Chapter 49 3. On the condition that 300,000 taels of silver were handed over to the Navy Yamen, in exchange for the legal conduct of gambling

"What a good wind, it's so rare for two old middle halls to come together!" The forty-five-year-old Chun Wang let Zhang and Yan into the exquisite inner living room of the palace with a smile on his face, and immediately a young eunuch brought fragrant tea and fruits.King Jin is not as talented as Prince Gong, but he treats his subordinates much more kindly than Prince Gong, and Prince Jin's mansion is not as extravagant as Prince Gong's mansion.This is where King Chun is superior to Prince Gong, and because of this, he has won a lot of good reputation in the capital. "It's been a few days since I saw the prince, and I'm thinking about it. Today's weather is fine, so I invited Elder Dan to visit the prince." Zhang Zhiwan said, looking at Prince Chun with a smile in his eyes.Although Chun Wang is not very old, he has always been thin and thin, and his face is often gray and white, but today he looks radiant.He was quite surprised, and praised: "I haven't seen you for a few days, the prince looks so good, the old minister is very happy."

Yan Jingming also saw this, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness is energetic, it is the blessing of all the subjects in the world." "Really?" Chun Wang touched his cheek and said, "I also feel that my body is healthier these days, and eating and sleeping are sweeter than before." Because Zhang Zhiwan had taught him poetry when he was young, and his relationship with each other was relatively friendly and casual, in order to create a warmer atmosphere today, he joked: "It must be that the palace is here, and the master will open it for the prince." After finding out the secret recipe, the prince will show it to us, and let us two old guys go back and take a few doses to adjust our minds and live a few more years!"

After all, he laughed. "Zhang Zhongtang made fun of it." King Chun said with a smile, "There is no secret recipe. If there is one, it will be made public for everyone to share. It's just that the two of you came today just in time. There is a big event that I haven't told you yet. Wang and the others said, first listen to the opinions of the two old Zhongtang." "What's the matter?" Yan Jingming straightened his back solemnly, and immediately concentrated all his attention. "My lord, please tell me." Zhang Zhiwan also put down the cup in his hand.

"A few days ago, the Queen Mother summoned me and told me about the establishment of the Navy Yamen." "Running the Navy Yamen?" The two military ministers asked almost in unison. "Yes." King Chun continued, "Navy Yamen, these four words were said by the queen mother herself. I didn't expect the queen mother to have such an idea at the time." "This is a good thing." Yan Jingming immediately affirmed. "What exactly did the Queen Mother say?" Zhang Zhiwan temporarily suppressed the matter of his cousin.Compared with running a naval yamen, the gambling in Guangdong is of course a trivial matter.

"The Empress Dowager said that Li Hongzhang told her that the Battle of Mawei River exposed the weaknesses of the Fujian Navy. When Zuo Shuai founded the Mawei Ship Administration Bureau, he originally wanted to use the bureau to build ships, run schools, cultivate talents, and lay a solid foundation for the Qing Dynasty's navy. The foundation, I don’t want to work hard for 20 years, cost tens of millions of silver taels, and it was destroyed by the French in an instant. Reviewing the ending of the Fujian Navy, one is because the ships are too poor, and the 11 ships destroyed by the French army half of them were built by our country, and the other half were bought ready-made from the West. The ships we built were small and weak, and they were far from the opponents of the French. It wasn’t that they didn’t know that their ships were not good enough, or that they didn’t know Foreigners have good ships, but they don’t have more money to buy them. Second, the supervision is not strict and there is a shortage of talents. Although Zhang Peilun and He Ruzhang don’t understand naval warfare, they are actually unlucky and unlucky. They are the same, and whoever happens to them has the same outcome. In view of these two aspects, Li Shaoquan proposed to the Queen Mother that the imperial court should manage the navy and set up a naval office dedicated to this matter, collecting money from all over the country to buy ships. , you can buy the best and newest ocean ships, and the court will hire the most capable foreigners to manage them. In this way, our Qing Dynasty can also build the strongest navy in the world.”

"That's a good proposal." Zhang Zhiwan nodded lightly, thinking in his heart: Li Hongzhang is just an obedient man with a lot of scheming. Everyone in the world knows the defeat of Mawei River. For nearly a year, the words of scolding Zhang Peilun are full of joy. , There are also a backlog of impeachment memorials, and no one remembers that Zhang Peilun once had a record of building a navy office. Isn't this navy office a navy office?Li Hongzhang is still smart! "However, the Empress Dowager did not agree, saying that it would be good for the imperial court to set up a naval office, but in the final analysis, money is still needed. How can the imperial court afford so much money to buy gunboats?"

"The empress dowager's thinking is reasonable." Yan Jingming, who is the Minister of the Household Department, is well aware of the emptiness of the treasury. He frowned and said, "Since Changmao's rebellion, the imperial court has been completely empty, and its vitality has not yet recovered. How can we get it?" Pay a lot of money!" Wasn't Zhang Zhidong's matter ultimately caused by the shortage of money?Exactly the same thing!Zhang Zhiwan hurriedly added: "Old Dan is right. The country's biggest problem today is the lack of money. When the Queen Mother is the family of a country, she worries about the money of the country, and the governor is the family of a province. Worrying about money in one place and one province.”

After finishing speaking, he glanced at Yan Jingming, Yan Jingming understood the meaning in his eyes, and said: "The empress dowager has the empress dowager's difficulty, and the governor has the governor's difficulty. The more he wants to do big things, the greater the difficulty will be." Chun Wang didn't understand what the two military planes said, and continued to speak along his own train of thought. "I know that money is difficult. Let's talk about building a garden for the queen mother. The progress is not fast, that is, the money can't keep up. The emperor is about to take charge of the government, and the queen mother doesn't have a place to take care of her. I Can you not be in a hurry?" While speaking, King Chun took a special look at Yan Jingming.

There are indeed some twists and turns in what King Chun said about building a garden. In the sixth year of Guangxu, King Chun personally surveyed the former site of Qingyi Garden for Cixi, and made a plan to restore Qingyi Garden.But Prince Gong, who was in charge, still put the plan aside on the grounds of a shortage of funds, as he did during the Tongzhi period, and Cixi was very unhappy.In the year of Jiashen, Prince Gong's entire squad of military aircraft was replaced, the proximate cause was the failure in the Vietnam War, and the distant cause was this matter. Not long after Xin Junji took office, King Chun brought up the old matter again. Without the obstacle of Prince Gong, things would be much easier to handle.But at that time, the war in Vietnam was in full swing, and it was not the right time for Daxing garden construction, either in terms of atmosphere or funding, so King Chun first tried to temporarily win Cixi's favor by repairing Sanhai.The three seas are Beihai, Zhonghai and Nanhai. They were originally the imperial palace. It is next to the Forbidden City, so it is easy to get in and out.

In summer, the Sanhai Sea is rippling and the willows are shaded. Compared with the forbidden palace, it is naturally cooler and quieter, so emperors, queens and concubines often come to Sanhai for recreation in summer.Since the establishment of Beijing as the capital in the Yuan Dynasty, Sanhai has continued to expand and build.In the Qing Dynasty, the three seas were surrounded by palaces and pavilions facing each other.Emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong not only regarded this place as a place for entertainment, but also entertained princes and ministers here, and summoned officials in palaces such as the Palace of Qinzheng to deal with state affairs and meet envoys from foreign vassal states who came to Beijing for pilgrimage. The soldiers who went to war and returned to the court victoriously.The water in Sanhaili is often dredged to keep it clear and clean all year round, and a lot of lotus roots are specially planted for it.Every summer season, at a glance, there are fields of blue leaves above the three seas, and lotus flowers are in full bloom. It is really "the lotus flowers reflecting the sun are red", and the scene is indeed extremely elegant!

But Cixi still thought it was not grand enough, not luxurious enough, so King Chun ordered to repaint all the pavilions and lofts in Sanhai. Tens of thousands of gold and silver were melted into water and painted on it.As expected, the weather in Sanhai was completely new, and Cixi was naturally delighted. After Yan Jingming came out to be in charge of the household department in the eighth year of Guangxu, he increased income and cut expenditure, calculated carefully, and at the end of the year, he reported both the idle money and the regular money, which was three to four million taels more than his predecessor.Cixi praised Yan Jingming's ability very much.Jin Xiekui, a soldier, is his reward.In the past two years, the three seas were repaired with the idle money reported by Yan Jingming. The idle funds of the household department generally include various fines such as raids on the property of criminal officials, as well as funds from sales, etc.The previous ministers of the household department did not report this idle money. Firstly, they were afraid that there would be a loss in the regular payment in the coming year, so that they could use it to fill the gap. Zhanrun, or it is used to give gifts to princes and relatives during the New Year's Eve, and Fufans from various provinces came to the capital to do business and sent gifts of one hundred taels of silver. two.All of these need a sum of money to be placed here! Yan Jingming didn't need this kind of small treasury, he reported everything.Later, when he learned that all the money had been spent on Sanhai, he felt a little distressed. At the end of the tenth year of Guangxu, the sum of regular and idle funds was five million more than that of the previous year. After Cixi saw the settlement statement from the Ministry of Accounts, she happily said to King Chun, "Yan Jingming is really an expert in financial management. A few million taels more, much more capable than Weng Tonghe. This year it actually increased by five million, and next year it will increase by another five million to ten million. I think you said a few years ago about the restoration of Qingyi Garden You can do it, with ten million taels of silver, it's about the same." King Chun originally planned to use the five million silver to do something else, but he changed his mind after hearing what Cixi said.He thought: After all, Sanhai is close at hand, and it is still necessary to repair Qingyi Garden so that she can move far away, so that both of us can worry about it. "The Minister of Qingyi Garden has been planning for several years. Now, Feng Zicai has won the battle in Vietnam, and Yan Jingming has raised money in the Ministry of Households. This is all thanks to the Queen Mother. It will start next spring, two to three years The work will be fixed." As soon as King Jin told Yan Jingming about this, Yan Jingming's face darkened, and he said many reasons why he should not be transferred to work as a garden worker, especially emphasizing that if there was another war, the money would have to be used for military pay.Chun Wang talked about it, so he reluctantly persuaded this stubborn old man from Shaanxi, and agreed to allocate 2.5 million taels from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although Yan Jingming transferred the money, he was reluctant in his heart.Not long after, the Ministry of Internal Affairs asked the Ministry of Households for money for garden workers.Yan Jingming suppressed it and ignored it, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a document again, but Yan Jingming refused to approve it again.Helpless, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had no choice but to ask Chun Wang to come forward.After reading the report from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, King Jin actually asked for 800,000 yuan. He was taken aback: The 2.5 million yuan he just mentioned, why did he ask for so much!There is a one-page list attached to the report, which lists twenty or thirty items in detail, and the amount of each item is more than 800,000.King Chun didn't know which ones he wanted and which ones he shouldn't, and he didn't know what the market for this material was, so he had to give it to the household department as approved, and asked the household department to dial 800,000 yuan quickly. Thirty years ago, the head of the household department was well aware of the disadvantages of employing labor in the palace.The labor in the palace, such as repairing the palace, repairing the roads, adjusting the garden, etc., paid 10,000 taels of silver, and 3,000 taels of silver was used for the project, and the 7,000 taels of silver were paid by supervisors, foremen, buyers, and so on. Workers and others are full of corruption.As for daily expenses such as food, clothing and medicine, they openly misreported and falsely claimed.Emperor Daoguang was an emperor who knew frugality.One day when he was having dinner, he pointed to a plate of stir-fried shredded pork with chives and asked the eunuch in the imperial dining room how much silver this dish cost, and the eunuch replied ten taels.The next day he summoned a minister.After talking about state affairs, he asked by the way, how much does a plate of stir-fried shredded pork with chives cost.The minister replied, about ten Wen.There is a thousand times difference between ten liang and ten wen, and Daoguang is very angry.He summoned the eunuch of the imperial dining room and asked why?Unexpectedly, the eunuch was not afraid.He calmly told the emperor: It is true that ten taels are enough to stir-fry a dish among the people, but it must be ten taels to stir-fry this dish in the palace.Then I will explain in detail: the meat in this dish is a piece of meat in the middle of the pig's back, and a pig can only get enough shredded pork to fry a plate, so the meat is calculated as the price of a pig.This pig is fed by a special person, and it has been eating white rice and porridge since it was born. It costs six taels of silver to feed this pig.Chives come from a greenhouse in Fengtai that is specially used to provide food for the palace. This greenhouse needs charcoal fires to keep warm from the beginning of autumn until the end of next spring.A plate of chives should be carefully selected one by one from a hundred catties of chives.This dish of chives costs two taels of silver.In addition, leopard oil from Yanshan Mountain, mushrooms from Jiapigou, pheasant soup from Mulan Paddock, fish meal from Bohai Sea, etc. should be used as condiments, all of which cost about two taels.With ten taels of silver, the wages in the kitchen have not been included. If the wages are added in, it will be more than ten taels!After hearing this, Emperor Daoguang felt that it made sense, so he stopped pursuing it.In fact, what the eunuch in the imperial dining room said was all lies.Every item bought from outside the palace in the inner palace has such a bizarre origin. The eunuchs passed it down from generation to generation, weaving it tightly, and the emperor and concubines were fooled by them like this.Such a stir-fried shredded pork with chives, they must at least embezzle eight or nine taels from it.These moths, big and small, in the House of Internal Affairs just covered up and colluded with both inside and outside, turning the money in the treasury into their private property.Only the Ministry of Household Affairs is most aware of the disadvantages in this process.But the officials and officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs either dare not offend, or are in collusion with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As for the small officials in the Ministry, they have more or less benefited from it. No matter how harmful it is, don't pay attention to it.Of course, Yan Jingming knew the most in his heart, and every time he thought about it, he felt depressed.But he is already in his sixties or seventies, if he really wants to investigate seriously, how can he have the energy?What's more, there is almost no support in the Ministry.He really didn't want to stay in this dilemma for too long. It was only three or four years after Dongshan came back, and he had the wish to return to Xiezhou Academy for the elderly.Because of this idea, he didn't want to make fun of Queen Afu and King Chun.We must allocate 800,000 yuan, unless everything else is suppressed.But saving the suffering, disaster relief and pensions are more important than gardening!Reluctantly, Yan Jingming allocated 300,000 yuan, following the example of King Chun, and attached a table detailing how much was allocated for famine in which province and how much for plague in which province in the past two months.King Chun didn't say anything after watching it, but he was unhappy.These few words just now have this meaning. Yan Jingming knew exactly what King Chun was talking about, so he didn't try to defend himself. He kept his mouth shut and listened with a smile on his face. "I told the queen mother that all the powerful countries in the West have naval offices. Our Qing Dynasty has thousands of miles of coastline. If we don't have a strong navy, we won't be able to defend it. The battle of the Mawei River is a big lesson. The imperial court set up a navy. Yamen is still necessary. However, Li Shaoquan proposed to build the Beiyang Navy, Nanyang Navy, and Fujian Navy at the same time. To run the Beiyang Navy, wait a few years for the imperial court to become rich, and then run Nanyang and Fujian. The Queen Mother thought about it and said, logically speaking, our Qing Dynasty should also have a navy office. Since you and Li Hongzhang are both interested in this, let’s try Let's try it! The master of the yamen will not be entrusted to others, so why don't you come forward to take charge of the yamen, with Li Hongzhang as your deputy, and then find a few reliable people to work together. Just as you said just now, Beiyang will be dealt with first. The navy, and then the Nanyang and Fujian navy. One is the lack of money, and the other is to do it first, to accumulate some experience and learn some knowledge. The common people say that you can’t become fat with one bite, and I think that’s the reason. .I quickly agreed. If I say that I look good these days, it is because of this good thing. People are happy when they are happy, that’s a good thing to say.” It turned out to be this kind of thing, which is undoubtedly a great thing for the country.As the old Zhongtang who is familiar with Chun Wang's temperament, Zhang Zhiwan knows that the reason why Chun Wang is so excited about this matter is also a major deep-seated reason. As the emperor's father, King Chun should be in the position of the Supreme Emperor, and the power of the country should be in his hands, but it is not.Both the court ministers and Kusano people knew that the supreme power of the Qing Empire did not belong to him, nor to the emperor, but to the Queen Mother who was born as a court lady.This country that Aixinjue Luo has laid down with blood and sweat has been left to this person for 24 or 5 years, and her men and horses are controlling it from top to bottom, inside and out.King Chun himself is naturally more aware that although his son is the golden blood of Taizu Taizong, if it hadn't come from her sister's womb, he would never be able to sit in the position he is today.For this reason, King Chun was both afraid and grateful to the empress dowager's sister-in-law.He didn't want to compete with Cixi for power, and he knew that he absolutely couldn't compete.He just hoped that after his son took charge in two years, Cixi could wholeheartedly go to Qingyi Garden to spend the rest of her life, and hand over all the power without reservation.However, can she, who has been obsessed with the highest power for a long time, do this?Chun Wang was very unsure.Over the years, King Chun has been secretly working hard to cultivate his own power.Seizing the Military Aircraft Office from Prince Gong was the biggest gain in this effort.However, the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department is still not him in name, and the Military Aircraft Department's status is too high and important, and the Queen Mother has always held it tightly in her hands. It is not easy to use it to support more private forces.Well, now that we have the Naval Yamen, which is our own territory from name to reality, we can really accomplish a lot in the future. The descendants of Nurhaci, who conquered the Han people with iron cavalry, clearly know that swords, spears, soldiers and horses are the vital foundation for seizing and protecting power.And it was precisely at this point that King Chun felt deeply that his foundation was weak, and almost none of those generals were his confidantes.Once the Naval Yamen was established, things would change drastically.In today's world, ships have replaced cavalry, cannons have replaced knives and guns, and the focus of military affairs has shifted to the navy.King Chun knew in his heart that whoever was the supreme commander of the emerging navy of the Qing Dynasty would be the most powerful military commander of the Qing Dynasty.Now take the justifiable authority granted by the Queen Mother, form a gang that is entirely his own, allocate tens of millions of taels of silver to buy dozens of gunboats, and prepare to build a navy called the imperial court that is actually under his command.At that time, the Prince Chun held the real authority, and even if the Empress Dowager was unwilling to be lonely, she would not be able to do what she wanted. Her son would be able to sit firmly in this crisis-ridden country, and she would become a veritable Supreme Emperor!How could this not make Prince Chun extremely excited and excited?No wonder I looked so good and energetic during this period! Zhang Zhiwan hoped that King Jin would gain real power as soon as possible. He said with joy from the bottom of his heart: "Congratulations, congratulations to your lord. Your lord is the first navy minister in our Qing Dynasty and also China's first navy minister in history. With the lord in charge, the Qing navy I will definitely be able to compete with the Western powers, defend my thousands of miles of sea and territory, and never be invaded by outsiders!" Yan Jingming also asked happily: "Which people is the lord planning to call to handle this matter? When will the Navy Yamen be listed?" King Chun said: "These things are exactly what I want to discuss with King Li and everyone from the Military Aircraft Department. You can help me search for a few people who are particularly suitable." While stroking his gray and sparse long beard, Zhang Zhiwan said slowly: "The naval yamen is a new yamen that has never existed since ancient times, and it is also the most prominent and largest yamen in the Qing Dynasty. Personnel must have both ability and moral integrity are expected!" Chun Wang nodded and said, "That's what I mean too." Zhang Zhiwan said: "Li Shaoquan was named by the Empress Dowager, of course I have nothing to say. This person is capable, but seizing power for personal gain is also the number one priority. The prince must be more careful in the future." Alcohol King nodded without saying a word. "As for other candidates, we must be cautious." Zhang Zhiwan said after a moment of contemplation, "There is only one suitable person at the moment." "Who?" Chun Wang stared at Zhang Zhiwan. Yan Jingming also listened intently. "Zeng Jize." Zhang Zhiwan solemnly said a name. "Twenty years ago, when Wen Zhenggong was the governor of Liangjiang in Jiangning, he lived in the governor's office for a period of time. When I went to Jiangning to meet Wen Zhenggong, I always had to chat with him. At that time, I said to Wen Zhenggong, you You are honest and hardworking, and you will be a pillar of the country in the future. Now it seems that I have a good vision. Over the years, Zeng Jize has been loyal to the country, which is obvious to all. The reason why I recommend him to the Navy Yamen is because he In addition to his father's style of character and behavior, the most important thing is that he has many years of experience as a minister abroad, and he can speak foreign languages. My lord, this navy office is not like other departments. It will be the first time to deal with foreigners in the future. For one thing, there must be a host who is familiar with foreign affairs." Not only did King Chun not know foreign language or dialect, but he also knew very little about the basic knowledge of Britain, the United States and France, which are big Western countries. Talents like Zeng Jize are too important.He nodded again and again: "Zeng Jize is a good person. The Navy Yamen has to rely on him, and he is the one. Let the General Administration send an urgent call to urge him to return to China tomorrow." Then he turned his face and asked Yan Jingming: "Mr. Dan, who else do you think is suitable?" Yan Jingming said: "Zhang Zhongtang said that candidates should be carefully selected. This is quite correct. I just heard that there is no suitable person in the Navy Yamen, so I can't propose it. But," after a moment of hesitation, Yan Jingming said bluntly He came out and said, "All the money from the Ministry of Households has been used in the garden. Where does the fund for running the navy office come from? The Ministry of Households keeps some money for the country's emergency needs, so I don't advocate building Qingyi Garden. Look, my lord, don't you just wait for money to use it now?" King Jin smiled and said: "The Queen Mother has worked for the country for decades, and it is right to build a garden for her to recuperate. As for the money from the Navy's office, I will find another way and not take it from the Ministry of Household Affairs." Yan Jingming said: "As long as you don't take any money from the Ministry of Accounts, otherwise, I, the Minister of the Ministry of Accounts, will sell everything I can, and I won't be able to get the money together." "For silver, take your time and think about it." King Chun suddenly raised his voice while talking, "You two old Zhongtang, you see, I am confused before I am old. There is a rightful amount of silver, and I have no Remember to use it!" "Which amount of money did the lord mention?" Yan Jingming was confused by the words of Chun Wang. "Coastal defense funds!" Chun Wang said excitedly, "The imperial court used to allocate 40 to 50% of the customs tariffs every year to Zhili, Liangjiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi and other provinces to run coastal defense. Return to the Navy Yamen." Yan Jingming hurriedly said: "Your Highness is right, the annual coastal defense funds should naturally be handed over to the Navy Yamen to manage." After being reminded by Chun Wang, Zhang Zhiwan remembered Zhang Peilun's notes again.He said: "It is very appropriate that the coastal defense funds should be managed by the Navy Yamen. Also, as early as the year before last, when Zhang Peilun proposed to set up the Navy Yamen, he put forward an idea: the eighteen provinces of the country will help the imperial court with 4 million yuan every year." The money is used to run the navy, and it is distributed according to the size of the rich and the poor. I think that after the establishment of the Navy Yamen, it was called the provincial aid according to Zhang Peilun's idea." Chun Wang said: "Zhang Peilun's idea is good, but all the provinces are impoverished. At that time, his idea did not get a response from a single province. Now that he puts it forward, I don't know how the provinces will respond." At this time, Zhang Zhiwan suddenly got inspiration and found a good opportunity to intercede for his cousin. "My lord, this kind of money can be hidden in any province, and it will be pushed away if it can be pushed. It will not be willing to take the initiative. Two measures should be taken. One is the imperial court issued a strict decree. Second, there must be one or two provincial governors who take the lead, and once they take the lead, others will not be able to do well.” King Chun smiled and said, "How about asking Lingdi to lead the way in Guangdong and Guangxi?" "That's exactly what I think." Zhang Zhiwan moved his body towards King Chun, his tone obviously much more affectionate. "My lord, Zhang Zhidong has some income recently. The veteran can discuss with him and ask him to spend 200,000 yuan to help the navy and lead the provinces." "Is Zhang Zhidong's income from gambling?" Zhang Zhiwan and Yan Jingming were stunned for a moment, they heard that King Chun's tone seemed a little unfriendly. "It's the money." Zhang Zhiwan's voice lowered unconsciously. "The whole army of the Fujian Navy was annihilated in the Battle of Mawei River, and the French dominated Vietnam, all of which greatly stimulated Zhang Zhidong: the reason why the French are so arrogant depends entirely on their military strength. Thanks to the great talents of the prince, Zhang Zhidong made up his mind to set up a factory in Guangdong Province to manufacture artillery shells and ships, and set up a foreign school. The most lacking thing we just talked about is Again and again, the word "money and money". As a last resort, he adopted the bad strategy of extracting taxes from gambling. As for himself and the civil and military yamen at all levels in Guangdong Province, he absolutely did not dare to seek the slightest personal gain from it. Zhang Zhidong entrusted someone to send Here comes a statement about the necessary gambling and a detailed account of the money received, and the old minister is about to submit it to the prince for review." After finishing speaking, he took out the prepared pair of hands from his left sleeve pocket and handed it to King Chun. King Chun took the stack of thick papers that Zhang Zhiwan handed over, looked at Yan Jingming and said: "It seems that the two old Zhongtang made an appointment to come to the mansion together for this matter today." Yan Jingming said: "Recently, some people have reported to the Queen Mother and the Emperor, saying that Zhang Zhidong has done a very bad thing, and the imperial court should remove him from his post and investigate. Zhang Zhidong has been wronged a lot, and he has no choice but to entrust us Report the real situation to the prince, and ask the prince to uphold justice for him." Chun Wang flipped over the paper in his hand and placed it on the tea table. "Zhang Zhidong was a bit reckless this time, and the Queen Mother also has opinions on this matter." Zhang Zhiwan and Yan Jingming became nervous again, and listened carefully to the following. "On the morning of the seventh day, when the Empress Dowager summoned me, she specifically mentioned this matter, saying that Gao Hongjian and Mo Jiwen had submitted the scriptures. She also said that Weng Tonghe was very angry about this and scolded Zhang Zhidong for blatantly risking the disgrace of the world. To bet on the new Juren's surname, since he himself was born in the second ranking list and has been the chief examiner of the provincial examination for several times, it is really insulting to the gentlemen." Zhang Zhiwan's heart suddenly felt cold, and he guessed right: Weng Tonghe is behind Yi Guoxin.It's just that Weng Tonghe was too ruthless. If he said such a thing in front of the Queen Mother, why not put Zhang Zhidong to death, completely disregarding the sympathy of his nephew Tongnian! Yan Jingming asked: "Has the Empress Dowager ordered this matter?" "Not yet." King Chun said, "The queen mother told me that Zhang Zhidong is a person who has made great contributions to the country, and this matter should be handled carefully; since the first emperor had already banned gambling in Guangdong, let the officials first Send people to Guangdong and Guangxi to investigate and find out that it is wrong to violate the order. No matter what, the matter must be stopped first." After hearing this, the two old military planes were slightly relieved. Yan Jingming said: "In the 11th year of Xianfeng, Lao Chongguang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at that time, had a verdict on the prohibition of gambling. It's just that the date of this verdict is the ninth day of the eighth month, and Wen Zongye was the guest of honor on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Who made this verdict, the prince knows better than the old minister." After hearing this, King Chun's eyes suddenly lit up: "Dan always said that the date of Zhu Zhu's ban on gambling is the ninth day of August in the eleventh year of Xianfeng?" "Yes." Yan Jingming said in a very affirmative tone, "In order to verify this, the old minister personally retrieved the old file from the file room of the National History Museum. The record officer of the Military Aircraft Department clearly stated the ninth day of August." Twenty-four or five years ago, that thrilling change suddenly came to King Chun's mind.He knew Cixi's deep hatred for Sushun, and it hasn't abated even today.He knows Cixi's personality better: she will resolutely do the opposite of what the enemy does.The Zhu Zhu that prohibits gambling is not Xianfeng but Su Shunzhi, and she will definitely denounce it as a false one without hesitation.Then, Zhang Zhidong, who violated the false approval, is naturally not at fault. King Chun didn't express his thoughts, but just nodded and said, "Okay, okay, as long as the date Dan Lao said is true." Yan Jingming said categorically: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, I can send this piece of military aircraft to the recording officer for the prince to have a look at." "Okay." Chun Wang said, "I will send someone tomorrow to take a look at it myself." Zhang Zhiwan greatly admires Yan Jingming's shrewdness: "Mr. Dan has clarified a major matter. The Zhu Zhu on the ninth day of August is undoubtedly not from the hand of Wen Zongye. What's more, for more than 20 years, gambling in Guangdong Province has been banned in name and in fact. It has not been banned, but it has been carried out secretly among the people. After Yinghan was dismissed, the gambling was transferred to Macau, and foreigners obtained high taxes and profits from it, and the money that belonged to China flowed into the pockets of foreigners instead.” "One more thing, I need to explain to the lord." Yan Jingming added, "Yinghan was dismissed because someone fled with money and was involved in the government, and Yinghan himself was suspected of accepting a huge amount of bribes. Regarding this matter, the old minister also investigated in detail. gone." King Jin listened carefully to the words of the two ministers of military affairs, thinking silently in his heart: using the new Juren's surname as a gamble, only bookworms like Weng Tonghe are really disgusted.Since the people of Guangdong Province are willing to gamble on this, why not gamble?The main thing is that taxes can be drawn from it.Usually asking the people to pay a penny is like cutting off a piece of their body, and using this method to collect taxes, they are more willing to donate and lose.It is too difficult to raise money now, so it is no wonder that they have come up with such a bad strategy. Isn't the first difficult thing to do in the Navy's office right now?If Zhang Zhidong did this, I might do the same thing if I were the governor of Guangdong. As for the queen mother, she would not put so much importance on the surnames of a few people, and her disapproval of gambling is nothing more than the prohibition of the late emperor.Since it was not the late emperor's Zhu criticism, but Sushun's hypocrisy, the empress dowager's anger was still burning, and she would not care about such clichés as being gentle and sweeping the floor!You might as well sell some face to these two old men, and it is very important for them to supervise Zhang Zhidong to take the lead in donating money every year.Thinking of this, King Chun said solemnly: "Zhang Zhidong used the tax from gambling to do things for self-strengthening. Although his intentions are good, but his methods are a bit humble, no wonder it caused a lot of criticism, and the Queen Mother did not agree I can understand his feelings, and I want to fulfill his painstaking efforts. I am willing to offend the Queen Mother, and I will go to intercede for him. Just as Zhang Zhongtang said, Zhang Zhidong will donate 300,000 yuan to the Navy Yamen every year. To take the lead for the provinces, he must do what he says.” Zhang Zhiwan thought to himself: I just said 200,000, but what did King Chun say about 300,000?Did I hear it wrong, or did I take the opportunity to ask for an extra 100,000?He didn't dare to propose a correction, for fear that King Chun would be unhappy, so it would be 100,000 more, as long as Zhang Zhidong can do it! Zhang Zhiwan hurriedly said: "Zhang Zhidong will definitely be grateful to the prince for fulfilling his great kindness. As for donating 300,000 yuan a year, I think he will definitely do it. The 300,000 yuan staying in Guangdong is for self-improvement. Isn’t it a matter of self-improvement to donate to the Navy Yamen? Zhang Zhidong will understand this truth.” "Exactly the words." After saying that, King Chun stood up, Zhang Zhiwan and Yan Jingming saw that their goal had been achieved, they also hurriedly got up and said goodbye.