Zuo Zongtang nodded, "I'll enter the palace immediately." He instructed the housekeeper to change his court clothes, and said to Hu Xueyan: "It's really unfortunate, I didn't expect something to happen suddenly, you wait in the house first, and I will definitely come back in the evening, and we will be talking at that time."www.biquge.info ”

"I won't bother your mansion," Hu Xueyan said with a smile, "I'll go to the household department to finalize the order first, no matter what, with this chamber of commerce, if the constitution can be made by the household department or the prime minister's yamen to come forward to endorse the small one, when I get to Shanghai, there will be fewer people who blow up their wings." ”

Zeng Guofan nodded and took the warm hat from the butler's hand, "Then you can do it yourself." ”

Hu Xueyan and Zeng Guofan went out of the house together, and helped Zuo Zongtang to get into the carriage, and only after seeing him leave did he get into the carriage himself, and Wang Tanshan, the right-hand man of his subordinates, took out a few letters, "Master, this is a letter sent by Zhao, Lu, Xu, and Wang, who are the largest silk body business in Songjiang." ”

Hu Xueyan took a sip of the barnacle-insulated red ginseng soup, closed his eyes and exhaled, "Have you opened it and seen it?" ”

"Nope."

"It's nothing more than some polite words, maybe there are thoughts of spying on the news, ignore them," Hu Xueyan said, "A group of ridiculous people, don't know the celestial phenomena, I have the documents approved by the household department, and when I get to the south, no one can stop me, when the time comes," Hu Xueyan turned the jade wrench in his hand, "That's my turn to wrestle with the foreigners." ”

"I'm afraid there will be twists and turns in Master Li." Wang Tanshan said worriedly, "We have a good relationship with Lord Zhongtang, and it is really uncomfortable for others to see it." ”

"This is also impossible, Xiao Wang, let me tell you, in this world, everyone must have a position, there is nothing like the light and dust everyone likes you, if someone has achieved such an extent, not a saint admired by all the people, then it is a waste that no one dares to offend. In the past, we relied on the power of Lord Zhongtang to be able to develop like this, and others wanted to fight with Lord Zhongtang, but they didn't dare to provoke him, so naturally they came to provoke our subordinates first. In the past, they had great profits, but now they want to deal with us, and it is nothing more than for the sake of our good relationship with Lord Zhongtang. ”

"The adults in the middle hall are broad-minded, and they don't count the friendship between the old man and Master Li."

The carriage drove steadily and quickly towards the Zhejiang Guild Hall, "He doesn't care." It's just that everything has something to do and something not to do, he sent Lord Wang to Yunnan, I know that it is impossible to make friends with him, the world thinks that Lord Wang has received a lot of favor from me, in fact, it is still Lord Wang who promised me such an opportunity, if it is not for his support, I will have to work hard for another 20 years to have the scene today, this kindness can not be forgotten. ”

"Again. I am so prominent in Zhejiang, Li Hongzhang can't tolerate me, and I still control the ship," Hu Xueyan couldn't cry or laugh a little, "This is even more taboo, Lord Zhongtang is really, I'm afraid that Shen Baozhen can't bear Li Hongzhang's pressure, so he pulled me in to cheer him on." ”

"I set up the silk factory in Shanghai, not without compromise, and the ticket number is doing well in Zhejiang. If this silk chamber of commerce is still in Zhejiang, I am afraid that it will be even more taboo, so I fortunately retreated to Shanghai, so that everyone thinks that I was forced to come out. In this way, more or less Li Hongzhang will also take into account the rumors in the market, and secondly, I will also give him a face, since I am not happy that I am in Zhejiang, I will come to Shanghai as he wishes. Zhejiang's business, the first is the ticket number, the second is silk, and if you lose it, you will lose it," Hu Xueyan sighed a little, "In the end, Li Hongzhang and I are still fellow countrymen?" It's ...... like this."

"Governor Li is the favorite general of the Western Sage......"

"Lord Zhongtang is the same," Hu Xueyan said with a smile, "As long as Lord Zhongtang is on an errand in the military aircraft department, then I will never have any problems, speaking of which, Lord Zhongtang will really offend people," Hu Xueyan sighed, "It is not pleasing to the local Governor Li, and the Central Center and Prince Gong are not dealing with it, this offends people's temperament, tsk, but it is also powerful." ”

Zuo Zongtang arrived at the duty room of the military aircraft department, Prince Gong Li Hongzao Baojun Jinglian had already arrived, and before Zuo Zongtang could ask anything, Baojun was already shouting loudly, "These damn Frenchmen, what are they, they dare to do it right under our noses!" ”

Prince Gong shook his head, "They did it with the intention of revenge," he saw that Zuo Zongtang was a little puzzled, and explained to Zuo Zongtang, "Captain Li Weiye of the French Indochina Fleet led three hundred soldiers from Saigon on a warship to the north. ”

Zuo Zongtang was taken aback, and then calmed down, "Just rely on these 300 people to invade my Qing Dynasty, presumably it will not work, so you want to deal with Vietnam?" ”

Prince Gong nodded, "I'm afraid there is such an idea." ”

"Do they want to attack Hue?" Empress Dowager Cixi ascended to the Heart Palace, she had already seen the excerpts, and she didn't know if her mood had calmed down, or she had always been calm and tight, and her face was impassive, "You must know that Ege is still in Hue, if they do this, Ege's life is afraid that it will be in danger, he has such a strong temperament." ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to be very genuinely worried about Ege, Li Hongzao was very moved, and replied, "Please give an order to the Empress Dowager to let Ege return to Beijing as soon as possible, and don't let foreigners **** him." ”

"The matter of Vietnam is not over, how can we let Ege return to Beijing?" Zuo Zongtang retorted, "It is right for a person who is on an errand for the country to ignore himself, how can he lose ground because of the actions of a legal person? Maybe the French were afraid that the envoys of our day 1 dynasty were in Hue, so they didn't dare to attack Hue. ”

Li Hongzao glanced at Zuo Zongtang, "Lord Zuo is not from Han Linhua, so he naturally doesn't know the importance of Ege's reading seed, if he loses it in Vietnam, I'm afraid that if he kills all the French, he won't be able to recover the loss." The sarcasm in the words is that Zuo Zongtang is just a person, and you naturally don't understand the importance of these noble Jinshi figures.

Zuo Zongtang was never afraid of quarreling with people? Although he is quite jealous of Li Hongzao, this jealousy is only the difference between a doctoral student at Tsinghua University and a third-rate pheasant university graduate, in terms of current power, Li Hongzao is not as good as himself, but Zuo Zongtang immediately retorted: "The enemy is close to the capital of the vassals, but the angels are in a hurry to abandon the vassals, and I am afraid that there are no such characters in the reading seeds of the big country." ”

Li Hongzao was about to sneer at each other again, but was stopped by the Empress Dowager Cixi, "Okay, what's there to quarrel about this matter, let's seriously discuss what the French want to do!" ”

"King Yizheng, when is the military report in the south?"

"It was written yesterday morning, and I guess there will be a telegram coming up from the south soon."

"Then just wait, if they attack Hue, this matter can't be stopped!" The Empress Dowager Cixi said coldly, "The French are really presumptuous! ”

What do you mean by this? Prince Gong is 10,000 unwilling to go to war, and the north and Russia are fighting for the North Sea, in the final analysis, no war has ever been declared, but China has slowly encroached on the land of Beihai through small frictions and Mongolian armed forces, which is extremely far away from the heart of the Central Plains, even if it is defeated, it will not affect anything, but Vietnam ......

It is really too close to China, in case of war, the land of Liangguang and Yunnan will be greatly affected, this is a price that cannot be afforded, Prince Gong thought about it, and it is not easy to refute it directly, so he said, "The French may not want to occupy Hue, his inner thoughts are still to want the shares of the Suez Canal, and he wants to take Hue with 300 people, but I am afraid that it is also a fantasy, or he wants to use this as a raft to bargain with us." This is true, the French may be impatient to bargain at the negotiating table, and it is possible to simply threaten by force.

"Now that the negotiation fails, they have to do it, making it clear that they have an advantage in Vietnam, so it seems," the Empress Dowager Cixi shook her head, "I have to think about the matter of exchanging shares for vassals, if they take the shares in the future, turn their faces and continue to destroy Vietnam, how can this be good?" Don't lose your eggs and lose your eggs when the time comes. ”

The eunuch from the internal affairs office came up with a booklet, everyone knew that it must be a military newspaper from Vietnam, and the Empress Dowager Cixi opened the booklet with a fixed gaze, "The French did not attack Hue?" (To be continued.) )