In the sudden change in the pattern of imperial power in the Qing Empire, the first person to feel frightened was Yuan Shikai. He was now very envious of Long Qian, who was far away from the central whip of the imperial court.

Guangxu and Cixi died one after another, and the young royal family led by Zaifeng weighed it repeatedly and decided to get rid of Yuan Shikai first, and then solve Long Qian.

This is the right choice, and the only choice to maintain the ruling power of the Aixinjue Luo clan. It's the same with everyone else.

Tie Liang and the others knew that Zaifeng's disposal of Yuan Shikai meant to avenge his humiliated and unexplained death of the imperial brother, but this order was correct.

The imperial court faced three Han threats, the first of which was Yuan Shikai, who held the important position of Minister of Military Aircraft. Feed the old bastard Yi Liang with silver, the Gyeonggi Army generals and the governors of several provinces were all promoted by him, and if this person is not killed, the court will never have a peaceful day. The second is, of course, Long Qian, although he has continuously extinguished the armed rebellion of the Southern Revolutionary Party at the end of the previous year, but the successive crises in Guangdong and Shandong are enough to prove that this overseas returnee who was single-handedly promoted and reused by the Queen Mother is also a bad seed who harbors evil intentions! However, he had strong troops in his hands and was far away from the control of the imperial court, so he had no other way than to send the dead soldiers to assassinate him, so he could only postpone the treatment. The last is Sun Wen and Huang Xing's revolutionary party, thank God, these people have suffered continuous defeats, and they have broken their muscles and bones, and it is estimated that they will not be able to make any big waves for the time being.

Thinking about the steps, Zaifeng began to plan Yuan Shikai. He instructed his mentor Li Dianlin to write an edict that prepared to put Yuan Shikai to death, in which words such as "harboring evil intentions" and "plotting against him" showed Zaifeng's bitter hatred for Yuan Shikai. However, the decree can only be issued with the consent of the Military Aircraft Division. This is also a procedure of the imperial court. The foreman of the military aircraft, Yi Xuan, immediately expressed his opposition, and Yi Xuan said that the matter was very important and that it must be further examined. In fact, it is opposed.

Zaifeng found his sister-in-law, the Empress Dowager Longyu, the Empress Dowager of Guangxu, whose status had suddenly improved, and the Empress Dowager Longyu, who was extremely mediocre in appearance, did not have much conjugal affection with Guangxu, but she also felt aggrieved for Guangxu. So he invited Yiliang to ask face-to-face, and Yixuan's way to fight was to kneel down and not say a word. The Empress Dowager Longyu was very angry and turned to Zhang Zhidong, who was originally a pawn used by Cixi to clamp Yuan Shikai, but Zhang Zhidong said to Longyu. For Yuan Shikai. You can be dismissed, but it's not appropriate to kill him. He gave the reason, the new emperor ascended the throne, which was less than killing. It is not good for politics. The line behind Zhang Zhidong is that he is worried about a mutiny in the Beiyang Army.

Although Zaifeng is eager for revenge. But being a human being is not confused. So in the name of the Military Aircraft Department, he secretly called the Han generals of the Beiyang Army, and he did not ask Yuan Shikai's hardcore Duan Qirui Feng Guozhang, but asked Wu Fengling, the commander of the fourth town, and Zhao Guoxian, the commander of the sixth town. The two quickly called back. "Don't punish Yuan! If Yuan must be punished, please first dismiss the ministers and other positions, so as not to change the soldiers and cause innocent grace! ”

Zaifeng could only back down. As a result, the stern wording of the edict prepared in advance was finally revised to look like this: "Yuan Shikai, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Minister of Military Aircraft, has been repeatedly promoted by the previous dynasty. Unexpectedly, Yuan Shikai is now suffering from foot disease, struggling to walk, and it is difficult to be qualified for his job. Yuan Shikai immediately opened the vacancy and returned to his hometown to recuperate, in order to show compassion. ”

Yuan Shikai was injured in one leg and walked a little unevenly. Now it is said that it is difficult to move and cannot go to court.

On January 2, 1909, the edict ordering Yuan Shikai to go home for retirement was officially issued.

On the fourth day of the issuance of the edict, Yuan Shikai left Beijing gloomily and boarded the train to Tianjin with his family, and only a few people were seen off at the Qianmen Railway Station, such as Baoxi, the attendant of the school department, Lang Zhong Duanxu of the Ministry of Rites (the younger brother of Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang), and Yang Du, the alternate of the Constitutional Compilation and Investigation Hall. Yuan Shikai lived in Tianjin for a few days, and then set off back to Huanshang Village, outside the Beiguan of Zhangde, his hometown in Henan, and started his apartment in the mansion that originally belonged to the big salt merchant He Bingying.

Yuan Shikai, who became famous from North Korea and rose all the way to the top of the world, temporarily faded out of the historical stage.

The successful victory in the "Battle of Yuan Shikai" greatly boosted the confidence of the Zaifeng people in recovering military power. Now, the Zaifeng people can finally free up their hands to deal with the last big threat, Long Qian.

In the summer of 1909, when there were endless quarrels in various places about the opening of the National Assembly and the acceleration of the pace of constitutional law, the imperial court finally decided to solve the problem of Long Qian.

The center's thinking is still to find Long Qian's stubble, and then remove Long Qian from his military position.

But this stubble is not easy to find. Long Qian led the army to the south, and successively quelled the rebellion in Hunan and Jiangxi and Liangguang, and Long Qian's department really made great contributions to the Qing court, and it was a field meritorious service. Before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the elimination of hundreds of bandits was a great achievement, but the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the subsequent Twist Army were a great chaos that affected the overall situation, so it created a situation in which the Hunan Army and the Huai Army were divided into the world and the center was subject to the local situation, and the general military achievements were somewhat unattainable. If it were a hundred years in advance, Long Qian's credit would never be a third-class uncle.

But now it's not about taking credit, it's about fault. The biggest mistake is, of course, the sensational case of the Nineteenth Association killing prisoners, but that is the problem of the Tenth Town, and if the problem of the Tenth Town is attributed to Long Qian, it is tantamount to admitting that Long Qian has command over the Tenth Town. Although Yuan Shikai left, the infiltration of the tenth town was personally taken over by Tie Liang, the secretary of the War Department, and Tie Liang of course did not want to "self-destruct the Great Wall", so he searched and searched, and turned over the Huizhou blood case, preparing to start with Wang Mingyuan, and then connect with Long Qian.

Zaifeng disagrees with this method, "This law will laugh at the world." After the tenth town was separated, Long Qian was not worried. The key is in Shandong, Liangbi has continuously reported that the first patrol battalion in Shandong cannot be controlled at all, and the second strength is extremely huge. Liangbi reported that last month, without his permission, Ning Shijun launched a large-scale exercise without authorization, except for Ye Yanbing's department stationed on the front line of Texas, the Shandong army mobilized more than 10,000 troops! What is particularly worrying is that they can quickly call back veterans who have been demobilized and returned to their hometowns, and they have been pre-awarded! Zaifeng said that he was deeply worried, "Shandong is actually independent!" In the past few years, the imperial court did not know the true situation in Shandong at all, and Yang Shixiang should be killed! Shandong's officials should all be killed! According to Liangbi's estimates, the Shandong army has more than one town! It could not be delayed any longer and should be resolved immediately. If Shandong is not resolved, it will not help if the Guangdong issue is resolved in a timely manner. ”

Yin Chang agreed with Zaifeng's judgment. He believes that Shandong is the hub connecting the north and the south, and it is close to Gyeonggi, so the geography determines that there is no room for error. The order in which Zaifeng first solved Shandong and then Guangdong was completely correct.

This deviates from Tie Liang's plan to take Long Qian's knife, and that's it, Shandong threatens Jingshi, and it is best to solve it. The point is not knowing what to do.

Tie Liang still came up with an idea, suggesting that the number of the 11th town of the Shandong Army be granted, and then under the pretext that the national defense strength of the northwest was seriously insufficient, the 11th town was transferred west to Shaanxi and Gansu. If it complied, the situation would naturally change greatly, and if it disobeyed the order, the center would have a justifiable basis for sending troops.

But the formation of Eleven Towns can no longer be like the Fifth and Tenth Towns! Tie Liang suggested appointing Wang Huaiqing as the commander of the 11th town, Ning Shijun as the chief of staff, and Ye Yanbing and Chen Guangyuan as the 21st and 22nd co-ordinators respectively.

Chen Guangyuan is a Beiyang veteran, and he is currently serving as the eighth assistant commander of the fourth town, which can be regarded as a flat adjustment.

While seizing power, it also saved a little face for Shandong. If Shandong is submissive, Tie Liang still hopes to bring this powerful army into the central system. Ye Yanbing is Long Qian's brother-in-law, leaving Ye Yanbing's military position will not irritate Long Qian too much.

Of course, Tieliang must be prepared for Shandong's disobedience, so it must be solved by military affairs. At present, there are four towns in Gyeonggi that have troops available, but it takes money and time to assemble. Yin Chang was instructed to make calculations, believing that at least three million military expenses would be needed and that it would take a month and a half.

In order to cover people's eyes and ears, the War Department decided to hold a drill to assemble the four new military towns that were preparing to be used for operations on the Shandong front on the line from Baoding to Tianjin, and among them, the War Department transferred the third town of Cao Kun, which was known as the No. 1 in Beiyang, to Hengshui to occupy the starting position for attacking Shandong.

Tie Liang made a special mention of Guangdong. He now believed that Long Qian was still remotely controlling Shandong, so he had to be prepared to deal with Long Qian. His plan was a multi-pronged approach, first strengthening the control of the 10th Town, and using the 10th Town to contain the 5th Town. The second is the Guangdong patrol battalion that Fengshan strives to control, and Tie Liang suggested the establishment of the Guangdong Mixed Association, with the Beiyang veteran Cai Chengxun as the co-commander to assist Fengshan. The last one is the Eighth Town and the Twenty-ninth Mixed Association. Tie Liang believed that if Long Qian led the Fifth Town north to support Shandong, the Eighth Town and the 29th Mixed Association would play a key role. In terms of combat effectiveness, the Eighth Town had already been proven in the Zhangde Autumn Exercise, and if Zhang Biao's Eighth Town and Li Yuanhong's 29th Mixed Association resisted with all their might, it was entirely possible to block Long Qian and defeat him in Hunan.

The young elite of the Manchu Qing Dynasty calmly estimated the military strength of Beiyang and Shandong, and believed that the Beiyang Army with four towns could be completely sure of solving Shandong by force, as long as the Germans did not intervene.

Therefore, Tie Liang asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to do a good job of diplomatic mediation to ensure that the great powers, especially Britain and Japan, fully supported the counterinsurgency of the center.

The meeting on the settlement of Shandong by force was held at the War Department, and very few people attended the meeting. However, Tie Liang, who presided over the meeting, still emphasized strict confidentiality. Afterwards, Tie Liang reported the plan of the War Department to the regent Zaifeng, and obtained Zaifeng's approval.

Now, Zaifeng is already the de facto supreme ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the emperor is still a three-year-old child, he doesn't understand anything, and there is less fetters of the Empress Dowager Longyu, although there is a noble Empress Dowager Longyu sitting there, but the Empress Dowager Longyu cannot be compared with Cixi in terms of prestige or means.

Zaifeng did not even bring the War Department's plan to the Military Aircraft Department for discussion, so he fully approved the plan.

As a result, the War Department issued an order, on the one hand, to start the Zhili Meeting, and on the other hand, to summon Zhang Biao and Li Yuanhong back to Beijing for face-to-face arrangements. At the same time, there was also Liangbi, who was struggling in Shandong.

In this large-scale military planning, Tie Liang did not use the Ninth Town of Jiangsu, because Tie Liang believed that the officers and soldiers of the town, especially the lower-ranking officers, were seriously eroded by the ideology of Pai Manchu and were not very reliable. (To be continued......)