In addition to this worry, Li Hongzhang was also very annoyed, he had not yet taken office as the governor of Zhili, and there was a shortage of tens of millions of silver for the household department here, which made these people in Zhili and Beiyang Naval Division think of themselves? But the Empress Dowager Cixi opened her mouth like this, telling the major events in the court, the Berlin Conference and the issuance of new coins one by one, and she trusted herself very much, although she did not enter the direct military aircraft, but faintly regarded it as a special honor, and it also proved that she was indeed a person that the Empress Dowager Cixi attached great importance to, Li Hongzhang was very embarrassed, he thought about it, and could only grit his teeth and respond, "Xisheng said that it is true, the Beiyang Navy Division will inevitably understand the difficulties of the imperial court." Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

This is the meaning of agreement, Yan Jingming smiled, but the Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to be a little disappointed, blinked, but did not expect Li Hongzhang to continue, "Since the imperial court has difficulties, Zhili and Beiyang naturally have to be considerate, but it cannot be said that the imperial court has always been difficult, Xisheng, if the minister cannot let the Beiyang naval division develop, then serving as the minister of Beiyang is also a vegetarian corpse, it is not qualified, this temporary reduction in military procurement is naturally possible, but Weichen is bold, please set a deadline for the household department, in the end, how many years, You must know that this warship is newer and stronger, and it doesn't matter if Weichen grits his teeth and stops for a year or two, but if it stops for too long, then it will be difficult to catch up with other countries. ”

"A year or two?" Yan Jingming replied dissatisfiedly, "It will take at least five years." ”

Li Hongzhang half-closed his eyes and said coldly, "If you stop for five years, then Yan Zhongtang, you are not only a sinner of the Beiyang Naval Division, but also a sinner of the Great Qing Kingdom." ”

"Whether I am a sinner or not, I don't need your Governor to decide," Yan Jingming replied, "The Beiyang Navy Division continues to pay for various expenses such as training ammunition and guarantees, and it is guaranteed that it will not be reduced, how can I say that I am a sinner?" ”

"If there is no reduction, there will naturally be no increase," Li Hongzhang continued, "Check the military expenditure of all countries, there is no increase over the years, we have not increased here, it is equivalent to a reduction!" ”

Empress Dowager Cixi nodded, "That's right, even the imperial court has to be creditworthy, and if you say good things, you can't do things badly, I mean," Empress Dowager Cixi thought for a while, "This is the sixteenth year of Guangxu, and this year's warship purchase has been paid, and there is no need to say anything about whether to buy or not this year, so stop next year and the year after next, how about this?" There is no need to worry about the lack of new warships in the future, which is being developed in Nanyang, and it will be effective in a few more years. ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head slightly, waiting for Nanyang to want to develop it, I didn't know that it was going to be the Year of the Monkey, but the Empress Dowager Cixi had made it very clear that she absolutely supported the independent manufacture of warships in Mawei Port in Nanyang, so Li Hongzhang didn't touch that mold, since it was set for a period of two years, this period was set, but Li Hongzhang was obviously not satisfied, "In addition, the minister wants to ask for a decree to raise his own military funds to invest in the Beiyang Naval Division!" ”

The Queen Mother raised her eyebrows, obviously very interested in Li Hongzhang's proposal, "Self-financing for the military? What are you going to do? ”

Li Hongzhang was attacked by a surprise today, and was forced to accept the reality of the Beiyang Naval Division's reduction of military spending in a completely defenseless situation, he eagerly came up with a method, and he didn't know what the specific plan of this method was, "Wechen only knew about the reduction of military spending today, so this matter of self-raising military expenses was eagerly thought of, Wechen thought that the world is big, and there must be a lot of rich people, if you can get a little help from them, although the silver raised cannot be able to buy warships, the cost is huge, But it is beneficial to the training and construction of the Beiyang Naval Division, not to mention other places, just say that the forts and ports in Lushun, Weihai and other places need to be repaired and newly built. ”

Empress Dowager Cixi looked at Yan Jingming, and Yan Jingming spoke, "In the old years, Xisheng made a will, and the people were grateful for their patriotism, but they would never use apportionment and persuasion to loot the place and seize the wealth of the people. ”

"This is natural, but everything has to come up with a plan first, please Rong Chen go back and plan carefully, if you have a quasi-plan, then ask Xisheng to decide, but, if you want the Beiyang Navy Division to not be too short of silver," Li Hongzhang pleaded with the Empress Dowager Cixi, "Please allow the Zhili local government to raise its own military expenses." ”

When the Empress Dowager Cixi heard this idea, she pondered for a while, the hall was silent, Yan Jingming and Li Hongzhang waited for the will of the Empress Dowager Cixi, "Since you say so, this patriotic heart is not bad, and I can think of raising military expenses by myself, and I will agree to this matter first." ”

Li Hongzhang got up and thanked him, "Don't be busy thanking you first," the Queen Mother nodded and said, "You said that you don't have a specific statement on this matter, and you can't go down to do it, so you write out the charter first, and after the center reads the charter, if it's good, naturally there is no reason not to be allowed." ”

Empress Dowager Cixi looked at Li Hongzhang and Yan Jingming, "You two are both capable ministers of the imperial court, and when you have different political views, it is naturally okay to quarrel, but you must not spoil the major affairs of the court because of small things." ”

The two said yes, "Shaoquan, you wicked person is difficult to do for you," the Empress Dowager Cixi instructed Li Lianying, "Tell Prime Minister Yamen, when the news is confirmed, the relations between the countries must be good, and there must be no trouble." ”

"Huh."

"Okay, Shaoquan, you kneel down first, you will leave Beijing in a few days, there is something troublesome, Yan Jingming will stay first, I still have something to ask you."

Li Hongzhang returned to the Anhui Hall with a calm face, this time it was not to be modest to close the door to thank the guests, but he was really in a bad mood, and he had no idea of meeting guests, and returned to the signing room, and followed Li San to come up and serve Li Hongzhang to take off his court clothes, revealing the flower clothes he was wearing inside, Li Hongzhang touched his head, "Where is Xingsun?" ”

Xingsun is Sheng Xuanhuai's word, Li San saw Li Hongzhang and asked, "Yesterday, I came to report, Sheng Daren is already in Tongzhou, and he will be able to go to Tianjin in a few days to wait for the master's drive." ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head, "Let him go directly to Beijing, there is one of the most important things for him to do right now, and he can't do it without him planning in Beijing!" ”

Li San obeyed the order, and was stopped by Li Hongzhang again, "Where's Miss?" What is this going to do? Hurry up and get the lady over. ”

After a while, Ju Couple walked over with a book and saw Li Hongzhang's face, "What's wrong with Daddy today, what's wrong?" (To be continued.) )