The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 502: An Open and Honest Conspiracy

Cixi should have been moved by the memorial she submitted, but she was still a little worried that if she negotiated with the foreigners according to the conditions proposed by Teng Yuzhao, it might anger the foreigners and thus stop the peace talks.

To be on the safe side, Cixi hoped that these conditions should be put forward by Teng Yuzhao first to test the foreigners' reaction.

If the foreigners reacted violently or even continued to increase their troops, she could completely put the blame on Teng Yuzao, saying that it was Teng Yuzao who acted on his own and manipulated public opinion to force the court to act against its will.

These were not the court's original intention, and it continued to negotiate peace with the foreigners.

Teng Yuzhao even believed that if the vanguard army was defeated or even suffered minor losses, Cixi might take the opportunity to take further measures against him, Teng Yuzhao, and it was possible that he would be punished.

In short, if Teng Yuzhao followed the meaning of Cixi's telegram and made his suggestions public in the newspapers, he would be responsible for any consequences.

Li Hongzhang showed him Cixi's telegram, and his purpose was obvious.

Li Hongzhang definitely saw through Cixi's intention, and he also thought that this was unfair to Teng Yuzhao. Li Hongzhang even found it difficult to persuade Teng Yuzhao to do something that he himself was unwilling to do.

As the saying goes, don't do to others what you don't want others do to you. It was unfair to persuade Teng Yuzhao to do so.

It was with this mentality that Li Hongzhang finally decided to show Cixi's secret telegram to Teng Yuzhao and let Teng Yuzhao make his own decision.

Li Hongzhang had no choice but to do so.

Since he couldn't persuade Teng Yuzao, and he couldn't do this on Teng Yuzao's behalf, and even because of his identity, he couldn't even jointly issue the proposed terms in this memorial with Teng Yuzao, then he had no choice but to resort to this last resort.

After handing the telegram to Wei Jinghai, Teng Yuzhao looked at Yang Shixiang.

"Lian Mansion, does Li Zhongtang have anything else to say?"

Yang Shixiang smiled bitterly and said, "Li Zhongtang only asked me to tell the Marshal that he was old and he envied Zhang Xiangtao's boldness and courage to act freely. That was all he said."

"Oh."

Yang Shixiang suddenly remembered with some annoyance that because this matter had been lingering in his mind, he had actually forgotten an important thing.

"Oh, Marshal, there is one more important thing. I heard from Li Zhongtang that the court wants to reform government affairs in the same way as the West. They want to reorganize the reform and set up a government affairs supervision office to promote the reform."

"The Empress Dowager consulted Li Zhongtang and proposed to appoint Yixin, Li Hongzhang, Ronglu, Kungang, Wang Wenshao, Lu Chuanlin, and Qu Hongyi as ministers in charge of government affairs, and Liu Kunyi, the governor-general of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor-general of Huguang, and the Marshal and Yuan Weiting as participants to oversee all matters of the "New Deal."

“The Administrative Affairs Office consists of two supervisors and several secretaries, who are responsible for formulating various measures for the “New Deal” and managing memorials from various places and the implementation of the “New Deal”, such as rectifying ministry affairs, eliminating clerks, revising the military system and salary regulations, planning to build schools, opening special economic departments, and making changes to the imperial examination system.”

"But there are two things that are set in stone. One is to establish a Ministry of Foreign Affairs that specializes in diplomacy. The other is to establish a Ministry of Army. It will be responsible for the military forces of all provinces except the navy. It will coordinate the training of the new army, the distribution of pay and weapons, and the deployment of troops."

Teng Yuzhao had some impression of the "Government Affairs Supervision Office". He remembered that the only local officials who had not yet resigned from the post of Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi were Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi. Yuan Shikai was not among them. He was included in the remote governors-general the next year.

Teng Yuzhao estimated that this was probably because he was included in the picture, so in order to maintain balance, he brought Yuan Shikai in early.

The New Deal was necessary. The invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance should have made the conservatives headed by Empress Dowager Cixi completely sober. The idea of ​​establishing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs that specializes in diplomacy was already there in history, and the Ministry of the Army seemed to have to wait a little longer.

Teng Yuzhao remembered that although Li Hongzhang had long ago proposed the idea of ​​establishing a Ministry of the Army, and even envisioned the establishment of 36 new-style armies across the country, this matter had always been suppressed by the court and nothing had happened.

Teng Yuzhao was a little surprised that not only had it been brought up again, but it would also be processed quickly.

Could it be that Cixi is now considering taking over the military power to take advantage of his power over the vanguard army? Or is she trying to use this to check and balance him?

However, Teng Yuzhao was not in the mood to think about these things carefully for the time being. The most important thing at the moment was how to deal with Cixi's calculations against him.

While Yang Shixiang was speaking, Wei Jinghai had already finished reading the secret message. He angrily slammed the message on the coffee table and said angrily.

"The Marshal has devoted himself to the country and the people, but the court is still plotting against him. It would be better to just do it."

The angry Wei Jinghai finally held back the words of "disobedience" that were about to come out of his mouth and said, "This is really chilling!"

Xu Shichang glanced at Wei Jinghai, then looked at Teng Yuzhao's reaction worriedly, and then said.

"Marshal, the foreign invaders are still here. We must not ruin the overall situation because of our anger and grievances!"

In response to Xu Shichang's worries, Teng Yuzao gently waved his hand.

"Don't worry, Ju Ren. Even if Teng has been wronged, he will not ignore the overall situation."

Xu Shichang sighed and said, "Marshal, the Queen Mother's action is indeed inappropriate. This action is not just about what the foreigners will do. If you publish the contents of this memorial in the newspaper, you will probably be branded as someone who disrespects the court and is arrogant and domineering, which will be detrimental to your reputation."

What Xu Shichang said does have such a risk. If he does that, the notoriety of being "domineering" may even become his crime in the future, and Teng Yuzhao will definitely bear the consequences.

Yang Shixiang suddenly said, "Marshal, I have been thinking about this on the way. If you are unwilling to change your original intention, can you contact Xiang Marshal? Given Xiang Marshal's personality, he will most likely be willing to publish jointly with you."

"If Marshal Xiang signs the petition, then we don't have to say anything. If Marshal Da and Marshal Xiang are jointly responsible, with Marshal Xiang's reputation in the government and the opposition, more people will stand up and speak a fair word for Marshal Da."

Teng Yuzhao pondered for a moment, and suddenly an idea came to his mind. If that was the case, why not go with the flow and come up with an open conspiracy.

Teng Yuzhao had made up his mind, but his tone of voice became calmer.

“Wherever the Tao exists, I will go even if there are tens of thousands of people!”

"Don't let Xiang Shuai take any more responsibility for this matter. Since I proposed it myself, I will take the responsibility alone. What do you think?"

Teng Yuzhao's tone was calm but firm.

Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang both felt that although Teng Yuzao was openly asking them, they both knew that Teng Yuzao's decision could not be changed.
(End of this chapter)