Chapter 48: Rushing to Tianjin to Train the New Army

  Shandong Weihai Wei Suiying Martial Arts Academy, with thirty or so students seated inside.

  As the instructor, Duan Qirui was speaking with great enthusiasm, suddenly he heard a creaking sound from the door and turned around to see a strange person entering the classroom. The man was short and stout, with a smile that resembled Maitreya Buddha, wearing a military uniform of a camp officer. As soon as he entered, he sat at the back and smiled at Duan Qirui, who felt puzzled and seemed not to recognize this person.

  Duan Qirui finally finished his lecture and walked out of the church, only to find that the stranger had followed him as well. It seemed he was looking for him. Duan Qirui stopped in his tracks, turned around, and asked with a bow: "May I ask what brings you to follow me?"

  That fatty then is the one who saw Ren, heard the words and walked up with a big smile, opening his mouth to ask: "Excuse me, are you Mr. Duan, who graduated from Tianjin Military Academy and studied artillery knowledge at Berlin University in Germany?"

  Duan Qirui looked up and down at Jianren Shi with a suspicious expression, then replied: "I am. Who are you?"

  When I heard Duan Qirui's affirmative answer, my face suddenly became agitated, and I grasped both of Duan Qirui's hands. With eyes full of expectation, I said to him: "It is really you, Sir Duan! I have traveled mountains and rivers, experiencing a thousand hardships, specially coming from the capital to find you. Here are two letters, please take a look and you will know what it is about!"

  Duan Qirui curiously picked up the letter, opened one of them and took a look, only to find that it was a letter from Yin Chang, the founder of Tianjin Military Academy. The letter roughly stated that Duan Qirui had been recommended by Yin Chang to Ye Zhikui, the governor of Zhili Province, who was eager for talented people.

  Another letter was written by Ye Zhiqi himself, in which he explicitly expressed his admiration for himself and hoped to go to Tianjin to help train the new army, and promised him a position as a division commander, commanding two battalions of troops, which is a very high position.

  Duan Qirui's eyes lit up with a green glow after reading it, and he secretly thought to himself that no wonder he had stepped on dog poop this morning. It turned out that all of this was due to the arrival of good fortune. Duan Qirui had been teaching for many years and had grown tired of it, having long had the idea of personally leading troops, but unfortunately, there were no opportunities in the imperial court, and he hadn't encountered any major wars, so he could only endure silently. He knew that Ye Zhikui wanted to train a new army, which was already widely known and spreading like wildfire within the military, but he didn't expect him to find himself. The heavens had finally opened their eyes for once!

  When I saw Duan Qirui standing there without saying a word or responding, my heart couldn't help but feel anxious. This was someone that Ye Shao had personally instructed must be taken down, so I spoke up and said: "Duan, Ye Shao holds you in extremely high regard. If he didn't have urgent business in the capital, he would have definitely come to visit you in person. What are your thoughts on this? If you're not satisfied, we can still negotiate."

  Duan Qirui woke up from his beautiful dream and hastily replied, "This gentleman, there is no problem at all. I will immediately submit my resignation to the higher authorities and follow you to Tianjin."

  The events that occurred on Duan Qirui's body were just a small part of many similar things, from the moment Ye Zhikui received the edict to train troops. The Wubei students who had been ridiculed by the Huai Army generals began to be summoned in large numbers to Tianjin to practice the new army. This was also what Ye Zhikui wanted, as he didn't particularly like the old-style officers, who mostly had some old bureaucratic habits. These graduates, still young and vigorous, were at an age of fervent passion, with no thought of not achieving great things! They were the best candidates for training the new army.

  On December 15, Ye Zhiwei finished his work in the capital and led a group of people to enter Tianjin from Beijing. Before he left Beijing, Ye Zhichao had already gone to Jiangsu to take office. Ye Zhiwei visited various high-ranking officials in Beijing again and finally bid farewell to Li Hongzhang. When they parted ways, Li Hongzhang looked at him seriously and said: "You are young and talented, I only have one sentence for you: 'A tall tree in the forest will be broken by the wind.' Young people should remember not to show off too much."

  Ye Zhiqi nodded solemnly and committed it to memory. Ye Zhiqi was not the kind of person who forgot favors and betrayed righteousness. Li Hongzhang had helped him a lot, and he remembered it in his heart. It was also because of himself that he won the victory of the Sino-Japanese War and avoided Li Hongzhang's half-life reputation being ruined overnight. Who can clearly explain the causal relationship between them?

  Tianjin, the old base of the Beiyang warlords, was the seat of the Beiyang government. At that time, it was China's second-largest industrial and commercial city and the largest financial and trade center in North China. The existence of concessions made this city have a deformed prosperity. Many Beiyang generals considered Tianjin as their second hometown, and most of them bought houses here, some even lived here for a long time, such as Sheng Xuanhuai, who also settled here for a period of time to facilitate the management of foreign affairs.

  Ye Zhiqi entered Tianjin and did not go to the Ye Mansion first, but instead went to visit his superior, the Governor-General of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, Wang Wenshao. Wang Wenshao was an old bureaucrat who handled affairs very smoothly. During his tenure as Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, he had repeatedly suppressed peasant uprisings and Miao people's uprisings, and did not oppose the foreign affairs movement either. He could basically be considered a capable minister.

  At the first meeting, Wang Wenshao was neither cold nor too enthusiastic to Ye Zhiwei. He only instructed Ye Zhiwei that if he encountered any difficulties in training the new army, he could come to him for help. After a few words, Ye Zhiwei stood up and bid farewell.

  Ye Zhiqi and Feng Guozhang met at Ye's residence in Tianjin, rested for a short while, and then hurried to Lutai the next day. At this time, the Korean Tiger Troops had already begun to withdraw back to their country. They continued to be stationed in Lutai, Tianjin, temporarily under the command of Nie Shicheng. Of course, these troops were not only the Tiger Troops that Ye Zhiqi had withdrawn from Korea but also included some soldiers who had been recently recruited by Nie Shicheng and had not yet taken shape.

  Ye Zhiwei arrived at the military camp and first went alone to Nie Shicheng's tent. He walked in and saw that Nie Shicheng was studying military books. Hearing the noise, he looked up and saw Ye Zhiwei coming in, and couldn't help but smile. Putting down his book, he said: "Young Master Yun Xian has finally arrived! I've been waiting to hurry to Shandong for my new appointment!"

  Ye Zhi Kui smiled and congratulated: "It's been a month since we last met, Uncle has been promoted again, Shandong Governor, I'm so envious that I could die!"

  Nie Shicheng let out a wry smile and said, "I'm always coming and going in a hurry, I'm just a busy person, what's there to envy? Now that the Luotai army has been handed over to you, I can finally put my mind at ease."

  He patted Ye Zhong's shoulder and said, "I'm going far away to Shandong, I'm afraid it will be a long time before we meet again. Training the new army is not something that can be done overnight, so don't be impatient for quick success and gains. Your uncle and I won't be around, you must take good care of yourself in the future." In ancient times, when people parted ways to such distant places, they would often never see each other again, so this could also be said to be their last meeting.

  Ye Zhiwei couldn't help but think of his encounter with Nie Shicheng in Korea, thinking of his selflessness, thinking of the care and support he had given him, thinking that he had handed over the army to him without reservation. Thinking of their impending separation, tears began to well up in his eyes. A man has tears but does not easily shed them, only when the heart is truly broken! Choked with emotion, he said: "Young nephew Mo thanks uncle for taking care of me in every way, and now we must part ways, I have no way to repay you, so I can only kowtow three times to thank you."

  Ye Zhi Kui bowed his head sincerely to show gratitude to the person he respected the most so far, Nie Shi Cheng also showed genuine emotions and did not stop him from doing so. He only stepped forward and lightly hugged him after Ye finished bowing, comforting him by saying: "You and I are like uncle and nephew, if we have fate, why worry that there won't be opportunities to meet in the future?"

  Then he laughed and said: "From Yun, you are now a commander-in-chief, still crying here, aren't you afraid that the soldiers under your command will see it and laugh?"

  Ye Zhi Kui wiped away his tears, suppressing the faint sadness in his heart, and smiled: "Uncle is right, tonight I will drink with you, Shibo, until we are drunk."

  Two men held candles and talked at night, Nie Shicheng poured out all his experience in training and leading troops, and also gave away several volumes of military books. The next morning, Ye Zhi-kui watched as Nie Shicheng led a few personal soldiers, riding military horses, disappearing over the horizon.