Chapter 175 The Art of Balance

The rule of the Qing Dynasty is based on the mechanism of mutual checks and balances. The Eight Banners compete with the Green Camp, the Hunan Army and the Huai Army.

Nowadays, the Eight Banners and the Green Camp have already died in name only, and the Xiang army and the Huai army are also depressed. After the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty set up a new army and placed the dream of a strong country on the new army. However, the court was worried about the lack of checks and balances. Therefore, the work of training the new army was handed over to Yuan Shikai and Ye Zhichao. In fact, it was to let Yuan Shikai and Ye Zhichao check and balance each other. The annual military expenditure is 5 million taels of silver, which is divided equally between the two new armies.

Yuan Shikai is a man of Ronglu, and his new army is Ronglu's private army. And Ye Zhichao is a person carrying Yi, and Dingwu Army is naturally carrying Yi.

And now, Ronglu suddenly proposed to expand the new army of the small station, and give all 10 million taels of silver to Yuan Shikai, that is to say, to put the Dingwu army aside to bask in the sun! That's equivalent to letting Zaiyi make soy sauce!

The most important reason why Zaiyi can speak in front of the Empress Dowager is that he mastered a fixed army through Ye Zhichao. If the Dingwu army is turned into a soy sauce according to the Ronglu plan, how can Zaiyi agree!

Therefore, Zaiyi was furious and immediately jumped out. Zaiyi's words were unconcealed. He was telling the Empress Dowager Cixi that if Yuan Shikai mastered the well-equipped new army of ten towns, he would become the second weekly charter!

Yuan Shikai knelt down in a hurry: "Empress dowager, I am a slave who has received the favor of the emperor and is loyal to the court. If I am not a minister, I am willing to be punished by God! Since the king of Duan is not sure of the slaves, he is willing to hand over the military power and retreat to the spring forest without any complaints!"

Ronglu has always looked down on Zaiyi. Zaiyi accused Yuan Shikai, which is to blame Ronglu. Ronglu couldn't stand it and shouted harshly, "Prince Duan, Yuan Shikai trained at a small station. He trained the new army of the Qing Dynasty, while Ye Zhichao trained troops in Shandong, but Zhang Jun!"

Two thousand Dingwu troops were incorporated by Zhou Charter in Dianshan Lake and went to Taiwan, which is equivalent to giving Zhou Charter a big gift. In this matter, the Empress Dowager Cixi lost her wife and broke the soldiers, which made the Empress Dowager Cixi very angry, and Zai Yi was also disgraced. Ronglu mentioned this matter, and Zai Yi's face was blue and black, but he no longer dared to say anything.

The Empress Dowager Cixi is not worried about Yuan Shikai, but now, there is only a small station and a new army in the whole Qing Dynasty. Empress Dowager Cixi originally expected the Japanese to help her destroy Zhou Charter, but now it seems that Japan may not be able to do anything. Zhou Charter has gradually become a climate in Taiwan, and Empress Dowager Cixi can't care so much, so she has to be kind to Yuan Shikai: "Yuan Shikai, you have a good understanding of your loyalty to the court. You'd better finish training the new army. Ronglu's suggestion, the family felt that it was reasonable, so they went to Ronglu to handle it. Yuan Shikai, after the New Year, Minxiu should also get married. At that time, the mourning family will have a wedding wine!"

When the Empress Dowager Cixi mentioned the marriage of Minxiu, Yuan Shikai was suddenly moved to tears: "I was smashed to pieces, and I can't repay the Empress Dowager just in case! The slave must do his best and die!"

The Empress Dowager Cixi pressed all her treasures on Yuan Shikai, not only giving him the most powerful new army of the Qing Dynasty, but also a protector and a strong man, and also to his Yuan family!

The Empress Dowager Cixi is gambling! Gamble the future of the Qing Dynasty with a strong and an army. If her treasure bet is right, she and her court will be able to tide over the crisis ahead, and if the bet is wrong, she will lose nothing!

All bets have only one premise - Yuan Shikai is absolutely loyal to the Qing Dynasty! Just like Zeng Guofan in those years, holding the unmatched Xiang army in his hand, was willing to be the slave of the Qing Dynasty!

Yuan Shikai's face was full of panic, but he breathed a sigh of relief, even full of pride!

As he said, Yuan Shikai has been paying attention to the war in Taiwan all the time these days, but his motivation is completely different from that of the princes of the Qing Dynasty such as Cixi and Zai Yi.

Cixi and Zaiyi are eagerly hoping that the Japanese army will destroy Zhang Jun and get rid of a big trouble. On the contrary, Yuan Shikai hopes to see Zhou Charter defeat the Japanese army and gain a firm foothold in Taiwan!

Yuan Shikai's mentality is certainly out of a Chinese territorial concept, but the deeper reason is that he knows that only when Zhou Charter is alive can he be valuable in the eyes of Empress Dowager Cixi.

This was decided by the traditional strategy of the Han Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty! At the beginning, Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Marine Division was dominant, and the court was constrained by the Beiyang Marine Division until the Beiyang Marine Division was defeated in the Yellow Sea. The court was angry on the surface, but in the bottom of its heart, it was greatly relieved.

After the First Sino-Japanese War, Empress Dowager Cixi was determined to train the new army, not because the Qing army was defeated in the war. The main reason is that Zhang Jun is too powerful! The imperial court must have the power to balance the army.

The two new armies in the imperial court, Yuan Shikai's small new army and Ye Zhichao's Dingwu army, are used to counterbalance the Zhou Charter, and at the same time, they are also mutually check and balances.

However, Ye Zhichao was really disappointing. The court turned a lot of money into a lot of money and bought the most advanced weapons. As a result, he was led by Zhou Charter and took away more than 2,000 guns. Through this incident, the Empress Dowager Cixi has lost confidence in Zaiyi and Ye Zhichao. Although Ye Zhichao's Dingwu army still has 56,000 people, the supply of military expenditure has been greatly reduced. Ye Zhichao knows that he is at a loss and dares not defend himself to the court.

Now, the only thing the court can rely on is Yuan Shikai.

However, an important premise for the court to rely on Yuan Shikai is the existence of Zhang Jun! The stronger Zhang Jun is, the more the court will rely on the new army.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai never wants Zhou Charter to be defeated in Taiwan!

And Zhou Charter's actions in Taiwan did not disappoint Yuan Shikai. Zhang Jun defeated the Japanese army in Changhua and Anping one after another, which made Yuan Shikai ecstatic. However, Zhang Jun's subsequent performance made Yuan Shikai fall into an ice cave.

Jiayi, Taibao and Yizhu lost their defenses one after another, and the Japanese army was like a broken bamboo. **, and the soldiers came to the south city of Taiwan. Moreover, Yuan Shikai knew that Zhang Jun's logistics supply line was cut off by the Japanese and the Empress Dowager Lafayette, and Zhang Jun, who was besieged in Tainan, fell into a desperate situation.

Yuan Shikai knew that the day when Tainan fell and Zhang Jun was destroyed was the end of the new army!

Without the new army of Xiaozhan, Yuan Shikai is nothing! His political and military career will come to an end, and in the later stage of the First Sino-Japanese War, he commanded the Qing army on the Shandong battlefield to disobey the order of the dynasty and attack the Japanese army. The Empress Dowager Cixi is likely to settle accounts for him after autumn! Ding Ruchang is the lesson of the previous car. This Beiyang Marine Admiral is now deeply imprisoned!

Therefore, Yuan Shikai decided to break the boat and make the new army bigger and stronger before Zhang Jun's defeat!