On November 15, 1908, two months after the promulgation of the Outline of the King James Constitution, Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi, the nominal and de facto supreme rulers of the Qing Dynasty, died. And what is strange is that the time of death of the two was only twenty-two hours apart.

The emperors and queens passed away one after another, and immediately became the number one news in the Qing Dynasty and even the whole world.

Thinking of the most peculiar relationship between mother and son in the world, and the fact that the Queen Mother died later than Guangxu, rumors immediately flew all over the sky.

Many insiders, including foreign envoys in Beijing, seriously suspected that Cixi had killed the Emperor of Sorrow.

There is another theory, that is, Yuan Shikai poisoned Guangxu with medicine. This statement comes from a eunuch who served Guangxu in Yingtai. But it can't stand scrutiny, because although the emperor has lost his power and has been under house arrest for many years, and he is frail and sickly, every day the prescription prescribed by the imperial doctor has to be copied to each of the ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and if he is seriously ill, he will also send a copy to the ministers of military aircraft.

It is theoretically impossible for Yuan Shikai to give the emperor medicine.

The reason why there is this legend is because for many years in Jingshi has been circulating rumors that Emperor Guangxu hated Yuan Shikai. In the year of Wuxu, Yuan Shikai betrayed the emperor's trust, which led to the failure of the law change and the miscarriage, and the six gentlemen of Wuxu cut off the entrance of the vegetable market. Guangxu never forgot this great feud, and Yuan Shikai was worried that Guangxu would take power and clean himself up after Cixi Yan drove him, so he saw that the queen mother was not good and categorically killed the emperor.

The imagination of the Chinese in science is far less rich than in the imagination of politics.

In fact, Cixi killed Guangxu for more reasons. Moreover, there is one piece of evidence that cannot be explained. That is, two days before Guangxu's death, Cixi announced in the name of Guangxu the heir to the throne and the establishment of the regent's two holy decrees, if Cixi did not know the date of Guangxu's death, these two holy decrees could not be explained.

The deep palace Ouchi is the place with the most intrigues and mysteries in the world. Now that the ban on speech is widened, officials and ordinary people can express their views more than at any time in history.

After all, it is more interesting to explore the cause of the emperor's death than to who succeeded to the throne.

In order to maintain the dominance of the Aisin Jueluo surname, Cixi had to think carefully before her death.

The situation facing Cixi before her death was extremely complex and difficult. The south is unstable, Shandong is independent, and more dangerous is the center. Yuan Shikai and Yixuan united to control the court situation, which made Cixi feel even more anxious. Previously, through the reform of the official system, Cixi had already used the means of rising and descending to empty Yuan Shikai. Right now. He had to use a full man to restrain Yixuan. This person can only be Prince Alcohol Zaifeng.

Since Guangxu had no heirs, the future new emperor could only continue to be born in the Prince of Alcohol Mansion - since the death of the childless Emperor Tongzhi, the emperors of the Qing Empire were successively born in the Prince of Alcohol's Mansion: Prince Lao Alcohol was the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor. Originally, he was just a clan nobleman. But because he married Cixi's sister. So his son Zai Yan became the Guangxu Emperor. Now that Zai Yan is dead, Guangxu's peers also have the fifth brother Zaifeng, the sixth brother Zaixun and the seventh brother Zaitao (Guangxu is the eldest son, but the second, third and fourth children died one after another). The emperor could only choose from among the sons of these three men. Cixi has not yet made a decision. A rumor spread into the palace: Yuan Shikai was ready to abolish Guangxu and support Yixuan's son Zai Zhen as emperor. Cixi knew in her heart that Yuan Shikai would not dare and would not do so, and this rumor must have been deliberately spread by the Manchurian nobles who hated Yuan Shikai deeply. Even though Cixi knew what to expect, she immediately took precautionary measures, transferred the sixth town led by Duan Qirui out of Beijing, and ordered Tie Liangtong to bring the first town into Beijing. Ordered Yixuan to go to Tanglin to inspect Guangxu's mausoleum project...... When Yixuan returned, Cixi immediately announced that Pu Yi, the son of Zaifeng, was the crown prince and Zaifeng was named regent.

In the history of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, only Dolgon, the Prince of Rui during the founding period, served as a regent.

Announcing to the world, the new monarch was finally born, and the Qing Dynasty turned its last page.

The foreigner went so far as to report, "The death of the two monarchs really sounded the starting gun for the start of a new era, and it opened up another route for the ancient ship of the Qing Empire." ”

Guangxu and Cixi passed away one after another, and the news spread to Guangdong, Long Qian naturally would not wear filial piety to treat the funeral like Zhou Fu. He was in Zhaoqing at this time, personally guiding the training of the newly expanded special brigade.

The Special Brigade was established after Long Qian moved the Fifth Town Headquarters out of Guangzhou, and its predecessor was the Special Operations Team of the Intelligence Department, with Wang Zhifeng concurrently serving as the captain. It's small, but about 40 people. After Wang Zhifeng acted as the director of intelligence, he had no energy to arrest this small unit at all. But Long Qian always remembered it, and finally stripped it from the name of the intelligence department, expanded its establishment, and officially named it the special brigade directly under the command of the fifth town. More than 120 people were selected from the Fifth Town Unit to enrich the brigade, and Shi Jipeng, the former deputy leader of the Special Operations Team, was appointed as the captain of the Special Brigade, with the rank of regular battalion.

In addition to the turmoil caused by Feng Lun's killing of prisoners in Guangxi, because this period was relatively calm, Long Qian was able to find time to write a training outline for the special brigade and personally guide the training, which was also enjoyable.

When he was in Mengshan, Long Qian had set up a sharpshooter team for a short time, and now Xu Gongzhi, who has gone to Guanwai, is the first captain. In fact, that squad is not only practicing sniping, but also contains a lot of special operations courses. However, this time to set up a special brigade, Long Qian decided to polish this unit well, and put a lot of effort into the staffing, the team members must have at least one special skill, martial arts, flying knives, marksmanship, blasting, climbing, equestrian, dialect and even stealing and unlocking. On this basis, targeted training is carried out, basic physical training is a must, divided into three levels: standard, good and excellent, if you do not reach the standard, you will be ruthlessly eliminated. Their equipment is good, and their salaries are high (the regulations are two ~ four times that of ordinary officers and soldiers), which are very attractive, but it is very difficult to be selected, and the elimination rate is high, and the 450 outstanding officers and men drawn from various units (including the two security regiments of Zhaoqing and Shaozhou, which have been firmly controlled by the Fifth Town) have been eliminated half of them after one month, and at the end of the second month, there will be less than 150 people left. In the third month, that is, after the end of the third phase of training, Long Qian estimated that it would be good to leave a hundred and ten people.

Originally, this kind of army did not win by numbers.

In this era, there is no such term as special operations, and Long Qian can be regarded as the first to open up the atmosphere. As for whether this gradually forming force will play the expected role in future wars. Long Qian himself didn't count it.

"Ah, finally dead." On that day, Long Qian was inspecting the artillery drill of the target, not live ammunition, but observing the balloon ranging subject. Long Qian finally heard the news of Cixi's death, and sighed to Hu Zongyu, who followed him, "This is destined to be a figure who will leave an infamy in history, but I know that if you are someone else, you may not be much better than the old woman." ”

"I know that Commander Lu Dao was promoted by the Queen Mother......," Hu Zongyu replied.

"Yes. But there's a word called historical materialism, you know? ”

Hu Zongyu shook his head.

"It belongs to the category of philosophy. Not. I've heard you love to read. I read everything, and it is said that I have read "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" many times? Have you read Western philosophy books? ”

"Nope."

"If you have time, I recommend you read it. If you understand historical materialism, you will not say that Cixi promoted me. Ha Lu Ha. ”

Hu Zongyu thought that Long Qian would be saddened by Cixi's death, after all, knowing kindness is a basic human virtue. But it seemed that Long Qian seemed to be a little happy.

"Zong Yu. Do you think I should be sad to hear the news of the Queen Mother's drive? Should she even be given filial piety to show her condolences? ”

"I don't know. But I don't have a good impression of the Queen Mother. China was ruled by her for decades. It's a mess......" Hu Zongyu saw Long Qian staring at him with a strange gaze, "Commander, did I say something wrong?" ”

"Nope. That's right. This is historical materialism. A man stepped onto the stage of history. It is necessary to accept the test of history, and if you do a good job, future generations will miss it, and if you do not do it well, future generations will spurn it. It's not up to you or your descendants to decide. It is precisely the people they look down on who have the final say...... Zong Yu, when I was rescued by King Qin, I didn't have any good intentions, but I just used this to get a space for the Mengshan Army to survive and develop! I haven't seen the Queen Mother for more than eight years, but if it weren't for the opportunity given by the Queen Mother, history would have been a different story, and my life would have to be written differently...... Let's not talk about this, you have been the chief of staff for many years, can you tell me, is it beneficial or disadvantageous for us for the new monarch to ascend the throne? ”

"The subject of the commander is too difficult. I can't say it. However, I think the commander doesn't seem to be able to avoid Fengshan, a bare-bones commander, what are you afraid of him doing? ”

"You still don't know the trick of backing down. You say, what will happen if I don't move the headquarters out of Guangzhou? ”

"I don't know. At most, it's a beating. Just with the more than 1,000 cowards under him? I can take a battalion and take his general's mansion! ”

"Zong Yu, you must know that it is not Fengshan that I am avoiding, but the imperial court! I need time, and time is good for us but bad for the court. If we take out Fengshan, a big battle is inevitable, and we won't have time to fight for the patrol battalion! If we don't control the patrol battalion, we won't be able to go on a northern expedition! Can't understand this? ”

"It's still the commander." Hu Zongyu remembered the First Security Regiment stationed in Guangzhou, except for the regiment commander who was from Fengshan, two of the three battalion commanders and six of the nine company commanders were all officers sent by the Mengshan Army. As for the platoon commanders and squad leaders below, the pro-Mengshan army accounted for the vast majority, because they knew where the military salaries and weapons came from.

"Time hasn't always been in our favor, though. It's almost 1909, and time is starting to turn against me...... Zong Yu, get ready, the time for the showdown is coming! ”

"Commander, I think the imperial court can't take care of us anymore......"

"For what?"

"The imperial court regards our Mengshan army as a great enemy. But they could only rely on the Beiyang Army. If they don't completely solve the Beiyang Army, they won't have the capital to argue with the commander......"

"Well, yes, yes. It's nice to think about that. Long Qian nodded, "No matter if they eat dogs, you say, if the imperial court wants to use force, where will it move first?" ”

"Shandong. If Shandong is not taken, the main force of Beiyang will not be able to go south......"

"Exactly. Okay, you didn't let me down. The situation in Shandong will lead to changes in the overall situation, and what we need to do now is to prepare, and then prepare! ”

"Yes. There is one more thing, I don't know if I should inquire about it......"

"What's the matter?"

"Commander, how do you deal with the Xinning incident?"

"This matter......" Long Qian sighed, "I'll take care of it." ”

Xinning is a county in Guangxi, located south of Nanning. The 10th Town and the 19th Association crossed the mountain west into Guangxi, and suddenly appeared on the back road of the rebel army confronting Lu Rongting's troops, and immediately reversed the situation.

Feng Lun, who was eager for meritorious service, commanded the 38th and 39th standards to advance northward at a rapid pace, and defeated the main force of the righteous army that had retreated south south of Taiping Mansion, and Huang Xing did not know what to do, and about 2,000 volunteers were captured, and then imprisoned in the 39th and 37th standard troops that Zhou Yi then brought to Guangxi. After Zhou Yi's 10th Town Headquarters, 20th Association Headquarters and 37th Standard entered Guangxi, the 39th Standard was separated from the command of the 19th Standard and returned to the 20th Association, and the 37th Standard returned to the command of Feng Lun. On December 19, the troops of the 2nd Battalion of the 37th Standard stationed in Xinning to hold prisoners of war reported a prisoner of war riot, and the 2nd Battalion shot all 473 prisoners of war in Xinning camp. It happened that there was a Catholic church in Xinning, and this matter was disclosed by the French priest, which immediately caused an uproar.

"Commander, public opinion has been very unfavorable to you recently, and I am worried that the imperial court will make a fuss about this matter." Hu Zongyu said.

"The court will not pursue this matter. They wish I could kill all the revolutionaries. But you're right, this blood debt has to be repaid. Feng Lun disappointed me so much. (To be continued......)