Yanjing, in the imperial study of the Forbidden City, Emperor Guangxu sat on the dragon chair behind the imperial book case and sighed uncontrollably. Three meters away from the Yushu case, Weng Tongyi stood silent with his head down, unable to see his expression.

There are two books on the imperial book case, one is about the Nanyang Self-Strengthening Army, and the other is about the Beiyang New Army.

From the beginning of the decree to train the new army, the Nanyang self-strengthening army led all the way, Guangxu thought that Beiyang would be defeated in the autumn, and then he could justifiably pursue Li Hongzhang's responsibility, and took the opportunity to transfer him from Zhili and control the power of the Zhili army.

However, after entering July, Guangxu received a large number of analysis reports, and the Beiyang New Army supervised by Wang Chenhao made rapid progress, and military observers at home and abroad began to pay more attention to him and praise him with more pen and ink, and there was a great tendency to surpass the Nanyang Self-Strengthening Army.

As far as the country is concerned, Guangxu hopes to see that after this kind of hard work to catch up, it can add a security guarantee to the country. But personally, Guangxu is in power as the emperor and is under the control of the Empress Dowager Cixi, which is absolutely not allowed.

Guangxu wanted to fight back and seize power, but the bureaucracy of Zhili was all the people of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and if they wanted to settle down, they had to control the Zhili army, and if they wanted to control the Zhili army, they had to drive out Li Hongzhang and seize Wang Chenhao's new military power.

At present, the Beiyang New Army trained by Wang Chenhao is gradually improving, and no one dares to pack a ticket at this moment whether the self-strengthening army can win the Beiyang New Army.

"This Wang Chenhao, I love and hate."

Love his talents, the pillars of the country's geniuses. He also hated his camp, but was under the door of Li Hongzhang, who was biased towards the side of the rear party, and interfered in the new army to hinder Guangxu's plan to seize power, and this series of factors accumulated together, which was the reason why Guangxu had not summoned Wang Chenhao.

Guangxu, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke, and Weng Tongyi raised his head and said: "Your Majesty, the Beiyang New Army has changed into Western-style military uniforms without uniforms, and even the names of military positions and ranks have been changed. ”

Guangxu's eyes lit up, but then they dimmed again, and vetoed: "This method will not work, Wang Chenhao can completely use the 'new' word of the new army and new atmosphere to refute, besides, when the new army was first organized, I had promised the new army to follow the Western military system, this crime not only could not control him, but would attract criticism from the people of the country to the imperial court." ”

Weng Tongyi sighed and said: "I really underestimated this foreign descendant at the beginning, but I didn't expect him to have achievements in maritime affairs, and he is also quite disciplined in military training. If he is trained into the Beiyang New Army, and then defeats Nanyang when he meets the day, he will be the second Li Hongzhang. ”

Guangxu also thought of this, and suddenly his brows turned into iron bumps.

Weng Tongyi thought for a while, and suddenly said: "This Wang Chenhao is a newcomer to the new army, and it is inevitable that some people in Li Hongzhang's Huaijun system will not be convinced, and according to the old minister, this is nothing less than an opportunity." ”

Guangxu asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Weng Tongyi smiled and said, "The emperor can try to win over some people for my use." ”

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In the middle of summer, the Summer Palace is full of lakes and mountains, lush and picturesque.

In front of the Paiyun Palace, in a pavilion in the corridor by the Kunming Lake, two women in flag costumes, an old man and a young woman, were chatting while enjoying the scenery, and not far away were several palace maids and eunuchs who accompanied them.

The old woman is the woman with the highest status in the Great Qing Kingdom except Cixi, the only Gulun eldest princess Rongshou, and the young woman is the Ningxiang County Lord of Prince Gong's Mansion, Rongshou's only niece Yun Tong.

"You haven't been back for a while, have you?"

Ning Xiang nodded, and Rong Shou asked again: "Didn't you have an awkward relationship with your Marfa?" ”

"Nope!"

Rong Shou smiled: "Then why don't you hurry up and go back to report to your Marfa?" I've told you everything I know here. ”

Ning Xiang retorted: "Look at what you said, I seem to be a spy?" ”

Rong Shou chuckled and said, "I still wronged you, didn't I?" Didn't you, the ghost elf, come to me to find out information for you Marfa? ”

Ning Xiang smiled sweetly, revealing two small dimples, and said with a smile: "Didn't I see that Auntie, you are lonely and no one to speak?" ”

Rong Shou gently poked at Ning Xiang's head, and scolded with a smile, but he was very happy, "The little girl has a lot of heart eyes, if you Marfa had one-tenth of your heart eyes." ”

Ning Xiang pouted and said: "Marfa's heart is bad, these days he tricked me into going out on a blind date, and I was annoyed to death." ”

Rong Shou sighed, nodded suddenly, and then looked up and down carefully, and then said with a smile: "I haven't found out that our girl has grown into a big girl, and it should be the age to leave the cabinet." ”

"Don't want it!" Ning Xiang pursed her lips and said disdainfully: "Every one of those princes and nobles who has a good fortune is either walking birds and fighting crickets, or raising concubines in Baoji, not to mention that the emperor is far away outside, and the country of our banner people will be defeated by them sooner or later." ”

"Our Yuntong is both talented and beautiful, and she is naturally beautiful, but it is a pity that although there are many good men in the world, but the woman who was born in the Aixin Jueluo family, there are too few men to choose, and the ones who are not close to the children are on the line."

"Don't!" Ning Xiang said very firmly: "I'd rather never marry than marry those straw bales for the rest of my life!" ”

Rong Shou sighed and said: "The children of the banner people have declined, this world will have to be returned to the Han people sooner or later, if you give birth to a boy, it would be good if you inherited the prince of Marfa, and our Qing Dynasty can still have decades of prosperity." ”

When this came to Ning Xiang's heart, she couldn't help but sigh and said, "Even if Ning Xiang is a man, what can she do?" ”

The building will be overwhelmed, and half of the words of Ning Xiang will be left in his mouth, and the words will be swallowed back, just staring at the beautiful scenery in the distance, not knowing what he is thinking.

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Tianjin Zhili Governor's Mansion, Li Hongzhang temporarily rushed back from Shanghai, just to know the matter of the Zhili Iron and Steel Company that Wang Chenhao himself instigated.

This steel plant is a big deal, Zhang Zhidong's Hanyang Iron Works spent a lot of money to build and complete, and now the losses are serious and have been ordered by the imperial court to stop work, so Li Hongzhang is eager to know the situation of Wang Chenhao's Zhili Iron and Steel Company, and he doesn't want to follow the old road of Hanyang Iron Works.

Iron and steel, the pillar industry of the country, must not be played.

Although Wang Chenhao did not use Li Hongzhang to contribute a penny, which belonged to Wang Chenhao's personal assets, Li Hongzhang was out of overall consideration for Zhili Beiyang, and this Zhili Iron and Steel Company was related to the development of Beiyang's economy and military industry, so it had to be supervised and supervised.

Wang Chenhao explained to Li Hongzhang all the plans for the establishment of the Zhili Iron and Steel Company, and Li Hongzhang was very satisfied after hearing it, but the scale of the company far exceeded that of the Hanyang Iron Works, and this old Li could finally raise his head in the steel industry, and he didn't have to be laughed at by Zhang Zhidong anymore, so he was naturally very happy.

However, Li Hongzhang was a little dissatisfied with Wang Chenhao's empty glove white wolf's fundraising method.

"Don't do this kind of thing in the future. If it fails, not only will Chen Hao have to get into a lawsuit and owe a lot of debts, but Youyi will also be implicated with you, and the old man's reputation will be ruined. ”

"What you taught me is that Chen Hao won't dare in the future."

Wang Chenhao apologized again and again, Li Hongzhang saw that the matter was not messed up, but in the future, Beiyang will have its own steel industry, he was more happy than angry, so he no longer reprimanded Wang Chenhao.

After talking about business, Wang Chenhao clapped his hands, and suddenly Li Guodong came in with two personal soldiers carrying a large vase.

"What is this?" As soon as Li Hongzhang saw the vase, he suddenly came to his senses, hurriedly stood up, walked quickly to the front and looked at the vase in a circle.

The vase is the blue and white porcelain dug out of the shipwreck when Wang Chenhao and Li Youyi went to sea that day, and Li Youyi said that it was the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, and she liked it so she left.

Wang Chenhao almost made Li Hongzhang angry because of the matter of the steel company, and after discussing with Li Youyi, he decided to send some gifts to appease Li Hongzhang. Because Li Hongzhang likes antique vases, he took this blue and white porcelain.

"This is the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty, a little bit of heart from me and Youyi, and I hope to-"

Before Wang Chenhao finished speaking, Li Hongzhang suddenly interrupted him and said, "Which is this blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Wang Chenhao's heart was cold, and he secretly begged it, where is it not the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty? If it was from the Qing Dynasty, it would be big.

When he was nervous, he only heard Li Hongzhang say excitedly: "This is the blue and white cloud dragon pattern plum bottle of the Yuan Dynasty, and the old man has been looking for a long time but has not found it." ”

"It turned out to be from the Yuan Dynasty, I don't understand, Youyi said it was from the Ming Dynasty, and I'm worried that you don't like it?"

Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "There are a few blue and white porcelain exactly like this one in the house, but they are fakes imitated in the Ming Dynasty, and this real Yuan Dynasty Yunlong blue and white plum vase is extremely rare, and one is afraid of no more than a million taels of silver." ”

A million taels of silver?

Wang Chenhao was dumbfounded, when he and Li Youyi were combined, although the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty was also very expensive, it was only tens of thousands of taels of silver, how did he know that it was a treasure of the Yuan Dynasty? And it's worth a million taels of silver?

"Sent to me?"

"Ah~ yes!"

"Okay, Chen Hao and Youyi, you have a heart, the old man is very happy."

Li Hongzhang laughed and praised Wang Chenhao for being sensible.

Seeing his appearance full of spring breeze, Wang Chenhao felt distressed for a while, but he couldn't go back, he was sad.