Chapter 32 Section thirty-two

Before the edict was promulgated, Xu Geng, Minister of Military Aircraft, sent "Dalami" Qian Yingpu to congratulate his teacher Weng Tonghe.Weng Tonghe's state of mind is very complicated. It is true that one is happy and the other is fearful. What is happy is that the Minister of the Household Department has more than one thousand taels of "food silver" every month, and he is in charge of the state branch. The Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, who deals with craftsmen, is more attractive. What I am afraid of is that now we are building military equipment, building construction projects, spending a lot of money, and fearing that our talents will not be able to bear it.Therefore, some people congratulated him and said that he had changed from "cheap" to "rich". , Work cheap.Therefore, it is said that Weng Tonghe’s transfer from the Ministry of Industry to the Ministry of Household Affairs is from “practice” to “richness”, but he said that he would rather live in a poor and humble place, and be a minister of the Ministry of Rites. .

Among the congratulators at Yingmen, Weng Tonghe paid special attention to Yan Jingming. As soon as he saw him arrive, he immediately ordered the door to stop any congratulators.Then he went into the study, invited the guests to change into plain clothes, put wine around the stove, and prepared for a long talk. The host and the guest, one with a bachelor's degree and one with an account transfer department, should be celebrating each other, but their faces are quite dignified.Especially Yan Jingming, who couldn't help but blink his eyes, as if he had endless emotions and didn't know where to start.

It was the host who mentioned the topic first, "The order of the court is too abrupt." Weng Tonghe said, "How can Fei Cai take on this important task when he is deep and short? The good thing is that there is still a middle hall in charge, and everything will still be presided over by the middle hall in the future. " "Shu Ping," Yan Jingming asked, "Are you speaking from your heart?" "Naturally! How dare I speak against my will in front of Zhongtang?" "In that case, let me tell you a few words of sincerity. Shuping, do you know who recommended you to transfer to the account department?"

"I don't know." Weng Tonghe asked, "Is it King Chun?" "No, it's Fuzhenting." Yan Jingming said, "Fuzhenting feels that you and your colleagues in the Ministry of Industry work together and get along very well. What do you think?" It was difficult for Weng Tonghe to answer this question.After thinking for a while, he said: "Zhongtang knows that, I have no disobedience to others, and I have no quarrel with the world." "Here! He recommended you precisely because of these eight words. In the Ministry of Industry, where there are major engineers, ministers of survey and evaluation, and ministers of supervision, you are an official. I can see that you are honest and self-sufficient, and you have no shame in admiration. However, it is different when you come to the Ministry of Household Affairs. It is useless to be clean and honest, you must be disobedient and you must fight. If you don’t disobey or fight, you must be dereliction of duty!"

These few words made Weng Tonghe sweat profusely.Thinking about what he said is really good, the cashier of the general department of the household department should fight for the money that should be paid in, and fight for the money that should not be paid out.Yan Jingming spent three years and ten months in the household department, fighting with the governor, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, military aircraft, and sometimes the Empress Dowager Cixi.How many people have offended?If you don't dare to fight with others, and you are afraid of offending others, then the Minister of the Household Department should stop doing it as soon as possible!

But what if you don't do it?I just want to resign, and I have no reason other than to complain about illness.And complaining of illness for no reason, becoming ignorant of flattery, not only failing to resign from office, maybe even severe condemnation. Thinking of this, he asked in a daze, "Why did Zhongtang teach me?" "Let me show you an edict first. It was just issued today, and you probably haven't read it yet." This edict was copied by Yan Jingming from the military plane. Weng Tonghe opened it and saw that it read: "I follow the order of Empress Dowager Cixi Duanyou Kangyi Zhaoyu Zhuangcheng: 'All the salaries of the soldiers in the capital's banner and green battalions will be paid in full as usual. .'Admiring the Holy Mercy, sympathizing with the hardships of the soldiers, and being considerate, there are many disadvantages accumulated in each battalion, such as the failure to report the death of soldiers, falsely receiving heavy support, and extra waste. All kinds of disadvantages are too numerous to enumerate. Verification. All the long-standing malpractices of the Jingshi Banner Camp will be carefully checked by the governor and the deputy commander-in-chief, and will be checked at any time. If the officers and others have cheated and concealed the abuses, they will be named and severely punished. No loan."

"This!" Weng Tonghe asked, "Don't you pay another one or two million silver each year?" "This is King Chun's deliberate move to win over people's hearts. Every year in Beijing, the provinces report 6.38 million yuan, and the customs apportion 1.62 million yuan, a total of 8 million yuan, except for those paid by the empress dowager and the emperor In addition to Jinyin', it is enough to pay for the mausoleum sacrifices, the salaries of the princes and officials, and the food and salaries of the Beijing banners, but what about other uses? The navy funds are a large amount. After two or three years, the emperor The cost of the big wedding is huge, and the garden needs to be repaired! There is only one bowl of water, you can scoop it up, and I can scoop it up too, and you can’t wait for the bowl of water to belong to him! If things go on like this, the bowl of water will be overturned. No."

"Yes!" Weng Tonghe kept rubbing his hands, sucking in his breath, anxious for a long time, and said a word through his teeth: "To repair the garden, the Ministry of Households must not allocate funds! The Ministry of Households governs the world's funds, and there are quotas for income and expenditure. There is no budget for gardening at all.” "Shu Ping!" Yan Jingming said in awe, "I hope you can persevere." "I'll do my best." Weng Tonghe asked again, "How about the naval funding?" "In the past, the provinces allocated lijin and tariffs, and divided the coastal defense funds of the northern and southern oceans into two million taels each year. However, the provinces did not pay enough. The northern oceans collected coastal defense donations to make up for it. It was a bastard, and the Ministry of Accounts couldn't manage it. Now These two coastal defense funds belong to the navy office, there will definitely be 'lawsuits' in the future, and the household department will also be troublesome!"

"What's the matter?" Weng Tonghe asked hastily, "Since everything goes to the Navy Yamen for income and expenditure, what does it have to do with the Ministry of Households? Where is the trouble?" "I'll show you two more letters." Both letters were copies, both sent by Li Hongzhang. One was an official letter addressed to the Navy’s office, explaining the size of the Beiyang Navy and the required funds: “Check the existing ships in Beiyang, but there are two Dingyuan and Zhenyuan armored ships. It is the most exquisite and of great value. Although Jiyuan has dome armor and turret armor, the hull is relatively small, and it cannot be an iron armored ship, but can only be used as a steel fast ship. In addition, there is a super brave ship that was ordered in the British factory in the past. The two fast boats are smaller, and the guns are ingenious, and they can be used for patrolling." These five ships can fight in the ocean, but their strength is still too weak. We have to wait for the four ships that are being ordered by Britain and Germany. The battleships arrived and nine were combined.In addition, purchase three shallow water steel fast boats, five or six torpedo boats, and the old ships built by the Fujian Shipyard to form an army of its own.

As for Beiyang's naval funds, it can be divided into two parts, the annual salary and ship maintenance costs are 120,000 to 300,000, and the construction of Lushun Dock is about 1,400,000. It will be fully raised within two years, and the annual cost is 700,000 taels.Not counting the price of newly purchased ships and those planned to be ordered in the future, in the next two years, the annual funds allocated to Beiyang will be about 2 million. "This is the account that Li Shaoquan deducted from the Beiyang Navy's funds, which amounted to two million a year." Yan Jingming said, "You can see the troubles of the Ministry of Accounts in another letter."

Another private letter to King Chun was more blunt: "The Ministry of Households initially determined the funds for the North and South Oceans, which was claimed to be 4 million. Later, because the solution was less than half of it over the years, it had to be transferred to the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hubei. Changing the 20% discount is still unacceptable. Fujian and Guangdong Lijin have long been assigned to their own provinces for defense. In the past three years, Beiyang’s annual income has been less than 100,000 yuan, and Nanyang’s income is even less. There are records in the Ministry. It seems that the Ministry of Households designated The 4 million taels of Beiyang and Beiyang funds allocated to the navy is also a false name, and it cannot be counted. Your Highness should be asked to take charge of the overall situation, and do business with the Ministry of Households to raise additional funds." "The provinces report the funds for the northern and southern coastal defenses, which is only 1.23 million per year. According to the quota of 4 million, there is still a shortfall of 2.78 million. Where does the Ministry of Households raise this money for the navy office?" "Well," Weng Tonghe asked, "how can Pu Yuan and Hefei give up?" "That's the trouble! Think about it, if you don't disobey others, don't compete with the world, and you can get it?" As he spoke, Yan Jingming drank one gulp after another.On the coffee table next to the brazier, there were several dishes of Jiangnan-style stewed duck, wind chicken, smoked fish and other wine and dishes, and Yan Jingming, who was frugal in nature, only persuaded him to drink in the middle of nowhere. There was a creaking sound. The peeled peanut shells were thrown into the brazier, and the whole room was filled with smoke, which made Weng Tonghe choke, so he hurried to open the window. The window was half-opened, and the west wind blew on his face like a knife like ice, causing burning pain, but his mind was much clearer, thinking about Yan Jingming's words calmly, he could not figure out why he came.In terms of how he is usually a human being and how much he values ​​himself, it is natural to give some advice as a person who has experienced it, but there must be a conclusion. Isn't it just confusing people to talk about difficulties? Now that he knows what he should say?When they returned to the brazier, they raised wine and respected each other, "Zhongtang," he said, "in the sixth year of Xianfeng, the first public was changed from the Ministry of Officials to the Ministry of Households. He was in office for less than two years, and he was so diligent and self-satisfied. I saw it with my own eyes. Later I can’t avoid being tortured by Su Liu. So, this time I’m really afraid to pay my respects. It’s not that I’m flattering Zhongtang. In the past few decades, there’s no one who’s more impressive than Zhongtang. Free from death?" Yan Jingming nodded, opened his eyes wide and asked, "Shuping, are you talking about being an official or doing things?" Scholars have accumulated habits and are ashamed of being an official. Weng Tonghe replied without hesitation: "Of course it is about doing things." "When it comes to doing things, the first thing is not to be afraid of things. The more you are afraid of things, the more things you will do. The lessons learned by Prince Gong." These words lifted Weng Tonghe's spirit.The last sentence has never been said before, but think about it!The two stimuli of Jizong's longevity and Ci'an's sudden collapse dealt a great blow to Prince Gong. In addition to his family's old age and his infirmity, Wenxiang became very fearful when he died, like breaking his right arm.The north-south gates are getting deeper and the Qingliu's arrogance is getting higher and higher. It can be said that it is all caused by Prince Gong's fear of trouble and connivance. In the end, with Sheng Yu's performance, his reputation was almost ruined. Tracing back to the beginning, it can be said that he is self-defeating. "Zhongtang is really thorough! How about the second one?" "Second, there are no exceptions!" "One case of Hubuxing, the whole world suffers. The ancestors always use the four words of quiet and nothing to do when discussing politics." "Shu Ping, you said that wrongly. The time is not peaceful, and it is easier said than done if you want to be quiet and peaceful? How can it be safe if the foreign invaders are constantly forcing you? What I said is that there are no examples that cannot be prospered, not that there are examples that cannot be destroyed.Being able to get rid of bad practices and bad habits is prosperity. " "Yes! Zhongtang blamed it." "I'm not blaming you. But, Shuping, you come from Tsinghua University, and you've been in Beijing for a long time. You've been doing noble errands. I'm afraid that you have a dangerous relationship and a dirty official career. I don't know it yet. I just remind you to pay attention at all times! " "Thank you Zhongtang!" Weng Tonghe was convinced, "Anyway, I'm still in charge of Zhongtang, so I'm getting bolder." "Of course I have the original intention. I would rather annoy people than please them." Yan Jingming sighed, hesitant to speak several times, and finally expressed the emotion in his heart: "To be honest, I really didn't think of it." , Park Yuan will be in power. Otherwise, I would never want to roll around in this world of mortals!" It was the same with Weng Tonghe, he never thought that King Chun would rise up in place of King Gong.However, regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the two kings, he and Yan Jingming have different ideas, King Chun also has his strengths.In a word, since Ci'an collapsed and Cixi took power alone, even if there is a virtuous king, there may be nothing to show for it.Everything can only be expected after the emperor takes power. Turning to this thought, Weng Tonghe felt indescribably excited. After all, the emperor taught it by himself, and his own set of governance theory will soon be used in the world indirectly and directly!