In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Guangxu was wrapped in a silk scarf on his head, his face was sallow, his breath was dying, and the whole child was terminally ill with a virtue. Staying up all night for days and days led the fire to rise, his eyes were red and bloodshot, and his twenties turned gray and pale.

Looking at the several ministers who were hanging their heads in front of him, he said in a trembling voice: "Nie Shicheng, have you descended?" ”

Li Hongzao replied: "It is said that Yang Hao sent an elite raid on the Chinese army, and he was captured in one blow. ”

Emperor Guangxu asked again: "Yuan Shikai, defeated?" ”

Li Hongzao paused slightly, and nodded gently: "Yang has been prepared for a long time, and a surprise attack broke out in the middle of the night, Yuan Shikai tried his best to bring out half of the newly built army. However, thousands of other recruits were scattered halfway through, and may be able to gather up later. ”

Emperor Guangxu still didn't comment, staring at the beating lights with his eyes, and after a long time, he suddenly sighed and said in a low voice: "Li Bingheng died to serve the country, and the decree was issued to have a generous name...... Let's be loyal! ”

"Minister, obey!"

Li Hongzao is as good as a stream. Human death is great, especially in such a stormy moment, a loyal minister pops up, which is simply a relief in the snow for the Manchu court. It will inevitably be vigorously praised, and it will be regarded as a typical hype of loyalty and patriotism, otherwise it is not enough to calm the hearts of the people.

He was thinking about how to phrase it, when he saw Emperor Guangxu suddenly slam his chest, two tears rolled down, and he exclaimed angrily: "I have been sleepless all night since I ascended the throne, and I have been diligent and not weak in the past holy monarchs, why did I end up like this?" Could it be that the ancestors and ancestors were dissatisfied with me, so they sent Yang Wei and such thieves to punish me? ”

This is a sign of collapse!

Li Hongzao and the others were terrified! Hurriedly pounced on him and grabbed his wrist and shouted to dissuade: "The emperor must not do this!" The benevolence of the emperor is not inferior to that of the first emperor. And the Holy Ming is like the Holy Ancestor. There will inevitably be anti-thieves! It's a crisis. Just as the emperor is about to cheer up, make unprecedented ambitions, and create a prosperous era of the Qing Dynasty! How can you behave like this because of a momentary setback! ”

He is an old minister, and it doesn't hurt to be more serious.

Although the rest of the ministers did not dare to criticize it in this way, they also tactfully begged and couldn't stop saying good things.

Emperor Guangxu lost his temper for a while, but he didn't collapse like an ordinary person, a stream of tears ran out, and probably the resentment accumulated in his heart also dissipated a lot. Although no longer beating his chest and feet. Still with his eyes closed, his face sad.

Li Hongzao sighed faintly, able to understand how aggrieved this young emperor was.

He ascended the throne when he was a child, and listened to the government for many years for the Queen Mother of the West, and only now can he let go of it on the surface, but the appointment and deployment of courtiers and the military and political power of the country are actually in the hands of the old lady.

Now that it is not easy to change the law and innovate, he takes this opportunity to continue to make moves, full of plans to get a group of available people and consolidate his team. At the very least, we must first control the situation in the country. Unexpectedly, just at the beginning, Yang Hao split his head and came to a big neck.

What made him most aggrieved was the Wu Yi Army and the newly built army. The strength of more than 40,000 people was almost all the guards that the Great Qing State could take out at the moment, but it was overturned overnight by Yang Hao.

With Emperor Guangxu's cleverness, he couldn't guess that Yang Hao deliberately chose such an opportunity to start, obviously to wait for him to train all the troops. With such a thunderous defeat, one is to declare to him a strong and irresistible force, and the other is very likely to be deliberately disgusting him - the troops that the Manchu court has spent millions of taels of silver to train have become the mouth of Yang in the blink of an eye.

This can be described as a busy job, and it is all in vain to make a wedding dress for the enemy.

Under such multiple blows and humiliation, not to mention that the young and vigorous emperor couldn't bear it, Li Hongzao asked himself if he met it head-on, he would have to lose his life for ten years!

"This bastard boy surnamed Yang is really hateful!"

Li Hongzao's angry face turned red, his beard trembled, and he clenched his fists and didn't know where to smash it.

Emperor Guangxu probably came to his senses, opened his eyes to look at him, and said weakly: "The matter has come to this point, do you Aiqing have a good plan?" ”

The Manchu and Han ministers immediately began to speak: "Please ask the emperor to decree that the governors of all provinces immediately send the elite soldiers they have trained to Shandong to quell the rebellion!" With hundreds of thousands of sergeants, you can guarantee victory! ”

"According to what the minister sees, he can appoint a naval commander to mortar Yang Yi from the sea and cut off his back road!"

"The Liaodong garrison can immediately enter the customs to escort!"

"Please ask the foreigners of all countries to mediate the ...... of the strike."

Emperor Guangxu suddenly raised his hand, and the noisy discussion immediately stopped. Seeing him ask one of the ministers, "You said you want to ask a foreigner to intervene?" ”

The minister knelt down in panic and slammed his head on the ground: "Your Majesty! The minions thought this was the best thing to do right now! That Yang Reyi's army is in the hinterland of the capital, and it may come to the city overnight, endangering the imperial court! Even if there is a large army in the Quartet, it is beyond the reach of the whip, and only foreigners can make Yang Yi jealous! ”

The other ministers thought about it, didn't they? Regardless of what they are saying now, when Yang Hao's army really drives over, who can stop the cannon? Even if its troops are insufficient, it can only drive over a few thousand people, which is enough to cause chaos within the capital! When the time comes, the time and space will be ordered, and the face of the imperial court will be greatly damaged, how can you put the dignity of the heavenly kingdom!

Emperor Guangxu went to see several important ministers, especially Li Hongzao and Sun Jianai and other old and important people.

Master Sun was an orthodox Confucian, and he had never been in favor of an extreme attitude of over-reliance or hostility towards foreign countries. However, if he wanted to make peace with foreigners, he couldn't say whether he was alive or dead, he just pinched his beard and shook his head helplessly.

Li Hongzao's eyes flashed, and he already had a plan in a few breaths, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, you must make a decision right now!" Once Yang Wei is allowed to gain a firm foothold, Shandong and Tianjin will not be guaranteed, and it will be difficult to clean it up. In addition, consideration should be given to the ...... on the other side of the garden. ”

Emperor Guangxu sat up suddenly, this was what worried him the most.

Although the Empress Dowager of the West has not been restrained much since the reform of the law, the various prevarications and prevarications of the old ministers have not stopped. The reason why he is so radical in promoting the reform of the law is also to create an established fact. As long as the forces under the framework of the governors of the provinces support themselves, the throne can sit firmly. Now that Yang Hao has been forced back, God knows if that side will use this as an excuse to rise up again to abolish the emperor!

No matter how unhappy he was in his heart, Emperor Guangxu could only hope for those greedy foreigners at the moment. But since then, I don't know how many negotiation conditions I have to agree. The imperial court, maybe hemorrhage again!

It's going to have to be fast. Once he was preempted by others, it was his turn to sit on the wax of the aggrieved emperor.

Emperor Guangxu is also a decisive, and a little fighting spirit returned to his body, and shouted at the ministers: "Without further ado, please ask all Aiqing to select the people who can be used to negotiate with the ministers of the countries!" ”

The Prime Minister's Yamen is unreliable, and the new devils are cunning and cunning, so they will not rashly approach the emperor and offend the Empress Dowager Xi. Prime Minister Rong Lu is simply the loyal lackey of the Empress Dowager of the West, but he is not as reliable as a group of Hanchen.

But such an errand, Li Hongzao and they can't play it well. It's easy to play tricks, but when it's time to get serious, they all have to be caught collectively blind!

In addition, they also know that when they go to ask foreigners for help at such a juncture, they must agree to many conditions. Not to mention, Britain and France have recently put forward a request to expand the Tianjin Concession Area; Germany, Russia, and other countries also sought to draw a concession and even lease port ....... If these conditions are agreed, the loss of power and humiliation of the country will be written into history for thousands of years!

Such an unlucky thing, how can Qingliu resist it? It's too late to stay away. Standing on the shore and scolding people is their specialty, shirtless? The wise man does not do it!

Therefore, under the expectant gaze of Emperor Guangxu, no one in the Manchu Dynasty dared to take the order for a while! He let him look at the past one by one with great anticipation, and as a result, no matter how generous and loyal his ministers had been before, they closed their eyes as if they had seen nothing.

Emperor Guangxu felt sad in his heart, and he couldn't help but feel lonely and lonely. Probably he was the most aggrieved emperor in the history of the Qing Dynasty, right?

At the moment when all the horses were in full swing, a person stood up from behind and said loudly: "Weichen dares to ask the emperor to issue an edict to negotiate with foreigners from all over the world!" ”

The eyes of Emperor Guangxu and the ministers brushed over, and they saw that the person was the new military machine Zhang Jing Yang Rui who had been promoted by leapfrogging!

This person was awarded the title of Sipinqing together with Liu Guangyi, and he had to walk in the upper hall, but few ministers had taken them seriously before. Especially after Tan Sitong's incident, he became more vigilant and rejected a lot.

At this time, all the officials showed extreme shrewdness, Yang Rui stood up at the risk of paying his life to clear his name, and made Emperor Guangxu stand up excitedly, and praised repeatedly: "Good! Very good! It's up to Yang Aiqing to share my worries! ”

At the critical moment, you can still rely on your own people!

Emperor Guangxu made a decision in his heart that he must vigorously promote and reuse a group of young officials and let them become his right-hand men. Li Hongzao and these old men can't be counted on, and the other people in the Wen Ting-style ....... His gaze turned on everyone, and his face couldn't help but turn cold.

These old gentlemen have a belly of splendid articles, but they all cherish their reputation more than the court and the emperor, and it is probably impossible to expect them to repay them.

Yang Rui bowed down and responded.

Emperor Guangxu waved his hand to signal the scattered dynasty. After all the ministers left, they sat among the dragon chairs as if they were scattered, and seemed to have exhausted their energy.

Yang Rui's movements were very fast, and after getting the special order, he immediately went to the embassy and consulate area in Dongjiaomin Lane, and went straight to the British Legation at the first stop.

Another channel, which was faster than him, spread the news to the Summer Palace. When the Empress Dowager heard this, she was furious: "As the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Meng Lang is so naïve!" Ask foreigners to intervene, isn't this leading the wolf into the house?! ”

After getting angry, she was also at a loss. really lost Li Hongzhang's old guy in front of her, and she knew how big the trouble was and how complicated the situation outside was! Without that buffer, what a hassle it would be!

The Empress Dowager Cixi rubbed her eyebrows irritably, thought for a long time, and ordered someone to send a telegram to Li Hongzhang to find an opportunity to negotiate with Yang Hao. In any case, hold him back and don't attack the capital first.

In addition, Rong Lu was ordered to negotiate with the ministers of various countries immediately, and he must not let those stunned young men in the court make an uncontrollable mess! (To be continued......)