The imperial court ordered the Liaodong Army to be the rebels less than half a month ago, and the plot reversed.

The Liaodong Army, who had a rebel identity, actually took the initiative to submit a letter to the court to surrender.

The court, who thought the court would definitely make a big spy, unexpectedly agreed to the Liaodong army to surrender.

Not only did it not reduce the strength of the Liaodong Army and compress the living space of the Liaodong Army, but it added the territory of the three prefectures to the Liaodong Army, and also appointed the Liaodong Army as the governor of Liaodong. Of course, the court did not make public the negotiation conditions for the Liaodong Army to be the governor of Liaodong. After all, this was a shame for the court, and it indirectly recognized the Liaodong Army's wolf ambitions.

If other local governors who hold real power know, they will probably follow the example and give the court a big show of forcing the palace.

Except for a few people in the entire Qing Dynasty, no one else understood why there was such a big gap between the court.

The war was temporarily over, and Yuan Shikai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The huge firepower gap between the Beiyang Army and the Liaodong Army made him realize the danger.

Therefore, he must strengthen the Beiyang Army's firepower to the Liaodong Army's standards before the next battle begins.

To put it bluntly, to strengthen the firepower, it means to equip the Beiyang Army with more light and heavy machine guns and more artillery.

Under the premise that the Beiyang Army could not produce these heavy weapons by itself, Yuan Shikai could only purchase them by purchasing them. If he bought them, he would need a large sum of money.

In the past few days, the staff had calculated all the amount of money that Yuan Shikai needed to raise.

Three million taels of silver, except for the military expenses that the Beiyang Army could use to buy weapons, Yuan Shikai had to raise at least three million taels of silver.

After running to the palace for several days, Yuan Shikai finally received Cixi's imperial edict and allocated 800,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue to purchase weapons for the Beiyang Army.

But even so, Yuan Shikai was still missing three million taels of silver.

Of course, the Beiyang Army also has its own income channels. Otherwise, with just the silver allocated by the court, Yuan Shikai would not be able to support tens of thousands of Beiyang elites even if he had great ability.

Since the Beiyang Army began to expand its troops on a large scale, Shandong and Tianjin are the private areas of the Liaodong Army.

All the taxes, except for the court, were given to all the taxes by Yuan Shikai for military expenses in the Beiyang Army.

However, now there is nearly half a year before taxation is imposed, and the distance cannot quench the near thirst. In the absence of any help, Yuan Shikai could only put his hope on all the yamen in both places.

In order to completely control Tianjin and Shandong and ensure that the Beiyang Army has a stable rear. Almost all civil and military officials in both places are former officials of Yuan Shikai.

So, as soon as Yuan Shikai spoke, the civil and military officials with money immediately sent silver to Yuan Shikai.

The civil and military officials who had no money immediately tried every means to plunder the silver from the people in their jurisdiction and then sent it to Yuan Shikai.

In just ten days, Yuan Shikai received nearly two million taels of silver.

What Yuan Shikai did not expect was that behind his two million taels of silver, tens of thousands of people turned into homeless refugees.

Faced with the increasingly small gap in silver, the staff were happy and couldn't help but sigh: "If we could not pay taxes to the court like the Liaodong Army, then our Beiyang Army would have at least three million taels of silver every year, and we would not be running around for the money like now, and we could even form two new troops in two towns."

The proposer was unintentionally, and the staff who proposed this idea just mentioned it casually, but the proposal was heard by Yuan Shikai and another idea.

Why can a rebel army in the Liaodong Army, which opposes the imperial court, intercept local taxes and support tens of thousands of elite troops? However, the Beiyang New Army, who obeyed the imperial court and did the court, had no money to support the army, and did not even have the money to buy weapons at least.

It turns out that Yuan Shikai didn't think much about this. Now, after carefully comparing it, Yuan Shikai's heart immediately became unbalanced.

The Beiyang Army was the foundation of his foothold in the court. As long as the Beiyang Army existed for one day, the court would not do anything to itself and dare not do anything to itself. Since that is the case, why can't I learn from the Liaodong Army and force the court to gain more rights?

As soon as this idea appeared in Yuan Shikai's mind, it couldn't be gone.

When a group of staff began to discuss how to use the money, Yuan Shikai, who suddenly frowned, walked straight to the side and sat on the chair, fell into deep thought without saying a word, analyzing the feasibility of this matter.

At this time, a confidant aide immediately discovered Yuan Shikai's changes, and then came over and asked, "Now the money has been raised almost all, and there is only one million taels of silver left. As long as you have time, you will definitely raise it. I wonder what difficulties will you have."

Yuan Shikai waved his hand and said nothing, then stood up and took this most confidant aide to his study, and then trayed the thought that suddenly appeared just now.

Since following Yuan Shikai, the staff knew that Yuan Shikai's ambitions were definitely not as simple as powerful officials.

Therefore, after hearing this idea, the staff did not show too shocked expression.

After thinking about it, he answered very affirmatively to Yuan Shikai: "Sir, this idea is very feasible!"

"There are several reasons: First, the current court is no longer the court decades ago. Almost all local officials holding military power are Han people, and they will definitely not be as close to the same as the court. To use one word to describe the court, the four words "outside strong and the middle are the ones" are the most appropriate."

Yuan Shikai nodded and affirmed: "I know this, and the court knows it too. Otherwise, when facing the Liaodong Army, the court would not be so timid and compromise again. This is also a very important reason why I want to have this idea."

The staff continued: "The second reason is that our Beiyang Army itself. It is certain that our Beiyang New Army is the largest and most combat-effective army in the entire north. If the court wants to maintain its dominance in the entire Qing Dynasty, it is impossible to do anything with the Beiyang Army. As long as we do not rebel directly, the court will not do anything to us?"

"Third, as the Beiyang Army grows larger and larger, a Shandong can no longer support so many troops. For the sake of the Beiyang Army's tens of thousands of soldiers and to find a better way out for civil and military officials who support the adults, the adults must also seek greater rights and more territory from the court."

After the staff finished speaking, Yuan Shikai fell into deep thought again.

After five minutes, a touch of determination emerged.
Chapter completed!