Starting from the next day, Yuan Keding actively worked for the marriage of Yuan Su and Zhang Hanling. He first talked through Zhang Boju, and then sent several telegrams to Henan. After Zhang Zhenfang finally agreed to the marriage after "hard work",
Afterwards, he quickly contacted Luanzhou and sent several cronies to Luanzhou to meet Yuan Su in person.
After struggling for seven or eight days, at the end of July, Yuan Keding and Zhang Boju went out in person and came to Luanzhou to meet with Yuan Su. This time, the main thing Yuan Keding came to talk about was naturally the marriage, but by the way, they also brought
received a new order from his father Yuan Shikai. After thinking about it for the past few days, Yuan Shikai decided to appoint Yuan Su to organize the 10th Army Division. This new order was the designation given to Yuan Su's new 10th Division.
Of course, Yuan Su was well aware of this, and he arranged marriages and granted more military power. The typical example was support and win-over. He was of course very happy about this. On the one hand, it showed that the previous conversation with Yang Du was not
He did not offend Yuan Shikai, and on the other hand, it also confirmed his current importance in Yuan Shikai's heart.
He had to start thinking more seriously about Yuan Shikai proclaiming himself emperor. Since Yuan Shikai could listen to his words, it was obvious that this matter was still on the way. What he was thinking about was not only how to help Yuan Shikai complete the imperial system better, but also how to help Yuan Shikai complete the imperial system better.
To avoid repeating the mistakes of history, we must carry forward the Yuan Empire. In addition, Yuan Shikai's proclaimed emperor was also accompanied by some international events. These international events also had a great impact on China and must not be taken lightly.
ignore.
As for the marriage to Zhang Hanling, he did not refuse it pretentiously. Yuan Keding and Zhang Boju agreed immediately on the spot, and said that the primary election in August would be a good time and they immediately sent someone to deliver the betrothal gift to Kaifeng. Not all of it was because of being in Henan.
There was a conflict with Zhang Zhenfang, but he felt that he did not have time to arrange the marriage.
Now it is Yuan Keding who comes forward in person, and Yuan Shikai's instructions are obviously behind Yuan Keding. Naturally, he can no longer shirk it. What's more, by implementing the marriage with Zhang Hanling as soon as possible, it can be regarded as gaining the political capital of the Zhang family as soon as possible.
After two days of negotiation with the Henan authorities via telegrams, the betrothal gift and engagement date were finally decided on August 9th, and the formal wedding ceremony would be held on August 22nd.
Before the engagement day, news of Yuan Su and Zhang Hanling's engagement spread like wildfire.
First, local officials and gentlemen from Zhili Province sent congratulatory messages one after another, or sent congratulatory gifts in advance. Then came officials from Tianjin, Bei Jing, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and other provinces who had contact or just met each other, vying to be the first.
came to congratulate me. It was originally just a private wedding, but it suddenly became a happy event praised by everyone in half of China.
Even Yuan Su himself never expected that things would become such a big deal so quickly. He had received nearly three hundred congratulatory messages alone, and a hundred congratulatory gifts were sent in advance. These one hundred congratulatory gifts were either precious
There were gold and silver gifts, or more direct gift checks, and some more special gift-givers sent some house deeds, all of which were high-quality properties in the concessions in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hankou.
Yuan Su thanked all the guests who sent congratulatory messages and gifts one by one. Although most of the guests hardly remembered knowing each other, not all of the warm congratulations came from the sincerity, but there were many courtesy
You still have to be more or less considerate. You won't make others feel hot but cold.
After the marriage with Zhang Hanling was agreed upon, Yuan Su's affairs gradually became heavier again.
Not only do they have to deal with the betrothal gifts and marriages, but they also need to speed up the development work that they are already following up on, as well as the more important preliminary work of paving the way for the imperial system.
In the past six months, we had been in Henan, and the development of Luanzhou was only left to Wang Litong and the local officials and gentry. Although it is not worrying, before Yuan Shikai officially implements the imperial system, some key points must be dealt with as soon as possible.
The development projects are in place. Among these key projects, the top priority is of course the production of new rifles.
Yuan Su hopes to replace all his troops with new rifles before next year.
This matter does not seem to be very troublesome. It only considers the production capacity of Factory 101. But for Yuan Su, equipping a new rifle is not just a replacement of hardware weapons. As various opinions put forward during last year's demonstration, the standard
Chemical weapons are systematic specifications for standardized weapons. The Chinese Army is implementing standardized weapons for the first time, which inevitably requires a lot of training and exploration. In addition, new strategic and tactical ideas that are born with new weapons must also be started immediately.
Research and promotion. Fu’s discussion, or the inference of the staff office in Luanzhou, is almost the same as for the typical use characteristics of rifles and cavalry. The advantage of rifles and cavalry lies entirely in trench warfare, so from now on, it is necessary to train all subordinates under their command.
Level combat units learn the use of trench tactics.
On this matter, Yuan Su had a detailed discussion with He Qigong, Chen Wennian, Jiang Baili and others. He appointed Jiang Baili as the top tactical adviser to the three armies to formulate textual materials suitable for the trench tactics of the Chinese Army, and then He Qigong
Gong is responsible for arranging training, actual combat performances, assessments and other related work for officers at all levels.
As for the preparation work in the early stage of the monarchy, it is nothing more than to say hello to the subordinates step by step, so that these subordinates can not only gradually know that the Beiyang government is brewing a constitutional monarchy, but also persuade the subordinates to maintain the same position as himself. He
In fact, his position is not to support the imperial system, but only to "not oppose the imperial system", that is, to obey the orders of the emperor, and to unswervingly advocate that "as long as it can promote the centralization of power, the state system is indispensable."
So in early August, Yuan Su summoned foreign military officers stationed in Huai'an, Huaibei, Shangqiu and other places to gather in Luanzhou and held a meeting specifically on this matter. Of course, he did not immediately reveal Fu and Changan
The planning of the meeting only used Yang Du's original words to describe the purpose of the meeting, and at the same time repeatedly reiterated that soldiers should abide by their duties and adhere to the political strategy of centralization.
In fact, Yuan Su didn't think too much about how to persuade his subordinates to accept the constitutional monarchy. All he can do now is to instill some other ideas to confuse his subordinates' awareness of fu. For example, emphasizing the duty of a soldier, or strengthening centralization of power.
In terms of influence on thinking, another example is the suggestion that soldiers should not interfere in politics.
In addition, he occasionally complained in front of his subordinates, criticized the current domestic political environment, and vented remarks such as "In order to promote the centralization of power as soon as possible, any means will be used."
Some publicity was also arranged in the Beiyang Young Officers Club. Since the Beiyang Officers Club was officially established in Bei Jing, Yuan Su specially arranged for Gao Shun to be responsible for the organization, hosting and member outreach work of the club. And then these two
Within months, Gao Shun opened branches of the Beiyang Young Officers Club in Luanzhou, Shangqiu, Huaibei, Huai'an and Shanghai. Except for Shanghai, which is still under preparation, the other four places have gradually opened their doors for business.
The club is originally a place to gather ideas, not to mention that the series of purposes formulated before have also clearly laid some foundations. Now we only need to spread the news through specially arranged words at the monthly officer gatherings.
First lay a foreshadowing in everyone's mind.
As the wedding day approaches, Yuan Su pays less and less attention to the engagement. Of course he does not want to regret the marriage, nor does he like Zhang Hanling, but in his opinion, the political significance of this marriage is obviously more important than love. What's more,
In such a turbulent old society, love was originally just the green leaves that set off the red flowers.
In his spare time every day, he gradually began to pay attention to international news. Nearly two months had passed since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had assembled its troops and officially kicked off the First World War.
Just a few days. After several years of simmering, the situation in Europe finally reached the critical point of explosion. Both the Allies and the Entente were feeling completely relieved rather than becoming more nervous.
For so many years, every time a crisis event occurs, people will be on tenterhooks. On the contrary, when it is truly certain that a war is imminent, there is not so much hope and there are not so many excuses. Only then can all people in all countries know what will happen tomorrow.
What will happen.
No matter how bad the European war would become, in fact the First World War was an excellent opportunity for China. On the one hand, the European war caused a huge consumption of resources, which could provide a broader opportunity for the development of Chinese capitalism.
Market, on the other hand, the Western powers and even Japan, the only modern power in Asia, will concentrate their energy on Europe at this time. This brings an excellent opportunity for China to break away from the control of the great powers and strive to develop and grow like a leap forward.
Perhaps China in history failed to seize the opportunity of the First World War, but since Yuan Su has such a unique awareness, he must rewrite the history of modern China and make the most of this opportunity with his personal influence.
A great opportunity. Even if one's personal ability is limited, it will definitely be better utilized than what was used in the original history.
For this reason, Yuan Su specially picked a time to come to Shanhaiguan and visited the Daimler Suye Shipbuilding Company in Nandaihe.
As early as last year, Daimler Suye Shipbuilding Company had established preliminary industrial links and signed long-term warranty business for ocean-going vessels with Shanghai, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France. At the same time, it used the large seaport of Nandaihe to
Shipbuilding companies have also begun to gradually develop OEM production and R&D to manufacture some ships.
---
[What a tragedy. My friend was not at home, so I squatted in front of his house and uploaded it through the wireless network. What a tragedy!]