Hu Chuyuan had only just arrived in North Korea, and he didn't want to say a lot of things rashly on the first day, so after briefly explaining his intentions, he asked Li Xi and Concubine Min to step down.

That night, he left Yuan Shikai behind, and after a little conversation, he felt more and more that Yuan Shikai was indeed not simple.

This person's ambitions are too ambitious to control.

Hu Chuyuan doesn't plan to reuse it, but for now, he still has to use it.

Yuan Shikai was extremely tough on Yue Ben in the early days, and later he was assassinated twice, and he escaped with his life, and slowly reached some agreements with Yue Ben, he no longer drove out Yue Ben merchants in North Korea, and Yue Ben no longer caused trouble in North Korea.

Therefore, he has done a good job of preventing himself from assassinating Hu Chuyuan, after all, he has had personal experience and has always attached great importance to his own safety.

After a few days, after getting acquainted with various factional issues and struggles within North Korea, Hu Chuyuan invited Concubine Min over alone to negotiate.

After several negotiations, Concubine Min agreed to most of Hu Chuyuan's proposals, allowing Shanghai Wells Fargo Investment Bank and China CITIC Bank to enter North Korea and issue North Korean baht and North Korean silver yuan.

Hu Chuyuan was not a domineering businessman and official, he left plenty of room for Concubine Min and the North Korean regime, and the silver yuan and copper baht were minted by the North Korea itself, but he sent people to assist.

The CITIC Bank injected 60 million taels of silver at a time, issued a monetary system in Korea, and lent 40 million won to the Yi dynasty to solve domestic problems, and invested in the construction of railways and the establishment of technical schools.

As a condition, China CITIC Bank has the sole right to issue notes in the Kingdom of Korea for a period of 20 years, and Shanghai Fuguo will also operate a North Korean commercial bank in joint stock with North Korean officials and members of the Min family, and operate various industrial and mining government enterprises in North Korea.

As one of the benefits, Hu Chuyuan would help the Li dynasty build a new army that would be less likely to be invaded by the Russians, numbering around 10,000 men and divided into three battalions.

In addition, in Haiju, South Yellow Province, the Qing army would station a North Korean fleet to protect Korea.

After reaching these agreements with North Korea, on the evening of that day, Hu Chuyuan re-recruited Yuan Shikai into the palace for discussion.

It snowed like goose feathers in North Korea, and the sky was so dark that you couldn't see the outline in the distance, only the vast snow.

Yuan Shikai came in a hurry, and when he entered the stone hall, he couldn't wait to say hello to Hu Chuyuan, and said: "Senior Minister, the next official is in a hurry all the way, if you make the adult wait for a long time, please also ask the adult to punish him." ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything, asked him to get up and sit down, and asked people to warm up the wine and food again.

After drinking two glasses of wine, he asked Yuan Shikai: "Wei Ting has been in North Korea for more than ten years, and he is well aware of the situation here. ”

"This ......?

Yuan Shikai didn't expect Hu Chuyuan to ask such a big question as soon as he came up, he thought about it for a while, and then replied cautiously: "Returning to Senior Minister, forgive the officials for their blunt words, whether it is Russia, our country and Russia, after all, there will be a big fight here." The big thing has not yet been decided, if the factory is built here and a lot of money is invested, I am afraid that it will not be of great use, but it will be cheaper for others. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "I have always had this kind of judgment, so I have not invested in North Korea for a long time." Unfortunately, for the time being, we still have to do our best to give some support to the DPRK and help them reorganize their politics. Although I promised to support them with an army, it could not be an elite after all, but it was just a transfer of the old weapons and old artillery of the Hunan army. But with you, I would like to place three more battalions. Before leaving, I had already told the emperor about this. It's just that your seniority in the army is still shallow, and I plan to transfer another brave and warlike Huai army general to supervise and train three battalions here, equipped with elite equipment, plus your Huaizi battalion, all belong to you to deploy. What do you think? ”

Yuan Shikai was overjoyed, immediately left his seat and knelt down, and said: "Thank you for your appreciation, the lower officials will be loyal and filial to you, and swear to serve your lordship." ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted and asked him to get up first, but said: "This is a matter of the imperial court, you have to understand this principle." ”

Yuan Shikai didn't mind so much, he laughed and sat down again.

This person is a smart person, he saw it very early on, a character like Hu Chuyuan may not be able to live under the people for a long time, and the two departments of Xianghuai and Huai can't accommodate him as a giant Jiao, and sooner or later there will be a large military department of his own.

Waiting for Yuan Shikai to sit down, Hu Chuyuan looked at him in more detail very peculiarly, his eyes were cold, which scared Yuan Shikai out of a cold sweat, and he didn't know what he did wrong.

Yuan Shikai hurriedly stood up again, and arched his hand: "Without the permission of the adults, the lower officials sat down privately, it is really a crime that deserves death...... ”

Hu Chuyuan waved his hand and said, "Sit down, I just think you're a little special." Since ancient times, heroes don't ask where they come from, you are both a source and a hero, rare, rare. The future is still far away, no one can predict what will happen in ten years, I just want to remind you, China is so big, not one or two people can decide, people have ambitions is a good thing, but it must also be measured. ”

Yuan Shikai was surprised, a little bit didn't understand what Hu Chuyuan meant, and thought, I certainly have some ambitions, but these words are inevitably too heavy, not to mention, where did this senior minister see that I wanted to do something big?

Yuan Shikai hesitated, and didn't know whether to sit down.

Hu Chuyuan said: "Sit down, you don't have to be so restrained with me, I am also a businessman, and I don't like the complicated etiquette in the court." But all my subordinate staff members come to me to sit and run whenever they want, and they are very casual. ”

Yuan Shikai sat down slowly, trembling and conscientious, and his heart was still not so steady.

He knew that following this senior minister would naturally have a bright future, but the problem was that he met this senior minister later, and others didn't know how many civil and military talents there were.

Although he has always been in North Korea, he still knows a little about domestic affairs.

Not to mention, the master of the practical school, Niu Yugeng, who is known as the first person to learn from China and the West, is Hu Chuyuan's guest of the scene, and the two big celebrities around Emperor Guangxu are Gu Jiaxiang and Zhang Baixi, the former is Hu Chuyuan's staff, and the latter is the old ministry that has served for ten years.

Taiwan's governor Huo Hongji and Prime Minister Yamen Minister Lu Chuanlin are all first-class subordinate ministers with outstanding reputations.

Speaking of military generals, everyone understands in their hearts that the gang of the East China Sea Division are all Hu Chuyuan's people, as well as Sun Kaihua and other Hunan army generals.

In today's Qing Dynasty, when it comes to the "Hu Party", it accounts for a large proportion in the imperial court.

Hu Chuyuan didn't care too much about Yuan Shikai's worry and trembling, and casually asked people to open a bottle of turmeric wine and drink it to warm his stomach.

The two seemed to talk about the political and economic problems of North Korea over the years, and inadvertently, Hu Chuyuan also asked Yuan Shikai to choose a few people who could control the situation in North Korea.

At the end, Hu Chuyuan put down his chopsticks and told Yuan Shikai: "Concubine Min, this woman has a big heart and is also very wild, don't get along with her." It's okay to let her take power, but you have to help her take care of the government, collect public opinion in the local area appropriately, give her some suggestions, and how to make specific decisions is her business, and you don't interfere too much. ”

Yuan Shikai nodded slightly.

Hu Chuyuan continued: "This woman only asks about power, if we want to start a new stove over her, we will probably cause a lot of unnecessary trouble." So, I can't do it. ”

Yuan Shikai said: "Then let's not prepare a back road?" ”

Hu Chuyuan shook his head and said, "No, if Concubine Min herself collapses the situation and harms North Korea, we will have a big deal to withdraw our troops and leave, in this way, we will inevitably have great losses, but it doesn't matter." If we win the battle, when we come back, we can directly send Concubine Min and the others back to Beijing to be held...... At the end of the day, this is just a chessboard for us, ready to be broken up and started again. ”

Yuan Shikai then understood, and praised: "The lord is wise, and the lower officials will understand." I'll let Concubine Min take power by herself, what she wants, then what she wants, as long as she doesn't get along with us. She is happy, we are satisfied, if she is unhappy, if we are not satisfied, we will dismantle this plate and re-open it. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly.

North Korea is still very important in this place, the mineral resources are more abundant, definitely stronger than a Shandong, especially the number of gold and silver mines is very rich, if you increase the intensity of development, it can fully support the expansion of domestic banks.

Yuan Shikai is a person...... Smart is smart, but the ability is a little lacking, Hu Chuyuan has decided to send a few more people over after returning to China to control the entire situation in North Korea.

In this regard, he did not tell Yuan Shikaiming.

After sending Yuan Shikai away, Hu Chuyuan paced in the stone hall alone, thinking about the development of the whole situation in his heart.

The situation was already chaotic, and the British reacted too strongly, and at one time they sold warships with a displacement of 50,000 tons to China, and it would be completed by 1892.

Even taking into account that the British themselves continued to build the Sovereign class on a large scale, and at the same time were building two battleships close to 10,000 tons for the capital...... This shows how powerful the shipbuilding industry of the British was.

If the British are really pushed into a hurry, everyone will be uncomfortable.

The Russians and the French are definitely frightened, and they will not act rashly for the time being, they are still very afraid of the British in the end, I say...... It's hard to say.

There is no doubt that there are many cruisers in the last two years, if it is a decisive battle in the open ocean, the winning rate of the army is very high, and the army of the army has already completed the new reform in 1888, and it will certainly be able to defeat the Huai army and the Hunan army in a small decisive battle.

Hu Chuyuan believed that the British statement was a double-edged sword, which could not only make Yue Ben dare not act without permission, but also allow Yue Ben to fight before 1892.

(To be continued)