It turned out that the fold read: Today, the Dingwu Army supervises the office, Guangxi according to the inspection envoy Hu Liaodi (pronounced "Yufen") returned to his hometown with illness, and the Dingwu Army has no one to supervise it, and I hope that the saint will quickly determine the candidate.

Speaking of this Dingwu Army, there may not be too many people who know the Dao, but if you talk about its next superintendent, I believe that no one will know the Dao, he is the famous Yuan Shikai.

The military camp of the Dingwu Army at this time was still in Tianjin's horse factory, and it was only after Yuan Shikai took office that it moved to a small station in Tianjin, and began to train troops in a famous small station in modern Chinese history, and from this army, a large number of Beiyang warlords such as Duan Qirui, Wu Peifu, and Zhang Xun were taken, which determined the development of China in the next hundred years.

Lin Yuan asked, "Lord Li, I don't know how the Dingwu Army of Lu Dao is developing now?" ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "This Dingwu army has a quota of 5,000 people, and now it has been recruited, and it is also equipped with guns and artillery. ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "There is such an army of 5,000 people who will not let me go to the front line, and the Qing court clearly does not trust me, but since this army is equipped, I can only find ways to pull them to the front line." ”

Lin Yuan immediately asked, "Lord Zhongtang, I don't know if there is a candidate in your belly?" ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Is this candidate, there is no final decision, but Yuan Shikai has the greatest hope." ”

Lin Yuan asked: "My lord, now that the front line is tight, there is such a strong force in the Qing Dynasty, why don't you hand it over to me?" ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Xiaolin, how can this Dingwu army be called a strong force? It has just become an army, and if you take it to the front, isn't it causing you trouble? ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, this army is in my hands, and I will definitely train it well." ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "If you really want to lead this army, two days later, Prince Gong will set up a family banquet in the mansion to entertain several officers, all of whom are expected to be in charge of the Dingwu Army. ”

Lin Yuan nodded in agreement, handed the document to Li Hongzhang, and said: "Lord Li, I have been in the Machine Bureau for a few days recently, and I have found that there are many shortcomings, so I have drafted an opinion on streamlining the administration of elite soldiers, and I hope that Lord Li will approve it." ”

Li Hongzhang didn't look at it, pushed the document back to Lin Yuan, and said with a smile: "Throughout the ages, everything with the word 'streamlined', there is no one who should not offend people, the old decay is in the court, there are a lot of old people, and it is difficult to deal with it in many cases, so you can get it according to your heart, I will say that I don't know how to do it, you have streamlined the organization, and the people who are looking for me will have no way." ”

Li Hongzhang took out an official document from the table, and wrote on it: Now that the war is tight, he ordered Lin Yuan to act as the agent of the affairs of the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, and then stamped his own seal on it, handed it to Lin Yuan, and said with a smile: "If you take this, you will be justified." ”

Lin Yuan thanked him, said goodbye to Li Hongzhang, and returned to Beijing, thinking about how to snatch the Dingwu Army from Yuan Shikai along the way.

As soon as he got home, the housekeeper came to him with a large pile of letters, and said with a smile: "My lord, you have not been here for two days, but there are many of your letters. ”

Lin Yuan asked, "Who is here, it matters to say." ”

The butler smiled: "The most important thing is that Prince Gong invites you to go to his mansion for a banquet in two days." ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "This is the one that Li Hongzhang told me." ”

The housekeeper said, "Yushan, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, invites the adults to come over for a while. ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "This is an enemy, can't I see it!" So he said, "Let's push this idea away." ”

The housekeeper continued: "Yuan Shikai, the prime minister of the Korean army, invited your lord to a banquet, this Lord Yuan is also interesting, the Qing Dynasty has no garrison in Korea, and he still has this title." ”

Lin Yuan's heart moved, and he couldn't help but think, "What did he ask me to do?" This banquet must be gone, find a chance, and the Dingwu army will take it over. ”

The time happened to be at dinner today, and Lin Yuan sent someone to Yuan Shikai's house, saying that he would go to the banquet at dinner.

When Lin Yuan was on the road, Yuan Shikai was at home, talking to Prince Gong Yi 60.

In Yuan Shikai's view, if there was no Lin Yuan, among these candidates, he was the most qualified, during the Korean mutiny, he was the first soldier to quell the rebellion, although he was defeated from Korea, but the fault was not on himself, and Lin Yuan defeated the Japanese several times in a row, which made his heart bottomless.

Yuan Shikai asked, "Lord Wang, who is this new commander of the Dingwu Army?" ”

Prince Gong Yi 60 said: "It's not decided yet, in my opinion, you and Lin Yuan are the most promising." ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly excused himself, Prince Gong waved his hand and smiled: "Okay, don't be modest, just now Lin Yuan sent someone here, saying that he will come to the banquet in a while, this Lin Yuan, has won a few battles in Shengjing, and this king suspects that he is lying about his military exploits, so he will come after a while, I will hide behind the screen, you probe his bottom and see how he is capable." ”

While talking, someone came to report that Lin Yuan had arrived.

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said: "Please!" ”

Prince Gong had already hid behind the screen at this time, and Lin Yuan walked in, but seeing that the restaurant was very simple, how could he have thought that there were people hiding behind the screen.

When he was seated, he saw the cook bring two large basins, and opened one of them, and there were two fish in it, and then opened the other, and there was a bowl of rice porridge in it.

Yuan Shikai said with a smile: "Now the country is using soldiers, there are too many places to spend money, and we have to save money as courtiers. ”

As he spoke, he put a bowl of rice porridge in front of Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan looked at the two fish, and thought: "According to the memories of the people around Yuan Shikai, this fish seems to be simple, but secretly there is a bright hall, these two fish are Ganges crucian carp, produced in Henan, and the Yellow River carp is as famous as the delicacy, Henan is thousands of miles away from Beijing, and there is no high-speed transportation in this era, in order to keep the crucian carp fresh, the fish is put into the good lard, the reason why the food is spoiled is because of the oxidation of oxygen and the decomposition of bacteria in the body, which is placed in the oil, isolating oxygen, The bacteria have no oxygen and can't break down the fish, so the fish stays fresh. ”

Lin Yuan suddenly remembered the old man he saw selling charcoal today, transporting such a fish, and the money spent was almost enough for the old man to live for a year.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan's face couldn't help but become gloomy, but where did Prince Gong behind the screen know this, he thought to himself: "This Yuan Shikai eats and drinks extremely plainly, he must be a Ganguo loyal, and then look at that Lin Yuan, when he sees that the dishes are not rich enough, his face is ugly, compared to Yuan Shikai, it is simply heaven and earth, this Dingwu army, no matter what, it can't be handed over to him!" ”