Yuan Shikai did not fail to think that the Beiyang military array would salute the emperor in the same way when it passed through the viewing platform, and several military advisers also made this suggestion to him with great enthusiasm and sincerity, as if they wanted to compete with their colleagues in charge of training the three separate infantry brigades - their explanation was that "the elite of West Point must not lose to the pheasants of Virginia and the otters of Annapolis", but Yuan Shikai never understood the meaning of this sentence - unfortunately, this requirement was too difficult for many soldiers, They either can't respond immediately to commands, or they react too early, or they just can't keep the queue in line when they salute. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the end, the military adviser could only admit that there were no months for rigorous training, and the only use of that idea was to lower the emperor's evaluation of the Beiyang Army, but the parade was imminent, and there was not so much time to prepare, so it was abandoned and not really implemented.

Yuan Shikai originally thought that the same was true of his rivals. After all, military advisers of the same company, the same training methods and preparation time, they will not do better than him. Before Zhang Shaozeng's team passed in front of the emperor, he was still very relieved and calm, and then it was a heavy blow.

He had no chance of regaining the emperor's appreciation.

Of course, he was not the only one who saw this, but these people who saw it also had more far-reaching insights - Wang Zhen, tilted his head to Zhang Binglin, and whispered: "I can bet you, Mr. Zhang, that the Beiyang Army will soon become an unreliable army. ”

Zhang Binglin glanced at him strangely and asked rhetorically: "When is the Beiyang Army a reliable army?" ”

Wang Zhen was stunned, then pretended to think about it for a while, and finally squeezed out an expression of approval. "You're right, Mr. Zhang."

The Beiyang Army was not a reliable army, and in fact this was the view of the emperor, members of the imperial family, the Manchu ministers, and some Han bureaucrats who remained loyal to the Manchu regime, because the supreme commander of this army, Yuan Shikai, was not a reliable person - he participated in the "Southeastern Mutual Protection", and this fact alone is enough to prove that there was a serious problem with his loyalty to the emperor and the empire.

However, no one has expressed this view publicly. First, it would offend foreigners, second, the officials who started the movement but are still in high positions, such as those who served as auxiliary ministers, and, finally, the fact that Yuan Shikai was the supreme commander of the Beiyang Army, commanding 40,000 well-trained soldiers, was in itself a sight to make officials who tried to denounce him publicly think twice.

They could only do one thing, and they did: when the American military advisers suppressed the Beiyang Army, they acquiesced in their actions, hid in the shadows to add fuel to the fire, and then looked at Yuan Shikai with a gloating eye. It's not a good thing to do, and it only makes him and his army less and less reliable, but these cautious and loyal officials just can't help but do it.

So Yuan Shikai and the Beiyang Army really became unreliable.

But that's not what Zhang Binglin meant - of course, Wang Zhen also knew it very well. UMBRELLA's military advisers were the main factor in the unreliability of the Beiyang Army. I don't know whether it was Qin Lang's instruction or a spontaneous act, the military advisers passed on their views cultivated in the American army and mercenaries to the junior officers and ordinary soldiers of the Beiyang Army: the military is just a dangerous profession that sometimes requires life and therefore has a high mortality rate, it is neither noble nor lowly, "courage, mission, honor" is just a slogan, loyalty and patriotism are just banners, and the real objects of military service are monthly salaries, wartime allowances, retirement pensions, and death pensions...... And so on and so forth.

There was even a time when they openly declared that if the State could not pay salaries on time, did not pay them according to the standards, or set the standards too low, it should be forced to change with bayonets. To prove the validity of this view, they cite the example of the American military, starting with the Springfield Mutiny of 1790, without leaving behind a single one of the last hundred years, except for not mentioning the outcome of these mutinies.

Such radical rhetoric eventually provoked protests from the Qing government, and Minister Conger and Washington were also dissatisfied, so the head of the advisory group called a brief meeting of all the military advisers, asked them to restrain a little "slightly", and then it disappeared from the surface.

And in private, these statements still exist; And not only in the Beiyang Army, the same problem arose in three separate infantry brigades.

They have had a serious impact. Although, not everyone will accept those statements, but the vast majority will. The Qing army was like that, but it was not as openly proclaimed as the military advisers assessed, and they were constrained by traditional notions that the military advisers were doing was destroying those notions in an attempt to turn the army they trained into mere mercenaries.

Now, they haven't been fully successful, but when they finally achieve their goal, the most elite forces of the Qing Empire will become extremely unstable.

Because, according to its financial situation, sooner or later it will not be able to afford the growing military spending.

And then...... It is the moment that the revolutionaries have been waiting for.

"Mr. Zhang," Wang Zhen tilted his head to Zhang Binglin again, "when do you think these unreliable armies will become the fuse of the revolution?" ”

Zhang Binglin was vigilant: Wang Zhen behaved a lot like a government spy who carried out fishing tactics. If you think about his personal relationship with Li Hongzhang, then it is even more similar.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Wang." He replied.

"Of course you know what I'm talking about, Mr. Zhang, you're in a clandestine campaign to overthrow the government...... Please don't look at me like that. Wang Zhen laughed, "This is what Li Zhongtang told me." Don't be surprised, the Military Aircraft Department knows about you. ”

"Oh, really? So why didn't the court arrest me? Zhang Binglin asked rhetorically, "Look, I'm here." ”

"Because you have an umbrella on your head." A pun on the phrase, they both knew what it meant, "Besides, the incident in London has already embarrassed you, and they don't want a second time." ”

"That's it?"

Wang Zhen hesitated for a moment, and then said, "And the common opinion of the auxiliary ministers is that your activities are not dangerous. ”

Not dangerous? Zhang Binglin sneered. It seems that the central apparatus of the Qing government was in line with its enemies - many saw his revolutionary tendencies as false, because he and his team did not create a bloody armed uprising, did not launch a massive propaganda offensive, and finally did not engage in an impassioned debate with the conservative royalist clique - from any point of view, he seemed to have done nothing.

For those who were intent on overthrowing the Qing government for various purposes, the doctor who was running around, appealing, and selling revolutionary bonds was a qualified revolutionary.

Zhang Binglin understands the opinions and comments directed at him, which, of course, are superficial and naïve.

However, since the senior officials of the Qing government also thought so, these comments and opinions became favorable and turned into a kind of smoke for the deceptive.

He smiled. "Maybe they're right."

Wang Zhen shook his head. "I think you are a revolutionary party who does not pretend to be like a revolutionary party. My father, of course, was just a vinegar peddler, who had neither read for a few days nor had much knowledge, but he always said that dogs that bite people don't bark -- I'm not humiliating you, Mr. Zhang, but just thinking of a random analogy. ”

No matter what he wanted to say, Zhang Binglin's opinion of him was extremely bad, so he put his face up and didn't want to deal with him anymore.

But Wang Zhen selectively ignored his attitude. "I don't mean anything other than to wonder why you didn't start an armed revolution. You should have the power to do that—"

"Why didn't your boss make a revolution in China?" Zhang Binglin kicked the ball back, "His strength is stronger than any revolutionary." ”

"He's a businessman."

"I'm a scholar."

"You're not the kind of scholar who often says you can't rebel in three years." Wang Zhen said in a tone that was by no means confused, "I know you don't want to say it, but I do want to know the answer to it." ”

"Why do you want to know the answer?" Or rhetorical question.

There was another moment of hesitation, but Wang Zhen still admitted: "To be honest, according to the current situation, the revolution will inevitably cause turmoil, and turmoil is beneficial to my business." ”

Zhang Binglin frowned for a moment—Wang Zhen's words were a copy of Qin Lang—and then said, "Then you already know the answer." ”

"What?"

"Turmoil."

The use of force to overthrow the Qing government will only cause widespread and long-term turmoil until he has the military and political forces capable of controlling the situation in the country for a short period of time, and this is not what he wants to see - he is accumulating strength, but this is a necessary and long process that cannot be completed all at once.

However, this is not the main reason why he remains silent. The real reason is only known to him: he cannot answer Qin Lang's question yet, what kind of country he hopes to build China in, on behalf of foreign consortia, on behalf of domestic consortia, on behalf of small and medium-sized capitalists, and on behalf of landlords...... or on behalf of other interest groups. The question has nothing to do with the form of the new state power. Dictatorship, centralization, republicanism, and democracy are all superficial, superficial symbolic words, all of which have no meaning, and the only thing that makes sense is the regime of which interest group.

He hadn't figured out the answer yet, except that the new state power could not represent the interests of a foreign consortium, even if the leader of the consortium was a Chinese. But the situation is moving in that direction, because that was Qin Lang's plan, because it was in his interests.

Therefore, the second question he had to solve was: how could he stop Qin Lang?

They are all important, more important than the overthrow of the Manchu government, which unfortunately many people have not considered.

Some saw the overthrow of the Manchu government as the sole goal, believing that overthrow was a sign of the success of the revolution; Some people think that China can be better off by introducing Western democracy; Still others think that Western countries will help China become rich and powerful.

They are all fools. (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.) )