In the second year of the Ming Dynasty and the third year of the puppet Qing Dynasty, on July 19.

Shanghai Public Concession, a magnificent Western-style villa, with three big characters engraved on the nameplate [Xing Mansion].

The owner of this villa is the hottest foreign talent in the Liangjiang area at the moment - Xing Jiuliu Xing.

Of course, not many people know this, after all, Lord Xing is the governor of Shanghai, and he is also the most important think tank in the governor of Jiangsu.

However, Xing Jiuliu's benefactor Li Hongzhang didn't care about it, and even when Xing Jiuliu and his concubine Biluo moved in, he sent someone to send a housewarming gift and a pair of golden toilets.

In Li Hongzhang's view, since he is a great talent, it is normal to have a mansion in the concession, and no matter how noisy those clear streams are, they are useless in this troubled world.

Today, it seems that there are big people coming to this Xing Mansion.

Early in the morning, the garden was neatly trimmed by the gardeners, and the entrance was covered with a red velvet carpet.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, several Western-style carriages without any markings hurriedly drove into the Xing Mansion, and then, the door of the villa was closed, and there was no more sound.

If someone was inside the Xing Mansion at this time, they would definitely be shocked when they saw the owners of these carriages.

Because if these three people really join forces, let alone the same rule of bears and children, Cixi, the young woman of the West Palace, who is the British and American ministers of the public concession, must also be given three points of thin noodles.

"Chen Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang knocked to see the prince, the prince is a thousand years old and a thousand years old!"

One is the governor of Liangjiang with a strong army, and the other is the governor of Jiangsu, who can make these two princes who are willing to bow down is none other than the king who is now in the limelight, and the minister in charge of the prime minister's affairs and the affairs of various countries.

Yi Yi is known as the devil six, he is greedy for money and lustful, but he is not a stupid person, he naturally understands the weight of the two Hanchen in front of him, and he does not dare to hold his own identity, so he hurriedly stepped forward to help: "The two Qingtian humerus please get up quickly!" ”

Among the three, Zeng Guofan is the oldest, and now he is fifty-three, and he is not in good health, so he has a little difficulty getting up.

Li Hongzhang, who has just turned forty, is completely different, his skills are extremely vigorous, and he almost rises from the ground.

Li Hongzhang's body is notoriously tough, if it weren't for the black gun in his later years and a giant black cauldron, Lao Li is likely to live to be more than ninety years old.

Such a small detail fell in Yi Yi's eyes, and he only wrote it down in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face at all.

Prince Gong is just 30 years old this year, but he was able to launch a coup d'état with Cixi and others at the age of 28 two years ago, killing Su Shun and his old ministers.

According to reason, Yi Li, as the king of the council, must not meet with foreign ministers in private, let alone two local ministers with heavy troops.

If this meeting spreads, Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang may be fine for the time being, and Yi Yi will definitely cause big trouble, and if it is not done, it will be a disaster.

But this time, Yi Yi had a reason to take the risk of coming to Shanghai.

There are two main events.

First of all, it is a matter on the bright side, that is, to deal with the aftermath of the big basket that was poked out for himself.

In the second year of Tongzhi, Yi Yi entrusted the British Li Tai with a huge amount of money to buy ships.

Although Yi Yi made a lot of oil and water in the middle, his original intention was to form the Qing court's own navy, in order to enter the Yangtze River and attack Nanjing and end the Cantonese bandit rebellion that lasted for more than ten years.

However, Yi Yi completely underestimated the meanness and shamelessness of the British.

Three months earlier, the fleet had sailed to the Far East, but the fleet was commanded by Colonel Aspen of the British Royal Navy.

To this day, the British have no intention of returning this fleet to the Qing court, and demand that the British command the Chinese navy, just like the customs.

He even put forward the threat that "if he does not use his people, the ships and guns should also be returned to the country", and demanded that the Qing government pay compensation.

Even if the customs is concerned, Hurd will at least be more incorruptible.

However, a country's armed forces, from command to personnel rights, are all managed by other countries, and there is not even a single native of the country, but they have to pay military expenses.

If the devil dares to do this, he will definitely be drowned by the spittle of the government and the opposition.

This time, Yi Yi undoubtedly couldn't eat mutton and caused a commotion.

When he came to meet Zeng and Li this time, he heard that Shanghai had a great talent in the world, and he hoped that he could mediate for him, or at least advise him.

The second major event is not something that can be talked about publicly, about Cixi.

I don't know when a rumor has spread in Jiangnan and other places.

Legend has it that Buyangu, the leader of the Yeh tribe, swore to the heavens before he died: "Even if there is only one woman left in I, Yehenara, I will destroy Aixin Jueluo." ”

As a disciple of Aixin Jueluo, of course, Yi Yi doesn't believe in this kind of nonsense.

Because among the past dynasties, there are not a few people who have intermarried with Yehe Nala, and Yehe ministers such as Nalan Xingde do not know how many ordinary people, and it is reasonable for Ye He's to endanger my Daqing Qi.

Yi Yi has always regarded it as a gossip made up by Cantonese bandits to slander the Queen Mother of the West Palace.

Recently, however, the US minister has repeatedly sent notes to Prime Minister Yamen, saying that the Empress Dowager Nishinomiya has repeatedly interfered in Citigroup's internal affairs in an attempt to do wrong.

This made some people, including Yi Yi, inevitably murmur in their hearts in private.

Moreover, they also found some more reliable news, from the wealthy businessmen of Citigroup, saying that the Empress Dowager Xigong was misbehaving and seemed to be suspected of fornicating with foreigners.

This kind of appalling thing came from the mouth of a foreigner, and Yi Yi naturally didn't believe it.

But he couldn't understand why foreigners slandered me as a 28-year-old widow!

As the saying goes, flies don't bite eggs, and a slap doesn't make a sound, with Yi Yi's experience, a 28-year-old widow is indeed ...... Maybe you'll do something ugly.

Now Yi Yi still has the position of a clan commander, and he is already in charge of the private law of the clan, so he should pay attention to this matter both in public and private.

And if it is the first emperor, that is, after the death of Yi Yi's imperial brother, Ye He's family will have an affair with foreigners, just be afraid, maybe this matter is more than that.

Because Yi Yi thought about it, the only time Ye He's had the opportunity to come into contact with foreign men was when Britain and France entered Beijing and the first emperor Mulan was hunting!

If it was really his imperial brother who was still alive back then, this Ye He clan had a personal affair with foreigners, wouldn't that be ......

Is there something else strange about the death of the royal brother?

Manchu people not only love to read "Three Kingdoms", they also love to read "Water Margin"!

The story of Nawu Dalang and Pan Jinlian is very familiar to Yi Li.

Don't dare to think of such a terrible assumption, Yi Yi doesn't have the courage to be Wu Erlang, but it doesn't hurt to check it privately.

Of course, this second matter, no one knows except for a few clan elders in the Zongren Mansion, and it is impossible for Yi Yi to tell a foreign minister like Zeng Guofan about the details, but it is Li Hongzhang......

Yi Yi is only 30 years old now, and he still has a lot of time.

And in the court, he already felt the pressure of Cixi.

Cixi's desire for power far exceeded Yi Yi's expectations, and Ci'an has been gradually emptied.

As Tongzhi's biological mother, Cixi is also gradually reducing the power of Yi Li, the king of parliament, and although the political struggle between the two sides cannot be said to be as hot as when Jiashen Yishu was in power, it has also been surging.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang, who is also in the prime of life, is a political ally that Yi Yi hopes to make.

If he can get the support of the local armed forces of the Han people, the pressure on Yi Yi in the political struggle with Cixi will definitely be greatly reduced, and for this reason, it is not impossible to consider revealing some of the family ugliness of Aixin Jueluo.

Before Yi Yi thought that he had signed an armistice agreement with Ercrow, and had a relationship with the British, who knew that those Yingyi were eating meat with chopsticks, putting down chopsticks and scolding his mother, not giving him face at all, and putting him together in the matter of selling warships.

So this time he didn't dare to contact Citigroup on his own, and he still felt that Li Hongzhang's foreign talent was reliable.