The court of the Guangxu Dynasty was relaxed, the speech was open, and the thinking was open. As long as you are reasonable, you can explain it to your heart's content, and as long as you have reasonable needs, you can put it forward at the court meeting, and then everyone will discuss and deal with it together. Even if your request is unreasonable, it is just a refutation, even if it is some inexplicable anecdotes of the imperial historian, it will not be guilty of words. Guangxu sat on a high throne and watched his courtiers arguing, which was a scene he liked to see, and everyone's reaction was his observation target. For example, the commander of the army, Feng Guozhang, accused Lin Qizhao, the secretary of the household department, of deducting the army's military expenses for no reason. The two mountain regiments in the south were changed to brigades, which was the result of the strategic adjustment of the country and the DPRK, but in the Ryukyus and Taiwan, additional troops were added, and the total number of army troops increased, why did the total military expenditure not increase? Feng Guozhang strongly demanded that Lin Qizhao give a reasonable explanation, otherwise he would be impeached on the spot.

The state treasury has already made arrangements for this year's expenditure, and the Ministry of Households does not have such a budget. Unexpectedly, Lin Qizhao and Benyan didn't look at Feng Guozhang, and choked Feng Guozhang back with one sentence, but it didn't mean that there was nothing to say, so Feng Guozhang talked about the needs of national security. Indeed, judging from the land area of the Qing Dynasty, the current size of the army is insufficient.

The imperial court is the place of political struggle, and in order to increase the right to speak in the court, the military attaches must expand the army to increase the political capital of the military attachés. Because civilian officials are in charge of money and food, they have a natural political advantage over military attachés, so civilian officials naturally have to suppress military attaches in order to maintain their superiority. In the final analysis, it is a dispute for resources, as civil officials, they have an inextricable relationship with major businesses, and civil officials need to invest more funds in domestic construction, so that the businesses behind them can directly and more profit at the same time, they can also let these civil officials indirectly benefit. Even some civil officials themselves were born in business families, such as Lin Qizhao. Naturally, civilian officials are more willing to invest in production and construction than in the military. And there are also a group of businessmen behind the military attachés, but the products produced by the businessmen behind the military attaches are relatively clear, that is, military supplies. The military attaché competed for resources in the court in order to invest more in the production of military supplies, so that the profits of the merchants behind the military attaché would naturally be returned to the military attachés. This is also the reason why Chinese officials have not relied on money to live since ancient times, of course, Qingliu Imperial History and the like do not count. Otherwise, Li Hongzhang's family alone has more than 100 slaves, and they will rely on how to support him with a hundred taels of silver a month. It's just that the current official interests of the Guangxu Dynasty have not been scavenged from the people since ancient times.

Guangxu took responsibility for himself. At the same time, he also opened his own factory while cutting down on the cost of the palace, and profited from the market fairly (what?). You say it's not fair that royal corporations can take advantage of the policy? The policy is not against the royal family, and the emperor has personally come out to advertise, shouldn't he make more profits? And the profits obtained also subsidize the treasury, these things are known to the whole world. Second, Guangxu has always hated corruption, and found one to deal with another. The key is that every time a corrupt official is killed, the raiding of the house appears when "the state is insufficient", Guangxu said clearly: let them be greedy, just as they save money for the court, as long as the state is insufficient, they will find out, and they can also win a good reputation as a holy monarch and minister. You've done this as an emperor, who would dare to mess around. In addition to Prime Minister Li Hongzhang, Sun Weng, who is the emperor, was born in the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zhidong himself is honest and honest, and other civil officials are promoted by Guangxu from the grassroots level. Without a foundation background, naturally he does not dare to be unscrupulous. And Li Hongzhang, who lost the support of the Huai Army and the Beiyang Naval Division, is just a kite, don't look at how high he flies. The thread is still in Guangxu's hands.

The emperor was able to become an emperor because the emperor had the support of a powerful vested interest class. And the officials in the audience are a new aristocratic class cultivated by Guangxu and different from the old aristocracy. Although it is still very rude, they are really the beneficiaries of Guangxu's policy, otherwise why would they follow Guangxu to make Cixi's rebellion.

The vast majority of ordinary soldiers in the army are from poor backgrounds, and not only do they eat and drink for free, but they also pay very high salaries to keep their families satisfied. Several military commanders even took the concept of enriching the country and strengthening the army, and they did not dare to mess around when they had no foundation, and the key was that they did not need to do so if they had a legitimate high income. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the robbery of the Japanese coastline in the First Sino-Japanese War and the sacking of the South China Sea last year were given to the navy as bonuses. The only thing the army was dissatisfied with was that they had not crossed the border, and could only rely on Lin Yongxiang to help them "smuggle" weapons captured on the battlefield to make a profit. Although it is also 20%, it cannot be compared with the navy. As a military commander, he naturally gets the lion's share. They don't have messy relationships, they don't violate national law, they don't have to take bribes, they have clean money that they get from righteousness and light, who would risk cutting off their heads to do those things. Under the deliberate guidance of Guangxu, the military's revenue was invested abroad. What they want is to expand the army, strengthen the equipment, and then expand the army, and then strengthen the equipment, so that they don't have to worry about the profit.

There are not many civil officials, and they still can't live a beautiful life on their own. Fortunately, they are either from big families or have the support of big businesses. In the country, they dare not mess around, and those who dare to make illegal profits by exploiting the people have been beheaded. The upward and downward effect is not an empty word, now the royal enterprises of the Qing Dynasty are equivalent to state-owned enterprises, so the royal enterprises are the benchmark for the behavior of other enterprises in the country, all the industries under the name of the royal family are honest, and those business owners who illegally employ labor are beheaded and who dares to stand up and speak. But capital is to drink blood, the purpose of the existence of capital is to pursue unlimited profits, since the enslavement of the people in the country will be beheaded, then there must be an alternative way, that is, slaves. It is no secret that most of the roads and mines used slaves in the national dynasties, after all, those are manual labor, but ordinary factories need skilled workers. Since capital has no more profits in the Qing Dynasty, it is the inertia of capital to look abroad. The Qing-Dutch Nanyang War made the status of the Chinese in Nanyang skyrocket, and the Dutch no longer dared to openly bully the Chinese, and even the Chinese in Malaysia, Sarawak and other places could hold their heads high. This is the emperor's sage, so as a Chinese, he naturally wants to repay the emperor's kindness. So how to repay the emperor's kindness? Just help the emperor do things. The emperor wants to buy a large amount of rubber, so let's build a rubber plantation, and if there is none, we will buy a rubber plantation. There are also various mineral deposits and products that are in the eyes of these civil officials. In this way, domestic capital has a place to go, officials have a place to make a fortune, and the people have a foreign income subsidy. Naturally, hello, hello, hello, everyone. As for the slaves, Guangxu has always believed that the Chinese are kind by nature, and why did he hear that the Chinese used the local natives as slaves in Nanyang was already angry and resentful. Didn't you do that in the early years? I didn't want to be pushed back: no matter how good it is to those natives, it is not the Chinese who are unlucky in the end. In the final analysis, if it is not my race, its heart will be different, and the emperor will have less of this worthless heart. Guangxu retreated in shame after hearing this.

Officials have a place to make a fortune, and although the violent plundering of military attaches is despised by civilian officials, the overseas interests of civilian officials need the protection of military attachés. Therefore, the civil and military disputes in the Guangxu Dynasty were more of a healthy competition than a competition. The only pity is that this approach started too late, and now it is still a time when the input is greater than the output. The clerks believe that it is necessary to increase industrial investment in the immediate future, so that more money can be invested in the military in the future. The military attachés despised the slow accumulation of civilian officials, who insisted that rapid plunder could only develop in the shortest possible time. For this reason, I don't know how many times the civil and military have quarreled with each other. At present, the biggest external threat to the Qing Dynasty comes from Japan, but with the existing military capabilities of the Qing Dynasty, there is no problem in attacking, at least defending. Therefore, in addition to giving full support to the Huludao Shipyard, the civilian officials headed by Li Hongzhang mainly maintained the current scale of military spending for the navy and army.

At today's court meeting, Feng Guozhang accused Lin Qizhao of deducting the army's military expenses for no reason, which is actually an extension of this quarrel. The military will not be satisfied with the status quo, which is not only a need for national defense, but also a need for China's rise.

Guangxu looked at the civil and military officials who were arguing below for a while, this is the result of his deliberate guidance, maybe it is more appropriate to describe it with the word consequences. Determined to make China rise. Then it can't just be the emperor's words, then we must keep the world in mind and speak widely, no matter whether it is right or wrong, we must always give people the opportunity to speak. In addition, most of the officials of the Guangxu Dynasty were quickly promoted from the front line. The blood in the hearts of young officials who have not been up and down in officialdom will be even more impulsive. In addition to being more passionate and attentive, the officials of the Guangxu Dynasty have not yet learned the political essence of mutual compromise. As a result, quarrels inevitably arose in the court. Guangxu was deeply annoyed by this, because every quarrel always ended up with him, the emperor, to decide, and the problem was that he didn't know the essence of politics. The little engineer in the previous life didn't need to understand, and the current emperor didn't need to understand, which made him how to balance the civil and military disputes. So, Guangxu set his sights on Li Hongzhang, who was an old man in officialdom. That's when his role as prime minister came to the fore.

In fact, Li Hongzhang was also annoyed, the court in the early years was treacherous and smiling with a knife. In the current Guangxu Dynasty, it has become a red-faced quarrel, and the responsibility of mediation falls on him Li Hongzhang. Because the emperor mediated a dispute between the generals of the navy and the army. The result was the largest battle loss in the history of the Qing Dynasty, with all the high-ranking generals wounded along with the emperor. It's a good thing that these young officials have ideas and can do things, but can they say they can't do something? What are you doing by someone's collar!

"Lao Tzu wants to ask him if he is greedy for Lao Tzu's military expenses." Wu Deren generally doesn't come to the court meeting if he has nothing to do, but there must be something wrong when he comes. Now that he can't win the civil service, Wu Deren has made the same mistake again. Wu Deren is tall and big, and for Lin Qizhao, who is thinner than him, he directly grabbed him by the collar and lifted the person, and said disrespectfully: "It wasn't Lao Tzu who was kidnapped last time." ”

"Presumptuous. A public fight in the court is a great disrespect. Do you think the old man won't dare to put you in prison? The Prime Minister is still very majestic, and one sentence made Wu Deren let go: "The country and the dynasty have a place to go, and there is no need to fight anymore." The army will overcome it first, and if there is a surplus, it should make up for it. ”

"We understand that the national treasury is not abundant, but we can't ignore the Japanese threat. We don't need a penny, let's go out and take a spin. Wu Deren swore that he was confident, and Feng Guozhang on the side was still adding weight: "Twenty percent of the seizures support national construction." What do you think? "What else? As early as more than half a month ago, the General Staff Headquarters drafted a battle plan for Guangxu to look at, but did not agree.

"Get out-" Guangxu was furious. Widening your speech is to let you speak, not to let you do it, and it is too much to pull the collar of a first-class member of the dynasty in front of the monarchs and ministers of the Manchu Dynasty. It seems that he is too good at talking, and the solemn atmosphere in the court is gone.

The emperor said that he would not really get out, but Feng and Wu still obediently withdrew from the main hall and stayed outside the door. Problems must always be solved, and a feasible solution can be finally come up with after discussion. As for the two who were not satisfied outside the door, they had already "rolled away".

Compared with the court that is as calm as water on the surface and has an undercurrent, at least this kind of quarrel can be controlled by Guangxu. If the quarrel is to solve the problem, then such a quarrel is happy to be seen. At least they will use the money they have won to where it should be used, unlike some officials who really ask for money and don't want to die.

Corrupt officials are still killing, in the three months after the end of the New Year this year, two prefects and four county orders have been cut back and forth, Guangxu angrily scolded these lords who want money and don't want to die. Today's Chinese New Year, Guangxu specially convened all the prefects and county commanders to Beijing for a meeting, and at the meeting, he openly and clearly: I don't want to pursue anything in the past, but in the future, I don't want to hear about anyone doing corrupt things again, especially military merits, otherwise I will bear the consequences. Guangxu's attitude is not to take the initiative to investigate anything, as long as the imperial historian has no evidence, the people will not be held accountable. But there are so many fools who still think that this is just the new emperor's three fires in office, and they are still using the old method.

Everyone knows that corruption and bribery must exist, and Guangxu also believes that as long as there are interests to be found, these things will definitely happen. At least don't do it so reasonably, okay? At present, the salary in the army is divided into two parts, 30 percent is directly distributed to the soldiers, and 70 percent is distributed to the families through the bank. But the banks are not big enough to have a presence in every county, let alone the townships. There are also a few officials who rightly accept filial piety, and one out of ten, two out of ten withhold military salaries or pay less, and as a result, the imperial history took evidence into Beijing. There's nothing to talk about, it's really an ornament to be an emperor if you don't kill a few. The heads were rolling, not only the officials and their families were cut down, but all the family property was confiscated.

Guangxu has seen a lot of this kind of thing, and the officials have scooped up their property and then arranged for their children to go abroad, and they have no intention of living to old age and death. According to Guangxu's words, if you want to kill, you must have the determination to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, or you don't kill it, kill the official and let his children and family members get away with the money from corruption, this kind of thing I don't do. Kill them all, so that officials all over the world understand that if you have a life to make money, you have to have a life to spend it.

Li Hongzhang advised the emperor that he did not need to implicate his family, but the emperor did not listen, so the civil and military officials quarreled again. Naturally, the military attaches did not want to see the soldiers bleeding in the front and their families starving in the back. But the civilian officials thought that there would be less killing, at least it should not be the army who carried it out, and I heard that the scene was too bloody.

As long as there are people, there will be contradictions, and where there are contradictions, quarrels are inevitable. The Guangxu Dynasty passed day by day in such big or small quarrels, and one thing was arranged, and the country seemed to be getting stronger little by little. Although it is rarely mentioned, the Japanese fleet in the Indian Ocean is also getting closer to China day by day. Until an early morning at the end of May, the problem was no longer inevitable.

Wang Shizhen, chief of staff of the General Staff Headquarters, said: "The Japanese European detachment will enter Singapore in the evening to resupply, and it is expected to leave Singapore and return to Japan in three days. At the same time, the detachment that has been stationed in Japan's Tokyo Bay sailed out of Tokyo Bay this morning for sea training. How to deal with it, please show my emperor. After speaking, Wang Shizhen presented a recital. (To be continued)