Hu Xiaoyan sat in Shanghai, occasionally patrolling Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangzhou, and Guangzhou, and did not set foot in the three eastern provinces for a long time.

At the end of the first month of 1901, Enke Sanjia was freshly baked. Champion Liu Chunlin, Bangyan Zhu Ruzhen, Tanhua Shang Yanliu (according to history). Liu Chunlin was appointed as the counselor of the Railway Bureau, Zhu Ruzhen was appointed as the counselor of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and Shang Yanliu was appointed as the teacher of Taixue (Guozijian) in the newly established Taixue and walked in the yamen of the Prime Minister's national office.

On the whole, it seems that Shang Yanliu is more trusted, but everyone understands the difference between these three people who have no trust or not, and they are all appointed to practice, rather than the former Hanlin Academy to revise and edit. In the imperial examination for 1,300 years, once every three years, there are at least hundreds of champions, but there are very few who really become the pillars of the country. Liu Chunlin, the champion, is certainly talented, but if he doesn't have a good family, then it will be difficult to get ahead. In addition to the family, there is also a problem of seniority, for example, your teacher's official position is the third grade, so it is difficult for you to climb to the position of the second grade, this is the unspoken rule. This is not uncommon in history, for example, Song Yu should have been the top talent, but his brother's ranking was too low, so the emperor dropped Song Yu's brother and his ranking.

The palace examination in early 1901 was generally successful, but there were many flaws. Because Emperor Xuanwu and his courtiers had not reached an agreement in substance, he only forced the courtiers to reform the imperial examination. However, the success of the imperial examination this time will inevitably bring some new changes to the imperial examination.

For example, although this examination is divided into the examination of Ming Economics, Jinshi and Professional, the provinces have not vigorously promoted it. Moreover, the scholars in the provinces did not really apply for the science department and the professional department, and everyone still reported the Ming Jing department as before.

Thirty old Ming Jing, fifty young jinshi. Not everyone is confident in their talents.

This time, the champion Lang Bangyan Tanhua still passed the Ming Jing test, which made Zaifeng and Hu Xiaoyan very disappointed.

Jaefeng was actually annoyed because his first proposal for reform was ignored by those below. It's a slap in the face. So at the beginning of February, Zaifeng summoned Li Hongzhang and Yixuan, and the three of them discussed for three days and finally came up with specific exam measures.

The Ming Jing course mainly examines the four books and five classics, the four books refer to "Analects", "Mencius", "University" and "Zhongyong", and the five classics refer to "The Book of Songs", "Shangshu", "Book of Rites", "Zhou Yi" and "Spring and Autumn". The Book of Rites usually includes three rites, namely the Rites, the Rites of the Week, and the Book of Rites. And "Spring and Autumn" refers to Yan Fu's "New Interpretation of Spring and Autumn".

In addition, there is the "Rise of Great Powers Series" as a symbol of foreign history and the "Encyclopedia Britannica".

The entire Ming Jing course is divided into three days, with a total of eighteen questions.

In addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, the Jinshi Branch focuses on historical theory and political and economic system, the miscellaneous records of peasant families and soldiers, and the hundreds of schools of thought. The main test is strategy and application. The most important thing is that every student must be proficient in a foreign language. Half of the test papers are assessed in foreign languages.

On the whole, the Ming Classics Department has not changed much from the original imperial examination, except that some scientific and historical knowledge that is in line with Western studies has been added.

However, the Jinshi Department is mainly based on the hundred schools of thought and Western studies, which is more difficult than the original imperial examination, and it is difficult to pass the examination without being experienced abroad.

The change in the imperial examination is great, then the change in officialdom is even greater, the prime minister's national office yamen was officially restructured into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Rites was officially split, in addition to the original Ministry of Rites Yamen, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education were added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is under the direct jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office of the National Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China, with Deputy Tang Shaoyi and the Ministry of Education under the leadership of Yan Fu.

The household department also began to be divided, divided into the inner court and the state household department. From now on, the Ministry of Household Affairs of the State will contribute 5 million yuan to the Inner Court every year. The Ministry of Household Affairs of the State no longer bears any expenses of the Inner Court, and the finances of the Inner Court are mainly based on the income of the Imperial Houses in various places, in addition to the state appropriations. The Inner Court also began to lay off personnel.

The Ministry of Household Affairs officially began to set up a special taxation department and a supervision department, and Xiliang, the former governor of Sichuan, was appointed as the second chief of the Ministry of Supervision. In addition to agricultural and commercial taxes, the tax departments have begun to face up to customs revenue.

At the end of February, the imperial court issued a decree demanding that Hao De, the head of the Customs and Excise Department in Shanghai, be required to enter Beijing immediately.

British Minister Dou Nale strongly protested, but was rejected by Zaifeng and Li Hongzhang.

Hao De couldn't, and he visited Dou Nale on the same day he entered Beijing in early March.

On March 8, Dou Nale and Hao De went to the upper study to ask to see Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng, and met with Li Hongzhang and Yixuan.

On 15 March, Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng issued an edict to dismiss Hao De from his post as director of the Shanghai Customs and Excise Department. Tang Shaoyi, an adjutant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took Shang Yanliu to Shanghai to take over the Shanghai Customs and Taxation Office. This put an end to the 42-year history of China's customs offices being occupied by the British.

The first thing Tang Shaoyi did after taking over the customs office was to check the accounts. The results speak for themselves. Many banana peels are singing on the Internet After Hao De took office as the yamen of the customs office, the customs office was the most incorruptible yamen in the Manchu Qing Dynasty! In fact? ****！ It is impossible for anyone else to be in charge of the customs affairs of another country. It's just a matter of making the ledger more beautiful. If you are interested, you can check the living situation of Hao De after leaving China and returning to the UK. Hao De himself was less than 100,000 US dollars at the beginning, but after returning to China, he was worth at least 10 million US dollars! There are also those who were placed by the British in the customs office, and after they were fired, each of them was worth at least tens of thousands of dollars.

Incorruptness? The word incorruptible does not exist in capitalist society. Incorruptible only because he plotted more than he corrupted.

After Tang Shaoyi got the evidence (thanks to Zheng Jun's Internal Affairs Investigation Bureau, he had already started investigating Hao De and others according to Hu Xiaoyan's intentions before this), he did not make a statement, but just dismissed most of the foreigners who had intentions, and at the same time hired a group of people from various countries and the mainland to replace them.

After taking the Yamen of the Customs Office, Emperor Xuanwu's annual finances began to be abundant. But problems also arise.

After the arrival of Tie Liang, the governor of Sichuan, he quickly grasped the power of Sichuan. Because he was a Manchurian, almost no one in the military and political power dared to fight with him, and Tie Liang arrived in Sichuan with a thousand well-equipped tomb guards. This thousand-person team is also the foundation of his foothold in Sichuan.

But the problem is that when foreigners invested in Sichuan to set up a railway construction company, Sichuan people did not agree. The idea of the Sichuan people was to build a railway, and they did not need the money of foreigners, and the big businessmen from all over Sichuan united to put pressure on Tieliang, demanding that the foreigners be expelled from investment and that the roads should be built by private fund-raising.

When the news came back, whether it was Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng, Zhongtang Li Hongzhang or Hu Xiaoyan, he immediately collapsed.

At the end of April, Tie Liang, who was protested and besieged and had nothing to do, handed the excerpt to the desk of Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng. After discussing with Li Hongzhang, Zaifeng felt that he should agree to the request of the Sichuan people.

But this was made known to the ministers of various countries. So the ministers of various countries were not satisfied.

The construction of the railway is actually not profitable, the money is made by the toll after the railway is repaired! Don't you see the annual transportation volume of the railroad after the great north-south connection of the United States? What's more, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is still a backward country, once the railway is repaired, once the 100,000 kilometers of railway is connected, the economic benefits it can produce are simply huge, whether it is the goods of foreigners entering the Chinese mainland along the railway, or the raw materials of the Chinese mainland flowing along the railway to various countries. No one will be tempted by the real money of this pen.

If today's big businessmen in Sichuan can ask the Manchus to withdraw their investment from foreigners, then tomorrow the big businessmen in Guangzhou, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places can also ask foreigners to withdraw their capital and independently raise funds to build railways? Isn't it in vain that the ministers of various countries spent their old noses and fought hard before?

Ministers from various countries, headed by Dounell, Conger and Clinder, formally protested.

Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng was blind. The benefits of the 100,000-kilometer railway plan are obvious, first of all, if the railway is used to connect the north and south of the river, then the tax revenue will definitely increase at that time. Secondly, the role of the military is even greater. In the past, wasn't Zuo Zhongtang's expedition to the west because there was no railway, so the army walked on the road for two months? If there were a railway, it would only take a few days for the Kung Fu army to be transported to all parts of the country. This was especially important for the stability of the Manchu court!

The Manchu Qing Dynasty was a mess in the morning, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was completely finished at one moment! Emperor Xuanwu Zaifeng's agreement to the 100,000-kilometer railway plan was not at all for any bullshit to make money or make people's livelihood. Rather, it was to control the situation in the Qing Dynasty and make the rule of the Manchus more stable. What's more, it didn't cost the imperial court a penny to build a railway!!

Li Hongzhang urgently summoned Hu Xiaoyan to Beijing to inquire.

Hu Xiaoyan, who was in Shanghai, smiled bitterly after receiving the telegram. He could not tell Zaifeng and Li Hongzhang that the First World War would break out in ten years, and that the pound and franc and the mark would all have to depreciate. The most excessive thing is the current 10,000 marks, and when the time comes, even a tael of silver will not be exchanged. There are also francs and pounds, although a little better, but by the middle and late stages of the war, it was normal to exchange a few dozen pounds for one tael of silver.

Now we have brought in $2 billion in investment, and in 10 years, maybe only 1 billion or even 500 million will be repaid. The loan agreement signed by Hu Xiaoyan clearly stipulates that the repayment will be calculated according to the currency of each country, not in silver. This is the pit that Hu Xiaoyan deliberately asked to write on the agreement.

In the original historical time and space, countries signed agreements with the Manchu Qing Dynasty and liked to do the same. The reparations they are asking for are not silver at all, but in the currency of their own country. Of course, the exchange rate is in the hands of foreigners. They want silver to depreciate, and silver must depreciate. They want silver to appreciate, and silver has to appreciate.

Hu Xiaoyan did not have the strength to control the exchange rate, but the First World War would help him do so. It's just that how can such a thing as the First World War be told to Zaifeng and Li Hongzhang?