In the study of Prince Gong's mansion, there was a dead silence. Yi Xin pinched the fold and sat on the chair blankly. He sat there, his thin body as if he could not hold his head, and hung deeply.

Qin Jun, Liu Xian, no one can control it anymore. All the plans came to naught.

The Qin army won a great victory, the news of Li Hongzhang's capture came, and the people in the territory of the Qin army were lively and crazy, but in the Forbidden City, it was silent like a mourning hall. Cixi had already killed two eunuchs for no reason, and she didn't watch the drama anymore, and she didn't walk around, but she was just walking around in Changchun Palace, and even Li Lianying didn't dare to go over and touch the side.

Lao Qi completely lost his mind, just like a wooden man. I was in a daze for half a day, without eating or sleeping.

It is clearly written in the history books that the two dynasties will fight, and there will be a big war at a certain stage, such as the Battle of Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty and the Battle of Xuanwu Lake in the Ming Dynasty. The winner will win the world! Counting on Liu Xian to become the Yellow Nest or Li Zicheng to become the second, it is better to expect the sow to go up the tree.

……

The clock soon moved to April. Liu Xian has returned to Nanjing, where he will meet with the British Minister Wittoma, and this time the negotiations are very important, because they really involve the interests of the two countries and the important meeting in the future, and for China, it will involve the fundamental interests of the country.

In more than ten days, Anhui fell. Zhang Yao raised his troops cleanly and surrendered, and has now been appointed as the commander of the independent regiment. The Songwu army under him still has some combat strength, and it is a pity that it is wasted. Liu Xian ordered Zhang Yao to cut off some dirt, and the real Songwu Army was changed to the Qin Army military system, for which the Ministry of Military Affairs also specially deployed hundreds of middle and lower-level officers.

Song Qing, the governor of Henan, also surrendered. More powerful than Zhang Yao. Liu Xian's impression of Song Qing is the same as Zhang Yao's, which is very good. Both of these are capable of fighting. Dare to fight tough battles. Moreover, after the Battle of Runan, Liu Xian was awarded the title of Governor of Shandong. The matter of the counselor's suppression of twisting can be said to be the second-in-command on the entire battlefield of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. But obviously, the four armies of Hunan, Huai, Anhui and Hubei, except for Liu Mingchuan, who has a great favor with him, and Song Qing and Zhang Yao, who are still very ordinary in the background, no one will really obey Liu Xian's orders, even if it is only superficial. Even in Liu Xian's view, Zeng Guofan quickly marginalized himself at that time, and there was no reason for the generals of the four armies.

Zhou Shengbo, Pan Dingxin, Zhang Shusheng, Wu Changqing, Guo Songlin and other Hunan and Huai generals. Song Qing and Zhang Yao of the Henan Army, Zhang Desheng and Guo Baochang of the Anhui Army, and the Hubei Army, as well as the original Liu Mingchuan Division, had a total strength of more than 50,000 on the battlefield.

But in addition to Liu Mingchuan, Song Qing and Zhang Yao, the generals of the four armies of Hunan, Huai, Anhui and Hubei were all arrogant and arrogant, and they did not listen to or obey him, treating his military orders as nothing.

Today's fruit. He is the cause of the day. Zhang Yao and Song Qingneng were both awarded the position of colonel and head of the independent regiment, not the commander of the independent battalion, or the rank of major general, and then hung high. Liu Xian still remembers what they were good at the beginning.

The troops of Guangdong and Jiangxi had already entered Zhejiang, and the Chu army was now fully retreated to the city of Hangzhou, while the new army of the Eight Banners of General Hangzhou had fled to Shaoxing as if it were separated.

A large number of troops are being assembled in Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and Shanghai. The troops attacking Tianjin and southern Liaoning only waited for the time to be ripe. They will set sail from these three places.

……

Fuzhou, to the door of the house. Xiang Fazheng, the lieutenant general of the Third Integrated Division of the Qin Army, and the commander of the division, stood there in a military uniform. and a group of daughters-in-law and children of their own land performed eighteen send-offs.

This house was originally the residence of a wealthy merchant in Fuzhou, and was given to Xiang Fa as a residence by Liu Xian. How many of the rich families of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were not extravagant? Of course, the house where I live is to be perfect, and the decoration is beautiful.

After seeing the Fujian Governor's Yamen and the Fuzhou General's Mansion to Xiang Fa, he felt that this kind of courtyard was better. Liu Xian ordered him to lead the troops, pay attention to southern Zhejiang, and Xiang Fa simply took over all his family. As for the original house in Guangzhou, it's good to stay. I don't know when I'll go back again!

Everyone at the top of the Qin army is now a big money. Although Liu Xian did not let them embezzle and accept bribes, nor did he give them the opportunity to embezzle, the MI was like a knife hanging over everyone's heads. Since the development of the Military Intelligence Department and the separation from Fan Debang, Liu Xian appointed Fan Guangyi as the director of the Military Intelligence Department. Don't look at Fan Guangyi's surname Fan, just think that he and Fan Debang are the same family, and the two sides actually have no relatives at all.

Fan Guangyi was the one who served Liu Xian when he was twisting, and his ancestral home was Xinyang, Henan. I can't beat the eight poles of Vanderbang!

Therefore, the top level of the Qin army is all cowardly in the military situation.

It is also because of this constraint that when the New Qin Government dealt with the New Restored Land, it was able to put real money into the pocket of the New Qin Government to the greatest extent.

However, Liu Xian gave these old subordinates stocks and shares, and encouraged them to do business.

In terms of Xiang Fa's family background, his shares in Nanyang Shipping Company and his shares in Liuzhou have annual dividends of 70,000 or 80,000 silver dollars. In addition, Xiang's family also has a grain store, and there is also silver invested in Taiwan's camphor and sugar industries, and they can also harvest 50,000 or 60,000 silver dollars every year, so plus Xiang Fa's own money and rewards, it is 200,000 silver dollars smaller.

The thousands of acres of land that the Xiang family was granted in Hanzhong and Taiwan, that little income is not worth mentioning.

So Xiang Fa has money. If you have money, you will be willful, and if you want to move, you will move.

Because of this, the seven or eight charming women in Xiang Fa's back house spend money like running water, and Xiang Fa never cares about them and never restricts them.

So now in Fuzhou Xiangfu, the little maids are all beautiful and lovely. The interior of the house was spotless. Each of the subordinates wore soft-soled shoes, rising and falling silently. There really is a mansion atmosphere.

The current main room, Mrs. Xiang, is standing at the door, tenderly arranging the collar of her military uniform for Xiang Fa. "How many more days will you go out this time?"

Another flock of warblers and swallows were on the side. But no one dared to rush in front of the lady of the main house.

The bunch of warblers and swallows crowded in front of him were all beautiful, including Mrs. Xiang, which made Xiang Fa very proud.

There are naturally a lot of lustful masters in the high-level of the Qin army, but all the beauties in their families are obtained after their careers, which is like him Xiangfa, who was not married in his early years. After being granted an official position, he married his current wife, not only a big man. It's still beautiful.

When a man goes out to run an errand, the woman of the family bids him off. The most is to make a man full of ambition. Xiang Fa smiled heartily, "It's business." Don't ask. Anyway, we won't be able to live in Fuzhou for long. You have an idea, after a while, we should enter the city of Beijing. ”

Xiang Fa left the house laughing heartily. The army is finally going to Beijing!

……

Inside the British Consulate in Shanghai. in the living room. There were already a few people sitting in a staggered position. The Consul General of the British Empire in China [Shanghai], Gold, who used to be among the high-class people in Shanghai, was a trembling figure when he stomped his feet, but at this time he stood straight aside, beckoning servants to come up and serve the guests. His eyes were focused on the humidor and the white wine glasses in the hands of his guests. As long as it's empty, you have to make it up quickly.

He was just the son of a small aristocratic family in Liverpool. Although with the title of Lord. However, the family property was limited, and he relied on his family's connections to obtain a decent diplomatic position, but after 20 years of hard struggle, there was still no sign of emergence. Finally came to China!

Although China was a major interest of the empire in the East, it was a very low diplomatic level here, and its position in British politics was not as large as that of China. This is true of His Excellency the Minister, and even more so of him as a Consul General.

The collapsing Qing Empire was undoubtedly a semi-colony, and the position of the British did not need to be worried about here. The diplomat is in a quiet and comfortable position, and since taking over last year, the 40-something Golder has quickly made a name for himself in Shanghai's local social circles with his immaculate and impeccable gentlemanly demeanor.

The British Empire is now not focused on the Far East. And in the Near East and India. Although the situation in China is changing rapidly, there is no need for him to make any outstanding achievements in this consul general position. Even if it seems to take a little more time in horse races, dance parties, and card games, Godd can still provide enough information about the changes in the southern part of the Qing Kingdom to 10 Chinatown.

This time, however, not only did Wittoma come here, but also the envoy of the Marquess of Salisbury, the new foreign secretary, came to Shanghai.

The former British Foreign Secretary, Lord Derby Jr., was dismissed by His Excellency the Prime Minister. Because Britain is in the Near East. That is, a strategic mistake in the tenth war between Turkey and the Russians. After six battles of Plevin, the Russian army had already captured it, and more than 20,000 Turkish troops had surrendered. The Carpathians no longer seem so impassable for the Russians!

Prime Minister Disraeli could not tolerate the proximity of Russian power in the Mediterranean and dismissed Foreign Secretary Lord Derby Jr. The British Royal Navy was ordered to station at the Istanbul anchorage. Although the Russo-Turkish war is still going on, the Russo-Turkish war is coming to an end.

The fall of Pleven was a turning point in the war. The Russian army has achieved an advantage of more than 2:1 over the Turkish army in terms of troops and weapons. Now the Russian army is attacking south of the Balkans. The Russian Danube Army made a multi-way assault along a 150-kilometer-wide frontal front, while the Turkish army was not allowed to retreat due to insufficient troops, and many units were already engulfed by the frenzy of the Russian offensive. Serbia also entered the war against Turkey on 13 March.

Last year, the British launched a second war against Afghanistan, and the situation here was one good news after another: the British colonial army of 35,000 invaded Afghanistan in three ways. Afghanistan was bent on Russian assistance and adopted a policy of non-resistance, deliberately scattering 50,000 troops throughout the country in an attempt to let the British troops penetrate deep into the border and force Tsarist Russia to fulfill its promise to send troops and assistance. Therefore, the defense of the Afghan army was very weak, and the British colonial army on the southern route advanced to Kandahar, encountered no resistance all the way, and took the city lightly on January 8 of this year's Western calendar. The central colonial army was blocked at the Paival Pass, and then forced it to retreat after detouring to the Afghan flank; The northern route colonial army was heavily bombarded by Afghan artillery fire at the Khyber Pass, and its advance was blocked, but the Afghan army was ordered to retreat that night, and the colonial army occupied Jalalabad along the way. A large part of Afghanistan was lost, and Russia was asked to send troops, but the Russians are now fighting the Russian-Turkish war with all their might, and they are not willing to have a showdown with the British in Afghanistan at all, and refuse to send troops. Afghanistan is now a British dependency.

Turkey can't do anything! So, the British had to get a sharp knife in the belly of the Russians in Central Asia, but in the Far East, Britain had to have a loyal ally to contain the Russians.

Now that the Foreign Minister's Special Envoy has arrived in Shanghai, there is no doubt that this 'ally', the British Empire, has chosen China, which is rapidly changing.

Gord knew the situation in East Asia very well, and only China met the conditions of the British Empire! (To be continued......) R1292