Zai Chun felt as if a handful of burning straw had been stuffed into his heart, and his whole body began to burst into anger. Why was the first thing he did not go well when he returned home?
Could it be that this indicates something bad? As the head of a country, he personally went to Britain to negotiate, and personally raised military funds for the soldiers... Look through history and take a good look. Is there an emperor like this?
But the military expenses have been borrowed, but they cannot be spent. These slaves can't even handle such a trivial matter. How can the entire Fujian Province not even be able to get out one million in cash?
How can I count on you? No wonder the master kept calling this stale medieval bureaucracy. It really stank from the inside out.
Zai Chun was pacing back and forth in the big tent. The civil servants knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately, while the generals stood aside awkwardly and didn't know how to dissuade him.
Ma Ming and the others quickly winked at Da Sixi and other eunuchs, meaning that they wanted to persuade the emperor. However, Da Sixi had been slapped several times before for saying the wrong thing.
These eunuchs were all as clever as ghosts. They didn't dare to touch the emperor's troubles. They all watched with eyes, nose, nose, and heart without saying anything.
In fact, Shen Baozhen was not an incompetent minister. He was the successor recommended by Zuo Zongtang. He was responsible for the construction of the Mawei Shipyard and the Nanyang Navy of the Qing Dynasty.
This was a rare capable official in the late Qing Dynasty, but no matter how capable he was, he could not withstand the slowness and inefficiency of the entire system.
Zuo Zongtang is a man who does practical things. He wants to build the Nanyang Fleet, put down the rebellion of Aguba, and even raise money for Emperor Tongzhi to train troops.
It is definitely not enough for Fujian Province to handle so many things. Shen Baozhen has spent so much time raising money over the years!
In fact, the political landscape in the late Qing Dynasty was that after Zeng Guofan, there was a period of confrontation between the South and the North. At that time, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were equally powerful.
But unfortunately, Zuo Zongtang died early, and there were too many things that Zuo Zongtang had to do while he was alive, which were too scattered and scattered, which also dispersed his strength.
One of Li Hongzhang's goals is longevity, while the other is to concentrate all resources on his Beiyang business and is unwilling to deal with other messy matters.
A person who is willing to throw away Xinjiang shows how hard-hearted he is and how strong his purpose is!
Li Hongzhang protected and managed his own Beiyang force like an alchemy hatching egg. This force was so big that it almost became its own country in the end, and even attracted the entire Japanese army to fight against his own force!
When Shen Baozhen met Zuo Zongtang, he fell into the hands of his stepmother. The tasks were overwhelming, the amount of fundraising kept rising, and Mawei Shipyard was a gold-eating monster.
He really had no money. He didn't lie to Emperor Tongzhi at all. One million in cash was indeed not much, but it was so small. Just because Emperor Tongzhi didn't say hello in advance, Shen Baozhen got a big bite from this sudden attack. deficit.
He regretted it to death. If he really knew that His Majesty would return to the country at this juncture, he would have to raise enough money to sell his blood!
"Long live my lord... If it doesn't work out, just use some southern tickets first. I'll explain it to the soldiers myself..."
"Fart, you fart...are you going to make me regret what you just said yesterday?"
"Then there's only one way... stall for time and wait for Manager Wang to come back. I hope he can find a way..."
After saying that, Shen Baozhen shed tears and took off his flower feathers and placed them on the ground, "I am incompetent. Please punish me severely..."
Zai Chun's nose was so angry that he said, "Okay, okay...resign and threaten me? Is this a loyal minister and filial son?"
"What about you? Are you also going to resign and threaten me?"
This roar frightened all the civil servants to lie on the ground. In the end, a colleague with a junior official position even had his eyes blackened and fainted from fear.
"Resigning if you don't have the ability? What a beautiful idea! If you can't raise cash, none of you can even think of running away!"
"Er Mao... Er Mao... For such a big matter now, you let me rely entirely on a eunuch!"
"Without Ermao, am I too embarrassed to come out of this tent to meet my soldiers today?"
"They are all a bunch of incompetent bastards! I have brought all the British pounds, but I can't exchange them for any cash?"
"answer me……"
Zai Chun was roaring, and everyone around the tent was stunned. The soldiers warming themselves by the campfire in the distance were also stunned. From this distance, they couldn't hear what the emperor was roaring, but they knew that the emperor must be very angry.
Almost subconsciously, a large group of soldiers stood up. Xie Ting was surrounded by voices asking, "Company commander, what happened... What happened... What are you cursing..."
Zai Chun was so angry that he lost his mind at this moment. "Where are all the loyal ministers and filial sons? I, Emperor Tongzhi, came to Fujian in person, and the people in this province can't even exchange one million for me?"
"Hehehe... OK, OK..." Zai Chun smiled coldly, "I will personally lead the troops... I will lead the troops into Fuzhou City... I will personally go to all the merchants in the city to borrow money!"
"I want to see if that audacious merchant dares to refuse to accept the cashier's check I took out!"
"Give me some troops! I want to lead troops into the city!"
Good guy, Zai Chun is completely crazy. He doesn’t say he is me anymore. He talks about me when he speaks, and I speak when he doesn’t... He is going to lead troops into the city to become bandits!
Shen Baozhen shouted, "No! Long live no!" He knelt on the ground to protect Zai Chun's thigh, "Long live sir, please calm down, but you must not lead troops into the city..."
"What will happen to your reputation if this gets spread!"
"Long live, don't forget... there are many scoundrels in the imperial court!"
Shen Baozhen just told the emperor directly that your political opponents are waiting for you to cause trouble. If you lead troops into Fuzhou today, Guiziliu's men will accuse the emperor of robbing the people tomorrow.
The war of public opinion is so powerful!
Zai Chun also collapsed. He kicked Shen Baozhen away and took two steps back and fell on the chair. "Then what do you want me to do? How do you want me to see the soldiers outside..."
"I have no shame to go out... When it gets dark, you can find me a quilt and cover my head... I will run away... I have no shame!"
Zai Chun's eyes were red and he hit his thigh with his fist. Even the officers couldn't stand it anymore and they all knelt on the ground. "Master... please calm down and let's go out and explain it to the soldiers..."
"Let's lead the troops away first. When we get to Jiangnan... we can exchange the money for it when we get to Jiangnan... Let's go kowtow to the soldiers!"
"We will personally comfort the soldiers we have trained... Let's go out of the tent!" Ma Mingbaimin and the others stood up and were about to go out.
But at this moment, suddenly the sentry from outside rushed in, "Oh no, something bad happened... outside... we are surrounded by soldiers outside, there are more than a thousand soldiers..."
"Ah!" Ma Ming's eyes darkened and he almost fainted. "How courageous are they? Do they want to rebel? How dare they surround His Majesty's residence!"
"Blow the rally call... prepare to suppress... the idiots. How dare you rebel after only three months of unpaid wages? Are we going to create a group of white-eyed wolves?"
Just when all the officers were asking for troops to suppress it, Zai Chun suddenly spoke!
"Slow down! No one is allowed to blow the rally call! I'm going out..."
