Tianjin, the Governor's Mansion of Zhili.

Li Hongzhang sat in front of the hall with a melancholy face, not knowing what to think.

At this time, Xu Ting walked in briskly from the outside.

"Congratulations to Lord Wang, Wang Kaitai has been recruited!"

"Really?" Li Hongzhang was overjoyed at first, then frowned, and asked, "How could Wang Kaitai give in easily, isn't it cheating?" ”

Xu Ting smiled confidently: "Don't worry, the minister assures you, Wang Kaitai has really succumbed." ”

Li Hongzhang asked rhetorically: "How can you see it?" ”

Xu Ting then explained.

It turned out that after Wang Kaitai was imprisoned, Xu Ting treated him both soft and hard, and served him with all kinds of torture, but he couldn't make Wang Kaitai open his mouth. In the end, Xu Ting threatened Wang Kaitai's family that if Wang Kaitai still didn't know the current affairs, he would kill Wang Kaitai's wife and concubines and children.

This is Wang Kaitai's weakness, and finally forced Wang Kaitai to succumb.

Li Hongzhang sighed and said, "I see, I can't imagine that Li Weiguo is so powerful!" ”

Immediately, he said indignantly: "Could it be that he has the magic of divine measurement, and he actually knew that this king would rise more than ten years ago?" Send someone to lurk around this king in advance, and his heart can be punished! ”

Xu Ting said: "Your Majesty doesn't believe in the art of ghosts and gods, but Li Weiguo is indeed quite far-sighted, but he would never have thought that he used dark chess to harm Zeng Guofan, but it was a wake-up call to the prince, and he will not repeat the mistake of Zeng Guofan's defeat." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, showing joy, and said: "This is thanks to Xu Ting, if it weren't for your report, this king would probably never have thought that Wang Kaitai would be a secret chess piece buried by Li Weiguo next to this king." ”

Xu Ting hurriedly said: "It's all the prince's blessing, and your subordinates are just abandoning the darkness and turning to the light!" ”

Li Hongzhang glanced at Xu Ting a few more times, and suddenly asked: "There is one thing that this king doesn't understand, today, Li Weiguo has already accounted for half of the country, and his future is immeasurable, why don't you help him but help this king in turn?" ”

Xu Ting seemed to know that Li Hongzhang would ask this question, and smiled slightly. said: "The prince has said that Li Weiguo has already won half of the country, for him, I help him is just the icing on the cake, but for the prince, it is a charcoal in the snow." The minister is willing to be Zhuge Liang and assist the prince to dominate the world. ”

Zhuge Liang was ambitious, and instead of helping the powerful Cao Cao, he helped the weak Liu Bei, in order to get a unique position. But Zhuge Liang was loyal and did not take away Liu Bei's foundation. Therefore, Xu Ting's answer made Li Hongzhang very satisfied.

"This king will live up to you Xu Ting!" Li Hongzhang had such an expression, and he no longer doubted Xu Ting's ambition.

After a pause, Li Hongzhang asked, "Now that Wang Kaitai has succumbed, I don't know what you are going to do next?" ”

Xu Ting said: "The prince can use Wang Kaitai to arbitrage Li Weiguo's plan of action, and then release false information to Li Weiguo, strive for a decisive battle, and completely defeat Li Weiguo." ”

Li Hongzhang agreed: "Yes, it's not rude to come." However, Li Weiguo is powerful. I'm afraid that it will be unrealistic to fight a war, but it would be great if it could hit him hard. ”

Xu Ting suddenly patted his chest and said: "Don't worry, the prince must plan well." How Li Weiguo cheated Zeng Guofan at the beginning, how do we trap Li Weiguo now. ”

Li Hongzhang's heart suddenly moved, and he seemed to see the spectacular scene of Li Weiguo being pitted and the entire Wu army group disintegrating in an instant.

Three days later. Yixin summoned Li Hongzhang to Beijing, and the two began to conspire again.

"Britain and France have agreed to cooperate with us, and the French are preparing a coup d'état in Cambodia. We are asked to recognize Cambodia as a French protectorate. The British prepared an attack on Upper Burma, demanding that Burma be included in British India as a province of British India. ”

France had not been seeking Cambodia for a day or two, and if it had not been for the defeat in the Second Yapian War, Cambodia would have been occupied as a colony.

Similarly, Britain coveted Burma and launched two Anglo-Burmese wars in 1816 and 1852 to occupy Lower Burma, also because of the defeat in the Second Yapian War, which caused Britain to suspend its offensive against Upper Burma.

Now Britain and France seem to have come out of the shadow of the defeat of the Second Yapian War, both countries have obtained the production technology of the Patriotic Rifle, although they have to pay a large amount of patent fees to Li Weiguo, but Britain and France have endured, in recent years in the domestic large-scale production, relying on the strong industrial capacity of the two countries, now the British and French armies have completed a major change.

In the Second Yapian War of that year, the Anglo-French alliance suffered a huge loss of equipment inferior to its opponents, and now the British and French armies also have patriotic rifles, and the psychology of revenge naturally prevails.

Of course, there is no talk of revenge or revenge between countries, and the key lies in the entanglement of interests. The American Civil War is basically over, the Yugoslav Army controls the United States, Britain and France have achieved their goal of containing the rise of the United States, and they will naturally look for the next target, and the rise of China is not allowed, so the next opponent of the British and French governments will become China.

Provoking a civil war is the most effective way to play an international political game, Britain and France successfully provoked a civil war between the north and the south in the United States, destroying the hope of the rise of American industry, and now it is the Wu army group headed by Li Weiguo who leads the rise of China, so supporting the Manchu government in the north has become the only choice for Britain and France.

Therefore, Britain and France strongly supported Yixin, provided loans, helped train the army, and also had tangible benefits for Britain and France, so Burma and Cambodia, two vassal states of the Qing Empire, became the first victims.

"You can order Li Weiguo's Wu army to march south and prevent Britain and France from seizing Burma and Cambodia!"

After a little analysis, Li Hongzhang put forward his idea.

This idea coincides with Yixin.

Yi Xin agreed: "That's right, this king also means this." Isn't Li Weiguo a self-proclaimed national hero? This time the British and French invaded Burma and Cambodia, and Li Weiguo had to take care of it. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said: "At the beginning, Li Weiguo annexed the six provinces in the south of the Yangtze River with a fake Dao War, and now we also have a fake Dao War, and the imperial court will send a large army to the south, Li Weiguo will inevitably disagree, so he will have to send troops." Britain and France each have 100,000 troops in Burma and Cambodia, and Li Weiguo has to mobilize at least 300,000 troops to have a chance of victory, so his total strength in Jiangnan will also drop to more than 700,000, and the remaining troops in the ten provinces of Jiangnan need at least 500,000 troops, and the remaining 200,000 troops are Li Weiguo's mobilizable troops. ”

Yi Xin said: "On the grounds of exterminating Zeng Guoquan and Peng Yupho, this king dispatched 300,000 troops to attack Huguang and Guang provinces, occupy the benefits of the Yangtze River, and then go east along the river. In addition, there were remnants of the Taiping army in Anhui who rebelled against the army, and King Yan used this as an excuse. He could lead the main force of 500,000 Yan troops to attack it and raid Li Weiguo's lair in Shanghai. Li Weiguo will inevitably resist with all his might, and transfer all the surrounding forces to Shanghai, at that time, the king has conquered the two provinces of Huguang and led an army of 300,000 to the east along the river, you and I are flanked before and after, and the destruction of Li Weiguo is just around the corner! ”

Li Hongzhang was suspicious in his heart, he didn't believe Yi Xin, and felt that this old dog was playing a trick on himself again, why did he let his Yan army attack Li Weiguo's lair?

So he rolled his eyes. Said: "I'm afraid this is difficult, after all, Li Weiguo still has a powerful East China Sea Fleet, it is said that Li Weiguo has been vigorously building the East China Sea Fleet in recent years, building dozens of new warships, relying on the Yangtze River natural danger, I'm afraid that it will be difficult for my Yan army to cross the river?" ”

Yi Xin smiled mysteriously and said, "King Yan rest assured, this king has already negotiated with Britain and France, and Britain and France will send fleets over at that time." Contain Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet. ”

Li Hongzhang was speechless for a moment, but he was unwilling to be cannon fodder to attract Li Weiguo's main force, so he said: "This-the Yan army has spent a lot of money recently, and this king is also worried about money and food. ”

"Don't worry!" Yi Xin hurriedly said: "This king has already negotiated with Britain and France. The first loan will arrive within a month, and this king will give you 5 million yuan! ”

"This-" Li Hongzhang still wanted to find an excuse to prevaricate.

Yi Xin said: "I also ask King Yan to focus on national affairs and the overall situation, and this king promises to destroy Li Weiguo." The wealth of Jiangnan is claimed by King Yan, and this king will never interfere. ”

Seeing that Yixin was so sincere, Li Hongzhang really couldn't refuse. Although Li Hongzhang does not believe in Yixin either. He has already moved his mind to sit on the throne when he achieves the throne of King Yan, so it is only a matter of time before he fights with the Manchus. It's just that the top priority now is to eliminate Li Weiguo, the biggest enemy, and Yixin and the imperial court have to cooperate, so Li Hongzhang can only accept Yixin's conditions.

"In this case, the king will encourage you to give it a try!"

Yi Xin suddenly laughed and said: "With King Yan personally out of the horse, this battle to destroy Li will definitely be successful!" ”

The Battle to Destroy Lee? Li Weiguo's surname is Li, isn't Li Hongzhang's surname Li?

This clearly refers to Sang scolding Huai!

Li Hongzhang had a mirror in his heart, but he didn't reveal it, and immediately resigned and left.

Looking at Li Hongzhang's back, Yi Xin's face suddenly turned cold, and he snorted coldly: "Li Hongzhang, your mind is very clear, let you jump for two days first, destroy Li Weiguo, and then go back to clean up your old dog." This world is the world of the banner people, you Han people will always have to be slaves, if you want to turn over, hum, no way! ”

After complaining, Yixin's body suddenly became much more comfortable, and soon called Bayantu to discuss important matters.

"King Ba, how is the training of the army?"

Bayantu was the commander of the new Manchu and Mongolian army, and was deeply respected by Yixin, in charge of 300,000 Manchu and Mongolian troops, and was the last pillar of the Qing Dynasty.

I only heard Bayantu say: "Don't worry, the Prince Regent, the children of the Eight Banners are stepping up their training, and they can go into battle to kill the enemy just when the new equipment arrives." ”

"Good!" Yi Xin nodded, he had high hopes for Bayantu, and said: "The funds have arrived, they will be allocated to you tomorrow, and the equipment will arrive in Tianjin in a month, you take someone to receive it, don't let Li Hongzhang take it, that is our last reliance." ”

"He dares!" Bayantu suddenly shouted: "Dare to touch the things of our banner people, see that I don't kill him!" ”

Yi Xin frowned slightly and said, "Don't be impulsive!" Now we still expect Li Hongzhang to deal with Li Weiguo, and when Li Weiguo is destroyed, Li Hongzhang will inevitably be greatly damaged. ”

Bayantu was excited when he heard this, and immediately patted his chest to ensure that he would train his soldiers and horses diligently, and then he would be a famous minister.

Just when the clouds were shrouded in the north, Li Weiguo in Shanghai met with Zhou Fu.

Zhou Fu was ordered by Li Hongzhang to go to Wuchang to find the Hubei Province that Li Weiguo wanted, but he was tricked and didn't see Li Weiguo for a month.

Now that he finally saw Li Weiguo, but Li Weiguo kept silent about Hubei, and it wasn't until Zhou Fu couldn't help but ask that Li Weiguo put forward a condition that made Zhou Fu difficult.

Hubei can give Li Hongzhang, but the condition is that Zhou Fu will be transferred to Li Weiguo's account to serve his life.

"King Wu, you are a strong man!"

"The condition has been said by the king, you can do it yourself!"

Li Weiguo didn't give Zhou Fu a chance to defend himself, and left directly, leaving Zhou Fu in a daze in the hall.

Zhou Fu had no choice but to write to inform Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang was furious when he heard this, but in order not to startle the snake, he could only endure it for the time being and convened a staff meeting to discuss countermeasures. As a result, Xu Ting, Qian Dingming and others suggested accepting Li Weiguo's conditions and giving Zhou Fu to Li Weiguo, which was equivalent to planting a nail in Li Weiguo's interior.

It just so happened that Xu Ting was going to use Wang Kaitai to make a fuss and implement a counter-plot, and Li Hongzhang had been very dissatisfied with Zhou Fu's performance during this time, so he replied to Zhou Fu and agreed to Li Weiguo's conditions.

Zhou Fu was dumbfounded, he had been by Li Hongzhang's side for many years, doing his best, and he never thought that this would be the result. Although Zhou Fu knew that this was Li Hongzhang's strategy and it was just an expedient measure, he was also uncomfortable in his heart, and he felt betrayed.

The next day, Zhou Fu came to see Li Weiguo and conveyed Li Hongzhang's letter, agreeing to exchange Zhou Fu for Hubei Province.

Li Weiguo was immediately happy, and hit Zhou Fu and said: "It seems that Mr. Zhou is not very important in Li Hongzhang's eyes, and one Hubei Province can be exchanged." ”

Zhou Fu listened awkwardly, and snorted coldly: "Don't bother King Wu, King Yan has his own reasons for doing this." Zhou Fu is an idler, who can exchange a Hubei province for King Yan, but he is highly regarded. ”

Li Weiguo smiled: "Then why did Li Hongzhang do this?" ”

Zhou Fu shook his head and said, "The grass people don't know!" ”

Li Weiguo asked again: "This king guesses that Li Hongzhang is not a drunkard, right?" ”

Zhou Fu's expression moved, but he still shook his head and said, "The grass people are stupid!" ”

Your uncle's!

This is clearly the rhythm of Xu Shu's entry into Cao Ying!

Li Weiguo was not interested, although he loved talent and hoped that Zhou Fu would be attached to him, but the twisted melon was not sweet, and Li Weiguo couldn't stick a hot face to a cold ass, so he turned around and left.

Zhou Fu bowed and said: "Congratulations to King Wu, and please fulfill his promise as soon as possible and return Hubei Province to His Royal Highness King Yan." ”

"When you are willing to give advice to this king, this king will fulfill his promise!" Li Weiguo snorted coldly and left without looking back.

Only Zhou Fu was left standing there alone in a daze, and then he understood that from beginning to end, I am afraid that Li Weiguo had no intention of returning Hubei to Li Hongzhang.

"What a powerful King Wu!" Zhou Fu smiled bitterly and secretly said that he had been tricked again. (To be continued.) )