To a certain extent, Li Hongzhang and Yue himself did Hu Chuyuan a favor, so that the relationship between him and Qing Zhengaxe and Zuo Zongtang had a new change.

Hu Chuyuan is no longer a simple vassal and courtier, he is a collaborator.

On the left, Qing Zheng Axe, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang and the feudal officials from all over the country, in the middle is Hu Chuyuan, and on the right are foreigners and inexhaustible silver and large taxes.

After the relationship became clear, the Qing political axe wanted to move Hu Chuyuan, which was clearly more difficult than before, and in the face of Hu Chuyuan, they also had to be as cautious and rational as facing foreigners.

Soon, the right side of the scale will continue to gain weight - arms and salaries.

In mid-November 1883, the scale of the French military operation in Vietnam became larger and larger, gradually invading the Chinese sphere of influence in northern Vietnam, which is the border area and ambiguous area of the Sino-Vietnamese territory, and is currently dominated by Chinese troops.

The situation is becoming more and more critical.

The weather in Shanghai is getting colder, and Hu Chuyuan is also wearing a woolen coat.

Two days ago, Prince Gong, out of some apology, heard that Hu Chuyuan only had two hobbies in his life - gardens and antiques, so he gave Hu Chuyuan a rare treasure - Yan Zhenqing's authentic "Farewell Post" in the Tang Dynasty.

With this calligraphy in his hand, Hu Chuyuan couldn't wait to call Yan Shizhang, Niu Yugeng, Miao Quansun, and Gu Shouzang over, and everyone came to watch it together, and by the way, they would identify it.

Hu Chuyuan now has a deep appreciation skill, ordinary fakes can't deceive him, but after all, they can't compare to Gu Shouzang and Miao Quansun.

As soon as these two people entered the study, they each carefully appreciated it for half an hour, and then they were sure that it was genuine.

A rare treasure.

Hu Chuyuan sighed, his house has nine paintings of the four great masters of the Yuan Dynasty, more than 1,400 copies of the calligraphy works of the famous masters of the past dynasties, the only thing missing is Yan Zhenqing and Wang Xizhi, and the rest such as Ouliusu Huangmi, he has it, and even several copies of the authentic works are in his hands.

Now, this regret has been further reduced, and only the book saint Wang Xizhi remains.

Of course, you still have to work on Prince Gong, and the real Wang Xizhi Mobao is in Prince Gong's hands - if there is one.

Hu Chuyuan can collect such a good thing, everyone is very happy, among the people here, Miao Quansun and Gu Shouzang are all collectors, the status is enough, plus Hu Chuyuan's "Fubo Pavilion Jian", the three of them together stamped the seal on the calligraphy, proving that they also admit that this calligraphy is genuine, and finally belong to the "Fubo Pavilion" collection.

Spread in an orderly manner...... This is the order of circulation.

Everyone was happily discussing, and Yan Shizhang suddenly wanted to smoke a bag of cigarettes inexplicably, and everyone screamed in fright, for fear that the fireworks would be roasted, or the calligraphy would be yellowed.

Yan Shizhang was not convinced, and said: "I'm all at the door curtain, thirty steps away from the calligraphy, you don't have to be so nervous, right?" ”

Everyone laughed when they heard it, but they still didn't agree with Yan Shizhang smoking in the study.

Helpless, Yan Shizhang could only go to the corridor.

As soon as he went out on his front foot, he asked curiously, "Huo Daotai, how did you come?" ”

As soon as Hu Chuyuan heard it, he knew that Qu Hongji was coming, and hurriedly asked Qu Hongji to come in and watch the so-called "Yan Muscle and Willow Bone" together.

As soon as he saw such a rare authentic handiwork, Qu Hongji was also shocked, and immediately forgot what he liked to say, and talked with Hu Chuyuan for half an hour.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan put away the scroll with satisfaction, and personally sent the calligraphy into the Fubo Pavilion to lock it.

When he came back, he asked Qu Hongji with a smile: "What's the matter, isn't the location of the Shanghai Daotai not good?" ”

Qu Hongji shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "It's not that Zhang Zhidong doesn't want to go south to Fuzhou to serve as the Minister of Shipping, the imperial court has changed its will and wants me to go to Fuzhou as the Minister of Shipping, so I want to ask my lordship, am I going to go or not?" ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted, and did not rush to answer.

Fuzhou Shipping Master is Hu Chuyuan's territory, even if he is not the Minister of Shipping now, everything is still being done according to his requirements.

This is a fact that everyone recognizes but dare not say, Zhang Zhidong is not stupid, he quickly moved on his own to dredge, made up for Zeng Guoquan's shortcomings, and was transferred to the governor of Shanxi.

After that, a few more people were selected, either He Jing and Zuo Zongtang disagreed, or Prince Gong and Prince Su disagreed, and in the end, everyone had to go back to those officials around Hu Chuyuan to find a way.

The most suitable person is obviously Yang Changjun, but Yang Changjun has already gone to Shaanxi to be the governor.

The people who come second...... It's Qu Hongji.

Hu Chuyuan was a little hesitant in his heart, the Sino-French war was imminent, could a scholar like Qu Hongji take on the real responsibility?

Silently embellished the cup of Longjing in his hand, he quietly pondered in his heart.

After all, nearly 16 million taels of silver were invested, half of which were his personal loans and donations.

Zhang Zhidong is actually a good candidate.

After thinking about it, Hu Chuyuan and Qu Hongji said: "You can go, but you need to listen to me." ”

Qu Hongji immediately replied: "Please also speak up." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Listen to Zhang Baixi for small things, listen to Ye Fu for big things, as long as you can do these two, nothing can stump you in Fuzhou Shipyard." ”

Qu Hongji immediately said: "Thank you for your advice, Qu will keep it in mind and will not dare to forget!" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "Okay, I'll let Mr. Yan accompany you to Fuzhou to take office, and he will take care of everything there for you." In addition, Mr. Blauny, the technical adviser sent by the French, had received an order from the French Admiralty that he would return to France in the near future and stop the technical guidance of the Fuzhou Shipyard. Although the French are about to go to war in Vietnam, they are very helpful to us, and the first thing you should do when you arrive in Fuzhou is to give them a good meal, and the bonuses and gifts that should be sent to the place should not be missing. ”

Speaking of this, he added: "Mr. Yan will help you deal with the specific expenses, so you don't have to worry about money." ”

Qu Hongji was overjoyed, what he wanted in his heart was this matter, half of the money of the Fuzhou Shipmaster was in turnover by Hu Chuyuan, and without Hu Chuyuan's money, he would not be able to do it for a day in the Fuzhou Shipyard.

He got up and thanked him, and said, "My lord, your kindness to the lower official is 10,000 clear in his heart, and I am afraid that he will not be able to repay it in this life." ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't say anything, just smiled.

He is a businessman, Qu Hongji is a politician.

No matter how strong he is now, and how respectful Qu Hongji is now, the future will have to be said separately.

Qu Hongji sat down again, but said again: "My lord, I have another matter here, and there is a letter from Li Hongzhang and Li Zhongtang that came with the will of the imperial court. He said that the affairs of Vietnam were tight, and the Nanyang Naval Division had not yet formed an army, so it was difficult to resist, so he wanted to transfer a few gunboats from the Fuzhou Ship Administration to be able to use them. ”

Hu Chuyuan didn't answer, just sneered faintly.

Niu Yugeng said: "This is unreasonable. The military expenditure of Beiyang Nanyang is twice that of the Yangtze River in Fujian, and our Fujian Navy Division has already taken shape, and the Yangtze River Navy Division has also replaced more than a dozen old ships after transformation, why has his Nanyang not yet taken shape? ”

In the past two years, Niu Yugeng's "Advisory Reference" has been unable to be published for a long time, and he has no intention of going out again, so he stayed by Hu Chuyuan's side and helped Yan Shizhang take care of the affairs of the general letter room together, which can be regarded as a staff officer for Hu Chuyuan together.

Qu Hongji said: "The speed of the construction of the Beiyang Navy Division has always been inferior to Fujian, as for the total problem, we should not pursue it, I think that if the Fuzhou Ship Administration has spare strength, maybe a few old ships can be transferred to Nanyang, lest the Nanyang Navy Division lose, but the court will blame us." ”

Yan Shizhang was silent, but gave Hu Chuyuan a look.

Hu Chuyuan knew in his heart that in the matter of Qu Hongji's appointment as the Minister of Shipping of Fuzhou, Li Hongzhang probably made great efforts, and Qu Hongji also reciprocated the favor.

Qu Hongji took out the letter and handed it to Hu Chuyuan for review, lest Hu Chuyuan have doubts in his heart that he would switch to Li Hongzhang.

Hu Chuyuan opened the letter and looked at it, and saw that Li Hongzhang's conditions were really generous, and he only asked for a few old ships, which were calculated at the original price, and he was willing to buy them at the shipyard of Fuzhou Shipyard in the future.

Because he has not been able to reach a good agreement with the British, in the past few years, Li Hongzhang mainly bought warships with the Germans, and the speed of building ships was relatively slow, and he refused to buy warships with the Fuzhou Shipmaster...... It can also be said to look down on the level of Fuzhou Shipyard.

Today, the Fujian Naval Division has been fully formed, and the overall level of the Yangtze River Naval Division has been raised to a higher level, but the Beiyang Naval Division has failed to form at all, and the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships ordered by the Germans are still in Germany.

Li Hongzhang is really anxious now, and he is about to start a fight with the French, but he has not yet formed half a fleet after spending more than 12 million taels of silver from the imperial court, so of course he is afraid in his heart.

It was this fear that made him fearful, eager to make peace with the French at any cost, and extremely afraid that the French would hit Tianjin and destroy half of his Beiyang naval division.

Hu Chuyuan knew very well in his heart, but he didn't say anything.

He put the letter away again and handed it to Qu Hongji, and said after a while: "You have the final say in this matter, I don't want to ask." ”

"...... this?"

Listening to Hu Chuyuan's tone, he was not very happy, and Qu Hongji couldn't help but be a little scared.

At this moment, Qu Hongji knew why Zhang Zhidong was reluctant to take office, and this position was ...... Suffer it.

Hu Chuyuan said: "It's true that you have to figure it out yourself, the French really want to do it, and they will inevitably send out a fleet, and you can't send ten ships to Nanyang." The French fleet is really going to Tianjin, after all, it still has to go from Fujian, if he doesn't fight the Fujian sailors, how dare he continue to go up, in case we cut off the back road, where else can he retreat? Since Li Hongzhang opened his mouth and really didn't give it, it didn't seem to be reasonable, and he was given the opportunity to shift the responsibility to us! ”

Qu Hongji said: "Then I will only send three old ships!" ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly, and said, "Just send the Zhenzhong ships over, we don't need them anyway." ”

Hearing this, even if Qu Hongji breathed a sigh of relief, he also understood better that Fuzhou Shipbuilding was Hu Chuyuan's territory, and this was no longer a situation that the imperial court could reverse.

He sincerely asked for help: "My lord, I went to Fuzhou to take office this time, I am afraid that I will encounter a lot of major events, if something happens, I hope that my lord will take more care." After I go, can you take the time to go to Fuzhou, which can be regarded as giving me some thin noodles, strengthening my momentum for me, and smoothing out those relationships on the ground? ”

Hu Chuyuan bowed slightly, and said, "At the end of the month, I should be able to spare a few days of free time, and then I will go to Fuzhou to do a few things for you." ”

Qu Hongji was overjoyed and thanked him immediately.

(To be continued)