As if a stone stirred up a thousand waves, Pu Anchen's post quickly became a hot topic of discussion in the past two days.

Although it was only a post submitted to the Prime Minister's Yamen, and the name used was nothing more than "Righteousness", anyone with a discerning eye knew that this was a request to the imperial court to send Xuan Jun to the United States to "help suppress rebellion".

Whether it is the ministers of the court or the small people in the market, they all know about the affairs of the foreign country for the first time, and they are surprised to find that in the foreign country, there are also rebellions, and there are also things that their court cannot handle.

Now you're coming to us!

The officials of the prime minister's yamen and various departments have become popular figures for a while, and there is an endless stream of visitors who come to the door every day to inquire about the news.

The Guan family's mansion in Caochang Hutong suddenly closed its doors. Guan Zhuofan sat alone in the study, grabbed a cup of tea, and quietly waited for the summons of the two palaces.

Of course, such a major event will not be decided at the imperial dining table in Fang Zhai Hall.

He has been preparing for this matter for too long, concentrating on planning and making detailed arrangements, starting from the gift of 50,000 taels of silver to the American consul Charles, and ending with the letter of the American minister Pu Anchen to the Prime Minister's Yamen. The foreshadowing in all aspects has been done enough, and now as long as the two palaces are summoned, he is confident that he will definitely be able to invite grace.

The Songjiang Army has been waiting for it.

It is true that the construction of the army is inseparable from the development of the country, but if China really wants to do foreign affairs and strive for self-improvement, it must have even a strong army to escort it.

And such an army, in the current China, will definitely not be able to train itself behind closed doors. Even decades later. Yuan Shikai trained at a small station. The six towns trained to "build a new army". Its combat superiority was only relative to that of other miscellaneous and backward armies -- to put it bluntly, it was the same as the superiority of the Xuan army against the Taiping army.

Such a "new army" would still be difficult to resist in the face of the armies of the Western powers.

Now that we have to take a shortcut, we have to let the army really fight with the foreigners and truly experience the baptism of modern warfare. It is indispensable to genuinely cultivate a group of outstanding officers and non-commissioned officers.

There is also courage and conviction to be cultivated -- if they can truly defeat the foreign army on the battlefield once, then the inspiration in their hearts is immeasurable.

What's more, let them open their eyes and take a look at the shijie outside.

As for the opponent, Britain and France are too strong, and Long Hair is too weak, so it is appropriate to use the Americans to practice.

American Civil War. It has been two years since the bombardment of the fortress by the Yugoslav army. And it's obviously a vast territory. The north, which has a large population and strong industrial advantages, has always had no way to take the south, and has suffered all the hardships on the battlefield and is at a loss.

It's a really interesting thing. Before the war began, there was only 16,000 regular troops in such a large country, and such a small number of people had to guard against the Mexicans in the south and the Indians in the west, so both sides of the war relied on militias and recruits who were hastily enlisted to cope with the war.

Fortunately, there are still many experienced and outstanding officers, and after two years of fighting, the real US Army can be regarded as gradually taking shape.

Under such circumstances, Guan Zhuofan's proposal surprised American Consul Charles -- in his eyes, there was no doubt that the Songjiang Army formed by the Xuan Army was the most elite army in China, at least in China, and was rich in combat experience. More importantly, there are not only nearly 1,000 Americans in this army, but Wall is the commander of this army.

Wall is a well-known figure among Americans, a "legend of the Far East", whether in Crimea or in China, his experience of commanding mercenaries is talked about by Americans. At a time when the North and the South are deadlocked, if these 20,000 people can suddenly appear on the battlefield, whether it is a foreign army or a mercenary, although I dare not think that it will immediately change the pattern of the war, it will definitely be a strong support for the northern government!

As a result, telegrams were frequently circulated on both sides of the ocean, the capital city of Shanghai, secret envoys came and went, and the US Government and the envoys in China finally reached a unanimous agreement.

In the end, Pu Anchen made a condition to the Prime Minister Yamen that he would go to the United States for volunteerism, and that all military salaries, ordnance and equipment, as well as pensions for the wounded and wounded soldiers, would be provided by the US Government, and that after the victory in the war, the US Government would donate 1.2 million taels of silver to the Qing Dynasty to build a machine factory and a shoe factory, and that American merchants would be forever prohibited from importing opium into China.

In addition, Puanchen produced a draft of a treaty that could be signed as soon as the Northern government won and the United States was unified.

"The Great Qing Kingdom and the Great United States cherish the freedom of the people to come and go, or travel, or trade, or live for a long time. China's independence should be maintained, and China's independence should be preserved. If China can achieve equality, it can also give equal privileges to all countries. ”

Guan Zhuofan thought to himself, as the first reciprocal treaty in China's modern history, it makes sense to start with this sentence.

*

*

The eunuch who summoned Guan Zhuofan to the palace arrived as scheduled. When I entered the Palace of Cultivating the Heart, I saw the whole class of military aircraft led by King Gong - such a major national event, of course, had to be met by the two palaces and the military aircraft, and it could not be decided by him Guan Zhuofan.

"Pu Anchen's post, our sisters have already discussed it with the military plane." Cixi, behind the yellow curtain, said calmly, "Now I have a few words to ask you." ”

"Yes."

The result of the discussion is still unknown, but looking at King Gong's face, Guan Zhuofan already has a little bottom in his heart.

The three secret room talks persuaded the king of the council in the end, and convincing King Gong was equivalent to convincing the whole class of military aircraft.

"Now that the United States has divided the north and the south, the Xuan army went to the United States to help the north fight. In your opinion, you can beat it, but you can't beat it? ”

This is the biggest problem - if the north wins, everything is naturally easy to say, if Zuihou is actually the south wins, then how is it good?

"If you go back to the Queen Mother, you must be able to beat it."

"How so?"

Guan Zhuo Fanxin said that it was naturally seen from the history of Shijie. But this sentence cannot be said here.

"It's like the court destroying the long hair," he replied loudly, "and if you fight against the odds, you will win!" ”

That is to say, the North is orthodox, the South is rebellious, and naturally the North should be victorious. This answer occupies the truth, in addition to being dignified, it is also very beautiful, and the queen mothers of the two palaces nodded together.

"So, if we win, what good will it do us?"

The benefits are written in Pu Anchen's post, since he still wants to ask, it is not about the one million or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but about the big truth, which is not something that can be clearly explained in one sentence.

"Empress Dowager, the minister has the courage to speak up."

"Okay, you say."

"The so-called those who do not seek the world cannot seek a time, and those who do not seek the overall situation are not enough to seek a domain," this is what he has long thought of, "In today's world, the great powers are waiting for me, and those who want to seek me are not only Britain and France?" If we say that we will fight one by one, and the ministers say something that is not listening, we still can't do it. Since this is the case, the best way is to let them know that China also has soldiers who can fight and have the heart to fight, then they have to weigh before they want to bully people. ”

"You mean, scare them?" Cixi heard the taste.

"The Queen Mother Shengming is just to scare and scare them. For example, no matter how strong the tiger is, he doesn't dare to fight the idea of a hedgehog. If anyone dares to move, prick him, it's not fun! ”

By the way, it's not fun to prick him! Cixi completely understood, not only was there excitement in her voice, but even the tassel on the flag head shook slightly: "Sixth Master, what do you think?" ”

"The minister thinks that Guan Zhuofan is right," King Gong bowed slightly, and said, "The Xuan army went to the United States in the name of righteousness and bravery, even if there was a small setback, it would not hurt the dignity of the court. ”

This sentence is extremely old-fashioned, which means that if you lose, it is just the "righteous bravery" recruited by Wall, and if you win, it will be the Xuan army sent by the imperial court.

At this point, the matter is almost a foregone conclusion, but there is one more concern that cannot be left unasked.

"Guan Zhuofan."

"The minister is here."

"Wall and Forrestal, although naturalized, were Americans. Take this army and hand it over to them, I don't know if it's reliable, it's unreliable? ”

"Empress Dowager, the minister is invited."

"You say."

"Please go to the post of governor of Jiangsu, go to the United States with Wall, and serve as a loose soldier."

*(To be continued......)