The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 557: Making Wedding Dress for Yuan Shikai
Cixi suddenly asked Yuan Shikai to recommend talents, which made Yuan Shikai overjoyed.

Following past practice, the court would never appoint Han people to head various departments as long as there were Manchus who were capable of doing the job. The task of preparing the police department was assigned to Tie Liang, a genuine Manchu of the Bordered White Banner.

But nowadays, there are very few Manchu talents available in the court, and the talent pool is dwindling, so those who are capable have to work harder.

For example, Tie Liang in front of him, not only served as the Minister of War and the General Manager of the Preparatory Office of the Ministry of the Army, but Cixi had just appointed him as the General Manager of the Baoding Military Academy, and he also had to help Chen Kuilong set up a new army in Shuntian Prefecture.

Judging from what Cixi said, it was obvious that she wanted Tieliang to take control of the new army in Shuntian Prefecture in the hands of the Manchus and make it the most trustworthy backbone force of the court.

Although it is still called the Preparatory Office of the Ministry of the Army, everyone knows that the establishment of the Ministry of the Army is only a matter of time. Although the Preparatory Office of the Ministry of the Army is only in charge of the formation of the new army at this time, no one can tell to what extent its power will be expanded in the future except Cixi.

If it follows the practices of other countries, it will at least be responsible for the allocation of equipment, training and military expenditures for the new army, and even the appointment of officers. At the very least, a case must be filed with the Army Ministry, and it may also assume some of the functions of the General Staff.

How could Cixi, who had just suffered enough from not having troops she could absolutely trust, hand over the personnel appointments of such an important department to others?

As for the military academy, Cixi took advantage of the situation to seize the team of Teng Yuzao's Beiyang Wubei Academy. She would never again hand over this key point of training military talents to others, and would definitely hold on to power firmly.
You know, the so-called new army does not just have new weapons and equipment and adopt Western training methods. The most important thing is to have officers who understand new tactics to lead troops at all levels. This is also what Cixi could not let go of.

The new army in Shuntian Prefecture was Cixi's strong backing. Cixi would pay more attention to it, guard it carefully, and would not allow anyone to interfere.

It should be because Cixi had just seen the patrolmen managed by the Patrol Department, which was equivalent to the functions of the Shuntian Prefecture's soldiers and part of the Beijing's infantry command office, with only a short wooden root in their hands as a weapon. She felt greatly relieved and was not worried that these unarmed patrolmen would be used by others. That's why she asked Tieliang to give up the power of this department.

However, Yuan Shikai's views on this patrol police department were very different from those of Cixi.

Yuan Shikai believed that this patrol police department would be the future domestic police department. Whoever controlled this position would, to a certain extent, control the paramilitary force of the police in various provinces in the future. Moreover, he, Yuan Shikai, would also have his own people in the court in the new policies that were about to be implemented.

Yuan Shikai said hurriedly, "Empress Dowager, I know someone who is very suitable for this position."

Seeing that Cixi was waiting for his next words, he hurriedly continued.

"Empress Dowager, the man I recommend is called Zhao Bingjun, but he is not my man. He is currently serving in Zhili."

Yuan Shikai went on to say, "This man followed Zuo Jigao in his early years and served in the Chu army. He also participated in the suppression of the Yakub Beg Rebellion in Xinjiang and the recovery of Yili. He also participated in the survey and negotiation of the Sino-Russian border. Later, he was appointed as the prefect of Xinle County. During this period, he specialized in detective police and was good at arresting people. He was highly valued by Li Zhongtang."

"When I was training troops in Xiaozhan, he had briefly stayed with me there. After I went to Shandong, he stayed in Zhili. Since he is quite capable, I recommend him to stay in Zhili as the governor."

Cixi nodded and said, "Since he has been favored by Li Zhongtang and recommended by you, he must be very talented."

Cixi turned to Zai Yi and said, "Prince Duan, please let the Military Affairs Council make the arrangements. Let Zhao Bingjun try out the position of assistant director in the Police Department first. After a period of time, if he is indeed suitable, then officially appoint him as the general manager."

After escorting Cixi back to Luan, Teng Yuzhao did not rush back to Tianjin immediately. Although there were still many things waiting for him to deal with in Tianjin, he had to wait until the next day to return to Tianjin.

Because when escorting Cixi into the Forbidden City, Cixi summoned a simple court meeting with the emperor and a group of ministers in the capital, and Cixi not only formally announced that she would implement new policy reforms.

Cixi also specifically told Teng Yuzhao, who was leaving, that since the matter involved the railways and the restoration of Zhili and Shuntian Prefectures as soon as possible, Teng Yuzhao, the Beiyang Minister, would need to work harder. She had appointed Prince Duan Zai Yi to discuss with Teng Yuzhao and asked him to stay one more night.

In addition, Teng Yuzhao also had some private matters to attend to, such as visiting Ronglu and Sun Jianai.

Teng Yuzhao did not expect Ronglu, his old superior, to give him much help in matters concerning the interests of the court and the Manchus, but as the "fake Teng Yuzhao", he still had to go and visit him, otherwise he would be criticized for being ungrateful.

Since Ronglu's home was also looted by the Boxers, although Ronglu's main property, such as gold, silver and jewelry, had long been transferred out, he still lost more than two million taels of silver. Teng Yuzhao naturally could not go to visit him empty-handed, and brought a Dadeheng silver note of ten thousand taels to give to Ronglu as a fund for settling down.

Teng Yuzhao not only gave silver notes to Ronglu, he also planned to give silver notes to the culprits in Beijing.

Perhaps because Teng Yuzhao never forgot his old boss, Ronglu repeatedly reminded Teng Yuzhao not to be rash in doing things and to take the court and the empress dowager's reputation into consideration in many matters.

Then he began to ask Teng Yuzhao about the plan to take over the Lu-Han Railway and the construction of Tianjin New City, including Teng Yuzhao's plan to build the Jinpu Railway.

Teng Yuzhao told Ronglu his plan in general terms, but even this reserved description still shocked Ronglu greatly.

Especially regarding the Jinpu Railway, Teng Yuzhao told Ronglu that it was impossible for the Beiyang Fleet to reach the strength to compete with the Japanese Navy within ten years. It was not just a matter of money, but also the time it took for the country to manufacture the purchased warships. Moreover, as time went on, the manufacturing cost of warships would definitely increase significantly.

Once war breaks out with Japan again, the Beiyang Fleet can only threaten the enemy's transport ships, but poses no threat to the Japanese fleet. Therefore, sea transportation in Zhili, Jingji, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions will be completely cut off.

However, due to the increasingly serious siltation of the Grand Canal and low transportation efficiency, it can no longer meet the needs of the capital area, so it is extremely urgent to build a more efficient and larger capacity railway.

Of course, Teng Yuzao also told Ronglu that the Jinpu Railway would be the key to whether the products produced by Zhili's Westernization Agency could be sold in a timely manner.

Although Ronglu was also concerned about Teng Yuzao's needs in promoting Westernization, what he was most concerned about was, of course, the issue of transportation between the north and the south.

At this time, the material transportation between the capital area and the south of the Yangtze River was mainly in the form of grain. The capital needed to transfer large quantities of rice and flour from the south every year, not only to meet the needs of the capital's nearly one million people, but also to stabilize prices. This also required the transfer of grain from the south to the capital, otherwise the grain prices in the capital would soar.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has been suffering from siltation for many years, and dredging has been carried out in sections frequently, but the problem has never been solved.

However, if we want to completely solve the problem of siltation, the amount of engineering required is enormous, and it has not been eradicated to this day. The food supply in the Gyeonggi region must not be hindered.

Therefore, Ronglu immediately asked Teng Yuzhao to come up with the construction plan of the Jinpu Railway as soon as possible, and he would submit it to Cixi personally.

Teng Yuzao went to see the new Minister of Education, Sun Jianai. He had so many thoughts before he went to see Ronglu. Teng Yuzao's purpose of meeting Sun Jianai was very simple, that is, he wanted to exchange experiences with Sun Jianai on running new schools. Of course, Teng Yuzao also brought a silver note of 1,000 taels of silver to Sun Jianai.

The silver note given to Sun Jianai was only one thousand taels. It was not that Teng Yuzhao could not come up with much silver, although Teng Yuzhao was also in urgent need of silver, and the more the better. However, if Sun Jianai could quickly promote the new learning in the country, he would be willing to pay Sun Jianai a salary.

But at this time, Teng Yuzao did not want to, and even could not, give a large amount of silver to Sun Jianai, as doing so might backfire.

The communication with Sun Jianai was very smooth. Sun Jianai was very grateful to Teng Yuzao for recommending him. The two of them could also reach an agreement on the new school. In particular, Teng Yuzao had a complete set of methods that were in line with national conditions on how to run the new school, which made Sun Jianai very interested.

Finally, the two agreed that the systematic management of the new school should be piloted in Zhili first, and then a detailed and feasible success plan should be summarized before promoting it nationwide. This would be more convincing and would also reduce the resistance to the implementation of the new school.

Teng Yuzhao's residence in the capital was a temporary rented villa from a wealthy businessman, near You'anmen in the southwest of the outer city.

This was rented for Teng Yuzhao by Li Yaoting, who had been assisting Tie Liang and Xue Qian in setting up the Police Department and Shuntian Prefecture Patrol Office in the capital. The camp brought by Teng Yuzhao camped in a rented house nearby.

Li Yaoting's security offices have bases in both the inner and outer cities, including several mansions, but those places are kept strictly confidential, and Teng Yuzhao does not allow Li Yaoting to set up his residence there.

In the capital, Teng Yuzhao needed a public place to stay that could serve as his residence as the Beiyang Minister and Governor-General of Zhili.

However, such a mansion is not easy to find. Not only does it need to have a certain area and relatively luxurious decoration to reflect Teng Yuzhao's status, but it must also meet the security issues. For the time being, this matter has to be handed over to Li Yaoting.

It was not until after eight o'clock in the evening that Zai Yi hurried over, led by the people Liu Ziwei had sent to wait for him. The exhausted Zai Yi was almost supported in by Teng Yuzhao's personal guards.

As soon as he entered Teng Yuzao's living room, Zai Yi urged Teng Yuzao to prepare meals for him.

It turned out that Zai Yi had not had lunch since he sent Cixi back to the palace.

Cixi announced that the edict on the new policy reforms would be officially announced tomorrow. Even the edict had already been agreed upon. Before the official release, Cixi naturally needed to go through the motions, or to give those stubborn old ministers a heads-up in advance, so as to avoid criticism and complaints from these people after the announcement.

Zai Yi spent most of his time after returning to Beijing working on this matter with the people from the Grand Council.

The new policy was criticized by many princes and nobles, but Zai Yi did not care. Not only did he personally support the reform of the government, but also because it was decided by Cixi herself and he had not heard any rumors beforehand.

After a heated debate with these nobles, he helped the people in the Grand Council solve their housing problem.

The residences of Zhao Shuqiao, Yingnian, and several other "culprits" including his Prince Duan's Mansion were burned down by the coalition forces, and these people were temporarily homeless.

Only after finishing all this did Zai Yi hurriedly come to see Teng Yuzhao under the guidance of the people sent by Teng Yuzhao.

This was just Teng Yuzao's temporary residence. He had planned to set up a banquet tonight and wait for Zai Yi, but Zai Yi did not arrive for a long time. Teng Yuzao had to eat alone with Yang Shiqi. Naturally, they could not bring their leftovers to Zai Yi when he came, so they had to ask someone to run to a nearby restaurant to order some food for Zai Yi.

Then, he arranged for someone to quickly prepare ginseng soup for Zai Yi.

Zai Yi was indeed extremely hungry. Except for the wine, he did not touch the other dishes in a short while. Then he drank a bowl of hot ginseng soup. Only then did Zai Yi contentedly follow Teng Yuzhao and Yang Shiqi to the secret room inside. They made some tea and waited for Zai Yi to speak.

Not until then did Zai Yi muster up the strength to begin to indignantly recount to Teng Yuzhao everything about Cixi's arrangements on the way back to Luan today, as well as the performances of Ronglu, Yuan Shikai and Tieliang.

After Zai Yi finished speaking, Yang Shiqi frowned and leaned back in his chair, thinking.

Teng Yuzao, who had been pacing on the ground without saying a word while Zai Yi was talking, had a calm expression and even the speed of his pace did not change at all.

After a while, Zai Yi finally couldn't help but speak.

"The Queen Mother has really gone too far this time. Her intention to use Yuan Shikai to check and balance you has become increasingly obvious. She has no longer tried to hide it. Especially since she has temporarily replaced the Ministry of War with the Preparatory Office, this has blocked Xu Shichang's path to advancement."

"This time, not only did Yuan Shikai expand the army by two towns, he even wanted to take the Beiyang Military Academy away from you. Your petition to establish a police department was not only discounted, but you even helped Yuan Shikai."

"What's worse, he is still greedy and has his eyes on the money in your hand. This is really intolerable."

Teng Yuzao suddenly stopped and said to Yang Shiqi with a smile.

"Xingcheng, take out the silver I asked you to give to Prince Duan and give it to Prince Duan now."

Teng Yuzao's words made Yang Shiqi slap his forehead and smile.

"Marshal, I was just thinking about the meaning of the Queen Mother's move today, and forgot about the silver you prepared."

As Yang Shixiang spoke, he took out a stack of silver bills from his pocket and placed them on the coffee table in front of Zai Yi.

Zai Yi was stunned for a moment, then said with a wry smile.

"Xingfu, you not only saved my life, but also saved my eldest prince from harm. I, Zai Yi, will always remember this kindness. There is no need for us to talk money between us."

"Besides, you have expanded your business so much, you probably don't have a lot of money on hand."

(End of this chapter)