Witte returned to the embassy and asked the embassy staff to escort Baptiste back to the French legation, and he himself went into his room and began to fall asleep. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Although the degree of the second pot head is not high compared to vodka, the stamina of this wine is still quite sufficient, in order not to make a fool of himself at the reception banquet in the evening, Witt chose to sleep and sober up.

"Mr. Werther, are you there?" There was a knock at the door of the room, and Werther, who was asleep, woke up, rubbed his eyes, and made sure that someone was knocking on his door, so he got out of bed and opened the door, only to see a staff member of the legation saying, "Mr. Werther, I'm sorry to disturb your rest." Your Excellency, I would like to invite you to come over for a moment. ”

Witt nodded and then said to the staff, "Okay, I'll tidy up a little and go over to meet with His Excellency the Minister." After hearing this, the staff went back to his life, and Witt closed the door and poured hot water into the basin to wash up and tidy up.

The Russian envoy to the Qing Dynasty, Paburov, was holding a telegram from Shanghai, which was sent by Dmitriev, the Russian consul general in Shanghai, saying that he had recently become seriously ill and needed to return to Russia for medical treatment and asked for leave. Baburov looked at the telegram and wondered what to do with it.

Unlike other countries that had already set up consulates in Shanghai, Russia did not have enough influence on the southeast coast of the Qing Dynasty, so it did not set up consulates. Last year, in 1896, in order to further influence the Qing state, Russia had just set up a consulate general in Shanghai, which was responsible for the foreign affairs of several of China's richest provinces, including Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang. This Consul General Dmitriev only arrived last year, but he has not been there for a year, and I heard that the embassy and consulate in Shanghai have not even found a place, but they are working in several places, and they have to ask for leave at this time, which is really a slap in the face for the newly appointed Minister Paburov.

While Pabrov was having trouble with his brains, Witt came, knocked on the door and went in and said to Pabrov: "Your Excellency, I don't know what you have to do with me?" ”

Paburov raised his head when he heard the sound and looked at Werther, to be honest, he was very afraid of seeing this guy, he asked Nicholas II to come to the Qing Kingdom, but also because he was afraid of being targeted by Werther's intelligence bureau at home, this is a "butcher", only a few months after taking office, the intelligence bureau killed in the Russian officialdom and the blood flowed. But I don't know if it was Baburov's misfortune or his luck, this killing god actually came to Qingguo, and he was still the first counselor of the legation, that is, his first assistant.

"Your Excellency, you are coming here because the Consul General in Shanghai, Mr. Dmitriev, has recently returned to Russia for medical treatment because of his illness. As you know, the empire's influence on the southeast coast of the Qing Dynasty is insufficient, and the Shanghai Consulate General was also established just last year, and everything has not yet been straightened out. Now that His Excellency Dmitriev has returned to China, the matter in Shanghai will be dragged on. As he spoke, Baburov looked at Werther's expression, and saw that there was no unswerving expression on his face, and then continued, "Therefore, I want His Excellency Werther to temporarily take the post of Consul General in Shanghai, I wonder what Your Excellency thinks?" ”

After hearing this, Witte felt very happy in his heart, if he was appointed as the consul general of Shanghai, then some things in the later period would be much smoother, but Witt's face was dissatisfied after listening: "Your Excellency, I have just arrived in Beijing, and this is for me to return to Shanghai......

"Don't be angry, Your Excellency, I'm not consulting with you? If you disagree, I can reconsider others. Seeing that Witte was angry, Baburov hurriedly said cautiously.

Witte soothed his tone and said: "Your Excellency Minister Pabrov, when I left from Petersburg, my uncle asked me to follow the arrangements of His Excellency the Minister after I came to the Qing Kingdom, since this is the request of His Excellency the Minister, then I must go to Shanghai to take up my post, but in terms of time, I hope that Your Excellency the Minister can let me rest for a few more days." ”

"Of course, of course." Baburov hurriedly replied.

Witte continued: "I have one more request, there is a person in the Vilnius City Hall named Pavel. Anisimumovich. Zagoev's Secretariat Staff, I hope you can issue an order to transfer him to the Qing Kingdom, I wonder if Your Excellency the Minister will have any difficulties? ”

Baburov hurriedly replied: "This is a trivial matter, I will immediately call the Vilnius City Hall and transfer this person to Shanghai." ”

"Well, so be it!" After hearing this, Witte turned to leave, and when he reached the door, he said, "Your Excellency, after all, you represent the dignity of the empire here, and I hope you will not be so submissive. Baburov listened to Werther finish the last sentence, his face was red and white, and he thought to himself: If it weren't for you, the killing god, how could I be so unbearable?

At night, because of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the night lights in Beijing are bright, but the people of Beijing are lighting candles and hanging red lanterns. At the temple fair, men and women, young and old, all of them went out together, people carried lanterns in their hands, and children still held rock sugar gourds they had just bought.

It's just that although Werther wanted to participate, he couldn't go out, because today's embassy invited ministers from various countries to attend the dinner, and the purpose was nothing more than to serve him, the newly appointed first counsellor of the legation and temporary acting consul general in Shanghai. "Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, let us invite His Excellency Baburov, Minister of the Russian Empire to the Qing Dynasty, to speak on the stage."

Baburov, accompanied by the voice of the host, walked up to the stage, and then said to everyone in the audience: "Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, thank you very much for coming to this dinner, today is the traditional New Year of the Qing country, and thank you to the representatives of the Qing country for attending the banquet held in their country. Today I am the First Counsellor of the Legation of the Russian Empire in the Qing State Vasily. Borisovich. Mr. Witte, who previously served as Secretary-General of His Majesty the Emperor's Chamberlain, has taken up his new position. This time, His Majesty appointed the post of First Counsellor of the Qing Legation, which fully shows that His Majesty the Emperor attaches great importance to the Qing State, and also proves that the good-neighborly relations between China and the Qing State will be further deepened. Ladies and gentlemen, let us toast Mr. Witte and wish His Majesty the Emperor good health! chess！ ”

After everyone raised their glasses, they all stepped forward to meet with Werther, Werther also smiled and greeted everyone present, just after talking with the French Minister to the Qing Dynasty, Schalain, the two of them came over only to see one of them introduced in French: "Hello Your Excellency Werther, this is Mr. Rong Lu, the Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty. ”

Although Werther understood that this was the prime minister of the Qing Dynasty, he didn't know who the person in front of him was because of the transliteration of his name, but this did not prevent Werther from knowing that this person's identity was not low, why? All because the Qing Dynasty's prime minister's affairs yamen was a strange department in the eyes of later generations.

Before 1860, the Qing Dynasty did not have an independent diplomatic department, and foreign affairs were handled by the Ministry of Rites (which dealt with tributary affairs), the Lifanyuan (which dealt with the affairs of the Outer Domains of Mongolia, the Hui and Zhufan Ministries, and Russia), the Governor of Liangguang (who dealt with the trade affairs of Guangzhou), and the missionaries in China (who handled the translation of foreigners and served as the communication representative of the Chinese mission to China).

In the Second Qing-British War, the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Tientsin with Britain, France, the United States, Russia, etc., which required the envoy to be stationed in Beijing, so that the Qing Dynasty began to face a new diplomatic situation and establish a new diplomatic agency. He and Wen Xiang played the "Overall Coordination and Consideration of the Aftermath Regulations", that is, proposed to set up a new diplomatic agency to deal with new foreign affairs. So it was officially established on March 11, and the location was in Dongtangzi Hutong of Jingshi.

Although the Prime Minister's Office of National Affairs is the highest foreign affairs agency, it is not in fact a formal government department, but more similar to a subordinate agency of the Military Aircraft Department and a more temporary body, so it has no formal official character and establishment. The Prime Minister's Yamen is in charge of a prince and is co-run by several ministers, but these ministers are originally important officials such as the Minister of Military Aircraft, scholars, scholars of various ministries or squires, etc., in addition to 16 Zhang Jing (eight people each in the Manchu and Han dynasties, who are four or five officials, also part-time or seconded).

Therefore, being able to become the prime minister must be a first-class and second-class official of the Qing Dynasty, and he has great decision-making power and consultation power over the policies of the Qing court, so Witte smiled and replied in Chinese: "Hello, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." ”

Rong Lu and the translator were obviously surprised, they didn't expect this foreigner's official words to be so good, so Rong Lu said with a smile: "Hello Mr. Witt, I am Rong Lu, the Prime Minister of the Qing Dynasty, and I didn't expect Mr. to speak so well in his official words, which is really amazing." ”

Only then did Witt know who this person was in front of him!

Rong Lu, Manchuria is the White Banner Guerjia clan, the word Zhonghua, a member of the Jin Ministry of Labor in Yinsheng, before and after the Xinyou coup, he was the Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong Yi? was appreciated, and then became the Minister of the Interior. In 1878, he was promoted to the imperial history of the left capital and the book of the Ministry of Industry; In 1891, he became the general of Xi'an; After the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, Prince Gong, who was resurrected again? recommended as the commander of the infantry army, will handle military affairs, and set up a patrol bureau to supervise the regimental defense of the five cities of the Beijing Division; On August 11, 1895, he was conferred the title of Secretary of the Ministry of War and the Commander of the Infantry Army, and was awarded the post of Prime Minister at the same time.

Witte knew that this person had not yet reached his peak at this time, and before the reform next year, Rong Lu would replace Wang Wenshao as the Minister of Beiyang and the Governor of Zhili, and began to train the new army. Later generations only knew that Yuan Shikai was training at a small station, but they didn't know that Yuan Shikai was assigned by Rong Lu. After the failure of the Restoration, Rong Lu joined the Military Aircraft Department as the Minister of Military Aircraft, controlled the training of the new army organized by Song Qing, Dong Fuxiang, Nie Shicheng, and Yuan Shikai, and even combined the four armies into the Wuwei Army, and the most important thing is that this person is the grandfather of the late emperor of the Qing Dynasty - Xuantong Emperor Puyi.

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