Guangzhou, the Governor's Mansion of Guangzhou.

"Where have you been all this time?" Zhang Zhidong put down the teacup and asked lightly.

"I'm in Guangxi."

Zhang Zhidong looked at Yu Ke with burning eyes: "I made a special trip to Lianhua County a month ago to inspect the construction of the rubber factory. Why didn't I see you? ”

Yu Ke's eyes rolled: "Oh, that's really unfortunate, I was out of the house for a while." ”

"Where did you go? What are you going to do? ”

"Yunnan, looking for iron ore."

"Have you found the iron ore?"

"Nope."

"Why did Gan Qiliang tell me that you went back to Foshan."

“…… He must have misremembered. Yu Ke's expression remained unchanged.

Zhang Zhidong took out a telegram from a drawer:

"Empress Dowager Cixi, the Emperor, and Li Zhongtang died at the hands of an assassin on the first day of the lunar month."

"What? How can it be? Which knight has such great ability? Yu Ke's face was full of shock.

Zhang Zhidong sneered: "That assassin is nearly nine feet long, with a strong figure, and is dressed as a Taoist priest. Claiming to be surnamed Wang, he has strange power and is good at martial arts. ”

"On November 30, this assassin infiltrated Li Zhongtang's mansion disguised as an imperial doctor, killed Li Hongzhang, knocked everyone in the Li mansion unconscious, tied them up, and threw them into the cellar."

"That night, he sneaked into the palace, assassinated the emperor, and held the queen mother hostage."

"None of the hundreds of internal guards is one of their enemies, watching him go out of the palace."

"This kind of martial arts, looking at the world, there are few opponents."

Yu Ke applauded and exclaimed: "I envy me, I can't wait to see the demeanor of this hero." ”

Zhang Zhidong looked at Yu Ke and asked with a serious face: "You tell me the truth, did you kill Cixi?" ”。

Yu Ke smiled and said, "How could it be me?" How can I be so capable? ”

"Even if I had that ability, I wouldn't have that time."

"Uncle Zhang, my wife's only son has not moved for two or three years, my grandfather is in a hurry, I am afraid that I will not be able to hold my great-grandson~"

Zhang Zhidong rubbed his eyebrows, looking helpless: "Stop, stop!" Where is it all gone? ”

"Tell me honestly, where have you been all this time?"

"Don't fool me, I can find out. After you went back to Guangzhou last time to see me, you went back to Foshan to live for about a month, I thought you would go back to Guangxi, but you didn't go back at all! ”

"Where the hell have you been?"

Yu Ke sighed and said, "Uncle Zhang, since you must know, I won't hide it from you, don't tell it." ”

Yu Ke put his mouth close to Zhang Zhidong's ear and whispered: "Actually, I have something unspeakable, as long as I don't have a child, my grandfather can't find out the cause." I had no choice but to go to the capital and visit a miracle doctor named Xilaile. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Zhidong turned his head expressionlessly, staring at Yu Ke without blinking, and said after a while.

"Okay, that's a reasonable explanation."

"Well, let's turn the page on this matter, and now let's talk about another thing."

Zhang Zhidong's expression was extremely serious: "Half a month ago, the White Lotus Sect made an incident. ”

Yu Ke frowned: "So fast? Where is the White Lotus Sect? ”

Zhang Zhidong said: "Shanxi, Henan." ”

"Two neighboring provinces?" Yu Ke's expression was a little solemn.

"When I was the governor of Shanxi a few years ago for disaster relief, I noticed that there were traces of the activities of the White Lotus Sect there."

"It didn't take long for me to be transferred to another place by the imperial court. Before I left, I reported the matter to the court, but I'm afraid not many people paid attention to it. ”

Zhang Zhidong took out a map from the bookshelf, and continued: "The White Lotus Sect master who is doing things in Shanxi is named Luan Zhenkun. ”

"This person has a bit of ability, and he has quietly developed 30,000 White Lotus Sect members."

"In seven days, three cities were taken in a row, and Taiyuan was captured in five days! Now I am afraid that there are more than 100,000 men. ”

Yu Ke said with a smile: "It's just a coercion of the homeless, and only one-tenth of the 100,000 people can really get their hands on it." ”

"Our new army only needs to send two regiments to defeat it. It's just a rabble, and it can't be done. ”

Zhang Zhidong was noncommittal, and continued: "And Li Feng, the leader of the White Lotus Sect who raised the incident in Henan, was much worse, and there were only less than 20,000 horses when the incident was raised. ”

"During this time, the three cities of Shanxi were captured, and at this time, Luoyang City was surrounded by 30,000 horses, and it was in a stalemate."

Yu Ke asked, "What is the reaction of the imperial court?" ”

Zhang Zhidong's eyes lowered and he sighed: "It is estimated that the group of wine bags and rice bags in the court are still fighting for power." ”

"The Zongren Mansion chose to let Prince Gong succeed to the throne. But Prince Qing also has the support of many ministers in the court, how can he give up? ”

"After Li Hongzhang's death, the Beiyang faction also had no leader, and the leader has not yet been elected."

"These silverfish are still a little useful when Li Hongzhang is alive, and once Li Hongzhang dies, it is estimated that no one will obey anyone."

Yu Ke looked at Zhang Zhidong, his eyes flashed: "Uncle Zhang, you are the leader of the clear stream, maybe ......"

Li Hongzhang knew what Yu Ke meant, waved his hand and interrupted:

"Although I am the leader of the clear stream, I have never been able to pee in the same pot as those old stubborns."

"If it weren't for the support of the Queen Mother, I wouldn't have been able to sit in this position at all. Now that the Queen Mother is gone, they will not obey me. ”

"Just dispel your thoughts, instead of pulling them over, it's better for us to cultivate them ourselves."

"The Sailor Academy has been preliminarily completed, and it's time to recruit students."

Yu Ke thought for a while and asked, "Since the Queen Mother is dead, what should you do if the court asks you to return to the capital?" ”

Zhang Zhidong sneered: "Naturally, it's drag!" ”

"Also, the imperial court doesn't care about us now." Yu Ke said.

Zhang Zhidong said: "Now the new army has formed three more regiments, plus the Black Flag Army, a total of 15,000 people. And all are armed with new rifles. ”

"The other day, I ordered another twenty Krupp cannons and four hundred shells from Germany."

Saying that, Zhang Zhidong showed a helpless expression again: "Kezhi, if there is nothing important, you can go back to Guangxi as soon as possible." ”

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "I went to see your rubber factory last time, and it has almost been built." ”

"It will take a month at most to start producing rubber."

"Now the old man's money is a little insufficient."

Yu Ke frowned and asked, "How many are left?" ”

"Less than 100,000 taels ......" Zhang Zhidong's expression was a little ashamed.

Yu Ke sighed, pretending to take out a stack of silver tickets from his sleeve and put it on the table:

"The ticket numbers of the major money banks are millions of taels when added together, you can take them for a while."

Zhang Zhidong was dumbfounded: "Where did you get so much money?" ”

"Picked it up."

Yu Ke shook his hand and walked out, and said at the same time: "I'll go back to Foshan, and I'll go back to Guangxi in two days." ”

Of course, this money was looted from Li Hongzhang's mansion.

Yu Ke also searched for all kinds of gold, silver, jewelry, and land deeds from the Li Mansion.

But some of these belongings were useless to Yu Ke, and some were inconvenient to carry, so Yu Ke didn't take them.

Only the silver tickets were taken away.