"Change officials to officials?" Prince Gong muttered to himself, his eyes looked blankly at the Queen Mother who seemed to be radiant in the backlight, and the Queen Mother nodded, "Yes, change the officials and others to officials, determine the grade, and can be promoted, if so, the Qing Dynasty will be forever!" ”

Prince Gong heard the last words of the Queen Mother, "The country is eternal? That's right, if you change officials to officials, you can raise hundreds, or even thousands, of people in each imperial examination, if so......"

"If that's the case, there are countless people among these thousands of people who want to go to the imperial court," Xingzhen nodded with a smile, "If Gong Cheng didn't have no way to serve the country and failed the imperial examination, why would he be a thief and do evil in the Beijing peace talks?" This is a lesson, and now the exchanges with foreigners are becoming more and more frequent, so I say that this is the era of hegemony, if there is no way to serve the country, and go to other countries, will it not damage the morale of China? If you do something to forget your ancestors, it will be of no benefit to the country. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Prince Gong was silent for a long time, "I'm afraid it's a big objection, originally at least a parent official, but suddenly became a Xu official, and the Jinshi is even more dispatched to the place, this Qingliu Pavilion Branch, obstructed, I'm afraid it's ......"

"I'm not busy announcing this matter to the outside world, so I left the sixth master alone to talk about this matter in private," the queen mother said, "I want to listen to the sixth master's opinion, can this matter be done, what should I do, I have to think about it properly before saying it to the outside world?" Sixth master, go back and think about what to do about this, and then tell me. ”

"Wow."

The Queen Mother looked at Prince Gong's low interest, and said with a smile, "The sixth master is the central bone of the military aircraft department, and he can't be tired, and he has to be free every day, so he still has to take good care of himself." ”

"The Queen Mother praises falsely, the slave is ashamed, please take care of the Queen Mother, I am afraid that the arrow wound of the old year is not complete, these days I always hear the Queen Mother coughing, the slave a few days ago into some loquat Sichuan Beirun lung paste from Guangdong, the slave tried, it was really good, this is the courage to enter the mother, I don't know if the mother used it."

"Thank you Sixth Master, I used some, it's much better." The Queen Mother smiled, "By the way, your family's Zaicheng is empty, let him enter the palace to accompany the emperor, Prince Hui died, his two sons went to mourn, I see that the emperor does not have a peer to accompany him, it seems that it is not appropriate, although the two are monarchs and ministers, they are brothers, it is better to let him enter the palace to study." ”

"Zaicheng is stubborn, I'm afraid it hurts the atmosphere in the palace." King Gong said humbly.

"Too modest, Sixth Master." The Queen Mother smiled, "They are all descendants of Emperor Xuanzong, so you can't go wrong." ”

....

A young man wearing a bow dress stood in front of Li Hongzhang neither humbly nor arrogantly, Li Hongzhang stood up, the two sides exchanged pleasantries, Li Hongzhang asked this foreigner-looking young man to sit down, "Mr. Hurd, please take a seat." ”

"Lord Governor," the black-haired, blue-eyed young man also saluted with his fists in a smile, but his words were in plain Chinese, "I haven't seen you for many days, and I miss it very much." ”

"Mr. Hurd, please be seated." Li Hongzhang smiled, and the two sat down as guests of honor, "Mr. Hurd, I don't know what you think of Mr. Aspen's fleet now?" ”

"My Lord, I have to say that Captain Asbourne's behavior has greatly damaged the friendship between China and Britain," said Hurd Zhengse, who is now only twenty-seven years old, "Please do not be prejudiced against the British Empire, this must be a little trick made by the Admiralty and a small group of people such as Aspen, and it does not conform to the mainstream view of Sino-British friendship." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, "I listened to Mr. Hurd's words, but Li Taitai, the General Department of Customs, doesn't think so, do you think Li Taitai is still suitable for a job in the customs?" ”

The customs of the Qing Empire was an agency that was forced out. Since the Ming Dynasty, the central government has implemented a policy of "no wood can go to the sea", so there is no need for customs and there is not much tax revenue for foreign trade. (The name "customs" has been around for a long time.) In the administrative system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there has always been a yamen called "City Ship Division", and in the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi (1685), the "Jiang Customs" was established in Songjiang Mansion, Shanghai, but this customs is very different from the customs functions in the future, and it is basically an insignificant ornament). After the Opium War, with the opening of treaty ports, there was naturally a need to set up checkpoints, the British proposed that they should manage "the merchants who came and went, plus the restraints", and the taxes collected were used to pay war reparations, and the court officials agreed as soon as they heard it, anyway, it was all foreigners' money, and it seemed to be a trade without damage to the empire, so there was a system for foreigners to manage China's customs. In 1846, a large courtyard enclosed by a cast iron fence appeared on the Bund (now the Bund Hankou Road) in Shanghai, and a Chinese-style archway was built at the door, with the inscription "Jianghai Beiguan" written on it, which was dedicated to handling the import and export taxes of foreign merchants. In 1858, the imperial court set up a second customs office in Guangzhou. (To be continued.) )