The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 554: Sinister Hint

After a long while, Cixi asked somewhat unwillingly.

"My dear Yuan, according to what you said, Teng Xingfu's vanguard army has strict military discipline, which other domestic troops cannot achieve. Is that what you mean?"

As for other troops, can they do the same as the vanguard army, not only have high morale, but also be fearless of life and death and obey orders on the battlefield?

There is no doubt that it can be done, but it may require something other than money, and it may take more time.

Or, if the military law was stricter, they would be allowed to plunder at will after a victory, just like what Zeng Guofan did when he led the Hunan Army to suppress the Taiping Rebellion.

However, Yuan Shikai was not willing to give such a simple answer. He still had many things to say, and he was somewhat worried. This made Yuan Shikai undecided and conflicted.

After glancing at Yuan Shikai who was still struggling over how to answer, Tieliang saluted Cixi on horseback and said.

"Your Majesty, I do not agree with what Lord Yuan said."

"It's not just as Lord Yuan said. Without generous military pay, it's difficult to maintain strict military discipline in the army. When Zeng Wenzheng led the Xiang Army, he used strict military discipline to make the Xiang Army brave and good at fighting!"

"Therefore, I think that the old armies such as the Green Camp in China have been lax for a long time and it may be difficult to change. However, as long as the new armies implement strict military discipline from the beginning, they can also train soldiers with strict military discipline and bravery."

"Besides, with such high military pay and pensions for the vanguard army, how could Teng Xingfu raise so much money with the power of a province! How could he not understand this principle!"

"I think that Teng Xingfu had no choice but to do this during the war. Now that the war is over, the only option for the Vanguard Army is to dismiss most of its troops."

Although Tieliang had the lowest rank among the people currently following Cixi, he did not take Zai Yi and Yuan Shikai seriously except Ronglu who recommended him for promotion.

Moreover, with Empress Dowager Cixi, who had high hopes for him, by his side, Tie Liang did not flinch at all in the face of Zai Yi and Yuan Shikai. He was even quite disdainful of Yuan Shikai, who stood by and watched while commanding a powerful army like the Wuwei Right Army.

Tieliang had already refuted his words, so Yuan Shikai had no choice but to speak, and nodded quickly.

"Your Majesty, I also think what Lord Tie said is reasonable. The army has strict military discipline, but it is not impossible to enforce discipline like the vanguard. As long as the commander can intimidate his soldiers, he can also do the same as the vanguard. However..."

Yuan Shikai hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm afraid the morale is difficult to compare with the vanguard army."

Having said that, Yuan Shikai gritted his teeth and decided to put a trip up Teng Yuzao, regardless of the fact that Zai Yi was still there. He wanted to plant a seed of wariness and suspicion of him in Cixi's heart.

Since Yuan Shikai had made up his mind, he simply let go and started talking.

"As for what Lord Tie said, the Vanguard Army will inevitably have to dismiss most of its soldiers due to the huge and heavy military expenses. I have a different opinion."

Yuan Shikai's words made Cixi's eyebrows jump slightly. She wanted to say something, but her lips opened slightly and then closed again. She just stared at Yuan Shikai, waiting for his next words.

Ronglu and Zai Yi could not help but frown slightly, because they could guess that what Yuan Shikai was going to say next was most likely about Yikuang suing Teng Yuzao, but they had no way to stop it.

Ronglu knew very well that this matter could not be mentioned again, otherwise it would very likely cause a great chaos, which would be enough to determine whether the Qing Dynasty survived or Teng Xingfu died. Such a matter concerning the life and death of the Qing Dynasty could not be taken lightly and must be properly planned before taking action.

He and Cixi had reached a consensus on this point. Now that the war was over, they should make arrangements calmly and then gradually weaken Teng Xingfu's reputation and suppress him slowly to eliminate the hidden dangers.

In short, in Ronglu's view, the longer this process lasts, the more fully prepared the imperial court, which controls the power of the country, will be, and the more beneficial it will be to the imperial court.

The more hastily Teng Xingfu is touched upon, especially at a time when Teng Xingfu's reputation among the Chinese people is at its peak, the more disadvantageous it will be for the court.

If Yuan Shikai rashly stirs up trouble again at this time, he is obviously trying to fish in troubled waters. This makes Ronglu very worried that if he is not careful, Teng Yuzhao will be forced to become Cao Cao, or even learn from Zhao Kuangyin, which is entirely possible. Now the court has no way to stop Teng Yuzhao who has hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

As for Yuan Shikai, he is still far behind now. Only with time and with the deliberate support of the court, can he compete with Teng Yuzao.

Zai Yi and Ronglu had different ideas. Zai Yi was not as scheming as Ronglu. He was just worried that Yuan Shikai's nonsense would cause Cixi to have a grudge against Teng Yuzhao, which would inevitably affect him.

Yuan Shikai noticed the subtle changes in Cixi's expression and couldn't help feeling happy. However, he didn't care at all about Ronglu and Zai Yi's dissatisfaction and continued to speak carefully.

"I think Xingfu should still have a lot of silver in his hands, enough to sustain the vanguard army for another year or so."

Tie Liang firmly believed what Yikuang said, that Teng Yuzao condoned the Boxer looting and even the vanguard army itself participated in it, as well as recent rumors that the huge amount of public and private silver missing in Tianjin was directly related to Teng Yuzao.

But for some reason, Yikuang no longer mentioned this matter in public, and Cixi never mentioned it at all. This made Tieliang and other Manchus feel very unfair. Now that Yuan Shikai mentioned it, Tieliang was unwilling to let it go.

Tie Liang asked anxiously, "Master Yuan, are you saying that those incidents about the robbery of silver in Tianjin and Beijing are related to Teng Yuzao?"

Tieliang's words made Cixi and Ronglu's faces change color instantly. Ronglu even couldn't help but look around and glance at Zai Yi who also had a nervous expression.

Although the road outside Yongding Gate was not very wide, it was the main road outside the south gate of the capital after all, and was about 60 to 70 feet wide. As long as they didn't speak loudly on purpose, ordinary people would not be able to hear what they were saying.

Tie Liang's words made Yuan Shikai shudder, and he shook his hands and spoke anxiously.

"Master Tie is wrong, that is not what I meant."

Without waiting for Tieliang to continue asking, Yuan Shikai said in a firm tone, "Xingfu is a good general who saved the Qing Dynasty from danger. How could he do such a foolish thing!" Yuan Shikai's words made Cixi, Ronglu, and even Zai Yi secretly relieved, but they were more curious about how Yuan Shikai was going to throw dirty water on Teng Yuzhao.

Without giving Tieliang a chance to speak again, Yuan Shikai said hatefully.

"The great powers are used to calling themselves civilized nations, but they are actually a group of robbers who are greedy and cruel on the inside, murdering, setting fires and plundering. Wherever they go, they kill the people of the Qing Dynasty and rob the property of our officials and civilians. Their crimes are heinous."

"The amount of silver and other valuables they looted from the Qing Dynasty is probably in the billions."

"It is said that the silver in Dongjuzi and various government offices in Tianjin that had not been transported away amounted to more than 10 million taels, all of which were robbed by the foreigners. The property carried by each of these foreign soldiers is probably worth hundreds of taels."

"If they had looted gold, silver, jewelry, valuable calligraphy and paintings, or even banknotes, the amount would have been even greater. Xingfu won every battle, and the total amount of his captures from the foreign coalition far exceeded 700,000 or 800,000. How could he just ignore the property of these foreigners? He would naturally confiscate it and keep it for military use."

"Also, the Boxers invaded the concession at that time. I heard that all the foreign companies and banks in the concession were looted by the Boxers. I also heard that Xingfu's battalion was even the first to invade the concession."

"The vanguard troops may not be willing to watch the Boxers take away all the money and property in the foreign companies and banks. Maybe..."

"So, I think that the amount of silver in Xingfu's hands is probably very huge, and it will not be a problem to support him for another year. By then, the factories established by Xingfu in Zhili will have output."

Yuan Shikai added, "I heard that Xingfu has several factories in Shanghai, and each of them is making a fortune every day."

Yuan Shikai did not say that Teng Yuzao and his vanguard troops were involved in the looting of huge amounts of silver in Tianjin and the capital, but rather that he seized it from foreigners. At most, he implied that Teng Yuzao might have been involved in the robbery of foreign companies and banks in the concession. Such accusations were of no concern to Teng Yuzao at all.

But Yuan Shikai's next words were the most insidious.

Yuan Shikai's words made Zai Yi shocked and angry. Although Yuan Shikai did not say that Teng Yuzao's vanguard troops looted public and private property, and did not even mention the loss of property by the princes, nobles and wealthy families in the capital, he pushed all the blame on the foreigners, seemingly clearing Teng Yuzao of all this, but his intentions were extremely sinister.

Naturally, Teng Yuzhao did not need to return the property he seized from foreigners. Since ancient times, generals who fought abroad did not hand over the seized gold and silver. Even if Yuan Shikai hinted that Teng Yuzhao was also involved in the robbery of foreign companies and banks in the concession, it was not a big deal.

When two armies are at war, doing some shady things in secret is not a big deal, not to mention that those foreign companies and banks are all owned by foreigners.

But the most hateful thing is that Yuan Shikai was implicitly telling Cixi that Teng Yuzhao was now and would be rich enough to rival a country. How could this not make Cixi wary?

You know, the court's annual revenue is only about 80 to 90 million taels. Now, if we have to pay the taxes in Zhili and Shandong, as well as the income from the three Beiyang customs, it is estimated that there will be a shortage of tens of millions of taels of silver. It would be good enough to have an annual revenue of 80 million taels.

However, Teng Yuzhao might have hidden over 100 million taels of silver in his hands.

After Yuan Shikai finished speaking, Ronglu felt a shock in his heart. He was very worried that Cixi would say something inappropriate at this time, so he hurriedly spoke.

"Empress Dowager, I think Teng Xingfu had his reasons for giving the Vanguard Army generous pay. He had no choice but to do so because he thought that the Vanguard Army would have to fight the foreigners immediately after its formation. If he wanted to quickly enforce discipline in the army, he could only use both soft and hard tactics, using strict military law to discipline them while giving them high pay and pensions to win over the army's hearts."

"Teng Xingfu did a very good job of using generous military pay and pensions to boost morale and strict military discipline to discipline the troops."

"As far as I know, the discipline of the Vanguard Army is no less strict than that of the former Hunan Army. The Vanguard Army also has collective punishment, but it is not as cruel as that of the Hunan Army."

"Besides, the Hunan Army's military pay was higher than that of the Green Camp, and it is an indisputable fact that the Hunan Army looted and even burned and killed people."

"So, I think that Teng Xingfu will take care of the military pay for his vanguard troops, and the court does not need to worry about it. However, the military pay for the new troops we are training should still be slightly higher."

"As for the source of the new army's military expenditure, first, local supplements, and second, the green camps in various places must be resolutely disbanded. The saved military expenditure can be fully used in the new army, and the required military expenditure does not need to be increased too much."

Seeing Ronglu change the subject in time, Zai Yi secretly glanced at Yuan Shikai, only to see that Yuan Shikai didn't seem to have any thoughts and nodded repeatedly at Ronglu's words, and there was no extra expression on Cixi's face, which made Zai Yi feel relieved.

Several people spoke up, and Zai Yi had to come up with some solutions, otherwise his life as the Prime Minister would be difficult in the future, so he hurriedly spoke up.

"Empress Dowager, I agree with Lord Rong. Teng Xingfu had to accept generous and generous salaries for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, and he had his reasons."

"As for the military funding for the new army, in addition to resolutely dismissing the useless Green Camp soldiers and saving the military funds for the new army, I have another suggestion."

Zai Yi said solemnly, "Looking at the great powers, all of them regard their currency as the foundation of their country. Our Qing Dynasty can also follow suit and should no longer place the right to mint coins in the hands of local governments."

"Therefore, I suggest that the right to mint coins in all provinces except Zhili be returned to the court, and the Ministry of Revenue should establish a mint to uniformly mint silver coins for issuance. The large amount of money spent on coinage can also be used to supplement the military expenses of the new army."

Cixi thought for a moment and said, "Prince Duan's words make sense. I agree. This matter can also be included as a new policy. We will come up with the regulations as soon as possible in the name of the Government Affairs Supervision Office."

Cixi turned to Tieliang and said, "Baochen, I also think what Zhonghua said is very reasonable. When training and managing the army, we cannot just use force. We need to use both soft and hard methods. This is the proper way to serve the country."

Tieliang also knew that he just wanted to refute Yuan Shikai and that his thinking was a bit simple, so he quickly nodded in agreement.

Cixi looked at Yuan Shikai again and said, "My dear Yuan, we have already made the first point clear. As for the second point, Teng Xingfu is good at identifying people and employing them. There is no need to say more. Teng Xingfu is good at identifying people and employing them. I am also well aware of Teng Xingfu's methods and abilities."

Cixi leaned back slightly to make herself more comfortable and continued.

"When he first started his army, he had only a few thousand soldiers and few generals, but he was able to support hundreds of thousands of vanguard troops with just the hundred or so students from the Beiyang Military Academy. Those students who had not yet graduated also became capable generals under his training."

(End of this chapter)