。 Li Hongzhang's entry into Beijing is a test for both Beiyang and the center. Li Hongzhang wanted to seek greater benefits for Beiyang. Didn't the center want to take the opportunity to split the Beiyang? And under this goal. Both the imperial party and the latter party temporarily gave up the struggle for power and dealt with Beiyang together. That's why King Qing and Weng Tongyi went together to win over Xu Jie.

Cixi was not afraid that Xu Jie was ambitious, because Cixi had the right to meet Xu Jie's demands. But Guangxu does not have this ability. If Xu Jie was really co-opted by Cixi, the party would have a more powerful force in addition to Rong Lu's northwest training army. This will be a great obstacle to the imperialist party's seizure of power. The connection that Li Hongzhang had easily established with the imperial party during the war was wiped out with the meeting between Weng Tongyi and Xu Jie. Therefore, the imperial party could not let Cixi alone be a good person under any circumstances. But all this was done in private and not on the table.

But at this time, Li Hongzhang's concession caught all parties in the center by surprise! First of all, Li Hongzhang agreed to separate part of the Beiyang troops and hand them over to the central government. These people, led by Yuan Shikai, thought that they had no future in Beiyang and chose to get close to the center, and Li Hongzhang actually agreed to this. In the eyes of the center, this not only expressed Li Hongzhang's intention to win the championship, but also weakened the influence of Beiyang, especially Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, on the situation in the capital. This greatly reduces the pressure on the center. Subsequently, on the issue of the ownership of the Beiyang Fleet, Li Hongzhang resolutely refused to hand over power, at least on the surface. At this time, Xu Jie also emphasized that he only wanted to control the rights of some remote areas in the northeast. There is no interest in the existing management system in Northeast China. In this way, the center further felt the attitude of Beiyang reconciliation and its resoluteness on certain key issues.

Whether Xu Jie wants to enter the Northeast, or Li Hongzhang clings to Zhili and the fleet, it can be regarded as a kind of self-preservation behavior in Beiyang, as for letting Ding Ruchang lead the governor of Taiwan and let Liu Mingchuan become the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, this is actually not a big deal, first of all, after the end of the Sino-French War. The central center once planned for Liu Mingchuan to accept Fujian, and Fujian at that time included Taiwan, and later Liu Mingchuan wrote a letter to let Taiwan be separated from Fujian. And now, after the end of the war, Liu Ming's ascension to the throne with great credit cannot be stopped. At least for a short time, there is no reason to refuse.

In the view of Cixi and others, the strength of the original Beiyang alliance system on the surface has increased. However, the strength is more dispersed, and Li Hongzhang is still the governor of Zhili. But some people had to go to the Northeast with Xu Jie. There are also some people who follow the imperial court, and their strength is seriously weakened. And the weakening of strength represents the decline of Li Hongzhang's control over Beiyang.

As for Xu Jie? He took a group of newcomers to a new place, and at the same time broke away from his direct affiliation with Li Hongzhang, and to some extent, he was the weakest of the new forces. And as far away as the northeast, the influence on the center is even weaker. And Liu Mingchuan, don't look at him as Huai. But because of some old things, Liu Mingchuan and Li Hongzhang are somewhat different, and now that they are governors, Li Hongzhang's control over him is even weaker. Therefore, the entire Beiyang has changed from a large mountain to several moderate mountains, and there is nothing to be afraid of.

This is just a change in the Beiyang, if it is only like this, the center still feels unsafe. After all, these mountains are all bearing the name of Beiyang, so it is particularly important to support other mountains with other names. In the First Sino-Japanese War, the power that broke out in Beiyang not only impressed foreigners. It even frightens the center. A variety of human resources cultivated by a new type of school. The new army, armed with all kinds of weapons provided by the new arsenal, and the provinces under the rule of Beiyang, which had been enriched by commerce and industry, made the center and other powerful forces jealous. Needless to say, everyone is aware that industry and new schools are the foundation of Beiyang's strength, so both the center and the local government will work hard in these areas in the future. …,

In addition to Beiyang, there are also Nanyang Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong and others from the original Hunan system. Liu Kunyi is relatively conservative and somewhat resistant to Western affairs. And Zhang Zhidong is different, seeing that Beiyang is becoming stronger day by day by learning from the West, Zhang Zhidong also decided to speed up the pace. And the Empress Dowager Cixi is very willing to help this feudal official from a clear background.

And for now. The center also received a portion of the Japanese reparations, and its financial situation was alleviated. Therefore, it is completely possible to help Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong develop industrial education and prepare for the new army. As a containment of the various factions in the Beiyang. Moreover, Beiyang also said that it could hand over some of the captured Japanese warships to the Nanyang Naval Division. In this way, the gap between the Nanyang Navy Division and the Beiyang has narrowed, at least until the new Beiyang ships are in place!

But containment alone is not enough. The center of the Qing Dynasty also needed to master a strong force that was completely its own. Although in the First Sino-Japanese War, neither Ronglu nor the Manchu generals in the northeast performed well, Cixi and Guangxu still stubbornly believed that as long as the weapons and equipment were good enough, these armies directly controlled by the center could still compete with Beiyang. As a precaution against Xu Jie, Cixi still decided to support Yiktang Alai, who performed "relatively well" in the First Sino-Japanese War, to serve as the general of Shengjing, and to lead the industrial development and training of the new army in the Manchurian region in the northeast. As for Rong Lu's northwest training? Naturally, it was to be expanded and reorganized, and transferred to Shanxi and Zhili to ensure the safety of the center.

In this way, in Cixi's view, the center and place of the Great Qing Kingdom have finally been rebalanced. The Qing Dynasty won the war against Japan, received reparations, and redistributed the rights. The center had more resources and troops than before the war, and Beiyang was divided into several mountains of almost equal strength, and the whole country began to learn from Western industry, although Cixi was still a little resistant to this factory, but in order to maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty, whether it was the so-called feng shui or secular traditions, it was so worthless in the face of this powerful industry.

However, with some concessions by Li Hongzhang, both the imperial party and the latter party felt that the external pressure had greatly decreased, so after there was no common goal, the internal contradictions between the imperial party and the latter party began to become prominent. Especially after Yuan Shikai's new division from Beiyang established a close relationship with Weng Tongyi, the imperial party had to rely on, and this confidence was enough!

If you want to ask Yuan Shikai why he took refuge in Guangxu instead of Cixi, Yuan thought so. First of all, Yuan Shikai is definitely pursuing more than just a high position. It's about being a great minister in place! When he was in Beiyang, Yuan Shikai climbed up as much as possible, whether in China or in North Korea, Yuan Shikai did it conscientiously. But now, since an overseas Chinese named Xu Jie came to Beiyang, Yuan Shikai's previous contributions and Xu Jie's actions are incomparable. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Yuan Shikai missed his military achievements because of "illness". This directly cut off the possibility of him taking over Beiyang, and if he got to Cixi's side, no matter how good Yuan Shikai was, he couldn't compare with Rong Lu, and it was not Yuan Shikai's style to be a follower all the time.

Secondly, Yuan Shikai is still confident in his own strength. Rong Lu's tens of thousands of Northwest Training Army looked majestic, but his performance in the First Sino-Japanese War could only be described as poor, and some of the old Beiyang troops he brought out had more or less been on the battlefield, and their combat quality was quite superior to that of the Northwest Training Army, which had been defeated for thousands of miles. And the price given by Weng Tongyi and others is really good, and he is awarded the top of the second grade, responsible for training the new army. More importantly, the imperial party only has one armed force, and Guangxu cannot afford not to pay attention to it.

In this way, the power pattern of the center is more balanced, Weng Tongyi is in charge of the household department, holding the financial power, and now with the support of Yuan Shikai and some people separated from Beiyang, the imperial party has a faint tendency to grow. This could not but arouse the vigilance of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Now, Cixi is nostalgic for the original Beiyang, at least until 1890, Li Hongzhang was still a real post-party. Even if Li Hongzhang wanted to do some things, Cixi didn't allow it, at most he just took a detour in another way, and he didn't get to where he is today.

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