However, due to the mutiny caused by the incident of rushing to catch up with the boat, Ding Zhihuang's plan failed to succeed, and he was dismissed from the post of governor of Shandong and demoted to the political envoy of Sichuan because of the ineffective handling of the mutiny.

Although Ding Zhihuang left, but the order he left is still there, and because the price was paid early, the Guangdong side finally completed the order, but after Ding Zhihuang left, the establishment of the Rongdeng Sailor was revoked, and the members were incorporated into the Beiyang Sailor after being eliminated.

After listening to Yang Yonglin's explanation, Lin Yiqing understood Peng Yulin's plan and couldn't help but sneer secretly.

Peng Yulin's method was the same as Ding Zhihuang's: first show the imperial court that wooden sailing ships still had a certain use, and then use this as an opportunity to demand that wooden sailing ships continue to be equipped, so as to curb the equipping of steamships, and then resist the development of the Westernization movement in his own jurisdiction.

Now it seems that Peng Yulin's ruse can be said to have succeeded halfway.

Thinking of the difficulty of the Westernization Movement in Qianguo, Lin Yiqing felt more and more that the road ahead was more difficult, even more than Japan!

After all, Japan is a small country, and the so-called "small ship is good to turn around", in addition to Japan's location on the seashore, it is easy to accept the influence of foreign culture, and Japan's feudal lord economic system is quite similar to that of Europe in history, and it is much faster to westernize, while Qianguo, a large agricultural country with a history of several thousand years, wants to turn around as quickly as Japan, it is really too difficult!

It's just a conservative elite like "Peng Datie". It's enough to deal with for a while!

Lin Yiqing's thoughts were fluctuating. A whistle sounded over the river in the distance. He followed the prestige and immediately saw a pillar of smoke on the river in the distance.

"Hehe, it seems that they are quite acquainted, and the one sent is a steamboat, not a wooden sailboat." Yang Yonglin looked at Lin Yiqing with a smile, "Maybe they are also afraid of Lord Lin's prestige." ”

After a long time, the boat gradually approached, and Lin Yiqing raised the binoculars. I saw a steam gunboat flying the dragon flag, and the copper nameplate on the ship was clearly engraved with the word "Weijing".

Lin Yiqing, who is familiar with modern naval history, recognized it at a glance: "Weijing" should be an enlarged version of the American "90-day gunboat" built by the Jiangnan Shipyard, but the speed of the "Weijing" gunboat is much slower than that of the high-speed notification ship "Flying Tiger."

Looking at the slowly approaching "Weijing" gunboat, Lin Yiqing couldn't help frowning.

Even if the speed of the "Weijing" is much slower than that of the "Flying Tiger", it is not so slow, right?

Moreover, compared with the "Flying Tiger," which was clean and tidy and in good condition, the "Weijing" looked very messy, and the sailors on the ship were all listless, lacking in the slightest the vigorous vigor of the crew of the "Flying Tiger."

Only from the current appearance of the gunboat "Weijing". Lin Yiqing could already guess that the Nanyang Sailor as a whole. What will it look like?

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

Beijing, Forbidden City, early dynasty.

In the early days of the Great Qian Dynasty, the special word of the court was called "calling", which was the highest form for the emperor or the empress dowager to summon the ministers of military aircraft, princes, cabinet scholars or officials of the six ministries, as well as the officials of the feudal realm, to convey the edict, listen to the recital, and accept the audience. It is usually after 7 to 8 a.m., about an hour (two hours).

At Yin Shi (three o'clock to five o'clock), in the bedroom of the Empress Dowager Renxi, the lights were on, and the two palace maids who were originally on night duty in the house were waiting at the door of the bedroom at this time, and the other two palace maids who were on night duty at the palace gate were dealing with other palace maids who were doing rough work. At the time of Yin Zheng, the palace door was locked, and the palace maid who did rough work brought a bucket of hot water from outside the palace and prepared it outside the door. The copper stove faintly glowed red on the southwest corner, and it was an old eunuch boiling white fungus, preparing for the first salute after the Empress Dowager Renxi got out of bed. There is a saying in the palace that people often eat white fungus to look old and stay young forever. When the palace maid who was waiting to sleep shouted "Ancestor auspicious" (this is actually a signal), everyone knew that the Empress Dowager Renxi sat up and began to go to the ground, and the two palace maids on duty at the door began to let the other palace maids enter the dormitory threshold. After folding the quilt for the Empress Dowager Renxi, she then served a basin of hot water with a silver basin, and the Empress Dowager Renxi finished washing her hands and face, and sat in front of the dresser, and the palace maid who served in the bed gently gathered her temples, put some powder, and smeared some rouge on her cheeks and palms, and then passed the eunuch to comb her hair.

Combing her hair is a very formal and grand thing for the Empress Dowager Renxi, because the Empress Dowager Renxi is strong by nature and neat, and she will never let the people below see her unkempt appearance.

At this time, Liu Shengyin, who was in charge of combing the hair of the Empress Dowager Renxi, was waiting outside the door of the palace early.

Seven or eight years have passed now, and only Liu Shengyin has come to serve the Empress Dowager Renxi to comb her hair and give the Empress Dowager Renxi this errand, and no one else has ever replaced him.

Liu Shengyin is the most favored old eunuch in the palace now, he is gentle, docile, gentle, polite, always from the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes to reveal a happy smile, serving people is not impatient, just right, so that the person being served feels very comfortable. All the palace maids were very affectionate with him, and sincerely called him "Uncle Liu". He often brought some needlework and thread to the palace maids, which was lacking in the palace maids, but he was not for one person, anyone could use it. When the palace maids saw him, they sometimes greeted him and asked him for good luck, and he always returned the salute very modestly, no matter who he was dealing with. The Empress Dowager Renxi knew that he was popular, and often said, "Go down and let them make you a cup of tea!" "This is a big face, which can make the palace maid enjoy tea, which is a very decent thing in the palace. When encountering such a time, Liu Shengyin knelt down again and again, and said in his mouth: "Slaves dare not bear it, slaves dare not bear it!" "The more Empress Dowager Renxi gives face, the more modest and cautious Liu Shengyin becomes, which is the reason why he has been favored for a long time.

The palace maid lifted the curtain of the palace gate for Liu Shengyin, and Liu Shengyin walked in with the burden of Huang Yunlong's sleeve (inside is a combing tool). He knelt down with his legs to the front seat. Please take the burden off your head. With a move upward, the palace maid took it, and then shouted crisply: "Lafayette is auspicious, the slave Liu Shengyin invites you Wan'an!" The maid of the palace shouted in the bedroom, "Come in, Liu Shengyin!" This is a message for the Empress Dowager Renxi, and it is also very gracious, because eunuchs can often enter the Empress Dowager's bedroom. Liu Shengyin is the only one.

The difference today is that Liu Shengyin is waiting to comb his hair, as well as the second chief Li Jintai.

After Liu Shengyin entered the house, he kowtowed (most of the eunuchs kowtowed when they saw the Queen Mother for the first time in the morning to show respect), opened Huang Yunlong's burden, took out the hairpin, comb, grate and other tools for combing her hair, and began to comb the hair of the Empress Dowager Renxi.

"Liu Shengyin, did you hear anything new outside? Tell me about it! Empress Dowager Renxi was obviously in a good mood today, and asked casually.

Liu Shengyin had long expected this question, so he made up the stories of the dragon and phoenix being auspicious and the wind and rain were smooth. One by one, he told the Empress Dowager Renxi. The Empress Dowager Renxi smiled brightly, and the palace maids couldn't help laughing.

Li Jintai waited carefully on the side. I admired Liu Shengyin in my heart.

"The day before yesterday, there was such a bizarre thing in the porridge factory, and the steward of Shuntian Mansion went to see the situation of the porridge. First go to the Nancheng porridge factory to see, and see an old lady, clean and clean in an old cotton jacket and cotton pants, the color of the blue cloth has been washed to the white ground, the nails on the clothes are neatly repaired, there is no dust on the body, the body is very tough, and she is queuing up to make porridge there. The steward of Shuntianfu didn't pay attention to it, and when he turned to the porridge factory in Deshengmen, the steward was stunned, and saw the old lady queuing up here to make porridge. Because this old lady is very conspicuous, the steward has to pay attention to the inattention, and privately ask the eunuch on the errand of the porridge factory, is this old lady a person close to the left? Do you come every day? The people in the porridge factory said that they would come once in ten days and eight days. The person in charge of Shuntian Mansion said, 'You have to serve the old lady well, this is a living immortal, I just saw her in the Xuannan Porridge Factory, I came on horseback, and trotted all the way to Deshengmen, but she can walk in front of me, this is not a mortal. 'Look! The ancestors set up a porridge factory, and kindness touched the heavens and the earth, and the gods also 'rushed to the meeting'! ”

Liu Shengyin combed the hair of the Empress Dowager Renxi while speaking slowly. The maid who sleeps on the side hands things to her, and the attendant makes up the things on the bed and under the bed. At this time, the old eunuch sent a bowl of rock sugar white fungus to the door of Chuxiu Palace with a box and handed it to the palace maid on an errand. The palace maid handed the bowl to Li Jintai again, and a low coffee table of rosewood was placed in front of the Empress Dowager Renxi, and she scooped the white fungus with a silver spoon and ate it gently. This is the most comfortable time of the day for the Empress Dowager Renxi, and it is also the happiest time for the palace maids and eunuchs. Everyone was grateful to Liu Shengyin, because he was happy to serve the Empress Dowager Renxi early in the morning, and other people's errands were easy to do.

Liu Shengyin is different from other eunuchs, he is not partial to anyone, except for errands, he does not gossip, and he does not compete for merit and face, he speaks the longest in front of the Empress Dowager Renxi, and he never speaks badly about others. It is because everyone in the palace loves and respects.

Today's Li Jintai finally understands why Liu Shengyin is the chief manager, and he can only be the second manager.

After combing her hair, the Empress Dowager Renxi redrew her eyebrows, brushed her sideburns, and applied pink and rubbed red. Although she has been widowed for many years, the Empress Dowager Renxi is still extremely attentive to the decoration of the instrument. When she looked in the mirror left and right, Li Jintai and the palace maids who were sleeping all praised her left and right, coaxing her to be happy. And this kind of work that the Buddha is happy with is always done by the people who serve in the bed, and others can't stand it. After the Empress Dowager Renxi dressed up, she stood up and compared her two feet to see if the shoes and socks (socks made of Ayako, with a line in the middle to match the cuffs) were correct, and then Fang walked out lightly. At this time, Li Jintai and the others knelt down together and shouted: "Ancestor auspicious!" ”

After smoking two pipes of hookah, the milk tea offered by the eunuch was served. The breakfast in the court also retained the habit of the Northeast Bo people, drinking milk to mix with tea, called milk tea. At the same time, there are all kinds of porridge, such as rice porridge, Yutian red rice, fragrant glutinous rice from Jiangnan, barley rice, etc., as well as eight treasure lotus seed porridge; There are various tea soups, such as almond tea, fresh soy milk, beef bone marrow tea soup, etc. Cover it with a large carrying box and cover it with a yellow cloud dragon set. It's time for Li Jintai to be courteous. Li Jintai held the food box in front of the Empress Dowager Renxi and opened it, and there were more than 20 items in the food box. In addition to all kinds of porridge, there are also sesame sauce baked cakes, shortbread baked cakes, white water chestnut, radish shredded cakes, clear oil cakes, coke rings, sugar packets, sugar cakes, incense balls, and halal fried sprinklers and fried back. There is a vegetarian assortment of soy products. There are also marinated products such as marinated duck liver, marinated chicken breast and so on.

Empress Dowager Renxi used a few things early. When she had eaten two fragrant balls with white glutinous rice and black fillings, she suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "Li Jintai, have you sent this 'chocolate' filled incense ball to Zhongcui Palace (Empress Rentai lives in Zhongcui Palace)?" ”

"Back to the words of the Queen Mother, I sent it over. The queen mother and queen mother ate it and praised it. Li Jintai replied immediately.

The foreign thing "chocolate" was originally Lin Yizhe's offering, and the queen mother of the two palaces was full of praise after eating it. It has become an important food in the palace, and Li Jintai has eaten many times with the grace of the two queen mothers, and he also likes it very much.

"Liu Shengyin, who are you handing over the sign to meet you today?" Empress Dowager Renxi cleaned her hands and asked again after using it too early.

Liu Sheng printed the booklet, and after opening it, he read out the names of the ministers he met today, and when he read the names of "Zuo Jigao, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu and the marquis of Kejing of the first class." Renxi's brow furrowed slightly.

"It's better to put Zuo Jigao last." Renxi said quietly.

"Slaves obey!"

In the room, Zuo Jigao has been restless.

He watched as the eunuchs summoned the ministers who were waiting in the courtroom. It's just that I don't see the self-calling, and a heart is raised to the throat.

He already knew the news that Hu Yulin's big copper cabinet was opened to Lin Yiqing.

As soon as he learned the news, Zuo Jigao could say that his soul was flying out of the sky, and he didn't know what Hu Yulin had stored in the copper cabinet, he only knew that there would definitely be important documents.

If there are really these things, and they have been seen by Prince Jing, then he Zuo Jigao and Hu Yulin colluded to embezzle the military expenses of the West Mexico, and they will no longer be able to hide it!

Now the only thing that makes Zuo Jigao feel at ease is in his hands, and now there is not the slightest evidence - the military expenses of greedy ink, most of which he has spent to buy "Qingyu" for himself, such as planting "Zuo Gongliu" in the north-south passage of the Tianshan Mountains, subsidizing academies in various parts of Hunan, etc., he himself did not leave much money, the only thing he spent on himself was to build a luxurious mansion in his hometown, if the imperial court really wanted to track it down, nothing could be found.

Although there is this layer of "protection", Zuo Jigao, who has been well aware of the interests of officialdom for many years, knows that things will not end so simply.

He originally thought that the imperial court would immediately inquire about this matter, but after so many days, the imperial court has not moved at all, and even Hu Yulin, who is in prison, has ignored it, which surprised Zuo Jigao.

He didn't know what the court was going to do to him now, so he had today's audience.

The purpose of this visit was to take the opportunity to touch the attitude of the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces towards him.

But now, before he could meet him, he already had a bad premonition.

Why do you want to put your audience so low?

When Zuo Jigao was thinking about himself, the eunuch arrived and summoned him Zuo Jigao into the palace, which made him settle down slightly.

"Zuo Jigao, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, respectfully invites the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother, and the Emperor Wanfu Jin'an!" Entering the main hall, Zuo Jigao bowed like a ritual.

The Empress Dowager Renxi, who was sitting on the throne, looked at Zuo Jigao, who was kneeling at the bottom of the steps, and looked at the Empress Dowager Rentai quickly.

Empress Dowager Rentai nodded slightly to Empress Dowager Renxi, and Empress Dowager Renxi immediately said calmly: "Excuse me." ”

"Thank you!" Zuo Jigao replied loudly, and then straightened up.

"What day did Zuo Zhengtai arrive in Beijing?" Empress Dowager Renxi asked kindly, but a pair of phoenix eyes were blazing.

"Back to the Queen Mother, it has been more than a month since the minister arrived in Beijing." Zuo Jigao replied, he saw that there was no decree from the Queen Mother to let him sit and reply, and Liu Chengyin and Li Jintai, who were standing aside, did not mean to show him a seat, and he couldn't help but be secretly dissatisfied in his heart.

"Did the left system come to Beijing at the behest of the emperor? Why did you come to Beijing? Empress Dowager Renxi asked again.

"When I returned to the Queen Mother, the ministers were ordered to enter Beijing, and I went to the Ministry of Officials to report on their work." Zuo Jigao replied.

"Oh, how's the place going?" Empress Dowager Renxi continued with the same expression.

"Thanks to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's blessings, everything is fine in Shaanxi and Gansu." Zuo Jigao replied.

"Oh, everything is fine......" The corners of Empress Dowager Renxi's drooping mouth rose slightly, forming a sarcastic arc, "No wonder Zuo Zhitai looks like his body is full of bones and his complexion is good." ”

"This is also thanks to my queen mother and the emperor's blessings." Zuo Jigao bowed and said with a respectful expression.

"Has the Zuo Gang finished debriefing?" Empress Dowager Renxi asked again.

"Back to the Queen Mother, it's over." Zuo Jigao replied.

"Is there any injustice in the discussion of the ministry?"

"Back to the Queen Mother, the ministers discussed very well, and there was no injustice."

"Then why did Zuo Zhengtai stay in Beijing for so long? Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang are all barriers to Beijing, and in recent years, there have been military disasters, you have been gone for so many days, who will take care of these things? ”

Hearing the reproach in the words of the Empress Dowager Renxi, Zuo Jigao knew that he had been in Beijing for so many days, just in time for Lin Yiqing to enter the Beijing court to see him, he didn't expect Lin Yiqing to open Hu Yulin's copper cabinet, which made the court suspicious of him, and the fire in his heart rushed up. (To be continued......)

PS: Just today, I was forced to meet the dad of all my friends in my circle of friends.

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