Long Qian paid attention to the affairs of Zhangde's autumn exercises, and figured out how he should behave to participate in the autumn exercises. The preparatory constitution of the imperial court has finally taken a step.

The first thing is to clarify the bureaucracy. This is stated in the holy decree promulgated in the name of Guangxu.

On September 2, the day after the promulgation of the holy decree, the Qing court issued an edict to send eight Manchu ministers, including Zai Ze and Tie Liang, and six Han ministers, including Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang, to compile the official system. The three ministers of military aircraft, Yixuan, Sun Jianai and Qu Hongzhen, served as the chief approve, among which Yixuan, the first greedy in the late Qing Dynasty, was the foreman of the military aircraft. In addition, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhou Fu, the governor of Liangguang, Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Shengyun, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, were ordered to send personnel to Beijing to accompany the senators.

The official establishment hall is located in the Langrun Garden in Prince Gong's mansion. With Sun Baoqi and Yang Shiqi as the promotion, the general secretary of the museum. Sun Baoqi is Yuan Shikai's in-law, and Yang Shiqi is Yuan's confidant and chief thinker. More than 40 people were selected and divided into four groups: drafting, reviewing, examination and approval.

Soon, the "reform" group, on which the Qing court pinned its hopes on infinite hopes, drew up five principles for bureaucratic reform; 1. The determination of the official system this time shall be in accordance with the decree to prepare for the constitution, and shall be determined with reference to the official system of a constitutional monarchy. First of all, the administrative and judicial officials shall be reorganized and revised in turn, and all other departments that have little to do with the judicial administration shall remain the same. 2. The gist of this decision, the chief envoy has no corpse position, and has a special department for things, so as to have their own responsibilities and fulfill their duties. 3. Now that it is difficult to establish a parliament, it is decided that the judicial administration should be adopted in order to adopt the system of a constitutional monarchy, so as to unify the power of the imperial court. 4. The officials of the Imperial Mission, the ministers of the Cabinet and the Yuan, and the officials above the Jingqing level shall be regarded as special officials. The third and fourth grade personnel of the cabinet and the institute. As a please officer. The cabinet is only a seven-grade personnel with five grades and only seven grades, as a supplementary officer. Eight or nine grade personnel, as the commissioning officer. 5. After the official system was determined, the original yamen personnel were not changed, or they were idle, and they set up another Jixian courtyard in Beijing, and the positions were properly arranged and moved respectively, which was still better than that of Yulu.

The starting point is the adjustment of government agencies. The focus is on the transformation of government functions. Very well thought out.

This five-point proposal for the reform of the bureaucratic system has been submitted. It was soon approved by the imperial court, and the "group" was instructed to "prepare and make up in detail".

According to the constitutional official system, the legislative, judicial, and executive powers are concurrent. This means that the Qing court's preparatory constitution is unambiguous. You see. The preparation group took into account the establishment of the House of Representatives

It is said that the one who spoke the most and proposed the most in the "reform group" was Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili. The theoretical leader of the "group", Prince Qing Yixuan, generally unconditionally supported Yuan Shikai's opinion. Let Tie Liang, Zai Ze, Shou Qi and other people who are full of hatred to death. They knew that Yuan Shikai had completely bought that old bastard from Yixuan!

At least Tie Liang had heard a rumor. In the year of Gengzi, who was robbed by the rebels, Yixuan was obsessed with silver to the point of pathology, but at that time he had not yet achieved his ambition, and he was already very happy to receive a few thousand taels of silver, but after Yuan Shikai took charge of Zhili, he sent his henchman Yang Shiqi (Yang Shixiang's brother) to give Yixuan a silver ticket of 100,000 taels of silver at once. When Yixuan saw the amount of the silver ticket, he was surprised, "How can this be made?" ”

But Yang Shiqi is very good at talking. He said that Lord Yuan knew that the prince often entered the palace to serve Lafayette, and the eunuchs on the left and right were difficult to deal with, so he would definitely ask the prince for a reward, which was also a considerable expense. This money should be regarded as pocket money for the prince, and it will have to be specially repaid in the future.

So, in addition to Long Qian, Yixuan also had Yuan Shikai, a big financier. In the future, Dafan Longqian and Yuan Shikai will ask for each other, and they will definitely go all out, and it is naturally the interests of the Manchu aristocratic group that they sell. And between Yuan Shikai and Long Qian, Yixuan adopted an impartial attitude and did not help each other, and all Yuan Shikai's suggestion to run the Fifth Town, Yixuan would suppress it - he was the chief minister of the Central Military Training Department established by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in 1903, and he had this power. However, Long Qian never said bad things about Yuan Shikai, nor did he mention things that harmed Yuan Shikai's interests, and seemed to be satisfied with being his mountain king in Shandong, at most he only inquired about the personnel changes and policy trends of the imperial court, but filial piety was never lacking, which made Yixuan feel that he owed Long Qian more.

At this time, although Yuan Shikai was squeezed by Tieliang, the military of the Beiyang New Army, he was still very enterprising politically. Based on the following considerations, the first is that Cixi is in her last years after all, and if she suddenly falls one day and Guangxu returns to power, she will rely on the festival of the Wuxu year, even if she can keep her head, her official position will definitely be lost. Once the Qing court established a constitution, the emperor would be deprived of real power, and he would naturally have nothing to do. However, this statement is just an outsider's discussion, Yuan Shikai himself will definitely not say, as the most outstanding politician in the late Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai will never put his head and future on the constitution, and the reasonable explanation is that the constitution will bring greater benefits to Yuan Shikai. This speculation is closer to reality.

According to the situation at that time, most of the prime ministers of the cabinet were full, and Yixuan was very likely to serve as prime minister with his title and qualifications, and with Yuan Shikai's investment in Yixuan over the years, it is not an excessive request to seek a vice premier.

Yuan Shikai, who was ambitious in the reform of the official system, made a bold move and soon came up with a specific plan: abolishing the Military Aircraft Department, the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Rites, the Hanlin Academy, the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, and the Zongren Mansion; The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce were merged into the Ministry of Agriculture and Industry and Commerce; The household department was changed to the degree branch, and the criminal department was changed to the law department; The divisions are the War Department and the Navy Department; The Information Administration Yuan, the Audit Institute, the Ministry of Communications, and the Department of Study Abroad were added. At the same time, there is a responsible cabinet, with a prime minister, who is recommended to be appointed, and one deputy prime minister on the left and right, one of whom is himself.

Paradoxically, the plan was leaked before it could be officially reported, and was immediately met with fierce opposition.

The first to oppose it was the Military Aircraft Division. The big and small military planes are simply out of anger! What is the Military Aircraft Division? Since Emperor Yongzheng set up the Military Aircraft Department, it is the highest administrative body for the operation of imperial power! Now that Yuan Shikai wants to abolish the Military Aircraft Department, it is simply a great disapproval of the world!

Secondly, the royal relatives also fiercely opposed. Yuan Shikai's plan is to exclude the royal family from the country's decision-making and implementation! No wonder some people say that he is a living Cao Cao. Isn't this a rehearsal for stealing the Qing Dynasty? Tie Liangxiang, who served as the secretary of the household department, even if he became the vice prime minister, would hand over the military department and financial power that he currently controlled.

The key figure has appeared, and he is the Minister of Military Aircraft, Qu Hongzhen. Qu Hongzhen was not against the reform of the official system, he was against Yixuan and Yuan Shikai. Qu Hongzhen's method was to meet Cixi, he found an opportunity to play alone, and told Cixi that Yuan Shikai's plan was to change the Military Aircraft Department to the cabinet, which seemed to be a big difference on the surface, but the actual situation was a world of difference. The mode of operation of the Military Aircraft Department is that after making a decision, it must first seek the consent of the Queen Mother before it can be implemented. After the cabinet is formed, it is implemented first and then reported - it is just a record. So. If it is based on Yuan Shikai's plan. Queen Mother, you old man don't have to worry about military affairs from now on!

Qu Hongzhen succeeded in provoking Cixi. Qu Hongzhen was instructed to draw up a decree and declare the principle of non-negotiability in the reform of the official system: the military aircraft should not discuss matters, the Eight Banners should not be discussed, and the internal affairs government affairs should not be discussed. The Hanlin Yuan did not discuss anything. The eunuchs did not discuss anything.

Yuan Shikai ate a stuffy stick. Forced to change the plan of their own formulation.

At a time when the reform of the bureaucratic system was being disturbed, another major event attracted the attention of the Chinese people.

At the end of August 1906, the imperial court approved the proposal of Tie Liang and others. It is planned to hold an autumn drill ceremony in Zhangde with the newly built army. Let those princes and ministers in the court who are not familiar with the world see the great military might of the new army.

In order to review the results of the new army, the military department, which had not yet been dismantled, decided to hold a new army drill of unprecedented scale in Zhangde, Henan Province, in the autumn of 1906.

The new army, which was planned to attend the autumn exercise, was divided into two armies, the north and the south, and the northern army was composed of Duan Qirui's main force of the third town and Cao Kun's first mixed association, with a total strength of about 19,000 troops. The Southern Army consisted of Zhang Biao's Eighth Town, the Fifteenth Association, and Li Yuanhong's Twenty-first Mixed Association, plus a standard of the Fifth Town's Tenth Association, with a total strength of about 20,000 people.

In order to enhance the confrontation of this autumn exercise, the imperial court specially spent 1 million taels of silver to buy rubber bullets from Germany for exercises, which will not kill if they hit the body, but they will also hurt people, causing soldiers to fall and temporarily lose their combat effectiveness, and the rubber bullets will leave patches of bruises on people's bodies, and even pierce military uniforms. Therefore, it is easy for the referee to determine the casualty rate of the troops on the "battlefield", and thus determine their victory or defeat.

As for artillery, cavalry, engineers, baggage, and other special services, each has its own method of judging the superiority, such as artillery, will adopt the method of live firing to assess the rate of fire, shooting accuracy and other indicators, of course, it is impossible to use artillery in confrontation with infantry.

The autumn exercise items that have been determined are divided into two stages, the first stage is to review the military appearance, including the assessment of special services. The second stage is the actual confrontation, which is the business of the infantry and the climax of the autumn exercise.

Those who attended this military ceremony were destined to dominate the late Qing Dynasty: Yuan Shikai and Tie Liang were the ministers of review, Feng Guozhang was the chief judge of the Southern Army, Liangbi was the chief judge of the Northern Army, Xu Shichang commanded the General Staff Office, the presidential officer of the Southern Army was Li Yuanhong, and the presidential officer of the Northern Army was Duan Qirui. There is also an unknown junior figure at this time, that is, Cai Yi, who was named by Yuan Shikai as a judge, who had just graduated from the Japanese non-commissioned officer school and returned to China shortly after graduation.

It was Tie Liang's idea to send Shandong troops to join the exercise, and this time Tie Liang served as the minister of review, and asked the fifth town to send a joint force to participate. Cixi has always heard about how elite the fifth town is in the past two years, especially Yiliang and Tieliang came back from Shandong, and Yixiao, who accepts large bribes from Long Qian every year, praised the fifth town as the first elite in China, Cixi also wanted to see how the army she valued was, so she told that Long Qian's troops must be transferred to participate in the exercise.

Of course, Yuan Shikai did not want the Shandong Army to participate, but he could not refuse the will of the Queen Mother, so starting from the fact that the strength of the two armies in the north and south was equal, it would be a little difficult to arrange if the fifth town came out with an association, and finally persuaded Tie Liang to only send one of his infantry targets to participate, and let him join the southern army. Tie Liang thought for a while and agreed.

Tie Liang knew that Yuan Shikai could not command the Fifth Town, and then discriminated against and excluded the Fifth Town. But that's exactly what Galeries Lafayette wants to see, and that's what he's happy to see. And Yuan Shikai incorporated the troops of the Fifth Town into the Southern Army, in order to defeat this alternative force of the Beiyang Army in the second stage of the exercise, to give a slap in the face to the senior officials of the DPRK and China who valued the Fifth Town, and to let the Manchurian nobles led by Cixi know that the main force of Beiyang trained by Yuan Shikai was the Optimus Jade Pillar of the Qing Dynasty. If it is incorporated into the Northern Army, this effect will be reduced.

When the imperial court's decree arrived in Shandong, Long Qian immediately convened a meeting of the main generals and advisers to discuss the matter. Officers at and above the level of division chief of the General Headquarters, officers at or above the 10th level of the Liaison Commander stationed in Jinan, Qingdao, and Laizhou Prefectures, and officers at or above the Ninth Coordination Commander who had been transferred to several prefectures in western Shandong returned to Jinan, and the commanders of the three provisional regiments below Ning Shijun of the patrol army also attended the meeting as observers.

Long Qian was still his old method, and after Chief of Staff Situ Jun briefed him on the situation, he kept silent and listened attentively to everyone's speeches. (To be continued......)