Walking into the main hall of the palace, Wang Chenhao suddenly felt the heat rushing to his face, and his whole body suddenly felt warm.

In this year, there is no greenhouse effect, and Yanjing City is much colder than Wang Chenhao's time. He was wearing a thick wool coat and cotton leather shoes, and his coat and arctic mink cloak couldn't keep the cold out.

At this time, three palace maids came up, waiting for the three to take off their coats and hats. Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun didn't mess with them, they were all normal Qing Dynasty men's clothes, but Wang Chenhao wore a long thick Nizi dress, a high standing collar, and a popular European and American warped jazz hat, which immediately attracted the attention of the palace maids.

Waiting for Wang Chenhao to change clothes was a green-clothed maid, twelve or thirteen years old, with elf-like big eyes and a white and tender face, looking very delicate, a standard little beauty. Wang Chenhao saw her looking at herself, so his childlike heart rose and he joked to her in a low voice: "What? Haven't seen a handsome guy? ”

Wang Chenhao is naturally not handsome, and he has an ordinary public face, that is, it is quite fashionable to wear Western dresses in this era, which makes the little girl curious about him.

The beautiful woman in green couldn't help but pounce on the fun, and immediately felt out of shape, hurriedly gave Wang Chenhao a blessing, picked up his coat and fled.

The maids in the palace are all more pretty than others, and this alone has more face than others. This made Wang Chenhao a little itchy, and secretly begged that he would have to give a whole batch of watery little girls in his mansion to support the scene in the future.

Looking at the hall again, it is even different, much brighter and more luxurious than the hall of Li Hongzhang's Governor's Palace. More than a dozen pillars of vermilion lacquer supported the whole hall, on which dragons and phoenixes were carved and painted vividly, and the top of each column was a pair of yellow silk satin curtains several meters high, tied with a big red Chinese knot.

This hall is hundreds of square meters in size, and all of them are covered with red carpets. Wang Chenhao walked on it, only feeling that it was three points thicker than his carpet, and it was very comfortable to step on.

There were no heating facilities around that time, so Wang Chenhao guessed that there must be more than a dozen ondols under the floor, otherwise it would be impossible for the huge hall to be so warm.

The hall is very empty, there are not many furnishings, but there are cloisonné more than one person high on the left and right of each pillar. The cloisonne of this year is all hand-fired, and each cost no less than 10,000 taels of silver.

Wang Chenhao swept his eyes, there were no less than a dozen, and he was really rich.

In the center is a huge picture of a hundred cranes symbolizing longevity, with a table of eight immortals and a chair of eight immortals on the left and right.

The main and secondary are divided, and Yi sat down on the main seat on the left to greet the three of them. Li Hongzhang was specially instructed to sit on the right side of the Eight Immortals.

Although Li Hongzhang was awarded the title of first-class uncle, he still did not dare to sit on the right side of the Eight Immortals, thanked the prince, and then sat on the first seat in the row on the left.

Wang Chenhao followed and sat in the third place, but was stopped by Zhang Peilun and let him sit in the second place, the reason is very simple, the seating order in Prince Gong's Mansion is a symbol of the size of the official position.

After everyone sat down in different sizes, Yi, as the host, naturally had to open the conversation box first.

"Master Li has not come to my palace for a while! I haven't changed much here! Yi's words are obviously blamed on Li Hongzhang for not coming to visit him all these years.

Li Hongzhang smiled awkwardly and replied: "I am busy with official business, but I haven't come to the palace to ask the sixth prince for some time, and I hope that the sixth prince Haihan!" ”

Yi Haha smiled, the convex forehead, flat face and thin eyes of the men of the Aixin Jueluo family looked more like Uncle Gajet in the cartoon animation at this moment.

"Master Li is too worried! Being idle at home, it is naturally not as good as the door at the door of the old seven houses! ”

As a member of the royal family with the same reputation as Yi, Yi's arrogance naturally made Cixi unhappy. And Yi Xun is no worse than Yi in terms of knowledge, but he knows how to keep Tao Guang and keep his eyes dirty, and finally became Cixi's most trusted seventh prince, while Yi was deposed and idle at home.

However, after all these years of closed-door thinking, Yi's edges and corners have been smoothed out by Cixi, and if it was in that year, it would definitely be indispensable to scold Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang knew that Yi had been idle at home for so many years, but when he was about to explain, he saw Yi smiling and waving his hand, interrupted him and said: "Lord Li has nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Palace, if you have something to say, say it first!" ”

Straight to the point, Li Hongzhang naturally couldn't fall into the cliché, so he said his thoughts, which was nothing more than the real purpose of his trip, about dredging the navy's yamen and building a railway.

After the construction of the Tangshan-Tianjin line, Li Hongzhang inspected the railway, personally experienced the speed of the railway, and said with great satisfaction: "The railway from Tianjin to Tangshan is stable and solid, and all bridges and locomotives meet the requirements. In addition to the time for stopping and repairing, the whole journey is 260 miles, and it only takes an hour and a half to walk, which is much faster than a steamer. ”

Yi nodded, he naturally sat on the first railway of the country and experienced it.

At this time, Li Hongzhang's confidence increased greatly, and he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and then extend the railway from Tianjin to Tongzhou near the capital, and then build it from Tangshan to the north to Shanhaiguan, and then enter Fengtian and Jilin until Heilongjiang City (Aihui, Jiangxi) of the Heilongjiang General Office.

Yi has been idle at home for many years, and he has paid attention to the trend of major events at home and abroad, so he naturally understands the value of this railway, so he said: "This king also knows a little bit about it, the railway is the country's economic, political and military lifeline, and this king is not old and stubborn, and the First Sino-Japanese War has exposed the disadvantages of the dynasty not having a railway to transfer troops, so this king will definitely not break off what Lao Qi should have promised before, Lord Li don't have to worry!" You can repair this way! The cost of this king will try our best to fight for you! ”

"Thank you so much, Lord Wang!" Li Hongzhang never expected Yi to be so reasonable, it seems that his edges and corners have indeed been worn out over the years, making him less domineering but more sophisticated, and I don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse.

Then, Li Hongzhang and Yi discussed some details about the construction of the railway, mainly the issue of silver. 10,000 taels of silver for a mile of railway, such a high price exposes the fragility of the Qing Empire's industry, all of which rely on imports, which is naturally very expensive.

Especially the Jintang Railway, in the construction of this railway, Britain, France, Germany and other countries compete for power and profit and do not give each other, the railway has become a "mixed race" - the rails are purchased by Britain and Germany, the locomotive is purchased from France, the iron bridge project is contracted to French businessmen, and the survey and design for 6 years are monopolized by the British.

Wang Chenhao listened to it in his ears and sighed in his heart.

However, since Yi expressed his support for Li Hongzhang to build the railway from Yanjing to the Northeast, Li Hongzhang's purpose of coming this time can be regarded as having been achieved.

And bringing Wang Chenhao over is just to pay homage to Menzi and get to know the high-level officials of the Qing Empire.

This is just like the rules of the wealthy families of Wang Chenhao's era, it is not that you become a nouveau riche and become a wealthy person, you need someone to introduce you to be recognized by the wealthy circle.

At this moment, Wang Chenhao is such a nouveau riche role, and Li Hongzhang is the introducer, leading Wang Chenhao into the door of the high-level circle, as for how much role Wang Chenhao can achieve in the future, it can only be that sentence: Master leads the door to practice in person!