(1st Update)

The cabinet of the imperial era is partial and small, completely attached to the monarchy, the small courtyard located on the side of the palace wall, Yi-Xuan is naturally not eye-catching, the first thing he did after forming the cabinet is to move the cabinet to the Wenhua Palace, plus the restricted area he demarcated, the location of the new cabinet, fully occupies a quarter of the area before the Forbidden City.

Today's cabinet can no longer be described as shabby, after the installation of telephone lines, telegraph lines, water pipes, lightning rods, the ancient palace has a new look, the confidential personnel at the door come in and out, today's grand occasion, far from the dispensable accessories of the year, at the same time, it is not comparable to the Chongde Hall of Zaifeng, since the latter announced the handover of power, there is no longer a court.

Looking at the renovated hall, Yi-劘 couldn't be happy in his heart, there is a saying called Sheng Ji and mourn, will all this in front of him be a harbinger of imminent ruin? This is a question that even he himself can't say.

After the establishment of the imperial cabinet, the whole country and public opinion chattered endlessly, and all the news that was favorable to him before was turned one hundred and eighty degrees, and the cannon was fired, and the invective was invective, showing a one-sided situation, and even demanded that he step down immediately, ******** by Zaifeng, but this is a very small number of voices.

Only then did he know that he had committed public anger, and when he thought of how he came to power, he hated in his heart, but he pulled his bow and did not turn back, since he had pulled a group of royal relatives onto his thief ship, the only thing he could do was to prevent the broken ship from capsizing in the shallows.

But it backfired, and bad news came one after another

Today is the regular meeting of the cabinet, all the cabinet members are present, more than 20 people crowded a big room, the air is a little hot, I don't know if this is the reason, as the chairman of the meeting, Yixuan is listless, he looked at the assistant minister Xu Shichang beside him, on the grounds of physical discomfort, signaled for him to preside, and he was all the spectators.

Xu Shichang is an old man, of course he can see something, since he was transferred back to the capital, he felt that the political atmosphere here was obviously wrong, and as soon as the cabinet was established, it showed a stormy situation, not only him, but also several ministers sitting down were also absent-minded, looking worried.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today's weather is too hot, I think there are a few ministers who can't stand it anymore, if there is nothing important to discuss, you can go back to each ministry to handle daily official business."

Xu Shichang saw that the situation was not good, so he got off the donkey down the slope and said that it would end as soon as possible, thinking that the weather was hot, so it would be better to finish it quickly.

Half a day later, he looked left and right, and indeed no one spoke, just about to say something like the ministers should leave early, someone spoke.

"Lord Xu, King Qing, there is an important matter here in the headquarters that requires the ministers to staff and staff officers, but I don't think you have the patience to listen to it, and I don't know if you should bring it up?"

Sheng Xuanhuai had something to say, and after he finished speaking, many people cast resentful glances at him, Xu Shichang frowned, and sat down again with the butt he had just raised.

"Haha, what did Master Sheng say, the cabinet is used to discuss state affairs, what can be mentioned or not?" Xu Shichang said, "If there is anything important, Master Sheng can just say it."

"It seems that the ministry is too worried, I want to mention the Sichuan-Han railway, presumably all the ministers also know, the Sichuan-Han railway is the Empress Dowager of the West in the current edict to organize, at first for the government, later changed to the government and the people, and then became the gentry and the people, originally to build 4000 miles of railroad tracks, west from Chengdu, east to Hankou, once the road is completed, the Sichuan people can avoid the dangerous Shu Road, to the field, this is a major event for the benefit of the Sichuan people, the court has always attached great importance to it. But this railway since Guangxu 30 years to build, until now Xuantong two years, seven years have passed, the road has only been built less than 300 miles, and most of the road sections are rough, far from reaching the traffic standards, there are rumors, a large number of official funds in this railway are missing, according to this, the road is probably far away. ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said in one breath, for decades, the railway has been a piece of his heart disease, as early as more than ten years ago when he was the Minister of Railways, he looked forward to the outside, once said that if you want to enrich and strengthen China, you must first build a railway, most of the steel of the Hanyang Iron Works is supplied to the rails, it can be said that half of the railway experts, but the reality is extremely disappointed by him, in 1906, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications formulated a plan for the construction of the main railway line, advocating the raising of private capital, the use of people's power, that is, at this time the country rose a railway investment fever, however, After the order was issued, the reality was shocking, the commercial railway was not only slow to build, the quality of the project was also palpitating, in desperation Sheng Xuanhuai even lamented, "old and faint, from now on dare not talk about the railway", especially this Sichuan-Han trunk line that has given infinite hope, but now it has been suspended for several months, and it will soon become the largest unfinished project in history.

"I've also heard about the Sichuan-Han Railway, so what does Lord Sheng mean?" Xu Shichang heard about this matter, and replied unhurriedly.

"The railway is nationalized, re-changed to government-run, along the Sichuan-Han Railway, most of the mountains and mountains, the construction is extremely difficult, and the mountain breaks the stone, and needs high explosives, at present, the Chinese people have no such construction practice, and there is no such construction expertise, in any case, it is not complete, so far it has been spent in vain millions of taels, according to my meaning, or should be according to the old way, let the foreigners to build the railway, a foreigner to build the road fast, keep promises, the Jinpu railway is built by the foreigner to supervise, thousands of miles, less than three years, The whole line was opened to traffic, and secondly, the foreigners' railways were economical and durable, and the rails used could be supplied by the Hanyang Iron Works, which not only cost less silver, but also earn back a lot of money, which was also a great event for the benefit of the Sichuan people. ”

From the perspective of pure economy, let foreigners build it, this is the most urgent way to solve the urgent need, Sheng Xuanhuai can think of it, and others can also think of it.

"What does Shanda mean to nationalize the Sichuan-Han Railway?" Xu Shichang muttered to himself, and then looked at the others, "What do you think, ministers?" ”

The people under the seat began to whisper, they are all the leaders of the bureaucratic class, naturally they can distinguish the power of this, let the foreigners to build, save time, money, labor, and most importantly, can also use local materials, subsidize the stretched state finance, rather than waiting for a huge unfinished project to be born, it is better to do the most cost-effective deal as soon as possible.

"What Shanda said about nationalization, the degree branch agreed." Zaizawa echoed.

"The Ministry of Commerce and Industry also agreed." Shidor said.

"Seconded by the Ministry of Justice"

Everyone else agreed, which was also the obvious answer, and in the end, Xu Shichang refocused his eyes on Yi-Xuan, who was the final decision-maker.

"What do you mean by King Qing?" Xu Shichang said in a low voice.

Everyone was looking at him, but Yi-Xuan never spoke, he rubbed his chin, and his expression was worth playing. (To be continued.) )