticket. Suddenly, my eyes lit up, my God, 100,000 taels! He put the envelope on the table again and asked:

"Lord Wang, who sent it?"

"It's hard for you to wait for Lafayette all day long, even if I send it to you for her!" As soon as she heard that it was given by the prince, Li Lianying relieved her heart, put the seal in her arms, and said, "Thank you for the reward!" ”

"Don't know if you take the money, what's in it, send me a letter!" The prince said his intentions.

"Don't worry, the prince!" It's not once or twice that Li Lianying has done this kind of thing.

The loss of Ronglu was no less than the loss of Li Hongzhang to Cixi.

Li Hongzhang is a Hanchen, talented, serving the country, loyal and wise; Rong Lu is a Manchu minister, and he has a special relationship with Cixi, what he wants is not to contribute to the country, but to serve the Empress Dowager Cixi under the guise of the country.

Li Hongzhang can only be regarded as a loyal minister of the state, while Rong Lu can be said to be a close confidant of Cixi. Therefore, Rong Lu's death made the Empress Dowager Cixi even more uncomfortable. She was distraught and summoned three Han military planes to discuss the aftermath of Rong Lu.

As soon as Rong Lu died, the first thing in front of Cixi was to find someone to fill Rong Lu's vacancy. Therefore, after learning the news of Rong Lu's death, she was very worried, on the one hand, she was sad because of Rong Lu's death, and more importantly, she was considering several candidates in her mind.

Li Lianying knew what Cixi wanted to hear, so she said: "According to the opinion of the servants, as long as Lafayette finds another person to make up for the shortage of Rongzhongtang, the overall situation will be stabilized." I don't know if that's the right idea. ”

"Tell me, who is the right choice?" Cixi continued to ask.

"Prince Alcohol is a personal choice, but the slave always thinks that he is too floating, and he has to put on a show on the surface, which is okay, but this minister of military aircraft, but he must be able to afford it, let it go, and make up his mind on major affairs. Prince Alcohol is simply not up to the task.

Prince Su can also be regarded as one, he is talented, measured, and assertive, but he also likes to make friends with some Han celebrities, advocating ancient style, and is very energetic......"

"Then what do you think of King Qing?" Before he could finish speaking, Cixi interrupted him and asked.

"****** is a more suitable candidate, and now he is both the Supervising Minister of State and the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he is in charge of the New Deal and Western Affairs, both of which are important matters at hand.

As long as there are no mistakes in these two things, the situation will naturally be stable. Moreover, ****** has been in charge of foreign affairs for a long time, and he still has his credit for retiring foreigners in the year of Xin Chounian! ……

This is just some humble opinion of the minions, Lafayette is extremely holy, and it is up to Lafayette to decide what to do. ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi already knew in her heart, so she called Emperor Guangxu to discuss, Emperor Guangxu was afraid of Cixi, as long as Cixi had already decided, he never objected, and he did not have the courage to object.

So when Cixi told him that he wanted to be appointed as the Minister of Military Aircraft, Emperor Guangxu did not say a word and acquiesced.

As a result, on 15 March, an edict was issued: Minister of State, Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs, ****** Minister of Military Aircraft. Yixuan was originally a royal family, and he was in charge of government affairs and foreign affairs, and as soon as he entered the military aircraft, he naturally became the core of the Military Aircraft Department and the foreman of the military aircraft ministers.

As the Minister of Military Aircraft, from Baoding to Beijing, there was a constant stream of guests to congratulate him, both Chinese and foreign, of course, the most proud should be Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili.

As the chief military machine, it can be said that the people want, the situation in Beijing and China is stable as usual, but due to the corruption of Xu Yingliang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the courtiers ordered Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangjiang, to review, and Xiliang, the former governor of Shanxi, succeeded Xu Zhi; Wang Jichun, the governor of Guangxi, was not very competent and was replaced by Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Sichuan; The governor of Liangguang, Deshou, although he did not have any bad deeds, seemed to be disrespectful to the imperial court, so he was transferred to take care of the nominal Caoyun......

Finally settled, what should be raised has risen, what should have fallen has fallen, and what should have been adjusted has also been adjusted. (To be continued.) )