These words were so aggrieved. Fu Qing almost burst into tears and his eyes were red. As soon as these words came out, the entire hall was silent.
The anger that Weng Tong and the others had just erupted also dissipated at this moment. When they heard about self-funding, everyone shrank.
It's really shameless to say it to others. Such a big Qing country is worth holding an imperial meeting for seven to eight million taels of silver. If this happened during the Qianlong period, the emperor would not be able to scold him to death!
It’s so shameful that you can’t get out such a small amount of money!
But what is even more embarrassing is that there is no money for the imperial meeting, and the Ministry of Revenue cannot come up with money. In the end, the ministers are forced to raise funds themselves to run errands.
It's really sad to think about it. A company worker goes to explore the market for his boss, but in the end he has to find a way to raise travel expenses, accommodation expenses, catering expenses... he has to raise money for everything by himself, and then he has to pay it back!
The market has been opened up, and the boss can at most give it a certificate!
Isn’t this kind of management a shame? It must be embarrassing, but this is the reality before the eyes of the Qing Dynasty!
Zai Chun felt hot and wanted to blurt out that he had spent the seven to eight million. Anyway, he still had a lot of British military aid funds in his hands!
But when the words came to his lips, he was forced back. The joke about military pay in Fuzhou was not far away. When Er Mao turned around, he often warned himself that running a country is like cooking fresh food, so you must not be impulsive!
The money spent by my new imperial army should be well spent, but this is the telegraph office of the entire Qing Dynasty. All forces will benefit from it. Why should I, the emperor, spend my private money on anything?
Sure enough, when Emperor Tongzhi thought about this, he suddenly noticed that Fu Qing's pretended to be sad and angry had a different look in his eyes, as if Third Master Qing was desperately trying to stop the little emperor from talking nonsense.
Emperor Tongzhi's heart skipped a beat, knowing that there was something useful in this pool of water, so he couldn't talk nonsense!
"Well... I understand, the country's finances are tight! Even Zuo Jigaoping and Xinjiang have to raise their own military expenses. Kailai really has no money..."
"But you have to do errands even if you don't have money! Don't forget, if it hadn't been for the cashless telegraph network in the Qing Dynasty, why would we have let the French deceive us like that?"
"We had to lie to us by saying that the head of state died overseas, so we had to take this risky military action... and ended up with such a big conflict!"
Emperor Tongzhi brought up old things again. When he mentioned this, all civil and military officials in the court blushed. The French big nose deceived the court and said that Xiao Letian died abroad. In order to fight for power and gain, these idiots actually attacked Tanggu Special Administrative Region with military force.
He even surrounded Jingshan and provoked a palace coup. Finally, Xiao Letian received Ci'an's secret order to rescue him and directly attacked the Forty-Nine City, and then took the little emperor out of the Qing Dynasty to study!
It’s vivid in my mind! The disadvantage was due to poor news, so no one in the Qing Dynasty objected to repairing the telegraph network!
Weng Tonghe, the old stubborn Qingliu man, also sighed, "Yes, this telegraph network still needs to be repaired. Once repaired, it will really be useful... but the money..."
Emperor Tongzhi suddenly raised the back of his chair and said, "I would like to ask you dear friends, do you think this telegraph network covering the entire Qing Dynasty should be built?"
"Yes! Of course we must build it..." Everyone expressed their opinions.
"Okay... Since we want to build but we don't have the money, we can only discuss Fuqing's proposals! Give me a vote now. What I want is efficiency and not idle labor!"
Zai Chun also saw through it. Although today was not a meeting of the DPRK, representatives of all the forces in the DPRK were also gathered!
Lian Xing and all the eunuchs in the palace could represent Ci Xi's opinions. Fu Qing was Ci'an's direct descendant, and Yi Pei, Gui Zi Liu and Yixuan were all close buddies.
Weng Tonghe represented the Qingliu Han ministers, and the representatives of the Hunan Army came directly to the Ninth Commander Zeng Guoquan and Li Hongzhang. Even the businessman representative Hu Xueyan was also in attendance.
Except for the Chinese ethnic group and the foreign devils from various countries who have no representatives, all the factions in North Korea and China are fully represented, and the voting is just right!
Emperor Tongzhi's eyes scanned back and forth among the important ministers, making everyone tremble. In the end, Li Hongzhang was the first to speak at the signal of the Ninth Commander.
"I think Master Fuqing's suggestion is pertinent! Except for the fact that Chinese and foreign funds cannot be used, I agree with the other provisions!"
"The post system was separated from the Ministry of War and merged into the Qing Telegraph Bureau, and then the expenses for establishing the telegraph network were left to the Telegraph Bureau to raise themselves..."
"Yes, I also second the proposal... But the time cannot exceed four years. After four years, the telegraph office must pay the Ministry of Household Affairs, no matter how much it is, even one tael of silver!"
Everyone expressed their opinions, and in the end Yi Pei couldn't pretend to be dumb anymore. He stood up and said, "The king also seconded the proposal..."
"Okay! Since all the dear ministers who are doing this have agreed, let's draft a document and send it to Sijiu City for use! Let all the ministers sign it..."
Emperor Tongzhi is not yet in power, so he cannot directly issue an imperial edict because the Qing Dynasty's imperial seal is still in the Forbidden City. He must send the proposal to the Forbidden City for the empress dowagers of the two palaces to use the treasure, and then use the imperial seal to form a political decree.
But Emperor Tongzhi was also smart. He asked all the officials present to sign a signature, which was to clearly tell the two queen mothers that representatives of all the forces in the Qing Dynasty had accepted this proposal. You two queen mothers can do it as you please!
Fu Qing's eyes filled with excitement, and he knelt on the ground and shouted three times: "Your Majesty, I have a ready-made proposal brochure, including detailed cost details. I will go and get it now... All the ministers will just sign on the brochure!" "
"Go, come back quickly... let's discuss other things!"
In fact, Emperor Tongzhi just wanted to know about the domestic situation today, especially finance, military affairs and foreign affairs. He never expected that he could actually reach a unified decree. It was really an unexpected surprise.
There was a discussion in the main hall about whether the Qing Dynasty needed to build a steel plant. If so, where should it be built? Fu Qing had already hurriedly walked out of the hall and walked around the maze-like garden to the front yard.
Just after passing the moon gate, he heard a voice from the shadows, "Are you all nodding?" Fu Qing heard it was Er Mao's voice.
"Good brother, everyone nodded. You chose this time very well..."
Er Mao and Fu Qing moved into the dark shadow of no one, surrounded by guards and eunuchs loyal to them who were watching from a distance.
Fu Qing said excitedly, "Our plan has come true, and we have finally won another piece of rights for Mr. Long live. Once this proposal is passed, I guarantee that Mr. Long live will earn more than two million taels every year!"
"Don't be excited, Third Master Qing. How can I still disbelieve you? Those people in the court who are high-minded and low-handed don't know what Westernization is at all. They all think Westernization is a drudgery. In fact, Westernization is the biggest cake in the world!"
Er Mao sneered and said, "Haha... If the telegraph office can lose money, I will knock out my eyeballs!"
This is really not a joke. The telegraph was the latest technology in this era. When it was just popularized, the price was ridiculously high.
Sending a few words in a telegram cost one silver dollar. How many people in the Qing Dynasty needed telegrams to deliver news? This is an incredible amount of money!
There has always been a group of people around Mr. Qing who made false accounts for him. In the eyes of the imperial court, the telegraph office was a bottomless pit that swallowed up money. But they knew that after the telegraph line from Shanghai to Beijing was completed, the annual profits of the Qing Telegraph Office would increase. There are already six to seven hundred thousand taels of silver.
At present, the telegraph networks in all provinces in the Central Plains have been repaired, and the annual net profit is 2 to 3 million taels. However, the reports to the court show losses every year.
