Since the advent of the telegraph, the transmission of information from the imperial court has been much faster than in the past. Although in the name of the Ministry of War, an order was issued to the Fifth Town of Shandong to go south to Hunan and Jiangxi to quell the rebellion, the imperial court still sent a delegation headed by Xu Shichang, a squire of the Ministry of War, to Jinan to personally convey Cixi Lafayette's holy message to Long Qian.

In Cixi's view, the power of the decree must have been much greater than that of the telegraph.

The reason why Xu Shichang was sent to Jinan was because it was Xu Shichang's business to recruit Long Qian six years ago. However, the mastermind of that time was Yuan Shikai, not the imperial court.

Six years is just a flick of a finger, at the beginning there were only more than 1,000 people, and the Mengshan army with a territory radius of no more than 100 miles, is now a fully staffed town, and the area under its control is no longer a small piece of land in Fei County, but the whole of Shandong.

It is not only the astonishing speed of development of Long Qian's department that deserves reflection from the imperial court. If they knew that Lu Dao, which has now become the most relied on force of Jilin Governor Zhu Jiabao, Lu Dashan's department is also in the line of the Mengshan army, it is estimated that most of the princes in charge of the imperial court will not be able to sleep. Zhu Jiabao has already played the Ming court, Lu Dashan's troops are strong, loyal to the court, and ask the military department to officially grant the new army number, for this Chinese army unit that severely damaged the Japanese army in the Battle of Mukden, killed Major General Akiyama Yoshiko, the father of the Japanese cavalry, and forced the commander of the eighth division, Lieutenant General Lijian Shangwen, to commit suicide by disembowelment, the imperial court attaches great importance to it, regardless of the Japanese threat, the military department has sent a point inspection group headed by Liangbi to Jilin in the north, and it is said that a new number has been prepared for it - the eighteenth town.

However, the extremely backward Manchu intelligence system has not yet obtained information about the true identity of Lu Dashan and his gang, which is really sad and pitiful.

Long Qian's reply to the military department mentioned a lot of difficulties in the fifth town. What kind of unstable military spirit needs to be soothed, the lack of ordnance needs to be replenished, the lack of military pay needs to be replenished, and the army goes south to hire civilians and other expenses...... Then the conversation changed, and proposed that in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he hoped to retain his post as the governor of Shandong to reassure the army, and asked the imperial court to promise not to send troops into Shandong, and the defense of Shandong was completely responsible for the patrol army that had been reorganized in Shandong. Ning Shijun, who was the deputy commander of the patrol force, served as the commander of Xinzhentai. The most rear. Long Qian opened the lion's mouth and asked the court to allocate a fee of 10 million taels of silver. When these conditions are met, the Fifth Town can go south to quell the rebellion.

In response to Long Qian's request, the Military Aircraft Department expressed great anger except for the foreman Qing Wang Yixuan. It is said that Long Qian is reckless of Jun's grace. The heart is unfathomable. Fortunately, the Military Aircraft Department is, after all, the de facto cabinet of the Qing Dynasty. I still understand the truth that you can't start a war lightly. But the military department is different. The military department led by Tie Liang even put forward the idea of using force - the new town platform will not be given, the Shandong governor will be sent separately, and the fifth town will be opened within five days. There is no opening fee! Send someone over to supervise, if you dare to resist the order, "send troops to the pit and erect ears!" ”

Yuan Shikai sneered in his heart, send troops? Whose soldiers are sent? By your first town? This situation was something he was happy to see, and the more fierce Long Qian was, the more beneficial it would be to him. It would be great to drive the tiger of the Fifth Town out of Shandong and to the wilderness of Liangguang. It is also wonderful to let Long Qian fight against the rebellious party. But if the Beiyang Army is used to fight with the Shandong Army, I'm sorry, Lao Tzu won't do it. Therefore, Yuan Shikai said that sending troops to scare and scare Yi is generous, and it is even more unnecessary to talk about real fighting. The Shandong army is well-armed, and rifles and cannons can be produced by themselves, but you know the situation in Beiyang, and the ammunition is seriously insufficient, and if you do not make full preparations, you must not go to war. If it is not good for our new army to march, it will make foreigners laugh, but let them underestimate the new army.

Li Hongzhang, who was in charge of Beiyang, resolutely opposed a war with the Japanese, and the fleet in his hand was just an ornament, and it was very bluffing if he didn't fight, and he would leak and fall into the trap if he didn't fight.

Tie Liang's face was gloomy, and he was even more determined to take back the military power from Yuan Shikai's hands. He thought a little simpler, and always thought that he could control Beiyang by driving Yuan Shikai away. As everyone knows, the Beiyang Army has become a real warlord group, and those commanders, co-commanders, standard commanders, and pipe bands (battalion commanders) are all promoted by Yuan Shikai, and they have formed an unbreakable relationship of interests with Yuan Shikai. Even if Yuan Shikai is removed, the Beiyang Army will still be ineffective. However, this mystery has not yet been penetrated by Tie Liang and other Manchurian upstarts.

Quarrels are quarrels, the Military Aircraft Department and the Ministry of War are going to come up with a charter for the Imperial Front, and the Shandong Army does not say that it will not leave, and has put forward a bunch of conditions, how to reply? This errand finally fell on Yixuan's head, who made you the foreman of the military aircraft?

The benefits that Yixuan has taken from Long Qian's hands over the years have gone away. There is no need for Long Qian to send someone to contact, the prince's military foreman who regards his own interests as the highest interest immediately met Cixi, and after reporting Long Qian's reply, he claimed that Long Qian had done a very good job in Shandong, and the imperial court now suddenly transferred Long Qian's fifth town south to quell the rebellion, and there must be many difficulties, and the opinions of the Military Aircraft Department and the Military Department are inevitably too radical. Where can you not give any benefit? Not to mention going to war. Even if it is a fight, where can the imperial court make up the money to dispatch the Beiyang army in a short time? So I want Lafayette to say a few words for Long Qian, Long Qian is loyal to Lafayette, you say a word, it is better than us to say a hundred words.

After talking about this, he suddenly remembered Dong Fuxiang, who robbed the palace six years ago and went out of Beijing, isn't he now at ease in Qinghai, Gansu? No one in the court offered to send troops to kill the puppeteer.

Cixi was furious when she heard this, and she didn't ask the emperor sitting on the side, "It's just nonsense!" It's nonsense! Lafayette picked up a jade ruyi in his hand and made a gesture to smash it down, Yixuan was ready to dodge, but fortunately Cixi didn't throw it down, "How can Long Qian be like this!" And is there a little bit of ethics! ”

"Lafayette is ......angry," Li Lianying hurriedly persuaded, "What King Qing said is reasonable, and if you want Lafayette to speak, I think Long Qian will listen to Lafayette's edict." ”

Cixi let out a sigh of relief. Her anger actually has a bit of an acting element. She knew that this was just Long Qian's sky-high asking price. If he left without saying a word, he would find it incredible. Since the Hongyang Rebellion, the two major Han armed groups of the Hunan Army and the Huai Army have been created, and the imperial court has faced such an embarrassing situation, starting from the generation of Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang. Supporting the army and self-respect has become a tradition, Zeng Guofan is okay, after pacifying Nanjing, he cut the Hunan army, in exchange for a hereditary replacement of the first-class Marquis Yiyong and the nickname of Wenzheng, Li Hongzhang and others are even more excessive. It is not for money or territory, and the court can only bargain with it. It is now Beiyang, and the root is still the Huai Army. Long Qian has been running Shandong for several years, and in the face of being robbed of his foundation, it is normal to make some requests.

"As long as Long Qian sends troops to quell the rebellion. It didn't hurt for the governor of Shandong to keep it for him. She thought for a while, "King Qing is right, Long Qian has contributed to the country, and this palace is clear." The reorganization of the patrol force into a regular army was reconsidered. Let's not talk about it now. Military spending. Can give some. It was reported that Yang Shixiang was allocated from the Shandong Domain. Ten million? It's just a joke! King Qing, I'm afraid it's not appropriate just to call, you are discussing. I want to send an important person to Jinan to bring my words to Long Qian, and ask him to understand the difficulties of the imperial court. The counterinsurgency is successful, and the imperial court will not hesitate to reward the frontier! ”

Yes, in a blink of an eye, he made a wish again.

"Lafayette, what do you think about sending Xu Shichang to Shandong? At the beginning, he had a relationship with Long Qian. ”

"Well, yes, this guy is good. The Military Aircraft Department drafted a decree for Xu Shichang to bring. Let him go now. No, call him, and I'll give him a few words. Cixi eventually adopted a gentle attitude.

Xu Shichang met Cixi, received Cixi's dictation, and after a secret discussion with Yuan Shikai, he selected a few entourages, including Cai Yi, a young man valued by Yuan Shikai, who left Beijing on November 6 in the Western calendar and went to Jinan to urge Long Qian to raise troops.

The situation on the border between Hunan and Jiangxi continued to deteriorate, the area of the rebellion was getting bigger and bigger, and the imperial court now not only wanted to expel the fifth town from Shandong, but urgently needed this army to be sent to Hunan and Jiangxi as soon as possible.

After the secret meeting presided over by Chen Chao on November 1, Long Qian approved the five opinions drafted by Situ Jun, but did not make any changes to the instructions outside the Guan, and continued to focus on military training and the establishment of base areas. The remaining four are compliant. On the second day, that is, on November 2, the order of the military department to the fifth town was officially issued, and Yang Shixiang, the governor of Shandong, personally went to the headquarters of the fifth town to "beg" to see Long Qian.

The reason why the word "negotiation" was used was because Yang Shixiang was on a mission to urge the Fifth Town to open up. Long Qian naturally knew Yang Shixiang's purpose, and complained a lot about the orders of the imperial court - just a few thieves, can you send the whole army of the fifth town south? Isn't that a suspicion? Could it be that I, Long Qian, worked for the imperial court wholeheartedly, and this is the result in exchange? I'm good to say, but how to explain it to my soldiers? Lord Yang, you know the way, the fifth town is all Shandong soldiers, all these years I have been doing loyal and patriotic education to them, raising soldiers for a thousand days, using soldiers for a while, should not have said these words, but my generals always have some doubts, and the orders of the court are vague, only saying that they went south to quell the rebellion, what about after the counterinsurgency? Are you going to let us come back? The families of the soldiers are all in Shandong, and they cannot but raise these concerns. Secondly, the opening of the army is not as simple as drawing a line on the map, roads, grain and grass, people's husbands, ammunition, and military salaries all need to be implemented. Also, what about Shandong Defense? Who cares? Shandong connects the north and the south, and is the key point of the north-south traffic, does the imperial court still need to garrison? Lord Yang, we have been working together for a long time, I am a man of Long Qian, you know the way, the court has difficulties, the queen mother has difficulties, I have no shirk. But there must be an explanation for these difficulties, right? I am going to play the military department, and I hope that Lord Yang will also help the Shandong children in the fifth town to say a few words.

Yang Shixiang thought, as long as you go, I'm afraid you won't go. Therefore, Yang Shixiang said, "I am clear about my brother's loyalty to the court and the queen mother." There is no doubt about that. In recent years, he has made great contributions to the imperial court in Shandong's suppression of bandits, military training, and purging out localities, and the imperial court is also knowledgeable. Now that the situation in the south is unstable, the imperial court's use of the elite soldiers of the fifth town is an affirmation of the ability to retreat. As for the difficulties of dispatching the fifth town, the imperial court has already issued a clear edict to the governor's yamen, and the governor must do his best to satisfy it. Shandong's defense, naturally, depends on the patrol force that you have trained single-handedly - to be honest, Shandong really doesn't need so many soldiers at present! Why don't you think about what preparations need to be made locally when you put forward a specific charter? When will it be dispatched? Benfu is also good to play back to the court. ”

Long Qian smiled, "The imperial court ordered me to personally lead the Fifth Town to dispatch, you see, I can't even get out of the door now." So the date is not yet set. As for logistical issues, I have ordered the Logistics Office to make a detailed list and report it to you by tomorrow at the latest. Speaking of which, Long Qian changed the topic, Lord Yang, I will say a few words from my heart today, in fact, there is no need for the whole army of the Fifth Town to be dispatched at all, at most the Ninth Association stationed in the area of Zarunan can be dispatched. The reason why the imperial court did this must be that someone looked at me Long Qian unpleasantly and hoped that I would be transferred out of Shandong as soon as possible! However, I, Long Qian, reorganized the army and operated the military, developed industry, purged the localities, and even implemented rural autonomy in order to achieve long-term peace and stability in Shandong, not for my Long Qian personally, but for the sake of the imperial court, for the country, and for the people of Shandong. If you say something that shouldn't be said, if it is based on my merits, how can I ever be weaker than Cen Chunxuan! But where is Cen now? Governor of Liangguang! And where am I, Long Qian? It's not just a provincial governor. At the beginning of the Gengzi national disaster, the queen mother was covered with dust, and Cen and Cen rushed to the rescue, speaking of which, I still arrived first. Escorting the Queen Mother all the way to Taiyuan, catching up with the foreign soldiers from Baoding to the west, attacking Niangzi Pass, I took hundreds of tired soldiers, starry night, and recaptured the pass in a battle, ensuring the safety of Shanxi, but also to ensure the safety of the line. Otherwise, the Queen Mother still needs to suffer from travel. Later, he led his troops back to Shandong, and hugged the giant gangsters and even the whole province, and his credit was not under Cen someone, right? Why don't you just be a commander! The court employs people, pays attention to the distinction between merits and excesses, and rewards and punishments are appropriate. Do you think the court has rewarded and punished me properly? Isn't it because I have no foundation in the imperial court because Long Qian has no foundation in the court, and my origin is a little unknown? ”

Yang Shixiang laughed dryly, and said in his heart, of course, you can't compare with Cen Chunxuan. Who is Cen Chunxuan? At the beginning, it was known as the three young teachers of Beijing. His father was appointed as the governor, and he was a real second-generation official. Who is your father? No one knows but yourself. It is already an outlier that an overseas returnee can hold a town of soldiers in six or seven years. But of course, you can't say that, "I think too much." The queen mother's credit for the elder brother is clear, this time the elder brother used the army in Huxiang, victory is within reach, military merits are established, and the future is unlimited. I think so, think about it, while you are recuperating, you will arrange the dispatch of troops, such as sending Wang Xietong to dispatch first, and then you will lead the whole army. Saving soldiers is like fighting a fire, and it really can't be delayed. Now that the situation is chaotic, those of us who are courtiers should share the worries of the court. ”

Long Qian nodded, "What Lord Yang said is very true. However, Long had one thing to ask for, and he was allowed. (To be continued......)