Chapter 204

The sizzling of raindrops dripping down the eaves echoed outside the study, and the atmosphere was a little strange. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There was a light rain in Tianjin today, and when he returned home, Li Jingshu's hair had been stained with a lot of raindrops, and his thick black hair was wet by the rain, and the cold raindrops slipped from the ends of his hair, passed through the back of his neck, and fell between the collars, and he looked at his silent father and his brother who was drinking tea with a teacup, opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak, at this time, he was even a little disappointed in his heart - after he returned home, his father just asked casually, and there was no more concern, although his brother still cared for him, but after all, he ......

There was no written letter, not even the scripture that brought him back to Tianjin with too many words, but just a sentence that said, "Is everything okay with Lord Zhongtang?" , this sentence looks simple, but what is the meaning behind this sentence?

Based on his understanding of Tang Ziran, Li Hongzhang knows that he is playing dumb with himself, and whether this is a question of whether he is getting his wish now, well, almost! If Tang Ziran was in front of him, Li Hongzhang might say half-mockingly, "Accept your affection, everything is fine", admit affection? What are you kidding, he Tang Ziran pushed the big guy's head to the execution ground, if it weren't for the court's lack of support, maybe it would be a matter of whether everyone's head could be saved.

Okay, now that Tang Ziran has put the scripture back, that is, to tell himself a fact - adult, you have got your wish, and it is time to keep the little request of the little one. But the question is...... What does he want!

This is Li Hongzhang's biggest headache now, on the one hand. He needs to keep Tang Haoran and use it as a tool to tear off the face of the imperial court. In the future, it is also necessary to use it as a reminder that the imperial court still has a "two hundred and five" to watch, so that it will not dare to act rashly. On the other hand, Li Hongzhang does not want it to become bigger, after all, now, he has the ability to challenge Beiyang. There is only Tang Haoran's North Korean army.

The North Korean army will never enter the customs and not a single soldier?

The so-called promise is just a joke, in the future, the North Korean army will change its name, will it still be the North Korean army? Li Hongzhang, who has been playing with words for decades, doesn't know how to play with words. The most important thing is strength, and now no one in the Qing Kingdom can control him on land, even if it is the Huai army...... When the Taiping Army and the Twist Army were exterminated, the Huai Army was all imported foreign guns. The rest of the troops were shotguns. is too strong, so it seems that the Huai army is very powerful, and it is said to be invincible.

But this so-called invincibility has now been torn off by Tang Haoran's Korean army, in fact, in the process of "recovering Ryukyu", the Japanese army was only a wing of garrisons, and it had taught the Huai army a profound lesson. The 10th battalion of the Huai Army was chased and beaten by it, if it were not for Yuan Shikai's first standard, the rescue of Taiwan's new army was urgent. I am afraid that the face of the Qing Kingdom will really be lost to a foreign country.

But without waiting for Li Hongzhang to reflect on the inferior performance of the 12th Battalion Huai Army in the Ryukyus in the face of the Japanese army under the Western military system, Tang Haoran moved his hand here, when he was in Ryukyu, the 12th Battalion Huai Army was only facing a temporary wing with a lack of guns and artillery, which was still being chased and beaten by it with a bayonet charge, and now it was Tang Haoran's 100,000 tiger and wolf army that needed to be faced.

100,000 tigers and wolves!

Li Hongzhang did not know whether Tang Haoran had so many soldiers in the past, but one thing he was sure of was that he definitely had these soldiers in his hands now, and maybe even far more than that -- the Huai army, the Feng army, and the Yi army that were captured by him alone were as brave as 50,000 or 60,000, and surrendering was always the fastest way to expand his strength. Back then, he Li Hongzhang was able to collect and surrender bandits and twist bandits, and today he Tang Haoran can naturally surrender the Huai army.

This new army ...... You have to practice!

He had already instructed Yuan Shikai to train a new army in Taiwan, and even transferred nearly 7,000 Huai troops from the 12 battalions of the Ryukyus to his command for training and enriching the new army in Taiwan. But the question is that before the new army is trained, who can stop him Tang Haoran's 100,000 elites?

The imperial court naturally hopes that Li Hongzhang will block, even the governors of various places may also hope so, but for Li Hongzhang, the most important thing at the moment is to maintain his strength, so as to keep the position of the "first governor of the world".

It is precisely because of this that he can't allow Tang Haoran to sit big, if Tang Haoran sits big, then when the time comes, it will not be a good thing for Beiyang? It's good to have a dog, but you can't hurt the owner, after thinking about it for a long time, Li Hongzhang raised his eyes to look at Li Jingshu, who looked a little nervous, noticed the strangeness in his face, and knew that his son had a weak personality, so he asked softly.

"According to the scriptures, in your opinion, what does Tang Ziran want?"

Why?

was asked by his father like this, Li Jingshu couldn't help but be stunned, and only spoke after a while.

"Why, from the child's point of view, Tang Ziran's plot is definitely not Guannei,"

At least not yet, adding from the bottom of my heart, Li Jingshu's words paused slightly, looked at his father and took a deep breath, and then said seriously.

"In the child's opinion, the person he is plotting must be the three eastern provinces!"

The three eastern provinces, although the three places of Shengjing, Jilin, and Heilongjiang in the northeast have not yet been established as provinces, but they have long been said to be "the three eastern provinces", and now the term "three eastern provinces" is more common, such as Cao Tingjie's "Three Eastern Provinces Map Theory" seven years ago, that is, the three places in the eastern part of the country are called the "three eastern provinces", which will be naturally used by Li Jingshu.

"The Three Eastern Provinces!"

Li Jingshu's words made Li Hongzhang and Li Jingfang stunned, and Li Jingfang even exclaimed.

"This ...... Didn't he know that the three eastern provinces were the land of the imperial court's dragon xing? If you want the three eastern provinces, he's crazy, isn't he? ”

The northeastern region where the three provinces of Mukden, Jilin and Heilongjiang are located is the birthplace of the Manchurians. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, it took the three eastern provinces as special zones, and its administrative system was very different from that of the inland provinces. In order to prevent the Han people from getting involved in its "land of Longxing", the Qing court implemented a ban policy in the northeast, prohibiting the Han people from emigrating and cultivating the land, and taking the customs outside the customs as the royal forbidden land, which was self-contained.

Until the end of the Qing Dynasty, with the relaxation of the Qing government's ban policy. Of course, the more important reason is the weakness of the imperial court, the displaced people have been out of the customs one after another, and the Russians are worried about getting involved. This forced the imperial court to ban outside the customs and allow the displaced people to settle in the three eastern provinces. Even so, the three eastern provinces are always the land of Longxing in terms of the imperial court, and he Tang Ziran wants the three eastern provinces, how easy it is to talk about, not to mention anything else, that is, those old and young banners will sit back and watch the land of Longxing as a "rebel" to invade and occupy.

Compared to Li Jingfang's surprise. Li Hongzhang seemed very calm, he just asked quietly.

"Is that what he meant? Or did you guess it? ”

This is what Li Hongzhang is most concerned about, and for the imperial court, the "three eastern provinces" may be the land of Longxing. But after all, it is only "outside the Guan", if Tang Ziran is unstoppable, this court may not consider letting the "three eastern provinces" with it, especially now. Now the imperial court, which is full of soldiers, has no trust in the local officials. If Tang Ziran forces the capital, the imperial court will naturally consider cutting the land and negotiating peace, how can Li Hongzhang, who knows the essence of the imperial court, not know?

But the question is -- what kind of impact will he Tang Ziran have on Beiyang if he gets the "three eastern provinces"? Will it sit big because of this?

As for the "land of dragon prosperity" of the imperial court, it is not considered at all.

"This ...... This is the child's guess. ”

Of course, this is Li Jingshu's speculation, in fact, Tang Haoran has not directly expressed to him that he wants the three eastern provinces.

However, judging from the meaning of the child's words when he talked to him, it was not only a dismissal, but also a certain reward. Combined with its imitation of the local affairs department in Fengtian, the Civil Affairs Department was established. Appointing civil affairs officials and transferring a large number of officials to Fengtian, Jilin and other places, the child thought that what he planned was the three eastern provinces! ”

Li Jingshu's analysis was quite reasonable, nodded slightly, and Li Hongzhang, who knew that what he said was the truth, pondered for a moment, then looked at Li Jingshu and asked rhetorically.

"After speaking, do you think these three northeastern provinces should be handed over to Tang Haoran?"

"You can't give it to you!"

The refusal in Li Jingshu's mouth was completely unexpected by Li Hongzhang and Li Jingfang, in their opinion, he would definitely agree to hand over the three provinces to Tang Ziran, how could he refuse?

"Father, Tang Ziran, in North Korea, can still be subject to the land of foreign domains, but if you go to the Northeast, although it seems to be outside the border, it is actually the land of China, and after more than ten years of construction, who can match him in the world?"

If there are outsiders, I am afraid that some people will scoff and refute it, how can there be a saying in this world that it will increase the prestige of others and destroy their own ambition, but the problem is that there are no outsiders here, Li Hongzhang knows better than anyone else, where is the Beiyang trapped now, as for Li Jingfang's experience in Japan, it makes him know very well what is the most important business in Fang's current life.

In this case, Li Jingshu's words only attracted a burst of agreement between the two, but isn't it, in North Korea, Tang Haoran started to do things, and he was still subject to foreign domains and could not show his strength, but if he went to the Northeast, the situation would be very different, he could let go of his fists and feet to build, and the biggest threat to Beiyang more than ten years later was probably Tang Haoran who was based on the three northeastern provinces.

"But if he doesn't give him the northeast, how can he easily stop the army?"

Asking rhetorically, Li Jingfang's brows suddenly furrowed, this is exactly the current inexplicability, and giving it to the three northeastern provinces will undoubtedly make it like a tiger, and not give it ...... They have already fought down, how can it be so easy to make them retreat?

"What if you give him somewhere else?"

Li Jingshu asked tentatively, but his suggestion only made Li Jingfang shake his head helplessly and sigh.

"In this situation, among the eight governors, how can anyone be willing to Tang Ziran to get involved in his land, if he is said to reward his merits, I am afraid that there will only be the anger of the imperial court, after all, the three eastern provinces are the imperial court places."

If you don't give it, if you don't give it, you can't give it, his brows are tightly locked, looking at the two sons who have no idea, Li Hongzhang's face showed a trace of sadness, and then said in a low tone:

"Now, the most worrying thing is probably not Tang Ziran, but ......"

After a pause, he smiled helplessly.

"Some people, maybe Tang Ziran's mind has been moved by now!"

In a wry smile, Li Hongzhang walked to the window, looking at the rain outside the window, the helplessness on his face became stronger, he was not the only governor of the Qing Dynasty, the "eight governors of the world" now look at it as a concerted effort, but it is a struggle for power with the imperial court, but in fact, the eight people have different thoughts, that is, the brother in Guangdong...... The human heart has always been like this.

Li Hongzhang, who has been up and down in officialdom for decades, doesn't know that there are no people among the local governors who have tried to challenge him? This "No. 1 Governor of the World" is just a name, it is this false name, and people have hot eyes in the past, let alone now?

"Father, do you say it's Zhang Xiangtao?"

Although he seems to be extremely docile, Li Jingshu was born in the Li Mansion after all, and he was used to seeing officialdom, and when he heard his father say this, he immediately contacted Tang Haoran and Zhang Zhidong's old friends.

Nodding silently, Li Hongzhang sighed.

Among the eight governors, the most ambitious person should be Zhang Xiangtao, and Zhang Xiangtao's Huguang has both the prosperity of the people, and the benefits of fish and rice, and Tang Haoran's legacy of the ban on smoking and the "boat, coal, silk, cotton" four policies, although the ban on smoking is only for its turn into a policy to collect money, but every year it can make Huguang empty into millions of taels of silver, as for the boat, coal, silk, cotton, there are successes and losses, but according to the ability to enrich the treasury, on the financial resources of the provinces should be the number of lakes and widely! ”

When mentioning Huguang's financial resources, Li Hongzhang's face was full of gloom, which was precisely the deficiency of Beiyang, he had been doing foreign affairs for decades, but those foreign affairs were scattered throughout the country, as for the foreign affairs of the Zhili, except for a coal mine and the manufacturing bureau, the others were far from being comparable to Hubei, and more importantly, the financial resources of the Zhili were far from being comparable with Huguang.

In addition, the foreign factories such as the Hanyang Iron Works, the Gun Factory and the Shipyard that he is running have tens of millions of financial resources to rely on, and there are foreign factories to help, how can Zhang Xiangtao not show his ambitions? And Tang Ziran is still out of Huguang after all......"

After this sigh, the sadness between Li Hongzhang's eyebrows became even thicker. Seeing his father's worried look, Li Jingshu hurriedly persuaded him.

"Father, I think that he will never be driven by Zhang Xiangtao, after all, Zhang Xiangtao was responsible for him first, if it weren't for his ......"

"If it weren't for him, how could Tang Ziran be today?"

With a mocking sigh, Li Hongzhang turned around and glanced at his young son.

"Tang Ziran may not be willing to be driven by it, but Zhang Xiangtao may not be driven by him, for Zhang Xiangtao, what he wants is not to let Tang Ziran serve him as a dog and horse, all he wants is to use it as a constraint for Beiyang!"

For Zhang Xiangtao, the biggest threat is Beiyang, not for other governors, as for Tang Ziran, it is just a matter of tomorrow, and now Beiyang ...... Li Hongzhang, who showed a sad look on his face, smiled bitterly again.

"Now Beiyang is their trouble! As for him Tang Ziran, he is not the best person to restrain Beiyang! ”

(There is only one shift today, and the double shift will be resumed tomorrow, I hope everyone can support the speechless, thank you!) Weakly ask for a fixed reading and monthly pass, whether you are looking at the genuine version or not! The Empire's Sunrise Reader Exchange Group: 150536833 welcome you to join) (To be continued.) )