The Liberation Revolution was an excellent revolution.

It not only awakened the modern national and modern national spirit of the Chinese, but also overthrew the Manchu Qing Dynasty at a very small price, ended the Manchu rule over China, and ended the Manchu suppression of the Han people and the castration of cultural ideas.

The scale of the civil war of the Liberation Revolution was much smaller than that of the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, and the impact of the civil war on the domestic economy and people's livelihood was very small.

In the midst of world imperialism, colonialism, nationalist oppression, and the rise of the new national movement, the unprecedented unity of the entire country and nation enabled the new empire to retain a large number of officials from the former dynasty and maintain a smooth transition of political power and governance.

In the distribution of power between the cabinet and the provincial and local governments, the imperial parties in the northeast controlled the core real powers such as the military, finance, taxation, police, and patrol powers, while the rest of the administrative power was dispersed to the reformers, the Liuyu revolutionaries, and the local constitutionalists at the same time, and at the same time a large number of former officials of the New Deal faction who were born in special economic departments and study tours were retained.

In this way, the emperor united various political forces in the country to maintain the order of the new empire, so that the country quickly became stable, and continued to reform and progress in this stable environment.

Through the reform of the political system and administrative system, the cabinet established a new system of taxation, decentralization, and financial management, and while abolishing the country's excesses and miscellaneous taxes and weakening the real power of local officials in various provinces, it also re-stabilized the economic and administrative order of the whole country, and put an end to the social chaos in the last decade of the late Qing Dynasty.

On the basis of the country's stability, the growth of the central government's revenue, and the concentration of military power, Emperor Song Biao had the conditions for further developing the imperial central army and navy, and the meeting of the Central Military Department as an observer was precisely to determine a long-term 10-year plan, and at the same time, it was necessary to make more adjustments in the near future to cope with the military competition in Europe.

……

After Cheng Biguang and the others entered Yihua Hall, Song Biao motioned for them to sit down first.

After Song Biao finished reading the test materials on the new artillery in his hand, he officially raised his eyes and looked at the three people in front of him, and asked Cheng Biguang first: "I heard that the Haitian has been sent to the Yokohama Shipyard for maintenance?" ”

Cheng Biguang said: "Back to the emperor, the Haitian cruiser was shelved on the beach for six years, and the damage was serious, and it was not easy to tow it to Qingdao Port, and the German Navy had a military dock in Qingdao Port, and the equipment was relatively simple, but it also did some repairs and restored its power. Previously, the navy sank two small ships outside the port of Ningbo and demanded compensation from them, and after discussion, they decided to pay for the repair of the cruiser Haitian, and it happened that the Zhenyuan ship was also overhauled at the Yokohama shipyard, and the two ships were expected to return together at the end of the year. The Admiralty originally wanted to send the Haitian to the United States for refit and maintenance, and the price was negotiated. ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said, "I won't be kind, but we don't plan to expect the Haitian cruiser and the Zhenyuan ship to do anything big after returning to China. ”

Cheng Biguang agreed: "The emperor is sage, and his subordinates also think the same. ”

Song Biao glanced at Duan Qirui and Shu Fangde again, and said, "Let the three of you come over in advance this time, I plan to talk to you for a while before the meeting." The other day, I had a conversation with Chancellor of the Exchequer Teo Kang-jen, and the domestic tax reform is progressing very fast. To put it simply, there are 1.4 billion mu of cultivated land in the country, and the average tax revenue per mu is 1.2 million yuan, and the agricultural part of the national fiscal revenue is close to 1.7 billion yuan, and even according to the existing principle of opening the country, the agricultural tax of the central government is close to 500 million yuan. Together with other fiscal revenues, this year's central fiscal revenue can reach 700 million yuan. According to the basic one-seventh of the plan, the central government's military expenditure will reach 100 million yuan. The problem now is the division of the navy and the army, and the army will have to be reorganized on a large scale in the next two years, and the proportion of the army will probably not be less, and the navy will have to be revived on a large scale, and the share will be even smaller. The palms and backs of your hands are full of meat, so I want the three of you to come over first and work with me to calculate the specific proportion. ”

As soon as he heard this, Shu Fangde, who was the Minister of the Army, immediately said: "Your Majesty, the army side also counts the expenses of the patrol forces across the country, although this part of the expenses is borne by the provinces more, but the central government also has a lot of expenses." The problems of Outer Mongolia, Southwest China, Xinjiang Province, and Tibet Province have not been completely resolved, and at least in the past two years, we should still take care of the army first. ”

Song Biao nodded slightly.

Cheng Biguang was a little difficult to speak, in the previous Sino-Chinese Xinhai War, the army established immortal feats, and the navy could basically only hide in the Yangtze River waterway, and did not dare to meet the navy at all.

In this case, where is he embarrassed to compete for military expenses for the navy, before this meeting, he and Song Wenhui discussed in advance the matter of fighting for military expenses for the navy, both of them were very discouraged, and they were basically able to maintain a 7:3 ratio with the army, they were overjoyed.

Fortunately, Song Wenhui is the backbone of the imperial party, and has a good relationship with Jiang Fangzhen, Shu Fangde and others, and is also a classmate with Premier Tang Shaoyi and Finance Minister Zhang Kangren, and the weight of his words is much more effective than that of him, the Minister of the Navy, Song Wenhui has already greeted Jiang Fangzhen and others in advance, and he hopes to give the navy at least 25% of the total military expenditure no matter how it is divided.

Duan Qirui dared to speak, although he was from the army, but he was too far away from the imperial party, he could say a word of conscience, so he said to Song Biao: "Your Majesty, your subordinates thought of the dispute between Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang in the previous dynasty over coastal defense and frontier defense, and this matter now seems to be difficult to judge, but one thing is certain, that is, it is precisely because the pacification consumed more than 40 million taels of silver, the navy has been stagnant since then, and was finally defeated by the navy, which led to the rout of the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle. His Majesty dared to admonish him that no one would dare to challenge the strength of our army within 10 years, and that the navy would continue to be bullied by foreign countries within 10 years, and that the navy's military expenditure could be high or low, but even if the whole country borrowed money, the emperor would have to purchase four or five real giant ships for the navy, otherwise the prestige of China's coastal defense could not be established. ”

Song Biao bowed slightly and said, "This is really reasonable." Military development should first of all look around at the development of the global military and political situation; at present, the conclusion of the Anglo-French alliance in Europe has become the trend of the times, the confrontation between Britain, France, and Russia and Germany and Austria is unprecedentedly fierce, and the arms race between the two sides is far more fierce than that of China and Japan. Some time ago, I talked to Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Kangren about this matter, with the current financial strength of Britain, Germany, France, and Russia, the arms race between the two sides has reached a level that is unbearable for both sides, and in the end there are only two endings: one is that Britain, France, and Russia compromise and make major concessions to Germany and Austria in exchange for peace between the two sides and the cessation of the arms race; The second is to start an all-out war in an unexpected situation, repeating the European war of the scale of the anti-French war. During this period of time, the reason why we dared to press on Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other countries and force them to give up their privileges and interests in China was that, on the one hand, our army was strong and had the conditions to let them recognize our strength and give them a fair and equal status, and on the other hand, the European countries were too busy to take care of themselves and the competition was fierce, so they could not unite to oppress our country at all. In short, if we join the German side and send a million troops to attack the Russian rear, Germany will be able to concentrate on dealing with France. The Russian-French alliance is simply too jealous of this, and with my prestige and the strength of our army, do you think that Russia is not afraid in its heart? ”

Duan Qirui sighed: "Half of the deterrent power of our army against foreign countries depends on the prestige of Your Majesty, and Your Majesty is to Asia, it is the Napoleon of Asia, as long as Your Majesty is here, our army can sweep across Asia, and no country is capable of fighting the enemy." ”

Shu Fangde and Cheng Biguang immediately echoed: "The emperor is really the prestige of my empire, and foreign countries now respect our country, but they are actually afraid of the emperor." ”

Song Biao opened a folding fan, fanned it lightly a few times, and said with a smile: "What you all said is too much. We all know in our hearts that a good commander is very important, but the strength and ambition of all soldiers are the foundation of the army. Let's not talk about these things, let's just pick out the key points and tell the truth: in the past few years, how our armed forces will develop in the end, as well as the plan for the construction of the navy and army in the next 10 years, must be closely linked to one basic issue, that is, the urgent surname of the great war in Europe. It seems to me that the probability that Britain and Germany will not want to go to war is too low, and now the arrival of this war is only a matter of time. Referring to the battle in China, it can be concluded that we have been preparing for so long, and the hidden military expenditure is extremely large, since the opponent is provocative, why not fight? So I didn't even think that we really dared to fight, and it was such a scale, they were caught off guard, and the situation was basically similar to Germany, unless Britain and France ceded a lot of colonies to meet Germany's demands, Germany would not stop, but Britain and France also spent more money to arm the army, so much gold and silver flowers are like flowing water, how can they continue to make greater concessions. ”

Cheng Biguang said: "Emperor Shengming, although I thought that the European [***] preparation competition was very powerful, but I didn't think that there would really be a war, but now when I heard the emperor say this, my subordinates suddenly realized, as if they were enlightened." ”

Song Biao didn't answer in a hurry, but he felt that Cheng Biguang and Duan Qirui were worthy of being popular characters in the Qing Dynasty, and their skills were really first-class.

He just glanced at Shu Fangde.

Shu Fangde is the uncle of the country and the representative of the imperial party who is really a descendant, so naturally he doesn't need to be so flattering, so he said: "Your Majesty, the most important thing in our country today is to determine whether the general direction is biased towards Britain, France, and Russia, or Germany and Austria. Although if a major war breaks out in Europe, most of our country will be neutral, but the military must always take precautions, and the development of the military must also be targeted. ”

Song Biao gave a high-five of appreciation and said, "Yes, that's right." I'm thinking a little more about this than you guys, and there are some special pieces of information that only I know. Therefore, I will not discuss with you in detail, my decision is very simple, first of all, to remain as neutral as possible, because even if our navy develops rapidly, it will not be the opponent of our navy within ten years, or even twenty years, and Britain is a strong alliance, and we should not make trouble ourselves; The second is to deepen military cooperation with Germany on the basis of neutrality, and at this point, I plan to send a secret military working group to Germany to transfer a lot of China's materials in the Xinhai War to the German army, and it is said that the Xinhai War has a very important significance and reference value for the development of the army in the international world, and the German and French armies are very interested in this, and we can transfer some important information to Germany and France and other countries, and encourage them to fight hard, and the harder they fight, the more we will benefit. Of course, if Britain, France and Russia offer a high price, we can also choose to be on their side, then it depends on their price. ”

Speaking of this, Song Biao paused for a moment and continued to muse for a moment, and added: "Actually, there is more room for us to cooperate with Germany, Germany fights Britain, France and Russia in Europe, and we also fight Britain, France and Russia in Asia, taking the opportunity to recover the suzerainty of Vietnam and Burma, and even recover the territory of our country stolen by Russia in the late Qing Dynasty." Including the issue of Tangnu Ulianghai and Tibetan Province, we are now continuing to argue with Britain and Russia, and I don't know which year it will be clear. It's a pity that our army is still not strong enough, and the navy can't even beat Xiao Yueben, so what else is there to talk about? ”

Cheng Biguang was particularly ashamed when he heard this, he knew that the key was that the Chinese navy was too weak, and with the emperor here, there was absolutely no problem with the army.

Thinking of this, Cheng Biguang hurriedly knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, this is the fault of your subordinates, your subordinates are incompetent, affecting the country, the navy is weak, and you are worthy of the emperor's trust." ”

Song Biao got up and helped Cheng Biguang up, and comforted: "It's true that the navy is weak, it's wrong to blame you, not to mention that it's too late to work hard now, it's not too late to make amends." ”

Saying this, Song Biao helped Cheng Biguang up, asked him to sit down again, and instructed a few people: "I have already calculated very clearly the affairs of the navy, and the military expenditure has increased greatly in the past three years, but do not buy large ships, concentrate on purchasing more light cruisers and destroyers with large tonnage from Britain and the United States and other countries, and pay special attention to the prevention of submarines and torpedo ships, and also focus on the work of eliminating mines and laying mines, which should be conducive to long-term ocean patrol." The Army, on the other hand, is reorganizing in a step-by-step manner, implementing the "Military Service Law," reserving reserve troops, and increasing the proportion of noncommissioned officers. ”

As soon as Song Biao's words came out, there was basically no room for maneuver, and they all had to listen to his arrangement, and the Minister of War Shu Fangde and the Minister of the Navy Cheng Biguang naturally had nothing to say, especially Cheng Biguang, who was overjoyed in his heart.

Soldiers are like this, those who engage in the navy hope that the navy will be strong, and those who engage in the army hope that the army will be strong, after all, it is a lifetime of hard work poured into it, who doesn't want to be perfect?

No matter what they think about each other, since the emperor has made up his mind, the three of them can only answer "Emperor Shengming" together.

After finalizing the problem of the general direction, Song Biao wanted to deal with a small matter, so he said to Duan Qirui: "The army side wants to implement the system of large military regions, and this point must be learned from Russia, because the problems of China and Russia are the same, and the territory is too vast. At this meeting, we will settle this matter, which is roughly the seven major military regions of Zhili, Northeast, Mongolia, Northwest, Southwest, Central South, and Southeast. I wonder if you would like to let you go to the Northwest Military Headquarters as the commander, and I also want you to be the Minister in Korea, the Governor of the Military and Trade Affairs of the North of Korea. The problems in both places are complex, requiring experienced generals to stay in charge for a long time, and I will be honest now that there is no better candidate. You think about it a little more during this time, and it's best to give me an accurate answer within this month. ”

Duan Qirui immediately said: "Your subordinates only listen to the emperor's dispatch. ”

Song Biao said: "Then go to the Northwest Military Headquarters, no matter how big the matter is in North Korea, it will be easy to deal with, once something happens in the Northwest, it will be civil strife, I will let Zhang Xiaohuai stay in North Korea as a military overseer, and send a very good young diplomat to serve as the minister in North Korea, even if it is to train young people." ”

Duan Qirui could only say: "The emperor is sage! ”

Duan Qirui didn't want to go to North Korea, even if he went to the northwest, how could he send the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth infantry divisions from the Beiyang department with the emperor's hand, basically all of them were sent by the cavalry division to be dispatched by him, these cavalry divisions were all descended from the emperor's lineage, and he couldn't fight with his surname Duan's eight poles, even if he became the commander of the Northwest Military Department, to put it bluntly, it was in vain, and none of the divisions and brigades would really belong to him.

If he went to North Korea, Duan Qirui knew that he might be able to fight for the 14th and 15th Divisions that were in North Korea to stay and be dispatched by himself, but it was precisely because of this possibility that Duan Qirui would not actively strive to go to North Korea.

If the general trend has been decided today, Duan Qirui just wants to get a good death at this time, so as to avoid being removed by the emperor as a dissident and absorbing the obstacles of the Beiyang system, if he can achieve something in the northwest, it would be better to be able to leave a name in history.

Now it's not Duan Qirui who thinks so, Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang are among the cabinet ministers, and they are also worried that the emperor will find them to settle accounts after the autumn, and Yuan Shikai even left the New Deal Strong Power Council, so as not to make the emperor suspicious.

Since ancient times, very few of the founding heroes can get a good death, not to mention that they are foreign heroes who have no merit, the emperor's descendants are so strong, and they hold the major intelligence agencies in their hands, which is simply the reincarnation of Jinyiwei and the East and West Factory, which can be called to imitate Ming Taizu, who dares to move under the emperor's eyelids.

Song Biao looked at Duan Qirui's expression very carefully, he understood, Duan Qirui also understood, the Xinhai War was over, and the honeymoon period between the Northeast and the Beiyang system was over, and the first task of the Central Army now was to end the history of the Beiyang system, thoroughly digest these troops of the Beiyang system, and reorganize them into the descendants of the Central Army, Yuan Shikai and Duan Qirui are the two major obstacles.

Smart people can always think of going together, the Northwest Military Department is a cavalry-based military region, which is basically from the emperor's descendant troops, and the forces that really belong to Duan Qirui's control are limited, so let Duan Qirui adjust the Northwest Military Department for a few years, and when the country is further stabilized and the Beiyang Department is completely absorbed, Duan Qirui can return to Beijing to mix with a vice minister of the Ministry of War, or even mix in the position of minister of the Ministry of War for a few years, waiting for retirement.

Unlike Duan Qirui's fate, the emperor does not have many henchmen available on the navy's side, and he has always rewarded Cheng Biguang with more favors, but now it only depends on how foolish and loyal Cheng Biguang is to the emperor.

How can the fate of people be so far apart?

(To be continued)