In 1895, the first year after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, it was destined to be a year for the military to consolidate the military and martial arts.

Throughout history, the Qing Empire would always have one or two years of passionate time after every beating. During this period, the Qing Empire was quite active in resisting foreign humiliation and calming domestic anger.

In January, Emperor Guangxu approved the request for a new army trial in the North and South China. All provinces across the country started training new troops to varying degrees. The Beiyang Wang Chenhao's Zhili New Army and the Nanyang Zhang Zhidong's Ziqiang Army were ahead of the ranks of all provinces across the country.

By mid-March, the Ziqiang Army was progressing rapidly under the training of foreign instructors and had already started a battalion-level synthetic drill, while the Zhili New Army was still in the recruits. During the physical training period, Nanyang was already ahead of the progress.

Although Li Hongzhang had confidence in Wang Chenhao, the court looked at him, Lao Li, the world's largest governor of Zhili, and asked him whenever he met everyone: "You Beiyang New Army is so slow to lose!"

This old Li has been the governor of Zhili for more than 20 years and is used to being boasted by others. How could he stand such vision and inquiries?

Some people inside the Huai Army were also dissatisfied. Wang Chenhao rode on their heads as soon as he arrived. They endured it. Why were they all the son-in-law of the old boss, giving him face? But Wang Chenhao was a bit unreliable. The entire new army was equipped with young generals in their thirties. There must be some officials who came first and then? The veterans who had been with him for decades were not ranked, and they insisted on drying the fish. They were not convinced!

Song Qing's army and Nie Shicheng's army can be said to be the elite of the Huai Army system. Song Qing and Nie Shicheng didn't say anything. After all, they were old and it was not a big deal to take care of a young man in their twenties. However, the Huai Army generals under their tent were dissatisfied. Zhang Zhidong used old men to train troops, so why did Wang Chenhao only use new men?

The dissatisfaction voices became louder day by day. Song Qing and Nie Shicheng also felt that Wang Chenhao looked down on their soldiers a little, so he did not control them and let them complain.

Soon, the dissatisfaction voice came to Li Hongzhang's ears. Li Hongzhang always thought about the overall situation when doing things. His enterprising spirit in his later years was no longer enough. He was the same as Cixi and maintained the same state.

At the same time, Li Hongzhang was also a little worried that Zhang Zhidong's self-reliance army was progressing too fast, and Wang Chenhao was trained as a recruit, so he began to feel unsure.

Under such circumstances, Li Hongzhang exchanged views with Song Qing and Nie Shicheng, and the two veteran generals proposed to let them train according to the new style of training to ensure that Qiu Cao Beiyang won the victory without any mistakes.

Li Hongzhang felt it was reasonable. In order to ensure that everything was foolproof, he also put some pressure on Wang Chenhao, so he decided to let Nie Shicheng and Song Qing start the adaptation and training.

Wang Chenhao is supportive of this. Only with competition can he be motivated. He is even more prepared to defeat the Nanyang Ziqiang Army and the Old Huai Army in one fell swoop in autumn. Only in this way can he establish the strong combat effectiveness of his Beiyang New Army and achieve a deterrent effect.

The competition in the army began to become fierce, and the navy gradually began.

In order to consolidate his position as the governor of Zhili, Li Hongzhang must hold the army and financial resources. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Lao Li knew that the navy and army were not as good as the great powers, so if he wanted to preserve political capital, it must be expanded.

At this time, the Beiyang New Army, with Wang Chenhao, was in the process of training, but the Navy had not filled the ships for eight years, and the Beiyang Navy's ships were already six or seven thoughts behind the world's navy.

Li Hongzhang did not dare to guarantee that Wang Chenhao could win in Qiu Cao, so he had to do double insurance to expand the navy to protect his position.

On March 20, Li Hongzhang wrote to the court, saying that the Japanese Navy had ordered two Fuji-class battleships in the UK, and the Russian Far East Navy added two large armored cruisers of Admiral Nasimov. The navies of the two countries had too great threat to the Beiyang Navy and requested funds to order a batch of new warships.

In the fiscal year of Yiwei, due to the completion of the Summer Palace project of Empress Dowager Cixi, a large amount of funds were surplused after the fiscal year budget. The previous incident of Empress Dowager Cixi's embezzlement of naval funds has caused dissatisfaction among many knowledgeable people in China, and the Beiyang Navy and the people have a certain mood.

When Li Hongzhang wrote a letter to request the construction of a new warship, Empress Dowager Cixi considered that Lao Li had been loyal to the Qing Dynasty for thirty years and was trustworthy, so she simply became a good man and decided to give Li Hongzhang a favor and agreed to allocate funds to build ships as a reward for resuming the embezzlement of his navy funds over the years.

Li Hongzhang was happy that the court was willing to allocate funds to build ships, which not only supplemented the strength of the Beiyang Navy, but also cost high shipbuilding. Once the government allocated funds, the court's financial resources would be in Li Hongzhang's hands, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Li Hongzhang had not bought a warship for seven or eight years, and had already lagged behind in the situation of the navy of European and American powers, so he came to Wang Chenhao to discuss countermeasures.

Wang Chenhao was very happy to learn that the court had agreed to add a new warship. In addition, Ding Ruchang, Liu Buchan, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang and other generals of the Beiyang Navy General level and above also arrived in Tianjin to participate in the new ship seminar. Wang Chenhao and they got together again after more than two months.

Wang Chenhao was worried about the safety of his Dragon, for fear that the foreign devils would steal the secrets when they were not there for a long time. Therefore, after obtaining Li Hongzhang's nod, Ding Ruchang secretly transported the Dragon to Tianjin, and Wang Chenhao sent his close confidants to protect it. After checking it, Wang Chenhao felt relieved when he saw that the Dragon was not forced to open.

In the Zhili Governor's Office and in the Beiyang Office, Wang Chenhao and his navy generals chatted and laughed.

"I thought Chen Hao would return to the navy to work with everyone after marriage, but I didn't expect to become a new army to train the coach. Chen Hao, how many skills do you have to hide from everyone?"

Ding Ruchang's joke revealed everyone's thoughts. Everyone thought that Wang Chenhao was only familiar with maritime affairs, but he never thought that he could also practice new army. He had such ability at a young age, and there was inevitably a little jealousy in his expressions of admiration.

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "I can't say that I am capable of it. I just see more overseas and experience more. With the talent of all of you, if you have the opportunity to stay overseas for a few more years, I will definitely know more than I do."

Deng Shichang started to cheer at this time: "I heard that Zhang Youlun and Yang Lian's mansion secretly acted as military advisors for Chen Hao. Look at our Chen Hao is much more cunning now!"

Everyone laughed and the room was filled with a lively atmosphere.

At this time, the curtain was raised, Li Hongzhang walked in, coughed lightly, and everyone immediately stood up to welcome him.

Li Hongzhang looked around and saw that everyone was here, so he nodded and everyone sat down one after another.

"I guess everyone knew that the court had allocated funds to the Navy's Office to purchase new ships. I just came to discuss it with everyone."
Chapter completed!