People are selfish. As the saying goes, cutting off a person's financial path is like killing one's parents. However, reform always cuts off the financial path of the obsolete and makes way for the new. This kind of social change is inherently cruel.
If the imperial court wanted to build a telegraph line, then millions of soldiers at post stations across the country would have to be laid off. Wasn't it because the insurgent king Li Zicheng was laid off that he jumped into the torrent of rebellion?
If the imperial court wants to build a railway network, then the millions of people who rely on the Grand Canal will go bankrupt, and the Salt Tank Gang will rebel against the imperial court. Don’t forget that the Youth Gang has always been a very powerful force in modern China. The Revolutionary Party led by Sun Yat-sen at that time did not owe any favors to the Youth Gang. Many Kuomintang bosses were even the leaders of the Youth Gang themselves.
It is really that easy to smash old industries, not to mention that there are countless roots of those in power seeping into these outdated industries. Who among the Manchu nobles and Han human rights ministers did not draw nutrients directly or indirectly from here?
Now Ci'an wants to carry out reforms and support the reformists. This will poke the lungs of all the nobles. Why don't they risk their lives with you?
Cixi smashed and cursed with all her strength, but the two princes were livid and silent. They knew very well that Ci'an's conditions were easy to talk about, even if he was given a high-ranking official in Fuqing, it didn't matter, but reform was not possible, because reform The only thing is to smash other people's jobs.
"What kind of medicine did Ci'an take? I think it was the pretty boy Fu Qing who fascinated her. I just looked at it and there was definitely something wrong in the eyes of these two people... Damn it, we didn't accuse him wrongly at all." Yi? said harshly.
Yixuan also changed his face at this time, and he was no longer the confused look before. "Yes, Ci'an did not return to the Forbidden City and wanted to stay in Jingshan. It probably has something to do with it. This couple of bitches may have been acting badly during this time. What you did is really embarrassing and ruining the face of the imperial court..."
"Queen Mother, what should we do now? We can't agree to Ci'an's conditions at all. There is no way that the Great Council can pass it. Even if we agree, the other Manchu and Han ministers can't agree... But, if we don't agree, how can we If we continue to fight, Xiao Letian will come to kill him..."
Yi?'s question caused a dead silence among the three people present. Thinking of Xiao Letian's unpredictable and harmful ideas, everyone present shuddered.
To be honest, the court did not believe that Xiao Letian had the strength to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. A small Ryukyu Kingdom and an army of more than 2,000 people, no matter how powerful it was, how powerful could it be.
The imperial court wanted to save face, so it did not send a large army to attack. If the Hunan Army or Huai Army was really used, even the Mongolian Army outside the Pass could easily annihilate Xiao Letian.
But Xiao Letian, this troublemaker, has too many disgusting tricks. Xiao Letian has a navy. This kid can retreat to the sea and become a pirate, stirring up trouble along the coastline of the Qing Dynasty. Who can bear this?
In addition, Xiao Letian has an extremely close relationship with foreigners. Just look at the ambiguity that Americans have towards Xiao Letian. It would be damned if there is no dirty tricks behind them. And the fear of foreigners in the Qing Dynasty has already been ingrained in the bones.
The most worrying thing is of course Xiao Letian's evil tricks to confuse people's hearts, including newspapers, leaflets, and wall painting... From Beijing to the countryside of Zhili, he will not let go of any inhabited place.
The people can do it, but they cannot know it. Aren't the people just relying on fooling? You let the low-level untouchables know the secrets of the country. Isn't this nonsense? The treaty signed by the emperor has nothing to do with the people. How can the court pay compensation to the people? Got it.
It was this kind of rogue stir-up method that made the Manchus dizzy. Even though they didn't say anything, almost everyone was deeply afraid of Xiao Letian.
Just when the hall was silent, Ande Hai suddenly walked in quickly and said, "I'm going to report to the Queen Mother, Weng Tong and Weng Zhongtang are asking for a meeting, saying that they have urgent information..."
"Well, this isn't messy enough. He's just a civil servant, so don't mess with it... Forget it, let's meet him."
Cixi was an old man she met in Yangxin Hall. Dongnuan Pavilion was really in a mess, and the eunuchs were cleaning it up.
"Greetings to the Queen Mother, greetings to the Prince..." After seeing the ceremony, the old man went straight to the topic. "Empress Dowager, why don't you see Mailer? Although Mailer was defeated, he had fought against Xiao Letian twice after all. It would be good to listen to his experience. Yes."
"When Wei Chen came home, he happened to see Mailer being taken away. Seeing that he had something to say, I said something more, but I didn't expect that Mailer actually had a treasure with him. He had a detailed statement in it. You understand the weaknesses of Xiao Letian’s new army.”
The old man took out the folding book and handed it over. Cixi and the other three knew at the first glance that they had made a mistake. "Oh, the Ai family is confused. If they had known that Mailer had this folding book, the Ai family would have given him someone to talk to." What an opportunity..."
Yi? and Yixuan said almost in unison, "Old man, don't waste your time. If you have any ideas, just tell me..."
Weng Tonghe said coldly, "The Empress Dowager Dong is so tough. She might have secretly ordered Xiao Letian to enter the capital. Li Shaoquan did the right thing. He set up an ambush between Tanggu and Wuqing and waited for work. As long as he defeated Xiao Letian's new army, Ci'an's There is no more reliance on nature..."
"Xiao Letian's troops are few, but they are very strong. I'm afraid Li Shaoquan's 3,000 troops are not enough. Let's mobilize as many troops as we can from the capital. We will drown him even if we flood him with a sea of people..."
"And didn't this brochure say that Xiao Letian has no cavalry, so we will send cavalry. All the horses in the capital will be used together. Even if there are not enough cavalry, we will trample them with war horses..."
At this point, Weng Tonghe's eyes showed a trace of cruelty, "If that still doesn't work, then recruit local people. If ten thousand is not enough, then twenty thousand. If twenty thousand is not enough, then fifty thousand. I don't believe Xiao Letian can't be drowned."
Hiss, there was a gasp of air in the hall. No one thought that Weng Tonghe, a civil servant, was so cruel and thought of using the people as human shields.
"Old...Old man, there's something wrong with this..." In the end, even the two princes couldn't listen anymore.
"No, after Xiao Letian's Western learning sweeps the world, and when China turns into a country of beasts, it will be too late to regret it. What is Western learning? It is nothing more than teaching people to fight against the heaven and the earth, against the same kind, and to believe in It is nothing more than respecting the strong. If all the people believe these things, then our society will become a ghost..."
"Weichen didn't kill for profit, Weichen killed for the sake of the world..." Before he could finish his words, there was a muffled thunder outside the palace, and the heavy rain that Sister Wu mentioned finally came at this moment.
To the west of Tianjinwei, the sky was overcast and it was past twelve o'clock, but the weather was so gloomy that it was almost time to light a torch. A long blue dragon was rolling forward in the field, but the villages on both sides of the long dragon were completely silent.
"Each unit quickly sent people to collect tarpaulins... It will rain soon. Everyone wrapped up ammunition and grenades... distributed cloaks, and arranged shifts for each unit to pick them up quickly..."
"There is no hot food provided at noon... There is a food supply point three miles ahead. Each person has a dry flour cake, a can of canned meat, and cold water to drink..."
"Speed up, hurry up... march in a hurry. The distance from Tianjin to Beijing is only 130 kilometers. Counting from now on, the march will take six hours. We will still see the walls of Beijing when it gets dark..."
"Brothers... don't vent your anger... No matter it rains or a knife falls, the new army can only move forward, always move forward..."
The new army marched forward in an unstoppable manner, and the officers in the team were boosting their morale. The coming heavy rain not only did not slow down the new army's progress, but instead made the morale of the soldiers even higher.
Xiao Letian galloped around the long dragon, and every time he appeared, he would be greeted with bursts of wild shouts. With him, no one would doubt the victory.
"Brothers, break the city of Beijing and I'll treat you to a big dinner... We once traveled thousands of miles across half the world. Do we still care about these more than a hundred kilometers now? We forced a march to rush over and catch those turtle bastards off guard. …”
"Long live victory, long live." The team quickly burst into joy.
At this moment, Wang Huaiyuan from the front rode over and said, "Sir, I haven't received any carrier pigeons for an hour. The atmosphere is not right. Is there something unexpected?"
"Sir, the information is unclear now. We don't know exactly where Li Hongzhang's Huai army is. I'm afraid it may be dangerous to go deep in so rashly..."
Before Xiao Letian could speak, a white light suddenly lit up in the dark clouds in the west, and soon there was distant thunder.
Xiao Letian pondered for a moment, "It should be caused by bad weather. This is our mistake. After all, homing pigeons are animals, not humans. They will definitely avoid bad weather."
At this time, a fast horse suddenly ran from the west. It was one of the few rangers in the new army, specially used to patrol the battlefield.
"Reporting to the Prime Minister, there was a sudden heavy rain in Wuqing County ahead. The hooves of the war horses were soaked. The ground was covered with mud and they could not run at all... Please give me your instructions."
"Damn it..." Xiao Letian cursed, "Narrow the warning circle, don't waste your troops in non-combat situations, and move forward with the army..."
When Wang Huaiyuan heard this, he stretched out his hand to pull the reins of the war horse, "Sir, you can't do it. We can't die rashly if we don't know the information. War is not a child's play..."
"Fart, I still need you to teach me, don't I understand the principle of intelligence first? But the problem we encounter now is not the battlefield, but politics... Do you understand, what we are fighting today is a political battle. "
"The reformists I supported are about to die. How can I not save Cixi? No one in the entire Qing Dynasty can surrender the traitorous evildoer Cixi except Ci'an."
"Go away, even if the army I lead has no intelligence, even if there are millions of troops in front, we can kill it... This is the military soul of the new army. Without the nourishment of victory, the new army will not grow..."
"If you are scared, just roll back and rest..." Xiao Letian urged his horse and rushed forward. "Brothers... there may be an enemy ambush in front of you. Are you afraid?"
No one answered such a stupid question. The only answer was a song, the military song of the New Army.
