[Chapter Word Count:3298 Latest Update Time:2014-09-2907:00:00.0]

"The crescent moon river surrounds the house like a dragon, and the west mountain looks like a tiger from afar" Experts who are familiar with the ancient buildings of the Ming and Qing dynasties will not be unfamiliar with this sentence, because this is the famous Gongwang Mansion in the late Qing Dynasty.

Prince Gong Wang Yi, nicknamed Devil Six, basically monopolized the foreign affairs of the Qing Dynasty before Li Hongzhang became a climate, and finally handed over the diplomatic power to Beiyang, also because his health was not as good as day by day, otherwise it was really not Li Hongzhang's turn to take over this shift.

"A palace of Prince Gong, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty, now the diplomatic center of the empire is here, and the devil is the sixth when the power is monstrous, this opponent is not easy to deal with......" Xiao Letian took a borrowed foreign carriage and parked more than a hundred meters away from the gate of the palace. In front of the carriage, the official sedan chair has blocked the street, and the palace housekeeper is leading people to sort them step by step.

"Oh, isn't this Jiu Shuai? Say hello to Lord Zeng...... "The housekeeper of the outer gate of the palace bowed down for a long time, and the brain couldn't be lower.

The surrounding officials have never seen the housekeeper of Prince Gong's Mansion so respectful, and they are talking about each other one after another, and who knows the details and quietly explained, "You don't know this master......?"

"Zeng Guoquan!" I don't know which one of the missing eyes actually shouted, "It turned out to be him, didn't the imperial court let him go to Zhejiang to be the governor? Why did he come to Beijing again......"

"Silence, you're crazy, donkey's voice, you...... Let Zeng Shave hear you call his name, and be careful that your head is not protected. What kind of governor, the Jizi battalion of the Hunan army was raised by him, and the nine marshals had to come forward to lead the army to attack Tianjing City...... Also, I heard that this time the nine marshals entered Beijing, it was for Zeng Dashuai to stand in the front, and Zeng Guofan will enter Beijing after a while......"

People are talking about it, and they are talking about this Jiu Shuai and his elder brother, the two brothers of the Zeng family, who are famous in history, have just exterminated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and it is when the sun is in full swing, and the 500,000 Hunan troops in their hands are the military force that the entire Qing Dynasty is afraid of.

Zeng Guoquan didn't seem to hear people's discussions, and picked up the housekeeper with a smile, "You old dog, running errands under the prince can be regarded as a refinement, and you have to make my flesh hurt...... Come on, reward the noble butler with three thousand taels ......"

"Xie Jiushuai's reward! Someone is coming, open the middle door to greet Jiushuai...... Don't shirk, the opening of the middle door was ordered by the prince himself, and the prince also said that when the nine marshals came, he would stand in the second gate to ......greet him."

Oh, what a big face, those officials waiting in line were talking loudly, so that Prince Gong could open the middle gate to greet him, and he was still standing at the second gate to greet him, this Zeng family brother is simply a big face.

Jiu Shuai just excused himself slightly, and swaggered into the main entrance, and the surrounding officials were envious. Xiao Lotian sneered, "A group of stupid hats, just look at this kind of flashy and unreal face, if you can't open the middle door, there is a fart, this year there is still the most affordable to have money and soldiers, when the British and French forces parade in the Taihe Palace, people don't need you to open the door...... Okay, it's my turn to finish shaving my head, bypass these sedan chairs, let's plug in the first one!"

The Yanmar carriage, which was borrowed by Lewis, lightly bypassed the palanquin group and began to stuff it in exchange for the accusations of a group of people: "Hey, hey, what do you say, foreigners can cut in line......? Hey, the person sitting in the car is not a foreigner, but a second devil? Oh, isn't that Xiao Letian, an overseas lonely guest!"

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, all the officials at the door and the people waiting in front of the palace were all dumbfounded, they watched the black carriage add the first one, and then jumped from the car a two devils in a dress, snow-white gloves grabbed the foreigner's cane, and there was a bit of chic between the steps.

"Your butler, butler!" Xiao Letian shouted twice before he woke him up, "This is my invitation." After speaking, he shoved the invitation into the butler's arms and strode forward.

"Hey, Mr. Xiao wait, you wait first......"

"What do you mean? Oh...... Did I forget to give the door bag, blame me for negligence. After speaking, he stuffed two eagles for foreigners into the butler's hand. How could the housekeeper of Prince Gong's Mansion care about this little money, standing there embarrassed and his face turned green.

"Thank you, Mr. Xiao has rewarded you...... Come on, open the middle door to greet Mr. Xiao, and the second door of the prince will greet ......" This voice roared out, and the street in front of the house gate was in an uproar, and people were shocked for a long time speechless, even Xiao Lotian was stunned.

Is this a corporal Lixian? Is this to help me turn the tables in front of Qingliu? No wonder Devil Six can be in charge of the diplomacy of the entire empire, his eyesight is really good, this is a treasure from my book? Xiao Letian looked up and watched the creaking main door slowly open, as if the empire was open to him.

The ancients said that Houmen was as deep as the sea, let alone the palace, and when Xiao Letian walked into Prince Gong's mansion, a sense of wealth and nobility piled up by pure people almost pounced on him.

Everywhere there were eunuchs standing respectfully, maids walking on tiptoe back and forth, and every room was full of people. When the two devils in dresses walked in front of them, everyone stood up and pointed.

Xiao Letian saw that this was very good, and the devil who dared to love me was playing me as a monkey, and called me over to show these officials as a Western scene. After a while, the second gate had arrived, but not only the devil six was greeting him, but the nine handsome Zeng Guoquan next to him was also standing next to him with a smile and staring at him.

"This is an overseas lonely guest of Qiwen Dongjingshi, Mr. Xiao Letian, this king has been fascinated for a long time, and when I saw it today, I was really bright, please ......" Yi, who is the prince, actually stretched out his hand and motioned to Xiao Lotian inside, please. And the ninth handsome Zeng Guoquan was even more enthusiastic, and actually walked down the steps and grabbed Xiao Letian's hand.

"Only a strange man can write such a strange text, since Mr. "Westward Manga" is famous in Beijing, I have read it word for word four or five times, it is really open, I saw the main one today, I didn't say that I didn't get drunk and didn't return......" After speaking, he pulled Xiao Lotian and walked to the back garden, which is the famous Cuijin Garden.

Xiao Lotian enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the famous garden all the way, while carefully thinking about the inside story behind this banquet. Prince Gong is now the time to wear a pair of pants with Cixi, and the two wolf bèi are in unison. The peasant uprisings within the Qing Dynasty had to be suppressed, the Han ministers who had not fallen too far had to be guarded against, and even the imperial opposition represented by Ci'an had to be kept a close eye on them.

In Xiao Letian's memory, it was not until Guangxu ascended the throne that the generals of the Hunan army grew old and no longer had the ambition to rebel, and Ci'an was killed and Cixi completely surrendered to the imperial family, that their alliance was dissolved. There must be Cixi's instructions behind Yi's departure today, this opponent is not easy to deal with.

There is also Zeng Guoquan, not to mention a fuel-efficient lamp, in the wild history records, this brother instigated his brother to rebel more than once, and in reality, after the pacification of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Hunan army had 500,000 elites and a large number of foreign guns and artillery. On the other hand, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's center, the last bit of elite foundation also made Seng Greenqin bad in Beijing, and he was really not the opponent of the Hunan army in terms of comprehensive strength alone.

According to legend, Zeng Guofan returned to the capital for the first time after pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The first thing Cixi said when she saw him was to ask, 'How many soldiers did you bring into Beijing today?' Zeng Guofan was scared by this sentence, and he broke out in a cold sweat all night. It can be seen how much suspicion between the two sides was at that time.

"Grandma's, these two are completely hostile factions, and they actually came to see me while laughing, what are they trying to do? ”

Yi's so-called buying a troupe today and inviting everyone to listen to the play and drink is completely an excuse, when the gongs and drums in the back garden theater have been beaten, the prince did not appear, but in a very small and simple study, the three of them sat together and actually made a table of wine.

Xiao Letian looked at the exquisite dishes in front of him, but none of them could be named, each time the eunuch and palace maid only served four dishes, and the distinguished guests used three chopsticks at most, and they were immediately withdrawn, and then replaced with the other four, this is a serious flowing water seat. And the personal service of the two maids behind him, one left and one right, made Xiao Letian sweat and hair. Modern people are really not used to this kind of personal service, there is no place for their two hands, and even the dishes are handled by maids, as long as you open your mouth.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, the devil six and the nine handsome looked at each other and smiled, Zeng Guoquan spoke first, "Mr. Xiao is really a person who grew up in the West, just now I looked at Mr.'s right hand, and found that only the left side of the front end of the middle finger has calluses, which means that you grew up holding foreigners' pens since childhood, and we Qing scholars are all four-finger pens, how can this kind of callus come out......"

Xiao Letian chuckled in his heart, amazing, who said that the ancients didn't have knowledge? The ancients just had less knowledge of natural sciences than the traversers, and there was an unknown piece of historical knowledge, but which of the big people who could leave their names in the history books was given for nothing?

"Mr. Xiao, the king of Baihualou Hanlin once was rude to you, this king is not for him, he is too old to understand new things, why should you be like him, for the sake of my face, forget it......"

When Xiao Letian heard it, there was something in it, Devil Six was worthy of being a famous diplomat in the late Qing Dynasty, and what he said was really comprehensive, with bones and thorns. On the surface, it is persuasion, but the subtext is to tell Xiao Lotian, we already know the details of Taibailou, we know what tricks you use, and it is too simple to deal with you.

Xiao Letian met a real opponent this time, what Fuqing used to be, Liuxian Ling, Second Master Lian, these small characters are not comparable to these people who have left their names in history books. The power they now have in their hands is unimaginable to Xiao Letian, and it is really easy to crush him.

Now you have to hide it, "Where did the prince say, how dare he hold a grudge against Lao Hanlin." But you also know that I grew up in the West since I was a child, and people there respect women very much, and he is scolding me for being able but not for my daughter-in-law, I am a big husband who stands up to the sky, if I can't protect my own women, wouldn't it be too much!"

"Haha, forget it, it's not a big deal. Zeng Guoquan picked up his wine glass and began to play round, "After all, Mr. Xiao grew up overseas, foreigners are such an extroverted character, if Brother Xiao is introverted and forbearing, I really can't believe that you grew up overseas...... Lord, let's get down to business!"

Prince Gong put down his wine glass, "Mr. Xiao, this king will ask you a word, if we want to change the law and reform in the Qing Dynasty, how do you think it should be appropriate?"