Chapter 52 6. The Navy Yamen and the Summer Palace project got mixed up

At lunch the next day, Qiu Ling told her two sons and daughter-in-law in front of Sang Zhiping: the examiner turned out to be his cousin who had been separated for thirty years, and unexpectedly, his relatives reunited in Xiangshan.Qiu Ling asked them to kowtow to their cousin together and recognize this relative.After hearing this, Nian Reng was overjoyed from the sky.It was the time when he was grateful to Sang Zhiping, but unexpectedly, this benefactor was his mother's cousin. From then on, the benefactor and his cousin became one person, and they became even closer in love.Yaohan felt it was very strange, as if he was in line with the old saying "There are no wonders in the world", strange things happened in his own house.Only the daughter-in-law Chun Zhi was somewhat suspicious.When eating yesterday, she noticed that her mother-in-law's expression was not normal, especially her mother-in-law suddenly left the table in tears. This behavior was also very special.At night, she vaguely heard people talking in her mother-in-law's room all night.Adding all these together, based on a woman's intuition, she felt that the relationship between the chief examiner and her mother-in-law would never be so simple; but this matter was not trivial, and she could not be suspicious, besides, her mother-in-law had always been very kind to her.Her mother-in-law is young and widowed, Chunzhi has seen her mother-in-law behaved well and innocently in recent years, and she has never said a word of gossip to others.Harue did not express her doubts to her husband, and warned herself that she would never say so in the future.

So, Nianfeng and Yaohan got up together, then knelt down, called uncle, and kowtowed to Sang Zhiping.When Sang Zhiping looked at the toss carefully again, he felt that except for those eyes that looked like Qiu Ling, everything else was like himself more than twenty years ago.Adding a beautiful biological son to the chief examiner, for a while, I really feel the satisfaction that I can no longer ask for in this life. After kowtowing, everyone is a family, and the meal is full of enthusiasm and reunion.Sang Zhiping stayed at Chen's house for five days.During the five days, he and Qiu Ling talked a lot about their farewell experiences, the two deeply wounded hearts were healed, and they felt like they had returned to their youth.One afternoon, when Nianfeng and Yaohan were not at home, Sang Zhiping asked Qiu Ling to take out all the twenty-four pairs of cotton shoes.In front of Qiu Ling, he put on each pair of shoes on his own feet and walked a few steps in the room.Qiu Ling sat on the edge of the bed, watching Sang Zhiping walking back and forth, feeling very relieved.

Sang Zhiping said: "I will carry all these twenty-four pairs of shoes back to Guangzhou and wear them slowly." Qiu Ling thought for a while and said: "Don't take them away, just let them stay with me forever! Since you have worn every pair, my goal has been achieved. To be honest, it doesn't matter if I wear these shoes or not. , as long as you know my heart over the years is enough." "It is precisely because this is your wish, I must take it back." "Listen to me, don't bring it." Qiu Ling smiled faintly, "My sister-in-law will find it strange if you bring back these cotton shoes all at once. Besides, Guangdong is warm, so don't wear cotton shoes in mid-winter. After knowing the parting, you miss me Me, looking for me everywhere, I am satisfied. My thoughts are not in vain. It is the same if you put the shoes with you or with me. Think carefully, it is better not to take them away."

"Okay." Sang Zhiping understood Qiu Ling's good intentions and said, "Then I'll take a pair home." On the morning of the sixth day, Sang Zhiping took a pair of cotton shoes, and together with Nian Reng left Qiu Ling and Yaohan couple, took a small steamer, and returned to Guangzhou that night. The recruitment list recruited more than 60 foreign affairs talents for the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi. Chen Nianchu and several of his American classmates helped Cai Xiyong arrange these more than 60 personnel reasonably according to their professional expertise.With this group of talents, Huangpu Shipyard, Guangzhou Machinery Bureau, and Guangdong Marine and Land Division School have all made great progress.Chen Nianfeng suggested to Zhang Zhidong to set up an ironworks in Guangdong and smelt steel by himself.Zhang Zhidong readily agreed, and asked Cai Xiyong and Chen Niantou to draw up a detailed plan; he also allocated special funds to let them purchase equipment from the United States, Britain and other countries.

At this time, the Imperial Navy Yamen was formally established, and Prince Chun Yizhen took the honorable status of the emperor's own father as China's first Minister of the Navy, named Prime Minister and Minister of Naval Affairs.There is no need for Yizhen to search for the main officials of the Navy Yamen. Cixi has already made arrangements, and the list of ministers who will be in charge provided by Yizhen is just for her reference.The list issued by the Military Aircraft Department is: Wang Yikui of Qing County, Li Hongzhang, Governor of Zhili, and Shanqing, the general commander of the Zhenghuang Banner Han Army.

Yikuang is the grandson of Prince Qing Yonglin, the seventeenth son of Emperor Qianlong, and his father Mianxing is the sixth son of Yonglin.Mianxing's nephew Yicai was dismissed from the title of county king because of marrying a concubine in his clothes. Mianxing wanted to bribe him to attack the nobleman. When the incident happened, he was exiled to Shengjing.Mian Xing knew that there was no future for him, so he adopted his son Yikuang to the childless Mian Wei.A few years later, Yicai died, and because he had no brothers or children, Yikuang was lucky enough to be transferred to inherit the title of title.Xianfeng sealed Baylor for ten years.Because his family lost power, Yikuang studied seriously for a few years when he was young, and was able to draw a few ink paintings.His house was close to Cheng'en Gong's mansion, Cixi's natal family's home, so he often ran to Cheng'en Gong's mansion, trying his best to win the favor of Cheng'en Gong Guixiang.He often wrote letters to Cixi for Guixiang, so Cixi knew about Yikuang.Later, Yikuang married Guixiang and became a relative of Cixi's natal family, thus inheriting the title left by King Qing.Yikuang is a representative of the clan's children who made their fortunes by following Cixi's natal family.Yikuang was next to Cixi as a big backer, and later he was promoted to prince, and the foreman of the military aircraft department, until he was the prime minister of the cabinet during the New Deal period.This person has small ingenuity but no great talent in governing the country, and because of his greed for money and goods, he made a mess of the state affairs and political situation.These are things for later.Right now, Cixi uses him as the administrative office of the Navy's Yamen, who supervises Yizhen and Li Hongzhang, completely controlling the Naval Yamen in her own hands.And Shanqing is the assistant arranged by Cixi for Yikuang, who handles the actual affairs of the Navy Yamen.

The first official document issued after the establishment of the Navy Yamen was to ask the provinces to donate money to support the great cause of the Navy.Zhang Zhidong had made a promise first, and he didn't want to break his promise, so he took the lead in donating 300,000 yuan, but other provinces were not enthusiastic.At this time, Qingyi Garden had been given the name of Summer Palace by Empress Dowager Cixi, and under the supervision of Minister of Internal Affairs Enliang, construction started with great fanfare.Yizhen told Enliang that the emperor took charge on New Year's Day in the fifteenth year of Guangxu, and the Summer Palace must be completed in the autumn of the fourteenth year of Guangxu, so that the Queen Mother could live in the garden after returning to power.The queen mother has a comfortable place to live so that the emperor can govern with peace of mind.After Enliang received this decree, he had more reasons to step up the supervision of the garden workers.

In this way, the two most famous projects in the modern history of China - the Navy and the Garden Works were mixed together.As a result, rumors about the ambiguous funds between the navy and the garden workers spread from the capital to Guangzhou and then to the provinces, making Zhang Zhidong and all the officials who cared about coastal defense angry and anxious. At the beginning of his appointment as Minister of the Navy, Li Hongzhang had great ambitions.Since the ninth year of Tongzhi to today, Li Hongzhang has been the governor of Zhili for 20 years, becoming the governor of Xinjiang with the longest term of office since the Qing Dynasty.Zhili is the place where the capital is located, and Xiang is the head of the border officials in the country.Therefore, in fact, Li Hongzhang has been the governor leader for 20 years.Li Hongzhang, who started his career in the Huai Army, was well aware of the importance of military power to officials and the importance of military affairs to a country. With guns forcibly breaking through the country's gates and the rising of Japan in the East, Li Hongzhang believed that coastal defense was more important than fortress defense, and advocated vigorously strengthening coastal defense.Bohai Bay, where Zhili belongs, had a painful lesson of being brutally invaded by the British and French allied forces, so Li Hongzhang attached great importance to the Beiyang Navy.When Shen Baozhen was the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang, he proposed a plan of 4 million yuan for the provinces to help the coastal defense every year. He did not see the implementation of this plan during his lifetime.The year before last, Zeng Guoquan served as governor of Liangjiang. Under the strong request of Li Hongzhang and Zeng Guoquan, this plan was implemented.Beiyang has always been more important than Nanyang, and Nanyang is more important than Fujian. Therefore, Beiyang took half of the four million silver, and Nanyang took two-thirds of the remaining half, and the rest belonged to Fujian.Li Hongzhang squeezed out some money from the treasury of the Zhili Fan, and put it into the Beiyang Navy together with the two million.He ordered iron ships from the West, and hired foreigners with high salaries as naval officers and technicians.He wholeheartedly wanted to build the Beiyang Navy into a world-class navy, but suffered from a shortage of money. He watched Germany and Britain build warships with faster speeds and stronger combat effectiveness, but Beiyang was unable to buy them, so he had to sigh.

It's all right now, the Queen Mother agrees to set up the Navy Yamen, so you can take this great opportunity to ask for more money for the overseas navy, especially for the Beiyang navy to buy more equipment.Li Hongzhang summoned Chinese and foreign captains and technicians in his Beiyang Navy, and spent seven or eight days drawing up a detailed plan, including the purchase of 15 newest iron ships, 300 steel guns, and 6,000 rounds of shells. , hired 100 foreign technicians, built 10 forts, and built the Bohai Naval Academy in Dagu, etc., requiring a total of 50 million taels of silver. After seeing the plan, King Chun applauded repeatedly.He thought, let Li Hongzhang work hard to do it. Once it is done, the Chinese navy will be the most powerful navy in the world, and this king will be the most powerful navy minister in the world.With such a navy in my hands, who would dare to make things difficult for me?

Yizhen excitedly presented this plan to Cixi.After Cixi looked at it, she sneered: "Li Hongzhang's appetite is also too great. One order is 50 million yuan. How much money does the household department collect in a year? The garden workers stopped again, and Yan Jingming said that the household department could not come up with a tael of silver. You Do it yourself!" Yizhen touched this nail, his head was sweating, and his words were not coherent: "Yes, yes, 50 million, if you can't get it, then you can do it every year, or every year, and do it slowly. " Seeing Yizhen like this, Cixi was angry and funny.She also felt that comparing the garden workers with the navy would give those Taiwan admonitions Qingliu a chance to make a fuss, so she softened her tone: "Of course, Li Hongzhang is also kind and eager to run the navy well, but how can the country have so much money? .You tell him that you can’t become a fat man by eating one bite, so take your time.”

"Yes Yes!" Yizhen didn't dare to say another word, and hurriedly withdrew.He finally grasped the empress dowager's mind: the empress dowager was not in a hurry to build a navy, but the urgent matter in her heart was the garden!In the afternoon, the Secretary of the Navy, who returned to the palace, was six or seven points less excited than when he went out in the morning! The 50 million plan was returned to Li Hongzhang intact, with only one sentence: "The imperial court can't afford this much money, so take your time!" Most of the ambition of the minister who will be in charge has disappeared since then.Soon, amidst the sound of firecrackers, the signboard of the Navy Yamen was hung high, wrapped in bright red silk.Yizheng, Yikuang, and Li Hongzhang only went there once on the day it was opened, and never stepped through the threshold of the Yamen again. All three said they were too busy to take care of them, and handed over the daily affairs of the Yamen to the two assistant ministers.Zeng Jize, one of the deputy ministers, was still working as a minister in London, England, so all the power of the Qing Empire's navy government office fell into the hands of another deputy minister, Shan Qing. The Manchu governor was extremely happy about this: he is in charge of the navy yamen alone, which is really a great thing that he can only wish for.In the eyes of everyone, the Naval Yamen is the first Taiyamen of the imperial court. The power here must be boundless, and the money is as abundant as sea water. To be able to enter here is a lucky star and a wealth of wealth.For a while, there was a lot of traffic at the gate of Shanqing Mansion. Apart from He Xi's fawning, more people were recommending them.From the day when he was listed to do business, Shanqing, who held real power, was determined to turn this official office of the imperial court into his own workshop.His cousins, nephews, and nephews joined hands one by one.His worshiping brothers and wine and meat friends followed suit.Recommended by the major yamen, recommended by three friends and four friends, anyone who he thinks will be beneficial to him is also placed one by one.A few months later, the navy yamen hadn't done a single job, but it was full of nearly 100 personnel.Thirty percent of these people and 20% are Shanqing's relatives. They are all playboys and idlers, and none of them know foreign affairs or foreign affairs.Naturally, some people couldn't understand it, and gossip and gossip would follow, and occasionally a few words reached Cixi's ears. "It's been almost half a year since the Naval Yamen was opened. How many things have you done?" When a call was about to end, Cixi asked the Minister of Naval Affairs. Yixuan said: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, all the members of the yamen have just arrived recently and are discussing what to do this year." "Navy aid in all provinces has been signed by the Ministry of Households. From now on, it will be arranged by the Navy Yamen." "The empress dowager handled it extremely well, and the navy office must use the money well." "You should always ask about the affairs of the yamen. If the governors of the provinces ask about what the aid funds have been used for, you must have an account!" Returning to the palace, Yi Su became a little anxious, and happened to open the curtain and Sun Yuwen came in behind his sedan chair. He told Cixi's words to this frequent visitor of Chun Palace.Sun Yuwen stroked his pointed chin, thought for a long time, and finally came up with an idea. "A few days ago, Sheng Xuanhuai, the supervisor of the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau, came to Beijing to work and sat at my house for a while. During the chat, he said that the three warships that Li Zhongtang ordered from Germany last year had recently set sail from Bremerhaven. The delivery to Dagukou is expected to arrive in the middle of next month, so why not make a fuss about it." "Li Shaoquan bought this last year in his capacity as a Beiyang minister. It's not in the same league as the Navy's office. How to do the article?" Yizhen didn't understand what Sun Yuwen was thinking for a while. "My lord, this matter can make a big fuss." Sun Yuwen smiled sinisterly, and said, "You can lead the navy government officials and assistant ministers to Tianjin to inspect the three ships newly bought by Beiyang. Warships, see if they are qualified. Second, order all the Beiyang fleets to conduct field exercises on the sea, and you and the ministers will review them. Third, you will take the ministers to inspect the construction of forts along the coast of Bohai Bay. These three articles were established by the Navy Office The new work since then, when it is made vigorously, it will be a great article full of flowers." "Okay, you have a good idea." Sun Yuwen's words made Yixuan very happy. This is really a very beautiful and showy thing, thanks to his guidance.After a short pause, Yizhen smiled and said, "Laishan, I can add a paragraph to this article: Zeng Guoquan bought three clippers from the UK last year, and asked him to order these three clippers to arrive at Dagukou when the time comes, so why not come here?" Beiyang Nanyang Parade!" After all, Yizhen is also a smart person. With Sun Yuwen's reminder, he immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to show that the Navy Yamen had done great things.But what Sun said was still limited to the scope of Beiyang. Li Hongzhang could do all these things as the minister of Beiyang;If it wasn't an order from the Navy Yamen, Beiyang could mobilize Nanyang, and Zeng Laojiu could listen to Li Hongzhang?Who said that the Navy Yamen is not doing something, isn't it doing something big? After hearing this, Sun Yuwen also admired Yi Su's supplement from the bottom of his heart, and hurriedly said: "My lord, this article of yours is really a masterpiece, there is no second person in the world who can imagine and do it. Come this year The Beiyang and Nanyang General Assembly exercises. Next year, when the ships of the Fujian Navy are repaired, and then they are equipped with two foreign ships, we will have the Beiyang, Nanyang, and Fujian Navy’s General Assembly Exercises. That will be the founding of the Qing Dynasty. This is the biggest military ceremony ever. At that time, the queen mother and the emperor will be invited to review, my lord, you will become the eternal hero of our Qing navy!" Sun Yuwen's flattery was just right, and he hit the point without prejudice. For a few days, when Yizhen thought of the phrase "the hero of the Qing Navy forever", his heart was filled with joy, warmth, and excitement. Yizhen also stopped discussing with Yixu, and immediately sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, telling him the idea of ​​the Beiyang Nanyang Parade, and then asked him to come forward as the Minister of the Navy to invite the Queen Mother and the Emperor. When Li Hongzhang received this telegram, he saw Chun Wang's intention at a glance, but he readily agreed.Because in the final analysis, this matter is about watching the Beiyang Navy, and the real protagonist of this play is Li Hongzhang. He just took this opportunity to show the strength of the Beiyang Navy to the Queen Mother, the Emperor, the whole country and even foreigners.Li Hongzhang, who was depressed because of the refutation of the 50 million plan, suddenly became more cheerful: no matter what, with the signboard of the Navy Yamen, he can always make a difference. At least he can use this review to greatly exaggerate the Beiyang Navy. The yamen unified the power to arrange the navy's funds, and then vigorously expanded it.Immediately after Li Hongzhang paid his respects to the memorial, he ordered all teams, ships and forts of the Beiyang Navy to prepare for the imperial inspection and the Parade of Two Oceans. This kind of mentality that regards superficial excitement as career achievement is also Cixi's character.After listening to Li Lianying's excerpt, Cixi smiled and said, "Who gave Lao Qi and Li Hongzhang this idea? It seems that there are really a few capable people in the Navy Yamen!" Li Lianying hurriedly complimented: "The Empress Dowager has blessed the heavens, and the Jade Emperor sent down all the Wenqu stars and Wuqu stars in the sky to assist us in the Qing Dynasty." "Okay, this matter is up to them." Cixi leaned on the soft yellow satin recliner, and the two maids were gently beating her thighs. Li Lianying hurriedly handed the memorial to Cixi.Cixi took it, and pinched the lower left corner of the memorial with her right thumb, leaving a deep nail mark on the soft rice paper.Li Lianying took the memorial from Cixi's hand again, and immediately the little eunuch from the internal memorial office came over and transferred the memorial to the external memorial office.The officials of the Foreign Affairs Office, the Ministers of the Military Aircraft Office and the cabinet are all familiar with Cixi's handling method: all memorials without nail marks are disagreed, and those with nail marks are approved.They can even judge Cixi's different attitudes, such as appreciation, approval, or reluctant agreement, based on the size and depth of the nail marks, the position printed on the paper, and so on.Their judgment will probably be good.Thanks to this group of officials, it is really not easy to learn this set of inner court knowledge. "Read the next one!" "Hey." Li Lianying bowed in agreement and opened another memorial.This is an excerpt from Enliang, Minister of the Interior and Chief Office of the Summer Palace Project.The excerpt is about the construction of a large theater building in Dehe Garden.This Dehe Garden was the Yichun Hall that Yizhen paid special attention to when he visited Qingyi Garden for the first time that year.It was he who personally suggested to Cixi to build a stage here that is "unmatched in the previous generation and the best in this dynasty".Cixi greatly appreciated this suggestion.Cixi is not very literate, and she has no interest in reading and reciting poems. Her biggest hobby in her spare time is listening to operas, especially Pihuang.Nine out of ten of her little knowledge of past history came from the stage.Cixi often called some famous actors in the palace to perform in the palace. Among them, she especially appreciated Yang Yuelou and Tan Xinpei's singing and martial arts. enjoys a high reputation in the world.Empress Dowager Cixi paid special attention to the Yichun Hall where the stage was to be built. When Qingyi Garden was renamed Summer Palace, Yichun Hall was also renamed Dehe Garden. Enliang is also well aware of Cixi's hobby, so he puts the most effort on the stage of the Dehe Garden.He asked Jing Erzi, the most famous craftsman leader in the capital, to design an unprecedented grand stage according to the meaning of "the previous generation is unparalleled in this dynasty".The stage is divided into two parts, the front and the front, with three floors, and the backstage, with two floors. The front stage is more than six feet high. The upper, middle and lower stages are connected by a channel named Ritiandijing.There is also a basement under the lower stage.There is a small well in the middle of the basement, surrounded by four small square pools.When performing a water show such as flooding Jinshan Temple, the small pond can spray water, and it seems that there is a real water fight on the stage.If it is a scene of ghosts and monsters fleeing from the earth, the artist can also sneak into the basement from the first floor of the stage, making the audience seem to watch him disappear suddenly.If you come across a scene of acting like a fairy, you can pass the noose in the heaven and earth well to raise the artist from the first floor to the third floor, or from the third floor to the first floor.It's really heaven and earth, you can do whatever you want.Cixi was very satisfied with the ingenious design of this theater building, and repeatedly urged that it must be carefully built according to this design, without compromise.On the opposite side of the theater building, there is also a place to watch a play. There is a spacious and bright hall in the middle. The queen mother sits alone, and there are two side rooms next to it. Build two more corridors.Seats can also be placed in these two corridors for those princes and dignitaries who are allowed to watch together by Empress Dowager Cixi.Empress Dowager Cixi appreciated this arrangement and named it Yile Hall. The completion of these two buildings requires six to seven hundred thousand taels of silver.Empress Dowager Cixi specially ordered that other projects may be saved, and the Grand Theater Building and Yile Hall in Virtuous Harmony Garden must be completed. This is what Enliang's book talks about, saying that everything is ready, only the east wind is owed.This Dongfeng is silver, and the first phase of the project needs to allocate 300,000 taels of silver, otherwise it will be difficult to start construction. After Cixi heard this scripture, her expression was very displeased: "That stubborn old man Yan Jingming, I trained him to force him to take out 500,000 taels of silver a few days ago. Now he is asked to take 300,000 taels, so don't ask him again. Cut the meat?" Cixi seemed to be talking to herself, or she seemed to be speaking to Li Lianying and the maids beating their legs on both sides. Hearing what Cixi said, Li Lianying didn't dare to hand over the booklet, but still held it in both hands, and said very sincerely: "Oh, the queen mother has kept her ancestors and worked hard for the country for more than 20 years. The two long live masters were brought up from a young age, and in the end, there was no place to live in peace. Don't say that the emperor and the prince are sorry, even the servants feel very uncomfortable when they see it!" I don't know whether Li Lianying was really uncomfortable or fake when he said this, but after hearing this, Cixi felt really uncomfortable: Li Lianying's words are right. Can't be too much!From now on, it will be justified to meet the ancestors and ancestors under Jiuquan.Yizhen, Yan Jingming, why are these people so inconsiderate?She became angry from being uncomfortable, and said angrily: "The three hundred thousand must be allocated, even if it is borrowed from the coastal defense aid funds of various provinces!" Li Lianying said distressedly: "Queen Mother, is there anything in the Qing Dynasty that is not yours? Do you still have to borrow the money from the relief fund? If the Navy Yamen wants the Queen Mother to return it, they really have no conscience!" Li Lianying's sincere words actually made Cixi's heart skip a beat: borrow money from the navy to repair the garden, if word spreads, won't it be said that my empress dowager used military pay for her own personal gain?How embarrassing this is, if those people who play with words add more fuel to it and write it into some private history books, wouldn't I, Empress Dowager Cixi, become a historical sinner!Thinking of this, Cixi sat up immediately, and said to Li Lianying with a serious expression: "I just said a word of anger, so you take it seriously. If you don't have money to repair the garden, you won't borrow money from the Navy Yamen!" What's the matter today, the empress dowager, who has always been one and only one, would say that her words are "angry words"?Li Lianying thought for a while, and immediately understood: So this old woman wanted money from the Navy Yamen, but she was afraid of being told!He took a step forward with a smile on his face, and said: "The queen mother is self-serving and serving the country, and the servant admires and feels uncomfortable. Of course the queen mother will not borrow money from the navy's office, but the servant thinks, so does Li Zhongtang. The queen mother praises him and Beiyang so much. Sailor, he should also respect and honor the Empress Dowager! If the Empress Dowager does not agree, can the Navy Office handle it? Can the North and South Ocean Games be practiced? Can Li Zhongtang have this face?" As soon as she finished speaking, Li Lianying realized that she had said too much today.The Navy Yamen, the two oceans will fight, how big a state matter is this, can I, Li Lianying, intervene?Li Zhongtang is the pillar of the country, what qualifications do I, Li Lianying, have to say about him!If any eunuch dared to mention these words in the Qianjia and Daoxian periods, his head would have moved his head long ago.Although the Empress Dowager loves her, she can occasionally talk about state affairs, but she has never been so presumptuous!Li Lianying couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly knelt down in front of Cixi, slapped herself twice, kowtowed repeatedly, and said, "Damn this slave, I've talked too much today, Lafayette, deal with me!" Empress Dowager Cixi watched Li Lianying's performance expressionlessly, and thought to herself: Li Lianying's idea is really good, let him tell Li Hongzhang what he said, and ask him to donate a little money to the garden workers.Li Hongzhang has been the governor of Zhili for more than 20 years, and has run the Beiyang Navy for 20 years. A few years ago, he also ran a telegraph office. It is said that it was a very profitable business.It would not be difficult for him to move it anywhere, pick a little from any finger, and get a hundred and eight hundred thousand silver.The governor of Zhili has done this, and other governors will follow suit. Isn't there money for the Summer Palace?The court cannot say this, and it is most appropriate for Li Lianying to say it.But how could Li Lianying have the opportunity to tell Li Hongzhang?Cixi thought for a while, and suddenly her mind opened up. "Li Lianying, when the Beiyang Navy was inspected in April, you went to wait on King Chun." "The slave is going to serve Prince Chun?" Li Lianying couldn't believe her ears.Not only did the Queen Mother not reprimand, but instead sent King Chun, a waiter outside the palace, to inspect the Beiyang Navy. This is really something that has never happened since the founding of the Qing Dynasty!When did my Li Lianying's ancestors accumulate such great virtues in their lifetime, allowing me, an eunuch, to show off such a glorious ancestor?Li Lianying thought again: Maybe the queen mother is trying me? "The servant has never served Prince Chun, the servant dare not take orders, and the servant still serves the Lafayette in the palace." Cixi lowered her face and said, "If you don't serve King Chun, how can you go to see Li Hongzhang?" How can I go to see Li Hongzhang?Why should I go to see Li Hongzhang?After Li Lianying subconsciously flashed this idea, she immediately realized: the Empress Dowager agreed with what I said just now, and asked me to take the opportunity of serving Prince Chun to meet Li Hongzhang in Tianjin, and tell Li Hongzhang face to face about taking the lead in donating money for the Summer Palace.Li Lianying hastily kowtowed three times, and said swiftly: "Your servant leads the order, and my servant must live up to Lafayette's kindness and virtue, and serve Prince Chun well!"