Chapter 92 Chapter Ninety-Two

As soon as Li Hongzhang begged the Queen Mother to continue his political training, as soon as he arrived in the capital, he immediately caused a huge wave among the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty.Prince Jin patted the table with his hands, and cursed in the mansion: "This Li Shaoquan, isn't he a bastard? The queen mother just moved into the garden, and the emperor has only been in power for ten days, and he jumped out to disrupt the situation! Why don't you say he doesn't?" Gaba is dying of plague!" When Weng Tonghe heard about this, Hu Zi immediately became very angry.He went to the palace overnight to meet Prince Jin, and repeatedly said: "Li Shaoquan should be punished! Li Shaoquan should be punished! If this person is not punished, my Qing Dynasty will never have peace!"

Before Emperor Guangxu finished reading the booklet, he raised his hand and threw it far away, and said ruthlessly, "Li Hongzhang, you old bastard, I will give you a try sooner or later!" Emperor Guangxu scolded for a long time, but dared not bend The waist picked up the booklet, got up and drove into the garden to present to the Queen Mother. After reading the scriptures, the queen mother asked a group of princes and ministers to be called into the garden to discuss matters.After the princes and ministers arrived, the Empress Dowager asked Emperor Guangxu to sit next to her, and she waved Li Hongzhang's notebook and said, "This Li Hongzhang, why does he not understand my heart so much? I have just been quiet for two days, and his notebook immediately Just hand it over! Why is he like this?"

The Empress Dowager Cixi looked bitter, sighed, shook her head, and frowned.When Prince Jin saw it, he hurriedly took a step forward, and said: "I told the Queen Mother, the servant thought that this Li Hongzhang is old and confused, and the imperial court should be sympathetic to him and let him rest." Weng Tonghe also stepped forward and said: "I reported to the Queen Mother, I think that Li Hongzhang is fatuous and old, and he is already a vegetarian in Zhili. He should be ordered to return to his hometown with strict national laws." Xu Tong even made a sincere request: "I implore the queen mother to issue an order to lock the traitor Li Hongzhang into the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice for questioning according to the law! I implore the queen mother to issue an order to apologise for Liu Xihong and call Liu Xihong to work in Beijing! Li Hongzhang is a traitor, Liu Xihong is patriotic!" After Xu Tong finished speaking, he kowtowed to the Queen Mother for a while.

The Empress Dowager Cixi slammed the booklet on the table and said, "I haven't finished my sentence yet, what are you doing? Are you hoping for my early death? You can do whatever you want, cover up the sky with your hands! Drive all meritorious ministers home go!" When Prince Jin heard this, he was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground in a hurry, kowtowed and said, "The Queen Mother calms down! The slave deserves to die! The slave deserves to die!" Weng Tonghe also hurriedly knelt behind Prince Jin, pleading for forgiveness.Xu Tong knelt on the ground, trembling all over in fright.

The queen mother said with a cold face: "You all get up. What are you doing? Don't let people talk? Are the wings stiff? Let me tell you, I'm not old and confused, you don't have to pretend to be like me in front of me." I feel so wronged. I know everything! Well, I won’t say anything more. Li Hongzhang is a scholar of the Wenhua Palace and the head of all officials. Since he has spoken, I can’t lose face. Give it to him. Besides, he is doing it for the good of us. Besides, the emperor is only eighteen years old, and he is still a child. I am really worried about leaving everything to him. It really provokes If there is any trouble, it will be too late to say anything. It seems that the emperor will have to go to the garden often. I will only work hard for a few more years to help him steer the rudder, so as not to push things on me That's it. Let's go back and do what we should do."

From then on, Empress Dowager Cixi began to train politics again, and continued to take charge of the internal and foreign affairs of the Qing Dynasty.In March of that year, the Empress Dowager Cixi issued a decree to reward Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, the scholar of Wenhuadian University and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce, with purple reins.The courtiers of the Qing Dynasty were once again in an uproar. According to the ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty, the non-royal family was not allowed to use purple reins, and the Manchu and Han ministers, no matter how great their achievements, were not allowed to use purple reins unless they were rewarded with kindness.Holding the purple reins to ride a horse, you don't need to get off the horse when you meet the prince.If all the officials meet the person holding the purple rein, ranging from a first-rank official to a low-ranking official, they not only have to make way for him, but also have to kneel down and pay respects, and can only get up after the person holding the purple rein has passed.

Li Hongzhang is not from the royal family, although in the eyes of the court, he has made extraordinary achievements, but he did not reward him with gratitude.The purple rein is rewarded by the non-existent Zhi and the non-royal family. The Qing Dynasty has been established for a hundred years, and there are only a few people who have this kind of grace! Officials from all over Zhili, big and small, came to Baoding to congratulate Master Zhongtang, and Zhao Lian and Xiaohong also congratulated him in the mansion.In front of Zhao Lian and Xiaohong, Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said: "You have forgotten how old I am this year. I will be sixty-six this year. We will meet on June 6, so it will be a success! One of the old master's books, I will exchange it for you." Bring a rope, it's worth it!" When Xiao Hong saw Li Hongzhang say this, two lines of turbid tears flowed from her eyes.Seeing this scene, Xiaohong's nose also turned sour.

After dinner one day, Li Hongzhang expressed emotion to Sheng Xuanhuai: "I predict that when I am sixty-six years old, I will buy more ships from the Beiyang Navy to thirty. Now, I am sixty-six years old, and my false age is sixty. It's seven, but the number of warships in our Beiyang Navy is still twenty-five! The imperial court didn't let the old man make up the number of thirty warships, but gave the old man a purple bridle for tying the horse! Sad? Happy? In Li Hongzhang's eyes, tears flowed again. In a flash, the 20th year of Guangxu (1894 A.D.) arrived, and Li Hongzhang was seventy-one years old, and his false age was seventy-two. At this time, Empress Dowager Cixi was also in her sixties.The day of the ceremony is getting closer.

The grand election was held on the second day of the first lunar month.Before the grand ceremony, the imperial court specially ordered the governors of the provinces not to leave their posts and go to Beijing, but the filial piety of the provinces cannot be waived, because after all, this is an opportunity for the royal family to accumulate wealth.It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, it is a pity to miss it. Li Hongzhang naturally did his best to buy a birthday gift for the Queen Mother.Since the governor was not allowed to enter the capital, he planned to ask Xiaohong to go to the capital for him with a gift.In any case, Xiaohong is also a satisfactory person around the Queen Mother.But when he was about to set out on the road, he suddenly realized that what he had done was not right.It's true that Xiaohong is from the palace, but she is her concubine after all now; asking a concubine to celebrate her birthday is clearly saying that the queen mother is not in the palace either?He broke out in a cold sweat from fright, hurriedly asked Xiaohong to get out of the car and go into the house to rest, and temporarily appointed a backup, and then put his heart into his stomach completely.

On the day of the grand ceremony, Li Hongzhang, as usual, brought all the officials in the territory, knelt down facing north, and wished the Empress Dowager a long life in her 60s.Before the ceremony was over, he suddenly received an imperial edict. The decree said: "Li Hongzhang, a scholar of the Wenhua Palace, the governor of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce, rewarded Li Hongzhang with a purple rein. Appreciate and wear the three-eyed flower feather. This is it." Li Hongzhang took the aim, but no matter how difficult he was to control it, tears welled up in his eyes.When he faced north to thank him, he said repeatedly: "What virtue and ability does the old minister have, I want to wear the three-eyed flower feather!"

There was a reason why Li Hongzhang was so excited.Hua Ling is an unusual headgear. In the early days of the Qing Dynasty, only those with meritorious service and monstrous kindness could be rewarded and worn.After Xianfeng, all the five grades and above had to wear one-eyed feathers even if they had no honors; ministers with special favors began to wear double-eyed feathers; clans such as princes and Baylors only had to wear three-eyed feathers. Just imagine, how glorious it is for a Han official to wear the three-eyed flower feather, and how many people will be jealous!You know, Prince Jin, Prince Qing, and Prince Li are only two-eyed feathers now!Li Hongzhang's fame is so extreme! Just when the Qing Dynasty was celebrating the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday, the Donghak Party uprising broke out in the vassal state of Korea.And the secret supporter is the island country Japan. Japan expected that North Korea would ask for help from the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty would definitely agree to send troops to North Korea, so it set the policy of sending troops to North Korea and provoking a military conflict between China and Japan. Sure enough, Yuan Shikai, the Prime Minister of the Sanpin Registered Customs Department of the Qing Dynasty in the DPRK, who was negotiating trade matters, saw that the situation in North Korea was critical, and sent an urgent telegram to the Prime Minister’s Yamen, please send troops to North Korea to stabilize the situation. The King of North Korea also sent a message to China for help. Yuan Shikai wrote in a telegram to Li Hongzhang on the same day: "The translator Zheng Yongbang used his emissary to inquire about the "bandits" and said that "the bandits have been disturbing for a long time" will greatly damage business. There are many things to worry about. The more difficult it is, why don't your government replace Han 'Kan' as soon as possible... My government has no other intentions." Yuan Shikai stated Japan's attitude in the telegram, hoping that China would send troops, saying that "there must be no other intentions."Li Hongzhang delivered Yuan Shikai's telegram to the prime minister's office urgently.Emperor Guangxu received consecutive Korean telegrams from the Prime Minister's Yamen, and urgently summoned Weng Tonghe, Minister of the Household Department, to enter the palace for discussion. After entering the palace, Weng Tonghe immediately suggested to Emperor Guangxu that Li Hongzhang send troops to North Korea as soon as possible. Emperor Guangxu had always been obedient to Master Weng's words, so he immediately passed on Shiduo to come in and asked the Military Aircraft Department to draw up an order, ordering Li Hongzhang to send troops to North Korea quickly without delay. On the day Li Hongzhang received the imperial decree, 2,000 people from Ye Zhichao's unit of the Huai Army flew to North Korea from Asan, North Korea by ship. Li Hongzhang then flew to Liu Mingchuan with more than 950 people, hired the British ship Gaosheng, and also entered the court from Asan. After the Zongli Yamen received the news that Ye Zhichao of the Huai Army had boarded a ship to go to North Korea, he immediately notified the Japanese embassy in China of the dispatch of Chinese troops in accordance with the terms of the Sino-Japanese "Tianjin Treaty".Japan immediately sent troops to North Korea in the name of "protecting the Japanese embassy and overseas Chinese in North Korea." In a few days, the number of troops reached about 10,000, which was several times that of China's troops. After Emperor Guangxu learned that Japan was also sending troops to Korea, he dared not call Master Weng into the palace again, but drove into the garden to report to the Queen Mother.The queen mother pondered for a while, and immediately ordered: "What are you still doing in a daze? Quickly ask the Military Aircraft Department to deliver a letter to Li Hongzhang, and let Li Hongzhang come to Beijing to find a way!" Li Hongzhang flew to Beijing with Little Red Girl.On the day he entered Beijing, he and Prince Qing sent a note to the Japanese embassy in China in the name of the prime minister's office, requesting that "if Japan has sent troops to protect officials and businessmen, it must not be too many, and unless it is sent by Korea, it must not enter the mainland and send it to China." The Japanese soldiers met and provoked." The Japanese embassy quickly replied to the Prime Minister's Office, saying: "As far as dispatching troops is concerned, apart from the written notice in the "Tianjin Treaty", the Chinese government can only act according to its own intentions, so there is no question about the number of troops and their advance and retreat. The reason for being restrained by the Chinese government." The attitude of the Japanese was unexpectedly tough. Seeing that Japan ignored China's warning, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to meet with Russian Minister Cassini in China, hoping to use the power of a third country to mediate the matter and force Japan to agree to withdraw its troops from North Korea. After listening to Li Hongzhang's statement, Cassini immediately said: "Russia and South Korea are close neighbors, and the Japanese will never intervene." Li Hongzhang breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately rushed back to the prime minister's office to state the words of Russian Minister Cassini. Prince Qing was naturally overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately reported the results of Li Hongzhang's activities to Emperor Guangxu and the Queen Mother in the garden. After hearing Prince Qing's words, Emperor Guangxu remained silent; after hearing Prince Qing's words, Empress Dowager Cixi said slowly: "Li Hongzhang is Li Hongzhang, no matter how difficult the matter is, as long as you leave it to him, he will always take care of it for you." .Those who want to bring him down, let's ignore it!" That night, in the bedroom of Xianliang Temple, while beating Li Hongzhang's back, Xiao Hong asked, "Master, seeing how you have been in such a hurry for the past few days, you seem to be very scared when you come out of this embassy and enter that embassy again." Japanese pirates! Our Qing Dynasty has both the Huai Army, the Banner Battalion, and the Navy, what are we afraid of doing? Isn’t it just fighting?” Li Hongzhang sighed and said: "Xiao Hong, you don't understand. I know more about the affairs of the Qing Dynasty than you. In the past few years, since Ito Hirobumi became the Prime Minister of Japan, the country has vigorously strengthened its military equipment. Jing Fang Having been stationed in Japan for many years, I am well aware of its roots. According to the classics, the Japanese soldiers have all replaced with the latest guns made in the West, and they are so elite that they can fire several shells at the same time.” Li Hongzhang took a sip of tea: "My Qing Dynasty stopped discussing the purchase of additional warships in the 14th year of Guangxu. Since then, I have never purchased a large number of new guns from the West. I used old ones made by the gun bureaus of the provinces in the Qing Dynasty. The guns in the hands of the Huai army have lagged behind Japan for many years. How can we meet the enemy? Since the old man stopped buying warships for 14 years, he has paid more and more every year. I beseech you to buy a batch of the latest Western guns. The emperor rejected it. It’s fine if you don’t buy warships and firearms. You should have enough shells for warships, right? No more purchases are allowed. Now, in our Beiyang Navy, each ship has seven shells for practical use. They are all training bombs. Whether you can avoid battles at sea depends on the speed of the ship." After a pause, Li Hongzhang went on to say: "After careful examination of the Japanese navy, the country currently has 21 old and new clipper ships that can be used for combat, while our Beiyang Navy only has two iron-clad ships, Zhenyuan and Dingyuan. The Yuan, Jingguo, and Weiyuan ships are capable of cruising, but they are not fast. The Zhiyuan and Jingyuan ships can only travel fifteen or sixteen nautical miles at one o'clock. Nowadays, the major Western countries emphasize that the ship administration is mainly based on iron armor, and must Supplemented by extremely fast ships. Nowadays, the fastest ships of the Japanese navy can travel 23 nautical miles, and the slow ships can travel about 20 nautical miles. They are all ordered from Western countries after I stopped purchasing them in the 14th year of Guangxu. Not to mention the situation of shells on board, there must be enough.” Li Hongzhang sighed: "Xiaohong, I asked you to strengthen the coastal defense and set up a navy. In fact, this is the island country, but it is still behind him in defense. As the saying goes, it is up to people to make things happen. !" Li Hongzhang closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time: "After the emperor took charge, he would always ask Weng Tonghe about everything. Whatever Weng Tonghe said, the emperor would do whatever he wanted. It's not bad at all. Although the queen mother is still training politics, she lives in the garden after all and can't do everything. Don't worry about it. Now the emperor can't make the decision except for dismissing the ministers. The queen mother just turned a blind eye to other matters. The old lady heard that Weng Tonghe suggested to the emperor several times to send the old lady back home, saying that the old lady is old. Faint, with a vegetarian diet, and often colluding with foreign countries, betraying the country and seeking glory, and letting the old man make room for a good man. Who is this good man? He is Weng Tonghe. Weng Tonghe is the number one scholar of Xianfeng, and a generation of emperors. He is really the best good man in the world Wow! The old man has been in the officialdom for a long time, and at this age, he has seen a lot of people, but he has never seen someone who can take power like Weng Tonghe! He wants to bring down the old man, but there is no way!" Xiaohong said softly: "Master, you have been talking for a long time, please rest." Li Hongzhang sighed and said: "Well, when people are old, they like to chatter. But there are some things that you can't talk to people casually. You can only talk to you secretly when no one is around. Okay, let's rest Go." Li Hongzhang slept soundly that night.