The reform of the Qing government has entered the fourth month, and the contradictions between the two parties of the emperor and queen have further deepened. With Yuan Shikai's speculation in Guangxu's imperial camp, he successfully divided Ronglu's military power in less than 20 days and controlled half of Yanjing City's defense. As a result, the power struggle between the two parties of the emperor and queen faced a full-scale intensification.

Guangxu didn't expect to fight Cixi, and his fear was fully demonstrated in the secret order to Kang Youwei and other members of the Restoration, but unexpectedly, Yuan Shikai's personal ability was very strong, and he obtained half of the military power in Yanjing City in less than 20 days, so that the military power of the emperor and queen in Yanjing was balanced. In this way, Guangxu no longer has to be afraid of Cixi forcing the palace by force, and can continue to implement the reform of the law.

However, this time it really angered Cixi. For Cixi, whose power is more important than life, no one is allowed to touch her rights.

On the one hand, Cixi summoned Yuan Shikai many times and exerted influence on him, but Yuan Shikai had an ambiguous attitude, and the grass on the wall generally catered to Cixi and appeased Guangxu, and took advantage of Cixi and Guangxu's attraction to him to climb up.

On the other hand, Cixi summoned Wang Chenhao to Beijing to give a face-to-face lecture. Cixi was jealous of Wang Chenhao from the bottom of her heart, and would not let the Beiyang Army interfere in the defense of Yanjing until she had to, but at the moment Yuan Shikai's attitude was unclear, and the Beijing army controlled by Rong Lu was not Yuan Shikai's opponent, so Cixi had to turn to Wang Chenhao to defend Gyeonggi just in case.

Wang Chenhao's entry into Beijing at this juncture immediately caused shocks from all sides.

As the most powerful feudal official of the Qing Empire, Wang Chenhao not only controls the most elite 300,000 Beiyang Army of the Qing Empire, but also controls all the naval forces, and also controls the financial lifeline of the Qing political axe. Nominally, Qing Zhengaxe is the ruler of China, but in fact, with Wang Chenhao's strength, he is the real speaker.

The Qing political axe real power faction, including Cixi, can no longer control Wang Chenhao at this moment, all they hope is that Wang Chenhao will not rebel, and everything else can be tolerated.

"Congratulations, my lord, the Queen Mother is recruiting adults into Beijing at this time, and it is indispensable to add officials to the knighthood."

Cixi's edict ordered Wang Chenhao to enter Beijing, and it was inevitable to add officials to the knighthood to show that he was encircled, and Wang Chenhao's subordinates immediately sent congratulations.

Wang Chenhao no longer has any feelings about the addition of officials to the knighthood, for him, the strong soldiers in his left hand and the gold and silver banknotes in his right hand, and when he stomps his feet, the entire land of China will tremble, and the emperor does not have his majesty.

However, Wang Chenhao stood in the position of his subordinates and could understand their feelings, so he smiled and said, "I hope that this time Cixi will not be petty." ”

Ruan Zhongshu said: "This time it involves the struggle for the power center of the emperor and queen, the Empress Dowager Cixi has only one Ronglu in her hands, and the Guangxu Emperor rushed to the hospital by mistake to get Yuan Shikai, but he also barely coped with it. In the defense of Gyeonggi, the two parties of the emperor and queen were evenly matched, so the attitude of the adults became the key to the success or failure of both sides. I thought that with the shrewdness of the Empress Dowager Cixi, this time she would definitely not be petty, and it would not be a problem to be promoted to three levels in a row. ”

Zhang Feng said at this time: "I think the key should be to let the adult enter the military aircraft, this is the last power organ of the imperial court, with the current strength of the adult, becoming the minister of military aircraft is worthy of the name, and it is justified." ”

Everyone talked endlessly, and most of them put their minds on adding officials to the knights, and they didn't realize the danger of Wang Chenhao entering Beijing at this time.

Only Wang Shizhen, who had just returned from Nanyang, was the most cautious and saw the risk of entering Beijing this time.

"My lord, it's better not to enter Beijing at this time, let the two parties of the emperor and queen fight to the death by themselves, adults only need to sit in Zhili, strictly control the surroundings of Gyeonggi, no matter who loses or wins, in the end, adults must come out to stabilize the overall situation."

Wang Shizhen's expression was very cautious, and from his gaze, Wang Chenhao seemed to see something.

"Shizhen has something to say."

Wang Shizhen looked around and saw that the hall was full of Wang Chenhao's descendants, and there was nothing to hide, so he expressed his worries.

"My lord, I'm afraid you will be in danger when you enter Beijing this time."

Wang Shizhen's words suddenly cooled down the joyful atmosphere in the entire hall.

Wang Chenhao looked at Wang Shizhen with interest and asked, "Shizhen, tell me your opinion." ”

"Yes!" Wang Shizhen received the order, so he said: "I think that on the surface, the emperor and queen are fighting within the party, and the trend of winning over adults is obvious. However, the time has come for the two parties to prepare for a military confrontation. At this time, when adults enter Beijing, no matter which side they support, they will be jealous of the other side. And the strength of the adult is enough to influence the situation, no matter which side is supported, it is the victory that determines the surname, in this way, the other side will be defeated, this dog is in a hurry but wants to jump the wall. ”

Everyone in the hall was a smart person, and they were all worried.

Wang Chenhao had to admire Wang Shizhen's deep thinking, and after Wang Shizhen said this, Wang Chenhao didn't dare to be careless.

Ruan Zhongshu said: "Shizhen's worries are reasonable, but if the adults don't enter Beijing, I'm afraid of falling into the hands of others." ”

Wang Chenhao then said: "It is necessary to enter Beijing, as long as you bring more guards when the time comes!" ”

Wang Shizhen said: "I am afraid that the guards are not enough, and we need to send troops to Gyeonggi to take precautions." ”

Zhang Feng said: "I'm afraid it's not appropriate to send troops into Gyeonggi, right?" Why don't you go? ”

Yang Shixiang, who had been watching from the sidelines, suddenly said at this time: "If either side of the two parties of the emperor and queen jumps over the wall in a hurry, no matter how elite the guards of the adults are, the tigers will not be able to withstand the wolves, and sending troops into Gyeonggi will be able to ensure the safety of the adults when necessary." ”

Zhang Feng asked Yang Shixiang rhetorically and said, "But if the imperial court detains the pot for rebellion to the adult, it will damage the reputation of the adult too much." ”

Ruan Zhongshu also chimed in: "Yes, this is like gambling, we won more than a dozen in the front, but as long as we lose one, we will lose all of them." Not worth it. ”

Yang Shixiang smiled slightly, showing a scheming expression, and said: "What Lord Ruan said is reasonable, but what I said about sending troops to Gyeonggi is justified. ”

"Justified?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing why.

Wang Chenhao guessed the meaning of Yang Shixiang's words, and suddenly smiled: "Shixiang is saying that let's find an excuse to send troops!" ”

Everyone suddenly realized, only to see Yang Shixiang arching his hand at Wang Chenhao, and said with a smile: "It's still an adult!" ”

This sycophant was shot just right, and everyone secretly praised Yang Shixiang for being worthy of Xiao Zhuge and being shrewd.

Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "Shixiang must have a plan, just say it!" ”

Yang Shixiang received the order, so he said: "My subordinates think that Sijiu City is only 60,000 city defense troops, Rong Lu has 30,000, and Yuan Shikai has 30,000. The name of the Praetorian Guard in the capital is 30,000, but the actual shortage is serious, the number of troops is less than 3,000, and it is also a veteran soldier of the Eight Banners, which can be ignored. The city defense army held by Rong Lu and Yuan Shikai also has a shortage of quotas and weapons, although it is not as exaggerated as the shortage of the Praetorian Guard, but it is only about 40,000 green battalion soldiers and training troops, and the ordnance is not enough for a brigade of the Beiyang Army. When the adults enter Beijing, no matter who side they support, they only need to transfer two divisions to be stationed near Yuan Shikai's Nanyuan camp and Rong Lu's Beiyuan camp respectively, so that they dare not move. ”

Zhang Feng asked: "The combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army is naturally not a problem, and it is a piece of cake to deal with them. But what excuse do we use? ”

Yang Shixiang said: "It's very simple. At the beginning, Guangxu ordered the adults to train the new army, and stipulated that the eight towns of the Beiyang Army needed to be tested after training. Now that the two-year period has passed, it has been postponed because of the war, and now adults only need to use the name of exercise and inspection. ”

Wang Shizhen asked at this time: "However, if the imperial court asks why the exercise is near Gyeonggi, how to deal with it?" ”

Yang Shixiang replied: "Your Excellency is the Minister of National Defense, so you can make the subject of the exercise the defense of the capital. ”

Wang Chenhao nodded and said: "At the moment, there will be a war between us and Russia, this is a well-known thing, the total strength of our army is not as large as that of the Russian army, it can be assumed that the Russian army invaded on a large scale in the early stage, and our army was defeated and retreated to the capital to make the final resistance." At the same time, this is also a show of weakness to Russia and paralyzing the Russian army, and at the same time, it also tells the people of the country that we are inferior to the Russian army in terms of army strength, and we need to make great efforts to make the country prosperous, so as to lay a good foundation of public opinion for our next expansion of the army. ”

Ruan Zhongshu said: "What the Lord said is very true, it can secretly deter the emperor and the queen party, so that they dare not act rashly against the adults. It can also use the propaganda of the Russian threat theory to silence the mouths of the great powers and domestic opponents, and clear the way for our future arms expansion war. This is called killing two birds with one stone. ”

Subsequently, Wang Chenhao listened to everyone's opinions and suggestions, and only after being foolproof did Wang Chenhao announce that he had been summoned to Beijing.

Li Youyi and Luo Xier's two daughters also pestered to follow them into Beijing, but Wang Chenhao refused, and asked the two daughters to take care of their daughters at home.

Rothier has officially married Wang Chenhao three months ago and became Wang Chenhao's second wife. Because Li Youyi is a super-grade lady, the woman who marries Wang Chenhao after her is not allowed to hold a large-scale wedding ceremony. But Rothesmine is special, as a political marriage, the American political axe attaches great importance to this, they hope to influence Wang Chenhao to be pro-American through Rothschild, and Wang Chenhao has to cooperate with the American political axe in a short period of time, so after consultation, the wedding was held in the American concession in Tianjin. Although the Qing political axe was dissatisfied, the Qing law did not stipulate that marrying a foreign woman would hold a foreign wedding, so Wang Chenhao was allowed to take advantage of the loophole, and in the end, both parties had face and steps, and the matter was over.

However, the American political axe played tricks in this way, and in the American newspapers, they reported on the wedding of Wang Chenhao and Rothsier, but ignored Wang Chenhao's first wife, Li Youyi, resulting in most Americans still only knowing that Wang Chenhao's wife was Rothchild many years later, but did not know Li Youyi herself. Even a considerable number of Americans regard Li Youyi as Wang Chenhao's lover.

As a result, two diametrically opposed versions have emerged on both sides of the Pacific. And this statement is because the political axes of China and the United States have chosen to neither admit nor deny because of their political relations, resulting in endless debates about who is Wang Chenhao's original wife between Li Youyi and Rothschild for many years after that.

(To be continued)