Nine idlers

Chapter 78 Veteran of the Qing Court

"Ignorant students!" Looking at the backs of these students leaving, Xu Changqing sighed, turned around and took a sip of tea, then shook his head with a sneer.

"Changqing, your words seem to be a bit serious. After all, they are also excellent students of Beiyang Academy. If you say that, a good seedling may be ruined like this!" At this moment, behind Xu Changqing, several voices came. There were footsteps, and an old and deep voice said.

Hearing this familiar voice, Xu Changqing froze for a moment, turned his head in surprise, and looked at the person behind him.I saw the person behind him wearing a long gown made of brocade silk, with a wide-brimmed leather felt hat on his head, with a ruby ​​the size of an egg inlaid in the middle of the hat, and a pair of white bearded faces. Diorama sunglasses, playing with a string of strange Buddhist beads in his hand.The reason why this string of Buddhist beads is peculiar is that it uses a thick thread like iron and tendons to string together nine purple dragon whiskers beads the size of lychees. When they are turned, the beads naturally emit a scent of sandalwood. , refreshing.

Xu Changqing didn't immediately recognize the old man's identity from his appearance. Instead, when he saw the Buddhist beads in his hand, he thought of who this person was. Quite a few, stood up, clasped fists to the old man politely but not enthusiastically, and said: "Changqing, I have met old man Sheng!"

"Hehe! Sit down, don't be so restrained, let's be the same as before!" The old man saw Xu Changqing showing him such politeness on the surface but rejected people thousands of miles away, a trace of embarrassment flashed in his eyes, but he immediately Return to normal 'color', said with a smile.

"Old Sheng, I'm a member of the imperial court. I'm just a grassroots person. How dare I sit on an equal footing with Old Sheng. I've been driving for a day and I'm tired. Excuse me!" Guan Zheng, who was looking over, said hello and prepared to go back to the bedroom together.

Seeing that Xu Changqing was deliberately avoiding him, the old man knew what he was doing, and hurriedly reached out and grabbed Xu Changqing's arm, saying: "Could it be that Changqing is still unwilling to forgive the old man?"

"How dare!" Xu Changqing shook the cassock vigorously, shook the old man's hand away, and said coldly: "Heaven has eyes, who knows what did. If you were willing to plead for Mr. Zhuang Fei in front of Ronglu and Cixi How could he and several other righteous men be beheaded at Caishikou!"

"Changqing, do you think it was useful for the old man to speak up at that time?" Hearing Xu Changqing's words, the old man also showed a touch of regret, and said: "Didn't you already calculate that the reform would fail? You have figured out the date of death, so it’s still unstoppable.”

"Indeed, I figured it out very clearly! But at least I tried to stop it," Xu Changqing lost his usual indifference, and said with a hint of anger in his expression, "Dare to ask Mr. Sheng what did you do at that time? What did you do at that time?" Although the position is not high, but the power is extremely heavy, in charge of the lifeline of the entire Manchu treasury, as long as you speak, can Cixi refuse to agree? Don't tell me, you have no courage to speak in front of Cixi. Back then, you relied on a secret order , so that more than a dozen governors in the Yangtze River Basin did not listen to the imperial court's orders. They even did such a rebellious thing, but dared not to beg for mercy without pain, no one would believe it if they heard it."

"Indeed, it's not difficult to ask the old man to ask for mercy? But have you ever thought about it? What they did back then was not just changing the law, but trying to pull the old lady down. Whoever begs for this kind of thing will die." The old man said solemnly: "And how do you know that the old man is not prepared to intercede? When the old man received the news, he rushed to the capital non-stop, but he was stopped by Yuan Weiting when he arrived in Tianjin, and he heard about it later. The news that Fusheng was beheaded. Fusheng is also half of the old man's student, do you think the old man is not sad?"

Xu Changqing didn't know the difficulties of the old man. In fact, he had forgiven the old man a long time ago.But what he really blames is himself, complaining that he is still helpless after he has calculated the result, and the appearance of the old man just exposed the scars he didn't want to uncover, and now he is showing more Furious at his own incompetence.

"Master, is this your acquaintance?" Guan Zheng had already walked over at this time, feeling that the atmosphere was not right, and asked.

Xu Changqing took a deep breath, and after dispelling the depression in his heart, his complexion returned to normal, and he said: "Brother Guan, I will ask the waiter to arrange you to go to another bedroom later, I have something to discuss with you today. The old gentleman will speak alone."

"It's okay, I will take care of myself." Guan Zheng nodded and said with a smile.

Xu Changqing turned around and gave orders to the coming waiter, apologized to Guan Zheng, and led the old man to the back bedroom.Since the quarrel between the two was a bit loud just now, the people around heard it and looked over.Although the two spoke in a southern dialect, except for those foreigners, most of the wealthy businessmen in the carriages could understand a little bit, and some wealthy businessmen born in the south even got clues from the conversation between the two. , guessed the identity of the old man.

After the two left, these wealthy businessmen gathered together and whispered what happened just now. When other people also knew the identity of the old man, they were all inexplicably surprised.As a result, they became even more curious about Xu Changqing who was able to talk to the old man like this, and they all speculated about his identity, and some even thought that he was one of the reformers who escaped the murder. Made an amazing friend.

In Xu Changqing's compartment, he sat opposite the old man, the door was closed, and the door and walls were well soundproofed, so even outside the door it was difficult to hear the movement inside.

"Alas!" Xu Changqing's cold face finally loosened a bit as he looked at the old man who was "working" for state affairs. He sighed and said, "Old Sheng, we haven't seen each other for 12 years, right? We had a fight when we met, and it was because of things that have passed so many years, it's ridiculous!"

"Who said it wasn't?" The old man heard that Xu Changqing had let go of his heart knot and no longer disliked him. He couldn't help feeling a burst of joy in his heart, and smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to pretend to be a monk. If it wasn't for you Li Hongzhang's remarks, I can't recognize you, you have changed a lot."

"Hasn't Mr. Sheng changed a lot?" Xu Changqing 'touched' his head, which had already grown a little hair, and said with a calm smile, "If it weren't for Mr. Sheng still holding these nine Xuanling beads , I’m afraid it’s impossible for me to recognize you, Mr. Sheng.” He paused again as he spoke, as if thinking of something from the past, with a slight tenderness on his expression that he had never had before, and asked: “Lianxin now How's it going? Is she okay?"

"This girl got married ten years ago! Now she has a son and a daughter, and her husband loves her very much." The old man sighed slightly and said, "If you hadn't hurt her so deeply back then, she wouldn't have Then get married soon, maybe you can also..."

"There is no possibility! If I had to choose again, I would still choose the path I am taking now." Xu Changqing's face returned to normal, but his eyes were still slightly sad, and said: "This is the best result. Frivolous, made some promises that could never be fulfilled, cheated her again and again, hurt her badly, and finally abandoned her on such occasions. Now hearing that she has a happy family, I really feel Very pleased."

"The Dao is ruthless, but there are a few mortals who can truly break their love!" The old man muttered a few words to himself, then smiled playfully, and said, "Do you know who she married?"

"Who is it?" Although Xu Changqing no longer wanted to mention this past event, he still couldn't help asking.

The old man smiled and said, "It's the elder brother of the female student you scolded just now, Dong Zhenyu, the young boss of Huantong Commercial Bank."

"It's him!" Xu Changqing was stunned for a moment, with a slightly disdainful tone, and said, "No wonder a student can spend so much money to take the train without caring. The family background is really rich."

"Their family recently cooperated with Macquarie Bank to develop the rubber forest industry in Nanyang, and made a lot of money," the old man took off his sunglasses, showing his fox-like eyes, and said, "Although the industry It is far inferior to the Chen family, but it is far superior to most wealthy merchants in the north. Moreover, my niece and son-in-law came back from studying in the UK and are proficient in Western affairs. Even foreigners can eat in his hands. Unfortunately, in his hands, Huantong Commercial Bank may become even stronger, and one day it will be on an equal footing with Chen Jiaping."

"Old Sheng, please tell me what the purpose is for you to say so much!" Xu Changqing's face was flat, and even his eyes became indifferent, and said: "Although we have become strangers, we are not yet As for the fact that you are unfamiliar enough to use this kind of insinuation to talk about things, and you have already taught me this method, and I have already used it so well that it is better than blue, it will not work for me."

"Since you have said so, the old man will be blunt!" The old man smiled awkwardly, and then said with a serious face, "You should have heard that I have been promoted to the post of the right servant of the post office, right?"

"I've heard it," Xu Changqing nodded slightly, and said, "It's not so easy to work under Xu Shichang."

"Although that kid has outstanding abilities, it's only for the overall situation. I still need to deal with those small things. Although it's a little uncomfortable to let a junior ride on his head, but the cooperation with him is pretty good. After all, we are all civilized people. People in the door." The old man looked indifferent, and after playing with the prayer beads twice, he continued: "This time Yuan Weiting stepped down, and Zaifeng asked me to replace the Bank of Communications he controlled. Yuan wiped his ass with a big head, and now the bank is full of bad debts. When merchants from all over the country saw that there was no Beiyang New Army in charge, they all thought that the Bank of Communications was failing and demanded to withdraw their deposits. If this continues, it will inevitably lead to a run. By then, the old man may become the second Hu Xueyan."

"You keep talking so much, but you just want to let the Chen family inject capital into the Bank of Communications through me, and give a signal to those merchants who follow the lead of the Chen family that you will be fine and help you tide over the difficulties." Xu Changqing, who knows the old man's thoughts like the palm of his hand Looking at the old man, he said calmly: "But you also know, Mr. Sheng, how chaotic the bank management of the Qing court was. If you have money in your pocket, whoever puts the money in is a big dog. Do you think that the Chen family doesn’t want to invest heavily in such a rotten quagmire just because of my words? If you keep thinking like this, it’s too much. I underestimate the Chen family, they have been able to stand for so many years, it is not just because of our lineage of idlers."

"Of course I don't underestimate the Chen family. I've thought about what you said a long time ago, so this time the Bank of Communications will conduct a major cleansing, and all unqualified people will be cleared out. Li Jingchu, Zhou Kechang, and Liang Shiyi I will be the prime minister, assistant and deputy, and I will be the supervisor.” The old man said confidently, “This time I went to Baoding because I heard that the fourth son of the Chen family, Chen Zhangping, was in the Wanguo Club in Baoding, so I wanted to come over and talk to him. This matter was just a fluke. Even so, meeting you is not allowed, at least it is much better than finding Chen Zhangping."

"Mr. Sheng, you are still the same as before. You are good at climbing up the pole!" Xu Changqing chuckled twice, then sighed, thought for a while, and said, "If you can really reform like what Mr. Sheng said After a while, maybe the Bank of Communications can still be saved, but you, Mr. Sheng, should also know the rules. We must be paid accordingly for our idlers to help with things, otherwise..."

"You know this even if you don't tell me. After all, it's not the first day I've dealt with people of your kind, so I naturally know your rules." As the old man spoke, he carefully took out a bag of thin silk wrapped in silk from his arms. Book, and said: "Didn't you Jiuliu idlers have long been interested in my Sheng family's thirteen gas collection guns? I think this should be enough as a reward!"

"Old Sheng, is the Qing court really worth your sacrifice? Even the family secrets have been taken out." Xu Changqing didn't reach out to take it, but frowned slightly, and said.

"Everyone has their own aspirations, and I didn't do this for the Qing court." The old man said with a serious look: "Nowadays, banks of foreigners are rampant in China and wantonly amassing money. There is no leader. Although the Bank of Communications is a government-run bank, it is taking the road of government-business cooperation. Now the eyes of merchants all over the world are watching whether this first government-commercial bank can survive. If it collapses, the confidence of merchants It will also collapse, and you must know how big a blow it is to our Chinese business."

"Mr. Sheng, your personality has not changed, and you are still so anxious and righteous." Xu Changqing nodded in satisfaction, then pushed back the secret book in front of him, and said, "If Mr. Sheng took the secret book more than a year ago Changqing will agree to it without hesitation when this secret book is released, but now Changqing has realized his own way of Taoism, and his perception of the aura of heaven and earth and the aura of the five elements is greater than that of old Sheng's family tradition Nothing less, this thing is of no use to me, and according to the rules of idlers, I can't help you with this thing."