86_86612 "......"

With the sound of the train's whistle, the train slowly moved out of the station, and at the end of one of the carriages, you could see several guards wearing Yunsheng uniforms, they wore cowhide belts around their waists, heavy cartridges hung on the side of the belts, and long rifles casually leaned on the side of the carriages.

There are only a dozen passengers in this carriage and the ordinary carriage is obviously different, there are no ordinary seats, the whole carriage looks a little like a foreigner's living room, a few Western-style sofas are on the side of the carriage, and the floor is even covered with a layer of Western-style carpet, which looks a little magnificent, this is the most first-class box in the train.

If it was put aside in the past, this carriage was parked at the station, but today it was hung on the train, and the reason is very simple - the Minister of Beiyang, Lord Li, will take the car to the road construction site for inspection, so this carriage, which has been idle for more than a year, will be hung on the train again as a special car for adults.

Looking out of the car window, you can see the trees and villages retreating with the train, the train is only running for half an hour, and a little coal ash can be faintly seen on the window glass, but Li Hongzhang, who was sitting in the car, did not notice this, but he admired the land of Zhili outside the car with great interest.

In an instant, he even had the illusion that one day, the land of China would be covered with railways, just like the Western powers, although he had never been abroad, but through the foreigners around him and articles about foreign countries, he clearly knew that this railway was the foundation of a strong country, but who would not build a railway among the great powers.

"We still have too few railways in China!"

When he withdrew his gaze from the land of Zhili outside the car window, Li Hongzhang looked at Sheng Xuanhuai and the others and said.

"Regardless of the Western countries, even the railways of the East are far beyond our country. Our country has spent decades in vain, and today the East has made the most of the convenience of the railway, while our country ......"

Referring to the non-advocacy of domestic railways, Li Hongzhang still sighed in his heart, and changed his stance of resolutely opposing the establishment of railways a few years ago from his "Proposal for Coastal Defense" 16 years ago. He talked about the benefits of building a railway, but he did not receive enough support from the DPRK and China. In the second year of Guangxu, Ding Richang, the governor of Fujian, also actively suggested to the imperial court to try to build a railway in Taiwan. Because Taiwan is located in the southeast corner, it does not hinder the overall situation, and it was reluctantly approved by the imperial court, but it was soon automatically suspended due to lack of funds. It was also the failure of the motion to build a railroad. As a result, Li Hongzhang had a sufficient understanding of the difficulties in building the railway, and knew that if the mainland was discussed, he would attack each other en masse.

But even so, he did not give up on the railway. Ten years ago, in order to solve the problem of transporting coal in the Luan Coal Mine, although the railway was secretly built, but in the intervening years, it had to use horses to lead coal cars, and this was not until after the war with France five years ago, when the construction of the railway was at its peak, and it was accepted by the imperial court because of its convenience of transporting arms, and after a big discussion last year. The imperial court agreed to build a railway.

And the struggle behind this railway, how did it stop, from the imperial court to adopt the construction of Zhang Zhidong to slow down the construction of the Tianjin road. The Luhan Road was built first, and the imperial court agreed to build a railway. and then took advantage of the "worries of the East" to slow down the construction of the Luhan Railway, and first repaired the Kwantung Railway. For so many years, hasn't the country's energy been so shackled?

Listening to Zhongtang's complaints, Sheng Xuanhuai and the others hurriedly spoke of relief, what a small country in the East. Don't be afraid, what a small country in the East. Financial resources are in dire straits, and there is no evidence. What is the size of China, if it is built in the railway, it will be several times larger than the Orient, and so on words reached Li Hongzhang's ears, he sighed in his heart, if the East is only a small country, how can he regard it as a henchman, and the English are not also the strongest in the world with the country of the projectile.

But now he was unable to talk freely with his staff about his scruples about Japan, so he had to change the subject.

"I heard that Tang Ziran and the Tongwen School run by Tianjin have opened?"

"Quan Shuai, this Tongwen School in Tianjin opened late, this Tongwen School, not only in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hankou also have, and each treaty port has its branch school, but the scale is not the same, such as Niuzhuang, there are only dozens of students, I really don't know what Tang Ziran is walking in chess, spending so much silver, even if this school graduates thousands of people, what is the use? Even if we have been doing foreign affairs for so many years, we may not be able to use so many people! ”

Not everyone can understand Tang Haoran's deep meaning, maybe they can realize the importance of running a school, cultivating interpreters and proficient in Western studies, but obviously they can't understand his intention of running so many schools and recruiting thousands of students, which seems to be a bit too much.

Maybe even someone like Zhang Peilun doesn't know his intentions, but Li Hongzhang, who has been doing foreign affairs for decades and is deeply trapped by the lack of talents, can understand Tang Haoran's intentions.

"A thousand people seem to be quite a lot, but in fact there are not many, those who can achieve something, but one or two hundred people, as for the others, even if they are used for other purposes, they can also be used, Tang Ziran is ...... to do things."

The charm of doing things is beyond the reach of others, and this school is also like its work, even if it has run so many schools, it does not dare to be so bold and set up Western schools in various places.

"It's too public, a while ago, his school not only rejected a group of scholars who failed the list, but also verbally insulted each other, and made a group of people sue Xuezheng, if it weren't for Quan Shuai's intention to protect him, I don't know what trouble it would cause......

"Those scholars don't mention it, but they just look at other people's food and lodging, and they are sealed back by a word, and they also say that they are insulting and private, it's really a shame to be able to say such things, if it was put aside twenty years ago, maybe their fame will be removed!"

Li Hongzhang, who has run many schools, doesn't know what those people think, they just use the school as a temporary shelter, and their hearts are not in the school at all...... It was precisely because Tang Haoran saw this clearly that he came up with that method, and fundamentally eliminated his idea of borrowing the school to accommodate himself.

"In my opinion, this method is good, go back to the Water Master School, Telegraph School, you have to use it, if you are not good at studying, you will directly remove his fame, if you look at the future, who would dare to have no intention of learning,"

The words are just a word, not to mention that this is the case in the school, it is among the friends, isn't it that there are people who leave the house to concentrate on learning, and they have to present Cheng Yi and write a letter as a recommendation, there are some things that he Tang Ziran can do, but he Li Hongzhang can't do it.

This Tang Ziran!

After a sigh, Li Hongzhang said helplessly.

"After returning to Tianjin, you go to send two thousand taels of silver to the school, just say that it was sent from the yamen, if he needs it in the future, even if he comes to the yamen to find me, after he Tang Ziran went to North Korea, he dug dozens of people from us, this person from the Tongwen Hall, we also have to pay attention, he will be sent to the foreign bank in the future, why don't you go into the yamen to get an errand!"

When Zhang Peilun heard this, he immediately understood the father-in-law's thoughts, his father-in-law's stomach is beyond the reach of others, and he wants to be able to become today's business, which has a lot to do with this stomach.

It seems that in two or three years, Tang Ziran will definitely enter the scene!

Zhang Peilun's thoughts were also Sheng Xuanhuai's thoughts, looking at the scene in front of him, Sheng Xuanhuai's mind suddenly sank, but the praise that came to his lips was taken back, and Li Hongzhang, who didn't seem to be on him, continued.

"Ziran has done so many errands in Incheon, although they are all in the name of Beiyang Company, but after all, it is not our Beiyang!"

After this sigh, Li Hongzhang looked at everyone, and he changed his words again, knowing what everyone was thinking.

"After he ran an errand in North Korea for three or four years, he was afraid that the family wealth accumulated by our Beiyang Office for decades would be unsightly!"

This sentence is a sigh from Ji, but it is better to say that it is in the minds of the people, Li Hongzhang does foreign affairs, except for the land and sailor who relies on everything possible to get silver from the imperial court, most of the other foreign factories rely on the power of the doormen, he naturally knows that for these curtain workers, they are not happy to see Tang Ziran insert a foot in the foreign affairs factory, but they understand that in the next few years, he Tang Ziran will never look down on the foreign affairs factory.

"No, a while ago, Binghua came to a letter, in which he said that the coal mines in Pyongyang not only produce white coal of high quality not inferior to Wales, but also most of them are open-pit mines, and their mining costs are extremely low......

Tang Tingshu was not so much praising the Western-style enterprises founded by the Unified Supervision Office as he showed his ambitions for the North Korean coal mines, because most of the miners came from Kaiping's relationship, so he naturally knew the situation in the Pyongyang coal mines.

"Since the formation of the navy, the navy has suffered from the shortage of white coal, the price of white coal in Wales is high, and the soot in Kaiping is large.

Tang Tingshu's words made Li Hongzhang look at Tang Tingshu first, and was silent for a while before he said,

"Ziran sent someone over a while ago, please set up a naval incineration plant in Pyongyang for the use of the Beiyang Navy, when it was built, you thought of going with him!"

Li Hongzhang's words only made Tang Tingshu's face suddenly embarrassed, and he listened to Li Hongzhang in a moment of embarrassment.

"Since the Mining Bureau wants to set up a mine in North Korea, let's go and talk to Ziran's Beiyang Mining, and there is only one Kaiping mine, which is not enough for China."

After saving the face of the curtain crew, Li Hongzhang glanced out of the car window and said to himself:

"I heard that the Renhan Railway has been built, and the speed of road construction is far beyond that of China!"

(Li Hongzhang, this person is extremely complicated in history, some people say that he is a traitor, some people say that he is a reformer, but at least one point, among the ministers of the late Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang is a person who can do things, and he is also the only person who can do things, and in the same way, he will also use people who can do things.) Empire's Rising Sun Readers: 150536833 welcome to join. (To be continued).