It is as fast as the wind, as it is like a forest, and the invasion is like a fire, and it is not moving like a mountain.

A banner of the Book of Wei's white xuan hangs in Liu Yun's study, and the content on it is from "The Art of War", but in Liu Yun's view, the wind forest volcano is not only a mantra of the art of war, but also a principle of acting with qi.

A man dressed in servant's clothes was kneeling at Liu Yun's desk to pray.

“…… Director Du Zhuolin personally named and set up a special mobile team, which was extremely capable, nominally carrying out the task of monitoring the embassies of various countries, but in fact it had been operating in the official streets, and all key departments were under surveillance, and some members of the special mobile team were also found near their residences. ”

"Keep sending people to follow you, don't startle the snake. What are the recent movements of Ding Jieyun? ”

"Lu Zixiang, He Pengcheng, Wang Zhen and Chen Jiayun of the Praetorian Guard often went in and out of Ding's Mansion and met in a secret place, and because the Ding family was heavily guarded, they did not have the opportunity to find out more."

"Keep probing and try to find out what they were talking about."

"Yes."

"What is the connection between Zhu Tao and Ding Jieyun recently?"

"The two often visit each other, but on the surface it seems to be just for fun."

"Don't talk nonsense to me, get me accurate information, if not, just put a few more people, there are still enough people."

"Yes, there are three more groups as reserves, and we will do it now."

"Go ahead."

"Yes."

Liu Yun watched the leader of the Eagle Wolves retreat respectfully, and then ended the majesty he had maintained for too long, leaning lazily on the oak inlaid shark skin backrest.

For six years, he took the harshest risk for the so-called dream, committed a great rebellious crime, led a group of subordinates to work hard in this created time and space, and used the blood of countless people to lay the foundation of a new empire, and at the same time watered the tree of power of his group. Now, some branches of this tree of power are beginning to be dissatisfied with their existing status and trying to gain a position with greater energy, so they are ready to move, thinking that the arrangement is perfect, but they still can't escape Liu Yun's ears and eyes. Rational power will never let go of its surveillance of competitors or potential enemies.

Liu Yun closed his eyes and felt a little tired. Blood, the subject that cannot be escaped, no one has the right to refuse, either their own blood or the blood of their enemies. I don't know who used a dark melody to gently play a silent elegy to comfort the souls destined to hell, but since they came to the world, they can't be entangled in the complex of death.

Liu Yun picked up the pen on the table and played with it, the melancholy in his eyes was fleeting, and he couldn't tolerate even a little weakness in himself. Using subordinates as tools, killing people as simple as playing chess, and using power as a weapon to slash and kill all obstacles that stand in the way of the ideal road, this is the quality that a person who achieves great things should have. Kindness can only be garbage that harms others and oneself.

The voice of a personal servant came from a distance outside the house: "Master, Prime Minister Lord Wen has arrived." ”

"Please." Liu Yun opened his eyes, gathered all his murderous aura, and prepared to welcome his other half of the soul, Wen Yi.

Wen Yi walked in silently and moved a chair to sit down, and there was never any need for extra politeness between them.

"You came to me to talk about murder." Wen Yi's voice was very peaceful, as casual as if he was talking about eating and sleeping.

"You're like a roundworm in my stomach."

"Each other, each other."

"Proud soldiers, sooner or later something will happen, it's better to strike first."

Liu Yun spread his hands: "That's natural, but if you kill a batch, it's hard to guarantee that there won't be the next batch." ”

Wen Yi sneered: "Then keep killing, there are more people available, and there are many of those who are full of small abacus." ”

"I'm looking for evidence now, and more importantly, I want to know exactly who was involved."

"I don't want to kill a loyal minister by mistake."

"Of course, each of them is an invaluable asset."

"It could also be an extremely dangerous enemy." Wen Yi poured himself a glass of boiled water and swallowed it.

"It's hard to find competent and credible subordinates."

"Loyalty comes first, and no matter how capable a person is, if he has bad intentions, he is also garbage for us."

Liu Yun sighed: "Indeed, garbage. ”

Wen Yi asked again: "Your new officer corps has almost been built, right?" ”

"Of course, they are all from military academies, and they have outstanding military exploits, and they have a great future."

"Those so-called old comrades-in-arms know all the details of you, and a glass of wine and releasing military power will not solve the problem, you have to clean up the house first and then add new furniture."

Liu Yun nodded expressionlessly: "There are also cleaning items such as brooms and dustpans in the new furniture, and I am afraid it is very suitable to use them to clean the old house." ”

"Now that new people have been cultivated, of course they must be used at critical moments." Wen Yi said coldly, but his heart was completely different.

These days, Wen Yi has been thinking about how to limit Liu Yun's power, gradually remove the influence of his behind-the-scenes boss, and truly form a political structure that operates according to the constitutional monarchy. The new democratic regime has taken shape, and there is no longer a need for God, no longer for dictators, no longer for military centralization. Moreover, the position of the boss behind the scenes is another drug that tempts Liu Yun's ambitions in the officer corps, and the overly concentrated power will allow competitors to break the pot, smash the bowls, and tear off the tiles. Wen Yi clearly knew that Liu Yun's position as the boss behind the scenes was achieved because of his officer corps with actual military power, and to weaken Liu Yun's dictatorial position, he had to first weaken the old officer corps. Now there is an opportunity for Ding Jieyun to move, the so-called borrowing a knife to kill, the person who borrowed the knife did not know that the knife was going to cut his left and right arms, Wen Yi naturally added fuel to the fire, and did not show a trace. Wen Yi didn't know that Liu Yun really regarded him as the other half of the soul, in Wen Yi's opinion, Liu Yun and him were only left to use each other in addition to their childhood sweethearts. Wenyi needs an ideal officer corps: with solid professional knowledge, a perfect sense of honor, a strong sense of responsibility, and strictly within the framework of the system to serve the country. A group of soldiers who can control the fate of the country at will is definitely a potential scourge of the country, and after it is used, it must be cleaned up in time.

A few days later, in the sea near Dalian, Army Admiral Liu Yun, Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Duke of Wuwei, was reviewing the Navy's Spring Exercises, accompanied by Vice Admiral Lin Taizeng, commander of the Zhenyang Fleet and president of the Imperial Naval University.

The chief of the general staff's seat was selected as the latest domestic cruiser "Heavy Rain", which was a light cruiser built by the Dalian Second Shipyard, launched in September 1895 and officially commissioned in February 1896, with a standard displacement of 3,620 tons, a maximum speed of 23 knots, and two twin 150-mm main guns, 10 120-mm single-mounted secondary guns, and two double-linked 406-mm torpedo tubes.

"Commander Lin, what program is scheduled today?" Liu Yun asked, stroking the new snow-white paint on the bridge.

Lin Taizeng straightened up and reported: "Your Excellency, today there are three subjects: battleships hitting moving targets, torpedo boats attacking ships, and destroyers covering capital ships.

"Yes, let's get started."

"Obey."

The first to appear were the four battleships of the famous "Longwei," "Fengxiang," "Zhenyuan," and "Dingyuan," and I saw the four ships marching all the way in a single column, first passing in front of the "heavy rain" ship, and firing a salute to salute them, and then quickly sailing to the target area, where a small tugboat was dragging a 30-meter-square canvas with a floating target and walking slowly.

"Commander Lin? Is there a pre-arranged route for the target ship? ”

"No, the target ship is all free, but it usually walks in a straight line."

"That's good."

The four ironclad giants with golden dragon patterns on the bow of the ship quickly took up their positions 3,000 yards away from the target ship, and the muzzles of the 305-millimeter guns were turned to the side - as in the Battle of Dadonggou, the main guns of the "Zhenyuan" and "Dingyuan" ships could still only be used halfway. A row of flames erupted, a heart-rending loud sound spread, and a group of water jets splashed around the target, Liu Yun held the telescope and muttered, "I didn't hit." ”

Lin Tai once hurriedly said: "My lord, the size of the target is too small, and it is not easy to drop the bomb within ten meters of the target. ”

At this time, a small flag was raised from the target tugboat, Lin Tai once looked at it, and said hurriedly: "My lord, the people on the target tug boat came to report the flag, saying that a hole has been opened in the target canvas. ”

"I guess I used a training bullet."

"Yes."

"Is a live firing arranged?"

"It's arranged, and later the four battleships will be asked to bombard the floating target ship with their main and auxiliary guns, and afterwards the judging criteria will be based on the calculation of the number of shells consumed and the time of sinking the target ship."

"En," Liu Yun nodded with satisfaction, "Commander Lin, not counting operations, how many shells will each battleship shoot down during training every year?" ”

Lin Tai once said: "Taking the Longwei ship as an example, last year, the Longwei ship was not counted as a battle, and the daily training alone consumed more than 200 rounds of 305 main gun shells, 550 rounds of 150 auxiliary artillery shells, and a number of machine gun shells. ”

"Very good, just to learn more from actual combat training."

"Just ......"

"How?"

"Funding for training is often scarce, and I originally wanted to send ships around the world to train ocean-going talents, but the Ministry of Defense refused on the grounds that there was no financial support in the budget."

Liu Yun frowned: "I'll talk about the Ministry of National Defense, which ships do you plan to send to make a round-the-world voyage?" ”

"One Wind-class cruiser and one Wusheng training ship, traveling from east to west, training while walking, refueling coal and resting in foreign ports, will be completed in about half a year."

"Add a Jianbei-class armored coastal defense ship, and that thing can also sail away."

"As long as you enter the factory in advance and do a little renovation, you can do it."

"You ask someone to plan the plan well, and then apply to the Ministry of Defense at the beginning of next month to ensure that there is no problem."

"Master Xie......"

"I should also thank you, with someone like you in charge of the fleet, I can rest assured."

As he spoke, the Longwei ship had already broken away from the single column and entered the single-ship firing position, and the main and secondary guns roared together, and in the blink of an eye, a target ship converted from an old division ship was bombarded into a large piece of debris floating on the water.

The 8,000-ton hull crossed a long white arc on the water, the three chimneys spewed smoke, and the muzzles of the two main guns still had smoke.

American diplomat He Tianjue once wrote in the Tianjin News Daily: "China's money for one day can buy anything that the army and navy need for one day." The entire civilized world was willing to supply him with weapons. But China cannot buy trained officers and disciplined soldiers in any market. ”

In order to retain the British naval officer Lang Weili, who had been the chief inspector of the Beiyang Fleet, and to solve the "flag withdrawal incident" caused by Liu Buyun[Note 1], the emperor first gave Lang Weili the title of viscount, then conferred on him the rank of commodore of the Chinese Navy, and allowed him to use the Admiral Flag of the Beiyang Fleet, and later appointed him as the chief instructor of the Zhenyang Fleet and concurrently the vice president of the Imperial Naval University, with an annual salary of sixteen thousand taels of silver. Luang Wei did his best to ensure the quality of training in the Imperial Navy, but also made an outstanding contribution to the education of the Imperial Navy. By the time the contract expired in early 1894 and left, the Qing Imperial Navy's Zhenyang Fleet was not far behind the British Imperial Navy in terms of quality, discipline, morale, and training levels. After the tempering of the First Sino-Japanese War, the quality of the officers and men of the Chinese Navy can be said to have reached a higher level, comparable to the navies of other powers.

As soon as the firing of the four battleships had ended, the torpedo boat attack exercise immediately began, and six large 380-ton water-class fleet torpedo boats swept through the waves, rushing straight towards a scrapped steamer with a displacement of nearly 2,000 tons, and firing torpedoes at the same time when they approached a distance of 500 yards.

After six loud bangs, the target ship anchored in the sea broke into several pieces and sank rapidly, and Liu Yun on the "Heavy Rain" ship nodded with satisfaction.

Immediately afterwards, the four battleships "Longwei," "Fengxiang," "Zhenyuan," and "Dingyuan," accompanied by the four destroyers "Baixue," "Feixue," "Songxue," and "Lin Xue," went out again.

The Snow class was the first class destroyer of the Empire, and the first ship "White Snow" was commissioned in March 1895, with a design displacement of 850 tons, a maximum speed of 26 knots, and was equipped with three 75 mm guns, two machine guns, and two triple 406 mm torpedo tubes.

The six torpedo boats of the water-class flotilla that had just finished performing the live mine attack came to play the role of the attackers, with a maximum speed of 28 knots and two twin 406-mm torpedo tubes, a 75-mm rapid-fire gun, and a machine gun. As soon as the torpedo boats were approaching, the destroyers rushed forward, and each ship intercepted the mineboats and fired with empty cartridges, while the torpedo boats tried to get close to the group of battleships in an attempt to adjust their bows to attack. The two sides fought well on the sea, and the blue sea was painted with white tracks to create a masterpiece of ultra-impressionism.

The next day, after visiting the Dalian Imperial Naval University and gathering all the teachers and students of the university to give lectures, Liu Yun returned satisfied, and as soon as he returned to the mansion, his eagle wolf team brought the latest information about Ding Jieyun.

“…… So, want to solve the problem in one fell swoop at the regular meeting after the autumn exercises? ”

"My lord, it's true, the team in charge of monitoring the Ding Mansion found the meeting place of Ding Jieyun and his party, and placed a sound transmission tube inside, and sent people who infiltrated the Ding family's servants to eavesdrop nearby, and only then did they find out the exact news."

"Well, what are the special movements of the other generals of the Jingshi?"

"The day before yesterday, Zhu Tao accepted a new model car from Ding Jieyun, but he didn't find out that he had attended a secret meeting in Ding's mansion......"

"What about the military officers of other provinces?"

"Wu Beinian, commander of the South China Military Region, often communicates with Ding Jieyun, but no problems are found in the content of the telegrams, and several servants of the Ding family often stay in Jiangning in the name of procurement, and recently discovered that they are frequent visitors to the Wu Mansion......"

"Is there any evidence such as documents?"

"I haven't found it."

"Keep looking."

"Yes."

As soon as the leader of the Eagle Wolf Team retired, Liu Yun summoned his personal servants and asked him to invite a few officers to the mansion for a banquet.

Sixty years later, an obscure magazine published an obscure article titled "Suppression of Rebellion or Deliberate Purge: Questioning the Guangxingding Case."

The article wrote: "At about 10 o'clock in the morning of May 17, 1896, Colonel Xiao Lieri, commander of the 1st Janissaries Brigade, personally led most of the troops of the 1st Praetorian Guard Brigade stationed in Fengtai to suddenly rush into the headquarters of the 1st Praetorian Guard Division in Changxindian, arrest the division commander, Lieutenant General Lu Zixiang, and escort him to Babaoshan Military Prison. At around eleven o'clock, most of the Seventh Guard Brigade stationed in Xinzhuang was led by the brigade commander, Colonel Chen Xingyun, into the Beijing Division and blocked Guanjie. At the same time, most of the Janissaries Cavalry Brigade, led by the brigade commander Colonel Xiang Lan, rushed into the military street outside the Desheng Gate, surrounded the residences of Lieutenant General Ding Jieyun, commander of the Praetorian Guards, Lieutenant General Wang Zhen, commander of the Third Janissaries Division, Lieutenant General Du Zhuolin, director of the Intelligence Division of the General Staff, and Major General Chen Jiayun, commander of the Janissaries Teaching Brigade. Almost at the same time, the 5th Janissaries Brigade stationed in Tianjin, led by the brigade commander Zhao Minhe, attacked the headquarters of the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division and killed the division commander, Lieutenant General He Pengcheng, in the melee. Almost at the same time, the 1st Marine Brigade stationed in Dagu was led by Brigade Commander Shen Xingyi into Tianjin City and imposed martial law on the whole city. In this operation, which was carried out in the name of suppressing the rebellion, several brigade commanders in different locations acted extremely decisively and in unison, arresting or killing their superiors. The official version has always been that Liu Yun, then chief of the General Staff, had long known that Lu Dao, Ding Jieyun, and others were attempting to rebel, and in order to ensure the comprehensive and rapid elimination of the rebels, he adopted the strategy of first winning over middle-level officers and then taking action from the bottom up. Immediately after that, the military court held a trial and handed down the verdict with a jaw-dropping speed, needless to say, all five generals who were arrested were sentenced to death, and they were executed within twenty-four hours. Three brigadier generals, 15 colonels and 12 lieutenants were also tried, half of whom were sentenced to death, while the others were sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment. In less than a week after Ding Jieyun and his party were executed, the bizarre deaths of Lieutenant General Zhu Tao, then chief of the Operations Division of the General Staff, and Wu Beinian, commander of the South China Military Region, made people suspicious. According to the official reports at the time, Zhu Tao and Wu Beinian were both killed by Ding Jieyun's subordinates who tried to take revenge, and as far as the facts are known, Zhu Tao was shot and killed by a long-range shot in a car, and Wu Beinian died in an office bomb explosion......

[Note 1] Luang Weili, born in England on January 19, 1843, entered the Royal Naval School at the age of 14 and entered the Navy as an intern at the age of 16, and has been serving in the British Navy ever since. In 1863, he came to China for the first time with the "Li-A fleet", in 1877 he escorted gunboats to China, and in 1879 he escorted the four "towns" to Tianjin. In 1882, Luang Weili came to China to take up a post with the title of Deputy Admiral and Chief Inspector of the Beiyang Navy, responsible for the organization, exercise, education and training of the Beiyang Navy. Luang Wei was strict in governing the army, diligent in his work, and conscientiously trained in accordance with the regulations of the British Navy, and was respected by the naval officers. In accordance with international practice, he also formulated the etiquette for the Chinese and foreign navies for the fleet, thus expanding the influence of the Chinese navy. After the outbreak of the Sino-French War, Luang Weili avoided his post due to the British government's declaration of external neutrality and took a leave of absence to return to China. In January 1886, he was invited to return to China. In May 1886, Prince Alcohol toured Beiyang, and was awarded the title of Admiral with the title of Admiral for his meritorious training in Lang Weili. Later, in the telegrams sent to Lang Weili, Li Hongzhang often used the title of "Admiral Lang Weili" or "Ding Lang Two Admirals". In the official document of the Beiyang Navy, his full title is "Huitong Beiyang Naval Division, Admiral, Second Class, Third Treasure Star Lang Weili". Since Ding Ruchang was not familiar with naval affairs, the fleet training mission was presided over by Luang Weili. During its first term, the level of training of the Beiyang Navy reached a fundamentally modern level. In 1886, after Luang Weili returned to the Beiyang Navy, in the second service contract, the Chinese not only required Luang Weili to promise to raise the training of the Chinese Navy to international standards within five years, but also promised to help China fight in wartime, unless the target was Britain. In February 1890, the Beiyang Fleet went south to avoid freezing. On the 24th, Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Beiyang Naval Division, led four ships, "Zhiyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", and "Laiyuan", to patrol the South China Sea, and was scheduled to return around March 10. Lang Weili, Lin Taizeng, and Liu Buyun supervised the maintenance of "Dingyuan", "Zhenyuan", "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" in Hong Kong. On March 6, Liu Buyun, the leader of the "Dingyuan" pipe, suddenly lowered the commander's flag and raised the general flag, indicating that he was the highest commander on the ship. The Admiral Flag of the Beiyang Navy is yellow, gray, black, blue and red, and the horns are decorated with anchors, while the General Flag is black, green and red. Lang Weili asked: "Admiral Ding has resigned, and I am in the position of deputy, why did you remove the Admiral Flag?" Liu Buyun replied: "According to naval practice, this should be the case. Luang Weili immediately called Li Hongzhang and questioned his status, which was the famous "flag removal incident". In real history, because Li Hongzhang favored Liu Buchan and clearly stated that there was only one admiral in the Beiyang Navy, Lang Weili resigned. After that, Britain rejected Li Hongzhang's request to hire another British as an adviser to the Beiyang Navy in place of Luang Weili, and recalled Noga, a Briton who served in Port Arthur, and announced that it would no longer accept Chinese naval students. In contrast, Colonel Engels of the British Navy, who served as an adviser to the Japanese Navy, can be regarded as a single-handedly trained by the Japanese Navy and made great contributions to the construction of the Japanese Navy. Ingalls recalled that when he was serving in Japan, the Japanese government had conferred on him the title of nobility, so that he could have enough power and status to come into contact with Japan's high-ranking generals. When the Japanese saw a reason to walk independently, the British retired with dignity. And the Japanese "persisted in following the path they had embarked on under the guidance of the British, and they not only kept the fleet as it had been when Engels left, but also perfected it."

Sources - "The Fleet with the Dragon Flag Flying", "Historical Materials of the Navy in the Late Qing Dynasty".