At the beginning of the 20th century, when the division of spheres of influence in the world was basically clear, the rise of a new power had to face encirclement and suppression from many sides, and Germany was the most obvious example. After the reunification of Germany, under the leadership of Prime Minister Bismarck, the country gradually achieved economic and military strength, but he launched two world wars in succession on the road to hegemony, both of which were suppressed by the countries led by Britain and the United States, and finally ended in hatred. Another example is the United States, in the early 20th century, the United States' road of expansion was blocked by Britain without a single gap, until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War and World War I and World War II, with its unique geographical and industrial advantages, and finally replaced Britain as the world hegemon. The strangest thing is that after the Meiji Restoration, Japan took advantage of the rivalry between the great powers and the lack of regional powers in Northeast Asia, first defeating the Manchus in the Battle of National Fortunes, and then defeating Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, and then using the opposition between the two camps to seek a lot of benefits in World War I.

Lu Liang is very clear about this, he will not hide his ears and steal the bell that the great powers have not noticed the rise and threat of the Guangdong Provisional Government, and that it is a revolutionary government in Guangdong that is developing at a rapid internal speed, and practice has proved that the attitude of revolutionaries towards Westerners is often hostile, whether it is in China, Turkey, or Arab countries, and a large amount of information shows that although the Guangdong Provisional Government does not have naval strength, the strength of the army should not be underestimated, and after the expansion of the army, the number of troops has reached 100,000, the weapons and equipment are relatively advanced, and the training is well-trained. Such a strength was enough to pose a threat to the ruling order of the Great Powers in the Manchu Dynasty, not to mention the fact that the products produced by the local factories in Guangdong were competing with the products of the Great Powers throughout China, and this alone was enough to attract the attention of the Great Powers.

The Provisional Government also used various methods to try to open a breakthrough between the Western powers, such as the procurement of various materials and the outflow of military technology, but it is disappointing that even Germany, which was in serious opposition to Britain and France, did not care about the Provisional Government's flattery. If the Provisional Government had not fought hard for the purchase of supplies, they would have slaughtered them; The exchange of military technology from later generations, this is Lu Liang's killer feature, used to attract the delicacy of the German government, he originally believed that Germany would release goodwill to the provisional government because of those technologies, and this is also a common trick in many travel novels in previous lives. Unexpectedly, the German side did not believe it at first, and after getting a little practical test, it proposed to buy out, but it resolutely did not release political goodwill, and even a German cruiser from Qingdao kept cruising in the waters off Guangzhou, with a very clear purpose, that is, the threat of force!

Lü Liang underestimated the shamelessness of Westerners, in this era, Westerners are like looking at a monkey when facing Chinese, how can they treat them equally? Even if there are huge interests in front of them, the first thing they think about is how to take them, not through transactions, negotiations and other means, this is pure bandit logic! Far from receiving the goodwill of the West, the various initiatives of the Provisional Government triggered many actions, both overt and covert: Britain strengthened its military presence in Hong Kong and covertly provided arms aid to the Cantonese pirates; The Eight-Nation Coalition had just withdrawn, Cixi had not yet returned to Beijing, and Li Hongzhang had signed a large-scale loan agreement with the West to form a new army and deal with the threat of the revolutionary party, the purpose of which was to ensure the interests of the Great Powers in China and the Manchu Qing Dynasty's fulfillment of the treaty.

The Manchu Qing reacted most strongly to the Cantonese revolution, which was embodied in the formation of new armies in the provinces. The battle with the foreigners and the battle to encircle and suppress the revolutionary army in Baonian showed that the existing military force was no longer sufficient to maintain the rule of the Manchus, and military reform was imperative. The wealthy provinces in the south are all training new armies on a large scale, and Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces have as many as one town and as few as one brigade, all of which are superficially designed to deal with the threat of the revolutionary party, which also makes it impossible for the imperial court to refute. After the mutual protection of the southeast, the imperial court no longer trusted those feudal officials, and they placed all their hopes on Yuan Shikai, the new governor of Zhili and acting minister of Beiyang.

Yuan Datou started from Korea, with his own ability and the assistance of his family, the journey was smooth, after the small station training, he served as the governor of Shandong, and then joined the southeast mutual insurance, avoiding the possible losses of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, so that his army could be preserved, and this group of troops became his biggest capital.

After the signing of the Xinchou Treaty, Li Hongzhang was infamous and insulted by foreigners, and died in November 1901 after vomiting blood many times, and Yuan Shikai naturally succeeded him as the pillar of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Influenced by the Guangdong Revolution, foreigners took the initiative to help the Manchus organize and train the new army, and the biggest beneficiary was Yuan Shikai. Except for the first town of Beiyang, which was a full Manchurian army commanded by Tie Liang, all the rest were led by Yuan Shikai's cronies.

After the news of the success of the Guangdong Revolution broke, the coalition forces took the initiative to give in and reduced the number of key indemnities from the original historical 4500 million taels of silver (repaid in 39 years, with a total of 980 million taels of principal and interest) to 3900 million taels. Later, a military loan of 40 million taels of silver was provided for the imperial court to expand the new army, and almost all of this huge amount was used for the formation of the Beiyang New Army.

In this environment, Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army was expanded into the Beiyang Standing Army, and by the end of 1901, the first town of Beiyang had been organized and trained, with a number of 18,000 people. Of course, the imperial court would take care of the first town, which consisted entirely of Manchus, first, but it is debatable how strong its fighting power was.

Baoding Beiyang Military Camp, since the conscription system was changed to a conscription system, in accordance with the principle of counting and training, the condition is "to be a good indigenous people, over 189 years old, under 25 years old, 4 feet 8 inches long, no hobbies, no dark diseases", a large number of young people came to Baoding, became a member of the Beiyang New Army.

"It seems that the imperial court is in a hurry, and now although the governor is the acting governor, he has actually grasped the military power of the Qing Dynasty." Duan Qirui, General Office of the General Staff Office of the Beiyang New Army, said that he, together with Feng Guozhang, General Office of the Coaching Office, Wang Shizhen, General Office of the Military Garrison Office, and Wang Yingkai, General Staff Officer, were entrusted by Yuan Shikai to supervise the training of the New Army in Baoding. The Beiyang New Army is Yuan Shikai's greatest reliance on his life, and it must be all in his own hands. The men walked around the barracks and discussed military matters.

"Can you not be in a hurry? The southeast protected each other, regarded the center as nothing, the foreigners invaded China, and the chaotic party ravaged Guangdong, all because of the weak military strength of the imperial court. Lord Gong Bao is deeply trusted by the imperial court, and after Li Hongzhang's death, he looked at the whole country, and only Lord Gong Bao had the ability to turn the tide! Wang Yingkai, the general staff member and the commander of the second town, said that all the six towns in the plan have a framework and only need to be filled in constantly.

"Let's not talk about foreigners, they are not at the same level as us, and the chaotic party and the governors of the southeast are the real threats to us. The governor of the southeast was ambitious, but his armed forces were weak and he was not afraid. Judging from the information we have received, the most worthy of our vigilance is undoubtedly the chaotic party in Guangdong. Their army was large, well-trained, and advancedly armed, with repeating rifles, machine guns, and steel cannons, and their 50,000-strong army was annihilated. Under the threat of Guangdong, some governors even raised eyebrows with him, and it is said that Zhang Zhidong intended to indulge the rebellious party in Guangdong. In my opinion, in order to deal with the threat from the south, the troops of the six towns are not enough, not to mention that the first town is in Beijing and is not used by the palace guards. Wang Shizhen, the general office of the Military Garrison Department, said.

Feng Guozhang frowned, pointed to the soldiers who were training with guns, and said, "Do you pay too much attention to the Guangdong Rebellion Party?" With the armed guards as the team, these soldiers selected good soldiers, used the imperial court's large loans to buy Western guns and artillery, and borrowed the military system and training methods of foreigners, but were they still inferior to the family of the rich man in Guangdong? After the loans of the great powers were in place, the imperial court entrusted the training department to purchase weapons and equipment from the West and hire instructors for the expansion of the Beiyang army, and it was Wang Shizhen, the general office of the military garrison department, who was responsible for the purchase, and Feng Guozhang was also a person who had seen the world and was still full of confidence in these equipment. The title of the rich man is the contempt of these people for Lu Liang, and most of the Beiyang officers represented by Feng Guozhang looked down on the army of the revolutionary party in their bones, thinking that they were just the family members of the rich man.

Although the rest of the people did not agree with Feng Guozhang's view, they were very satisfied with the statement of the rich man. If it weren't for the generous appropriation of the imperial court, it would never have been possible to recruit so many soldiers and purchase so many ordnance in a short period of time. Yuan Shikai's Beiyang forces initially rose, and basically controlled the most elite Beiyang New Army, but military power does not represent everything, military power plus silver is the king, this Yuan Shikai is very clear, he has no stable source of money, the training expenses are all from the imperial court, once the supply is cut off by it, he has to honestly listen to his dispatch, let alone stabilize his subordinates. Li Hongzhang has Sheng Xuanhuai to make money for him, especially the steamship China Merchants Bureau, since Yuan Shikai took power, he has constantly tested Sheng Xuanhuai, trying to take Li Hongzhang's industry into his arms, but the Huai system is still huge, Sheng Xuanhuai has not yet responded. Fortunately, Lu Liang in Guangdong is a big rich man, he has countless money and grain in his hands, and the goods of thousands of factories are sold in the mainland.

However, Yuan Shikai's foundation is in the north, separated from Guangdong by 108,000 miles, even if the imperial court orders the use of troops, those southern governors will not easily let go of the passage and let the Beiyang army cross the border. Therefore, Yuan Shikai was waiting for further changes in the situation, and he even hoped that the Guangdong Rebellion Party could further grow, and then the imperial court and the southern provinces would ask for help from him, and then it would be the time for the Beiyang Army to exert its strength.

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