Li Hongzhang's sedan was traveling along the dark streets. Along the way, he encountered two groups of soldiers patrolling the city who could not open their eyes. They were both shouted back by his subordinates!
The soldiers of the nine admirals of the capital are all elite, and they are very knowledgeable about the news from all sides. They knew the news as soon as Li Hongzhang returned to the capital this morning.
At first glance, it was a first-class official walking at night. Anyone who dared to stop him would give way and salute!
Li Hongzhang was thinking silently in the sedan chair and ignored these little characters!
"Guiziliu, Guiziliu! I helped you solve such a big problem, you owe me a big favor! Haha, it's great to have foreign devils mixing in, otherwise it will be difficult for us Han people to gain power!"
"In the past two hundred years of the Qing Dynasty, the military power of our Han people has been severely suppressed. It is time for us to turn around after two hundred years!"
"Master is right, the three-legged situation is the most secure. If the Han people want to rise, they must actively accept the influence of foreigners!"
"Hong Xiuquan and those people didn't understand this, so they were defeated miserably! We can't go back to the old path!"
The situation between two tigers fighting is the most terrifying, but the situation between three tigers is interesting!
In the late Qing Dynasty, many people clamored to fight against foreigners and expel the power of foreign devils from China. However, many Han elite politicians of that era did not think so.
Maybe their words sound fierce, but in actual actions it is completely different!
In the final analysis, it is because the Manchu Qing Dynasty's two hundred years of centralization of power, especially military centralization, was too great. If the Han people do not have military power, then everything is nonsense!
You don’t have a gun and just rely on your mouth to shout, so you want to stand up and not be oppressed? That's a dream!
Zeng Guofan and Xiao Letian understood the overall situation very well. How did the Han warlords rise? Is it really because of the Taiping Rebellion?
yes! Neither!
It is true that the Taiping Rebellion caught the Eight Banners off guard, and the decadent Manchu Qing army could only rely on the military armament of the Han!
But that was only the beginning of the war. In the later period, the Manchus were also learning new military systems. They also bought foreign guns and cannons and even more. They also trained new types of weapons and because they controlled the imperial court, they trained more. !
If we follow the traditional Chinese script, after the long hair is calmed down, it must be the time to kill the meritorious dog!
The Manchus will never allow the Han warlords to grow bigger. Once the rebellion is put down, they will immediately destroy the Han armed forces, just like the three feudal lords, they will be absolutely ruthless and will definitely eradicate them!
It's just another civil war, they can definitely do it!
But times have changed, and today is different from the past! The late Qing Dynasty was not the early Qing Dynasty. Zeng Guofan and others had already seen a huge checking and balancing force that they could borrow!
That is the power of foreigners!
If the Qing Dynasty had not opened up the country, then after Changmao was pacified, there would be a power grab between the Manchus and the Han, and it would even turn into a civil war!
But now the country's gate has been opened, foreign forces have penetrated in, and the powerful ships and cannons have chilled everyone!
The two countries' struggle for hegemony has turned into the Romance of the Three Kingdoms!
This makes sense. A combination of vertical and horizontal alliances will never allow one side to dominate. The Manchus will unite with the foreign devils, and so will the Han warlords!
Europeans also understand the principle of betting on both sides. The chess game has been muddied. This is the real power game in East Asia in this era!
Li Hongzhang let out a long sigh and whispered in the sedan, "Master and Xiao Letian are still higher than me! They use the whole world as a chessboard to play with cloth, but what about me? I'm still sinking in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty!"
"You still have to do this kind of dirty work with threats and inducements? Damn it...it's boring..."
Jumping, Li Hongzhang kicked the bottom of the sedan with his foot and said, "Turn around! I heard that there is a private restaurant in the inner city with good food. It is opened by a woman named Sai Shishi?"
"I'll go there and drink tonight...I won't come back until I'm drunk!"
Originally, the small courtyard that Li Hongzhang rented was in Nancheng, but when he said he was going to compete with his master, the door was ajar, and the bearer turned around and walked north!
When passing by the foundation factory again, Li Hongzhang subconsciously glanced in the direction of Gordon's house, "Isn't this Gordon's only trick? Why do I always feel so cold? This guy definitely has some tricks up his sleeve!"
"Forget it, it doesn't matter if I have a back-up plan. Let them fight with the Japanese! I'll be neutral first and check the situation... Damn, I have to play with women a lot during this time!"
Sai Shishi has become the most popular socialite in the capital, not only because of her feat of escaping more than half of China, but also because both Fifth Master Yi Pei and Cheng Beile fought for her!
The people of these forty-nine cities love to praise others and suppress others. Suddenly, the small courtyard of Saishishi became a treasured place that the officials of the capital must visit!
Posts about drinking and having sex have been posted for three months. A table of private dishes that usually costs fifty taels per table has now been sold to two hundred taels!
Two hundred taels of silver is enough to feed an ordinary family of three for three or four years, but in Sai Shishi's place it's just a table of eighteen dishes!
And for these two hundred taels, you can only ask Sai Shishi to come over and have a cup of tea with you. He can't even drink wine with you, let alone sing songs or spend the night with you!
Saishishi has now become the most popular in the capital!
However, such a popular man did not dare to raise his tail even when he met a warlord like Li Hongzhang. When the concierge heard that the commander-in-chief of the Huai Army was coming, he was so frightened that he urinated and delivered a message.
After a while, Sai Shishi, who had a rosy face after drinking, came out personally to welcome him!
There were four tables placed in Sai Shishi's courtyard today, one in the east and west wing rooms and two in the main hall. The guests were all high-ranking officials from the capital.
There is no one below the fourth grade, and the businessmen who accompany him are all worth millions!
The guests at these four tables were all like butterflies in flowers. One moment they came to the east wing for a toast, the next moment they went to the west wing to play the piano, and the two tables in the main hall had to burn big smoke bubbles!
Fortunately, Master Sai was trained by Jasmine Mamasang. He did not show any signs of fatigue when dragging four, but he was able to do it with ease!
In the middle of the night, I collected more than a thousand silver dollars in reward money alone. It seemed that I could earn almost two thousand silver dollars without her sleeping with her tonight!
Master Sai's little notebook is filled with notes. Among these four tables, there are those who are talking about official business, some who are selling their official positions, and some who are paying for the Ministry of Punishments to kill white ducks as scapegoats!
It's all a shady and shady business. Sai Shishi is a broker. The two thousand taels are not actually wine money, but the broker's commission!
"Bah... You let me build a bridge to do business, but you still want to sleep with me later? You deserve it..."
Just when she was slandering, the disciple suddenly ran in, whispered in Master Sai's ear, "Girl! Li Hongzhang from the Huai Army is here, and he wants to see the girl for a drink by name!"
"Ah! Is he good at this?" Master Sai didn't dare to delay, put down the wine glass filled by the Minister of Punishment, and rushed out like a swarm of bees.
