Master Yuan, start!

Look at what's written in the newspapers in Jiangning City. They're boasting as if only Yuan Shikai could save the country."

Zeng Guoquan frowned when he heard Liu Kunyi mention these tabloids. "I've long said that these newspapers, run by unknown people, should be banned. If you're worried about the flow of information between the north and the south, just have the Jiangning Times publish a supplement.

"It's really disgraceful that you only know how to advocate for Yuan Shikai and treat the Governor-General of Liangjiang as nothing!"

Seeing that Zeng Guoquan was still upset about the newspaper incident, Liu Kun also advised: "Haha, Yuanfu, don't get angry. You can suppress it for a while, but not forever. It's better to let them talk.

Uncle, we can't continue like we did a hundred years ago, where the court arrested people based on their writings and imprisoned them for their poems."

Liu Kunyi has been in seclusion for ten years since he was dismissed from his post by Zhang Zhidong.

During the past ten years, his channel for learning about external affairs was various newspapers, so naturally his views were different from Zeng Guoquan's.

He believed that the opinions published in private newspapers best represented the voice of the people, while official newspapers were often embellished in many ways and failed to reflect the true public sentiment.

Official newspapers have a necessity to exist, and so do private newspapers.

"Let's not talk about these things for now." Zeng Guoquan put down the newspaper, feeling a little bored.

He focused his eyes on the list of weapons and equipment on the table.

"19-knot battleship, 22-knot armored cruiser, 24-knot first-class torpedo boat, 6-inch and 4.7-inch Armstrong rapid-fire guns

"Xianzhuang Liu Kunyizi, these things look really exciting, but wanting any of them would cost a lot of money."

Upon hearing this, Liu Kunyi could only smile bitterly and said, "Yuanfu, if we want to build Liangjiang into the base of the Hunan Army, these things are indispensable."

"Yes, all of them are indispensable, but we lack money." Zeng Guoquan put down the list and asked Liu Kunyi

"Xianzhuang, what was the old woman's previous condition?"

After the fall of Shengjing, Cixi sent a telegram to Zeng Guoquan and Li Hongzhang, asking them to quickly transfer troops to the north.

Of course, she also knew that empty words would have no effect on these two people, so she also gave corresponding conditions.

"Lijin is no longer calculated from the tenth year of the Guangxu reign, but from the first year of the Guangxu reign." Liu Kunyi replied.

Zeng Guoquan sneered: "Oh, she finally got the message. She knows that when asking others to do things, she must show sincerity."

Compared with the starting point of lijin collection in the tenth year of Guangxu, nearly 50 taels more could be retained in the first year of Guangxu. However, this could no longer satisfy Zeng Guoquan at this time.

"However, this was the price before the fall of Jinzhou."

Zeng Guoquan looked at the cruiser quotation in his hand and said word by word: "Now, I want half of the salt tax in Lianghuai!"

The salt tax in Lianghuai accounted for about 4% of the total salt tax of the Qing Dynasty. In 1890, the total salt tax of the Qing Dynasty was 800 million taels, and the Lianghuai salt tax alone accounted for more than 300 million taels.

Now Zeng Guoquan asked for a huge sum of money, intending to take away more than 150 million taels.

Adding to the more than 100 million taels of silver previously freed up by the lijin tax, the Governor-General of Liangjiang had nearly 300 million taels of silver available every year.

We can build two Dingyuan ships!

Liu Kun was shocked when he heard this: "Yuanfu, the 0% Huai salt tax is too serious, it must not be touched lightly!"

"Instead of letting those salt merchants give tribute to so many corrupt officials in the Lianghuai Salt Administration every year, it is better to let them give the money to me. At least I can bring peace to their salt industry!" Zeng Guoquan did not waver in his opinion.

"Besides, Xianzhuang, think about it, if Yuan Shikai really attacked the capital and the Korean emperor became emperor again, would I still be able to serve as the Governor-General of Liangjiang?

Can we still retain so much lijin every year?

When will the people of Sanxiang be able to establish a true foundation?"

Zeng Guoquan had a very clear idea: if he wanted to be a vassal, he should do it to the end and not be a fence-sitter.

The feudal lords should neither support the empress dowager nor the emperor. The best way is to watch the two sides fight each other and reap the benefits.

As long as Cixi was willing to give him half of the Lianghuai salt tax, he would be willing to send the Hunan Army north to defend the Forbidden City instead of just wandering around Shandong and Zhili.

At this point, it would be completely abnormal to say that anyone doesn't have his or her own thoughts in his or her heart.

Liu Kunyi naturally wanted to build a foundation for the young men of Sanxiang, but he still felt that Zeng Guoquan's appetite was too big, so he asked: "Yuanfu, can this be accomplished? Are you so sure that the Queen Mother will agree with what you say?"

"Jiang Yue joins forces, even if it doesn't work, it will succeed!"

Zeng Guoquan took out the telegram he had already prepared to send to Li Hongzhang, his eyes full of determination.

Chapter 135 Opportunity for Capital Export

There was chaos in the central government of the Qing Dynasty, and even the common people knew that the world was about to be in turmoil, so the British naturally had to respond.

The partner they found in the north was Yuan Shikai, and in the south they set their sights on Zeng Guoquan.

Previously, although the British supported Yuan Shikai, it did not mean unlimited support. The most important reason why they were interested in Yuan Shikai was that they could use him to resist the Russians from moving south.

But if the situation becomes turbulent and affects southern China, it will also have an impact on their economic interests.

Being on guard against the Russians is for economic gain, while escalating the war would harm those interests.

After all, the focus of Britain's colonial interests in China at this time was the Yangtze River Basin centered on Shanghai.

Shortly after Zeng Guoquan returned to Jiangning, the British Consul General in Shanghai, Barrymore, came to visit him to seek cooperation.

Bai Linan used the provision of new weapons and equipment as a bargaining chip to ask Zeng Guoquan to build the Nanjing-Shanghai Railway and open a factory in Shanghai.

At this time in the Qing Dynasty, almost all railways were in the northern region, with only a few in the south.

The British were deeply aware of the inconvenience of transportation and had long wanted to build a railway. In 1876, they even built the Wusong Railway, which connected the Wusongkou of the Yangtze River directly to the inland of Shanghai.

However, the Qing court at that time was extremely afraid to avoid such Western things and was extremely worried that they would affect its rule.

You should know that even a small telegraph took the Qing court 12 years to discuss before deciding to establish it.

In 1868, when Li Hongzhang was promoting Westernization, he heard about the new thing of telegraph and immediately wrote to the Qing court requesting its installation.

At that time, there was no war in the country and the court was relatively stable, so the Qing court calmly brought up the matter for discussion. This discussion lasted for 12 years, and it was not until 1880 that the Qing court agreed to install a telegraph.

Not to mention the railway. In the second year after the Wusong Railway was completed, it was forcibly acquired by the Qing Dynasty on the grounds that the right of way was unclear, the sovereignty was unclear, and it was detrimental to the national system.

After the acquisition, the Wusong Railway was forcibly demolished at the order of Shen Baozhen, the then Governor-General of Liangjiang.

It was not until 20 years later, in 1897, that the road was completed. At that time, the Qing Dynasty suffered a crushing defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of - and was unable to withstand the turbulent situation in the world, so it naturally relaxed the requirements for road construction.

The British in this time and space obviously could not wait that long. They felt that the central authority of the Qing Dynasty had been greatly weakened due to the conflict between the emperor and the empress, and now was the best time to rebuild the railway.

Not only does the Wusong Railway need to be rebuilt, it also needs to be extended westward all the way to the city of Jiangning!

As for setting up a factory in Shanghai, it is a fait accompli and is an additional recognition.

Although there has never been an agreement in the unequal treaties to allow foreigners to open factories in China, foreign countries have already opened more than 100 enterprises in China, including ship repair, commodity processing, mining, water and power plants.

The right to establish factories in the later Treaty of Shimonoseki simply made this implicit rule explicit.

However, building railways and setting up factories was a huge undertaking, and Zeng Guoquan was initially undecided, but he was also very envious of the weapons and equipment provided by the British.

Zeng Guoquan also wanted to build a railway, but he had no money.

Building a railway would require a large amount of money, and he also planned to increase the number of troops, purchase ships and cannons. Where would he get so much spare money?

After several rounds of negotiations, Zeng Guoquan and Bai Linan finally reached a letter of intent.

The Governor-General's Office of Liangjiang and the British HSBC Bank each contributed half, totaling 400 million taels, to build the Beijing-Shanghai Railway. The right of way belonged to China, but the operating rights belonged to Britain.

In fact, the 400 million taels were all funded by Britain, while the 200 million taels from the Governor-General's Office of Liangjiang were loans borrowed from the British with likin as collateral and the permission for the British to set up factories in the concession as collateral.

To this end, Britain also paid the price of a protected cruiser to get Zeng Guoquan to agree.

However, in Bai Linan's view, all of this is worth it.

Of course, in Zeng Guoquan's view, he also made money.

Everyone could see the benefits of the railway. As for opening a factory, as long as it was confined to the concession, no one could use it to criticize him, not to mention that he also received a cruiser as a "kickback".

Li Hongzhang, who was more than a thousand kilometers away, faced a situation similar to Zeng Guoquan's.

The only difference is that he was facing door-to-door lobbying from the Germans.

Since Li Hongzhang sent out half of the South China Sea Fleet, the Germans have been following him like flies, visiting the Governor-General's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi every day to seek "business cooperation"

"Xingsun, do you think we can agree to the Germans' conditions?" After seeing the Germans off, Li Hongzhang asked Sheng Xuanhuai who had just arrived in Guangzhou from Daye.

“Sir, this is a rare situation.

Yuan Shikai's capture of Jinzhou Prefecture shocked half of the country. It was a good time to send troops. If he had been allowed to break into Beijing, it would have been difficult to have the opportunity we have now.

Since Zeng Guoquan has already called to discuss this, it proves that there is hope!"

Li Hongzhang listened to Sheng Xuanhuai's speech, nodded indifferently, and said nothing.

How could he not know that this was a great opportunity for him? The power of the imperial court at the moment was probably even weaker than during the Taiping Rebellion.

At least at that time the imperial court could still have a unified banner to command the world, but what about now?

The Empress Dowager and the officials were alienated from each other, and she could no longer command the officials with the righteousness of the cause. She could only lure them with benefits and threaten them with their lives.

The emperor was controlled by Yuan Shikai and could no longer trust other local officials.

It seems that this is indeed the last chance to expand his power. If he misses this opportunity, when the emperor is brought to the capital by Yuan Shikai, when an imperial edict comes down, will he obey it or not?

“德国人想1开办工厂，咱0们就一0定要答应7吗？大人，6洋人狼子9野心，不得不1防呀！”丁汝4昌对3洋人有本6能的厌恶之感。

"This is absurd. It is because of the construction of factories that foreigners have become the powerful country they are today. If they want to set up factories, we can take the opportunity to learn from them and strengthen ourselves." Sheng Xuanhuai was not so opposed to opening a factory.

"Alright, stop arguing." Li Hongzhang coughed. "Xingsun, go discuss the factory with the Germans. Just remember one thing: don't sell out China's interests. We can discuss the rest."

"As for sending troops," Li Hongzhang picked up the telegram in his hand and said, "Since Zeng Laojiu has already sent troops, I will not send them.

Let Liu Buchan and his men approach Shanhaiguan. If Yuan Shikai's army approaches, use naval guns to drive them away!"

...

Just when the local governors unanimously decided to take practical action to stop Yuan Shikai, he was checking the imperial edict from Seoul in Jinzhou Prefecture.

The edict was issued by Emperor Guangxu, but he was not sure whether it was really the intention of Emperor Guangxu or Yixuan.

The edict highly praised Yuan Shikai's unstoppable offensive and supported him to make a final push to break through Shanhaiguan and advance towards important cities in the capital such as Yongping and Zunhua.

"Chenghou, were you sent by the emperor?" Yuan Xiangcheng asked the angel who brought the imperial edict.

This person was none other than the son of Prince Li Shiduo, who had previously reported the changes in the capital to Yuan Shikai. He was a very honest and sincere person.

"Sir Yuan, I volunteered to go." Chenghou nodded and told him his plan.

He did not follow Yuan Shikai and his entourage to escape from the capital. Instead, he took advantage of the later lifting of the blockade of the capital and slipped out among the crowd to rush to Korea.

But after fleeing to Korea, he lost communication with the capital and could not contact his father, so he was very anxious. Now he wanted to follow Yuan Shikai into the pass, so naturally he wanted to "return home in glory" as soon as possible and find his father's whereabouts.

"Don't worry, although the evil queen is cruel and ruthless, she is not the one who kills innocent people. What's more, your father is a king with an iron hat. If she really dares to do anything stupid, the capital will be in chaos before my army arrives." Yuan Xiangcheng comforted him.