The words of the ministers who stopped the king were extremely rude, to put it more seriously, it was called "the gift of no minister", so the queen mother of the two palaces looked at each other and was stunned: Isn't the sixth child going to the road of Sushun?

However, in Prince Gong, there are also unavoidable hardships. Before the Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, King Gong heard that she wanted to hand over Jiangsu to Guan Zhuofan and make him the governor of Jiangsu.

This thing was originally done. At that time, the rules of the imperial court were probably the ones who laid the place, and whoever was in charge of it, so as to stimulate the fighting spirit of the commanders. Moreover, although Guan Zhuofan only hung up a seven-rank county, in the end he moved from the position of the left wing of the Yamen of the infantry army, this is something that everyone knows, and he has made such a great achievement, there is nothing that cannot be said. There is another rule, for the same military exploits, the reward received by the banner man is particularly heavy, which is an unwritten convention.

But there are thousands of them, but none of them can defeat one. Prince Gong, who was ordered to be exempt from kneeling and playing the right role, bowed to the two queen mothers and said: "Zeng Guofan's fold has not been done yet, please let the two queen mothers know it." ”

When King Gong said this, the Empress Dowager Cixi understood, so she could only swallow her anger back into her stomach and say nothing, but the Empress Dowager Ci'an still didn't understand the situation and asked, "What did Zeng Guofan say?" ”

Zeng Guofan's excerpt said many things, but the most important one was to recommend Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangsu.

Zeng Guofan is the person who relies on the pillar of the imperial court, and now he can have such a haode situation, most of which depends on him. Moreover, Zeng Guofan was the current governor of Liangjiang, and according to the usual practice, his opinion was always consulted on the appointment of the chief officials of Anhui, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi provinces. In fact, even the governors of the southern provinces were appointed. The imperial court also took his opinion into consideration. And he recommended it. with his status. The imperial court will not reject it under any circumstances.

It's called a word.

King Gong's distress lies in this, once the Empress Dowager Cixi says it, "Jun has no jokes", and then he has to find a way to mend the seams, it will become a very troublesome thing, and in any case, there are already traces. It is easy to cause speculation outside, and there must be a lot of right and wrong, so I rushed to say it in front.

On the other hand, King Gong, as the king of the council, handled the government affairs, and it was when he was in high spirits, unlike others who took the authority of the queen mother very seriously, so he didn't take it to heart like this.

Cixi knew that King Gong was rude. But now that he has said it, Guan Zhuofan's position as governor can be regarded as a failure. However, the feudal lord is the chief executive of a province. The "governors" who are close to later generations, like the governors, are all members of the second rank, which is already a high reward. And she is not a person who ignores the overall situation, she knows that what King Gong said is doing it right, and Zeng Guofan's face cannot but be maintained. Just thinking about it, he was still a little embarrassed, and said with a sneering smile on the corner of his mouth: "Since the sixth master said that it should be done like this, then it should be done like this." It's just that those who didn't fight were rewarded first, and I don't know if those who contributed to the war would be a little cold. ”

Seeing that there was a little annoyance between their uncles and sisters-in-law, several military ministers were very anxious. Gui Liang is King Gong's father-in-law, and it is inconvenient to speak, so Wen Xiang knelt forward, and Yue Chen said: "Guan Zhuofan's promotion from the seventh rank of the county to the second rank of the domain is also regarded as an overpromotion in the eyes of others, which can play a role in boosting morale. As for his big break of long hair, annihilating nearly 30,000 enemies, and making great military achievements, it is true that he is the best among the Manchurian disciples. ”

That's right! The Empress Dowager Cixi immediately understood Wen Xiang's euphemistic reminder - since ancient times, rewarding military merits is nothing more than four items: rewarding with money, rewarding with office, or tearing the soil, or sealing the marquis. The court has no money, so there is no need to mention "rewarding with money"; "Rewarding with duties", the feudal division has come to an end; "Ripping the soil" has long been a shadowless thing, and the remaining item is "feudal marquis".

This title does not mean that he must be made a marquis, but that he is given a title. This is the prerogative of the king, so Wen Xiang can only say that he does not dare to pretend to be.

Cixi thought so, looked at Ci'an, and said to King Gong: "Sixth Master, what do you think? ”

King Gong also felt that Wen Xiang's proposal was very good, which could make up for Guan Zhuofan's regret that he was not the governor. It's just that Wen Xiang said "I don't dare to pretend to be presumptuous", but he thinks that "what's the point of making a plan", since he is a favor, he simply makes it bigger, so he thought about it and said: "The minister thought that he could be awarded the post of a first-class lieutenant of the light car, which could not only show encouragement, but also leave room for him to enter." Guan has a strange number, so he will naturally be grateful and serve his life more sincerely. ”

The titles of the imperial court are divided into three levels. The first level is "king", and after the three feudatories, there are no different surnames. The second level is "Jue", which is divided into duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male, which is the so-called "fifth-class seal". The third level is the "lieutenant", and the light car lieutenant is the highest among them, second only to the fifth-class seal.

Such a reward is extraordinary. Generally, the knighthood of the imperial court must be carried out after the dust of the entire war has settled, which is the ultimate reward. It is very rare for a big victory like Guan Zhuofan to be exchanged for a first-class light car lieutenant who can be hereditary, and it is naturally stained with the light of identity, so it is not an exaggeration to say that King Gong is an outlier.

As far as King Gong is concerned, he has always thought that the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces has a special feeling of gratitude for Guan Zhuofan's "Protecting the Sky". Therefore, setting this reward higher is not only to appease the Queen Mother, but also to make it clear to tell other people that this is a special case, an "outlier", and cannot be cited as a regular example.

Both palaces readily agreed with King Gong's suggestion, and Cixi's heart was still a little unexpected, as if a little girl had been peeped through. However, she refused to let such emotions be revealed, and consulted Ci'an's opinion with her eyes, nodded very deeply, and said, "I think it will be done according to what the sixth master said." ”

The reward for Guan Zhuofan has been set, which is equivalent to setting the whole tone, and the rewards of others are easy to be caught off guard. And this major event must be, and the two attachments on Guan Zhuofan quickly discussed the results.

"The horse team is the most important," said the Empress Dowager Cixi. When she was returning to Luan in Rehe, the Xiao cavalry battalion of Sushun Pai Lebao chased after the royal driver, and the momentum of Guan Zhuofan's infantry and horse team swept over the ground left a deep impression on her. "Let the military department be attentive. I had to pick some good horses for him and buy them. ”

The war horse of the time. There are southern and northern horses. The strength of the southern horse is that it is hard-working and suitable for the water and soil climate of the south, but when it comes to rushing to the north and chasing the moon with the wind, it is naturally not as good as the healthy horse outside the mouth, so Guan Zhuofan wants to ask the military department to purchase it.

"Please rest assured that the Queen Mother is this section," Wen Xiang is very familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of War. He said, "You don't need to buy it, there are ready-made mature horses in Gubeikou, and I will ask the military department to transfer the text, allocate 2,000 horses, and you can get to Shanghai in a month." ”

As for Wall and Forrestal's request for naturalization, the monarch and the minister thought it was really interesting, but everyone's hearts didn't just stay at the level of "interesting". The so-called grand occasion of "coming from all directions" in the past has long been gone. And now there are two Americans asking to be Chinese, both of whom think this is a very auspicious omen. Of course, it should be done.

"I'll leave it to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen," King Gong said with a smile, "As for the place of origin, I will settle it in Shanghai County according to Guan Zhuofan's request." ”

In other words, the two foreign devils have since become genuine Shanghainese. Everyone laughed, but there was still a small question, which was raised by the Empress Dowager Ci'an.

"Wall's surname is Hua, I know this." The honest Empress Dowager Ci'an said, "This Forrest, the name is strange, but is the surname Fu?" ”

Everyone doesn't understand this, and they all look at King Gong with their eyes - he must know that he is doing foreign affairs.

King Gong knows the rules of foreigners' names, but since the Empress Dowager Ci'an said "Huaer is surnamed Hua", then Huaer has no choice but to be surnamed Hua, and Forrest naturally has to be surnamed Fu.

"Yes, it's the surname Fu." King Gong smiled, "The name is Rist." ”

"Oh," Empress Dowager Ci'an nodded with satisfaction.

After these things are said, there is still a headache, but this time, it was the Empress Dowager Cixi who brought it up.

"A few days ago, Xue Huan's excerpt said that Guan Zhuofan was in Shanghai and connived at foreigners to run telegrams privately," she said calmly, "It seems that there should be an explanation for this matter." ”

The ministers of military aircraft have discussed this matter several times, but they all feel that the matter is in a dilemma, and they have not come up with a proper solution. On the one hand, both the ministers of the court and the local governors were opposed to foreigners wanting to run telegrams, so the Englishman Rey Rodot repeatedly appealed to the Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen, but they were all rejected. Now Guan Zhuofan is so bold that he allows foreigners to do it themselves, which is tantamount to contempt for the authority of the General Administration, and King Gong is also very annoyed by this.

On the other hand, Guan Zhuofan is now supporting Shanghai alone, not only as a senior member of the court, but also as a new "example" set by the imperial court. And I also faintly heard that the reason why the Xuan army was able to win the battle in Shanghai was because of the power of telegraphs. But what is the situation, because of the long way to go, I can't see it with my own eyes, and it's not easy to jump to conclusions for a while.

Since there is no conclusion, the method that the military plane has come up with is to "ignore it" for the time being, and then talk about it later.

Cixi disagreed with this approach. Although she wants to protect Guan Zhuofan in her heart, such a conspicuous matter is related to the prestige of the imperial court, and she cannot use it for herself, and she must have a practical disposal to serve the public.

Moreover, she really has a "personal experience" of Guan Zhuofan's courage. If it's just a matter of the palace, then it's okay, but he is now a general who commands the army to fight outside, don't be careless and go to the path of the young general, so the place where it should be beaten is still to be knocked and beaten.

"In my opinion, when the court does things, it must always be out of the public and do things fairly, so as not to let people gossip." The Empress Dowager Cixi made up her mind, and said slowly, "If you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you have faults, you will be punished, although Guan Zhuofan has made great contributions and won a reward, but Xue Huan pointed out that he connived at foreigners, and he also said that he has a nose and eyes, since it is written in the fold, everyone knows about this matter, if the court ignores it, how can other people be convinced?" If there is a similar thing again, what will the court do to others? ”

The heroine of the deep palace can have such insight, King Gong is also very impressed, and said: "The queen mother blames it. ”

"It's not a blame, I know you're thinking about the overall situation, but nails are nails, rivets are rivets, I think ......" Empress Dowager Cixi pondered for a moment and said: "I still have to send someone to investigate!" ”

*

(This is the third watch, and there is one more at seven o'clock.) Ask for tickets~)

*(To be continued......)