I can't die

The disarmament of the Hunan Army has now become a foregone conclusion. Soon, the Queen Mothers of the two palaces and the Military Aircraft Department issued orders on this, and even said that they were satisfied with Zeng Guofan's "knowledge".After all, in their eyes, Zeng Guofan is always a Han, and a Han with 20 troops in his hand is really not something that can reassure the nobles in the capital.

After cutting the main force of Zeng Guofan's Hunan army, the remaining spearheads must be aimed at the Huai army held by Li Hongzhang and the Chu army held by Zuo Zongtang.The Huai Army and the Chu Army are both troops under the Hunan Army in name, but the actual control is in the hands of Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang respectively. Of course, the number of these two armies is far smaller than Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army's main force.

Seng Gelinqin was very happy when he learned that Zai Chun and the empress dowagers of the two palaces had agreed to reduce the number of Hunan troops to 5. He hurriedly wrote a memorial, in which he said: Now Han officials hold heavy troops Since Zeng Guofan has cooperated with the Hunan Army to disarm the army, why not cut the Huai Army and the Chu Army in one go, so as to avoid future troubles.

When Zai Chun saw this memorial, he felt very uncertain.He was somewhat selfish in laying off the Hunan army before, because he was afraid that the generals of the Hunan army would mutiny, but now that the layoffs, many of Zaichun's original ideas had to be changed.First, it was absolutely impossible to use foreign troops at that time, because there was not enough troops. Second, what to do with the laid-off soldiers became another problem.

At this moment, another memorial was placed on Zai Chunhe's desk at the Military Aircraft Office. The person who delivered this memorial was Li Hongzhang, who is now the focus of civil and military attention in the Manchu Dynasty.Li Hongzhang's memorial is very long, and compared with Seng Gelinqin's memorial, it seems to have much more weight.Not only did he describe the current situation of the Huai Army in detail in the memorial, but he also wrote about his purchase of arms from Chard in detail.

The "Huai Army" is a Han Chinese army recruited by Li Hongzhang under the instructions of Zeng Guofan to organize and train the Huai Army. Because the soldiers and generals are mainly from the Jianghuai area of ​​Anhui, it is called the "Huai Army". Now there are 500 battalions in the Huai Army. The number sounds small, but its combat effectiveness is extremely strong.There are 120 people in each battalion of the Huai Army, and one battalion uses more than [-] guns and small guns. Each battalion is located outside the battalion, and the sentry officers do not have Western officers as "teachers" to train foreign exercises. It is an extremely modern army today.Moreover, because Li Hongzhang led his army to stay in Shanghai, he had many contacts with envoys from various countries and Western businessmen, and he was often able to update his weapons in the first place, so it is not an exaggeration to be known as the number one brave soldier in the Qing Dynasty.

Zaichun actually didn't know much about the fighting power of the Huai Army, because although he believed in Zeng Guofan and the fighting power of the Hunan Army, he was a newcomer who had just come into power. immortal.However, after he read Li Hongzhang's memorial, he somewhat understood the current military power of the Huai army.

"Li Lianying, go and call the minister of military aircraft and the queen mothers of the two palaces."

What Li Hongzhang played was too big for Zai Chun, and its far-reaching significance even surpassed the disarmament of the Hunan Army.He would never dare to make such a ruling by himself, so he had to work together.

Li Hongzhang's memorial could not be hidden from the empress dowagers of the two palaces and the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department. After reading this memorial, they also knew the seriousness of the matter and were also waiting for Zai Chun's reply.Hearing Zai Chun's invitation here, there is a feeling in my heart that this is already the case.

The empress dowagers of the two palaces and the ministers of military aircraft rushed to the West Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Cixi Ci'an walked behind the curtain, and the ministers of military aircraft greeted each other one by one.

"Zhilan, serve tea, Li Lianying, remove the curtain."

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Zai Chun smiled slightly.After finishing speaking, several court ladies served seven cups of tea on gilded copper trays.The blood-red agate cup was placed in front of the minister of military aircraft, and the pine flower jade cup was placed in front of the empress dowagers of the two palaces. The cups were filled with the southern Fujian oolong tea that Fujian governor Xu Zongqian newly paid tribute to this year.

Everyone looked at these exquisite cups, and then at Zai Chun, wondering in their hearts. Cixi Ci'an also felt strange at this time, why the emperor would suddenly ask someone to remove the curtain for no reason. "Listen to the government behind the curtain" and "Listen to the government behind the curtain", although it is said that women are in power, after all, the backbone of the two empresses' attachment is the emperor.

Zai Chun seemed to have seen everyone's thoughts, but he waved his hands: "Everyone here today is my own family, my own siblings, what do you want this curtain for, Er Niang, Uncle Huang, don't you think so?"

Cixi Ci'an murmured in her heart, and so did Prince Gong Yi, but the emperor had already said so, so she could only nod her head in agreement.

"I think everyone has read the memorial of Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang, right?"

"This is a major event, does the emperor have any regulations in mind?"

Cixi was delighted with her son's gesture of "removing the curtain", and took the lead in answering the conversation.

"It is precisely because there is no charter that I have to ask the two Erniangs and the ministers for advice."

Because of the previous disarmament of the Hunan Army, Zai Chun saw some benefits of Cixi's intervention in politics.After all, no one is perfect, and Zai Chun feels that no matter how good his brain is, his thinking in many aspects will still be imperfect.This is also the reason why the emperors of feudal empires have always made mistakes in arbitrariness.So since there are smart people who are willing to intervene, it is not useless to listen to opinions.However, no one expected that this meeting today laid the earliest foundation for the Qing Dynasty's deliberation and decentralization of power.

"I think it's better for the Huai army to stay still for the time being." Prince Gong took a sip of tea, and had already had some thoughts in his mind before coming: "Now that the Hunan army has been laid off, if we lay off the Huai army again, I'm afraid the world will say that I am The Qing Dynasty has no tolerance, and treats meritorious officials lightly. Besides, the Huai army has only a few thousand people, not even ten thousand, because there is no problem."

Prince Gong is the Chief Minister of Military Aircraft, and his meaning represents the Military Aircraft Department, and also represents all the noble relatives of the Qing Dynasty behind him.The empress dowagers of the two palaces also knew that what Prince Gong said was reasonable, but they were women, and they were trapped by the chaos of the Eight Ministers. Can you say no? Besides, it is also stated in the memorial that the Huai army's combat effectiveness is probably the best among all armies."

It was Ci'an who was speaking, and this mother-in-law was obviously a little frightened by Li Hongzhang's description of the army's combat effectiveness.

"Can Li Hongzhang still be trusted?"

It was Cixi who spoke at this time, obviously, she was asking Zai Chun.The Ministry of War is now held by Zai Chun, so it is most appropriate to ask Zai Chun.

When Zaichun heard the words, he thought about it: "It should be loyal."

"Now that Zeng Guofan is back in Beijing, since he is the Secretary of the Ministry of War, why don't we tell him not to go out?"

Cixi said again.When Zai Chun heard this, his eyes lit up.This Zeng Guofan was Li Hongzhang's teacher. Although he was not the direct controller of the Huai Army and the Chu Army, after all, the Huai Army belonged to the Hunan Army. If Zeng Guofan was in the capital, with his interference in the troops, he could control Li Hongzhang a little bit.

"Then how can the [-] troops of the Hunan Army be used?"

Prince Gong also felt that Cixi's suggestion was good, but if Zeng Guofan left, even if the Hunan Army was laid off, there would still be 5 people, and who would command it became another problem.

"If you don't want the army to be transferred to Shandong, Shandong is close to Tianjin and close to the capital, so Zeng Guofan can command one or two."

The one who came up with the idea was Guarjia Wenxiang, the minister of punishment.Wen Xiang also served in the military, so he knows a little bit about commanding the army.The location of Shandong Province is very good. On the one hand, Tianjin has Seng Gelinqin’s troops stationed at Dagukou as a buffer. Once the Hunan army mutinies, they can quickly send troops to suppress it. On the one hand, Shandong is not very far from the capital, just in front of Under the hood, it is easy to monitor.

"That's a good idea. Zeng Guofan is stationed in the capital, so that the troops on the front line along the coast of the capital will be greatly increased, and it will be much safer. Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang are stationed in the southeast, and these soldiers are enough."

Zai Chun nodded, agreeing very much.

"Then what about the munitions on the memorial? What do you think?"

The arms issue mentioned in Li Hongzhang's memorial is also a major issue.Zai Chunfu asked again.

"Since Zeng Guofan is in Beijing, it's okay to give up some power to Li Hongzhang. It's just about military expenses..."

Prince Gong hesitated to speak.

Hearing this, Zai Chun thought about his treasurer, and this time he made a decision: "Then I will smuggle the treasury."