late Qing Dynasty arrest

In the hutongs of the capital, the common people enjoy the cool air, sitting on back chairs, holding palm-leaf fans, and gnawing slices of watermelon in their mouths, as if they were gods.Li Guolou has been running back and forth between the capital and Tianjin these days, handling the affairs of the "Xinwutang".Weng Tonghe's mansion no longer needed to report, so Li Guolou greeted the porter and entered Weng Tonghe's study.Weng Tonghe likes to let his subordinates do things, but Li Guolou likes to do everything by himself, taking care of trivial matters, and riding back and forth on horseback.

Weng Tonghe was ignored by Emperor Tongzhi because of an imperial decree about repairing the Old Summer Palace. It is hard to say that he knew the deeper meaning of this "imperial decree in the name of his son's filial piety".Now that this incident has passed, Emperor Tongzhi didn't go into the responsibility of the emperor Weng Tonghe, but let him contemplate behind closed doors for two months.

Li Guolou reported to Weng Tonghe the progress of the "Xinwutang" work as usual, and he said nothing about Li Hongzhang's involvement in the teaching staff who entered the Xinwutang.Who called Xinwutang is located in Tianjin, which is the jurisdiction of the governor of Zhili.

Li Guolou is a disciple of the Son of Heaven who wanders among the various factions in the court. He belongs to the first batch of officials who gained power after the Emperor Tongzhi took office.There is a big card saying "Please come to the bank". Even the emperor and the two queen mothers want to see how much wealth can be brought to the country by making a private bank bigger?So during this period of time, Li Guolou often went in and out of the Forbidden City, and even went to the Old Summer Palace to pay his respects to the two empress dowagers.In addition to Li Hongzhang, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, Li Guolou is in the top court.

Weng Tonghe originally had a lot of complaints against Li Guolou, thinking that Li Guolou colluded with Li Hongzhang to covet his position as the headmaster of Xinwutang, or wanted to empty him out.But after talking with Li Guolou in depth, Weng Tonghe knew that Li Guolou had already developed a lot of dissatisfaction with Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang tampered with the essence of Xinwutang and turned Xinwutang into a small part of the military system. The original military vision has long been in vain.

Weng Tonghe was in good spirits. He had a thick skin. After a while, when he stood in the hall and confessed his mistakes to Emperor Tongzhi, Li Hongzao would say a few good words for him, convinced that the lost power would still come back.Looking at Li Guolou who was gnawing on the watermelon, he said with a smile: "Guolou, don't worry. As the saying goes, an arm can't twist a thigh, Li Hongzhang's power is unmatched, and we can't touch the stone. You should bear the errands first, and you can’t let Li Hongzhang smell your dissatisfaction with him. Xinwutang is the emperor’s effort, and Li Hongzhang must not be allowed to do whatever he wants. Now that Li Hongzhang’s plan has been passed, we can only retreat and practice well first. The soldiers reorganized the army, and then concentrated on their own royal guards. I will ask the emperor for this, so that the generals of the Huai family will not get involved. You should grasp the outline and take advantage of it yourself. Don’t give Li Hongzhang any more opportunities machine."

Li Guolou picked up the towel in the washbasin, washed his face, wiped it clean, and sighed: "Principal Weng, this disciple is aggrieved. The new military hall is obviously the new military chemical hall we came up with, but it was rejected Li Hongzhang directly used doctrine and tampered with it beyond recognition. Now everything has become his, and now he is still temperate, acting like a chaste woman, and set up an elementary school military academy and two middle school military academies to train students from Zhili and Liangjiang areas. Military reserve personnel. In the future, I will definitely stretch out my hand. The so-called disciples of the Son of Heaven will eventually become Li Hongzhang’s. What are we? We can only be the ones who guard the gates of Gyeonggi... don’t you think so, Principal Weng?”

Weng Tonghe stroked a big beard, looked at Li Guolou, and said with a smile: "Guolou, don't be in such a hurry, first cultivate talents for the country, and the governor of Zhili is not tenured, and later! Wait for Li Hongzhang to arrive. If we go to the local government, we will think of a way. What we lose will be ours sooner or later. Li Hongzhang can upgrade our new martial arts hall, and we will upgrade it again in the future. Who can say otherwise? Weihaiwei Naval Training Base will also be controlled in the future In hand, the preparation of the Beiyang Navy must not be left to Li Hongzhang alone, I will speak to the emperor. Hey..."

Li Guolou looked at Weng Tonghe's sad face and said, "President Weng, don't worry about yourself. You are completely different from Xu Tong. The whole world is worse than Zhao Kuo. The emperor forgave you a long time ago, and he still talked about you in the morning, saying that he was a teacher, and that he wanted to have a deep talk with you."

Weng Tonghe wiped his tears, choked up and said: "It's my fault, I don't know people well, and I got on Xu Tong's thief ship. But I really did it for the emperor, otherwise why would I hand over the booklet of Xinwutang? It's worth fighting with Xu Tong. Turn your face?"

Li Guolou comforted Weng Tonghe, he came directly to Weng Tonghe's mansion after the morning court, in fact, it was Emperor Tongzhi who asked him to visit the emperor Weng Tonghe.If Weng Tonghe has something to say that is inconvenient to say in the booklet, let Li Guolou pass it on.Li Guolou was exhausted from running back and forth in the capital and Tianjin. In order to make money, he did several errands by himself.

After having lunch at Weng Tonghe's house, Li Guolou left and went back to his mansion in Jiadao Street with a lot of worries. Now he bought Miao Luobin's mansion next door, and the whole family moved here.In addition to Chen Xiangfang and Xie Xiuzhu, even their daughter Li Lingling went to Tianjin to play.Xie Xiuzhu was in charge of all affairs in the mansion, and Chen Xiangfang recuperated at home, because Chen Xiangfang's illness required rest, so the inner house was empty, only cicadas chirping, which disturbed people's tranquility.

In the corridor, Chen Xiangfang was sitting on a rattan chair, and an old woman was fanning a cattail fan behind her. A little cool breeze made people feel comfortable.The white marble table next to it is full of seasonal fruits, making people salivate.

Li Guolou took off his official robe when he got home, and changed into a short-sleeved sweater, which was no different from the people on the street.Although he was in a bad mood, when he came to Chen Xiangfang, he immediately stretched his eyebrows and greeted him with a smile: "Grandma, you really enjoy yourself. Are you feeling better today?" Gnawing, sitting on the stone bench next to him without any scruples.

"Okay! It will be bad to see you. Are you still going out this afternoon?" Chen Xiangfang looked at Li Guolou with a gratified smile on her face.

"Well, I will accompany you today and go to the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Mansion tomorrow. The errands will never be finished. I don't want to die early." Li Guolou looked at Chen Xiangfang lovingly. Wife, there is no fire in the backyard, and the family lives in harmony.But Chen Xiangfang's illness made him worry that he would pass out. The doctor said it was a cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, so he had to rest more and not worry about housework.From now on, Chen Xiangfang can only grow flowers and weeds at home, and cannot do housework.

"Hey, I'm lucky to follow Xiaolou, so I don't have to worry about the daily necessities at home. I woke up this time, if I can't wake up next time, what will my daughter do?" Chen Xiangfang mentioned her daughter intentionally or unintentionally, but she didn't give Li Guolou gave birth and worried about her future status.

Li Guolou quickly comforted him: "Grandma, don't worry about yourself, you are in good health. If you don't raise a child, I will love you too. In the future, Lingling will have the inheritance rights that your son has, and she will not wrong Lingling."

"Hmm!" Chen Xiangfang wanted this sentence, and the doctor said that she had better not have a baby, because she was afraid that her life would be in danger.

"When you are in good health, I will let you see the queen mothers of the two palaces. They are all kind people. Next time the queen mother celebrates her birthday, the female relatives of the princes and ministers will go to pay their respects. You and Grandma Seven have a bowl of longevity noodles together and ask for some The golden beans are back." Li Guolou has already started to prepare the Empress Dowager Ci'an's birthday gift, and it is quite troublesome, if the two empress dowagers give different gifts, they must be of the same value.This is also a test for princes and nobles, and they have to purchase different gifts every year to fulfill their filial piety.

Chen Xiangfang smiled and shook her hands, and said: "Forget it Xiaolou, let the second grandma go with the seventh grandma. I, a Manchu, can't imitate it. If I make an embarrassment at that time, it's over, it's not hurting you."

Li Guolou smiled and held Chen Xiangfang's hand. In the warm afternoon, they got rid of the worries caused by trivial matters and enjoyed the garden scenery brought by nature.It is rare for Li Guolou to be lazy, not to think about the intrigues in the court.

The night was getting dark, and the summer dusk was quite long. Xie Xiuzhu didn't get home until after six o'clock, and she was hungry when she got home.Li Guolou quickly stopped his boxing exercises, took a bath in well water, and went in for dinner.There were no new servants in his family, except for the ten official slaves sent by the Ministry of Rites. Those ten official slaves were all put to work in the outer house, and the inner house still had a few old faces.

The main building is a Western-style bungalow with wide and bright windows. With the open windows, a little cool breeze blows into the dining room.Li Guolou, Chen Xiangfang, and Xie Xiuzhu, the three of them were gossiping, tried not to mention business matters, and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner.

Drinking tea and coffee after meals is the favorite of Li Guolou's family. Li Guolou brewed a pot of Tieguanyin and prepared to write a book at night.

Xie Xiuzhu had already changed her habit. She drank Blue Mountain coffee and asked with a smile, "Xiaolou, do you still use Manchu for writing notes now?"

Li Guolou said: "Yes, as long as the article is not very long, try to write it in Manchu. Although the emperor is in charge, the military power is still in the hands of the two empress dowagers."

"How did this happen?" Xie Xiuzhu, as Li Guolou's shooter, knew something about the court.

"The emperor has just been in power, and nothing can be moved. The military aircraft department has not been moved. Wen Xiang is clinging to power, who dares to say a word. Prince Gong... hey..." Li Guolou said If you can't go on, people will live on the credit book.Prince Gong Yixin has also begun to relax. One is to reassure the emperor and give up the power in his hands, and the other is to avoid disaster. Imperial power is not allowed to be coveted.Prince Gong was too close to the emperor's throne, and began to imitate the "self-defilement" of the ancient good ministers.What can he say?The behavior of protecting oneself wisely made the Westernization School suddenly lose its backbone.

"Is the errand going well?" Xie Xiuzhu was most worried that Li Guolou was under too much pressure. He had to earn 1000 million taels of silver in a year to settle the relationship between all parties. Take a share.

Li Guolou smiled and said: "Second Grandma, who dares to investigate such a big stall carefully. As long as we don't spend extravagantly, live like the empress dowagers of the two palaces, maintain a life of sufficient food and clothing, and support ourselves, everyone will be happy next year It can be done. Now I can earn 10 taels of silver with just one approval, and I don’t even have the urge to laugh.”

"Then did you see me?" Xie Xiuzhu looked at Li Guolou with spring in her face, full of warmth and lust.

"En!" Li Guolou gave an affirmative answer, kissed Xie Xiuzhu's small mouth full of bitter coffee, and said with a smile: "Second Grandma, grind it for me and let me write the scriptures. The emperor can't be fooled." Yes! Hehehehe!"

Xie Xiuzhu twisted her waist and said with a smile, "Xiaolou likes to fool people. Did you go to Xianggongtang with those Manchu nobles?"

Li Guolou got goosebumps all over his body, and said anxiously: "Have you seen me go out at night? The so-called friends' dinner, at noon, I go whenever I have time. In the evening, I don't even go to Prince Gong's treat. It's too dirty Dirty, I can hardly tell, and there are blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners and even eunuchs, it is so obscene, and I will show you on the spot. I..." Li Guolou blushed in shame, he was tall and burly , are often harassed, Manchu aristocrats and even princes have this habit, and the establishment in a country often organizes this kind of entertainment.And he was also invited. Fortunately, he was a fast catcher, and he knew exactly what activities the capital was doing, so he didn't get on this thief boat.

"Hmph! You're not much better, you're already nine." Chen Xiangfang suddenly felt refreshed, got up and hugged Li Guolou, she didn't look like a patient, she was in almost good health, and wanted to share the same bed with Li Guolou up.

"It's better for a wife to be old!" Li Guolou was smug, hugging left and right, and walked to the study next to him.The combination of work and entertainment, and the help of nine grandmas in his career, has become a regular one, which makes him still energetic and full of fighting spirit.