Yin Chang's return to Beijing to report on his work happened to be in these days when the ticket turmoil was the most lively, Yang Shixiang, the governor of Zhili who had just taken office, had been removed, and Zhao Erxun had also been evacuated from the household department.

After waiting at home for a few days, he finally waited for the summons of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and took a sedan chair to the Forbidden City early that morning to meet the Empress Dowager.

After two years, I had the opportunity to return to Beijing, and then go to see the Queen Mother, Yin Chang sitting in the sedan chair has an indescribable sigh and sigh, and now he is already sitting firmly in the position of Fengtian Governor, he himself feels that he has done a good job in the past two years, and he also has a share of credit in the new policy of the three eastern provinces.

In the past few days in Beijing, when he saw others every day, others would praise him for his new policy of tossing in Fengtian very well, and he had a good reputation in the court, saying that he was a person who could really toss the new policy.

Yin Chang sounded like everyone was talking in generalities, but in fact, none of the officials and Manchu nobles really knew what the new policy of the three eastern provinces meant, and to what extent the new policy of the three eastern provinces had developed.

Yin Chang knew this very well, when he first arrived, the annual tax revenue of Fengtian Province was only more than four million taels of silver, compared with the annual tax of 100 million taels of silver of the imperial court, it was simply not worth mentioning, and it was definitely ranked at the bottom of the ranks among the provinces, even Shaanxi Province was inferior, and Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province were even lower than Fengtian Province.

In just two years, even if more than half of the taxes of the new factories are still reduced or reduced, the three eastern provinces have also reduced all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes and Ding taxes, even so, the tax revenue of Fengtian Province in Ding Wei has increased to 15.78 million silver yuan, and the total tax revenue of the three eastern provinces (excluding mineral industry taxes) has increased to 27.03 million silver yuan, because the three provinces have large-scale official reclamation bureaus, military reclamation bureaus, and forestry reclamation bureaus, which recruit people from Zhili and Shandong to plant and collect rents, and the profits are quite large, and the government enterprises such as the Northeast Bank are also very profitable. As a result, the total fiscal revenue of the three eastern provinces increased to 47.4 million silver yuan.

Have a Midas touch.

There is a way to make money!

The three eastern provinces also sold long-term public bonds totaling about 50 million silver yuan from foreign-funded banks through forced purchase and forced sale, which were used to build water conservancy projects in the three provinces, increase the number of forests and pastures and fertile fields, build roads, and set up new public schools.

When Yin Chang returned to Beijing to face the officials he was familiar with again, thinking of those officials in the three eastern provinces and thinking of Song Biao, he really didn't think that there was anyone in the Guannei and Jingshi who could compare to Song Biao's ability.

The gap is far away.

That's a long way off.

It's just that at this time, Yin Chang no longer dares to guarantee that Song Biao has no intention of rebelling, in the past two years, he has heard more than once from various sources about the rapid expansion of the Restoration Society in the three eastern provinces, although there is no evidence in his hands, but he still has enough confidence to guess that Song Biao is the person behind the Restoration Society.

Without Song Biao's support, it would not have been possible for the Restoration Society to develop so rapidly in the three eastern provinces, or even unscrupulously, not to mention that the Xinhua Society within the New Army was by no means a good type.

Yin Chang actually knows very well, he just deliberately pretended not to know, because he didn't know to get through, if he really put on the posture he already knew, then there were only two choices, one was to join the Restoration Society, and the other was to be the governor and strictly investigate the anti-thieves and rebels, both of which were exactly what he was unwilling to do and could not do.

Sitting in the sedan chair, Yin Chang felt indescribable sadness in his heart.

As the governor of a province, with such good political achievements, coupled with the status and qualifications of the Manchurians, he would be able to become the governor of a feudal territory in a few years, which should be something to be happy about, but where can he be happy?

Yin Chang sighed in his heart, painful, the person had arrived outside the Forbidden City, and after getting off the sedan chair, he continued to follow the second chief eunuch to Ningshou Palace.

Compared with the last visit, this time Ningshou Palace seems a little lonely and lonely, when the empire is lonely, even in the early morning sunshine it seems extremely lonely, most of the people who serve the Queen Mother here are some old palace maids, some have been working by the Queen Mother's side for decades, after honor and disgrace and all kinds of turmoil.

There are also a few newcomers among the eunuchs, and they are all old people in the past ten years.

The Queen Mother was not in Ningshou Palace, Yin Chang could only step forward first, kneeling alone in the hall, on the scarlet red carpet, all he could feel was a panic.

The second manager, Cui Yugui, also seemed to be much older than before, with old age spots on his face, and his eyes were pale, as if he was going blind, and he accompanied Yin Chang to wait for the arrival of the Queen Mother.

Seeing the cold sweat sliding on Yin Chang's forehead, Cui Yugui kindly said with a hint of lamentation: "Don't worry, adults, the Queen Mother is one year old and one old, she often has dysentery in these months, and when she is old, maybe it is always inevitable, this scene is generally still in the back hall, maybe you can come after a while, you have to be tired, you might as well continue to stand outside the door first." ”

When Yin Chang heard this, his heart was a little more relaxed, he might have entered the hall in advance and knelt to meet the Queen Mother Longen, who was not an ordinary slave, how could he dare to get up, not to mention that the Queen Mother was still here.

He continued to kneel, bowing his head, waiting for the Empress Dowager Cixi.

It took nearly a quarter of an hour for the Empress Dowager Cixi to walk into Ningshou Palace with the support of two old palace maids, many people thought that the palace was full of young and beautiful girls waiting for the emperor's favor, but the truth was cruel that there was only a group of old palace maids who were old and old, even young palace maids really couldn't talk about what kind of posture they had.

Especially when Cixi controlled everything in the palace, there was almost no emperor.

There is only one palace maid and eunuch who is older than the other, as decaying and old as this empire.

The decay is like a rusty empire, like this fallen and weakened empire, even if it was once strong, just like the Ottoman Empire, which was now weakened and died together.

The Empress Dowager Cixi's face was pale and weak, her body was full of cold chill and aging that could no longer be concealed, she not only had long-term chronic diarrhea in the past six months, but also often suffered from insomnia, and it was difficult to sleep all night.

Every time she closed her eyes, she would think of Concubine Zhen, who she had ordered to kill.

Like all narrow-minded and unkind adoptive mothers, she regarded the Emperor's rebellion against her as the fault of her daughter-in-law, and she killed the young woman whom she hated and hated from the beginning.

It wasn't until today, many years later, that she remembered the past and learned that old people would make the same mistakes again and again, and that when she killed the young woman, she and the emperor would never be able to go back to the past.

Now, she can only face the difficulties and pain in front of her alone.

She once brought Tongzhi Zhongxing to this empire, pacified the Cantonese bandits and twist bandits, and recovered Xinjiang Province, at least she felt that she did it for this empire, but she knew that she no longer had the ability to pacify the northeast.

Half a month ago, she was anxious to think about the merits of running the new policy of the three eastern provinces and signing the "Hanqing Treaty on the Continuation of Commerce" to promote Song Biao to the Minister of Military Aircraft and recruit him into the Beijing Division, and then leave space and time for Zaifeng to deal with Song Biao.

The edict had already been drawn up, but she had given up at the last minute on a risky decision that threatened to destroy the entire empire entirely.

Song Biao is not Zeng Guofan, nor Li Hongzhang, let alone Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong, others would not be so stupid to enter Beijing and let them slaughter.

Sitting on the dragon chair, Cixi looked at Yin Chang quietly, with indescribable sustenance and sentimentality in her heart.

Yin Chang stepped forward and knelt down and said, "The slave is sent to the Heavenly Governor Yin Chang to greet the Queen Mother Lafayette!" ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly had a sadness that wanted to wail, especially when she heard the word "Fengtian", once upon a time, the foundation of the Great Qing Kingdom was actually occupied by others.

In fact, she didn't know much about it, whether it was Yin Chang or Zeng Yun, she didn't dare to tell the truth about too many things, even so, when she thought that Song Biao had already had more than 100,000 troops in the three eastern provinces, she was still very painful.

She knows that not to mention in her lifetime, I am afraid that even in her lifetime, she may not be able to recover the Northeast.

Cixi finally came back to her senses, stared at Yin Chang and sighed: "I heard that you have returned to Beijing for a while, and when you are the governor of Fengtian Province, you always have to deal with the governor of Song, that person is not very good-tempered, I am afraid it will be difficult for you." ”

Yin Chang replied: "Back to the Queen Mother, the slaves did not suffer any anger in Fengtian, the Governor of Song respected Xunzi, paid attention to the way of Xunzi, respected the virtuous, respected the law and loved the people, most of the new laws were set up in accordance with foreign regulations, but where there is a law to follow, all will be handled according to law." Since the implementation of the new policy, the governor's yamen has set up various departments and bureaus, but the military and police have personally supervised and supervised the affairs of the governor, and all other matters entrusted by the governor have been handled by the governor, and all the affairs under the governor's jurisdiction have been handled by various departments, and there has been no ultra vires of authority. Last year, the total fiscal and tax revenues of the three provinces totaled 3,160 taels of silver, 7.2 million taels of silver for military salaries, and 1.8 million taels of silver for police patrols. In the past two years, more than 14,000 office schools have been set up, public schools have been set up in all villages with more than 100 villagers, all counties have new-style primary and secondary schools, all prefectures have new junior colleges, and more than 60 percent of children who have reached the age of eight have books to read, more than 7 million new people have been added to the three provinces, more than 6,000 new industrial and mining companies have been established in various localities, and more than 400 new commercial and trade banks with a capital of more than 10,000 taels of silver. Soybeans and sugar beets are widely planted along the railways in various parts of the three provinces, cotton is planted in large quantities along Liaodong Bay and Fuzhou, six million hectares of land are planted in various places for corn, sorghum, wheat, and rice, and silk is widely harvested in the Liaodong Peninsula, and forestry and animal husbandry reclamation bureaus are set up in Daxing, Xiaoxing, and Changbai Mountains. In previous years, there were many bandits in the three eastern provinces, rampant in the mountains and wilderness, and the prefects of various places could not be peaceful. Only to the slave to see, the three eastern provinces are now more prosperous than Zhili, Shandong and other places, the people live in peace, live a rich life, do not leave the road behind, and are grateful to the imperial court, all of which are the blessing of the queen mother. ”

Cixi was quite surprised when she heard this, although the new policies of the three eastern provinces are well known to the world, and it is a bit beyond her imagination to be so good, she couldn't help but gasp a little, and asked Yin Changdao: "How can there be such a thing?" ”

Yin Chang cautiously replied: "Without him, only the governor cares for the unity and helps each other in the same boat, and the governor of Song is a rare talent, everything can be arranged for the disposal of talents, so that officials can show their strengths, and to respect the virtuous, respect the law and love the people as the outline of the new policy, the officials are honest and honest, and there are few corrupt officials." ”

Of course, he was not telling the truth, because the total tax revenue of the three eastern provinces was missing the mining tax, business tax, income tax, etc., and in the preferential tax exemption policy of the three eastern provinces, the mining area was not preferential, and when he reported to the imperial court, he deliberately concealed this, and all of this was directly transferred into the military expenditure by the governor's office.

Cixi sighed, feeling a little more nervous, but said: "Now all provinces in the country are setting up advisory bureaus, but the three provinces are not, somehow? ”

Yin Chang replied: "Although the Governor of Song did not set up a consultation bureau, he set up an organization called the Research Bureau, which mostly hired celebrities as staff members to discuss major affairs. This is roughly the same as that of the provincial councils, but the power of control lies with us, so there is no constitutional rebellion in various places. ”

Cixi agreed: "Your method is appropriate, and this palace also thinks that the matter of the Consultative Bureau is child's play. The new policy of the three eastern provinces is well handled, and you don't want to take the credit, a few days ago there was a storm of ticketing, and Yang Shixiang could only be removed from his post for the time being. The governor of Zhili is no better than other places, and he always has to take care of the affairs of the Beiyang Army, and this palace has thought about it for a long time and decided to transfer you back to be the governor of Zhili. You are in Zhili, and the palace is also more relieved. ”

Yin Chang was naturally happy in his heart, after all, he was promoted to the throne of the governor of Zhili in one step, and from now on, he could really be regarded as a boiler.

He knew in his heart that in fact, there was no one available in North Korea now, and if he was not Manchurian, it would be reasonable that he would never be able to take his turn.

Yin Chang immediately thanked him and said, "Thank you for the grace of the Queen Mother, the slave will do the work of dogs and horses." ”

Cixi bowed her head slightly, but she just talked to Yin Chang about the conversation, she was already ringing in her ears, her body was weak and her hands were cold, she didn't know how uncomfortable and sad she was, but she could only continue to hold on, and asked with Yin Chang: "As for the position of Fengtian Governor, do you have a suitable candidate to recommend?" ”

Yin Chang said: "Tang Shaoyi, the Minister of Reclamation Supervision of the Three Eastern Provinces, is a suitable candidate, and in this position, at least he will not ruin the major affairs of the imperial court like Lord Zhao did back then, nor will he go the wrong way and do the wrong thing." ”

Cixi understood what Yin Chang meant, and in the position of governor of Fengtian, she had to maintain cooperation with Song Biao, the governor of the three eastern provinces, and not turn her face to make trouble, but also guard against Song Biao, and not get too close to Song Biao.

It would be great to have such a candidate.

Cixi bowed slightly, relieved in her heart, and said: "This person is not bad, in the past years, he had dealt with Russia, and he had that ability." Speaking of which, the new policy of the three eastern provinces is good, and he has a lot of credit, but if you think about it carefully, although the three eastern provinces are now a place of merit, this is what the palace is worried about. You just came back a while ago, and persuaded your fellow sect not to kill the Governor of Song in vain, only saying that one train of Russian arms was being transported to Mukden in addition to another train, but is there really such a thing? ”

Yin Chang knew that this matter would be asked sooner or later, at that time he was talking to Yixuan and Zaifeng, and Zaifeng was young and vigorous, and he had to kill Song Biao to calm the trouble in the northeast, and Yinchang said the truth in anger, so frightened that Yixiao and Zaifeng were not light, and ran to report to Cixi overnight.

He pondered cautiously for a moment, and replied truthfully: "The Governor of Song is extremely strict against the imperial court, not to mention that he is also difficult to ride a tiger now, and he has to guard against Russian countries, such as signing the "Hanqing Tongshang Renewal Treaty" and expelling more than 1,000 people from this ronin, if he does not have 100,000 heavy troops in his hands, how can he easily comply?" Now he is talking about Yanji with Yue Ben and North Korea, and he wants to repatriate the refugees from the three provinces of Laiju in North Korea, the number of which is as many as more than 100,000. This person has 100,000 elite soldiers, not to mention that the Beiyang Army is not an opponent, and the army is so powerful, in fact, it is not an opponent. It is a good thing to have more soldiers, but it is also a bad thing, he is not good at being an official, he just wants to be a general, and the Northeast New Army is the division of tigers and wolves that he has trained single-handedly, how can he sit back and watch being transferred to Beijing by the imperial court and cutting off his limbs and minions? The queen mother, the slave dared to say a word, compared to the three feudatories of the year, the governor of Song did not do anything to destroy the criminal department, everything was done in accordance with the law, and there was no overstepping authority, but now it is an inextricable dead knot, the court is afraid that he will rebel, he is afraid that the court will get rid of him, and both sides will not be able to live in peace, so they can only watch out for each other, the more vigilant, the easier it is to have accidents. What's more, there are really too many idle people in the Jingshi who are eager to make trouble, shouting every day to kill him, and he also has eyes and ears in the Jingshi, how can he not know, he can only be more vigilant. The slave thought that if this dead knot could not be untied, he was afraid that sooner or later he would be poked out of the basket. ”

Cixi didn't speak, she knew that Yin Chang was telling the truth, but who could take care of the other party?

Sighing in her heart, Cixi asked Yin Chang, "Then what do you think you should do to untie this dead knot?" ”

Yin Chang said: "The servant is brave, thinking that the imperial court might as well put him in the position of the three feudatories, since there is a lesson from the past, he will definitely be cautious." If he can really inherit the three eastern provinces, he will probably be at ease to divide the northeast, which will give the imperial court about thirty or forty years of opportunity. ”

Cixi rebuked rather unhappily: "If it is thirty years and the imperial court is still unable to stabilize the northeast, then what should I do, should I give him all the inheritance of my ancestors?" ”

Yin Chang was taken aback, but he still persuaded him: "Queen Mother, if the imperial court can't pacify the Northeast after 30 years, then where is there a chance for 30 years?" ”

“……！”

Cixi was speechless for a while, she thought about it herself and knew that this was the truth, if the Great Qing Kingdom had not had the strength to defeat Song Biao's Northeast New Army for 30 years, why should she continue to toss?

She knew that what Yin Chang said was right, but it was absolutely impossible for her to agree to such a proposal, but she also planned to let the Military Aircraft Department discuss this matter to test Song Biao's reaction.

She pinned her hopes on Song Biao to take the initiative to stand up against this matter, realizing the nobility of the Manchu royal family, realizing the fact that the Qing Empire had entrusted her orders to heaven, and realizing her humility as a Han Chinese.

If there are few people, they will admire their parents; knows lust, and Mu Shaoai; If you have a wife, you will admire your wife; Shi is Mu Jun, not in Jun Ze is hot. The emperor is the top, and all the people are loyal and admired, which is a matter of course, as a Han and do not know the loyalty to the king, this is a reverse class, like an animal.

She hopes that Song Biao can understand such a simple truth, a basic truth that all Han people must understand.

(To be continued)