The Huangmen official brought a rattan chair, and Li Hongzhang thanked him and sat in the hall.

Guangxu asked: "Lao Zhongtang, the recall of Lao Aiqing from Tianjin this time is all because of the Sino-Japanese war. Although Nie Shicheng's troops won a complete victory and repelled the Japanese attack. However, the Japanese army in Korea is strong, and now it is too powerful, I wanted to continue to use troops, but since then, the domestic elite soldiers have withered, and the treasury is empty, and there is not enough money and food to deal with the war. ”

Li Hongzhang hurriedly stood up and said: "The emperor is serious, the ministers are stupid, and they dare not be the queen mother, Lafayette and the emperor praise falsely." The former, before China and Japan went to war, the ministers advocated to avoid war, and the collegial discussion was the first, because the national strength of our Qing Dynasty withered, the treasury was empty, and there was not enough money and food to support our Qing Dynasty's foreign use of troops, soldiers, national affairs, the place of death and life, and the way of survival. It's just that the court is raging, and the main battle is a force, and the ministers don't dare to be specialized, so they have to prepare to use troops. Now that the front of the army has risen, the Japanese people have always been insatiable, and they have to look forward to Shu, and they can no longer talk about peace at this time, because if I propose peace in the Qing Dynasty, it is a weaker than the Japanese, and it will use the power of the army to put forward all kinds of unreasonable demands to our Qing Dynasty, and then 100,000 Japanese troops will be on the side, threatening the land of Longxing outside the Guan, cutting land, indemnity, etc., will inevitably be put forward one by one, with its greedy nature, only afraid of reparations, tens of millions or even tens of thousands of it is also possible. As for the land cut, Your Majesty, Japan is a projectile island country, not yet the size of Zhili, and it was their dream to occupy the territory of the Qing Dynasty hundreds of years ago. ”

Li Hongzhang said that Emperor Guangxu woke up like a dream, in the past few days, the pressure on him from the internal peace faction has been increasing, and he has also begun to waver, not to mention Cixi, she did not advocate war, but I didn't expect that now that the Japanese army began to press the border, Li Hongzhang changed his normal state and advocated war.

"Li Zhongtang! You're not right! You only think about going to war, going to war! Have you ever wondered how we can deal with ourselves once we are defeated? When the time comes, we will cede more land than we do now, and the compensation will be even greater. At the same time, once the war starts, there will inevitably be countless soldiers who will die in other places, wasting national strength, and the original imperial treasury is empty, is it now full? What do we use to support the war? Your remarks are the words of the wrong country! Sun Yuwen, Minister of Military Aircraft and Secretary of the Criminal Department, stood out of the court class and shouted fiercely at Li Hongzhang.

"Lai Shan Gong, Er Nai is a scholar, it is not enough to talk about state affairs!" Li Hongzhang heard Sun Yuwen openly stand up and argue with him, he was annoyed in his heart, and directly attacked: "In the Qing Dynasty, every inch of land was fought by the children of the Eight Banners led by Grandpa Tai, not by the wind. If you wait like this, you give over the ancestral inheritance to others without a fight, are you worthy of your ancestors? Moreover, Japan is a small country, with a population of only 10 million, and lack of resources, if the Qing Dynasty loses to such an inferior nation in the war again, then what kind of face will our Qing Dynasty have to stand among the countries of the world, and the Western powers will take the opportunity to blackmail and coerce the Qing Dynasty, and our Qing Dynasty will never raise its head! This is a battle that we must fight, and we must win. If you seek peace, then I will lose face, and you will not say a word to see your ancestors and ancestors after a hundred years. If we don't win, our Qing Dynasty will completely sink, and the compensation for land cession will make the national strength worse and the people will be miserable! Therefore, I, Li Hongzhang, suggested that we must fight, and we must win the battle, and use the power of victory to deter the powers, so as to win the opportunity for the Qing Dynasty to cultivate for more than ten years! ”

Li Hongzhang's words arched Guangxu's pride again.

Guangxu stood up from the dragon chair and said: "Okay, well said, every inch of this land of the Qing Dynasty is fought by the ancestors and ancestors with blood and sweat, even if we lose an inch, we are speechless to face the ancestors and ancestors!" Although the treasury is empty, can we afford to pay for the huge amount of money? Lao Zhongtang, well said! ”

Weng Tongyi on the side hesitated: "Your Majesty, Li Zhongtang, starting a war is easy to say, but it is difficult to do, not to mention anything else, where does the money and food come from, even if the supply of grain and grass, weapons and equipment, cannons, and ironclad ships all need to be bought with white silver." Li Zhongtang will fight, which is easier said than done. Now, in the treasury, rats are running all over the ground, and our military spending is nowhere to be found, what should Li Zhongtang do? ”

Li Hongzhang was angry, glanced at Weng Tongyi obliquely, and said: "Master Weng, Hongzhang is a minister of Xinjiang, who governs the place in peacetime, and goes on the horse to conquer the Quartet instead of His Majesty in wartime; As for money and food, the economy is a matter of slaughter, old man, I'm afraid I can't add more beaks. "That means that my Lao Li only cares about sending troops to fight, as for the money and food, that's the matter of you Zaifu, I can't control it, and I can't manage it, when will your treasury be allocated to me in Beiyang on time and in the right amount?

"This ......" Weng Tongyi was choked by Li Hongzhang's words, his face was red and his neck was thick, there was nothing to say, who called himself a few years ago, squeezing Li Hongzhang too hard, when he is used now, he can't let people complain a few words, and now behind it, not only the queen mother, but even the emperor has to rely on him, bear with it first.

Guangxu saw that his teacher was deflated, and he felt a little unbearable in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Lao Zhongtang, over the years, you have worked hard in the court, the Queen Mother and I are both in the eyes, Lao Zhongtang is loyal to the country, and he is the Optimus Pillar Stone of the Qing Dynasty." But now it is true that the treasury is empty and cannot support the use of troops against Japan, you see, do you have a good plan to teach me? ”

Li Hongzhang saw Guangxu asking automatically, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly saluted: "Your Majesty, you have killed the old minister, and the old minister is ashamed." Now the treasury is empty, and the minister knows it, but now the arrow has to be sent. ”

Guangxu asked, "How to raise money and grain?" Does the old middle hall have a plan? ”

Li Hongzhang muttered: "Three roads, the first road, although the treasury is empty, however, Jiangnan is rich, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang and the people's livelihood is stable, you can ask the local governor to levy Japanese war taxes and raise part of the military expenses; The second way is to borrow money from the great powers, which has the greatest effect, but firstly, the great powers will not lend us any benefits, and secondly, I am afraid that it will not take half a year to get the approval of the funds, and it will be difficult to come down, and we cannot afford to wait. The third way, now that the Qing Dynasty is in an eventful autumn, it is the time when many ministers have contributed, please ask Your Majesty for permission, in the court of important ministers to persuade donations, in order to supplement the military, if anyone is willing to lend money, the court can also write a receipt, choose the opportunity to repay. Now, the war is imminent, and the second way is too slow to take effect, and we can hardly hope that we can only implement the first and second ways for the time being. ”