In the evening, Zhang Yi placed Wang Wu and others and came to see Li Hongzhang.

"Oh? Is there such a thing? After listening to Zhang Yi's story, Li Hongzhang groaned slightly.

Zhang Yi said: "Yes, this matter is proposed by his subordinates, Tan Sitong and Liang Zhuoru initiated it, and nearly 100 young scholars have been contacted in Beijing, all of whom want to study abroad and study for the prosperity and strength of the country. Lord Zhongtang, but now, the funds are a little difficult, and it still needs 20,000 or 30,000 silver to be able to use it, and the subordinates have delivered the rewards given by the emperor and the queen mother to them, and there are still some gaps, and the subordinates are helpless, and the court has never known others, so they have to bother Lord Zhongtang. ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "I didn't expect Tan Jixun to follow the old ways, but he gave birth to a good son, studying abroad is a good thing, a few years ago, the imperial court also organized students to study in the United States, but in the end, it didn't happen, and spent a lot of silver taels, this time, are you sure that they can learn something?" ”

Zhang Yi replied: "Lord Zhongtang, these people are very different from those students who go to the United States, these people are all **** talents, enthusiastic to serve the country, and they are quite knowledgeable, unlike those children, who are still in the moment of ignorance and ignorance, and there are many inconveniences in the United States. I think that when they travel to study, they will be able to achieve something when they return. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said: "These people travel far to study, how can it take three or five years to return, and when the time comes, you can become your right-hand man, your plan is good, very visionary." Tens of thousands of taels of silver, we can still get it, and later, I will let Xingsun prepare it for you. You don't have to worry too much about other things now, go all out to train the new army, remember, you only have less than a month, no matter what, to build this new army well, make it an invincible army to defend the Qing Dynasty in the future, this is your priority, the Qing Dynasty is stormy, you have to defend the foundation of China in the future. ”

Zhang Yi replied: "Zhongtang rest assured, your subordinates will definitely not disappoint you, the emperor and the queen mother." ”

Zhang Yi hesitated for a moment and said: "Lord Zhongtang, in fact, what I want to do is to send a group of young talents to study in Europe and the United States every year, and choose economics, engineering, railways and other disciplines. If this continues, how can we be able to thrive in the Qing Dynasty? In the end, it is not arbitrarily humiliated by the great powers, and it is impossible to turn over. If we can continue to send young people to study and wait until they return from their studies, what will it be? ”

Li Hongzhang sighed: "Jianzhi, what you said, the old man doesn't know, it's just that the pressure on this matter is too great, and many ministers in the DPRK and China oppose it, and the matter of children studying in the United States ends in nothing." We set up foreign affairs in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army and resist foreign aggression, but there are always such and such constraints, so what? Your position is still low, and when you get to the position of an old man, you will know how difficult the future is, we are just watchdogs, those real magnates, never think about what will happen to their children and grandchildren in the future, what will happen to the common people, only know pleasure, and the people are short-sighted. ”

Zhang Yi replied: "Lord Zhongtang, we don't have to worry about these things, how can they talk about their affairs, just with such a small matter, they can't help you, can they?" ”

Li Hongzhang glanced at Zhang Yi and said: "Jianzhi, I am very optimistic about your talent, but after all, you have limited experience, yes, just with such a small thing, it is true that you can't help the old man, but don't forget, we are in the officialdom, there are many people who offend, there are many people who are worried about it, and it will still crush us to death. I did this for you, but in the follow-up annual operation of the scholar's study tour, let's talk about it, don't be reckless, wait until the Sino-Japanese war is over, your whereabouts have stabilized, and you have a certain foundation, and it is not too late to operate such a thing. ”

Zhang Yi nodded, since Li Hongzhang was worried in his heart and did not support it, he could only postpone it, after all, his current status is low, once such a thing is made big and is participated in by the courtiers, it will be worth the loss.

Time flies, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Yi has returned to China for nearly a month, the training of the new army is also in full swing, just these 20 days of training, 10,000 new troops have fired nearly a million bullets, shells have also shot out hundreds, Zhang Yi deeply felt that artillery training is not easy, personally asked Li Hongzhang, from the Tianjin Armed Forces Academy to remove 20 students from the artillery department, set up an artillery training camp, plus part of the team members of the blue wolf, for artillery, strict training, Although the level of the artillery battalion is not very high now, it is also presentable, and the next thing is to go to the battlefield to hone real knives and guns, if an army does not see blood, it will never become the elite of a hundred battles.

Now, Nie Shicheng's telegram requesting the new army to enter the DPRK has been sent to Li Hongzhang in Tianjin, and Li Hongzhang, accompanied by Zhang Yi, first inspected the new army, and then handed Nie Shicheng's telegram to Zhang Yi.

Li Hongzhang said: "Jianzhi, now that the commander of the Japanese army in Korea has been determined, the new commander Dashan Yan has arrived in Seoul five days ago, and now preparations are in full swing, and it is inevitable that China and Japan will go to war again. ”

Zhang Yi sighed and said: "Lord Zhongtang, the current training time of the new army is still too short, although there are some results, but it is far from enough, but it can only be like this, three days, three days later, the new army will be ready to pull out, rush to North Korea, this time the time is urgent, I am afraid I still have to rely on Lord Ding's navy to transport, the land route is too time-consuming, it must be too late." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Well, in this way, I will now send a telegram to Ding Ruchang and order him to lead the Beiyang Fleet and escort the new army into the DPRK, and three days should be enough." ”

Zhang Yi said: "My lord, I'm afraid that the time will not be too long, the Japanese army is definitely going to attack the front line of Kaesong, while transporting the army, it is still necessary to prepare a batch of munitions and go to Korea together, this Japanese attack must be extremely fierce, if the baggage can't keep up, then Admiral Nie will be very difficult." ”

Li Hongzhang replied: "You don't have to worry about this, Beiyang's ammunition reserves can be dealt with for the time being, and the guns and ammunition ordered from Germany have now begun to return, and it is estimated that it will take two months to arrive in Tianjin, during this time, it depends on you and Gongting." ”

Zhang Yi said solemnly: "Don't worry, my lord, my subordinates will never let Japan take advantage of it at all!" ”