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Song Xiaofei did not go to the Temple of Heaven in Yanjing to participate in the grand ceremony of worshiping the heavens and sacrificing the hole, President Li Hongzhang was very angry, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the emperor's enthronement ceremony, he dismissed Song Xiaofei from the post of chief of the navy and the chief of the army, and only retained the post of president of the Beiyang officers. Li Hongzhang then appointed Ding Ruchang as the chief of the navy, in charge of the Beiyang Naval Division, and also reactivated Ye Zhichao, who was defeated on the Korean battlefield, as the chief of the army, Liu Mingchuan, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang, Cao Kun, Deng Shichang, Liu Buyun and other army and sea generals expressed their grievances, the army almost mutinied, Song Xiaofei overwhelmed the differences, let them focus on the overall situation of the country, and endure it for the time being.

After Ye Zhichao and Ding Ruchang were entrusted with important tasks, they were grateful to Li Hongzhang and wrote to persuade Li Hongzhang to choose to ascend the throne as soon as possible: "The call of the army for the president to be the emperor is too high, if you can't comply with the will of the people, I am afraid that a mutiny will be provoked, and the world may be in chaos!" Li Jingfang, Kang Youwei, Zhang Peilun and others also accelerated the efforts to encourage Li Hongzhang to establish a constitutional monarchy, Li Jingfang went from place to place, Kang Youwei wrote brilliantly, Zhang Peiliang said like a river, Li Hongzhang finally soon announced that he would implement a constitutional monarchy, and planned to set 1895 as the "first year of Hongxian", and officially ascended the throne on January 1, 1895, and held an enthronement ceremony.

The palace where Li Hongzhang held the coronation ceremony was selected in the Qinzheng Palace, and the entire hall was newly decorated, with a long bright red carpet on the ground, and a pound-heavy crown was ready. At this time, Emperor Zhu Xiang, with the financial support of the leader of the Xuanyang Society, led more than 100 militants, including more than a dozen Benronin, to launch an uprising in Yunnan, captured the governor's yamen, and announced that he would guard the "republic" and protect the "constitution". Slandering Li Hongzhang as wanting to ascend the throne as emperor caused public opinion to boil, and most Chinese could not figure out what the difference between the president and the emperor was, and in the end, everyone did not know whether Li Hongzhang wanted to establish a constitutional monarchy or ascend the throne and become emperor.

Seeing that the goal of disrupting China had been achieved, and after Ding Ruchang took charge of the Beiyang Naval Division, in order to save expenses, he even canceled the cruises in the Tsushima Strait and the East China Sea, and also ordered Liu Buyun and Deng Shichang to sail nine ironclad warships of more than 1,000 tons to Port Arthur to stand by.

Saigo Congdao, who had already served as a privy adviser to the senator, heard that Song Xiaofei had been removed from his post by Li Hongzhang, and immediately stood up and shouted "God bless my emperor" and personally served as the Minister of the Navy. Quickly found the Chilean Navy to buy four warships, namely the "Bulard", which is a large ironclad ship with a displacement of nearly 7,000 tons, and eight main guns are installed on the warship, and the main gun caliber is 238 mm. The speed is close to 19 knots, and the surname can be about the same as the "Zhiyuan" of the Beiyang Fleet. "Blanc Gunn Calada". In the class with a displacement of 4,000 tons, there are also dome-armored cruisers "Erachulis" and "Pingdu" with a displacement of 2047 tons. Chile was a thief, and when he heard that he was at war with China and was about to break out, he duly doubled the price of his four warships, offering more than 700,000 silver. Saigo gritted his teeth as soon as he was on the road, and he took all the orders without bargaining, and spent a lot of money.

At the same time, Emperor Saigo appointed Yamaguchi Aritomo as commander of the army. Led 30,000 troops and attacked Seoul. Fifty-six-year-old Yama Prefecture Aritomo is a strong general, is said to be the first powerful person in the military circles, after the Meiji Restoration, many times to Europe Britain, France, Germany and other countries to inspect the military, after returning to China, successively served as the military department of the military department, Daisuke, Army Daisuke, Army Secretary, Army, Chief of Staff, long committed to the construction and transformation of the modern army, in 1878 published the "Book of Admonition to the Soldiers", emphasizing bravery, loyalty and obedience to the old virtues of the emperor, opposing the Ming boil and liberal tendencies, he is also the advocate and maker of the "conscription order", When he was the head of the General Staff Headquarters, he changed the town of the army into a division and regiment system, rectified the army's educational institutions, and established a military medical department, thus laying an ideological and organizational foundation for the establishment of the modern army.

At that time, only 10,000 new troops were stationed in Seoul, Tang Shaoyi hurriedly sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang for help, Li Hongzhang had to announce the postponement of the official enthronement date, he asked Ye Zhichao to lead 50,000 new troops into the DPRK to support, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang drove the army to Weihai, Shandong and refused to advance again, and asked Li Hongzhang to reappoint Song Xiaofei as the army commander. After Liu Buyun and Deng Shichang received Ding Ruchang's order to sail the warship to Port Arthur, they also telegraphed to Song Xiaofei for instructions, and Song Xiaofei suggested that they sail the fleet to the Yellow Sea near Weihaiwei and not hide in Port Arthur.

At this time, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to ask Zhang Zhidong to allocate 10,000 recruits, as well as guns and ammunition, and hand them over to Ye Zhichao to support the defenders who entered the court. Governors from all over the country also sent troops to support, and Song Qing, the governor of Sichuan, led 10,000 troops to support. Ye Zhichao raised a total of 60,000 troops and entered the DPRK to support Tang Shaoyi. As a result, in Pyongyang, Ye Zhichao fled all the way for more than 900 miles, retreated to the area of Yizhou after the defeat and assembled, the troops were killed and wounded more than 10,000 people, all the guns and baggage were discarded, and when they retreated to China, they were already defeated.

The local territory fell, the domestic resentment was boiling, Li Hongzhang's prestige was greatly reduced, the revolts of the Fumin Party continued in various places, and terrorist attacks such as bombs were made.

At this time, the Russians saw that they had made a big move in Korea, that the Chinese army had been defeated again and again, and that the Russians felt that the invasion of Liaodong would harm Russia's interests, so they began to dispatch troops on the border, and the Russian Pacific Fleet had recently been frequently haunting the Korean waters to "watch the battle."

Song Xiaofei was ordered to be in danger, and the situation he faced was quite complex and severe, how could he turn the tide?

Previously, listening to Timothy Li's words, Li Hongzhang strengthened his determination to turn China into a constitutional monarchy, and he asked Li Jingfang to test the attitude of the senior generals of the Huai Army, such as Liu Mingchuan, Ding Ruchang and other generals who have followed him for many years, they all wish that Li Hongzhang would be the emperor and give them wives and shadows, they all support Li Hongzhang's implementation of a constitutional monarchy, Liu Mingchuan patted his chest and said: "I persuaded him to be the emperor at the beginning, if anyone dares to oppose it, I, Liu Liumazi, am responsible for exterminating him!" ”。 )