"Sell newspapers! Sell newspapers! The big news, the Pacific Fleet sank the Russian ship Rurik, the Qing Zheng axe took advantage of the victory to sue for peace, and the governors of the thirteen provinces led by the king jointly wrote against it! ”

On the cold streets of Yanjing, children selling newspapers ran hard, shouting gimmicks that were enough to make passers-by stop and pay for newspapers.

"Which country is the Pacific Fleet?"

"I haven't heard of it!"

"This gentleman, you can buy a copy and you'll know!"

......, "Which Lord Wang is so good?" The governors of the thirteen provinces were transferred. ”

"This master, you only need three pennies, and you will know everything if you buy a newspaper."

…… A telegram from Wang Chenhao suddenly caused a gust of wind to blow on the land of China. The imperial court can ignore the voices of the common people, but now that Wang Chenhao has taken the lead in protesting, and the governors of the thirteen provinces have followed suit, this has to be taken seriously.

The Yanjing Military Aircraft Department, whether it was Minister Wang or Minister Han, was in a daze at the large stack of telegrams on the table, with a terrible headache.

"Everyone, don't patronize the fire, it's burning your eyebrows now."

Yi is the most anxious, as the prime minister and the minister of the Yamen, he is fully responsible for the negotiations with Russia. The imperial court was anxious to end the war, because the huge military expenditure on the war was too much for the imperial court to bear. Since the declaration of war on August 1, in the past three months, the imperial court has mobilized for war throughout the country, and the armies of various provinces have successively gone to Gyeonggi and Guanwai, dozens of arsenals in various provinces have opened up at full capacity to produce military materials, and almost all the financial resources of the provinces have been transferred to armaments, which has made the Qing government axe household department bear a debt of 130 million taels of silver, which does not include the war consumption used to pay for the Beiyang Army. Since the start of the war, the war expenses of the eight towns of the Beiyang Army have surged to 50 million taels, although this money is temporarily recorded in Wang Chenhao's account, but the imperial court is not a fool, once the imperial court wants to seize the Beiyang Army, Wang Chenhao will definitely have to go over the old accounts with the imperial court. Therefore, the imperial court decided to end the war as soon as possible, even if it lost some money to the Russians, and did not want to continue to owe Wang Chenhao money.

Now Yi has to conclude a peace treaty with Russia in accordance with the instructions of the imperial court on the one hand, and on the other hand, he has to withstand the pressure of domestic public opinion, he wanted to conclude a peace treaty as soon as possible, but at this time Wang Chenhao took the lead in protesting, and led the governors of more than a dozen provinces to jointly write a letter, forcing the imperial court to reconsider the matter of concluding a peace treaty.

"What else? Burn your eyebrows in front of you! ”

Prince Li, who was baking the fire, said casually, but he said the current situation.

Han Minister Qu Hongzhen said: "What about him? We are acting according to the order, hurry up and sign the contract, this is the end of the year, who has the time to be busy with the war? ”

Gangyi sighed and said: "This defeat is a worry, and the people scold us for being straw bales." But winning the war is also a worry, the queen mother and the emperor demanded to end the war as soon as possible, but not to pay money to the Russians, this negotiation could not be carried out, to lose money to the Russians, and the common people scolded us as traitors. Now that the stalemate is stalemate, the Queen Mother and the Emperor do not express their position, let us watch and do it, and resolutely do not give in below. ”

Prince Qing put his hands into his sleeves, and Erlang lay on the chair like a god, and threw out a sentence coldly.

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say!"

Everyone suddenly gave him an angry look, this Prince Qing is a typical corpse vegetarian meal.

Shi Duo said: "If you don't want to carry the black cauldron, it's not impossible, just settle that Wang Chenhao!" As long as he doesn't make a fuss, this matter will be suppressed. ”

Yi smiled bitterly: "What you said is light!" Settle Wang Chenhao, who will go? You, me, or him. ”

After looking around, no one wanted to come out.

Qu Hongzhen complained: "Do you think this Wang Chenhao is full of food? Just returned to China, don't hurry home to hug your wife and children, what kind of coaxing? ”

Yixuan suddenly came to his senses at this time, and said: "Don't say it, I guess he must be full of food." Do you think that he made tens of thousands of taels of silver on this trip, this kid is now rich, and he hasn't done much, but he just sent a telegram, which has attracted the governors of the thirteen provinces to support him, it's amazing! Disastrous! ”

Gangyi snorted coldly: "Is this not clear? He is now a big rich man, and as soon as he makes a move, he will come back with a whole fleet, not to mention that the governors of the provinces want to scold him, and even the imperial court now has to be afraid of him. ”

Yixuan's eyes were full of the symbol of money "$$", and he said enviously: "Tens of thousands of taels of silver, if you exchange it for a silver ticket, you will be stoned to death!" I heard that this kid came back to prepare gifts for the emperor and the queen mother, and even the civil and military officials, what gifts do you think he will give us if he is so rich? ”

Shiduo said, "It will definitely not be light! ”

Qu Hongzhen said at this time: "But don't be given to our entire foreign girls back, I heard that he got one for himself!" ”

Several ministers of military aircraft suddenly digressed.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's get down to business! ”

Yi coughed a few times unpleasantly, and everyone was suddenly silent.

Shi Duo comforted Yi and said: "Don't get angry, let him toss whoever they love." If you ask us above, let's push it to Wang Chenhao and the local governors. When the people questioned us, we said that everything was waiting for a decision from above. Listen to simple things and don't bother too much. ”

Yi said: "What's this trifle? It's about the country's peril! ”

"Pull it down!" Yixuan suddenly said: "Now that our army has the upper hand, isn't that Wang Chenhao capable?" Protest? Let him clean up the mess, we are wise and decisive to win, and we will cut off his head if we defeat him. ”

"Well said!" Qu Hongzhen gave a thumbs up to Yixuan and praised: "Prince Qing, you are wise this time!" ”

Shi Duo nodded, turned to Yi and said, "I said the Sixth Prince, this is a good way!" Let's pick a son and let Wang Chenhao come out and toss, isn't he talking about the righteousness of the country? Just let him bleed. ”

Yi frowned and said, "I can't help it!" It's not that you don't know that the eight towns of Beiyang are only Wang Chenhao's head, and it is difficult for the imperial court to recover the military power, so it is difficult to send him abroad, and now if he is allowed to regain military power, plus his financial resources, can the imperial court still be able to control him? ”

Shi Duo sneered and said, "Sixth Prince, aren't all the current military power of our Great Qing Dynasty in the hands of the local governors?" Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Zuo Zongtang, and Liu Kunyi have been holding military power for decades, aren't they still under the control of the imperial court? Besides, didn't you also say that this Wang Chenhao was okay before? ”

Yi smiled bitterly: "That was before! Now you look at him and he is already rich and invincible, he can buy a fleet by himself, and the Beiyang Army is the only one who looks ahead, if he is not careful, it will be a cloud and rain! ”

Yi has been immersed in officialdom for decades, and now he has become aware of Wang Chenhao's series of actions. However, people like him who have a clear view of the situation are the only two people in the Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately Li Hongzhang is on Wang Chenhao's side, and everyone else is thinking about how to make money from Wang Chenhao, how can they have the foresight.

In fact, before Yi convened everyone to discuss the matter, Prince Li Shiduo and Prince Qing Yixuan had already made the draft. The two were ready to make money from Wang Chenhao, so they deliberately handed over the war against Russia to Wang Chenhao in order to satisfy Wang Chenhao's ambitions, so as to take the opportunity to ask Wang Chenhao for benefits.

Although the Minister of Military Aircraft Gangyi and the Han Minister Qu Hongzhen had not made a draft before, they had not dealt with Shiduo and Yixuan for a day or two, and they knew exactly what the other party wanted to express by a fart, so the two of them were also calculating the pros and cons between the cost of offending Wang Chenhao and the benefits of currying favor with Wang Chenhao, and finally chose to follow Shiduo and Yixuan, putting personal interests first.

After more than two hours of arguing, Yi was not only unable to persuade several other ministers of military aircraft to give advice, but under the misguidance of Shi Duo and others, he jointly drafted a memo and asked the imperial court to appoint Wang Chenhao as the minister plenipotentiary for Russian affairs, and handed over this thorny matter to Wang Chenhao to deal with. And they themselves are idle, and they are able to please.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※ afternoon of the same day, the military aircraft department submitted the fold to Guangxu for approval.

Guangxu consulted with Weng Tongyi, Li Hongzao and others, believing that if he insisted on signing a treaty with Russia, he would lose his trust in the world, and at the same time, it would also make the governors of the thirteen provinces dissatisfied with the feudal lords, and he was afraid that it would arouse public resentment. However, if the war is not concluded with Russia and the war continues, the imperial court will continue to pay high military expenses for the war, and if Russia launches a full-scale war, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Weng Tongyi said: "Weichen thinks that the Military Aircraft Department has asked Wang Chenhao to deal with everything against Russia, so he can give it a try!" ”

Guangxu frowned and said: "But in this way, Wang Chenhao will regain control of the military, won't his previous efforts be in vain?" ”

Weng Tongyi explained: "Your Majesty, the current situation has put the imperial court in a dilemma. Forcibly signing a treaty may offend the local governor and seal the territory, lose the morale of the army and the people, and even provide an opportunity for overseas rebel parties such as Sun Wen to propagate. But if you don't pay money to the Russians, I'm afraid that the Russians, who want to save face, will continue to fight, and the imperial court will have to bear huge military expenses. These are all provoked by Wang Chenhao, and the bell must be tied to the bell, so that Wang Chenhao can appease domestic public opinion by handling affairs with Russia, whether he fights or talks, it is the emperor's wise and martial arrangement to win, and the emperor will take the opportunity to cut off his head if he loses. In this way, Wang Chenhao's Beiyang Eight Towns and the Pacific Fleet all returned to the imperial court and increased the military strength of the imperial court. At the same time, Wang Chenhao's family property is no less than tens of thousands of taels of silver, which can be used as the state treasury. ”

Li Hongzao shouted at this time: "Weichen thinks what Lord Weng said is very true, but at the moment, it seems that the Beiyang Army has the upper hand, and there is a great hope of winning against the Russians. This bargain can't be picked up by Wang Chenhao, and Weichen suggested that the emperor set a deadline for Wang Chenhao, so as to end the war before the end of the year. If it is not resolved, he will be punished. ”

Weng Tongyi nodded and said approvingly: "This plan is very good!" It is only about a month before the end of the year, and the Russian army can hold out for a month no matter how bad it is. As long as it expires, Wang Chenhao's crime will be cured, his military power will be seized and his property will be confiscated, and then the emperor will drive the expedition in person, presumably the Russian army will have no power to fight back at that time, and the emperor will easily defeat the Russian army, so as to control the military power, and then transfer troops to control the defense of Gyeonggi, at that time the queen mother is afraid that all power will be returned to the emperor. ”

Everything Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao did was to let Guangxu really pro-government and take back the power in Cixi's hands. In order to achieve this goal, the two of them can be said to do everything, although Guangxu felt that it was too despicable to treat Wang Chenhao like this, but in the end he gritted his teeth and agreed.

"In this way, I will let Wang Chenhao serve as the Minister of Plenipotentiary Affairs for Russia, and the two Aiqing will go to draw up the decree!"

Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao were then ordered to go down to draft the decree.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Prince Gong's mansion, Yun Tong, the lord of Ningxiang County, was chatting happily with her close friend Shalina in her boudoir.

"Do you look very happy today? Since you came in, the whole person has been smiling like a flower! ”

Yun Tong saw that Sarina looked like she knew that she must have encountered something very happy, so she asked this question and shared her happiness by the way.

Shalina smirked and replied, "Good news for you, that guy is back?" ”

"Which guy?"

Yun Tong didn't know why.

Sarina then took out a newspaper from her bosom, handed it to Yun Tong, and motioned for her to read it.

Yun Tong took Sarina's newspaper with a suspicious look, opened it and saw that the entire page was about Wang Chenhao.

"The imperial court grovelled and intended to sue for peace, Lord Wang Chenhao took the lead in protesting, and the governors of the thirteen provinces supported it."

Yun Tong read the masthead again, looked at the details below, and couldn't help but smile. "This Wang Chenhao is really magically tight, no matter at home or abroad, I haven't seen him stop."

Sharina pointed to the top line of text and said, "See? This bastard has already arrived in Shanghai, and will return to Beijing in three days to report on his work! ”

Yun Tong nodded, and when she looked at Shalina again, she saw that her pretty face was already covered with frost.

"It's been so long, you won't still hold grudges, right?"

Shalina glared at Yun Tong angrily and said, "Are you embarrassed to say?" It's a shame that we're still good sisters, and you're helping outsiders. If you hadn't let him go last time, see how I fix him!" ”

Yun Tong saw that Shalina clenched her fists and looked full of indignation, so she smiled lightly and said, "You were still angry at that time, I was really afraid that if you slaughtered him all at once, it would be a big trouble." ”

Shalina snorted and said, "I think you deliberately protected him, there is a different surname and no one has a surname!" ”

Yun Tong rolled his eyes and said helplessly: "I'm good for you, how can that kind of thing be publicized?" The name of your daughter's family matters, not to mention that you are still the dignified county lord, and you are the first female official of the palace master of ceremonies, what kind of system will it become? ”

Sharina said: "This time he returned to Beijing to report on his work, I will definitely make him look good, and I have to teach him a lesson." Otherwise, my aunt and grandmother just can't swallow this breath. ”

Yun Tong smiled: "How do you fix him?" He is now a first-class master, and he has a knighthood in his body, and there are countless guards around him, so you can't get close to him at all. I think you'd better save it! ”

Shalina smiled mysteriously and suddenly asked, "You let him go last time, and you have to help me this time." ”

(To be continued)