Eat when you are hungry and drink when you are thirsty. No one can avoid the three urgent needs of people. Why should it be shameless to eat biscuits? This is Xiao Letian's principle, a very simple and practical principle.
The truth that is universally applicable has become unreasonable in the Forbidden City today. In the eyes of Weng Tonghe and others, the Imperial Palace is sacred and inviolable. This represents the majesty of the empire. The current Great Purge uses majesty to go What is left besides shocking all nations?
The envoys from all over the world are watching. What else can you, Xiao Le, do to disrupt the situation besides damaging the court's face? You are the traitor of the Qing Dynasty, and you want to dig out the roots of the Qing Dynasty.
Qingliu also has its own truth. The conflict in human concepts has always been irreparable. The principles instilled by thousands of years of self-brainwashing by Confucian scholars cannot be changed by Xiao Letian alone.
There was a buzz of discussion in the hall, and everyone was condemning Xiao Letian, but Xiao Letian remained unmoved and still looked at Weng Tonghe with a playful smile.
"I have never held such an unreasonable meeting. It doesn't allow people to eat or make people feel inconvenienced. So what use do you think this meeting has besides tormenting people?"
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, when the court meeting was held here, the ministers heard nothing but flattery and fake eight-part essays. I don't think that as a minister, I traveled thousands of miles back to the capital just to get together. Eat and brag, eat and drink and then leave.”
"Bold, the great court meeting has its own rules. If all the officials do not report their work first, how can there be political discussions later, barbarians..." Weng Tonghe scolded.
"Haha, since it's a report I don't like to hear, then I have the right to choose not to listen. I'm not allowed to eat sesame cakes when I'm hungry. Then you can go on with the report, and I'll let you go out to eat at the head office." After speaking, Xiao Lotte turned and left.
Now the courtiers are even more speechless. Such rogue officials are rare in the world. If you don't like to hear it, you won't stop. How can you be so willful? Every one of the loyal ministers of the Qing Dynasty will go crazy.
But this grand meeting cannot be without the protagonist Xiao Letian. All the subsequent issues are related to him. If he gives up, the grand meeting will be meaningless.
At this time, a voice came from among the ministers: "Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, I have something to report." Everyone saw that it was Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang who came to Beijing with Zeng Guofan.
Although Xiao Letian has never dealt with Zuo Zongtang, he knows a lot of information about him. This iron-faced Hanchen just established the Mawei Shipbuilding Bureau this year. The prototype of Nanyang has sprouted under his care, and Li Hongzhang's Beiyang has not yet been established. There is no shadow at all.
This is a very remarkable famous official in the late Qing Dynasty. Liang Qichao once said that Zuo Zongtang was the greatest man in 500 years, which put his status above Zeng Guofan.
However, this honor was based on Zuo Zongtang's entry into Xinjiang and quelling the Aguba rebellion. A famous general who won a foreign war must have a higher historical status than a civil war general.
Regarding Zuo Zongtang's achievements in history, Xiao Letian also wanted to give him face. He stuffed half of the sesame seed cake in his mouth, smiled at Emperor Tongzhi, and turned around to return to his seat.
Weng Tonghe's eyes kept turning black, and it seemed that his blood pressure had risen due to anger, but neither the emperor nor the queen mother followed his words, and Zuo Zongtang was out of work to disrupt the situation, so he had no choice but to endure it.
"I request your Majesty and the Queen Mother to make a judgment. Nowadays, Xinjiang Agubai has invaded, and there are faint signs of unrest in the Gansu and Shaanxi tribes. I would like to ask your Majesty and the Queen Mother to build a telegraph line from the capital to Xi'an to communicate the news. I ask your Majesty and the Queen Mother for your permission."
After finishing speaking, Zuo Zongtang took out a memorial from his sleeve and read it. The memorial is nothing more than the origin and development of telegraph technology, and its importance in military affairs. It seems that Zuo Zongtang has worked hard, and this memorial has also gone through Foreigners have verified it, and even Xiao Letian nodded frequently when he heard it.
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, in 1843, the 23rd year of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, American Samuel Morse built a 120-mile telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. In May of the following year, he established a telegraph line in Washington. In the Supreme Court Chamber of the Capitol, he sent the world's first telegram to Baltimore using the telegraph machine he invented in 1837 and continued to improve..."
Zuo Zongtang used easy-to-understand words and began to popularize the knowledge of telegraphy to the courtiers. This magical technology that can be transmitted thousands of miles in an instant made the ministers present look at each other, and no one could believe it.
"It's true or false, it's a sound transmission from thousands of miles away, it's nonsense, it's all a trick of the foreign devils to deceive people..."
"Listen to it. Look at the emperor, the queen mother, and the princes. They all seem to believe it. Let's not shoot the first bird."
The most excited one was the little emperor Tongzhi. The child was already very interested in magical Western technology. When he heard that this thing that could transmit sounds from thousands of miles away was real, his eyes lit up.
After Zuo Zongtang finished reading his memorial, the little emperor was the first to ask, "Do you dare to use your head to guarantee that the telegraph technology you mentioned is really not a lie."
"Weichen is willing to guarantee it with his head."
"Well, tell me how much money such a long telegraph line costs." The little emperor then asked.
"Your Majesty, the laying of telegraph lines is actually not difficult. It is nothing more than setting up a wooden stake every other mile, and then raising the imported telegraph lines. There is no need to dig mountains and build bridges at all. It is estimated that there will be 150,000 taels from Beijing to Xi'anchen Just enough money..."
"One hundred and fifty thousand taels, it doesn't look like a lot of money, but as for maintenance, this thing needs to be maintained normally." The little emperor was really smart, and asked the key point in one sentence.
Zuo Zongtang smiled slightly and nodded to Fu Qing in the chao class. "Your Majesty, I am not as good as Manchen Fu Qing in verifying the telegraph line. It is best for him to explain this issue."
Fu Qing's face turned red. This was his first time attending a meeting of the imperial court and his first time speaking in front of important ministers of the empire. The third master's legs were shaking with excitement.
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother...I have indeed verified the feasibility of telegraph technology, and the American Minister Hua Ruohan also demonstrated a telegraph call for me. Wei Chen used his head to ensure that telegraph technology is real..."
"If the Qing Dynasty wants to lay telegraph lines, they can completely use the existing post roads and lay them all along the post roads. On weekdays, post officials are responsible for the maintenance of the lines in the local area. Just adding a small amount to the original post station funds is enough. Okay, I estimate that the annual maintenance cost for such a line is only about 100,000 taels..."
"What, Fu Qing, you are just crazy..." Weng Tonghe gave Zuo Zongtang face but he would not give Fu Qing face. He stood up and shouted loudly, "One hundred thousand taels a year, the money you make as a court official is for nothing. No, besides building such a telegraph line, it will be a bottomless pit whether it will be built from Beijing to Jiangling, or to Guangzhou, or to Shanghai."
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, our country has not yet recovered its breath. How can we spend money so randomly? No, absolutely not."
Third Master Qing was also angry. Like Xiao Letian, he was naturally not interested in Qingliu, so he ignored her cold words and left.
"If we don't have money, we won't repair the telegraph line. You mean we won't fight the war if we don't have money. Do you know how important the telegraph line is to the rule of the empire? Do you know how fast the communication between the court and local governments will become?"
"Beijing sends a telegram now, and Shanghai can receive it in an instant. If there is the slightest disturbance on the imperial border, the Palace of Supreme Harmony will know about it immediately... It's hard to say, if we had this telegraph line, the conflict with Prime Minister Xiao It would never happen, and the court would not be deceived by the rumors."
Mentioning Xiao Letian, Weng Tonghe became even more angry, "Exotic skills and tricks, even if what you said is right, this money can't be spent. This is the people's wealth and affluence. I would rather build bridges and roads than subsidize food prices." Wonderful skills cost a penny.”
"Your Majesty, Queen Mother, if the telegraph line is really repaired, then all the post stations around the world will have to lay off staff. That is not a small amount, it is millions of jobs... Don't forget, Li Zicheng was Why did he raise the army? Isn't Li Zicheng a postman in Shaanxi?"
"Emperor Chongzhen modified the post system and made Li Zicheng lose his job, so he wants to rebel. The court must be wary of those who never forget the past and the future."
"Holy shit." Xiao Letian went crazy. Weng Tonghe was so imaginative that he actually attacked telegraph technology from this point. This was a genius who framed the situation.
Li Zicheng did lose his iron job, but his rebellion was still because of the bullying of corrupt officials and landlords, or because of the drought that lasted for many years in Shaanxi. This is the root cause, okay?
Fu Qing obviously didn't have much experience in scolding in the court, so the old man blushed and became angry when he made such a quarrel: "You... you are so messy."
"When did I say that postmen were abolished? Telegraph lines can only connect to the state capital for the time being. Information transmission in the counties below still relies on postmen. You are changing the concept..."
Emperor Tongzhi was dumbfounded. Taihe was quarreling with his courtiers. This was more enjoyable than watching a play. However, after watching it for a while, the little emperor suddenly thought, "Wait... don't argue for now. Fu Qing, you just said that the American minister gave you a demonstration." Can you let me take a look at the telegraph technology once..."
The crowd's eyes suddenly focused on Hua Ruohan. The American minister smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, my telegraph machine has been bought and sold by Xiao Letian. He only gave me a roast duck for one set of telegraph machines. I I really don’t have anything left in my hand…”
This time, the little emperor turned his attention to Xiao Letian again. Prime Minister Xiao of Donghai shrugged, "Your Majesty, I have been prepared for this for a long time. I am waiting for you to come out and see it with your own eyes."
At this time, in the Square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a black line had been dragged from the left gate to the right gate. Looking up close, it was the dark telegraph line.
In fact, the royal family has little resistance to telegraph technology, especially this time because Xiao Letian bullied them because of the lack of information. They feel that telegraph is indispensable.
However, due to the natural fear of Western technology, the Queen Mother and the princes and nobles were unwilling to express their stance immediately. They still wanted to make another noise in the court and be more cautious.
Today, I saw that Xiao Letian was going to demonstrate the telegraph technology in person. No one in the royal family could stop him. Instead, he walked out of the hall with great interest and watched the new army at work in the morning light.
Even if Weng Tonghe had any objections, there was nothing he could do at this time. He could only follow everyone out angrily. The cold wind in winter calmed him down a lot.
At this time, the shameless Xiao Letian came over, pointed at the left-wing gate and said to Weng Tonghe, "Master Weng, you go to the left-wing gate. Prince Gong and your Qingliu people go to the right-wing gate. Then you can write a sentence casually. I will Let you see with your own eyes what Thousand Miles of Voice Transmission is..." This book was first published from, be the first to see the genuine content!
