"Impossible! The Hanlin Academy is full of educated people, how can they get involved in this kind of thing?"
"It's possible that they have some complaints, or even drink and curse, but they won't do this kind of conspiracy to kill people and steal goods!"
"Your Majesty! Don't be induced by Xiao Letian. How credible is the evidence provided by his people? Why bother to accuse him!"
Xiao Letian was not interested in the rebuttals of Weng Tonghe and Yinggui. As ministers, at this juncture, they must show their loyalty to the emperor!
Xiao Letian wanted to see the performance of the little emperor at this moment. He leaned slightly closer to Zai Chun, who had been maintaining a bowing posture, and whispered, "Long live! Do you think I should believe these clues?"
Zai Chun's body was shaken and his head dropped even lower. "Without Master's trouble and trouble, the disciples will personally seal off the Hanlin Academy and order a strict investigation of the real culprit who forged the notes. I will definitely give Master justice!"
"Oh...hehe, is this your answer? Hehehe..." Xiao Letian's sneer made the sweat on Zai Chun's forehead ooze.
"Stop bowing. I'm so tired that I can't bear this sin. You are the Long Live Lord! Long Live Lord, please take a seat..."
Da Sixi and several other eunuchs quickly helped the little emperor sit next to Xiao Letian, and the other courtiers, both Chinese and Manchu, stood in front of the hall!
Zai Chun wanted to argue with his master before he could even sit still, but before he could open his mouth, Xiao Letian reached out to stop him, "Your Majesty, you don't have to say anything. Your wedding date is set for October 17th. Just do the math and you'll have the rest." Twenty-one days!”
"It's hard enough for you to worry about these things... Come here, please read the list of gifts I have prepared for you!"
"Yes!" Xiang Ying, another disciple, flashed out from behind Xiao Letian. He smiled politely at Zai Chun, his junior, and then took out a small folded gift list from his pocket.
"Congratulations to His Majesty the Qing Emperor! The Chinese Federation's congratulatory gift list for the wedding of His Majesty the Qing Tongzhi Emperor is as follows..."
"The head of state congratulates the Qing Emperor! A Yangtze-class iron-clad steam battleship, the Longteng, is docked at Tongzhou Pier! Two Prussian-made steam locomotives with fifty knots of cargo boxes..."
"A French steel processing locomotive, turning, milling, planing, grinding, drilling...a set of various machine tools!"
"From the capital to Tianjin, a geological survey map, a complete set of intermediate industrial laboratory equipment, and 200 places for Qing Dynasty students will be provided. All expenses will be borne by the head of state alone..."
"A separate furnace was used to mint 9,999 gold coins for the wedding celebration and 199,999 silver coins for the celebration!"
…………
Xiao Letian's gift list was very long. Xiang Ying kept reading it, but Zai Chun could no longer hear clearly. His eyes were filled with tears. He really didn't expect that the gift list given to him by his master would be so heavy!
Someone in the imperial court had previously impeached the head of state for crossing the Grand Canal on a warship as a humiliation to the Qing Dynasty. This was Chi Guoguo's infringement, but at this moment Zaichun realized that there was a reason for this!
One of these three battleships is a wedding gift to myself! It turns out that the master wanted to give himself a surprise!
Not only is it a steam iron-clad battleship, the master also presented two steam locomotives, and the carriages are fully equipped. Although there is no railway for the time being, it will be a matter of time.
The mechanical processing equipment necessary for industrialization, as well as large laboratories, and even the thought of training talents, how can we repay this kindness!
What's more valuable? It's that map, a map of geological data. It took the Chinese people several years and a lot of manpower and material resources to survey it bit by bit.
With this map, you can get first-hand data on road construction. Where the stratum is stronger, where the stratum contains too much water and is prone to subsidence, the foundation for building bridges in that section of the river is stronger!
If you don’t have this data, how can you build a railway? Although it is also possible to hire European engineers to conduct exploration, does exploration not require time?
Nowadays, time is more precious than anything else to Zaichun!
The master was so considerate that he actually cast gold and silver celebration commemorative coins for himself in the end! You must know that the craftsmanship of the Chinese coining is more advanced than that of the Qing Dynasty. You can imagine how exquisite this commemorative coin is!
Zai Chun was about to say something, but Xiao Letian waved his hand and continued listening. At this time, Xiang Ying had just finished reading the gift prepared by the head of state.
"The gift list of the Chinese National Assembly is as follows: the Old Summer Palace lost twelve zodiac cast statues, 125 rare Song editions of books, calligraphy and paintings, and a total of 570 pieces of jade, gold, silver, and dental objects..."
"The gift list of the Chinese Nobles Council is as follows: a life-size bronze statue of Nurhaci, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, and a stone tablet commemorating the friendship between the Chinese and the Qing Dynasty..."
"The list of gifts from the Far East is as follows: six liters of the finest Eastern pearls, twelve pairs of century-old mountain ginseng, 300 taels of gold nugget jewelry, and eighty-eight carts of various mountain treasures..."
"The gift list from the Borneo Chinese Republic is as follows: 200 taels of gold sand, 1,800 pairs of horseshoe silver ingots, one ship each of pepper, cloves, and cinnamon, and 900 tons of Nanyang rice..."
"The gift list for Annan Kingdom Colonial Area is as follows: 320 kilograms of the finest agarwood, 12 pairs of coral trees, two elephants, 12 pairs of peacocks, 90 tons of Siam's finest fragrant rice..."
"There are also gift lists from the Ryukyu Royal Family, gift lists from the Luzon Colonial Region, and then there are gift lists from the Fuso Kingdom..."
This long list of gifts took more than 20 minutes to recite, but I didn’t recite them in too much detail. Many gifts of average value just passed by!
Xiang Ying handed the gift list to Da Sixi's hand and said, "Keep it well, Your Majesty. I have finished my errand. Let's go back and count the number of gifts with the gift list!"
"There are too many things, so the warships will transport some of them, and sea ships will continue to transport them later..."
Zai Chun's nose turned sour and almost brought tears to his eyes, "Master! Master treats his apprentice like this... but his apprentice has embarrassed you. You came to the capital and encountered such a terrible thing!"
"This is my disciple's fault. Master, please rest assured. Even if I dig three feet into the ground, I will find the mastermind behind the scenes and vent my anger on my master in a typical example!"
At this time, even Yinggui and Weng Tonghe lost their temper. The so-called reaching out and not hitting the smiling person, they had to say something to the court about Xiao Letian's courtesy!
The Qing Dynasty was very closed-off, but the people who were closed off were not the officials. Who among the big shots in the court didn't know the value of these gifts?
What's more important is that the political significance of these gifts is too obvious. Xiao Letian gave them all the necessary starting equipment for the industrialization of the Qing Dynasty. They were expensive and had no market value in the international market.
The Chinese Parliament simply returned all the treasures of the Old Summer Palace recovered from France. How big a favor is this?
As for the Far East Kingdom, the Republic of Borneo, the Ryukyu Royal Family, and the two colonial regions of Annan and Luzon, who are they directed at?
It’s not just for the sake of the head of state, you must know that Luzon and Borneo have long refused to recognize the status of Chinese vassal states, and Annan no longer paid tribute in the late Jiaqing period, just in name!
The head of state divided the gifts in this way, which was actually to give Zaichun a high hat and create an illusion in front of all the people that all nations came to pay homage!
Deceiving the common people is also a good way to improve the reputation of Emperor Tongzhi!
Xiao Letian shook his head, "Your Majesty, you don't need to tell me anything, and I don't need to... Follow me to the back house. I have something to say to you alone!"
