Chapter 353 All factions in the court work together
In the early morning at the Yangxin Hall in the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Ci'an in the East Palace and Empress Dowager Cixi in the West Palace listened to the government behind the curtains. They sat side by side, like good sisters, with their seats close together. In front of them was a Ci Bamboo curtain, allowing them to see people through the gaps in the Ci Bamboo curtain. He looked at the ministers in the main hall. The ministers who went to the study could only see a curtain, and the vague figures of the two palace queens were missing.
Emperor Tongzhi Zai Chun sits on the dragon throne, wearing a regular crown, black velvet covered with red tassels, and a red velvet knot on the top. He wears a bright yellow dragon robe and a bright yellow silk woven belt around his waist. There are dragon inscriptions on the belt. There are four gold round plates, with gemstones and dongzhu embedded in the middle. Zai Chun looked through the eleven statements in the original version of the book written by Li Guolou, and remained silent. No one knew what was going on in his mind.
Prince Gong Yixin (the sixth child) is still sitting on the porcelain stool, wearing a satin crown on his head and an earthy yellow five-clawed dragon satin standing dragon satin group patchwork suit. The pattern is a five-clawed dragon on the front and back. There is a ball of five-clawed dragons on each shoulder, a pattern of the king's mending clothes, and a ball of five-clawed dragons on each shoulder of the front and back. The hem of the court uniform is also embroidered with "Seawater Jiangya". The court beads are made of golden tapestry. Decorated with 108 East beads, it hangs around the neck.
Yi Xin glanced at the several study ministers on the left and right of the hall with gleaming eyes. Holding the throne of the regent for a long time has developed his restrained and steady character, and his demeanor of not being angry or intimidating.
Prince Chun Yixuan (the seventh son), Prince Qing Yikuang (grandson of Yonglin, the seventeenth son of Emperor Qianlong), and Wen Xiang, the scholar of Tiren Pavilion, stand on the left. They are royal family and have high status on the left. Prince Chun Yi The fact that Xuan, Prince Qing and Yikuang were able to enter the upper study room was a means for the two queen mothers to restrict the power of Prince Gong and Yixin, and to divide part of the power of the Prime Minister's Office.
Yixuan is in his thirties, about 1.65 meters tall, thin, with a mustache and blistered eyes. His nickname is "Pu'an", his nickname is "Master of Jiusitang", and he is also known as "Master of retreat". Qing Dynasty The seventh son of Emperor Daoguang, the half-brother of Emperor Xianfeng, his mother was Wu Ya, the noble concubine of Emperor Zhuang Shun of Emperor Daoguang. Yixuan was a low-key person, and he only followed the instructions of the empress dowagers of the two palaces. But because of Yixuan's cowardly character, he was not very aware of current affairs. , he was courteous and cautious in dealing with others, and was favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi.
Yikuang was already in his forties, with a long face, a rhinoplasty, skinny bones, and a mustache. At this time, although he was able to enter the study room and enter the highest level of power in the Qing Dynasty, he was granted the title only when Emperor Tongzhi Zaichun got married. Prince Weiqing was a late bloomer, and he was very resentful and resentful. He was very jealous of Prince Gong's power as Prime Minister and Prime Minister. He was the leader of the conservatives in the court, and was also an important weight for the two queen mothers to restrain Prince Gong Yixin.
Wen Xiang, a bachelor of Tiren Pavilion, was in his fifties, with white hair and a white head. His family name was Guarjia. His courtesy name was Bochuan and his nickname was Wenshan. He was the Minister of Military Aircraft. He was the second-ranking figure in the Military Aircraft Department and the Minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen. In 1865, he was signed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs. , led the Shenji Battalion to the northeast to suppress Wang Da and Ma Foolish Uprising. Among the Manchu ministers, he was a capable minister with both literary and military skills. He was a minister whom the Queen Mothers of the two palaces relied heavily on. He was also the right-hand man of Prince Gong Yixin. Yixin The policies formulated were passed in the court, and Wen Xiang took the greatest credit.
Li Hongzhang, the Minister of Commerce of Beiyang, Li Hongzao, the cabinet scholar, and Weng Tonghe, the co-organizer, are arranged on the right side of the hall in order.
Weng Tonghe, courtesy name Shuping, Pingsheng, Hao Shengfu, late Songchan, layman of Ping'an, was born in Changshu, Jiangsu Province. The son of Weng Xincun, a great scholar, is almost fifty years old, has three long beards, gray hair, and a tall figure. He He was also the teacher of Emperor Tongzhi, and his rank was already the same as that of Li Hongzao. The Qing Dynasty had a total of six bachelor's degrees, which were honorific titles for officials and civil servants. They had to be promoted step by step. Weng Tonghe's honorary title was one level lower than that of Li Hongzao. .
The structure of the three-day small court meeting in the Qing Dynasty now consists of a few of them, and sometimes other important officials of the court are added, but these few are unshakable important officials.
After the ceremony, these people were all seated by Emperor Tongzhi, and several eunuchs moved to the porcelain board to respectfully invite the two princes and four first-rank officials to take their seats.
Now that Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun is about to take office, it is reasonable for him to promote two teachers to assist him in taking office. The structure of the court has also changed, and the Qing school suddenly dominates the court. There is an undercurrent in the court. The patriots of the Qing Dynasty were looking forward to the day when they could compete with the Eight-Nation Allied Forces and regain the concessions in various places. What they wanted to do most was to fight the Russians and regain the lost territories such as Vladivostok.
At this time, the Qing Empire's attitude toward foreigners was groveling and flattering, and it had harmonious relations with most Western countries. The foreigners not only bought guns, cannons, and warships for the Qing Dynasty, but even organized foreign gun teams to eliminate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the East for the Qing Empire. Wow, the two groups of rebels have been completely wiped out.
But the country that the Qing Empire was most worried about was its neighbor to the north, the "Polar Bear" Russia, because Russia had the ambition to annex the Qing Empire and took advantage of the unrest in Xinjiang to occupy the Ili region.
Followed by France, the two countries had already fought a battle in Annan. Liu Yongfu led a "Black Flag Army of the China Peace Regiment" to kill the French commander An Ye in the suburbs of Hanoi, forcing the French army to withdraw from the Beiqi area (the area on both sides of the Red River). Therefore, Liu Yongfu was granted the title of Deputy Admiral of Sanxuan by the King of Annan, and his Black Flag Army was legalized in Beiqi, becoming a border defense force that was not assigned to Annan. Now stationed in Annan and Beiqi areas, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army has A scale of three thousand people.
And Britain suddenly became a country of friendship with the Qing Dynasty. National affairs would still be directed towards the Qing Dynasty. In the face of political interests, there were no permanent enemies. Li Hongzhang and the newly appointed British consul Shabari had just signed a warship deal, two iron-clad ships. The warship contract has just been completed.
But when Li Hongzao and Weng Tonghe took over the study room, the patriotic impulse of the Qing school gained market again. At this time, Prince Gong Yixin threw out Li Guolou's statement, which was just a way to attract good ideas and severely suppress the arrogance of the Qing school. Because One of Li Guolou's statements was that the Qing Dynasty should not start war easily. Anyone who dares to declare war with the "Eight-Nation Alliance" should be sent to the front line. If they dare not go to the front line, they should return to their hometown to retire. Don't just talk empty words.
Several relatives of the emperor and first-rank ministers were holding copies of Li Guolou's statement in their hands and were arguing in the Yangxin Hall. Weng Tonghe made an impassioned request to the emperor to let him train troops. On the other side, Wen Xiang laughed at Weng Tonghe who was almost fifty. A young man can only wave the command flag in the martial arts field, and the soldiers he trains are also fake. Those who don't know how to fight should not mislead others.
Li Hongzao did not listen to the quarrel between Weng Tonghe and Wen Xiang, but looked at the statement in his hand. He felt strange in his heart. Why did Li Guolou talk about Li Guolou's statement at the court meeting when a new scholar had not officially entered the court? Li Guolou's propositions had been discussed at the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, and the contents of the eleven clauses were already known to the important ministers in the court. At that time, Prince Gong did not support Li Guolou's propositions, but severely criticized several of them. , there are not even a few good words in the annotations next to the statement. Why did they suddenly change their tune and treat the insignificant propositions of Li Guolou, who only had the title of ninth-grade official, and let the empress dowagers and emperors of the two palaces come to listen. Li Guolou's statement Although he did not agree to go to war with foreigners, he believed that the Qing Dynasty still needed to endure hardships and follow Tao's strategy of maintaining strategy. However, several of them were at odds with the Westernization faction and had great differences. Why did Prince Gong, Li Hongzhang, Wen Xiang, and others How can we unite to support such a young man?
Prince Chun Yixuan followed the instructions of a thousand words and a silence, and sat quietly reading the statement in his hand. No one could tell what he was thinking. In fact, there was no need to guess, everyone in Yangxin Palace knew that Yixuan was waiting for Cixi. When the Queen Mother speaks, what does the Queen Mother say? His vane will drift wherever he goes. Yixuan is extremely talented and good at writing poetry. People from the Aisin Gioro family specialize in child prodigies. Every generation has people with outstanding literary talents. In the royal family The three most talented "imperial uncles" are sitting in the Yangxin Hall. He is by no means a person without ideas, but he wants to stand tall in the court. A wise man chose to be wise to protect himself, and Yixuan spoke word for word. Studying Prince Gong's annotations next to the Chen Tiao and holding back silence for a long time also requires real skill.
Prince Qing Yikuang couldn't hold it in anymore. What didn't he know? He had known for a long time that Li Guolou was going to donate 10 million taels of silver to Li Hongzhang. There were only two words in his heart: "hate" and "jealousy". I just hate that he didn't get any benefits, so he won't say good things about Li Guolou before he gets the benefits. Yikuang is a greedy person, and everyone who comes from his sect wants to bribe him with huge sums of money. Yikuang belongs to A man who is rich and easy to talk has an insatiable greed, which makes him resent Li Guolou for being a disciple of Prince Gong.
Prince Qing Yikuang knew in his heart that Li Guolou was a protégé of the Emperor, and would be a direct descendant of Emperor Tongzhi from now on. He was also chosen as the Huarang by the empresses of the two palaces, and his future was limitless. Today, the court meeting was constantly talking about Li Guolou's statement. That is to say, Empress Dowager Cixi wants to use this person.
Prince Qing Yikuang figured out the meaning of this. It was still early in the day anyway, so he decided to spend a lot of money on Li Guolou. Li Guolou actually gave Li Hongzao a three-foot-tall jadeite Guanyin. No wonder Li Hongzao did not join Weng Tonghe. They are angry at the same time and rely on each other. He also wants a jade Guanyin and vows not to give up until he extorts 100,000 taels of silver from Li Guolou!
Prince Qing suppressed the hatred in his heart and said with a steady and mature smile: "Congratulations to the Queen Mother, congratulations to the Emperor, we have a successor to the Qing Dynasty. Li Guolou, the Tanhua Lang, is a minister of the State. He is in the Ministry of Punishment and can still share the worries of the imperial court. The ideas put forward are in line with the current shortcomings. Although he is not yet mature, he has a visionary talent. Li Guolou has the ability to establish a school, is good at planning and layout, and is good at raising funds. He is already establishing a "people-friendly new fashion school" for Prince Gong. In preparation for the government-sponsored study abroad, the founding of "Qingzhong University" was also handed over to Li Guolou. The minister recommended Li Guolou to be the chief academic administrator of Qingzhong University and develop the former site of Shenji Camp on Shiwangfu Street, which has been idle for a long time. , it happened to be used to establish the 'Qingzhong University', and I just happened to do my humble part to become the first president of Qingzhong University."
Prince Qing Yi Kuang is so smart. If he wants to get benefits from Li Guolou, he has to tie them together on errands. Most of the political and military power is in the hands of Prince Gong, and he can't get involved. He can only find another way. A matter that was originally vetoed by him, the establishment of a Western-style university "Qingzhong University" was suddenly put on the agenda. Prince Gong was not happy before it was too late, and no one in the court would oppose his idea.
As soon as he finished speaking, Prince Gong Yixin stood up quickly, bowed and said, "I second Prince Qing's proposal."
The leader of the conservative group, Prince Qing Yikuang, suddenly had a misunderstanding. He wanted to establish a Western-style university, and the iron tree blossomed. It would take a hundred years to wait. Prince Gong Yixin did not expect that something would suddenly happen at the court, and someone would recommend Li Guolou to do something. It's an unrelated matter, but it's a once-in-a-lifetime event. It was Prince Qing who brought it up today, and Prince Gong Yixin quickly agreed without even thinking about it.
Li Hongzao also stood up, bowed and said: "I also second my opinion."
"I second the proposal." Several other important ministers stood up and saluted Emperor Tongzhi.
Emperor Tongzhi Zai Chun said without hesitation: "Yes, I am accurate. Prince Qing is working hard to promote talents for the country. I am very relieved. It is imperative to establish Qingzhong University. This is a matter that benefits the country and the people." , only Prince Qing is worthy of the important task."
Empress Dowager Cixi was behind the curtain and raised her voice and asked: "Prince Qing, it is too close to the French Legation. Will there be complaints from foreigners?"
Shiwangfu Street is known as Wangfujing in later generations, because there were 10 royal palaces and 3 princess palaces on this street in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, according to the Ming system, royal palaces were also built here, with Prince Duoze's Palace in Yu being the largest. The prosperity of Shiwangfu Street , thanks to the old Dong'an Market, it was originally a palace in the Ming Dynasty. It was granted to Wu Sangui in the early Qing Dynasty and renamed Pingxi Palace. After the San Francisco Rebellion, the palace was changed into the playground of Shenjiying, where the Eight Banners were stationed. However, in the later period, Dongjiaomin Lane became an embassy. The district has become a country within a country. The playground of Shenji Camp has been vacant for many years. The imperial court did not know what to use this place for, for fear of causing dissatisfaction among foreigners. At this time, Cixi raised this issue because of this concern.
Prince Qing, Yi Kuang, seemed to be a wily man. He stroked his long beard and said with a carefree smile: "To the Queen Mother, foreigners attach great importance to education. They saw us imitating their schools and learned that we were setting up a Western-style university in the playground of Shenji Camp. , I don’t even dare to fart, it’s too late to welcome me. You won’t take note of our Foreign Minister Li Zhongtang, Li Zhongtang, are you right?”
"Well, Prince Qing is mature and prudent, and he is thoughtful." Li Hongzhang also quickly agreed. One happy event after another, what happened to the stubborn old man today? Li Hongzhang was confused.
"Yes...it's accurate!" Cixi's sweet voice made everyone in the hall overjoyed. The people in the Hall of Cultivation of Hearts thought one thing, if they can keep up with the trend of history, the country will surely prosper. , the two empress dowagers happily held hands together. It was rare for the representatives of the three factions, the Westernizers, the Qing faction, and the conservatives, to be harmonious in the court. With so many mature and prudent ministers escorting them, Emperor Tongzhi's personal rule would bring peace to the country and the people, and allow the Qing Dynasty to move forward. Prosperity and prosperity.