In August of the ninth year of Tongzhi, Rong Lu returned to Beijing with more than 1,000 Sichuan soldiers, and just arrived in Beijing, before he returned home, he was announced to the Old Summer Palace. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The side hall of the Qinzheng Hall is as cool as ever, and the large pieces of ice have been stored in the winter until now, and they are placed in the large porcelain jar with bright yellow passion flower pattern, which is steaming cold, and the curtain is deep, which seems to have more cold meaning. After Rong Lu's salute was finished, the Queen Mother looked at this old man who had not seen her for many years, and couldn't help but sigh a little, the last side of the year, at the mouth of the alley, went around and around for so many years, and the person who used to be able to hold hands and talk already had to kneel and talk through the curtain to talk.

The Queen Mother is thinking about it, not speaking, today is the ninth brother of Emperor Xianfeng, King Fujun, this time is only eighteen years old, the scene is less, and he does not dare to speak out in this situation, those eunuchs and palace maids who serve are even more silent, originally Fan'er knew some things, but her mouth was very tight, and the people who served in the palace, such as An Qian and An Dehai were all people in the palace, and they didn't know the past of the two of them, and they didn't know why they were silent, and the palace was silent for a while, and after a long time, the Queen Mother said slowly.

"Ronglu, you have worked hard in Sichuan."

"Be loyal to the country and don't dare to work hard." Rong Lu said.

"Your merits are visible in this palace, although people outside don't know, you have been dismissed from your official position, this is just for foreigners to see," last month in Ronglu deliberately let Shi Dakai and others go, Prince Gong had already asked the Prime Minister Yamen to note to various countries, especially in the Indochina Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent Britain and France, regretfully told the two countries, "a small group of Chinese rebels may have flowed into India and Burma", Britain and France did not think so, thinking" What is the great thing about the hundreds of defeated troops that have survived under the blows of the local officials in China", and the British ambassador did not seem to have any intention of informing the Viceroy of India, of course, at this time the Viceroy of India was already very busy, because he was in charge of suppressing the great national uprising of India, and "it is very irrational for me to disturb the Viceroy for such a trivial matter."

"Explain to the outside. You were dismissed from office because of your ineffective crackdown on bandits, and if there is a dispute in the future, the court will also have an explanation. ”

"The Queen Mother really thinks that Shi Dakai and others can succeed?" Rong Lu asked softly, "The southwest dense forest is full of poisonous insect miasma. If these people lose their fighting spirit, they are afraid that they will not be able to reach India, and if they do, it will become the climate. I am afraid that the court will criticize again, saying that it is a problem to raise tigers. ”

"It's okay, this is just an idle move, and I don't expect to have an immediate effect," the Queen Mother said, "Shi Dakai is a hero, but it's a pity that Zeng Guofan and others can't wait to sleep on their skins, they really kill too much in the country, and in the country, it is estimated that no one will feel at ease." Including himself, I put it in the south, not to let him fend for himself, Yunnan place, what should be supported must be supported, and any guns and powder must be sent over, but since they are out of the country, what they do naturally can't rely on us, the British are so unscrupulous to deal with us, if this place in India is on fire. Hehe, that must be a lot of fun. ”

The process of India becoming a British colony At the end of the 15th century, European colonists began to arrive as new shipping routes were discovered in India. Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, France and other colonial powers came to India to carry out colonial plundering and partitioning in India, and fierce struggles took place. By the end of the 17th century, Britain and France were the biggest rivals for India. As early as 1600, the British established the East India Company, [17~mid-19th century, the British organization of commercial monopoly trade and colonial expansion in the East (mainly to India and China). The full name is the United Company of British Merchants trading in the East Indies. Based in London]. Britain was always in an advantageous position in the colonial contest with France. In 1757 the British won the Battle of Plassey. India began to become a British colony. In 1763, the Seven Years' War ended with Britain defeating France and gaining a large number of French colonies in India, while France retreated to several colonial positions along the coast of India, eliminating its biggest competitor for domination of the subcontinent. In 1764, the Mughal Emperor Alam Shah surrendered to the British East India Company at the Battle of Buxal, and the Mughal dynasty became a vassal of the British colonists. Beginning in 1765, the British began to occupy large swaths of India. The British colonizers conquered Bengal, Ode, Mysore, Maratha Union, Delhi and Sindh in India, and formally annexed India in 1849. The reign of the British East India Company was a period of primitive capital accumulation in England, which needed a large amount of capital to develop its own capitalism. Therefore, during this period, the British plundered India mainly in the form of pirate robbery, fraudulent trade, extortion of war reparations, imposition of taxes, and monopoly trade in some goods. The huge wealth extracted by Britain from India has become a powerful driving force for Britain's development, laying a solid foundation for the development of Britain's industrial revolution and providing favorable conditions for Britain to become the world's number one industrial power. The situation in India has deteriorated further, with severe socio-economic damage, and the former place of Oriental commodity wealth and factory handicrafts no longer exists. At the end of the 18th century ~ the beginning of the 19th century, the British Industrial Revolution was in progress, and the industrial bourgeoisie urgently demanded to open up the Indian market in order to expand the commodity sales market and raw material production area, so the British government abolished the company's trade monopoly on India and China in 1813 and 1833, and in 1858, the East India Company was abolished. With the exception of the share capital, the rest of the company's property was owned by the British state, and the rule of the East India Company in India was declared over. The British government began to exercise direct rule over India. The British Cabinet has a Secretary of State for India; The Viceroy of India was renamed Vice-King and became the direct British representative to India. Britain, having completed the Industrial Revolution, stepped up its expansion and gradually reduced India to a source of raw materials, a sales market, and a place of investment.

"If Shi Dakai can conquer the whole of India and re-establish their Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, this will naturally be vigilant, but the British are not vegetarians, so there is no need to worry too much, be careful not to let the tiger grow too strong, that is. The palace will send a stable person to serve as the political envoy of Yunnan, make good contact with the other side, and stumble on the British, don't be too proud in the Far East, too proud, easy to wrestle, "The Queen Mother looked around left and right," these words went out of the Qinzheng Palace. This palace doesn't recognize it, and you have to know this too, Ninth Master. ”

"Huh!" King Fujun hurriedly said yes.

"You did this well, I wronged you before, and now I can't wronged you anymore. Ninth Master, please declare it. ”

"Manchuria with yellow flags, the eldest daughter of Linggui, gave marriage to Guerjia Ronglu."

"Shane!"

Rong Lu raised his head, forgot about the courtesy of the monarch and the minister for a while, and just stared blankly at the figure behind the bead curtain, and suddenly lost his luster in his eyes. Seeing that something was not right, King Fujun hurriedly reminded him quietly, "Rong Lu, why are you still stunned, thank you!" ”

Rong Lu didn't speak, just knelt on the ground in a daze, and De Ling, who was standing in front of the Queen Mother behind the bead curtain, quietly turned his head slightly, and glanced at the Empress Dowager Cixi, but he didn't speak, and the Empress Dowager looked at Rong Lu. Silent for a moment, "It's okay, Rong Lu is afraid that he is very happy at this time, when your Eniang entered the palace for Hajj, he said that you are not too old, although the banner people are married late, but you are almost thirty years old, your sisters are married, you are so delayed, your Eniang is very worried." Hey," the Queen Mother sighed and stood up, "everyone should have a family." Linggui's eldest daughter heard that she is very gentle and virtuous, and she is your good match, this palace will give you a vacation, so that you can rest for a few days, and when the marriage period is over, this palace will arrange errands for you. The Queen Mother finished speaking. glanced at Rong Lu again, and turned around and left resolutely.

"Kneel down!" Yang Qingxi hurriedly shouted. Rong Lu showed a bleak smile on his face, smiled reluctantly, leaned over, and slammed his smooth forehead on the cold and smooth gold brick, "Slave Rong Lu, thank God!" ”

Gui Xiang is taking a clairvoyant into the Tongzhi Emperor, this time just after the class, the Tongzhi Emperor can't wait to open the mezzanine hidden under the desk, take the clairvoyance out, and look at the corner of the hall outside the hall with great interest to look at the telescope, Zai Cheng tiptoe to look at the Tongzhi Emperor in the snort, the Tongzhi Emperor can't put it down, refuses to hand out the clairvoyance in his hand, Zai Cheng can't, so he has to come over to Gui Xiang Yaowu and ask him to give himself such a delicate and far-sighted clairvoyance, Gui Xiang smiled and responded, " Lord Belle is doing something like this, so I will let people go to those foreign devils in Dongjiaomin Lane to exchange a few for Lord Belle to play. The three of them were talking and laughing, and when they were very proud, the emperor's personal eunuch Chen Shengwen came in and said, "Someone from the Qinzheng Palace is here." ”

The emperor hurriedly shortened the clairvoyance and put it in his sleeve, the frivolous look on his face was swept away, and he made a straight face, "Call in." ”

"Call in!"

"Long live the Lord, the Queen Mother made a decree to give marriage to Ronglu." After the queen mother has hung the curtain, she has seen more ministers in everything, but after all, the emperor has a lot of homework every day, in order not to delay the emperor's homework, and to let the emperor know about political affairs, when the emperor is not there, the queen mother will send someone to tell the emperor.

The emperor nodded solemnly, "Rong Lu is a diligent person, a humble person, and a deep heart, and it is very appropriate for the emperor to give him a marriage." The emperor thought for a while, "Give Rong Lu the reward from the Imperial Cabinet of Internal Affairs." ”

"Huh." The eunuchs of the Qinzheng Hall withdrew and went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to deliver the decree.

Zaicheng didn't know Rong Lu, Gui Xiang was a little strange, "Brother Rong Lu was married by the Queen Mother?" ”

"Why, you know each other?" When Emperor Tongzhi saw that the eunuch was gone, he took the clairvoyance out of his sleeve and came out to play with it, and said to Gui Xiang casually.

Gui Xiang put down the "Mencius" in his hand, and said with a smile, "When the Queen Mother had not yet entered the palace, Brother Ronglu often came to my house, which is common in my daily life, but I didn't expect that he had not married for so many years, and now the Queen Mother has given marriage." ”

"Oh, no wonder Huang Eniang trusts Rong Lu so much, although she accidentally let go of Shi Dakai's rebellion in Sichuan and was relieved of her official position, she still wants to give marriage. It's just to give some imperial gifts, and it doesn't hurt," the emperor didn't care about Gui Xiang's words, "The public has always used it less, and it's okay to give more, uncle," Emperor Tongzhi winked mischievously at Gui Xiang, "If you bring me some good Western muskets into the garden, the inkstone with Su Dongpo's inscription in my dormitory will be given to you!" ”

Gui Xiang waved his hand again and again with a bitter face, "Oh, my long live lord, you still spare the slave, if you let the queen mother know that I brought these things into the garden, then I will kill the slave, this thing, in case it goes off the gun, it will surprise the emperor, it's not a joke!" ”

The emperor was a little dumbfounded, Zai Cheng saw the emperor's embarrassment, he laughed out loud, and the emperor glared at Zai Cheng, "That's it, I don't know when I saw those musketeers, Wu Yundi said it well, but he didn't dare to disobey the emperor's mother's meaning, after saying it for so long, it's still in this garden!" ”

Gui Xiang said with a smile, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I heard a few days ago that the Queen Mother and Queen Mother issued an order to be able to manipulate elite soldiers from all over the world?" ”

"There is such a thing, it was originally placed next year, I never thought that Zeng Guofan proposed to disarm, the emperor meant that he was afraid that Zeng Guofan would put the elite soldiers back at home to farm, so he held the conference early, and even threw out the name of the first army in the world, so that these people were red-eyed, Wu Yundi used to often go into the garden to teach me to ride horses, and he didn't come these days, I heard that he was practicing in the Fengtai camp every day, my uncle, why are you asking this?"

"Your Majesty, the slave thinks so, why don't you wait until the time of the conference, the Queen Mother will definitely go to watch, why don't you ask the Queen Mother to take us to see it? At that time, please ask the Queen Mother to call those Huai Army, Hunan Army, and Foreign Firearms Battalion to open up, so that the emperor can see their style! Gui Xiang smiled, "The emperor followed the Queen Mother to see the musket, and the Queen Mother must be willing, isn't this the best of both worlds?" ”

Emperor Tongzhi's eyes were full of surprise, and he nodded again and again, "Okay, you Guixiang, this method is really excellent!" When the time comes, I'm afraid that those old men in the Hongde Hall won't dare to talk nonsense to the emperor's mother," Emperor Tongzhi stroked his palms and laughed, "It's very interesting to see their faces when the time comes!" ”

"The Empress Dowager is afraid that they are also noisy," Gui Xiang said, "I heard that the Empress Dowager on them is all left behind." ”

"If it weren't for the fact that these were left by Huang Ama, I would have stopped playing for a long time, and Huang Eniang compiled the Xianfeng dictionary, and I was still afraid that I wouldn't know words? It's just to learn the classics from them. Well, if I continue to read like this, I'm going to become a nerd! The emperor waved his hand and continued to play with the telescope in his hand, "The emperor's mother told me to respect the teacher, and stay up like this." ”

In September of the first year of Tongzhi, Qiuqiu.

At the end of September of the first year of Tongzhi, the people and horses of all towns have arrived at the Fengtai camp one after another. (To be continued.) )