At the northern foot of the main peak of Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province, there is a alpine basin with an area of 20 square kilometers, which is called Ciping by the locals. It belongs to the junction of the two provinces, and has always been the place where the green forests and grasses gather in the mountains and forests, until the beginning of 1878, first a group of bandits on the mountain were exterminated, and then the whole area was tightly sealed, and a small number of local residents were also secretly relocated to other places.

A few months later, a number of buildings were erected on Ciping, and in fact it had become a training camp for the new Imperial Guards, with a total of four similar camps distributed in the east, west, north and south of the Empire, which was responsible for the southern part of the Empire. Correspondingly, there are also Zunyi training camps in southwest China, Yan'an training camps in northwest China, and Menglianggu training camps in North China.

At this time, 18-year-old Wang Xiang entered the training camp in Ciping, he is a native of Yongjia County, southern Zhejiang, because of his poor family, he has been working for others since he was a child. He has spared cows, chopped wood, worked as a running boy, and worked as a servant in a rich man's house. Although he didn't have the money to go to a private school, he was eager to learn and motivated, and he learned words and read a lot of books by self-study. The rich man saw that he was smart and studious, and he was also loyal, so he named him "Jiaju", which means the thousand-mile horse of the royal family.

A few months ago, Wang Xiang saw a recruitment notice in the township, to the effect that the country was in danger, and there was an urgent need for hot-blooded men to protect their families and defend the country. Meritorious service, glory and wealth, glory and glory, the state will also reward the family with land according to the size of the meritorious service. All young and strong men aged between 18 and 25 can apply, and aspiring young people should not miss it. From a certain month to a certain day of a certain month, they assembled in a certain place and accepted the assessment and selection of recruited officers.

After reading this notice, Wang Xiang moved his mind. The autumn of troubled times is the time for my generation to display its ambitions. He went to sign up for the army, and through the selection, he was sent to the Ciping camp in Jinggangshan. He was not only shrewd and fair, but also cultured and receptive, so he was highly regarded and soon became a squad leader among the recruits.

Here, Wang Xiang and other recruits not only had to receive training in military skills and physical fitness, but also had to attend classes every day, on the one hand, to learn natural science knowledge, to briefly understand the casting process and principles of weapons, and to listen to the teacher's explanation of telegraphs, trains, warships, and some scientific instruments that had never been heard of before.

On the other hand, it is necessary to learn about history and geography to understand the general situation and development level of Shijie. Let everyone understand that China is only a small part of Shijie, and it has been bullied in recent decades, and there is almost no way to fight back.

These classes are not just classes, they have to be assessed regularly, and those who fail the assessment will be locked up.

A group of key trainees like Wang Xiang even have to take extra classes to study some military theories and analyze the actual combat process of modern warfare. Including Napoleon's wars, three wars on the road to German unification, the American Civil War, and especially the Franco-Prussian War. At the same time, it also analyzes several battles in which China was invaded by the West. Everyone has to seriously think about how China will lose, where the gap is, what to do if they are immersive, etc.

In the study of history, Ding Yuntong deliberately selected some people with a background of studying abroad and who were open-minded as teachers, and the courses he compiled were also carefully reviewed by Ding Yuntong, which overthrew the veneration of the individual Manchus in terms of content and emphasized the interests of the entire Chinese nation, but he did not make the Manchus the opposite of life and death.

Ding Yuntong hoped that through this subtle indoctrination, the Guards would cultivate the Chinese national outlook, and use both loyal education and land rewards to ensure the loyalty of the army. In the future, when they carry out political reforms on their own, remove the dominant position of the Manchus, and achieve national integration, the Guards can be the backing, cut off the braids and wear Hanfu, of course, this will take time, and it will take time to win one or two wars to make themselves have enough prestige.

The entire training camp has about 2,000 people, and there will be a large-scale exercise every quarter, which completely abandons traditional military tactics and adopts the tactics of rifle as the mainstay and infantry and artillery coordination. Those who perform well in the exercise will be promoted, those who perform badly will be unlucky, those who are demoted will be demoted, and those who are confined will be confined.

Every morning, noon, and dinner, as well as before going to bed, everyone must read the oath of allegiance to the Guangxu Emperor in front of the Yellow Dragon Banner.

In short, it is necessary to use all means to improve the military quality of the new army, and at the same time cultivate a sense of honor and self-motivation among military personnel.

In this process, Wang Xiang performed well and was constantly promoted. By the beginning of 1879, he had become a company commander, just after he was 19 years old.

The same training took place in the other three camps.

Ding Yuntong, who was far away in the capital, naturally paid close attention to all this, and this insignificant student army would become the cornerstone of the Guards Army he expected.

As for the navy, he originally had a jihua, and he wanted to send all the existing naval officers in China who have the potential to be trained to South America at the beginning of this year. Because soon a Pacific War in South America was about to break out, Chile defeated Bolivia and Peru with the support of Britain in order to fight for saltpeter, and the first ironclad battle in the history of South America would be held at the beginning of the war.

This kind of on-site observation opportunity is invaluable and extremely beneficial to improving the quality of naval officers. Historically, Japan's Heihachiro Togo once piloted the Amagi ship to observe the Sino-French naval battle on the Majiang River at close range.

This Jihua to Zuihou was still given up by Ding Yuntong. Because the largest in the current Qing Navy is only the Yangwu wooden-hulled cruiser, crossing the Pacific Ocean to observe, so that Ding Yuntong is a little uneasy, and he is not sure about the Japanese gambler psychology, a bunch of naval elites are crowded on one ship, if something unexpected happens, the consequences are really unimaginable.

In mid-January 1879, the First Division of the Training Army, commanded by Major General Feng Zicai, began to be secretly transferred to Guangxi, and the official documents only said that it was a routine change of troops.

At the end of January, Huaxia Bank promulgated the Interim Regulations of Central Huaxia Bank, officially opening deposit and loan business nationwide.

At the beginning of February, an edict was issued, deleting Ling Chi, the beheading, and the killing of corpses, and the death penalty ended with execution. At the same time, the palace abolished manpower, except for the Empress Dowager Ci'an's Chuxiu Palace, the eunuchs and palace maids in other places were all reduced by seventy, and the fees were sent home one after another, and from now on, eunuchs will no longer be recruited.

In mid-February, Ding Yuntong's long-planned bill, the Education Law, was finally promulgated, which stipulates the opening of new-style schools in major cities across the country, with two levels: preschool and children. Natural science knowledge is taught, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical education and other courses, and the Four Books and Five Classics are all reduced to Chinese courses, which are treated the same as other courses.

Those with excellent grades will be guaranteed to be sent to senior schools in China, and they can even study abroad at public expense. Regardless of whether they are at home or abroad, they will be treated as alternate state civil servants and receive a salary.

At the same time, the traditional eight-share examination of the imperial examination was also temporarily retained, but only the township examination and the meeting examination were cancelled, and the palace examination was cancelled. In other words, without the status of a jinshi, you can't directly rely on the eight shares to become an official. If you want to be an official, you also need to pass the assessment of natural science knowledge. Some of the privileges of raising people, such as not paying taxes and not kneeling before officials, can be retained, but if they violate the law, they must first be removed from their reputation, but now they can be directly arrested.

As for the general public, whether to go to the new-style school or the traditional Bagu school, they are all free to choose and listen to them.

On February 11, the first domestic industrial expo was officially held in Shanghai.

On February 12, the Publication Regulations were amended to relax the matters concerning book publishing. On the same day, the Committee for the Revision of the Great Qing Law was established to study the law reform.

On February 17, the Ministry of Commerce announced the new tax system and announced the complete abolition of the centigold system by the end of this year. There is no need to pay a fee for domestic cargo transportation.

On March 11, the Imperial Central News Agency, referred to as the Central News Agency, was officially established. On the same day, China's first official newspaper, the Global Times, was launched, with Yan Liangxun Langzhong, who used to be in charge of the Jingshi Tongwenguan, as the editor-in-chief, and Shen Yugui and Cai Erkang, both well-known newspaper writers from Shanghai's "Declaration".

On March 17, the first official western hospital, Renji Hospital, was established, and all foreign doctors were hired.

……。

The early spring of 1879 was quite dizzying. Ding Yuntong enjoys this kind of work rhythm very much, and has a sense of guiding the country and reorganizing the world. The Empress Dowager Ci'an also officially returned to the government, and the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace ended its history of listening to the government, and now it has become the place where Ding Yuntong meets to discuss daily affairs, and the West Warm Pavilion continues to be used as the place where the Military Aircraft Department deals with secret military affairs. The two Warm Pavilions in the east and west, plus the Communications Office of the General Staff, which was located behind the Western Warm Pavilion and was responsible for handling military intelligence, these three places became the core of imperial power.

On March 28, Ding Yuntong received a secret report from He Ruzhang, saying that Japan had officially sent troops to the Ryukyus, and it was reported that the court had also begun to prepare for the trial of the Ryukyu king.

Ding Yuntong waved his hand, as if driving away a fly that didn't exist. I'll put up with the Ryukyus for the time being, and I'll settle accounts later.

At this time, he received a telegram from Guo Songtao, the minister stationed in Britain, saying that after several months of practice, the officers and men who had come to receive the warship had become proficient in the ship, and asked for instructions on the matter of returning home.

Ding Yuntong thought for a while and ordered a call back: The three warships set off for China to recall Liu Buyun, Yan Fu, Lin Taizeng, Sa Zhenbing, Huang Jianxun and others who had just finished studying abroad. At the same time, Guo Songtao came forward and went to the British Navy to hire Lang Weili, an acquaintance from the original Aspen fleet, as a naval instructor, and the two also returned with the warship. At the same time, China will send another person to serve as a minister to the United Kingdom. In addition, he ordered the fleet to go to South America, cross the Pacific Ocean, and observe the naval battles between Chile and Peru and other countries along the way, and record them in as much detail as possible.

After sending the telegram, Ding Yuntong ordered Wu Tingfang, who had returned from studying abroad, to replace Guo Songtao as the new minister to Britain.

Now it's time for Guo Songtao to come back and participate in the central work. Just thinking about it, the next person came to report that Yuan Shikai and others had returned from North Korea.