Master Yuan, start!

"Long-haired, bah!" Having said that, Yuan Xiangcheng pulled his braid and said to Jin Bingshi.

"Brother Shengchu, look at this braid that's longer than my arm. Who's the real one with the long hair? Who's destroying Chinese culture?"

"It is a pity that Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing were so powerful that they once made Nanjing their capital. However, the Qing Dynasty seemed to have a favor from heaven. First, there was the internal strife between Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, and the city of Nanjing was flooded with blood.

"With hypocritical figures like Zeng Guofan attacking from the outside, the so-called Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuzhen was completely destroyed by these people who claimed to be Confucius and Mencius but held butcher knives in their hands."

"Weiting, what do you want?" Jin Bingshi was no longer panicking, but asked Yuan Xiangcheng instead.

"What do I want? Brother Shengchu, you have often told me of the difficulties and hardships faced by Korea. There is the Qing Dynasty to the north and Japan to the south.

North Korea is caught in a dilemma, with one side preoccupied with its own affairs and the other side eager to act.

When Jin Bingshi heard this, he stood up, dressed properly, and bowed deeply to Yuan Xiangcheng.

"It is precisely in this situation that the situation in Korea is extremely precarious. If Brother Weiting can save Korea, Bingshi will be willing to sacrifice his life for you and run around for you. Brother Weiting, what is your plan?"

"Brother Shengchu, how could our friendship have come to this? How could I be the kind of person who would watch someone die without helping him?"

Yuan Xiangcheng was somewhat touched when he saw Jin Bingshi show him such great courtesy.

"North Korea's way out has been written in my book. In my previous book, North Korea's Survival, I pointed out that the root cause of North Korea's current turmoil lies in the changes in the external situation.

If there is any disturbance in the surrounding major powers, Korea will be affected and people's hearts will be disturbed. If the Qing Dynasty is strong, Korea will be safe, but if Japan is strong, Cao County will be in danger."

Yuan Xiangcheng pointed out that the root cause of the current unrest in North Korea lies not in the domestic situation, but in the changes in the power of neighboring major powers.

If the Qing Dynasty was strong, it would undoubtedly protect Korea, but that was all. Korea was not an indispensable part in the minds of the Qing rulers.

It can even be said that in the minds of the Qing rulers, the entire Chinese world was obtained through luck, so it was no big deal to take a piece here and a piece there.

The millions of square kilometers of land in Outer Northeast China can be ceded at will, and this is still their birthplace.

North Korea is even more insignificant.

If Japan were strong, it would undoubtedly annex Korea because they were so short of land.

North Korea has more than half the arable land of Japan and is close to Japan, so it can also serve as a springboard for attacking the East Asian continent.

There is no reason why Japan would not invade Korea first when it becomes strong.

The only way out for North Korea is not independence or pro-Japan, but pro-China.

It is pro-China but not pro-Manchu, relies on North Korea as a base, develops the Northeast, and gives back to the Chinese mainland.

Once a regime strong enough to overshadow North Korea is born in mainland China, North Korea will merge with it, march south, and unify the entire China.

"Brother Weiting, the Westerners are now so powerful, their powerful ships and cannons are everywhere in the world. Even the Celestial Empire has been invaded many times. What can we do?"

"Can following the Celestial Empire and following its footsteps guarantee the safety of North Korea?"

2 Yuan Xiangcheng saw the doubts in Jin Bingshi's heart, which was also a common problem among all Confucian intellectuals in East Asia throughout the late 19th century.

4. Most countries that were invaded by Western powers for the first time felt that Westerners had advanced weapons and many cannons, and that they could not match them at all.

qAfter being defeated in a war, one will subconsciously think that it is because my weapons are not as advanced as his, my ships are not as big as his, and my cannons are not as loud as his.

Shen only saw the superficial reasons, which led to the Westernization Movement, which advocated "learning from the foreigners to control them."

0But the fact is that the Westernization Movement was a farce, with only the results known but the reasons behind them unknown.

The reason why Europeans had strong ships and powerful guns was because they were constantly at war with each other and had a need for them.

The reason they were able to create advanced modern guns and cannons was because they had unlocked modern science and had the ability.

The reason why they were able to unlock modern science was because they experienced the liberation of thought and religious reform, broke free from spiritual constraints, and wanted to pursue personal enjoyment and personal interests.

In addition, the European countries themselves did not belong to the same regime and were constantly fighting with each other, which naturally promoted the continuous advancement of military technology.

In short, the first driving force behind technology is the huge demand for war, the second driving force is the unprecedented liberation of thought, and the third driving force is the crazy pursuit of profit.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty had neither carried out ideological liberation nor a systematic modern scientific training system. The early Westernization Movement relied entirely on government funding, and its primary goal was to "strengthen itself."

It is wishful thinking to expect to compete with the West by relying on weapons made by a few overseas students and craftsmen.

However, if we want to promote the so-called ideas of democracy, freedom and republic in China today, it is too difficult and the scope is too large.

But why not liberate our minds and negotiate to catch up with the West?

However, Yuan Shikai believed that China could still be saved at this time.

Because at this moment a great man in the West has just passed away. Although he is gone, the thoughts he left behind can be combined with Confucianism.

Create a path of ideological liberation for China that is unique to this era.

The most fundamental principle of Confucianism is that the world belongs to all and that world peace should be established.

"When great virtue prevails, the world becomes shared by all." Since Confucius, fairness, justice and equality have always been the ultimate pursuit of mankind.

This also happens to be one of the core ideas advocated by Marx and Engels, and is the embodiment of the original red thought in Confucian classics.

The only difference is that Confucius's thought is more idealistic and utopian, while Marx's thought has a complete world view and methodology to practice.

In addition, people in later generations constantly added, deleted and modified Confucius' thoughts, adding many dregs of the feudal hierarchy system that maintain ethical principles, so that by the Ming and Qing dynasties, Confucianism was already very different from the original Confucianism of Confucius' time.

How many of the words in the Analects were spoken by Confucius himself, and how many were spoken by later generations using Confucius's mouth?

What Yuan Xiangcheng had to do in his attitude towards Confucianism and Confucianism was nothing more than "the Six Classics are my interpretations". Others could change it, but why couldn't he, Yuan Xiangcheng?

Similarly, Marx's theory is not entirely applicable to China and can be revised to be combined with China's reality.

Only in this way can the unique Marxist Confucianism of China be born.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng's eyes lit up and he said excitedly to Jin Bingshi:

"At the beginning of the sage era, Korea's path forward today lies not in contemporary China, but in the West and in the Confucian sages of two thousand years ago."

Chapter 3: A small station? No, North Korea is training!

The next morning, Yuan Shikai came to an open space on the outskirts of the Incheon Concession.

Yes, the Qing Dynasty did have concessions in Korea, so don’t think that the Qing Dynasty was vulnerable.

In fact, before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Qing Dynasty was not overly despised by foreigners and was once regarded as a sleeping empire.

After all, Russia, the United States, and France have all suffered defeats at the hands of the British.

You can't just say that these countries are second-rate countries, right?

"The Qing Dynasty simply lacked access to Western technology. If it had caught up, it might have relied on its vast manpower and vast territory to dominate like Russia."

Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, not only Western countries but also the Qing Dynasty itself believed so.

The Beiyang Fleet was known as the best in the Far East and the eighth fleet in the world. It roamed across East Asia and showed off its might.

Sou also visited Mexico for a while, and on his way back, naval officers and soldiers caused a disturbance in Nagasaki Port, resulting in casualties on both the Japanese and Qing sides.

The dispute ended with both the Qing Dynasty and Japan paying compensation to each other, with Japan paying more.

QTherefore, the Qing Dynasty was not as incompetent as described in history.

It was not until after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 that the Qing Dynasty truly began to take whatever it wanted from foreigners.

When Westerners saw that even a small country like Japan could completely wipe out the Beiyang Fleet, the best in the Far East, with just a dozen speedboats.

: The Qing Dynasty was finally stripped of its fig leaf.

Before this, the Qing Dynasty was still respected in East Asia, not to mention in Korea where it had troops stationed.

Simple camps stood on the gentle slope behind, and in front of them were good men lined up in neat rows.

Most of them were poor people he recruited from Northeast China, North Korea, and the Beijing-Tianjin area.

There are those who can’t make a living because of the flood in Haihe River; there are those who were deceived by their fellow countrymen and went to the border of Liutiao in Northeast China, thinking that they were going to farm, but they didn’t expect that they were going to go mining in Russia and finally escaped; there are also “untouchables” in North Korea who have nothing to eat.

Third, there are also some former Qing troops who stayed here and some Korean new troops who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty from the center of the "1882 Immo Rebellion".

The Wuyuan Korean New Army had been disbanded after the "Impuru Rebellion". Seeing that these people had nowhere to go, Yuan Shikai took them in, which not only added to his own strength but also prevented the rebellious soldiers from causing trouble in the countryside.

The new East China Sea Army now has a total of more than 1000 people, including more than 500 newly recruited people, each from the Qing army and the Korean new army.

Po Songzhong Huan Song Lu Gu Gu M1866 rifle, also known as the "Thirteen Rings" and "Thirteen Taibao", and 8 24-pound cast iron frog cannon mortars produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau

It’s not that Yuan Xiangcheng doesn’t want to train more soldiers, it’s just that the firearms and equipment cannot keep up.

One gun costs 10 taels of silver, and 1500 guns cost 15000 taels of silver.

Two years ago, when the Qing army returned to China, they left behind dozens of revolvers and more than 2 thirteen-shot guns. In the past two years, Yuan Shikai opened a trading company in Korea and engaged in trade between Korea and the Qing Dynasty, and bought more than 500 more guns.

Not to mention the cannons, one cannon cost 10,000 taels, and Yuan Xiangcheng asked his old boss Wu Changqing to buy them from China.

After buying a cannon, you have to become familiar with its operation, and the amount of ammunition consumed in daily training is not a small amount.

If Yuan Shikai had not known that another mutiny would occur in Korea at the end of this year, he would not have been so anxious to train his troops.

It was now 1884, and the Sino-French War was in full swing. Under the imperial edict of the court, all domestic weapons and equipment were allocated to the Guangxi front, and Yuan Shikai's way of purchasing artillery was cut off.

However, with more than 2000 people, they were more than enough to protect themselves in the upcoming Jiashen Incident at the end of 1884, but they were not aggressive enough.

Although the Gapsin Coup in the original time and space ended with the victory of the Qing army, it did not take the opportunity to eliminate the remaining Japanese forces in Seoul.

As a result, when signing the treaty after the war, the Qing government was cautious and did not dare to punish the Korean government excessively, fearing that they would side with the Japanese.

They can only accept North Korea's attempt to shift the blame and put the blame for the coup on the Japanese.

At the same time, the Qing Dynasty also wanted to make a big deal out of a small matter and keep things quiet, not wanting to anger Japan too much, so it acquiesced to the signing of the Seoul Treaty between Japan and Korea and the subsequent Korean Troop Withdrawal Treaty between China and Japan.

The withdrawal treaty in fact confirmed Korea's independent status and also laid the groundwork for China's defeat in Korea in the subsequent Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

All the soldiers have been withdrawn back to the country. What can we use to fight the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895?

After the treaty was signed, only Yuan Shikai and a hundred-odd guards remained in Korea. Yuan Shikai was called the King of Korea and could interfere in all matters, big and small.

But he had no soldiers and no money in his pocket, so he could only use brute force and tough tactics to interfere in the political situation of Korea in the name of the Celestial Empire, which gradually caused dissatisfaction within the Kingdom of Korea.

The mind returns to reality.

Looking at the rows of new troops shouting slogans and fighting each other under the fluttering flags in front of him, Yuan Xiangcheng thought silently in his heart.

"If the Japanese could be eliminated during the Gapsin Coup, Korea would have enjoyed more than ten years of stability.

It will be of great benefit both to our own consolidation and development and to the future Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

It was still more than ten years before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Even if my arrival had changed some history, the war between China and Japan would not have disappeared.

Sooner or later, the Japanese will no longer be able to restrain their desire for aggression and will bare their fangs against the aging Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty could not avoid internal corruption. No matter how much preparation I made in advance, it was inevitable that Cixi would like to listen to operas and build gardens.