Chapter 6 shopping mall rivals

The "he" in Hu Xueyan's mouth is a Changzhou native, named Sheng Xuanhuai, and his style name is Xingsun.His father's single name is Kang, and his style name is Xuren.Sheng Kang was a Jinshi in the 24th year of Daoguang. He started from prefectures and counties, went to Hankou Road and returned to his hometown, and became a gentleman in Suzhou, because Sheng Xuanhuai needed to use his father's status to deal with him in Jiangsu official circles. Sheng Xuanhuai is a scholar. He studied medicine from the famous "Meng Hefei family" when he was young. Doctors must have the heart to cut shares, but Sheng Xuanhuai will take advantage of others whenever he has the opportunity. He feels that he is not suitable for this profession, so he entered Beijing has donated a principal and is preparing to become an official.At the end of the Tongzhi period, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang, was promoting Westernization. Sheng Xuanhuai had a particularly quick brain in this area, a good memory, and better eloquence. Then he donated "Flowers", and as an alternate Taoist, he was transferred to Beiyang as an errand for Li Hongzhang. Soon he was assigned as the office of China Merchants Bureau, and as an alternate Taoist in Zhili, he was stationed in Shanghai for a long time. .

The China Merchants Bureau was founded in the 11th year of Tongzhi. Based on Li Hongzhang's suggestion, in order to boycott foreign ships, "it is planned to allow officials to build merchant ships, be hired by Chinese merchants, and allow them to also transport grain so that they can have specialized business instead of being owned by foreign merchants. Crowding out." According to the decree, the trial operation was approved, that is, Beiyang borrowed funds, and another investment company was sent to Zhejiang Maritime Commissioner Zhu Qi'ang, the alternate prefect of Zhejiang Shipping Committee, to organize it. It was named China Shipping Merchants, bought a ship from the UK, and started business. Due to poor management, it took only half a year. In time, all my capital was lost.Hu Xueyan is one of the shareholders, and also sent tens of thousands of silver in it.

In the summer of the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Chen Qin of Tianjin Customs Road suggested that Li Hongzhang send Lin Cha, an alternate magistrate, to Shanghai for sorting out.Chen and Lin are both Cantonese, and Lin Cha naturally sought out fellow Cantonese in Shanghai. One was Tang Tingshu, a comprador of the Jardine Bank, and the other was Xu Run, a wealthy businessman. They raised more than 400,000 taels of business shares to take over.However, there is an official copy, and the official money is used as the freight, so it is still supervised by the government and controlled by Beiyang. Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai was sent by Li Hongzhang to manage it.

After the reorganization, China Merchants' business improved day by day, and Xu Run set up another insurance company to underwrite the ship insurance of this bureau, and benefited the market by spoofing public affairs for private interests.The foreign merchant steamship company encountered a strong rival, and its business was not as good as before. The stock of American Merchants Qichang Ocean Bank, which had nearly doubled in value from one hundred taels, ended up falling to fifty taels, and there was a tendency to continue to fall. So Xu Run decided to buy Qichang, but under Sheng Xuanhuai's plan, it turned into a scam.Who are you kidding?To deceive Shen Baozhen, the governor of Jiangxi and the minister of shipping in Fujian, who was once the governor of Jiangxi and the minister of shipping in Fujian, was actually defrauding money from the public.

Sheng Xuanhuai's design is ingenious.The first step is to use the official funds of China Merchants to secretly buy Qichang's stock. When it is quite sure that Qichang can be taken over, Sheng Xuanhuai, Tang Tingshu and Xu Run join hands to Nanjing. There are two vassals in Jiangsu, one is called the Jiangsu vassal and is stationed in Suzhou with the governor of Jiangsu, and the other is called the Jiangning vassal and is stationed in Jiangning-Nanjing with the governor of Liangjiang.Mei Qixu's joints were opened up, and Fang Shi submitted a petition to the governor's office, saying that Qichang Foreign Firm was willing to merge, and the asking price was more than 2.5 million.

Shen Baozhen was also a person who had the courage to do things. Although he was ill at the time, he did not want to delay because of his great interests, so he summoned Sheng Xuanhuai, Xu Run and others on the sickbed to listen to the explanation.This day is November 13th in the second year of Guangxu. Sheng Xuanhuai was good at playing with numbers, and he spoke logically and with supporting evidence. Shen Baozhen was delighted to hear it.However, although China Merchants Nanyang is also in charge, it has always focused on Beiyang, so Shen Baozhen said that this matter should be discussed with the Minister of Beiyang to jointly play a role.

"Don't miss this opportunity!" Sheng Xuanhuai explained to Shen Baozhen that foreigners regard the ten days after the winter solstice as the end of the year, and in this year it will be four days later on November 17.The director of the company is replaced every three years, and the current director's term ends on that day.After November 17th, when the new supervisor arrived and renegotiated, he couldn't get this bargain.Or if a new manager raises huge sums of money to reorganize, China Merchants will be threatened. Only by taking the opportunity to merge with Qichang can China Merchants be invincible.The conclusion is: "There is authority in matters, and China Merchants is within the scope of Nanyang trade. The adults not only do their part, but also must act decisively."

Under Shen Baozhen's calculations, he still has concerns. Although Qichang of American merchants has been merged, what will happen to Swire and Jardine of British merchants? "Swire and Jardine have few ships, nothing to worry about. After the merger of Qichang, China Merchants has as many ships as the 27th, which has greatly increased its assistance. Foreigners always rely on the big to win the small. Taikoo and Jardine can only follow China Merchants. Let’s go. The disadvantage of China Merchants in the past is that they did not have docks and warehouses, and sometimes they had to accommodate Taikoo and Yihe. Now that they have Qichang’s docks and warehouses, they no longer need to accommodate others. The situation of host and guest is naturally different. Also, Once there are more ships, you can take out insurance yourself, and the rights and interests will not overflow, which is equivalent to opening up another source of income.”

Shen Baozhen was completely convinced, and ordered Sheng Xuanhuai to return to Shanghai on the same day to negotiate with Qichang, try to keep the "acceptance" price as low as possible, and finalize the deal first.As for the acquisition of Qichang's capital, the original proposal proposed a government-business partnership, ordering Sheng Xuanhuai to try his best to attract investment shares first, and make up the shortfall with "official capital". How to plan it is another plan. With such authorization, the deception is bound to come true.As soon as Sheng Xuanhuai arrived in Shanghai, he mobilized government funds to buy Qichang stock. After obtaining 51% of the shares, he entrusted a foreign lawyer to carry out the formalities of taking over, and at the same time rushed to Nanjing to report to Shen Baozhen. It's a foregone conclusion.

According to Sheng Xuanhuai's written report, it is said that "it is agreed that wharves, ships, warehouses, docks, iron works, and all floating materials and utensils are included, and the current silver is two million taels. The rest of Hankou, Jiujiang, Ningbo, and Tianjin The wharves, foreign-style buildings, and warehouses are priced at 220,000 taels." The total is 2.22 million taels, which is a decrease of 300,000 taels from the original asking price. As for the method of payment, 200,000 taels of fixed silver have been paid in advance on November 19, and it is agreed to continue to pay 200,000 taels on December 18, and another 300,000 taels on the 17th of the first month of next year, and the order will be delivered immediately.How to pay the balance in installments has also been agreed.

As for commercial stocks, Sheng Xuanhuai said that he had recruited 1.22 million taels, and there was a shortage of 1 million taels of "official capital". Mei Qixu made an agreement. When the discussion is over, a performance must be made. For such a case, if it is the main manuscript of Beiyang, it must be awarded the title of Nanyang Club, and the main manuscript of Nanyang must also be awarded the title of Beiyang Club.Sheng Xuanhuai tried his best to claim that the timing was urgent and he had to go back and forth to negotiate, and he missed the deadline for the second batch of payment, and the 200,000 Dingyang paid would be confiscated. Good things, only in favor of, not against.Shen Baozhen was not bad after thinking about it, and agreed to play the performance with a single title, and declared at the end of the fold: "The time is freezing, and it is not as good as the Beiyang Minister of Letters and Merchants." The fate road is frozen, but the land route is still passable. Obviously, this is a very far-fetched reason.Shen Baozhen never dreamed that this was a special trap set up by Sheng Xuanhuai. First, he persuaded Shen Baozhen to "do his part" with the "seventeenth period", and then forced Shen Baozhen to take the title out for fear of missing the second batch of bank transfers and suffering losses. Zou, all these designs are to get rid of Li Hongzhang, so that when the deception is exposed in the future, Li Hongzhang can be easily defended as an outsider who has not worked with Wen. Sure enough, four years later the deception was exposed.The one who made the attack was a famous person from Hunan, Wang Xianqian, who offered sacrifices to the Imperial College, and Sheng Xuanhuai, a member of the China Merchants Bureau.At that time, the way of speaking was very powerful, and the imperial court attached great importance to the general "Qingliu" comments and propositions, and immediately ordered the governor of Liangjiang to "rectify and strictly investigate one by one". At that time, the governor of Liangjiang was named Liu Kunyi, a native of Xinning, Hunan, who had been dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang for a long time.It turned out that since Li Hongzhang "used Huping Wu", he had always regarded Liangjiang as his territory. The official worshiped the Governor of Zhili, the Beiyang Minister, but he was able to skillfully use foreigners and his relationship with the actual Westernization affairs to place private individuals in Liangjiang to directly command. What Liu Kunyi couldn't bear the most was Li Hongzhang's wife-in-law Zhao Jiyuan's misbehavior in Liangjiang. Zhao Jiyuan was from Taihu Lake, Anhui. His grandfather was Zhao Wenkai, who was the number one scholar in the Bingchen Division in the first year of Jiaqing. Zhao Jiyuan himself ordered Hanlin, but his stomach was full of thatch. How he was lucky enough to be cleared has always been a mystery.However, he himself has self-knowledge, knowing that with his pen, he will never have a bright future as a Beijing official, so he used the Hanlin donated class as a Taoist, walked through the official department, and distributed candidates in the south of the Yangtze River.At that time, the governor of Liangjiang was Zeng Guofan. When Hong Yang Chuping was afraid of his achievements, he decided to retreat bravely, dismiss the Hunan army, and support Li Hongzhang's Huai army to replace him. An important and extremely fat job: the Liangjiang Military Supplies Administration will take over.Zhao Jiyuan pretended to be smart in everything, and he relied on his brother-in-law Li Hongzhang as his backer. After Zeng Guofan, he successively served as the governors of Liangjiang, Ma Xinyi, Li Zongxi, and Shen Baozhen, but they were not able to command him. Shen Baozhen died of illness and succeeded Liu Kunyi. up. In addition to Zhao Jiyuan, Liu Kunyi also has a grudge against Sheng Xuanhuai and others who are in Nanyang and obey Beiyang's orders, and have long wanted to do something.Therefore, as soon as the imperial order was received, Liu Ruifen of Shanghai Road and Li Xingrui, the general manager of the Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau, were immediately sent to "check the accounts of the bureau and strictly investigate each item." Liu Ruifen is a native of Guichi, Anhui. He was born as a scholar. In the first year of Tongzhi, he was aided by Li Hongzhang in Shanghai. He was in charge of the purchase and transfer of ordnance. A very important civil servant in the system. Liu Ruifen has a very close relationship with Li Hongzhang, but he was very serious when he was ordered to investigate the case, because he was a decent person and looked down on Sheng Xuanhuai's treacherous and tricky villainous behavior. In addition, Liu Kunyi was shrewd and found him before he was ordered. He bluntly warned that if the investigation is inaccurate, he will send another person to investigate again: "Brother didn't look good at that time, don't blame me." In fact, many people knew about Sheng Xuanhuai's tricks, even if Liu Ruifen wanted to cover it up for him, he couldn't do it.For the sake of prudence, Liu Ruifen specially found a few expert friends to study, one of them is Gu Yingchun. "The account book said that the commercial shares were only more than 40,000 taels of silver, but Sheng Xingsun reported to Liangjiang at the time, saying that 'it was agreed on November 18, that is, 200,000 taels of fixed silver will be paid on the 19th', the 200,000 Where did the taels of silver come from?" "There is no such thing at all." Gu Yingchun said, "As long as you count the days, you will know that he is lying." On November 17th of the second year of Guangxu, which is New Year's Day in 1877 according to the Gregorian calendar, Sheng Xuanhuai said to Shen Baozhen at the beginning: "If it exceeds the seventeenth period, it will be replaced by someone else, and there is no way to change it." for the beginning of the year.However, November 18th and 19th of the Chinese calendar are the first and second day of the first lunar month in the Gregorian calendar. The so-called "payment of 200,000 taels of fixed silver" is all nonsense. The second is the official funds allocated by the provinces, a total of one million taels, which was transferred to Qichang Foreign Bank according to the amount. I was full of 440,000 taels. What about the evidence? "The official funds of each province are real, and they are all remitted by Fukang. The China Merchants Bureau sent people to withdraw Bai Huahua's cash and transfer it to a foreign bank. However, what was paid to Qichang was not cash, but Qichang's stock. "Gu Yingchun has the "Declaration" as evidence, which states that the price of Qichang's stock at that time was 100 taels of face value and 56 taels of actual value. That is to say, Sheng Xuanhuai only needs to spend 560,000 taels of silver to buy Qichang's stock, and he can offset the account of one million silver.With these two points alone, the evidence of fraud is solid. As a result of the thorough investigation, the whole inside story was revealed. The tricks played by Sheng Xuanhuai, Xu Run and others were: First, make a draft agreement with Qichang for 25,000 taels of fixed silver. Second, misappropriating official funds from China Merchants to purchase Qichang shares that have been devalued to fifty-six taels per hundred. Third, on the grounds of fighting against the foreign merchant shipping company and recovering the rights and interests, they used the pretext of collecting 1.22 million business shares, and persuaded Shen Baozhen to allocate it to the official. Fourth, falsely claiming that 200,000 taels of fixed silver had been paid, which created a fait accompli, and forced Shen Baozhen to take sole responsibility under the pretext that the fate was frozen and there was no need to consult Beiyang. Fifth, obtain more than 51% of Qichang's equity, entrust a British lawyer to take over the paperwork, and take over Qichang according to law. Sixth, after remitting one million taels of official capital to China Merchants, Sheng Xuanhuai and others exchanged Qichang stocks for cash at full face value. Seventh, for the remaining balance due to Qichang, more than 400,000 taels will be paid in advance from China Merchants' official funds, and the shortfall of 690,000 yuan will be paid by the "government-based deferred interest", "commercial stock deposit interest", and insurance premium surplus, etc. Pay successively.In fact, there is still a large gap between cash and stocks, which is filled into private pockets. The so-called "government-based deferred interest" refers to the official funds of more than 1.9 million taels allocated to China Merchants by the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. The payable interest is temporarily suspended. share capital.This continued one after another, moving here and there and getting involved, it was a mess at all. Unexpectedly, before Liu Kunyi played the performance, Sheng Xuanhuai and others preemptively listed 18 reasons for the defense, which were reported to Beiyang.In addition to Sheng Xuanhuai's wanton activities, Liu Kunyi's replay really "stayed in China". As usual, Li Hongzhang's replay should be copied to Nanyang. Liu Kun saw it one by one, and found that it was really "eighteen fallacies".His pen is very good, and he personally drafted the manuscript to refute Li Hongzhang.First of all, let me explain: Li Hongzhang believes that Liu Ruifen and others did not make mistakes in the investigation of the case, and tried his best to defend Sheng Xuanhuai.However, Sheng Xuanhuai's corruption reported by Liu Ruifen and others is quite clear, "There are those who dare not stop being in front of the Holy Lord." The first thing to refute is what Li Hongzhang said, when he bought Qichang, he asked for one million yuan in official money, and ordered the Lianghuai salt transport envoy to persuade the salt merchants to allocate shares for "Yin Yin", and it is expected to get 800,000 yuan in silver. Two, to order the vassals and customs roads of all provinces and customs in Nanyang, and to persuade wealthy businessmen to take shares at any time. There is no saying that 1.22 million taels of business shares have been collected. Liu Kunyi first quoted Shen Baozhen's performance in the past, "The minister heard Sheng Xuanhuai and others from his sick bed. According to the report, all merchants tried their best to collect together, but they could only collect 1.22 million taels of silver. The short amount is proposed to invite the provinces of Nanyang , trying to raise one million taels" and questioned Li Hongzhang: "If Sheng Xuanhuai did not say that he raised 1.22 million taels, what is Shen Baozhen's basis? In case of two thousand two, it is the item of the original request to order the customs to persuade merchants to take shares, so the matter has been approved by the officials, so why didn't Shen Baozhen clearly state it in the document, and why didn't he order all the officials to investigate and handle it?" Li Hongzhang also said that the vassals, transport envoys, and Guan Dao did not "help their colleagues to persuade them, and the merchants did not immediately attach copies, and only collected more than 40,000 taels of shares."Although there are items such as "government-based interest relief", which can make up for part of the 1.22 million taels, there is still a lot of shortfalls. Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai and others had to temporarily borrow money from the bank to pay Qichang. This is the interest burden of China Merchants. Very important reason. Regarding this point, Liu Kun refuted it from two aspects. One is from Shen Baozhen's point of view, if Sheng Xuanhuai did not indicate that he had already collected 1.22 million taels of commercial shares, and he wanted to use official power to persuade the merchant to attach the copy, then Can Shen Baozhen "throw millions of treasury money lightly" for a slim matter? From Sheng Xuanhuai's point of view, if the business shares are collected according to the method he said, what about the allocation of shares on "Yanyin"?How many feudal officials have persuaded wealthy businessmen to attach shares?Is it reasonable to ask for a reminder, but there is no word of it, and you are willing to pay a heavy interest for the loan? Based on this analysis, Liu Kun made a conclusion: "Sheng Xuanhuai first said that he had collected 1.22 million taels, so he didn't dare to ask for it again, but Shen Baozhen believed it to be true, so there was nothing he could do." He also said, "" Such major events are often negotiated repeatedly. As for the number, it must be carefully considered. Afterwards, it seems that Sheng Xuanhuai and other pretentious words should not be used to obliterate Shen Baozhen's memorial case. Liu Ruifen and others are also considered as the original volume. Regarding Chen Zuo's payment, when it comes to appropriating funds from the China Merchants Bureau, he regrets Meng Lang, which is inherently unspeakable." Then he said: "The reason why I played Shensheng Xuanhuai was not only because of these two ends," but because there were other more intolerable drawbacks. Qichang Company was on the verge of bankruptcy at that time, and if it wanted to buy it, it should be depreciated according to Western " "For example, why accept it at the original price.Liu Kunyi's most powerful accusation is: "Sheng Xuanhuai and others bought the Qichang steamship. It was said that they could get rid of a strong enemy and recover their rights, but the wider the situation, the bigger the waste. Last year was the fifth session, and they lost money to 24. Ten thousand and six thousand is a wonder, and the state money is so high that it will be paid for nothing. Following the candidate Taoist Ye Tingchun, he joined the bureau as the manager for the sixth term, and the remaining silver reached 290,000. Five hundred and thirty-two thousand taels of silver were paid out, and the effect is so huge and fast, and it is all due to saving. Sheng Xuanhuai and others abused and spent hundreds of thousands of taels within a year, which is not appalling. It is not an exaggeration in the law, just asking for dismissal is already extra lenient." It turned out that after the success of this scam, the cost of the game increased greatly, the interest was increasing day by day, and the management of the old ships, docks, and warehouses also required a large amount of expenses, and it became an unmanageable mess. Sheng Xuanhuai and Tang Tingshu discussed that it is better to find someone to take over so as to escape. After searching in many ways, I found an alternate Taoist from Jiangsu, Ye Tingchun, and agreed to take over. It was the summer of the fourth year of Guangxu. According to the calculation of the Western accounting year, it was called "one session", and this year was the sixth session. After Ye Tingchun took over, he sought truth from facts and tried his best to reduce expenditure. By the end of the year, he had a surplus of 290,000 taels, and by the end of the second year's fiscal year, he had a real profit of more than 530,000 taels. . The original intention of Sheng Xuanhuai and others was that the golden cicada escaped its shell and treated Ye Tingchun as a "scapegoat". The Austrian aid might cause trouble for the upper body, so he retreated bravely, and the China Merchants Bureau was once again under the control of Sheng Xuanhuai and others. When Liu Kun made this memorial, there were all the facts and sufficient reasons, Sheng Xuanhuai was inevitable, but when the memorial was reported to Beijing, it coincided with the sudden collapse of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, so the case was suppressed.Hu Xueyan originally thought that once the "major event" in Ci'an was over, there would be results. Sheng Xuanhuai and others were dismissed, and China Merchants might send him to take over.But he didn't expect that Sheng Xuanhuai took a different path, and at the same time Li Hongzhang was also using his strengths, and by combining the two, he was able to save the day. One of Sheng Xuanhuai's new paths was Li Lianying, a confidant of the Empress Dowager Cixi and chief eunuch of the Changchun Palace.This person originally studied the fur business, and the capital called it a "furry craftsman", and because tanning was needed to make leather, so Li Lianying's nickname was "skin nitrate plum".When he was in his twenties, he lost a bet and was forced by his creditors. He had no choice but to "purify himself and enter the palace" as an escape.It turned out that he was a "monk halfway through", and many of his earlier colleagues and friends still had contacts, so Sheng Xuanhuai was able to find a relationship and make a big deal. As for Li Hongzhang's reuse of Sheng Xuanhuai, he is starting a telegraph.As early as the third year of Tongzhi, Russia requested to lay a land line from Kyakhta directly to Beijing. The imperial court categorically refused. Russia changed its plan and adopted a roundabout way. Lay three single-core waterlines on the high seas, one from Vladivostok to Nagasaki, one from Nagasaki to Dajishan Island outside Wusongkou, and the other from Hong Kong to Dajishan Island.It was completed in the tenth year of Tongzhi successively.Dajishan Island was already within China's territorial waters, but the imperial court considered it insignificant and ignored it. So Dabei Company made an inch of progress, extending a waterline from Dajishan Island along the Yangtze River, leading directly to Shanghai, landing on Huangpu Beach, and openly set up a bureau for business.In this way, Russia reached Shanghai via Vladivostok and Nagasaki, and China's political situation and business could be transmitted to St. Petersburg in an instant.Of course, European countries can also obtain the same convenience through the transshipment of St. Petersburg. This one is called the Northern Line.The Dabei Company also has a southern route, which runs from Dajishan Island to Hong Kong via Gulangyu Island in Xiamen, with a length of 950 nautical miles, and then from Hong Kong to Singapore and Penang Island to Europe.The telegrams on the north and south lines used only foreign languages ​​at first, but later a Chinese code composed of four Arabic characters was invented, with a total of 7,000 characters, which were printed into books and sold widely. Therefore, Chinese who did not know foreign languages ​​could also share the convenience of telegrams. Secondly, Britain was not willing to let Dabei Company monopolize its profits. In the 9th year of Tongzhi, the British Minister Wade Mart launched the British Oriental Telegraph Company, which set up a sea route from Britain to India through the Atlantic Ocean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and then formed another Dadong Telegraph Company. The company, from the south of India, extends this sea line through Singapore, Saigon, Vietnam, etc. to Hong Kong.When it was formally applied to China to lay a line from Hong Kong to Shanghai via Shantou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Ningbo, it was never approved.In the twelfth year of Tongzhi, Dabei Company established a bureau in Huangpu, and Dadong Company unceremoniously set up a sea line from Hong Kong via Fuzhou to Shanghai Baoshan, and then transferred to the British Concession to open its business. Sheng Xuanhuai has already seen that the telegraph, a powerful communication tool that can be used for thousands of miles, has a future, but it is not easy to set up a land line in the mainland. The biggest obstacle is that it will destroy people's Feng Shui, and conflicts will definitely occur Even if it is barely erected, someone will pull the pole and cut the thread, so this matter has been carried out with more than enough energy. In this way, in the fifth year of Guangxu, the opportunity finally came.At that time, due to negotiations between Yili, Sino-Russian relations were greatly tense. In addition to the Northwest, the situation in the Northeast and North Korea was also quite unstable.Li Hongzhang was in charge of the overall military affairs, seeing that he had the advantage of telegrams, grasped the military situation, seized the opportunity, and lost the first before the battle, so he accepted Sheng Xuanhuai's suggestion, hired the technicians of the Dabei Company, and erected it from Beitang Haikou, Dagukou. From the fort, to the land line of Beiyang Office in Tianjin, the military newspaper was tried out, and the effect was good.As a result, Sheng Xuanhuai naturally wanted to make a further suggestion to create a land line telegraph from Tianjin to Shanghai.In July of the sixth year of Guangxu, Li Hongzhang made a memorial: "The way to use troops is to use speed as the most important thing. Therefore, in addition to guns and guns, the Thai and Western countries have fast wheels by water, and steam-wheeled vehicles by land. Flying has disappeared for tens of thousands of miles. If the sea wants to communicate with the army, there is the method of telegraph. Therefore, if you make peace, you will have a blind date, and if you fight, you will meet with each other. The sea is surrounded like a household. Recently, Russia and Japan have followed suit. Telegrams can ask and answer each other in an instant, but only Chinese documents are still delivered by post, even if they travel six hundred miles a day, the speed is very different, and it is unmatched." The most obvious example is that Zeng Jize’s telegram from Russia only takes one day to reach Shanghai, while it takes six or seven days to travel by ship from Shanghai to Beijing. "It is only 2,000 miles from Shanghai to Beijing, which is ten times later than the tens of thousands of miles from Russia to Shanghai." The speed of the telegram is really unexpected. As for the use in military affairs, Li Hongzhang cited the military newspapers from Dagu Beitang Haikou Fortress to Tianjin as an example, saying that "all battalions are called to respond immediately." These two sentences really have great charm for Prince Chun, and he fully supports them. Li Hongzhang's request means that he accepted Sheng Xuanhuai's plan and decided to build a land line from Tianjin to Shanghai. Of course, Sheng Xuanhuai was appointed to be in charge of the preparation. At that time, his fraud case in the China Merchants Bureau was about to break out. Sheng Xuanhuai could see clearly that the success of the preparation of the inland telegram could be used to pay off the crime, but it must be done quickly, and all aspects must be carried out at the same time, and the clues are very complicated. If he had to be the one-handed manager, it would be impossible to be caught off guard by another person, because even if there was a punishment, it would not be executed immediately.As long as it is delayed, and when the work is done, Li Hongzhang will ask for a reward, and the original punishment can naturally be offset. Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai first set up the General Office of Telegraphs in Tianjin. He was sent to the general office by the commissioner, and immediately went to Shanghai to hire a Danish teacher, opened a telegraph school in Tianjin, and at the same time purchased machines from abroad. Make the scene very lively. As for the most important survey route, you might as well proceed slowly. He knows that this matter is very troublesome, and he doesn't want to encounter a wave of opposition as soon as he comes up, and wait until the machine is bought and the people are trained. , when everything is ready, it is just a matter of setting up the wires. At that time, a decree was used to order the governors of the provinces along the road to implement it, and it was naturally unimpeded. Hu Xueyan has always been 70-80% sure of his predictions. He thought that Sheng Xuanhuai would be able to pass the hurdle.Unexpectedly, this time's prediction completely fell through. It was still the news from Xu Yongyi that Liu Kunyi's memorial was stuffed in the drawer by Empress Dowager Cixi.All the memorials from other provinces are sent directly to the internal memorial office by the "titang officials" stationed in Beijing, and presented to the imperial court in a yellow box—currently they are sent to the Changchun Palace for the Empress Dowager Cixi to read first. , pinch marks with fingernails, and the eunuch in the internal affairs office looks at the pinch marks and uses a red pen to make a mark, which is nothing more than "I know", "The Ministry knows", "Discuss", and please approve the word "An" on the booklet. such as.All important events must be "discussed", that is, they are handed over to the military aircraft office for discussion, and sent to Zhang Jing, the military aircraft on duty, in the early morning of the next day, which is called "morning affairs".During the memorial stay, the "morning matter" is still there, and the Military Aircraft Department has no idea about this discount, so naturally there is no way to press for it. Of course, you can pretend not to know, and deliberately don't ask. Liu Kunyi has such a replay. Some people say that it is Li Lianying's credit for enabling the Empress Dowager Cixi to take such drastic measures, but according to Xu Yongyi, it is due to the protection of King Chun, and King Chun's willingness to make great efforts is mainly due to Sheng Xuanhuai's three-inch tongue. Because of Li Lianying's recommendation, King Chun specially met Sheng Xuanhuai at the residence of Taiping Lake in Xuanwu Gate. It turned out that after Emperor Guangxu took over the throne, King Chun was the "emperor's biological father". Relatives and dignitaries and important officials in the court all thought that it was not appropriate for him to interfere in government affairs.Now that the Empress Dowager Ci'an has passed away, Empress Dowager Cixi has all the power, and Prince Gong has been in power for twenty years, and he looks tired and diligent. It seems that the day when he will replace him is not far away.Once you take over the military office, you must also take over the prime minister's office. The most important thing in today's political affairs is Western affairs. I heard that Sheng Xuanhuai is a rare talent in this area, and that the telegraph is the most powerful "eyes and ears". He was still at a loss, so when he heard Li Hongzhang talk about Sheng Xuanhuai's ability and how he devoted himself to the preparation of the Telegraph General Bureau, he immediately said happily: "I really want to talk to him." Although Sheng Xuanhuai had never met King Chun before, one of King Chun's trusted followers, "Master Zhang", had long been accepted by Sheng Xuanhuai. During festivals, there must be gifts, not necessarily expensive, but there are many samples, and there are often novelties. Master Zhang has a good impression of Sheng Xuanhuai, so before he met King Chun, he paid special attention to two points: First, King Chun is different from Prince Gong. King Gong believes that China should learn from the West, and King Chun I don’t think Chinese are inferior to foreigners; secondly, although King Chun is good at martial arts, he thinks he can read books very well, and his poems are not bad, so he must be careful when he speaks, and he must not make him feel that others think he is not good at martial arts. Slightly, without literary talent. Sheng Xuanhuai understood, and thought of Weng Tonghe, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, who had always been in contact with him. As an emperor's teacher, he was very close to King Chun, and often recited poems and sang harmony, so he went to copy some manuscripts of King Chun's poems and read them by heart in case the emergency". In the Fusong Thatched Cottage in the mansion, Dali had an audience with King Chun, so naturally he stood up and answered, briefly reported his resume, and listened quietly to King Chun's questions. "What the hell happened to the telegram?" "Returning to the prince, the telegram itself is nothing special, it all depends on its flexible use. The so-called 'the magic of using it comes from one mind', that's all." When King Jin heard that he could quote Yue Wumu's words, he couldn't help but look at him differently, and immediately asked, "Have you also read military books?" "In front of the prince, how dare you say that you have read military books? However, the British and French criminals, Emperor Wen Zongxian hunted west, worried about the country and the people, and died. If it weren't for the prince's martial arts at that time, the situation would have been unimaginable. Sheng Xuanhuai paused for a moment and then said, "At that time, no one with flesh and blood would want to be shamed by the country. It was at that time that Xuanhuai read one or two military books." The so-called "capturing the three culprits vigorously" refers to the "Xinyou Coup", when King Chun was secretly ordered to capture Sushun at night on his way back to Luan from Rehe. After arriving in Beijing, he presided over the arrest of Prince Yi Dai Yuan and Prince Zheng Duanhua.That was something that King Chun was very proud of in his early years. When Sheng Xuanhuai mentioned it, he couldn't help but smile. "Xuan Huai was thinking that when the British and French committed crimes back then, if they had erected a power line from Dagukou to Tianjin like last year, the overall situation would be completely different." "Oh," Chun Wang asked very attentively, "tell me the truth." "With the telegram, the enemy is clearly in the dark. The key to victory is 'surprise, surprise'. The foreigner has just landed, his eyes are dark, and it all depends on his excellent equipment to rush forward. But his eyes and ears cannot For example, how many people do they have? How many guns do they have? Where do they plan to attack? We have made inquiries, and if we send a telegram, we can deploy an ambush in a dangerous place and kill them all. .” "Ah, ah!" Chun Wang kept clenching his fists, as if he couldn't bear it. "Prince Sengzhong's prowess is famous all over the world. The battle at Baliqiao was not a crime of war. If there was a telegram at that time, foreigners must not be lucky." "Let me think about it." King Chun closed his eyes and opened them after a while, "According to what you said, if the foreigner's ships are coming, if the forts can't stop them, once they land on the shore, their whereabouts will be completely on the shore." I'm in control, it's almost impossible to move an inch?" "Yes! My lord really sees thousands of miles away. With the telegram, not only the foreign criminals will be unable to move an inch, but even the forts in Haikou can stop it. For example, if there is a telegram along the route from Dengzhou to Dagukou, the foreign soldiers can be dispatched." The direction, size, and weather are good or bad, and I reported it paragraph by paragraph, waiting for work at ease, prepared for any danger, how can there be any reason to be unstoppable?" "Hmm, um. This also makes sense." King Chun asked, "What's the use of the telegram?" "You have to think about the usefulness. Chinese people have better brains than foreigners, so they can get more useful things than foreigners. But you can also do bad things by using telegrams, so please remember, the person who will manage the telegrams in the future must be a trusted confidant of the prince. .” "Oh," Chun Wang asked, "how can you use telegrams to do bad things?" "Beware of fabricating news." Sheng Xuanhuai said, "During a war, lying about military information is a serious matter." "That's right, you really need to be careful at this level." Chun Wang asked again, "What bad things can you do with telegrams?" "Yes." Sheng Xuanhuai thought for a while, "I'll tell the prince a joke." It is a joke to others, but those who have experienced it feel like crying without tears - a few years ago, there was an alternate Taoist surnamed Hu who was sent to a foreign country as a counselor, and accidentally offended his colleagues. Counselor Hu inadvertently exposed the fraudulent activities of buying in the embassy. Therefore, the minister asked him to be dispatched back to the country on the grounds that he was "not acclimatized to the environment", and returned to the original province as a standby.As soon as the official business approved by the Beijing Central Committee arrived, Lu Shuwu knew about it. After inquiring privately, he found out that he had suffered a loss from Counselor Hu, so he naturally hated it to the bone. This city surnamed Lu was very deep, and his expression was calm on the surface. His attitude towards Counselor Hu was the same as usual, as if he didn't know that his return to China was due to Counselor Hu's talkativeness.Before leaving, I asked Counselor Hu if he wanted to bring a letter from home?Thousands of miles away, it is rare for someone to return home. His colleagues in the embassy entrusted him with letters and belongings from home. A watch, and asked him to take it back to China for forwarding. The person surnamed Lü is the magistrate of Donban County, who was originally an alternate in Jiangsu. Counselor Hu lives in Wujiang, which is close to Suzhou. With great affection, I made a special trip to Wujiang to meet Counselor Hu's Feng Weng and talk about exotic scenery.Hu Fengweng cares about people far away, so he was naturally very happy and grateful to receive these kind and precious information. In his letter to Counselor Hu's home, he praised this "Mr. Lu".The surname Lu went to see Hu Fengweng when he had time, and walked around very frequently.Counselor Hu also often corresponded with Lu, and they became close friends. This person's plan for revenge was made up from the very beginning, but what method to use depends on the situation and the opportunity.However, he also knows that the more he understands the situation, the easier it is to find opportunities. He believes that as long as he goes to Hu's house often and gets to know the whole family well, there will definitely be opportunities.Sure enough, the opportunity came. This opportunity is actually to take advantage of what he knows. Hu Fengweng has absolute authority in the family, and the whole family pays attention to every word and action of the "grandfather".有一次胡封翁“发痧”，这不是什么大不了的事，但已闹得天翻地覆。姓吕的看在眼里，不由得在肚子里做功夫。几经考虑，定下了一计，只是要等，等胡封翁生病。 两年前的夏天，天时不正，疫疠流行，胡家病倒了好几个人，胡封翁并未感染时疫，只是年纪大了，看家有病人，且不只一个，内心不免抑郁，因而眠食不安，精神大不如前。姓吕的便写了一封极恳切的信给胡参赞，细述胡封翁的颓唐老境，却又劝慰胡参赞，“为国宣劳，自有天助”，全家孝顺，对老人照顾得极周到，何况还有朋友在，缓急之济，必当全力相助，胡参赞大可放心。 估量这封信已寄到了胡参赞手里了，同时判断胡参赞亦已接到家书，所述胡封翁的情形，跟他的话绝无矛盾时，他发了一个电报，只有八个字：“老伯病故，速定行止。”胡参赞自然深信不疑，所谓“速定行止”，意思是催他回来奔丧。胡参赞便向公使陈明，公使电奏，参赞丁忧，请予开缺，并声明派何人代理参赞的职务。哪知电奏到达上海之日，姓吕的又发了一个电报，更正前电。 可是已经奏了丁忧开缺，却无法更正。胡参赞吃了一个哑巴亏，只有请公使备交呈报总理衙门，转咨吏部备案，否则将来到了胡封翁寿终正寝时，胡参赞连发丧守制都不能，那才真的成了空前绝后的笑话。 醇王由于这个笑话的启发，想到了许多事该警惕，“水能载舟，亦能覆舟，电报亦是如此，非得托付给很妥当的人不可，否则机密容易外泄。”他说，“疆臣窥探朝廷意旨，尚且不可，何况廷寄未到，已先有所知，得以事先弥缝，那一来朝廷的号令不行，国将不国，太可怕了。” 听得这话，盛宣怀以言多必失自警，同时觉得有消除醇王的恐惧，只让他想到电报的好处的必要。 于是他略想一想答说：“王爷想得深、想得透，不是我们知识浅薄的人所能及。不过由王爷的开示，宣怀倒想起西洋的一个法子，不知道有用没有用？” “什么法子？” “就是密码。”盛宣怀答说，“现在汉字的电报，每个字四码，有现成的书，照码译字，那是明码，如果事先约定，码子怎么拿它变化一下，譬如加多少码、或者减多少码，只有彼此知道，机密就不容易外泄了。” “原来还有这个法子！”醇王问道，“这个加码、减码的法子，是不是跟“套格”差不多？” “比套格方便得多了。” 所谓“套格”是挖出若干空格的一张厚纸。使用的方法是，通信双方预先约定，用多大的纸、每页几行、每行几字，其次是看用哪种套格，挖空的位置在何处。然后就要花心思了，犹如科场考试的“关节”那样，把要说的一两句话，嵌在一大篇不相干的废话之中。收信的人，将套格在原信上一覆，空格中露出来的字，连缀成文，就是对方要说的话。 “套格”确有保密的功效，但用起来很不方便，第一，必得肚子里有墨水，嵌字贵乎嵌得很自然，不用套格绝不知其中的奥妙；第二是，不能畅所欲言，数百言的一封长函中，也许只说得五六句话。 “比较起来，加码、减码就方便得太多了。”盛宣怀又说，“还有一层，套格一定要预先做好，送交对方，加码减码，只要先有一句话的约定，可以做成好多密码本，当然头两个字要用明码，不然对方就不知道要用哪一个密码本了。” “这话我不大懂。”盛宣怀字杏荪，醇王很客气地称他，“杏翁，请你说清楚一点儿。” “是。譬如说吧，王爷交代我'天地玄黄'四个密码本——实际上是交代一句话，'天'字减一百二，'地'字减三百三，'玄'字加一百二，'黄'字加三百三。到得王爷给我密码时，头两个明码是'地密'，我就知道，下面所有的数码都要减三百三十，原码一千五百八十九，其实是一千二百五十九，找到这个码子的字，才是王爷要用的字。” “那么，旁人只要知道了加减多少，密码不就不密了吗？” “是，是！王爷一语破的。”盛宣怀答说，“所以最保密的办法，就是自己编一本密码本，不按部首，随意乱编。这个密码本一样也可以加减数码，密上加密，就更保险了。” 接着盛宣怀又讲了许多使用电报的方法与诀窍，譬如像“洪状元”——洪钧发明的韵目代日，配合十二地支，用两个字来表明月日，如“寅东”就是正月初一，正月建寅，东为“一东“，当然也可以再加上时辰，“寅东寅”为正月初一寅时，第二个寅字与第一个寅字的用法不同，一望而知，不会弄错。 “听君一席话，胜读十年书。”醇王完全为电报着迷了，“杏翁，”他说，“你能不能把电报怎么发、怎么收，演练给我看看？” “王爷怎么说'能不能'？王爷吩咐，宣怀自然遵办，不过先得预备预备。” “要预备多少日子？” 看他迫不及待的模样，盛宣怀计算了一下，允以五日为期。辞出王府，立即遣派专人到天津，调了两名电报学堂的教习，带同得力学生及工匠，运用收发报机、发电机之类，在醇王府中，临时架线，布置妥当，恰好是第五天自设的限期。 醇王府的范围很广，花园题名“适园”，正厅名为“颐寿堂”，是恭王所题，内悬同治皇帝御笔“宣德七德”的匾额。 这是极严肃的所在，堂前立有“神杵”，不便再设电杆，所以在颐寿堂后拉线，一端通往堂东的风月双清楼，一端通往抚松草堂。醇王自己在风月双清楼写了一通很长的电码交发，盛宣怀亲自在抚松草堂照料，收到电码，交由两名学生分译。 这两个学生程度很不坏，电码更是熟得不须翻书，便能识字，一个念，一个写，盛宣怀站在他们身后细看，只见写的是：“京华盛冠盖，车马纷长衢。十日黄尘中，女足女足意不舒。何期朝事繁，忽见林壑疏。朱邸开名园，别在城西隅。东风二三月，杂花千万株。俯檐弄嘉禽，出沼窥文鱼。追陪竟日夕，暂欲忘簪裾。此少荃相国春日游适园诗也。即录送风月双清楼。九思堂主人。” “少荃相国”指李鸿章，“九思堂主人”是醇王的别署，都容易明白，然而“女足女足意不舒”这句诗竟不成话说了。盛宣怀便指着字面问：“这是不是错了？” "good." “可是意思不通。” 笔录的那学生想了一下，将“女足女足”四字涂去，另写了“娖娖”二字。盛宣怀恍然大悟，六千八百九十九字的《电报新书》中，并无“娖”字，所以醇王用测字法，写成“女足”。 这是不得已，但也是情理中的一个小小的变通办法。醇王对于自己初次使用电报，遇到难题，而能应变，且为人所接受，证明他的变通办法是行得通的这一点，非常得意。同时电报在他的感觉中，不仅是可靠的，也是可亲的了。 这使他记起许多往事，有些得自传闻，有些则是亲身的经历。清宫中对秘密通讯的方法，一向重视，尤其是在得失荣辱，甚至生死存亡，决于俄顷的紧要关头，能够运用独特的秘密通信方法，或者防患未然，或者求得外援，那出入是太大了。 在他的记忆中，早年听说过康熙末年夺嫡的许多故事，有的使用“矾书”，有的用罗马字代替满州话的“字头”来拼音。“九阿哥”胤禟的门客中，有一个是“东正教”的教士，因而发明了用俄文拼音来表达满州话，传递反抗雍正的信息，虽为雍正截获了，却不知说些什么，因而胤禟所部署的“造反”的策略，始终是个谜。 醇王亲身所经历的是“辛酉政变”。那时肃顺等人将两宫太后与诸王隔离开来，尤其是对恭王，监视更严，以至于不得已用太监安德海使一条苦肉计，伪装他犯了严重的过失，痛责一顿板子，打发回京，实际上是携带两宫太后的密旨，面交恭王。如果当时有电报，能用密码通信，调遣神机营到热河“勤王”，可以堂而皇之地逮捕“三凶”，根本就不必他半夜里带人到旅舍，将肃顺从他的姨太太身边拉起来那种有欠光明磊落的手段。 就这样，由于醇王直接向慈禧太后进言，说盛宣怀目前总办电报局的差使，极其要紧，且亦无人替代，不宜对他有所处分。而况就算他有过失，能将电报办好了，亦足以将功折罪。同时李莲英亦一再说盛宣怀如何有良心，一定会感恩图报，如何能干，可资以为耳目，终于使得慈禧太后决定将刘坤一的奏折“留中不发”，只是由总理衙门给了北洋一道咨文，饬令盛宣怀不得干预招商局局务。 获知了这些内幕，胡雪岩在内心中激起了很大的波澜。数年以来，他虽看出盛宣怀机诈百出，不是个好惹的人，但总觉得此人还不成气候，无需过虑，而此刻他觉得遇到了一个劲敌了。 “将来上海、天津的电报一通，盛杏荪在管这件事，消息比我们灵通，已经占先一着。”胡雪岩对汪惟贤说，“这还在其次，更要防他在电报上动手脚，弄些伪消息、伪行情过来，一相信了它，岂不大上其当。这一点，你要格外当心。” “我知道。”汪惟贤答说，“电报学堂我也有熟人，到时候我会想办法，也弄它几套密码出来，行情我们自己报。” “不错。将来丝的行情，一定要自己报。”