In the afternoon, Li Guolou came to Li Hongzhang's mansion, gave Uncle Guan a door bag, handed over ten taels of silver tickets, Uncle Guan didn't blink his eyelids, and said: "Xiaolou, you have to wait for a while, Lord Zhongtang will meet Sheng Huaixuan, I'm afraid it will be a while!" ”

Li Guolou touched his nose, handed over a silver ticket, and said with a smile: "Uncle Guan, Uncle Sheng is here, then there is still a bottom, you help me look at the sky and say, if my uncle is not empty, I will leave!" ”

Uncle Guan smiled and said, "Oh, my family is easy to discuss, I'll go in and take a look." After speaking, Uncle Guan turned around and ran towards the courtyard, still in a trotting position, indicating that the amount of silver tickets given by Li Guolou gave him infinite motivation.

Sheng Huai Xuanzi Xingsun, Jiangsu Wujin people, Xiucai was born, Tongzhi two years into the Li Hongzhang shogunate, this year, Li Hongzhang led the troops from the direct subordinate to Shaanxi, to assist Zuo Zongtang to crusade against the Northwest rebellion, Sheng Huaixuan as the camp copywriter and the camp office, thus gaining fame, Sheng Huaixuan and with the ability to drill the camp, worship Li Hongzhang as his father-in-law, is Li Hongzhang's lineage, is an official businessman, the ability to make money is unmatched, Li Hongzhang appointed Tang Tingshu and Xu Run to establish the Shanghai Steamship Merchants Bureau, and soon added Sheng Huaixuan as the office, Since then, Sheng Huaixuan has set foot in the industry.

Steamship China Merchants, at the beginning of the steamship China Merchants Company, because the Qing government stipulates that the transportation of official goods must have the priority of this company, so China Merchants has a stable income, which is the exclusive carriage of rice by China Merchants is the top priority, and since the establishment of the company, the Qing Dynasty people have taken the China Merchants ship, which has increased the competitiveness of China Merchants, foreign companies have also reduced the price of the overall situation, but the result has suffered from it, the United States Qichang Company has collapsed, China Merchants will Qichang Company ships and wharves and other acquisitions, China Merchants has increased a lot, This process was through Sheng Huaixuan's hands, and the contribution to China Merchants was followed by receiving rebates, so he was impeached by Yushi.

At this time, Sheng Huaixuan was only in his twenties, and after the impeachment, he had no official position, was idle at home, and went to his father-in-law Li Hongzhang to complain, because he wanted to return to the court through Li Hongzhang's recommendation.

Li Hongzhang was chatting happily with Sheng Huaixuan in the living room, chatting and chatting, and couldn't stop for a while, when he heard Li Guolou coming, his face couldn't help but sink.

For Li Guolou, the Li family, Li Hongzhang has his own ideas, Li Guolou returned to the country from abroad, and forgot his words and deeds and behaviors, which made him look very unpleasant, so he deliberately snubbed Li Guolou for a long time, of course, the small shoes were also worn by Li Guolou a few times, so that this grandchild's relatives and relatives of the Beijing Division officialdom touched a nose of ash, I didn't expect this stinky boy to sneak into the criminal department on an errand, and he was appreciated by Shang Shubao, wearing a nine-grade official hat, this time Li Guolou wrote to Prince Gong Yixun, and got eleven Chen Tiao, Regarding the eleventh statement written by Li Guolou, at the discussion meeting of the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, Li Hongzhang agreed with it and resolutely opposed it, and he was holding back the fire in his belly.

Sheng Huaixuan next to him had heard some things about Li Guolou, and when he saw Li Hongzhang's unhappy face and silence, he was so clever that he immediately smiled and said: "Father-in-law, I have long heard and heard about your grandson Li Guolou, I heard that he is the same as his brother, he is a master of making money, and his career is booming, can you help me introduce him!" ”

Li Hongzhang's expression returned to normal, and he brushed his beard and said: "Xiaoguan, let Xiaolou come in, the stinky boy still knows, his face is quite thick, Xingsun, you two are quite similar, both are from Xiucai, and you belong to the kind of people who can drill camps!" ”

Sheng Huaixuan was a little embarrassed, hehe smirked a few times, how to honor his father-in-law if he didn't make money, how could he come empty-handed, he was just unlucky to be pinched by someone, hit the muzzle of the imperial history, and did business without the support of the government, how could he make a lot of money, after doing official business, Sheng Huaixuan wanted to make a fat shortage, and the only way to recover his career was to rely on the "father-in-law" Li Hongzhang to mention it.

Li Guolou entered the living room and saw Li Hongzhang wearing civilian clothes, and immediately paid homage to the elders, after a salute, Li Guolou took out the gift list and handed it over, he was afraid that Li Hongzhang would be angry and would not accept the gift, so the property was not brought, if the property was brought and Li Hongzhang did not accept it, it would be difficult to do it in the future.

The Li family is a big family, and he can still enter Li Hongzhang's eyes, because his brothers and sisters are experts in making money, and they respect Li Hongzhang's eldest son Li Jingyi, so they still move around each other, and those hometown Li relatives are just a rich man, and Li Hongzhang's three sons have official positions in the court, among which the eldest son Li Jingyi is reused, and several brothers in Li Hongzhang's direct line are big officials, big businessmen, and other side children, and there is no big tree next to Li Hongzhang, Li Guolou's family belongs to the side line.

Li Hongzhang opened the gift list, glanced at it, and knew how much the property was worth, worth about 5,000 taels of antiques, jade, calligraphy and paintings, and some valuable furniture, this is a junior heart, Li Hongzhang smiled slightly, put the gift list on the table, and did not return it to Li Guolou.

"Let's sit down, I haven't seen you for more than a year, you've grown strong." Li Hongzhang said a few words of greeting and asked Han and his grandchild Li Guolou.

Li Guolou greeted his uncle's family, chatted for a while, looked humble, and did not dare to sit up straight.

At this time, Li Hongzhang was in the prime of life, less than fifty years old, with a rectangular face, full of energy, three strands of black beard fluttering, it was the ancient standard portrait of a beautiful man, Li Hongzhang's official fortune was inseparable from the appreciation of his teacher Zeng Guofan, but he was more trusted by the imperial court than Zeng Guofan, and he had been promoted from the governor of Liangjiang to the governor of Zhili, ranking first among the ministers, and then only to be the head of the Hanchen "Wuyingdian University Scholar" honorary title.

There is only one person in the Qing Dynasty who is the king of the opposite sex, that is, Fukangan during the Qianlong Emperor's period, as a Yum general, and the great contributor to the merger into the Chinese territory is Fukangan, that is, after the rebellion of Fukangan, there was a Qing garrison, which is different from those who are called vassal states, folklore says that Fukangan is the illegitimate son of Emperor Qianlong, and Emperor Qianlong made an exception to violate the ancestral precept of "the opposite sex shall not be crowned king", although Qianlong did not give him the title of king before his death, but he was still awarded the title of Baylor only by members of the clan.

In the 56th year of Qianlong, the first place was invaded by the Gurkhas, and Fukangan was ordered to lead more than 10,000 troops into Tibet with the support of the Tibetan people and the deputy commander, and won the victory.

Due to the Gurkha invasion, the local system was abolished, and all kinds of shortcomings were exposed, Fukang Ancheng Zhi, together with the minister in Tibet and others, and the local senior officials, jointly agreed and promulgated the famous "Regulations on the Aftermath of Tibet" in Tibetan history, which made clear and detailed provisions on all the major powers of local administration, religion, military, justice, foreign affairs, finance and taxation, etc., greatly improved and improved the functions and powers of the minister stationed in Tibet, and then strengthened the central government's leadership over the localities, consolidated national defense, maintained social order, and developed production, to improve the people's livelihood and so on has made important contributions, but Fukangan is a famous arrogant and arrogant general in history, and he owes a lot of private virtues.

Li Hongzhang nodded, quite satisfied with the filial piety of his "grandson", stared at Li Guolou for a while with a pair of dark bottomless pupils, and said: "Xiaolou, you have been very prosperous recently, I often hear your name, even the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office has seen you go to the book, his ambition is not small, even Prince Gong has personally praised you!" ”

Li Guolou bowed and said: "Thank you uncle for your praise, my grandson must guard against arrogance and rashness, and use his outstanding political achievements to repay my uncle for cultivating my grandson!" ”

How could Li Guolou not know that he was promoted so quickly, and Prince Gong Yixun guaranteed him to take the imperial examination, not because Li Hongzhang was his uncle, although he wrote the eleventh Chentiao, and some political ideas did not match Li Hongzhang's ideas, but on the whole, he still belonged to the Westernization faction and was a person of the same line as Li Hongzhang.

"Hmm······ It's good to know, look at the tea. Li Hongzhang picked up the teacup to tell Li Guolou that he wanted to talk for a while, and he would not immediately drive Li Guolou away.

Sheng Huaixuan also looked at Li Guolou, and he really looked very similar to Li Hongzhang, with the same rectangular face and slender eyes, and he was a relative from a family.

"Xiaolou, let's treat each other equally, otherwise I'll be embarrassed." Sheng Huaixuan looked at Li Guolou with a smile, now he doesn't have an official position, he is not as good as the younger generation Li Guolou, if he talks about the rules of officialdom, he wants to give Li Guolou a big gift, so how can he be willing.

Li Guolou looked at the big ears and looked rich and noble, and said with a smile: "Brother Xingsun is famous, the younger brother has been looking up for a long time, and the mountains are looking up!" ”

"Hahahaha, the foolish brother is ashamed, but now he is just a cloth cloth, which makes his father-in-law lose face." Sheng Huaixuan had no choice but to spread his hands, and the grievances in his heart were only known to his father-in-law Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Xiaolou, just now I said to Xingsun that you and your brother have business acumen, open a textile factory, do a little bit of industrial performance, and now the cause has developed to Tianjin, amazing, Jingyi often praises you two brothers, can not rely on government support, still break out of a career, it belongs to your two brothers Yadong Textile Factory, your brother, I met in Tianjin, the British Concession is a good idea to run a bank, I support your initiative!" ”

The old fox is the old fox, and Li Hongzhang has long seen that Li Guoyun and Li Guolou have established a bank in the British Concession in Tianjin, which is a joint venture, relying on the territory of foreigners, so that the Qing government will not be able to start if it wants to annex and invite in the bank in the future.

Of course, to create a bank, a huge capital chain to maintain, the next banking business needs many people to help, next to Li Hongzhang, the local huge flow of funds, please come to the bank will get a piece of the pie, Li Hongzhang will not buy shares to invite into the bank, but his son Li Jingyi logically occupies 1% of the shares of the bank.

Li Guolou said with a smile: "Thank you uncle for your support, please come to the bank The plan is written by the grandson, the grandson has no other skills, and there is still evidence for planning, and he never fights without grasping!" ”

Li Hongzhang pursed his lips slightly, he didn't pay attention to Li Guolou, he only talked about business today, and his righteous son Sheng Huaixuan was next to him, how could he put out the national policy and discuss it with Li Guolou.

Sheng Huaixuan listened for a while, figured out the ins and outs of inviting the bank, and secretly became jealous, the Li family is powerful, and even the banking industry has stepped into it.

Although Sheng Huaixuan is worth a lot of money, but he has not reached the level of getting rich, the banking industry does not dare to think, the last time he was impeached by the imperial history, he spent the atonement silver, and paid 50,000 taels of silver into the treasury, so that he could pass the test, and he was not imprisoned.

The Qing Dynasty has a national policy, that is, the officials committed the crime of corruption, the crime is exposed, you can spend silver to atone for the crime, ranging from hundreds of taels to hundreds of thousands of taels, "atonement silver" directly into the treasury, also counted as a national income, who formulated this national policy, it is funny, this very creative spirit of the national policy, that is, the Qing Dynasty Qianlong Emperor period of the big corrupt official He Shen personally reviewed the national policy, has been used to this day, has not changed, so the Qing government is not afraid of official corruption, the bigger the corrupt officials for the country, it will be a silver mine in the future.

Sheng Huaixuan calmed down, not letting Li Hongzhang see that he was depressed, and said with a smile: "Xiaolou, can be literary and martial, and understand the essence of official business, this trick is used to fight with strength, no one wants to find fault, I think it is a step higher than Qiao Zhiyong and Hu Xueyan and their founding ticket numbers!" ”

Li Guolou said smugly: "It's still Brother Xingsun's knowledge, in fact, everyone will do it, but because there is no precedent, let me take the lead, my grandson is not boasting about Haikou, if you let your grandson invite him into the bank to take root in the Qing Dynasty, a Beiyang sailor, you can fatten up with one who is invited to the bank, and you don't need state funding!" ”

Speaking of this, Li Guolou kept silent, picked up the teacup and drank tea, and bought a pass, it depends on whether Li Hongzhang takes the bait, most of the money houses and ticket numbers in those places are opened by local forces, and the money is made into private pockets, the country has not reaped the benefits, and the government cannot support and promote it.

Li Hongzhang's face changed in vain, and he looked at the young Li Guolou, could it be that he looked away, the gentleman looked like a fake foreign devil, he was a great talent, and he was a leading figure in China.

Li Hongzhang belongs to the young and old figures, both civil and military, he was in a high position when he was young, and the officialdom also had ups and downs, and he has been honed for a long time.

But as soon as Li Guolou talked about his efforts in the Beiyang Naval Division, Li Hongzhang couldn't bear it anymore, this Beiyang Naval Division is a monster that devours the treasury with a huge amount of money, although the Beiyang Naval Division builds a lot of money is directly subsidized by local customs tariffs, and there is no need to use the treasury funds, but Li Hongzhang knows in his heart that this is a means of self-deception, which money is related to the people's livelihood of the country, as Li Guolou said, to build a Beiyang Naval Division, that is, to tear down the west wall to make up the east wall, there are always loopholes for people to drill, if you can form a generation of army and navy together, wouldn't everyone be happy,