During his tenure, Li Hongzhang devoted himself to the Westernization movement, that is, to learn from Westerners and seek new changes.

Learning from the advanced management and advanced technology of the West, he also set up some industries.

In this way, the direct subordinates of his governor, at least in the northern regions, were richer.

Sometimes Lafayette wants to use the money, but there is nowhere to go, so he talks to Li Hongzhang and asks for something.

People have paid everything they should have paid, and if they ask for it again, they are begging others.

Li Hongzhang knew that if he didn't give it, it wouldn't work, and if he gave it, his liver hurt, so he had to give some discounts and put forward some conditions.

This time, Lafayette's hands were tight again, and he opened his mouth to ask Li Hongzhang again, and Li Hongzhang took the opportunity to bring up Yuan Shikai's matter. Aren't you just going to get promoted? Officials can be sold, what is it to get money to get a promotion? There are no quota restrictions, and the salary is not much longer.

Besides, Lafayette also has a good impression of Yuan Shikai.

In this way, Yuan Shikai's career has reached a big step. In February 1890, Li Hongzhang wrote to Yuan Shikai "Bloody loyalty, talent and wisdom, strength to the overall situation, and difficulty alone", a sixteen-character assessment comment,

Please exempt the prefect from the supplement, and use the Taoist to return to the alternate class in each province first, and reward the second rank.

Soon the order was given. Since then, Yuan Shikai has changed into a red top and has become a second-class member and a supervisor of the department.

Yuan Shikai has no fame, and it is rare to see such a high position all of a sudden within eight years, from ancient times to the present.

In addition to obtaining resources from the family and heirs, and making good use of these resources. In addition to luck, in addition to their own subjective efforts, such as loyalty to duty and conscientiousness; Flexible, intelligent and studious, strong coordination skills; In addition to being able to do things, being good at dealing with interpersonal relationships, the most important thing is to have a backer like Li Hongzhang.

Even Yuan Shikai's third brother Yuan Shilian was deeply grateful to Li Hongzhang, and wrote to his family and said: "My family has received the grace of the country, and Fu Xiang (Li Hongzhang) knows the long, although the liver and brain are reported, I can't say it." ”

This is not counting, and then, in August 1892, Li Hongzhang played again to ensure that Yuan Shikai was released in the name of the customs road. In May of the following year, he was appointed as a Taoist of the Wen Division of Zhejiang, and remained in North Korea.

Although Yuan Shikai continued to have good things and prosperous official fortunes, his life in North Korea was very difficult. As he wrote in his letter to his second sister: "My brother thinks that he can't live outside for a long time, and he will try his best to get out of this sea of suffering, so that he can return one day sooner." However, there is no substitute at home and abroad, and this has a bearing on the overall situation of China and Asia, and it should not be silenced. ”

However, in order to flaunt himself, in Li Hongzhang, he always boasted that the North Korean side was so good to him? How much respect is there for him? His opinion is how to value it for North Korea.

For example, in May 1890, he boasted in a letter to Li Hongzhang: "A certain person has won the hearts of the people here. ”

In October 1891, he wanted to take advantage of his mother's illness to leave Korea, but he did not forget to tell a lie in his leave: "I met the king and his son, and he was very affectionate. Now I know that I am very kind to Han, and I have done everything in the past, please don't mind and so on. Nearly since the loan Nian Wan, Han Junchen was pleased, Kai took the opportunity to contact and enlighten, and the powerful Min Yongjun, Yongda, Zheng Yu and so on are good. Jun and the others repeatedly admonished the king and the concubine to be honest and honest, and believed in Kai to protect themselves, and the king and concubine gradually understood. If we can see this for a long time, things in the East can be expected to go smoothly. ”

Korea is adjacent to Tsarist Russia and across the sea from Japan, and the country is weak and incompetent. Japan and Russia have long coveted this piece of meat. It is only with China, a big country, standing behind it, that it is easy not to dare to take action.

With the decline of the Qing Dynasty, their courage grew.

Japan, in particular, is a small island country and is eager to expand. After the Meiji Restoration, the national strength became stronger and stronger, and it became more and more capable of foreign aggression and expansion.

Japan has been preparing for the annexation of Korea for a long time, and Yuan Shikai has been kept in the dark. He does not understand the general situation of the world, and even less does he know about the contrast of world forces.

I don't know much about Japan, and I don't see this small country in the east at all.

Japan was ready to invade Korea in 1890, but in 1893 he was not aware of it in his letter to Li Hongzhang.

claimed: "Speculating on the current situation, I will never dare to provoke Watson, and I know that Hua Zhi is making peace, so he is jumping off the beam and hoping to sell tricks." If Hua Prison has a specific opinion, he will not pretend to do so, and he will change his picture. ”

There has been a lot of activity in Japan, and it is already very obvious that he is still blindly optimistic and full of self-confidence.

Another letter to Li Hongzhang also said: "I heard that the new Japanese envoy to the country, Oishi (Oishi Masaji), said that he could unite with other countries to support South Korea to become independent, and he would never be insulted by Hualing,...... The attached group of small people suddenly increased their momentum, and they were afraid that the independent discussion would be revived. However, the year before last, Wei (Russian Minister to the DPRK Wei Bei), Denis (an American, recommended by Li Hongzhang, co-organized the internal affairs affairs of the DPRK and was in charge of the foreign affairs yamen in charge of the department)) and other attempts to achieve Korean independence, so far they have not been able to do anything. It is not as strong as Russia, Dashi is not as cunning as Wei and others, and all countries may not listen to its alliance, and the mediocrity is disturbing in vain, and it seems that they are incapacitated. ”

"The former Dashi wrote "Han Theory", which is quite a Korean person. once recorded Han Junchen and provoked trouble. Recently, I heard that King Han hated Dashi, and the attached widows held their breath, and they did not dare to say anything about it, and they would be incapable of their own heresy. ”

Yuan Shikai's remarks were either due to his misjudgment of the situation, or in order to show himself, he continued to tell lies, say big things, and deceive the upper authorities for his own personal gain, or maybe it was both.

Li Hongzhang trusted Yuan Shikai too much, and was also kept in the dark by Yuan Shikai. As a result, several battles against Japan were either underprepared or underestimated to the enemy.

Although these failures, strategically, are ultimately related to national strength. However, the mistakes in tactics and strategies caused by the unclear situation are undoubtedly related to Yuan Shikai's misleading, that is to say, Yuan Shikai is to blame.

In April 1894, Joseon Dongxue DA

g mobilized the peasants to stage an uprising in Jeolla Province. Despite the ferocity of the uprising, it is difficult for the North Korean authorities to be able to quell the unrest. But because he has suffered all the hardships of Yuan Shikai over the years, he doesn't want to lure the wolf into the house, and he is afraid that it will be easy to invite God and send God. Therefore, Yuan Shikaidi's suggestion was rejected and China was not invited to send troops.

It was not until May 31 that the rebel army conquered the whole state, and the number of people increased and the power grew. Li Xi saw that if he did not ask China for help, the regime would not be protected. So, on June 1, he sent someone to find Yuan Shikai for help.

Yuan Shikai has been gradually marginalized in North Korea over the years because of his lack of strength, and he was overjoyed when he heard about it. Tell Li Xi to write a formal submission so that it can be forwarded and reported.

At this time, Japan was ready to send troops to Korea. In order to find an excuse for his own troops, he especially hopes that China will send troops to the DPRK.

On the same day that Li Xi proposed to ask China to send troops, an interpreter from the Japanese embassy in Korea came to meet Yuan Shikai. It is said that the uprising was extremely damaging to commerce, and that North Korea was powerless to suppress it. proposed that China, as the suzerain, should not be left out of the matter; He vigorously instigated China to send troops to the DPRK. repeatedly deceived Yuan Shikai that Japan had no intention of sending troops.

Yuan Shikai believed it and immediately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang: "Han Guihua is protected, and his internal strife cannot be stopped. …… If not, people from other countries will have fun doing it, and they will put it somewhere! Self-reliance must be an unavoidable move. ”

Li Hongzhang had already heard from other channels that Japan was going to send troops to Korea, and asked Yuan Shikai about Japan's movements. Yuan Shikai did not investigate and understand, and based on subjective assumptions alone, he replied: "If there are many things, I can't plan to transfer more than 100 troops to Han in the name of protecting the embassy." ”

dispelled Li Hongzhang's concerns and misled Li Hongzhang again.

On 2 June, preparations were made for Japan to send troops, and on 3 June, Japan's acting minister to the DPRK, Jun Sugimura, made a special trip to meet with Yuan Shikai and urge China to send troops. This trip is also for spying on China's military intelligence.

Yuan Shikai was very careless and told him about China's plan to send troops. Leaked military information. This enabled Japan to seize the initiative before China.

At this time, Yuan Shikai still did not have any vigilance against Japan, and after the Japanese acting minister to Korea, Sugimura Jun, left, he immediately telegraphed to Li Hongzhang: "Shankai and Kai are on good terms, and the meaning of their words is focused on the merchants and people, and there seems to be no other intention." ”

dispelled Li Hongzhang's last concerns.