The capital of the Daqing Dynasty, the eastern suburb of Beiping City, is a very huge, more than 250 hectares of gorgeous and beautiful royal garden "Yiheyuan".

When the Nineteen-Nation Alliance invaded Beiping, they looted this huge Oriental Royal Garden and plundered a huge amount of wealth from here.

It is rumored that the commander-in-chief of the Nineteen-Nation Alliance at the time once ordered the soldiers to set fire to this gorgeous oriental garden after plundering.

However, at this time, the Western transcendents who came with the army on another battlefield outside Beiping City were defeated by the strange people in the East, so that the coalition forces had to withdraw from Beiping City in advance, thus preserving most of the main buildings of this garden.

With the passage of time, in a blink of an eye, it has come to 1863 of the Western Era, May of the seventh year of the Daqing Dynasty.

Many years have passed since the invasion of the Nineteen-Nation Alliance, and this royal garden, which welcomed back its old master, seems to have been restored to its original appearance again under the unremitting efforts of the high-level of the Daqing Dynasty.

At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had a pair of eagle eyes, sat gracefully and luxuriously on the exquisite rattan chair in a pavilion next to Kunyang Lake in the "Yihe Garden".

The little emperor, who was still a baby and could only be held by her, has now become a healthy boy, running and jumping on the side of the pavilion under the care of two old grandmothers.

Just as this lonely Daqing Dynasty controller, with the Buddha beads around his neck in his right hand, was staring at the surface of Kunyang Lake in front of the pavilion and didn't know what to think, the corners of his mouth whispered something.

"Galeries Lafayette!"

A middle-aged eunuch who trotted over came to Cixi's side, interrupting the thoughts of the actual controller of Daqing.

"Prince Qing took the clan ministers and quarreled with Lord Liu of the Prime Minister's Yamen again."

"There is a blockage outside the Zhaoyang Gate, and many people are there to watch the excitement!"

The middle-aged eunuch came to Cixi's ear and whispered.

The Eagle Eyes Empress Dowager came back to her senses and let out a sigh.

"Alas!"

"Ordered the two adults to be invited over, and the mourning family personally persuaded them."

In the current court situation, the princes and ministers under her protection are divided into the reform faction and the old faction attacking each other, which is from the perspective of imperial art, for Cixi, the superior who tries to control everything, the struggle is a struggle, but it cannot delay the major affairs of the imperial court.

Lately, it seems that this struggle has been getting a little out of control, which can't help but make her a little sad.

About two quarters of an hour later, the ministers of the two factions, led by Liu Hongzhang and Prince Qing, approached this beautiful royal garden one after another, and came to this pavilion next to Kunyang Lake.

"Then the rebels of the Taiping Society really have such great power?"

"Humph! If those traitors really want to be as strong as those 'young children who stay in Gaul' say, I'm afraid they will be beaten a long time ago! ”

"You just want to give Lafayette 10 million taels of silver to repair the garden, right?"

"Sailor, sailor, what's the use of having more boats?"

"Those foreign countries themselves are still in a state of war, and the sailors are useless!"

······

Lafayette Cixi has been in power for a long time, which is enough for these high-ranking and powerful officials to find out part of the character of this eagle-eyed woman.

It's okay to quarrel and quarrel in front of her, but you have to be harmonious, which will cause the taboo of the empress dowager.

"The ministers are all important ministers of the court, what kind of system is the quarrel and quarrel about?"

Sure enough, Lafayette reprimanded, and after asking the ministers present to kneel on the ground to plead guilty, he raised it high and put it down gently.

"Come on, go and bring some benches and chairs, and get some snacks."

"Lord Liu, and Prince Qing!"

"Tell the mourning family, what are you arguing about?"

Hearing Cixi's order, the eunuchs and palace maids serving around hurriedly brought some chairs and snacks, and more than a dozen ministers of the two factions led by Liu Hongzhang and Prince Qing first sat on the chairs and glanced at each other.

"Enlighten Lafayette!"

"This Lord Liu wants to use the 10 million tax silver left by the national treasury to replenish his fleet of the Beiyang Naval Division."

"Lafayette, this 10 million taels is the intention of our clan ministers to save hard work and reserve for you to repair the garden!"

Prince Qing was the first to prostrate on the ground, and his voice was sincere and respectful.

The invasion of Daqing by the Nineteen-Nation Coalition and the forced opening of this ancient country to the world are also beneficial, at least the central tax revenue of the Daqing Dynasty in recent years has changed from how much was used in the past to a relatively advanced budget system.

The conservative faction of the clan headed by Prince Qing was able to reserve 10 million taels from the budget tax money to Cixi, and they really fought hard at the beginning.

"Lafayette, the Beiyang Sailor is not my Beiyang Sailor, but the Beiyang Sailor of the imperial court!"

After Prince Qing finished speaking, Liu Hongzhang of the Chinese clan first glared fiercely at this braided clansman, and hurriedly prostrated on the ground and kowtowed to Cixi.

"In recent years, the sailors of foreign countries have developed rapidly, and the ironclad ships have been updated three times!"

"Most of the warships purchased by the Beiyang Navy Division are outdated ships of the first and second generations, and they really need a lot of silver taels to be replaced!"

"What the minister does is all loyalty, I hope Lafayette will know it!"

The silver in this world has not depreciated, and the tax silver of 10 million taels can be said to be a large sum of money, which is really used to repair the garden in Cixi, which is enough to completely restore the royal garden "Yihe Garden" to its old appearance, instead of just restoring the appearance like now, but the antique decoration inside is much lower grade in the form of parallel goods.

The words of the ministers of the two factions made Cixi frown, although she was good at power and scheming, and had firmly controlled the country in recent years, she was just a woman after all, a concubine who had not received an education from an orthodox emperor.

The garden can give her greater pleasure, and can make her increasingly boring heart more pleasant.

But the fleet can protect her safety, and the invasion of the Nineteen-Nation Alliance also left a great shadow on Cixi, so she had to guard against it!

Just when Cixi was a little hesitant, ready to let the ministers of the two factions in front of her say more of their respective reasons, and then she finally decided.

A young eunuch with a striking red ribbon on his upper arm trotted in.

"Enlighten Lafayette, my lords!"

"Imperial City Telegraph Room, I received an urgent telegram from the political envoy of Minfu Province!"

"There is a huge thunder hurricane in the Ryukyu Strait, and radio communication with Ryukyu Province is expected to be suspended for about a week!"

The little eunuch with the red ribbon respectfully prostrate on the ground, and said in a scream, the "Ryukyu" in his mouth is a big island close to Daqing, and the earth is actually Taiwan on the plane of the Celestial Empire.

"Well, the mourning family knows, step aside!"

At this moment, Cixi's thoughts were still stuck on how to spend 10 million taels of silver.

After listening to the little eunuch's words, he didn't care, and directly asked him to retreat.

Not only her, but all the other ministers did not pay attention to the little eunuch's report, because during these months of the year, the Ryukyu Strait would routinely experience several times of this extreme weather, and they were all used to it······

And just when the high-level officials of the Daqing Imperial Court were arguing about the repair of the garden, they ignored the news.

The Ryukyu Islands are facing the strait on the other side of Shenshu, and they have been caught in extreme weather with storms and thunder.

And it is facing the other side of Yinzhou, 9,000 meters above the sky.

A huge sky fleet composed of dozens of the latest giant airships, surrounded by three aircraft carrier airships with two pairs of oval airbags, tracks on top, and hundreds of propeller aircraft, is heading towards the Ryukyus······