Chapter Thirty-Six: Peaceful Resolution

  I had the car driven a little further away from the Governor's Mansion, and Fei drove out of the street in one go. It wasn't until we reached a spacious area that I let her stop: "Alright, let's fish here! This place can still hold a few thousand idiots!" I had Fei honk the horn for half a day, and then had Li Xianglin fire a few shots into the sky, saying regretfully: "Why are these people coming so slowly? What a bunch of useless trash!"

  It wasn't until half a day later that several hundred soldiers arrived, crouching in the distance and firing useless shots at the car.

  Li Hongzhang said in dismay: "Your Majesty, isn't this what you want - to take control of the court? I can have a good talk with the Empress Dowager and let her abdicate immediately, handing over power to Your Majesty!"

  "Don't hand it over to him, he wants to get rid of us all, he wants to make a fresh start, he's going to throw away everything our ancestors left behind, he's going to destroy the Qing dynasty!" Cixi had just seen that outside, Li Hongzhang's soldiers had already surrounded them. Now she was like a drowning person who saw a straw and screamed frantically. Zhen'er pulled her over and slapped her mouth: "You old pig dog, do you still want to harm us now?"

  Cixi continued to shout: "He is not Zaichun, he is a bandit who looks like Zaichun! Zaichun speaks with a stutter, he speaks fluently. I thought he was here to deceive me with his cunning plan. His martial arts skills tell me that he is not Zaichun!"

  Li Hongzhang was astonished, saying: "What's going on? How could the Empress Dowager not recognize her own nephew? Is it because of the imperial power struggle that they are now at odds with each other? Should I go down and tell them not to misunderstand, and have them prepare to welcome the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to Tianjin?"

  The Northern Army soldiers are like mosquitoes smelling blood, swarming towards us, bullets flying like splashing water, shaking the steel plate with a loud hum!

  I leaned back against the backrest, closed my eyes and sneered: "You two, this has a loophole, isn't it to take a look at the attacking scene outside? Hmm, this Henry-Martini rifle, named after the combination of Henry's repeating rifle patent and Martini's rising breechblock patent. It was only officially adopted by Britain a few years ago, said to be the best breech-loading rifle in the world, how come it makes no sound when fired at the steel plate? Isn't this the one that Zeng Zhaoji from Shandong Machinery Bureau copied? They say it's not bad, but why is it nothing in the hands of those useless soldiers like Li Hongzhang? Alas, a group of soldiers are as strong as a bear, but a group of bears are just a bunch of cubs!"

  Li Hongzhang looked out of the window and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, we can't go on like this. The more we fight, the greater the misunderstanding will be. I'm afraid that if Yuan Shikai comes over, things will get out of hand!"

  Looking at Li Hongzhang's appearance, I was stunned. Didn't he look like what those iron-hat kings said? If it could really be used for me, it wouldn't be a bad ending, but now I couldn't let him go. If Cixi were to counterattack like just now, it would be even more troublesome! Thinking of this, I said: "I ordered you to hand over the Tianjin Machinery Manufacturing Bureau and the Jiangnan Machinery General Bureau, why haven't you replied yet?"

  Li Hongzhang looked at Cixi, hesitated and couldn't answer. Cixi burst out laughing: "It's because I didn't allow it, how about that? I don't trust that little girl of yours!"

  Damn it! It turns out she had already figured out that Yan'er and Fei'er were girls, this woman is really cunning! She didn't show any signs of knowing, but secretly competed with them, how ruthless!

  At this time, those soldiers in the character of Ren were rushing over from the direction of the Governor's Mansion under the command of a short and stout bald officer. The bald head seemed to be shouting something, and all the soldiers rushed towards this side.

  I knew it was Yuan Shikai, this little bastard is also a great scourge of China, can't let him get away with it anymore. I reached out and took a long gun from one of the guards' hands, put the muzzle into the shooting hole, just about to pull the trigger, damn it, this little bastard happened to shrink his body into the sandbag at this moment, let him breathe for a while!

  Yuan Shikai probably died suddenly, and then stood up and gestured with his hands, saying something. I saw a soldier running back and forth desperately.

  I was just about to raise my gun when that little devil shrunk back into his sandbag again, so I had no choice but to put the gun down once more.

  Zhen'er asked: "Who is that bald man? Does Wanxiang want to get rid of him?"

  "I said: 'He is called Yuan Shikai, a typical careerist, and will be a great calamity for China in the future. He cannot be allowed to stay!'"

  Li Hongzhang was stunned, and he asked in surprise: "Why did the Emperor say that he is an ambitious man? A general, if he doesn't have some ambition, wouldn't he be a useless coward? I think he has loyalty!"

  I don't want to argue with him, I just said lightly: "Ambition is not the same as wild ambition, what he has is a mind that confuses the country and disrupts politics! This person cannot stay in this world!"

  Suddenly those soldiers arrived, I saw the soldier who ran away earlier leading a team of horses pulling a cannon car came over, Yuan Shikai happily waved his hand to direct the cannon car to pass by.

  "Damn it, this is not good! My car with steel plates can't compete with cannons! I hastily said to Li Hongzhang: "Look at that Yuan Shikai, he clearly knows you're in the car and still wants to fire the cannon, is this loyalty? Move the car forward and blow up that cannon!"

  Fei was just about to drive forward when she suddenly exclaimed: "Look, Li Bing is bringing people to kill us!"

  As expected, the people brought by Li Bin from the Bu Yi Society, with white cloth tied around their arms, rushed over and surrounded the soldiers who were hiding behind the sandbags again, and also seized the artillery.

  Mantis catches cicada, yellow sparrow behind. Those Beiyang soldiers didn't even dream that the several thousand Beiyang soldiers appearing behind them would surround them.

  Li Hongzhang hastily said: "Your Majesty, we can't let our soldiers slaughter each other!"

  Yuan Shikai hid in the crowd, planning to shoot from behind, but Zhen Er shot him with one bullet and opened his skull. The former emperor of China, who had once dreamed of being a great president, ended his sinful life prematurely.

  Soldiers on both sides immediately opened fire and there were casualties on both sides.

  Li Hongzhang hastily stood up: "Your Majesty, I am guilty and can be executed or exiled, but this army is the nation's lifeblood! I beg of you to stop the fighting!"

  Cixi sighed: "Let him go, he has long advised Empress Dowager to let the Emperor take personal control of government, he should not have any ill intentions towards you!"

  I thought for a moment, handed the microphone to him, and he shouted: "I am Li Hongzhang, you all put down your guns, Lao Foye and Wan Sui are inspecting work in Tianjin, what's going on with you? Be honest with me immediately! Li Bin, keep the troops under control, don't startle the imperial carriage!"

  Li Bing was stunned. I immediately took over the microphone and said: "I am the principal, Li Bing, you must restrain the soldiers at once and do not open fire!"

  I pulled Li Hongzhang's hand and got off the carriage. The soldiers from both sides immediately knelt down: "Long live my Emperor, long live for ten thousand years!"

  The two of us walked hand in hand into the Governor's Mansion, where we saw Bai Xue and Zhao Hu, Nie Shi Cheng and others surrounding the mansion. Seeing us coming over, they all rushed to hurry: "Wan Sui is too dangerous!"

  I smiled and said: "With General Li guarding me, what danger is there?"

  Li Hongzhang also said: "Here at Hongzhang's place, I am willing to stake my life to guarantee the safety of Your Majesty!"

  I smiled and said, "Let's go, first enter the Governor's Mansion and then talk about it. Governor Li has already said so, don't you still believe?"

  Bai Xue said: "Yan'er sister has already taken people to Lushunkou, and Ding Ditu there is afraid of not accepting the reorganization!"

  Li Hongzhang asked: "Does the Emperor want to take over the Navy?"

  I said: "The Navy should be unified under the leadership of the Naval Ministry, I have issued a public document to you, but I haven't seen any response from you!"

  Li Hongzhang thought for a moment and said: "I dare not speak of the Empress Dowager's mistakes, but I am also worried that Governor Wang, being a civil official, may not be able to manage the fleet well. However, since Your Majesty has personally inquired about it, I will immediately order them to quickly hand over the command to the person sent by Your Majesty. Recently, I have heard that the Japanese are strengthening their naval construction, and their only enemy is our great Qing dynasty. I fear that our Qing dynasty's fleet has little advantage! Please, Your Majesty, think thrice!"

  I nodded: "Shaohuai's worries are indeed, I am for this reason to incorporate the navy into the Navy Yamen direct management, in order to speed up the construction of the navy!"

  We entered the house, Li Hongzhang picked up the phone. I said: "Which phone can be contacted?"

  Li Hongzhang said: "I have considered the importance of coastal defense, and have already set up telegraph lines in various coastal provinces, and also laid submarine cables between Xiamen and Taiwan, but the old Buddha in the palace thought it was noisy and didn't let me install it!"

  He then telephoned the Beiyang Fleet in Weihaiwei and Dairen.

  At this time, Zhen'er came in and asked: "Wan Sui, what about Cixi?"

  "Find her an old partner!"