"Incompetent, he actually fell into such a simple trick of the enemy, and even two brigades were crippled. I thought that Chen Xingyun was no more capable than that. "

In the base camp, it was lunch time. After reading the combat report of the 3rd Field Army on September 21, Minister of National Defense Liu Yun complained in a low voice to the Chief of General Staff Yang Zhengjin beside him.

"I heard that Chen Xingyun and his chief of staff were at odds. Zhao Minhe originally disagreed with sending heavy troops to attack Novoshakhtinsky. He also sent a special message to clarify his position. On the 21st, Zhao Minhe was not in the army either.

Instead, he was injured on the front line of the 11th Division, together with the commander of the 11th Division Zheng Hong..."

Yang Zhengjin responded, and Liu Yun nodded thoughtfully.

"So, the two of them should not be together for the time being."

"But if one of them is transferred, the transferred person will be generally regarded as the one who made the mistake, and that person may become resentful of his superiors."

Liu Yun sneered secretly and said indifferently: "Then just hate it. It's not like the empire has no one to use."

"What does Duke Wuwei mean?"

"Since Zhao Minhe can make correct judgments in advance, but Chen Xingyun cannot, then the matter is very simple. The empire does not need incompetent generals. The capable ones are the best. Let Zhao Minhe be the commander and Chen Xingyun be transferred elsewhere.

, Xinjiang or Tibet, both are fine. In addition, give Zhao Minhe a suitable chief of staff, and that’s it.”

Yang Zhengjin obviously did not completely agree: "However, if a punishment equivalent to dismissal is made just because of a mistake in judgment, it seems..."

"Once is enough. This is no joke. We are fighting against the fifth most powerful country in the world. On key matters, making one mistake is enough to destroy the results of more than ten years of hard work."

Yang Zhengjin had no choice but to take a step back and said: "But Zhao Minhe was injured just now. At least let his injury stabilize before it is too late to make plans."

"Well, at least give Chen Xingyun a scolding. Of course you will have to work hard for this kind of thing."

Yang Zhengjin rubbed his hands and smiled bitterly: "I can't help it, who asked me to inherit such a troublesome position."

Liu Yun picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth: "Then again, if the North Korean 1st Army had been more aggressive, our 3rd Army would not have encountered that situation. Neither the Koreans nor the Japanese were willing.

How can you help? By the way, who are you going to send as the war supervisor of the Korean 1st Army?"

"Specially dispatched North Korean military attaché, Army Lieutenant General Yuan Shikai."

"oh--"

Liu Yun let out a long sigh of relief.

"Is there any special significance in sending this person?"

Yang Zhengjin shrugged and smiled: "What's the special significance of promoting this person to the position of lieutenant general?"

"Because I was only looking at his resume and forgot to pay attention to his name."

"Me too."

Liu Yun put down his napkin and took a sip of tea: "But now I forgot his resume, and instead paid attention to his name. Seriously, what has he done before?"

"I just watched it, and I still remember some of it, but the most interesting one is probably his performance during the Seoul coup in the 11th year of Guangxu's reign. What happened at that time was written into a book, "The Record of the Two Admirals and the Peace of Korea". I

I happened to get a copy recently.”

"What's going on? Let me tell you."

"In the eleventh year of Guangxu, that is, 1884, when Yuan Shikai was assisting Wu Changqing's army stationed in Korea to run the camp, it happened that the pro-Japanese Korean Restoration Party launched a coup and brought Japanese soldiers into the palace, and the pro-China Min family nobles in Korea were

The minister and Concubine Min were executed together, held King Li Xi hostage, and declared to implement the New Deal. At this time, the new admiral Wu Zhaoyou took over the stationing task in Seoul. After receiving the news of the coup in the palace, Wu Zhaoyou summoned the commander-in-chief Zhang Guangqian to discuss, and Zhang Guangqian

He immediately recommended Yuan Shikai to Wu Zhaoyou, saying that he was wise and brave and must have a clever plan, so he was invited to solve the problem. Yuan Shikai was famous for his extraordinary talent since he was a child, but he didn't even pass the provincial examination, so he spent money to buy a

He had the title of Tongzhi. It happened that Admiral Wu Changqing heard that he was talented, so he hired him as a staff member and asked him to help run the camp. He must have done a good job, restraining the sergeants for Wu Changqing, and refreshing the order in the camp. Later North Korea

The king asked Wu Changqing to send someone to help train the Korean Guards, and Wu Changqing recommended Yuan Shikai. Due to the Sino-French war, Wu Changqing was ordered to go to Jinzhou to supervise the defense, but some of his soldiers remained in Seoul and Yuan Shikai was appointed to take charge.

General Zhang always thought highly of Yuan Shikai, so he wanted to invite him to discuss with the admiral. After summoning Yuan Shikai, he talked about the situation in North Korea and discussed the rescue strategy. Yuan Shikai proposed that he should not enter the tiger's den.

Unexpectedly, he asked to send troops to attack the Korean palace, clear out the "rebellious" parties, rescue the Korean king, and then make plans. However, Wu Zhaoyou believed that there were Japanese soldiers guarding the Korean palace and did not dare to attack without authorization, so he decided to ask Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang for instructions first.

Shortly after the request for instructions was issued, the King of Korea sent a secret envoy to the Qing camp to ask for help, but Wu and Zhang still did not dare to act rashly. Later, there was a secret report from the spy, and the reformers planned to depose the king and replace him with a young king, relying on Japan and betraying the Qing Dynasty.

Although Wu Zhaoyou was anxious, he was still hesitant because he had not yet received instructions from the country and his troops were too weak, fearing that he would be defeated by the Japanese army. Seeing that the situation was critical, Yuan Shikai explained the danger to Wu and Zhang, saying that if they did not send troops in again,

Not only could North Korea not be saved, but everyone's return route would be cut off, and they would have no choice but to live in North Korea. As expected, Wu Zhaoyou finally decided to take action, and asked Yuan Shikai how to advance the army. Yuan Shikai suggested dividing the troops.

After discussing the three-pronged attack, it was decided that Wu would lead the left route, Zhang would lead the right route, and Yuan Shikai would lead the most difficult center route. They sent troops to attack the Korean palace that night. The center route army led by Yuan Shikai was the first to engage in firefights with the enemy, and was killed and wounded in the first battle.

Dozens of people, the morale of the army was shaken. Yuan Shikai issued an order not to retreat, and those who disobeyed the order would be killed. As soon as this order was passed, the military law was like a mountain. The Qing army ventured forward, broke through the outer gate, and entered the inner gate. Unexpectedly, they were surrounded by Japanese soldiers from behind.

, while being attacked from both sides, Yuan Jun remained undisturbed and divided his forces to resist. It was only when Wu Zhaoyou's troops on the left arrived that they repelled the Japanese soldiers. Suddenly, hundreds more Korean soldiers rushed in, but it was Yuan Shikai who had previously

Soldiers who had been personally trained, these Korean soldiers immediately joined the Qing army, and together they broke into the inner city, broke down the resistance of the Reformers, and found the Korean king and his son, and brought them back to the palace."

Yang Zhengjin said that his mouth was dry and he took a sip of wine first.

Liu Yun was fascinated by what he heard. He nodded on the table and said, "It is indeed rare to be brave and resourceful. He is considered to have made the first contribution to this incident."

Yang Zhengjin shook his head and sighed: "It is a pity that things in China always fail without defeat. They clearly gained power in North Korea, quelled the coup, expelled the Japanese soldiers, and scared away the Japanese envoys. Faced with the Japanese accusations afterwards, the Qing government On the other hand, Japan was extremely weak. The Japanese side sent two important figures of the Meiji Restoration who were known for their tough foreign policy - Ito Hirofumi (then the Minister of the Imperial Palace) and Saigo Yumichi (the then Minister of Agriculture), to In Tianjin, it was claimed that the Qing army in the DPRK intended to provoke and wanted the Qing government to punish the leaders. However, the imperial court actually sent a commissioner to North Korea to investigate and deal with it. It was clearly Japan who instigated and participated in the rebellion first, and the Qing army eliminated the rebellion later. , but this became China's fault. It was really ignorant to the extreme! Yuan Shikai was naturally dissatisfied, so he asked for leave to return to China and went to see Li Hongzhang, the Minister of Beiyang. He was so powerful that he proposed that the Qing government should supervise North Korea and exercise political power on his behalf. , that is, to turn North Korea from a vassal state with independent internal affairs into a protectorate with tightly controlled internal affairs to avoid Japan's covetousness. However, Li Hongzhang asked Yuan Shikai to submit his talents and stop "showing" his edge, which meant that he should stop caring about this matter. and waited obediently for the 'government's' decision. Later, Li Hongzhang was appointed Minister of Plenipotentiary, and negotiated a treaty with Japan, and agreed on two items. One was that all troops stationed in Korea by the Qing and Japan would be withdrawn, and the other was that if the two countries sent troops to Korea in the future, They should notify each other and withdraw as soon as the matter is settled. According to the treaty, the Qing army withdrew all its troops, and also sent back to North Korea Dayuanjun who was imprisoned in China by Wu Changqing for causing "rebellion" in the eighth year of Guangxu's reign. This Dayuanjun was the father of King Li Xi. With many followers, Li Xi lost the assistance of the Qing army and was threatened by the political power of Daewonjun. He had to bow to Japan, pay compensation and open commercial ports. From then on, Japan began to treat North Korea as a protectorate, but China still claimed North Korea is still a vassal of the Qing Dynasty. In fact, North Korea has become a joint protectorate of both parties. Later, another Sino-Japanese War was fought for this purpose. In that time and space, China was defeated. After that, there were successive "chaos" by the Eight-Power Allied Forces. , the Revolution of 1911, the Civil War, the Second Revolution, the battle to protect the country and the law, the old and new warlords fighting, the Northern Expedition, the suppression of the Communist Party, eight years of the Great Resistance War, three years of the Great Civil War, and decades of continuous poverty and weakness. But in our country In time and space, Japan was defeated by me, causing internal chaos and turning into an ally. However, it is still difficult to predict how it will develop in the future."

Liu Yun pointed at his forehead, remembered something, frowned and said: "It seems that Yuan Shikai was sent as the Minister of Commerce of North Korea later, and was responsible for foreign affairs. Until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1898, he did not have a military position."

"It was not Duke Wuwei himself who awarded him the military rank. He was asked to help train the North Korean army. As a result, his reputation in North Korea increased day by day. North Korean newspapers even criticized him and said he was the Supreme Emperor of North Korea. However, thinking that this was the case, he sent It is perfect for him to supervise the North Korean First Army, as all the North Korean generals in that army have a close relationship with him."

Hearing this, Liu Yun secretly had some murderous intent in his eyes, thinking: "So, North Korea seems to have become his circle of influence. This kind of human tycoon must be guarded against. Once the war is over, he must He ignored it."

In Liu Yun's heart, except for Wen Yi, the group of people he brought from 2025, even the three closest friends Yang Zhengjin, Zhong Xiahuo, and Hu Ke, are nothing more than tools, let alone Kang Youwei, Sun Wen, Yuan Shikai and others, these so-called historical celebrities, just exerted their energy in another time and space, using the land of China as the stage to perform some tragic comedies of changes. In this time and space, historical turning points The key does not seem to be in their hands. Kang Youwei failed to launch the Reform Movement of 1898 that was doomed to fail in 1898, because in 1890 of this time and space, Liu Yun and others killed the Empress Dowager Cixi, held the emperor in power and commanded the world with all their might. He used various methods to purge the rebels, and at the same time launched comprehensive reforms, thus winning the Sino-Japanese War. In 1896, the Qing Empire was renamed the Chinese Empire, implemented a constitutional monarchy, the Manchu and Han Dynasties merged, and the former Qing Emperor Guangxu became the founding emperor of the Chinese Empire. Guangxing has entered its eighth year. In these eight years, democratic politics gradually unfolded. Kang Youwei and Sun Wen both became party leaders, participated in the coalition cabinet headed by the Chinese Democratic Party, and held the position of imperial minister. Of course, Kang Youwei no longer had to risk his life to promote his reform ideas, but instead became the spokesperson of conservative forces. Sun Wen was still a more radical republican and nationalist, but since he himself also joined the imperial cabinet, he did not It is necessary to create a rebellion against the empire. When the times change, people's behavior will of course change. Those who go with the times will survive, and those who go against the times will perish. This is a matter of course. As for Yuan Shikai, of course there was no chance to betray the emperor during the 1898 Coup, let alone There was no chance that he would be valued by the Empress Dowager Cixi to establish his Beiyang warlord system. It was out of consideration that the times had changed that Liu Yun awarded him a military rank and ordered him to assist in training the Korean army. At this time, listening to Yang Zhengjin's words, It suddenly occurred to me that heroes are heroes after all. Even if the current situation does not allow them to express their ambitions, once the situation changes, those who should shine should still shine on the world as recorded in history books.

"However, they can only be tools. If they cannot be used by me and cannot help me realize my dream, but instead hinder me, then they should no longer exist. Tools without use value are just garbage.

"

Liu Yun thought this and saw that Yang Zhengjin had also finished lunch, so he invited him to take a walk in the garden of the other courtyard.

Although they regard each other as tools, they are high-value tools after all. After all, you cannot treat a sports car worth 300,000 yuan the same as a broken bicycle worth only 30 yuan. Of course, you can treat the broken bicycle casually, and it will not be too big if you lose it.

I feel bad for it. If it is a sports car, it will be scrubbed frequently and carefully maintained. The body will not be scratched. When not in use, it will be placed in a garage sheltered from wind and rain. It will not be held in the mouth or swallowed.

, pull it out when you want to use it...

Just as he walked out of the dining room, an officer wearing a black uniform of the Imperial Guard hurried over and whispered a few words into Liu Yun's ear. Liu Yun nodded coldly, turned back to Yang Zhengjin and said, "I'm sorry, something important happened suddenly. I

Please go outside and tell Premier Wen that I will arrive later for the afternoon meeting."

"I understand, please feel free to go."

Yang Zhengjin lowered his head and watched Liu Yun leave, thinking: "What happened again? That officer should be from the so-called Eagle Wolf Team. Liu Yun's spies are indeed all over the world. No wonder Ding Jieyun died like that

Come on, but if you think about it, even I am under the surveillance of spies all day long. Maybe even my wife is a spy sent by him. Since the Ding Jieyun incident, no one is willing to believe this man.

In fact, this is not necessary. People with political ambitions have followed Ding Jieyun to work. Most of the remaining people have no lofty ideals and only plan to eat, drink, have fun and enjoy life. Even a positive attitude like Zhong Xiahuo's is nothing more than that.

Because he loves vanity and enjoys being in the spotlight. As for me, why do I come here? For ideals? I seemed to have believed it before, but now I think about it, what is the meaning of what we are doing here? In this world

Changed, the China of this world has avoided the humiliation of the Sino-Japanese War of 1898, the Disaster of 1898, and the Gengzi Rebellion. The China of this world has defeated Japan and is challenging the E-country. However, these have no impact on our world at all.

Well. The result is just fighting for that person, no, for the dream of those two people. They created this beautiful dream, but we have been sleepwalking in it for a long time. People who are too addicted to this dream, such as Ding Jieyun and his group, are trying to

They transformed from sleepwalkers to dreamers, but they failed and were killed cleanly. The remaining people gradually woke up because of this. Now, many people are awake, but they can no longer turn back and have to indulge in material and

******, everyone is amassing money, keeping concubines, drinking pools and meat forests, and living in drunken dreams. If the war breaks out a few years later, most people will be like waste by then. Maybe only Zhong Xiahuo will be left dancing around alone.

Go and shout slogans such as fight for the empire, for Duke Wuwei, and for the Liu Dynasty, and you will still be regarded as an idiot by everyone. As for me, what is my position? What is my wish? What do I want?

What to do? Should I also let myself rot in the ocean of sex? I..."

"Chief of Staff Yang?"

A weak greeting came from behind. Yang Zhengjin was startled and turned around hurriedly. It was the Imperial Prime Minister Wen Yi who looked sickly.

"Prime Minister, is something wrong?"

Wen Yi smiled slightly: "It's okay, I see you standing here in a daze, I'm just a little curious."

Yang Zhengjin laughed and said, "Ah, I'm sorry to trouble the Prime Minister about a little family matter."

"Is it important? Why not go home and take a look?"

"It doesn't matter, it won't affect work. By the way, Duke Wu Wei wants me to inform him that he has something to go out and will have to arrive later for the afternoon meeting."

Wen Yi nodded kindly: "I know, he is always so busy."

"If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."

"Please help yourself."

Wen Yi responded calmly and saw Yang Zhengjin passing by and quickly disappearing without a trace.

"Does a scholar meet a soldier?"

Wen Yi said to himself, feeling that someone was coming next to him.

"Zhigao?"

"yes."

Acting Foreign Minister Zhang Zhigao responded. He was just thirty-seven years old. He was full of energy, but also stable. He believed in liberalism and was a loyal disciple of Wen Yi. He was infiltrated by Wen Yi's liberal and humanistic ideas and views.

, but at the same time, I was surprised to find that no matter what doctrine, it could not change the raging political undercurrent. China's affairs really cannot be reversed by a few people.

"Come for a walk with me."

"yes."
To be continued...