Ma Jianjun was stunned by the side. His level was too low and he didn't know the news in the palace. He originally thought it was the young master from the Huai Army or the Hunan Army, but he didn't expect that the guys who came here were so good. At this time, he didn't care about the others and quickly looked for stools to see the seats for several old men. He had to arrange tea and snacks, and he was very busy.

After a few people talked for a while, Pan Zuyin, the acting Minister of War, brought a young eunuch in. When Liu Shaoqing saw that, he was an acquaintance, and was the little eunuch who gave her yesterday. He hurriedly came forward to see the gift. Xiao Fang was here to pass the imperial edict and invigilate the exam today. Without any greetings, he walked to the main hall and said, "I have an order!"

The little emperor's imperial edict was full of long-lasting words, and the content was nothing more than lamenting that the Qing Dynasty's military preparations were getting worse and worse. Every year, it spent a lot of money to support the army, but its actual combat effectiveness had not been improved. Therefore, the court hopes that you can study hard, improve your strategic and tactical literacy, and contribute to the court.

After reading the imperial edict, a small official came over to take the students to the examination room. As the acting Minister of War, Pan Zuyin was naturally an invigilator, while Xiao Fang came on behalf of the emperor. In the imperial examinations of the feudal dynasty, whether in the civil and military examinations, there was a saying of "senior". The so-called senior is the person who was responsible for the examination in the imperial examination. For this exam, Guangxu did not want to have too strong traditions, so he did not follow the process of the military examination at the beginning. This was forced to take the exam, and he still photographed the eunuch who was close to him. The purpose was nothing more than to dilute Pan Zuyin's status as a senior.

This additional test test is a policy theory, without limiting the question, and requires that you be able to do any aspect of the military field. Fortunately, the policy theory of the martial arts examination does not need to be strictly required in accordance with the grammar of the eight-legged essay, otherwise Liu Xiaopian might not be able to do it.

After lifting the pen and thinking about it, Liu Shaoqing wrote a line of words on white paper, "On the role of artillery in infantry warfare."

Two hours passed in a hurry, and the exam ended, and everyone scattered. Muller invited Wen Dusu and Liu Shaoqing to have a drink. Liu Shaoqing said with a bitter face: "Brother Mu is very kind, I am here, but yesterday the emperor asked me to report the detailed report of the war in Tokichi, so I have to go back to do my homework. I am really sorry."

Both of them knew about the matter in the palace yesterday. Liu Shaoqing did not hide it from them, but just changed the emperor's mission. The two of them naturally understood, "Since that's the case, of course, it's the emperor's errands that matter. What's better tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is not possible." This time, Liu Pifu's face became even more painful. He told the scandal of getting up in the morning and being blocked by someone at the door of his house.

Wen Dusu and Mull looked at each other. This little princess is the emperor's treasure and can't afford to offend anyone, but she let Liu Shaoqing go today. No need to ask. It must be the emperor's words, otherwise it may not be good for Prince Chun to speak. What does this mean? This shows that this ordinary man is definitely very important in the eyes of the emperor.

The two of them were right then. Emperor Guangxu is working hard to govern the economy, on the one hand, on the one hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, on the other hand, the development of new education and improving the people's cultural quality in order to lay the foundation for a longer future. However, all this must be achieved with a stable domestic and international environment, and a stable domestic and international environment undoubtedly requires a strong national defense to support it.

For Zai Tian, ​​there was too short of talents in his hands. Industry, commerce and education were fine. There were still a few people who had left their names in history. In terms of military, from 1840 to 1940, Chinese soldiers who won in foreign wars did not use two hands, and could count them all. So this time, Liu Shaoqing was naturally not good.

Liu Pifu has not realized his status yet, so he has to go back and do his homework behind closed doors. The Borneo strategy explained by the little emperor only made an outline last night. Considering that he would have to go to the little princess' date in a few days, he must complete it in these two days.

But this morning's incident had spread rapidly in the high-level circles in the capital. The "restraint" attitude shown by the little princess this morning was clearly interpreted by those who were interested as receiving instructions from the emperor. Then Liu Pifu, who was originally defined as a jester because of his name "Pifu", had a different position in the minds of senior officials in the capital.

Throughout the afternoon, there were endless people coming to Tang Mansion to make an appointment with a drink. In fact, many people already knew that Liu Shaoqing was staying away. He came here just to express his concern and just to exist.

TJ Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Minister's Office.

Li Zhongtang sat upright in the lobby. The left seats were Zhou Fu, Sheng Xuanhuai, Zheng Guanying, Zhang Qian and Zhan Tianyou. On the right seats were the heads of the Beiyang Navy and Huai Army, such as Ding Ruchang, Ye Zhichao, Wei Rugui, Ding Yiwei. There were also several young men in their early twenties standing at the bottom, without seats.

"This Liu Pifu is deeply appreciated by the emperor, and it seems that it is certain. No wonder the emperor is now committed to rectifying the military. Prince Chun personally supervises the navy, and there must be someone to help the army. You can prepare a gift tonight and visit it in the name of working together in Tonkin. Let's build a relationship and bring them a few more days to come and be familiar with both sides."

Li Hongzhang said this to Ding Yiwei. Ding Yiwei once supported the Black Flag Army of Tokichi on behalf of the court in the early days of the war in Tokichi, and stayed with the Black Flag Army for several months with the two battalions of Li Jiyun. After returning, Li JiYN went to support Taiwan, and helped Mutushan repel the landing operations of the French army at Changmen and made military achievements. Ding Yiwei was left in Zhili to help train the Huai Army, and he has never moved the place in the past two years. This time, because of Liu Shaoqing's arrival, Li Hongzhang personally ordered Ding Yiwei to arrive at BJ quickly in order to establish contact with the Guangnan forces represented by Liu Shaoqing.

From this we can see that even Li Hongzhang has put some effort into a rising star like Liu Shaoqing. This old minister of the three dynasties, the mainstay of the Huai Army, and the old man who established the Beiyang system that holds the Chinese bull ears was so smart.

Ding Yiwei said that he was twice as old as Liu Shaoqing, but he had dealt with foreigners and experienced the war in Tonkin. When talking about the Black Flag Army and Liu Shaoqing, he felt similar to Muller when talking about the Black Flag Army.

Especially for Liu Shaoqing, Muller was not deeply touched, but Ding Yiwei, who had lived and fought with the Black Flag Army, knew what position Liu Shaoqing, a young man, had in the hearts of the Black Flag Army soldiers.

As for the young people mentioned by Li Hongzhang, they were selected and evaluated in the various military leaders of the Huai Army this time, which was carefully prepared by the Huai Army for the new military preparation school.

When it comes to Liu Shaoqing, Ye Zhichao and other army backgrounds feel awkward. He and others started from a flat-haired and twisted, and experienced many battles, which led to their current status. However, this young man Liu Shaoqing was so popular with the emperor when he first entered the capital. He rose to prominence, so naturally most of them were dissatisfied.

"As the following officials saw, the emperor worked hard to govern the army and practiced martial arts. This is a good thing. However, Liu Pifu was just a jester. The emperor was just a place to be prosperous. If he really wanted to rectify the military, what could a yellow-haired child do?"

After hearing this, Li Hongzhang smiled without saying a word. The military leader below was actually quite resistant to this new martial arts school, because it showed that they were old and useless. If they wanted to continue to eat this bowl of rice, unless they started learning it again, this naturally few of them would be willing to do so for the Huai generals who have been pampered in recent years.

The dispute between civil and military affairs in the Beiyang system has been around for a long time. On the one hand, it is because the Beiyang is the foundation of the Huai system, and the Huai system relies on flat-hailing and twisting the country, so the later counselor system naturally tried to suppress the military system in order to fight for power and profit. Naturally, this topic will not be missed at this time.

Zhou Fu said: "Whether the emperor has set up a new school or rectified the new army, or favored Liu Pifu, they are actually expressing an attitude and sending a signal."

Ye Zhichao puzzled: "What signal?"

Zhou Fu smiled, "What the emperor wants is an army that can win battles against foreigners."

This sentence is a bit choking.

From Emperor Daoguang to the present, no matter whether it is the Eight Banners, the Hunan Army, or the Huai Army at its peak, an army has never been defeated by an army or a commander in the battle with foreigners.

This is a shame for the Chinese, and even more so for the Chinese soldiers. But what is strange is that no one in the Qing Dynasty thought so. In the perception of everyone, it is natural to lose to foreigners. Those who say "learning the strengths of the barbarians to control the barbarians" are all literati scholars, not official soldiers. At least none of the important military officials of the Beiyang here really dared to challenge the foreigners.

Li Hongzhang naturally knew very well when his subordinates had a disagreement in the civil and military systems, and as a superior, he was happy to see such a situation. However, this kind of confrontation must be within his own control. For example, at this time, Li Zhongtang needs to come forward to smooth things over.

"Ahem..." Li Zhongtang cleared his throat first to attract everyone's attention, and then said: "In the Sino-French battle, the Black Flag Army did fight well, but we must also consider that the French did not launch a full-scale war after all, and if there is no support from the court, the victory or defeat will be between the two. As for the emperor's idea, no matter what, we still have to rely on us to complete it, just like the Beiyang Navy."

When Li Hongzhang mentioned the Beiyang Navy, Ding Ruchang unconsciously corrected himself.

"Although the court has determined to establish a naval yamen, commanding the four major naval divisions of Beiyang, Nanyang, and FJ and Yueyang, and unified the orders with the prince, the actual commander is nothing more than the old Beiyang."

The court had previously passed a resolution to establish a naval yamen, with Prince Chun Yihuan as the minister of the navy and commanding the four major naval corpses, and Li Hongzhang was responsible for it. Although the Beiyang Navy had nominally been assigned to the Naval corps, these people were still intact and even had their status improved. For example, Zheng Shichang was promoted to the admiral of the FJ Navy. The reason for this was to take care of these old people in Beiyang, and more importantly, the court had no one available at all, and Beiyang was still the only one.

The meaning of Li Hongzhang's words is nothing more than to remind everyone here that no matter how the current court changes, it still cannot be separated from them. Just as the navy cannot be separated from the Beiyang Navy, the army cannot be separated from the Huai Group.

After Li Hongzhang finished speaking, Ding Ruchang continued: "As for the future navy's command, training and equipment cooperation, we still need to make a charter for the adults."

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "The prince and I have been friends for many years. They also made a lot of efforts in the construction of the navy. The prince is a real person and will not really steal my foundation, so you should try your best to cooperate in the future."

This sets the tone for how the Beiyang Navy and even the entire navy will operate in the future. Ding Ruchang understood that it seems that Li Zhongtang and Prince Chun should have talked about this topic privately.
Chapter completed!