A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 77
Just as Zai Zhen and his party got off the boat, Yuan Shikai on the opposite side gave an order, and military music sounded unexpectedly.

It turned out that he also brought a military band of dozens of people to play music, which was quite grand.

Yuan Shikai greeted him with a smile: "Zhen Beizi has traveled thousands of miles and toured the countries, it is very hard work!"

"It's hard work, but it's not hard work. Thank you Yuan Zhitai to greet you personally." Zai Zhen pointed to the orchestra behind him, "You did this?"

Yuan Shikai proudly said: "Exactly! It's just that there are not many tunes now, so it's good to be able to practice one or two well. It's said that it takes a lot of time to learn all kinds of Western instruments."

Zai Zhen nodded: "Why don't you use our silk and bamboo wind music, Jin Zhonggu?"

Zai Zhen's thinking really jumped, and he actually wanted to use these as musical instruments for the military band.

Yuan Shikai was stunned, and patiently explained: "Zhen Beizi, since it is an army learning from foreigners, these etiquette systems must naturally follow other people's systems."

"It makes sense." Zai Zhen looked at Yuan Shikai's new army, "There is indeed something to say about the foreigner's stuff, and this time I can be regarded as an opening to the world."

Behind Yuan Shikai stood a few officers, whom Li Yu knew, of course, followed by Xu Shichang, and then all three heroes of Beiyang arrived: "Dragon of Beiyang" Wang Shizhen, "Tiger of Beiyang" Duan Qirui, and "Dog of Beiyang" Feng Guozhang.

Zhang Xun and Cao Kun were vaguely seen in the crowd.

Tianjin is the territory of Beiyang, and most of the high-level officials of Beiyang have come.Of course, in addition to the officers from Beiyang, Tang Shaoyi from Tianjin Customs also came to greet them in person.

Ordinarily, there was no need to be so grand. With Yuan Shikai's scheming, he must have his purpose in doing so. It is very likely that he wanted to win over Zaizhen.

Yuan Shikai said: "I prepare a little wine in the army to clean up the mission. I also invite Zhen Beizi and the mission to go together."

"Yuan Zhitai put his heart into it." Zai Zhen had no reason to refuse.

Compared with the Eight Banners, Beiyang's barracks are really different. The soldiers recruited by the new army are carefully selected: first of all, they must have good physical fitness, and then they must have a clean family background, and they must not have a history of opium smoking.

Even Yuan Shikai wrote the "Thirteen Rules for Military Training" by himself, and the other party made clear regulations in all aspects, and it already has the appearance of a modern army.

The salary in the army is also quite good. The average soldier gets 4.5 taels a month, the sentry officer (platoon leader) gets 30 taels including public expenses, and the battalion commander gets 400 taels a month.

If you are an artilleryman, the salary will be better. After all, it is a technical job, and there are more operations that need to be learned.

This kind of treatment was really high at the time.In addition, Yuan Shikai set up a new food and payment bureau in order to prevent empty pay, and every time he called and paid on the playground.

In fact, the Beiyang Army was very rich from the beginning to the end. Since it is rich, the food in the army is of course not bad.

Although the Yingpan canteen was not as good as the restaurants in the capital, Yuan Shikai still prepared a lot of dishes.

There was a long table in the canteen. In order to show Yuan Shikai's closeness to his subordinates, a large number of officers often sat at the same table for food in the army.

Everyone sat down one by one, with Yuan Shikai, Xu Shichang, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui, and Feng Guozhang from the Beiyang side, as well as Zai Zhen from the special envoy, Liang Cheng, Huang Kaijia and other second-rank officials in the top position.

Li Yu lined up with Wang Daxie, Tang Wenzhi and others in turn.

Li Yu's ancestral home was in Shandong, and he really knew the seating order very well. If it was a big round table, he would more or less understand the rules of the host and deputy host.However, those present here today either have official ranks or military ranks, so he wants to sit back.

After walking a few steps back, Yuan Shikai actually stopped him: "Are you Li Yu? Don't be so cautious, sit forward and sit forward! Let me see, um, you sit on the lower head of Cao Kun."

Yuan Shikai still remembered himself, and Li Yu had no choice but to sit under Cao Kun after the host and companions had spoken.

Yuan Shikai asked the Beiyang people and the envoys to sit at intervals. Li Yu had Cao Kun on his right and Zhang Xun on his left. Both of them would be great warlords in Beiyang in the future.

Diagonally opposite Li Yu and a little higher is Tang Shaoyi on Tianjin Customs Road.

Li Yu's position is very high, just below Tang Wenzhi and Wang Daxie, members of the fourth-rank special envoy.

The future "braided handsome" Zhang Xun saw that he had to wait a while for the food to be served, so he took out a betel nut purse and chewed it for a while, then lit a cigar and took a puff comfortably. "This is great!"

Li Yu was almost bewildered, is there such a thing?

Are betel nuts and cigarettes really powerful?
Zhang Xun took a few breaths and said to Cao Kun: "I said Cao San fool, this military band you made is really boring! If we want to talk about it, we have to use some Western instruments according to what Master Bei Zi said. War is not all about beating gold and beating drums.”

Cao Kun was relatively dull by nature, and he was like a tough guy in the army. He was called "Cao San Idiot" by his fellow soldiers since he was a child.But stupid people have stupid blessings. Cao Kun's previous leaders all liked him very much, and Yuan Shikai also liked this kind of hard work and obedience to orders.

And he was lucky, somehow he was admitted to the Beiyang Armed Forces Academy, somehow became a high-level military officer, somehow became Yuan Shikai's son and daughter in-laws, and somehow became a bribe-elect president.

I really don't know if he is pretending to be stupid and playing a foolish game?

But of course Cao Kun still has advantages, such as being sympathetic to soldiers, which was considered a super advantage among the officers at the time.

Moreover, Cao Kun was more accurate in judging people, so he single-handedly promoted Wu Peifu.Later, the direct line can be so fierce, it is really because Wu Peifu is too good at fighting.

Wu Peifu deeply felt the kindness to Cao Kun. My elder brother took me to Beiyang, and I took my elder brother to be the president!

Cao Kun was not angry at all when he heard Zhang Xun's ridicule, and said slowly: "You are talking about the golden drum in war, and the army should look like an army at ordinary times. The military band is used as a guard of honor to strengthen our army." Wei."

"Cut!" Zhang Xun is a super old tradition, disdainfully said, "It's not that our ancestors lacked musical instruments, so it's possible that we have to learn from foreigners? In my opinion, it would be very good to use our silk and bamboo orchestras and golden drums and suonas! "

I don’t know if Zhang Xun has heard of it, “All kinds of musical instruments, the suona is the king, either ascension to heaven or worship; the thousand-year-old pipa, ten-thousand-year zither, and an erhu for a lifetime. The whole play ends with the sound of the suona.”

If you go to the battlefield blowing the suona, you really can't tell whether it's a wedding or a funeral.

And Zhang Xun can definitely be called the last loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, and he loved the Qing Dynasty to the bottom of his heart, otherwise how could he carry out the restoration later.

Li Yu couldn't hold back anymore, but fortunately Tang Shaoyi who was diagonally opposite laughed first, which attracted Zhang Xun's attention.

Zhang Xun said: "Why, what we said is wrong?"

Tang Shaoyi also smokes cigars, but her movements are much more elegant, and the posture of holding the cigarette is also the same, not as rough as Zhang Xun.He said: "Musical instruments are like weapons. Different musical instruments have different purposes. As for military music, naturally orchestral instruments are more suitable."

Tang Shaoyi is a man of culture, and Zhang Xun doesn't read much, and he doesn't know the difference between orchestral music and traditional musical instruments.He saw that Tang Shaoyi also smoked cigars, so he immediately changed the subject: "Tang Taoist also understands cigars?"

Tang Shaoyi pointed to the cigar in her hand: "Just for fun."

"I bought this one from the French Concession, one for three silver dollars, would you like to try it?" Zhang Xun took one out of the box and handed it to Tang Shaoyi.

At that time, smoking cigars was an absolute luxury, and the price was not acceptable to ordinary people, and the cost was comparable to opium.

Of course, the cigars of later generations were not cheap either. A good one cost 700 yuan, and there were also [-] to [-] cigars.

Tang Shaoyi laughed loudly, and even took out a small box, and took out one to invite back.

Zhang Xun's face changed when he saw it: "This! Isn't this a Cuban cigar sold in the British Concession, one cost ten silver dollars!"

Tang Shaoyi took a deep breath, "If Zhang Guandai likes it, I'll send someone to send you 10 boxes."

Guan Dai is the title of the battalion commander in the Beiyang Army.

Zhang Xun also cares about face, and immediately pretended: "We just don't like Cuban cigars, but this one I smoke."

Tang Shaoyi smiled slightly, and did not insist any longer. In terms of seeing the world, how could he be under Zhang Xun.

After talking nonsense for a while, the prepared food from the kitchen was brought out. Because it was a long table, many dishes were arranged in a rather messy manner even though they had been cooked several times.

Cao Kun put a plate of stir-fried five flowers with chili in front of Zhang Xun, "I heard from Teacher Juren that you like spicy food, put this dish in front of you, eat more!"

Juren is Xu Shichang's nickname, and Yuan Shikai likes to call him "Brother Juren", so many battalion officers in the army also respectfully call him by his nickname.And because Xu Shichang was born in Juren, he was a Jinshi and then served as an Hanlin for nine years.Most of the soldiers in the battalion were uneducated, let alone famous, so everyone respected him as their teacher.

Zhang Xun is from Jiangxi, and Jiangxi people are famous all over the country for eating spicy food.

It's just that Jiangxi cuisine is not as famous as Hunan cuisine, so many people think that Hunanese are the best at eating spicy food.

Zhang Xun also really likes spicy food, but today he was a little twitchy, he smiled: "We can't just eat spicy food!" Then he gently pushed the food, "You all eat it, you all eat it."

Cao Kun laughed and said, "Why, could it be that hemorrhoids have occurred again?"

Zhang Xun said sternly: "Where there is nothing! It has been done long ago!"

"Then I have to give you this dish, come, eat two bites!"

Zhang Xun also couldn't tell whether Cao Kun was a real Tie Hanhan or a fake Tie Hanhan. He didn't know why he was so persistent, but he couldn't embarrass the people of Jiangxi either!The meat was not caught, so I put two peppers in my mouth and chewed them.

Cao Kun watched him swallow until he gave a thumbs up: "Zhang Guan is so proud!"

Zhang Xun's face was almost red, and he probably cried again when he went to the toilet today.

Li Yu is also really interesting to watch, to be able to bring together these great warlords of later generations, which is Yuan Shikai today.

Li Yu once read a national "map of hemorrhoids", but Hunan ranked first in the incidence rate, and Jiangxi was not weak, ranking sixth.

The bottom one is Li Yu's hometown Shandong, so he didn't have a deep feeling for hemorrhoids, and couldn't understand the distress of Zhang Xun, a "man with hemorrhoids".

Zhang Xun is still famous as a "man with hemorrhoids", even the Empress Dowager Cixi knows that he has hemorrhoids!
Two years ago, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing, and Lafayette ran away with Guangxu in a hurry.

As a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Xun didn't care about anything, and hurriedly took his direct troops northward to King Qin.After finding Cixi, he walked all the way and followed Lafayette's sedan chair.Despite the heavy snow in the twelfth lunar month of winter, she always surrounded Cixi unswervingly.

Due to walking for a long time, Zhang Xun developed hemorrhoids and bled profusely. His robe behind his buttocks was stained red with blood.

It was Li Lianying who saw General Zhang's butt turned red, and only found out what happened after asking, so he told Cixi.

Cixi was very moved when she saw Zhang Xun walking with her buttocks up and bleeding continuously, so she ordered General Zhang to ride a horse.

But Zhang Xun said: "The slave does not hurt! The slave follows the ancestors! It is important for the slave to protect the holy car!"

What is Daqing Zhongliang!Or say that he is the last loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty!
Zhang Xun is not a direct descendant of Beiyang either. He was born in the Huai Army and has a weak sense of belonging to Beiyang. He did not attribute most of his success to Yuan Shikai, but felt that Cixi gave him a glorious status.

The drinks in the Beiyang military camp are also foreign wine, whiskey with more than 40 degrees.Now all the soldiers like to drink alcohol. Alcohol can build courage and boost morale, so the control is not too strict.

Yuan Shikai, who was on the first side, filled up the wine and said, "Brothers, fill up!"

Cao Kun was quite polite, and wanted to pour wine into Li Yu's glass. Li Yu wanted to refuse, but Beiyang was the owner today, and the envoy was the guest, so Cao Kun insisted on filling Li Yu's glass with wine.

Cao Kun didn't seem to know Li Yu, so he just said, "How is your drinking capacity, little brother?"

Li Yu, as a native of Shandong, belongs to the kind of drinker who can't see the final staple food according to Shandong's standards, but it's okay to stick to the hot dishes, which is barely enough to reach the passing line.

However, he did rarely drink alcohol, so he said, "It's definitely far worse than the volume of your officers."

"Okay!" Cao Kun cheered up, "Well said! But I can't drink too much."

Then he graciously poured a full glass of Zhang Xun's "ton ton ton", "If you talk about the amazing drinking capacity, it must be Zhang Guan who leads the adults."

Looking at the wine in the glass, Zhang Xun felt his mouth twitch and his chrysanthemum tighten.On weekdays, he really has an amazing capacity for drinking, and he has to drink half a catty of Fenjiu with every meal, but today, thinking about his butt, he really can't drink it.

Zhang Xun said euphemistically: "The soda in the camp is also good. With so many guests today, it would be unseemly to drink too much."

"It doesn't matter!" Cao Kun insisted, "I don't believe anyone can drink Zhang Guan to the ground."

Sitting below, Li Chun, who is also a direct warlord of later generations, said with a smile: "I don't believe it either!"

Zhang Xun suddenly felt that riding a tiger was difficult.

After everyone filled up the wine, Yuan Shikai stood up holding the wine glass, "Everyone, let us offer a toast to Mr. Zhenbei and the envoys who have returned from thousands of miles away!"

Everyone got up one after another. Zhang Xun was most afraid of sitting together now, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand up with a wine glass.

Yuan Shikai said loudly: "Cheers!"

Everyone drank it all in one gulp, and Zhang Xun secretly cursed grandma for being a bear, and gulped down.

　Today's chapter 2 is a little later, and it should mention 8000 words per day in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)