Chapter 54 8. Worldly rituals are set for ordinary people, and heroes don’t have to follow them

The Zhenyuan sailed out of the port and came to the deep sea so that Yizhen and others sitting at the inspection table could watch the drill of the ship.According to the traditional etiquette of guests first and hosts second, the Nanyang speedboats coming from Wusongkou will perform first.The three speedboats, Kaiji, Nanchen and Nanrui, were bought from England two years ago.These three speedboats are not as large as the three Yuanzihao just bought from Germany, but they are fast and light in action.Huang Yisheng was wearing a first-rank military officer's gown, with a square embroidered patch on his chest. He straightened his back and stood on the bow of the command ship Kaiji, holding a black-and-yellow Hague roll in his hand Long Qi drove towards the Zhen Yuan from a distance, followed by two speedboats, Nanchen and Nanrui.

The Kaiji sailed to the sea a stone's throw away from the Zhenyuan, Huang Yisheng bent down and bowed to King Chun, and at the same time shouted: "Huang Yisheng, Admiral of the Yangtze River Navy and Minister of the Nanyang Navy, sees the prince!" After raising his head, he waved the command flag in his hand, and Kaiji flew like an arrow, and Nan Chen and Nan Rui also ran at full speed.On the endless sea, the three Nanyang speedboats formed a zigzag for a while, a zigzag for a while, and a zigzag for a while, constantly exchanging positions.After the formation performance, the next step is the actual combat exercise.The command flag in Huang Yisheng's hand was constantly waving, one after another, the shells were continuously fired from the bow and stern to the sky, and then fell on the distant sea.More than an hour after the performance of the three speedboats, they gathered again on the sea surface of the bow of the Zhenyuan.Huang Yisheng stood still and reported to Yixuan: "The exercise is over, please give instructions from the prince."

Yizhen was very happy, and said repeatedly: "Okay, okay!" and asked a loud Beiyang Guan beside him to pass on his words: "The prince said that the Nanyang speedboat performed well, and there is a reward!" Yizhen turned his face to Li Hongzhang and said, "Huang Yisheng was originally an illiterate ship boss on the Xiangjiang River. I never imagined that a man in his sixties could command a foreign ship so well. It's really not easy!" "It's not easy, it's not easy!" Li Hongzhang nodded in agreement.In fact, he knew in his heart that Huang Yisheng didn't know how to command a foreign ship at all, he was just putting on a show, and the real commander was the British guy with red hair and blue eyes behind him.Zeng Laojiu hired him from Liverpool to be the coach of the Nanyang Navy with an annual salary of 20,000 silver dollars.

Next is the performance of the master Beiyang Navy.The Beiyang Navy deserves to be the leader of the three major navy divisions. In the past 20 years, under the painstaking management of Li Hongzhang, both the quantity and quality of the ships, and the talents and treatment of the officers and soldiers of the navy are obviously superior to Nanyang and Fujian.The 15 warships participating in this exercise have concentrated the strengths of Beiyang in these two aspects.When Ding Ruchang drove the fifteen ships in front of the Zhenyuan, Yi Su and all the inspectors immediately brightened their eyes: This is indeed a powerful fleet!

Because Beiyang has fifteen ships, their formation drills are far more spectacular, complex, and varied than the three in Nanyang.The first is to dispatch the whole team.They are either a long snake, a square matrix, or a triangular chain, all of which have a huge deterrent force that cuts through the waves and is overwhelming.On the vast sea, the calm Bohai Bay is disturbed by rough waves, tossing up and down. If there is a Dragon King and the Undersea Dragon Palace, this afternoon must be a time when they are afraid and everyone is in danger. After the formation exercise, Beiyang's actual combat exercise was even more exciting and moving.Their artillery is not air-to-air, but real bombing.On the distant sea, a row of large wooden boats with white sails suddenly appeared, swinging from side to side under the sea breeze.In order for the inspectors to see clearly, Li Hongzhang placed two binoculars in front of Yixuan and Shanqing.Yizhen picked up a ruler and brought a telescope that looked like a bamboo pole, and the wooden boat with white sails in the distance immediately appeared clearly.Only a sound of cannon was heard, and a wooden boat tilted in response. The hull of the boat was on fire, and the sails were burned. Soon the boat sank and disappeared.

"Okay!" Yizhen called out unconsciously.Putting down the binoculars, he asked Li Hongzhang beside him with concern: "Where are the people on board, aren't they killed by the bomb?" Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the people on the boat have left long ago. During the drill, people's lives were used to play, so I, Li Hongzhang, don't want to shorten my life?" Just as he was talking, there was another cannon fire, and another wooden sailboat caught fire in the distance.Shanqing and the others cheered together. Yizhen picked up the binoculars again and looked intently.The shells were fired one after another, and the wooden sailboats sank one after another.An hour later, all the white sailboats on the sea disappeared.

Yizhen put down the binoculars, raised his thumb and said to Li Hongzhang: "The bullets never fail, every shot hits every shot, all Beiyang gunners are Ji Chang and Yang Youji!" Just as they were talking happily, unexpectedly, there was a gust of wind in the Bohai Bay, and the Zhenyuan ship suddenly swayed from side to side.Like everyone else, Yizhen kept shaking in his seat, and Li Lianying quickly supported him with both hands.But Li Lianying herself couldn't stand still, and she was swaying while stroking Yixuan.Yizhen was originally weak, and the western food he ate at noon tasted very good when he ate it, but he felt something was wrong in his stomach afterwards, and he didn't take a nap, so he couldn't stand the shaking a few times, he already felt like his stomach was overturned It was very uncomfortable like a bottle.Another gust of wind blew, and the Zhenyuan ship shook violently. Finally, Yi Su couldn't bear it any longer, and spat out a mouthful of sour water with a "wow".Then there was a series of vomiting. The steak and milk that I ate at noon all ran out of my stomach, making my whole body dirty. I was so frightened that Li Hongzhang and others didn't know what to do, so they had to call a few people to take Yizhen away. Steady, Li Lianying carried her into the captain's cabin, took off his clothes and let him lie flat on the bed.

After lying down for a while, Yi Su felt much better.Only then did Li Hongzhang order the Zhenyuan to sail to the port.The ship drove slowly at the slowest speed, and Yizhen slept on the spring-loaded Western-style bed, feeling better and better, and fell asleep peacefully before he knew it.Li Lianying thought: In the past when I was in the posthouse, I never had a chance to talk, but today I am on board the Zhenyuan, which is a god-sent opportunity. When we arrived at the port, it was almost dusk. Li Lianying quietly tugged at the corner of Li Hongzhang's clothes: "Li Zhongtang, my lord slept well, let him sleep for a while, and then help him back to the post after waking up. You tell the people on board to Those who go back, go back, you and I will sit with the prince for a while, okay?"

Li Hongzhang, who had been guarding against Li Lianying all the time, knew that the chief executive must be busy today when he heard this sentence.He understood immediately, let Shanqing and all inspecting officials and other personnel disembark, leaving only the pipe belt, engineer, cook and his own bag, a total of no more than seven or eight people.Half an hour later, the noisy Zhenyuan quieted down, and the pipe belt turned on all the lights on the ship.Under the cover of night, the iron-blooded gunboat of the day no longer exists, and the brightly lit Zhenyuan is like a graceful and rich lady, radiant, beautiful and affectionate.

Seeing that Yixuan on the bed was snoring evenly, Li Hongzhang said softly to Li Lianying who was standing beside him: "My lord is sleeping very well. Let my servant take care of it for now. Mr. Li, please go to the restaurant for dinner!" "Thank you Zhongtang for your kindness." This arrangement was exactly what Li Lianying wanted. Under the leadership of Guan Dai, Li Lianying followed Li Hongzhang to another small house, which was a small restaurant specially designed for Guan Dai and Deputy Guan Dai.This place is completely arranged as a western-style restaurant. Although it is a bit narrow, it is exquisite, harmonious and has a good atmosphere.

Guan Dai personally delivered a full set of Chinese food and drinks, then closed the door and left quietly. "Have you ever eaten on a ship before?" Li Hongzhang poured a glass of wine for Li Lianying himself and handed it over. Li Lianying quickly took it with both hands, and said again and again: "Master Zhongtang pours wine for my slave, this is something I can afford. This is the first time in my life that I have been on a sea boat, and it is also the first time in my life to eat on a sea boat." "Today we drink and eat together as friends, don't stick to etiquette. Manager Li." "You should call me slave Li Lianying! If you call me that way, I will feel more at ease!" Li Lianying interrupted Li Hongzhang. "Where is it! You are my guest when you come to Tianjin, so there is no reason to call him by your first name!" Li Hongzhang's attitude seemed very sincere. "When you see me in the palace, you think I'm very polite. In fact, I'm the least polite person." "Master Zhongtang is a great hero. The worldly rituals are set for ordinary people, and no great hero has to follow them. The slave has also heard that Master Zhongtang is usually free and easy, and this slave admires such a great hero as Master Zhongtang from the bottom of his heart." These few words of Li Lianying were not all polite. There are very few ministers in the court who are both civil and military like Li Hongzhang.He has always looked at Li Hongzhang differently. "You really hit the nail on the head." Li Hongzhang thought to himself: Li Lianying also knew that "a great hero does not need to follow the worldly etiquette", which shows that this person has some insight. "Come on, have another drink!" "Your servant never drinks alcohol, Lord Zhongtang, please forgive me. I will finish this glass of wine slowly." Li Lianying's face turned red, it seemed that she was really not good at drinking.Li Hongzhang was afraid that Yizhen would wake up soon, and he didn't want to talk nonsense with Li Lianying anymore, so he had to hurry up and say something useful. "Director Li, what do you think of the Beiyang Navy's drill today?" "Wonderful, wonderful, the Beiyang navy under the leadership of your lord is really a mighty force in the world!" Li Lianying complimented. Li Hongzhang was very satisfied with today's drill, and said with a smile to this servant named Chun Wang, who was actually the Queen Mother's special envoy: "The Beiyang Navy can have what it is today, thanks to the blessings of the Queen Mother and the Emperor." Li Lianying also didn't want to beat around the bush, and he wanted to take this good opportunity to complete the important task entrusted by the Queen Mother.He is a very scheming person. Although he never asks about state affairs and looks like a duty eunuch, he actually sees and remembers the actions of the highest officials in the officialdom.Because of the usual reading and listening, he knows many things that others don't.In order to make Li Hongzhang submit, he tried his best to think of ideas for several days, and finally let him find a gap.He asked nonchalantly, "Master Zhongtang, how much did you spend on these three gunboats bought from Germany?" "Six and a half million." Li Hongzhang replied casually. "Three ships are six hundred and five, and one ship is more than two hundred." Li Hongzhang said: "The Zhenyuan number is more expensive, two hundred and four, the Dingyuan number is two hundred one, and the Jiyuan number is two hundred, a total of six hundred and five." The humble smile that had been hanging on Li Lianying's face disappeared, and he deliberately asked softly, "Master Zhongtang, who is in the middle of this matter?" "Sheng Xuanhuai, supervisor of the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau." Li Lianying stretched her head over, showing a very concerned expression: "Lord Zhongtang, Sheng Xuanhuai may have played tricks in the middle." "What's the matter?" Li Hongzhang looked quite surprised, staring at Li Lianying's face which was ugly when he didn't smile. "You mean, these three ships don't have 6.5 million yuan, and Sheng Xuanhuai has embezzled from them?" "It's possible." Li Lianying's face was still grim. "Last year, the German envoy met with Lafayette. Lafayette asked him how much it would cost to buy a newest German-made warship. The envoy replied that if you buy the latest gunboat from France, it costs 250 yuan, and if you buy a British one, it costs 200 yuan." Fourth, if you buy a German one with the same performance, it only costs two million. If you sell it to China, for the sake of the Queen Mother, you can get a discount. The Zhenyuan ship cost two hundred and four, and it was bought at the British price. , at a loss." Li Hongzhang was secretly surprised when he heard Li Lianying's words.In his impression, Li Lianying was just a villain who was greedy for money and would flatter and use double tactics. He didn't expect this person to be so shrewd and knowledgeable, and to choose the key point so accurately to attack, amazing!Beiyang had plans to buy a foreign ship, and Sheng Xuanhuai immediately recommended a German ship to him, saying that a German-built ship with the same performance would be 200,000 cheaper.Li Hongzhang was originally a shrewd person and could not allow others to play tricks in front of him.He didn't believe in Sheng Xuanhuai, and secretly sent people to directly interrogate the French, German, and British shipping merchants to prove that what Sheng said was true, so he entrusted Sheng to do it.Soon, Sheng completed the matter and quietly told Li that the three ships were worth 6.5 million yuan.This price is similar to that in France and the United Kingdom, and it is used to reimburse the Ministry of Households; the actual collection is 6 million, and the 500,000 is used as a kickback.In addition, the ship owners of the three shipyards thanked Zhongtang for his patronage, and raised another 300,000 yuan to give to Zhongtang personally. Please take care of him in the future.Sheng Xuanhuai also said very earnestly that Beiyang had a lot of things to do, and Zhongtang had a lot of things to do personally, and they all needed money. Please accept all the 800,000 yuan and don't mention it to the household department.He would never tell anyone about it.Li Hongzhang felt that Sheng Xuanhuai would handle things, so he made the decision.Three months ago, Sheng Xuanhuai went to Germany, completed the transaction, and transferred 800,000 silver to Li Hongzhang's personal account.Li Hongzhang rewarded Sheng Xuanhuai with 100,000 yuan.After hearing Li Lianying's words, he understood that the 300,000 yuan was actually voluntarily done by the ship owner. Maybe Sheng Xuanhuai facilitated the deal, and the three ship owners also contributed 300,000 yuan to him.But this matter must not let the Queen Mother's eyes and ears get any handle. With an idea, he laughed twice and said, "What the German envoy said to the Queen Mother is correct. The purchase price of our three ships was indeed only six million, and the five million was spent on the artillery. One is A total of eight guns were added to the three ships. In addition, all the artillery used the latest steel guns with the highest firepower produced by the Krupp factory! Therefore, it cost more money. However, Mr. Li, you reminded me that it is very important to say Maybe these cannons are not worth half a million yuan, that boy Sheng Xuanhuai played tricks in the middle, I have to check the account properly." While listening, Li Lianying thought in her heart: People say that Li Hongzhang is great, so he is indeed good!He used the cannon to fool the court, which is a brilliant move.But after thinking about it for a long time before answering my words, is it obvious that you are thinking about countermeasures? The words after "but" are an obvious manifestation of guilty conscience. He also laughed dryly and said: "Oh, it turns out that these three ships were equipped with eight more guns, which I didn't expect. However, Mr. Zhongtang will have to make a special report to Lafayette about this in the future. In case someone is caught It's not beautiful for a villain to sue first. Lafayette would rather lose herself than spend a lot of money on coastal defense. If she knows that she has been cheated, she will naturally feel uncomfortable." Li Hongzhang tasted the subtext of these words, and immediately said: "Director Li is very good. This is the love for the Beiyang Navy. In a few days, I will make a report to the Queen Mother and talk about the purchase of artillery. The general manager You just said that the Empress Dowager would rather save herself, so maybe the construction of the Summer Palace will be saved again." "Yes!" After talking here, it was time to get to the point.Li Lianying said: "For the matter of the Deheyuan theater building, Lafayette was very sad for a while." "Who made the queen mother sad?" Li Hongzhang showed great concern. "Who else is there, the Ministry of Household Affairs." Li Lianying pushed away the wine glass, as if she was so stuffed up that she couldn't even drink. "The theater is about to start construction, and Enliang asked the Ministry of Accounts to provide 300,000 taels of silver for the upfront expenses. After reading the booklet, Lafayette sighed and said, the Ministry of Accounts is very tight recently, how can I get 300,000 taels of silver?" When Wan Yinzi comes out, don’t repair the theater! That day, Lafayette only drank two sips of soup and stopped eating. The slaves know that Lafayette is working for the theater in Deheyuan! Sure enough, when walking around after dinner, Lafayette The Buddha chatted with the servant and said, "Little Lizi, let's not go to the theater from now on. It's really boring. You call Yang Yuelou, Tan Xinpei and the others to come to the garden and sing a cappella. After hearing this, the servant wanted to lose his mind." Tears, said, Lafayette, don't say that, the emperor and the ministers at home and abroad have heard this, and I don't know how uncomfortable it is. Alas, Lafayette has worked for the country for more than 20 years. After returning to power, he has a garden to live in. Building a theater to watch a show is not too much to say anywhere! The Ministry of Households allocates at least one or two million yuan to various places every day, so can’t it be distributed evenly? Lafayette said that it is all for emergency relief The money can’t be evened out. The servant said, I heard that Beiyang bought a ship, and the household department paid more than six million miles at a time. The people in charge of affairs saved a little, and 300,000 yuan came out. Lafayette said, it’s buying a ship to guard the sea. It can't be spared either." Hearing this, Li Hongzhang felt that many nails suddenly grew on the stool, stabbing him one by one.If more than six million silver is used to buy the ship, doesn't that mean that Li Lianying already knew the price of the ship?So what you said just now is asking knowingly, and knocking mountains and shaking tigers.This hateful and neither male nor female Li Si! "The heart of the Lafayette really moved the servant so much that he didn't know what to say. The servant couldn't help it, and blurted out, of all the officials in the world, which one was not released by you, the Lafayette? The parents who gave birth to them are even more important. Parents are short of money, so sons should take it out. Now that Lafayette is short of money, all officials in the world should donate money from their own pockets. This is the son's filial piety to his parents. It's a matter of course. Lafayette smiled and said, sons nowadays are not filial to their parents, how many filial sons are there like you Li Lianying!" Li Hongzhang finally fully understood that the purpose of Li Lianying's visit to Tianjin this time was to alms for Lafayette.He came to me, the number one governor in the world, and then used me as an example to make all the court officials and those who eat the emperor's food come to show their filial piety to the Queen Mother and donate money and silver for her Summer Palace.It doesn't matter if I donate hundreds of thousands of silver, but if I take the lead, it will definitely cause problems for others. If I don't donate, I won't be able to do so, and if I donate, I won't be willing.Immediately, I, Li Hongzhang, will be cursed and resented by the officials all over the world.It's not good to take this head.But it seems impossible not to take money.You can see that he seized the price of the ship as soon as he spoke, and did good and evil, obviously he suspected that there was something in it.In fact, Li Hongzhang couldn't get through this matter.The rebate of 500,000 yuan and gift money of 300,000 yuan from the German shipyard, except for the 100,000 yuan distributed to Sheng Xuanhuai, the remaining 700,000 yuan, he put all into his own treasury.Li Hongzhang kept saying that he took his teacher as an example. In fact, his behavior was very different from that of his teacher, and his attitude towards money was completely opposite.Zeng Guofan didn't want even a tiny bit of extra money, but Li Hongzhang never refused the money he got.In this way, for twenty years as a direct governor, he created wealth for Zhili Province, and also accumulated tens of thousands of wealth for his Li family. A difficult problem was before him: he could not take the money, nor could he not take it, what should he do?Li Hongzhang was thinking hard in his mind, and suddenly, he remembered something. It was a month ago that Yang Zonglian entered the Beiyang Commercial Yamen late at night to visit Li Hongzhang.Yang Zonglian's father was a hero who founded the Huai Army together with Li Hongzhang. Later, he became a named admiral and died of serious injuries in a battle with the Nian Army.On the eve of his death, Father Yang entrusted his only son Zong Lian to Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang cherished this life-and-death friendship on the battlefield and took special care of Yang Zonglian.The Yang family was rich, so they first donated to Yang Zonglian the honor of being a supervisor, and then bought him the title of an alternate Taoist priest.At that time, Li Hongzhang's elder brother Hanzhang was the governor of Huguang in Hubei, so Yang Zonglian went to Wuchang to join Li Hanzhang.Li Hanzhang also took good care of him.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the officialdom was chaotic, and there were so many alternate officials bought with silver.In the past, there was an idiom called a group of robbers like hair, but now people replace "thief" with "Tao", and the group of Tao is like hair, which is more appropriate.There are two to three hundred alternate magistrates, alternate magistrates, and alternate Taoist priests in Hubei Province. Usually, it takes one or two years to get a job as a candidate, and some don't get a job for ten or eight years.As a result, many of the alternate officials were impoverished, and it was not uncommon for them to die of illness and starvation.As soon as Yang Zonglian arrived in Hubei, he immediately entrusted him with a job as a river worker on the Han River.Unexpectedly, Yang Zonglian didn't live up to his expectations, and he didn't do a good job in this beautiful job, allowing his subordinates to cut corners, embezzle and embezzle, and fill his own pockets.He spends his days drinking, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.As a result, the dikes built at a cost of millions of dollars were of no use at all. When the flood broke out in the following year, everything collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the Han River were displaced and hundreds of people were drowned. The iron-faced censor Deng Chengxiu made a discount for this, and asked the court to severely punish those who dereliction of duty.Li Hanzhang, governor of Huguang, interceded for him and shifted the responsibility to several specific people who handled the matter.As a result, Yang Zonglian was only demoted to a second level and transferred to Zhili and handed over to Li Hongzhang.People in Hubei refused to accept it and wrote letters one after another.So Yanmao, the imperial servant, and Tu Renshou, the censor, went up for impeachment again, and the imperial court dismissed Yang Zonglian from his post and never used him again.Yang Zonglian pleaded with Li Hongzhang, and Li Hongzhang also greeted the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, but the Minister of the Ministry of Officials did not dare to agree because he was afraid that the officials would retaliate.This matter dragged on for half a year. "Young uncle," Yang Zonglian called Li Hongzhang affectionately, "my nephew is unworthy, and he owes the respect of my young uncle and uncle Xiao. He deserves to be dismissed and investigated. My nephew has no complaints. It's just that my mother is ill because of her nephew. The bed is already dying. My nephew couldn't bear to let his mother die in peace, and would rather donate a sum of money to ask for a recovery. The nephew just wants to ask for a title so that his mother can travel far away with peace of mind, and he doesn't want to be an official. Buy from the Navy Yamen There must be insufficient funds for the boat to buy guns, my nephew is willing to donate 20,000 silver, and begs the young uncle to help my nephew." Li Hongzhang thought to himself: This is a good idea. It is a very good thing that the Navy’s yamen are in short supply of money. It is a very good thing to get 20,000 taels of silver from the Navy with a piece of paper that revokes the punishment. If there are ten people like Yang Zonglian, Suddenly got 200,000.In the past, when the Xianghuai Army was founded, didn't it rely on selling blank licenses and military merit cards in exchange for salary?At the beginning of the establishment of the navy, it might as well do the same. "Okay, let me try." After sending Yang Zonglian away, Li Hongzhang was busy with the Beiyang Nanyang Conference, and Yang Zonglian's affairs were put aside.Now why not change the name of this money, and change the navy donated silver to the garden worker donated silver, wouldn't it be more convenient to be filial to the Queen Mother in exchange for the cancellation of the punishment? "Director Li, the Empress Dowager's dedication to serving the country and the people really impresses us ministers. It stands to reason that it is the duty of the ministers to donate their salaries to repair the Queen Mother's garden. But I think , the Empress Dowager may be disturbed by this." Seeing that Li Lianying's face was still tense, Li Hongzhang knew that he was determined not to give up until he got the money. "I have a way to get the silver without disturbing the Queen Mother." "What's a good way, Lord Zhongtang said so well that I can listen to you." Li Lianying's expression softened. "It's like this." Li Hongzhang briefly talked about Yang Zonglian's pursuit of recovery. "It's a good idea." Li Lianying, who was born in the countryside of Hebei, suffered from childhood, and entered the palace at the age of nine, in his mind, there is only one standard for measuring the world, and that is money and interests. Leave it alone.In his view, selling officials and nobles is not much different from selling rice and salt. It is a transaction where one hand pays and one hand delivers goods. Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others regard this as a last resort and expedient measure, but Li Lianying thinks this is also fair Buying and selling, there is no need to worry about "last resort".Li Lianying thought, who will tell the officials about this?Of course, Lafayette can't say it, and it's inconvenient to come forward by himself. It would be more logical for King Chun to tell the officials. "Lord Zhongtang, tomorrow, go and talk to the lord, and ask the lord to say hello to the officials. It's just that Yang Zonglian's 20,000 yuan is not enough, and more talents are needed. According to the slaves, the Navy Yamen really wants to ask It is not difficult for Lafayette to show his filial piety. There are at least forty or fifty Beiyang Navy ships moored in Dagu Port every day. Recently, he bought three most advanced German gunboats, and Nanyang ships are also very good. Right now This looks like a very powerful navy in the world. In my humble opinion, the navy government office can no longer buy new ships in the past two or three years, and half of the more than ten million taels of silver saved can be donated to garden workers. The other half entrusted the household department to pay interest, and the interest money was given to the garden workers, and the capital was still the navy. After two or three years, the Summer Palace was completed, and Lafayette was relieved, and the navy office could buy more boats and guns. Li Zhongtang, Do you think it’s ok? The slave is a fool who doesn’t understand the affairs of the state. He just feels distressed seeing Lafayette can’t eat or sleep well. He also knows that Mr. Zhongtang wants to be filial but can’t figure out the way, so he just talks nonsense. Tonight, the slave is lucky to be with you Master Zhongtang shared dinner at sea, there is a saying about it," Li Lianying said after tapping his head, "I remember, it's called Overseas Tales. What the servant just said was also overseas tales, fortunately no one else was present. Okay? Master Zhongtang decides for himself, if not, he will be a slave. Let's eat quickly, the prince will have to wait for the slave to serve him!" It is unbelievable that the navy yamen no longer buys more ships and guns, but spends Haiphong money to build gardens to honor the Queen Mother.This kind of bad idea, except for Li Lianying, it is probably hard for others to think of it.After hearing this, the Minister of the Navy Council was stunned for a long time.Suddenly he thought, could it be that this idea was Cixi's own idea, and Li Lianying was specially asked to come to Tianjin to speak for me?Yes, it must be so!Alas, queen mother, this great Qing Dynasty belongs to you, and you don't cherish it yourself, so why are we working so hard on it?If you really want to do this, we have to obey.After thinking about it, he thought again, in only two or three years, it is not a big deal for the construction of the navy to be wronged for a while.Besides, my share of the family property is not clear, and I really offended that old woman who can do it, maybe one day it will all be sealed with one seal.Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang relaxed his mind, and said to Li Lianying seriously: "Director Li's idea is reasonable, I will discuss it with Prince Chun tomorrow." "Okay! It's been a busy day, after dinner, Master Zhongtang will also rest early." Li Hongzhang turned his face and looked at the window. Outside the window, the night was already deep, and the boundless darkness covered the Zhenyuan and Bohai Bay.There is no moon, and you can't even see the stars. There are only rhythmic waves beating against the stones on the shore, making a dull sound.Li Hongzhang suddenly had a sense of ominous feeling in his heart: this naval yamen had just been built, and the queen mother asked it for money, which set a very bad precedent, and it was inevitable that no one would ask it for advice in the future.If the 50 million silver is not available, it seems that in the future, it will be difficult to use all the 4 million silver that is aided each year for coastal defense.Navy, the navy of the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that your future will be as vast and dark as the Bohai Bay in front of you, with unpredictable risks!