Chapter 88: A Sudden Surprise (210)

Yin Qi was both surprised and happy, but still asked suspiciously, "Sir, this Provincial Commander is a first-rank military official in charge of provincial military affairs. I am just a Green Standard Army General. If you recommend me, will the imperial court agree?"

The Shaoxing Prefecture Green Standard Army had long since rotted to the core, and after being wiped out by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebels, Nalan Yuanshu simply didn't rebuild it, instead letting Yin Qi serve as the Shanyin Prefecture General, using a militia to garrison Shaoxing instead of the Green Standard Army.

In essence, Yin Qi was a miscellaneous general.

From a miscellaneous general to a provincial military commander, this span would be unimaginable at other times.

But who made it the late Qing Dynasty? Anything was possible.

Nalan Yuanshu chuckled, "The imperial court originally wouldn't agree, but because of my strong recommendation and the use of some family connections, the court accepted this recommendation. At the fastest, in three days; at the slowest, in five days, the appointment will come down."

"Thank you for your promotion, Sir. If there are any orders in the future, just give them."

Yin Qi put on an excited look.

Since Nalan Yuanshu had said so, he naturally had to show his loyalty; otherwise, why would Nalan Yuanshu promote him?

Seeing this, Nalan Yuanshu's smile became even thicker.

He helped Yin Qi up and said, "No need for this. The imperial court is in trouble, and this is the time for you and me to show our skills. I hope that in the future, you and I can support each other, serve the imperial court, expel the foreigners, and restore the glory of our ancestors. By the way, if you take over the position of Provincial Commander, what are your plans next?"

Yin Qi thought for a moment and said, "Continue to expand the scale of the New Army, and at the same time, disband all Green Standard Army and local militia units, use the New Army to garrison all parts of the province, strengthen control over the whole province, and then coordinate arrangements to clear out all banditry within the province."

He said this, naturally, with selfish motives.

With such large-scale bandit suppression and dividing troops to garrison various places, twenty thousand New Army troops were definitely not enough.

According to his estimation, at least seventy thousand were needed.

In other words, as long as he could complete these, he could master seventy thousand New Army troops.

With seventy thousand well-trained New Army troops equipped with the most advanced weapons and equipment, he had full confidence to start a rebellion and sweep across the region south of the Yangtze River at the fastest speed.

One had to know that this was the time when the Manchu Qing's military strength was in a transition period.

The Xiang Army and the Huai Army had already declined, the Beiyang Army had not yet grown up, and the local Green Standard Army had long since rotted to the core, only capable of bullying the commoners, with no combat effectiveness at all.

Although the imperial court had ordered the training of New Armies in various places, because the New Army required a lot, in reality, only a few provinces were doing it, and the scale was not very large.

The famous Xiaozhan Training only had five thousand men.

Nalan Yuanshu's eyes flashed with brilliance. He nodded slowly and said, "Your plan is good, but there are two problems. First: how to disband the Green Standard Army and the militia; second: expanding the army requires a large amount of silver, and the imperial court cannot allocate it."

Although the Green Standard Army had rotted to the core, the imperial court was still paying military salaries.

Therefore, disbanding the Green Standard Army was equivalent to cutting off many people's financial paths.

As for the militia, because they didn't belong to the imperial court's establishment, disbanding them was just a matter of a single sentence.

Of course, the most important thing was the military funding problem.

The imperial court had just lost the First Sino-Japanese War the year before last and was burdened with huge debts. Plus, Cixi was extremely indulgent, building the Summer Palace. It was completely impossible for the court to agree to increase the military funding for the Hangzhou New Army.

Yin Qi smiled calmly, "The Green Standard Army has long since rotted to the core. The difficulty of disbanding them is nothing more than cutting off many people's financial paths. Just make up for it. Sir, you also know that my Yin family's business is large, and I can partner with them to open factories. This is much more profitable than eating empty salaries."

"As for military funding, we can first borrow a sum of money from the money shop and pay it back with the proceeds from bandit suppression."

"Sir, you also know that those bandits are all wealthy masters."

"Clearing them out will naturally allow us to pay back the loan."

Nalan Yuanshu frowned and continued, "What about after bandit suppression? If there is not enough military funding, the troops you expanded will eventually have to be disbanded."

Yin Qi smiled calmly, "Sir, we can establish military-affiliated factories in the name of the New Army. Use the money earned by the factories to support the New Army, so we don't need to ask the imperial court for military funding."

"Military-affiliated factories, good idea!"

Nalan Yuanshu was finally moved and clapped his hands in praise.

If someone else had said this, he might have scoffed, because running a factory was no easy task.

But since Yin Qi said it, there was naturally no problem.

Over the past year, he had watched Yin Qi expand the Yin family's industries several times over.

Of course, all plans were good.

But Nalan Yuanshu also keenly realized a problem: once Yin Qi could independently support the army, it would be very easy to form a local separatist force.

It was just that thinking of the once-powerful Xiang Army and Huai Army, which hadn't stirred up any trouble, his vigilance decreased quite a bit.

Deep down, he still believed that the Han people were slaves and wouldn't dare to rebel.

Just like Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang.

What's more, he didn't intend to let Yin Qi serve as the Zhejiang Provincial Commander for a long time. After he cleaned up the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Southern Revolutionary Party, he would apply to be transferred back.

By that time, Yin Qi would have almost finished suppressing the bandits in the province.

As for Yin Qi, he wouldn't treat the man unfairly.

He could transfer him to the capital to be an official, just like Li Hongzhang back then, to be a general and a minister.

Not only could he treat the man well, but he could also strengthen the power of the reformists.

Thinking of this, Nalan Yuanshu praised, "Yin Qi, your idea is good. I support you, and I believe the imperial court won't object either. However, Hangzhou is not Shanyin after all. There are many foreign consulates here. When you deal with them, you must be careful not to worsen the relationship between each other and cause unnecessary disputes, but also not to lose the dignity of our Great Qing..."

Next, he told Yin Qi a lot.

For example, about the various consulates, the situation in Hangzhou, and so on.

It wasn't until after four o'clock in the afternoon that Nalan Yuanshu stopped and said, "Alright, I've said everything I should say. It's getting late, you go back first and wait for the news."

"Sir, then I will take my leave!"

Yin Qi nodded, cupped his hands at Nalan Yuanshu, and turned to leave.

When he walked out of the Provincial Commander's Yamen, looking at the blue sky, he felt as if the sky was high for birds to fly and the sea was wide for fish to leap.

Regarding the rebellion, he had made a concrete plan.

First, control Shaoxing Prefecture, then control Zhejiang, then control the Yangtze River Delta, and finally unify the world.

He had already controlled Shaoxing, and next was Zhejiang.

In his plan, he originally wanted to do it through infiltrating the New Army, which would take at least three or four years, but he hadn't expected that it could be realized in the blink of an eye.

Happiness came too fast, catching people off guard.

In fact, Yin Qi knew Nalan Yuanshu's mind very well. As one of the few talents in the Manchu Qing who kept a clear head, it was impossible for the other party not to see his ambition and hidden dangers in proposing to borrow money from the money shop to expand the army.

But the other party still agreed, and the intention was self-evident.

It was nothing more than waiting for him to finish, and then the other party would jump out to pick the peaches.

However, fate is fate.

Not to mention whether Nalan Yuanshu could return alive from Guangzhou, even if he did, it would be useless once his power was established, because he could completely start a rebellion and sweep across the region south of the Yangtze River.

Because the next few years would not be peaceful.

First, next year, the magnificent Boxer Rebellion would be launched, which would evolve into the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China the year after.

The imperial court would be in a mess, and even Beijing would be occupied by the Eight-Nation Alliance. He would take the opportunity to start a rebellion, and the imperial court would have no way to send troops to suppress it, only able to watch him sweep across the region south of the Yangtze River.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 89 =====