"Incompetent, I actually fell into such a simple strategy of the enemy, so that two brigades were disabled, and I thought that Chen Xingyun was very capable, but it was nothing more than that."

In the base camp, it was lunchtime, and after reading the operational report of the 3rd Field Army on September 21, Defense Minister Liu Yun complained in a low voice to Yang Zhengjin, chief of the general staff beside him.

"I heard that Chen Xingyun and his chief of staff had a discord, Zhao Minhe originally did not agree to send heavy troops to attack Novoshakhtinsky, and he also sent a special telegram to clarify his position, on the day of the 21st, Zhao Minhe was not in the military headquarters, but on the front line of the 11th Division, and was wounded together with the commander of the 11th Division, Zheng Hong......"

Yang Zhengjin responded, and Liu Yun nodded thoughtfully.

"In that case, the two of them shouldn't be together for a while."

"But if one of them is transferred, the person who is transferred will be generally considered to be the one who made the mistake, and that person may hate his superiors."

Liu Yun secretly sneered, and said indifferently: "Then hate it, the empire is not unavailable." ”

"What does Wu Weigong mean?"

"Since Zhao Minhe can make the right judgment in advance, but Chen Xingyun can't, then the matter is very simple, the empire does not need incompetent generals, the capable are the best, let Zhao Minhe be the commander, Chen Xingyun will be transferred to other places, Xinjiang or Tibet, in addition, Zhao Minhe will be assigned a suitable chief of staff, and it will be solved."

Yang Zhengjin obviously does not fully agree: "However, it seems ...... to make a punishment equivalent to dismissal just because of a mistake in judgment."

"One time is enough, this is not a joke, we are fighting against the fifth power in the world, in key matters, making a mistake is enough to ruin the results of our hard work for more than ten years."

Yang Zhengjin had no choice but to take a step back and said, "But Zhao Minhe has just been injured, at least let his injury stabilize, and it's not too late to make plans." ”

"Well, at least reprimand Chen Xingyun, of course this kind of thing will work hard for you."

Yang Zhengjin rubbed his hands and smiled bitterly: "No way, who told me to inherit such a troublesome position." ”

Liu Yun picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth: "Then again, if the 1st Army of North Korea moves more fiercely, our 3rd Army will not encounter that situation, the Koreans and the Japanese are not willing to contribute, by the way, who are you going to send to be the war supervisor of the 1st Army of North Korea?" ”

"Special North Korean Military Commissioner, Lieutenant General Yuan Shikai."

"Oh-"

Liu Yun let out a long sigh of meaning.

"Is there any special point in sending this person?"

Yang Zhengjin shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "What is the special significance of promoting this person to the position of lieutenant general?" ”

"Because I only looked at his resume at the time, and forgot to pay attention to his name."

"Me too."

Liu Yun put down the napkin and took a sip of tea: "But now I forgot his resume, and instead paid attention to his name, to be honest, what did he do before?" ”

"I just watched it, and I still remember some, but the most flavorful should be his performance during the coup d'état in Seoul in the eleventh year of Guangxu.

"What's the situation, let's hear about it."

"In the eleventh year of Guangxu, that is, in 1884, when Yuan Shikai was in the army of Wu Changqing stationed in Korea, he assisted in the camp affairs, and coincided with the coup d'état of the pro-Japanese Korean Restoration Party, which led Japanese soldiers into the palace, and executed the pro-Chinese Min aristocratic ministers together with Concubine Min, held King Li Xi hostage, and claimed to implement a new policy. At this time, the garrison task of Seoul has been taken over by the new governor Wu Zhaoyou, after receiving the news of the palace coup, Wu Zhaoyou summoned the general soldier Zhang Guangqian to discuss, Zhang Guangqian immediately recommended Yuan Shikai to Wu Zhaoyou, saying that he was wise and brave, and must have a clever plan, and invited him to solve this problem. Yuan Shikai has a reputation for extraordinary talent since he was a child, but he didn't even pass the township examination, so he spent money to buy a Tongzhi title, and it happened that Admiral Wu Changqing heard that he was versatile, so he hired him as a staff member and asked him to run the camp affairs. Later, the king of Joseon asked Wu Changqing to send someone to help train the Korean Janissaries, and Wu Changqing recommended Yuan Shikai to him. Due to the Sino-French War, Wu Changqing was ordered to go to Jinzhou to supervise the defense, but some of his subordinate soldiers remained in Seoul and appointed Yuan Shikai to manage the belt. Zhang Zongbing has always been very important to Yuan Shikai, so after the admiral was dying, he wanted to invite him to the meeting. After summoning Yuan Shikai, when talking about the situation in North Korea and discussing the rescue strategy, Yuan Shikai proposed that if he did not enter the tiger's den, he would get the tiger, and asked to send troops to attack the Korean palace, clear the chaotic party, rescue the Korean king, and then make plans. Wu Zhaoyou thought that there were Japanese soldiers guarding the Korean palace and did not dare to attack without authorization, so he decided to consult Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, first. Soon after the request document was issued, the king of Korea sent a secret envoy to the Qing camp to ask for help, but Wu and Zhang still did not dare to act rashly, and later there was a secret report from the horse, the reformers planned to abolish the king, set up a young monarch, attach themselves to Japan, and betray the Qing Dynasty, although Wu Zhaoyou was anxious, but because he had not yet received domestic instructions, and the troops in his hands were too weak, he was afraid that he would not be defeated by the Japanese army, and he still hesitated. Yuan Shikai saw that the situation was critical, so he explained the danger to Wu and Zhang, and said that if he did not send troops into the palace again, not only would North Korea not be able to protect it, but everyone's return route would be cut off, and they would all have to be ghosts in North Korea at that time. Sure enough, his life was at stake, Wu Zhaoyou finally decided to do it, so he asked Yuan Shikai how to enter the army. Yuan Shikai proposed to attack in three ways, and after negotiation, it was decided that Wu would lead the left road, Zhang should lead the right road, and Yuan Shikai would lead the most difficult middle road, and send troops to attack the Korean palace that night. Yuan Shikai's middle route army was the first to exchange fire with the enemy, and dozens of people were killed and wounded in the first battle. This order passed, the military law is like a mountain, the Qing army ventured forward, broke through the outer gate, entered the inner gate, but was unexpectedly copied by the Japanese soldiers from the back, at the time of the enemy in this belly, the Yuan army was still not chaotic, divided the troops to resist, and waited until the troops of Wu Zhaoyou on the left side were killed, and the Japanese soldiers were repulsed. Suddenly, hundreds of Korean soldiers rushed in, but they were the soldiers who had been personally coached by Yuan Shikai before, and these Korean soldiers immediately joined the Qing army's camp, broke the inner city together, broke the resistance of the reformers, and found the Korean king and his son, and returned to the palace. ”

Yang Zhengjin talked about dry mouth and took a sip of wine first.

Liu Yun listened attentively, and nodded on the table and said: "It is indeed rare to be brave and strategic, and he has made the first contribution to this incident." ”

Yang Zhengjin shook his head and sighed: "It's a pity that China's affairs are always undefeated and defeated, obviously won the power in Korea, quelled the coup d'état, expelled the Japanese soldiers, and scared away the Japanese envoys. The Japanese side sent two important great men of the Meiji Restoration, who were known for their toughness to the outside world, Ito Hakufumi (then the Minister of the Imperial Palace) and Saigo Nomichi (then the Minister of Agriculture), to Tianjin, claiming that the Qing army in Korea intended to provoke and wanted the Qing government to punish the leaders. Yuan Shikai was naturally not convinced, so he asked for leave to return to China and went to see Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, who was very powerful, and proposed that the Qing government should supervise Korea and take charge of the government on its behalf, that is, to change Korea from a vassal state with independent internal affairs to a protectorate with strict control of internal affairs, so as not to be coveted by Japan. Li Hongzhang asked Yuan Shikai to be submissive, and Hugh showed his edge, which meant that he should stop caring about this matter and obediently wait for the government's ruling. Later, Li Hongzhang was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary, negotiated a treaty with Japan, and agreed on two articles: first, the troops sent by the Qing and Japanese countries to Korea should be withdrawn, and second, if the two countries sent troops to Korea in the future, they should notify each other, and withdraw them after the matter was decided. According to the treaty, all the Qing troops withdrew, and also sent back to Korea by Wu Changqing in the eighth year of Guangxu because of the rebellion of Wu Changqing and imprisoned in China's Dayuanjun, this Dayuanjun is the father of King Li Xi, there are many followers, Li Xi lost the aid of the Qing army, and was threatened by the political power of Dayuanjun, had to bow to Japan, pay reparations and apologize, open the commercial port, from then on Japan began to treat Korea as a protectorate, while the Chinese side also claimed that Korea was still a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, in fact, Korea has become a common protectorate of both sides. Later, there was a Sino-Japanese War for this purpose, in that time and space, China was defeated, and then after the Eight-Nation Coalition Rebellion, the Xinhai Revolution Civil War, the Second Revolution, the War to Protect the Country and the Law, the New and Old Warlords Scuffle, the Northern Expedition, and the Suppression of the Communist Party, the Great War of Resistance for eight years, the Great Civil War for three years, and the successive decades of poverty and weakness. And in our time and space, Japan was defeated by us, which led to civil strife and turned into an ally, but it is still difficult to predict how it will develop in the future. ”

Liu Yun pointed his forehead, remembered something, frowned, and said: "After that, it seems that Yuan Shikai was sent as the Minister of Korean Trade and Commerce, doing foreign affairs, until the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War here, he did not have a military position." ”

"That was not Wu Weigong himself awarded him the military rank, saying that he asked him to help train the North Korean army, so that his reputation in North Korea was growing day by day, and the North Korean press even criticized him for being the emperor of North Korea, but I thought that it was very suitable to send him to supervise the First Korean Army, and the Korean generals in that army had a close relationship with him."

Hearing this, Liu Yun's eyebrows secretly gave birth to some murderous aura, and he thought: "In this way, North Korea seems to have become his circle of power, this kind of human hero, you must guard against it, and once the war is over, you have to put him in the air." ”

In Liu Yun's heart, in addition to Wen Yi, the group of people he brought from 2025, even if they are the closest Yang Zhengjin, Zhong Xiahuo, and Hu Ke, are all just tools, not to mention Kang Youwei, Sun Wen, Yuan Shikai and others, these so-called historical celebrities are just exerting their energy in another time and space, using the land of China as a stage to perform some tragicomedy that is changing. And in this time and space, the key to the turning point of history does not seem to be in their hands. Kang Youwei failed to launch the doomed Wuxu Reform in 1898, because in 1890, Liu Yun and others killed the Empress Dowager Cixi, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the world, and used all means to purge the rebels, and at the same time carried out comprehensive reforms, thus winning the victory of the First Sino-Japanese War. In 1896, the Qing Empire was renamed the Chinese Empire, the implementation of the constitutional monarchy system, the Manchu and Han confluence, the former Qing Emperor Guangxu became the founding emperor of the Chinese Empire, changed to the Yuan Guangxing, has entered the eighth year. In the past eight years, democratic politics has gradually unfolded, Kang Youwei and Sun Wen have become party leaders, and participated in the coalition cabinet headed by the Chinese People's Party, and are in the position of imperial ministers. When the times change, people's behavior will of course also change, and those who go with the times will be born, and those who go against the times will perish, which is a matter of course. As for Yuan Shikai, of course, he did not have the opportunity to betray the emperor during the Wuxu coup, let alone have the opportunity to be valued by the Empress Dowager Cixu to establish his Beiyang warlord system. Liu Yun was out of consideration that the situation had changed, so he was awarded a military rank and ordered him to assist in the training of the North Korean army.

"However, they can only be tools, if they can't be used by me, if they can't help me realize that dream, but if they want to hold me back, then they shouldn't exist anymore, and tools without use value are just garbage."

Thinking so, Liu Yun saw that Yang Zhengjin had also finished his lunch, so he invited him to take a walk in the garden of the other courtyard.

Although the other party is regarded as a tool, but after all, it is a high-value tool, after all, you can't treat a 300,000 sports car and a broken bicycle that is only worth 30 fast, of course, you can treat a broken bicycle casually, and you won't be too distressed if you lose it......

As soon as he walked out of the dining room, an officer wearing the black uniform of the Praetorian Guard hurriedly ran over and whispered a few words in Liu Yun's ear, Liu Yun nodded coldly, turned back to Yang Zhengjin and said: "I'm sorry, suddenly there is something important, I will go outside, please tell Premier Wen that I will arrive later for the afternoon meeting." ”

"Understood, please feel free to go."

Yang Zhengjin bowed his head and said, watched Liu Yun leave again, and thought, "What's going on again?" That officer should be a member of the so-called Eagle Wolf Team, Liu Yun's secret agents are indeed all over the world, no wonder Ding Jieyun will die so quickly, but thinking about it this way, even I am under the surveillance of secret agents all day long, maybe even my wife is a secret agent sent by him. Since the Ding Jieyun incident, probably no one wants to believe this person, in fact, this is not necessary, people with political ambitions have followed Ding Jieyun to do things, and most of the rest of the people have no lofty ideals, they only plan to eat, drink, and enjoy life, even if it is like Zhong Xiahuo's positive attitude, it is just because he loves vanity and is happy to be in the limelight, as for me, why did I come here? For the sake of ideals? It seems that I used to believe in it, but now that I think about it, what is the point of what we are doing here? The world of Lu has changed, China of this world has avoided the shame of the First Sino-Japanese War, the difficulty of Wuxu, the rebellion of Gengzi, China of this world has defeated Japan, and it is challenging Russia, but these have no effect on our world at all. It turned out that it was just for that person, no, for the dream of those two people, they created this dream, and we sleepwalked in it for a long time, and the people who were too indulged in this dream, such as Ding Jieyun and his gang, tried to change from sleepwalkers to dreamers, but they failed, they were killed cleanly, and the rest of the people gradually woke up because of this. Now, many people are sober, but they can't turn back, so they have to indulge in material and physical hopes, everyone is collecting money, taking concubines, drinking wine ponds and meat forests, drunk and dreaming of death, if the war breaks out a few years later, most people will be like waste, maybe only Zhong Xiahuo is left jumping around there alone, shouting slogans such as fighting for the empire, for Wuweigong, for the Liu dynasty, and the result will be seen by everyone as an idiot. And what about me, what is my position? What are my wishes? What exactly do I want to do? Should I also allow myself to rot in the sea of hope? I ......"

"Chief of Staff Yang?"

A weak greeting came from behind, Yang Zhengjin was stunned, and hurriedly turned around, it was Wen Yi, the imperial prime minister with a sickly face.

"Your Excellency, is there something wrong?"

Wen Yi smiled slightly: "It's okay, seeing you standing here in a daze, it's just a little curious." ”

Yang Zhengjin said in a daze: "Ah, a little family matter, it's really embarrassing to bother the prime minister to care." ”

"Does it matter? Why don't you go home and have a look? ”

"It doesn't matter, it won't affect the work, by the way, Wu Weigong wants me to tell me, he has something to do, and the afternoon meeting will be delayed."

Wen Yi nodded kindly: "Zhilu Dao, he is always so busy." ”

"If it's okay, I'll quit first."

"Please take care of yourself."

Wen Yi replied lightly, seeing Yang Zhengjin passing by, and quickly disappeared without a trace.

"Did Xiucai meet Lu Jianbing?"

Wen Yi muttered to himself, feeling that someone was coming around him.

"Chidaka?"

"Yes."

Acting Foreign Minister Zhang Zhigao replied that he was just 37 years old, full of vitality, but also steady, believed in liberalism, and was a loyal disciple of Wen Yi.

"Come for a walk with me."

"Yes."

The maple leaves in the garden have turned crimson, and there is a special charm against the backdrop of green pine, green bamboo, rockery, fountain and stone carving.

The two walked on a cobblestone path in the garden, planted with green bamboo, and this path has become a habitual place for them to walk since entering the base camp.

Zhang Zhigao watched the small maple leaf scene in the garden, and said casually: "I saw Chief of Staff Yang just now. ”

Wen Yi looked at the maple scene in full swing, his heart was touched, and he replied lightly: "He brought me a message, saying that Liu Yun has something to do, and the afternoon meeting will be late." ”

"Could it be that his children built balloons and airplanes or something, and they disappeared?"

Zhang Zhigao joked that 10 days ago, Liu Yun's two sons and daughters created an unprecedented sensation in the "air raid on the base camp incident," which has long been a joke inside and outside the base camp.

Wen Yi shook his head lightly: "I'm afraid it's not that simple." ”

"Does the teacher know what to say?"

"I don't know what to do."

Wen Yi said, stopping at a pool of green water with ruined lotus leaves.

Zhang Zhigao followed and stopped, and asked suspiciously: "Then why is it not so simple?" ”

Wen Yi sighed and kicked a pebble into the pool childishly: "Maybe it has something to do with that." ”

"What?"

"Report of the Procuratorate of the Zhili Military Region on Wu Dingguo's suspected corruption and bribery."

"The 0.12-ton General Staff Logistics Chief?"

"That's right."

Zhang Zhigao was even more puzzled: "Then the procuratorial office of the military region will deal with it, why do you have to send a report here?" ”

"Because that person is Liu Yun's descendant general, the people in the procuratorate still have a certain brain, and at this time, no one wants to provoke Wu Weigong's people."

Zhang Zhigao showed contempt: "Privileged people, it's really good." ”

Wen Yi smiled bitterly: "We are also privileged, all of us are protected by Duke Wuwei, and those who want to investigate us have passed Liu Yun's level first." ”

"In this way, except for rebellion, everyone must be able to do whatever they want."

"I don't dare to say this, it's just that, as far as I know, Liu Yun's descendants and generals have more or less economic problems, but they are not as ostentatious as Wu Dingguo. Also, according to my understanding of Liu Yun's eagle wolf team, Liu Yun should have the ability to find out the economic problems of those generals, or in other words, he should have known about the problems of Wuding State Ownership a long time ago, but if the Military Region Procuratorate did not submit a report, I am afraid he would not pay special attention to this kind of matter. ”

"This is the China you want to create as a democracy, a prosperous and powerful country? We eliminated the autocratic dynasty of the Manchu Qing dynasty, but ushered in the autocratic dynasty of that man? The Manchu dynasty was merciless in the corruption of officials, but the Liu dynasty connived at his so-called founding heroes? ”

Zhang Zhigao unceremoniously ridiculed that only in front of the teacher could he dare to express his thoughts so fiercely.

Wen Yi's face darkened, and his originally pale face turned even more blue at this time, he shook his head lightly, and nodded unconsciously.

"We didn't really eliminate anything, we just changed the original foundation to something else, installed a new fireplace, changed the paper windows to glass windows, and applied a different color of paint on the outside. When I first moved in, of course, I was very excited, thinking that this was indeed a brand new house, but after a while, I thought about it carefully, in fact, this is still a house that has been used for dozens of generations. ”

Zhang Zhigao thought he understood it, so he simply picked out what he said: "Is the teacher saying that in fact, the Congress, the Constitution, and democracy are just the fireplace, the glass windows, and the new paint, and the real foundation, that is, the autocratic system, has just been transferred from one group of people to another?" ”

"No, not only the political system, but also the military aspect. Led by Liu Yun, a huge military group has been formed, similar to the appearance of the Beiyang warlords in our time and space, do you remember Yuan Shikai? In the history of that side, Yuan Shikai relied on his warlord group to control the political situation in China during the Xinhai Revolution, and used the army in his hands to deter both the Qing Dynasty and the revolutionary party, and as a result, he achieved the greatest interests of his own side, and the pillar of the Qing Dynasty became the president of the Republic of China. Liu Yun also has the conditions to do so, as long as he waits for the opportunity, or creates the opportunity to cause a small upheaval, he can also become the founding father of the republic, but there is not much reason to push him to do so—unless Liu Yun is similar to Yuan Shikai's doing, and he is hiding the republic's position for the emperor's position. ”

Zhang Zhigao sneered: "That's right, the Liu Dynasty, in terms of surname, can also be traced back to the Han Dynasty, claiming to be the grandson of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, expelling the Tartars, restoring the Han family, the Han people's country, of course." ”

In fact, he can coerce the current emperor to cede the throne to him, and in doing so, he can use the constitution as a cover, and the constitution does not stipulate that people with royal blood must become the crown prince and inherit the throne. If one day the emperor suddenly announced that Liu Yun would be appointed as the crown prince and immediately abdicate to make way for Xian, with the force of Liu Yun's military group, not many people would dare to resist. ”

"That's what I said......"

"I don't simply oppose him as the emperor, he wants to replace the current emperor, I have no complaints, what I'm worried about is the military group, when Liu Yun is alive, he may be able to control that group with his unique prestige and high-pressure means, once he is a hundred years later, those generals who are invincible under his protection will definitely become the scourge of the country, and the warlord melee scene in the Republic of China period in our history may reappear here."

Zhang Zhigao kicked the small pebbles at his feet, and a circle of ripples rippled in the pool, shattering Zhang Zhigao's shadow.

"As a result, a Beiyang warlord was created, and a Yuan Shikai was raised, what have we been doing for more than ten years!"

Wen Yi shook his head with a smile: "We have done a lot of things, many, many things, have you forgotten?" ”

"What's the use of all those trivial things! The result is not the same! Where is China, which is democratic, prosperous, and strong? Is there no way to change history? ”

"Yes, it can't be changed, it can only be created, in a scientific sense, and in reality, it can only be so. Have you forgotten? It's a completely different plane, and parts of the history we have in our minds have never existed in this plane, and in this plane, new histories have been created since we arrived here in 1890. Think about it carefully, what have you, as well as Luo Sulan, Niu Jin, Han Lang, Tian Zhenghong, Mo Ning, Ma Feng, Jiang Wentao, those of us who have nothing directly related to the war, conspiracy, and purge, done here? ”

Zhang Zhi lowered his head: "The things I did, that is, following Zeng Jize's ass and running around various countries to satisfy my desire to travel to foreign countries since I was a child, are not worth mentioning at all." ”

"Isn't it worth mentioning things that are tainted with selfishness?"

Wen Yi patted Zhang Zhigao's shoulder lovingly, and his eyes clearly revealed the deep affection of a father for his son.

"I really didn't expect that after so many years, you still retain such a clean heart, even I feel ashamed."

Zhang Zhigao became cramped: "Everywhere, it is the result of the teacher's frequent teaching. ”

"Actually, it's the effect of Luo Sulan - she's my real student, hey, the teacher is not as good as his wife, it's normal."

"Then again, you still think that you have selfish intentions, and those who really participate in this plane adventure only for their own selfish desires will not have this consciousness at all, and they will take it for granted that after seizing power, they will live a life of spending and drinking and doing whatever they want. I think that everyone who participated in this adventure had all kinds of selfish desires, Liu Yun was like this, and I was not enough, so Liu Yun and I also did some excessive things, such as embezzling some shares of state-owned land companies, and then distributing them to everyone, so that everyone could live a more comfortable life, and everyone should be rewarded for their lives. However, many people's hopes are like a bottomless pit, no matter how they fill it, they can't fill it, they have a house, they have to take a concubine, they have an aunt's wife, they need jewelry to make their aunt happy, they need high-end carriages and cars to carry them for a ride, they need more houses to accommodate more aunts, they have to keep holding banquets, balls, plays, fornication conferences, eating delicacies from the mountains and seas, drinking century-old wine, playing with famous prostitutes at home and abroad, gambling with silver ingots and gold bars, so that the money is definitely not enough, so they use their power to be greedy and take bribes, anyway, there is a protector on the top of the head, and no one can touch them, not greedy for nothing, not greedy for ......"

Zhang Zhigao's face rose with resentment: "What the hell is Liu Yun thinking!" Didn't you say that he and you have the same purpose, but with a different division of labor? ”

"Actually, it should be said that we have adopted different methods. He eliminated the opposition by force, and I gathered supporters by peaceful means, so that the goal of seizing power was achieved by uniting. However, the means do not simply arise from a specific end, the means can directly create the end, and the means become part of the end. In the process of Liu Yun's use of force, he created a high-ranking officer corps that only obeyed his orders and did not pay attention to the country, the Congress, and the Constitution. However, this force has gradually grown, and the political and economic forces in various places have gradually become entangled, intertwined, and have become a cancer in this country, once the drugs to suppress the tumor fail, they will divide the country for their own interests, and fight each other, history has proved many times that the rise of the warrior group often contributes to the division of the unified empire. Now, even Liu Yun will feel the oppression of this force, but he can't help but rely on this group, because Liu Yun's main talent lies in the military aspect, his political talent is relatively shallow, and he can't completely control the country through legal means, and the holy war in his dream also depends on this obedient military group to carry out, since he wants to make complete use of it, of course, it is not easy to abandon it, and it is reasonable to protect the members of the officer corps. ”

Zhang Zhigao snorted fiercely from his nose: "So, the greedy and famous Director Wu may have escaped this time?" ”

Wen Yi put his hand in his trouser pocket, his face full of noncommittal expression.

"Liu Yun is not a completely rational person, otherwise he wouldn't have led us here - but we all happened to have some problems in our brains, so we followed him. Once Liu Yun is dominated by some kind of passionate emotion, he will do very terrible things......"

"You've seen it."

"He once broke one of my ribs."

"For what?"

"I snatched his first love......"

“……”

Zhang Zhigao was silent for a few seconds with an extremely bored expression, and finally had the mood to turn the topic back.

So, what's next? Why don't you persuade Liu Yun to remove that rotten officer corps? ”

"He won't let go, because that's all his strength, and if you let go of the army, he's nothing."

"But aren't you the Prime Minister of the Empire? With you as prime minister, how could he be nothing? ”

"Do you think he's going to think that?"

Zhang Zhigao paused for a moment and woke up: "Yes, he has always been the big boss in the backstage, and it is difficult for him to accept the situation of living under others." ”

"He must grasp the real power to feel at ease, so even if he is given a high title, president and emperor or something, but does not let him really control the army, he will definitely not agree, he is probably already immersed in the quagmire of force omnipotence, without the army loyal to him, he will definitely feel that he is no different from the common people."

Zhang Zhigao shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands: "In this way, there is no way but to let the warlord group continue to develop and cause trouble to the people?" ”

"Did I say that?"

Zhang Zhigao's eyes lit up: "Sure enough, it's a teacher, let's keep a hand." ”

"Didn't I just ask you to think carefully, what have we, the ministers, vice-ministers, deans, and principals of the non-military system, done in the past ten years? Start with yourself, don't be unnecessarily humble, modesty and hypocrisy are just two sides of the same card. ”

Zhang Zhigao touched his head and began to recall the major national events he had participated in, the most important thing should be the issue of revising the treaty, one after another arduous negotiations, arguing with arrogant representatives of the great powers, arguing on the basis of reason, threatening and inducing, using razing to defeat the enemy, fighting for as many rights and interests as possible above the government's bottom line, day by day, month by month, year by year, most of the tariff rights were taken back, the opium trade was recognized as illegal, foreign warships were no longer allowed to enter and leave China's coastal ports at will, and the consular jurisdiction was limited to the concession. Although there were still many pre-1890 concessions scattered across dozens of Chinese cities, in most parts of the empire, foreigners could no longer do what they wanted.

The victory of diplomacy depends on the support of national strength in the back, and the development of national strength does not of course rely on reckless military force and conquest in all directions, but on rewarding industry and commerce, cutting out the domestic transit tax, redeeming land (redeeming and subleasing land), rebuilding finance (rectifying and building a modern financial system), reforming the currency system (changing from silver to silver dollars, and from silver dollars to Chinese dollar banknotes), and supporting heavy industry (the state supports heavy industry). Dr. Niu Jin, an industrial management engineer who graduated from the School of Science and Technology of Tsinghua University, Han Lang, who graduated from the Business School of Nanjing University, and Tian Zhenghong, who graduated from the Business School of Yunnan University, have worked hard in the reform of industry and commerce, finance, and agriculture. An industrial system with high efficiency and international competitiveness has been gradually established, the financial system has kept up with the trend of the world, the banking and securities industry has become more and more standardized, domestic trade has shown unprecedented prosperity, the huge deficit in foreign trade has gradually been reversed, and agriculture has moved toward scientific and intensive management.

Mo Ning, who graduated from Guangxi Normal University's School of Social and Cultural Sciences, and Luo Sulan, who graduated from Yunnan University's Department of Chinese Language and Literature, have been busy cultivating a new contingent of civil servants, opening various political colleges, setting up political science departments in various universities, and selecting and training the first batch of teachers. After the abolition of the imperial examination system in 1891, a four-level school system was set up: primary school (divided into junior primary school and upper primary school, three years each), junior high school (including vocational school and agricultural teaching school), high school (including vocational high school) and university (including senior vocational college). Combining traditional morality with a new type of civilization, the connotation of nationality, democracy and humanism is highlighted in the school's teaching materials, and the cultivation of individual independent thinking ability is emphasized, and blind worship and absolute authoritarianism are eliminated. More than 10 years have passed, the mainstream of social thought has been completely renewed, the wind of Westernization is unstoppable, the rotten Confucian thinking has undergone several transformations, and at the end there is only a little basic human ethics to follow, the monarch is no longer sacred, and the empire shared and governed by the people has become the center of the national spirit. The results of the 1902 census showed that the national adult literacy rate (i.e., the proportion of adults with evening education above the junior primary school and primary literacy) had risen from 11.6 per cent in 1896 to 28.7 per cent. In fact, due to traditional attitudes, it is difficult for ordinary women to have access to education, and more than 80 per cent of the total number of illiterate people in the country are women.

Three alumni who graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology: Ma Feng from the Department of Chemistry with a master's degree in industrial chemistry, He Xin from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiang Wentao from the Department of Ship Design have played an important role in the dissemination and practical application of advanced science and technology. In heavy industry, in 1900 the country's available coal production amounted to 17 million tons, pig iron production reached 2.7 million tons, and steel production reached 2.1 million tons (in the same year Russia produced 16 million tons of coal, 2.9 million tons of pig iron, and 2.2 million tons of steel), and two years later, in 1902, coal production increased to 25 million tons, pig iron production reached 3.6 million tons, and steel production reached 2.9 million tons, exceeding the output of the Russian side in the same year. And in terms of the quality of finished steel products, it is far better than Russia, and is exported to Europe and the United States, and Chinese steel has almost become synonymous with "the best quality steel".

The various types of merchant ships built by the standardized system have low cost, stable performance, large loading volume and short production cycle, which not only fully meet the needs of the domestic shipping industry, but also export to all parts of the world - everyone wants cheap and easy-to-use ships. The total tonnage of Chinese steamships, which was only 190,000 tons in 1896, jumped to 800,000 tons in 1902, a fourfold increase.

In light industry, some key technologies have also been introduced, and key developments have been made in the fields of electric energy, optics, communications, and aviation. By 1902, the Chinese army's radio stations were capable of being distributed to the brigade level (Wehrmacht) and even the regimental level (Janissaries), while by the beginning of 1903, the Russian army had only 12 radio stations. In addition, there are some low-cost, fast-yielding technologies that are used in the production of traditional light industrial products, which reduce costs and improve quality without reducing workers' wages. By 1902, domestically produced (produced by state-controlled enterprises) textiles accounted for 83 percent of the country's textile sales, 86 percent for hardware, and 98 percent for flour. Gone are the days when Chinese even had to buy "foreign nails" for iron nails; on the contrary, some cheap and high-quality light industrial products produced in China have been dumped in a steady stream to Europe and the United States, and some European and American powers have had to erect tariff barriers to prevent China's insanely cheap calico, velvet, stained glass and other goods from flooding into their own markets.

In agriculture, low-cost and high-yield grain varieties have been introduced and popularized, new types of farmhouse fertilizers that can be prepared by themselves have been promoted, chemical fertilizers have been used in some large and medium-sized farms and semi-mechanized production has been implemented, and some areas have been encouraged to concentrate their efforts on planting new varieties of cash crops. From 1892 to 1902, grain output increased by 87 percent, cotton output increased by 116 percent, and the output of other cash crops also increased by a large amount.

Thinking about it like this, Zhang Zhigao's mood was slightly soothed, but the thorn was still in his throat, and it was difficult to swallow, so he turned to Wen Yi and said: "Think about it carefully, we have really done a lot of things, we may really reverse the fate of China in this time and space, but it is precisely because we have worked so hard, done so many things, and just laid the foundation of this mansion, so as soon as we expected that all this might be smashed to pieces by the wave of the powerful military group, of course, we couldn't settle down." ”

Wen Yi spread his hand with a wry smile: "You probably didn't think about it carefully and ignored some key things." ”

"Critical ...... What is it? ”

"The key thing is that in 1898 I proposed the Imperial Conscription System Act, which was passed by the National Assembly, and the conscription system is not only a military issue, but also a political issue, and the conscription system will allow us people from the non-military system to intervene in it because it involves finance, civil affairs, and education, and we can use this to limit the growth of warlordism."

Zhang Zhigao said disappointedly: "It turned out to be that, it's actually a deceptive thing, since Liu Yun requires the senior generals of his group to be absolutely loyal to him, of course those generals will also spread their henchmen, occupy important positions, and form a small group that is absolutely loyal to themselves, if this is not the case, their allegiance to Liu Yun will be meaningless, Liu Yun will not be stupid enough to control a group of guys who have no real power." ”

This is also a matter of course, but it should also be clearly seen that a small group formed by individuals cannot be sustained without the support of economic resources - after all, the vast majority of people in this world want to pursue the maximization of personal interests. Therefore, the main members of this group must want to seize power from the central to the local level in order to gain financial power, and then they can stabilize the various small groups under it. Before seizing power, it is also a matter of rights and interests to accumulate wealth through illegal means in order to maintain the loyalty of its small group. If he wants to maintain the loyalty of the officer corps, he must give the generals greater financial power to maintain the loyalty of a lower level, and if he can't come up with the money, he will either give the generals local power and let them own the land to raise troops, or he will temporarily let them engage in gray income, which should be the cost of maintaining his military arbitrariness. In fact, if you think about it, the main participants in the banquets, balls, plays, promiscuous gatherings, and other entertainment programs organized by the generals of the officer corps should be their subordinate officers, and the prestige of maintaining the loyalty of so many junior officers to their superiors as firmly as possible is certainly far from enough. ”

Wen Yi said this, turned around, and began to walk back along the road he came from, Zhang Zhigao had lost any interest, and followed with a gloomy face.

Wen Yi could feel his mood, but just now Wen Yi suddenly felt that what did he mean by talking so much to Zhang Zhigao? Do you want Zhang Zhigao to take any responsibility, what to resist, what to resist, and what to achieve? For the sake of some stubborn thoughts, but to push the people around you into a dangerous situation, if you feel that you can sacrifice for something, why not sacrifice yourself first, but encourage others to sacrifice? Are those who have already died more afraid of death? Or is he already scared at all and wants to escape, but he is not willing to end here, so he wants to push others to the front and fight in his place? Yes, I was cowardly, in that time and space, I was already frightened by the cruel reality, lost the courage to fight, threw the burden to my comrades-in-arms, got into the space-time machine, and escaped here. Want to do the same thing again now? Where are you going to run this time? It looks like there is only going to hell! Before going to hell, don't you dare to fight the last battle? If you don't try, how do you know that you won't succeed? In hell, can you do nothing and make your dreams come true?

Zhang Zhigao suddenly called out solemnly: "Premier Wen." ”

Wen Yi's slightly cloudy eyes passed through the surging tide of thought and fixed on Zhang Zhigao's resolute face.

"What?"

"I decided."

"Oh?"

"Just now you also said that there is hope to limit the expansion of that warlord group through a system or something, so I have decided to rely on my own meager strength to do my best to protect the system you created, and use this system to resist the ravages of the warlord group. Not only me, but Su Lan will definitely support you, and we will be on your side no matter what. ”

The corners of Wen Yi's mouth twitched a few times, and it was not easy for him to lightly spit out three words: "Zhilu Dao." ”

The two fell silent and continued to walk, and behind them, a blood-red maple scene burned under the gloomy gray sky.