Xiyuan, Yiluan Hall.
Lu Chuanlin, the Minister of Household Affairs and Minister of Military Aircraft, was reporting to Cixi.
"Reporting to the Queen Mother, in the first six months of this year, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the land tax totaled 18,123,141 taels, the tariffs totaled 15 million and 32 taels, and the salt class six One million and ten thousand again..."
Cixi was a little impatient: "Okay, okay, I can't remember how many there are. Just tell me the total."
Lu Chuanlin said: "Back to the Queen Mother, the total number is 42.12 million and one thousand..."
Cixi said: "Okay, just say tens of thousands. How can I have time to worry about three melons and two dates?"
Lu Chuanlin was an honest and upright official, and replied: "Queen Mother, I am in charge of the household department, and I don't dare to make any difference in the accounts, so I must report to you in detail. This is to be responsible for the court, and more importantly for the sake of the imperial court." The Queen Mother is responsible."
"I know that I can rest assured that the Ministry of Finance is under your control." Cixi reassured.
Although she usually likes to use people from the clan, she still cannot do without these capable Han ministers.
Cixi thought for a moment and said, "Not to mention, Hurd did a really good job. What did you say about the customs duties just now?"
Lu Chuanlin was so familiar with these figures that he immediately replied without even looking at the account book: "Back to the Queen Mother, it's fifteen million and three..."
"Oh yes, fifteen million, I understand. Please step back first."
For a major financial matter related to the national destiny, Lafayette only asked about the total number and ignored it.
Cixi turned her head and said to Ronglu, who was sitting next to her: "The foreigners are really good at what they do. The court has money, and I feel relieved about the compensation. Otherwise, my seventieth birthday will not be comfortable."
If future generations heard this, they would definitely scold her to death.
——Love money is earned only by foreigners? Are you so relieved?
Of course, Lafayette only thinks about her own comfortable life. Apart from national affairs, she also has a small calculation in her mind: With the money, she can renovate her Xiyuan and Summer Palace, and maybe rebuild the Old Summer Palace.
It was her sixtieth birthday during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1899, and Kang Youwei later publicized everywhere that Cixi had embezzled 30 million taels of naval military funds to celebrate her birthday. In fact, Kang Youwei did exaggerate a bit. He himself did not have much financial knowledge, so he advocated a huge number.
You must know that the Qing government at that time had so much money. Its annual fiscal revenue was only more than 70 million taels. It could not give 40% of it to the Beiyang Navy. After all, the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty believed that the Beiyang Navy was Li Hongzhang's personal armed force. Everyone Everyone is waiting to see the excitement!
In fact, Cixi spent a total of five to six million taels on repairing the Summer Palace, and the preparation for her 60th birthday ceremony took three years and cost more than five million taels.
As for the money to support the front line at that time, haha, it was less than three million taels.
Someone once suggested that Cixi use part of her money to support the front line. Then our Empress Dowager Cixi said the famous saying recorded in the history of the Qing Dynasty: Whoever makes me unhappy today, I will also make him unhappy for the rest of his life!
Wang Zhao, the former head of the Ministry of Rites who later fled due to the 1898 Coup, once said: Cixi only knew rights but had no political opinions.
To sum up, it is: it is dedicated to benefiting oneself and never harming others; if it is beneficial to the country, it is purely coincidental and will not be repeated in the future!
And now, with only two years left before her seventieth birthday, she doesn't know how much money she has to spend to make her "happy."
After all, from Lafayette's sixtieth birthday to now, the imperial court has owed more than one billion taels of silver in compensation. I wonder if she has any deep understanding of this figure.
However, as tariffs, commercial taxes, and salt taxes have increased in recent years, Lafayette may have become a little drifting again. It feels that it is all because of his great contributions.
Ronglu is almost the last capable person among the Eight Banners nobles. Unlike Prince Qing Yikuang, who is "ignorant of what is happening outside the window and only wants to make money", he somewhat understands the current situation in his heart, but he does not dare to disobey. The Queen Mother meant that, so she bowed and said respectfully, "It all depends on the Queen Mother knowing people and making good use of them."
These words made Cixi feel very useful.
Not long after Lu Chuanlin left, Li Lianying came to report to Yi Kuang and asked for an audience.
Cixi snorted angrily: "This Yikuang, if he dares to say that the Ai family is... Anyway, I will have his good harvest!"
Outside Yiluan Hall, it was the first time that Li Yu approached the power center of the late Qing Dynasty at such a close distance. Everything happened so suddenly, without any precaution.
The most troublesome thing is that Cixi was summoned today because of something that made her "unhappy". She was really speechless. She didn't want to be "unhappy for the rest of her life."
"Prince Qing, Lafayette asked you to come in."
The person who spoke was Li Lianying, the chief manager of the Jingshi Room, and he looked exactly like the one in the photo. It's just that the backward photography technology at that time always made people look dull when photographed, but Li Lianying's eyes were very lively and he was a smart person.
After all, someone who has been able to serve the moody Cixi for decades has achieved the ultimate in understanding people's hearts.
Li Yu followed Yi Kuang and Timothy Richard into the main hall. He first passed a screen and then saw Cixi sitting on the Nuan Pavilion from a distance.
As an old man who is about to turn seventy, she is still in good spirits, but her aging look cannot be concealed.
Cixi waved, and Li Lianying immediately understood, walked over and brought her a cup of tea, and then stood beside her without saying a word. Because his head was not held high, his eyes looked strange, always wandering around. Although his main gaze was on Cixi, he would occasionally glance at the courtiers on both sides.
Li Yu followed Yi Kuang and bowed, and then Yi Kuang said: "Queen Mother, this is Timothy Li's petition to open Shanxi University and hire Western teachers."
Cixi didn't even want to read the memorial, and just said casually: "You can just inform me about this little matter. Why do people come here?"
Yikuang chuckled: "The Queen Mother, I asked him to tell you, Queen Mother... oh no, it should be said that humans are all transformed from monkeys."
"Tsk!" Cixi frowned, "Why are you bringing up this endless thing again? Do you have nothing to do?"
Ronglu, who was nearby, also winked at Yi Kuang.
But Yi Kuang said: "Queen Mother, what I mean is that I don't dare to deceive you in any way, let alone arrange you at will. So I also brought Li Yu from the house, and Timothy Richard, they are all If you don’t believe me if you understand Western learning, you can ask.”
Ci Xi glanced at her and said, "You are Li Yu? Prince Qing has been talking about you a lot lately."
Li Yu's head was so big that Cixi only said half a sentence at the key point. He couldn't hear the praise or blame at all, leaving it completely to others to guess. There is no one to imitate, but Jiajing, the Taoist Emperor!
"Back to the Queen Mother, what Prince Qing mentioned was the British Darwin's theory of evolution. It is indeed the most advanced theory in the West."
Li Yu didn't dare to talk about monkeys, so he could only bring up a foreigner to shock her, "The bishop is also British, so he must also know Mr. Darwin's "The Origin of Species"."
"No!" Timothy Richard said, "Dear Queen Mother of the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Darwin's theory is also flawed."
WTF!
Li Yu and Yi Kuang's hearts immediately sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and they were instantly relieved: Why didn't this person play according to the routine?
Li Yu's mind flashed, something went wrong! How come I forgot this:
Darwin betrayed Christianity in his later years and became an atheist, but Timothy Richard was an authentic and pious missionary. It would be fine if he only mentioned the theory of evolution, but he must have some personal bias when it comes to Darwin!
What a disaster!
