In the third year of the outbreak of the war, the Chinese people seemed to have adapted to the war, and also adapted to the changes brought by the war to China. Another major victory of the Imperial Army's capture of British North America has spread throughout the imperial capital, to every corner of the country. Those who looked silent and elegant in the face of such a victory once again crowded the streets and once again cheered for the victory of the army. Cities, streets, squares, and parks are full of people, and the national flag flutters in the crowd. For the Chinese people, such a celebration parade was unfamiliar in the past, but after the outbreak of the war, the Veterans Association and other various civil organizations began to organize the celebration procession, since then, the people always like to participate in the fun, for the Chinese people who love to watch the excitement, this kind of celebration is undoubtedly extremely popular, and in this organized procession, everyone is easy to find some kind of psychological fit, and then take the initiative to integrate into it, and be affected by the cluster, And then immersed in this patriotic frenzy. The environment will affect everyone, and in such a parade full of patriotic gongs and drums, the sense of mission to make the country strong is instilled in everyone at once, so that people's sentiments have been sublimated, and life has gained a new meaning. When tens of thousands of people sang those solemn songs, everyone felt at one with the collective. At this moment, people can die for the Motherland. No one will doubt, no one will question. And from one victory to another, it has further intensified the sense of pride in people's hearts, which is the kind of pride and sense of mission that has never been felt in the past hundreds of years. At this time, this consciousness of racial and national superiority, which was deliberately guided by the state apparatus, had plunged the whole country into a frenzied admiration for war. Almost everyone believed that this war was just, that it was a war of self-defense carried out by China in order to "not be bullied by Westerners", that it was a war to preserve dignity and honor, and that they devoted astonishing enthusiasm to victory. Of course, the rewards are amazing! The richness and fertility of the colonies were constantly in the newspapers, and through this parade, the richness of the colonies was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for the first time, so that people were willing to leave their ancestral land and go to the unknown but very rich colonies, where they began their new life. Everyone has something to benefit from the war! The peasants got the land they needed, the merchants got the markets and the raw materials, the soldiers got the wealth and honor, and the whole country was inevitably immersed in the frenzy of the war. When a French journalist in the imperial capital witnessed the scene in front of him, in the face of the grand parade of Zhujie, he wrote in his report sent back to China in shock: "Those Chinese with a mild personality only know how to obey, but do not know resistance, compared with the people of European countries, their sense of national consciousness is extremely strong, perhaps because of the historical Tatar colonial relations, their national pride is even more sensitive, any slight stimulation may cause the country to react violently." Such countries are the most dangerous, and they will do unexpected and crazy things anywhere at any time, like their Cologne, Panama. France must not take the middle lightly......"

After returning to the imperial capital from the villa in Huangcun outside the city, Li Hongzhang didn't care about going home, so he asked the coachman to rush to the imperial colonial headquarters. Along the way, he was annoyed by the crowds of people cheering on the streets that had affected traffic.

From the bottom of his heart, he can even be said to be a little disdainful of these seemingly fanatical ordinary people outside, although he will sigh that the people's will is available, but he also knows what this people's heart is.

The people's will is the most complicated thing in the world, today, they cheer for victory, tomorrow, they will question the government because of defeat, for him, subconsciously, Li Hongzhang does not agree with this manipulation of the people's heart.

Those who play with fire will eventually set themselves on fire!

Now His Majesty can easily manipulate the hearts and minds of the people, and in this way organize the people of the country, so that the people can be proud and cheer in victory, but when the people are accustomed to this kind of collective procession, and they are accustomed to expressing their voices and demands in this way, then, in the future, they will express their wishes to the government in this way.

And then, how can they be stopped?

And in the upper echelons of the imperial center, Li Hongzhang knows very well that the imperial center that seems to be like a pool of spring water is actually not as calm as the outside world sees, although through the promotion of officials in Liangjiang, Liangguang and other places over the years, to a certain extent, the dominance of the Huguang system has been suppressed. But Li Hongzhang is the best at understanding the contradictions and never-ending quarrels facing the center of the imperial court now.

After the current Prime Minister Zhang Liangji resigned to His Majesty a month ago, all forces have their eyes on the post of Prime Minister, and this Prime Minister is the former Prime Minister!

Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi...... Names flashed in Li Hongzhang's mind, and he even believed that if it weren't for some reasons, I am afraid that his mentor might also become one of the candidates......

Clique!

Regional views have always influenced the Chinese Dynasty, and almost since the day the Chinese Dynasty was founded, it has never been able to get rid of all these shadows.

Thinking of these, Li Hongzhang had a headache, especially as the secretary of the colonial ministry, he can be said to hold great power, and his power is not even inferior to that of the prime minister. For the Colonial Ministry has the power to recommend to His Majesty the Governor of the Colonies, and to appoint Colonial Officers.

A few years ago, Britain was known as the "empire on which the sun never sets" because they had the largest colonies in the world. "The sun shines on its territory at all times", and the same is true of China today, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Ocean, and North America.

"Now that the Chinese Empire has entered its heyday, about 500 million people worldwide – or about one-half of the world's population – are subjects of the Chinese Empire, and its territory covers about 45 million square kilometers, or one-third of the world's total land area......"

The words in the newspapers may be exaggerated, but they make it clear. Over the past two years, China has built an empire of unprecedented proportions, and 60% of this empire is colonies!

Li Hongzhang, who was the secretary of the colonial ministry, undoubtedly became the most powerful secretary among the ministries. It is precisely because of this that the regional dispute also involved him, and he could not even get out.

He had to think twice about the choice of governor of each colony, first of all, first of all, of balance, and secondly, of their abilities, but even so, on his desk, there were always piles of papers, waiting for him to review and make a decision.

This is not the most headache for him, the disputes caused by the territorial disputes, even in the colonies can not be balanced, in the colonies in addition to the choice of governor, there are also many other interests, the resettlement of immigrants, of course, more importantly, the competition generated in the colonies after the enterprises enter the colony, these enterprises have their own backers, but it is certain that they all rely on the region, the friendship of the countryside to maintain all this.

Even Li Hongzhang himself was also the backer of the Hui merchants, although the "bandits" dealt a very big blow to the Hui merchants, but now the Hui merchants are still rising rapidly, especially through the investment in Huainan coal mines and other factories and mines, so that they monopolize the coal supply in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which allows the Hui merchants to rise again, and have the capital to compete with merchants in other regions in the colony.

And Li Hongzhang is the biggest backer of the Huishang Group, and he will always take care of his fellow villagers, of course, he knows that His Majesty also allows him to do this, because His Majesty does not want a single family, whether it is the center or the economy, it needs to be balanced.

Even when the Huainan Coal Mine was founded, His Majesty deliberately took care of the Hui merchants, which was an economic balance. It is also the way of empire, and it is only through this geographical balance, in terms of financial resources and power, that the stability of the country can be achieved.

As for Li Hongzhang, who is a courtier, he needs to follow His Majesty's ideas to do some things, so in many cases, things that offend people are often handled by him, just like he designated the oil fields in Myanmar to be exploited by a businessman in Beizhili, this is because the northern businessman is the weakest in the country, so he needs appropriate support.

For this reason, Li Hongzhang was not less ridiculed by the newspaper - now that there is no spokesperson, officials no longer need to consider the constraints of the spokesman, but the newspaper has become another spokesperson, and the newspaper is supervising the official. Those businessmen also criticized the administration of some officials through the newspapers, and this was even protected by law!

"Next time, be sure to let them run more newspapers! We must not allow those Hubei and Cantonese people to control all the newspapers......"

muttering so much in his heart, Li Hongzhang has already thought of a way to deal with the newspaper - run a newspaper! By running more newspapers, you can fight your opponents in the newspapers.

But it wasn't just this thing that really gave him a headache, what really gave him a headache was that just two days ago, a newspaper published an article the size of a piece of tofu, in which it mentioned that the colonial ministry had made remarkable achievements in recent years, and there was only one meaning in the words - to recommend him as prime minister!

Be the Prime Minister!

Although this is also what Li Hongzhang longs for, but now in the face of this report, Li Hongqi, who has always been steady, was a little flustered for a while, and he felt that a storm was overwhelming him.

Because for Li Hongzhang, he feels that his qualifications are not enough, if it is a few years later...... He's going to do it, but now, he's definitely not going to do it!

"Whose idea was this?"

Li Hongzhang's brows were tightly locked, he could feel the conspiracy hidden behind this matter, and the aura of conspiracy was felt almost as soon as he saw the report, and the conspiracy that rushed in his face made him realize that now he had entered the sight of some people and become the enemy of some people!

When the carriage approached the colonial department, Li Hongzhang suddenly pushed the window and instructed the coachman.

"Go to Prime Minister Zeng's house!"

Perhaps, now only the teacher can answer the doubts in his heart!

Although they are both Shangshu, the so-called "Xiang is a kind of honorific title, which is respect for Zeng Guofan, and similarly, others will also call Li Hongzhang "Xiang", it seems that for them, all Shangshu can be Xiang, but who is the real Prime Minister?

It's the Prime Minister!

"Teacher!"

Facing his mentor and drinking the tea in the cup, Li Hongzhang seemed a little unsettled, he didn't know what was going on, and he didn't even know who was "harming" him, but he knew that at this time, in the center, only the teacher could help him, after all, ...... Zeng Guofan was an important minister of Hunan Province, and he was connected to the broken bones of the Huguang system.

"Shaoquan, you came today for that newspaper!"

Zeng Guofan said straight to the point that he knew that his student, after years of training, had shown his talent for the country, and he would definitely become the minister of the country in the future.

"The students didn't dare to hide it, since they read the newspaper, they didn't know what to eat, and they couldn't sleep at night. Every time I think about it, I am terrified! ”

Li Hongzhang showed a look of sincere fear. The reason why he was worried was because he knew very well that in the regional dispute, the strength of the Liangjiang system was relatively weak, he did not have Zhang Liangji's foundation, and he did not believe that he could stabilize all parties.

"What's there to be afraid of?"

Zeng Guofan asked rhetorically.

"Shaoquan, do you think that if someone mentions it now, you will enter the sight of others at that time, and everyone will think that you Li Shaoquan is a threat and should be suppressed as soon as possible?"

Shaking his head, Zeng Guofan said slowly.

"Compared with the previous dynasties, the courtiers of the national dynasty can be described as extremely lenient, although not as lenient as the Song Dynasty, but as an official of the Chinese Dynasty, there is no need to worry about being beaten with a court staff, let alone having their heads cut off, as for Liuning Guta...... Actually, Heilongjiang is also good, there is heating in the house, which is much stronger than the hometown......"

Hearing the meaning of the banter in the teacher's words, Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly.

"Teacher, you know, these are not the things that students are worried about, and students are worried about ......."

"You're worried, you can't hold on!"

Putting down the teacup, Zeng Guofan looked at the student in front of him and said.

"The view of the territory of the national dynasty is far greater than that of the other dynasties, Your Majesty starts from Huguang, and the Chinese military generals of the dynasty, most of them are from Longyu Huguang, Huguang is the only one, the world knows, Zhang Xiang is the phase, that is, to balance all parties, right, but if Zhang Xiang leaves, when the time comes, you Li Shaoquan will be the target of everyone, because you are from Anhui!"

His eyes narrowed into a slit, Zeng Guofan touched his beard, stared at Li Hongzhang and said word by word.

"You are afraid, then you will become a thorn in the side of others, the officials of Liangjiang, count you with the highest official position and the most prominent status, as long as you are brought down, then Liangjiang ......"

The teacher's words made Li Hongzhang nod and smile bitterly, but Zeng Guofan shook his head and said.

"Shaoquan, you are a smart life, you are confused for a while, you only thought of those, but you forgot about one person!"

"Forgot someone? Please also make it clear to the teacher! ”

Li Hongzhang wondered.

Zeng Guofan pretended to smile mysteriously, and said with a bow.

"Don't forget the one in the palace, do you think Your Majesty, you might let Liangjiang fall?"

Speechless's new book has basically been finalized, it is a late Ming Dynasty, a very burning one, and there is a certain difference from the style of Speechless in the past, it won't be slow heating, it's burning at the beginning! It's a bloody book! I hope you can continue to support Speechless!