It was already the middle of winter, and the inside and outside of the Forbidden City were covered with snow, which seemed to cover up all the dirty things here, and everything was as pure and beautiful as the snow. After reading the secret letter sent to the palace by Rong Lu, Xingzhen hooked a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, and muttered to herself: "In peacetime, the king kills the king, we still can't erase the inferior nature of the Chinese, a Chinese is a dragon, a group of Chinese are a worm, there are more people will always be infighting, it seems that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has not all come out with ugly people, and there will be no major offensive for the time being." Taking advantage of this opportunity, it is time to formally organize and train the new army. ”

After Xingzhen gave birth, she was even more favored by Xianfeng, and soon resumed her previous errands of often accompanying the driver to review and review the folds. After forming an alliance with Devil Six, Xingzhen and Emperor Jing's concubine took turns blowing wind in Xianfeng's ears, and Devil Six also began to work hard to run errands, and Xianfeng began to reuse his younger brother.

Last month, at the court meeting, Guizi 6 proposed strategies such as setting up foreign affairs, organizing and training a new army, and borrowing teachers to help suppress them, although the establishment of foreign affairs still met with great resistance, but the strategies of organizing and training a new army and borrowing teachers to help suppress them were still recognized by the courtiers.

Prince Gong suggested reorganizing the Shenji Battalion in the capital, selecting recruits from the Eight Banners of the Mengman and Han armies, purchasing new muskets and artillery from foreigners to equip this new army, and building a pure firearms unit responsible for defending the Beijing Division.

Prince Gong's new army Jihua was somewhat influenced by Xingzhen, and at the same time, Xianfeng also felt the huge pressure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the foreign powers, and also deeply felt that although the regimental training and suppression of bandits in various places were done well, but most of those regimental training soldiers and horses were run by local governors, and Xianfeng was also deeply afraid that after the future peace of bandits, the local governors would be very difficult to control, and it would be reassuring to have a team of their own soldiers and horses in hand. So Xianfeng issued an edict for Prince Gong to handle the affairs of the new army, but now the household department lacks silver taels, and the expenses of the new army are raised by Prince Gong himself.

In Xingzhen's eyes, this army should be run by Devil Six and Rong Lu together. And Rong Lu also earned a lot of money from doing business in Guangzhou, and the devil six was quite popular in the capital, and after several rounds of raising, he also made more than 300,000 taels of silver, so he began to recruit soldiers first. Rong Lu continued to negotiate with the Great Powers in Canton about the purchase of new muskets and artillery.

Today, I received a letter from Rong Lu, which not only mentioned the internal strife between the eastern and western kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but also said that Britain, France, the United States and other countries had promised to sell weapons to the Manchus. Xingzhen only said that Britain and France had just finished the Crimean War, and after the war, many weapons needed to be disposed of before they agreed to sell weapons to the Manchus, but she didn't expect that this was only one of the reasons. The bigger reason was that the Great Powers wanted to put pressure on the King of the West by selling weapons.

Rong Lu's letter stated that the first batch of weapons would be transported to Dagu in a month's time, but since the imperial court did not open the northern port as a treaty port, it was necessary for Prince Gong to ask the imperial court to temporarily open a port for the fleet to dock and unload.

Xingzhen wrote a reply to Rong Lu, in which he told him to finish the matter in Guangzhou quickly. If it drags on for a long time, the matter of Guangdong can be handed over to Ye Mingchen to deal with. Here, Prince Gong will play Xianfeng. Please transfer Ronglu to Beijing to help organize and train the new army.

Although Rong Lu was young at this time, he was a man, born in Jiangmen, a loyal martyr, and it was after the loyalty of Gen Hongmiaozheng that he was able to gain Xianfeng's trust. At the same time, he assisted in organizing the Hunan regimental training in Hunan Province, and in just one and a half years, the Hunan army was reborn, gaining more than 70,000 soldiers and horses on land and water, and he also had considerable experience in organizing and training the new army. Moreover, with the rank of admiral, it is also appropriate to fill the vacancy in Beijing, and Rong Lu's military exploits should not be underestimated. Therefore, both Xingzhen and Prince Gong felt that it was very likely that Ronglu would enter Beijing.

After writing the letter and collecting it, Xingzhen stretched her waist and got up to the front hall, only to see An Dehai shouting and asking his little eunuch to sweep the floor and wipe the table. Xingzhen looked at it for a while, and saw that An Dehai was now full of style, and she couldn't see the timid little eunuch when she entered the palace, so she smiled and said: "Father-in-law An, this style is very impressive." ”

An Dehai didn't notice that Xingzhen came out of the warm pavilion room, listened to her voice, hurriedly turned around and saluted, and said in a panic: "Master, don't be a slave, just call Xiao Anzi, Father-in-law An really can't afford it." ”

Xingzhen snorted, and said with a straight face: "It's good to know, don't be too ostentatious, don't be too domineering, and don't bully others, otherwise you will really make a big mistake one day, I'm afraid that even I won't be able to save you." ”

An Dehai hurriedly nodded and bowed in agreement: "No, master, the slave will definitely keep his duty." ”

Xingzhen smiled, but she didn't know Weishenme, and she couldn't help but remind An Dehai that in history, An Dehai relied on Cixi's favor, swaggered through the market, flew high, and offended Ci'an by bullying people, and was convicted and killed. After all, he has been with him for almost three years, and he can't bear to see An Dehai get the same fate as in history, so he often reminds him.

An Dehai saw Xingzhen laughing, knowing that the master was not angry, and said with a smile at the moment: "Master, it's time to go to see the eldest brother again, the slave has been arranged, shall we leave?" ”

Speaking of Zai Chun, Xingzhen still laughed out of her heart, the child will be one year old in a few days, Zai Chun has already shouted with Eniang, Eniang, every time she sees herself entering, her eyes are rolling non-stop, looking at herself with a smile, her little hand is raised and she keeps waving, wanting to hug her. Although Xingzhen doesn't like Xianfeng, this child is a piece of meat that fell from her body after all, and the motherhood in her heart still makes her unable to let go of her longing for the child.

Thinking of this, Xingzhen smiled and said, "Let Aunt Kang and Li Lianying also go together, and bring me two sets of small clothes to sew haode." An Dehai answered

After a while, ready to stop, Xingzhen took Kang Qi, An Dehai and Li Lianying out of Chuxiu Palace and went to Brother's office. Xingzhen doesn't like to sit in a sedan chair, this is not a secret in the palace, along the way, the palace maids, eunuchs, and guards saw her come out with the people of Chuxiu Palace, and they all saluted according to the rules. Xingzhen is easy-going by nature, has a good memory, most of the people in the palace have already known, and she can call out the names of those who salute herself along the way, which makes these palace maids and eunuchs happy, I can't imagine that Yi Guifei also knows her name, and Yi Guifei is not cold, and often has rewards, and they all feel that Xingzhen is better to get along with than other masters.

When I came to my brother's office, I saw that Jae-chun was bathing, Xingzhen walked into the house with a smile, stood on the edge of the bathtub, and watched the child bathe. But looking at the child's innocent smile, Xingzhen's face was full of relief. But thinking that in the future, this child would be Emperor Tongzhi who would die early before the age of twenty in the future, she couldn't laugh anymore. But now that he is young, his childhood is still carefree.

teased the child once, it has been an hour, Xingzhen is still a little reluctant, until the child is asleep in her arms, then handed over to the care of the grandmother and Chenda, with Kang Qi, An Dehai and Li Lianying walked out, walked to the Ming and Qing Dynasty Palace next to the road, suddenly saw Su Shun hurriedly followed the eunuch in the study.

The eunuch's surname was Jiang. Xingzhen recognized it, he was surprised when he saw Xingzhen feeding, and made a big salute. Su Shun in the back had no choice but to bow his head and salute and say, "Say hello to Concubine Yi." ”

Xingzhen snorted and said, "Lord Su doesn't have to be formal. Where is this haste going? "Xingzhen often accompanies the car, and this Su Shun is also often seen.

Su Shun smiled slightly: "I have something important to report to the emperor." Seeing that the concubine Niangniang came out of the elder brother's place, she must have gone to visit the eldest elder brother again. This is too. This woman. It's better to take more children, get needlework or something, and mix less in political affairs, so as not to be jealous of the people in the palace. "Su Shun is arrogant, and he is open-mouthed, and he often has a lot of complaints about Xingzhen's frequent accompaniment. Seeing it at this time, Su Shun was not afraid of Xingzhen at all. Su Shun is this temper, he once reprimanded in front of many Manchurians: "We are full of bastards!" "The Manchurians are confused and can't contribute to the country. I only know that I want money! "There are many people who have offended Su Shun, and when he fell and was killed, both the Manchus and Han in the capital applauded.

Xingzhen was not annoyed, but smiled faintly: "It is a mediocre talent not to attract people, and Master Su is also hated by many people." ”

Su Shun snorted and said, "The slave is loyal to the emperor, why is he afraid of the jealousy of others? The hour was not early, and the servant took his leave. ”

Xingzhen smiled and nodded, watching Su Shun walk away, secretly thinking about what kind of moth this Su Shun was doing, going to see Xianfeng in such a hurry, and was wondering, only to see that Prince Gong in the distance actually hurried over.

An Dehai looked at it and said in a low voice: "What day is it today, Lord Sushun and King Gong of the household department are here, is there something big happening?" Xingzhen frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense. ”

Before Prince Gong in the lower reaches of the Yellow River after the disaster relief in several provinces, transferred to Henan to survey the water conservancy in various places, but also on a detailed note to Xianfeng, the above mentioned that the Yellow River embankment in the Henan section needs to be strengthened urgently, otherwise there will be a catastrophe of breach and diversion, of course, this is also Xingzhen reminded Prince Gong, she still remembers the Yellow River diversion in 1856, some things can do their best.

Xianfeng agreed, and asked Prince Gong to calculate the surplus silver of the household department first, and then report in detail the regulations for strengthening the river embankment, and at the same time, the new army also needed silver to purchase guns and cannons. Prince Gong has been busy with this matter these days, is there something wrong with this?

Prince Gong trotted over, and when he saw Xingzhen, he also hurriedly bowed, and said in a low voice: "The imperial sister-in-law borrowed a step to speak." ”

Xingzhen knew that something was wrong, otherwise he wouldn't have said this in front of Kang Qi and the others, so he moved the lotus step lightly, walked a few steps, and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?" ”

Prince Gong gasped and said: "These days, Su Shun and I have counted the silver deposits in the household department, and found that there is a big difference between the two silver numbers in the account books of the household and the actual number of silver in the silver treasury, and a total of more than five million taels of silver are missing!" ”

Xingzhen was taken aback and asked, "How can there be such a difference?" Is it not clear that the household department is not counted every day? ”

Prince Gong said: "My brother went to the disaster relief with an order a few days ago, and after he came back, he went to the household department to count because of the water control and the new army, and he found out that this was the case. Su Shun has only recently served as a household servant, and he was ordered to count with me and found that something was wrong. At first, Su Shun and I returned to the Tao like in the Daoguang period, and there was a matter of hiding silver in Gudao, but last night, the two of us secretly interrogated a few treasury soldiers guarding the silver treasury overnight, and those treasury soldiers refused to confess. Later, Su Shun ordered someone to lock up the division Zhonglin and Wang Xizhen, and under strict interrogation, the two confessed that someone instructed and embezzled more than 5 million taels of silver, which were deposited into the major ticket numbers in Beijing, and obtained interest in the form of short-term deposits! (To be continued......)