When foreign officials enter Beijing, they have always paid attention to "bringing more money and more people", which has been the rule for hundreds of years. Bringing more money is for the sake of going from the military plane to the six small Beijing officials, and those who are slightly related to Yin, Nian, Township, and Shiyi must give red envelopes, and it is estimated that there are many major events to be resolved, and there must be a lot of folding documents to be done temporarily. Even Li Hongzhang, who is the "first governor of the world" as a feudal official, is naturally no exception, and even the cost is even worse than others.

In a certain way, Li Hongzhang was not even willing to enter Beijing -- the cost of entering Beijing was too great, not to mention the cost of more than a dozen ships before and after entering Beijing, that is, this kind of red envelope could not be sustained at all without 40,000 or 50,000 taels each time, and if he entered Beijing three or four times a year, the cost alone would be no less than 200,000 or 300,000 taels.

But there is a will to summon you, but you can't see it, and the first major thing to do when you enter Beijing is to see your majesty. According to the custom, he entered the Chongwen Gate and galloped to the palace gate to ask for peace. Li Hongzhang wore his own clothes, but he carried a sedan chair all the way, and came slowly, without the slightest color of wind and dust, a new royal blue satin robe, a yellow coat given by the emperor, and a sable brim warm hat with dazzling eyes on his head, lining his clear figure, ruddy complexion and white and black eyebrows, looking really like a fairy among the gods.

But in his heart, Li Hongzhang muttered for no other reason -- when the situation in Beijing was in the middle of the meeting, he had been a Xinjiang minister for so many years, and he didn't know how to pursue advantages and avoid disadvantages, but when the will came, he couldn't come.

In the past, although he knew that for decades, the interests of the people in the house had long been intertwined and did not allow outsiders to get involved, but he didn't expect that those people would be short-sighted, and would rather push Tang Haoran, who he originally intended to be of great use, but had some concerns, to push out rather than enter the mansion.

At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai sent people to operate in Beijing in his name, trying to release Tang Haoran out, he didn't know, but he could only pretend not to see it, after all, Sheng Xuanhuai had been in charge of foreign affairs for him for so many years, and he was afraid that Tang Haoran would take his place when he came. Although he is annoyed, there are some things that he can only pretend not to know, and the things in this house are the things that he is the master of, and sometimes he can only pretend to be deaf and dumb.

But what really made him uneasy was the "New Deal", which was what worried him the most.

On the one hand, after so many years of foreign affairs, he knew that the Qing Dynasty had already reached the time when he had to implement the new policy, on the other hand, Li Hongzhang was not optimistic about the new policy, not because of Tang Haoran, or because he let him preside over the new policy, the candidate he could think of was still Tang Haoran, if he changed to someone else, he was not sure, although he was young, but he was extremely stable, unlike ordinary scholars who were just empty talk and full of enthusiasm, no political strategy and experience, and lacked the least wrist.

The most fundamental reason is that he understands Guangxu as a person. As a courtier, it is not good for the emperor to have a direct evaluation. But after reading so many history books and being an official for so many years, Li Hongzhang knows that in the Great Qing Dynasty, the emperor himself is too important to the future of the country. It can even be said that the lifeblood of a country is tied to one person. But what kind of person is this emperor who is tied together? He is pedantic and cowardly, weak-willed, and nervous, and his character, talent, and willpower are not capable of taking on great responsibilities, let alone turning things around.

How can Li Hongzhang, who has insight into human feelings, not understand this?

And the most important thing is that in the matter of the New Deal, the Queen Mother's mind is still like the needle under the sea, which is incomprehensible, this is the most important, and the rest is not important.

It was with such a complicated mentality that Li Hongzhang came to the capital and waited for the summons of the Queen Mother.

Jiang Chen entered the pilgrimage, before seeing the car, as usual will not be a guest or a guest, so the palace gate invited peace, and then returned to the Xianliang Temple to rest. I got up in the middle of the night, tied up and stopped, and entered the palace at the right time. King Alcohol had already sent someone to wait at Donghua Gate, beckoned him to the court room of the Internal Affairs Mansion, opened a special room for King Alcohol, and invited him to rest.

As soon as I sat down, I heard someone outside the door ask:

"Did Li Zhongtang's please An excerpt be handed over?"

As soon as he heard the voice of King Alcohol, Li Hongzhang hurriedly got up and went out to greet him, since King Gong fell, he has been enveloping King Alcohol in order to get closer to the relationship between the two, especially in the case of Weng Changshu's step by step, King Alcohol has even become his only reliance in the court. Sula opened the door curtain, and when he met him, Li Hongzhang asked for a greeting at the door, and the alcohol king stepped into the door with a long bow and took his hand to greet him.

"You look good!"

The Alcohol King looked at it sideways.

"I seem to be in better spirits than I was last year."

"Thanks to the king! The prince is also much plumper than last year. ”

"It's not thanks to you, there is nothing wrong with external affairs and internal affairs, if something happens, it will have to come! Hey......"

King Alcohol sighed, the murder of the Japanese Legation Counselor a while ago really made him nervous for a while, and this was the first incident since he entered the court.

"Then there is a peaceful birthday, and if you don't die, you can peel off your skin!"

No one knew where the sigh of the alcohol king came from, but fortunately he just sighed, and then he said.

"I've been looking forward to you, and I asked yesterday. I'm afraid you'll have to stay a few more days. ”

"Yes! Hongzhang plans to spend half a month working with the prince, and wants to ask the prince to teach. ”

"You're welcome! Let's talk to each other. Shaoquan, you have to do me a favor. ”

"The prince is serious! As long as it is within its reach, Hongzhang is not as good as his life. ”

The alcohol king nodded, hesitated and stopped, and finally said with difficulty.

"I'm in a difficult situation. Let's talk about it later! ”

Li Hongzhang knew in his heart that the alcohol king had something to say, and it was inconvenient to say it at this time, so he talked about some irrelevant things. About an hour later, the imperial guards came to deliver the edict:

"Summoned by the Queen Mother."

Although the Empress Dowager did not hang the curtain, she still saw the ministers in Shouning Palace, so Li Hongzhang entered Shouning Palace with the imperial guards, and this Empress Dowager Cixi wore a magenta satin cheongsam, which was just a glimpse. After walking a few times, I have approached the mat, knelt down to remove the crown, met and asked the Holy Ann, how the Empress Dowager Cixi had as usual, how the harvest was abundant, the people's livelihood was suffering, and whether the living was comfortable. Of course, this "greeting" between monarchs and ministers is complicated and simple from person to person, time and place. If it is rare to enter the Hajj for several years, once they meet, they will naturally warm their condolences and endlessly, Li Hongzhang has not seen him for a few months, and the situation in Gyeonggi, the Empress Dowager Cixi is often inquiring, so there is no need to say so much gossip.

"I came to you this time to discuss a lot of important things."

The Empress Dowager Cixi confessed her wish before getting to the point.

"The emperor has been in power for almost a year, and although the responsibility of the mourning family has been relieved. I often think that after more than 20 years of hard work, under the painstaking management of you and all the ministers, this Qing Dynasty has only improved a little, and now it is handed over to the emperor Although it is a peaceful world, but in the end, I am still a little worried! ”

"Queen Mother Shengming!"

Li Hongzhang hurriedly complimented.

"Over the years, the Qing Dynasty has been able to prosper, thanks to the Queen Mother's personal work, the Sacred Heart is wise, if it weren't for the Queen Mother, our Qing Kingdom would not be where it is today."

"Li Hongzhang, your credit is no better than others, I know it."

Empress Dowager Cixi looked at Li Hongzhang and said.

"The long hair and twist have been flat for almost 30 years, and now a group of juniors, do you know the difficulties that our monarchs and ministers struggled to support back then? Hey, don't talk about this, that thing, you know! ”

In the rest of the year, Li Hongzhang has already understood that the queen mother is giving way to the emperor in many things, but how can there be no complaints in his heart, after all, ...... That is not her own son, and now what she is referring to must be the emperor's preparation for the trial of the new policy, and sure enough, as she guessed before, the matter is in the new policy, so she cautiously bumped into the head and said:

"Queen Mother, if the country wants to implement a new policy, the minister can only make extra efforts and try to repay the service, and never dare to have a trace of complaints."

"Anyone who contributes with sincerity, there is no need to be afraid of me!"

This sentence is An Li Hongzhang's heart, and it is also his heart, tell him, he will support him, the Empress Dowager Cixi paused for a moment and said.

Empress Dowager Cixi asked.

"Have you ever seen the twists and turns of the provinces?"

"Yes! Prince Alcohol copied it to his ministers. The provinces should follow the line of the trial implementation of the new policy of the state and the dynasty, and there are differences between them, but they should set up a special yamen, especially simple and pro-vassal, and take charge of the overall situation, and everyone's views are no different. ”

Li Hongzhang next put forward his own opinion,

"The minister thinks that it is a trial trial, the central manager should not interfere too much, watch from the sidelines, if it is out of the circle, and then reprimand, it is better than directly intervene, after all, how to run this new policy, there is no conclusion in the court, in the opinion of the minister, the new policy is tried out, the winner can be used, and the loser can also be used as a reference."

Of course, the Empress Dowager Cixi could hear the meaning of his words, but she didn't talk about people but things first.

"Zhang Zhidong's excerpt only arrived two days ago. I don't know if you saw it? ”

"The minister saw ......"

The copy of the original music was received by him on his way to Tongzhou. Zhang Zhidong's twists and turns have always been fearful of endless words, and thousands of words are often spoken. In terms of the implementation of the new policy and how the imperial court controls it, it is the first thing to say, but in Li Hongzhang's view, it is purely a scholar who exaggerates for the sake of rhetoric.

However, now that Zhang Zhidong is the queen and the emperor, Li Hongzhang is afraid of provoking the Empress Dowager Cixi, so he does not dare to criticize harshly, so he only refutes him on the fundraising side.

"As far as fundraising is concerned, the implementation of the new policy and the training of the new land and water division require 8 million taels of silver, 4 million taels of silver from the imperial court, and 4 million taels of local self-raised.

At the mention of money, the Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but sigh.

"Isn't it, the court owes a lot of foreign debts over the years, how can you get it?"

"What the Queen Mother said is extremely true."

Li Hongzhang hurriedly took the opportunity to degrade Zhang Zhidong.

"If the court has to pay the silver, it will have to raise foreign debts, but if the new policy is tried out and implemented throughout the country, then all provinces will need silver, and how will the court pay this silver."

"Li Hongzhang, you are extremely right!"

The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded thoughtfully, on the matter of the new deal, she thought about it and still couldn't let go of the emperor, this country has been maintained by her for decades, in case the emperor comes by temperament and ruins the national situation, how can it be a good, but she can't let outsiders see the joke, so she thought of Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang is a person with ideas, he naturally knows what to do.

"Zhang Zhidong has always liked to work on a large scale, and he is a little careless, and in this matter, there is something inappropriate."

"What the Queen Mother said is extremely true, borrowing foreign debts is by no means a good strategy for the country."

Listening to the tone of the Queen Mother, Li Hongzhang vaguely guessed the Queen Mother's thoughts, and the Queen Mother was also in a dilemma in handling Xinzheng. The empress dowager was in a dilemma, on the one hand, she was worried that Weng Tonghe would take control of the government in the name of running a new policy, so as to make the "imperial party bigger", but on the other hand, the empress dowager did not know the situation of the Qing Dynasty, so she naturally understood that this new deal should be done. Of course, this is not the root, the root is that now that the emperor has been in power for less than a year, the queen mother cannot directly return to the emperor in this matter, so that the ministers can look at the discord between the "mother and son".

Li Hongzhang, who finally guessed the thoughts of the Queen Mother, suddenly felt like he was on the fire--now the Queen Mother just put herself on the fire!

If he sees the queen mother today, the queen mother will return to the emperor's mind of doing a new policy, and the emperor's resentment will naturally fall on him, and the old grudge with the small-bellied chicken intestine Weng Tong is still old and new hatred is added!

The Queen Mother!

This royal method is really ...... Although he complained from the bottom of his heart, Li Hongzhang knew that he couldn't hide from this matter, and he couldn't hide, otherwise, he would be offended on both sides!

Li Hongzhang, who only felt that he was placed on the fire rack, immediately hung his head and thought about it, in his thinking about things, Cixi was not as good as that, she drank tea there with a teacup, she knew that with Li Hongzhang's cleverness, she must have guessed her own thoughts, this will be silent, she must be there to think of an idea for herself.

For a moment there was silence in the room, except for the occasional clatter of cups and saucers, there was no other sound, and I don't know how long it took for the silence to be broken.

"Although the imperial court has no money to run a new policy now, this new policy must be done after all, and it is good to open source the new policy, as long as the imperial court is willing to delegate power to the locality, there will be no negative queen mother and emperor if you want to come to Xinjiang."

The reason why he said this, Li Hongzhang has his own plans, in the matter of the new deal, he can neither let the emperor be unable to step down, let alone let the queen mother not be able to relax, if not, whether it is a grudge over there, it is he, the minister of Beiyang, who suffers in the end.

"Li Hongzhang, then in what you mean, this new deal must be done!"

The tone was slightly pulled, the Empress Dowager Cixi paused slightly, looked at Li Hongzhang and said, could it be that he didn't understand what he meant?

"Queen Mother, now this foreigner is looking for trouble for us all day long, so this new deal is always going to be done, but the question is what to do? The minister has an idea, I don't know whether to say it or not! ”