Song Xiao flew to the door of the Li Mansion, and the housekeeper did not routinely report it, but took him directly to the living room to see Li Hongzhang.

The furnishings of the living room are still the same, a wooden kang is placed in the middle, a tiger skin mattress is laid on it, a low-legged coffee table is placed in the middle, two people can sit on both sides of the kang, and two rows of Taishi chairs are placed under the kang. ”

Song Xiaofei remembered the first time he saw Li Hongzhang, and it was also in this living room, fifteen years have passed, when he was still an ignorant and ignorant teenager, standing in the blink of an eye, it is really time flies, and the white horse has passed! Song Xiaofei already understood the rules of "ascending to the kang" at this time, and excused himself: "How dare students be on an equal footing with their teachers." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Today is a big matter, and there are no outsiders, the old man is nearly seventy years old, dazzling and tinnitus, you get closer, it doesn't hurt to take a seat." ”

Song Xiaofei saw that Li Hongzhang was not polite, so he went to the kang and took a seat. This is the first time that Song Xiaofei has sat on this wooden kang in the fifteen years since he followed Li Hongzhang, and he secretly wondered in his heart, what big thing is Li Hongzhang going to say today? ”

Li Hongzhang opened his mouth and said: "I am looking for you today, there are two main news, one is good news and the other is bad news, which one are you willing to know first?" ”

Song Xiaofei said: "You might as well listen to the bad ones first." Teachers have always taught students that preparing for the worst will lead to the best results. ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The children can be taught. Weng Tongyi's three-year vacancy expired and he returned from his hometown in Changshu. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "This news is expected by the students, after all, the emperor is still young, and he needs to be an assistant, which is not too bad news." ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head and sighed and said: "After Weng Tongyi returned to the court, he concurrently served as a co-organizer of the university, the minister of military aircraft, the prime minister, the secretary of the household department, and the secretary of the household department, and also ran military affairs, which the old man never expected. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard that this old man held so many important positions at once, and was also involved in diplomacy and military affairs, his status in the court was almost surpassing that of Li Hongzhang, and he asked in surprise: "How can this be?" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The old man didn't expect it to be like this, he originally thought that he would return to the court to restore many officials, but he didn't expect that after the death of Prince Alcohol, there would be no trusted ministers around the emperor, so he appointed all these important positions. In the future, I am afraid that there will be a lot of inconvenience for us. ”

Song Xiaofei asked: "He has so many important positions, does the Queen Mother agree?" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "It is impossible for the Queen Mother not to know about such a big move by the DPRK and China, and she must have approved it." Now that the country is worried about internal and external troubles, the officials of the provinces are in charge of their own affairs, and the queen mother also wants to strengthen the authority of the imperial court. ”

Song Xiaofei thought to himself, if Weng Tongyi, the old thief, does not die, I am afraid that the situation between the DPRK and China will be more complicated, and I am afraid that the funds of the Beiyang Navy Division will have to be raised by himself in the future. No, we have to promote the change of law as soon as possible, even if we can't strengthen the country, we have to get rid of Weng Tongyi again.

At this time, the good news that Li Hongzhang said was in Song Xiaofei's heart: "You played the excerpt of the imperial court to establish Chen and change the law a few years ago, and the old man has submitted it on his behalf. And the Queen Mother also supports this matter. The old man has already recommended you as the governor of Shandong, and he said that you will go to the palace to meet the emperor, and then go to the Queen Mother of the Summer Palace to thank you, and you can go to the post. ”

It turned out that after Song Xiaofei was training, after fully discussing with Rong Hong, Timothy Li, Yan Fu and others, he gave Emperor Guangxu a comprehensive reform and handed it over to Li Hongzhang for review. Song Xiaofei put forward the idea of reforming the rule of officials: First, a country is still a body, with the Jingshi as the head and the provinces as the limbs, and the central government strengthens its control over the localities, weakens the power of the governors, and emphasizes military affairs, tariffs, examinations, currency systems, postal services, military industry, railways, telegraphs, etc., which are combined with the power of the whole country and returned to the imperial court. Second, the law is the lord of a country, the prince is guilty of the same crime as the common people, strengthen the legal system, rectify the rule of officials, eliminate redundant personnel, and strictly prohibit corruption. Third, it advocates the unification of government decrees, strictly limits the scope of power of officials, and puts an end to officials oppressing the people. Fourth, the establishment of "council bureaus" in the people, such as the Bureau of Commerce, the Bureau of Agriculture, etc., is granted certain powers by the imperial court, and the people can communicate with each other when it is inconvenient, so that the squires or people who can handle matters and understand the law can let the people enter the bureau and reconcile the contradictions between the government and the people.

In addition, in the excerpt, Song Xiaofei also proposed to take "benefiting businessmen" as the foundation of "founding the country", encouraging the private sector to set up factories and mines on their own, and advocating that for modern industrial and mining industries, transportation, etc., regardless of the government and the people, as long as there is land and money, they can start at will. In terms of education, Song Xiaofei proposed that the reform of the eight shares of scholars and scholars and the cultivation of talents should be the first meaning, and it was suggested that a junior school should be set up in every small township; A state county and a large town with a prosperous household registration shall set up a school; For the courses offered by the new schools, in addition to the traditional Chinese classics, various new studies are also offered, such as literature, military equipment, astronomy, geography, arithmetic, Gezhi, chemistry, agriculture, commerce, engineering, history of all countries, public law of all countries, and various important studies, which will be mainly used in the imperial examinations in the future.

After Li Hongzhang read this excerpt, he greatly appreciated it, and added a note on the excerpt: "Great revitalization of sovereignty, strict restriction of official power, gradually grow to the power of the people, a little to the people's rights, then the internal governance is said to be meritorious", and then found the then Minister of Military Aircraft, the Ministry of Household Shangshu Liu Kun and other important ministers to sign this fold, on the Guangxu Emperor, these powerful suggestions are pragmatic, the twenty-year-old Guangxu Emperor saw it, refreshed, unable to sleep at night, eager to summon Song Xiaofei immediately.

Li Hongzhang also went to the Summer Palace to see the Empress Dowager Cixi, the essence of the reform of the law, and told the truth that the Empress Dowager Cixi's thinking was not as conservative as the legend, otherwise she would not have always supported Li Hongzhang to run foreign affairs, as long as it did not touch the authoritarian rule of the Empress Dowager Cixi, she was still more willing to support the restoration of the new and powerful country.

The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to Li Hongzhang's report and was especially interested in Article 1, which "strengthened local control and weakened the power of the governors." However, she wanted to find out Li Hongzhang's attitude, and ordered Li Lianying to show him the recital of a conservative minister's impeachment of Li Hongzhang, and then said: "These days, the mourning family has heard some rumors, and the ministers of the DPRK and the central government have different attitudes towards the reform, and some people even come to the mourning family to slander him, saying that Li Zhongtang you are about to become a 'new party'!" ”

The "new party" in Cixi's mouth is the minister who supports the restoration of the new and strong country, because most of them are close to the Guangxu Emperor, almost equivalent to the "imperial party", Li Hongzhang looked at the excerpt of impeachment, his face did not change, and said: "The ministers and lords have been in foreign affairs for more than 20 years, and the progress is slow. If the old law can be rich and strong, and China will be strong for a long time, why wait for now? Those who advocate changing the law are referred to as the new party, and there is no escape from the ministers, it is really the new party! ”

It is rare for Li Hongzhang to support Song Xiaofei so strongly, and Cixi saw Li Hongzhang's words on this, so she agreed to the reform, but she was still worried that if the reform of the law was spread across the country, it would inevitably cause chaos. Li Hongzhang recommended Song Xiaofei as the governor of Shandong, and launched a pilot project in a province to see the after-effects. Only then did the Empress Dowager Cixi nod in support: "Shandong is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and it is very important to advocate Confucianism. ”

Song Xiaofei was very pleasantly surprised when he heard the good news, it seems that the failure of the reform in history is largely due to Kang You's eagerness for them, and the suggestions he put forward are too radical and retreating, but Song Xiaofei is still a little hesitant to take up the post of governor of Shandong, and at this time of internal and external troubles, it is best to have both "guns" and "pens" with both hands, so he asked Li Hongzhang: "Teacher, the students have only been supervising and training the new army for half a year, so giving up halfway may affect the training plan." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "This doesn't matter, the old man can transfer 7,000 people from the Huai army stationed in Shandong to supplement Zhili." You can bring the new army to Shandong, first, to continue to supervise training, and second, to serve as a local chief for the first time, so as to facilitate the development of government affairs. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he quickly thanked Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang said: "You hurry back and prepare well, enter the palace to face the saint, the emperor also reads the book of Taixi's changes, don't fool him with half a bucket of water, in addition, thank you in front of the queen mother, remember to prepare a heavy gift." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The student understands, so go and prepare." ”

Song Xiaofei was about to turn around and leave, Li Hongzhang stopped him and said: "You are going to Shandong, Liu Kun recommended to you a little fellow of his Hunan, named Tan Sitong, his father Tan Jixun was the governor of Hubei, and he was an old friend of Lord Liu. I heard that Tan Sitong has been a famous teacher since he was a child, and he is good at learning from the West, and he has also put forward new ideas such as building schools, mining deposits, building railways, and running factories to Lord Liu. This time, Lord Liu also has a signature, you take care of Tan Sitong and see if there is a suitable place for him. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he thought that this Tan Sitong would not be the one who wrote the desperate poem "Go to Leave the Liver and Gall Two Kunlun" in history, and he was a friend of the fifth king of the big sword, and he was introduced like him, Song Xiaofei used to read history books, and always felt that a character like Tan Sitong was blind to Kang Youwei, so he said: "Lord Liu also supported the students a lot in the past, and the students must entrust Tan Sitong to be reused." ”;