Chapter 38: The Family Feast

Yuan Shikai officially met Wang Maoru for the first time, but Yuan Shikai held a family banquet at home, which should have happened two years ago. Because Yuan Keding recommended Wang Maoru, others also recommended Wang Maoru as a university scholar, the author of "The Rise of a Great Power", and his analysis of international relations and international forms is unmatched in China. As a senior secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gu Weijun was also quite appreciated by Yuan Shikai, because Gu Weijun recommended him on the side, Yuan Shikai asked other international actors what his views on Europe and the United States were, Wang Maoru immediately said: "Your Excellency the President, the lower officials assert that Europe will definitely go to war, and Europe will definitely go to war."

The rest of the people were busy asking why he said this, and Yuan Shikai was also very curious and asked, "Xiusheng, don't be alarmist." ”

Wang Maoru hurriedly apologized and said: "The lower officials are not alarmist, and now European countries are actively preparing for war and increasing imports, just to prepare for war. As you know, there are seven great powers in Europe: Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and Spain. Among them, Germany and Austria-Hungary shared the same race and language, and the emperors of the two countries were cousins, forming the Central Powers. Great Britain, France, and Russia formed the Entente in order to contain them. The two blocs were in constant conflict, with Britain, France, and Russia being the first to divide the world's wealth, while Germany, Austria-Hungary, was the new and so fast that it frightened the other old empires. The two blocs are constantly clashing and frictional, and Europe is now a powder keg, just a spark away from detonating. And once it detonates, the European civil war, we China will have a good opportunity for development. ”

Secretary Yang Du retorted: "What nonsense, what does the European Civil War have to do with us? ”

Wang Maoru asked rhetorically: "May I ask my seniors, what did this European civil war fight?" ”

"Naturally, it's the army." Someone answered.

Wang Maoru said with a smile: "Half of the answer is right, in addition to the army, it is still resources, logistics, including guns, food, and steel." If we seize the opportunity to dump our national products in Europe, won't the country become rich and the people strong just around the corner? ”

Yang Du said with a smile: "Speaking of which, it still involves you businessmen, Xiusheng, you don't forget to make money all the time." The others also laughed, knowing that he had recently opened a cannery, and because of the relationship between the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the 1st and 3rd Divisions of the Beiyang Army stationed in Zhili, as well as the newly formed 7th Division of the Beiyang Army, had placed orders. If the canneries are built, the annual orders from the army alone will generate hundreds of thousands of oceans.

Wang Maoru smiled and said, "Haven't you ever thought about making money? What water bottles, military quilts, military boots, armed belts, bullets, guns, cans, iron cups, forks and spoons, once the Europeans fight, maybe there will be no shortage for a year or two, but once the war lasts for more than two years, these things will be in short supply, and your opportunity to make a fortune will come. ”

Yang Du smiled again: "You have robbed Liang Caishen of his job." ”

Wang Mao Ruxin said, "Aren't you provoking Liang Shi to criticize me?" It seems that you are not the secretary general of Yang Da, and your heart is very bad, so he laughed and said: "How can the younger generation compare with Liang Lao, he thinks about the wealth of a country, and what I think about is just the wealth of a family, I am much more relaxed, haha." ”

Liang Shiyi's face changed for the better, and Yuan Shikai nodded and said, "Yes, you also have the ability to make everyone money." Just because of Yuan Shikai's words, the Northern Business Federation asked him to be the president, but Wang Maoru shirked and refused to take responsibility. However, if there is any dispute in the business world, others go to Wang Maoru, who is fair and coordinated, and has a good reputation.

The six gentlemen and the thirteen Taibao are all vigorously advocating the imperial system, and some people say that the eldest prince wants to inherit the throne, and he must not have military power.

Before Yuan Shikai became the president, he let his children serve as officials, but after becoming president, in order to avoid suspicion, he did not allow the Yuan family to come out to be officials. However, at the time of the Beijing Mutiny, Yuan Shikai found that his subordinates were full of factions, and he had gradually lost control of the army.

As a result, Yuan Shikai began to rebuild his army after taking power, and at this time, Jiang Fangzhen, the principal of the Baoding Army School, proposed to train a "model regiment" to reorganize the army, and Yuan Shikai adopted this opinion. The so-called "model regiment" means that officers at all levels are selected from each division to serve as officers and soldiers, organized into regiments, and sent to each division to serve as officers after half a year of training, so as to transform and optimize the officer structure in the army.

At the beginning, Yuan Shikai planned to let Cai Yi (a highly talented student of the Japanese non-commissioned officer school, then the governor of Yunnan Province) who came to Beijing from Yunnan to serve as the head of the "Model Regiment", but this proposal was opposed by the generals of the Beiyang Department. After Yuan Keding heard about this, he also wanted to learn from Yuan Shikai's experience in training at the small station, so he proposed to the old man that he should be the head of the "model regiment". Yuan Shikai began to feel inappropriate, and Yuan Keding said that when he was in Germany, he found that the German imperial family could only hold military positions in the country and was not allowed to interfere in internal affairs, which was a good method worth emulating.

(No way, I've been reviewing it, so I had to cut some content, less than 2,000 words, and some places are a bit blunt, so I'll wait until the review to re-upload the full content.) It's just strange that there is something that needs to be reviewed, Wang Mao is like a tongue and a group of Confucians, there is nothing discordant)

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