In the chaotic humming, the courtiers and Kejinshi bowed down and withdrew from the Taihe Palace, leaving Prince Gong Yixun, Li Hongzao and Li Guolou alone, and let Li Guolou change into a five-grade official robe in the side hall next to Li Guolou, but seeing that there was a blue feather inserted in his official hat, and the pearl was also hung around his neck, ready to go to the Yangxin Palace to meet the emperor and the queen mother of the two palaces.

The great eunuch Liu Deyin watched Li Guolou change his clothes, and said with a smile: "Tanhualang, congratulations!" ”

Li Guolou hurriedly took out a two hundred taels of silver ticket from his wallet, handed it to Liu Deyin, and said in a low voice: "Joy and joy, please come to Baozhifang to drink a glass of wine!" ”

Liu Deyin, a eunuch who is more than forty years old, took the silver ticket and said with a smile: "Tanhualang, what a person, the old slave is optimistic about Tanhualang's future, oh······ Tanhualang, this official robe is a first-class commodity purchased by Gonggong Kuna Fang'an, according to the rules, you give four hundred taels! ”

Li Guolou glanced at Liu Deyin, and felt a little dissatisfied, according to the rules, a set of official robes, two or three hundred taels of silver can be done, sometimes it is better to let the officials buy it themselves, then it is cheaper, it is tailor-made in the world, and it does not take a hundred taels of silver to add up, and it becomes four hundred taels of silver when he comes to him, and a set of "official robes" should be regarded as the emperor's reward, and directly let the eunuch share the stolen goods of four hundred taels of silver.

Liu Deyin carried six hundred taels of silver tickets, left the side hall with satisfaction, and went to the minister's house to pass the holy decree on two silver ingots to reward silver, Li Guolou is very generous, is a worthy friend, look at the territory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, open a few "Please come to the bank" This matter should be implemented as soon as possible, and next time I will invite a few "brothers" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to drink a glass of wine in the Baozhi room.

Li Guolou came to the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, and a small drum played in his heart, and the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces sat behind the bamboo curtain, wanting to listen to him play correctly, and sure enough, the emperor began to ask him about his resume: "Li Guolou, now tell me about your experience of studying abroad and your experience as an errand in the Criminal Department, I want to learn more about it!" ”

Li Guolou looked at Prince Gong sitting on the Jinluan Palace, and saw that he looked calm, unmoving, as if the old monk was in peace, knowing that this time there were only good things, so he used his sharp teeth and sharp teeth, and regarded the Palace of Nourishing Heart as a storytelling field, first said that London, England was useless, the fog was dirty, and people couldn't breathe, and he was in such a difficult environment, there was almost no hanging beam thorn stock, he was still able to improve himself, and he learned a lot to return to China, and then he began to say good things about the criminal department, anyway, he has a brave loyalty, Listening to the orders of the commander, before charging into battle, and never forgetting to serve the ideals of the motherland, studying the "Four Books and Five Classics" well, no matter where he goes, he will tirelessly "learn and learn from time to time", and finally stand out in this scientific examination and win the third place in the first Dingjia.

Li Guolou said affectionately, interspersed with many sad episodes, remembering his dead colleagues, sometimes sobbing on his face, his eyes were unconsciously red, and when he talked about the joy of success, sometimes he would smile at Emperor Tongzhi, which made people see that he was a young man with a true temperament.

Time flies, Li Guolou grasped the scale, and saw that the emperor on the dragon throne did not appear impatient, and the two good ladies behind the curtain did not say anything, so he continued, ready to hold the reins of the horse at any time, and accidentally said for an hour, feeling strange, why no one interrupted him.

Li Guolou said dryly, he couldn't go on, he could finish his words, his stomach was hungry and growling, and he was annoyed, just when he changed his clothes and waited, Prince Gong Yixun and Li Hongzao had eaten muffins, and he was hungry from five drums to now, and he knew in the future, he must hide two biscuits in his sleeves when he came to the palace.

Emperor Tongzhi hasn't heard of it, and Li Guolou hasn't said anything about it, huh······ The next time I go to the study, let Li Guolou come to a while, thinking of this idea, I couldn't help but laugh and said: "Well, Li Aiqing has been talking for so long, and her voice is still so loud, and she is very angry, Prince Gong and Li Taibao have both promoted you, and I have also promoted you once, and there is an errand for you to do." After that, Emperor Tongzhi turned his head to look at Prince Gong and continued: "Prince Gong, last time I talked about opening a military academy in the Zhili area, I decided to let Li Aiqing do it, Li Guolou Hanlin Yuanlangzhong's errand includes the chief secretary of the "Wutang", as for the position of principal, let Weng Tongyi concurrently serve it!" ”

How could Emperor Tongzhi let Prince Gong interfere, he wanted to take the military power of the drill army into his own hands, although it was only a battalion at the beginning, but in the future, it will be handled by Weng Tongyi and Li Guolou, how many troops will there be, at this time he has no bottom in his heart.

Prince Gong Yixun was overjoyed in his heart, with the signboard of the Tongzhi Emperor, the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces would not think about disarmament, Zeng Guofan trained the Hunan army to be cut, Li Hongzhang trained the Huai army and could not escape the fate of being dismissed, and the Han army was corrupted by the Manchurian ancestral rules, and hated the iron does not become steel Eight Banner Battalion, empty consumption of silver, arrogant soldiers as a sentry façade, now "Wutang" is wearing the title of the emperor's personal guard, this army has a great future, a channel to establish an army, and there are eyebrows at this time, which is the sky has eyes.

Prince Gong pretended to be unwilling and reluctant, and slowly swallowed the decree to thank him, so that the empress dowager of the two palaces could see how distressed he was about the loss of authority, and he could only swallow his anger and carry out the emperor's decree.

Although Li Guolou received the order and thanked him, his gratitude was beyond words, but he was surprised and delighted when he stood on the palace of his heart, and gave him so many real shortcomings, how could he be busy, what the hell is going on, the superior leaders have "Westernists", "Qing School" and even "conservatives" have also taken a fancy to him, how to settle so many Bodhisattvas who need to pay tribute and burn incense, and there are still a bunch of greedy "dog slaves" behind him, how to live this day, it seems that for the cause of national defense, the feat of handing over "10 million silver" has made all the sects and factions in the court target him, even" Conservatives "also want a piece of the pie."

Although Li Guolou swore and promised, he was terrified in his heart, what kind of situation would become in the future, originally in his plan, no one else would come to get a piece of the pie, and the greedy people were rushing to let him take out the money first, and the emperor also fought this idea.

Emperor Tongzhi spoke: "Li Guolou, since you have the confidence to complete the task, I will give you another official position, the supervisor of the Wanshou Mountain Project, this errand belongs to you!" ”

"Thank you, Lord Longen, the minister will definitely do this errand well." Li Guolou didn't understand, and couldn't help but look at Prince Gong, where is "Wanshou Mountain", why hasn't he even heard it.

The faces of the eunuchs standing in the palace of nourishing the heart changed in vain, and they never thought that Li Guolou had become the henchman of the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, and the fat and fat in the palace were actually taken by Li Guolou, and the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces only thought that the Wanshou Mountain Project needed millions of taels of silver every year, and this position was thankless, and a master of making money was needed to sit on it, and completed the Wanshou Mountain project for them as soon as possible, so that the two of them could live in the Old Summer Palace and enjoy a gorgeous life. The throne of the head of the two houses is desirable.

The eunuchs looked at Li Guolou with kind eyes, everyone will be their own people in the future, and they will make money with harmony.

Prince Gong Yixun endured it and didn't dare to laugh out loud, and didn't look at Li Guolou to look for eyes, the silly boy was too blessed, and in the future, he would be allocated 90,000 taels of silver from the Beiyang Naval Division to the Wanshou Mountain Project, and Li Guolou would get back a 10% rebate from the Wanshou Mountain Project, and it would be at least 20,000 taels of silver.

Prince Gong stood up, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, this king thinks that Li Guolou is a material that can be made, and he should raise the flag!" ”

After the Qing Dynasty fixed the capital of Beijing, the main force of the Manchurian Eight Banners was stationed inside and outside Beijing according to the flag, people called it the "Eight Banners of the Forbidden Brigade", in addition to the Zhengyang Gate, the eight gates of Beijing have eight banners garrisoned, when the rulers of the Qing Dynasty believed that the big threat to Beijing came from the north, so the north Desheng Gate and Anding Gate are the top priority of defense, the emperor personally commanded the Zhenghuang, inlaid yellow two flags garrisoned, the rest of the city gates, by the remaining six banners according to their respective positions, respectively, guarded, in the early Qing Dynasty, the inner city of Beijing is Manchu, Han people only settled in the south city, At this time, the Manchus and Han have long been mixed, many people have Manchu and Han blood, and there are fewer and fewer purebred Manchus, coupled with the flag-raising system, the Manchus do not care whether this person is a purebred Manchu or not.

Raising the flag is to let Li Guolou join the Manchus, and he will not be a Han in the future, and all the rules of the family must also be formulated by the practices of the Manchu aristocracy, which is also a system of rewarding slaves, and the Han minister cannot carry the flag, so Prince Gong proposed to let Li Guolou carry the flag, that is, he did not regard Li Guolou as a Han minister, but as a private slave.

Of course, Li Guolou understands the truth, but at this time, he is no longer ashamed, and silently recites in his heart, "The whole nation is united, and the whole nation is integrated." "Looking at the Tongzhi Emperor with an ardent expectant look, whether to train him as a minister of the Han Dynasty, or as a Manchu slave, he doesn't care, in the future in the Manchu ministers on the left side of the train of the last dynasty, it is not impossible, just to learn Manchu, write Manchu, otherwise he will be punished by the two queen mothers, he can still speak some Manchu, but Manchu is much worse, many Manchu can speak, but can not write.

Emperor Tongzhi looked at the Empress Dowager of the two palaces next to him, and from the direction where he was sitting on the dragon chair, he could see the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Empress Dowager Ci'an whispering.

Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an listened to Li Guolou's speech for an hour, and immediately looked up to him, able to speak loudly and wonderfully, his eyes looked comfortable, and his ears were enjoyable.

After some discussion, the Empress Dowager Ci'an said in a low voice: "Sister, I see Li Guolou, he is upright, his eyes are clear, you see that he has not shaken since he stood and appeared, he stood like a soldier, I have seen it, he has not moved for more than an hour!" ”

"Hmmm······" Cixi couldn't help nodding slightly, and also showed an expression of approval, this she personally hand-picked Tanhualang, not to promote him, but also to promote the Han people, the voice came out from behind the Cizhu curtain: "Well, Prince Gong's heart is in line with the heart of the palace, quasi-playing, Xu Li Guolou is allowed to carry into the yellow flag, and his family is also allowed to carry in the blue flag!" ”

The Yellow Banner belongs to the three banners, belongs to the emperor's personal leadership, there is no capital, only Zuo Ling, the Empress Dowager Ci'an is also a person from the Yellow Banner, and the Blue Banner is the lower five flags, and Cixi was originally a Blue Banner person, so she did Yi Guifei to carry the flag to join the Yellow Banner, and Li Guolou was raised into the Yellow Banner, which was to cultivate him as a Manchurian nobleman.

Li Guolou turned over and bowed, kowtowing: "Thank you to the Queen Mother, the slave, I will definitely do an errand for the master in the future!" ”

Li Guolou is like Qionglou Immortal Pavilion, it seems to be an illusory fairyland in front of him, how he walked out of the Heart Cultivation Palace, he can't remember, standing at the stone steps of the main hall, in a trance, looking up at the plaque of the Heart Cultivation Palace, with a question mark in his heart, is this true, like a dream, the Forbidden City experience is lingering in his heart, lingering,