1895, the first year after the First Sino-Japanese War, was destined to be a year of military reorganization.

Throughout history, there will always be a year or two of bloody time after every beating of the Qing Empire. During this time, the Qing Empire was relatively active in defending against foreign humiliation and quelling domestic anger.

In January, the Guangxu Emperor approved the request of the Nanyang to test the new army, and the provinces of the country began to train the new army to varying degrees, and the new army of Wang Chenhao of Beiyang and the self-improvement army of Zhang Zhidong of Nanyang were ahead of the ranks of all provinces in the country.

By mid-March, the Ziqiang Army had made rapid progress under the training of foreign instructors and had begun a battalion-level composite exercise, while the Zhili New Army was still in the queue of recruits and in the period of physical training, and in terms of progress, Nanyang had already taken a big lead.

Although Li Hongzhang has confidence in Wang Chenhao, the whole court can look at him Lao Li, the first feudal official in the world of the governor of Zhili, and everyone asks him: "The progress of your Beiyang New Army is so slow and lost!" ”

This Lao Li has been the governor of Zhili for more than 20 years, and he is used to being praised by others, how can he stand this kind of vision and inquiry?

There are also people in the Huai army who are not satisfied, Wang Chenhao rode on their heads as soon as he came, they endured it, how can they be the son-in-law of the old boss, give face. But this Wang Chenhao is a little too unreliable, the entire new army is a young general around 30 years old, this official must have a first come, first come, right? These veterans who have been boiling for decades are not ranked, and they are not convinced!

Song Qingbu and Nie Shicheng can be said to be the elite of the Huaijun system, but Song Qing and Nie Shicheng didn't say anything, after all, they are a lot older, and it's not a matter for a young man in his twenties to take care of them. However, the generals of the Huai Army under their account are not convinced, and Zhang Zhidong uses old people to train soldiers, why does Wang Chenhao only use newcomers?

The voices of dissatisfaction became louder day by day, and Song Qing and Nie Shicheng also felt that Wang Chenhao looked down on their soldiers a little, so they did not control them and let them scratch their teeth.

Soon, the voice of dissatisfaction reached Li Hongzhang's ears. Li Hongzhang does things from the perspective of the overall situation, and his enterprising spirit in his later years is no longer enough, and Cixi has the same mentality and maintains the status quo.

At the same time, Li Hongzhang was also a little worried that Zhang Zhidong's self-improvement army was progressing too fast, and Wang Chenhao was training new recruits after all, and he began to lose his heart.

In this case, Li Hongzhang exchanged views with Song Qing and Nie Shicheng, and the two veteran generals proposed to let them also train according to the new-style canon to ensure that the victory of the Autumn Beiyang was foolproof.

Li Hongzhang felt reasonable, and in order to ensure that nothing went wrong, he also put some pressure on Wang Chenhao, so he decided to let Nie Shicheng and Song Qing's two Huai armies also start to reorganize training.

Wang Chenhao has a supportive attitude towards this, and only when there is competition can there be motivation, and he is even more prepared to defeat the Nanyang Self-improvement Army and the Old Huai Army in one fell swoop in the autumn dryness, so as to lay down the strong combat effectiveness of his Beiyang New Army and achieve the deterrent effect.

The competition for the army began to become fierce, and the navy slowly kicked off.

In order to consolidate his position as the governor of Zhili, Li Hongzhang had to hold the army and financial resources. In the First Sino-Japanese War, Lao Li knew that the navy and army were inferior to the great powers, so if he wanted to maintain his political capital, he had to expand.

At this time, the Beiyang New Army, which had Wang Chenhao in the army, was in training, but the navy had not filled the ships with artillery for eight years, and the ships of the Beiyang Naval Division were already six or seven thoughts behind the world's navy.

Li Hongzhang did not dare to guarantee that Wang Chenhao would be able to win in the autumn season, so he had to make double insurance and expand the navy to protect his position.

On 20 March, Li Hongzhang wrote to the imperial court, saying that the British Navy had ordered two Fuji-class battleships in Britain and that the Russian Far East Navy had added two new Admiral Nasimov-class 8,000-ton large armored cruisers, and that the two navies were too threatening to the Beiyang Naval Division, and that they requested funds to order a number of new warships.

In the second fiscal year, due to the completion of the Summer Palace project of the Empress Dowager Cixi, there was a large amount of funds left behind the budget for the fiscal year. The previous embezzlement of naval funds by the Empress Dowager Cixi had already aroused the dissatisfaction of many people of insight in China, and there was a certain sentiment among the Beiyang Navy Division and the people.

When Li Hongzhang wrote a letter asking for a new type of warship, the Empress Dowager Cixi considered that Lao Li had been loyal to the Qing Dynasty for 30 years and was trustworthy, so Suo was a good man and decided to give Li Hongzhang a favor, agreeing to allocate funds for building ships as a reward for quelling the funds that had been misappropriated by his sailors over the years.

Li Hongzhang was very happy, the imperial court was willing to allocate funds to build ships, which not only supplemented the strength of the Beiyang naval division, but also cost a lot to build ships.

Li Hongzhang had not bought a warship for seven or eight years, and his grasp and understanding of the situation of the navies of the European and American powers had fallen behind, so he asked Wang Chenhao to discuss countermeasures.

Wang Chenhao was very happy to learn that the imperial court had agreed to buy new warships, and Ding Ruchang, Liu Buyun, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang, and other generals of the Beiyang Naval Division at or above the general rank also arrived in Tianjin to participate in the seminar on new warships.

And Wang Chenhao was worried about the safety of his Jiaolong, for fear that he would be stolen by foreign devils if he was not in the sailors for a long time, so after getting Li Hongzhang's nod on the grounds of routine maintenance, Ding Ruchang secretly transported the Jiaolong to Tianjin, and Wang Chenhao alone sent cronies to protect it. After Wang Chenhao checked it, he was slightly relieved to see that there was no trace of the Jiaolong being forcibly opened.

In the Governor's Mansion of Zhili, in the Beiyang office, Wang Chenhao talked and laughed with the generals of the Dry Water Division.

"I thought that Chen Hao would return to the water division to work with everyone after marriage, but I didn't expect to become a new army trainer, Chen Hao, how much ability do you still have to hide from the big guy?"

Ding Ruchang's joke is what everyone thinks. Everyone thought that Wang Chenhao was only familiar with maritime affairs, and they never thought that he would also train a new army, and he had such a ability at a young age, and there was inevitably a little jealousy in everyone's admiring expressions.

Wang Chenhao smiled: "I can't talk about my ability, but I have seen more and experienced more overseas, and if I have the opportunity to stay overseas for a few more years with the wisdom of my adults, I will definitely know more than I know." ”

Deng Shichang coaxed at this time: "I heard that Zhang Youhao and Yang Lianfu secretly served Chen Hao as a military advisor, look at our Chen Hao has become much more cunning now!" ”

Everyone laughed, and the room was full of excitement.

At this time, the door curtain was raised, Li Hongzhang walked in, coughed lightly, and everyone suddenly whispered and stood up to greet him.

Li Hongzhang looked around and saw that everyone had arrived, so he nodded and everyone sat down.

"I guess I know that the imperial court has loosened its mouth to allocate funds to the navy yamen to buy new ships, and I want to discuss it with the big guys."