VIII. Railway Disturbances (1)
The fifth year of Tongzhi was a relatively lively year, and the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Rebellion, which had been in rebellion in the northwest border for five years, was pacified, and for a time there were many red-topped officers in the capital; In March, the spring of the Qing Dynasty elected the first banner champion of the Qing Dynasty - Chongqi, when the palace test Empress Dowager Zhu pen was indecided, asked the military aircraft department and the cabinet, the ministers debated repeatedly, and finally came to the conclusion: "But by words, what about the Manchu and Han", so Chongqi became the first banner man champion in two hundred years; The first batch of students who studied abroad were sent out, all of whom were at least 18 years old, had studied basic foreign languages in the Tongwen Museum, and then went to study in the United States, France and Britain. The Ministry of Communications was newly established, but at the end of the fifth year of Tongzhi, the Ministry of Communications still couldn't come up with any specific work, but only repaired the imperial road from Beijing to the Old Summer Palace, and then sent a few people to the United Kingdom. ∮,”
In February of the sixth year of Tongzhi, the Ministry of Communications, which had been silent for half a year, finally had an incident.
"What?" Li Hongzao stood up and asked the housekeeper in disbelief, this is the day of rest, and he invited a few colleagues who were also on an errand in the Hongde Hall early in the morning, ready to drink tea and talk about killing the day, but he didn't think about it, sat down and didn't say a few words, and got such an unhappy news.
"Muyana wants to build a railway ??!?" Li Hongzao stood up, his face was full of iron, "Nonsense!" ”
Chinese have known railways since the end of the 30s of the 19th century. Xili introduced in the "British Strategy" that Britain "built (car-power) reels and used trains to travel for a hundred and eighty miles." Guo Shila, in his "General Journal of Trade", recorded the situation of railways in the West in some detail, and proposed that railways "should also be the law of China". In the "New Chapter of Senior Administration", Hong Renji put forward a plan to build railways: "11 major roads will be connected to 11 provinces before the whole country."
"The railway is a success, which is beneficial to the foreigners to invade the country and drive straight in, and the foreigners can go directly to the city in an instant, which is an enemy." Weng Tong pinched his beard and said slowly, "It is this reason, in addition to the capital enemy, occupy a large amount of farmland to demolish and relocate people's houses and graves, and destroy feng shui; After the completion of the railway, the boats, cars, pickers, and shops along the line will have no way to make a living, and they will gather into rogues. Li Hongzao said expressionlessly, "This railway can't be repaired!" ”
An old man with a goat's white beard said in a fierce voice: "Rites and clouds, make obscene noises and strange tricks to suspect the public, kill." This railway doesn't say anything else, just one changes the landform and shakes the dragon veins of the world, Muyanga will inevitably go to the vegetable market to cut that knife! ”
It was Xu Tong who said this, he was stubborn and old-fashioned, jealous of Western learning, his family lived in Dongjiaomin Lane, close to the embassies of various countries, and he posted "Wangyang sighed" at the gate; and ghosts as neighbors" to express their hatred of foreigners. In addition, he was quite puzzled by these two maritime powers located on the Iberian Peninsula, and once commented: "Spain has teeth, grapes have teeth, and teeth become a country, which is unheard of in history, unrecorded in history, absurd, and nothing more than this." It can be described as laughing and generous.
Since the last time the Tongwenguan incident was frustrated, Wu Ren has been sluggish, and now that he has such news, he can't help but be furious: "Losing my danger, harming my Tianlu, hindering my feng shui, not to mention breaking the ground to build a railway, that is to break the "dragon's lair", and the bad feng shui thing, you must not do it, is this Mu Yang'a a child of the Eight Banners?" Damn the fortunes of the country, hey, he's really damned. ”
Li Hongzao asked the housekeeper to bring in the transcript of Mu Yang'a's fold, and said to the few people present, "Brothers, please sit down, what did I say." ”
Weng Tong's face was faint, Xu Tong was angry, and said a lot of whining words, his throat was thirsty, he turned his head and picked up the teacup on the coffee table and prepared to drink tea. ”
"Seniors, how dare the kid talk more," Weng Tongyi said with a smile, now he is only thirty-five or sixteen, and he is already an emperor.
The rise of Weng Tonggong naturally benefited from his father Weng's heart. Weng Xincun was an official to the University of Tirenge, and later became the teacher of the Tongzhi Emperor. Since then, the Weng family has entered its heyday, known as "one door, four jinshi, one door and three governors; Father and son, scholar and father, son, scholar, father and son, emperor". In the Daoxian Tongguang Four Dynasties, the Weng family served as high-ranking officials for two generations. When Xianfeng was 6 years old, Weng Tonggong was a 27-year-old middle school and a jinshi, and he was promoted to the Hanlin Academy. After four years of Tongzhi, he took over his father's business and entered the Hongde Hall as the master of Tongzhi. (To be continued......)