Chapter 19 Section 19

Yikuang fulfilled his promise and advocated the abolition of the Jianghuai governor, but supported Yuan Shikai's suggestion that Zhou Fu, the acting governor of Jianghuai, should come forward and set up a commander in chief to deter the bandits.The upper edict said: "According to the postings of various yamen, it is inconvenient to change the governor. Most of them plan to change the admiral to be stationed. After reviewing and checking Zhou Fu's performance, it is also more appropriate to set up a governor than to set up a governor. As the governor of Liangjiang, it is even more true, and I plan to change the commander-in-chief of Huaiyang Town to the governor of Jianghuai as requested by the governor of the department, and use both civil and military skills to control Xuzhou Town and Jiangbei defense training battalions."

Since the establishment of Jianghuai admiral focuses on deterring thieves, the rule of law must be aggravated. Therefore, it is also stipulated that "with the Huaiyang Sea Road and the title of inspector, any serious case of Jiangbei thieves should be punished immediately, and those below the rank of the army who commit crimes should be brought to justice." There is no need to dismantle the Soviet Union to avoid delays in reviewing and surveying. It seems that both the civil and military forces in the Jiangbei have a program. If there is a shortage of Jianghuai governors, there is no need to establish them. Xiang is an area infested by thieves. Now that the governor has been abolished and an admiral has been replaced, the governor of the department should be ordered to reorganize the battalion and train seriously to focus on the local area. The rest of the unfinished matters should be carefully considered by the governor of Liangjiang and the governor of Jiangsu. , and deal with it separately.”

This edict was not very cleverly drafted, fragmented, vague, and unclear. In addition, it happened that the Empress Dowager Cixi was in a bad mood on this day, so she made a lot of criticisms. If the wording was inappropriate, it would naturally be corrected immediately. If the method was different, it would be very troublesome. Talked a lot. "How do you call it 'Civil and Military Combination'?" For the four characters of "both civil and military use", there was a dispute in the military aircraft department. The full name of "Admiral" is "Admiral General Military Affairs Officer", and he is honored as "Junmen". According to the establishment of the Green Battalion, he is the highest military officer in the province.The rank is the same as that of the governor and the garrison generals, they are all from the first rank, but the status and position are not only inferior to the governor, general, and even the governor of the second rank.Because the governor and the governor usually hold the title of Minister of the Ministry of War and Minister of the Ministry of War, and are in charge of military affairs, they can control the generals. When the admiral sees a governor who is two levels lower than him, he must also "attend", not to mention the governor.

As usual, the governor and the governor also bring the right capital censor and the right deputy capital censor, whose status is equal to the hall official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.When the big officials of the feudal border join the subordinate officials, there are some inaccuracies. For example, when they join the military generals, even the admirals and chief soldiers wearing red hats are all inaccurate.For this reason, in the sixth or seventh year of Tongzhi, when the Nian bandits first leveled off, veteran generals were dismissed one after another. For example, Liu Mingchuan, the governor of Zhili who had been baronized, couldn't sleep because he felt that the military officer was too wronged.

Now it is said that an admiral can use both civil and military affairs. In Qu Hongji's view, it means that there is no distinction between civil and military affairs, and equal status. The idea of ​​"combining civil and military use" was conceived by Yuan Shikai. Its function is: first, literati who know soldiers among the aides can also be released from Zhang Yijun; , the identity of the Governor-General who was born in the army.With these two important relationships, Yikuang insisted on the original proposal.Although Qu Hongji was appreciated by the Empress Dowager Cixi, he was no match for Yikuang as the foreman of the military aircraft, so he had to give in.

At this time, Empress Dowager Cixi also asked this question, and Qu Hongji applauded secretly, and listened to Yikuang's answer: "Use both civil and martial arts, regardless of qualifications, flexible scheduling, and easy to reward talents." The words "independently qualified" are bad words. "If you are an official or a errand, can you not be qualified?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked: "Civil and military have different paths, each has its own strengths, and they are mixed. It will be difficult to rectify the administration of officials in the future!"

"If you go back to the Empress Dowager," Yikuang's eloquence is not bad, and he said calmly: "The reason for the different careers in civil and military affairs is that most of the generals in the past were from the army and were illiterate, so they can't be mixed. Since the new army was established, all the generals were from schools. There are also quite a few people who study abroad in the East and the West, unlike the military officers of the past. Now that the army is being organized, in order to encourage talented people to join the army, it may be better to give them the best. Furthermore, in the military training in various provinces, although the person in charge is a military general, he is often appointed as a Taoist. It’s not as good as it is, it’s not as good as using both civil and military skills, and it’s more practical.”

These remarks are not easy to refute. The Empress Dowager Cixi acquiesced in not talking further, but she picked another problem, "Where are the areas under the jurisdiction of the Jianghuai admiral?" She asked. "From Xuzhou in the west to the sea in the east, they are all under the jurisdiction of Admiral Jianghuai." "Haizhou is not included?" "included." "Haizhou is Zhili Prefecture. Since it is included, it should not be called Jianghuai Admiral." Empress Dowager Cixi asked eloquently: "Isn't this not worthy of the name?"

Yikuang was at a loss for words, so he had no choice but to meet.So Qu Hongji said upwards: "Jianghuai Admiral is not worthy of the name, it seems that it can be changed to Jiangbei Admiral." "That's right!" The Empress Dowager Cixi spoke approvingly, "This name really makes sense." This hurdle is finally over.Immediately after the governor of Jianghuai revoked the decree to establish the Jiangbei admiral, he first acted as the Jiangbei admiral with the commander-in-chief of Huaiyang Town.A few days later, Yikuang asked Jian to send the chief envoy of the Military and Political Department of the Military Training Department, and Liu Yongqing, the alternate Taoist priest, to act as the admiral of Jiangbei. He was awarded the title of minister of the Ministry of War.Wu Neng is in charge of the general soldiers, and Wen Neng is the plumbing officer. It is no different from setting up a governor.This person was protected by Yuan Shikai, so he is naturally from the Beiyang family. Yuan Shikai's influence has clearly extended into the boundary of Liangjiang.

Russia's second and third fleets sailed eastward from the Baltic Sea around the Cape of Good Hope, and were unwelcome everywhere, and finally cruised in the Yellow Sea, planning to wait for an opportunity to escape into Vladivostok. Togo Heihachiro, the commander of the Japanese navy, saw the movement of the two fleets. From the Yellow Sea to the Sea of ​​Japan to Vladivostok, they had to pass through the Tsushima Strait between Korea and Japan's Kyushu.Sasebo, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima in the southwest of Kyushu are all seaports where giant ships can berthed, and Fukuoka and Hiroshima later serve as military depots.Therefore, Togo Heihachiro waited for work with ease, determined to defeat the Russian navy in one fell swoop.

The two fleets of Russia, unable to return home, are very anxious. If they enter the East China Sea and return to Vladivostok around the east of Japan, the journey will be too far, and the fuel and food will not be able to support them.We had no choice but to venture northward across Jeju Island in North Korea and enter the Tsushima Strait. Twenty-nine warships, cruisers, coastal defense ships, destroyers, and supply ships, etc., joined each other end to end, heading north at full speed. So the Japanese navy went all out to intercept and fought two battles day and night. The Russian army was defeated and almost the entire army was wiped out. The commander, Vice Admiral Roger Stwinsky, surrendered. Sakhalin Island, north of Hokkaido. The results of the Japanese army are quite brilliant, but the Russian army is gradually reinforcing from the Siberian Railway.Under the situation that Russia has no hope of victory and no power to continue the war, US President Roosevelt believes that the time for the two sides to negotiate a peace is ripe, so the world mediates.Japan responded first, and Russia finally accepted the persuasion, agreeing to hold peace talks in Portsmouth, USA.The plenipotentiary representative of Japan is Komura Komura, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, while the Russian Prime Minister is the plenipotentiary, who is the same Weide who plays with Li Hongzhang and his son.As soon as he arrived in the United States, he issued a pre-emptive statement: "What Russia has lost is only a colony, which does not affect the safety of the country. If Japan's request is detrimental to Russia's national prestige, it will never be recognized." Until Roosevelt personally accompanied the two countries with full powers , took the yacht "Mayflower" and arrived in Portsmouth to discuss. Wade announced the imperial edict of the Russian Emperor: "The principle of not cutting an inch of land or paying a ruble is the principle of persistence." Therefore, the peace talks were on the verge of breaking down several times. At the conference table, Wade was aggressive, and Komura couldn't help but sarcastically said, "Listening to your speech, it seems like you are the representative of the victor." Wade immediately replied: "There is no victor here! Therefore, there is no loser. "The Japan-Russia Treaty of Portsmouth indeed proved that Japan was not victorious and Russia was not defeated. Apart from the transfer of the interests of the three eastern provinces, Russia's only loss was the cession of the southern part of Sakhalin Island and Japan at the 50th parallel north latitude.However, as an incidental agreement, the two countries shall not obstruct navigation in the Soya Strait and the Tatar Strait, and Japan shall not build any military facilities on Nanku Island.