Prince Su Shanqi actually knew that Cixi didn't like him very much, but he didn't care too much about it. It was not easy to get Cixi's reception, and Shanqi hoped that through this meeting, he could persuade Cixi to implement the new policy as soon as possible.

"Queen Mother, now all the discussions in the world are calling for a constitution. And the imperial court also has this plan. In that case, we should promulgate a constitution as soon as possible. The slave knew that the queen mother was worried that the implementation would be too fast, and there would always be various shortcomings. Lest anyone point fingers. But which of the world's major events is not being pointed at? The greatest advantage of enacting a constitution as soon as possible is that we are prepared, and those who want to make a constitution are not prepared, and after the constitution is enacted, all key departments can be controlled by our own people. Since it is constitutional, it must be elected. There are rules for this election, whether it is an election every four years or an election every five years, we all have enough time to deal with it calmly. But at least we have the name of righteousness, real power, and a constitutional system. Let's be invincible first. If it is done slowly, those who have ulterior motives to take advantage of the constitution will have sufficient collusion, but they will have long nights and dreams. ”

Cixi quietly listened to Prince Su's statement, and this "radical" way made Cixi dislike it very much. What Cixi hoped was to be able to subdue the hearts of the people first, play with the other party through power tricks, and then implement the constitution in the form of grace. This was actually the most accustomed method of the Manchu aristocracy. It must be said that Cixi is conservative, but it is actually an incomplete statement. Cixi has always been one of the "supporters" of the New Deal, at least a supporter of the new initiatives, and even a promoter of it. After the failure of the Wuxu Reform, no one died in the New Deal. Because the New Deal was largely allowed and supported by Cixi. Guangxu relied on Cixi's permission to take charge of the new regime. However, Guangxu, instigated by those radicals, turned the New Deal into a political struggle. The imperial party wanted to fight for power from the latter party, and even went so far that it was ready to kill Cixi and forcibly seize power. Cixi's imprisonment of Guangxu was not so much a hatred of the New Deal as a normal self-preservation.

Now Prince Su Shanqi is ready to come again, and Cixi is against it in her heart. But she did not oppose it outright, and as a ruler in power, Cixi did not need to explain many times. The explanation represents concern, and the other party often does not really care about the opposition in Cixi's words, but will intensify his efforts to persuade Cixi.

Another reason why Cixi didn't speak and wanted to save face for Prince Su was that Prince Su Shanqi was also an alternative in the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

One of Shanqi's political achievements was the establishment of the modern police system. Gengzi Incident (1900) The Eight-Nation Coalition invaded Beijing. Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi fled from Beijing in a hurry, and at the same time as they arrived in Dada, the Empress Dowager ordered Shanqi to return to Beijing, and handled the aftermath with Prince Qing Yixuan and scholar Li Hongzhang. Soon after Shanqi returned to Beijing, he met Kawashima Naniwa, who served as a translator in the Japanese army, and the two met late, and later worshiped their brothers. With the support of Kawashima Naniwa and others, Shanqi formed a patrol team according to the Japanese police law and the current situation of Beijing City (this is the abuse of the Beijing police in the future). In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Shanqi was appointed as the commander of the infantry army and the minister of the Industrial Inspection Bureau. The Yamen, the commander of the infantry army, was the old agency responsible for public security in Beijing, and the Industrial Patrol Bureau was a newly established municipal organization that led the newly established patrol police.

The second of Shanqi's achievements is to promote the municipal construction of Beijing. He presided over the establishment of the Road Construction Bureau, which was responsible for the construction of roads in the city of Beijing. He also asked for a part of the Eight Banners Shenji Camp playground in Wangfujing to open a new shopping mall, the predecessor of the famous Dong'an Market. At that time, Jingshi presented a new atmosphere. Shanqi also explicitly ordered the opening of a theater called "Civilized Tea Garden" in the mouth of Xizhu City, the theater is upstairs for women, downstairs for men, canceled the ban that women can not enter the theater to watch the play, in Beijing in the first good district, for a while.

The third of his political achievements was to eliminate the accumulated shortcomings of Chongwenmen's taxation. Chongwenmen is the main gateway for taxing goods into Beijing, such as daily necessities and luxury goods. The Chongwenmen superintendent can not only accept bribes, but also collect part of the taxes, and in a year, the superintendent can get tens of thousands of taels of silver, which has always been recognized as a fat shortage. During the Gengzi Incident, the Suwang Mansion located in Dongjiaomin Lane was destroyed in the war, and the Qing court ordered Shanqi to serve as the superintendent of Chongwenmen, including the intention of letting him get some income from the tax "commission" and build another palace. After Shanqi took office, he didn't receive this favor and paid all the taxes.

Shanqi also drastically rectified the tax system, prohibiting extortion and eradicating corruption. In the past, foreigners did not pay taxes when they brought goods into Beijing, but he changed to pay taxes as a whole; In the past, businessmen and citizens were paid taxes by economists, and they took a percentage from them, but they changed it to officials who directly inspected the goods and collected taxes, minus the link of intermediate exploitation. Shanqi was re-elected as a superintendent for two consecutive terms, and his taxes increased greatly, all of which were handed over to the state treasury.

The biggest difference between Shanqi and other princes and nobles is that he still knows that the interests of the empire are above personal interests. In later generations, those who envied the Manchu bloodline had a very high evaluation of Shanqi. Sun Baoxuan has a few comments on Shanqi in "Diary of Forgotten Mountain Lu": It is easy for people who are capable of doing things, but it is difficult for people who are honest to be honest; It is easy to get an honest person, but it is difficult to get a person who is honest and can empathize with feelings. So that the people in the world are like the king, why not waste everything!

In the eyes of the People's Party headed by Chen Ke, these new policies are not worth mentioning at all. Compared with Yuan Shikai's establishment of the Beiyang New Army, these things have very limited significance for the promotion of the country. It can only be called a trivial matter. Even Cixi didn't like this person's style.

But compared with other princes in the Manchu Qing Dynasty who only knew how to fight for power and profit, drunk and dreamed of death, eating, drinking and having fun, Shanqi was very different. After all, he is in Beijing, and it is difficult for the Son of Heaven to do things. Although these small things may not seem like a big deal, if they want to do it, they have to do an arduous struggle against various forces. It is already very commendable that the good elderly can do these things.

Since she couldn't refute Shanqi's face, Cixi had no choice but to continue listening. Shanqi is not a stunned young man who doesn't understand the world, if this is the case, it is impossible for him to mix with his current status. Historically, Wang Jingwei assassinated the Manchu prince and was arrested after the matter was leaked. Shanqi advocated forgiveness of Wang Jingwei. After Wang Jingwei talked with Shanqi, he also admired this prince who was "capable, open-minded, bold and witty" in the eyes of the people. Wang Jingwei defected to the Japanese and formed a puppet Nanjing government, and he was ready to appoint Shanqi's son as the "ambassador to Japan".

Seeing that Cixi couldn't listen to her advice at all, Shanqi had to retire.

After Shanqi left, Cixi breathed a sigh of relief slightly. Every time she dealt with these people, Cixi felt very unhappy. The other palace maids and eunuchs didn't see it, only the big eunuch Li Lianying brought a cup of tea with a very tacit understanding. Cixi took a sip, but asked, "Is there a fold of Cen Chunxuan?" ”

The saying of "three massacres in the late Qing Dynasty" is well-known at home and abroad. Zhang Zhidong "slaughtered wealth", Yuan Shikai "slaughtered the people", and Cen Chunxuan "slaughtered officials". Cixi asked Li Lianying the excerpt of the famous "official slaughter" Cen Chunxuan.

Cen Chunxuan, a native of the Zhuang clan in Guangxi, and the son of Cen Yuying, the former governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. According to historical records, although this duke served as the governor of Liangguang for only four years, he dismissed 1,403 corrupt officials at all levels! At that time, the people regarded Cen as "the last blue sky of the Qing Dynasty". He is an honest and upright official. Deeply valued by Cixi. In the matter of constitutionalism, Cixi wanted to see Cen Chunxuan's attitude. In recent years, all capable ministers have been very close in their actions, and they all advocate the development of education and the establishment of industries. And within their purview, these ministers also did their best to practice "running education and developing industry." Politics. And these capable officials also supported the constitution without exception.

Cixi's political bottom line is that neither the New Deal nor the Constitution can shake the political leadership of her and the forces she represents. Therefore, Cixi did not want a constitution to be made quickly at all. Instead, the method of bribery and suppression was adopted to complete the constitutional reform step by step. At this time, Cixi herself could only find those people and methods that could match her mind from the excerpts of those officials she valued.

"Lafayette, the slave has seen it. There is no excerpt from Lord Cen Chunxuan. Li Lianying hurriedly replied.

Cixi didn't say anything, just took another sip of tea. Li Lianying hurriedly served the tray, and Cixi put the teacup back on the tray. Li Lianying withdrew the tea.

Managing such a stormy Qing court made Cixi, who was in the deep palace, only have an extremely powerless sense of heaviness. Prince Baylor, who was supposed to be the pillar of the Qing Dynasty, had already been corrupted to the point of being unappointable. After giving these people power, they could do nothing but fight for power. The Beiyang family was thriving, but as Yuan Shikai gradually rose to power, he was also caught in the whirlpool of political struggles. And Cixi was not prepared to support Yuan Shikai to reach a higher level. In Cixi's view, politics could not allow a person to gain uncontrollable power. No one can control everything but themselves. For politics, it's about personnel arrangement. Personnel arrangements should be balanced and should not allow either side to become bigger, and the struggle between these people should be watched from the sidelines and even skillfully guided before there are no major problems. Only when everyone has the supreme power to ask Cixi can Cixi control the situation.

Cixi was well aware of the contradiction between Cen Chunxuan and Yuan Shikai. Because he was deeply dissatisfied with the greed and misconduct of the imperial minister, Cen Chunxuan wrote to impeach him many times, but was hostile to Yuan Shikai, who regarded Yixuan as a backer, and wanted to take it quickly. Cixi does not have the slightest love for the "Blue Sky Lord" in the mouth of any people, and "light and dust" is Cixi's favorite. The reason why she valued Cen Chunxuan was simple, Cen Chunxuan was capable of solving some problems, loyal to the imperial court, and had poor relations with many political factions in the Manchu court. is an important chip available. As for whether Cen Chunxuan is a clean official or a corrupt official, it has no meaning to Cixi. Because corrupt officials or clean officials only target the people, and Cixi has never cared about the life and death of the people.

The rules of the political game in the Manchu Qing were as simple as that.

When Cixi was considering the political role of Cen Chunxuan, the headquarters of the People's Party Water Detachment, thousands of miles away, the Party Committee meeting of the People's Party Water Detachment was discussing the "Cai Tu" Zhang Zhidong in the "Three Massacres of the Late Qing Dynasty". Zhang Zhidong was considered a personal masterpiece in the Manchu era, but Chen Ke publicly propagandized in the People's Party, "Comrades must have confidence in themselves!" Ten years later, a person with qualifications like Zhang Zhidong will at most be a section chief in the People's Party. After spending tens of millions of taels of silver, Zhang Zhidong failed to establish an industrial system. The work of our People's Party in the next 10 years will certainly surpass Zhang Zhidong's achievements by dozens of times. ”

Since the party chairman is so confident, the comrades naturally feel a lot more at ease. But knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent will not be defeated in a hundred battles. Chen Ke also repeatedly stressed, "Strategically we must despise the enemy, and tactically we must attach importance to the enemy." The party committee meeting presented a seminar on Yan Fu's personal situation. Deputy lecturer Mao Ping was once dragged by Yan Fu and went to Hanyang to treat people with flower willow disease. It can be regarded as having some connections there. He was in charge of the situation of the Hanyang Iron and Steel Enterprise. The People's Party was worried that there would not be enough money, so it simply brought a batch of "914" with it. Over the past year or so, 914's reputation has become more and more widespread, and Mao Ping, who has personally treated his illness in Hubei, brought this medicine with him, which is almost equivalent to cash.

Zhang Zhidong's life, characteristics, hobbies. The BJP has collected. It is also the duty of the members of the People's Party to collect firewood and provide all kinds of information they know to the Party organization. Zhang Zhidong is a celebrity, and among the new people who came to the base area, there are also scholars from Hubei, and they know this famous minister very well.

After Yan Fu finished what he should have said, he began to look at these party members coldly. Yan Fu not only doesn't like these personnel matters, but he is also not proficient in these personnel relationships. The reason why he was able to surpass his contemporaries was related to Yan Fu's ability to start from the grassroots level and always focus on front-line work.

Some people are interested in these personnel things, but even from Yan Fu's point of view, these people are more attracted to diplomatic work. More people just listened, but they focused more on Yan Fu.

After arriving at the base area, Yan Fu also received training in the simple core program of the People's Party. The core programmatic nature can be summed up in four sentences at this stage, "Labor is the most glorious!" "Labor creates man himself." "The productive forces determine the relations of production." "Anyone who wants to be the lord of the people and exploits others from above is an enemy of the People's Party!" These four sentences can be seen everywhere in party schools and cadre schools. Moreover, the recent training of party members has been carried out around these contents.

Yan Fu, who translated "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution", likes these four sentences very much, and the biggest difference between Yan Fu and traditional scholars is that "he is not yet clear". The main thrust of these four sentences is to emphasize practice and oppose empty talk. The same is undoubtedly true of these comrades who have been educated in party schools and military units. Everyone is essentially a soldier, and with Yan Fu, a navy veteran, there is endless knowledge, and diplomatic missions are just a job in everyone's eyes, and the navy is their job.

Sure enough, after talking about all kinds of things to pay attention to. Zhang Yu immediately asked Yan Fu to continue to talk about naval knowledge. No one objected, and the comrades, who had been silent, immediately became enthusiastic.

Yan Fu did not shirk and immediately began to teach. As the principal of the Beiyang Naval Academy, lecturing is familiar to Yan Fu. You don't even have to prepare a lesson plan. Most of the regulations of the People's Party's water detachment were requested by Chen Ke and completed by the comrades themselves. This kind of well-behaved layman's way is pediatric in Yan Fu's eyes. He did not despise the water detachment because of this, on the contrary, Yan Fu was very satisfied. The most fearful thing in education is not that students do not understand, but that students have erroneous cognitions and habits that run counter to theory. The current situation of the water detachment is the favorite of naval educators, and Chen Ke has established the correct habits and direction. All that is lacking is knowledge. The last thing Yan Fu lacks is knowledge.

The comrades of the water detachment also like Mr. Yan Fu, Chen Ke is the leader, in everyone's opinion, he has set too many rules, and there is no way to give everyone a reasonable explanation. Although everyone didn't dare to question Chen Ke, they always felt that something was not right in their hearts. Yan Fu can not only tell everyone about the wide application of these rules in practice, but also explain the significance of formulating these rules from a theoretical perspective.

In fact, if Yan Fu comes up and comprehensively criticizes the existing rules, it is wrong, and everyone will not accept it in their hearts. Yan Fu not only did not criticize, but also explained and built the existing system more perfectly. The comrades felt that their previous efforts had not been in vain in the slightest, and that they had learned to solve many problems that they could not understand before. So everyone was convinced by Yan Fu, and a few days after Yan Fu arrived at the water detachment, he had faintly become the leader of the water detachment.

"Mr. Yan, what kind of engine should the river fleet need?" Li Zhao asked.

After listening to Yan Fu's talk about warships, everyone was full of longing for the mechanically powered fleet. Li Zhao's question represents the voice of the overwhelming majority of officers and men of the water detachment.

"This needs to be determined according to the tonnage of the vessel, as well as the condition of the river." Although he is not from the inland river fleet, Yan Fu can easily explain to his comrades according to naval theory, "What the inland river fleet needs to pay more attention to is that the fleet needs to be compiled according to hydrographic data. In order to achieve maximum efficiency, the boats used during the dry season must be different from those used during the flood season. After all, it is impossible for everyone to let the river change according to everyone's mind, we must adapt to the specific situation of the river. This requires a comprehensive hydrological survey. ”

Hearing this, everyone felt that their hearts suddenly brightened a lot. Li Zhao, in particular, was entrusted with the task of hydrological data survey from the very beginning. Hearing Yan Fu say this, Li Zhao subconsciously straightened his chest.

"What equipment and methods do you need for hydrological surveys?" Zhang Yu then asked.

Yan Fu told everyone about the methods that the navy was accustomed to, and listening to these exquisite and effective methods, many comrades scratched their ears and cheeks happily. I couldn't help but go for an experiment right away.

"Mr. Yan, what should these engines look like?" Li Zhao is still more interested in mechanization.

Yan Fu looked at everyone's longing gaze and couldn't help but smile, "The base is already preparing to develop a marine engine, and after the research and development is completed, everyone can operate this small engine to crisscross the river." ”

"Really?" The comrades had never heard of this, and many of them had only seen large foreign steamers, but they did not expect that mechanically powered ships would also be built in the base areas. The crowd was immediately overjoyed.

Yan Fu was actually very happy, after arriving at the base this time, Chen Ke revealed to Yan Fu the research and development direction of the base area. Due to the lack of capacity to manufacture high-temperature and high-pressure equipment, it is unlikely that the base area will be able to build its own steam engine in the short term. Chen Ke proposed the concept of a gas-powered engine.

Gas-powered engines can be regarded as two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engines, and unlike traditional internal combustion engines, the fuel is not gasoline or diesel, but carbon monoxide-based gas. The power of this thing is not high, but fortunately, it is small in size, light in weight, and easy to manufacture. An engine capable of producing 40 horsepower can be used as the basis for mechanized production in the base area. At least the gas tractor is a lot better than the livestock. At this stage, the gas generator can also meet the needs of the base area. This kind of engine is installed on a ship, and it can be regarded as a small steamer.

In Chen Ke's concept, China has been left behind in the world in the electrification era of the second industrial revolution, and the "internal combustion engine", one of the important symbols of the second industrial revolution, cannot be too backward in the world's level. As long as the revolution can continue, there will be oil, there will be oil refining, everything will be there.

Yan Fu is very knowledgeable and agrees with the research and development direction of the gas internal combustion engine mentioned by Chen Ke. Chen Ke's level of mechanical technology history is very bad, he actually didn't know that the earliest internal combustion engine was to burn gas. As soon as he said the result of what he thought was a combination of various scientific and technological considerations, he found that not only Yan Fu knew something about the gas internal combustion engine, but even a few engineers and technicians in the base were not completely unfamiliar with it. After discussing with everyone, Chen Ke simply took the road of cheating. First, let the Shanghai branch import a batch of diesel engines from Germany and convert these diesel engines into gas-burning machines.

A few days ago, some comrades had already gone to Shanghai to contact Wang Bin, who was working in a German foreign firm. To have such an order, the Germans don't care who this batch of diesel engines is sold to and what they are used for. Because he was afraid that the Germans would run out of goods, the comrades who went to Shanghai also brought Wang Bin another piece of news, hoping that he could contact the American foreign bank and contact the goods from the American foreign bank. In these years, as long as you can pay for real money, the technical content and use of commodities have never been ignored by the industrial countries of Europe and the United States.

Yan Fu knew that the price of this batch of goods would not be very low, and he asked Chen Ke how he would pay for this batch of goods. Chen Ke's answer surprised Yan Fu. Chen Ke actually wanted to use barter. The base area will raise silkworms on a large scale and use silk for barter. And Chen Ke didn't sell Guanzi, he told Yan Fu bluntly that the price of silk in the base area was thirty or even fifty percent lower than that on the market. And it's all long silk silk. In exchange for an internal combustion engine at such a low price, the Germans and Americans would not refuse.

Yan Fu doesn't understand silk production, so he is not ready to inquire about the industry he doesn't understand. He just asked the most concerned question, how much is the appropriate number of internal combustion engines in this batch. Chen Ke raised his left hand and stretched out two fingers. "I hope it's at least 2,000."