In the officer's conference room of the Haining, the flagship of the Beiyang Fleet, Xu Jie, Liu Mingchuan, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingchu (Li Hanzhang's son, historically he was the first general manager of the Bank of Communications in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China) Peng Haifeng. The five of them sat around a table and began the first North-South coordination meeting in the Beiyang system since the First Sino-Japanese War.

Xu Jie represents the new potential of Beiyang in Northeast China, Zhang Peilun naturally represents Li Hongzhang's old Beiyang, Liu Mingchuan represents the potential of the Beiyang system in Fujian, Zhejiang, Taiwan and Shanghai, and Li Jingchu, as Li Hanzhang's son, represents the two Guangzhou. Peng Haifeng, the last of all, attended the meeting as a representative of the entire Nanyang Chinese.

These bigwigs with deep backgrounds and real power come here from all over the world for only one purpose, that is, the future development of the Beiyang system and its goals! At this time, Beiyang already had an independent economic, industrial and military system. Even if the Qing Central Committee did not allocate funds and did not provide any assistance, the government and private industries and economies in the Beiyang system were sufficient to support the operation of the system. Militarily, it has become the most powerful military force in the Qing Dynasty and even in East Asia! The combination of the Beiyang Fleet and the Foreign Fleet was sufficient to suppress any navy in the Far East, and the backbone of the provincial armies were veterans of the Sino-Japanese War, and on this basis, they were expanded and reorganized.

When everything is booming, a new development plan needs to be reformulated within the Beiyang system in order to be able to better develop and deal with "some" emergencies! Originally, before the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang's internal affairs were decided by Li Hongzhang alone, but with the expansion of the force. More people and regions joined the system, and Li Hongzhang's control over the entire Beiyang was greatly reduced. Not only people like Liu Mingchuan and Peng Haifeng Li Hongzhang can't control, but even Xu Jie, who began to stand on his own, has limited influence. Li Hongzhang urgently needs everyone to unify their thinking and form a consensus. And the establishment of the ocean-going fleet this time has given Beiyang a good opportunity, so that these people who usually can't leave the jurisdiction can finally get together!

The foreign fleet was established, and the acting admiral of the Beiyang Fleet could lead the team to congratulate him. In this way, Xu Jie could leave the northeast and go to Taiwan, and the foreign fleet was jointly formed by Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Fujian, Zhejiang and Taiwan, and Li Hanzhang, the governor of Liangguang, so the two of them could come. As for Zhang Peilun and Peng Haifeng, these two people are people with no merit, even if they come, others can't say anything, just like that, the five major forces within Beiyang finally sat around the conference table of the battleship Haining, discussing future plans.

"The current situation seems to be calm, but in fact, there are undercurrents." Among the people here, Liu Mingchuan is the oldest, so he still opens this head!

"I don't know what Lord Liu is referring to by the undercurrent? Is it the imperial court? Or the Russians? Zhang Peilun obviously understood something from Liu Mingchuan's words, and then Liu Mingchuan's words said.

"Both Mr. Xu and Mr. Zhang have lived in the north for a long time. Is it possible to be ignorant of the situation in the north? It's hard for you to say it clearly, I'm old, and I'm at the end of being an official, if you don't say it, I say! Liu Mingchuan said with a smile: "Let's talk about the imperial court first." After the end of the Qing-Japanese War, the binding force of the imperial court on the local government has decreased a lot, and the economic, industrial and military officials of all parties have their own systems, not only our Beiyang, but even Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong and others have done a lot of tricks. It's not enough to describe this situation, and I'm afraid that the current imperial court can't do it in other places except for a few Manchu governors, right? ”

"It's not all. Above the court, the dispute between the Hou Party and the Imperial Party became more and more intense, and the emperor had Yuan Shikai's army as a footnote, and Weng Tongyi was in charge of the household department, and had enough money to arm Yuan Shikai's troops. Therefore, now the emperor's power has increased greatly, and he has the potential to seize power. And what about the Queen Mother? After all, he has been in power for decades, and there is still the accumulation of contacts and strength, plus Rong Lu's northwest training army has all been stationed in Zhili, so that both sides are equal, it seems that sooner or later the two sides will be apportioned, and this central negotiation, no matter who wins or who loses, I am afraid that the world will be in chaos. Then, Peng Haifeng continued. He is unofficial and light, and his psychological burden is not great. So it's very straightforward. …,

"What do you mean? What do you want to gain from this earth-shattering change? Zhang Peilun still didn't say anything, because he knew that the significance of this statement was very significant, it represented Li Hongzhang, not himself, if he said something that shouldn't be said, once it caused some misunderstandings, it would not be a joke!

"Zhang Youqiao still doesn't dare to say it." Xu Jie sighed secretly in his heart, from Zhang Peilun's point of view, he was already completely disappointed in this rotten imperial court, but at this time he represented Li Hongzhang, even if there were countless dissatisfactions in his heart, he had to follow Li Hongzhang's opinion.

"Who goes up and who goes down in the center is actually not directly related to us, whether it is the emperor or the queen mother, what can the current Beiyang do? I'm worried that if something happens to the center, will someone take advantage of it? Facing Li Hongzhang, who still has a trace of attachment to the Qing government, and Li Jingchu, who has an unclear attitude. Xu Jie is also not easy to explain, so he decisively chose the way to save the country! Divert the topic to another aspect.

"This center is in chaos, I'm afraid the Russians won't give up this opportunity, right? Lord Xu's territory will inevitably be attacked by the Russians, and Li Zhongtang's direct subordinates may be affected by the strength of the two sides in the center. At the same time, if Lord Xu loses, this Zhili will also be in danger! If I suffer a great loss of strength in the northern part of the North Ocean, I am afraid it will not be beneficial to all of us here. Liu Mingchuan squinted his eyes and said.

"If this is the case, the only way is to quickly quell the battle in the center, although the emperor has Yuan Shikai's army, and the queen mother has the northwest training army, but I also have an army in Beiyang in Zhili, which side do you think is better?" Zhang Peilun, who has not expressed his position, finally said a nutritious sentence, which also reflects Li Hongzhang's opinion, that is, which side do you decide to support? Make a decision early!

"Although I have an army in Beiyang, they are all in the surrounding areas of Zhili, and the key to the battle between the emperor and the queen mother is to see the strength in Beijing, and it is not safe for me Beiyang to follow a certain side. After all, no one is absolutely sure, and we have more important things to do! Xu Jie also made his attitude clear, they fight for them, we don't need to care, and we don't have time to care! In fact, Xu Jie has another meaning that he hasn't said, that is, when the two sides fight to lose, he is cleaning up the mess! The decaying Manchu Qing no longer had any value in existence. When they have exhausted the last trace of strength, it will be their turn to step off the stage of history!

"I think too, with the Russians eyeing it. We still have to fight against the Russians first, and Jishi is on the front line, so naturally he can't take care of Zhili. Once the war began. I don't dare to guarantee anything else, the military strength and materials of our three provinces will definitely fully support the Northeast War! The country is big, the society is second, and the king is light. Liu is also for the people of the world and the country, I hope Lord Zhongtang and Mr. Zhang can understand. After speaking, Liu Mingchuan arched his hand at Zhang Peilun.

"I, the Nanyang Chinese, will definitely provide all the help I can to Mr. Xu and Mr. Liu, funds, materials, and manpower, but whatever the two of them need, they can scoop it up!" Immediately, Peng Haifeng expressed his support for Xu Jie and Liu Mingchuan!

"Then I don't want to mix with the center of the center first? Focus on the big things first? "Zhang Peilun is such a smart person, he has completely figured out what Xu Jie, Liu Mingchuan and Peng Haifeng mean. These three people not only gave their plans, but also gave him the excuse to deal with Li Hongzhang's interrogation! Confronting foreign enemies is the highest goal, and everything must make way for this goal, even Li Hongzhang can't say no, and until now, Li Hongzhang has been undecided against the two factions of the emperor and queen. The original Li Hongzhang was of course a post-party, but Cixi's actions had already chilled his heart. As for the emperor? Not to mention anything else, that Master Weng is a sworn enemy with Li Hongzhang, and he can't easily get closer to the imperial party, which makes him a little dilemma! …,

"This method is good, as long as I don't show too much inclination in Beiyang. And can protect the family and defend the country when the court is in turmoil, and no one who goes up can treat me badly. Li Jingchu on the side looked at Xu Jie and Liu Mingchuan meaningfully, and then said. Once something happens, I, Liangguang, will definitely do my best to support Lord Xu's battle in the northeast and on the sea. In fact, it doesn't matter who goes up to this center, or even whether there is one! Those guys don't do any good to the country or the people except to scoop up books that have basically turned yellow and point out that they are causing chaos for us! ”

"That's not just a casual thing!" Zhang Peilun really didn't expect Li Jingchu to say this! This is tantamount to complicity!

Actually, everyone here means this, but it is not easy to bring it up directly for fear of Li Zhongtang's face, my father is in charge of Liangguang, Guangzhou and other places are treaty ports, and Hong Kong is opposite. Over the years, I have seen more and more clearly the comparison between the Qing Dynasty and foreign countries. If this goes on for a long time without change, this Aixin Jueluo family will definitely be finished, and hundreds of millions of people will suffer. In fact, Li Jingchu still has a sentence that has not been said, that is, instead of this, it is better to let this rotten center end as soon as possible, and we can rebuild a new country.

Li Jingchu said this is definitely not accidental, unlike the children of the Li family who have entered the official career, he wants to engage in business and finance more, and he has dealt with foreigners a lot, he can also realize the corruption of the court above and the injustice of the system, it is natural to have this kind of thinking, plus the current Beiyang is facing the double suppression of the center and the Russians, the external situation is not ideal, and more importantly, with the development of the past 10 years, now both the two Guangzhous are new types of capitalists, or a large number of new thought recipients who have entered the administrative system, Or ordinary people, their dissatisfaction with the Qing Dynasty has reached the limit, in this case, even if Li Jingchu intends to support the Qing Dynasty, he must consider whether the new forces of Liangguang agree to it!

"In this case, it seems that even if I Zhang Peilun disagrees, I can't change this situation?" In the face of this situation, Zhang Peilun didn't know whether he should be happy or sad, happy that this decadent dynasty was finally coming to an end, and sadly, he suddenly found that the top-down rule of the past no longer exists, and a new system of deciding things through equal consultation is quietly emerging, and he knows that everyone here cannot decide everything based on personal preferences, they must seek their own interests for the supporters behind them!

"We understand what Lord Zhongtang means, but now it is different from the past, whether Lord Zhongtang wants to take care of the world or be loyal to a certain person, I think this choice is not difficult, of course, Mr. Zhang is better to be more tactful in his rhetoric." Liu Mingchuan is the oldest, and this kind of thing is the most appropriate for him to say.

"I understand what everyone means, what I have to prepare in the past few years in Beiyang is to concentrate on developing myself, so that I can defend my country after a war with the Russian fleet in the future." Zhang Peilun deliberately omitted everyone's later conversation, and told Li Hongzhang the first half, and Li Hongzhang definitely couldn't find any problems, as for the situation in the center? Under the premise of defending the homeland and defending the country, all other issues need to be postponed, so that the possible conflict between Li Hongzhang and the giants of Beiyang can be temporarily covered up!

Thanks to the book friend Brother Kongchen for the reward and the book friend Chibei for the monthly ticket support, the next chapter will be naval strategic planning, I hope you can like it~~~. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to (.) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. )