"What!?" Li Hongzhang was stunned by the emperor's words. He never thought that the emperor would take over Zeng Guanlan's position as prime minister of the cabinet and the overall situation of the prime minister's cabinet. Even if you temporarily give yourself the post of deputy prime minister, what difference does it make in the overall situation of the prime minister's cabinet? This is the most important position in the entire Chinese Empire, except for the chief of the general staff who is now actually in charge of the general staff of the captive army, there is no more prominent official position in the entire imperial government than the prime minister of the cabinet.

Moreover, because the emperor implemented the cabinet responsibility system in the government of the Chinese Empire, the various ministries of the court were responsible to the cabinet, and the prime minister of the cabinet was directly responsible to the emperor alone, so that the prime minister of the cabinet was actually the prime minister or scholar of the previous dynasty, and like the first assistant scholar of the Manchu Dynasty, the first assistant scholar of the cabinet was only an honorary minister, and most of the actual power was concentrated in the hands of the Manchu and Mongolian people or the military minister of the Han army, so it was necessary to be both the first assistant scholar of the cabinet and the minister of military aircraft. can be regarded as a real and powerful Zaifu. But even so, it has shared a lot of people, and it can't really call the shots, not to mention that big and small things are still decided by the emperor and even the Manchu and Mongolian aristocratic forces behind the emperor.

But the Chinese Empire was completely different. Li Hongzhang has also been an official in the empire for nearly 8 years, and he already knows very well the difference between the empire and the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire really does not like to seize power, and leaves all government affairs and state affairs to the prime minister and the ministries of the court, so that he can preside over the affairs of the cabinet, that is, it is more important than the original Manchu Ming Dynasty and other cabinet first auxiliary scholars and first auxiliary military aircraft!

Seeing that Li Hongzhang was stunned by what he said, Feng Yunshan went on to explain: "Guanlan has been forcibly pressed by me to preside over an important position in the cabinet over the years, although it has done a good job, but I am not particularly satisfied, in fact, it can be better.

Guanlan himself is not good at dealing with people, and he is not used to dealing with foreigners, and, to be honest, he is a little rigid in his thinking, his thinking is not broad enough, and his mind is big enough. In this period of great change, if you don't advance or retreat, there is something wrong with him becoming the Prime Minister of the Imperial Cabinet. Of course, he himself recognized this problem, and repeatedly proposed to me to change his position, but I did not have a suitable person at hand. But I can't do this for a long time, let the development of the empire be affected, think about it, just saw the development and changes in Jiangsu a while ago, and checked Aiqing's past information, and found that Aiqing is quite suitable for this position.

Of course, it's not a direct one-step approach, but, Aiqing, you don't have to go back to Suzhou this time, I am going to use Liu Kunyi, the prefect of Songjiang, as the governor of Suzhou, and promote Zhang Zhidong, the magistrate of Shanghai, to the prefect of Songjiang and the magistrate of Shanghai, so as to drive the entire Songjiang Mansion with Shanghai. Aiqing, you, first served as a member of the cabinet and were familiar with the business of various departments of the cabinet, but the time was tight, and within half a month, you would first hand over the cabinet government with Zeng Guanlan, and at the same time, you would also be with Liu Kunyi to carry out the handover of Jiangsu affairs. Half a month later, Guanlan will arrange another important position, and the cabinet will ask you to take the lead. ”

Li Hongzhang's mind is a little blank! Huge surprises continued to hit his head, he didn't expect his promotion to be so fast, according to seniority, no matter how he Li Hongzhang took over Zeng Guanlan's position. Wu Chongyao, governor of Guangdong, Zeng Shuiyuan, governor of Yunnan, Liu Changyou, governor of Hubei, Zhou Shengkun, governor of Zhili, as well as various ministers of the court, such as Wang Minyun, minister of general affairs, Huang Yukun, minister of justice, Xie Xiangcai, minister of internal affairs, Wu Ruxiao, minister of foreign affairs, Zeng Yuheng, minister of public works, and others were all older than him and had closer relations with the emperor.

But now His Majesty has made it clear that he wants Li Hongzhang to replace Zeng Guanlan. How could this not surprise and surprise him? The emperor really proceeded from the perspective of the development of the empire, purely focusing on personal governance and administrative ability, rather than the intimate relationship with His Majesty. This is the real meritocracy.

Li Hongzhang sighed in his heart, full of gratitude to His Majesty for his support.

He said with sincere fear: "Your Majesty, Weichen does not dare to hypocritically and modestly excuse himself. It's just that Weichen is indeed a little frightened, afraid that he won't be able to share His Majesty's worries and do His Majesty's errand badly, and even if he dies at that time, it will be useless. Your Majesty, can you increase the number of cabinet members, appoint two more cabinet members, so that there is more to discuss, second, you can also work together, each division of labor is responsible for a piece, and do a good job in many cabinet affairs, third, it is best to re-elect from the current ministers, and it can also help Wechen hold down the position, otherwise Wechen has no bottom in his heart. ”

Feng Yunshan nodded: "Aiqing's concern is also true. Well, I promise you, and add four more members of the Cabinet from among the ministers and governors of the provinces, and form a group of five cabinet members, including Aiqing himself, and thereafter it will be customized, no more than seven. But this candidate, you suddenly proposed, I have to think again. ”

Feng Yunshan didn't expect that Li Hongzhang would suddenly propose to increase the number of cabinet members, and find a reason why he was afraid that he would not be able to hold back the position, Feng Yunshan naturally knew a little, this is exactly the cleverness of this guy.

It is true that some of him Li Hongzhang was rashly promoted to this high position by himself, and some trepidation is inevitable, but how can it be said that he can't hold down the position? With the support of the emperor himself, and he, Li Hongzhang, can be regarded as a Manchu officialdom who has been honed for several years, and has served in the position of governor of Jiangsu in the empire for eight years, he can be regarded as a veteran in the political arena, how can he be afraid? This must have been his intention to show himself that he was not prepared to monopolize power, to reassure himself, and more importantly, to send a message to the ministers in the court and the governors of the provinces, showing that he was not pampered and arrogant.

In addition, Feng Yunshan guessed that he might indeed be a little worried that he was a Manchu vassal from an outsider after all, and suggested to him that he add a few cabinet members, first, he could indeed share some pressure, and second, he would definitely select some henchmen to help him. In this way, there will be no estrangement between the Cabinet and the ministries and local provinces.

If he presided over the cabinet by himself like Zeng Guanlan, relying on some of his deacons and staff, he would fall into Zeng Guanlan's current situation, and he would even be worse than Zeng Guanlan. After all, a person's energy is limited, and he can't play all the government affairs of a huge empire in any way, so although he has a transcendent status and can be regarded as a cabinet leader, he can't effectively implement the instructions, and the decrees can't be implemented, but he ends up with no prestige.

Zeng Guanlan has a quiet temperament, does not fight for power, and is the absolute confidant of the emperor of the empire, and the ministers are still convinced of him, and he doesn't dare to find any embarrassment for him. And if a person like Li Hongzhang, who has a strong sense of initiative and a strong desire for power, adopts a one-person cabinet, and is not regarded as his absolute confidant, he will definitely fall into a mess.

On the contrary, he suggested that the cabinet members be expanded, formed a team, and the basic plate of the cabinet should be enlarged, so that the cabinet ministries will truly become part of the cabinet, and through the division of labor and management of cabinet members, the various ministries will be effectively connected and connected into a whole, which will be more conducive to the smooth flow of the cabinet's decrees, improve the prestige of the cabinet, and let the government affairs of the entire empire be issued from the cabinet, which is a great thing for the Chinese empire, and it is also a cost-effective thing for him Li Hongzhang personally.