After all, Ci'an was the Eastern Empress Dowager above Cixi, so urgent military information from the Prime Minister's Yamen would be submitted in duplicate to the two Empress Dowagers at the same time. c In fact, Ci'an got the news earlier than Cixi. After all, Zhou Daoying was strict with the eunuchs, and the rules in Beihai and Jingshan were pretty good.
After receiving the secret message, Ci'an's first thought was to contact Zeng Guofan. The naval battle at the mouth of the Minjiang River broke out yesterday morning. Before Beijing got the news, King Zeng Guofan of Jiangnan must have also gotten the news.
Why didn't Zeng Guofan contact the court in time? Zeng Guofan probably didn't expect such a thing to happen, and he might be coordinating and investigating this important matter.
Because Ci'an and Qing Sanye shared the same quilt, Ci'an was a representative of the reformists in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he accepted all kinds of new things much faster than the Forbidden City.
The Qing Dynasty telegraph network built by Master Qing did not reach the Forbidden City, but first reached Jingshan Mountain. In other words, Ci'an could receive telegrams and communicate with various places in Qiwang Tower without leaving the palace.
The telegram was quickly delivered to the Governor's Palace in Jiangning. As expected, Zeng Guofan didn't rest at all. As soon as the telegram was received, he immediately called back to Cian.
"It's all true. Zeng Guofan also has a hidden line in Ryukyu, which is buried much deeper than the imperial court. According to Zeng Guofan's detailed intelligence response, His Majesty had already entered the port before the battleship Zhiyuan left the port and never came out."
"As for the army of more than 2,000 people! I really didn't expect His Majesty to be so strong. With 300 guards as the skeleton, he actually pulled out an entire army, including four battalions!"
"Ah? Your Majesty has trained an army behind the imperial court's back." Li Hongzao subconsciously spoke, but after he finished speaking, he regretted it and quickly shut up.
Weng Tonghe and another military minister Shen Guifang glared at him and hurriedly smoothed things over: "Master Li was speechless for a moment. Your Majesty is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Of course he has the right to train a new army. It's just that something happened suddenly and Master Li was a little shocked."
How could Cixi imagine that Li Hongzao was speechless? She said angrily, "You don't need to apologize to me, what you said is not wrong! He has no personal power, so what right does he have to train the army? Is he so wanton and reckless that he doesn't care about the laws of his ancestors?"
Ci'an waved his hand and sat behind the curtain and whispered, "Don't talk about this now. The new army has built its capital. We will talk about the arrangements later. What we have to consider now is how to deal with the anger of the Russians. We are ready to negotiate quickly." Bar!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire Dongnuan Pavilion felt dejected. Foreigners' interactions with foreign countries are called diplomacy, while the Qing Dynasty's doing this kind of thing is called negotiation. When hearing the word negotiation, it gives people a headache, precisely because When there are contradictions, conflicts, and problems, it is necessary for both parties to bargain and compete for every penny.
Take a look at foreign diplomacy. There is not only competition, but also cooperation. They even invite each other to participate in celebrations. It is so interesting to have good and bad exchanges.
Li Hongzao might not have had a good rest while on duty last night. He didn't go home when he was supposed to go home, and he was a little angry about working overtime, so it was very problematic to deal with it today. He spoke again and offended someone, "Oh, the Prime Minister's Yamen is responsible for handling negotiations. We should listen to Prince Gong's opinion."
What? Yi's eyes immediately stood up. I haven't said anything yet. How dare you, a Han official, blame me? What are you!
"Did Mr. Li go too far? How should we negotiate? Has the Russian minister come forward? Has he protested? He didn't even give a shit. You want me to take the initiative to go over and negotiate? I'm so hot-faced but cold-blooded. butt"
"No, no, I didn't mean that." Li Hongzao really wanted to slap himself in the mouth. He really didn't sleep well last night. Why is his head full of confusion today.
Weng Tonghe, who was also a Han minister, quickly tried to smooth things over, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Mr. Li didn't mean that. He just wanted to hear your Majesty's opinion. Let's discuss it together. He didn't go directly to the Russian Minister for talks."
Yi was in an even worse mood today. He had always thought that Zai Chun's training of the new army was just a child's game, but he didn't expect that he had actually trained a strong army with four battalions. Why is it called a strong army? Because in the Qing Dynasty, the army that dared to fire at the foreign devils must be a strong army, and a strong kind.
What does this little bastard want to do? Is it necessary to follow the example of Emperor Kangxi in setting up the Shanpu Camp to kill Oboi? Who is Obao in the DPRK now? Damn it, who else deserves to be Oboi besides me?
The boy is quite wild at heart! Will we be able to pacify San Francisco after taking care of Oboi? Want to attack the Hunan Army? I see you can do it. Yi, who was in a bad mood, sneered unkindly at the old man.
"I'm not the only prime minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Now our Third Master Qing is in Shanghai to inspect the Jiangnan bill crisis. He is close to the foreign devils' base camp. Let him go to the concession to coordinate! Anyway, what happens to this negotiation matter? You can’t get around the British people!”
The strange and angry voice almost made Ci'an angry to death. This Guiziliu actually dared to let his beloved go to the muddy water. How could this brother-in-law be so evil!
"This isn't right! It's already troublesome enough to involve the Russians, but now you have to involve the British? Will France and the United States speak up? Don't make simple things complicated in the end."
Yi Xuan sniffed subconsciously and smelled the smell of gunpowder in the room. Seeing his sister-in-law, brother, and the Han ministers attacking each other with soft knives, he couldn't help but feel sad in his heart: "What on earth happened to the Qing Dynasty? Why are everyone here?" Thinking of your own small interests!”
Cixi was also upset. Seeing these people scheming and thinking about her son still floating in the sea, she felt an evil fire rising in her heart.
"Okay, okay, you don't want to take responsibility, right? It's easy to handle, I'll take this responsibility, isn't it just to let the big noses calm down? I'll go talk to the Rakshasa ghosts! At worst, I don't want Xinjiang anymore, cut off half of it If you give it to Rakshasa ghosts, I don’t believe you can still calm them down.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Weng Tonghe stood up in fright, "No! Queen Mother, calm down. Please calm down, Queen Mother! Zuo Jigao's military deployment in the northwest is going very smoothly at the moment. The pacification of Xinjiang is just around the corner. Those are the territories opened up by the Holy Ancestors and the Great Ancestors. We Can’t throw it away”
Cixi curled her lips and sneered, "Okay! Now that you, old man, have spoken, I will entrust you with all the negotiation matters in Beijing. Then I will ask Fu Qing to be your deputy and cooperate with you in negotiating with foreigners in Shanghai. I think You two will not disappoint the court!"
Yi was just waiting for these words. He could make his political enemy Fu Qing feel defeated, and bring a few Han ministers with him. This is a good deal. "I will reconsider! The Queen Mother is wise!"
When Yixuan saw his brother's statement, he could only stand up and said, "My brother also reconsiders, the Queen Mother is wise!"
The two powerful princes nodded, and Ci'an could not stop this matter. The unlucky Weng Tonghe and Fu Qing became the two unlucky ones who negotiated.
Note: The fifth update is being sent out today, and the seventh layer of the cake has been sent out. Now there are more than 40 book friends covering the cake. Are there any new book friends?
