Neutrality. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Yuan Shikai decided to be neutral.

It's ridiculous.

Yi Shui didn't know what to say about the result. Is it not at all fearful of the joint punishment of the two Majesties that a government official, fearing the imminent threat and the possible reprisals, finally decides to remain neutral and not support neither his Emperor nor his Empress Dowager......

He is not afraid, there is no need. If you think about it, it is.

Yuan Shikai was not the first official to declare neutrality, he only followed in the footsteps of Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi, and a dozen other high-ranking officials, but was only an inconspicuous participant - the wrath and punishment of the king could not befall him, and in fact, there would be no punishment at all.

Cixi and Guangxu, no matter how angry they were, could not have punished a dozen or so high-ranking bureaucrats who held local power, nor had they punished the leaders. Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi, they all have an extensive and complex network of relationships at the central and local levels, with thousands of protégés and subordinates, although these people are not entirely credible, they are still a powerful force to be reckoned with. As long as they had not turned their backs on their teachers and superiors, Cixi and Guangxu could not risk punishing a few "imperial ministers" who advocated neutrality.

Of course, they can't punish Yuan Shikai for his lower status, that would be a huge joke, and the bigwigs will do their best to protect their followers in return for these people supporting them.

So Yuan Shikai really has nothing to worry about.

Yi Shui laughed.

His performance made Tan Sitong puzzled. "Mr. Yi doesn't seem to be worried at all," he said, his face ugly, and Yuan Shikai's decision prevented him from completing the task assigned by the emperor, and further complicated the situation. But the bigger problem is the attitude of the provincial governors, without their support, it will be difficult for the emperor's situation to be improved.

These old slippery heads!

Tan Sitong was indignant, but Yi Shui smiled even more happily. "Why should I worry? Peace, Lord Tan, I like peace, if the world becomes peaceful, I will be unemployed, but this is good......"

Tan Sitong didn't understand what he wanted to say at all, Yi Shui's speech was incoherent and illogical, fortunately, this was not a matter for him to care about, all he wanted to care about was Yuan Shikai's new army. "Mr. Yi, without the support of the New Army, your troops ...... Well, wouldn't it seem a little weaker? ”

"Your worries are unwarranted." Yi Shui put away his smile and said calmly and lightly, "I don't think that any imperial army would have the courage to attack my troops. ”

"What if the Queen Mother promulgates an edict?" Tan Sitong asked, but it was more like a warning.

Yi Shui shook his head. "This can't happen - the Queen Mother would never be so stupid."

Very affirmative tone. On the one hand, Yi Shui had never heard of the great feat of the Empress Dowager declaring war on the nations in another world, and on the other hand, he could not see that the Empress Dowager had any armed force to rely on, whether it was governmental or civilian.

It was 1897, not 1900, and the supposedly "invulnerable" and outnumbered Boxer Rebellion did not yet exist - it was almost certain that the large number was the main reason Cixi decided to take advantage of it, not some "invulnerability", after all, she was not a peasant woman who had never seen the world - without this very good and powerful army, although Cixi was very angry and angry, and wanted to teach the British and Americans a lesson, she could only endure it, Take all your anger out on other people.

She would not have declared war on Britain and the United States, and of course, there would have been no fighting. The mercenaries carried out a simple deterrence mission.

"Don't you think this is too optimistic, Mr. Yi?" Tan Sitong said. He was thinking about how to convince Yi Shui to support him in gaining control of the new army, this was an important task arranged by the emperor, and he had to do his best to complete it, and Yi Shui's soldiers were indeed on the low side.

Seven thousand soldiers, what can this power do? Of course, the Anglo-American coalition had many powerful warships, but they could not go on land to fight, they were just decorations.

"We need to expand the size of the Army." He suggested.

But Yi Shui's answer is still no. "Not us, Lord Tan, I have no interest in your proposal, and I insist that my seven thousand soldiers are more than enough to deal with this incident."

He knew what Tan Sitong was thinking, but it was neither in line with Qin Lang's plan nor his personal wishes, and Yi Shui didn't like Tan Sitong as a person - he came up with the idea of selling Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Mongolia to Britain and Russia, although Qin Lang found it very interesting and highly creative, but Yi Shui just wanted to beat the person who made the suggestion hard - of course, he couldn't do it, at least not now. In any case, Tan Sitong was also a representative of Emperor Guangxu, and beating him might cause some trouble to the plan, while Yi Shui always maintained a strong sense of the overall situation.

However, he can ruin Tan Sitong's mood and make this guy depressed, depressed, and unhappy, and he has almost done that.

Tan Sitong's face suddenly changed a little, but then returned to normal.

"Self-righteous fake foreign devils." He muttered in his heart, controlling his expression so that it tried not to change in any way, and at the same time said: "Mr. Yi, maybe you don't know, the Queen Mother and the people of the Hou Party are definitely hard and not soft, if you have too few soldiers, I'm afraid it will not be easy to scare them." ”

Yi Shui scoffed at this statement. "Lord Tan, don't you understand that my troops represent the British government and the United States government, and 7,000 people may not be a lot, but it has fully demonstrated the attitude of the two governments. There is no doubt that the Queen Mother will accept our request, unless she intends to provoke London and Washington. But like I once said, she's not so stupid. ”

It took him a while for Tan to realize that "London" and "Washington" were referring to the British government and the U.S. government. He cursed the fake foreign devil in front of him again, and insisted: "Be prepared, Mr. Yi, don't you even understand such a simple truth?" ”

If he wanted to make Yi Shui angry, yes, he had already done it.

"No, Master Tan, I understand very well." For the first time, he looked at Tan Sitong squarely, but he said to him in a tone that was definitely not friendly, "But I also know that you just want me to help you get the command of the new army." Because you have a task on your shoulders and you don't complete it. But what does this matter have to do with me? Minister Conger only asked me to eliminate the threat of Yuan Shikai and his army, and I have already done it, and now I must report to the minister as soon as possible, and then join my troops, otherwise they will really attack the new army. As for your business......"

Shaking his head and sighing, Yi Shui continued: "When I was in the United States, I once heard a song with lyrics that there was never a savior, and it didn't depend on the immortal emperor...... Anyway, I think it's right. For a while, Yi Shui wanted to reach out and pat Tan Sitong's shoulder, but after thinking about it carefully, he shouldn't be used to this kind of small action, so he still didn't do anything, just said, "Lord Tan, everything depends on you." ”

With that, he got into his carriage, closed the door, and the carriage ran away in a puff of smoke, and soon disappeared.

Yi Shui threw him at the gate of Yuan Shikai's barracks, and after a while, Tan Sitong realized this and immediately shouted angrily. But no one looked at him except for a few patrols that had passed him and had been ordered to return to the barracks to standby.

He was still too inconspicuous, and even in the eyes of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the conservative ministers who tried to arrest him, he was only a small person, and his importance was not even greater than that of Shang Yishui.

Beijing.

"Easy water! It's easy water again! Always easy water! "In the Military Aircraft Department, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, and the co-organizer of the university, Lord Ronglu, are complaining to his colleagues, "He was the one who sent troops to surround Suixi County and invade Guangzhou last time, and he was the one who led the troops to invade Tianjin this time, and this kid is simply a disaster star......

There is no doubt that this kind of evaluation is unreasonable, but for a bureaucrat, reason is never a matter worth considering, and Rong Lu is just worried that the last incident has caused countless officials, including Tan Zhonglin, to lose their hats, and who will be unlucky this time?

He didn't want to be one of them, although in reality, he was lucky enough: according to history, Rong Lu should have been supervising the training of the new Beiyang Army, and Yuan Shikai was his subordinate, and now, since he had declared neutrality and joined Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Liu Kun to call for peace and resist war, then Rong Lu would definitely need to take responsibility for it.

Although it wasn't his fault, and he didn't even know anything about it, the angry Empress Dowager Cixi needed someone to vent her anger.

The old lady who had controlled China for many years was so angry that she was on the verge of a stroke.

A well-deserved result. Not only Cixi, but the vast majority of people felt that the choice of one to be emperor was a matter for China, and had nothing to do with foreigners - although women should not interfere in such serious state affairs either, but it was better than foreigners - but now, foreigners sent troops to interfere, and Cixi certainly could not tolerate it. And what made her even more depressed was the fact that she had no intention of changing the emperor at all, and had not even taken action to put him under house arrest...... Although she was prepared to do so.

The joint intervention of Britain and the United States was not only unjustifiable, but also inexplicable, even if they openly claimed that it was because of the Emperor's invitation.

Cixi did not believe that Guangxu would take the initiative to invite foreign troops into China to intervene.

But in any case, the joint intervention force had already arrived and was about to land in Tianjin, and at the same time the notes of the British and American ministers had also been sent to the Prime Minister's Yamen, and the trouble was in sight, which could not be avoided and solved.

Although the requirements of the British and Americans are very simple.

After complaining for a while, Rong Lu turned his attention to the note that had just finished translating, and then his brain began to ache faintly again. "To restore the personal liberty and full power of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, to release all arrested reformist officials, to revoke the arrest warrants for other reformist officials, and to relinquish all powers and pledge not to interfere in all political affairs again...... Rude to the extreme, simply rude, how could Galeries Lafayette agree to such a request? ”

In fact, there is no problem with the first three demands, although it is not very reluctant, but in such a dangerous moment, a temporary compromise is also an effective solution, but the fourth demand will only completely mess things up. Let the Queen Mother Lafayette hand over power, why didn't the British ask their queen to abdicate?

And the Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Americans.

Rong Lu felt that this kind of request was simply crazy. "What do the British and Americans want to do?" He looked at the interpreter standing beside him, "Is that the same with the original text of the note?" ”

"Back to my lord, that's the truth." The interpreter replied respectfully.

"It's crazy." Rong Lu shook his head and looked at his colleagues, "How do you think this matter should be handled?" ”

No one spoke, everyone was silent. At times like these, when danger lurks, it is undoubtedly extremely unwise to express an opinion, and whatever you say may hit the muzzle of the gun - although there is still a risk of not saying anything, you will still be the unlucky one for some reason, but it is better than running into it.

But Rong Lu has another opinion, no matter what, always find a mouse to tie a bell to the cat, instead of waiting for Lafayette to choose an unlucky one at random, it is better to find a way to determine this place first, then the rest of the people will be better.

He cleared his throat and was about to bring up the idea, but at this moment someone sent a telegram.

It was the telegram that Yuan Shikai had seen. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )