"Smack!" Guangxu slapped the table and said angrily: "It's really too much of a deception, what do overseas Chinese want to do?

Prince Qing hurriedly said: "The emperor is angry. ”

Guangxu shouted: "How can you tell me to calm my anger, the matter of Qingzhou, respectively, the overseas Chinese robbed the banner people's land, so Wen Rui did not send troops angrily, and the overseas Chinese not only relied on the strength of the army, killed Wen Rui and captured the city, but also accused Wen Rui of rebellion, and in turn, the imperial court no longer sent officials to Shandong, what is this not a rebellion?" They were originally a group of displaced people who had no place overseas, and they had to return to Middle-earth on their own, and the imperial court did not remember that they were the remnants of the previous dynasty, not only did they kindly shelter and set up a place to resettle, but they were insatiable, and dared to despise the imperial court so much, and they killed the banner people without permission, which is really unreasonable and must not be forgiven. Speaking of excitement, Guangxu actually stood up from his chair.

When a few people heard this, they couldn't help but be taken aback, could it be that the emperor was going to be impulsive again?

At this time, Li Hongzhang took a step forward and said: "Your Majesty, overseas Chinese are not subservient, and the imperial court must not be perfunctory, and should immediately issue an edict to the world to denounce the crimes of overseas Chinese, and then mobilize a large army to encircle and suppress, capture their heads alive, destroy their bandits, and correct the law of the country." ”

Prince Qing, Rong Lu, and Zhang Zhidong almost all suspected that they had heard it wrong, when did Li Hongzhang become so angry and actually instigate the emperor to go to war with overseas Chinese?

Guangxu listened, but was a little surprised, hesitated for a moment, and said: "You mean that the imperial court should send troops to recruit overseas Chinese?"

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Yes, although the old minister is not good, he is also willing to ask the emperor for an order, lead the army to the battle, and fight to the death with overseas Chinese." ”

Guangxu was stunned for a moment before he said, "You ...... Have you ever beaten an overseas Chinese?"

Li Hongzhang said angrily: "The old minister is nearly eighty years old, even if he dies, he will not die young, even if he is not defeated by overseas Chinese, he is willing to die on the battlefield to repay the favor of the court, but after the old minister sent troops, he also asked the emperor and the queen mother to prepare early, and moved the capital to Xi'an to avoid the edge of overseas Chinese." ”

Guangxu was stunned for a long time before he came to his senses and said, "You mean that the imperial court can't beat overseas Chinese." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Back to the emperor, the overseas Chinese are known for their good soldiers, the Eight-Nation Alliance is not yet an opponent, and the army of Tsarist Russia is known for its fierceness, and it was also defeated by overseas Chinese.

At this time, other people also understood Li Hongzhang's intentions, Zhang Zhidong said: "The emperor Mingjian, what Lord Li said is reasonable, now the imperial court has just returned to Luan and returned to Beijing, and the current situation has been decided. ”

Prince Qing and Rong Lu also said: "Please also ask the emperor to think twice." ”

Guangxu smiled bitterly, then sat down and said, "Then what do you say, do you want to let the overseas Chinese run rampant like this, and even if the court ignores it, do you think the overseas Chinese will give up?

Li Hongzhang said: "Your Majesty, the gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late, now the court has made a decision, all kinds of waste are waiting for the new, and the edge of overseas Chinese is flourishing, and the war should not be started lightly." However, the imperial court is implementing the new law and training the new army in order to improve itself, and in time, the new law and the new army will be successful, and the country will be rich and the army will be strong, and it is not too late to teach overseas Chinese a lesson, and after all, overseas Chinese only occupy one province, and the land is small and the people are few, how can they be compared with the imperial court, not to mention that the overseas Chinese are tyrannical in Shandong, forcibly expropriating land, and plundering people's wealth, which will inevitably cause the anger of the heavens and the people, so as long as the imperial court endures for a few years, overseas Chinese are not the trouble of the imperial court. ”

Guangxu pondered for a while before he said, "Then how should we deal with the current Qingzhou matter?"

Li Hongzhang said: "Overseas Chinese have written to the imperial court, accusing Wen Rui of rebellion, but the only way to do this is to follow the theory of overseas Chinese and temporarily calm the hearts of overseas Chinese." ”

Guangxu said: "Wen Rui was innocent, but the court insisted on accusing him of rebellion, wouldn't it chill the other banner people, and how would the people of the world view the court?"

Rong Lu said: "This is also easy to do? Identifying Wen Rui as a rebellion is an expedient measure, I believe that other banner people can understand the intentions of the imperial court, and after Brother He and the imperial court have eliminated overseas Chinese, they will issue an order to Wen Rui Zhaoxue to redress their grievances and restore their reputation, and then posthumously crown Jue Lu and grace their descendants." After a pause, he said: "What's more, although Wen Rui is dead, his family is still there, and the imperial court will not visit Wen Rui's family in the name of exile and exile, and take Wen Rui's family out of Shandong and choose a place to take care of him, which is enough to calm the hearts of the Qi people." Because Rong Lu is the banner man, he only has some words.

Guangxu listened, thought about it again, and then said: "Okay, just bring Wen Rui's family to the capital, and you must be kind to it." ”

Li Hongzhang said again: "Overseas Chinese also want Zhan Tianyou to help them build railways, this person is insignificant, you might as well give it." ”

There is no objection to this, in fact, he doesn't even know who Zhan Tianyou is, he only knows that he is a craftsman who repairs railways, which is indeed insignificant. So he said, "Okay, you go and arrange it." ”

Li Hongzhang also said: "The overseas Chinese also proposed that the imperial court should no longer send officials to Shandong, and this point is also requested by the emperor to make a decision. ”

Guangxu frowned, as if he wanted to say something, but he held back and said slowly: "Rong Lu, Li Hongzhang, you two will go to the Summer Palace with me tomorrow to meet the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother will decide." ”

Rong Lu and Li Hongzhang hurriedly saluted and said, "The minister's will." ”

Early the next morning, Guangxu took Rong Lu and Li Hongzhang to the Summer Palace and faced Cixi. In the first two, it was requested to designate Wen Rui to rebel and call Zhan Tianyou, but after Cixi heard it, she only said one sentence, "Then let's do it!"

But when it came to the last one, when the traveler asked the Qing court to stop sending officials to Shandong, Cixi just half lay on the couch, closed her eyes slightly, and said, "What do you mean?"

Guangxu said: "It was because we couldn't make up our minds that we asked the Queen Mother to decide." ”

Cixi said: "Then what does the emperor think?"

Guangxu hesitated for a moment before he said: "Erchen has no idea, if he agrees, what is the face of the imperial court? If he doesn't agree, I'm afraid that the overseas Chinese will cause other things, so he is in a dilemma?"

Cixi was noncommittal, and said, "Li Hongzhang, what do you think?"

Li Hongzhang said: "The lesser of two evils should be taken together, and the intention of overseas Chinese must not be easily refuted, so as not to cause other accidents." ”

Guangxu glanced at Li Hongzhang again, but did not speak.

Cixi said again: "Ronglu, you can also say something." ”

Rong Lu hurriedly said: "If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, the slave thinks that Lord Li's words are reasonable, the imperial court has just settled down, and the remnants of the boxers in Zhili, Henan, and Shanxi have rebelled, and they can't easily provoke overseas Chinese." ”

In fact, the two also estimated that Cixi would not dare to turn her face with the overseas Chinese at this time, so she could only choose to agree to the conditions of the overseas Chinese, but this could not come out of Cixi's mouth, and she could only let Rong Lu and Li Hongzhang take the blame, and Guangxu wanted to go to the Summer Palace to find Cixi to make a decision, which was also the intention.

Cixi was silent for a while before she said: "Tell the overseas Chinese that it is impossible to let the imperial court not send officials to Shandong, and the current Shandong officials will be transferred by the imperial court one after another. ”

Guangxu was stunned for a moment, and understood Cixi's intentions, the local officials in Shandong were recommended by the overseas Chinese, and the imperial court was awarded the official according to the recommendation, which actually agreed to the conditions of the overseas Chinese, but the local officials in Shandong were still appointed and dismissed by the imperial court in the name, so that the face of the imperial court was also saved, it can be said that it is the best of both worlds, such a clever trick, I am afraid that only Cixi can think of it, and Guangxu can not admire.

Rong Lu listened, but had another feeling, although on the surface the imperial court is to make concessions to overseas Chinese, but in fact it is still in the hands of the imperial court to appoint and dismiss local officials in Shandong, so that the imperial court has a lot of room for maneuver, and when the strength of the imperial court is enough in the future, it can not accept the recommendation of overseas Chinese. And now, if overseas Chinese want to be promoted, they must also be decided by the imperial court, so that the imperial court can not only use this power to buy some overseas Chinese, but also create contradictions among overseas Chinese.

Li Hongzhang sighed softly, of course he understands Cixi's methods, and it is not new to put it bluntly, it is nothing more than mixing sand and trees among overseas Chinese, dividing and disintegrating, at that time, the imperial court used this trick to deal with Zeng Guofan, and promoted Zeng Guofan's staff members such as Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, Shen Baozhen and others, so that they can each be unique and take charge of their own affairs, which is not only convenient for the control and use of the imperial court, but also can contain Zeng Guofan, and later used this trick against himself, and now he plans to use this trick against overseas Chinese.

However, Li Hongzhang had a lot of contact with overseas Chinese, and he also sent special personnel to collect information about overseas Chinese, and had a certain understanding of their behavior, concepts, and systems, and the imperial court could use this trick to deal with Zeng Guofan and himself, and all of them achieved good results, but it was useless to use this trick to deal with overseas Chinese. Because overseas Chinese have established their own official position system in Shandong, which is very different from the Qing court, and they don't care about the official positions sealed by the imperial court, such as the No. 1 leader of overseas Chinese is Xia Bohai, but it was Qin Zheng, the No. 2 leader, who took over as governor of Shandong.

But neither Xia Bohai nor Qin Zheng went to the place where he served to take office, Qin Zheng even pushed the matter of the governor of Shandong to Wang Sheng, the prefect of Jinan, to deal with it, and together with Xia Bohai and others in Qingdao to form an East China government, and even in Jinan, overseas Chinese did not use the name of the Jinan prefect, but set up the local government of Jinan City, although Wang Sheng is the prefect of Jinan, but obviously values the latter, because all the governance is carried out in the name of the local government of Jinan City. Therefore, the overseas Chinese proposed to the imperial court that they should not send local officials to Shandong, not to let others take the position and occupy the position of local officials in Shandong, but to use their own administrative system in Shandong. Then it is simply impossible for the imperial court to divide and disintegrate among overseas Chinese.

It's just that Li Hongzhang didn't want to say these words too clearly to Cixi, after all, more things are better than less.