The admiral is generally set up in one province, but the five provinces of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangxi do not have a governor, and the governor is also the commander.

Daniel Zhang "led the governor of Shandong" and Ixan "led the governor of Anhui", that is, the governors of Lu and Anhui provinces no longer "concurrently led the governor"; In fact, Daniel Zhang and Ixan will not go to Shandong and Anhui to take office, but only "remote lead", so what is the point of doing this?

This means that major changes in the military system, and even in the political system, are about to take place.

By the late Qing Dynasty, the flag battalions and green battalions in various places, that is, the armies under the commanders, had completely reduced to security forces, and they could not even fight public security wars. These Qiu Ba can't be counted on in a serious field war, let alone a modern war.

It must be fought, and it can only be like the Hunan army and the Huai army, temporarily pull the pole and piece together a force. The combat power of this kind of army, no matter how Zeng Guofan and his ilk will "look at people" and "govern the army", in the final analysis, is tied to two points: first, silver; Second, the friendship of fellow villagers.

Therefore, as soon as the battle is over, the silver is full, the anger is vented, and the combat power is at most fifty percent; At the same time, it naturally became a "hometown association" and became the personal property of the generals who commanded the army, and the state command was ineffective. So for the country, the combat power will be discounted in half, and at most two or three percent will be left.

What is the use of such troops?

In Guan Zhuofan's plan, this type of troops, whether they are flag battalions, green battalions, Hunan armies, or Huai armies, must all be dismantled and downsized, leaving no more than one-fifth of those who are still usable, and some of them will be reorganized into a pure security army, and it is enough to have a deputy general or even a general in each province; The other part goes to the newly established police system.

Disarmament costs money, but it costs even more to raise a large and useless army.

Meantime. On the basis of the Xuan Army. Establish a regular, modern national defense force.

New army. Both the National Defense Forces and the Security Forces must be strictly separated from the regime.

The current local governors not only have administrative and financial powers, but also de facto military command.

The Qing Dynasty, like the Ming Dynasty, deliberately lowered the status and power of military commanders in order to prevent the military from being arrogant or even causing rebellion. The admiral is from the first rank, the governor is from the second rank, and the governor is from the second rank. However, the military admiral had to be subject to the restraint of the literati governor and the governor, and the officials of the first rank saw the officials of the second rank and the second rank, and they had to attend the court, which was very funny.

In order to make the salutes and salutes less awkward, and to shorten the distance between everyone, the imperial court will generally add a title to the governor and the governor: Shangshu, the Imperial History of the Left and Right of the Imperial Procuratorate, these two are from the same product; Squire, this is the second grade.

Some of the governors were scholars. The co-organizer of the university is from a product. The Faculty of the Temple is a genuine product. Scholar is not a pure title, for an admiral. This is the overwhelming existence of Mount Tai. Obviously, he is at the same level as others, or he is one level lower than others, but when he arrives in front of others, his legs and feet become soft before he salutes.

This system not only effectively controlled the dominance of the warriors, but also effectively reduced the combat effectiveness; In addition, when the central government is strong enough, it is naturally fine, but once the central government is weakened, it will be difficult to control the local governors who hold political, financial, and military power at the same time.

This is a very important reason for the fall of the Qing Dynasty in the original time and space.

Guan Zhuofan must not only reform the military system, but also collect power from the localities -- the first thing to collect is military power.

Therefore, Daniel Zhang and Iksan "led the governor" and did not go to Shandong and Anhui to occupy territory in a simple sense. Rather, first, the dismantling and reorganization of the local army; Second, the military command power that was originally under the governor was returned to the imperial court, or in other words, temporarily transferred to Guan Dashuai, who represented the imperial court.

The territory of Shandong, the east twist and the west twist were all destroyed in Si, that is to say, it was completely beaten down by Guan Zhuofan, and there was no problem at all when it was taken; In Anhui, Miao Peilin and Li Shizhong both started in Huaibei, and they all declined in the hands of Xuanjun, and the imperial court handed them over to Guan Zhuofan on this ground. But Anhui has always been Li Hongzhang's territory, and it seems that it will cause some trouble, but it doesn't matter, the mountain people have their own clever plans.

After the battle, the inferior soldiers were eliminated, and the military power was collected from the imperial court, and the queen mother of the two palaces and the whole class of military aircraft naturally raised their hands in favor. But at the beginning, I was not worried, afraid that I would be resisted by the local governor. But Guan Zhuofan was in his chest, and soon, it turned out that his judgment was completely correct.

The most cooperative is the one with the most troops in his hands: Li Hongzhang.

To Li Hongzhang's surprise, after the suppression of the East Twist, Guan Zhuofan tried his best to lay out the merits of the Huai Army in the excerpt of the report for success. Literally, the Huai army is simply above the Xuan army.

Guan Zhuofan did this for three reasons.

First of all, although Liu Mingchuan will take revenge on Bao Chaoen, the Huai Army as a whole does have merit. Before the Xuan army returned to China, the official army successfully implemented Guan Zhuofan's strategy of "slightly suppressing two or three things", of which the Huai army was the main force. This has laid a good foundation for Xuan Jun's most relentless speed.

Secondly, no matter how many problems Li Hongzhang has, looking at the local governors at that time, he was the most open-minded and capable one. Everything needs the allies, and the large-scale reform and construction that will be launched will require the support and participation of people like Li Hongzhang.

Again, I want to lay off your Huai Army, and I hope you will cooperate.

As a scholar, Li Hongzhang, like all other scholars in China, has the biggest dream of "entering the picture", that is, to become a university scholar. But this one, you have to take credit in exchange.

Guan Zhuofan gave Li Hongzhang this credit.

There are two halls and two cabinets of the Cabinet of Ministers, a total of four; The two co-organizers are scholars, both of whom are Manchu and half Han.

Thanks to Shengbao, Zhou Zupei, a scholar of Tirenge University, became vacant, and the vacancy was filled by Zeng Guofan as a co-organizer of the university. The vacant co-organizer was given to Luo Bingzhang, the governor of Sichuan.

I didn't want to send it to Sichuan, so Luo Bingzhang died of illness. As a result, this co-organizer was transferred to Zhu Fengbiao, the oldest secretary of the ministry. Zhu Fengbiao's official luck was bursting, as soon as he entered the cabinet, Jia Zhen, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, fell ill, so Zhu Fengbiao naturally straightened out.

After this dazzling series of changes, the co-organizer of Zhu Fengbiao's legacy "hung up".

Finally, this mouth-watering piece of fat fell into Li Hongzhang's mouth.

Li Hongzhang finally became "Li Zhongtang".

Not only that, but also rewarded with dazzling eyes and the title of prince.

This kind of reward, in terms of Li Hongzhang's actual merits, is somewhat excessive, but Guan Zhuofan has made it a reality.

Li Hongzhang is very grateful to Guan Zhuofan, he has always had a knot in his heart for Guan Zhuofan, this time the mustard is completely gone, and he publicly sighed: "Fair and square, seek the country and be loyal, Li Shaoquan is not as good as Guan Yixuan!" ”

The day after receiving the will of the reward, Li Hongzhang went to the imperial court and asked for the dismantling of the Huai army.

After the ceremony of "The Great General Playing Kai", the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces moved to the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace to meet Guan Zhuofan alone, which can be regarded as "Your Majesty's Meeting".

It was Ci'an who spoke first, and she still made the reception as usual not like the pattern of the monarch and the minister.

Ci'an let out a long sigh behind the yellow curtain, and then choked and sobbed softly.

Guan Zhuofan was quite embarrassed, and thought: This royal sister, are you made of water?

Cixi whispered reproachfully: "Sister! ”

Ci'an finally stopped, wiped his eyes with a handkerchief, and smiled at Cixi with a self-defeating smile.

Cixi turned her head and looked at the man in front of her, her heart was surging: This good day has finally been called to you!

Cixi spoke, and her tone was unusually soft: "Guan Zhuofan." ”

"The minister is here."

"This time, I'm going to have to stay in Beijing for a few more days."

Guan Zhuofan's heart moved slightly, this kind of words, this kind of tone, Cixi has never said.

He said, "Yes, the minister obeys." ”

Cixi pondered for a moment and said, "The Xuan army has been fighting for so long, so naturally it is necessary to take a good rest. It's just that although the Central Plains have been pacified, there is still chaos in Gansu and Xinjiang. What do you think of this? ”

It's a bit of a flavor. Take Xuan Jun out first, which means that if you don't want to, you can skip this errand, but you can't ignore this matter.

Guan Zhuofan said: "If you go back to the Queen Mother, the Xuan army is the army of the imperial court, and after resting, you will also have to contribute to the country." Just ......"

He paused slightly, and was considering the choice of words, and Ci'an, who burst into tears and smiled, continued: "It's just that the credit must always be left for others." ”

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