The sky was as blue as the empty and quiet sea, without a single cloud. A rain in early summer made the dry air in the capital a little moist, and the breath felt exceptionally fresh and refreshing.

The garden located in the inner city of the capital is even more impressive. In the big rockery with mountains and mountains, peaks and loops, there is a man in his fifties with a long beard, who looks a little majestic in his slightly fat body, although he has a smile on his face, his eyebrows are a little too dignified, and he is full of aggressiveness. He was wearing a long gown and looked very well-fitted.

There was a foreigner beside him, the two were somewhat similar in youth, and his fingers seemed unusually humble. The two talked as they walked, full of interest. I only heard the boy say to the foreigner beside him with a slightly Beijing accent:

"You see that this garden was built in Kangxi's meeting, and after hundreds of years of cultivation, it has today's chaotic scenery!"

The humble foreign man in his fifties, who was humbled over, hurriedly praised when he heard this.

"What the adults say is that the style of this garden is unique, the layout is peculiar, and it has the characteristics of seeing the big from the small, and the charm is fascinating."

"You foreigner, you really have a unique eye!"

The two walked forward, sometimes looking up from the railing, and the mountain scenery came into view; Walk into the corridor, and the corridor has a leaky window. Look at the flowing water mountain stone on the left, look at the building on the right, one step at a time, full of interest, Hualin embroidery valley in front of the Wanhua Building, the curved threshold is like a cloud, as if in the embrace of ten thousand flowers. In particular, looking at the flowing water under the wall from the Fish Pavilion makes people feel that the stream flows into the distance, and they don't know where the end is. The reflection in the water is like a picture. Seeing that the foreigner was so excited that he even raised his arms and shouted "This sedum is complete".

The foreigner's praise only made the face of the man walking in front show a smug look and said:

"It's still our Great Qing Kingdom!"

The smug Ruifang turned his head and looked at the foreigner beside him. The foreigner who followed him was Charlie, who had been active in Beijing and Tianjin for more than a month, and the reason why he came to the capital was to "choose" a suitable governor of Liangjiang as an object of speculation.

For foreigners, Ruifang does not have much good impression, but for Charlie, a foreigner, it is rare to have a little good impression, officialdom is unpredictable, three years ago the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Yanjing, two palaces and west hunting. Because of his meritorious service, Ruifang was transferred to Henan as a political envoy and promoted to the governor of Hubei. In 1902, in the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu, because Zhang Zhidong signed Liangjiang, he acted as the governor of Hubei and Huguang.

This generation is more than a year, Zhang Nanpigen is based on Huguang, although he signed Liangjiang, but Huguang's affairs are controlled by Zhang Nanpi, and because of this, his agency is really boring, and now Wei Guangtao of the Hunan Department, Zhou Fu of the Huai Department, Yuan Shikai of Beiyang and the palace are all eyeing the position of Liangjiang, no matter who becomes the governor of the Liangjiang, he has done the head of Huguang. Zhang Zhidong said that he would leave Jiangning as soon as he left, and that he would return to Wuchang to serve as the governor of Huguang the next time.

With the change of the situation, all parties are attacking and fighting, but the Rui side has seen the climate, and the palace is obviously unwilling to let the Xianghuai departments in the southeast continue to control the two rivers, so he also moved his mind.

It's just that Rui Fang is different from Yuan Shikai who directly competes for the position of Liangjiang with Wei Guangtao, Zhou Fu and others, he is obviously smarter, after Feng Zhao returned to Beijing, he first worshiped Rong Lu and Li Lianying, and after Rong Lu died a month ago, he used his mind on Li Lianying, but Manager Li could only ventilate and tell him what Lafayette was thinking, and the others couldn't help much.

And when Ruifang watched the infighting between all parties become more and more intense, when he lost Rong Lu's backer and became discouraged, Charlie visited him unexpectedly, and the two soon became "friends" who had nothing to say. The news brought by Charlie made his original discouraged mind warm again, the legation did not want the position of Liangjiang to lead to the political instability of the Qing Dynasty, after all, there were a wide range of people involved, so they intended to support the palace to choose a person acceptable to all parties to serve as the governor of Liangjiang, but Charles was active in the capital and Tianjin, and finally he successfully entered the vision of the legation.

In the eyes of the legation, he once supported the Wuxu reform, encouraged students to study abroad, and protected foreigners in Shaanxi, and was regarded as an enlightened official who could deal with him. In front of Lafayette, although he supported the change, he was also confused for a while, and when he was in the year of Gengzi, he took over the driving merit, and his own family was naturally better than those outsiders.

Yesterday afternoon, Lafayette summoned him in the garden, and after a few days, the holy decree will come down, and he will temporarily belong to the position of governor of Liangjiang, although he has a temporary word, but he also knows that this temporary generation is actually to block the mouth of Wei Guangtao, Zhou Fu, Yuan Shikai and others.

"Charlie, you foreigners are the most difficult to fight, and if you are not careful, you don't know what trouble will happen!"

Although he thanked Charlie for his help in the past, he knew that the reason why Charlie helped him was actually asking for something!

"My lord, that's not the case. We're just taking things very seriously! ”

Charlie waved his hand again and again and said, the future governor of Liangjiang next to him, can help a lot in the future, he arrived in Tianjin a month ago, and specially asked someone to inquire about the four popular candidates for the governor of Liangjiang, Wei Guangtaojin, Zhou Fu and Yuan Shikai are all enlightened or flexible people, they belong to Liangjiang, even if they do not support industrial companies as in the past, they will not move in the slightest.

Only this Rui Fang, greedy for power, greedy for merit and greedy for money, when he was in Lihu Guang, he even used to fight for merit and move his psychology on Han Yeping, greedy for power, greedy for merit, greedy for money, is there a more suitable candidate than him? The reason why the legation favored him in the selection of the governor of Liangjiang was precisely because of these reasons, they did not agree with the strong people who were rightful and their interests were important in the Yangtze River area.

"Extremely serious!"

muttered on his lips, but he smiled in his heart, this Charlie also didn't have a few words of truth.

"Mr. Charlie, you are from Shanghai, how much do you know about that industrial company?"

Perhaps because of the confession of Lafayette and Manager Li, Ruifang now not only puts himself in the position of the governor of Liangjiang, but also regards the industrial company as a piece of fat, a piece of fat that is eager to pounce.

The reason why he asked Charlie this is just because he has inquired about Charlie, these foreigners, and there are various conflicts of interest between the industrial company, Lafayette wants to punish the industrial company Chen Moran for his unfilial piety, but he is worried that his wife is a British noblewoman, and now these foreigners have no good impression of Chen Moran, as a loyal minister, he naturally wants to share the worries and solve problems for Lafayette.

"Industrial companies?"

Charlie was overjoyed, and after carefully observing Ruifang's expression, he whispered.

"It's a big company, but we don't have any business dealings, and his car factory and steel factory are very big, and the Pudong development is also very profitable!"

Automobile factories, steel plants! How could Rui Fang not know about these two big factories, and even after knowing Lafayette's dissatisfaction with Chen Moran from Manager Li, he had already regarded several large factories of the industrial company as the capital of "promotion and Yaogong", of course, he would never use Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong's group of people to "reap the benefits of the people, and the officials reap their merits!" ”。

"Pudong!"

Muttering these two words, Rui Fang turned his head to stare at Charlie, from this Charlie jumped up and down in Tianjin, when the capital was active, he sent someone to Shanghai to inquire about Charlie, the conflict between him and Chen Moran, as well as the conflict between the industrial company and the concession real estate foreign bank, all because of Pudong.

"Mr. Charlie, isn't the reason why you are helping me in the capital is for Pudong?"

His eyes were fixed on Charlie, and Ryfang smiled coldly as he spoke.

Charlie, who was stared at very uncomfortable, was taken aback by Ruifang's words, but he stroked his suit and bowed gently.

"Rui-sama, in the same way, you have your needs, don't you?"

Staring at him, the wheezing Kung Fu Rui Fang suddenly laughed.

"Charlie, you foreign devil...... Come on, let's go to the theater in the afternoon, and as for the matter of Pudong, let's talk about it later! ”

Rui Fang smiled and turned around and walked out of the pavilion with official steps, the matter of Pudong is to be discussed, then Chen Moran can use Pudong to exchange silver to set up an iron factory and a car factory, and he Rui Fang can naturally use this method.

Looking at the report in his hand, he was stunned for a long time, until Guan Mingtang shouted a few times repeatedly, Chen Moran bowed slightly, and sat up straight in his seat.

"Chairman, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Zheqin! I'm afraid our good words are going to fall down! ”

"Oh?"

Guan Mingtang sat down on a chair in front of his desk and placed the suitcase he brought with him on the carpet.

"Zheqin!"

Thinking of the contents of the report, Chen Moran showed a wry smile.

"Yesterday, the Qing Zheng Axe has appointed a new governor of Liangjiang! A flag man! ”

"Banner Man?"

Guan Mingtang frowned.

"The news from the capital, that flag man is afraid that the person who came is not good! You know, when I first returned to China, I didn't understand the affairs of officialdom, and I didn't honor some people, and as a result, I was hated by others. ”

Guan Mingtang grinned and said.

"Hands-on? Chairman, we pay a lot of taxes, if he wants to move us, I'm afraid he has to find an excuse first! ”

Excuse? If Ruifang really targets industrial companies, is there no excuse for worrying? The military factory in Ma'anshan and the Whampoa School in Shanghai, if he had the heart, he would not be worried about finding an excuse.

Chen Moran didn't pay attention to Guan Mingtang's relaxed conversation, but continued.

"What is the trouble of wanting to add sin? Those individuals really pounced, and I was afraid that our industrial company would really be more auspicious by then! ”

Speaking of this, Chen Moran added.

"You know better than me about officialdom, if he really targets us, those buildings in Pudong alone are enough for us to drink a pot!"

The building in Pudong! If it weren't for the fact that he had asked those lawyers, I'm afraid Chen Moran really didn't know, there was such a height limit in this Qing Dynasty residence, no matter how high the building in the concession was, no one cared about it, and no one dared to ask, but Pudong was not a concession, in the past, there were Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong to help it, this was originally a law that had been faded, naturally no one could think of it, but if it was replaced by Ruifang, he really moved out of this law, I am afraid that those buildings in Pudong will be more auspicious and less auspicious!

"Buildings?"

Guan Mingtang was stunned for a moment, then pondered for a while, and then understood what Chen Moran was worried about.

"If he really talks about those buildings, I'm afraid that there will be a lot of trouble in vain."

Chen Moran looked at Guan Mingtang, the reason why he told him about this was to ask for his opinion.

"What if...... But can we combine the silver......

Listening to the silver, Chen Moran smiled bitterly and looked at Guan Mingtang.

"You know who the person who holds a grudge against me is?"

Before Guan Mingtang could answer, Sun Mingjiu interjected a sentence on the side.

"However, I'm afraid this person is quite big! Otherwise, this Lord Rui ......"

The words were only halfway through, Sun Mingjiu almost bit his tongue without being frightened by his inner guess, and his face instantly turned pale, except for that person, who in this Great Qing Kingdom can summon the Governor of Liangjiang, the first governor in the world.

"Yes...... Yes, yes, you're talking about...... It's her! ”

"That's right!"

Chen Moran nodded and looked at Guan Mingtang and Sun Mingjiu.

"That's the old!"

Leaning back on the chair, Chen Moran squeezed out a wry smile and looked at the two people in front of him.

"To tell you the truth, it's a miracle that the old lady can hold a grudge against me, it's only to blame that I didn't confess to the eunuch next to her, because of fate! was hated by those villains, and naturally made the old lady hold a grudge! ”

Chen Moran didn't have any respect between his words, and he didn't care about his words, but Sun Mingjiu was sweating from time to time, and said in his heart No wonder you will be hated, it's such disrespect, who is the turn, who doesn't remember you.

"You mean, if the Swiss side comes, it is very likely that it will target the industrial company in order to curry favor with the Queen Mother?"

Guan Mingtang frowned and asked, now he knows why Chen Moran has always been most worried about the ownership of the position of the governor of Liangjiang, what he is worried about is that the Qing Zheng axe sent an obedient official, with the empress dowager's grudge, naturally there are people who share the empress dowager's worries and solve problems, if the industrial company wants to survive this catastrophe, he is only afraid of ...... Looking at Chen Moran, Sun Mingjiu asked softly.

"However, do you think we should go to the capital now for an activity and make friends with this Lord Rui?"

"It's late!"

Without waiting for Chen Moran to answer, Guan Mingtang concluded.

"Now it is not Rui Fang who wants to move the industry and make peace, but the Queen Mother, the reason why Rui Fang can become the governor of these two rivers is probably also the meaning of the Queen Mother, do you think, such a person, even if we make silver, he is a little bit likely to be for the silver, not an official hat."

Turning his face to look at Chen Moran, Guan Mingtang asked again.

"However, if you say that this Ruifang really starts with the industrial company and asks us to level the building in Pudong, will you be flat?"

"Bungalow! What are you kidding, Zheqin, those buildings alone are worth a thousand taels of silver. ”

Sun Mingjiu shouted loudly, don't say that Pudong Company has his shares, even if he doesn't have his shares, there are still his two buildings, flat buildings, doesn't this just want his life?

"Of course, I think ......"

Looking back at Chen Moran, Sun Mingjiu said an idea.

"Many of those buildings are the buildings of foreign foreign companies, what do you think we should do if we take foreigners to block them?"

"But what if the Swiss side doesn't ask foreigners, but stares at the Pudong company?"

Guan Mingtang glanced at Sun Mingjiu, and then looked at Chen Moran.

"If he doesn't ask about the foreigner's building, just stares at the Pudong company, let the Pudong company demolish it, the company will pay compensation, and if he doesn't demolish the building, he will punish the company's crime and collect the company's land, what will we do then?"

opened his mouth, Sun Mingjiu couldn't say a word, if this is the case, there is really no way.

Chen Moran nodded, looked at the two people in front of him and sighed.

"It's hard!"

Sun Mingjiu sighed, his Sun family had invested hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in Pudong, if this Pudong was really over, his Sun family would also suffer.

"Let's take a look at ...... Lady Zhang"

"County officials, it's not as good as the county management, don't waste your thoughts!"

For officialdom, Sun Mingjiu knows more than Guan Mingtang, and naturally knows that if Zhang Zhidong is no longer the governor of Liangjiang, he will naturally not be carried by the industrial company and Ruifang.

"Is it possible that we really have to sit still?"

"I'm not going to sit still."

Chen Moran said coldly, and when he looked out the window at the almost completed Industrial Bank Building, his eyes narrowed and his face showed some coldness.

"Since the industrial company has been perfect, it has treated its employees well, if it is really urgent......

"That'...... That's really forcing Liangshan! ”

Chen Moran and Guan Mingtang said one after another, only Sun Mingjiu's cold sweat did not come out, looking at Chen Moran and his eyes changed instantly, he glanced at Chen Moran and then looked at Guan Mingtang, these two people are not confused!

"You have to think clearly, a lot of things are a mistake in one thought, and it becomes a big mistake!"

When Sun Mingjiu was frightened, Guan Mingtang just looked at Chen Moran and continued.

"Cast a big mistake? Zheqin, Mingzhe, if they really make a move, I am afraid that by then, our industrial company will really be finished, and at that time, what is the big mistake? ”

Chen Moran sighed a little helplessly, things always change so quickly, he sent a regiment of troops to the northeast to prepare, and the Manchu Qing sent a new governor over on the back foot, and the arrival of this new governor will only speed up the pace of his rebellion.

"You've got to think it through!"

Staring at Chen Moran, Guan Mingtang said again, the industrial company has an engineering team of nearly 20,000 people on the construction sites of Huainan, Ma'anshan and Pudong and Huainan Coal Mine Railway, and there is also a police force of nearly 1,500 people in the three places.

"Of course, Ming...... Mingzhe! ”

Sun Mingjiu understood what the two of them said, but seeing that the two of them were talking about it seriously, he began to pretend to be confused and stammered to ask the two.

"You ...... What are you talking about? ”

Forced to Liangshan and think clearly, if Sun Mingjiu hadn't heard it for a long time and figured it out, I'm afraid he had really lived half his life in vain.

Turning his head to look at Sun Mingjiu, Guan Mingtang spit out two words lightly!

"Rebellion!"

(To be continued)