There is no regime in the world that is willing to perish, and the same goes for the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Everyone among them hopes that the Qing Dynasty will last forever, but this beautiful wish can only be a fantasy.
Selfish! Extremely selfish! Once the power is dispersed within the Eight Banners Group, it would be a dream to take it back. Let alone the Emperor and the Queen Mother, not even the Jade Emperor would try to snatch the power from my hands.
If you want the court to be good, you must have a strong army that can protect itself. All the Manchus understand this. They also hope that the court has such a strong army, but everyone hopes that they are the masters of this army and that power belongs to them. It is a huge threat to yourself and anyone else to gain control of this army.
Many forces are fighting for it, but no one can overwhelm the other, and no one has an absolute advantage. Since no one can get it, let's destroy it together!
What I can't get, you can't have either. This is the unspoken rule of the late Qing Dynasty officialdom.
In fact, history really gave the Manchus several opportunities to turn around. One was after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was overthrown, the other was after the Sino-French War, and the third was after the Beiyang Navy was officially formed. These three historical opportunities were all given by God. The Qing Dynasty had a great opportunity for reform.
If the Manchus and Muslims had made great efforts to build a strong Western-style army of about 100,000 people at that time, then China's modern history would have really changed.
With such an army in hand, even if the Manchu Qing encountered a nationwide Han uprising or the Northern Expedition, they would have the strength to protect themselves. At least they could slowly retreat outside the pass and use this army to defend their Longxing land.
The land and population resources of the three provinces outside the Pass are enough to establish the country, so the territory of the Han people will return to the general territory of the Ming Dynasty.
However, the Eight Banners military group, which was good at seeking death, failed to seize this historical opportunity. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Manchus' military power became weaker and weaker, and instead they became more and more dependent on the Han people.
After the Hunan Army, there was Beiyang. At the end of Beiyang, they relied on Yuan Shikai's new army. Zhang Zhidong, a local Han, could train a strong army, and Liu Kunyi also trained local regiment soldiers...Only the Manchus themselves, from the Tongzhi Dynasty At the beginning, they made no achievements in the military. They trained a lot of troops in name, but none of them could fight. They all lived in obscurity and waited to die.
To give an off-topic example, the success of the Wuchang Uprising in modern history was the first battle to overthrow the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the first battle to establish the Republic of China.
At that time, all the revolting armies in Wuchang were the self-strengthening armies left by Zhang Zhidong, and the weapons used by these self-strengthening armies and the revolutionary party were all provided by the Hanyang Arsenal built during Zhang Zhidong's reign.
In other words, in the history of the late Qing Dynasty, those Han governors may not have rebelled or revolutionized while they were alive, but all the revolutionary power of the latecomers relied heavily on the legacy left by these ancestors. This was the legacy of the Han governors of that era. Important historical role and achievements.
On the other hand, the Manchus not only failed to accomplish anything, they even lost the ancestral land of Longxing. Empress Dowager Longyu's abdication edict peacefully transferred more than 10 million square kilometers of sovereignty to the Republic of China. In the end, the Manchus You can only choose to fuse passively.
There are no coincidences in history. This is partly due to the Manchus seeking their own death. Of course, it is also partly due to the Han elites' perseverance and forbearance.
In fact, the Han people studied the profound knowledge of stealing the country much more deeply than the Manchus.
It is not that there are no smart people among the Manchus. There are many people who can see this, such as Xiao Wu Ye Yi Pei. Although this person does not like reading and has a rough personality, he also has his advantage, that is, he is not ashamed to ask questions.
Li Tuo, Yang Zhi and Lao Jiang from the Prime Minister's Yamen, although these people may not be famous, they are really knowledgeable. They have carefully analyzed the situation in the country and it is really like this.
In particular, Li Tuo's analysis of the various shortcomings of the current internal constraints of the imperial court was so vivid that he was as shrewd as a bug.
Old Beijing officials like to call some people who are very proficient in this industry and have a thorough understanding of their industry, and they all like to call them "worms".
Those who love books are called bookworms, those who love flowers are called flower bugs, and those who love cars are called car bugs... As the old Beijing saying goes, if a person is smart, he can become a bug if not a dragon.
Li Tuo is definitely a political bug in the court. This guy has a very clear idea of the Queen Mother and the Prince's thoughts.
"Fifth Master! Prince Gong's move is called retreat to advance. Just as Yang Zhi said, on the one hand, he retreated to avoid slander from the court, and on the other hand, he also knew that the new Xishan army except him No one can take it away..."
"Why? You should know very well, Fifth Master, that an army cannot be commanded by a golden seal. The water here is very deep!"
"In the army, we pay attention to factions, succession of teachers, superiors and subordinates... We pay attention to whoever gives money and favors will work with whomever! What do the top soldiers know about government affairs? Aren't they just allowed to do whatever the superiors directly under them ask them to do?"
"Who do you think the big-headed soldiers are kissing? Look at the captain above your head, who is kissing you, because they give you money directly, and the friendship created by eating meat, drinking, and rolling around together on weekdays..."
"Who does the sentry commander choose to kiss? Of course it depends on the commander of each battalion, because the superiors pay and reward money, and there are also favors and faces..."
"By analogy, the army is a place where people gather at all levels. Prince Gong is not afraid even if he loses his golden seal, because the commanders, supervisors and even the sentry commanders in this army are his direct descendants and even family members. Slave, it’s easier for him to write a note two fingers wide than it is for you to hold a gold seal and give orders..."
"Your Majesty, just wait and see. Tomorrow the queen mothers of the two palaces will have to ask the Japanese officials to resume their duties. Maybe tonight my sister-in-law will have to treat her brother-in-law alone..."
The three people laughed obscenely, which made the Japanese very angry. After three glasses of wine, Yi Pei asked seriously, "You two are my Xiao He and Zhang Liang. I'm a little confused about the current situation. Could you please help me?" Brother, give me some advice, how do you think the court should handle this matter?"
Yang Zhi raised his eyes and sneered, "What else can we do? Let's have some cold drinks... Your Majesty, don't look at the court who is like a wolf and a tiger on weekdays. If something serious happens like the sky collapses, they will have to be scared!"
"Now Hunchun has made it clear that it is a mutiny. Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces are already his territory. There are really not many cards that the court can play now..."
"There are three plans in total. One is to fight. This does not mean mobilizing the army to go north to quell the rebellion. The Hunan Army cannot be mobilized. We cannot let the Han army enter the border, right? Then we can only use Yi's new army. The 30,000 new troops will then collect more than 100,000 Eight Banners soldiers from the local area, and with the total of 140,000 to 50,000, we can declare to the outside world a 300,000-strong army..."
"Go all the way north and destroy Hunchun. This is the easiest way to eliminate the weeds, but it's very difficult!"
Yi Pei asked respectfully with a livid face, "Where is the difficulty?"
