"Yuan Shikai's telegram said a few."

Yuan Shikai's telegram was placed in Li Hongzhang's sleeve pocket, but he could neither take it out and ask Cixi to read it for herself, nor could he read it himself. His memory is excellent, and although he is old, the contents of the telegram have long been remembered in his heart. What's more, there are some things that need to be reported, and some things that don't need to be reported, just like Yuan Shikai mentioning the abolition of the king again, then there is no need to report it, report it to the Queen Mother, isn't that looking for trouble for the Queen Mother?

"The first is that the DPRK has abolished the "Anti-grain Order", the second is that it cannot restrict Japan's trade rights in the DPRK, and the third is that the DPRK has compensated the Japanese rice merchants for their losses, mainly in these few articles."

Cixi didn't make a sound after hearing this, and thought in her heart from time to time: It is not a very bad thing to abolish the "Anti-Valley Order" and let them go to North Korea to do business casually. It is better not to care about what the Japanese are doing in Korea, and it is better to have more than less. Anyway, if it is about entering Korea, the Japanese are earlier than the Qing Dynasty, and now it is nothing more than reiterating. The difficulty lies in the indemnity, what the imperial court lacks now is silver, although this silver is ostensibly to be compensated by North Korea, but after these years of national politics, Cixi knows that the country in North Korea is barren and the people are poor, and since the opening of the port in North Korea, the imperial court has lent them millions of taels of silver, and in the end, the silver still has to be compensated by the imperial court.

Besides, the North Koreans themselves provoked the incident, and in the end they want us to pay for the money, and we can't swallow this breath!

After Cixi pondered for a long time, she decided to listen to Li Hongzhang's opinion first.

"Li Hongzhang, tell me, which of these conditions of the Japanese can be accepted by us and which ones cannot be accepted?"

Li Hongzhang, who is old in officialdom, was not surprised by Cixi's question. When he was young, he was a low-ranking official, and he was often questioned by his superiors when he made a report, and after one or two embarrassments, he had the experience of thinking carefully before making a report, preparing several different opinions in his head, and then saying one of them according to the situation. Because of this, Li Hongzhang can often be praised by his boss, so his official fortune is prosperous. After middle and old age, when the official position was high, he often resorted to this trick of others, first, to be inspired by the answers of his subordinates, and second, to use it to examine his subordinates.

He had his own views on the series of foreign affairs crises in the DPRK caused by the DPRK's "Grain Defense Order", but after listening to King Gong's opinion yesterday, he was more sure in his heart, so he replied with great confidence:

"Back to the Queen Mother, according to the minister's opinion, this North Korea is the last vassal state of our Qing Dynasty, and the face of the Celestial Empire of our Great Qing Dynasty is critical, so we must give this matter down, and after the matter is settled, the crisis in North Korea can be lifted, the country can live in peace as soon as possible, the face of the court will be maintained, and the Queen Mother can also be relieved one day earlier."

"Yes, you are a person who often does foreign affairs, and it is better not to give birth to things." Cixi sighed.

"The Queen Mother is wise!"

Li Hongzhang immediately complimented.

"The minister has fought for most of his life, and has done military affairs for most of his life, and he has realized this truth: the country must be prepared for war, and war must be prepared, this is the first; Second, if the war can be fought without fighting, it will not be fought, and if it can be resolved through diplomacy, it will be resolved by diplomacy. ”

"That makes sense."

Cixi nodded and expressed her approval, if the first emperor would have had Li Hongzhang in the court, the first emperor would not have hunted the summer resort in the north.

"Therefore, the minister thought that these conditions offered by the Japanese could be negotiated with them slowly, and while talking to them, they could talk to the Korean side at the same time, and it would be easy to discuss."

"The matter of reparations should be well discussed."

Cixi interrupted Li Hongzhang's words.

"There is a shortage of money in the imperial court, so it is best not to compensate, and if you can pay less, you will pay less. After all, at the end of the day, we'll take the money! ”

"Yes, what the Queen Mother said is very true! There is a shortage of money in the imperial court, so you should pay as little as possible! ”

complimented Li Hongzhang and added.

"Speaking of the shortage of silver money in the imperial court, the minister remembered one thing!"

"What is it? Tell me about it! ”

"Not all said a while ago, Huguang Governor Zhang Xiangtao found a God of Wealth, and some people jokingly called it Hubei's "Sheng Xingsun", Xingsun heard people say this, so he immediately relented, saying that he could not compare with Huguang God of Wealth, the silver he raised this month, the silver he raised in several years. ”

"You're talking about Tang Ziran who wrote "Tai Xice", right?"

Cixi smiled shallowly and said:

"This Tang Ziran has a bit of talent, relying on a method, he found such a way to make money for Zhang Zhidong, if the ministers in the world are like him, how can there be a shortage of money in this court, and it will not be enough to build a garden, and some people say irresponsible things."

The Queen Mother's words surprised Li Hongzhang, and he was immediately glad that he hadn't mentioned the water master before, otherwise......

"Not really!"

In response, Li Hongzhang straightened his waist and said with a solemn face.

"The Queen Mother, on the orders of the Queen Mother, has been doing foreign affairs for more than 20 years, buying a lot of Western guns for the army of the imperial court, and buying a lot of ironclad ships for the North and South Seas. If we really fight with foreigners, we have very little certainty of getting wet. According to the minister's opinion, if we want to catch up with the foreigners, we must have at least 30 to 50 years of hard work. In the past 30 to 50 years, we should strive to avoid wars with foreigners in order to achieve development. In the past, King Goujian of Yue practiced lying on his salary and tasted courage, educating his subjects with the words of 'ten years of life and gathering, ten years of lessons', and finally took revenge. We must have the vision and perseverance of Goujian. It's just that the foreigners are hundreds of times stronger than Wu Wangfu back then, so the minister thinks that today's forces of the Qing Dynasty are not enough to deal with foreigners, and we must have thirty years and fifty years of preparation. In Tang Ziran's "Tessice", it was also said that it took Prussia sixty or seventy years to fight the French. ”

Cixi doesn't read much, but she still knows the allusion of "lying on the salary and tasting the gall", and she also admires King Goujian of Yue. Li Hongzhang's words, she nodded in agreement.

"This is indeed the reason, therefore, foreign affairs should not be lightly started, and this North Korean errand must be done well."

Li Hongzhang hurriedly replied.

"The minister must live up to the expectations of the Queen Mother and handle the errand of North Korea well, since we have saved our face, we will not act arbitrarily."

"I know that you, Li Hongzhang, have never been a floating person."

Cixi pressed the long golden finger on the ring finger of her left hand and said,

"These Orientals have learned everything from Westerners, and they have long forgotten their roots, and they must be wary of talking to them."

"The Queen Mother is wise! Foreigners are treacherous, and they have to be more guarded, this defense really can't be relaxed, we have to train the land and sailors first, in order to be prepared, but when it comes to the root, this North Korean matter is still in North Korea itself, just like we are talking to the Japanese here, but over there, North Korea itself has to borrow foreign debts, to Britain, the United States, and Russia, isn't this forcing itself to pull itself forward into the mud pit? Therefore, Yuan Shikai hoped that North Korea would lend money to North Korea again, so as not to recruit foreigners to North Korea. ”

"The land in that part of North Korea is barren and the people are poor, and we can still help in the past, but, Li Hongzhang, now the imperial court is also short of money, I'm afraid we won't be able to raise money!"

Li Hongzhang, who knew that he had finally rounded the topic to the topic, continued to speak.

"No, to say that Zhang Zhidong is terrible in his later life, the Queen Mother promoted him to the governor of Huguang, which shows that the Queen Mother has experienced his hard work. This Zhang Zhidong to Wuchang, he used Tang Haoran, in one fell swoop to break the dilemma of shortage of money, the minister thought that this Tang Haoran is also a young and talented person, if he is trained, he is expected to be used for the country in the future. ”

"Well, indeed, a while ago, wasn't there anyone talking about transferring Tang Haoran to the court?"

Cixi nodded in agreement.

"If there is such a person in the court who can make money, I think there will be no shortage of this money! How did this stop? ”

"The Queen Mother is wise."

Li Hongzhang made a solid demeanor.

"But the minister thinks that what Weng Zhongtang said is right, after all, this Tang Haoran has lived in the West for a long time and has not been educated, if he is transferred to the court without some experience, he may be in danger of hurting his talents, so for the sake of the country, he still can't be transferred to the central court."

"It's okay to arrange it like this, but it's also for the sake of the country."

Cixi bowed her head slightly.

"Just now you said that if Tang Haoran is trained in it, he can be of great use in the future, don't you have any plans?"

"The minister thinks that although Tang Haoran has not been educated, although it is not suitable to be transferred to the central court, but now this foreign affairs are important state affairs, since Tang Haoran has lived abroad for a long time, and has been appreciated by foreigners, if he is transferred to the prime minister's yamen, he can also contribute to the imperial court, and when the time comes, he will hone for a few years, and he can also be useful if he wants to come."

"That's fine."

knew that the reason why Li Hongzhang mentioned Tang Haoran was to dig the corner of Zhang Zhidong, Cixi gently bowed his head, and that Zhang Zhidong was the Qingliu Emperor Party. In her opinion, Zhang Zhidong is naturally a mediocre oak compared to Li Hongzhang, and there are a few supernatural trees like Li Hongzhang in the world! Since he wants someone, let him be allowed, so as not to thin his face, isn't he just a person who has learned from the West, and both horizontal and vertical are for the court.

"Since it is, then let's do it, go back and talk to the Prime Minister's Yamen, I think it will be the Prime Minister's Yamen dignitaries, after all, the Prime Minister's Yamen also needs people who are proficient in the West like Tang Haoran?"

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