In the wind and snow, Li Youyi personally put on a mink coat for Wang Chenhao, reluctantly helped him tidy up his appearance, and kept nagging and instructing.

The two always have indescribable lingering love words, envying the nearby soldiers and the ladies of the Li Mansion at the door.

Not far away, Li Hongzhang joked to Zhang Peilun: "It's very similar to the young haggard back then!" ”

"yes!" Zhang Peilun blurted out in response, from Wang Chenhao and Li Youyi, he seemed to recall the sweet words between him and Li Ju in the past!

"It's a pity that we're all old!" Li Hongzhang sighed, didn't want to be envious any longer, and went straight to the carriage.

Zhang Peilun smiled bitterly, shouted at Wang Chenhao, and followed into the carriage.

"Well, go back! I'll be back in two days! Wang Chenhao gently stroked Li Youyi's pretty face, which was already red from freezing, and was very reluctant in his heart.

Li Youyi saw that Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun had already gotten into the carriage, and knew that they must be impatient to wait. After all, she grew up in an official family, and she knew the rules of doing things and the heat of coquettishness, so she stepped forward and patted the snow on Wang Chenhao's body before letting him go.

Wang Chenhao took advantage of Li Youyi's inattention and picked up her pretty face with a kiss. Li Youyi's eyes suddenly widened, and she secretly begged her husband for not being rude at home, how could she be like this in public, she was suddenly ashamed and angry, and when she was about to annoy him, she saw that Wang Chenhao had already loosened her mouth, laughed and ran to the carriage.

Seeing Wang Chenhao open the door and get into the carriage, Li Youyi suddenly stomped her feet in shame, and in the secret laughter of the sisters and sisters-in-law, she immediately flashed like a wind.

Li Hongzhang's convoy slowly moved forward in the wind and snow, and Wang Chenhao naturally had to be teased by Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun after getting into the carriage. The two of them were nothing more than envious of the sweetness of young people, but soon they got to the point.

The carriage was very spacious, and the three of them sat around a stove, warming themselves and talking about business.

Li Hongzhang has learned Wang Chenhao's thoughts from Zhang Peilun, and Li Hongzhang still appreciates his ambition. In other words, ambition is worthy of Li Hongzhang's cultivation. Of course, Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun could only guess that Wang Chenhao wanted to be the Minister of Training of the New Army, but Wang Chenhao's farther-deeper strategic purpose could not be guessed.

Li Hongzhang said: "The imperial court did have the idea of taking the opportunity to train a new type of army, but it has never dared to act rashly. This time, several imperial historians jointly impeached the Lu Division officials, and there must be shadows behind them to support this aspect! ”

Zhang Peilun said: "Presumably, people with such vision must be indispensable to devil six!" ”

After the Tianjin peace talks were activated, the devil Liuyi was greatly relied on by Cixi, first managing the prime minister's yamen, and not long ago he was appointed as the minister of the navy yamen to take charge of the navy's yamen affairs.

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Whether there is his shadow or not, the Navy Yamen is related to the overall situation of my Beiyang, and we all have to go over to visit!" However, then again, if there is really a shadow of him, then it happens to talk to him this time! ”

Saying that, Li Hongzhang turned to Wang Chenhao, and said, "Chenhao, tell me your thoughts on military training!" ”

Wang Chenhao has been preparing this knowledge in his mind, and he has almost sorted it out at the moment, so he replied: "In the First Sino-Japanese Battle, the Hunan Army, the Huai Army, the Defense Army, and the Lian Army in the Army Division were defeated one after another, and they were [***] unusable one after another. Not to mention the Eight Banners and Green Battalion soldiers of the imperial court, which had already been proven to be a waste as early as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom era! There is no land division available in the country, this time the Russians helped to drink the army, but the uselessness of the paper tiger of the land division has been seen through by the powers of various countries, if we don't hurry up to train a new army, I'm afraid the powers will not be able to help but do something to us! ”

Zhang Peilun added: "What Chen Hao said is not unreasonable! A small Oriental army can make us overwhelmed, the Western army is several times stronger than the Eastern, and the heart of peeking into the resources of the Celestial Empire is obvious, if you don't take action, it will definitely not be like their style! ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said thoughtfully: "When the old man visited the Russian minister Kuman, he already smelled danger from his words. Russia has always regarded the Northeast as something in their mouths, and helped us drive out the Northeast, which is nothing more than a desire to monopolize it. Cuman tried the old man many times and asked the court to return their favors, saying that they did not have a port for a large fleet, and hoped that we could provide a good port similar to Port Arthur for their fleet to spend the winter! ”

Wang Chenhao naturally knew that the Russians had been peeping at Port Arthur for more than ten years, and after the First Sino-Japanese War in history, he was forced to return Liaodong to the Qing Empire under the pressure of the intervention of the three countries, but the day after the Qing army took over Port Arthur, the Russian fleet occupied Port Arthur by virtue of its intervention in returning Liao. Although history has changed now, the ambitions of Tsarist Russia have not.

Wang Chenhao then said: "Our sailors have replenished ammunition and maintenance equipment, and the current strength of the Russian Far East Fleet is not enough to forcibly occupy Port Arthur!" However, if the army can be stationed in Vladivostok on a large scale after the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway by Russia, then they will directly follow the route of the army and send the army to invade the northeast! Therefore, we can train a new type of army to resist Russia and say, and it is enough to have this excuse! ”

Zhang Peilun said: "Although the land division is vulnerable, but looking at the land divisions in all parts of the country, our Huai army is still the strongest. At least the combat power of Nie Shicheng and Song Qing's troops is still there! If the imperial court trains a new army, my father-in-law will have to grab this jackpot! ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said with a smile: "This is natural!" This time, the old man who entered Beijing took the opportunity of the impeachment of the imperial history to reorganize the Huai army! By the way, I would like to propose the formation and training of a new type of army! However, Chen Hao, if you want to be this military training minister, you have to have some skills! Otherwise, even if the old man appoints you, Huai Jun will not agree to it in his mouth! ”

Wang Chenhao knew in his heart that Li Hongzhang was saying in disguise that he was young and had little qualifications, and he was afraid that he would not be able to control the generals of the Huai Army, of course, Li Hongzhang must have a way to help Wang Chenhao establish his prestige, but he just wanted to see how many catties and taels Wang Chenhao's ability was.

After Wang Chenhao figured out the joints here, he was ready in his heart, so he replied: "The new army will all adopt the new army training methods of the great powers, and all of them will use Western weapons and equipment and management systems. In terms of personnel, all the officers are selected from the Beiyang Military Academy, they are students, they have less of the outdated habits in the army, and they are easy to manage, and they themselves learn the Western military tactics course, which is twice the result with half the effort. Soldiers are recruited from the civilian sector and undergo strict medical examinations, and those with bad habits are not accepted. Honest farmers are preferred because they are the easiest to manage! ”

Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun nodded again and again after listening to the previous words, and couldn't help laughing when they heard the last sentence.

Li Hongzhang was not worried about anything else, only worried that Wang Chenhao was too young to control the new officers and soldiers, and thought that Wang Chenhao would choose to let Li Hongzhang pick some Huai Army cadres to assist him, but unexpectedly, Wang Chenhao had already set his sights on the Beiyang Military Academy. It is indeed much easier to manage the selection of officers from there, and Wang Chenhao does not need Huai soldiers, but directly sets up another stove to recruit honest and upright people, and this honest peasant is much easier to manage. From the officers to the soldiers, Wang Chenhao has all been replaced, so it must be much easier for him to manage. Coupled with the support of Li Hongzhang behind him, this new army can really be trained.

Zhang Peilun smiled: "Chen Hao is really talented! ”

Li Hongzhang also nodded with satisfaction, Wang Chenhao's ideas were always unexpected but did not meet the actual needs, which made him like it a lot.

"Chen Hao's paper talk is temporarily passed! However, the old man's Beiyang Martial Arts Academy trains only 500 people every year, and you will definitely not be able to pull them all away! ”

Wang Chenhao hurriedly said: "Then ask your father-in-law to help you pick some suitable old generals of the Huai Army!" ”

"Little slippery!" Li Hongzhang glanced at Wang Chenhao meaningfully and laughed again, this time even Zhang Peilun couldn't help laughing, secretly begging Wang Chenhao for his advance and retreat, the formation and training of the new army naturally can't leave out the old generals of the Huai Army, there are still many outstanding talents among them, and they can't be killed with a stick.