In addition to the Minister of Military Affairs, the Qing court also had four important official positions, namely the Minister of Beiyang, the Prime Minister's Office, the Governor of Zhili, and the General Control of the Five Military Army of Wuwei. Before the Sino-Japanese War, except for the General Control of the Five Military Army of Wuwei, Li Hongzhang was the other three.

Among them, the Beiyang ministers had great responsibilities and power. In theory, they could manage the business, foreign affairs of the three provinces of Zhili (now Hebei), Shandong and Fengtian (now Liaoning), and handle matters related to diplomacy, coastal defense, tariffs and official military industry. Such important positions were naturally handed over to Manchu people, so Prince Qing took office.

The Prime Minister's Office was originally in charge of diplomacy, trade, tariffs and other affairs. Later, the construction of railways, mining, guns, arms and other affairs were also managed by it, which was quite similar to the Beiyang Minister, mainly because before the 1990s, both positions were held by Li Hongzhang, and now they have returned to diplomacy, trade, tariffs and other affairs. Of course, Li Hongzhang, the most experienced in this regard, was responsible for it.

The general control of the Five Military Army of the Wuwei was actually the army governor of Beijing. Although his position was not high, it was crucial. Ronglu had always served as the position, and of course it is no exception now.

However, the Governor Yuan Shikai of Zhili had not entered the military plane, so it seemed that the Manchus and Han dynasties were evenly matched, but in fact, the Manchus were slightly better. Cixi had made such an arrangement with great effort.

After the main officials of the government were determined, Cixi, in the name of Guangxu, issued a [Edict on Proposal of Frankness], also known as [Edict on Xin Chou Reform], which officially announced the reform of the Qing court and conducted a profound review of the actions of the Qing court before. She also required officials from all over the country to propose reforms to the court's system, which is the famous new policy of the late Qing Dynasty in the old time and space.

At the same time, the Qing court also established an agency specifically for the reform of the new policy, called the Supervisory Government Affairs Office, which was responsible for the reform of schools, official system, imperial examinations, official administration, finance, military and political affairs. Prince Qing, Li Hongzhang, Ronglu, Wang Wenshao, Zhao Shuqiao, Lu Chuanlin, Qu Hongsheng and others were appointed as the Supervisory Government Ministers, and Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others participated in the process. He was responsible for formulating various measures for the "New Policy", accepting the memorials of officials from all over the country, and handling the national affairs of schools, official system, imperial examinations, official administration, finance, military and political, business, diplomatic relations, criminal law and other affairs.

In fact, when he was in Xi'an, Cixi had already begun to reflect on her previous actions. One thing was certain, that is, the system of the court had indeed reached a point where it had to change. She insisted on the old routine. The Qing Dynasty must destroy the country. Moreover, the great troubles of the court are not only foreigners, but also the tiger of overseas Chinese, and overseas Chinese pose a greater threat to the court.

Cixi is very regretful now. After a roundabout way, she finally went to the road of reform. If she had known this, why would she have to be the beginning? In fact, from Cixi's heart, it would be a bit unfair to say that she was a conservative. If Cixi was really conservative, there would be no Westernization Movement. Cixi was most concerned about her power. It was precisely because the Reform Movement of 1898 threatened her power that Cixi abolished the reform without hesitation and imprisoned Guangxu. But now, it would be better to preside over the reform by herself than to preside over the reform. On the one hand, Guangxu would not be in chaos, and on the other hand, she could also protect her power. But now it is too late to regret it now, so she can only turn back and pick up the banner of reform.

Of course, after the Qing court returned to Beijing, the problem of division of Tianjin could not be delayed. Although overseas Chinese would not turn against the court for the time being, the transportation of grain and taxes and silver must be solved immediately. So Cixi immediately ordered that the governor of Zhili Yuan Shikai immediately negotiate with overseas Chinese to resolve the problem of division of Tianjin as soon as possible.

Yuan Shikai did not dare to neglect it, and immediately issued a document to Tianjin, demanding that negotiations be carried out immediately and the agreement on the division of Tianjin in Qingdao's secret agreement was implemented. After Li Songchen received Yuan Shikai's official document, he immediately reported to the East China government.

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

"The weakness of our China lies in the fact that we have too deep habits, too secret grammar, many vulgar officials, and few heroes. Those who are grammar use mediocre people as hiding, while officials rely on them as talismans for profit. Official affairs are exchanged with documents without any practicality, and talents are limited by qualifications and are increasingly eroded. Those who are tragic in the country are in the private word, and those who are trapped in the country are in the example word..."

Xia Bohai laughed and said, "This edict from the Qing court is well written, and the review of the General Festival is indeed very profound."

Xiao Jianjun said: "What is the use of profound review? How does Guan Jianyu do it?"

Wang Yunpeng nodded and said, "Political Commissar Qin, how do you think of the Qing court's new policy? Is it possible that it will be successful?"

Qin Zheng shook his head and said, "It cannot be said that there is no chance of success at all, but the probability is never more than 5%.

After receiving Li Songchen's report, the East China government immediately recruited the Executive Council to negotiate with the Qing court to resolve the issue of Tianjin's division of governance. Qin Zheng should not have attended such an executive meeting because he was a legislative body, but Qin Zheng came to negotiate with Li Hongzhang in Qingdao's secret agreement, and Qin Zheng was familiar with history, so he still invited Qin Zheng to attend the Executive Council.

Wang Yunpeng said: "Political Commissar, why is the success rate of the Qing court's new policy not high?"

Qin Zheng said: "First of all, the motivation for reform is not pure. It cannot be said that Cixi did not implement the new policy for the prosperity and strength of the Qing court. However, this is by no means the main reason. The main reason is to maintain Cixi's power, which destined that the new policy could almost never touch the foundation of the Qing court system, the imperial autocracy, and can only be revised in some irrelevant places such as the imperial examination, military, finance, official system, etc. Of course, any change cannot be achieved overnight. Reforming simple first and then difficult later is also a gradual method. In the old time and space, many historians believed that as long as the court was given enough time, the Qing court could complete this change. This statement is reasonable. In theory, there is nothing wrong, but the problem is that the Qing court has no time. Because of the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Gengzi Reform reduced the prestige of the Qing court to the lowest point. The people, mainly the governors and gentlemen in various provinces, had lost the patience of slowly changing, but instead hoped for a rapid change. This would inevitably arouse a conflict of interest between the court and the Manchu nobles and the governors and gentlemen in various provinces. The result of this intensification of the conflict can only lead to the rapid demise of the Qing court. Therefore, in the old time and space, the demise of the Qing court was by no means accidental, but a total outbreak of contradictions. In this time and space, the time for the Qing court was even less, and we would not let the Qing court delay until 1911."

At this time, Xia Bohai said: "We don't have to worry about the Qing court, but what should we do now?"

Finance Committee Member Jia Zhenzhao Xiao: "The issue of Tianjin's division of governance was negotiated in the secret agreement of Qingdao. Now it should be fulfilled. Losing an old city in Tianjin will not lose any loss for us. The center of Tianjin is in the original concession, and the Shanghai New District and the shipping rights are crucial to us. The Shanghai New District is a window for us in Shanghai. Its role is basically similar to the old time and space in our early days of reform and opening up. It is even larger than Hong Kong, because the Shanghai New District belongs to our territory, and all the benefits belong to us, and the interests of shipping rights are extremely great. Our five-year plan and shipbuilding plan require a lot of funds. Therefore, these two departments are what we need, and the faster the better?"

Wang Yunpeng said: "The person in charge of Shanghai New District has been selected, but the candidates for shipping have not yet been decided. In addition, to operate shipping, we must first set up a shipping company. Now we have to start working on it. Is it too late?"

You Mingqian, a postman for the establishment of diplomatic relations, said: "I don't think it's too difficult. Don't we have a transportation fleet now? And we have actually started to operate the shipping business from Qingdao to Tianjin, including a part of the shipping business from Tianjin to Shanghai. We will build a shipping company based on this fleet, and the person in charge of the fleet can serve as the person in charge of the shipping company."

Civil member Zhang Yuming shook his head and said, "We have formulated a employment system. We are facing recruitment of all personnel, and the process is completely open and transparent. We should do it according to the system and don't break the rules."

Xia Bohai said: "I agree with Comrade Zhang Yuming's opinion. However, after setting up the system, we must implement it according to the system and immediately organize the recruitment of the person in charge of the shipping company."

Wang Yunpeng said: "Is the recruitment very good now?"

Qin Zheng said: "Of course it's very good. First of all, the negotiation and negotiation of Tianjin's division of governance will take several days, and the negotiation of shipping rights will take several days. The total is enough for us to recruit. If it's too late, let the transport fleet take over and act for a few days first. It's not too late to officially take up the job after selecting people."

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "Okay, that's the decision. The Civil Committee will organize the recruitment immediately. Notify Li Songchen to invite Yuan Shikai to Tianjin and negotiate with the Qing court in accordance with the principle of a secret agreement in Qingdao."

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

After receiving the notice from Li Songchen, Yuan Shikai immediately rushed to Tianjin and prepared to negotiate with Li Songchen to take over the procedures for the old city.

After arriving in Tianjin, Yuan Shikai discovered that the walls of the old city of Tianjin had been demolished, leaving only four city gate towers and about 20 meters on both sides of the gate tower. On the original site of the original southern city wall, a flat and wide road had been built. Although the demolition of the old city of Tianjin was a secret agreement reached by Qingdao, Yuan Shikai did not expect that overseas Chinese would take action so quickly and demolish the entire city wall at once.

Although the time travelers decided to return the old city of Tianjin to the Qing court in exchange for the Shanghai New District, the existence of the city wall was a great threat to the Tianjin New District. Because once a war broke out with the Qing court, the Qing army would set up artillery on the city wall, and the firepower could almost cover the entire new district. Moreover, the Tianjin city wall was very strong and tall. With its current power, it was difficult to use artillery to bombard the Tianjin city wall. Therefore, the city wall must be demolished to ensure that the threat to the Tianjin New District was minimized when the war occurred.
Chapter completed!