On the contrary, on the contrary, they had to make inroads and put forward the demand that their relatives should not interfere in politics, and they demanded that they should meet the emperor in person, and everyone should personally analyze the pros and cons for the emperor in front of the emperor.

No matter how much he persuaded him, he couldn't listen to it, no matter how he said it, at this moment, even the good-tempered Li Yongchang was angry, and at the same time he was angry, he became more and more anxious, after all, he knew Li Yongji's plan.

This is the same as Li Yongji expected, after all, there were too many similar things in his previous life, and most of the petitioners were those whose vested interests were damaged or those who hoped to benefit, if it was so easy to convince, then what was the use of the army and the police?

Although on the surface, the scholars of these petitions are not quite the same as the people's petitions of later generations, and they are a force demanding restoration, a force that is turning back the clock on history, and do not represent an advanced force, in Li Yongji's view, there is no essential difference between the two regardless of whether they are going backwards or speeding up sharply, and they are all at odds with the opinions of the ruling party, and they are eager to change the ruling party's governing strategy, or even change themselves to power.

It is useless to say good things about these people, because the differences of opinion between the two sides are too great, and this is not something that can be done well by compromise, and the more good things are said, the more hope they feel, and the more they will gain an inch.

What's more, most of the compromises take place when there is little difference in the strength of the two sides, or in order to win public opinion, but the current situation is that the broad masses of the middle and lower strata of the people are quite satisfied, and those who are not satisfied are the old bureaucrats and old intellectuals who have lost power.

That is to say, don't look at the tens of thousands of them, it seems that public opinion is surging, but in fact, they are all their own protégés, and there are even some domestic slaves and servants who are serving, none of the real people are involved, and not many people know what they are going to do, but they are all watching the show on the side.

It's in this kind of anxiety and ridicule. When the time specified by Li Yongji came, at this time, Li Yongchang continued to play his good-tempered nature, and he was obviously scolded and angry, but he actually entered the palace again to petition, hoping to give those people some more time.

Li Yongji was a little speechless for his brother's strange insistence, obviously his brother was just a child in the past, okay? What kind of scholar do you say, what is the use of sympathizing with these people?

However, Li Yongji couldn't say these words directly, he just said them to his brother. He is now the emperor, and he must pay attention to the impact of his every move, and if he says it, it is Chrysostom, if he can't go back on his word at every turn, then who will listen to him in the future?

After moving out of this big hat, Li Yongchang really stopped persuading, just sighed and drank tea on the side, and seemed to be still struggling with this matter.

For Li Yongchang's table xiàn. Li Yongji is actually a little dissatisfied, after all, his brother's personality is too soft, a bit like the little man in Shanghai in later generations.

It's okay for such a person to be a good person, but to be the head of government of a country. It's a little inappropriate, especially now that the fledgling Chinese Empire needs to be decisive, and it's especially inappropriate for him to do this.

Maybe it's going to be said. Didn't Li Yongchang do a good job when he was fighting the reactionaries before? Why is it softening at this time?

In fact, through some side attacks, he also knew some of the inside stories of the original crackdown on the reactionaries. It turned out that the matter was not brought up by Li Yongchang at the earliest. It was proposed by Wang Tianzhong, and then won Li Zhengxiang's strong support.

At that time, Li Yongchang didn't know much about these things, and he was not really at the helm, but he was pushed to the forefront, and he actually listened to his father behind the scenes, and at the same time thought that these people really wanted to conspire against his family, so he agreed to carry out the so-called suppression of reactionaries.

However, Li Yongchang was young after all, and when the action against the reactionaries was in full swing and showed a picture of expansion, he was frightened by the consequences of this incident, especially the tragic stories of the separation of wives and wives in it, which touched his sympathy, so he later strongly advocated stopping the expansion of the crackdown on the reactionaries.

The fact that the crackdown on reactionary activities could be stopped so quickly and whether it could have become a prairie fire was also inseparable from Li Yongchang's timely stopping; otherwise, it would not have been possible for only so many people to crack down on reactionaries.

Moreover, it seems that it was also affected by that incident, Li Yongchang was always too lenient with readers later, otherwise, there would not have been a book on the bus.

In other words, if it weren't for Li Yongchang's connivance at the beginning, the book on the bus would not have happened at all. If it weren't for Li Yongchang's original request that the police not interfere with the petitioning activities of the scholars, the police would have suppressed this kind of disturbance long ago, and it is absolutely impossible for tens of thousands of people to gather to petition.

But now, all the preparations have been done a long time ago, so when Li Yongji gave the order, the current head of the police headquarters immediately took action and started the clearance operation codenamed Sweep.

The head of the police headquarters is Lin Guangming, the younger brother of Li Yongji's brother-in-law Lin Guangyao, and the ruthless man who once jumped into a dung pit in the battle of Suzhou at that time.

After this guy escaped the catastrophe, he began to actively participate in political activities, thanks to his affinity with Li Yongji, and Li Yongji basically didn't care about administrative matters, most of them were responsible for Li Zhengxiang and others at that time, and most of them promoted their own private individuals, so Lin Guangming, a young boy, quickly climbed to a high position.

Maybe it's because the things of that year are too unforgettable, so Lin Guangming is very obsessed with guns, and originally wanted to join the army, but his brother and sister-in-law didn't let him live or die, after all, the Lin family was the only one except Lin Guangyao, and they didn't want Lin Guangming to enter the dangerous place of the army.

Although it was not dangerous to be a soldier in the Jingwu Army at that time, Li Yongji was personally in charge of the army, and he had to run around all day long, and he couldn't see anyone, and he had to suffer a lot, so Lin Guangming finally compromised.

After that, Li Yongji's sister came forward in person, Li Zhengxiang made the decision, and Li Yongchang came forward to sign the order, and finally made Lin Guangming the director of the Suzhou Police Department.

After Lin Guangming became the director of the Suzhou Police Department, his worksheet was not bad, almost all of his food and accommodation were in the bureau, and he was very good at listening to the opinions of the people under him, and he quickly mastered the process of the police, or the arrest of the yamen, and became more and more proficient.

And, thanks to their own identity. Lin Guangming was able to get enough funds, so the Suzhou Police Department was the most subsidized police station in the Jiangnan area, and the number of people was also the largest, with a full 3,000 people, and the equipment was also first-class.

It is precisely because Lin Guangming can get enough funds that he works hard and is full of energy. The rewards and punishments are clear, and they are jealous and hateful, so the top and bottom of the Suzhou Police Department are very convinced of the young Lin Guangming, and they are nicknamed Xiao Qingtian.

Thanks to the efforts of the Suzhou police, the security in Suzhou is also the best place in the whole Jiangnan area, even better than Shanghai.

In the end, when Li Yongji ascended the throne and became emperor, thanks to his excellent performance, he was promoted to the head of the police headquarters. became a minister-level officer, and also obtained the title of baron, he can be called a baron, and he can be regarded as a rare young talent among the royal relatives.

By the way. In the Chinese Empire, the hereditary title system of the nobility was only six ranks, that is, king, duke, marquis, uncle, son, and male, and other lifelong non-hereditary titles. There was only one Lord.

Moreover, the title system of the Chinese Empire did not use the traditional Chinese system, but learned from the West and Britain. It is no longer divided into one or two levels, that is, each title is a title, and it is no longer a first-class baron, a second-class baron.

The reason for this is, of course, for simplicity, and for the common people to have a clear understanding of the title.

Because in Li Yongji's view, the role of the knighthood is to highlight your status, to commend your contributions, and to let others know your contributions and know how awesome you are, which is essentially a pretending thing.

Since the title is for pretending to be a forced thing, it is best to keep it simple, if you make it too complicated, such as a first-class and second-class light car captain, the name is tall, but it is not down-to-earth, ordinary people can't understand it, and they can't understand it, so naturally they don't know how good you are.

On the contrary, it is the king, the prince, the marquis, the uncle, the son, the male, and a lord, which is catchy and clear at a glance, everyone knows which one is big and which is small, and it is also conducive to the understanding of foreigners and the introduction of foreign aid.

Not to mention anything else, like that Karlsson. Feng. Anderson, who has now joined the nationality of the Chinese Empire, has given himself a Chinese name, changed his name to Li Ansong, and has been named a baron of the Chinese Empire because of his special contributions.

There is also that Wall, who also joined the nationality of the Chinese Empire, and because of his contributions, he was made a lord, and like Karlsson, he also got a Chinese name, called Wall.

The other members of the original foreign guns have basically all joined the nationality of the Chinese Empire, and now they have been organized into a new army, called the "White Dawn International Column", the commander-in-chief of the column is Li Ansong, the deputy commander is Wall, the headquarters is in Qingpu, and the members are all white people from all over the world, and the total number of people has exceeded 2,000 at present.

In short, this time, in order to suppress the petitioners who wrote on the bus, Lin Guangming personally led the team, led more than 3,000 policemen, plus 20,000 National Guards selected from the Suzhou Construction Corps, all armed with sticks, shields and ropes and whips wrapped in white cloth, lined up in rows of military formations, roared step by step, and pressed fiercely towards those petitioners who surrounded Yonghua Palace.

The so-called step by step roar means that the team in an array takes a step together, and then shouts "retreat" at the same time, as soon as this formation comes out, more than one-third of the petitioners retreat and quietly slip away.

However, those who remained were finally regained their steadied by the hoarseness of some of the key Confucians, and began to impassionedly pull up the human wall, shouting around for help, and preparing to fight these police officers and the National Guard.

It may seem to these people that these people are just scaring them, and they don't dare to really do anything to so many scholars.

In their minds, even the emperor's elder brother, the prime minister of the State Council, personally came forward to talk to them calmly, how dare these dogs really touch them.

Seeing that the other party didn't know how to lift, and wanted to fight at this point, Lin Guangming just smiled at this, and then waved his hand lightly, and gave the order to clear the general attack.

Amid the piercing high-frequency whistles, the first row of shield-wielding National Guards shouted, and rushed to the front soldiers with shields on their heads, their role was to charge and break the formation.

They were followed by policemen armed with batons and ropes, whose role was to charge in behind the shieldmen, then sweep the soldiers who were still resisting laterally, and arrest all those who remained in the area. It doesn't matter if you resist or not.

The moment the conflict broke out, it showed a one-sided tragedy, these soldiers were just confused by Li Yongchang's attitude before, and some were arrogant, thinking that the other party did not dare to move themselves, but if they really did it with the police and the National Guard, how could they be the opponents of these professionals?

So, even though the clearing team had no hot weapons, and at most were clubs wrapped around pieces of cloth, it was only a wave of charge, and the soldiers' ranks were crushed. Then he ran backwards crying and shouting, trying to escape from this chaotic and miserable place.

However, at this time, the police and the National Guard who are up and have a temper don't care about this, whether you run away or surrender on your knees, you will be beaten with a stick, and if anyone dares to resist, it will be surrounded by everyone and beaten hard.

Anyway, the Minister of Police said before, try not to kill people, which means that you can kill people. In addition, it is bullying such a group of weak chickens, and it is not everyone competing for the lead.

Not to mention that people actually have a violent factor in their hearts, once they have the opportunity, they can justifiably inflict violence on others. This factor will explode.

This is the case with the police and the National Guard personnel who are now carrying out clearance operations. No, it should be said that it is stricter, because these petitioners are in the eyes of the police and the National Guard. It's your own enemy!

Why do the police and the National Guard regard these soldiers who can't beat them as enemies? This is, of course, the credit of the propaganda officer of the Propaganda Department.

To say that before the clearance operation, because the emperor was affected by some information from his previous life. Some people were concerned about the efficiency of the clearance operation and were afraid that the people who carried out the clearance operation would not be able to do so, so they also sent some propaganda officers to carry out propaganda and agitation.

In the mouths of those propaganda officers, those scholars who came to petition were not real scholars at all, nor were they for the good of the country and the people, but had ulterior motives, and the reactionary forces against the emperor and the state were launching conspiracies.

The purpose of these people is to subvert the present state system of government, to overthrow the rule of the great emperor Majesty Xià over the Chinese Empire, so they are hateful and unforgivable reactionaries!

Once these people succeed, then they will become masters again, and you people will go back to the old days of starvation, think about what life you have lived before, are you happy to go back to the past?

Most of these propaganda officers were originally street storytellers or cross talkers, but later the rise of the Jingwu Army recruited these people to come in, conducted some training, and became propaganda officers.

As time goes by, these people become more and more proficient in business, and their kung fu is first-class, fooling ordinary people who have not yet developed their wisdom, which is a flickering and a quasi, not to mention that for these policemen and people from the National Guard of the Suzhou Construction Corps, the contrast between Li Yongji's life before and after his reign is so strong.

There is no doubt that after being fooled by such agitation, the police and the people of the National Guard do not regard those scholars as human beings, but as executioners who want to deal with the great emperor and take away their own good life, and this kind of people is the most hateful, and must be defeated all of them, so that they will never be able to turn over.

With this kind of thought, can the morale be low? And at the beginning, they may still be a little soft, and they don't beat hard, but once they get rid of their temperament, that hand is getting heavier and heavier.

Therefore, most of the real casualties occurred after the collision, and the further back they went, the more heavy the casualties of the soldiers.

In the end, except for the 3,000 or so who slipped away in advance, the remaining 7,000 people were all arrested, almost all of them were wounded, and there was even a serious incident in which 32 people died.

Of course, those who died were said to be strong resistance, armed with sharp weapons, and in the end, it was the victors who spoke to themselves, and in the general environment at that time, no one really explored the truth of these things.

Even the family members of the deceased, fearing that they would be implicated afterwards, began to spit on and scold those relatives who died in the incident, and said that they had nothing to do with the incident on the bus.

Then, all the arrested scholars, except for a very few die-hard family members who had to share weal and woe, most of the others announced their separation from the relationship between father and son or husband and wife, and even the families to which they belonged hurriedly took a public statement, expelling those who had participated in the bus to write books, but did not listen to dissuasion, and did not leave the scene in advance, from the genealogy and genealogy, in order to show complete obedience to the leadership of the imperial government.

Captured soldiers. They were all sent to the Suzhou Intermediate Court for a public trial, and after a trial that looked like a motion, almost all those who died in the conflict were charged with subversion of state power on the grounds that these people were Manchu assassins, or assassins who colluded with the Manchus, and they planned to assassinate His Majesty the Emperor through this petition in order to achieve the goal of subverting the power of the Chinese Empire!

As for the evidence, there are too many, what a dagger, a blood book with a handprint. Anyway, there are quite a few, and most of these dead people are more old-fashioned, and many of them have braids, which deepens these impressions.

Of course, this is the so-called crime of wanting to add no excuse, anyway, everyone is dead, in order to prevent the bad impact, so Li Yongji forcibly put these charges on them.

Those who did these tricks were the secret agents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And because there are some sensitive things involved, Li Yongji personally asks about the things he does.

First of all, it is to find out the background of each deceased, and then Li Yongji will find these writings before his death. Then compare the handwriting, use modern computers, imitate the handwriting of these people to make a batch of blood books, and then it. Let those who have died put their handprints on the place where the name and date are, and in this way, a perfect petition for the name will be made.

Get the evidence right. Let people take the opportunity of searching the house of the criminal to quietly search the "criminal evidence" from the hidden point of the criminal minister's house and check it in public, so that even if it is ironclad evidence.

As for the secret service agency of the Qing Dynasty, it is directly said to be a sticky rod and belongs to Prince Gong? Direct command, so this group of people has long been targeted by the intelligence agencies of the empire, but the emperor is merciful and only temporarily monitors, and does not start prematurely.

Since the dead were assassins, then the living people were accomplices, but considering that most people did not know about it and did not intend to assist in the assassination, the crime of subversion of state power and the crime of treason were not established, and most of them were only sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime of disturbing public order and obstructing public transportation.

At this time, the criminals did not have any human rights, they were all to be killed or exiled, and it just so happened that Li Yongji had already planned to send them to the American colonies as if they were to do some coolies first, build roads, and establish contact with the United States in the future.

These people have a little knowledge, but their brains are a little old-fashioned, and they go to the United States to see for themselves how people live, and broaden their horizons, maybe it will be a good thing for them, maybe it will be a blessing in disguise.

Think about it, this is an immigrant to the United States, and if you want to let those cents know in another time and space, then don't cry and shout for carrying.

Of course, the current United States is not the future, and the places where Li Yongji wants to exile them are almost all barren lands, and they have to start from scratch, compared to these people who have to suffer a lot at the beginning, so it is not wrong to say that they are exiled.

Needless to say, the colonies were originally composed of exiled prisoners, and the life during the pioneering period was indeed too difficult, and it was indeed not something that ordinary people were willing to go to.

As for whether these people will pose a threat if they go to the United States, this is not the case, because even if these people go to the United States, they will definitely be placed under residential surveillance and placed under surveillance for work, just like the intellectuals who were overthrown in the later movements.

As long as time is put forward and tempered by the hard life of overseas colonies, these guys from the old bureaucracy may turn from black to powder, be grateful to themselves, and weep bitterly.

Of course, although fifteen years is not a short time, modern people think it is very powerful, but for the current people, these punishments imposed by the court are not heavy.

After all, in the eyes of ordinary people, besieging the palace is a crime of great disrespect, and the so-called conspiracy to subvert the country by colluding with Manchu spies to assassinate the emperor is even more of a rebellion!

For such a big crime, the emperor didn't behead the nine clans, and only punished the first evil, which is really a great benevolence and a great saint.

Not to mention the common people, even the scholars who were given the final punishment decision in the court, as well as the families of those criminals, after listening to the trial process and hearing the final punishment decision, actually knelt down in public in the courtroom, kowtowed in the direction of Yonghua Palace, and wept bitterly and shouted the emperor Shengming, which did not mean to blame the emperor at all!

It's very simple, because they themselves believe what the judge said, and they are convinced of the so-called evidence, and they really think that there are Manchu spies among them, and they are being used as guns.

Other words. Because of this incident, Li Yongji, the emperor, is obviously an executioner, but his reputation has actually improved, and he has the reputation of a benevolent and virtuous son, which is something that even Li Yongji himself did not expect.

However, after all, this incident is a bloody conflict that happened at the feet of the Son of Heaven, and after all, someone must carry the black cauldron, and the person who carries the black cauldron is none other than Prime Minister Li Yongchang.

It's simple, because it's the police headquarters that clears the scene. And it happened after Li Yongchang returned from negotiating with the scholars, so most people thought that this was Li Yongchang's own ghost, but it was Li Yongji, who was the initiator, who was selectively exonerated by everyone and became the Holy Lord of the Ming Monarch.

Everyone thinks that the emperor can't be so ruthless, and they have found a bunch of reasons, that is, if it is the emperor, it is impossible to let the police do it, and it is impossible to let the police headquarters do it. It has to be someone from the Internal Affairs Bureau, and he will only send the Jinyi Guards of the Internal Affairs Office (what the people think) to arrest the first evil, and he will not make such a stupid big move.

Therefore, the common people believe that this clearance incident was led by Prime Minister Li Yongchang. Even if the emperor agreed, he must have plucked it.

Although the common people also think that what Li Yongchang did was actually right, after all, the siege of the palace was disrespectful in the eyes of most people, and an assassination and rebellion were avoided. But Li Yongchang is too inauthentic, one thing in front of him and another thing behind his back. Although he is a brother to the emperor, his moral character is still much worse than that of the emperor.

Of course, these are all speculations, to put it bluntly, it is just the common people, especially the families of those criminals, looking for a reason to complain and vent their dissatisfaction, after all, they dare not talk nonsense about the emperor, but they still dare to talk about the prime minister.

Although these voices are only circulated in private by the people, they will eventually reach Li Yongchang's ears, and Li Yongchang himself is also quite uncomfortable, so on the fifth day after the incident, he took the initiative to submit his resignation to Li Yongji, wanting to resign as the prime minister of the imperial State Council.

"Wouldn't you, just because of this incident, you're going to resign?" Looking at the resignation letter in his hand, Li Yongji shook his head at Li Yongchang, "It's too impulsive, isn't it?" ”

"陛xià." Li Yongchang sighed, "Actually, I didn't resign on the spur of the moment, but the result of thinking about it for many days, and it wasn't just for this matter. In fact, I am indeed not suitable to be the head of a country, and this position is too heavy a responsibility for me, and I am a little unbearable. ”

"Can't bear it?"

"Yes." Li Yongchang continued, "Actually, I was also forcibly pushed to the front by my father, who wanted me to help you at that time and let you have no worries, and I also wanted to make some achievements at the beginning to prove my ability."

However, when I really took over the state affairs, while holding power, it was also equivalent to an additional responsibility, which made me overwhelmed by so many things in all aspects every day, for fear that if I made a wrong decision, it would cause trouble and loss to Your Majesty and our family. However, I also know that our family is short of people, so in this case, I can only make up for it with diligence, continue to study every day, and keep working hard......

It can be said that since my father pushed me into this position, I have hardly been able to sleep peacefully for a day, and I have almost no free time for myself, this kind of life is indeed a little too difficult for me now, after all, I am not so talented as you, after all, I am just an ordinary person.

Therefore, I want to take advantage of this opportunity to resign and go into the wilderness, and it is better for His Majesty to hand over the position of Prime Minister to someone more suitable, and as for me, I can take this opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for a long time. ”

"That's right." Li Yongji nodded, no longer persuaded him, but asked, "Then you are not the prime minister, what do you want to do in the future?" ”

"I want to see the outside world." Li Yongchang said, "I have read the books you gave me many times, such as "General History of the World" and "The Rise of Great Powers", but I just read them in general books, and I actually wanted to go outside for a real actual investigation for a long time. So, I hope you will allow me to travel to the open sea and see how people in other countries are really doing. ”

"Oh, that's right." Li Yongji nodded.

"General History of the World" and "The Rise of Great Powers" are naturally revised editions, and there are many other books in addition, but the people who can really be contacted are actually people in a small circle of insiders, Li Yongji also thought that these books would definitely affect some people, but he didn't expect that even his brother was affected.

"Well, since you have this idea, I can't live up to your hopes as a younger brother." Li Yongji smiled, "In this way, you also know that in two days, Foreign Minister Yung Hong will lead an envoy delegation to visit the United States, why don't I crown you as the righteous prince, give you another position as a senator of the Senate, and then participate in this visit to the United States on behalf of the Senate and the royal family." In other words, on the surface, you are the main player and Rong Hong is the deputy during this visit to the United States, but in fact you can move freely, what do you think? ”

"I don't dare to ask for it." Li Yongchang also smiled, "Even if you don't say it, I plan to ask you for this, hehe, I have actually envied Rong Hong for a long time." ”

"Then it's decided." Li Yongji nodded, "When I go back, I will have people prepare the canonization documents, and the canonization ceremony will be held for you tomorrow, and then you can go to sea by boat the day after tomorrow, how about it, you are satisfied now." ”

"yes." Li Yongchang nodded, and suddenly sighed, "Suddenly I feel that the whole person is relaxed all of a sudden, I really didn't expect that being an official can be so comfortable." It's just embarrassing for you, and you have to continue to suffer in this position. ”

"Huh." Li Yongji just smiled, "If you look at it from a different perspective in a different mood, it's actually quite good to be an emperor." How to say it, you have to learn to have fun, you have to learn to think in dislocation, in short, it's good to get used to it. (To be continued......)