In the study, Cixi, Guangxu, Weng Tongyi, and Ronglu, the supreme rulers of the Qing Dynasty, were discussing a thorny issue.

"It seems that Li Hongzhang is not planning to increase his troops?" Guangxu said with a dark face.

"The old minister said all the good things, Li Hefei just clung to the silver. Say anything, if the imperial court wants Beiyang to send troops, it must allocate funds. Weng Tongyi said with a sad face.

"This is how Li Hongzhang repaid the court?" Guangxu felt that a nameless karmic fire rushed to his head at that time.

"The Japanese are constantly increasing their troops, isn't Li Hongzhang afraid that his more than 30,000 Beiyang troops will be wiped out in Korea?" Guangxu asked.

"Returning to His Majesty, Li Zhongtang is naturally not afraid that there is no way to retreat, and from the beginning of the war to the present, the main force of the Beiyang Fleet has not yet lost. The two ships have been repaired. As long as this sea route is not lost, the Beiyang Army can withdraw to Lushun on the Liaodong Peninsula by sea. He, Li Hongzhang, is naturally not afraid! Rong Lu got up and replied.

"He, Li Hongzhang, has thought comprehensively enough, and he has even thought about a way out." Guangxu snorted coldly.

"How much silver can the court allot?" At this moment, Cixi, who had not spoken, asked.

"2.4 million taels of silver, this is the end of the year, and the household department really has no balance. If you borrow from foreigners, you can borrow a lot. Weng Tongyi said.

"I'm afraid that 2.4 million taels of silver is not enough for the Beiyang Army in North Korea to fight for half a month, right?" Cixi looked at the fold handed over by Li Hongzhang and sneered.

"Then the court can't come up with any more money." Weng Tongyi whispered.

"I didn't expect Li Hongzhang to support his own troops, and my Qing Dynasty has more than one fighting soldier in Beiyang, Liu Kunyi in Nanyang, and Ronglu's Wuwei Army can all fight, so let Li Hongzhang guard his Weihai by himself." Guangxu said angrily.

"Rong Lu, does your Armed Guard have the strength to fight?" Guangxu stared at Rong Lu and asked.

"Lao Chen's military guards have been trained for many years, but there is still a certain gap between the guns and artillery and the Beiyang Army, but if His Majesty lets the minions go to battle, there is no difference." Rong Lu immediately got up and said.

"This old fox." Guangxu said secretly in his heart.

"You guys stand down first, and we'll talk about it tomorrow." Just when Guangxu wanted to say something more, Cixi waved her hand to let Rong Lu and Weng Tonggong retire first.

"How does the emperor plan to deal with this matter?" After Rong Lu Weng and Gong retreated, Cixi asked slowly.

"Let's allocate the money from the household first, it's really not enough, and then find a foreigner to borrow it." Although Guangxu was angry, he also had the idea of using other armies to replace Beiyang. But in other words, let's not say that there is not much left of the Hunan army, judging from the table of the Nanyang Navy Division under Liu Kun, I am afraid that it is not as good as the Beiyang table to let this person go up. As for Ronglu? This is the descendant of Cixi. I don't know much about the situation of the Wu Wei Army, so I don't comment. And what Li Hongzhang said is indeed true, Beiyang is desperately fighting for the imperial court, and the imperial court will not give money, how do you let Beiyang fight?

"Well, that's the way, but is that enough? Borrowing from foreigners? It can indeed solve the urgent need. But then what? What if foreigners take the opportunity to blackmail? Cixi glanced at Guangxu and said.

"I'm afraid that's okay, is there any other way to do it?" Guangxu asked.

"If you can, try not to borrow, it's easy to borrow money, but it's hard to repay." Cixi said.

"But if I don't borrow this, I really don't have any money in the Qing Dynasty." Guangxu's face immediately changed.

"If this silver is raised, you can find it from two aspects, one is to apportionment to the governors and admirals of the provinces, he Liu Kun controls my Qing Dynasty's financial and tax land, you don't go to war, it should always be possible to raise some silver, right? (The emperors of the Qing Dynasty have apportioned it, and the money that Emperor Kangxi went to the south of the Yangtze River that year, the emperor did not come out with a son, and they all let the Cao family raise it himself, but in the end, as soon as Kangxi died, Yongzheng came up and directly copied the Cao family to make up for the deficit without saying a word.) Two? You can only start with the flag business. This 40 million taels of flag silver per year is a big item. Speaking of this, Cixi couldn't help but shudder. …,

"You can't just move this flag money. This is about my Qing Dynasty. Guangxu immediately became anxious when he heard it.

"Once the Japanese entered Manchuria. Isn't the land of my great Qing Dynasty Longxing going to be full of wolf smoke? Isn't that the root point? Of course, this flag money can't be used for Beiyang, and the Iketanga in the northeast and the Ronglu of the Wuwei Army have to share some, after all, the imperial court has to rely on this war to train a few warlike armies. Now it seems that this Qing Dynasty is also a combatable army in Beiyang. Even if Li Hongzhang doesn't have two hearts, my heart is also very unstable. Cixi sighed.

"My father thinks that Li Hongzhang has two hearts?" Guangxu asked.

"This Li Hongzhang is indeed a little arrogant, but he doesn't have two hearts. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to build his Beiyang Fleet, you know, although this warship is powerful, it can't go ashore. In the past few years, Li Hongzhang has put a lot of energy into his Beiyang Second Marine and Land Division, and from now on, Beiyang has tried his best. North Korea's 30,000 army should basically be the limit of what he can support. And the water division? His protégé is also impressive. Cixi said this, and a smile appeared on her face.

"How did my father know that Beiyang had done his best?" Guangxu asked with some puzzlement.

"In fact, in addition to Li Hongzhang's Beiyang, there are also a lot of training troops in Liangguang and Taiwan, these Li Hongzhang can not completely control zhì, except for the 30,000 people in North Korea, and the remaining troops in various fortresses, Li Hongzhang's land division is not much. As for the water master? The Japanese fleet did not dare to go north, and Li Hongzhang did not dare to let the sailors go south, so it was deadlocked. Cixi explained. Beiyang is going to weaken some, but if Beiyang is gone, Nanyang Liu Kun and they will have to become bigger. ”

"So what now?" Guangxu was a little confused, this Beiyang could neither be moved nor completely suppressed, this was not something he could come up with at the moment.

"Now this salary still has to be given, after all, Beiyang is a gift. However, it is obviously impossible for Li Hongzhang to transfer all his troops to North Korea. Therefore, in order to keep the Northeast, the imperial court has to make some additional preparations. Cixi said.

"You mean Ronglu's Wuwei Army and the Northeast Iktanga?" Guangxu asked in a low voice.

"Well, this Rong Lu has taken over the Wuwei Army for 4 years, and the imperial court has given him a lot of silver and guns in the past few years, and now it's time to release it to see what level it is. As for Iktanga, after all, he is a Heilongjiang general, and the Shengjing Machinery Bureau has also provided him with a lot of equipment. I want to see if there is anyone who can fight among this man! Saying this, a sneer appeared on the corner of Cixi's mouth.

"If you can fight, it's good, but what if you can't?" Guangxu continued to ask.

"Can't fight? Then we need to support it, this is our own army. Saying this, a trace of sorrow flashed in Cixi's eyes.

"Dear father, what do you think of the matter of allowing private mining and factory establishment mentioned by Li Hongzhang in the excerpt?" Guangxu asked.

"That's right. Although my annual income in the Qing Dynasty is 80 million taels, it is much higher than that of Qianlong. But now it is still not enough, every year half of the flag service is gone, and the rest is stretched in various places. The imperial court could not afford to raise even a fighting army. Regardless of what happens in the future, at least we can raise some silver now. Let's get through the current predicament first. Cixi said.

Cixi and Guangxu decided on the matter, and the central military ministers naturally had no objections. At the same time as appropriating funds to Li Hongzhang, he ordered the Beiyang Fleet to immediately go to sea to look for opportunities to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese Navy. Rong Lu's Wuwei army also began to assemble outside the pass, and the Heilongjiang general Yi Ketanga was also ordered to lead his troops south to the front line of the Yalu River to prepare for the layout of the defensive line. Even the Hunan army, which had been dismantled and had not been much, was transferred to the northeast. Wu Dacheng personally led the new and old Huai troops to the battlefield. At this point, a discerning person can see at a glance that the Qing State has basically emptied all the soldiers who can fight for this war. As for the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, don't mention it. Ask for a recommendation, ask for a collection~~