late Qing Dynasty arrest

In the Chuxiu Palace in the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Cixi, as usual, went out of the palace to play in Taiye Pond after breakfast, and watched flowers, birds, fish and insects in the imperial garden, as well as her favorite long-haired lion cats.The names are: "Treading Snow to Find Plum Blossoms", "Whipping Hydrangea", "Snatching Iron Bottles with Silver Guns", "Golden Hairpins Inserting Silver Vases". These long-haired lion cats are rare species of tribute in Linqing County, Shandong Province. They are named according to their coat color.

In terms of appearance, the lion cat should have a large head with a diamond shape, round and sunken eyes, small ears, short legs, round waist, short body and thick tail.Cats that meet these conditions can be called top-notch.Not only are they covered with long hairs of various colors, but they also have very unique mandarin duck eyes, one yellow and one blue (three cyan).Also known as gold and silver eyes, yin and yang eyes, especially noble and beautiful.In terms of coat color, pure yellow is the best, followed by pure white and second by pure black.Others, such as raccoon-colored tiger-like stripes all over the body, or tortoiseshell-spotted black, yellow, and white are evenly colored, and the head and face are clear.

In the sunny weather, the lake is rippling with blue waves, and you can have a panoramic view from the top. In a warm pavilion on the bank of weeping willows, the Empress Dowager Cixi holds a pure yellow lion cat in the arms of "Four Seasons", while flipping through the memorial, While stroking the long fur of the cat in his arms.She is about to let go of the power in her hands and hand over all the power to her son Zai Chun to take care of the government affairs of the court, so now she seldom writes cases, and no longer writes lightly. At the age of forty, she began to enjoy the gift of nature.

Empress Dowager Cixi likes a luxurious life, and loves to listen to auspicious words of flattery and flattery.In terms of ostentation, she is bigger than the Empress Dowager Ci'an of the Eastern Palace.Who told her to be the emperor's biological mother?In terms of ambition, at this time, she had never thought of being an empress like Wu Zetian. Seeing her son Zai Chun in charge of the imperial power alone, she was very pleased and felt a sense of accomplishment.

A crumbling dynasty unexpectedly came back to life, and the massive peasant uprising was almost wiped out.The "Eight-Power Allied Forces", the mortal enemy of the past, have now become "guests of honor".In terms of credit, of course she is the greatest, and no one has a better vision than her. Winning Prince Gong Yixin into her camp is the most proud masterpiece of her life.

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi is nostalgic for the powerful and powerful past, one must face the reality. Prince Gong Yixin even resigned from the throne of regent. What reason does she have to hold on to the imperial power together with the Empress Dowager Ci'an?Her son has grown up, and she is about to unload the burden on her body, but now, she still has to stand on the last post.

Finally, the Empress Dowager Cixi saw the "eleven old articles" written by Li Guolou to Prince Gong from the piles of memorials.There are dense comments next to the old posts, some of which have been severely criticized by Prince Gong Yixin, scolding Li Guolou for not understanding military affairs, and criticizing military defense indiscriminately.Coastal defense and frontier fortress matters are not the morals that a scholar should have.However, Prince Gong Yixin highly appreciated a few of them, thinking that Li Guolou was right in the face of the current situation, was quite insightful, commendable, and dared to speak out.

What kind of person is Li Guolou?The young man who sat upright and wrote articles in Qianqing Palace seemed to be full of vigor, and even the Empress Dowager Ci'an of the Eastern Palace said a few good words for him.And she also likes such a talented young man very much, so she appointed Li Guolou as Tanhua Lang.This shows that heroes and women see the same thing, a talented young man with achievements finally appeared in the court, and the Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but fell into deep thought;;;;;; "Xiao Lizi, is Prince Gong in the study? If you come Please tell him to come here and say that I am reading the record, and he will understand." The Empress Dowager Cixi stopped reading other memorials, and began to tease the "Four Seasons" long-haired lion cat in her hand, babbling , Talking to small animals like an old woman, now she is only interested in Li Guolou's book.

"Take it! I'll go and see it, slave." Li Lianying bowed and retreated, secretly happy in her heart. It seemed that she was about to reap the benefits again. Li Guolou was good enough to treat him not as a "eunuch", but as a friend. Think of him often.Only such a person is worth making friends with for a lifetime, and his suggestion was not in vain. As expected, he was favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi. It seems that this time he will reap the benefits again, and as long as he sends a message to Li Guolou, he will be able to return immediately. Get the white silver.

Li Lianying first galloped on horseback to the Forbidden City, then jogged in the palace to run errands, came to the upper study room out of breath, and explained the reason to Prince Gong Yixin. Only Prince Yixin will reward him heavily.

Li Lianying took a 20 tael silver ticket, and with a smile on her face, she personally helped Prince Gong Yixin get into the eight-carried sedan chair, and walked towards the Nuan Pavilion on the island in the middle of Taiye Pool.

Don't underestimate the 20 taels of silver bills, it will be a windfall if it accumulates over time. Eunuchs usually rely on passing messages and messages to make a small fortune.Going out of the palace to pass the decree is such a fat job, and it is also necessary to balance the interests of colleagues, how can one person reap the benefits?

Prince Gong Yixin got off the sedan chair and stepped into the island in the middle of the Taiye Pool. He was in a happy mood. State affairs were developing step by step according to his decision-making direction, and politics and military affairs were also moving forward according to the strategies he formulated.

Carrying the two clichés that Li Guolou gave to Li Hongzhang, Yi Xin was both happy and worried.One of them, changing the national currency from silver to silver dollars, will completely change the situation of silver outflow in the Qing Dynasty, and it will also reduce the country's heavy fire consumption burden. This surprised and delighted him. As long as the Qing Dynasty can produce silver dollars, The casting and smelting metal industry will also step up to a new level.But this also requires cooperation with a certain western power, otherwise the alloy technology will make the Qing Dynasty helpless.

As for the other point, although his inner opinion coincided with Li Guolou's, he would not express his position easily, as it was related to the dignity of the nation, and he had to find a proper solution.Even if the Qing Dynasty wants to fully cooperate with Prussia, it will not be smooth sailing. It has to be done step by step, and it will be counterproductive.

After seeing the ceremony, Yixin sat on the chair of the grand teacher who was given by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The two drank tea and smiled at each other, with the ambiguous feeling unique to lovers in their eyes.The eunuchs and maids at the side walked away sensibly, leaving only Li Lianying standing on one side, serving the two masters alone.

The Empress Dowager Cixi said slowly: "Prince Gong, the scenery of Taiye Pond is too monotonous. I am already tired of playing in the palace. Can the renovation of Longevity Hill (Old Summer Palace) be put on the agenda?"

The Empress Dowager Cixi knew that it was impossible to completely restore the Old Summer Palace. Since she did not care about political affairs, she wanted to take care of her life and wanted to first repair a part of the Old Summer Palace called "Longevity Hill". It is complete, but it still needs to be repaired. Of course, money is the key. The Empress Dowager Cixi cares more about her own courtyard than state affairs.

In fact, it is to repair the Old Summer Palace. It is a pretense that everyone knows clearly, so that it is easy to talk on the scene.

Prince Gong Yixin felt distressed. The country has been in arrears with the payment of the front-line troops for half a year, but did not allocate the maintenance funds for the repair of "Longevity Hill". "It's a huge construction project. It's not that a sum of money will be allocated this year and it will end next year.Instead, year after year, at least more than ten years, tens of millions of taels of silver were consumed in the treasury.I think that Emperor Qianlong spent several decades spending hundreds of millions of taels of silver to restore the Old Summer Palace. How can the Qing Dynasty spend so much silver on the useless "Longevity Hill"?

But it is impossible not to allocate funds. Nowadays, the issuance of imperial edicts requires the seals of the two palaces to be counted. It is an established national policy for Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi to abolish listening to government behind a curtain, and it must be implemented.

Prince Gong Yixin hesitated for a moment, then said cruelly, "Empress Dowager, I will raise 50 taels of silver first, and another 20 taels of silver in the second half of the year. With 70 taels of project funds, there is no problem in starting the construction. Next year I'll try to find another way to raise 60 taels of silver. Are you satisfied, Empress Dowager?"

"Well;;;;;; Prince Gong's work, the palace is still satisfied." The Empress Dowager Cixi is very satisfied, she also knows that this time is different from the past, and the money is allocated from the Ministry of Households, but I don't know if I will be impeached by the people of Yushitai How many officials?As for the rest of the money, the servants under him will honor the empress dowagers of the two palaces in the name of birthday wishes. How much is the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty in a year?As the country's top decision-maker, she has two accounts in mind.

"Today, I read the memorial you presented, and I was very inspired. Now that even the foreign gun team has been disbanded, the General Administration of Customs should be nationalized. Prince Gong, you can start to do it, and there is no need to discuss it in court. You go to negotiate with foreigners and come up with a feasible solution as soon as possible.”

Prince Gong Yixin nodded with a smile on her lips, she spoke very casually in the warm pavilion, and did not put down the teacup in her hand, and the conversation continued in a pleasant atmosphere.

The Empress Dowager Cixi sighed slightly: "All loyal ministers are stubborn people, and they will not easily change course and admit death. They are stubborn bulls and have a lot of strength. Tanhualang's ability to stick to his own opinions and refuse to change the old rules shows that he is loyal. You put He called him a traitor, didn’t he keep people from talking? This is not the bearing of a prime minister, and we must get rid of this kind of arrogance and intolerance of different opinions in the future.”

"Empress Dowager, I have changed a lot, otherwise I would not have handed over Tanhualang's note." Yixin argued that he did not agree with all of Li Guolou's suggestions, but different opinions can be put on the table. Discussed at the meeting, he has always insisted on implementing this point, and there is no so-called "one-word speech" in the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office.

The Empress Dowager Cixi smiled sweetly, her eyes were shining brightly, and she stared at Yixin as bright as a lotus. This lover is talented enough to be worthy of her favor, the court is running well, and Yixin has made great contributions to the community.

"Prince Gong, I have read these eleven old articles carefully, and then read your annotations. It can be seen that you like this Tanhualang very much. Let me talk about your opinion first."

Yixin said: "Well, it's like this. Before the scientific examination, I talked with Li Guolou once, and I was attracted by his conversation. He is definitely not a boastful person. He is good at finding problems and can solve them. After he was admitted to the Jinshi, he talked with him twice, and the last two times Li Zhongtang was by his side and participated in the discussion together. This person has strange ideas and is good at thinking about problems. He has only been in the capital for about two years alone, but he has become a famous man in the capital. A long-sleeved and good at dancing officials. The three wives of the family came forward to make money for him, and did not forget to fund the establishment of charity halls and schools. The family wanted to set up a bank like the British, saying that it was to raise funds for the Beiyang Navy, so that the country would not be burdened. The heavy financial burden, which made Li Zhongtang, who was very dissatisfied with the alienation of Li Guolou's dress when he returned from abroad, recommended Li Guolou to be the student of Baoding Military Academy. But I didn't think it was right, so I didn't agree. Let Li Guolou's official position be temporarily put aside, Li Zhongtang and I have not yet decided where to put it. "

The Empress Dowager Cixi was very annoyed, and shouted: "Li Zhongtang, what a nonsense, a money-making official, what do you do in Baoding Military Academy to study politics, you are overqualified and useless."

Yixin nodded and said, "Yes, I think so too. Great talent! Now I entrust the charity hall established in the mansion to the Yelia Charity Foundation founded by him, saving me [-] taels of silver at once. I only need to pay [-] taels a year, and my name is still on my name. He accepts the staffing, and the private sector can grow bigger and bigger. I believe in this. From scratch, Yelia Charity Hall has the ability to raise funds , I saw it with my own eyes. Those wealthy businessmen all hope that the country will be strong, and donating money is more vigorous than donating government positions. Originally, I was going to start a business to send students abroad to study abroad, but I didn’t need to pay a penny. The name is all solved. I burst into tears at the fundraising meeting, and donated the mansion at Fuchengmen as the site of the new school. It's done. Empress Dowager, think about it, I don't need me to sell officials and nobles, I just need to say a few touching words on the platform, the money will still fly over, and the talents will flock to them, and we can't cope. We can't see how much money the people have, and now there is a concession , let the rich hide gold and silver treasures in the concession. We stare blankly and anxiously, watching the country’s silver go overseas. But Li Guolou was able to fool the money from the foreign devils and let the foreign devils do it again. The contribution to the country is what I appreciate the most. Think about it, Empress Dowager, this house was built by foreigners with their own money, and if he burns it down and destroys it, wouldn’t he slap himself in the face?”

Cixi said solemnly: "Prince Gong, you are talking about the Chaoyang Project, and Li Guolou is also involved in it."

Yixin nodded and said: "Yes, but he only has 1% of the shares and does not participate in the development of the Chaoyang Project. But through this incident, those compradors who betrayed the country and sought glory changed their attitudes towards the Qing Dynasty and reinvested money in the local government. During the construction, we no longer stay in the concession to rely on their foreign masters, and are willing to contribute to the country's construction and development. Invisibly, our capital's taxation has increased by 5000%, and the Chongwenmen supervisor has been filial to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the past few months There are [-] more taels of silver, and the secret lies in commercial development."

"Oh;;;;;;" The Empress Dowager Cixi has always been very concerned about the income generated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is her purse.Supervising Chongwenmen seems to have a humble official position, but in fact it is the emperor's special servant. In addition to turning over tax money to the treasury, more than half of the intercepted money must be handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is also a rule made by the Emperor Qianlong. Part of the money was obtained from the city gate tax.The emperor's embezzlement of state taxes was a clear act in the Qing Dynasty, and it has long been the ancestor's rule.