He and a large group of Goryeo Confucian students were sent to Tianjin by steamboat by Li Hongzhang. Everyone else settled down, and he ran to the Beiyang Yamen to plead guilty. knew that he was a celebrity in front of Lord Zhongtang, and no one stopped him, so he came in and knelt down smoothly, but he knelt for half an hour.

As if he hadn't seen him, Li Hongzhang took care of himself to review the essays, write the chapters, and then simply read the newspaper.

Today, Guowen Bao is undoubtedly the first newspaper in the Far East and the world's first in Chinese, with a circulation of more than 100,000 copies, and this is still limited in printing. It was originally opened in four editions and eight editions, but now it has been increased to sixteen editions, and it is said that other professional supplements are being prepared. When the time comes, one newspaper and a variety of newspapers and periodicals, not to mention how prosperous.

Li Hongzhang usually glanced at it, but today he broke the article on the second page of the front page and crumpled it word by word. It seems that the content on it is more unfathomable than the saints' books.

In the entire hall, there was no movement at all, and Yuan Shikai did not dare to come out. Although his legs were numb on his knees, his back was stiff as if he was wrapped in cowhide, and he was cramping painfully, he gritted his teeth, and he didn't shake or hum.

Since he went to North Korea for more than ten years, he has never knelt to anyone again. Even if it is a festival to worship the ancestral hall, it is a matter of a minute or two. When you enter the court to pay homage to the emperor, you can still get up and talk back. Now he is so fat that he can't see his toes, and his ass can't reach his heels, but he has to stand upright, you can imagine how uncomfortable that posture is!

When you are tired, you have to sweat. The sweat dripping from the sideburns of his oily head and the tea bowl was full.

Yuan Shikai is cunning and tough, and knows that he must not complain at this time. In the future, when you go home to eat the old rice, or continue to be promoted on errands, it all depends on how the table is doing. Therefore, even if he kneels to death here, he gritted his teeth and stiffened!

For half an hour, Li Hongzhang suddenly sighed, put down the newspaper, and two awl-like gazes pierced Yuan Shikai's head, but his voice was extremely slow, and he said, "Raise your head." ”

Yuan Shikai shivered, straightened his neck with difficulty, raised his head and made eye contact with Li Hongzhang, and quickly lowered his head.

Li Hongzhang snorted coldly: "You are quite clever! Knowing my old man's temper, he doesn't quibble. Okay, with this attitude, the old man might as well give you a chance to exonerate. Say one, two, three, I'll let you go! ”

Yuan Shikai didn't say a word, and slammed his head on the ground: "Shikai is not doing things well, he is not strict in controlling Goryeo, and he is not aware of the changes of the Japanese, which has caused many changes, and he really deserves it, and he is at the disposal of Fu Xiang." ”

"Hehe, that's really righteous! I don't know, I think you have been wronged! ”

Li Hongzhang's mean temperament, his mouth is not forgiving at all, and the ridicule on his face can shame people with tender faces to death.

But Yuan Shikai's face is thicker than the city wall, so he simply didn't hear anything, and let you scold him.

Li Hongzhang was angry, threw the newspaper over, and said: "You said it yourself, these days, talking nonsense about the "Guowen Daily" has made the city stormy and boiling, and the old man has too late to wipe your ass!" I said you have a broken mouth, you can't be tighter?! ”

Yuan Shikai didn't dare to hide, but his lowered eyes lit up, and he understood the crux of the problem!

This old man doesn't care if he ran back without permission or was cheated back. The key is that a few days ago, he made bold remarks again and again, but he was slapped in the face again and again, which made the government and the opposition ridiculed. To be honest, when dealing with media reporters, there are only a few people in the Qing Dynasty who have experience in the Qing Dynasty, and there are only a few people in Li Hongzhang, who knows what the hearts of those bastards have!

Until now, he has completely shaped him into an incompetent and ignorant idiot! To this day, he fled back to China in disgrace, drawing a complete end to the whole process. He was convicted of being unfavorable. And Li Hongzhang was ridiculed by his political enemies because he didn't know anyone!

patted his conscience and said that Yuan Shikai thought that he was not doing badly, and if he was replaced by someone else, he would only show that he was uglier. However, who let him catch up by himself, if it wasn't for the "National News" against him, it would be unlucky.

At the same time, Yuan Shikai noticed that the front page of the newspaper in front of him was not black at all inside and out! The whole article is from the perspective of a bystander, describing how a group of "Russian soldiers" broke through the Japanese troops besieging the Outer Yamen, and coerced him and the Confucian scholars to rush out of Seoul. Even this process is ambiguous, and the focus turns to the fiasco of the Japanese army!

Yuan Shikai was quick-witted, and he could see at a glance that there were a lot of seemingly vague plots in it, which were actually even more cranky. If nothing else, where did the Russians come from? Why meddle? How the hell did the Japanese lose? What are the casualties? It's all a mystery!

Even the process of him and a group of Confucian scholars arriving in Yantai was not mentioned at all. Here, there are big articles!

These days, Yuan Shikai has worked hard to study the political situation. He knew very well that Li Hongzhang had always wanted to pull Russia down and use their hands to balance the threat of the Japanese army, so as to eliminate the crisis of war while talking and laughing. However, the Japanese did not listen to the shouts, negotiated openly, and secretly laid the knife, which made him miss several times.

This time, there is both human and material evidence, as long as it is confirmed that Russian Maozi is meddling in the affairs of Goryeo, then the mediation of Britain, France and the United States will change, and Japan will expand the war, and it will also have to think twice before acting!

It is equivalent to saying that Li Hongzhang saw that there was no way to save the diplomatic means, but he actually turned around!

Thinking about this, Yuan Shikai knew what he should do. He bowed his head deeply and replied with shame: "It's all to blame Shikai for not working weekdays and neglecting the way of cultivation." After asking Fu Xiang to punish him, he gave Shikai a chance to make meritorious contributions. ”

He has always called himself Shikai, not under the lowly standard or something, he just doesn't want to make things official. Although the old man is ruthless, he also misses the old, and he valued him so much back then, of course he won't give up lightly.

Li Hongzhang was very satisfied with his attitude, and did not have any excuses. Since he said the words of "wearing guilt and making meritorious service", it shows that he has realized his intentions. He said a "hmm" and said, "You guys, all of them are angry, and my old man doesn't have to worry about it every day!" Go back and appease those Goryeo Confucian students, they will be of great use in the future. In addition, where did the Goryeo Courtyard Jun go, and who is doing the work, put some effort into it, and check it out! ”

"Yes!" Yuan Shikai knew that this level was over. He gathered up the newspaper and held it in his hand, kowtowed respectfully, got up, walked backwards to the door, and cautiously turned to go out.

After completely getting out of the second door, he breathed a sigh of relief, took out a handkerchief to wipe the oil and sweat, straightened his waist, and the momentum of the Emperor of Goryeo returned to his body.

Zhang Peilun turned out from the side, with a touch of sarcasm on his face, looked at him coldly, and pointed to the newspaper in his hand very perfunctorily: "Go back and take a good look, your future is on the top!" ”

These words can be regarded as being passed on for Li Hongzhang, and Yuan Shikai can't help but express his gratitude.

He knew that Zhang Peilun looked down on him, but he didn't care about these unambitious scholars, these people had low eyes, and it was difficult to achieve great things. With a seemingly sincere smile on his face, Yuan Shikai took the initiative to invite: "Thank you, Brother Youqiao, for your advice." Can you give my little brother a chance to be a host and express my gratitude? ”

Zhang Peilun waved his hand: "Lord Yuan is busy with affairs, so there is no need!" He lifted his chin and pouted into the backyard.

Yuan Shikai was always smiling, his eyes narrowed into a slit, stared at the back of his head for a few seconds, and then turned to leave the Beiyang Yamen. The entourage at the door rushed up to ask for warmth, and when they saw his face and knew that there was no big problem, they were greatly relieved. Lao Yuan is about to fall, and they all have to run out of food.

Yuan Shikai waved his sleeves to drive people away, and said coldly: "Hurry up and find a decent bathhouse for your master to wash and scrub!" After cleaning up, the master will take you to Zizhulin Street to open foreign meat! ”

The entourage applauded. How did they know that Yuan Shikai's real purpose was to go to the lair of "Guowen Daily" to see in person, what was the origin of Yan Fuyan Youling, who had been unable to get along with him!

Zhang Peilun came to the second hall, saw Li Hongzhang's face, and found that the old man was calm as if nothing had happened, and he knew in his heart that this was forgiving Yuan Shikai. He suddenly felt a little unhappy, but he didn't dare to declare it, and respectfully reported: "Fu Xiang, someone has already investigated." The Goryeo scholars and the Yuan family insisted that the Russian soldiers sent them back. ”

Li Hongzhang twisted his beard and nodded: "Well, I have to say that." Otherwise, how would the old man handle them? So the heavy casualties of the Japanese, right? ”

"It shouldn't be bad! There are more photos of Yan Youling, the Japanese people are secretive, Bo Xing (Li Jingfangzi) listened overnight, and the Japanese people seem to be extremely nervous. He has even questioned the Russian Embassy. ”

Li Hongzhang's forehead wrinkled, and he smiled: "This time, the Russians can't think of ending up!" Hmph, one by one, the Ming Xiu plank road is dark Chen Cang, when I can't see it? Just want to eat good but refuse to be beaten, it's not that cheap! Go and make an appointment with Minister Cassini, I'll have to have a good fight with him!" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Peilun hurriedly wrote it down and reminded him, "If Sheng Xingsun handed it over, do you have to give an answer?" Now that the situation is becoming more and more urgent, the sailor is afraid that he can't wait. ”

Li Hongzhang's mood just got better and immediately turned bad, his beard pouted, and he snorted: "That kid named Yang Hao is really bold!" The deal is on the old man's head! ”

Just a few days ago, someone went to visit Sheng Xuanhuai with a letter from Yang Hao, saying that there was a way to provide a batch of no less than 500 rounds of 306mm Krupp breech gun grenades within a few days, or the latest high-power smokeless medicine. It can also provide assistance for Dingyuan, Zhenyuan and other ships to replace 120mm Armstrong rapid-fire guns.

In addition, for the war funds that are in short supply at the moment, we can also provide low-interest loans of no less than 2 million taels.

Sheng Xuanhuai was having a headache about this matter, and hurriedly reported to Li Hongzhang. The old man was furious when he heard it, how could he know about such a confidential situation again!