It turned out that Yuan Shikai had been paying attention to the Qing army's attack on the river and lake base areas. It was also very happy to learn that the Qing army was blocked by the three routes. It seemed that Tieliang and Liangbi were going to be in a mess this time, but Duan Qirui made rapid progress throughout the journey, and his army was unique and recovered four prefectures in a row. Yuan Shikai was also very unhappy. Did Duan Qirui forget what he told him? Therefore, Yuan Shikai immediately wrote a letter to Duan Qirui, reminding Duan Qirui in a very subtle way, not to forget his advice and fight casually.

After receiving Yuan Shikai's letter, Duan Qirui also knew that it was almost done now. If he continued to fight, Yuan Shikai would not be able to pass that level. Moreover, Duan Qirui also guessed that the military achievements he had made were enough. Just stopping like this can ensure that he would not lose his official position after the war. Therefore, he also wanted to find some reason to stop the troops and why he retreated a little.

Just as Duan Qirui drafted a telegram and was about to be issued, the imperial court's commendation order was passed to Duan Qirui's camp. Duan Qirui's contribution to suppressing bandits was appointed as the acting governor of Henan, and was given the title of Batulu, and was rewarded with yellow jackets.

After receiving the commendation order from the court, Duan Qirui could hardly believe it, and his whole mind was blank. Even the eunuchs and generals summoned him did not know how to deal with it, and he was completely at a loss. Because this was something Duan Qirui never dreamed of, and he became the governor?

Duan Qirui's current commander is the second-rank official rank, and the governor is from the second-rank. He has only added the title of six ministers to the second-rank. On the surface, Duan Qirui's current official position is not inferior to that of the governor, but the commander is a military officer. Both the Ming and Qing dynasties were civil servants. When military officers met civil servants, they actually had to be reduced to the third-rank official. Of course, there was a special case in the Qing Dynasty, that is, in the middle and early period of the Qing Dynasty, if they were Manchu generals, they still had considerable power. However, under the same conditions, the actual power of the commander is not as good as a prefect of the fourth-rank. Not to mention that the governor is in charge of the political, military, civil affairs power of a province, and even a chief official with a high position and a high position and a powerful position. Therefore, he served as a governor, which means he was squeezed into the ranks of senior officials. It is no wonder that Duan Qirui was extremely excited and could not suppress himself.

The word "Agent" before the governor is the meaning of agent. It is usually used to serve as a governor. Generally, for officials with insufficient qualifications, they will remove the word "Agent" as long as they do not make any mistakes in office. When Yuan Shikai was appointed as the governor of Shandong, he also added the word "Agent". However, less than two years after he was in office, he experienced the change of the Gengzi country. Therefore, he was promoted to the governor of Zhili just after removing the word "Agent". "Give the title of Batulu and rewarded with yellow jackets" are all honorary titles. Although they have no substantial power, they are also extremely high honors. Because they are yellow jackets, they are usually kept at home as heirlooms.

Of course, with Duan Qirui's current qualifications, not to mention being a governor, even acting governor is far from qualified. However, most areas in Henan are not under the control of the Qing court, so the Henan governor is actually just a false position. However, this is also a sign to Duan Qirui that if Duan Qirui can fight bravely, make great contributions to the extermination of river and lake bases, and eventually recover the entire Henan Province, then Duan Qirui's Henan governor can also be transformed from virtual to real and become a real official position.

However, Duan Qirui finally had some self-control and hurriedly sealed 2,000 taels of silver to the summoned eunuch as Xie Yi. He sent the eunuch away first. The eunuch was very happy to collect the silver, and said a few more words, "The holy grace is vast, the empress dowager is merciful, General Duan must not forget it. He should fight hard and return to the court as soon as possible, so that he can live up to the empress dowager and the emperor's words of love."

These eunuch's words reminded Duan Qirui that it seemed that he could not stop his army, but should continue to march directly to Guide Mansion and suppress this group of brave bandits. On the one hand, he was to repay the court's kindness and trust in him; on the other hand, he also confirmed himself as the governor of Henan.

Duan Qirui was full of confidence in his ability to break the Guide Mansion, because in the past 10 days of battle, Duan Qirui believed that the Volunteer Army was just relying on his familiarity with geography and was good at sneak attacks, and head-on combat was not his opponent at all. As long as he arranged it carefully and marched carefully, it would not be difficult to deal with the Volunteer Army's sneak attack tactics. Therefore, it is completely possible to break through this road and break through Guide Mansion. When he broke through Guide Mansion and suppressed this group of brave bandits, the Henan governor was naturally confirmed.

Thinking of this, Duan Qirui couldn't help but feel a little lit up. From then on, he had been squeezed into the ranks of senior officials of the Qing court. Although he could not be said to be on par with Yuan Shikai, he was still close and no longer needed to be admired. However, Duan Qirui remembered that Yuan Shikai was not sending a letter to him to preserve his strength and not attack again. What should I do? Yuan Shikai's attitude must not be underestimated. First, Yuan Shikai had the kindness of knowing him and married his adopted daughter to him. Of course, he could not lose himself in Yuan Shikai just because he wanted to be a high-ranking official. Second, Yuan Shikai was also an important official in the court. Even if he became the governor of Henan, he might not be far from his position in the position, but his power was still far from the same. Therefore, he still needed Yuan Shikai's support in the future and he must not ruin his relationship with Yuan Shikai. You must think of a complete solution so that Yuan Shikai cannot find out his own faults.

Of course, at this time Duan Qirui did not realize that he had not considered following Yuan Shikai's instructions to stop the attack. He was thinking about how to make Yuan Shikai accept his advance and make contributions and not offend Yuan Shikai. However, he did not expect that these two things were simply opposite each other and irreconcilable. This only shows that the Henan Governor's temptation to Duan Qirui was too strong, which affected Duan Qirui's judgment.

In fact, the appointment of Duan Qirui as the acting governor of Henan was decided by Cixi himself, and it also caused a considerable reaction in the court at that time, because although Duan Qirui made some contributions, it was not enough to serve as the governor. Even if he was a governor with a false position, he was a Manchu minister, and there was an important reason in addition to his qualifications, that is, Duan Qirui was Yuan Shikai's confidant. His appointment as the governor of Henan would certainly help Yuan Shikai's power increase. However, Cixi still opposed the public and decided to reward Duan Qirui.

However, although Cixi was quite disappointed after making the decision. Although the Manchu powerful people were clamoring to accept the Han people, they had no talent at all. Tie Liang and Liangbi were usually good at fighting, but they were revealed on the battlefield. They had not achieved any achievements and were not as good as a general under Yuan Shikai. And so, these two people were still people who could do some serious business in the Manchu powerful people, and most of the Manchu powerful people were simply a group of ignorant people, and they could not even see their intention to reward Duan Qirui.

Cixi rewarded Duan Qirui, and of course, it was to inspire the Qing army. Among the four towns in Beiyang that Bi Jing fought this time, three of them were Yuan Shikai's confidants. If there was no trick in the battle, there was nothing wrong with it. Cixi would not believe it even if she killed her. Therefore, she rewarded Duan Qirui for Wang Yingkai and Wu Fengling. Do you want to get promoted and make a fortune? Then fight with your heart.

Of course, what is more important is that this is an important move to weaken Yuan Shikai's power. On the surface, Duan Qirui is Yuan Shikai's confidant, and enhancing Duan Qirui is to increase Yuan Shikai's power. However, Cixi knew in her heart that the reason was not that simple. Although Duan Qirui and Yuan Shikai had certain personal emotional factors, the main thing was that there was a common interest. To be precise, Yuan Shikai could provide Duan Qirui with the opportunity to get promoted and make money. Of course, Yuan Shikai also used Duan Qirui to contribute to himself. The two could be considered to have gained something and achieved a win-win situation. But if someone could also provide Duan Qirui with the opportunity to get promoted and make money, it was stronger than Yuan Shikai, and there was a conflict with Yuan Shikai. In this way, Duan Qirui and Yuan Shikai would lose common interests. Even if they did not turn against each other immediately, a covenant would be inserted, and the relationship between Duan Qirui and Yuan Shikai would also change.

In addition, after Duan Qirui became the governor, although his official position was still not as good as Yuan Shikai, he was not under Yuan Shikai's jurisdiction and command, and could be self-organized. In this way, conflicts would arise between the two sooner or later. Even if there was not, the court could easily create some contradictions to separate the two. Therefore, it naturally weakened Yuan Shikai's power. This is the advantage of the court. After all, whether Yuan Shikai or Duan Qirui, they were both officials of the Qing court, and were ultimately controlled by the court.

In fact, this method of differentiation was not new to Cixi. When Zeng Guofan pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and founded the Hunan Army, he made extraordinary contributions and gained military power, his power was too great for a moment to shake the foundation of the court. The court used this trick to reduce Zeng Guofan's power, which was to promote Zeng Guofan's subordinates, such as Zuo Zongtang, Hu Yilin, Li Hongzhang and others to positions equal to Zeng Guofan, and then create conflicts among them. As a result, Zuo Zongtang and Zeng Guofan turned against each other. Although Li Hongzhang did not turn against Zeng Guofan, the conflict between him founded the Huai Army and the Hunan Army founded by Zeng Guofan could not be resolved, so he was not in the same position as Zeng Guofan.

In fact, Cixi never took Yuan Shikai to heart. Even if she knew that Yuan Shikai was developing her own power, she would let it go. It was because Cixi had too many ways to deal with Yuan Shikai easily and easily dissolve the forces cultivated by Yuan Shikai. Therefore, she deliberately pretended to be confused and used this to borrow Yuan Shikai's ability to do things for the Qing court. After all, the Qing court still needed people who could do things.
Chapter completed!