A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 441 Ridiculous Discussion
Cixi did not go directly to the conference room Yuan Shikai mentioned because the sign there was called "Consultative Bureau" and it was the place that would be used as a post-constitutional parliament.

She will definitely not bother with the details of the constitution. As long as it can stabilize her power, she will do anything.

First, the five ministers who went abroad and a group of Manchu and Qing nobles from the imperial court sat in a row to discuss and come up with something.

The location was not chosen in the capital because Cixi wanted to see what the opinions were.

If there are preliminary results, it can be implemented in a small area in Zhili. After all, Cixi still believed in Yuan Shikai's ability.

Now the only ministers that the court can count on are Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong.

In fact, the matter of establishing the constitution is already on the string, and everyone knows that it will be implemented. However, due to the special characteristics of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Cixi has been deliberately delaying this matter.

As one of the five overseas ministers, Duanfang, the governor of Liangjiang, also came to the capital at this moment. He spoke first:
"When I traveled around the world, I found that none of them had a eunuch system. When I met with former Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, he also said that the eunuch system was too barbaric and was not a system that should exist in a civilized country. So I think it should be listed in the list. Among the New Deal.”

Yuan Shikai immediately agreed: "It is very necessary to abolish the eunuch system, and it is a small matter. If small things cannot be done, how can big things be done?"

Xiao Dezhang, who was listening outside the house, was frightened and quickly went to find Li Lianying.

"General Manager Li, General Manager Li!" Xiaode Zhang cried and ran to Li Lianying.

"What happened?" Li Lianying asked calmly.

"They... Duan Fang and Yuan Shikai are going to..." Xiao De opened his mouth a little dizzy.

Li Lianying asked: "What do you want?"

"They want to abolish the eunuch system!" Xiao Dezhang finally said it.

"What!" Li Lianying was shocked.

If the eunuch system is abolished, then I will be waiting to drink from the northwest wind.

"Real or false?" Li Lianying asked.

"It's absolutely true! I heard it clearly." Xiao Dezhang said.

Li Lianying sat back in her seat slumped, but quickly calmed down, "I have to find the Queen Mother quickly about this matter."

She was going to meet with the minister in a while. Cixi was steaming her face with hot water and applying a facial mask. After the set, she sat in front of the mirror and asked Li Lianying to comb her hair.

Li Lianying kept crying.

"Little Lizi, what's wrong?" Cixi asked.

"Slave, I'm afraid I won't be able to comb Lafayette's hair in the future, and I feel sad." Li Lianying said, wiping her tears.

"Why do you say that?" Cixi was puzzled.

"Due to the implementation of the New Deal, Mr. Yuan and Mr. Duanfang are going to abolish the eunuch system. From now on, from now on we will..." Li Lianying was already crying, "I can't bear to see Lafayette. I want to comb the Queen Mother's hair for the rest of my life."

Cixi sighed secretly in her heart, paused for a while and said, "Okay, I understand. With the Aijia here, what kind of suffering can you endure?"

What Li Lianying was waiting for was Cixi's words, "Lafayette, I will serve Lafayette until he is a hundred years old."

Cixi obviously started to feel unwell this year. Although it has not affected her daily life, she has been in her seventies for a long time. She is 72 years old this year, and many minor problems can no longer be covered up. The time she wears facial masks every day has increased a lot, but Almost no effect.

Cixi said: "What is a hundred years old? It would be great if I could live longer than a saint. Didn't the saint only live to be 72 years old?"

Li Lianying immediately said: "Sage Confucius is 72 years old, but the second sage Mencius is also 83 years old. The old Buddha is Guanyin Bodhisattva, so he can naturally live a hundred years."

Cixi was very pleased with this flattery and stood up and said, "Let's go and see how they are discussing."

As soon as Cixi arrived, everyone hurriedly lined up on both sides.

After Cixi sat down, she said to Yuan Shikai, "Tell me about it."

Yuan Shikai immediately said: "Back to the Queen Mother, we have reached consensus on some things, such as further promoting the new school and police system in various places, improving the commercial tax system and cleaning up finances in the capital and local areas, abolishing the eunuch system in the palace and using female waitresses... "

There really is such a thing.

However, Cixi had agreed to implement the New Deal earlier, and it was difficult to refute Yuan Shikai, so she asked Qu Hongji: "Qu Hongji, did Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao do the same thing back then?"

Qu Hongji said: "Back to the Queen Mother, part of it is almost the same."

Qu Hongji did not dare to say it clearly. In fact, the content mentioned by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao back then was much more comprehensive than it is now. It was almost entirely based on Japan and covered all aspects.

Now Yuan Shikai only picked a few easy ones to mention first.

"That's it," Cixi said, "Yuan Shikai, I don't want to cut the ribbon today, I just want to see new things, new things from our Qing Dynasty. If you can make those foreign things in your exhibition hall in Beiyang, I will I will definitely make up for this for you. As for the new policies you mentioned, everyone has seen it, even the Kang Party is not as good as them."

Yuan Shikai could only say: "The Queen Mother made a clear decision."

Just then Zaifeng walked in.

Zaifeng, as the Prince Chun lineage that Cixi relies on most among the recent royal family, has been repeatedly mentioned by Cixi recently to be let out to experience officialdom.

Zaifeng was only in his 20s, but he had been on a diplomatic mission to Europe, so he had seen a little bit of the world.

In particular, he just gave birth to a son named Puyi last year. I wonder if Cixi started to train him in advance.However, without Cixi saying this, no one dared to guess, and many people even thought that Zaifeng would become the crown prince.

As soon as Zaifeng reached the door, he shouted: "Yuan Shikai, why did your patrolman dare to stop me?"

Yuan Shikai frowned and asked, "How dare the patrolman stop the prince?"

Zaifeng paid his respects to Cixi.

Ci Xi looked unhappy: "Zai Feng, why don't you have any rules?"

Zai Feng said angrily: "Old Buddha, the patrol police in Tianjin are so unruly that they dared to stop my sedan on the street!"

Yuan Shikai said: "Your Majesty, the patrol police was established according to the Japanese system. Mr. Kawashima presided over it, and there was an edict issued by the imperial court. This time the Queen Mother came to Tianjin in person, I naturally asked the police to strictly maintain law and order. I will personally investigate what happened later. If you offend the prince, I will personally come to apologize."

Yuan Shikai said it with confidence.

Because he knew that the patrolman could not be stupid enough to really offend the prince. It must be Zaifeng who took the initiative to create trouble and then used it against himself.

Zaifeng began to be taken seriously last year, and after gaining the right to speak, he has always wanted to overthrow Yuan Shikai.

After all, Guangxu was his biological brother, and it was Yuan Shikai who informed Guangxu that he was imprisoned in Yingtai. Zaifeng was very angry with him.

The contradiction between the two is very deep.

But Cixi sat on it without saying a word. This was what he wanted to see.

Zaifeng said: "The patrol system? How can we have the law school of our ancestors? I see that your patrol officers have cut off their braids. How can you not think that every one of your police officers has a degree from abroad? If not, then it is disobedience! It is a revolutionary party!"

The pot is too big.

Cixi finally said: "Okay, okay! Zaifeng, you should also read more about the patrol order. I have already agreed. Don't argue about this matter anymore."

Cixi obviously gave Yuan Shikai some support.

Zaifeng didn't dare to say anything more, "Queen Mother, it's wrong to be a slave."

Cixi asked Prince Qing Yikuang again: "Yikkuang, where did you just talk?"

Yikuang said: "I just said that the New Deal is not as good as...not as good as the Kang Party."

Cixi said: "I was interrupted by Zaifeng before I could finish what I said. I also have the following idea. The New Deal must surpass the Kang Party, so it must be carefully considered and scrutinized. Of course, there is no rush. Do you think so? ?”

What other ministers could say in the audience could only reply: "The Queen Mother is right."

Cixi asked: "Before the implementation of the New Deal, there should be a preparatory period, that is, preparation for the establishment of a constitution. How many years do you think it should be?"

Duan Fang replied first: "I think two years is enough."

Of course, Duan Fang understood Cixi's intention of extending the extension. Two years was enough, after all, there was no such thing as a preparatory period in other countries.

But Cixi did not speak, obviously dissatisfied.

Zai Ze, another one of the five ministers who went abroad, replied: "I think that four years is safe."

Cixi seemed not satisfied yet, so she asked again: "What do you think?"

Yuan Shikai said: "Weichen thought it would take at least 12 years."

Cixi was satisfied with the answer, but asked again: "How long will it take?"

Yuan Shikai understood and replied: "It must be so long. The preparations for the constitution include formulating new official positions, at least one year; universal suffrage of members, at least two years; building the Capitol, at least two years; preparing a complete constitution, even if the constitution is quickly established The country will also need several years! These must be prepared in an orderly manner before constitutional government can be implemented, otherwise it will repeat the mistakes of the [-] Years of being too hasty."

Li Yu had already arrived outside the hall at this time and met Tang Guoan who was also waiting.

Li Yu felt interesting when he heard Yuan Shikai's words.

Even if you don’t understand modern methodology, you still know that these things can obviously be carried out in parallel, and there is no need to do them one after another.

Yuan Shikai naturally pretended to be confused while pretending to understand.

But it was hard to convince the public by saying this dryly. Yuan Shikai asked Xiang Duanfang again: "Sir Duan, you have been to Russia this time. I heard that Russia is still in turmoil because the preparatory period for the establishment of the constitution was too short. Is this true?"

Duan Fang did go to Russia for inspection, so he replied: "Master Yuan is right, but..."

Cixi would never give him a "but" chance, and immediately intercepted it: "Today we are establishing the constitution of the Qing Dynasty. It is an unprecedented event, and we must do our best to do it. I think 12 years, no more, no less, is just right."

Cixi has already made up her mind, so others can't say anything.

Cixi's meaning was obvious. She did not want to see the constitution established while she was still alive, lest she lose her rights.

Today she suppressed and promoted Yuan Shikai several times, which was her usual method.

In addition, she knew very well that none of the royal family or Manchu descendants in front of her could compare with Yuan Shikai in terms of work ability, so she was thinking about bringing Zhang Zhidong back to slightly balance Yuan Shikai's power. Otherwise, if she really died, No one can control this wild horse.

(End of this chapter)