Rong Lu's name Tan Sitong has heard of it for a long time, this person is a rare capable talent in the royal family, I heard that he has been deposed by the Queen Mother for many years, and he doesn't want to meet here, so he hurriedly returned the salute. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"I have been downstairs for a long time just now, and I saw that the chief manager Gou and the girl were fighting for nothing more than a robe, and the chief manager Gou served by the side of the queen mother, and I had never seen any rare things, so why not just get this girl's wish?"

Rong Lu took out a stack of silver tickets and handed it to Gou Fengtao: "The manager will sell me face, give this robe to this girl, and I will help this girl pay for the silver." ”

Rong Lu is just a nobleman who has lost power, and Gou Fengtao is actually not afraid of him. But today it is difficult to ride a tiger, and it is rare for someone to mediate, so he happened to get off the donkey down the slope: "Since Lord Rong has spoken, I will give this robe to this girl, where do you dare to break the bank." He didn't take the silver ticket, waved his hand and went downstairs.

Rong Lu didn't stop him, and gave the silver ticket to the clerk who was trembling and had been hiding aside: "This money is enough to buy two mink skins, and now it's all given to you, you wrap the leather jacket for this girl, and then go to contact Manager Gou to deal with the aftermath." ”

"Lord Rong is polite, no merit will not be accepted, and Tan Sitong will not dare to accept this leather jacket." Tan Sitong hurriedly refused.

"Tan Gongzi is not a layman, why bother! Such a fine silver mink robe is only like a bear for Gou Fengtao, and only this girl is worthy of wearing it. The so-called red powder is given to the beauty, and the sword is given to the hero. I just can't bear to be brutal. ”

He grabbed Tan Sitong's hands and didn't let him answer: "Let's go, let's go to Yuan Xiangcheng for a drink, don't pay attention to these trivial things." ”

What he just handed to Ruifuxiang was 20,000 taels of silver tickets, but he said it was a trivial matter, this person is the same as Yuan Shikai, but he is afraid that he is a master with great ambitions and spending money like earth. There are not many people with this kind of temperament among the people. It's not surprising that he and Yuan Shikai are on good terms. No wonder he was going to make a move to clear the siege just now. Tan Sitong was relieved when he thought of this. happened to be looking for Yuan Shikai to discuss some more things, so he agreed to Rong Lu's invitation.

The three of them took their leather jackets and walked to Yuan's mansion. All the way, Rong Lu only talked about some interesting stories about cockfighting and dog fighting, and did not mention anything else. When I came to Yuan's mansion, I only heard the noise of gongs and drums, and it turned out that Yuan Shikai invited the Peking Opera team and was listening to the opera.

"Yuan Xiangcheng is indulging in banter every day, making friends with powerful people, but he is quite speculative with those of us who only like to spend time drinking." Rong Lu said meaningfully to Tan Sitong.

"He kills like hemp, and I have seen him when he is overturning." Tan Sitong replied with a smile.

As he spoke, Yuan Shikai had already greeted him. He and Rong Lu were obviously very familiar with each other, and they invited the three of them to the inner room without being polite.

Outside the house, Shengdan Jingugu is singing and playing, and the indoor blanket fireplace is warm as spring. The maid in brocade clothes brought refreshments early.

Yuan Shikai beckoned everyone to sit down, and he first said to Rong Lu: "Lord Rong's whereabouts have been decided, go to SX to be the general of Xi'an, and lead the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, a first-class officer, one level higher than the governor." Congratulations, sir. ”

"Thank you for your trouble, if it weren't for you and Zhongtang to help Zhang Luo, I would still be an idle waste." Rong Lu hurriedly got up and thanked him.

"The main thing is that the adults supported the first emperor back then, and the queen mother still remembers the merits of the adults. You can be the general of Xi'an is hand-picked by the Queen Mother, and you have to thank the Queen Mother, Zhongtang is just figuring out the intention and being a favor, as for me to help nothing, don't be polite. ”

Yuan Shikai didn't dare to take credit.

"If you hadn't found Manager Li to dredge, where would the Queen Mother still remember me. I will repay this kindness. "Rong Lu is not a stupid person, he knows that it was Yuan Shikai who got through Li Lianying, the most popular eunuch around Cixi.

"Okay, let's not talk about anything else today, just drink and chat." Yuan Shikai diverted the topic and asked his subordinates to hold a banquet and set up wine.

Obviously, he helped this Rong Lu a lot, but he was unwilling to take credit. Tan Sitong was secretly frightened by Yuan Shikai's methods.

This person is about the same age as himself, but his wrist is much more powerful than his own. He is no more than three officials, but he controls the king of Korea, with no more than 3,000 soldiers, but he dares to deal with the great powers in a foreign country, and he is not left behind.

What's even more powerful is that he can be regarded as a confidant by Li Hongzhang, and he actually has the ability to influence the situation. That ****** eyebrows with him, this Ronglu is grateful to him, a Han man is so close to the Manchu nobles, what is he trying to do? Why does he have so much energy?

Drinking and hot, Rong Lu held Yuan Shikai's hand and promised: "If you are in danger in the future, I, Rong Lu, will be saved by death!" ”

In 1900, the law was changed. At that time, Rong Lu was already the governor of Zhili. In that year, the Hundred Days Restoration, the sky fell apart, the emperor was imprisoned, Tan Si died together, and only Yuan Shikai was able to escape with his whole body. Rong Lu made good on his promise.

After a long time of drinking, Rong Lu said goodbye and went home. As soon as Rong Lu left, Yuan Shikai, who was drunk and hazy, was immediately refreshed, and he had long since lost the drunken state just now.

"The princes of the court and the central government are all poisonous insects of mantis and cockroaches, or evil ghosts of ghosts. With full enthusiasm and sincerity, it is impossible to achieve a big thing to change the law! Maybe they'll backfire against them. I deliberately befriended these nobles because they wanted to fight among themselves. Yilu is greedy for money, and Ronglu loves power, but they are both short-sighted and stupid. Zhongtang wants me to assist these two people in high positions, and they will be used by us in the future. ”

"The will of the middle hall?" Tan Sitong was surprised.

"You're all looking down on the middle hall. Zeng Wenzhenggong has such a vision, he can regard Zhongtang as the heir of the mantle, and naturally knows that Li Zhongtang is worthy of talent. Everyone is just blinded by the fact that the party rivalry is the case. is planning to seek the country, even Zhang Zhidong is not as deep as Zhongtang. Yuan Shikai defended Li Hongzhang.

"Zuo Zongtang is brave and upright, handsome and knowledgeable. But on the sleek and thoughtful, the thinking is far-reaching, but Li Hefei is also. ”

"I want to hear about it". Tan Sitong sincerely asked.

"First of all, tell us your views on the current situation and your predictions for the future of the change." Yuan Shikai asked Tan Sitong rhetorically.

"There are tigers and wolves outside, silverfish inside, the people are miserable, and the building is only afraid that it will fall between Russia."

"Zhang Zhidong's industry saves the country, can foreign use save the crisis?"

"The people's livelihood economy has benefited and the national strength has been enhanced, but the core technology is controlled by others, and the people's wisdom has not changed, the system has not changed, and the symptoms cannot be cured." Tan Sitong told the truth.

"What do you think of Zuo Zongtang's toughness to the outside world?"

"Ke Jinghou is a famous figure in history. He single-handedly recovered the Western Regions, and this alone proves his historical position. If it weren't for him, I'm afraid that the land would have been lost, XJ had been annexed by Tsarist Russia, and even Gansu and Shaanxi would be in danger. He was right to defend himself against foreign aggression. However, the westward expedition has been spent for many years, and it has also exacerbated the emptiness of national strength. ”

"If there is no Li Zhongtang's grievances and the situation in the southeast is stabilized, even if Zuo Zongtang is reincarnated, I am afraid that he will not be able to calm the Western Rebellion, right? The military is inferior to the people, the economy is inferior to the people, the system is not as good as the people, no matter how tough you are, what will you do to fight with others? ”

Therefore, Zhennanguan won a great victory, but Li Zhongtang put a gun behind his back, but advocated peace, gave up the suzerainty of Vietnam, and signed the TJ Treaty with the French. He is just afraid that the water will come from the east, and lead the war to the southeast! Tan Sitong didn't dare to agree with Yuan Shikai's statement.

"It's true that he is afraid that the war will lead to the southeast, but Li Zhongtang is not selfish, he is afraid that his Huai army will be damaged. In army operations, we have geographical advantages, and Zuo Zongtang is a first-class commander, who has been fighting for many years, and we may be able to compete with foreigners for a long time.

However, coastal defense is very different from land defense, without the geographical barrier of mountains and rivers, the foreign ship of foreigners drives straight in, from the coast into the Yangtze River, until it reaches the two lakes, and the SC is attacked by TJ, which can deter Gyeonggi in a moment. Invaded by the RB Sea, there is almost no place to defend outside the pass. What do we do to fight people? We don't have coastal defense! ”

"Li Zhongtang spent so many silver taels, what about the Beiyang Naval Division he formed?"

"The Beiyang Naval Division Tongzhi 13 years of planning, to Guangxu 14 years before the formal formation of the army, during the British customized Yangwei, Chaoyong, to the Germans to buy Dingyuan, Zhenyuan battleship, and later added a few ships, at that time the combat effectiveness was indeed not weak.

However, after Weng Tongshu took charge of the household department, he vigorously cut the navy's expenses because of his private abolition, resulting in the ships falling into disrepair, the artillery ammunition was seriously insufficient, and the morale of the military division was low. Not to mention the addition of new ships. Nowadays, the speed, rate of fire, firepower allocation, and soldier quality of the Beiyang Naval Division have greatly lagged behind the world's powers. Yuan Shikai's expression was solemn, obviously worried about coastal defense.

"Then Li Zhongtang's method is to be subservient and humble himself, and he is bent on currying favor with Zhu Qiang, so that he can survive for a long time!?" Tan Sitong was unceremonious.

Li Hongzhang's political strategy has always been to show weakness and foreign powers, exchange humiliation for peace, and he himself has suffered in XC, so Tan Sitong really has no good impression of him.

"The softest in the world, the strongest in the world. The middle hall is also great wisdom. "Yuan Shikai is known for his fierceness and fierceness, he has always been an iron-fisted method in North Korea, and he has never been false in dealing with the West, and he has never shown weakness, and he does not want him to respect Li Zhongtang to the extreme.

"In today's situation, if you have a bad relationship with the West, you will obviously suffer a loss if you are just humiliating yourself, and you will obviously suffer a loss. However, Westerners are not the ferocious and barbaric people of the legend, they pay more attention to honesty and fairness than us, and the national system is more advanced and civilized. If we treat each other with sincerity and self-esteem, we can actually gain their respect. Yuan Shikai has been dealing with foreigners for a long time, and obviously has a deeper understanding of foreigners.

"The British invasion of XC Tsarist Russia has coveted our northern territory for a long time, and the RB people even covet the large rivers and mountains outside the pass, and the wolf ambition is known to passers-by. Brother Xiang Cheng still said that they were civilized and honest for some reason? Tan Sitong disagreed.

"They are the same powers, but their national systems and customs are very different. The British, the Americans, the Germans, etc., are interested in trade circulation, they want to do business with us, and they want our state system to be more enlightened and progressive. They are chasing wealth.

Since ancient times, the RB people have lived on isolated islands in the sea and are poor in resources, and they have a natural sense of crisis and have always wanted to migrate to the mainland, so they do covet the rich land outside the Guan. However, if they want to swallow the fat of our country, they are afraid that the people's hearts are insufficient and the snake swallows the elephant, which will lead to the collapse of their own country. As for the Tsarist Russians, who are brutal and greedy by nature, they like to plunder and occupy in their bones, and they are the biggest henchmen.

Li Zhongtang's countermeasure was to make friends from afar and attack closely, and to make peace with the West, but to divide and conquer the troubles of the two henchmen on the near side, and he must not let Tsarist Russia and the RB people join forces to invade China. If these two countries collude and collude together, then the country will really fall into a place of no return. ”

"So Li Hefei's countermeasure is to deliberately let the northeast go, let the Tsarist Russia and the RB people go there to fight with each other, and let them be enemies of each other." Tan Sitong woke up a little.

"This is a ploy to kill three soldiers with one peach. Now that our country is weak and cannot stop the evil of these tigers and wolves, it is better to lead them to kill each other than to be swallowed by one country. I only hope that the RB people can have the upper hand in this scramble. ”

"Isn't Li Zhongtang more friendly with the Russians?" Tan Sitong was a little surprised.

"The Russians are even more ferocious and greedy, Zhongtang naturally has to try his best to make friends with them, their national strength is strong, the people are fierce, and their combat effectiveness is extremely strong, if they invade the northern territory, I am afraid that it will be difficult to recover it in the future. But Akari Nakado hates RB and deliberately indulges their ambitions. It is to conspire with the tiger and use the ambitions of the RB people to fight against Tsarist Russia.

If the RB people can win against the Russians, it will not be a blessing for the country. After all, a small country, when China is revived, why worry that we can't drive them back to the sea when the time comes?! Zhongtang's thinking is far-reaching, and the planning is deep, which is not something that we can immediately comprehend. Yuan Shikai sighed.

"Li Zhongtang is ready to give up the interests of North Korea and let the RB people land in the northeast, and my time in North Korea is running out. Whether you can leave that place of right and wrong, the Li family's father and son are not competent kings, and the fall of Korea is a matter of time, and the key is whether it falls into the hands of Tsarist Russia or the RB people. Obviously, Li Zhongtang prefers the RB people to get North Korea, although it will be a disaster for our country, but the lesser of the two harms, the RB people are obviously better to deal with. Li Zhongtang is preparing countermeasures, I should return to China soon, and then I can wholeheartedly help you complete the reform of the law. Yuan Shikai continued.

;