It turned out that Yuan Shikai arrived, Li Hongzhang nodded, and after a while, Yuan Shikai, who was wearing court clothes, strode in, with a respectful and calm smile on his face, he saw Li Hongzhang sitting on the sofa with a pipe in his mouth, he didn't dare to slack off, and immediately came to a court counselor, "Humble Yuan Shikai, knock to see the handsome!" ”

"Get up, you can't be empty just now, when you first arrive, these land snakes always have to pay attention first, and when you see the officials of the provinces, this has just dispersed them, and the people outside are scattered, and we don't have to squeeze with them outside. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Yes," Yuan Shikai nodded yes, this is Li Hongzhang's hospitality, according to Yuan Shikai's grade, I am afraid that the bigwigs of the provinces will salute one when he sees one, which is really too tiring. He asked Sheng Xuanhuai again, "The lower official will ask for peace to Lord Fantai." ”

Sheng Xuanhuai helped Yuan Shikai up with a smile, "Wei Ting, we are all on errands under Lord Zhongtang, why do you need to be so polite?" Although I can't say anything about the Huaijun and Hunan Army, but we are all children of the Hunan Army, this will not be wrong, although my official position is a little bigger than you, but the Lord Zhongtang still values you, otherwise I would not have arrived in Tianjin, and the first thing I want to see is you. ”

"Yes," Yuan Shikai stood up, "Shikai is grateful for the kindness of Lord Zhongtang." ”

"I don't have to thank me for anything, originally, I wanted you to stay in Beijing for a few more days, and then come to Zhili, but you found a good joint to help restore your position, but it also saved the old man from moving around."

"It's too much of a mistake to be humble." Yuan Shikai hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Please Lord Zhongtang to surrender." ”

"There's nothing wrong with it, God saves yourself, you can have your own way to help yourself, how can the old man be guilty, if you don't recover North Korea, I will also stuff you to North Korea," Li Hongzhang motioned for the two to sit down, "North Korea's affairs, I still have to ask you to do it." ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said to Li Hongzhang, "I'll go out first to talk about the bank, find the people in Shanxi to talk about it, and touch their details." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, Sheng Xuanhuai turned around and left, "Sit down, Wei Ting," and when Yuan Shikai sat down, Li Hongzhang continued to swallow the clouds and spit out the fog, "Our Chinese and foreigners' systems are different, they are like a marquee to change the prime minister and minister, it doesn't matter if you change it back and forth, after all, it doesn't matter if you do errands, but our Qing Dynasty is not the same, there are more things about people dying and retiring, so thousands of years, there are too many to mention, all some errands, if you change people, it is different, you Yuan Weiting did a good job in North Korea, Originally, the position of the Minister of International Trade was not too important, but if you did it well, this errand became a sweet and sought-after item, but you are no longer in North Korea, and North Korea is in a lot of chaos. ”

"Until now, the prince of the Korean kingdom has not set off," Li Hongzhang shook his head, "This is rude, what do those people do in Seoul to eat, do they just eat and do nothing?" ”

Yuan Shikai replied, "Although the days of lowly positions in North Korea are not long, but the habits of the North Koreans are quite well understood, they are a little afraid of power and immorality, we are polite, the North Koreans feel that we can't help them, feel that we are weak, but if they are tough, and shout that the Tianyi Dynasty is not sympathetic to the vassals, it is not the way of holiness." ”

Yuan Shikai carefully talked about the situation in North Korea, Li Hongzhang just listened quietly, but did not interject, and waited until Yuan Shikai said almost, "So it can be seen that the things in North Korea still have to be done by you, just soft, now I am afraid that it will not work, the North Koreans feel that it is okay for us to be weak, they can't fly out of the palm of the Qing Dynasty," Li Hongzhang shook it with his pipe, "But the important thing is the Japanese, if we are softer, the Japanese will become more and more arrogant in Korea, which is not a good thing, let the Japanese look down on us." , this is not good, speaking of which, North Korea is its own person in the end, and it is not afraid of being looked down upon. ”

"The Japanese just want Korea," Yuan Shikai said, "they have a theory of conquest of Korea in their country, which is quite popular, although it has not been publicly announced, but it is groundless, and it must be all exquisite, even if it is not the intention of the Japanese government, but the public opinion is like this, everyone thinks that they want to conquer Korea, and the government must not be able to ignore it." ”

"The Japanese want North Korea?" Li Hongzhang sneered slightly, "With us here, how can they take it?" Still thinking about snakes swallowing elephants? ”

"Yes, the Japanese are naturally a small country, but they can't withstand their big ambitions, so we have to guard against it."

Li Hongzhang nodded, "What you said in Weiting can be regarded as speaking to my heart, take precautions, that's right, you have to guard against the Japanese, it is enough to grasp this word of defense, when you arrive in North Korea, the first thing is to guard against the Japanese." ”

This can be regarded as a formal order to convey his order, Yuan Shikai got up and obeyed the order solemnly, "But there is also one, neither humble nor arrogant, both civil and military, you can't prevent the Japanese, and you can't force the Japanese." Wei Ting, you are a smart person, do you understand what the old man means? ”

Yuan Shikai's body was slightly stunned, he raised his head, his eyes were huge, and he stared at Li Hongzhang, "What does Lord Zhongtang mean?" ”

"The Japanese can't afford not to guard against it, and they can't force the Japanese in a hurry, so your defense word is the best, the 9,000-ton warship is now going to Nagasaki Port to paint, which is also to prevent the Japanese, let them know that our Beiyang Navy Division is not easy to mess with, and the new army can't go to the vassal country to garrison the army, this is a helpless thing," Li Hongzhang shook his head, the new army did not have an example of stationing vassals, and in the past, the pacification of Vietnam was also the end of the war, and he immediately returned north, and handed over the responsibility of managing Vietnam to Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and Feng Zicai's remnants of the Cui ArmyNot to mention that according to the character of North Korea, the most fearful thing is that China will annex North Korea and eliminate the subjectivity of the Korean nation, and it is impossible to station a new army in North Korea, so you can only use the guise of this Minister of International Trade to station some regiments trained by Zhili in Seoul, and nominally call it "Trade Yamen Guard" to cover up, and it is very difficult to directly garrison the army, "Next, we don't have enough money in Zhili, so if you know this bottom, you should understand that you can't be too radical, You can grasp this degree Yuan Weiting. ”

Yuan Shikai was a little puzzled, "According to the news that his subordinates have heard in Beijing these days, Japan's military spending is not enough, if it is about the lack of silver, I am afraid that they are more lacking than ours, and the subordinates mean that it is better to take advantage of the fact that the 9,000-ton warship is in Nagasaki now, so that the Japanese can understand that North Korea is not something they can touch!" (To be continued.) )