Cixi wanted this kind of effect. Authority is not something that can be achieved overnight. Even if the emperor formally ascends the throne and wants to be the master of the country, he has to cross the river by feeling the stones step by step. There is no guarantee that all the civil and military officials of the dynasty will follow him. One-hearted.
Cixi understood the truth better. It is 10,000 times more difficult for a woman to gain power than it is for a man, so she needs to gradually establish her prestige and make this inertia a habit over ten, twenty or even longer years.
Yi? is really wise and knows how to set the stage for himself. It seems that he needs to re-evaluate this brother-in-law. Cixi also had the idea of suppressing Yi? However, later the court situation was chaotic and the two queen mothers completely broke up. , at this time she found that Yi? was getting better.
Cixi gave Yi? a look that you know, and then the two of them understood each other tacitly, and their adultery was restrained.
The Queen Mother of the West, who was behind the bead curtain, thought carefully and asked, "Prince Gong, you are responsible for the training of new recruits in Xishan. Let me ask you, when will your army be fully trained? Will it be able to fight after it is fully trained?"
"To report to the Queen Mother, the first batch of 30,000 Xishan new troops will be trained. The equipment selected are Enfield breech-loading guns made in England. These are not the old-fashioned firearms we used before the Qing Dynasty. It is said that the Prussians used them to defeat their powerful enemy Austria. A breech-loaded gun with a fast firing speed and a long range..."
"What's more important is that they all use paper-packed bullets, which saves the time of loading ammunition. I once saw with my own eyes that the musket array fired continuously like a heavy rain, and did not give the enemy any space to rush into the array. files……"
"One town was established for every ten thousand people, and each town was equipped with 200 artillery pieces for centralized use... Last month, I issued an edict to the Mongolian princes of the Fourth Eastern League, the Second Western League, the Chechen League, Tushetu Khan and other places. , asking them to select 20,000 young and elite cavalry plus 40,000 war horses for the imperial court within two months..."
"At that time, all 20,000 cavalrymen will be trained into the dragoons of the Qing Dynasty. They will abandon their long spears and short knives and use American Spencer rapid-fire foreign guns..."
"The 50,000-strong army will be able to train the ministers in two years. Depending on the financial resources, we can expand the army by another 30,000. At most, the ministers can train 80,000 troops for the court..."
It can be said that the Xishan New Army is Yi?'s hard work and the last glimmer of hope for the conservatives. The feeling of not having an army is really uncomfortable, so Yi? really poured all his passion into the New Army.
Listening to Yi?'s introduction, the people present couldn't help but picture a strong army in their minds, and their blood boiled involuntarily.
"Good fellow, these are all foreign guns and cannons made of real money! And there are 80,000 soldiers. Xiao Letian only has 30,000 new troops. We can't suffer any more losses this time!"
"That's right, I heard the British military attache in Dongjiaominxiang say before that the weapons and equipment of the Xishan New Army have far exceeded the level of the British and French coalition forces eight years ago... What kind of rifles did the British use at that time, but now they are much better than that It’s a high-end breech-loading gun! Although I didn’t quite understand it, but the foreigners have already said it, it must be excellent..."
"That's right, that's right! In addition, the Mongolian princes selected 20,000 young elites for us, and the mobility of the Xishan Camp will be a hundred times stronger! I heard that Xiao Letian has not formed a cavalry yet. Now that we have bought a boat, will the boat be able to go ashore? So when the time comes, we still have to let our cavalry lead the fight!"
There was a lot of discussion in Yangxin Hall. At that time, the nobles in the capital palace had this problem and were impatient. Whenever something happy or exciting happened, one by one would flaunt their power and show off the majesty of the Eight Banners of the Heavenly Kingdom. If you suffer a little setback on the battlefield, you will immediately become a nest of plague chickens and sigh.
The memory of Xiao Letian's victory over Sijiu City had not faded yet, but when he saw the frame structure of the Xishan Camp, he began to fantasize about defeating Xiao Letian.
When Cixi saw that the topic was getting confusing, she coughed twice, and the Yangxin Hall suddenly became quiet. "Prince Gong, don't go into so much detail. Just tell us all that Xishan Camp and Xiao Letian had a real fight with swords and guns." , can we win?”
This is a key question. Everyone present turned their attention to Yi? Prince Gong thought carefully for a while and said calmly, "In matters on the battlefield, winning or losing depends on the fine line. It all depends on the right time, place, and people." !”
"If there is a decisive battle between us and the enemy on the Great Plains, and Xiao Letian's army has no chance of defending, then with the cooperation of cavalry and infantry, I dare say there is a 90% chance of winning... Because we have cavalry and great depth, we are completely We can use the cavalry's high-speed maneuverability to cooperate with the infantry to drag them down bit by bit. After all, we have the advantage in numbers..."
"But if Xiao Letian's army goes on the defensive, with positions and complex terrain, and the most fearful thing is that it has city streets to rely on, then our chances of winning may not even be 30%..."
ah? There was a commotion in the palace, and someone stood up at that time: "Prince Gong, so you spent millions of silver, and what you created is not a winning army? The enemy is only 30,000, and you can't even defeat it? You have lost all your silver." Can you feed the dog..."
"No, didn't you hear me clearly? I mean it depends on the right time, right place and right people. War is not a child's play!"
"Don't fool me, you devil Liu. I've read a few military books. Can Xiao Letian pull out all the 30,000 troops? He has to leave some to protect Ryukyu and the special zone. The total number of mobile troops that can really be mobilized is only Twenty thousand..."
"Look at us again. We have the Green Camp for local defense and the Eight Banners for the capital's defense. You 80,000 people are all real soldiers, and they can all be brought to the battlefield. You can still say that you are 30% sure of 80,000 against 20,000? "
"Queen Mother, it would be unfavorable for me to train with Prince Gong right now, and it will only waste the country's strength!"
Good guy, the whole Yangxin Palace suddenly became noisy. Even though Prince Gong was a hereditary prince, the other princes were of high status. Even the iron-hat king had to stay away if they made a noise together.
Yi?'s temples were beating wildly with anger. He knew that these people wanted to avenge themselves. When the Xishan camp was being built, these bastards kept stuffing people in, and they would hold grudges if they were even slightly dissatisfied.
Black eyes cannot see white money. It is impossible to build the Xishan Camp without six to seven million taels. If it is left to this group of people and they do not spend more than ten million taels, they will be considered loyal to the emperor and patriotic. .
And this is only the first batch of investment. In the future, Xishan Camp will spend millions of taels on maintaining and purchasing bullets and artillery shells every year. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a steady stream of gold mines. This group of people has long been jealous and going crazy. .
Yi? You can't stop a pack of wolves from attacking you with just one mouthful. Moreover, these hungry wolves are not unreasonable at all. Everything they say makes sensible people dumbfounded. But they don't think it themselves. They are just arguing for the sake of arguing. I don’t want to listen to your reasoning.
When you meet this kind of person, you can only shut up. He has his own insistence. No matter what you say, the command power of Xishan Camp will not be given to you at all.
At the end of the quarrel, there was only a snapping sound, and Cixi, who was behind the beaded curtain, broke off her enamel fingernails angrily, "Do you think the Ai family are dead? There is no discussion at all when discussing politics... Every one of them is dissatisfied. He has no skills, it’s all about words. Apart from anything else, what’s the difference between foreign guns and cannons?”
"What is the difference between whether musket bullets are loaded in the front or in the rear? Which country's products are of better quality and cheaper? Which country's officers should be used for military training? Do you know all this? You don't understand anything, and you become an expert by pointing fingers... …”
"Go home and think about the past behind closed doors! When will you figure it out? Go to Prince Gong's Mansion to apologize and then go to court. If you don't figure it out, just keep a big yellow dog at home!"
The scolding shocked all the princes and ministers who had just made trouble into silence. They had no choice but to bow to the Queen Mother and leave the Yangxin Hall in despair.
