Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The first meeting between Yuan Shikai and Li Hongzhang

Same as the previous times, this time it was because of the civil strife in North Korea. However, if it was exactly the same as the previous few times, then Yuan Shikai would have no chance to return to China, and he could handle the civil strife alone.The reason is: the civil strife in North Korea is relatively high-level—it is a peasant uprising. In history, this uprising team in North Korea was called the "Donghak Party".Dongxue is the core of Chinese civilization - Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.The rebel army raised the banner of "Eastern Learning" in order to confront the "Western Learning" with Christianity at its core. To use a familiar phrase, it is to "resolutely resist the impact of decadent Western culture."

After the Opium War in 1840, the gates of the Qing Dynasty were opened, and Western missionaries also came, and some of them smuggled across the Yalu River to secretly preach in North Korea.In the past books, when we talked about the dangers of missionaries, we always talked about how missionaries were evil, barbaric and unreasonable. In fact, missionary behavior caused public outrage for another reason. At that time, many of those who joined the church were local hooligans and even outlaws with criminal records. Both officials and civilians hated these people.But it was not easy to preach at that time. As long as someone was willing to join, the church would welcome them with a slap in the face. There was never a qualification review, asking questions about life values, etc., so hooligans could easily join the church.And they just want to find the church as a backer, so that they can do more evil and oppress ordinary people.Because the church is very powerful, the government dare not arrest it.This situation will trigger the Boxer Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty a few years later, and in North Korea, they broke out an uprising one step ahead.

In this way, in order to oppose Westernization and the church, they worshiped Dongxue and named it Dongxue Dao, and the believers were called Dongxue Party members. The slogan of the rebel army is: to destroy the foreign Japanese, and to destroy the rich and powerful! "Yang" refers to foreigners, and "wa" refers to Japanese. It can be seen that the Korean people do not have a good impression of the Japanese.There is no need to explain the rich and powerful, everyone has seen it. To sum up, this is not an uprising team that just picks up guys, but a team with clear value guidance and spiritual beliefs. Such a team has a strong combat effectiveness.The North Korean central government dispatched family members to suppress it, and the result was as expected: within two months, the rebel army occupied Jeonju and approached Seoul.The king was in a hurry at this time. According to the traditional habits formed over the years, he should ask for help from the suzerain country, the Qing Dynasty, and ask the Qing army to enter the court to help suppress the uprising.

But the king of Joseon was more hesitant.Although North Korea has been sandwiched between the Qing Dynasty and Japan for so many years, the sandwich biscuit also has its way of survival.North Korea has already figured out a set of double-sided pleasing, both sides of the art.Here is a compliment to the Qing Dynasty for some rewards, and there is a way to hook up with Japan to do business secretly to get some benefits.If you ask the Qing army to come to North Korea to suppress the rebellion, it is easy to ask the gods to send the gods, but it is not easy for the Japanese to explain. Master Yuan Shikai came forward, and he tried his best to encourage the Korean king to borrow troops from the Qing Dynasty, not only to encourage, but also to exert pressure.So the king of Joseon hurriedly asked the empire for help, asking "Shangguo to send heavenly soldiers."

Yuan Shikai immediately forwarded the letter of request for help to his supervisor.The imperial court was delighted to receive this request, because it was an excellent opportunity to protect the face of the "Heavenly Kingdom".As long as it is dealing with the common people and the peasant uprising army, the army of the Celestial Dynasty has always been invincible. It can not only deter the country, but also shock Asia. Therefore, this is a good opportunity to feel proud. But calm down, there is another problem: that is, we still have to worry about the Japanese. Although Yuan Shikai's decisive attack on the palace quelled the coup d'état and once again maintained the Qing's suzerainty over North Korea, the Qing's foreign affairs department suffered a disadvantage in the follow-up negotiations with Japan. Japan signed an agreement (Ching-Japanese Treaty of Tianjin).The main content of the treaty is that if there will be turmoil in North Korea in the future (it will be), the two elder brothers must inform each other before doing it, so as not to affect the friendship between Qing and Japan.In other words, since then, in response to the turmoil in North Korea, neither side of the Qing Dynasty has the right to unilaterally send troops.

You can see that although the cunning Japanese were suppressed by Lao Yuan militarily, they took advantage of diplomacy. Through this treaty, the Qing Dynasty’s suzerainty over North Korea was actually abolished, and North Korea was pushed to the border between the two countries. In the situation of "co-management", the Japanese successfully got a leg in the exclusive power of the Qing Dynasty. The big leader of Yuan Shikai was in trouble.Don't send troops, the imperial court has always taken face very seriously, and as a heavenly kingdom that protects its vassals, when their king sends you a letter of appeal for help, if you don't send troops, you won't look like a big brother.But if they send troops, it is likely to cause disputes with Japan, because Japan is likely to send troops at the same time as the Qing Dynasty sends troops. The Qing and Japanese armies appear on the Korean territory at the same time.

The leader instructed Yuan Shikai to first touch the attitude of the Japanese. So Yuan Shikai went to the Japanese embassy in Seoul to learn about the situation from the Japanese envoy.The Japanese envoy patted his shoulder and told Yuan: You see, too many of our Japanese businessmen have been burned, killed, and looted by Donghak party members (this is a fact). We just want to have a peaceful business environment and make more money. Please Send troops to quell the rebellion as soon as possible! We are more familiar with the next scene, which has been described in many books: Yuan Shikai then sent a telegram to the domestic leaders, strongly advocating sending troops.He also explained that the Japanese Minister Sugimura Jun is his buddy, Japan only values ​​economic interests, even if we send troops, Japan will not send troops (Sug and Kai are old friends, look at the meaning of the words, the emphasis is on business people, it seems that there is no other intention).The telegram was sent on June 2, 1894.

Then, according to the narration in these books, Yuan Shikai was easily "taken by the Japanese".Later facts proved that the Japanese cared not only about business people, but how to find an excuse to launch the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War.In order to emphasize the situation of Yuan Shikai being deceived this time, these books generally also list Yuan Shikai's life style problems, such as often mixing with North Korean hooligans, going to sensual places, singing and singing every night, etc. But the problem lies here. These books generally only pay attention to grand narratives, but forget that our historical protagonist is also a real person. He is no different from us, and he has to face all kinds of entanglements and difficulties in life. , is also a person who will be full after eating two bowls of rice, and will burp when he is full.

When we observe history, what we often lack is "thinking within the system". We are often not sure about a person within the system, and we don't know what he really thinks. We need to first understand what is thinking within the system. This is not a kind of thinking for the collective (court, country, etc.). Nor is it a personal thought. It is a kind of thinking for the individual under the cover of slogans for the collective—on the surface it is a collective, but in reality it is an individual.But this is only the thinking of ordinary officials.For officials in middle and high positions, their thinking is even more advanced, that is: public and private convenience.

Because they know that the world is for the public, and no one is willing to do it; it is completely private, and it will not last long.However, the imperial court system has many loopholes that can be exploited. Unlike some perfect systems, the public is public, and the private is private. male.It is precisely because of this that the empire’s evaluation of an official often mixes morality and ability. As long as he is close to the people, always on the front line, not very corrupt, and does not mess with men and women, he is a good official; An official with a dark face, who acts as a master for the people a few times, is simply Qingtian—the outstanding representative is Mr. Bao Qingtian.As for the ability of this senior official, it has been ignored.

That is to say, for the figures in the feudal court system, especially the high-level figures, only the thinking of "combining the common interests of the people to achieve one's own selfishness" is the most brilliant thinking. Yuan Shikai's consideration is an idea of ​​both public and private convenience. Before talking about Yuan Shikai's considerations, we need to find out whether Mr. Yuan Shikai was fooled by the Japanese. My answer is: Although he was actually cheated, Xiao Yuan knew it in his heart.Judging from all aspects of the situation, it is very likely that Yuan Shikai was "actively fooled" in everything. As a big brother-level slippery figure, I believe that Yuan Shikai will not be fooled by the Japanese so easily, not to mention that he has a mysterious intelligence team. During his more than ten years in North Korea, Yuan Shikai made friends with all kinds of people. To use one sentence to describe them, they are local foreigners, three religions and nine streams, and all kinds of people. Everyone is a friend. British Zhu Erdian.More importantly, among Yuan Shikai's friends was a group of distinctive North Koreans.They are: street hooligans and rogues scattered in Seoul and other cities. During more than ten years, Yuan Shikai successfully won these people under his command.When the officials of the empire pretended to be aloof and disdain to deal with these people, Yuan Shikai treated them preferentially. He really managed to get along with them and became the most sincere person at the lower level. Yuan Shikai also had his purpose. The purpose is to help gather information. Xie Ruolin from the TV series said that the really useful information appears in the streets and alleys.Yuan Shikai also believed this, and every hooligan was an eyeliner who could provide him with information about the Japanese.We should still remember the story of Yuan Shikai's last time rushing into the palace to quell the coup. Before the Japanese and the Kaihua Party staged a coup, their strategy was to hold a Hongmen Banquet to celebrate the completion of the Seoul Post Office. Went to a dinner party.Then, when they were eating, they made a sudden attack, arresting people and killing people, trying to wipe out the power of the big party and Yuan Shikai who supported them.When Yuan Shikai was about to leave, he received a warning from a gangster friend, so he stopped and sent one of his own men as a representative.Needless to say, about a dozen big party members were killed that night, and Yuan Shikai managed to escape. After this incident, Yuan Shikai paid more attention to this rogue intelligence team. With timely intelligence, Yuan Shikai saved himself from danger many times in the siege of the Japanese.The Japanese minister played hooliganism with him, telling him that even if the Qing Dynasty sent troops to North Korea to deal with the Donghak Party issue, Japan would not send troops. Unexpectedly, Yuan Shikai was a bigger hooligan, and everything could not escape his eyes. Therefore, we have reason to believe that when the Japanese envoy thought that he could easily deceive the short fat man with a few words, and some later books also believed that Yuan Shikai was so easily "taken by the Japanese", Yuan Shikai I shouted in my heart: I understand! Since Yuan Shikai was aware of the Japanese conspiracy, why did he encourage the imperial court to send troops?This is Yuan Shikai's consideration on this matter as we mentioned earlier: public and private convenience. Yuan Shikai knew: When the political situation in North Korea was in jeopardy due to the Donghak Party uprising, sending troops was necessary to continue to strongly protect the interests of the Qing Dynasty in North Korea, and it was also a need for the imperial court to save face. Soldiers must be sent out.This is the "public" aspect. And Yuan Shikai single-handedly facilitated the dispatch of troops. Here he encouraged the king of Korea to borrow troops, and there sent a telegram to reassure the Qing Dynasty about dispatching troops. This reason came from his selfishness—it was also the last chance he had been waiting for: I want to return to China! The situation has already made Yuan Shikai understand: Only when troops are dispatched from the country and the generals sent to fight, can he be replaced and returned to the country—if it doesn't work, he can leave in the chaos.Anyway, this time he has made up his mind: he must drop the pick!Must go back home! The following facts proved that Master Yuan Shikai cared most about how he could return home smoothly. At the end of June, the imperial court had sent troops, and Japan had also sent troops. When the imperial court was concerned about the possibility of war with Japan and was considering whether to withdraw troops, Yuan Shikai wrote a report to the domestic leaders again: It is meaningless to quarrel with the Japanese. What is the problem with sending warships? All solved! On July 11, the atmosphere of the war with Japan was already very tense. Yuan Shikai reported to the domestic leaders that he was sick, and it was so serious that it was almost to the point of being buried in the ground.Let's translate his report: Leader, you don’t know that my old Yuan Su has a fever, and recently he started to have diarrhea. Last night, he suddenly became seriously ill, dizzy, and his whole body was in unbearable pain. The doctor who rushed over took my temperature and said that the fever exceeded 100 degrees (Fahrenheit), I had to use physical cooling (applying ice cubes), so I didn't go to see the late emperor! After sending this telegram, Yuan Shikai hurriedly handed over all his work and duties to one of his subordinates (Tang Shaoyi) without waiting for instructions.He encouraged Tang Shaoyi to work hard: I am a dying person, but the job must be there, and work must not be delayed. You can make contributions here, and you will definitely make a lot of difference.Tang Shaoyi took over all of Yuan Shikai's work. When he sent a work report to the country, Yuan Shikai deliberately added a sentence to the report, "The specific matters can be reported after Yuan Dao recovers in Tianjin."Let's not underestimate this sentence, this is exactly what his old Yuan Ming thought hard to add. His calculation is: if the country does not notice this sentence or does not make a public statement, he will walk away. Reality hit Yuan Shikai again, proving that the leader is a more sophisticated person than him, and the leader quickly gave a reply: Yuan does not need to be transferred back, and he must not go to Tianjin alone.Moreover, this reply was actually issued through the highest order—the edict of Emperor Guangxu. That is why ah?I have been in North Korea for more than ten years, can't I move my home? He has only one last resort: play tricks.In the following telegram, Yuan Shikai gave full play to his ability to cheat: I have been so ill that I can only die once, but what good is death for the country?Heartbroken! (Kai’s illness is such that death is the only option. How can death benefit state affairs? Absolutely!) However, the leader remained indifferent, and made it clear that Yuan Shikai would die in North Korea even if he died. But at this time, Yuan Shikai was always ready to see the first emperor, even Tang Shaoyi couldn't stand it. He took the initiative to send a telegram to testify: "Yuan Dao's illness is getting worse, burning drama, heartbeat, and left limb pain is unbearable. The Han affair is extremely critical. There is no shortage of medicines, and it is difficult to hope to recover when staying in Han Dynasty, and Yi's heart is burning when she sees..." Well, in order not to kill anyone, and to prevent his ashes from being brought back to China in the future, the leader in charge of Yuan Shikai finally agreed to let him return to China first.When the telegram arrived in Seoul, Yuan Shikai didn't stop for a minute, dragged his luggage, and immediately slipped out of Seoul, followed by his concubine—hey, wait for me! In Tianjin, Yuan Shikai finally met his leader.The leader only said to let him come back first, but did not promise to let him stay. Yuan Shikai walked into that office with a feeling of apprehension.The time had come to decide his fate. Li Hongzhang, a native of Anhui, was the most powerful man in the empire, and one of the most powerful officials in the court established by the Manchus.His official positions include Bachelor of Wenhuadian (honorary title), Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang Commerce, but you can't see the power from his official positions. Li Hongzhang controls the three most powerful lifelines of this country-the army , diplomacy and economics.Let's take a look at each of them. At that time, the most important army of the imperial court, the founder and supreme commander of the Huai Army, was Mr. Li.At that time, the most important navy of the imperial court, the founder and actual supreme commander of the Beiyang Navy, was also Mr. Li (there was also a Manchu prince who was his leader in name).The most important thing to say is that the military expenditure is guaranteed. Therefore, the Huai Army and the Beiyang Navy are the best equipped, the latest training, and the most complete talent echelon among all armies (Tianjin Armed Forces Academy, which is the counterpart of the Huai Army, and Fuzhou, which is the counterpart of the Beiyang Navy. The Shipbuilding Academy is the two best military academies in the country) and has the strongest combat effectiveness.In addition, the importance of the Huai Army and the Beiyang Navy is also reflected in their defense range: they are stationed in the capital and defend the capital. Nominally speaking, the diplomacy of the Qing Dynasty was not under the control of Li Hongzhang. It was in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office of International Affairs (referred to as the Prime Minister’s Office) in Beijing, but the leaders of the Prime Minister’s Office were some Manchus who did not know how to deal with foreigners. My lord, in fact, it is Li Hongzhang's team of Beiyang ministers who are doing things. The so-called "relying on Li Hongzhang from outside" refers to this phenomenon. Li Hongzhang was also the leader of the "Westernization Movement" in the Qing Dynasty.The most profitable industries in the Qing Dynasty, such as railways, shipping, telegraphs, mines, etc., were all controlled by him and his cronies (Sheng Xuanhuai). And so on a large number of state-owned large and medium-sized enterprises. The reason why Li Hongzhang has these powers all comes from the support of one person-the Empress Dowager Cixi.Master Li is also the most powerful confidant of the actual supreme leader of the Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi.I will discuss this situation later.In a word, Li Hongzhang's power is in the hands of the people. If the Qing Dynasty is compared to a company, then Cixi is the chairman, and Li Hongzhang is the CEO. From the officialdom, shopping malls to the crematorium, everything is under his control. In terms of rank, Yuan Shikai was not yet Li Hongzhang's direct subordinate, and he was several ranks behind.But as early as when he was Wu Changqing's subordinate, Yuan Shikai got on the line with Mr. Li.He often asked Li Hongzhang for instructions by leapfrogging his rank, and took refuge in Li Hongzhang's sect. This has a lot to do with Yuan Shikai's official background.Yuan Jiasan, Yuan Baoqing and Li Hongzhang were considered friends.But even if it is not the second generation of officials, it is not difficult to make connections. The so-called "nepotism" was one of the most beautiful scenery in the officialdom at that time.Nepotism does not mean that you must wear the same pair of pants, the key is to be able to say those "useful nonsense", I summed it up, nothing more than the following: "My lord, where is your ancestral home?" "Sichuan!" "Ah, my lord, the lower officials are also from Sichuan!"—this is the "identity township".Of course, if unfortunately you were not born in Sichuan, then whether anyone in your immediate family was born in Sichuan, whether someone in your ancestors was born in Sichuan, or whether someone in your ancestors was an official in Sichuan, all of these count. "My lord, how old are you this year?" "50!"This can be handled flexibly, and no one checks the account anyway. "My lord, what year did you become a Jinshi?" "The third year of Guangxu!"If the Jinshi is not the same year, the Juren is the same year, and the scholar is the same year, it is also possible.No matter how bad it is, it doesn't count if you have participated in the scientific examination together in which year. "My lord, what year did you become a Jinshi?" "The third year of Guangxu!" "The sixth year of Guangxu. The teacher is here, please be respected by your disciples!"——This is "recognition of disciples", anyway, it is self-proclaimed as a disciple. If these are not the case, there are ways, the key is to be able to use associative thinking, such as: "My lord, your wife Guigeng..." In case none of these happen to be true (the probability is very low), this is not a problem, just expand the nonsense a little more, for example: "My lord, may I ask which inn did you go to when you came to Beijing for the exam?" "...What? Home Inn 203? Fate, my lord! The lower official also lives in 203, and the half bedbug that bit you is the lower official." Fell to death from sleep! My lord, you and I are really destined to share the same bed!" This is of course a joke.In short, as long as you know how to drill, you will always find a way out.What's so embarrassing, you yearn to hook up, and others also yearn to be hooked up. Among all the "nepotism", the fellowship is the most important.When fellow villagers see fellow villagers, their eyes glow with gold.After all, everyone comes from the same place, eats the same food, and can understand the conversation.There is no need to talk about the rules before setting up a table to play mahjong or something.The reason why Li Hongzhang's Huai Army is called Huai Army is because the generals and soldiers of this army are basically from his hometown-Anhui.Li Hongzhang completely controlled this army. In other words, he had less control over other troops. In the yamen of the governor of Zhili, Tianjin, Li Hongzhang, who was busy with everything, met Yuan Shikai.This was not the first time they met. Yuan Shikai had brought gifts to Mr. Li when he returned to China to report on his work and visit relatives, but Li Hongzhang had prepared a lot of things for this meeting. This is a bunch of reports impeaching Yuan Shikai.Some say that he is bloodthirsty, and some say that he has power. Of course, the problem of life style is also indispensable. Li Hongzhang decided to "beat" Yuan Shikai with these impeachment reports. In his opinion, the more capable his subordinates, the more they need to be beaten from time to time, so he took out these reports. But to Li Hongzhang's disappointment, Yuan Shikai put on a nonchalant demeanor.After reading these reports, he neither defended nor got angry, nor did he need to explain. He just stood there quietly, looked at Li Hongzhang, and waited for him to continue. In the face of definite evidence and Li Hongzhang's questioning, Yuan Shikai did not panic at all, but was very calm. I don't care what everyone thinks of me, I only care what you, the key person, think of me.Because I know that on the way forward, there will definitely be a lot of gossip, and there will definitely be many people who dislike me and plan to stab me in the back.I don't even care about your opinion as a key person, because I know that I will be the key person! Yes, Mr. Li, I know that you did not want to make things difficult for me by showing me these reports.If you want to embarrass me, it's still later. If you have anything to say, just say it. In the past 13 years, I wanted to go back to China again and again, to the center of power where I fought with you, but you always found various reasons to refuse.I want to return by boat, but you always say that the timing is uncertain.Now, I'm standing in front of you, what do you want to say to me? The two looked at each other briefly. From a personal point of view, Li Hongzhang likes people like Yuan Shikai very much.Because he could see something special from Yuan Shikai. A strong gangster spirit tempered by years of killing and determination. The so-called gangster spirit, the specific explanation is: domineering, arrogant, daring to act, dare to think and dare to gamble, and all these are hidden under the surface of humility, because gangster spirit does not need to be shown off, but exists in the bones . Like Wu Changqing, Li Hongzhang has already felt the difficulty of Yuan Shikai in a short period of communication.In Li Hongzhang's view, the most powerful thing about Yuan Shikai was not that he could guess his own psychology and knew that he would not really use these small reports to impeach him.The most powerful thing about Yuan Shikai was that he was able to pass his own test. When he heard remarks that were not good for his official reputation, he was not in a hurry to defend himself, and he was able to save face.And those moral gentlemen who came out of the imperial examination on the right way, once they heard the rumors about themselves, they immediately rushed to their foreheads and rolled up their sleeves to talk to you endlessly.Yuan Shikai had selfishness, but a person who can't keep his face will have even greater selfishness.But Yuan Shikai was not such a person. Li Hongzhang had no choice but to pretend that nothing happened, put away the pile of impeachment reports, and then said what he wanted to say, and Yuan Shikai was particularly afraid of hearing: "Yuan, it's good that you're back, I really want to You (no wonder), first go to visit relatives, go to Henan. Then, you still continue to return to North Korea. North Korea can’t live without you. I have arranged for you a new position, half a level up——stationed in North Korea The Prime Minister's responsibility for negotiating trade matters and managing matters is not insignificant!" The translation of the new job is to add to his old line to do logistics support work for the Qing army entering North Korea, such as building military stations, storing army rations, feeding army horses, and moving ammunition. Anyway, it is necessary to ensure the rear supplies of the Qing army. Obviously, for Yuan Shikai's pretending to be sick, Li Hongzhang was as clear as a mirror.Let Yuan Shikai come back is just a stopgap measure - first to appease him.Li Hongzhang knew that North Korea really couldn't do without a talent like Yuan Shikai. Even if he was not required to go to the front to fight, it was necessary to keep him in the rear of North Korea to stabilize the morale of the army. It's a pity that Li Hongzhang didn't know that wanting to return to China was the secret that Yuan Shikai had kept in his heart for many years.After meeting Li Hongzhang, he became more determined to stay in China for development.Li Hongzhang's soaring power is enviable, and others fear him, but what Yuan Shikai thought of was Xiang Yu's famous slogan: He can replace him. Li Hongzhang, the most powerful official figure in the Qing Dynasty in the legend, was already old in Yuan Shikai's eyes. Others saw his superficial strength, but Yuan Shikai saw his weakness under his strength. Yuan Shikai knew: he would be the one to replace him people. Li Hongzhang, let me come back and replace you!I am the one to replace you! But Li Hongzhang's instructions disappointed Yuan Shikai.He really didn't understand why this old skinny man was so insistent on his return to China.In the past, it could be said that there was no replacement, but now he has even found a replacement Tang Shaoyi himself, and it turns out that Tang Shaoyi has done a good job. Is it really going to let me retire in North Korea? He left the governor's office dejectedly and went to a place - Beijing. Outside the Chaoyang Gate in Beijing, Yuan Shikai came here.His heart was very painful. If he had to return to North Korea according to Li Hongzhang's instructions, all of his previous efforts would be in vain, and his dream of returning to the country and entering the military would be in vain again. "Why don't we go to North Korea." The North Korean aunt said. "Fuck it! I'll never go to that place of yours again!" Yuan Shikai said angrily. He acted.The target of the action is those Manchu princes who can speak in the court.According to Yuan Shikai's official position, he had no way to "ask to see" these people.However, there are many middlemen in Beijing who serve as a bridge between people who handle affairs and high-ranking officials. Yuan Shikai approached them and explained his purpose of coming. Then he pulled out something heavy from his luggage—gold. During the more than ten years of being the "Prime Minister" in North Korea, Yuan Shikai has never been idle. In addition to blocking the infiltration of Japanese forces in North Korea and developing a rogue intelligence team, he also took advantage of the convenience of his position to hit it off with the captains of the Beiyang Navy. Use warships to transport opium to North Korea, and then transport Korean ginseng back to the Qing Dynasty—of course, the so-called transportation is actually smuggling.Over the years this lucrative business has allowed him to amass a formidable fortune.Therefore, there was half a shipload of gold that followed him back from North Korea that day, and now the gold is his official capital. Yuan Shikai's mood can really be described by this poem. Under the night, several large boxes of gold bricks were quietly carried into the mansions of several princes.So Yuan Shikai's illness recovered immediately, and under the operation of the Manchu princes, the court did not change Li Hongzhang's order-Yuan Shikai must continue to provide logistics support for the Qing army, but the place he was going to was not North Korea, but a Now there is a place that can be reached by EMUs starting from Beijing-Liaoning. Yuan Shikai didn't know that when he was in high spirits to achieve his goal, several pairs of eyes were watching him silently behind him.They are Li Hongzhang's eyeliner in the capital.Yuan Shikai's every move of bribing the princes in Beijing did not escape the eyes of these eyeliners. They reported the news to Sheng Xuanhuai, and Sheng Xuanhuai immediately reported it to Li Hongzhang. In Sheng Xuanhuai's view, Li Hongzhang would be furious when he heard the news, and he would definitely find a way to make Yuan Shikai fail to go to Liaoning, because Yuan Shikai switched to the sect of the princes, and his behavior was equivalent to betrayal.But what Sheng Xuanhuai did not expect was that Li Hongzhang was not angry this time. Li Hongzhang's reaction was only one sentence: Good!Move out gold to solve the problem, hit the nail on the head, simple and clear, rogue style, I like it!Then comes the second sentence: If he can solve his own problems, he will certainly be able to solve other people's problems.It is worthy of great use! Two people who both have gangster spirit cherish each other here. Well, after many twists and turns and a long wait, Master Yuan's wish has finally come true.It seems we should congratulate him.This is a person with great ambitions and perseverance, a person who has a clear plan for his career and always strives for improvement. From this point of view, we can understand his desire to break out of North Korea.Although he thought of leaving North Korea with all his heart, what he didn't know was that the experience in North Korea was the beginning of his career. Because of his experience in training troops in North Korea, the imperial court later entrusted Yuan Shikai with the task of training the new army. He began to enter the military circle, realize his ideals, and then cultivate his own power. What everyone didn't expect was that only 18 years later, Yuan Shikai was the one who ended the empire with his own hands. From the day he returned to China on July 19, 1894, Yuan Shikai never went to North Korea or went abroad. He will start his struggle here.We will see him again a year later (1895), and by then everything will be different.Whether it is for Yuan Shikai, Li Hongzhang, or the entire Qing Dynasty, they will never go back to the past. When the North Korean Donghak Party was in turmoil, when Yuan Shikai was planning to return home, and Li Hongzhang was anxiously considering whether to send troops and how much to send, a person across the sea was watching all this coldly.He is the leader of that country, the real leader, and this is also a person who likes to fight, a master gangster, he is very gangster, and at the same time has another more terrifying thing-strength.And the fight he wants to fight is a fight with the country as the opponent: war! This is a truly horrible person.