Chapter 54 Section fifty-four

To Zaiyi's surprise, Rong Lu had already sent the forged Luo Jiajie's telegram to the Yiluan Palace. room. "I received four notes from foreigners today. All the money and food in the world are collected by foreigners, and the military power in the world is controlled by foreigners. Is this still a country?" Empress Dowager Cixi's words were surprisingly calm, but the ministers listened to them like thunder.There are a very small number of people who have more doubts than surprises, but they have no way to investigate, so they can only hold their breath and wait for the next article.

"Nowadays foreigners are bullying China like this, and the country will be destroyed. If I surrender, how can I see my ancestors after my death?" Empress Dowager Cixi gradually became agitated. It’s better than subjugating the country without knowing it!” "The old minister dies!" was Chongqi's trembling cry: "Through the matter today, I am not in the same breath as the barbarians. Please ask the empress dowager to act arbitrarily and issue an edict to declare war. The old minister will not believe it even if he dies. There are so many righteous people. You can't wipe out the barbarians!"

"Chongqi's words are right." Zaiyi interjected, "The situation is so bad that it is today because there are too many traitors, and they accommodate foreigners in everything. Foreigners are beasts. Lawless. The Empress Dowager, please allow Chongqi to play, and issue an edict to declare war!" With such an impassioned argument, no one dared to express objection, so the Empress Dowager Cixi raised her voice and said: "All the ministers know about today's situation. I have to declare war for the country and the country. However, what will happen in the future is really a question It's hard to say. If after the war, the country and the country are still in danger, all the princes are here today, they should know my painstaking efforts, let alone the empress dowager who gave away the three hundred years of the ancestors."

One said "all ministers" and the other said "all princes". Such wordings have never been used before, so all ministers, big and small, feel very deeply.Then King Qing, who was in charge of the imperial ministers, kowtowed and replied on behalf of them: "The ministers and others are united in protecting the country!" "Yikuang," the emperor said for the first time, "If the two countries are at odds, there must always be a set of procedures for declaring war!" "Yes!" King Qing replied very cautiously: "You might as well send someone to the embassy to explain that if you must start a war, you have to fly back to the country."

"Okay!" said the Empress Dowager Cixi, "If the two countries are at war, if the envoys are not beheaded, our China has always been lenient. You can send a few people to inform the embassy and return to the country within a time limit." So the Empress Dowager Cixi decided to send three people to each embassy to negotiate, one was Xu Yongyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, the other was Lianyuan, a cabinet scholar, and the other was Lishan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.Xu and Lian always walk in the prime minister's office, and there is no excuse for their duties, but Li Shan has objections.

"Slaves have never done foreign affairs before." He said. "Isn't it your job to receive ministers from various countries in the Summer Palace last year?" the emperor asked. The Empress Dowager Cixi was not as easy to discuss as the emperor, and said with a downcast face: "If you dare to go, of course you will go, if you don't dare to go, you will go!" Li Shan didn't dare to make another sound, and retreated first with Xu Yongyi and Lianyuan.The Empress Dowager Cixi was also sympathetic, so the three of them entered a dangerous place and ordered Ronglu to send troops to protect them from afar.

When the court discussion is over, the Minister of Military Aircraft and the Prime Minister still have a lot to discuss. They sat down and asked each other. Where did the note announced by the Empress Dowager Cixi come from? Rong Ludao is Luo Jiajie's secret telegram. "This seems too bizarre!" Yuan Chang said frankly: "The ministers of various countries stationed in Beijing did not say this, nor did the admirals of various countries stationed in Tianjin. The telegrams sent by Li Juexiang and Liu Zhijun from Guangzhou and Jiangning were all It is said that the foreign ministries of various countries stated that the purpose of sending troops to China this time is to protect the envoys, help suppress the rioters, and never interfere in China's internal affairs. Besides, since there is no war, why threaten them?"

Rong Lu knew that he was too aggressive!silent. ※※※ Xu Jingcheng and Na Tongxu returned in embarrassment because they were scared by the Boxers.The two went out of Qihua Gate to Fengtai, where they met more than forty boxers, their knives drawn, and a banner of "supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying the foreign countries", swarming towards Xu and the two who were resting in the tea shed, very happy. He asked bluntly, "What are you two doing?" "It is ordered to prevent foreign soldiers from entering Beijing." Natong replied. "You must be taught. To seduce foreign soldiers to fight the Chinese?" The senior brother shouted: "Go!"

Unable to explain, Xu Jingcheng, Na Tong and their followers rushed to the boxing ring, pressed their heads, and knelt three times and kowtowed nine times to the statue of the ancestor Hong Jun.Then another senior brother said: "Are you two bastards, seducing foreign soldiers into Beijing? Burn your watch and ask for instructions." The so-called burning table is to burn a piece of yellow mounting paper on the candlelight, and the paper is completely dusty, which means that God has acquiesced, otherwise there will be trouble. Both Xu Jingcheng and Natong had heard of the boxers' tricks of deceiving people, they didn't dare to harm the ministers, so they watched quietly.Sure enough, the yellow mounting paper was burnt, and the gray paper ash slowly rose.

"Very good! You are not dudes. However, you do not know whether it is true or not. Even if it is true, you don't need to stop the foreign soldiers! Just come and kill a thousand foreign soldiers. Come ten thousand and kill ten thousand, there will be heavenly soldiers and generals, six Ding Liujia to protect the Qing Dynasty. You stop them, if you don’t teach them to die, you are doing foreigners a favor. No, no!” Shake his head. "Eldest brother," Natong said, "we are acting according to the order, and we cannot return to our orders if we don't meet with foreigners."

"If you can't return to life, then don't return to life." Unreasonable, only a wry smile.Na Tong and Xu Jingcheng returned after abandoning them. So he returned to Beijing early the next morning, went straight to the palace gate to return to the city, and handed over a simple memorial, saying that he was blocked by the Boxers and could not meet the foreign soldiers.The original intention was to play Chen Yihetuan's arbitrariness and unreasonable and ignoring the court face to face after "calling up", or to feel the heart of Tianxin and make Empress Dowager Cixi wake up, but there is no such opportunity.Empress Dowager Cixi has more important people who need to be summoned. The first one is the fortitude who just returned to Beijing from Zhuozhou.He already knew that the situation in the court had changed a lot and became "better" than he imagined.Therefore, he felt that it is not necessary to say that the Boxers should be used and that they should be used, but that they can be used and are available.It's time to come in and show off the "magic" of the Boxers.The Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to listen to Li Lianying's outside news, and she forgot about the time. The resolute "lonely confrontation" took almost an hour, and then summoned the infantry commander Chongli to inquire about the aftermath of the fire outside the front door.When the military aircraft met, they suddenly summoned Chen Kuilong, the Governor of Tianfu, to straighten out the governor of Tianfu, because the "Four Constants" suddenly went out of business, and the market and people's hearts were in chaos, so they had to do something quickly. It turns out that the silver and money industry in the north is different from that in the south, with the furnace room as the hub.In the south, the furnace room is attached to the money bank and the silver bank. It is nothing more than recasting various ingots, silver coins, and silver bars of different colors.The furnace room in the north is self-contained. In addition to smelting silver and casting treasures, it operates deposits, loans, remittances, etc., and can issue bills instead of cash, and its status is higher than that of bank banks. There are no less than 20 furnace houses in the capital, all of which are located outside the front gate, in the jewelry market east of Dashilan.There was a fire in Lao Deji, which affected the fish in the pond, and twenty furnace houses were burned to the ground.As a result, the big and small banks and money houses were unable to turn over immediately, and the "four constants"-Hengxing, Hengli, Henghe, and Hengyuan's four money shops located in Dongsi Pailou had to close their doors.Siheng is an old shop with more than 200 years of history. It is well-known in the north and south, and has outstanding credit. The banknotes it issues are widely circulated.The Empress Dowager Cixi knew very well that this matter could not be dealt with properly, and there would be chaos in Beijing without waiting for foreigners to attack, so she was naturally anxious. "Chongli is hateful!" The Empress Dowager Cixi spoke angrily, "Siheng petitioned to go out of business because the furnace room burned down. This matter has too much to do with it. I asked Chongli to try to maintain it. I thought he had something to do with Siheng. It's an underground yamen, so it's easy to deal with, but he just kowtows, presuming that it's a matter of Shuntian Mansion. You're a magistrate, so I can't help looking for you!" "Yes!" Chen Kuilong replied, "I dare not shirk my duty." "I think Siheng has always been creditworthy, and it didn't mean that it closed at a loss. It's just that the furnace door was closed and there was no cash flow for a while. If money is really tight, the government can lend him money and tell them to open the market quickly, so that the people will not lose money. suffer." "Yes! The minister followed the order to discuss with the household department." "You don't have to rely on the Ministry of Household Affairs first." The Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly changed her words, "After you return to the Yamen, quickly find people from Siheng and discuss with them how to resume business. The market must be opened within three days." "yes!" "I heard from Ronglu and Gangyi that you are very capable and work hard. I will not let you down!" When Kneeling Ann withdrew, I saw Gangyi waiting outside the gate of the palace, "Xiaoshi," he greeted him and said, "The queen mother talked to me about Siheng, and I said that I must do it with one step. It can be said that please, no matter how you deal with the matter of Siheng, don't get involved in the pawn shop!" He could hear every word clearly, but he didn't understand what his intention was?Only promises.After returning to the yamen, according to the usual practice, Zhizhong, Experience and Daxing and Wanping counties are invited to discuss any major local issues. After explaining the process of the summoning, Chen Kuilong asked his subordinates for their opinions.Both Da and Wan counties are oily old officials. Seeing that Chen Kuilong has been promoted to the governor of the capital, I don't know what skills he has?You have to weigh his weight, so Gu Moran doesn't offer a plan.Zhizhong's surname is Wang, a native of Shandong. He is honest and useless, and his speech doesn't make sense.Finally, it was the turn of experience to speak. The experienced person is Xing Zhaoying, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. He was originally a Muyou, but he was recommended to become an official because of his military achievements. , may as well be ordered by Daxing and Wanping counties, each family does not need to borrow more than 10,000 silver temporarily, and there will be more than one million yuan in no time, which is enough to save Siheng's emergency. , the number of mediocrity. I heard that there are three pawnshops just in the middle hall." Chen Kuilong suddenly realized that the original intention of fortitude was like this!Although I unconsciously thought of the words "meat eaters are contemptible", but after all I didn't dare to offend resoluteness, so I shook my hand and said, "It is inconvenient to borrow official power from the pawnshop and Siheng. Borrowing official money does not need to involve the pawnshop. However, Siheng borrowed official money, how to repay it in the future, please come up with a good plan. Otherwise, the responsibility lies with Shuntian Fuyin alone. If Siheng does not pay back, I will How can a poor official in Beijing explain his business?" "Then you don't have to worry about it." Xing Zhaoying said, "The wood factories, foreign goods, banknotes, grain stores, and pawn shops in Beijing are all big businesses. They must all borrow money from Siheng, and their IOUs will be used as collateral. If you borrow one million from the government, ask Siheng to get a million-dollar IOU, and the treasury will be prepared." "This method makes it possible." Chen Kuilong said, "However, the situation of each business is different, and the IOUs brought must be reliable." So I thought it over again, thinking that the ticket number is rich, and there are old shops in Shanxi. Even if the pawnshop is closed down, there are goods on the shelves, and they can be sealed up and sold.Therefore, it was decided that Siheng would provide the IOUs of the two industries as guarantee, and please allocate 500,000 taels of internal funds and 500,000 taels of departmental funds each. As soon as this fold is made, it will be done immediately, and people will be sure of it.However, the 500,000 taels of internal funds were immediately received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but there was nowhere to go, because the yamen in the north of Zhengyangmen and south of Tiananmen had been occupied by Dong Fuxiang's Gan army in just these two days.The bank of the household department could not be opened, so Chen Kuilong had to go to Wang Wenshao, Shangshu of the household department. "The situation is such that I can't even go back to my yamen. How can the Gan army let people in to move the money? Besides, as soon as the bank was opened, the Gan army saw the money and ransacked it. The responsibility is yours, mine, or Ask Dong Xingwu to take it?" Wang Wenshao said, "It's a last resort, and you have to try to borrow it yourself. Once the bank can be opened, it will definitely be a lot of money for you." Chen Kuilong had no choice but to go back to the Yamen to find a way.Five hundred thousand cash is not a decimal, where can I raise it?When I was so anxious that I didn't know what to do, someone pointed out a bright way. This person is Chen Kuilong's former colleague in the Ministry of War. He is in charge of the map and is quite familiar with the important places forbidden by the palace.This is what Chen Kuilong knew. What he didn't know was that when the British and French allied forces committed crimes during the Xianfeng period, Wen Zong ordered the Minister of the Household Department Sushun to withdraw one million taels of silver and transfer it to the internal treasury for emergency needs.This huge sum of money has not been used for forty years since the Empress Dowagers of the Two Palaces and Mu Zong returned to Luan from Rehe in October of the eleventh year of Xianfeng. If it is not used now, when will it be? Hearing this, Chen Kuilong was overjoyed, and immediately rushed to Xiwan to find Wang Wenshao and tell him what happened.Wang Wenshao was also reminded, "It's true." He said, "But I can't take care of it for you at the moment, and there will be another big scene soon! What should I do?" Coincidentally, just after I finished speaking, I found that Yingnian arrived in a hurry, and meeting this person was more useful than Wang Wenshao.Because Yingnian is the left servant of the household department, as usual, he "concurrently manages the affairs of the three treasuries", and there are many officials guarding the bank treasury, so it is more obedient to let the official Manque take command.Immediately, Wang Wenshao explained the process. Because Yingnian was assigned to handle the matter by order, he did not dare to neglect, and was accompanied by Chen Kuilong.