When Tang Shaoyi and Yuan Shikai arrived, Li Yu was indeed surprised. Although Yuan Shikai was not currently in power, he was still the governor of one party and the most important governor of Zhili.
"Master Tai Tai," Li Yu came out and asked, "Why are you here?"
Yuan Shikai said: "I just happened to return to Beijing to report on my work, and then I was pulled over by Tang Daotai."
Tang Shaoyi said: "Brother Shucai, let's talk in the room."
After entering the house, Tang Shaoyi asked Li Yuping to get rid of everyone except the three of them, and then said: "I heard that the Russian ambassador came to see you, brother Shucai, how could you do this! You can't be casual at this juncture.
Meet the Russians.”
Li Yu smiled bitterly: "Of course I know, but the Minister of Commerce, Zai Zhenbeizi, is also here. How do you think I can refuse?"
Yuan Shikai frowned: "And Zhenbeizi? That's not surprising."
Yuan Shikai had already figured out the hobbies of Prince Qing Yikuang and his son.
Tang Shaoyi said: "But the Japanese must have become suspicious, so I asked the commander-in-chief to return to Beijing to report on his duties, and specially come to your house to help you clear away the suspicion."
Only then did Li Yu realize that it was Tang Shaoyi who was helping him again, and he quickly raised his hands and said, "Thank you Tang Daotai!"
Tang Shaoyi said: "Thank you, Mr. Zhitai."
Yuan Shikai said: "You are a talent, and a rare talent that is rare to see in a hundred years. I just showed up on the way and it was just a little effort. But it is still not enough. After a while, I will ask Tang Daotai to arrange for ambassadors from other countries to meet with you."
Tang Shaoyi smiled and said: "I just want to help you sell goods. Didn't the Ministry of Commerce set up a company for you?"
Li Yu said: "I don't have much left now. I only have five radio equipment left."
Yuan Shikai said: "That's enough. Don't let the price go low when the time comes. You will pay as much as the Russians charge."
These people were all veteran officials. When Li Yu heard this, he understood that they were trying to confuse the Japanese. "The master of Taiwan is very clever."
Yuan Shikai said: "I had an insight into the minds of the Japanese twenty years ago. So you must not provoke them too much. I don't know why the Japanese are so nervous sometimes, as if they are being persecuted and paranoid. They are suspicious of nothing."
Others."
Li Yu nodded: "I feel it too."
Many people know Yuan Shikai very well, but 80% of them don't know that Yuan Shikai served as governor of North Korea for many years in his early years. At that time, he was the supreme emperor of North Korea and could influence the political situation of North Korea.
Li Hongzhang's purpose of letting Yuan Shikai be in North Korea was to contain Japan and Tsarist Russia, especially Japan's infiltration, so the Japanese actually hated Yuan Shikai very much at that time.
However, Yuan Shikai is a typical political veteran. Under the current situation, he has eased relations with Japan to a certain extent.
Anyway, in international relations, everyone understands that there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.
The Japanese also happened to want to use Yuan Shikai to obtain intelligence.
Of course Yuan Shikai also understood that the Japanese wanted to use themselves, and then they used each other.
Tang Shaoyi said: "Fortunately, there was Zai Zhen Beizi from the royal family who came at that time. I can arrange for another county prince Zai Tao to also meet with you. The Japanese are even more uncertain about the court being involved."
Li Yu had been trying his best to avoid the political whirlpool, but he didn't expect that just meeting the Russian ambassador in a private house would be so troublesome.
He sighed in his heart and said, "Thank you Tang Daotai."
Tang Shaoyi said: "It doesn't matter. Prince Zaitao has also expressed his desire to meet you before. Prince Zaitao is very keen on Europe and is also very interested in Western learning."
Yuan Shikai said: "Not only Prince Zaitao, I also intend to let the two dogs learn more from the emperor's master."
Yuan Shikai called Yuan Keding and Yuan Kewen in, "Quick, I've seen the Imperial Master."
The two of them bowed deeply to Li Yu: "Hello, Emperor Master!"
Li Yu said: "You two young masters, there is no need to be polite."
Yuan Shikai said: "I have hired many masters for them, but my two sons are naughty by nature and cannot be disciplined well. After much deliberation, only the reputation of the imperial master can deter them."
Li Yu smiled and said: "You still have to be interested in learning."
Yuan Shikai said: "This sentence shows that the emperor knows how to educate."
Li Yu: "..."
In fact, although Yuan Shikai has a bad reputation, he is indeed a capable person.
It can even be said that if Yuan Shikai had excluded the last year of his life, he would definitely be called a "wonderful man through the ages."
He lived for a total of 57 years, and the first 56 years were simply wonderful.
At the age of 25, he single-handedly smashed the "Jiashen Coup" in North Korea, prevented Japan from getting involved in North Korea, delayed the outbreak of war between China and Japan, and became the first person in China to defeat Japan in modern times. The Japanese also hated him for this.
After that, he served as governor of North Korea for ten years. Although he took some drastic measures, he effectively curbed the infiltration of Japan and Tsarist Russia into North Korea, and helped the Qing Dynasty control North Korea with just one person.
Then he joined forces with Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi and others to initiate mutual protection between the southeast and the rest of the country, saving half of the country from war.
After the governor-general took direct control, he carried out vigorous reforms, implemented new policies, and developed education.
Not to mention that he formed China's first modern army, which had a profound influence.
In addition, next year he will join forces with Zhang Zhidong to abolish the imperial examination;
As for forcing the Qing emperor to abdicate peacefully, it can be said that China has shed a lot of blood. After all, every time the dynasty changes in the past, the previous royal family has not had a good ending. The wars it has caused have devastated the lives of the people.
If he had died at the age of 56, that is, in 1914, he would have been a very positive figure.
It's a pity that he was not saved for the rest of his life. He made two big mistakes in his last year and suddenly became a thief and a traitor.
But on the other hand, before 1914, Yuan Shikai was indeed good.
He has a lot of talented people under his command, and he is also willing to recruit talents.
Yuan Shikai was also very thoughtful, and he was at home in the decadent late Qing Dynasty. He always stood up correctly, and was reused by Li Hongzhang, Rong Lu, and Yi Kuang.
Although later after Puyi became emperor, his father, the regent Zaifeng, wanted to kill Yuan Shikai very much, but by then Yuan Shikai had grown up, and these young royals no longer had any power to compete with Yuan Shikai.
After Yuan Shikai resigned, the Qing government could not command the Beiyang New Army, which was the most powerful armed force of the Qing government.
Yuan Shikai pointed to his two sons and said: "In short, the Imperial Master will teach you more. From now on, they will be your disciples."
Li Yu couldn't refuse. After all, he had just done him a great favor, so he had no choice but to say: "I will definitely do my best."
Yuan Kewen said happily: "Great, the emperor and I will be classmates from now on!"
Brother Yuan Keding said: "You are kidding me! You can't see the emperor, at most you are just a classmate in your mind."
Yuan Kewen said: "That's impressive enough! By the way, Master Emperor, I heard that the emperor knows opera very well and is a good gong player. Is that so?"
Li Yu said awkwardly: "I don't know about this matter."
Yuan Shikai scolded: "Kewen, stop asking about the affairs of the palace!"
Yuan Shikai was a great tycoon, but he gave birth to a bunch of sons, none of whom became successful.
Yuan Kewen later became a big fan and could sing Kun Opera well.
Yuan Keding actually has nothing to say, and he is not as good as Yuan Kewen.
Yuan Kewen later at least became a leader of the Tianjin Youth Gang. In his early years, he could be compared with Huang Huangrong and Du Yuesheng.
However, Yuan Keding was a very courageous person. During the Anti-Japanese War, he did not bow down to the Japanese, which also led to his beginning to live in poverty.
Li Yu felt a little headache and felt that these two guys were more difficult to deal with than Guangxu.
Tang Shaoyi saw Li Yu's worries and said with a smile: "Brother Shucai, from now on the emperor will teach the two young masters whatever lessons they want. In fact, the two young masters also want to know some Western knowledge to avoid making a fool of themselves when seeing foreigners in the future."
This made it easier to handle. Li Yu said: "Shu Cai understands."
Yuan Kewen was even more happy when he heard this: "Then we are classmates with the emperor! It's so respectable!"
Yuan Shikai shook his head helplessly. He really couldn't control Yuan Kewen. After he was adopted into the lap of his aunt, Mrs. Shen, Mrs. Shen pampered him very much. He was really spoiled.
Tang Shaoyi laughed loudly: "Brother Shucai, I have a favor for you this time!"
After Yuan Shikai explained the matter, he left.
Two days later, the British ambassador, the French ambassador, and the Belgian minister came to visit either themselves or by sending someone.
Li Yu followed suit and sold five sets of radio equipment to them, earning another 180,000 silver yuan.
In fact, these radio equipment are indeed relatively advanced and have just been improved, so the prices are not exaggerated.
Well, it's a little bit too high.
Because there are still some differences compared to those placed on U.S. Navy ships, mainly in terms of power.
Naval ships use specialized radio equipment, which is very powerful and has very long antennas. After all, on the ship, the mast can be used as an antenna, and the communication distance can be very long.
But today's compact and mobile radio equipment cannot have too much power.
But after all, it is the best one can buy at the moment, so "Xiao Xiao" probably killed them a few times.
Li Yu directly gave half of the silver dollars to Tang Shaoyi and Yuan Shikai.
——
After that, Zaitao also came to Li Yu's house under the leadership of the Yuan brothers.
During this period, so many important people came to visit intensively, which shocked everyone in the house. Feng Ling chewed melon seeds and said, "I told you that our master is extraordinary!"
Zhao Qian said: "Of course, after all, he is the emperor's master, how can he be an ordinary person."
Wang Boze said: "Now it really has the atmosphere of Rongfu back then."
Lu Bicheng and Qiu Jin also walked into the door at this time. Lu Bicheng asked Fengling: "Who is coming today?"
Fengling said: "Girl back, she is the son of a county prince and Governor Yuan."
Qiu Jin asked in surprise: "Prince?"
Fengling said: "I don't know the details, but I heard he is Prince Zhong."
Lu Bicheng said to Qiu Jin, "Then let's wait here for a while."
Qiu Jin nodded: "I don't want to see Prince Baylor either."
The titles in the Qing Dynasty were Prince, County Prince, Beile, and Beizi.
So in fact, Zaitao, the commander-in-chief, is two levels higher than Zai Zhen's Beizi.
But Zai Tao's status is currently inferior to that of Zai Zhen.
Zai Tao himself had a better background than Zai Zhen. He was the son of Prince Chun and the half-brother of Guangxu.
But after Prince Zhongjun died, Cixi asked Zai Tao to adopt Zai Tao to Prince Zhongjun's palace and inherit the title.
But Prince Zhong is actually just a title and has no real power.
It was not until Puyi came to the throne and Zaifeng, another half-brother of Zaitao, suddenly became the regent that he became prominent again.
It has to be said that the lineage of Prince Chun is really the noblest and luckiest lineage among the royal family of the late Qing Dynasty. His descendants produced two emperors: Guangxu and Puyi.
Although Zaitao now only has a false title, he is still the king of the county, and Li Yu still has to receive him well as usual.
Yuan Kewen and Zai Tao were actually having a good time at this time. Both of them were extremely keen on Peking Opera.
Li Yu knew that he was just here to show his face, so he arranged for good refreshments and asked Konoe Aki to make him a cup of coffee.
Zai Tao took a sip and said, "It tastes so weird."
Yuan Kewen laughed and said: "This is called coffee. Foreigners all drink it, just like we drink tea."
Zai Tao shook his head: "The taste is much worse than tea. Foreigners really don't understand the tea ceremony."
Yuan Kewen added a piece of sugar cube from the table and put it in: "Try it again."
Zai Tao took another sip: "It's a little better, but compared to the Mingqian tribute tea in my house, it's not even a bit worse."
Li Yu said: "I agree with this."
Zai Tao said: "By the way, Mr. Emperor, I saw the previous article. The Japanese really don't know how high the sky is. Now when they are fighting with the Russians, before a winner can be determined, everyone has their eyes set on the sky, and they say
What racial advantage?”
Li Yu said: "This kind of nonsense stinks and is really disgusting."
Zaitao said: "But now many Japanese are still unconvinced, saying that they are superior to us in all aspects."
Li Yu said: "Which aspect?"
Zaitao said: "Didn't you read the recent newspapers? They said that the Japanese are better than us, both physically and mentally."
Li Yu naturally would not read the Japanese "Daily News" again and asked: "They really said that?"
Zai Tao nodded: "I am usually bored at home and often read the newspaper. This is the latest issue. Now many people are unconvinced and want to compare with the Japanese."
Li Yu thought for a while: "It's okay to compare with them. I can convince them both mentally and physically."
Zai Tao's eyes lit up: "How to compare?"
Li Yu said: "Intelligence can be compared to chess and puzzle solving, and physical fitness can be compared to horse riding and kung fu."
As a bored prince, Zai Tao was immediately interested when he heard it: "If nothing else, there is no way I can lose to the Japanese on horseback."
Zai Tao is a horse lover. Later this year, he will go to France to study at the Saumy Cavalry School. He is a well-known horse racing expert in the capital.
Despite his lack of fame, this guy actually almost became the patriarch of the Aisin Gioro family before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and even went to prison to persuade Pu Yi.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu royal family was divided into two factions. One faction was naturally the restoration faction, and they even did not hesitate to become puppets of the Japanese.
But in fact, if you think about it with your heels, you know that the Japanese cannot help the Manchus regain their country.
In the eyes of the Japanese, the so-called puppet Manchuria regime was just like the previous occupation of Korea, just a transitional state.
Representatives of the other faction were Zai Tao and others, who realized that there was no hope for restoration, so it was better to be a new person. Even after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zai Tao served as a political adviser to our army, and joked that he was just a Bima Wen.
Li Yu said: "I am strong in solving puzzles and solving problems; I happen to know a master in Jinmen in kung fu; as for playing chess..."
Zai Tao said: "Don't worry, I know who the chess king is."
Li Yu didn't expect that the conversation with him would reach this point, but he felt that it was indeed necessary to improve people's self-confidence.