Yuan Shikai was not optimistic about Kang Youwei's so-called change, that is, a madman with no practical experience, who used radical and demagogic language to write to the emperor, catering to the emperor's eagerness to change the law and try to become stronger, thus gaining the emperor's trust. Let's see, what Kang Youwei and his gang did: dismiss a large number of officials from the six ministries, and let Tan Si and the same military aircraft Zhang Jing take office, causing the government and the opposition to disturb one after another, these reckless actions naturally aroused the disgust of conservatives. The reformers did not know that reform should win the maximum support of the government and the opposition, but relied on the emperor's trust to make major changes in the imperial court system: Kaimao Qindian specially planned the new policy to replace the Military Aircraft Department, and even prepared to invite Ito Hirobumi, an enemy of the First Sino-Japanese War, to be the guest secretary of the Qing Dynasty to guide the new policy.

At the beginning of August, the emperor suddenly summoned Yuan Shikai, who was concentrating on military training at a small station in the name of an envoy under the name of a direct subordinate envoy, praised his achievements in training the new army, and awarded him the rank of squire of the military department. made Yuan Shikai a second-class member of the imperial court in one fell swoop. You must know that Yuan Shikai was a direct subordinate according to the inspection envoy before, a third-grade official, and in the Manchu Qing system, the rank of the Beijing official should be one level higher than that of the local official, and Yuan Shikai was transferred to the Beijing official, he should be the fourth grade, but now the emperor rewards him with the title of squire, that is, the second grade. It is equivalent to being promoted to two levels out of thin air, no wonder Yuan Shikai is grateful to the emperor.

Yuan Shikai did not know at this time that the Emperor Ludao and the Han ministers of the Restoration faction had a plan, and when they sensed that the conservatives would make some moves, they realized that the military strength was the ultimate force to determine politics, and compared the armed forces around Gyeonggi, it was not surprising that the most worthy idea was Yuan Shikai's small station new army, and then tried their best to win over Yuan Shikai.

That night, an uninvited guest came to the Fahua Temple where Yuan Shikai stayed, that is, Tan Sitong.

He still remembers Tan Sitong's heart-stirring words when he went to Fahua Temple in early August to see him take out the emperor's secret edict and ask the empress dowager to send troops to kill Ronglu, besiege the Summer Palace, and depose Cixi.

Those scholars were always self-righteous, and in their eyes, the coup d'état was so simple, as long as they gave orders to the new army. It's ridiculous! Not to mention whether their ideas are accepted by themselves, even if they are willing to send troops, they have to use their lives to do it. I don't know how many people in the Beiyang New Army are loyal to the imperial court, not to mention far away, Wang Shizhen, who is known as the head of the three heroes of the new army, is a person who is completely loyal to the imperial court. Once the rumor leaks, he is a big crime to exterminate the clan! I was so calm at that time that I didn't agree to the instigation of the Hunan scholar Tan Sitong.

After being awarded the title of squire, according to the rules, Yuan Shikai was going to the Summer Palace to thank the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi, the elder with a slanted face, pointed to Yuan Shikai, who was kneeling on the ground, and asked, "The day before yesterday, the emperor asked you, 'If you are ordered to lead the army, will you be loyal?'" 'How did you answer?' ”

The sweat on Yuan Shikai's back immediately fell, my God, the emperor's every move is under the supervision of the queen mother. But he really didn't remember answering Guangxu's original words, but fortunately, Cixi said for him, "Monkey cub, what you said is 'a breath is still alive, and you must think of retribution', right?" Cixi sneered a few times, "It was right to follow the example of the Qing Dynasty and rectify the army." But the emperor is also in a hurry, I suspect he has no deep meaning, you have to be cautious. Let's go down. ”

It was the fifth day of the eighth month when he returned to Tianjin from Beijing, and Yuan Shikai, who was already feeling the strength of the conservatives, wanted to report Tan Sitong's plan to his boss, Rong Lu, the minister of Beiyang and the governor of Zhili. But I don't know how to speak. He had to report his trip to Beijing to his boss Rong Lu, but there were a lot of visitors to Rong Mansion on this day, and Yuan Shikai had no chance to meet him. It was not until the second watch that Yuan Shikai and Rong Lu's inactual talks ended. Rong Lu meaningfully left Yuan Shikai to live in the Rong Mansion and did not let him return to the Xiaozhan military camp.

The world said that Yuan Shikai secretly told Rong Lu about the plan of the Kang Party on the night of the fifth day of the eighth month, and the frightened Rong Lu urgently returned to the capital that night, and broke into the palace late at night to meet the queen mother, resulting in the second day (the sixth day of the eighth month) Cixi launched a palace coup d'état in the early dynasty, announcing the re-training of the government, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor, and arresting Kang Youwei and Kang Guangren brothers.

This argument has been widely circulated, but in fact there are many unreasonable points: First, the capacity of railway transportation at that time cannot be overestimated, and the operation of the steam train from Tianjin to Beijing at that time had to mobilize various government yamen, and all stations along the way had to cooperate. Even if Rong Lu learned of the reformists' plans for a military coup, it would not have been possible to deploy the entire railway line in a few hours and set up a special train to rush back to Beijing before dawn. Second, the rules of the palace system made it impossible for Rong Lu to break into the palace late at night to meet Cixi. Moreover, Cixi had already returned to Guangxu at that time and retired to the Summer Palace to recuperate. She could not meet with the courtiers anytime, anywhere, directly and without hindrance, let alone in the middle of the night. Third, when Cixi staged a palace coup on the sixth day of the eighth month to regain power, she accused Kang Youweian of "forming a party for personal gain, and making bad rumors about the government", and there was no charge of a military coup. If there is such an article, Kang Youwei will not be "handed over to the Criminal Department to punish the crime according to the law", but exterminate the clan.

In fact, the next day, the Empress Dowager asked for measures to be taken to stop the emperor's nonsense, and Yang Chongyi, the imperial historian, came to Tianjin to read out the announcement of the coup d'état in Beijing and the resumption of the Empress Dowager's political training. The treacherous and cunning Rong Lu learned from Yang Chongyi that Yuan Shikai had close contacts with the reformers in Beijing in the past few days, and he became suspicious, and immediately summoned Yuan Shikai, who was detained by him in the palace, to find out Yuan Shikai's position. When Yuan Shikai learned that the Empress Dowager Cixi had already taken action in Beijing and that the reform faction had completely failed, he immediately explained all the circumstances of the previous three days, including everything that Tan Si and Fahua Temple had said.

Yuan Shikai still informed, but there is a major difference between the informant before the fifth day of the junior high school and the informant in the sixth junior high school. Before the fifth day of the junior high school, it was completely a traitor to seek glory, but after the sixth year of the junior high school, it was out of self-preservation.

On the seventh day of the eighth month, Yang Chongyi hurriedly returned to Beijing with Rong Lu's secret fold written by Lu, and the Empress Dowager Cixi was shocked, so she issued another edict on the ninth day of the first month, arresting Tan Si and others, and wantonly hunting down the reformists. This time difference is enough to prove that Yuan Shikai did not tell Tan Sitong's conspiracy on the night of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

These thrilling past events have been unbearable for Yuan Shikai to look back on. Facts have proved that all his actions are under the surveillance of Rong Lu, a cunning and cunning guy who has won Cixi's trust, and under the pretext that the military ships of various countries are cruising outside the mouth of Dagu, he wants to return to Tianjin immediately to set up defenses, and then immediately sends Nie Shicheng's 5,000 Wu Yi troops into Tianjin, cutting off his connection with Beijing. And Dong Fuxiang's Gan army was also stationed in Beijing. Nie Shicheng and Dong Fuxiang are absolutely loyal to the Queen Mother!

It was a real slap in time. Thanks to himself, he reported Tan Sitong's conversation to Rong Lu in full, and obtained the understanding of Rong Lu and Cixi. Although he was guilty of the Restoration, he stood firm at the critical moment and can still be edified. In addition, Rong Lu has always admired Yuan Shikai, and with Rong Lu saying in front of Cixi, a major difficulty in Yuan Shikai's life has been passed without danger.

Yuan Shikai stood on the right side at the end, and of course the imperial court wanted to reward him. The award to him of the post of Acting Governor of Shandong was a reward for him. There is no governor in Shandong, and he, the acting governor, is the supreme chief, which is enough for him to show his ambitions. Eradicate the Boxers, which have made foreigners deeply dissatisfied, and severely restrict illegal associations. Of course, the mountain is king, and the ringing horses that rob homes and houses are even more in the scope of severe crackdowns.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered Shandong, the unscrupulous Cao Kun made him a big heel.

Cao Kun's report on the invasion of Mengshan made Yuan Shikai drop his cup. The five leaders of the Mengshan thieves were all finished, the thieves' nest was burned down, more than a thousand were killed, and more than 700 prisoners were captured, which was definitely a great victory. However, the suppression of a group of grass robbers who occupy the mountains as kings has lost nearly 500 officers and soldiers! Among them, no less than half of them should follow him to Shandong from the small station! That's not all, his lair was attacked and occupied by an unknown strongman, and the loss of military funds was serious. What made Yuan Shikai most sad was that there were three team officers and five platoon commanders who died in the battle of Mengshan! Yuan Shikai can recall the voices and smiles of those killed (missing) officers, and for the Wuwei Right Army he built, Yuan Shikai can call the names of all the officers, almost all of whom are graduates of the camp school he founded, and are the cornerstone of his life's work.

But there were 500 tinder lost to the tiny Mengshan! Damn Cao Kun, damn Cao San fool! How could Sun Dewang's capture offset such a heavy loss? He thought that a piece of paper could cover up his failure?

As far as the Qing Empire is concerned, Yuan Shikai, who is proficient in military affairs, especially in military education, knows the significance of officers to an army, officers and non-commissioned officers are the bones and blood of an army, not a superposition of numbers, and it is not something that can be made up by supplementing hundreds of illiterate peasants everywhere. Having studied the wars of the past dynasties, especially the war against bandits in the late Ming Dynasty and the war to pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he knew very well that the method of the peasant army was to coerce a large number of ignorant and foolish people into the war. Compared with Zeng Hou's Hunan army, the Taiping army had an absolute advantage in numbers in almost every battle, but it could not defeat the well-controlled, well-trained and well-equipped Hunan army. There are only more than 7,000 people in his new army, but they are all well-trained elites, which is the capital of his own army expansion. The expansion of the army is of course and has already been done. Tianjin is under the nose of the imperial court, and there are always too many concerns, and now the shepherding side finally has the opportunity to show his talents, but Cao Zhongshan, who is a dog, actually lost 500 people in the battle of Mengshan! And that's not even counting the wounded! If there are a few more battles like this, the hard work of his life will be in vain!

This rice bucket must be severely punished! Yuan Shikai called into the guards and asked him to find Wang Shizhen.

While waiting for Wang Shizhen's arrival, Yuan Shikai continued to think. He knew that the reason why the imperial court sent itself to Shandong to become a feudal official had a direct relationship with the ** of Yihequan. It is said that the American minister Conger was deeply dissatisfied with the attitude of the local officials directly under Shandong Province for conniving at the Boxers, and demanded that the imperial court remove Yuxian from his post and send officials who could treat the Boxers harshly to take charge of the government in Shandong. His predecessor Yuxian and his predecessor Zhang Rumei, a Manchu and a Han, both made mistakes on the issue of Yihequan, and the mistake was to use the strategy of "Fu", although Yuxian was a rare honest cadre among the Manchus, and the Empress Dowager Xi also admired him very much, but because of the foreigners, Yuxian was still transferred to the governor of Shanxi, and he who had always advocated "suppression" instead of "Fu" was sent to Shandong.

As soon as Yuan Shikai took office in Shandong, he felt that Shandong, especially in the southwest of Shandong, had spread the power of the Boxer fist to the point that it was difficult to control. After consulting with several assistants, Yuan Shikai decisively issued an explicit notice of "prohibiting boxers from boxers", and sent new troops to the four directions to arrest the head of the altar and dissolve all forms of gatherings. In Yuan Shikai's view, what the Boxers did was simply ridiculous.

Completely let Yuan Shikai see that Yihequan is purely deceptive is a thing that makes people want to laugh but can't laugh, a subordinate introduced him to a boxing "senior brother", saying that this person is very powerful, invulnerable, and the brothers are not afraid to fight with foreign guns. Yuan Shikai was very curious, immediately verified on the spot, came to the open space outside the gate, a few foreign guns fired at the senior brother in a big red robe, Yuan Shikai was surprised to find that this person was really unscathed, the smoke dissipated, the man still crossed his arms to his chest, smiling and facing the soldiers of the new army. Yuan Shikai subconsciously pulled out the Browning he was wearing, and shot it at the senior brother, and the person immediately fell to the ground and could no longer stand up. Yuan Shikai stepped forward to inspect amid the screams of everyone, and saw that the muzzle of the gun on the senior brother's chest was bleeding, and the person had already died.

Yuan Shikai ordered the soldiers who had just shot to be locked up and interrogated, and sure enough, the soldiers who had been bribed by the Boxers pulled out their warheads and shot. Yuan Shikai severely punished those "trusts", which completely made Yuan Shikai realize the deception of the Boxers, and his position on the Boxers completely turned to suppression and banning.

Wang Shizhen was in favor of a stern ban on Boxer. He is even more resolute than Yuan Shikai on this issue. When the Wuwei Right Army first arrived in Dezhou, Yuan Shikai encountered a trouble, the leader of the Boxer Rebellion who was taken care of by a certain prince in Beijing became Yuan Shikai's hedgehog, and this matter was solved by Wang Shizhen neatly, the solution was to cut first and then play, anyway, everyone was killed, and the magnates of the Beijing division had nothing to do. Of course, Wang Shizhen has to take some responsibility, and this incident once again proves Wang Shizhen's courage to take responsibility.

After reading Cao Kun's military report, Wang Shizhen thought about it for a while, and then proposed that he should not approve of severely punishing Cao Kun, but should praise him. Wang Shizhen has three reasons: First, Cao Kun's qualifications are shallow in the officer group that became a small station. But behind this, people are called Cao San's fools, and most of the former cloth dealers who are called Cao Sange are very military-minded, probably because Cao Kun has a kind of temperament that is not suspicious. The severe punishment of Cao Kun was a damage to the morale of the Wuwei Right Army, which was rapidly expanding its strength. Secondly, let's send troops to Shandong, the imperial court is watching, I am afraid that the affairs of the Wuxu Year are not complete, especially on the side of Ronglu. Rong Lu is the commander-in-chief of the Wuwei Army, and it is not easy to get his permission to enrich the two wings of the Wuwei Right Army (equivalent to a brigade) in Shandong.

Wang Shizhen suggested that Cao Kun's department should be commended, and the victory of the conquest of the Mengshan bandits should be reported to the imperial court, and since the Lord Zhao had asked for help, he would write a letter to Lord Zhao. In short, we won the battle. As for the internal group, the situation should be investigated first and then the decision will be made after the most serious decision. Isn't Cao Zhongshan on her way to Jinan? When he comes, you can talk to him calmly, the most important thing now is where did the Xiangma, which robbed us of our baggage and captured more than 100 of our officers and soldiers, go? If it's really a calf, we're afraid we'll have to fight a few more battles.

Yuan Shikai gradually calmed down, and he had to admit that Wang Shizhen's words made sense. Especially the second point he made.

After the Wuxu Incident, Cixi appointed Rong Lu as the minister of the Qincha to control the Beiyang army. Rong Lu reorganized the Gyeonggi army into the Wuwei Army, with five armies under its jurisdiction, with Nie Shicheng's Wuyi Army stationed in Lutai as the front army of Wuwei, Dong Fuxiang's Gan Army stationed in Jizhou as the Wuwei Rear Army, Song Qing's Yi Army stationed in Shanhaiguan as the Wuwei Left Army, Yuan Shikai's newly built army station as the Wuwei Right Army, and recruited 10,000 people as the Wuwei Middle Army.

The reason why he was sent to Shandong was because the foreigners who were in trouble with the Boxers were very annoyed and were deeply dissatisfied with Yuxian, the governor who shielded the boxers, and strongly demanded that Yuxian be removed and replaced by a meritorious. In view of the pressure from the Germans and the British, the imperial court had to transfer Yuxian back to Beijing and sent himself to bring the right army of Wuwei into Shandong. Why did you bring troops here, it was because the Boxer Rebellion had already achieved its strength.

Now we must not let the imperial court notice the defeat of the right army of Wuwei in Shandong, not to mention, Wang Pingqing is right, we have won. As for the first point he said, Yuan Shikai didn't take it to heart, Cao Kun was not enough to shake the morale of the army, and he could definitely control this army that he had trained by himself.

"What Pingqing said is that at this time, the imperial court must not be allowed to underestimate our Wuwei Right Army." Yuan Shikai took Wang Shizhen's hand and laughed, and the anger just now immediately turned into happiness. Probably a little cold, a trace of snot was laughed out by him, he raised the sleeve of his right hand and wiped it off without care, "Pingqing, I have an idea, Caozhou, you better go." I heard that the other place is the most fierce place of the Boxer Fist, Cao Kun is brave and unscrupulous, I am afraid that he will not be able to handle the proportions. ”

"Yes." Wang Shizhen readily agreed.

Sending Wang Shizhen away, Yuan Shikai sat in front of the bookcase and began to write a private message to Zhao Qiaoshu, the minister of military aircraft and the secretary of the Criminal Department: This time the Mengshan bandit suppression has been successfully completed, relying on the power of the imperial court, the soldiers will use their lives to wipe out the Mengshan thieves who have plagued the place for more than ten years, and the five leaders of the bandits, its big leader Sun Dewang, was captured and is now detained in the prison in Jinan, and the other four people have been killed. Considering that it is a long way to escort Jingshi, and Sun Dewang is just a thief, which is not enough to spend the energy of adults, I am going to behead him in Jinan and send it to Yizhou to deter those bandits. Shikai finally lived up to the expectations of the adults and was able to reply to the adults satisfactorily...... After writing the private letter, Yuan Shikai didn't feel sleepy and decided to personally draft a report to the Ministry of War.

After the two letters were written, it was already the second watch, Yuan Shikai called a personal soldier, asked him to return to Beijing tomorrow, and handed over this private letter to Lord Zhao Qiaoshu together with the draft of the military department.

Wang Shizhen said that holding the calf is worth noting, but Yuan Shikai doesn't see it that way. It has been a place infested by strongmen for a long time, is it worth using the regular army to abandon the location and go up the mountain to fight the bandits? In the battle of Cao Kunmeng Mountain, the general idea was right, that is, to drive the bandits down the mountain and fight again. If that gang of strongmen is really holding calves, you might as well let him get away for a few days for the time being, and then it is not too late to slowly clean up a few bandits after Shandong is completely mastered. Yuan Shikai's mind turned to the political situation in Shandong, which is the cornerstone of his climb to the next ladder, and he must step on it steadily. What is Shandong's problem? Boxer! The Boxers are getting out of control more and more!