On January 21, 1882, Ding Yuntong received a report that the new navy had been basically repaired, and a new fleet had been formed with Beidou, Kunlun, Canghai and the four captured French warships as the core.

Ding Yuntong was extremely excited about this, and as a result, the strength of the Chinese navy was greatly increased. He ordered the ironclad ship Atarant to be renamed the Qinglong, as the flagship of the new fleet, and the captain Liu Buyun also served as the commander-in-chief of the fleet;

The ironclad ship La Calizonia was renamed the White Tiger, and the captain was Shen Shoukun;

The Dujushi Luin iron-hulled cruiser was renamed the Magpie, and the captain was Qiu Baoren;

The wooden-hulled cruiser USS Destan was renamed the Lark, with captain Lin Yingqi;

The captains of the original Beidou, Canghai, and Kunlun ships are still Ye Bojun, Xu Shoushan, and Lu Han.

On the whole, the strength of the fleet is uneven and generally old. For example, the ironclad ship Qinglong, which was launched in 1868 and has been in service for more than ten years now, has been outdated in many aspects of the navy in this era of rapid change. The speed is also less than 12 knots. The newest ironclad ship, the White Tiger, commissioned in 1879, also had a speed of only 12 knots.

But no matter what, the caliber of the fleet's heavy artillery is real, especially the Beidou, Qinglong, and Baihu ships, whose firepower is powerful and the armor is heavy, and their strength has surpassed the three ironclad ships of Japan, Fuso, Kongo, and Hiei. Presumably, it will be a great stimulus to the Japanese, and before the new fleet is built, it will be necessary to rely on this fleet to deter Japan.

According to the progress, by the end of this year, the four British-built cruisers will be built one after another. In the second half of next year, two German-built ironclads will also be officially listed. That is to say, in the second half of next year, it will be the time to start a war with Japan, when the time comes, six new ships plus seven old ships, and a huge fleet will be able to torture and ravage Japan to their heart's content.

He ordered the new fleet to be painted in a new livery and painted with silver-gray paint, and after the whole assembly was completed, the fleet left for Incheon, North Korea, and it was time to increase its influence on North Korea.

On January 23, the construction of the Gyeongbong Railway began, which is also a far-reaching event. Prior to this, China's railways mainly relied on foreign experts to design and plan, and this railway from Beijing to Mukden (Shenyang), from design to construction, was completed by Chinese independently, a truly domestic railway. The chief designer is Zhan Tianyou, and the telecommunications expert Fang Boliang is responsible for the circuits and communication equipment supporting the railway. The railway will start laying rails at four points at the same time, including Beijing and Fengtian at both ends, as well as Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan in the middle, and the construction will be carried out at the fastest speed, and it is expected to be basically ready at the beginning of next year.

At the same time, exploration work on the railway from Mukden to Andong (Dandong) is also ready, and construction is expected to begin in the second half of the year. Once these two railways are completed, in the future Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese army will not need to be transported by sea, and can directly enter Korea quickly by land. In this way, the navy does not need to spend energy on escorting at sea, and can be more tactically flexible.

On 5 February, the formation of the Guards was finally completed, consisting of four divisions and a Janissary brigade, as well as an independent brigade.

The establishment of each division is still twelve thousand people. Four divisions, stationed in Datong, Dagukou, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, jointly defend the capital, the four division commanders are Feng Zicai, Zuo Guigui, Liu Mingchuan and Wu Changqing. Thanks to the establishment of the railway system, the army could be transported to various places in a short period of time. The 5,000-strong Janissary Brigade was commanded by Wang Xiang, appointed by the emperor, as the garrison of Beijing, and an independent brigade of Ngo Zhaoyou monitored Vietnam. The total strength of the army is 58,000 officers and men, and this is an open establishment.

But on the other hand, there was also a secret formation, a semi-newly formed Guards Division was stationed in Lanzhou, Gansu. At this pace, by the end of next year, there will be four to five new Guards divisions. This secret formation will become an important liliang in the future against Japan.

Ding Yuntong was full of expectations for the Guards, and he thought: "The next thing is to execute the edict of rewarding the land, there must be a big chaos!" ＂

On 7 February, the edict on land rewards was officially implemented, and the officers and men of the Guards became the new owners of hundreds of thousands of acres of land, which also raised the morale of the troops. At the instigation of the Judge Advocate General's Office, officers and men wrote letters to the emperor one after another, expressing their determination to swear allegiance to the death, and there were even hundreds of letters of determination written in blood with their fingers bitten.

Along with the implementation of the edict of reward, a decommissioning order was also issued. The so-called decommissioning order is to remove the establishment of the Eight Banners, and the accompanying land of the Eight Banners will also be nationalized, and all business activities will be managed by the Ministry of Finance.

Almost overnight, the children of the Eight Banners lost their land, were deprived of the establishment of the regular army, and their monthly salary was only two years left, which means that after two years, they will become civilians.

These people either rent land to plant, or set up street stalls, or run errands for people, in short, they have to support themselves.

Ding Yuntong did not consult any official on the promulgation of this decommissioning order, and it was completely arbitrary. The incident happened suddenly, and there was an uproar inside and outside the court, and a large number of officials went to dissuade them, hoping that the emperor could retract his fate. All Manchu officials were vehemently opposed, and some Han officials, out of political considerations, also pleaded for a reprieve from the decommissioning order. For a while, everyone resigned, and the crowd was surging.

But Ding Yuntong had expected it and was unmoved. He adopted an "ostrich" policy and adhered to the doctrine of three noes: not to approve the recital, not to meet with ministers, and not to hold meetings to discuss.

On February 11, Prince Gong led Yinggui, Chonglun, Jingshou and other Manchu ministers to enter the palace to face the saint. But he was closed, and only sent someone out to say that "the emperor is slightly sick". The ministers waited for half the night, and Zuihou could only return in a daze.

In the palace at this time, Ding Yuntong was kneading Yuying's crisp breasts with his left hand, and his right hand was writing orders with a fetal brush:

The first order was to raise the combat readiness of the Guards Brigade under Wang Xiang's command, strengthen patrols and inspections in the capital, and be ready to deal with all emergencies at any time.

The second order, Wu Changqing's division was stationed in Huairou to guard the suburbs of the capital, and he could be ordered to enter Beijing at any time.

The third order, Yuan Shikai and Xu Shichang immediately entered Beijing and entered the military aircraft department.

The fourth order was to select 800 officers and men with outstanding achievements from the Guards Army to form an "800 Heroes Regiment," which was under the direct command of Zhao Bingjun of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a secret action team.

The fifth order is that all units of the Guards should be selected to participate in the upcoming Tiananmen Square military parade.

The sixth order is that all the armories and arsenals in the capital should be supervised by personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Not afraid of 10,000, just in case, Ding Yuntong didn't want to be a victim of the coup.

Beginning on February 13, a large number of unwilling Eight Banners soldiers began to gather and protest, either drinking and causing trouble, smashing taverns and shops, or illegally assembling and marching to storm government departments.

On the 15th, there was a tragic incident, a banner man with his wife and children, a family of four, lit firewood at the entrance of the West Market and set himself on fire. Someone next to him pulled up a banner "The king wants the minister to die, and the minister has to die!" ＂

And the princes and nobles in the court, the civil and military ministers also gathered in series. The phenomenon of passive sabotage has appeared in the yamen of various ministries, and many officials have deliberately claimed that they are ill and have quit their work. This included almost all Manchu officials, and even some Han officials.

For a time, there was a turbulent storm in the capital, and the dark tide was turbulent.

On February 17, at dusk, Ding Yuntong stood in the Heart Cultivation Hall and looked out the window.

The sky was covered with black clouds, and the earth was shrouded in gloom. Ding Yuntong muttered to himself: "It's really a mountain rain that is about to come, and the wind is full of buildings!" ＂

He knew that there would definitely be many people who opposed the issuance of the decommissioning order, but he didn't expect that the momentum would be so strong and the resistance would be so strong. Although the removal order was only aimed at the Eight Banners, although he repeatedly let it go, he said that he would never touch the interests of the nobles. But apparently the Manchu officials didn't buy it at all. Even some Han Chinese officials were involved, and it was clear that there was a group of people behind the scenes to agitate and organize.

There may be many shili who have long been dissatisfied with their policies, but they have never found the right opportunity. And now this decommissioning order has become the most haode excuse and the most haode mobilization order. No matter how much you appease and explain yourself, the protests that follow will only get stronger.

What to do? Backwards? Compromise? Removal of the Order?

No! If you revoke it, your prestige will be immediately discredited, and the image you have worked so hard to build will be completely ruined. Not only will those princes and nobles, civil and military officials look down on themselves, but even the guards will be disappointed and deviate from morality. He will immediately rebel against his relatives. Don't say anything about the hegemony, the throne will not be saved, and even his life will not be saved.

Thinking of this, Ding Yuntong gritted his teeth and stomped his feet: "Okay, since it is an abyss, then I will simply move forward and fight for a dawn." Originally, I wanted to do it step by step, slowly, and be a civilized person with a pleasant face. But now it is the trees that want to be quiet and the wind does not stop, and it is you who have forced me to be a vicious barbarian. Anyway, I want to be a dictator, learn from Hitler in my previous life, and give you a Chinese version of the Reichstag arson. ＂

The plan has been decided, and Ding Yuntong calmed down. What is difficult is the thinking process, and after making up your mind, the whole person is relaxed. He ordered: "Come, spread my will, on February 23rd there will be a military parade in Tiananmen Square, and I will come to inspect the Guards in person!" ＂

At this time, the next person came to report that the Empress Dowager Ci'an had invited the emperor to move to Zhongcui Palace and have a dinner together.

Ding Yuntong understood as soon as he heard it, those princes and nobles couldn't see their faces, so they went to ask the queen mother to come out, since the queen mother was invited, the emperor couldn't avoid it. As for what Ci'an would say, Ding Yuntong already had a rough number in his heart.

He secretly sneered in his heart: This is not what it used to be, he is no longer Wuxia Ameng, if he still wants to play the trick of listening to politics, it will not be good.