Chapter 88 Queen's Train Spokesperson

After Li Hongzhang's death, he left behind a huge "legacy" - the political and economic forces united around him. Who is qualified and able to receive this huge windfall?After so many years of trials, two people have proved that they are the most suitable successors. They are Li Hongzhang's two old subordinates: Yuan Shikai and Sheng Xuanhuai. Yuan Shikai took over political power, and Sheng Xuanhuai took over economic power. Two days after Li Hongzhang's death, a telegram from Empress Dowager Cixi, who was still living in Xi'an, made Yuan Shikai leave Jinan, Shandong, where he had been staying for two years.

The 42-year-old Yuan Shikai took over the torch from Teacher Li and served as Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang. Although Li Hongzhang was kind to Yuan Shikai, before Li Hongzhang died, Yuan Shikai failed to see his teacher for the last time, but it is said that someone relayed Li Hongzhang's words to Yuan Shikai: "You will inherit my glory and also my pressure. A hundred years later, Yao Ming also said similar things to Liu Xiang. Although the meaning is different, it can be seen that being a Chinese is very stressful! After Yuan Shikai took office, the first major task he faced was to do a good job in welcoming him.

Cixi and Guangxu, the country's top leaders who lived in Xi'an for two years, finally had enough of the violent sandstorm in Xi'an!They decided to go home, back to their hometown in Beijing! Cixi and Guangxu are coming back!This made Yuan Shikai a little nervous.Because the head of state's brigade had to pass through Hebei, which was under the jurisdiction of the governor of Zhili, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but be indifferent. In order to let Cixi return to the Summer Palace Resort happily, the new official Yuan Shikai used his brains and thought hard. Yuan Shikai faced two problems.

The first problem is how to protect the safety of the country's top leaders? You may think that sending the army is not enough?Things are not as simple as you think. The office address of the governor of Zhili is in Tianjin, and the "Xin Chou Treaty" stipulates that Qing troops cannot be stationed along the Beijing-Tianjin railway.Yuan Shikai himself could not bring the army to Tianjin to take over the defense, let alone the others. However, there must be no one to protect the head of state. After much deliberation, Yuan Shikai selected 3,000 elite soldiers, all dressed in police uniforms, and followed him to Tianjin to meet Lafayette.

This is the first police force in China. The leader is Zhao Bingjun, a talented person who later founded the modern police system and is the founder of the Chinese police. Strictly speaking, Zhao Bingjun was an unlucky man. In his early years, he followed Zuo Zongtang to fight against the invaders in Xinjiang. As a result, he encountered a heavy snowstorm in the Gobi Desert, and buried his men and horses in the snow for three days and nights. But Zhao Bingjun was physically disabled and strong. After retiring from the army, he went to Yuan Shikai, who was training in Tianjin Xiaozhan, specializing in police and detection.Zhao Bingjun, who never gave up hope in life and followed the right person, finally succeeded in making a fortune and became the Prime Minister of the ROC Cabinet.

The second problem is what kind of transportation should be provided to the top leaders of the country? By horse-drawn carriage or train? Although the carriage saves trouble, it is too crude. Be careful of those censors who tell you to despise the country's top leader. As for the train, it is not impossible.Anyway, standing on the shoulders of Li Hongzhang, it will not be too much trouble. There is a railway from Baoding, Hebei to Majiabao, Beijing (belonging to Fengtai District, Beijing today). The problem is that Cixi and Guangxu have never taken the train seriously. This new type of transportation Will the tool disturb Sheng Jia?

After much deliberation, Yuan Shikai finally decided to welcome him by train. Apart from the reason of adding some projects to "stimulate domestic demand", he had an unknown idea in his heart: he wanted Cixi to like the feeling of taking a train, and let her be a train manager. Spokesperson, breaking the ideological resistance of building railways. So Yuan Shikai asked the British to build a series of special luxury cars, and named them "Dragon Cars" in a special Chinese way. After everything was ready, Cixi's Huiluan army also arrived in Baoding.Yuan Shikai took care of it carefully, and Cixi's emissary, the chief eunuch Li Lianying, finally agreed to try the train to find out for the leader.

Li Lianying's feeling after trying to sit is: very fast, very stable and very comfortable.Manager Li is very satisfied, and Cixi is also looking forward to it. In January 1902, Cixi, whose bones were shaking, finally ended her three-month carriage life, and took a special train with Guangxu, all the way to Beijing. It was the first time Cixi took the train seriously, and it felt great!Moreover, the services launched on the train are also in place. All meals, drinks, and casualties are all settled on the train, without having to stop and go, so Cixi is very happy.When the leader is happy, he will say something that his subordinates can understand.

Cixi said: You have done a good job and worked hard. This move made me feel very tired, and it cost money and trouble. You must know how to be flexible, dare to emancipate your mind, break the routine, and focus your future work on how to make transportation more convenient. Going up (this time back to Luan, there are still a lot of cars and horses, and the supply is also huge. How to think about how to adapt, break the rules, and make it easy. ——Yan Jiesheng's "Historical History of Railways in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China"). Generally speaking, a leader needs to speak skillfully, must speak profoundly, and must be worthy of the subordinates' thinking to be regarded as superior. If the subordinates think correctly and do well, then the leader is good; , Thousands of mistakes are the fault of the subordinates, which is what it means.

Fortunately, what Cixi said is relatively easy to understand. Eliminate all difficulties, create all conditions, and work hard to build railways and run trains! In this way, building railways and running trains has since become a basic national policy. It's a pity that this train that has made great achievements did not end well. Later, Zhang Zuolin was killed in a bomb on this train. Repairing railways is not Yuan Shikai's specialty, so he recruited a helper—genius railway designer Zhan Tianyou.He asked for money, and Zhan Tianyou helped. After the Sino-French Majiang sea battle, Zhan Tianyou left the navy. Later, Li Hongzhang called Zhan Tianyou, who had nothing to do, into the team to build China's first railway, the Tangjin Railway, because he majored in railways at Yale University, and he returned to his old profession. .

In the process of building the Tangjin Railway, Zhan Tianyou shined brilliantly and solved a problem that even British and German engineers could not overcome: he built the Luanhe Bridge and established considerable authority in the industry. Although Zhan Tianyou later participated in the construction of the Jinlu Railway, and his skill was enhanced, he still did not have the opportunity to take the lead alone. Now the opportunity came. After Yuan Shikai asked Cixi to be the spokesperson, he found Zhan Tianyou and asked him to try his hand at building a special railway for Cixi to worship his ancestors-Xinyi Railway.Zhan Tianyou finally received his first project as the chief designer and completed it perfectly! Since then, Zhan Tianyou has been out of control. Not long after, Yuan Shikai and Zhan Tianyou joined hands again to plan and complete the pinnacle work - the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, which is extremely complex and arduous, and completely self-funded without using a penny of foreign capital. It is indeed an achievement worthy of being recorded in history!