Amidst the chaotic buzzing, the courtiers and the new scholars bowed out of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, leaving Prince Gong Yixin, Li Hongzao and Li Guolou alone, and asked Li Guolou to change into a brand-new five-piece suit in the side hall next to it. As he tasted his official robe, he saw a blue feather on his official hat and beads hanging around his neck. He was about to go to Yangxin Hall to meet the emperor and the empress dowagers of the two palaces. He looked at the floor-length mirror with great satisfaction and took care of himself. Brand new look,
The great eunuch Liu Deyin watched Li Guolou changing his clothes and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Mr. Tanhua."
Li Guolou quickly took out a two hundred tael silver note from his wallet, handed it to Liu Deyin, and said in a low voice: "We are all happy together. Please come to Baozhifang for a wedding drink, Mr. Liu."
The eunuch Liu Deyin, who was over forty years old, took the bank note and said with a casual smile: "Tanhua Lang, you are really a good person. I am optimistic about Tanhua Lang's future. Oh... Tanhua Lang, this dress The official robe is a high-quality item bought by the father-in-law of the library. According to the rules, you can give me four hundred taels."
Li Guolou glanced at Liu Deyin and felt a little dissatisfied. According to the rules, a set of official robes can be purchased for two to three hundred taels of silver. Sometimes it is better to let the officials buy it themselves, which is even cheaper. It is custom-made in the world, which adds up. Instead of using one hundred taels of silver, it turned into four hundred taels of silver when he came to him. A set of "official robes" that should be regarded as a reward from the emperor, and the eunuchs were directly allowed to share the stolen 400 taels of silver.
With six hundred taels of silver notes in his arms, Liu Deyin left the side hall with satisfaction and went to the minister's house to deliver the imperial edict. The reward was only two silver ingots. Li Guolou was very generous and a friend worth making. It seemed that the territory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs , the matter of opening several "invite banks" should be implemented as soon as possible. Next time, we will invite some "brothers" from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to have a wedding drink together at Baozhifang.
When Li Guolou came to the Yangxin Hall, he was beating a small drum in his heart. The Queen Mother of the two palaces sat behind the bamboo curtain to listen to his performance. Sure enough, the emperor began to ask about his resume: "Li Guolou, now tell me I would like to know more about your experience of studying abroad and your experience of working as an errand in the Ministry of Justice."
Li Guolou looked at Prince Gong Yixin who was sitting in the Jinluan Hall and saw that he looked calm and motionless, as peaceful as an old monk in meditation. Knowing that this time only good things would happen, he used his eloquent skills to nourish the heart. The palace was used as a place for storytelling, and he first talked about London, England, as useless. The smog city was so dirty that it made people breathless. However, in such a difficult environment, he was barely hanging on his buttocks. He was still able to strive for self-improvement and learn a lot. After returning to China, he began to say all the good things about the Minister of Punishment, Bao Yi. Anyway, he had a heart of loyalty, obeyed the orders of his superiors, charged forward, and never forgot the ideal of serving the motherland. He studied the "Four Books and Five Classics" well, no matter where he went, They all worked tirelessly to "learn and practice from time to time", and finally stood out in this scientific examination and won the third place in Yidingjia.
Li Guolou spoke affectionately, interspersed with many sad vignettes, remembering his dead colleagues, sometimes sobbing, and his eye circles turned red unconsciously. When he talked about the joy of success, he sometimes smiled at Emperor Tongzhi. , let people see that he is a promising young man with true temperament,
Time passed very quickly. Li Guolou grasped the situation carefully and saw that the emperor on the dragon throne did not appear impatient, and the two good ladies behind the curtain did not say a word, so he continued talking, ready to pull the reins of the horse at any time. After talking for an hour, I felt strange that no one interrupted him.
Li Guolou's mouth was dry as he spoke and he couldn't go on. Kankan finished his concluding remarks, his stomach growling with hunger and feeling annoyed. Just when he was changing clothes and waiting, both Prince Gong Yixin and Li Hongzao had eaten pineapple. It was so bad, and he had been hungry since Wu Gu time. Later he knew that when he came to the palace, he must hide two biscuits in his sleeves.
Emperor Tongzhi was not satisfied with what he heard. Li Guolou’s love affair has not been mentioned yet. Well... next time I will let Li Guolou do it in the study room. When he thought of this idea, he couldn’t help but laugh and said: "Well, Li Aiqing has been talking for so long, and his voice is still so loud and full of energy. Prince Gong and Li Taibao have praised you, and I will praise you once. I have an errand for you to do." After saying this, Emperor Tongzhi turned to look at Prince Gong continued: "Prince Gong, last time we talked about opening a recruit school in the Zhili area, I decided to let Li Aiqing run it. Li Guolou's errands as a doctor of the Hanlin Academy include the chief bookkeeper of "Xinwutang". As for Let Weng Tonghe hold the post of principal concurrently,"
How could Emperor Tongzhi let Prince Gong intervene? He wanted to take the military power of training the new army into his own hands. Although it was just a battalion at the beginning, everything from now on would be handled by Weng Tonghe and Li Guolou. How many will there be? Xinjun, at this time, he didn't know what to do.
Prince Gong Yixin was overjoyed. With Emperor Tongzhi as his signature, the two queen mothers would not think about disarmament. The Hunan Army trained by Zeng Guofan was disbanded, and the Huai Army trained by Li Hongzhang could not escape the fate of being disbanded. The Han army, capable of conquering and fighting, was corrupted by the ancestral rules set by the Manchus, while the Eight Banners Battalion, which hated iron and failed to make steel, wasted its pay and silver, and its arrogant soldiers only served as facades to stand guard. Now the "Xinwutang" is wearing the emperor's personal bodyguards. title, this army has a great future, and a channel for establishing a new army has emerged at this time. This is because the sky has vision.
Prince Gong Yixin pretended to be unwilling, and slowly accepted the order to express his gratitude, so that the empress dowagers of the two palaces could see how sad he was about losing his power, and he could only swallow his anger and carry out the emperor's imperial edict. ,
Although Li Guolou received the order to thank him and his gratitude was beyond words, he stood in the Yangxin Hall and was surprised and happy. He had been given so much, so how could he be so busy? What was going on, superiors The leaders of the "Westernization School", "Qing School" and even "conservatives" have also taken a fancy to him. How to deal with so many Bodhisattvas who need to pay tribute and burn incense, and drag a bunch of greedy "dog slaves" (eunuchs) behind them? These days How should he live? It seems that the feat of handing over "ten million silver" for the cause of national defense has attracted all the factions in the court to focus on him. Even the "conservatives" want a piece of the pie.
Although Li Guolou made a promise on his lips, he was frightened in his heart as to what the situation would be like in the future. Originally, in his plan, no one else came to take a share of the pie. The greedy Manchus rushed to let him pay for it first. Emperor Lianzhi was also thinking about this idea,
Emperor Tongzhi said: "Li Guolou, since you are confident to complete the task, I will give you another official position as the supervisor of the Longevity Mountain Project. This job belongs to you."
"Thank you Lord for your kindness. I will definitely handle this job well." Li Guolou didn't understand and couldn't help but look at Prince Gong. Where is the "Longevity Mountain"? He had never heard of it.
The expressions of the eunuchs standing in the Yangxin Hall changed. They never expected that Li Guolou had become the confidant of the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces. The most important job in the palace was actually taken by Li Guolou. The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces only thought of ten thousand things. The Longevity Mountain project requires millions of taels of silver every year. This is a thankless position. They need a money-making master to take the job and complete the Longevity Mountain project as soon as possible for them, so that they can live a long life in the Old Summer Palace and enjoy the splendor. In such a beautiful life, how could one know that the throne of "Wanshoushan Project Supervisor" is worth a million dollars and is more desirable than the throne of the General Manager of the Two Palaces?
The eunuchs looked at Li Guolou with even more kind eyes. We will be our own people from now on. Being kind brings wealth.
Prince Gong Yixin suppressed his laughter and refused to look at Li Guolou's searching eyes. The silly boy was so lucky. From now on, the Beiyang Navy would allocate 10,000 taels of silver to the Longevity Mountain Project, and Li Guolou would receive another 10,000 taels of silver from the Beiyang Navy. The Shoushan Project got back 10% of the commission, which is at least ten thousand taels of silver.
Prince Gong stood up, bowed and said: "To inform your Majesty, I believe that the Li Guo Tower is a material that can be built, and it is appropriate to raise the flag."
After the Qing Dynasty established the capital as the capital, the main force of the Eight Banners of Manchuria was stationed in and outside Beijing according to the flag. People called it the "Eight Banners Forbidden Travel". Except for Zhengyang Gate, Eight Banners soldiers were stationed at the eight city gates of Beijing. At that time, the Qing Dynasty ruled The author believes that the biggest threat to Beijing comes from the north, so the Desheng Gate and Anding Gate in the north are the top priorities for defense. They are garrisoned by Zhenghuang and Xianghuang banners under the personal command of the emperor, and the remaining city gates are guarded by the remaining The Six Flags soldiers were guarded according to their respective positions. In the early Qing Dynasty, the inner city of the capital was all Manchus, and the Han people only settled in the south city. By this time, Manchus and Han people already lived together. Many people had Manchu and Han ancestry, purebred Manchus. There are fewer and fewer people, and with the flag-raising system, the Manchus have no idea what a Manchu is based on their flag status, and they don't care whether the person is a pure Manchu or not.
Raising the flag is to let Li Guolou join the Manchus. He will no longer be Han Chinese. All the rules in the family must be made according to the practices of the Manchu nobles. This is also a system for rewarding slaves, and Han ministers cannot raise the flag. , so Prince Gong proposed to let Li Guolou carry the flag, that is, he would not treat Li Guolou as a Han minister, but as a personal slave.
Of course Li Guolou understood the truth, but at this time he was no longer shameless and thought silently in his heart, "Great unity of the whole nation, great integration of the whole nation," and looked at Emperor Tongzhi with an eager look, thinking that he was a Han It doesn't matter whether he is trained by ministers or used as a Manchu slave. From now on, it is not a bad idea to be among the Manchu ministers on the left in the court class. He just needs to learn Manchu and write Manchu, otherwise he will be punished by the two queen mothers. , he can still speak some Manchu, but his Manchu is much worse. He can speak many Manchu languages but cannot write them.
Emperor Tongzhi looked at the empress dowagers of the two palaces next to him. From the direction of the dragon chair where he was sitting, he could see Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an whispering.
Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an listened to Li Guolou's speech for an hour and immediately regarded him as superior. He could speak sonorously and beautifully, which was comfortable for the eyes and enjoyable for the ears. The emperor put the important task of training the new army in "Xinwutang" 》The chief academic officer has also been handed over to Li Guolou. This important position should be held by a Manchu nobleman alone. Han people are worried about it. In addition, Li Guolou is now a blank slate and has no relationship with the ministers. It has been listed in the court and can be used as a personal slave.
After some discussion, Empress Dowager Ci'an whispered: "Sister, I see Li Guo Louxing. He is upright and has clear eyes. You can see that his figure has not wavered since he stood now. He stands like a soldier. I see After that, he didn't move at all for more than an hour,"
"Hmm..." Cixi couldn't help but nodded slightly, and also showed an expression of approval. If she didn't promote the man she personally appointed, why should she promote Han people? A sweet voice came from behind the bamboo curtain. : "Well, Prince Gong's heart is in line with my wishes. I will allow Li Guolou to be carried under the yellow flag, and his family will also be allowed to carry it under the blue flag."
The Xianghuang Banner belongs to the upper three banners and is led by the emperor himself. There is no governor, only assistant leaders. Empress Dowager Ci'an is also a person who Xianghuang Banner, Xianglan Banner is the lower five flags, and Cixi was originally a person who Xianglan Banner did. Concubine Yi raised the flag to join the Xianghuang Banner and raised Li Guolou into the Xianghuang Banner, in order to train him as a Manchu nobleman.
Li Guolou turned over and bowed, kowtowing: "Thank you so much, the Queen Mother. I will definitely be able to handle errands for my master in the future."
Li Guolou seemed to be in the Qionglou Immortal Pavilion, and everything in front of him seemed to be an illusory fairyland. He couldn't remember how he walked out of the Yangxin Hall. He stood blankly on the stone steps of the hall, in a daze, looking up at Yangxin Hall. The plaque on the Heart Palace is filled with questions, is this true? The dream-like experience of the Forbidden City lingers in my heart, and I can’t get rid of it.