The sea breeze swept the waves against the beach, and when the cold wind hit, the gunners on the Dagu Fort only shrank their shoulders involuntarily, but today is different from the past, no one dares to hide in the barracks as in the past, but contrary to the looseness of the past, or standing at the sentry post, or practicing in the platform, all of them look very serious.

Occasionally, they would turn their gaze to the fort, where an old man in a first-class official robe and a tweed cloak was staring at the sea with his eyes full of thought.

"Dad, since you know his Tang Ziran's thoughts, why do you want to agree to him?"

Li Jingfang, who was standing half a step behind Li Hongzhang, asked a little puzzled.

Tang Haoran's request to set up an iron factory in the name of the railway really made everyone in Beiyang feel annoyed for a while, this kid is clearly suing the big guy, either everyone will set up an iron factory together as he wants, or everyone will continue to talk on the railway.

Beiyang is such a big yamen, that is, the court is sometimes scruples, he is a small three-grade supervisor, how not to be annoyed, but the most unexpected thing is that Lord Zhongtang is not only not annoyed, but after laughing, he instructed Tang Tingshu and Sheng Xuanhuai to squeeze out 300,000 taels from the road money to jointly set up the Beiyang Iron Works.

In other words, Li Hongzhang, who is known as the "first governor of the world", agreed with Tang Ziran's blackmail. Don't say that others, even Li Jingfang, who is his son, can't figure out his father's thoughts.

"Great,"

Although Li Jingfang is his successor as his heir, although he has a son-in-law Li Jingshu, Li Hongzhang still regards Li Jingfang as his heir and still calls him "eldest son".

"Do you know that I have been doing errands for my father and the court for so many years. What is the most regrettable thing about Pingshu? ”

His father's rhetorical question made Li Jingfang stunned. He was amazed and didn't know when. Li Hongzhang said in a deep tone.

"I have been an official for so many years, and I have done errands for so many years, my father knows the difficulty of officialdom, and it is difficult to be an official, and it is even more difficult to do things for officials. It's really a headache, but in this world, many things have to be done! ”

Standing on the fort and looking at the sea, Li Hongzhang's eyebrows were slightly lost, but this loss was more helpless from the heart.

"Eldest son, I have done a lifetime of things for my father, including military training, navy, and foreign affairs. How can you really let it go? But it is barely painted, and there is no appearance. If you don't expose it, it's still perfunctory for a while......"

Father's sigh made Li Jingfang's mind sink, unlike others, Li Jingfang, who had an English tutor teaching English from time to time, and was able to get in touch with the affairs of various countries in the house, naturally knew the essence of the Great Qing Kingdom, and the face of the Great Qing Kingdom was not reluctantly decorated by his father, but it was just a false appearance, even if he was a sailor......

As the host of the huge staff group of Beiyang, in the past nearly 20 years, in the entanglement and contention of all parties, he quickly staged an unprecedented reform movement in the land of China, and the Qing Dynasty gradually showed a little new atmosphere. The preparation of the new navy and army, the dispatch of foreign students, machinery manufacturing, coal mines, railways, telegraphs, steamships, textiles, and new schools were all related to his promotion and support.

On the surface, he is the minister of Beiyang and the governor of Zhili, and below him, the foundation of his beginning, the first is the Huai army, the second is the Beiyang navy, that is, the two armies that he only had after he became the governor of Zhili, this is what he has with the imperial court, in order to have a bargaining with Lafayette, he is not bargaining or everyone tacitly, and the tacit fact is that he is holding a bargaining chip.

And how many crises are hidden behind this seemingly scenery?

Perhaps, other people don't know, how can Li Hongzhang not know that Beiyang seems to have infinite scenery, but the sinking of the curtain has long exceeded his imagination. In recent years, in Beiyang, that is, Yuan Shikai, a rising star, has made him feel quite gratified, and now, he has to add a Tang Haoran, and even in his opinion, this Tang Haoran is far from being comparable to Yuan Shikai.

Originally, the reason why Yuan Shikai was transferred to Taiwan was due to Li Hongzhang's selfishness, on the one hand, it was for the sake of power and Tang Haoran, so that he had to rely on Beiyang, and on the other hand, it was to pave the way for Yuan Shikai to enter the office, but who would have thought that Tang Haoran could set off such a storm in North Korea, not only consolidating the domain, but also establishing authority, and starting a new policy in North Korea, on the other hand, Yuan Shikai in Taiwan......

Now, he can quite understand Zhang Zhidong's thoughts, this Tang Haoran will always surprise or surprise, he Zhang Nanpi may have scruples about him, but Li Hongzhang knows that this scruple is a taboo in employing people.

"But what we lack most in China's officialdom is to paste up the house where we live in a down-to-earth manner, and people who can't be demolished at every turn, and there is a shortage of people who do things, big son, do you say that Tang Ziran is a person who does things, or is he a person as pompous as Nanpi?"

His father's rhetorical question made Li Jingfang think for a moment before answering.

"Naturally, he is the one who does things, but this matter is inevitably ......"

didn't wait for Da'er to finish speaking, but Li Hongzhang laughed.

"You!"

Shaking his head, Li Hongzhang did not look at Li Jingfang, but was silent for a moment before speaking.

"It is under their influence, in the middle of this northern ocean...... That's it, Li Chunzhai has written several times to ask to return to China, I look back at the last fold, let you be the minister to Japan, eldest son, after arriving in Japan, you have to see more, although this Japan is the country of the Oriental projectile, but its determination to change the law for more than 20 years, it is far from the Oriental of yesterday, when you come back, maybe ......"

After a long sigh, Li Hongzhang looked in the direction of North Korea, the look in his eyebrows seemed a little complicated, as if he was appreciative and envious, after such a complicated expression, he sighed again and said silently on his lips.

"Tang Ziran, the old man you want has promised, so when will your promise be presented to the old man?"

Even Li Jingfang, who was following behind his father, only vaguely heard Li Hongzhang's whisper, and couldn't help but wonder in his heart, what did his father and Tang Ziran promise each other?

With the moment his father got off the fort, Li Jingfang couldn't help but look towards Haidong, thinking of Tang Haoran, who was in charge of a country in Haidong, and thinking of his father's treatment of him differently, he couldn't help but become more and more curious about Tang Ziran, who had never met, what kind of work did this Tang Ziran want to do in North Korea?

Not only is Li Jingfang, who has never known his life, so puzzled, but Zheng Yonglin, who once had a teacher-student friendship with Tang Haoran, is also full of curiosity about him, and he is even more curious, why did the teacher invite him to North Korea?

Standing on the side of the sea ship, thinking about the teacher's intentions, Zheng Yonglin's heart came back to the words of his uncle and him many years ago.

"Qing is not my country!"

For the Zheng family, the Qing country is by no means the country of the Zheng family, the country of the Zheng family has long been destroyed, so how can the country of the Zheng family be Japan?

In the past many years, the identity has always plagued Zheng Yonglin, he can not be like his uncle, cousin and others, easy to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to serve Japan, for him, his inner confusion is that no matter whether it is Qing or Japan, it is not his country, at least not the country in his heart.

And now, when the teacher invited him to North Korea, the same confusion once again permeated his heart, whether to accept the teacher's invitation or to refuse?

What is the difference between working for a teacher and serving the Qing Kingdom? However, the ancestral training of the Zheng family made it impossible for him to take that step, just as his uncle politely refused Li Hongzhang's invitation and still served the Japanese government, the descendants of the Zheng family must not be Manchu Qing.

If...... Let's refuse!

After a long sigh, Zheng Yonglin's expression was gloomy, if he rejected the teacher, then for him, there was only one choice left, like an uncle and cousin, he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent an envoy to the Qing Kingdom, but ...... I, I'm not Japanese!

Zheng Yonglin, who was entangled in his heart, had a complicated expression on his young face, but at this moment, he heard a burst of laughter from the side.

"I poured Zheng Jun there, it turned out that I came here to watch the sea!"

With a smile on his face, Tang Shaoyi walked towards Zheng Yonglin, and he finished this trip to Tianjin, which would be very relaxed.

"Zheng Jun was born in the East, Mo is not on this sea, and he feels homesick?"

Listening to Tang Shaoyi's laughter, Zheng Yonglin hurriedly saluted.

"Let Mr. Tang laugh!"

Homesickness? Of course not, but how can we explain it? Could it be that what you think and think is just the annoyance of a countryless person?

"Zheng Jun, my lord admires you very much!"

Walking to the side of the boat to support the side of the boat, Tang Shaoyi deliberately accentuated his tone.

"Now that the affairs of North Korea have been established, it is at a time when our generation has made immortal achievements in North Korea, with the appreciation of Zheng Jun by adults, Zheng Jun will be reused by adults, and Zheng Jun ......"

Looking at Zheng Yonglin beside him, Tang Shaoyi, who knew his identity, continued.

"Although you were born in the East, the Zheng family is the blood of China after all, although the East is as good as it is, but after all, it is the East, not China,......"

Looking in the direction of Dagu, the horizon of Dagu could still be seen faintly at this time, Tang Shaoyi was silent for a moment.

"After all, I am all Chinese!"

Tang Shaoyi did not mention "I am the Qing Dynasty", it is precisely because of the experience of studying abroad that he does not agree with the Qing Dynasty more and more in his heart, he may not agree with the Qing Dynasty, but it does not mean that he does not identify with China, just like Zheng Yonglin.

"When I was in North Korea, Lord Tang once said!"

Staring at Haidong, Tang Shaoyi said in an extremely calm voice.

"What our generation has created today is the future of China! Zheng Jun, "

When he turned around, Tang Shaoyi's expression was a little stern, staring at Zheng Yonglin, and he continued.

"Whether it's Japan or China, I think Zheng Jun has the answer in his heart!"

Facing Tang Shaoyi's questioning, Zheng Yonglin's mind sank, and suddenly he raised his head and asked rhetorically in front of Tang Shaoyi's gaze.

"Then Mr. Tang, please sue me, is the Qing Kingdom China?" (To be continued......)