Inside the flower hall in the back hall

Everyone's mood has stabilized a lot, Li Fushou came out of the inner room, the chattering and mosquito-like chattering sound in the room immediately disappeared, and the crying wives and concubines and children also suppressed their sorrows, and their eyes were all focused on him.

Li Fushou said in a deep voice; "The royal family has applied the golden needle, the queen has woken up, her body is temporarily fine, but her spirit is still very poor, the doctor prescribed a few calming drugs to use first, now this is a very time, you don't come forward to say goodbye, let's go and rest."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

A large family dispersed according to the order, and only nine older princes knelt under the porch, from the 12-year-old eldest prince to the four-year-old ninth prince, all of whom prayed for the queen mother devoutly, and their filial piety was commendable.

"Kneel and kneel, and put a cotton cushion on their knees." Li Fushou sighed lightly, gave an order, and turned to go in.

In the inner room

Li Fushou asked a few words and waved his hand to let the royal secretary go down.

He now knew that his father-in-law, Gu Yanchuan, was infected with malaria on the way to Zhennanguan to inspect, and he fell ill all of a sudden in the scorching summer weather and his advanced age, and his illness quickly turned critical after returning to Guangzhou.

The so-called last meeting is also the old man chattering in a serious illness, so Gu Zhixue, the eldest son of the Gu Mansion, specially noted in the telegram that he hoped that his sister could come back to see him.

After receiving the report, the royal secretariat has arranged for the nearest province in East Kalimantan province to send a naval clipper to send cinchona cream, a special medicine for malaria, and three experienced doctors to Canton Province under the stars.

According to the calculation of the maximum speed of the Seagull II ocean-going cruiser, with a straight-line distance of less than 3,000 kilometers between Sanmalinda Port and Guangzhou Port, we will be in a hurry day and night, and we can arrive at Guangzhou Port in 3 days at the latest.

Waving his hand to let the maid retreat, Li Fushou walked into the finely carved Wangong Babu bed of rosewood, which was Queen Gu Liuyan's favorite bedroom furniture, and the faint scent of ambergris came from the nose, which had the wonderful effect of refreshing the mind.

Queen Gu Liuyan had woken up after piercing the golden needle, lying on her side on the brocade couch and crying silently, her eyes were already red and swollen like peaches, and the clear tears were still flowing wantonly on her face, and she couldn't stop it.

Li Fushou sat on the edge of the bed, gently stretching his ape arms and holding her weak body in his arms.

With a solid support, this time the queen Gu Liuyan cried as if the floodgates had been opened, her soft body was crying and sobbing, trembling because of fear, this shocking news really scared her.

"Yan'er, if you want to cry, just cry loudly, I have arranged for the "Ocean Traveler" cruise ship to come immediately, tomorrow evening, you can board the ship to visit the patient in Guangzhou, I have arranged the corresponding affairs, you can rest assured, and Borneo has sent special medicine under the starry night, Jiren has his own God, I hope it is still too late. ”

"Ah...... Your Majesty, are you saying that my father is still saved? ”

"Yan'er don't panic, I've already asked clearly, Lord Yue's father is suffering from malaria, this disease is very common in the southern rainforest, the royal secretariat has arranged for several experienced doctors to rush to Guangzhou under the stars, my uncle called and hoped that you could rush back to see your seriously ill father, the illness should not be too critical, I hope that the auspicious people will be in the sky."

"Your Majesty, as long as you can solve my father's life and death disaster, Gu Liuyan will make you a cow and a horse for the rest of your life......" Gu Liuyan suddenly suppressed his sadness and said in a panic.

Li Fushou patted her fragrant shoulder lightly and said softly; "Yan'er, you and I have been a husband and wife for more than ten years, don't say these foreign words, this time you go back to the province first, I will make a little arrangement and will arrive soon, after all, I am now the respect of a country, and my rash arrival will inevitably alarm the Manchu court, or I need to order the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange it in advance before I can finally make the trip."

"Your Majesty, if my father can survive by chance, then he is not in a hurry to mobilize the people, after all, His Majesty's identity is not trivial."

"If this is not true, is your status half a point lower? It's just a matter of urgency. Li Fushou replied with a smile indifferently, and then said with a solemn expression; After all, Lord Yuezhang is old, even if he can escape the ghost gate this time, his qi and blood will inevitably suffer a big loss, and he needs long-term conditioning. ”

"Your Majesty, the concubines have been saved, since they married to Australia for a long time, the concubines often miss their old fathers and mothers at home, this time they can finally return home to save their relatives, and serve the sick in front of their father's sickbed, and the concubines are grateful......"

"Yan'er, you and I are husband and wife, don't say polite words."

The kind words comforted the queen, and after she was no longer so excited, Li Fushou asked the princes who were kneeling outside to go in to visit, talk to the queen mother, and then return to the meditation hall to rest.

After this change

Li Fushou realized that he had focused on Australian and colonial affairs over the years, and owed a lot of debts in terms of overseas layout, and it was time to make up for it.

From start to finish

In his imagination, the territory of the Ocean Kingdom includes all the territories and archipelagos of Oceania, and there is no resistance to the islands scattered in the Pacific Ocean, and it is easy to take them down, as long as some immigrants and officials are sent up, and the local natives are all cleared.

There are not many people in these Pacific islands, hundreds of them are still in a primitive state, and no forces will pay attention to them.

As for New Zealand, it's the fat in your mouth, and you can eat it whenever you want.

As for the so-called promises, they are all floating clouds, and at the end of the 19th century, the treaties between countries in black and white were all said to be torn up, let alone verbal promises.

Of course, during the lifetime of Queen Victoria, Li Fushou will still pay attention to his demeanor and will not start for the time being.

The Hawaiian Islands need to be dealt with as soon as possible, and the United States will occupy the entire Hawaiian Islands one step ahead of the United States, isolating the United States from the Eastern Pacific region.

There are quite a few Americans in the Hawaiian Islands, and that's a big problem.

This matter should be handled by a proper person, the secretary Li Sizhong is cautious and thoughtful, calm and down-to-earth, this matter can be arranged for him to be fully responsible for handling it, and it will not cause any trouble.

Fuso, the British Channel Governor's Office, the Dutch East Indies, the French Indochina Peninsula, and the Spanish Luzon Islands should all step up infiltration and intelligence gathering, and support forces close to Australia to be spokesmen, and this matter should be the focus of the next overseas expansion work.

The most critical thing is the Chinese mainland, the bad news from Guangdong this time made Li Fushou feel that the sky has fallen, in the past, his father-in-law Gu Yanchuan alone supported most of the sky, blessed the "Guangjitang" and Australia's commercial interests in the mainland.

In case Gu Yanchuan makes a mistake, the loss will be immeasurable, highlighting the lack of mainland layout.

It is necessary to find a spokesperson with sufficient weight as soon as possible, and there are three choices in front of Li Fushou;

The next policy is to devote resources to support the eldest uncle Gu Yanshan, this public official to the Sanpin Taifu Siqing, in charge of the royal honor guard travel and the country's carriages and horses, a bit similar to the role of the Minister of Communications, but the power is much smaller, belonging to a typical Beijing official.

The advantage of this is that Gu Yanshan's resume and rank are enough, and if he pushes up, he can sit on the throne of the superintendent, and it is less difficult to implement.

The disadvantage is also obvious, Uncle Gu Yanshan is four years older than Gu Yanchuan, who is the second in line, and he is already sixty and two this year, this body looks quite tough now, but the age is here, if you can't say it, it won't work, and the risk is great.

Zhongce is to devote all resources to support his son Gu Zhiwen, Gu Zhixue two brothers, Gu Zhiwen is the son of the uncle Gu Yanshan, who was born and won a four-grade top by donating.

The largest official position that can be bought in the Manchu Qing Dynasty is the Taoist platform, and the official residence is the fourth grade. Such an official position is only one level lower than the governor, one level higher than the axe, and the official price is 16,400 taels of silver, in fact, this is just a qualification to buy a Taoist platform, and none of the ten donations can take up a real position.

That is to say, after spending 16,400 taels of silver, you have this qualification to fill the vacancy, but it is not necessarily guaranteed to be able to fill the gap.

Li Fushou knows;

Gu Zhiwen, the shortage of the four-grade real post Taoist platform in Guangdong, was bought for 115,000 taels of silver, and he controlled the 25 battalions of the Huwei Right Army, with 400 soldiers in each battalion, a total of 10,000 new troops, stationed in Foshan, Guangdong.

Gu Zhixue is Li Fushou's eldest brother, who was named on the gold list at the age of 28 and won a second-class 97th. Now he has achieved the prefect of Huai'an, and he is a herdsman official from the four grades.

At the end of the 19th century

Huai'an Mansion is the location of the Caoyun Governor's Palace, and the two Huai'an Salt and Iron Monopoly, which is an important part of the Qing Dynasty's fiscal revenue, are also located in Huai'an Mansion, which shows its importance.

Along the Grand Canal, 600,000 Cao workers are all under the control of the Cao Yun Governor's Office, and hundreds of thousands of salt workers in the two Huai are subject to the transfer of the two Huai to make the Yamen one control.

I can't write two "Gu" words in one stroke, and I can't break the bones and tendons.

Gu Zhiwen, Gu Zhixue, these two brothers are trustworthy and more worthy of cultivating spokespersons, the key is that these two brothers are young, Gu Zhiwen is 41 years old this year, Gu Zhixue is 38 years old, if there is no accident, the career can be at least another 20 years, far more cost-effective than investing in a bad old man.

The best strategy is that Li Fushou relied on the advantage of foresight to win over and corrupt two or three governors to be spokespersons.

It is difficult for ordinary people to do it, but it is not difficult for Li Fushou to make friends with the respect of the king, and then give some small favors and sweetness.

In this era, the officials of the Manchu Qing State who were close to the foreigners were called Western-style ministers, or foreign-minded ministers, and were considered to be very capable.