Li Yongchang soon listened to the order of Emperor Li Yongji and organized a negotiation team, but this time Li Yongchang did not go out in person, but appointed Wang Tao as the negotiation ambassador and Rong Hong as the deputy negotiation envoy, and formally conducted formal negotiations with the envoys of Britain, France and Russia on the Sino-Russian conflict in the name of the Chinese Empire.

Sure enough, the envoys of Britain, France, and Russia colluded, not only did not give an inch to the previous six conditions, but also raised the amount of compensation, with Russia's compensation from 3 million taels of silver to 4 million taels, and the mediation fees demanded by Britain and France rose from 500,000 taels to 1 million taels respectively.

In other words, the newly established Chinese Empire will have to pay a total of six million taels of silver to Britain, France and Russia for the conflict between China and Russia!

Not to mention the money and the money, once it is agreed, the face of the Chinese Empire will be over, because it was forced to sign a traitorous treaty just after its establishment, and the suppression of prestige is very obvious.

As a matter of fact, Russia originally wanted a higher amount, 6 million taels, but the negotiating envoys of Britain and France felt that it was not right, and they hoped not to push China too much, so they reduced the number, otherwise, there would be no way to talk about it at all.

In other words, after seeing the tsunami of cheers at the enthronement ceremony, the British and French envoys both muttered and began to be suspicious of their own government's decisions, so they tried to help reduce some excessive conditions for the Chinese Empire, hoping that it could finally be resolved peacefully.

For these harsh conditions, Wang Tao and Rong Hong fought on the basis of reason, and in accordance with the will of His Majesty the Emperor, first from a moral point of view, and then from the details little by little, and even one pretended to be red-faced, the other pretended to be white-faced, and worked hard to drag out this negotiation.

In the process of this negotiation, Li Yongji and Li Yongchang were not idle, and they cooperated in the division of labor. One in charge of the army and the other in charge of the government began to accelerate the integration of forces within the Chinese Empire, to form a set of concise and efficient government in the shortest possible time, and to organize a strong army.

Let's start with the structure of government.

In the past, when the Jiangnan Military Government was implemented, the separation of powers, that is, the separation of legislative power, judicial power, and administrative power was implemented.

In practice, however, it was found that the parliament had little effect. Judicially, because of the strong intervention of the Military Judge Advocate General's Office, the power of the government has been greatly enhanced, and in fact, a situation has been formed in which the Jingwu Army and the Jiangnan Military Government are dominant.

Considering that the literacy rate of the Chinese people is low, there is not much awareness of the separation of powers, and the current internal and external troubles are strict, what is needed is efficient centralization, rather than decentralization, so it was decided to implement a dualist monarchy with more centralized power.

That is, the state of the Chinese Empire. It was a dual monarchy, the original Jiangnan Military Government, which was automatically renamed the Government of the Chinese Empire.

In this new government, the emperor was hereditary. He is the head of state, has the military power and political power of the country, integrates legislative, executive, judicial, and military powers, and is the de facto ruler of the country.

Under the emperor. The policy of separation of executive, judicial, and legislative powers has been implemented.

The body exercising executive power, called the Imperial Government, is responsible for the Cabinet. The Cabinet is also known as the Prime Minister's Office, and the cabinet consists of five members, all of whom are appointed by the emperor.

The Cabinet is followed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Personnel, which are in charge of local government affairs.

The judicial power is independent of the government agency, and its name is the Imperial Court, which is divided into four levels, namely the Royal Grand Court, the High Court, the Intermediate Court, and the Lower Court. The supreme head of the Imperial Court is called the Imperial Justice, who is also appointed directly by the Emperor. Judges are not administrative, but only adjudicate cases, and the system of appointing and promoting judges is also independent, not linked to the government, and not under the jurisdiction of the cabinet.

The legislative power is vested in the Parliament, divided into the upper house and the lower house, the upper house is the royal house, which has legislative power, but the emperor can veto it with one vote. The House of Commons has only the power of supervision and the power of mention, and has no legislative power.

In the political structure, although the independence of the court and the parliament is still preserved, the final decision is made by the emperor, so in fact the most powerful is the cabinet government.

In other words, the emperor is the president, and the prime minister, justice, and speaker of the cabinet below are the heads of the three departments under him, and each department operates independently and checks each other, but the administrative department of the cabinet is larger.

In order to be more coordinated, Li Yongji's elder brother Li Yongchang was appointed as the first prime minister of the Chinese Empire, the first speaker of the House of Lords was Li Yongji's father Li Zhengxiang, and the first imperial justice was Li Yongji's grandfather Wang Tianzhong.

It can be said that the top officials of these three key departments are all Li Yongji's own family members, and they belong to blatant cronyism.

The second is the reform of the army and government affairs, Li Yongji decided to put it aside and let Li Yongchang discuss and solve it by himself, while he himself focused on military affairs, and the first thing he wanted to do was to carry out a large-scale expansion of the army, and on the basis of the expansion, carry out a major reorganization of the original elite army, so as to rapidly improve the overall combat effectiveness of the Chinese imperial army.

According to the new army reorganization plan, the armed forces of the Chinese Empire will be divided into three armed forces: the navy, the army, and the air force, and each major branch of the armed forces will be divided into three levels, namely, A, B, and C according to their strength.

The first-level A troops are uniformly called the Royal Janissary, for example, the army is called the Royal Army, the navy is called the Royal Navy, and the air force is called the Royal Air Force.

They are the royal family, that is, Li Yongji's direct troops, and the finances are all paid by the royal family itself, not under the responsibility of the government, and they can only be mobilized by the royal family, and are not subject to the jurisdiction of the imperial government. This part of the troops, which are regular field troops, is defined as the strongest mobile strike force.

In the plan, the original three divisions were reorganized into a single army, which was called the First Army of the Royal Army, commonly known as the Jingwu Army.

In other words, the Jingwu Army will be the name of a large army in the future, and it will be an honorary title, and it will no longer be the general name of the armed forces of the Chinese Empire.

In addition to the Jingwu Army, the Second Army of the Royal Army will also be formed, also known as the Shangwu Army; The Third Army of the Royal Army, also known as the Mighty Army!

The number of the Second Army and the Third Army is the same as that of the Elite Army, and the requirements for the selection of soldiers are the same, but the weapons and equipment are slightly different, and the difference here is mainly in light weapons.

That is to say, the elite army will all be replaced with 56 semi-automatic rifles and 56 submachine guns, the Sharps rifle will be eliminated, and the weapons of the second army and the third army will be directly replaced with the 1860 type large cover rifle, which is a tethered rifle unit.

For now. In the Royal Army, for these three corps-level units, only one elite army has actual combat capability, and the other two armies need at least three months or even more than half a year to form combat effectiveness, so for now, it is more for bluffing, and at the same time, it is also for future preparations.

The Royal Navy is naturally a naval force in Mojiagang, Jiaxing, and this unit is still a secret force and will not be announced to the public for the time being.

The same goes for the Royal Air Force, which can actually be called the Royal Airship Force at the moment. The actual number of people is to be determined.

The second level of the B army, also known as the Imperial Wehrmacht, as the name suggests, is a force under the leadership of the government's Ministry of Defence.

The size of this force is planned by the Royal General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, that is to say, the Wehrmacht eats the state treasury and is under the leadership of the Ministry of Defense in peacetime, but it must obey the unified dispatch of the General Staff when fighting.

To put it more simply, the Ministry of Defense is the nurse of the Wehrmacht. However, the General Staff is the father of the Wehrmacht, and the Wehrmacht's peacetime recruitment, training, and supplies are all under the Ministry of Defense, but the power to transfer troops and dispatch generals is in the hands of the General Staff, that is, who to fight. How to fight, it is up to the General Staff to have the final say, and the General Staff can mobilize not only the Wehrmacht, but also the Royal Praetorian Guard.

Because of financial problems. The number of soldiers temporarily given by the Wehrmacht is 300,000, and for the time being, all of them are the army, and there is no air force or navy.

In other words, the Chinese Empire currently has a total of 300,000 national defense forces. All of them are the Army, and this part of the Wehrmacht implements a conscription system, not a compulsory system.

That is to say, the Wehrmacht will issue 300,000 soldiers, set up recruitment points in the area ruled by the Chinese Empire for recruitment, and after the recruits are recruited, they will be sent to the specified places for unified training, and the minimum employment period is five years, and they must stay in the barracks all the time to serve unless they are on vacation.

The Wehrmacht was also armed with Type 1860 rifles, but with fewer heavy weapons than the Royal Guard, and fewer bicycles and cavalry.

Because the treatment of the Wehrmacht is not bad, second only to the Royal Janissary, the casualty rate is also very low, and there are many benefits of the former elite army, such as preferential treatment for military families, so these 300,000 places are not worried at all, so the conditions formulated are actually quite high.

The third level of troops is the militia force. The full name of the militia is the "Imperial National Guard", which also eats from state finances, is under the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, and implements a mobilization system, that is, compulsory soldiers.

Similarly, due to the current financial constraints, there is no air force and navy, only the army, and it is not possible to implement the system of universal military service, but the militia quota of one million is still stipulated.

That is to say, at present, the Chinese Empire will apportion the number of militia service qualifications according to the proportion of the population of each region, as long as those who meet the qualifications must be required to perform military service on a regular basis, participate in the training of the National Guard during the leisure time of work or farming, and even go directly to the battlefield at the moment of emergency mobilization, and anyone who does not perform military service in accordance with the regulations will be severely punished.

The militia is armed with a Sharps rifle.

Although the militia force is compulsory to apportionment and compulsory service, because there is also a subsidy during the period of being a soldier, it is also quite tempting for the people in some poor areas, and it is usually the first choice for those who cannot be a Praetorian Guard or a national defense force, but want to be a soldier and eat the imperial food.

After all, according to the explanation, the militia also has to go to the battlefield, and the meritorious service system is the same, once the battlefield is meritorious, you can become a national defense force or directly become a janissaries, so the temptation is still very small.

That is to say, in terms of the army, Li Yongji was ruthless, the target of the Praetorian Guard is 200,000, the quota of the National Defense Force is 300,000, and the quota of the National Guard is directly up to 1 million, adding up, it is an army of 1.5 million!

This 1.5 million troops, plus a total of nearly 500,000 police forces, add up to more than 2 million armed forces!

Fortunately, the territory of the Chinese Empire is now larger, all of them are elite areas, plus the tax system is becoming more and more perfect, the financial problems are very rich, and the National Guard, which has the largest number of people, can not be out of production, so on the whole, the pressure on the finances is not very great.

In fact, Li Yongji had this plan for a long time, but it just broke out in advance by taking advantage of this situation of Britain, France and Russia, Li Yongji believed that as long as this army was prepared and crossed the hurdle of the joint intervention of Britain, France and Russia, then the rise of the Chinese Empire would really be unstoppable! (To be continued......)