Everyone was able to gather here in a short period of time, Xu Yingkui's death was a major inducement, everyone was aware of the trouble of the chaotic party before, but no one could have imagined that they could force a feudal official to this extent. The imperial court has regarded the chaotic party as the biggest threat, Yuan Shikai of Beiyang is strong, and the new army of the six towns will be built soon, if he allows his forces to enter the south, no one dares to imagine the consequences, and that is what the imperial court does not want to see, the queen mother hopes that the south will solve the problem of the chaotic party by itself.

The problem is that the south is not monolithic, in order to keep the black gauze hat on their heads, most of the governors came to Nanjing to seek a solution to the problem, but Zhang Nanpi, the governor of Huguang, ignored it. It is rumored that Zhang Nanpi has secretly been in contact with the rebels, and that the American company Hop Hing, which was responsible for the construction of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, has withdrawn its investment, and they are unwilling to accept the construction of the war-torn area. And it was the American Ambrera Company that took over the railway, and those who know the roots know that the Ambrera Company is in the same vein as the self-improvement company of the chaotic party, which is already very revealing. Without Zhang Nanpi's acquiescence, how could the railway continue to be built? But Zhang Nanpi's power is deep-rooted, he has been running the two lakes for many years, and he heard that his self-improvement army has built a town, which is no longer something that the imperial court can easily shake.

"Lord Liu, lie down quickly, your body is important!" Due to Liu Kun's aggravated condition, he could only lie on the hospital bed and discuss with everyone, and after Zhou Fu and others came in, Liu Kun wanted to get up to greet him, but was stopped by everyone.

"If the chaotic party is not eliminated, even if I am lying in bed, I must find a way to eliminate it!" Liu Kunyi's voice was weak, but his tone was categorical, and he seemed to be quite determined. This person was born in the Hunan army, but was a fierce general, first followed Zeng Guofan to conquer the Taiping Army, and then served as the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Huguang, the minister of Nanyang and other feudal officials for many years, and participated in the First Sino-Japanese War, the battle of encirclement and suppression of the Boxers, etc. Moreover, this person is keen on foreign affairs, and during his tenure in office, he has made many achievements in modernization, in fact, all the governors present are Han ministers who are keen on foreign affairs. However, the chaotic party and them are fundamentally contradictory and irreconcilable. It is obvious that if the rebel party is allowed to take power, everyone present will lose their original rights.

The subordinates set up seats for everyone, and everyone sighed at Liu Kun, how could he and the others not be in the age of flowers, and they all had some illnesses on their bodies. Because of the chaos of the party, you can't cultivate yourself, it's really hateful!

"What Lord Liu said is extremely true, we are all willing to do our best to exterminate the chaotic party."

"Yes, those who are plotting against the party, all the military, political, and financial powers, although they claim to overthrow the Manchu rule and return our Han people, are in essence for the selfish interests of Lu Liang. As far as I know, wherever Lu Liang's subordinates go, the first thing is that his self-improvement group builds factories and seeks wealth, but the clever thing about this person is that he can give up some of his interests and give them to the big gentry and big businessmen who depend on him. But the officials were all deprived of his rights and imprisoned. Many of the big businessmen and gentry who escaped with Xu Yingkui have taken the initiative to return to Fujian and Guangdong to serve Luliang. Therefore, we should pay attention to the rich businessmen and gentry under our jurisdiction, and not let them be bewitched by Lu Liang. Li Xingrui, the acting governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, said that he was the governor of Jiangxi and knew more about Guangdong.

"The key is the army, and without a strong military force, it will not be possible to stop the expansion of the chaotic party. Sichuan, Yunnan-Guizhou, Liangjiang, Zhejiang, and Guangxi add up to eight provinces, and the number of troops is no less than 400,000. But it turned out that the old-fashioned armies such as the Hunan Army, the Huai Army, and the Green Battalion were vulnerable in the face of the new army, and the Zhenguo Army could defeat even the Japanese, let alone those old-style armies. Is there a way you can strengthen our military? Zhou Fu said.

"The formation and training of the new army requires the permission of the imperial court, and the silver on it is all for Yuan Shikai to move, even if we have the silver, the formation and training of the new army cannot be completed in a day or two. Soldiers cannot use the old style of the army, as the Tenth Town in Fujian has demonstrated. Therefore, it takes a lot of time to organize and train the money of the new army, re-recruit troops, disband the old army, purchase weapons and equipment, find instructors, establish a military academy, etc., and it needs to be played in the imperial court before it can begin. I'm afraid the Zhenguo Army won't give us so much time! ”

"That's true, the imperial court decree imposes heavy penalties on officials who are responsible for losing land, we are on the fire, and we can't advance or retreat!" Unable to find a good way, the room fell into silence, and several old men were gloomy, as if they could see Xu Yingkui's shadow swaying in front of them, and the army of more than 100,000 people was overwhelmed.

"Can we adopt the old method established by the Hunan Army and the Huai Army to reorganize the army?"

"Didn't you hear the wind? From Guangxi to Zhejiang, there is a message circulating among the rich businessmen and the gentry: follow the Zhenguo Party and make a fortune in the factory! Among the peasants and other poor people, there is a rumor that "follow the Zhenguo Party, life is guaranteed", and among the youth, "Follow the Zhenguo Party, the country has hope!" "Ladies and gentlemen, the trend of the people has changed, and he Lu Liang doesn't know what demon method he used, so that almost all people have begun to yearn for the chaos of the party. Even if a new-style army is formed, I am afraid that it will eventually turn back and become a help to the chaotic party! ”

In fact, everyone knows those things, but they subconsciously ignore them, or they don't want to think about them. Liu Kunyi, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke: "The new army must be formed, even if the chaotic party hits us tomorrow, we must start forming a new army today, this is our last hope." On the court side, we can play together, not afraid that the above will not agree; As for the silver, we can give as much as we can give, and in addition, we can levy a tax on bandits, and collect the silver of the new army step by step; Soldiers could be recruited from poor areas, following Yuan Shikai's conscription requirements; The instructors use foreigners, and there are many foreign companies in Shanghai, as long as you give money, you can buy anything; Let the court allocate some of the ordnance, and we will buy some of it ourselves; The officers of the new army, when it is too late for the formation of the military academy, go to the north to recruit, it is really impossible to let the officers of the old army serve for the time being. Liu Kun was out of breath as soon as he said so much, according to the original history, he died of illness in October, and he was already out of breath at this time.

"That's the only way, I suggest that our eight southern provinces set up an alliance to suppress bandits and jointly deal with the threat of the chaotic party. If any province is attacked by the Zhenguo Army, the other provinces have the responsibility to send troops, or contain or attack. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the same interests on this point, and we cannot see death without help, let alone tear each other down. Zhou Fu proposed.

Ding Zhenze said: "I think that the bandit alliance can be set in writing and agree on their respective responsibilities and obligations. If one of them leaves office in the future, the successor will automatically join the alliance. Even if the sub-alliance is known by the imperial court, it will not say anything, and the successor will take the initiative to join the alliance if he is shrewd enough. ”

The alliance was established, and the governors began to form a new army as soon as they returned, the greatest difficulties of which came from finances. Liu Kunyi and Li Xingrui jointly formed two new armies, one in Zhejiang and the other in Jiangxi, all in order to face the threat of the Zhenguo Party. These two towns were the fastest to be formed, and were named the 7th and 9th towns of the new army. There was originally a relatively strong army in the Nanjing area, the self-strengthening army organized and trained by Zhang Zhidong when he was the governor of Liangjiang, but later the imperial court ordered the self-strengthening army to go north to Shandong to join Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army. Later, Zhang Zhidong organized and trained the eighth town of the new army in Hubei, which was very effective, and Liu Kunyi and others still called it a self-improvement army.

As for the Guangxi region, Zhou Fu, the governor of Guangxi and Guangzhou, never took office, and everything was left to Li Hongzhang's nephew, Li Jingxi, the governor of Guangxi. The people here are even more fierce than in Guangdong, and there are many poor people, and there are enough soldiers, but they suffer from a shortage of silver, and many wealthy gentry and businessmen in Guangxi went to Guangdong to do business, and later simply moved their family businesses there, and many of the people also went to Guangdong to find work. As a result, the people-to-people relations between the two provinces are very close, and there are very few people who are willing to join the New Army -- they all know that the Zhenguo Party will soon come to fight, and no one wants to look for that bad luck. Until the outbreak of the war, the Guangxi New Army was not formed.

The Yunnan-Guizhou region is also a poor land, and Ding Zhenze thought of an excellent way - tobacco soil! He used his power to monopolize the tobacco trade between the two provinces, resulting in a mountain of gold and silver in his hands, and in order to ensure his own security and fulfill the alliance treaty, he actively formed the new army 19th town.

The last place is Sichuan, Cen Chunxuan was transferred to the governor of Liangguang shortly after acting as the governor of Sichuan in the original history, and now he does not have to run around and officially becomes the governor of Sichuan. Sichuan, the land of abundance, had unique conditions for building a new army, rich in personnel, rich in economy, and free from external influences, and Cen Chunxuan's ability was outstanding, and he quickly formed the 17th town and stationed it in Chengdu.