Li Hongzhang pondered for a moment and said: "Xiaolou, the idea is creative, I didn't lose the battle, I ceded the land by myself, and betrayed the country's sovereignty, I will be scolded to death by those Qing schools in the court, and even the scholars in the Gongyuan will come to the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office with slogans to petition, and the eighteenth generation of the Li family ancestors will not be spared, this is your wishful thinking, no one will support your idea!" ”

Li Guolou leaned up with a hippie smile and said: "Uncle, what are you, you are still afraid of being scolded by others, we can change the rhetoric, it is called a win-win situation, now Prussian Bismarck is in power, known as the iron-blooded prime minister, and you are called the two optimus pillars of the East and the West, you come forward to negotiate with Bismarck, I believe that leasing some land is nothing, a military port is delivered to the Prussians, let the British protest, we have the support of the Prussian Empire, advanced artillery, spears, and equipment, the French occupy Annam, we will not be long, We can fight back, this in and out, this account is calculated, we will make a profit without losing money, and we can also defeat the arrogance of small Japan in the east, so that small Japan does not dare to make changes in Taiwan and Korea, as for Britain to protest, we must come up with a reason, we are cooperating with the Prussian Empire, everyone is negotiating on the principle of equality and reciprocity, the British, the French, and the Russians want to eat the fruit, and they must also show sincerity, but will they have it, negotiate with the British, they suffer a loss, and they ask for a revision of the treaty, but the Prussians are straight, and signing a treaty with them will not tamper with, our industrial base allows the Prussians to lay the foundation, in a short time, in exchange for fruitful fruits, only the Prussians can be friends, and the other empires are white-eyed wolves, which will devour us in one bite! ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head and said: "You are very reactionary, you have come up with this method, but I can talk to Prince Gong first, Xiaolou, have you written a statement!" ”

Li Guolou's face turned pale, this paper was submitted to the Prime Minister's Office Yamen will be archived, and it will be attributed to the national archives, which is a historical witness, selling national sovereignty, interests, and land, and his traitor name will be determined forever, where do future generations know that their generation is trying to survive in the cracks, and will always be scolded by future generations, and he is a traitor, no one will say good things about him, and even the cemetery will be dug up when he dies. In exchange, the Eight-Nation Coalition withdrew from the Beijing Division, and instead supported the Qing Empire to eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and was scolded by the world as "Devil Six", but he was scolded for betraying national interests when the country tended to be peaceful.

"Uncle, if I don't write, I'm going to be scolded to death, I'm just giving you ideas, whether you follow those who make national policies." Li Guolou blurted out, started a small temper, flicked the sleeves of his suit, took a sip of tea, and spoke dryly, in exchange for a Chen note, discrediting his image.

Regardless of whether the court will pass or not, he will be remembered by the court officials, "Li Guolou" is a traitor, a villain, not a talent to govern the country, a gentleman should be frank and open-minded, and govern the country with the avenue, so that the country can prosper, the people will be united, and there will be hope for uniting the country.

Li Hongzhang can see clearly at a glance that his "grandson" is too smart, his ideas are different from ordinary people, the ideas on the avenue are in place, write them out and present them to Prince Gong, you can put them on the table to talk about, and the ideas on the trail can also be used, and he also knows that there will be troubles, he refuses to write on paper, and the strategy has the top, middle and bottom, as for which one to use, it depends on the national policymaker.

How can Li Hongzhang be cheap Li Guolou, the evidence of the crime is in his hands, Li Guolou has been used by him all his life, this is also the way of officials, it is better to use people with stains than clean people, clean people are suitable for teaching craftsmen, teaching people, and there are stains under the command can do practical things, because only this kind of person can ignore whether your policy is right or wrong, and do errands for you with one mind, and play a role in getting twice the result with half the effort, which has been the case since ancient times, and the emperor is also like this.

Li Hongzhang coaxed Li Guolou and said: "Xiaolou don't be afraid, write down what you said today, I just talked about your remarks with Prince Gong, which is very helpful for you to enter the court, rest assured, there will be no transcript of this statement!" ”

Where did Li Guolou think that such a big official would deceive him, besides, it was his elder, so he hurriedly said: "Zha, my grandson wrote out today's proposition and counted it as a reference opinion, uncle, should I make an analysis of the surrounding countries and a report on the mentality of the Western powers, with Chen Tiao attached, so that if I say this kind of thing, there will be a basis!" ”

Li Hongzhang was stunned, blinked his eyes, and asked, "Xiaolou, you can still make an analysis report, where is the intelligence!" ”

Li Guolou said: "I read both the English newspaper and the French newspaper in the concession, in the foreigner's article, there are our state secrets, plus I also read the transcript of the Di newspaper, and the comprehensive analysis will have the overall situation, my claim that seems to betray the country's sovereignty is based on facts, in fact, it is a bitter medicine, with my strategy, the Russians will be defeated by us in less than ten years, the French covet the northern region of Annandi, and want to drive Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army, early morning and evening to fight with the French, as for the area controlled by the French in the south, I believe that within fifteen years, it can also be recovered, and then the Ryukyu vassal states will also re-pay their offerings to our court, and as for those concessions in the country, they can become windows for opening up to the outside world, and everyone will be at peace with each other, so as to achieve a real win-win situation, and when we are strong enough to participate in the development of the colonies, we can also establish concessions from foreigners, and become the overlord of the East and the West together with Prussia! ”

Li Hongzhang quipped: "Then let me ask you, where are we going to take it as a concession!" ”

Li Guolou said solemnly: "Obtain the whole territory of Annam, the next thing is Gapo, as long as Gapo is captured, Hong Kong, the British will not be able to occupy it, and Burma will not be guaranteed, so the real hard war is to fight with the French Annan South, and then the British and Americans will also help the French, and we will have a century of Armageddon with the Westerners Annan!" ”

Li Hongzhang became excited, put on his shoes, and said hurriedly: "Xiaolou, you wait, I'll go get the map, it's okay for us to talk on paper!" ”

Li Guolou saw that Li Hongzhang didn't even wear the heels of his shoes, so he went out to get the map, knowing that his words moved Li Hongzhang, where does the world know how difficult it is to move towards the road of national rejuvenation, destroying and smashing the old dynasty are all means, and it is not necessary to use the introduction mechanism, the Prussians made enemies on all sides, although they won a victory in the Franco-Prussian War, but the hidden hostile countries will strangle the Prussians' victory, Bismarck also needs to alleviate the crisis faced by their country, and an alliance with the Qing Empire is also beneficial to the Prussian Empire.

Although the Qing Empire will sell many interests and sovereignty for this alliance, it is not worth losing anything, the industrial revolution of the Qing Empire can be the introduction model, and it sounds shameful to rely on foreigners for the road to national rejuvenation, but it can be said that this is a joint-stock company, there are options, there are shareholders, a win-win system, the lesser of two evils, as a politician is to play this political means, the enemy is a friend, the Qing Dynasty is surrounded by enemies, divided and disintegrated enemies, each broken, and the great threat to the Qing Empire is lifted.

Li Hongzhang spread out the map, let Li Guolou watch together, the map of Annam is very fine, each province has a small map, indicating that the Qing Emperor in the past attached great importance to Annam, the geographical environment of this vassal country is thorough, and the map of Xinjiang is a big map, the mountains and rivers can be seen clearly, other aspects, and the map of Annam is too different.

Li Guolou sighed: "Uncle, I now know why you are unwilling to use troops against Xinjiang, how can you march and fight on such a map, there is no advanced map in the Qing Dynasty!" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Of course, the Ministry of War still has fine maps, but it is not much better, Xinjiang is too big, no one has to do surveying and mapping, I am now against the use of troops in Xinjiang, and I have still firmly defended it, starting from reality, the treasury has no silver, I can't afford to toss, others think I have an opinion on Zuo Zongtang, and deliberately disagree with him, but where do others know how much money it will cost to maintain the status quo of Xinjiang Commander Jing Lian, Jing Lian can persist until now It is not easy, it can be said that he is a loyal and brave man, a hero who is loyal to the country, Zuo Zongtang only knows how to impeach Jing Lian, But it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, how many belongings does Jinglianjiang Hami have, where is it possible to recover Xinjiang, Zuo Zongtang is standing and talking without backache, cover my ass clearly, and then talk about recovering Xinjiang! ”

Li Guolou looked at Li Hongzhang and said nothing, everyone has selfish intentions, Li Hongzhang cut troops and reduced salaries in the two rivers, but increased the cost of regimental training, and trained the Huai army into a generation of troops, and now the soldiers are strong and strong, and he only thinks of the Beiyang Naval Division, and in the controversy between coastal defense and fortress defense in the court, he advocates attaching importance to coastal defense first and is indifferent to the northwest border defense, while Zuo Zongtang advocates paying equal attention to coastal defense and fortress defense, and also emphasizes sending troops to Xinjiang first.

Li Guolou wrote a book, and also talked about the Xinjiang issue, and it is the latter article, this is because the Xinjiang campaign, can only win, can not lose, if it loses, the "Zhedeshar country" is very likely to be the first **, the Western powers will recognize the legitimacy of the "Zhedeshar country", the country must fully support, in order to launch the campaign to recover Xinjiang, now can only recuperate, raise military salaries, train troops, and transport grain.

At this time, the war was very different from ancient times, the climatic conditions changed, so that Xinjiang is no longer a place of lush vegetation, many places are desert and barren, water and grass are missing, especially the first soldiers to reach the eastern and northern Xinjiang regions, the Gobi is vertical and horizontal, and the grain production is very small, as the saying goes, the soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, and the troops cannot drive straight in, which is a great difficulty for the Qing Dynasty to recover Xinjiang, and the battle to recover Xinjiang is far away.

Zuo Zongtang also encountered unprecedented difficulties, the northwest Hui uprising and the West Twist combined, the momentum was huge, the imperial court dispatched the Huai Army, the Henan Army, and cooperated with the Chu Army to cover Shaanxi and Gansu to suppress the rebellion, but still did not purge the Hui uprising and the remnants of the West Twist rebels.

At this time, it is too early to say that it is too early to enter Xinjiang, Li Guolou can only listen to Li Hongzhang's farsightedness, praising the Manchurian Jing Lian as a person who is loyal to the country, and he has no clever words to say his own point of view, for the ability of the Xinjiang commander Jing Lian, Li Guolou is divided into two to see, the early stage is just a waste, which causes the Xinjiang war situation to be passive, and in the later stage, of course, he is a person who is loyal to the country, and can stick to several isolated cities such as Hami, Balikun, Jimusar, Tarbagatai, etc., so that the rebel Agu Bai will not move, and the imperial court commendation orders are promulgated one after another, which is a high reward for Jing Lian.

"Hey, now that the chaos in Xinjiang has even been dispatched by the Russians, the city of Erie has been occupied by the Russians, and it was the British who told me that the Chinese people still don't know about it." Li Hongzhang was not careful, and told the military secret, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and the Qing Empire implements the policy of ignoring the people to govern the country, and this kind of loss of land has been concealed to this day.

Li Guolou smiled bitterly: "Uncle, I'm right, with the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, will this kind of thing happen, and the British still need to notify our country, what a shame, the British are not good goods, they are afraid that the Russians will invade India and touch their Indian privileges and interests, so this time they will be a good person!" ”

Li Hongzhang glanced at it and said: "Okay, don't show your merits, you are my grandson, you are still young, I can only suppress you first for this fame, where do you want to be an official!" ”

Li Guolou lowered his eyebrows and said in a deep voice: "Uncle, it's the day after tomorrow, I'm going to take the Jinshi exam, as for being an official, I don't want to be a magistrate, making money is the first thing, Brother Xingsun Post and Telecommunications Bureau is developing, I also want a modest effort, but ······ You run a business school and a military school, let me be an instructor, give me a bigger official hat, hang my name, and give me the opportunity to have a large number of students, so that I can take over your old class in the future! ”

Li Hongzhang couldn't help grinning and said with a smile: "Xiaolou, with your eight-strand literary level, you still want to be admitted to the Jinshi, you are ambitious, and you still want my position, isn't it whimsical!" ”

Li Guolou didn't dare to laugh, kept a serious expression, and said: "Uncle, I am Prince Gong Baoju into the examination room, and I directly worship Li Hongzao's name, and I also accept Li Hongzao!" ”

"Oh······" Li Hongzhang suddenly realized that the "grandson" was the same as those sons of the Manchurian nobles, a cheater,