Shanghu Dao, the full name is "sub-patrol Su Song Taichang and other places to prepare for the road", the administrative level is slightly higher than Shanghu County, Songjiang Mansion, slightly lower than Sujiang Province, although Shanghu Daotai is a four-grade official, but it belongs to important officials, after the expiration of the term, most of them are promoted to the third rank according to the envoy or from the second rank of the political secretary, and even directly promoted to the governor or governor of the example.

Shanghu Daotai Yamen is located in the east gate of Shanghu County, covering an area of 14 acres, today's Shanghu Daotai Yu Lianyuan, in later generations that is also a famous figure, because the famous "Southeast Mutual Insurance" in the history of later generations, is by Yu Lianyuan came forward, and the countries in Shanghai temporarily agreed, and finally signed.

In June 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion was booming, British and American imperialism was deeply afraid of affecting the Yangtze River valley in its sphere of influence, so they instigated Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Huguang, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang, Xu Yingkui, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Kuijun, the governor of Sichuan, Sheng Xuanhuai, the minister of railways, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong. The Yangtze River and the interior of Suzhou and Hangzhou are all under the protection of the governors of various provinces, which is the famous "Southeast Mutual Insurance".

It should be said that the southeast mutual protection was the first time that the official powerful Han ministers in various places in the late Qing Dynasty openly gathered people to resist the Manchu court, and this incident saved the regions outside Hebei and Shandong from the Boxer Rebellion and the impact of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and at the same time, it also swept away the prestige of the Qing court, and the weakness of the Qing court was completely revealed, so that the provinces and powerful figures began to become warlords.

Some people say that the signing of the Southeast Mutual Guarantee is that Zhang Zhidong's governor colluded with foreigners in order to safeguard his own interests, ignoring the interests of the country, which is a traitorous act, and Yu Lianyuan is the executor of the traitorous act.

No matter which point of view, as the executor of Southeast Mutual Insurance, Yu Lianyuan will be famous in history because of this incident.

Daotai Yamen.

"Virtuous nephew, please take a seat."

When Qin Haiji handed over the letter of worship and attached a letter written by Yue Xiang, Qin Haiji was warmly received by Yu Lianyuan, and he opened his mouth to be a virtuous nephew, as if relatives were meeting.

"Lord Yu, please take a seat."

Qin Haiji very politely asked Yu Lianyuan to sit down first, although he could clearly perceive that Yu Lianyuan's enthusiasm was from the heart, but as a junior, especially today, he still has something to ask for, so naturally he can't be without courtesy, and this is also what Yue Xiang has told him, Yu Lianyuan has an excellent face, especially the number of courtesies.

"You child, Shangde has no parents, although you are Shangde's righteous son, that is also my son and nephew, you can mistake yourself as an outsider in the future, I am two years older than Shangde, you can call me Uncle Yu." Yu Lianyuan sighed: "More than 20 years have passed, they are all old, Shangde is a person who is both civil and military, and now his body and bones should be much healthier than mine, right?" ”

Before Qin Haiji left the wolf domain, Yue Xiang did accept him as a righteous son, and also talked to Qin Haiji about his relationship with Yu Lianyuan, Yue Xiang and Yu Lianyuan are the same people, the two got acquainted because they were waiting for the exam in Beijing, and the two of them were very eye-to-eye, and they were cited as confidants, and they should be on the way to the green once, Yu Lianyuan fell off the horse, and was rescued by Yue Xiang, so Yu Lianyuan remembered his kindness even more, and later Yue Xiang left his career and returned to his hometown, and the two often exchanged letters, but they did not see each other for more than 20 years, so when they saw Qin Haiji, they felt particularly cordial.

"Uncle Yu, my father-in-law's body is still good, in fact, he misses you a lot, a while ago, the dart game moved to Ice City, and now it has settled down." Qin Haiji hurriedly responded.

"Hey, the ambition of the wolf son of Tsarist Russia, but now the state affairs are so difficult, the erosion is so much, the affairs of the three eastern provinces, where can the imperial court take care of it at present, a while ago, when Li Zhongtang was temporarily living in Shanghai, he talked about the affairs of the three eastern provinces, and he was also helpless, and his heart was extremely depressed." Yu Lianyuan said helplessly.

Although Yu Lianyuan agreed with the southeast mutual insurance, and even personally came forward to sign the agreement, disrespecting the orders of the imperial court, this is not unpatriotic, of course, the country in their eyes may not be the 'Qing court', but the country of China, so the southeast mutual insurance will appear.

Of course, no matter whether they love the country or not, which country they love, it has nothing to do with Qin Haiji, so Qin Haiji is not ready to continue this topic, but changes the conversation, takes the initiative to chat with Yu Lianyuan about family life, chats about some interesting things, and then, intentionally or unintentionally, leads the topic to the Westernization Movement and talks about industrial salvation, these topics make Yu Lianyuan very interested.

After all, as a Shanghai Daotai, his responsibilities are not only the responsibilities of ordinary Daotai, such as supervising local administration and maintaining local security, but also supervising customs, collecting customs duties for the Qing Dynasty, handling local diplomacy, and engaging in Westernization movements, such as the largest military enterprise of the Qing government, the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, which was founded by Shanghai Daotai.

In fact, after the opening of the port in Shanghai, in order to meet the needs of the situation, many foreign affairs agencies were added, such as the Foreign Affairs Bureau, the Huiju Public Office (equivalent to the court), the Patrol and Defense Bureau (Police Department), the Huizhang Bureau (Land Bureau), etc., all of which were under the management of the Shanghai Provincial Station.

"Haiji, you are so concerned about the Westernization Movement and the industrial salvation of the country, but you plan to embark on the road of industrial salvation?"

Yu Lianyuan finally asked this sentence, Qin Haiji couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief in his heart, said so much, paved the way for so long, isn't this what he has been waiting for, so he hurriedly responded: "Uncle Yu, when my father-in-law was young, he also traveled to study in European countries, and after returning to China, he wanted to devote himself to foreign affairs and enter Beiyang to save the country's Tu Village, but it backfired. ”

"Well, yes, that's how young people should be." Yu Lianyuan paused and continued: "Coming to Shanghai to develop industry is indeed more advantageous than other parts of the country, you are here to come to the right place, while Uncle Yu is still in office, although he can help you, but it takes a lot of money to start an industry, this Uncle Yu has helped you." ”

Yu Lianyuan has been a Beijing official for 30 years, and he has won the praise of "Iron Mask Imperial History", and he was released to Shanghai Daotai, that is, last year's thing, so although he is in a rich place like Shanghai Daotai, he is a rare honest official, especially after the signing of the Southeast Mutual Insurance, he has become a foreign affairs officer who has attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign people.

"Uncle Yu, my father-in-law is also fully supportive of the younger generation to start an industry, and the family assets are basically brought by the younger generation, in addition, because of the invasion of Tsarist Russia, a large number of border Chinese poured into Aihui, and many Chinese businessmen who were familiar with each other before, after hearing that I intended to come to Shanghai to invest in industry, they also proposed to join, so this time, the younger generation brought enough silver tickets and rubles, ready to do a big job in Shanghai." Qin Haiji swore an oath.

"Good, good ,......。"

"Master, Madame ordered, the meal has been prepared."

"Oh, time flies so fast? Let's go, Haiji, let's talk while eating. ”

"It's better for juniors to be respectful than to obey their fate."

…… (To be continued.) )