Rebirth of the Northern Giants

Timothy Lee smiled lightly and said: "I have lived in China for many years, and I have also deeply studied the Meiji Restoration in Japan. I think that if you want China to become prosperous and strong, you must not only focus on "Western arts", but also pay more attention to "Western politics". , I think your government’s reforms are too conservative, and you should learn from our Western countries and hire us Westerners as consultants to help with decision-making and reform.” Timothy Lee didn’t know that if you take too many steps, it’s easy to hurt yourself.

Kang Youwei said with great joy: "If you can help our Qing Dynasty, it will be a blessing for our Qing Dynasty. I will write to Your Majesty to invite you to be our consultant for our reform. I heard that Japan's Ito Hirobumi has just resigned from the position of Prime Minister (actually because of the suppression of bandits. I have no choice but to resign), Ito-kun and brother Youling (Yan Fu) are classmates in England, and brother Youling and I would like to invite him to travel in China, please let me know."

Timothy Lee immediately agreed: "No problem, Ito-kun and I are in frequent contact. I will definitely pass on the information."

Kang Youwei and Timothy Li had a great conversation, and Kang Youwei made friends with two powerful foreign aids. He was very happy and made great strides. Thinking that he had to go somewhere else, he couldn't help but look forward to it.

Ye Zhikui received a invitation from Kang Youwei the day before yesterday, and said that he would come to visit today, so he had to stay in Ye's mansion to wait for Kang Youwei.

Fortunately, not long after, a servant came to report that Kang Youwei had come, but Ye Zhikui didn't go out to greet him, and he didn't know Kang Youwei very well, so he just asked his servant to lead him in.

As soon as Kang Youwei entered the door, he opened his mouth and said: "I have heard that General Ye is young and strong, but I didn't expect him to be younger than I expected. Congyun is really young and promising." not bad.

It's a pity that Ye Zhikui doesn't follow him. Kang You is like a bamboo for this reason. It looks like it has joints and branches, but its belly is actually empty. Be careful not to be fooled by him.

Ye Zhikui replied noncommittally: "I don't know why Mr. Nanhai came to my house?"

Kang Youwei said solemnly: "Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. What's more, General Ye, you have a high position and power, and you should think about my Qing Dynasty. Now that the emperor is working hard to rule and reform, we, the courtiers, should give full support. General Ye, you have also studied in Germany, and understand the gap between our Qing Dynasty and Western countries, if our Qing Dynasty does not seek to reform and become stronger, it will eventually be swallowed up by these tiger and wolf countries after many years."

Ye Zhikui said in a rough voice: "Nanhai's exaggeration is too much. Now that I am singing and dancing in the Qing Dynasty, who dares to offend, even if there are young people peeping, they must first ask about the knife in my hand! Besides, a certain Ye Zhikui has always been an admiral. It’s enough to train soldiers for me, and I can’t control the others too much.”

Kang Youwei was depressed when he heard this, and he has been serving as an admiral. You are a first-rank official at such a young age, and I am only a small sixth-rank sesame official, so he asked again: "I don't know what General Ye thinks about the reform. ? General Ye is so young, he won’t be as knowledgeable as those stubborn and old-fashioned ministers in the court, thinking that the laws of the ancestors are immutable?”

Ye Zhikui said in a muffled voice: "It's not up to me, Ye, to change the law. If the court asks me to change, I will change. If the court doesn't let me change, I will stay the same." Ye Zhikui didn't say anything dead.

Kang Youwei was still not satisfied with the answer, and continued to press: "General Ye was born in Beiyang, and now Mr. Zhongtang is the queen mother's confidant, but I don't know whether the court you are referring to, General Ye, is the queen mother or the emperor."

Ye Zhikui was annoyed in his heart, you have never finished the demo, why insist on forcing brother to express his opinion, so he could only pretend to be stupid and asked curiously: "Aren't the emperor and the queen mother a family?

Kang Youwei was speechless for a while, and he couldn't openly provoke the relationship between the emperor and the queen mother.I had no choice but to take a step back and said: "General Ye can see clearly, but unfortunately you may not be able to help yourself then."

Ye Zhikui said unhurriedly: "The imperial court asked me to train the new army, which is always connected with the word 'new'."

Kang Youwei's eyes lit up, and he thought that Ye Zhikui was a comrade who could unite, but he was too timid to say it out loud, and he became enthusiastic again. Finally, Kang Youwei cheated Ye Zhikui with 1000 taels of silver to contribute to the reform cause. Cai Shi ran out of Ye Mansion.

After Kang Youwei left, Ye Zhikui came to his senses, secretly regretting that he didn't bring Jianren Shiwu with him today, otherwise he would never be fooled into taking money away.

Chapter 64 The Murder Caused by Steamed Buns

Ask friends to collect and recommend!There are almost 3 favorites, and I have to go to Sanjiang Pavilion to help cast a vote!

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In a small market in Heze, Shandong, when the two parties, the emperor and the queen, were fighting for power and profit in the capital, and both wanted to lead the reform.

Du San carefully put the two steamed buns that he had just returned from begging into his arms. This year, there was a severe drought in North China, and there was no harvest. The relief from the court was far from enough. Du San had to bring his two daughters to the town to beg, hoping to survive this winter.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! If you hurt our lord, can you pariahs afford to accompany you?" Du San looked up, and saw that there were two foreign priests from the town who were traveling, but three Chinese were opening the way ahead. Christians, these people are called "Ermaozi" by Shandong people.

Du San couldn't afford to offend these people, so he had to move aside, but it was such a coincidence that Du San didn't eat for more than a few days and his feet became weak, so he accidentally fell in front of that ermao. With a loud cry, there are really people who are not afraid of death and dare to block the road. These people used to be rogues.

When Er Maozi saw two steamed buns falling out of Du San's arms, one Er Maozi stepped forward and trampled the steamed buns to pieces, and the other two kicked Du San hard, yelling: "Dog!" Damn, I told you to block the way! I don’t want to kill you.”

The surrounding crowd looked at these bastards angrily, and the two foreign devils who were preaching at the back were afraid that the influence would be bad, so they stepped forward to stop them and said, "The Lord is merciful, you sinners, let the Lord forgive your sins. Amen!"

Du San was bleeding from the mouth, half lying on the ground, staring at the steamed buns that had been trampled into pieces, thinking of his two daughters who were waiting for him to go home, he gritted his teeth and crawled towards the steamed buns again. San ignored him, feeling slightly annoyed, and stood on top of the steamed bun and said, "Merciful Lord, forgive your believers. Those who believe in our Lord will have eternal life, and those who don't will fall into hell! Amen!"

Seeing this, Du San's heart was ashamed, he suddenly went crazy and screamed, picked up a stone from the ground, got up with all his strength, and rushed towards the foreign priest.

One of the foreign priests unhurriedly took out a musket from his body and shot Du San. Du San was shot and fell limp in a pool of blood. Er Maozi took the opportunity to yell at the surrounding crowd: "You untouchables who don't know what to do, don't take a pee to take care of yourself. Can you mess with us? Anyone who dares to block the way will end up like this."

Er Maozi's words were like adding oil to the fire, and instantly ignited the anger of the crowd. More than a hundred people had gathered around them. At first they didn't expect that the foreign devils would kill people in public. After they reacted, Du San was already in a pool of blood. He looked at the foreign priest angrily, and Er Maozi's remark exploded even more.

I don't know who took the lead, the crowd suddenly became agitated and rushed towards the foreign priest and the ermaozi. The expressions of the two foreign priests changed drastically, and they fired three or four shots. It was even more unbearable, and they had crouched on the ground with their heads in their hands, but the angry crowd would not let them go.

Not long after, two foreign priests and three Ermaozi died in Huangquan and were trampled to death by the crowd. The government was shocked when they received the news, and they could not help but arrest the perpetrators and report to the higher authorities.

The Manchu Qing government was incompetent externally, but internally they were good at internal affairs. They passed the investigation of gunshot wounds within half a day, arrested more than 20 ordinary people, and put them in prisons for interrogation one by one.

Among them was a burly man named Zhao Sanduo, who looked like a "violent" at first glance, so he was interrogated first!

Zhao Sanduo has practiced Plum Blossom Boxing, and he has developed a good kung fu, and he is not afraid of officials.

The officer asked, "What were you doing there?"

Zhao Sanduo replied: "Basking in the sun!"

The official asked again: "Then why did you go forward and kill that German foreign priest?"

Zhao Sanduo thought for a while and replied, "Because he blocked my sunlight!"

Nie Shicheng, the governor of Shandong Province, soon learned of the news. While quickly sending a telegram to the capital, he secretly made preparations, and asked the Heze county magistrate to release the arrested people first, so as not to cause civil uprisings. He was experienced and believed that Germany would not Let it go, and hastily dispatched troops and generals to make various preparations in case of accidents.

After the imperial court received Nie Shicheng's telegram in the capital, the Prime Minister's Office and the Military Aircraft Office instructed Nie Shicheng to catch the murderer and apologize to the German government, while communicating with the German embassy in China to try to start negotiations.

On the third day after the incident, Kaiser Wilhelm II received the news that Kaiser Wilhelm II was a little manic, conceited, and a sadist because of his childhood illness and burned his brain. Even the French foreign minister thought he had mental problems .

You can call him a monster, but you have to add the word "excellent" in front, he is an excellent monster, he has long dreamed of colonizing the East, at least since 1869, the Germans began to exploit Jiaozhou Bay In 1877, the famous German geogeologist Richthofen submitted the report "Shandong Geographical Environment and Mineral Resources" to the German government, emphasizing the superior geographical location of Jiaozhou Bay, and suggested building a port here.

After the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-], Kaiser Wilhelm II became the goal of seizing Qingdao, and he began to formulate an occupation plan.Although China won the war in the end, in the eyes of the conceited William II, China is a dwarf, Japan is a dwarf, and the dwarf defeated the dwarf. Does he, a giant, need to worry or be afraid?

The Heze incident made him ecstatic. After waiting for a long time, he finally waited until today. He clamored to take action against the Qing Dynasty immediately, and secretly ordered Admiral Tirpitz, the German fleet who was parked in Shanghai to tour: "The whole fleet will sail to Jiaozhou immediately and wait for the opportunity to occupy it." .”

But the gang of gentlemen in the capital of the Qing Dynasty were still making noise at this time, thinking about how to extinguish the anger of Germany. They never expected that the German fleet would go north secretly, and the Beiyang fleet was not prepared at all. Fifteen days later, the German fleet suddenly appeared in Jiaozhou. Zhang Gaoyuan, the commander-in-chief, did not dare to shoot. The German army occupied Jiaozhou without firing a single shot. Wilhelm II triumphantly renamed the occupied area to Qingdao.

When the news came, the Qing government was in an uproar. Nie Shicheng, governor of Shandong, insisted on going to war against Germany, dismissed Zhang Gaoyuan for non-resistance, and ordered all Huai training troops in Shandong to encircle Jiaozhou and prepare for a counterattack.

Cixi and Li Hongzhang were worried that their own army would lose to the German army, and they were also afraid that William II would be angry after the war, so they sent more troops to China, vacillating left and right, uncertain.

After the incident, Ye Zhikui, who was in Tianjin, ordered the Zhili Huailian Army to imprison the German instructors to prevent these people from becoming leading parties.

Ye Zhikui said in a letter: "I heard that the people in the countryside neither retreat nor run away when they encounter wolves, but wolves are afraid and dare not go forward. Western countries are like a pack of wolves. , It will definitely cause the wolves to peep, and the consequences will be unpredictable. The minister thinks that our Qing Dynasty should stand up and fight a limited and controllable local war. This will not only prevent the Germans from jumping over the wall in a hurry and expand the war, but also reflect our determination to resist the Qing Dynasty to Western countries. The minister is a young general, the queen mother and the emperor do not think that the minister is despicable, and he is promoted from the humble. I am so grateful, I am willing to serve the country with myself in this life, and I beg the Queen Mother and Your Majesty to drive the ministers to lead the new army into Lu.

Guangxu looked at it for a long time, and repeatedly covered the scroll and sighed to the left and right: "It's really a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty!"

Seeing that Ye Zhikui's analysis was simple and profound, Cixi asked Li Hongzhang and other military ministers to discuss it. Since the Japanese had just been defeated, the court officials still had some confidence, and it was not good for people to shout for war. Even the mature and prudent people would not say anything. be opposed to.In this way, the imperial court issued a decree to transfer Ye Zhikui's new army into Shandong to help eradicate the banditry. On the other hand, the Qing court did not declare war on Germany, but Nie Shicheng's army had already handed over the German army. That's how the war went undeclared.

Chapter 65 The Most Unbearable Favor from a Beauty (For Collection)

In Tianjin Ye Mansion, Ye Zhikui, who had received the imperial order, stood in front of the window, watching the rising sun on the horizon, illuminating the whole earth.

The butcher hurried in with a worried expression on his face, followed by a little Linglong with a calm expression.

"Congyun, why are you doing this? Our Wu Yi Army has just been established, and it is time to develop vigorously. We should accumulate strength! It is unwise to fight the enemy, let alone facing the most powerful country in the army, Germany." The butcher said as soon as he entered the door He blamed mercilessly.

Accumulate strength!Ye Zhikui repeated it in his heart, yes, maybe this is the best choice. Relying on his general grasp of history and his emphasis on talents in future generations, Ye Zhikui believes that as long as he concentrates on development, keeps a low profile and is more tactful, the world will eventually come to an end. There is a place for him.

But then what?Seeing the Western powers continue to ravage China, continue to suck blood from the Chinese nation, and then fatten themselves?