Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 19 The Current Situation of the Qing Dynasty
After Dong Liang took office, Guan Xuqing also began to exercise the power of the emperor.

Every day, Guan Xuqing carefully reviewed the memorials and telegrams sent by various ministries and provinces.Coming from the 21st century, he certainly knows the current situation of the Qing Dynasty like the back of his hand.

Generally speaking, the Westernization Movement launched by Li Hongzhang still had certain effects. Compared with the Second Opium War, the national power of the Qing Dynasty was much stronger.At least in Asia, the Qing Dynasty was still a superpower.Much stronger than it was then.Gross domestic product, which is now commonly known as GDP, is also among the top three in the world.four times higher than.

Therefore, it is relatively easy to develop Westernization, even though it was defeated in the Second Opium War.The indemnity was paid, but it did not shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.It is still easy to spend more than 5000 million taels of silver every year to develop industries.

Today, the configuration of the Qing army is mainly composed of the Hunan Army, Chu Army, Huai Army, Eight Banners, and Green Battalion.Among them, the Chu Army, the Huai Army, and the Hunan Army are all troops with certain combat effectiveness that have survived hundreds of battles, large and small, and the troops are equipped with Western guns, such as the Mauser and the Hatches. , Krupp Steel Cannon, etc.Many officers have studied in military schools.It can be said that these three troops can be called the elite of the Qing Dynasty.The soldiers of the Eight Banners, who are mainly composed of the children of the Eight Banners, still use primitive bows and arrows.Just because the ancestors said that the Manchus are based on riding and shooting.And refused to use foreign guns and cannons.All of them can only walk birds to gamble and smoke opium.There are also some outstanding individuals with high ideological awareness, who have not fallen under the aura of their parents.The Green Battalion soldiers in the 64th town have different abilities, and some troops are quite powerful because of their commanders.Some were lax in eating empty quotas, and even exchanged guns and bullets issued by the court for money to buy wine and cigarettes.Officers are afraid of death, and soldiers have no fighting spirit.This is the status quo of the Qing army today.

Guan Xu counted his days, and the Sino-French war was only two years away.If the current situation does not improve, history may repeat itself.

The navy is even worse. The Beiyang Navy has not yet been established, the Nanyang Navy is only equipped with a few thousand-ton gunboats, and the Guangdong and Fujian Navy only have a few small boats.There are no more than 40 ships, large and small.It's not enough that the French fleet was stuck between the teeth during the Sino-French battle.However, due to the large investment of the navy, the training cycle is long.Guan Xuqing still decided to start rectifying from the army first.

One morning, after Guan Xuqing listened to the routine reports from various ministries.He said, "Where is Zuo Zongtang?"

"The veteran is here." Zuo Zongtang took a step across.

"Master Zuo, how many troops does our Qing Dynasty have now?" Guan Xuqing asked.

"Army has a total of 100 million troops, 20 each of Chu Army, Hunan Army, Huai Army, Eight Banners, and Green Battalion." Zuo Zongtang has led troops for many years.

"The Qing Dynasty can no longer afford to support so many soldiers. I have decided to disarm the army. I have given Dong Liang the order to abolish part of the troops of the Eight Banners and the Green Camp starting from Zhili," Guan Xuqing said.

As soon as this remark came out, there was another uproar in the court.Even Prince Chun, the emperor's own father, frowned.

"Your Majesty, the soldiers of the Eight Banners are the root of the birth of our Qing Dynasty, and they cannot be dismantled. The ancestors of this army are all the heroes of the founding of the Qing Dynasty." Prince Lu protested first.

Prince Li is the commander of the Eight Banners Army.Regardless of whether this army can fight or not, with 20 people in hand, it is still very confident to speak in the court.The previous plan to assassinate Guan Xuqing failed, and he thought that if Cixi fell from power, he would also be in bad luck, but who knew that Li Lianying was beaten to death without saying a word.The little emperor seemed to know nothing.It just popped up again recently.

"This matter has already been settled, so there is no need to discuss it again. In the Second Opium War, the British and French allied forces only had 4000 troops. How could we beat our mighty army of more than [-] to the north? Forced Huang Kao to move to Rehe , and died there in the end. What a disgrace it is for the capital to fall. How can I support this kind of army?" Guan Xuqing cursed.

Prince Dun didn't know how to explain for a while, and knelt on the ground foolishly.The rest of the ministers did not dare to say no.

"Your majesty is wise, please let me know how many troops are left behind." Zuo Zongtang said.

"My Qing army has been unified and reorganized. From now on, there will be no division of Hunan Army, Huai Army, and Chu Army. It will be collectively called the Qing Army. There are 50 regular troops. Commander Zuo, I will leave the reorganization to you. As long as I can An army that fights tough battles only needs soldiers who are not afraid of death." Guan Xuqing said loudly.

"Zha..." Zuo Zongtang knelt down to accept the order.

"I now appoint you as the commander-in-chief of the Qing Army. Together with Dong Liang, we will organize the unified military affairs. The army is still based on battalions, with [-] officers and soldiers in each battalion. Ten battalions are one standard, and ten standards are one department. The Qing Army has a total Ten troops. You go back and make a list, and I will personally confer the ten army generals of the Qing Dynasty." Guan Xuqing continued.

"I obey the order," Zuo Zongtang replied.

(End of this chapter)