The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 632 Yuan Shikai's Feelings
What Teng Yuzhao didn't know was that Wang Shizhen, whom he compared to Li Yulin in his mind, was currently sitting in the flower hall of Yuan Shikai's official residence in the capital in a neatly dressed military uniform, sipping his tea slowly while staring at Yuan Shikai, who was wandering around a few steps away, in a daze.

Although the garrison of the Wuwei Right Army was moved from a small station when it was first established to Shandong, and then from Shandong to Henan, and even its number was changed from Wuwei Right Army to Yu Army, and now it is incorporated into the Shuntian Army which is equivalent to the Imperial Guards, the style and color of the military uniforms have not been changed, and they are still the original gray uniforms of the Wuwei Right Army.

Tie Liang was determined to take control of all the new troops in the country, but he indeed overlooked the issue of military uniforms. At this time, the styles and colors of the uniforms of the new troops in various provinces in the country were almost the same, which made the new troops in each province subconsciously believe that all non-provincial troops, including the Shuntian Army, were foreign troops.

Of course, this foreign army does not refer to foreign countries, it is only compared with one's own army.

In order to truly integrate the new domestic army and have a common sense of belonging, unified military uniforms are actually very important. Even if it is not a decisive factor, it is also a very important factor.

Wang Shizhen, whose courtesy name is Pinqing and pseudonym is Guanru, is in his early forties and appears a little thin.

Not only did Wang Shizhen, Teng Yuzao, Duan Qirui, Feng Guozhang and others all graduate from the Beiyang Military Academy, they were also in the first term. However, there was a big difference in their ages. Wang Shizhen was not only seven or eight years older than Teng Yuzao, but also four years older than Duan Qirui. Among them, the oldest was Feng Guozhang, who was already 45 years old this year.

The reason why there is a big age difference among students of the same period is that not all students of the Beiyang Military Academy were admitted through examinations. Especially in the first few classes, they were all recommended by various domestic armies and could only be officially enrolled after passing the admission examination.

Teng Yuzhao also asked someone to temporarily enroll him in the Huai Army, and was then recommended to enter the Military Academy.

Therefore, the age gap between students in previous classes was particularly large.

This is also the reason why Teng Yuzhao, the predecessor, had almost no friends among his classmates at the Beiyang Military Academy.

Wang Shizhen was also very famous among the former Beiyang generals. Historically, he was known as the Beiyang Dragon, ranking before the Tiger Dogs of Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang.

In the original history, although Wang Shizhen was not a person with a close relationship with Yuan Shikai, nor was he Yuan Shikai's favorite person, he was definitely a person that Yuan Shikai respected and trusted.

The reason is very simple. Wang Shizhen was indifferent to fame and wealth and did not fight for power or profit. Therefore, he always enjoyed the trust of Yuan Shikai. He held important military and political positions, including Minister of the Army, Chief of the General Staff, and Prime Minister of the Beiyang Government.

Yesterday, Wang Shizhen received the order to downsize and reorganize from the Ministry of the Army and a telegram from Yuan Shikai almost at the same time.

Although Yuan Shikai is no longer the governor of Henan Province, nor does he work in the Ministry of Army, the six regiments of the Henan Army were established by Yuan Shikai himself, and the senior officers of these six regiments were also promoted by him. Most people are still very grateful to Yuan Shikai for his recognition and will never forget him for a moment.

These town commanders all believed that Yuan Shikai was still their superior and their backbone, and Wang Shizhen was one of them.

Wang Shizhen was not only the former chief of staff of the Henan Army, he also served as the commander of the former Sixth Regiment of the Henan Army, which is now the commander of the Tenth Regiment of the Shuntian Army. The four regiments of the former Henan Army stationed in Henan were all willing to obey his coordination.

Now, although Yuan Shikai is no longer in office, he can still influence the six former Henan Army towns to a certain extent. Even some generals still obey Yuan Shikai's orders, and Yuan Shikai has been secretly controlling them remotely.

Wang Shizhen rushed to the capital from Luoyang this morning. In fact, he came here specifically to see Yuan Shikai to ask for instructions, but in order to avoid suspicion, he first pretended to go to the Ministry of the Army to understand the specific matters of downsizing and reorganization, and then turned to Yuan Shikai, waiting for Yuan Shikai to give him instructions in person.

This time he came to the capital to meet Yuan Shikai, not only because he received a telegram from Yuan Shikai asking him to come to the capital for a meeting, but also because he was entrusted by the commanders of the other three towns in Henan to ask Yuan Shikai for instructions on the next strategy. This downsizing made them all a little confused.

Although the number of soldiers in each of Yuan Shikai's four towns in Henan was not as terrifying as Teng Yuzhao's direct army, it was still over 20,000. Seeing that they were about to drive away their well-trained soldiers, how could the town commanders not be heartbroken?

Unexpectedly, after meeting Yuan Shikai, Yuan Shikai did not rush to tell him anything, but just asked him to be patient and said that he was waiting for news and he could make a decision only after the news was confirmed.

Then, Wang Shizhen just sat here, sipping tea and watching Yuan Shikai walking around in the flower hall.

The flower hall of Yuan Shikai's official residence in the capital is full of greenery and the furnishings and layout are extremely exquisite.

Because Yuan Shikai was a little fat and was particularly afraid of heat in summer, he would spend a long time in the flower hall in summer. Therefore, he attached great importance to the flower hall in his official residence and had to personally review and approve the layout.

Although there were ice basins emitting a slight cool air in the four corners of the flower hall, Yuan Shikai, who was a little fat and had a slightly frowned brow, was wearing a loose and cool white poplin suit with his collar open, but he still held a folding fan in his right hand and fanned himself constantly, while using a handkerchief in his left hand to wipe the sweat that kept oozing out of his head.

At this moment, he was pacing slowly in the flower hall paved with blue bricks.

In the flower hall, besides him and Wang Shizhen, there was also a middle-aged man who was also sipping tea.

This middle-aged man was wearing a white suit and had a round face with two neatly trimmed moustaches. His name was Liang Shiyi.

Liang Shiyi is slightly younger than Wang Shizhen. He is only 35 years old this year and is from Sanshui, Guangdong.

Liang Shiyi, whose courtesy name was Yifu and whose pseudonym was Yansun, studied with his father when he was young. At the age of sixteen, he studied at Qingyun Academy in Guangzhou and was a classmate of Liang Qichao.

Liang Shiyi was a Jinshi in the 20th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, and was appointed editor of the Hanlin Academy the following year.

However, despite being a Jinshi and a Hanlin, his official career was extremely unsuccessful. For unknown reasons, not long after he took up the post of editor, he took leave and returned south to start teaching at Fenggang Academy in his hometown.

Perhaps he could not stand the loneliness, so three years later he returned to the capital to serve as an assistant editor at the National History Museum. When the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, Liang Shiyi did not follow Cixi on her hunt to the west, but chose to return home and continue teaching at Fenggang Academy.

Because he had read a wide range of books on foreign finance, water conservancy, transportation, etc., and admired the study of current economics, Liang Shiyi, despite his status as a Hanlin, actually took the imperial court's special economic examination last year, and his results were among the best.

But before the re-examination, because his name shared the same character with Kang Youwei's original name Zuyi and Liang Qichao's surname, someone said to Cixi that he was "the head of Liang and the tail of Kang". Cixi therefore believed that he was a member of the Kang and Liang faction and refused to admit him, resulting in his failure on the exam.

In fact, the so-called Kangtou Liangwei was probably a joke, which was probably misunderstood by Cixi.

After learning the reason for his failure in the exam, Liang Shiyi was so angry that he even resigned from his position as an assistant editor of the National History Museum. When he was about to return home, he was invited to Yuan Shikai's official residence.

Because Yuan Shikai heard that Liang Shiyi was knowledgeable about "current affairs", he promised him a future and temporarily hired him as his aide.

What Liang Shiyi didn't know was that after Teng Yuzhao learned that Yuan Shikai had appointed Liang Shiyi as his aide, he regretted it for a while and secretly cursed himself for forgetting about Liang Shiyi.

Others may not know Liang Shiyi's past, but Teng Yuzhao, a time traveler, knows it best.

Liang Shiyi may not be great in other aspects, but he is definitely an expert in economics, especially in raising money and making money.

In later generations, he was known as a politician, a famous economist, and a banker. He was Yuan Shikai's absolute confidant and money bag. He was known as the living god of wealth and the second president, which shows his importance in front of Yuan Shikai.

Liang Shiyi was even called the brain of Beiyang and the powerful minister behind Yuan Shikai's throne by the New York Times, which further proves that Liang Shiyi is definitely a very talented person. You know, Yuan Shikai's vision of people is still very good, comparable to people with unique vision such as Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guofan.

According to the original history, in the late Qing Dynasty, Liang Shiyi served as Minister of Posts and Communications, Minister of State, and Director of the General Administration of Railways. He also assisted Yuan Shikai in forcing the Qing royal family to abdicate.

After Yuan Shikai became the President, he served as Secretary-General of the Presidential Palace, founded and served as General Manager of the Bank of Communications, and also served as Deputy Minister of Finance of the Beiyang Government and Prime Minister of the Beiyang Government.

They had been waiting for half an hour, but Yuan Shikai still said nothing. He just kept walking around in circles in the hall, which made Wang Shizhen's eyes a little dizzy.

Liang Shiyi seemed to know what Yuan Shikai was waiting for. He just sat there quietly, as if thinking about something, and never said a word. This made Wang Shizhen more and more anxious.

After another stick of incense had passed, Wang Shizhen finally couldn't help but ask.

"Marshal, you must be worried about something, right? Tell me and I will share your worries!"

Yuan Shikai stopped and looked at Wang Shizhen carefully for a long while, then he sighed and spoke.

"Pinqing, did you see Huafu at the Army Department today?"

The Huafu that Yuan Shikai mentioned is Feng Guozhang, who was known as the Dog of the Beiyang.

At this time, Feng Guozhang was serving as deputy envoy of the Military Command Department in the Ministry of the Army!

"seen!"

Wang Shizhen was obviously very happy to meet Feng Guozhang.

"General, Hua Fu said that he is very busy with the reorganization and downsizing, otherwise he would have come with us."

"He also said that this downsizing and reorganization was entirely aimed at the Zhili Army, and we were just caught up in it."

Yuan Shikai did not respond to Wang Shizhen's words, but continued leisurely.

"Hua Fu is very successful now! He is indeed very busy and rarely comes to my place now."

"I got the news that Tieliang is ready to recommend him to be the general manager of the Army Nobles School, and the Queen Mother has verbally approved it, and is also preparing to award him the title of deputy governor. I estimate that once the downsizing and reorganization is completed, there will be an imperial decree for him."

The "Army Nobles School" was proposed by Tieliang in order to cultivate the Manchus' own military talents.

Wang Shizhen could tell that Yuan Shikai's tone sounded a little sour, and he was stunned.

After a brief thought, he smiled and said, "Marshal, Hua Fu is still loyal to you. He comes to your place less often, probably because he is worried about causing inconvenience to you."

"In fact, it's not just Huafu, even Zhiquan is equally loyal to the Marshal. He just has a stubborn temper."

Yuan Shikai waved his hand and said, "Pinqing, you should know my character. I am still magnanimous. I really miss the friendship with you old brothers. Don't tell me that I won't blame Huafu and Zhiquan, two capable men and generals whom I rely on."

"Even Tang Shaochuan, Cai Shutang, Liang Ruhao and others who were recruited by Teng Xingfu, I never blamed them."

Although he said that he did not blame Tang Shaoyi, Cai Shaoji, Liang Ruhao and others, when he said this, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but sigh.

Wang Shizhen knew that the loss of Tang Shaoyi, Cai Shaoji, Liang Ruhao, and other Chinese children studying in the United States who were "kidnapped" from Yuan Shikai by Teng Yuzhao had always been a permanent pain in the heart of Yuan Shikai, who was almost obsessed with recruiting talents.

After sighing, Yuan Shikai said with some regret, "Sometimes I regret that I didn't lead the troops to have a few good fights with the foreigners!"

Yuan Shikai's words made Wang Shizhen blush. He took a deep breath and said.

"Marshal, you are not the only one to blame for this. You have to know that this is a coalition of the strongest countries in the world!"

"We all believe that with only 20,000 people in our Wuwei Right Army, we are definitely no match for the foreign coalition forces. Moreover, the Wuwei Front Army led by General Nie, which has the largest number of people and the best equipment, is also no match for the foreigners. No one suggested that the Marshal join the battle."

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly, "Pinqing, please don't comfort me. I am the commander-in-chief. How can I blame you for this? Let's not talk about this anymore. These are all things in the past. Let's talk about you."

Yuan Shikai walked to the main seat, picked up a small brocade box, came to Wang Shizhen and handed it to Wang Shizhen.

"Pingqing, please accept this."

Wang Shizhen didn't understand what was going on, but he still took the brocade box and opened the lid in confusion.

But he was shocked when he opened it. There was a neatly placed stack of silver bills inside, dozens of them. Wang Shizhen took a quick look and found that the amounts of these silver bills were not the same. Most of them were worth one thousand taels, and only a few were worth one or two hundred taels. A rough estimate showed that the total amount was as much as twenty or thirty thousand taels.

"Marshal, what do you mean?"

Yuan Shikai shook his head slightly and sighed.

"Pinqing, you are neither greedy for power nor greedy for money, which is good, but you are too down-to-earth, in this respect you are not as good as Zhongshan."

The Zhongshan that Yuan Shikai mentioned is Cao Kun, formerly the Third Regiment of the Beiyang Army and now the commander of the Seventh Regiment of the Shuntian Army.

Yuan Shikai shook his head with emotion and said, "Everyone says Cao Zhongshan is simple and honest, but who knows that he is actually much more tactful and shrewd than you, a man of great talent!"

Yuan Shikai's words left Wang Shizhen confused. When he wanted to ask more, Yuan Shikai waved his hand to stop him.

"Pinqing, we old brothers won't hide anything. Tieliang sent someone to give you a silver note of 30,000 taels. Is this true?"

(End of this chapter)