Scott left.
There are only two Chinese people left in the editor-in-chief's room.
Gu Hongming asked frankly: "Mr. Lu, do you know why I mentioned cutting my braids to you just now?"
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there were very famous "three braids":
Zhang Xun,
Wang Guowei,
Gu Hongming.
After the Qing Dynasty was overthrown and everyone in the world changed their hairstyles, these three people still stubbornly kept their long braids.
Zhang Xun wore long braids to show his loyalty to the Qing court;
Wang Guowei is to promote traditional culture;
Although Gu Hongming is similar to Wang Guowei, there are other reasons.
He asked Lu Shi: "Mr. Lu, tell me the truth, do you think foreigners are advanced, and they must be advanced if they don't wear braids, so you want to cut off your braids and want to fully integrate into the life of London?"
Lu Shi said nothing.
Gu Hongming didn't need Lu Shi to answer, and continued: "How advanced! Footbinding in the Qing Dynasty, didn't Europe also have waist girdle? Are the Queen of England, the former Czar, and the French Emperor nobler than today's saints?"
In Gu Hongming's view, both China and the West have darkness and decadence.
The West, however, just buries darkness and barbarism under its superficial prosperity after possessing new technology.
This is the reason why Gu Hongming has braids and a gentleman's beard at the same time, and the wardrobe at home has both suits and trousers, as well as mandarin jackets and robes.
After all, no one is nobler than the other.
Regarding this matter, Riku Toki and Natsume Soseki actually held the same view.
Lu Shi comforted the other party: "Mr. Gu, I have dealt with many people in the British media. I still don't know what kind of moral character these people have? Everyone takes off their clothes and looks the same naked. What difference will it make?"
Gu Hongming was overjoyed,
"The fact that you have this attitude means you are still awake! In this case..."
Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Lu Shi: "Mr. Gu, I know what you are thinking. I can answer you clearly, I will not go back."
Gu Hongming was stunned,
"Why?"
Lu Shi said, "Don't you see the lessons learned from the Hundred Days Reform?"
Gu Hongming's face couldn't help but darken, and then said: "Mr. Lu, this matter is not the emperor's fault. You should know that it is the queen mother..."
What Gu Hongming wanted to say was undoubtedly Cixi.
But he may have realized that it was a serious sin to deceive the monarch by arranging it behind his back, so he stopped talking.
Gu Hongming changed his subject,
"The emperor is wise, and the imperial court also has the power to reform. At this time of employment, it is an opportunity to show off your talents and realize your ambitions. Why don't Mr. Lu return to China and serve the imperial court? As long as you work hard, you will definitely be known as a 'study tour specialist' in the coming year He was awarded the title of 'Jinshi in Liberal Arts'."
Lu Shi remained silent, but secretly spat in his heart, feeling that Gu Hongming had lost his mind.
Seeing that Lu Shi still didn't answer, Gu Hongming was a little anxious and said: "Mr. Lu just mentioned the Hundred Days Reform. So it seems that you support the constitutional monarchy?"
Lu Shi glanced at the other party,
"Mr. Gu, I'm afraid you are not a supporter of the constitutional monarchy, are you?"
Gu Hongming touched his beard awkwardly, not knowing how to answer.
Lu Shi continued: "To establish a constitutional monarchy, first there must be a 'monarch', and secondly there must be a 'constitution'. Which one does China have now?"
Gu Hongming frowned,
"The emperor is now in his prime, why did Mr. Lu make such unscrupulous remarks?"
Lu Shi snorted coldly and said: "The Eight-Power Allied Forces approached Beijing, and Guangxu was kidnapped and fled to Xi'an. After returning to Beijing, Cixi would definitely let him prepare to accompany the court to deceive the world. Such Guangxu deserves to be called a 'monarch' '?"
Gu Hongming was stunned,
Cixi will follow the court?
This statement is too absurd.
Before Lu Shi proposed this point of view, Gu Hongming had never thought about this possibility, but for some reason, he felt that things were very likely to develop in the direction predicted by Lu Shi.
Has Cixi done enough dirty things?
Gu Hongming's face became more and more ugly, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He said: "Could this really happen?"
Lu Shi's face was expressionless.
"It may have happened. It just takes time for the news to reach the UK, so we haven't heard about it yet."
Gu Hongming said: "Mr. Lu just said, 'History can only be used to summarize, but it is difficult to predict'. Aren't you just predicting?"
Unexpectedly, Lu Shi said with a rogue face: "I take back what I just said."
The two of them talked in a dark room, so naturally they could be honest with each other.
No matter what Lu Shi said, it was impossible for his words to spread and affect his reputation, so there was nothing to worry about.
After being slapped by Lu Shi like this, Gu Hongming couldn't take a breath and covered his heart with depression.
Lu Shi innocently spread his hands,
"Then let me put it another way. History cannot be used to predict success, because the successes of all dynasties have their own accidents and are different from each other; but history can predict failure. As the saying goes, 'Qin people have no time to mourn for themselves, and future generations will mourn. ; Future generations will grieve without taking note of it, which will also make future generations mourn for future generations again.'"
Gu Hongming asked: "Which period of history did Mr. Lu draw lessons from?"
Lu Shi thought for a while and said casually: "Without history, let's just say that a few years ago, Empress Dowager Cixi built the Summer Palace. Isn't that the best example?"
Gu Hongming didn't expect Lu Shi to say this,
He said amusedly: "Mr. Lu, you want to talk about the misappropriation of military expenditures of the Beiyang Navy, right? In fact, the military expenditures of more than 6 million taels of the Beiyang Navy were not misappropriated. It was just that when officials from various places were raising silver taels for the Queen Mother's birthday, they borrowed In the name of raising military expenses for the navy. It was those officials who ruined the matter."
Lu Shi was speechless: "Tsk...Mr. Gu didn't understand what I wanted to say."
Gu Hongming was puzzled.
"What does Mr. Lu mean?"
Lu Shi said: "After Guangxu took office, the whole country was waiting for Cixi to hand over power. Faced with such pressure, Cixi was unwilling to give up power, so she proposed to build the Summer Palace in exchange. Am I right?"
Gu Hongming's mind was a little hard to turn around.
Just now he was preparing to teach Lu Shi, but now he was acting like a primary school student and asked: "Exchange? How to exchange?"
Lu Shi was speechless,
With this brother's level, do you still want to recruit talents for Guangxu?
Isn't this funny?
Lu Shi immediately lost his patience and said, "Mr. Gu, if you live with your mother, you can't even decide who you sleep with every night. Do you still dare to say that you are the head of the family?"
"puff!"
Gu Hongming sprayed.
He wiped his mouth and said, "How can Mr. Lu be so vulgar?"
Lu Shi said: "Anyway, Guangxu wanted Cixi to move out of the palace, but Cixi herself didn't think so. Therefore, the corruption during the construction of the Summer Palace was shocking. Cixi was well aware of this situation, but she just didn't investigate. This was drunkenness. I don’t care about wine..."
Hearing this, Gu Hongming suddenly became enlightened.
After all, he is a scholar and is still some distance away from the center of power, so it is impossible to see through the smoke and mirrors.
Only after being prompted by Lu Shi did he understand.
Lu Shi just said that there is no monarch in China, which is not a lie, but there really is no one——
With Cixi around, Guangxu couldn't stand up at all.
No wonder Lu Shi predicted that Cixi would follow the imperial court.
Gu Hongming thought over and over about the conversation between the two, with more and more beads of sweat on his forehead. He subconsciously held on to the armchair next to him and sat down slowly, as if all his strength had been drained away.
Lu Shi said coldly:
"
Mr. Gu wants me to be loyal to the Qing government?
It matches too! ?
"
This sentence was like a heavy hammer hitting Gu Hongming's chest.
His eyes darkened and he fainted.
