readx;??? Xiao Yungui left first after Chen Yucheng finished toasting, and when he left, he ordered Li Kaifang and his companions to drive back to the palace, which was a little surprising, because Prime Minister Zuo Zongtang was still at the table, and the emperor should call him even if he had anything important to do when he returned to the palace. When the pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info looked at Zuo Zongtang with the inquiring eyes of the others, Zuo Zongtang was content with the wine and feast, and was not moved at all.

Li Kaifang has always been the right-hand man of His Majesty the Emperor, there is Zuo Zongtang in the text, and Li Kaifang in the martial arts, which is recognized by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Many generals and bigwigs in the army have always believed that Li Kaifang's exploits are not under Zuo Zongtang, and there is even speculation that Li Kaifang will be the next prime minister. Now seeing Li Kaifang driving away alone, everyone who cares is secretly thinking, could it be that the emperor did this on purpose for the prime minister? As a result, all kinds of speculations were just not famous for a while.

After His Majesty the Emperor went for half an hour, Li Xiucheng, who was still drinking at the banquet, received a note from the guard, and after he glanced at it hurriedly, he quietly took out his pipe and put the note mixed with tobacco and lit it together. After taking two puffs, he whispered to Han Baoying, who was unconscious beside him: "I am in a hurry to leave for a while, and when others ask, you will say that I went to the toilet." Without waiting for Han Baoying to open his mouth for details, Li Xiucheng got up and left.

After leaving the Chen Mansion through the side gate, Li Xiucheng took a few guards to detour to Majia Hutong, where a black carriage was waiting there, and a major of the Guards came forward, led Li Xiucheng to board the carriage, and followed the carriage to the palace.

After a bag of cigarettes, Li Xiucheng came to the outside of the Qianqing Palace, and the people from the secretariat took him to the side hall next to him to wait, Li Xiucheng knew who the emperor was talking to now, and he only hoped that the emperor would not let him in in the end.

In the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, Xiao Yungui looked at Li Kaifang, who was sitting in front of him, by the light and dark candlelight, and asked, "What's going on with some recent remarks attacking the prime minister?" Li Kaifang said with a face as usual: "My subordinates have heard about it, mainly because some people say that the current cabinet treats the former Qing royal family too leniently. Especially the former Qing Dynasty prince Yiyun, who still refuses to change his clothes and cut his braids, and several times the emperor visited the former Qing royal family in the mansion, and the number of rituals he did was also quite inappropriate. Those people are saying that such remnants should be punished severely. In order to show the prestige of heaven, but the documents of those petitions were suppressed by the cabinet, so those people were rumored to be the prime minister who cleared the remnants before covering up. ”

Xiao Yungui hummed and said, "You know very well." Li Kaifang's face changed slightly, and before he could speak, Xiao Yungui asked again: "You are also an important member of the cabinet." So what do you think about this matter? ”

Li Kaifang made up his mind and said: "Don't pay attention to such small remarks, the kindness to the former Qing royal family was set when the surrender was made, and the cabinet only needs to be responsible to the emperor for doing things, and the others don't need to pay attention to it." ”

Xiao Yungui sighed and said, "You mean to leave it alone?" This is also, no matter what the people say, it is just a rumor, and it is harmless. Then Xiao Yungui's eyes were cold and he said: "But if there are such rumors in the army, you can't ignore them!" ”

Speaking of this, Li Kaifang's face finally changed greatly, he stood up and opened his mouth wide to say something but couldn't say it, Xiao Yungui looked at him coldly and said, "Do you think I don't know the source of those rumors?" Minister Li. Good deeds you've done! ”

Li Kaifang's knees were weak, and under the pressure of this emperor, he couldn't help but soften, Xiao Yungui put a thick stack of official documents in front of him and said angrily: "On December 3 last year, when you were inspecting the Gyeonggi garrison, you convened some secret discussions of the old ministry to discuss spreading the rumors among the people. On 18 January, 9 February, and 5 March this year, when the generals of the various military regions went to Beijing to report on their work, you also summoned them separately and said the same thing! Li Kaifang, what do you want to do? You're engaged in a political struggle and got into my army?! ”

Li Kaifang hurriedly said, "Your Majesty." Your Majesty, I only mentioned it briefly, but I didn't expect them to go back and do it. Xiao Yungui said angrily: "A total of 124 generals and officers you have placed in various military regions are also involved in it, do you dare to say that it is only a brief mention?" You are trying to bring down the left phase in advance. It's good for me to sit in the position of prime minister on the left, right?! ”

Li Kaifang couldn't help crying loudly, and cried in front of Xiao Yungui on his knees: "Your Majesty, these rumors will spread to the army sooner or later, and my subordinates have never thought of bringing down Zuo Xiang." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted heavily: "You took advantage of the convenience of the promotion of military ranks in various military regions to wantonly suppress dissidents and promote people close to you. What do you want to do by promoting your military rank and expanding your power?! Well?! ”

Li Kaifang only now realized that what he did had attracted the taboo of the emperor, and the emperor would never like a well-known general who was widely formed in the army for personal gain, let alone this one.

Xiao Yungui looked at him hatefully and said, "I have never said that people in the army should not participate in politics, have you forgotten my words?!" What are you anxious about? Sooner or later, the position of the left minister will let you sit on it, are you trying to force me to move you first?! ”

Li Kaifang's heart was half cold, and he pleaded: "Your Majesty, your subordinates know that they are wrong, and their subordinates know that they are wrong." Xiao Yungui snorted and said, "Go back, you don't have to go out recently, you can reflect on it at home." Tomorrow morning I would like to see your own resignation! Then he waved his hand and motioned for him to go out. Li Kaifang got up tremblingly and slowly left with heavy steps.

Xiao Yungui angrily turned to the back of the screen, Hong Yun'er was reading a book on the soft couch behind the screen, she didn't look up and just said: "Li Kaifang is also an old courtier, but you shouldn't be angry at him." ”

Xiao Yungui snorted and said, "I'm not as insidious as you, I'm going to move people, and I still smile and talk to people." Look at what he did, the military rank was used to buy people's hearts, and was there any royal law? It's only been a few years since the founding of the country, and he dares to do this? ”

Hong Yun'er was not angry at all, and said slowly: "Where there are interests, there will be transactions, did you only know it on the first day?" Then Hong Yun'er put down the book and said: "You better call Li Xiucheng in, arrange it well, Li Kaifang has fallen, many people's interests have been damaged, and it will take some effort to settle these people's ......"

After a while, Li Xiucheng was still called in, Li Xiucheng knew what Li Kaifang did, and he was the first to report to the emperor, Li Xiucheng knew that Li Kaifang would have problems sooner or later, but he didn't expect that the emperor couldn't wait even a month. Although Li Xiucheng didn't want to see his brother fall, for the stability of the country and the stability of the army, sometimes he couldn't help himself.

Li Xiucheng stayed in the palace for more than an hour, and immediately after leaving the palace, he returned to the Gyeonggi garrison headquarters, and that night Li Xiucheng summoned the generals in Beijing and announced in public the order that the capital should enter a state of alert. At the same time, the General Political Department of the Cabinet sent more than 10 special envoys to the major military regions, and at the same time, the military orders of the General Political Department were also transmitted by telegram and carrier pigeons......

1865 was destined to be an extraordinary year, in this year, the Japanese shogunate launched the second war against the shogunate, China sent a military advisory group to participate in it for the first time, and Britain was not to be outdone and also sent the same advisory group to participate in the shogunate, and then several powers used Japanese money and people to start a war on Japanese soil, earning wealth at the same time, Japan was completely dragged into the abyss of civil war.

In the United States, the civil war between the North and the South has intensified because of the participation of foreign powers, and there is no intention of stopping, but there is a tendency to move towards splitting into two countries. In Europe, Wilhelm I, who succeeded to the Prussian throne, with the assistance of Chancellor Bismarck, completed preparations for war and began to use troops against Denmark and Austria, kicking off the unification of the German Empire.

In the Far East, within the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a political turmoil after the founding of the People's Republic of China also began, and the old brothers of the West Hall led by Li Kaifang were politically purged, and Li Kaifang was forced to submit his resignation, and then he was taken away by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which had been merged by Bai Zetang and the Intelligence Department, and Ji Wenyuan, Zhu Xineng and other people from the Old Brothers of the West Hall were also implicated. Among them, it was found that more than 300 people who were not qualified for military rank and medal were single-handedly promoted by Li Kaifang, and all of them were expelled from the military.

Subsequently, the General Political Department of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom launched a campaign to rectify the atmosphere in the whole army, and put forward the slogan that "soldiers should take obedience to orders as their duty, and soldiers should stay away from politics".

The post of Minister of National Defense was taken over by Li Hongzhang, a capable person who did not have too deep roots in the army, and the emperor himself was very relieved to be given this post.

Although the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom adjusted the thinking of the army, public opinion did not stop, and Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er still underestimated the resentment against the Manchu rule for more than 200 years. Rumors of excessive preferential treatment of the Manchu royal family by the cabinet were rampant, especially the old and young remnants of the Manchu Qing in the capital, who had lost all the money, land and real estate they had been allocated early on, and they thought that these were all thanks to the former Qing royal family, and if they had not surrendered and sold the Manchus, they would not have ended up in this fate.

Three months later, the army in the capital came into contact with the guard, but the public opinion did not stop, and there were often crowds of demonstrators gathered in front of the palace of Prince Alcohol in Yixun, all of whom came under the banner of patriotism, demanding that the Manchu royal family get out of the capital...... (To be continued.) )