After receiving Wang Shizhen's letter, Yuan Shikai was in an extremely complicated mood, angry, anxious, ashamed, fearful, regretful, and many emotions were intertwined, but there was no joy.

The letter was very long, not only about the general process of his defeat and capture, but also about what he had heard and seen in the Mengshan army, and the last part was the key point, that is, he put forward a proposal to recruit the Mengshan army.

Wang Shizhen pointed out that the Mengshan Army is by no means a bandit! This is a strong, well-trained, and well-disciplined army, and its supreme commander grew up in the United States, received a good education, admired the Chinese homeland and returned to China, and was accidentally coerced by the Mengshan bandits when traveling in Shandong, and now the Mengshan bandits have been transformed into an army. His longing to serve the motherland is pitiful and his sins are forgivable. If you recruit the department, it will add a big boost to the career of adults out of thin air.

Previously, Yuan Shikai was most worried about Wang Shizhen's safety, because Wang Shizhen was his main arm, not only in the military. But now that I read his handwritten letter, I found that this guy actually had the intention of exculpating the bandits, whether he was coerced by the bandits or his original intention, no matter which one he was, it weakened Yuan Shikai's worries about him, and the rest was anger.

Yuan Shikai believes that soldiers should be treated with the integrity of soldiers. He did not attend a military school in Japan, but he fought against the Japanese in Korea, and he credits the Japanese army with its strong promotion of bushido since the Meiji Restoration. The Germans are indeed very strong, their military concepts are indeed remarkable, their strategy and tactics, and the resoluteness of the troops in carrying out orders are quite good. But when it comes to the courage to sacrifice their lives to serve their country, the Germans are by no means comparable to the diminutive Japanese.

Wang Pingqing was captured, even if he was helpless, but he shouldn't have written such a thing, if it fell into the hands of the imperial court, wouldn't his future be completely ruined?

Yuan Shikai's anxiety and fear lie in the reaction of the imperial court. Xu Shichang, who was sent to the high-level of the Beijing Division, has not returned yet, and it has been a month, so I don't know what the situation is over there.

Lunan suppressed bandits and defeated again and again, the troops suffered serious losses, and even Wang Shizhen became a prisoner of the Longqian bandits, and the local authorities would not hide it for him, and there should have been a secret report to the imperial court, which he was convinced of. When I first came to Shandong, the provinces and provinces have not really returned to their hearts, how can they hide it for themselves? So far, he has not received an application from the imperial court, which is probably the effect of Xu Shichang's activities. But the defeat of Yuanzhuang is really miserable, even if Manager Li says something for him in front of the Queen Mother, I am afraid that he will not escape a reprimand, and he will be punished if he doesn't do well.

Reprimanding is easy to do, Yuan Shikai believes that the imperial court may not remove him because of this. First, because the Manchu court at this time was like a broken ship in a storm in the ocean, and he was a good sailor at all, how could he be dismissed at the slightest mistake? Secondly, it is fundamental, and it is also because this new army, which is trained by itself and completely obeys its own orders, is the foundation of its life. Thinking of this, Yuan Shikai's emotions were left with regret. Since the conquest of Mengshan, the total number of losses in the battle between the new army and the Long Qian army exceeded 3,000, at least half of which were the elite trained by the small station, and a quarter of the elite that had excited the imperial court had already been lost in the hands of this little-known Xiangma.

What made Yuan Shikai feel ashamed was that this team of ringing horses that had not been taken to heart at all was getting stronger and stronger in the confrontation of the new army, and what Wang Pingqing said in his letter was similar to what his core advisers estimated, Long Qian's department already had no less than 1,500 people armed, and was equipped with firearms similar to those of the new army, especially to his shame, these firearms basically came from the new army built by himself. Is it true that as Long Qian said, the new army is just their transport team?

What worried Yuan Shikai was that not only did Long Qian have an elite army that should not be underestimated, but also that he had a large territory, most of the territory of Fei County was under the actual control of Long Qian, and several villages in Yanzhou were under the actual control of the Mengshan Army. The so-called land reform, which was close to reverse, attracted a large number of foolish people to follow, and Yuan Shikai believed that Wang Shizhen said that as long as Long Qian was willing, he could immediately organize an army of more than 10,000 people!

It's worth it! Could it be that the Hongyang Rebellion reappeared in Shandong?

Why can't the dignified new army defeat these ringing horses? This is where Yuan Shikai was puzzled.

Caozhou town guard Cao Kun's conquest of Mengshan was the first battle, and later it was finally figured out, in fact, Cao Kun was against Long Qian's department, and the result was that Cao Kun's department suffered more than 400 casualties, and finally let Long Qian's small group of bandits escape from the encirclement. That should be the best opportunity, almost to put Long Qian in the net. But he was obsessed with the good news of capturing the Sun brothers, and he didn't realize that the escaped bandits were the real rivals.

Retribution is coming soon, and Long Qian in Maoyang Town immediately gave Cao Kun a resounding slap in the face. It's hateful that Cao Zhongshan concealed his losses, and he didn't learn the true situation until half a year later, and Long Qian's department had sneaked back to Mengshan's lair to recuperate for half a year. Realizing the harmfulness of the bandits, it was too late to deploy the conquest and suppression, Long Qian had already taken the initiative to attack, went south to open Zhengjiazhuang, recruited troops, and openly rebelled.

Then there was a series of conquests, in exchange for a series of failures. These failures stung Yuan Shikai, and after admitting that Cao Kun and Li Chun and others were by no means Long Qian's opponents, he sent his number one generals Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang to preside over the purge.

In the battle of Yuanzhuang, Yuan Shikai finally realized that the Longqian bandit gang was already a force that could not be insulted, and its troops were fierce and good at fighting, coming and going like the wind, not only treacherous and difficult to prevent, but also well-equipped, and even had an artillery team.

Is there only one way left? Yuan Shikai felt that he was staging a modern version of the Water Margin story, and the army of the imperial court could not win, so he had to recruit An.

But why can't you win against these ringing horses? My mind went around in circles, and there was still no answer to this question. Since he was a child, Yuan Shikai's self-confidence was not ordinarily strong, but this confidence completely collapsed after the Battle of Yuanzhuang.

It's not impossible to recruit An, Yuan Shikai even thought of the follow-up means after Zhao'an, he has a hundred ways to deal with those bandits who have never seen the world. For the bandit leader Long Qian, once he is transferred out of the army, he is a horseman, and there is no need to worry about it anymore.

Perhaps, Zhao'an is the solution to the current dilemma. Although it is detrimental to his reputation, it is better than the situation completely eroding.

The days passed like this, and at the beginning of April, Yuan Shikai, who was anxious, finally waited for the savior Xu Shichang.

When his subordinates reported that Xu Shichang asked to see him, Yuan Shikai didn't bother to change his clothes, and ran directly outside the door to greet him, "Oh, my eldest brother Bian Wu (Xu Shichang), I have been gone for twenty days, what is going on." I'm going to die. Yuan Shikai grabbed Xu Shichang's hand.

"It's hard to put into words. Let's talk about it in the house. Xu Shichang's face was solemn, which made Yuan Shikai's heart sink into his stomach.

Waiting for Xu Shichang to serve tea, Yuan Shikai waved his hand to drive the subordinates out of the city, "No one is seen." He admonished.

"You're having a good time."

"Comfort Pavilion, Jingshi is in chaos! Big change is coming. Xu Shichang's face became more solemn.

"Is it the Boxers?" In the letter he received recently, Yuan Shikai had a general understanding of what was happening in Jingshi. This change was beneficial to him Yuan, and the impact of his defeat in Shandong was diluted to the greatest extent.

"Yes. Now the center is divided into two factions," Xu Shichang picked up the teacup and put it down again, "Fortitude, Qixiu resolutely supported the abolition of the emperor and set it up separately, and they followed King Duan to become supporters of the Boxer Rebellion. And Zhao Shuqiao, Lord Zhao, was clearly opposed to the Boxers. Prince Li and Wang Wenshao remained silent as always__The Duanwang brothers made a lot of trouble, and Duanwang's mansion became the nest of the Boxers__"

These Yuan Shikai are knowledgeable, and they were mentioned in Zhao Shuqiao's letter recently.

"What is Rong Lu's attitude?" Yuan Shikai has a skill that ordinary people can't match, he can always grasp the core of things.

"I met Lord Rong, although it took a lot of trouble. He has been in Tianjin recently, I went to Tianjin, and he went back to Beijing. I had to go back to Jingshi again, and finally saw it, and the silver ticket was also accepted (in fact, it was not a silver ticket, but a pair of gall bottles of the Yuan Dynasty bought from Liulichang for 100,000 taels of silver, which is a popular gift-giving mode in Beijing) Lord Rong asked about the situation in Shandong and was very unhappy. Let you solve the Shandong Rebellion as soon as possible. ”

"Does Lafayette know the way?"

He said he didn't know what to say. At the moment, what is going on here is no longer important. ”

This is good news, if the court is peaceful, you will be in trouble__

Rong Lu asked the lord if there was a connection with the two lakes and two rivers.

"What do you say?"

"Naturally, I denied it."

Compared with Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi, Yuan Shikai is far inferior in seniority and prestige, not to mention that there is a Li Hongzhang who has just taken office in Tiannan.

"It doesn't look bad." Yuan Shikai calmed down. Now that Rong Lu has accepted his heavy gift, he can almost worry about it, at most it is just a request, "King Qing, have you gone?" ”

"That's nature. King Qing's greed has reached the point of having no scruples, but the Queen Mother trusts him more and more. The affairs of the court will always be bad in the hands of this man. ”

"Not in his position, not in his politics. As long as we breathe a sigh of relief. Yuan Shikai was completely relieved, "Big brother has worked hard." We are far away in Shandong, and the affairs of Jingshi will keep those meat eaters busy. He even crossed Erlang's legs.

Xu Shichang went to Beijing for activities, Yuan Shikai gave him instructions on the strategy, the key to tackling key problems was Yixuan and Ronglu, and now that these two have been won, Yuan Shikai's heart is in his stomach.

"Beijing is in turmoil, Shandong is close at hand, how can you stay out of the matter?" Xu Shichang has always admired Yuan Shikai's shrewdness, why can't he see it?

"That's easy. Let's adapt to the situation. After this hurdle, let's reorganize the army and completely eliminate this lawless Mengshan army. Yuan Shikai turned his mind back, "Come on," he called into his entourage, "Tell the kitchen to clean up a table of wine and food, and I will accompany Lord Xu to have a few drinks." ”

I've been worried about it for a month, and now I can finally take it easy.

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