It didn't take long for the news of the Qing court's training of the new army to spread all over the country, which was not only unexpected by everyone, but also expected by everyone, so there was a lot of discussion. There are those who applaud and those who are worried, but most of them are salty and eat radishes and worry about it, and they have nothing to do with themselves.

Since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the military system of the Qing court has been in a very strange state. As the regular army, the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion eat the country's food and salary, live a hungry life, and are at most a foil when they are fighting. As the main force of the Qing court's war, the regimental training in various places was indeed not taken care of by the state at all, fighting at the forefront, eating at the end, and being able to live was also supported by the governors of various places with money, so it became a private army where the governors were not private armies. The warlord wars of later generations were actually the root cause of the troubles left at this time.

Li Hongzhang was worried about the affairs of the New Army, which he mentioned, and Cixi also handed it over to him. As for how to do it, there is only a vague framework.

Zhou Fu said at this time: "My lord, I think this matter is better than this, first try it in one place, if it can, then expand the scope of promotion, if it proves effective at this time, and there is no problem, then promote it throughout the country." In this way, although I dare not say that it is foolproof, it is much safer after all. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, feeling that Zhou Fu's construction was good.

"Wu Shan, who do you think should be in charge of the training of the new army?"

The selection of the new army is also a headache for Li Hongzhang, there are many people under him who can fight habitually, but most of them are from the wilderness, if you want to say that you know the Western land warfare methods, you can't say that you don't have them, but most of them have important positions, and their level is limited. If you want to reach the Northeast Insurance Team, Wu Xiao, Wang Xiaoxiao, Xiang Long, Zheng Haitao, Yan Fu, Zhao Ziguang and other generals who can sit on one side, as well as the staff system and army system that cooperate with it, Beiyang really doesn't have this person.

Zhou Fu shook his head, obviously there was no suitable candidate.

"My lord, the question of the candidate...... First of all, what we want to establish is a demonstration battalion of the new army, and at this point, the lower officials agree to Wushan's arrangement! However, this battalion officer must meet two conditions, first, it must be our own people, and secondly, the relationship between the DPRK and China must not be too complicated! "It was Xue Fucheng who spoke, the word Shugeng, this person is Li Hongzhang's No. 2 strategist, second only to Zhou Fu in terms of status. However, he has been an official in other places before, and he can be regarded as one of Li Hongzhang's right-hand men. Because of his meritorious service in the Sino-French War, he was promoted from Shaotai Road, Zhejiang to the post of political envoy of Zhejiang, and he was also regarded as a feudal official! This return to Beijing was also summoned by Cixi.

Li Hongzhang walked around the house with his hands behind his back, "Even if we are our own people, we must not have much to do with the DPRK and China......

Such a person is obviously not easy to find, and Zhou Fu, who had been silent for a while, said at this time: "My lord, there is a candidate below!" ”

"Oh? Who? ”

"This person's surname is Yuan, his name is Shikai, his name is Weiting, and he is from Xiangcheng, Henan. His uncle and grandfather are Yuan Jiasan, and his uncle is the deceased former household servant Yuan Baoheng! ”

When Li Hongzhang heard Yuan Shikai, he was stunned, he had heard of this person, and when he followed Wu Changqing to North Korea, he was quite valued and praised by Wu Changqing. Later, the Northeast occupied Korea, and Yuan Shikai returned to China with the Huai army, so he was sent by the imperial court to Guangxi to follow Feng Zicai. At the time of the victory in Zhennanguan, he took his own guards and fought bravely to kill the enemy, so he was appreciated by Pan Dingxin. In addition, he was born in the Huai Army, and he is in the same vein as Lao Pan, and after his recommendation, Yuan Shikai finally entered Li Hongzhang's eyes.

The two chiefs of staff of the Huai Army, Zhou Fu and Xue Fucheng, were also blue-eyed to him, and after two years of training, Yuan Shikai finally began to move towards the inner circle of the Huai Army.

Now Yuan Shikai is studying on behalf of his son, and together with his brother Xu Shichang, he entered the Beiyang Army Military Academy. In fact, he originally wanted to go to the Northeast Army Military Academy, but now the relationship between Beiyang and the Northeast is not as good as five years ago, so the number of places to enter the Northeast Army Military Academy has become very limited. In addition, these places need to be distributed throughout the country, and local governors regard them as an important way to win the hearts and minds of the military. Therefore, there are not a few people who fight with Li Hongzhang for this matter, and the so-called sedan chair carries people, Li Hongzhang does not dare to be too arbitrary in this matter, otherwise he will be angry, and no one will have a good life. Therefore, even Yuan Shikai, a rising star of the Huai Army who was appreciated by him, did not obtain the qualification to study at the Northeast Army Military Academy. It has also become Yuan Datou, the first regret in his life.

"This guy is good!" Li Hongzhang nodded. "So ...... the training location?"

"It's not easy to leave our Beiyang territory, and you can see the results in the palace at any time, how about being at Tianjin Station?" Zhou Fujian said.

Li Hongzhang thought about it before he said, "Yes." ”

Yuan Shikai inexplicably became the commander of the New Army Demonstration Battalion, in addition to the fact that he, a boy with scattered wealth, fixed filial piety to Zhou Fu and a group of Beiyang bigwigs played a role, he himself can be regarded as having real talent and learning. Of course, it will not be possible for him to do it on his own, and at that time he will have to hire formal instructors from Europe.

After knowing the news, Yuan Shikai was so excited that he didn't sleep well all night, and Xu Shichang was the same, at this time they were not the people of the later generations, even if they were not fledglings, but they were also the first time to appear in front of the Manchu Dynasty. In order to prepare for everything, he also discussed with Xu Shichang for a long time, and later before going to see Li Hongzhang again, he also went to visit Zhou Fu, Xue Fucheng and others, which can be regarded as laying the cornerstone for his own start.

When Li Hongzhang saw Yuan Shikai, he was very enthusiastic. The young man in front of him is not tall, but his head is not small, and he feels very shrewd at a glance.

"Xiaguan Yuan Shikai, I've seen adults."

"Comfort Pavilion, please get up quickly, it's all your own family." Li Hongzhang laughed, expressing enthusiasm.

"Thank you, Lord for love! If the adults have something to do, even if they are instructed, the comfort pavilion will never give up! Yuan Shikai saw Li Hongzhang and began to express his determination.

Seeing that Yuan Shikai was so sensible and so good at things, Li Hongzhang also nodded secretly, this person was good in his heart.

The Northeast also knew about the establishment of a new army by the Qing court, but Prime Minister Yang Qiuxing did not express any opinion, although anyone with a discerning eye knew that the new army of the Qing court was used to deal with ...... More precisely, it is used to deter the insurance team of the Northeast Autonomous Region.

On Ning Island, She Fatzi, the big boss of the International Hotels Group, had just finished eating with Wang Yi, and he came to discuss business with Wang Yi.

"If you have nothing to do, you will come to me, you are not here to give gifts." Not to mention, She Fatzi came to Ningdao, but he never gave Wang Yi any gifts, but the women around Wang Yi, from Shen Yazhi, Tong Qianjia, to Jin Yun'er, Lin Taixi, Han Xiujing, Jiang Jiaren, he is not bad, he has everything to eat, wear, and has treasures collected from all over the world. Not to mention the four North Korean girls who have never seen the world, that is, Shen Yazhi and Tong Qianjia, who have been following Wang for a long time, are often shocked. She Fatzi has put a lot of effort into them, of course, this is not worth mentioning at all compared to the reward that Wang Yi gave him.

"Boss, this is the coffee I got back from the island of Jamaica."

Fran stood right behind Wang Yi, who was British and knew that Jamaica was rich in Blue Mountain coffee.

"What a gift!" Wang laughed, he didn't have much research on coffee, such as the famous cat poop coffee in later generations, he thought that he hadn't reached that grade, let him drink it, he would only feel disgusted. As for Blue Mountain coffee, it has been known for a long time, but it is basically monopolized by the Japanese, and the Celestial Empire in later generations is full of fakes, Wang Yi doesn't think that with his identity, he can drink the real Blue Mountain, so he didn't spend that unjust money. Occasionally, I drank hand-ground coffee once or twice, once to accompany Guo Hui, and when I looked at the girl, I didn't care too much about the taste of the coffee. And the second time was even more sad, obviously drinking poisonous beans, in fact, it was a moth-eaten coffee bean, Wang Yi's only feeling after drinking it was palpitations, very uncomfortable.

"Of course, of course." She Fatzi had a harmless smile on his face.

Wang Yi waved his hand and asked Fran to take away the Blue Mountain coffee, and then said to She Fatzi: "What you said, I sent someone to help you ask, and the autonomous region agreed to your plan to build a large-scale resort and health hotel on Jeju Island, Taiwan, Hainan, five provinces in Southeast Asia, and even Mozambique, and also agreed to list your hotel as a designated hotel for civil servants to recuperate and vacation......

"Really?" She Fatzi was happy.

The Tohoku Autonomous Region belongs to *, and the government has established designated resort hotels in order to increase benefits for civil servants. The annual leave is consumed here, all paid by the government, and the treatment is good. Of course, the Northeast Autonomous Region imposes very strict penalties for corruption on civil servants, three times the sentence for theft at the same level. In the first half of 1886 alone, 39 people were sentenced to death for embezzlement.

However, She Fatzi didn't be happy for long, and then he frowned and said, "Boss, of course the policy is good, but the money to build a hotel is ......."

"Okay, don't cry poor here, go to Nie Xiong, and when the formalities are completed, Dashang Bank will provide you with a loan."

As soon as he heard this, She Fatzi finally smiled again. At this time, the aroma of hand-ground coffee began to diffuse in the room, and several girls gathered around Fran's housekeeper to learn how to brew coffee. A short time later, the phone rang at home. The caller was Wang Xiaoxiao, chief of the general staff of the Northeast Insurance Team, and of course, the only one to look for was Wang Yi.

"Captain, the candidates for the Qing Court's New Army Demonstration Battalion have come out, guess who it is?"

"Who?"

Wang Xiao was happy and said: "Our army was an old acquaintance when we were in North Korea......"

Wang Yi was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and a name popped up in his heart, and he muttered, "It can't be Yuan Shikai, right?" ”

Wang Xiaoxiao was shocked and speechless, and it took a long time before he was surprised: "Captain, how did you guess it?" ”

"Is it him?" Wang Yi casually asked, "Then where to train the troops?" ”

"Tianjin Station."

Wang Yi smiled bitterly for a while, and said in his heart What is this called?