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Thirty-two-year-old Li Hongzhang once again emerged this time in the comprehensive recruitment examination of loyal and righteous rescue officials. His real name is Bronze Medal, the word is gradually Fu, the number is Shaoquan, and he is a native of Dongxiang, Hefei (now Feidong County), Anhui Province. Because of the second line, he is often called "Mr. Li Er" in his hometown.

The Li family has been farming and studying for a living for generations, and it was not until the time of Li Hongzhang's ancestor that he "became a family with diligence and thrift, and had two acres of land", but he has never had a chance to be famous in the imperial examination. Finally, Li Hongzhang's father, Li Wen'an, was admitted to the Jinshi in the eighteenth year of Daoguang, and the Li family "began to rise from Kejia and became the Wang clan of Lu County".

Because his father Li Wenan had been working in his hometown for a long time before entering the imperial examination. Li Hongzhang was able to enter the family library "Dihua Book House" to study since he was six years old. It is said that he was a young and intelligent man, and he had successively worshiped the Tang Bo Fangxian and the Hefei celebrity Xu Ziling as his teacher, studying scriptures and history, so he laid a solid foundation of learning. In the twenty-third year of Daoguang, he was selected for Yougong and followed his father's order to enter Beijing to meet the Shuntianfu Township Examination in the second year, and won in one fell swoop; After the first examination, he fell to Sun Shan, but in the second examination in the twenty-seventh year, he passed the third Jinshi of Ding Weike's second class, and after the court examination, he was changed to the Hanlin Academy.

In the year after he failed in the first test, he once worshiped under the Hunan Confucian Zeng Guo Domain as a "son of the young family" to learn the application of the world. And it was quite favored by Zeng Guofan, who once called it a great talent.

At the beginning of 1853, after learning the news of the Taiping Army's large-scale entry into Anhui, Li Hongzhang, who was the editor of the Hanlin Academy, was unwilling to be lonely, and immediately instigated Lu Xianji, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, to play, and rushed to write a recital overnight on behalf of the knife, requesting to return to his hometown to suppress the bandits. After Xianfeng received the recital, he immediately appointed Lu Xianji as the minister of Anhui League Training, so Li Hongzhang and Lu Xianji returned to Anhui together. In the second year, Li Hongzhang's father, Li Wen'an, was also recommended to return to his hometown to run a group practice. For a time, the Li family's father and son's group practice was "neat and available", and their reputation suddenly rose. Li Hongzhang successively fought against the Taiping Army and the Twist Army in Anhui Province with Qi Shan, Shengbao and other Qing court officials.

Li Hongzhang not only led the troops as a scholar, but also had a record of "specializing in wave warfare", and of course also had the notoriety of "Hanlin turned into a green forest". After several years of team training, he gradually understood the way of generals, that is, everything is not a momentary victory or defeat, let alone the courage of a horseman. Last year, he assisted Shengbao and planned to use the traitors hidden within the Heavenly Army to defeat Wei Changhui in central and northern Anhui, and besieged Luzhou for a time. Although he failed to recover Luzhou as he wished, under the protection of Qishan and Shengbao, he was still rewarded with the title of Taoist for his military exploits.

Loyalty and Salvation ** was established, and he began to select and recruit officials, and after repeated calculations, he felt that this was a better way out. Of course, entering the Zhongyi Salvation **, the official position can be promoted faster, this is the same wish he shares with those who break their heads and desperately want to squeeze in, but he may think more. He has studied the battles between China and foreign countries in the past ten years, and there are many differences between Western studies and Chinese studies, and the guns, shipbuilding, clocks, and so on that can be seen are all more advanced than those of China. However, he doesn't seem to have much of a good impression of the Russians, and it is one thing to force the imperial court to sell land for peace due to the perennial border disputes, but the main thing is that the Russians are still much different from Britain and France in all aspects.

Once he was admitted, he was temporarily appointed as an assistant to the Western-style Xiangli Qiying, who was loyal to the president of the ** Salvation Army, and negotiated with the Russians on various affairs related to the construction of the army. Although this is only a position with no real power, the official position was suddenly promoted, which is equivalent to the rank of cha envoy. The benefits that can be obtained by loyalty and righteousness to save the country come so quickly.

Speaking from the heart, Li Hongzhang still appreciates this trick of "saving the country by curve". At present, the Longhair Rebellion has shaken the foundation of the imperial court, and the people are struggling to make a living. "The porridge woman in front of the long pile temple was born, and the child was born in June and nineteen. The official family gives porridge but counts the mouth, and there is a mouth, regardless of the age or age. Children eat porridge and nurses, and two bowls a day are free of belly. Eat in the morning and sleep in the evening. The child is in the double, the child is alone, and the child is sick and weaned. Don't die, don't die, take advantage of a porridge for your mother today, cover your tears and don't dare to cry. He admired the poem written by Qi Junzao, the upright prime minister of the Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties. If it weren't for the hairy rebellion, how could there be such a tragic situation?

Not long after he came to the capital, those nonsense words did not enter his ears. scolded them for "loyalty and righteousness to save **" What kind of two devils and traitors, it just so happened that someone called him Mr. Li Er, and he was even more naturally disgusted by the title of this two devils. Alas, what are the ignorant people, is it better that the country is ruined? Li Hongzhang thinks so, once the long hair turns the sky, it will be the ruin of the country and the family, and luring the wolf into the house is the best choice for the world. What are a few foreigners afraid of, as long as they can take the opportunity to become stronger, it is not a matter of getting rid of them sooner or later? What foreigners want is land and silver, but long hair is silver, and land is asked for together with the world of the Qing Dynasty. Anyone who is willing to be a second devil can find a reason and excuse for himself to do so no matter what.

Yixin roughly explained the emperor, or the edict of Concubine Yi to these henchmen, and frowned, "What the edict said is the same thing, but this money is still a big problem, and this king has been thinking about it for many days, but he always has no better idea." ”

"Lord Wang, I don't have any good ideas in terms of money, but the matter of building a water master is urgent. I have personally met with a few British people who have come from Tianjin, and I have heard that they have already begun to build ironclad ships, and if they want to make up a fleet of large gunboats, they will not be able to build them in a few years. In addition, those who can command this kind of ship well are not ordinary soldiers, so the prince should still state to the saint again, and should do his best to select a group of young promising schoolchildren and send them to the West in advance to learn the knowledge of ships. Li Hongzhang said, "As for ordering ships, we can think of another way." ”

"Why didn't you send it to Russia?" Rong Lu looked at Li Hongzhang a little strangely, "According to the agreement between us and the Russians, it is completely possible to send this group of people out under other names first, and then slowly go to the imperial court, without delay." It also saves a lot of money spending. ”

"They can't." Li Hongzhang shook his head, "This is not a matter of saving money or not, the strength of the Russians cannot catch up with Britain and France." Since you are going out to study, you have to learn the best. ”

"Will the British be willing?" Rong Lu pursed his lips, "Until now, their ministers have not shown their heads, I'm afraid that the longhairs will be confused." ”

"Confused?" Li Hongzhang smiled, "If they are really confused, that Ali Guo will not stay in Shanghai." Do you know how much they've lost on their hairy hands? Not to mention the loss of the concessions everywhere for the time being, according to those British merchants, the silver confiscated by Changmao alone was no less than 20 million taels, and there was also a large amount of opium, not to mention that this was still only in one Shanghai. Are they really willing to throw in the towel? ”

Million! Yixin's heart accelerated when he listened, and he subconsciously looked at Hubu Shangshu Hua Shana. Hua Shana grinned awkwardly, twenty million, he didn't dare to dream of it, the entire household now has a perennial reserve of only two million. Money!

Yixin sighed, "Master Li, you will take care of everything about this water master." ”

Li Hongzhang didn't mean to express his gratitude, but set his eyes on Huashana.

Hua Shana raised his hands helplessly, of course he understood what Li Hongzhang meant, "I've exhausted the organs, and now I have this one bone left." ”

Yixin glanced at Li Hongzhang, then at Hua Shana, smiled bitterly, and finally looked at Zhang Zuguang and Fan Wenrui, who had not spoken, "This king is also helpless, and this clever daughter-in-law is also difficult to cook without rice." What do you think about these two gentlemen? ”

Zhang Zuguang looked at Fan Wenrui and smiled at Yixin, "The way is something that people come up with, and there is always one." ”

"What's the solution?" Hearing this, Yixin and the others all had their eyes lit up. Yixin stood up and personally poured Zhang Zuguang some more tea, "Let's talk about it." ”

Zhang Zuguang took a sip of tea and looked at Yixin and the others slowly, "This is the first one, that is, to persuade large households to go door-to-door according to their property and acres." They have money, and the court is facing a big disaster, and they can't do it. In addition, according to the head, the tax of loyalty and righteousness to save the country should be extracted. Hehe, I'm a flat-headed commoner, making money for the owner to support my family, I put forward this idea, of course, I will suffer losses myself, but I am willing to pay this tax. ”

Yixin looked at Hua Shana, and Hua Shana lowered her head. He looked at Li Hongzhang and Rong Lu again, these two people seemed to be full of indifference, which clearly meant that Zhang Zuguang was right.

Zhang Zuguang didn't care about that, and continued, "There is also a second, the reason why the official bills and treasures cannot pass is because of the government. The imperial court must strictly order that banknotes must be passed, and even issue a proclamation that the silver money will stop circulating in the future, see who dares not to use it? At present, the court is difficult, and if it is not so tough, I am afraid that the consequences will be unpredictable. Let's talk about the business name of the shopkeeper Fan, hasn't it always supported the use of banknotes? If you don't want to use it, you have a heart for the court. In the future, banknotes should not only be issued, but also increase the number of banknotes. ”

Zhang Zuguang's words made Fan Wenrui almost lose his breath in his heart. He tried his best to collect the banknote, but he only collected it after the price was almost reduced to waste paper. After that, he used various channels to collude with corrupt officials in the official shop, and then exchanged huàn at a parity price, which was really profitable. "Lord Gong, the grass people think that what Mr. Zhang said is very right, if the persuasion starts, our firm will never stand idly by. The concubine Niangniang rewarded the grass people with this four-grade top, and the grass people always have to repay. Fan Wenrui said with sincerity on his face, "On the surface, if we implement persuasion and levy loyalty and national salvation taxes, everyone will be uncomfortable, and it is inevitable that some people will curse behind their backs." But after all, this is only a temporary discomfort. When the country is in trouble, everyone in the world has the obligation to share the weal and woe with the country. In the future, when the country is stable and prosperous, the people will naturally receive their due rewards. Sooner or later, everyone will understand this part of the imperial court. ”

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