"Your Majesty, look at this......"

Weng Tonghe wore a lynx fur coat, bowed down and followed behind Emperor Guangxu, and walked by the waterside of the Summer Palace. Watching the nose and nose and looking at the heart, I didn't look at the eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting around Guangxu, and they looked like virtuous ministers.

Guangxu is still like that, and he can blow away as if he is thin and thin when the wind blows. With his hands behind his back and his head hanging down, he looked like a half-wilted bean sprout. The bloodline of the Manchu Nurhachi family from the founding of the state, after more than 200 years of continuation, has been fragile and turbid, and it no longer has the style of the past outside the Guan.

In the Summer Palace, there is a bleak autumn scene. On the vast water surface, there is only half a pond of residual lotus, which is still struggling to support. The surface of the water is glowing with blue and black, and when the autumn wind passes, the waves slowly ripple in circles.

Guangxu had already put on a robe of Tan sheepskin, with a fur horse coat and a cyan silk surface. With so many clothes on him, it seemed that he was doubly thin. His face was not in sight, and it was all gray and yellow. The blood was so pale that it was almost invisible. It was only in the eyes that there was an occasional flash of sickly burning flames.

He coughed lowly, waved his hand, and followed his foreman eunuch to make a snoring sound, and more than a dozen eunuchs and palace maids bowed down together and retreated a little further. Guangxu turned his head and looked at the stern-faced old man behind him who had always been loyal to him, almost watched him grow up, and sometimes Guangxu was called "Shixiang".

Guangxu's eyes flashed, and there was a touch of warmth: "Teacher, you lynx skin gown, I have given you more than ten years, and you are all hairy, but I am afraid that it will be colder this year, I ...... If you're a student, I'll give you a new one. ”

Weng Tonghe's eyes were slightly red, but he still stabilized his voice: "Your Majesty, as long as you cheer up, even if the old minister wears a hundred clothes, his body will be warm." ”

Guangxu smiled faintly and turned his head: "Cheer up?" …… I'm thinking about it, too. The scholar Tan of the Qing Dynasty recently wrote the biography of the Meiji Emperor of the Oriental Dynasty, as well as the history of the Oriental Emperor Benzun and the enlightenment, I look at it...... The righteousness we have had since the Spring and Autumn Period was learned by the Haidong people, and they learned it so well! The things of the ancestors are all good, but it's a pity that we have forgotten ......"

Weng Tonghe saw that it was a slit in the conversation, and subconsciously glanced back at the eunuchs and palace maids who had retreated far away and couldn't hear their conversation at all. lowered his voice: "The emperor wants to cheer up, now is a chance!" We can't afford to miss it again! ”

He seemed to bite steel and chew iron again, and word by word seemed to pop out of his heart: "...... Up and down the Manchu Dynasty, no one expected that Xu Yifan, in the name of not being embarrassed or embarrassed, would be pressed on it by Ronglu personally selected by Lafayette, and North Korea would have more time to civilize the party and the Japanese people to make trouble. He was also able to train a strong army in a whirling time, and he quelled the riots in North Korea like thunder! The old ministers have already taken a closer look, and in the past few days, he has traveled hundreds of miles, and the entire North Korea, from the Yuben to the Japanese people, is no one! These 8,000 elites are also tigers who have seen blood and gone into battle! ”

Guangxu remained silent, just stood and listened quietly.

“…… The best thing is that this Xu Yifan is not a person with a foundation, not a person made by Lafayette, but is feared by Lafayette everywhere! If it weren't for his great achievements, and now that he has changed his name to move the world, he would have abolished this ingenious Praetorian Guard a long time ago. Since it can't be made explicit, then there is secret coercion. Li Hongzhang's more than 20,000 troops entered the court, and the imperial court let it go with such a big move, and it did not have the intention of using Li Hongzhang to force Xu Yifan down. Tens of thousands of long-term training Huai army against 8,000 Xincheng army, Xu Yifan, the third-class viscount of the military department, the minister of the military department, the minister of the Qincha, to Li Hongzhang, the first-class earl, co-organized the university scholar, the minister of the Beiyang Qincha...... No matter how you look at it, there is a huge disparity between strength and weakness, not to mention that Li Hongzhang has been in the officialdom for many years, and he is already an important minister of the country, and his power is deep-rooted. And Xu Yifan is just a young man, and he has no one behind him...... If the emperor doesn't support him again, Xu Yifan will fall! ”

Guangxu lowered his eyes, his head lowered, and subconsciously kicked a Taihu stone by the lake. The blood on his face faded more and more.

“…… At this time, the emperor does not support him, who will support him? The emperor praised the meritorious heroes, which is a matter of course. No one can fault it. The Manchu Dynasty is clear, and it is even more looking up to the emperor's holy virtues. Li Hongzhang's Sino-French war was perfunctory, and this comeback to North Korea was so domineering, and the court and court had already seen the road. The emperor should issue an order to unify the power of Korea, and lest the Huai army enter Gyeonggi and transfer the Janissary Guard to defend Gyeonggi......"

Hearing the word "Jinggi", the muscles on Guangxu's face suddenly twitched, his eyebrows were wrinkled tightly, and he subconsciously wanted to shake his head, but Weng Tonghe quickly and hurriedly continued: "...... When the Praetorian Guard enters the guard, it must be reorganized! Please Lafayette send the children of the bannermen and nobles to enrich the Praetorian Guard, the emperor only approves it, and none of us will stuff it into the Praetorian Guard. Galeries Lafayette must have only nodded...... How many of the children of the banner can be solved by a Praetorian Guard? This kind of banner man career, even Lafayette can't go against the will of the people! ”

The muscles on Guangxu's face relaxed, he changed his contemplative look, and said to himself in an inaudible voice: "The banner people are multiplying widely, lacking messengers, lack of money, and have been crying for decades...... But so many flag people went in, what about the salary? Where does the imperial court have this money? Long live Lafayette, the imperial court has long since dried up and the sea has fallen...... It's good to plan for the flag people, but ......"

Weng Tonghe pricked up his ears and listened to Guangxu's words without missing a word, and his face suddenly had a confident smile: "Your Majesty...... Xu Yifan trained this Praetorian Guard, and how much silver did he take from the imperial court? ”

Guangxu was stunned, Weng Tonghe had already snapped his fingers and calculated it for him: "...... The start-up fee of one million taels of silver is claimed to be allocated by Lafayette's inner treasury, but in fact, Xu Yifan raised the salary in Nanyang to serve Lafayette Wanshou, Lafayette transferred it to the Praetorian Guard as a start-up fee without expense, and the monthly regular salary of 150,000 yuan assigned by Tianjin Customs was all intercepted by Rong Lu, and half a penny was not given to Xu Yifan. He also has no territory, and relies on looting North Korea and the South China Sea to raise a little foundation. Where can I find such a salary and training wizard?

If the Praetorian Guard wants to become a real flag army, it is indispensable to borrow Xu Yifan to raise money, and as soon as this truth is said, Xu Yifan cannot be kicked away. With Xu Yifan's fundraising guarantee, the Praetorian Guard can accommodate more banner people. It's meant to be a one-and-two, two-and-one thing. Since Xu Yifan does not move his position, he has become a pivotal place in Gyeonggi. Can he still not know that this is the emperor's care, who is his real backer?

The Praetorian Guards entered Gyeonggi, even if Xu Yifan could no longer cover the sky with one hand. Your Majesty, the old minister said something to say, these noble banner men in Jingshi, the emperor knows how much ability he has. The Praetorian Guard was pulled up by him again, as long as the emperor took care of it, the power of the Praetorian Guard must still be Xu Yifan's, no matter what name he is! ”

Weng Tonghe had already said that the corners of his mouth were foamy, and when he was blown by the wind, he fluttered around. But his expression was still smug, and the light almost came out of his eyes.

Guangxu also listened carefully, and his face became more and more blue.

“…… As long as the emperor has an elite soldier in hand, the time can be waiting. The whole world looks up to the emperor's sanctity. Suffering from the country's turmoil for a long time, once the emperor is looking forward to cheering up, he will tell the world to respect the king and reform the past. There are available soldiers in Gyeonggi, there are ministers of the king of diligence in the world, and the emperor's lifelong career, why not cheer up! ”

Weng Tonghe's harvest was crisp and neat, but he just looked at Guangxu with blazing eyes.

Guangxu suddenly burst into a shout: "Enough!" ”

He turned around suddenly: "Long live Lafayette, you make such an astonishing statement, and you want to transfer the Praetorian Guards into Gyeonggi." It's not that Li Hongzhang is crawling out again and being in the limelight again, you just don't like it! Your brother was not used for life by Li Hongzhang, and your old Weng family remembers this hatred deeply! When the Praetorian Guards came back, they divided Li Hongzhang's status in Beiyang and slowly cut his power. Beiyang wants to restrict, and you have been looking at Li Hongzhang's lack of co-organizers for a long time. Your mind will not escape my insight! ”

Guangxu's thin body doesn't know where to get such a full amount of Zhongqi. Seeing his expression, the eunuchs and palace maids who were watching from a distance looked at each other, but they didn't dare to come over. Weng Tonghe didn't move, just quietly lowered his head to listen to the training.

"My filial piety to Lafayette can be learned from the world! If it weren't for Lafayette, how could I have a great position, and how could I have the glorious and prosperous era of the Qing Dynasty now? What kind of heart do you have in doing this fatherless and unkingless words? If it weren't for your credit and affection, and you have always been cautious on errands, I don't know how to bump into a yellow soup drunk heart today, I want you to go to Yili for a walk! There you go! I don't want to look at you, so don't hand the sign in! ”

Weng Tonghe bowed respectfully, raised his horseshoe sleeves and raised his eyebrows, and wanted to retreat.

Guangxu waved his hand, but stopped him again, and he didn't seem to be able to scold him yet: "You are really going back more and more, even your students are not as good!" Look at your student Tan Sitong, who is still a little arrogant, not like you who have no father and no king! Where is he now? ”

Weng Tonghe was still silent, it seemed that Guangxu was not scolding him, looking at his expression carefully, he could also see three points of nervousness in his eyes, and seven points of pride. His own emperor students have also been trained......

"Back to the emperor's words, Tan Sitong, the uncompetitive student of the old minister, is now being called by Xu Yifan in the Korean Praetorian Guard...... Xu Yifan and the student, who was a friend of the eight worshippers, were all about learning from the saints, and they were ready to serve the court, the Qing Dynasty, and my emperor. ”

Guangxu raised his head to the sky, frowned tightly, and waved his hand again: "I heard that Xu Yifan and Tan Sitong are the same, and there is also a Wang Wu, who is Taoyuan Sanjieyi?" Without waiting for Weng Tonghe to reply, he took care of himself and ordered: "Taoyuan Sanjie is originally a good thing that the world looks up to, I heard that although Wang Wu is not literate, he is also a character like Meng in ancient dramas." I am reading the biography of Taishi Gong's rangers, and I also want to see this character, you want to think about it, and see how I can meet Wang Wu quietly. It's a joke after all. ”

In the end, the voice of Guangxu Tablet finally carried a little bit of expectation.

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

If the autumn colors of the Summer Palace in the capital are too bleak, then the autumn on both sides of the Dadong River in North Korea is full of a strange vitality.

This kind of vitality cannot be found in the capital of the old capital.

Li Daxiong's arrival seemed to be a signal, more boats, more people, through various channels to the banks of the Datong River. Xu Yifan spends money like running water, searching for talents and preparing materials within the scope of money. Arms have also been procured and delivered in a steady stream. If the small workers in charge of loading and unloading know the Chinese languages, they can find those rifles, ammunition, Green guns, Makqin machine guns, tube-retreat field guns, military uniforms, T-straps, water bottles, bayonets, and military boots packed in boxes, covered with grease, and even marked with the marks of the world-famous military factories, and even the marks of the weapons in service of the armies of various countries.

Xu Yifan is a minister of the Imperial Mission, and he has the power to import weapons and issue passports, and with a huge amount of money, these murderous weapons are shipped over one by one. In fact, after deducting the kickbacks used by Manchu officialdom, the price of weapons he purchased was actually cheaper than that of the governors in various places.

All kinds of people rushed over, and the strange thing is that they didn't go directly to the construction site. Rather, it is crammed into various school institutions. Having said that, Xu Yifan's current so-called industrial construction is only a little scale, a repair shop, a mini small steelmaking shop, a gunpowder bureau, and a little coal and gold mining site. The scale can be called pocket-sized, and according to normal industrial production, this scale is completely unable to reduce costs, that is, it is all operating at a loss. Such a scale cannot accommodate the large number of talents he has gathered, not even a third.

Coal mine engineer from England, experienced shearer, chemical industry technician from Germany, survey engineer, steelmaker and worker from the United States, mathematician from the Russian Empire, textile engineer from the American South, Lancaster, England, textile mechanic...... All of them were doubled their salaries plus generous overseas allowances, and the Li family guaranteed to pay them fifteen years' salaries and considerable retirement benefits no matter what...... That's how it was hired. only to find that they were all stuffed into one school after another, and below them were students with braided hair who were also a little ignorant. There are apprentices of Da Shengkui, children of overseas Chinese in Nanyang, and characters from small workers in Shanghai and Tianjin...... Their common characteristic is that they are not children of gentry families, born poor, and have little knowledge. In a daze, he was collected by Da Sheng Kui, came through the Da Sheng Kui trade route or a steamship, and went to a strange country and sat in the classroom. There is still a stipend for class! In addition to classes, there is also rigorous military training! Modern industrialization has unprecedented requirements for the discipline of organizers, implementers and workers, and military training is a good way to educate this discipline. Western countries cultivated this discipline through the brutal nineteenth-century national war conscription system, preparing for the Industrial Revolution, Xu Yifan started in North Korea, and also had a difficult start.

A wide variety of courses are offered in a step-by-step manner, and the knowledge and experience of these technicians and workers in industrialized countries are imparted. Although it was all jokes at first, the situation was very good. But fortunately, the people who run the school are the backbone personnel of Nanyang who were once rescued by Xu Yifan. Although they don't know how to teach technical courses, they have a lot of experience in running schools, and they don't have the official faction of the members and directors of the Qing court to educate Western studies one after another, and many of them also know more than one foreign language, and they have good communication with these foreign teachers who catch ducks and put them on the shelves. In the midst of the chaos, it was actually supported.

Those small industrial constructions, now it can be seen that Xu Yifan does not want to build an industrial base in North Korea at all, just as an internship place for these students! China has never lacked intellectuals, and the basic science of the West has not reached the point of unattainability, and a team of technicians, no matter how immature and absurd the start, allows Xu Yifan, a semi-layman, to train is the most lacking in this old country.

He is planting the seeds, the seeds of the future industrialization of the whole country. As for what kind of soil will be suitable for these seeds in the future, Xu Yifan himself is not very sure. Anyway, he did what he had to do.

In addition to these, it is a technical school that is very taken for granted and explored in all aspects. However, the various military rotation training teams that were quickly established were orderly and gave strict orders. A large number of officers were drawn from the Praetorian Guard, as were soldiers who had performed well in the last military operation. Officers have a staff rotation training team, a junior officer rotation training team, and an artillery cavalry officer crash training team. The soldiers have non-commissioned officer training teams. It's all done by the old man Koontz. Xu Yifan personally issued the order. Any commander of a troop obeys Koontz's orders as if he were obeying him!

For the non-commissioned officer idea proposed by Kong Ci, Xu Yifan also changed the Qing military system. The Qing Dynasty soldier class originally only had the difference between horsemen and soldiers and guards. The more senior ones are the main and secondary ones. These are not at all modern non-commissioned officers, and there is a huge difference in treatment with officers, and there is not much difference in the treatment of the lowest-paid guards and even the long-term husband. The Huai army's monthly salary is only four taels or five yuan, and the Huai army's chief husband (miscellaneous servant) can get more than them in the big kitchen of the sentry shed. Now Xu Yifan cooperates with Kong Ci, and the outstanding soldiers can be appointed as the main and deputy heads after training, or the heads of each outpost and team. The salary of the chief officer is the same as that of the team officer, and the salary of the main and deputy officers has also doubled. What modern non-commissioned officer regulations are just set up. But to be honest, this non-commissioned officer system is a good way to prepare for the large-scale compulsory military service system, Xu Yifan for his current 10,000 people, as long as there are no dead or injured, don't think about retirement and demobilization within ten years, basically built as a professional army. However, Koontz likes to copy Prussia's German non-commissioned officer training system, and Xu Yifan is also optimistic about its success.

In fact, when it comes to Xu Yifan's real thoughts now, half of him is staring at Yueben, nervously sniffing their every move, and half of him is looking at the country, for fear that there will be any more troubles at this time, the Praetorian Guards and him are already making a big move, this kind of freak who is out of the Qing Dynasty officialdom system is a sin for most Qing court bureaucrats, and if something happens, or there is a tendency to unite with any forces, then the only way is to die faster! Because of this, he did not back down to the Huai system, and he also detained the chief officer of the Huai army. He hopes now that this year, everyone will think that I, Xu Yifan, was bullied by Li Hongzhang like my grandson! Don't pity me, don't pity me, let me survive this year in peace!

He walked cautiously on this tightrope, but he couldn't help but do what he had to do. In addition to building their own various teams, expanding the recruitment of the Praetorian Guard, and the training of cavalry artillery must be taken care of. The flower horse team on the back road had to be cleaned up in advance, and the cuckoo was already waiting to see her horse thief father with tears in her eyes. His own strategic intelligence system will also be built, and he will soon be playing mahjong on a bigger table...... With the establishment of this overseas strategic intelligence system, who else can there be except the hard-working Nanyang Li family? Li Daxiong rushed to Seoul for this reason. Xu Yifan has already taken the time to talk to him several times, and the father-in-law and son-in-law both talked with a solemn face......

However, Xu Yifan subconsciously avoided his second brother Tan Sitong. He summoned Tan Si to come with him, so he was naturally useful. However, when he saw the pier, Tan Sitong's eyes were blazing, and the meaning revealed in it made him feel cold for no reason. These people always find reasons for themselves to avoid Tan Sitong and not talk. Tan Sitong also calmed down, and he was in the official mansion all day long, drinking and dancing with swords, and seemed to have made up his mind Xu Yifan asked him.

In the end, Xu Yifan also knew that Tan Sitong still couldn't see him. When he got up early this morning, he cleaned himself up, didn't bring anyone with him, and went straight to the small cross-courtyard where Tan Sitong lived alone.

Just stepped into the courtyard, and saw Tan Sitong's set of Tai Chi swords to be closed, and after slowly retracting the sword, he seemed to know that Xu Yifan had come in, and he said loudly without looking back: "Chuanqing, do you know that you are in trouble?" ”

Xu Yifan was about to greet him, and when he heard his words, he was stunned, and then smiled. Didn't you spend time in the Wind Sword and Frost Sword one day? It is nothing more than the Huai system of aggression, the imperial court is afraid and the like. However, Tan Sitong's words always have to be entertained with one or two sentences: "Resurrection, brother is stupid, I don't know where this disaster comes from?" ”

Tan Sitong turned around violently, his sword eyebrows were raised, and he folded two fingers and sneered: "If you don't talk to me today, I'll clap my hands and leave." But it's not too late for you to come so early. Brother will send you a way, not only to protect your life and name, but also to cover the community! Chuanqing, will you listen to me? Don't believe me, brother! ”

The weather in North Korea is very cold, and Xu Yifan's heart is even colder. I really want to turn around and leave. This scholar won't really do me a disservice!

(To be continued)