This time from Jinan, Yang Chao did not return to Yantai, but walked from Qingdao and took a German merchant ship to Tianjin. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Germans have already taken shape in Qingdao, several neat rows of streets have appeared, a huge sewer has been built, and the Germans are now planting trees in the mountains.

Qingdao is similar to Dongying, there is also salinization, and before the Germans came, there was hardly a single tree in the mountains near Qingdao. After research, the Germans selected hundreds of trees to try to plant here, and finally only selected about 60 suitable trees.

Seeing the construction of the Germans, Yang Chao also felt the pressure, the Germans built Qingdao too fast, and the Jiaoji Railway has also accelerated the speed, it is expected to be completed within two or three years, when there is railway support, Qingdao's development is even more unique, Yantai has no chance.

We have to hurry. When boarding the ship, Yang Chao toured Qingdao for most of the day, and also communicated cordially with the German governor of Qingdao and other officials, and paid attention to the progress of the Qingdao Arsenal under construction.

The Germans didn't bother Yang Chao, because they were building an arsenal under their control, and according to the agreement, Yang Chao would have to pay for the operation of the factory in the future.

No matter how you look at this business, it is a loss, but now Yang Chao can only grit his teeth and endure it, in the final analysis, it is not entirely a bad thing, and he communicated with the German governor, and the governor said that as long as the Chinese government is willing to invest funds, the arsenal will naturally be completed on schedule, produced on schedule, and guaranteed to meet the production target.

However, the German governor proposed that so many weapons were naturally the property of the Chinese government, and he doubted that the Chinese government would need so many weapons.

Yang Chao told the German governor that the Qing court was expanding the new army, and in the past few months, Yuan Shikai's new army had expanded into six formations, with 30,000 people, and there would be more new armies in the future, and 100,000 rifles a year was at least not much. As for the cannons, the more the merrier.

After visiting the governor of Qingdao, he communicated with other Germans and Chinese businessmen he knew, and Yang Chao has always paid great attention to managing his own contacts, and said that he welcomed these Germans and Chinese businessmen to invest in Yantai.

Leaving Qingdao, he took a German merchant ship and arrived in Tianjin on the third day.

I got on the train and wandered for another day to get to Beijing, and the broken train from Beijing to Tianjin in this era needs to drive for a day!

During this time, no one in the imperial court was in charge of the construction at all, and it was the same as before, because the new imperial court had just been established, and various forces were fighting openly and secretly, busy fighting for power and profit, which was also one of the reasons why the expansion of Yantai Port was stuck.

Yang Chao had already sent a telegram to Beijing before entering Beijing, expressing his intention to face the saint through Yuan Shikai, and Zaifeng called back to allow it, so as soon as Yang Chao arrived in Beijing, he went straight to the Forbidden City.

"Minister, Denglai Qingjiao Road, Yantai Customs Road See the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"

Yang Chao also knelt and kowtowed like in the braided play, wearing a three-grade official uniform and a flower feather on his head.

"Yang Aiqing is flat!"

Zaifeng met Yang Chao in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, which was regarded as a private meeting.

"Emperor Xie!"

Zaifeng sat next to the imperial case, this meeting was a little more majestic, and he already had the consciousness of the emperor.

"Aiqing is here for the purpose of repairing the port in Yantai?"

"That's exactly what you're here for!"

Zaifeng stood up and paced with his hands behind his back, although he looked more like an emperor than before, but he also had a lot of troubles, and he was no longer the noble son of the banner man in the past.

"What Aiqing said, it seems to be an exaggeration, if Yantai does not repair the port, the Germans will really occupy Shandong? If Yantai repairs the port, won't it be in the hands of the British? ”

Advance is also in charge of people, and retreat is also in people, this is Zaifeng's worry.

Yang Chao immediately bowed and said, "The emperor is gracious." This is a photograph taken secretly by the ministers in Qingdao to present a view of His Majesty. ”

Yang Chao said, and took out a stack of photos from his arms, all of which were large photos one foot wide, and they were color photos.

Of course, this was not taken by someone, but by Yang Chao himself in Qingdao, with panoramic views and details. Taking pictures is just a trivial matter, I swept it with my watch, and when I crossed the Yantai sea area, I sent it to the spaceship, printed it out, and Lao Jiu sent it to Yang Chao's ship at night.

Zaifeng looked at it, he was not a fool, and immediately lowered his voice: "This is all taken in Qingdao?" ”

Yang Chao nodded and said, "Three years ago, there was still a barren beach. ”

Zaifeng took a breath, and in three years, the Germans built a city on Chinese soil.

Yang Chao continued: "I'm afraid that it won't be long before the Germans' railway will be opened to traffic. Ministers often hear the Germans say that wherever the train goes, Germany is there! ”

"Train! Railway! ”

Zaifeng gritted his teeth and said, obviously he was very worried about this.

"Your Majesty, according to Weichen's opinion, the Germans are repairing the port in Qingdao, and I should repair the port in Yantai in the Qing Dynasty. Although Yantai is a port, although there are Britain, France, Germany and Russia, there are no foreign soldiers, and it is the territory of the Qing Dynasty. If I build a port in Yantai, I will be able to stop the northward invasion of the German forces. And if you don't block the Germans in Yantai, I'm afraid you will have to block the Germans in Tianjin, if you don't block the Germans in Tianjin-"

Yang Chao paused at this point.

Zaifeng suddenly sighed: "Aiqing, the Yantai Port you built is said to be all about people's wealth, is it not the law of official supervision and business?" ”

Zaifeng thought that Yang Chao's mention of handing over Yantai Port to private management was the same as Sheng Xuanhuai's Hanyang Iron Works and China Merchants Bureau, but Yang Chao shook his head.

"It's all for business. Businessmen raise funds, businessmen profit! ”

Zaifeng frowned and said, "But where is this imperial court?" ”

Yang Chao said: "The emperor's holy order." All Western countries are commercial. Not to mention that the port is in the hands of merchants, even if the ships and cannons are handled by merchants, can the Western countries perish? ”

Zaifeng thought for a while and sighed: "But after all, the Qing Dynasty is the country of the Celestial Empire, and the face of the imperial court must be taken into account. If my Daqing seaport is in the hands of merchants, wouldn't it be that the scholars of the world will make fun of me, and the Qing Dynasty has also become a Western barbarian, only knowing that it is beneficial? ”

Yang Chao hesitated in his heart, Zaifeng is not so pedantic, he is a Manchurian, he doesn't really believe in the Han people's set of righteousness and benefit, and he has also traveled to the West, not to mention being shocked by the Germans' industrial areas in Germany, even in Japan, they are deeply touched, and they naturally know in their hearts how backward his Great Qing Kingdom has become.

At this time, most of these are pretexts, in fact, I am still worried that the power of the people is too great, after the rise of the strength of the Han people such as Zeng Guofan, it has been a big trouble for the nobles of the Manchurian people until now, and they have to let Zhang Zhidong be the prime minister, and these Eight Banners nobles have no complaints.

Zhang Zhidong has long concluded that there are three ways to run foreign affairs, one is the official office, the second is the commercial office, and the third is the government and business cooperation, but the business is the best. However, Zhang Zhidong secretly changed the concept, and in the end he only dared to come up with a method of official supervision and business, but he did not dare to let go of the business office, because the obstruction was too great.

But the form has developed to this point, the power of the Han people can no longer be suppressed, and the banner people themselves are not angry, so there are not a few people who are promising, if they still hold power like this, it is tantamount to accelerating the speed of the demise of their group of privileged classes.

Yang Chao's heart turned, and he immediately had an idea: "The minister has a strategy, which not only does not delay the repair of the port, but also takes care of the dignity of the imperial court." ”

Zaifeng looked at him and nodded.

Yang Chao said: "Why don't the emperor come forward to repair this port." ”

"Nonsense!"

Zaifeng shouted.

Yang Chao was stunned.

Zaifeng said again: "You go on." ”

Yang Chao said: "Why don't you take the name of the Royal Port Company and open the port and open the sea in the name of the emperor." It is still handed over to the commercial office, and the emperor will take a profit! ”

Zaifeng shouted again: "Bold! Yang Chao, are you humiliating me? ”

Yang Chao hurriedly knelt down: "The emperor is angry!" This law is in the name of His Majesty. Let the countries of Europe see that my Qing Dynasty has the intention of opening up ports and opening up the sea. Westerners will call it enlightened. Don't dare to insult my Celestial Empire again. ”

Zaifeng took a few breaths and calmed down, what Yang Chao said just now was obviously trying to buy him as an emperor with benefits, but now it makes some sense, he has heard many stories from the West, and the kings of those small countries will even personally recommend their own products, which are nothing more than selling them for a few dollars, but the money is not earned by the king, but by the merchants. I didn't see anyone making fun of the kings, but they praised them.

In this way, Westerners do regard it as beautiful.

Zaifeng couldn't help but think about Yang Chao's statement, in the name of the royal family, although it is still a business, but it can always be in the hands of the royal family, if they all use this method to do foreign affairs, everything is out of the royal family, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other generations, how can they be so strong.

Zaifeng's thoughts were flowing rapidly, and he even conceived a royal family with the royal family as the backbone, a number of foreign factories and railways.

But after a long time, he sighed: "Yang Aiqing's heart of fist, I understand." It's just that if this matter is used in the royal family, I am afraid that it will be called a country by the ministers again. This matter is not negotiable! ”

Zaifeng knows that those old stubborn energies, the energy accumulated thousands of years ago, cannot be suppressed overnight, even if he is the emperor, I don't see that the Empress Dowager Cixi relied on the power of these people to play Li Hongzhang in the palm of her hand, why Cixi?

Yang Chao couldn't help but secretly say a pity.

If Zaifeng really couldn't stand the confusion and agreed, Yang Chao knew that his death would not be far away.

There are two forces in the current imperial court, the first is naturally the current faint upper hand, the Westernization faction represented by Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Zhidong as the prime minister, Yuan Shikai's 30,000 army, Jiangnan has a number of supportive governors, and the momentum is extremely huge.

The second is the conservative force, they are mostly nobles of the Eight Banners, especially the elderly, plus a large number of Han old masters who are full of loyal monarch thoughts. With the relationship between teachers and students, it is all over the government and the opposition. Outside, there were Kang Youwei and other royalists waving their flags and shouting. The power is also good.

Among these two forces, Zaifeng agreed with Zhang Zhidong and others from the bottom of his heart, he believed that what these people were doing was right, and if they didn't do so, the Qing Dynasty would die. But the second force was the most determined to support him as emperor, just as they had supported Cixi in the first place.

So I knew in my heart that the Shiyi Changji that Zhang Zhidong had been advocating was right, but he couldn't help but suppress them all the time, but at the same time, he didn't respond to the demands of the conservatives and drove Zhang Zhidong's people out of the court. Because he has not yet reached the level of Cixi's desperation for power, and at the same time he does not have the courage to break with the Westernists.

But sandwiched between the two factions, he, the emperor, is indeed very uncomfortable.

Once Zaifeng puts out the royal family to engage in foreign affairs, he may not be able to get the support of the Westernists, but may see it as a threat, because Zaifeng is digging up the foundation of their lives, and the Westernists are engaged in Westernization, not necessarily because they really want to learn from the West, and many people regard Westernization as a political means to play.

As long as Zaifeng stands up to engage in foreign affairs, there will definitely be a stick of old stubbornness who will come out to oppose him, and these people may not be really pedantic to the extent that they can't see the general trend clearly, but they have long been labeled as defending feudal etiquette, and there is a group of people standing behind them, they can't compromise, otherwise they will be easily kicked away by the people behind them and replaced by them.

Therefore, as long as Zaifeng personally intervenes in foreign affairs, then soon the two forces in the DPRK and China will be unbalanced, and they may unite against him, can he, the emperor, still be able to be the emperor?

"That's it. You do it. It's just that in this way, I am afraid that it will cause a lot of criticism. There are great twists and turns, even setbacks and humiliations. ”

Zaifeng thought about it and decided to let Yang Chao do it.

"The Emperor Shengming!"

Yang Chao praised in his mouth, regretting in his heart, in fact, that group of diehards is already the biggest obstacle to the advancement, suddenly Yang Chao wants to understand why many countries are on the road to modernity, are accompanied by bloody storms, sometimes pick up a knife to kill all the opponents, it is indeed a shortcut, the French are like this, the Japanese are the same, they are all after the revolution, only successfully turned around.

But the Qing Dynasty did not have this opportunity, and both the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxers were easily exterminated.

But if you really want to start a civil war and kill all the old forces, Yang Chao feels that the cost is too great, with the current strength comparison, the Westernists have not yet occupied an absolute advantage, and the strength in the hands of the Westernists is only the new army in Hubei and the Beiyang Army in the hands of Yuan Shikai, which is not enough to have an overwhelming advantage over the stubborn forces such as the northwest.

"By the way, you should also have a bright hall for this approach. Sheng Xuanhuai's official supervision and business office is not bad. ”

Zaifeng said.

Yang Chao disagreed in his heart, I am afraid that the bad thing about the Westernization movement is the word "official supervision", where the government interferes too much, it is often not good, Sheng Xuanhuai's batch of enterprises, there is no one who makes money, but a large number of people are fattened. Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, how famous it is, it can be said that it is one of the few foreign enterprises that Li Hongzhang can get his hands on, not to mention the loss of money, the key is the weapons produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, Li Hongzhang's Huaijun is resolutely not used, which shows how little confidence he has in this enterprise.

Therefore, you can't be an official governor, but if the official doesn't interfere, or if you don't bring an official character, you won't be able to explain to a large number of forces.

"The law of the minister's office is called the official to promote business!"

Yang Chao resolutely did not mention the word governor and did not let the official interfere, so that the market could restrain him.

Zaifeng pondered twice and nodded: "The official promotes the business office, and the official promotes the business office." ”

Finally, if you get an official word, you can use it to fool those old masters.