Cixi's funeral was extremely beautiful, and the mausoleum was named Dingdongling, which was referred to as Dongling in later generations.

Ding Yuntong still remembers that after the death of Cixi in history, the construction of the mausoleum was extremely luxurious, and more than 5 million taels of silver were consumed before and after, and the treasures in Cixi's coffin were even more valuable, it is said that more than 50 million taels of silver, which can be called the most shijie. But during the Republic of China, the mausoleum was blown open by the warlord Sun Dianying with explosives, the treasures were looted, and even Cixi's body was carried out and thrown outside for more than 50 days, with white hair growing on her body. This is a great irony.

However, now that history has changed, Ding Yuntong's opinion has been approved by Ci'an: the country is difficult, material resources must be saved, and everything in mourning matters should be simplified.

And according to the ancestral system, Cixi and Ci'an should be buried in the same tomb, Cixi changed the rules in history, but now she can't help it.

At the time of mourning, Ding Yuntong behaved very decently and steadily, with a heavy filial piety, kneeling in front of the spirit, and crying. Seeing that the hour was about the same, it immediately came to an abrupt end. Along the way, he accompanied Ci'an and continued to comfort him softly. All this left a deep impression on the civil and military officials, and they all sighed: What a Ming Jun. I almost forgot that this Guangxu Emperor was just a child.

After dealing with the funeral, Ding Yuntong finally started the plan he had been planning since his rebirth, and he was going to start changing the empire.

First of all, the "Sino-British Yantai Treaty" has not yet been signed, and it is still in the stage of see-saw between the two sides.

The second thing is that in this year in history, there was an extremely important figure who became the ambassador to the United Kingdom, this person was named Guo Songtao, one of the founders of the Hunan army. This person should not be honest and upright, and he was one of the very few far-sighted figures in the Qing Dynasty, and he soberly pointed out that it was useless to buy guns and cannons from foreigners without reforming politics and developing industry and commerce. Historically, this person went to England and wrote a diary "Journey to the West", because of the propaganda of the Western democratic political system, he was abused and besieged by everyone, and died of depression after returning to China.

Now that Ding Yuntong has become Emperor Guangxu, he can't let this talent go to waste. This man will become the future core minister of the cabinet.

However, Britain still wanted him to go, because he would give him a secret mission, and only Guo Songtao could understand and accept this task.

The third thing is that there will be a strange thing that will happen this year, Shen Baozhen, the governor of Liangjiang, sent his own Taoist Sheng Xuanhuai to buy the Songhu Railway built by the British with 285,000 taels of silver, but due to the attack of the diehards in the imperial court, the railway had to be demolished and all moved to the beaches of Taiwan. This railway is very important to the economic development of the Yangtze River Delta, and we must keep it ourselves.

One thing is the famous Yuan Shikai. At this time, Yuan Shikai was only 17 years old and had just become a parent. Yuan Shikai in history was criticized by some people because of the restoration of the imperial system, in fact, this is an extremely smart and capable figure.

It was also this person who was the first to submit an opinion to the imperial court to abolish the imperial examination.

The environment and situation determine a person's behavior, Yuan Shikai later forced the Qing Emperor to abdicate, that is a historical inevitability, he just chose not to be foolish and loyal to death. But as long as he, the Guangxu Emperor, is wise and wise, and Yuan Shikai believes that there is hope for the Qing Dynasty, he can still remain loyal. Historically, it was Yuan Shikai's efforts that kept the Qing Dynasty firmly in control of Korea until the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War.

Of course, Yuan Shikai's actions in Korea were too simple and rude, which hurt the feelings of the two classes of Korean nobles and began to lean towards the pro-Japanese "Enlightenment Party", which also had a certain impact on the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War. But that's a story for later, and I shouldn't let history repeat itself.

The current Yuan Shikai is just a young man in cloth, and if he gives him a favor and promotes him exceptionally, he will be able to collect his heart for his own use.

In April 1876 in Beijing, it was full of spring, at this time the young Yuan Shikai was in a daze in his study, the imperial court sent a strange holy decree, let him immediately enter the palace to see the driver, which made him puzzled, you must know that he was 17 years old at this time, just married, has not yet participated in the township test, that is, the so-called "autumn plow", just a nameless junior, how can the emperor know him, but also to see him? I heard that the emperor is just a child, what can I do when I see him?

But no matter what, Yuan Shikai said goodbye to his uncle, Yuan Baoheng, the left attendant of the Criminal Department, and followed the eunuch to the Xinuan Pavilion of the Heart Cultivation Palace.

The name of the Temple of Cultivating the Heart comes from Mencius's "Cultivating the Heart is not good at having few desires", which means that the best way to cultivate the mind is to reduce desires.

The East Warm Pavilion of the Yang Xin Palace is the place where the Empress Dowager Ci'an hangs the curtain to listen to the government, and the West Warm Pavilion has become the place where Ding Yuntong meets the ministers and does things in private.

Ding Yuntong saw Yuan Shikai come in and kowtowed, nodded, and asked him to sit. Yuan Shikai was flattered and sat on half of his ass with a twist.

Ding Yuntong turned his face and continued to talk to the person next to him, this person was Guo Songtao.

"Guo Aiqing, this time you are going to the United Kingdom, I have a task for you to do."

"The emperor can rest assured, even if Weichen is full of liver and brain, he will definitely live up to his mission."

"Hehe, there's no need to be stupid, I want you to go to the UK for financial speculation?"

"Financial speculation? Weichen is dull, and he hopes that the emperor will make it clear. ”

"Have you ever heard of the national debt?"

"I've heard of this, but it seems to be a foreigner's rhetoric."

"What if a country wants to do something big, but doesn't have enough money? You have to borrow money, borrow from the people, borrow from other countries, and this borrowed money is called national debt. If it is a debt for war, it is called a war debt. This is guaranteed by the credibility of the state, and the government will collapse if it is not repaid. When you pay it back, you have to add interest, which is called interest rate.

I knew that there would soon be a great war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire. At that time, both sides will issue government bonds on a large scale in the financial exchange market in London, England, but the price and interest rate will fluctuate depending on the outcome of the war. I will guide you in the specific operation when the time comes. ”

Looking at Guo Songtao and Yuan Shikai stunned, Ding Yuntong laughed in his heart: they couldn't imagine that they were familiar with the trend of history, and they could even use this to make a fortune from foreigners.

This time next year, Russia will officially go to war with Turkey. In view of the previous Crimean War, Britain and France sent troops to help Turkey, which inflicted a crushing defeat on Russia and ceded land. Therefore, after the start of the war, public opinion was generally that Britain would still intervene, resulting in almost no one subscribing to Russian government bonds in the London market, their prices extremely low, and high interest rates. When Russia won the Battle of Plevin, the tide of the war turned around, and the price of national bonds skyrocketed. Then Russia and Turkey signed the Treaty of St. Stepano, and the Turkish national debt became rubbish. However, the situation took a turn for the worse, and the European powers intervened together to force Russia to sign the Treaty of Berlin. Both of these turns are good times for market speculation.

As for the speculative funds, it is far from enough to rely on the money obtained from Li Lianying's house. However, Ding Yuntong knew that there was someone who could solve this problem, and that person was Hu Xueyan. Historically, part of Zuo Zongtang's military expenditure on his expedition to the west was a foreign debt borrowed by this person. You can let him go to a foreign foreign bank and borrow foreign debts to speculate, and he will make a profit anyway.

Of course, there is no need to talk about these now, and Guo Songtao and Yuan Shikai can't accept it.

Then, Ding Yuntong told Guo Songtao: "Aiqing is an envoy to the UK, what you see and hear does not need to be written in words, even if you want to write, don't circulate it to others, my fine wine, human poison." Guo Songtao nodded yes, thoughtful.

Ding Yuntong also asked Yuan Shikai to draw up an edict for him, which was addressed to Shen Baozhen, the governor of Liangjiang, which meant that Shen sent Sheng Xuanhuai, a Taoist, to the British merchant Jardine Matheson and Foreign Company, and told the other party that the Songhu Railway under construction was built illegally without the approval of the Chinese government. Either it will be demolished immediately, or it will be rebuilt, but it will be resold to China.

Ding Yuntong thinks that the railway has not yet been repaired, and if he buys it now, the price can be killed, far from 285,000 taels.

After drafting the decree, Ding Yuntong stamped his fellow Taoist hall seal and ordered someone to send it to the Empress Dowager Ci'an for sealing. During this time, Ci'an clearly wanted to train Ding Yuntong, and accepted all his documents without changing a word.

Ding Yuntong asked Yuan Shikai again: "What do you think?" ”

Yuan Shikai sighed: "The emperor's temple is far-reaching, and the people are puzzled. "He's just a commoner in cloth clothes, and he can't be called a minister.

Ding Yuntong smiled and said: "Your elders have all worked hard for the country, so I will give you as a member of the Criminal Department, and I will be of great use to you in the future." ”

Yuan Shikai was grateful, only to feel a surge of blood in his heart. With the emperor's favor, there is no doubt about his future prosperity. He only felt that the little emperor in front of him was really the first emperor in the past.

Looking at Guo, Yuan and the others kowtowed and withdrew, Ding Yuntong thought to himself that I should meet Li Hongzhang. In fact, he knows Li Hongzhang even better than Li Hongzhang himself. There are many things that can't be done by yourself now, so you can let Li Hongzhang do some preparations first.

Now we really have to hurry, this year Japan has forced North Korea to sign the "Ganghwa Treaty", the hand has been stretched out, and time is really running out.