In the name of the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, Ding Richang drafted the "Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau" for six reasons:

1. It was because of the strength of the ships and the strength of the guns that the Western powers ran rampant in the Qing Dynasty.

Second, independent research and development of shipbuilding can not be controlled by others, Western artificial ironclad ships have a history of hundreds of years, I have just tried to manufacture, can not give up halfway.

3. In order to catch up with the Western powers, Japan, a small country, has already gone ahead of the Qing Dynasty, and has still set up iron and steel plants, manufactured ironclad ships, and imitated foreign guns and cannons.

Fourth, the previous efforts are abandoned, and the after-effects are difficult to achieve, and the items spent have turned into vain, not only laughing at outsiders, but also soaking up Kou Zhi.

Fifth, raising ships and training troops is a great plan to enrich the country and strengthen the army.

6. "Please Come to the Bank" will raise 50,000 taels of silver for the "Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau", and will raise 50,000 taels of silver for the Shipyard Bureau every year in the future.

The latter is to the point, the household department only gives the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau 350,000 taels of silver every year to maintain funds, which is now equivalent to the "Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau" no longer applies for funds from the state, and the household department only needs to pay the salaries of the officials in the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, in fact, Li Guolou secretly negotiated with Ding Richang, and the Shipbuilding Bureau will not be less than 70,000 taels of silver next year.

In this way, Ding Richang wrote the pen like a swimming dragon, and he waved it with a wave, smiled, threw the brush, and handed it to Li Hongzhang to watch with a relaxed pace, Prince Gong touched his two short beards, and nodded kindly in approval.

Li Guolou frowned and said: "Prince Gong, Li Zhongtang, the lower officials have worked hard, don't trouble me again within a year, let me finish the errands in hand, and don't set goals for other provinces for the lower officials, there is no talent, I just know how to make money, and I can't do it!" ”

"Good, good." Prince Gong said three good things in a row, and looked at Li Guolou with a smile, with Li Guolou raising funds for him, what else could not be done.

Taking advantage of Prince Gong's happiness, Li Hongzhang began to sue the black, slandering Zuo Zongtang, saying that Zuo Zongtang ran the Machinery Bureau in Lanzhou, learned the model of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and copied and copied to revitalize the military industry in the southwest.

"Prince Gong, this Zuo Zongtang is a donkey, everything is so ambitious, when the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau was founded, I repeatedly sent letters to him, let him follow the steps, start from a small scale, and specially warned him to raise funds and employ people can not be sloppy, but this Hunan donkey, he just refused to listen to me, not insisted on 30,000 taels of money to be reported to the imperial court for approval, and let the profiteer Hu Xueyan go to negotiate with foreign banks to discuss loans, after getting it, it was more than half of my Qing Dynasty loan, I don't know what to think, It was approved, and now it's good that he patted his ass and left, the mess of the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, let me and Yu Sheng take care of it, and dragged the small building into this beach of sewage, his brother is good, run to the northwest, and it's not peaceful, or let the big profiteer Hu Xueyan borrow from foreigners, I won't talk about this kind of thing, and I also made a bold statement that the scale of the Lanzhou Machinery Bureau will exceed the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, according to his old like this, my Qing Dynasty is not strong, and he will collapse first, which is to drag down the economy! ”

Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang have a bad relationship, the two have different political concepts, and the way of employing people is also different, Zuo Zongtang likes his subordinates to be honest and honest like water, and he is a capable minister and a capable official, which belongs to letting the horses not eat night grass, but wants the horses to run happily and run the agricultural economy effectively, as for the modern industrial projects are unfinished projects, the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau was originally Zuo Zongtang's key military industrial projects when he was in office in Fujian.

Li Hongzhang likes his subordinates to be capable, and will make a lot of money, and make a fortune, he lets his subordinates be corrupt and bribe-taking, but he asks for results, which is forced out, and it is also the demand of the times, the chief above must be filial, and even the emperor, the queen mother of the two palaces, and the prince have to accept bribes, and the officials who will not make money are of no great use to Li Hongzhang.

"Hmm······· I know who people can be trusted. Prince Gong unconsciously glanced at Li Guolou again, he was also a businessman, Li Guolou only needed a favor, took over the cash business of Caoyun, and directly paid millions of silver to the state, but Hu Xueyan colluded with foreigners to raise the interest on foreign money and embezzle the country's silver.

Li Hongzhang also swept his eyes to Li Guolou, and Prince Gong has the same thoughts, Li Guolou can contribute to the country at a young age, it is really rare, he can also speak English, he is good at making friends with foreigners, it is really a rare breed, the "devil six" "little devil" and "fake foreign devil" in front of him, there are these three outstanding figures of the Westernization school, he is full of confidence as the minister of Beiyang trade affairs.

"Prince Gong, don't you think Xiaolou looks like a person?" When chatting, Li Hongzhang suddenly said that he loved talents and thought of a past in the Qing Dynasty.

"Who?" Prince Gong had a rare leisure time, no longer made appointments with other guests, and negotiated with three of his subordinates to have afternoon tea.

"That Tongda Qing American Pu Anchen." Li Hongzhang said with a smile.

"Oh·······" The eyes of the three of them were all focused on Li Guolou, wanting to find Pu Anchen's shadow from him, which made Li Guolou feel a little angry and held grievances for himself.

American Pu Anchen was originally an American diplomat, Xianfeng was sent to the Qing Dynasty as a minister in the 11th year of the legation, during his tenure and Prince Gong had a good relationship, Tongzhi 6 years Pu Anchen stepped down, and the United States appointed Williams as a minister.

At this time, another important position in the Qing Dynasty, the British chief tax secretary Hurd jumped out and suggested to the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office whether Pu Anchen could be appointed as the "Minister of Foreign Affairs in various countries" in the Qing Dynasty, Hurd's reason was: Pu Anchen was loyal, and had traveled to Western countries, familiar with the situation of various countries, Prince Gong had a good impression of Pu Anchen, and now by Hurd, he immediately agreed, and immediately handed over the fold to the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces.

The Empress Dowager Cixi originally did not understand diplomacy, and all listened to the "Devil Six" proposition, and this time it was also accurate, so the Qing American Pu Anchen stayed in Beijing and was entrusted with an important task by the Qing Dynasty, and formed a delegation of Pu Anchen of the Great Qing Dynasty to visit.

Prince Gong also gave the American Pu Anchen two letters, "Minister of Foreign Affairs of Various Countries" and "Minister of Imperial Affairs", which made Pu Anchen, an American from the Qing Dynasty, happy to wake up from his dream several times.

In the 7th year of Tongzhi, Pu Anchen led the Qing delegation from Beijing to represent the Qing Empire to the United States, Britain, Prussia, Russia and other countries, and in July of that year, Washington and the United States Secretary of State signed the "Sino-US Renewal Treaty" to expand the trade interests of the United States and the Qing Dynasty indefinitely.

In April of the first year of Tongzhi, Pu Anchen went to Russia and had not yet made an official visit, so Pu Anchen died of a sudden acute illness the next day, and the mission returned home.

What kind of character is Pu Anchen, it is necessary for the benevolent to see the wisdom of the wise and the wise, the Westernists sent to see, the Qing Empire did not lose the country, but was able to embark on the road of rejuvenation, Pu Anchen made great contributions, these years the foreigners were willing to help the Qing Dynasty, buy guns and cannons to the Qing Dynasty, and even organize foreign gun teams to eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Eastern Twist, all because Pu Anchen made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty.

And those people of insight laughed at Prince Gong for doing a stupid thing, and even foreigners felt very incomprehensible and thought it was very naïve, and even let a foreigner be the foreign minister of the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, Li Hongzhang proposed the matter of Pu Anchen, that is, he thought that Li Guolou had a diplomatic bearing, of course, he was not ashamed of Prince Gong, you must know that the British General Taxation Department of Pu Anchen Hurd, now because of Li Guolou's negligence, has been transferred from Shanghai, but he still holds the important position of director of the Tianjin Customs and Excise Department, and Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang still favor the British Hurd.

This is also a common disease of the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese people have not yet been familiar with the situation in the West, many things are smeared, foreign affairs need to hire foreigners, Tianjin also has a 3,000-person foreign gun team stationed, at this time has not been disbanded, to defend the territory of the Qing Dynasty, this army for the Qing Dynasty has made great contributions, that is, under the direct command of Li Hongzhang, the Beiyang Navy Division has hired many foreigners, not to mention those manufacturing bureaus, senior technicians are employed foreigners.

"Hmm······ The national building is good to do, and the great tools of the country need to be sharpened. "Prince Gong gave Li Guolou high praise, and he will promote Li Guolou in the future.

"Xiaguan, thank you for cultivating Lord Zhongtang." Although Li Guolou did not agree with Pu Anchen's personality, he also knew what Li Hongzhang meant, and wanted to train him as a diplomat.

The banquet was opened, four people sat down in turn, one person had a large glass of leather wine, at this time the production of "leather wine" was made with a large wooden wine barrel, which belonged to the original ecology, four Chongyang charming outsiders raised their glasses, ready to drink the first cup of leather wine, Li Hongzhang sat down in vain, giggled: "I don't clink glasses with you, I still want to live a few more years in the world!" ”

"Giggle." "Devil Six", "Little Devil", and "Fake Foreign Devil" laughed together, raised their glasses, and shouted: "Cheers!" ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Tomorrow the teahouse will say this allusion, and the three of you can also get married in Taoyuan!" ”

Talking about jokes, not talking about officialdom etiquette, clinking glasses casually, a wine banquet, spent in laughter, Li Guolou's stomach was full of wine, he left the yamen of the Prime Minister's Mansion with a full stomach, and it was already nine o'clock when he returned home, the house was still brightly lit, oil lamps and lanterns were lit up in the living room and corridor, and the family was waiting for him, thirty family members had changed their costumes, a sergeant was dressed up, looking at the family members dressed up in spirit, full of energy, and beaming with joy, Li Guolou was also very satisfied with it, and there were ten official slaves in the living room, It is assigned by the Ministry of Rites to the servants of the five ranks.

Li Guolou saw this group of official slaves, including middle-aged maids and young maids, but his heart was terrified, the internal affairs government spies lurking among these people, and every move he made in the future, the court would know that this group of people must not be allowed to enter the inner house.

The grandmothers at home stood next to them, happy eyebrows, Chen Xiangfang smiled and said: "Xiaolou, how is it, is it okay!" ”

"Well, it's good, it's too late today, let them go to the next yard to rest, the errand will be arranged tomorrow." Li Guolou politely nodded to a group of maids, and turned back to the inner house.

Li Guolou immediately called Chen Xiangfang, Xie Xiuzhu, Zhen Yuhuan, Wu Peipei, five of them hid in the bedroom and muttered, and said in a low voice: "Don't laugh happily, these ten official slaves, there must be spies of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and even some people in our family have been bought by outsiders, you should be careful when you talk in the future, Rong Lu of the Internal Affairs Office has a lot of eyes, give me a mansion on Shiwangfu Street, and want to put me together, and now I have a few beautiful little maids who want to tempt me, and they want me to die earlyMake bad tricks one after the other! ”

Chen Xiangfang refuted: "Xiaolou, why do you say this, people have sent 500,000 taels of silver tickets today!" ”

Li Guolou squinted, sneered and said: "Grandma, don't think that people send me 500,000 taels of silver tickets is my good friend, don't you want interest on this money, I am afraid when I see silver now, the more I save, the more people will move my crooked brain, Prince Gong invited me to dinner tonight, let me take out 50,000 taels of white flowers and silver for a meal, I want to leave Beijing as soon as possible, and if I don't leave, someone will want me to serve the country and the people!" ”

Zhen Yuhuan was also taken aback, and hurriedly asked about the cause and effect, which was a little more reassuring, but the family was under a lot of pressure, and the money had not been earned, and a large amount of interest had made people have no intention of thinking about anything else.

Xie Xiuzhu said suspiciously: "Xiaolou, how do you arrange the ten maids!" ”

Li Guolou sighed: "What can I do, in order to reassure the master, when they move, let them all do things outside the house, and let them be outside as cordons!" ”

Chen Xiangfang asked: "Xiaolou, just now you said that someone in our mansion was bribed, who do you see!" ”

"Hey, people are insatiable, no matter how good you are to them, you still don't know how to do it, let these minions eat inside and out, sell our family news to make some money." Li Guolou refused to say it explicitly, but just asked his grandmother to be careful, and even his "mother" had to be on guard.

Li Guolou got up, making the grandmother at home unsettled, thinking about who would betray their interests, tossing and turning, and the family didn't sleep well all night.