The reason why Li Hongzhang is pro-Russian is naturally because of Japan, Li Hongzhang has always regarded Japan as China's biggest enemy, and at this point, it cannot but be said that this old fox's eyes are vicious. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Of course, because of the Beiyang Navy Division he built, he was wiped out by the Japanese in one fell swoop, and he was scolded for signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and finally because of the failure and treaty issues, Li Hongzhang was swept away by the Qing court, and the Beiyang Minister and the Governor of Zhili were all dismissed, and he became an idler, and it took two years to reinstate the Governor of Liangguang.

The Russians took the Japanese issue as the first Sino-Japanese war, and actively wooed the Qing government, Li Hongzhang as the prime minister, when the tsar ascended the throne, he also went to congratulate, Tsar Nicholas II himself did not have a good impression of Japan, because when he visited Japan, he was assassinated by the Japanese, almost died, and was cut on the head by a Japanese knife, which can never be recovered.

As a common enemy, and there are national and personal enemies, Li Hongzhang naturally has a good impression of Russia.

As a result of the Russians' desperate efforts, a secret Sino-Russian treaty against Japan was finally promoted, and the two sides formed an alliance against Japan.

The conclusion of the Sino-Russian secret treaty made Li Hongzhang feel that he had lifted the threat of Japan for China, and he also had a good impression of the Russians, of course, when the treaty was signed, the three million rubles given by the Russians was also one of the reasons.

Anyway, Li Hongzhang became a staunch pro-Russian faction, with common enemies, and he knew a large number of high-level Russian officials, and even the Russian tsar had a very pleasant conversation with Li Hongzhang, and several princes also had a good attitude towards Li Hongzhang, so this time Li Hongzhang contacted the Russians as soon as possible.

The fight was still to raze and raze, hoping to reach favorable conditions with the Russians first, and to force other countries to comply, but in the end it annoyed Britain and Germany, and at the same time found that the ambition of the Russians was not that they had no ambition for the northeast as they said, but that they were the most ambitious.

Li Hongzhang tried his best to change his appearance, began to win over Britain and Germany, and finally forced the Russians to sign the treaty, but the Russians still did not withdraw their troops, and if the Russians did not withdraw their troops for a day, Li Hongzhang could not feel at ease.

Yang Chao didn't know what Li Hongzhang thought, so he was anxious.

After four months of sailing, as soon as the ship docked in Qingdao on October 15, Yang Chao couldn't wait to run to Jinan, and hurriedly asked to see Yuan Shikai, he had to figure out the current situation, Li Hongzhang was not in office, the country did not have an emperor, there were rebellions all over the country, and in the process of suppressing the rebellion, the power of the governors in various places became more and more powerful, and there were faint signs of warlord secession.

All this is because of the death of Cixi and Guangxu, so that the country is leaderless, the best way at that time is actually to kill Cixi, but unfortunately Guangxu himself fell out of the carriage and died.

But Yang Chao did not regret leading his troops to attack Cixi's convoy, in his opinion, if Cixi did not die, there would be no hope for China, and there would be a glimmer of life if she died, even if it might be worse, such as the warlord secession broke out early.

In other words, even if the warlord secession occurs in advance, it may not be better than the original lifelessness, and it will break out in advance, without breaking or standing, at least it can end early, catch up with the great wave of the First World War, the great development opportunities, and the most terrible thing is that it is lifeless and hopeless.

"Lord Yuan, what are Li Zhongtang waiting for?"

After seeing Yuan Shikai, Yang Chao asked straight to the point.

Yuan Shikai sighed and said, "Zhongtang's body, I'm afraid it's not very good. ”

Yang Chao thought of all kinds of possibilities, even including the outrageous reason that Li Hongzhang didn't want to be president, but wanted to be emperor, but he didn't expect that Li Hongzhang was already in his prime.

"You came back just in time, it just so happened that Li Zhongtang recruited the government to lead troops into Beijing, are you willing to stay in our army as an advisor."

Beijing.

Zhili Governor Yamen.

Li Hongzhang lay on the boat, coughing incessantly.

Sons, daughters, and sons-in-law are all around.

"The old man can't die for a while!"

Li Hongzhang couldn't help but be annoyed, he coughed again and again in the past few days, and the clear-eyed person knew that it was not good at a glance, whenever his cough intensified, his sons and daughters heard the movement, and they rushed to his bed, is this going to the end?

Li Jingfang, the eldest son who succeeded from the sixth brother, had the most complicated expression, and he wanted to speak again.

Li Hongzhang glanced at him: "Hey, I'm old, I can't hurt you." ”

Li Hongzhang's sons, who don't want Li Hongzhang to be the president, especially Li Jingfang, has the greatest ambition.

But the old and sophisticated Li Hongzhang doesn't understand anything, he doesn't mean to be the president, he would have taken over the big responsibility without hesitation a year ago, he still has so many ideas in his heart, so many governance and economic development have no chance to implement, this troubled era is not the era of his ambitions.

It's a pity that since he went north, he has felt old, and his body tells him that he is very tired.

Today I was infected with the wind chill again, and this time it was completely collapsed, and all of a sudden it was a dead end.

So he was still in high spirits before leaving, but after arriving in Beijing, he retreated.

He felt that he might not live long, so he began to worry, being the president sounds good, it is not a plan to usurp the throne, and it is not a matter of sitting on the throne, when a few years he has to change people, for the sake of this false name, is it necessary for him to take the fate of the entire Li family.

Li Hongzhang is a complex character, he has ability, ambition, revenge, and pay, but he is also greedy for money, forty years of ups and downs in officialdom, he saved more than 200 million taels of family wealth for the Li family, from this point of view, the defeat of the Beiyang Navy that year can not all rely on Cixi to take the military funds to repair the garden, and Li Hongzhang's private pocket is definitely related.

In this court where there are no officials and no greed, Li Hongzhang himself doesn't think there is any problem, Sheng Xuanhuai only worked as a customs officer for two years, and he got more than five million taels of silver, compared to Sheng Xuanhuai's ability to make money, he is still far behind.

But once a person has a huge wealth and a huge family, he has to worry a lot, he Li Hongzhang is not a barefoot man, he has shoes to wear, so he can't help but think about the future.

In Chinese history, it is good that the king is defeated and the usurpation is successful, even if it is Zhao Kuangyin who took the country from the hands of orphans and widows, as long as he can sit firmly, but what kind of president is this, for this thing usurped the country of the Qing Dynasty, bears infamy, and then gives it to Zhang Nanpi?

Recently, Zhang Zhidong has been calling more and more powerfully, singing high-profile in public and private, calling on Li Hongzhang to come out and preside over the overall situation, don't you let Li Hongzhang rush to the forefront, do all the bad things, and then pave the way for him Zhang Zhidong.

And the problem of foreigners, the domestic royalist party and the revolutionary party also jumped out one by one, Rao is Li Hongzhang's cloudy eyes, and he couldn't see through the general trend, he rashly jumped out and became the president, and did all the bad things, who knows what the result will be, someone in China has to come out, and when the time comes, whether it is the emperor or the president, he will clean up the traitor to win the hearts of the people, and he Li Jiake will be buried with him.

It's ridiculous that several sons are very interested in this, and they hooked up with Zhang Nanpi in private, but they didn't know that they had been sold.

Li Hongzhang is not so stupid, if he can live for another ten years, he will not hesitate to be the president, but now he deeply feels that I am afraid that there is not so much time for him, and he can't do it.

Yang Chao sighed in his heart, he seemed to remember that Li Hongzhang really died shortly after the Eight-Nation Alliance, and it is said that he was forced by the Russians to sign a treaty before he died.

Li Hongzhang's death, really did not plan, he only thought about Li Hongzhang as president, it doesn't matter how many years, as long as Li Hongzhang comes to power, then China will be Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong and other figures in power, these people started from the destruction of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, step by step into the official career, immersed in officialdom for decades, all of them are old foxes, and they are Westernists, it will not take long for them to be in power, as long as ten years, China can at least build an industrial base.

But Yang Chao didn't calculate, once a person is about to die, will he follow other people's ideas, everyone is going to die, of course, he doesn't have to worry about others, he has to think about himself.

After a dull meal of Yuan Shikai's reception banquet for himself, Yang Chao retired and left, he had to go back to Qingdao first, many things were not explained, as soon as he went abroad, he threw the soldiers of Huayong Company to the Germans, and it is estimated that the little obedience cultivated at that time was also lost.

agreed with Yuan Shikai that when he finished his work, he would immediately come to Jinan to round with Yuan Shikai, and then rode away.

"This person is really the first person who is proficient in foreign affairs!"

Sending Yang Chao away, Yuan Shikai praised in front of his son Yuan Keding.

Yuan Keding also felt deeply, this visit, no one took Yang Chao seriously, but he didn't expect Yang Chao to make such a big move in Germany, others don't know, how could Yuan Shikai not know, although both at home and abroad have added credit to Zaifeng's head, this is understandable, Zaifeng is the right envoy, both at home and abroad, it is the benefit of the leader.

But Yuan Shikai knew the role of Yang Chao in it, and even after Zaifeng returned to China, he couldn't stop exaggerating Yang Chao's general knowledge and loyalty to the monarch and the country.

"If this person can be used by me, why worry about foreign affairs!"

Yuan Shikai sighed.

Yuan Ke nodded fixedly.

"So you have to get closer to this Yang Chao in the future. By the way, how about the things that asked you to check, who is this person, where is his ancestral hometown, and can he be married? ”

Yuan Keding shook his head shyly.

"The child can't find out. I only know that after the remnants of Nanyang, where Nanyang is and where the ancestral land is from, it is impossible to observe. ”

"If you can't find out, just ask. If there is no marriage, your two younger sisters should also be out of the cabinet. ”

Yuan Keding's face was worried: "But that Yang Chao seems to have something to do with the bandit leader Zhu Kaishan." The death of the two houses has been discussed so far. If you marry your sister to this person, I'm afraid? Why don't you choose one or two beautiful concubines to give to this person. ”

Yuan Shikai said: "A few women, empty words. Do you believe that? ”

But he suddenly doubted: "Don't be careful." Bozhen and Zhongzhen are also your sisters. ”

Yuan Shikai's eldest daughter Yuan Bozhen is sixteen this year, and the second daughter is fourteen years old, but one of these two daughters was born to the second aunt Tai Li, and the other was born to the fourth aunt Tai Wu.

And Yuan Keding was born to the original match of the long house, but there is only one person, no brothers and sisters, the Li family, the Wu family and the Jin family are all from North Korea, so they are naturally close, and the children are also close, Yuan Kewen is closer to the eldest daughter and the second daughter than Yuan Keding, so Yuan Keding is afraid of the competition of the second brother Yuan Kewen, and does not want the two daughters to marry Yang Chao.

How can this little caution be hidden from Yuan Shikai's eyes, as for what Zhu Kaishan said, Yuan Shikai felt that it was a complete excuse, there were too many doubts, he asked it personally, and he felt that it was unreliable, rather than believing those palace maids, he believed Yang Chao's statement.