Master Yuan, start!

Even when it comes to trade, Shiduo never paid full attention to it.

He now focused entirely on establishing industry. Relying on the opportunity of his son Chenghou to jointly establish a company with Yuan Xiangcheng outside the Great Wall, he took out a loan to purchase dozens of 2100-ton standard cargo ships specifically for running routes outside the Great Wall and the south.

After getting rid of the second prince in the south, he, the Prince of Li, became the richest iron-hat prince in the capital.

Everyone knew that he made a lot of money by selling soybeans, so much so that the people in Beijing joked that this was not the "Y礼繁體字" prince, but clearly the "豆" (bean).

However, in the eyes of people at that time, this money was what Shiduo deserved. After all, he worked tirelessly for the emperor's restoration, risking his life, and even letting his only son risk his life to act as a liaison.

Seeing Shiduo approaching with a smile, Weng Tong beside him was no longer as hostile as before and also approached.

"Weiting, it's been a long time since we last met. You've arrived today, and the people of the capital are eagerly awaiting your arrival!"

Hearing Weng Tong being so polite, Yuan Xiangcheng couldn't help but feel emotional. He was indeed a veteran official who had been immersed in officialdom for decades.

He could oppose me in the capital before, but now he is willing to stand outside the city gate to welcome me. This shows how flexible he is.

Since everyone was showing kindness, Yuan Xiangcheng would not take the initiative to cause trouble. He simply lowered his status and said, "Mr. Zhai, you are too kind. I am just following the trend. It is really the people of the capital who have given me such a high regard."

Weng Tong, whose courtesy name is Junzhai.

Logically speaking, Weng Tong is a senior in the court and is now the chief military advisor, so he should be given a respectful title. However, the official ranks of the two are similar, and Yuan Shikai has made contributions to the country. Even if his seniority is lower, he can be on equal footing with him.

Therefore, calling himself "Weng Zhongtang" makes himself seem too humble, while calling him "Weng Daren" is a bit polite. Only if he does not match his official position and is older than him, calling him "Zhai Weng" can be considered the best of both worlds.

Yuan Xiangcheng and Weng Tong were 30 years apart in age, so a respectful title was neither unfamiliar nor implied respect for Weng Tong.

When Weng Tong saw this, he immediately smiled and pulled Yuan Xiangcheng and Shi Duo into the carriage.

Unlike the original time and space where Empress Dowager Cixi rejected rickshaws, so rickshaws did not flourish in Beijing until the Republic of China, rickshaws had already appeared in and around the city in the past few years after Guangxu returned to Beijing.

Rickshaws were manpower-driven and operated smoothly; they did not require hiring additional drivers, saving expenses. Therefore, they were quickly adopted by wealthy businessmen and officials and became a new favorite means of transportation.

However, Weng Tong once said, "People compete with animals for profit, and animals compete with people for strength." He couldn't bear to see the rickshaws enslave the people, so he was unwilling to ride them.

Therefore, the carriage that came to greet them was a sedan chair with two horses side by side.

As soon as they got in the car, Weng Tong skipped the nonsense and asked directly: "Weiting, what are you going to do next?"

"What do you think Xiangcheng should do next?"

Hearing Yuan Xiangcheng throw the matter to him, Weng Tong was somewhat stunned. It was you, Yuan Xiangcheng, who dealt with foreigners all day long and commanded the National Defense Army, and now you're asking me?

If I had an army of 100,000 under my command, would I need to ask you?

But even if he thought about it, he could only keep these words in his heart and silently criticize them. Weng Tong did not dare to speak them out. After thinking for a moment, he said carefully: "Wei Ting, since ancient times, there has been a saying that we should make friends with distant countries and attack those nearby. The one who is nearby is Liu Kunyi, and the one who is far away is France.

I know that you are being tough on France this time in order to stir up public morale, use it for my own benefit, and reduce the resistance to unification in the south.

But have you ever thought about it? Everything is excessive or insufficient. Only a real man can advance and retreat. Being too rigid will easily break, and only the most flexible can be undamaged.

Even if Liu Kunyi signed the secret agreement, you can just denounce him. Why involve the French?

If the French join in the fight after we move south, will the Wehrmacht still have the same golden opportunity to defeat the French as they did last time?"

After saying so much, Weng Tong can be regarded as having a clear insight into the situation. If one is not extremely familiar with the international situation, he would never dare to provoke the great powers.

After all, in today's China, the French are second only to the British in fame, because they and the British once entered Beijing together.

If we talk about the ranking of the great powers in the minds of the people of the Qing Dynasty, the first is Britain, the second is France, the third is Russia, and the fourth is countries like Germany, the United States, and Austria-Hungary.

The reason is very simple. There was no Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and no Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China in this time and space.

In terms of humiliation, the British invaded the capital twice, making them a first-class power; the French invaded the capital once, making them a second-class power; and the Russians intimidated and had friction in Xinjiang and outside the Great Wall, making them a third-class country.

However, Yuan Xiangcheng could not explain too much to Weng Tong. Although France seemed powerful, it was actually facing the threat of Germany in Europe, and its colonies in Africa were also surrounded by British colonies.

Indochina in Asia was coveted by Siam and Britain, and to the north there was Li Hongzhang; Panama in Central America had long been considered a sure thing by the Americans.

Looking around, among the colonists on Chinese territory, the French are currently the easiest to provoke, because once a conflict occurs in the Far East, it will cause tension in France's global situation.

On the contrary, the tense global situation just happened to prevent a serious conflict between Yuan Shikai and France.

Because compared with the colonial interests in the Jiangnan region, Africa, Central America and Indochina are undoubtedly more important to the French.

If the French dared to organize an expeditionary force from Europe, Yuan Shikai would go to tell the American envoy the next morning that he supported America's right to build the Panama Canal.

In the afternoon, they approached the British and expressed their willingness to send Chinese to Africa to form the "Chinese Brave Battalion" against the French colonies.

In the evening, he sent a telegram to the King of Siam, asking him if he would like to discuss the issue of military construction.

In Yuan Xiangcheng's view, France is not the weakest one, but the one that is most suitable to be controlled.

If it were against the United States or Germany, the effect would not be so good. Neither of them has colonies all over the world, and they would be difficult to threaten.

However, Yuan Xiangcheng did not intend to say these words to Weng Tong. After pondering for a moment, he said in a firm tone: "Zhai Weng, Prince Li, Liu Kunyi has completely lost the support of the people this time. If he wants to send troops, he will inevitably face tremendous pressure.

The defense army outside the Great Wall has already been well prepared and ready to go. As long as they hold the Yellow River defense line and penetrate into the Jianghuai and even the south bank of the Yangtze River from the flank, they can disrupt Liu Kunyi's formation.

By then, it will be too late for the French to intervene. Even if they plan to repeat the story of the past and send their warships straight to the capital, the worst that can happen is that I will lead His Majesty to Changbai Mountain again.

He, the French, can't possibly go into the mountains of Korea to capture people, right?"

Yuan Xiangcheng's bold words made Weng Tong wonder whether it was feasible, but Shi Duo on the side became excited.

"Well, Wei Ting, you are indeed a man!" His eyes lit up when he heard this, and he grabbed Yuan Xiangcheng's arm and said, "With your words, I will definitely ask the emperor to send the national defense army to the south with all my strength!"

Chapter 24: Diverse Audience

Ministers who return to the capital to meet the emperor are not allowed to return home without permission before seeing the emperor. Logically speaking, they are not allowed to have any contact with officials from various departments in the court.

However, since Shiduo and Weng Tong came to greet them on the emperor's orders, no one bothered to complain about this rule.

The carriage went north along Yongding Gate and passed through the South City.

After passing Zhengyang Gate and entering the inner city, Shiduo got off the sedan chair and went to the Zongli Yamen.

When the carriage stopped in front of Tiananmen Square, Weng Tong and Yuan Xiangcheng got off and walked to the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City to pick up the [悟^氮”琉散4[提书:.

What surprised Yuan Xiangcheng was that the Meridian Gate was wide open.

According to court custom, the Meridian Gate would only be opened when the emperor ascended the throne, got married, foreign vassal leaders came to the palace to pay homage, or the top three candidates in the imperial examination came to the palace to express their gratitude.

At other times, officials who came to meet the emperor mostly walked through the small doors on both sides of the Meridian Gate. Although they were called small doors, they were nearly 5 meters high, but they were still a bit shorter than the main gate of the Meridian Gate, which was about 8 meters high.

The last time the Meridian Gate was opened to welcome ministers was when Emperor Yongzheng conferred an honor upon Nian Gengyao. At that time, General Nian had the merit of following the emperor and was regarded as a trusted and beloved general by Yongzheng.

It was not the first time that Weng Tong led a minister from outside the capital into the Forbidden City, but when he saw Guangxu treat Yuan Shikai with such great courtesy, he still felt a little sad in his heart.

After passing Taihe Gate, Weng Tong planned to let Yuan Xiangcheng bow and take his leave. As the Minister of Military Affairs, he happened to be on duty today, so after taking Yuan Xiangcheng into the classroom and handing him over, he had nothing to do.

When I walked into the classroom, I saw two people already there, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans to cool off.

"Who are these two?" Yuan Xiangcheng saw a minister who obviously looked like a grassland man, and looked at Weng Tong in confusion.

"This is Fu Yu, the Minister on duty. Next, Lord Fu will bring Wei Ting to the audience with His Majesty." Weng Tong approached Yuan Xiangcheng and whispered, "He is the son of the late Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, Emperor Wenzong of the North, Woren."

"This is Boyan Nemohu, a Beile." Weng Tong pointed at another Mongol. "He's the eldest son of the Buddhist prince. He's entering the palace this time with the intention of retiring to His Majesty and returning home."

"So they are the descendants of the Grand Master and the King of Monks!" Yuan Xiangcheng nodded slightly at the two of them.

However, the two did not react warmly to Yuan Xiangcheng's greeting. They just bowed slightly to show that they understood.

Seeing that the situation was a bit awkward, Weng Tong didn't know how to ease the situation and could only turn his head to look at Yuan Xiangcheng.

When had I offended these two Mongols? Yuan Xiangcheng looked at the expressions of the two men, and a trace of subtle worry flashed between his brows.

Could it be that my act of allowing the Jindan Dao to wreak havoc in Mengdong has been exposed?

This shouldn't be the case. The number of people who know about this can be counted on one hand. Moreover, the Jindan Dao has already fled to western Inner Mongolia and northern Shaanxi. It's not my fault.

After thinking for a moment, Yuan Xiangcheng could only attribute it to the hostility of the Mongols towards the Han people within the Qing Dynasty.

This hostility has a long history.

Although Manchuria and Mongolia were integrated during the Qing Dynasty, Mongolia ultimately had a cooperative relationship with Manchuria, which means it was closer to the Han people than to the Han people.

Therefore, the Mongols had a strong sense of crisis in the Qing court, fearing that their position as the golden thugs would be snatched away by the Han people.

This point can be well illustrated by the attitude towards Taiping prisoners during the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

If the Taiping Army surrendered to Zeng Guofan, Zeng Guofan would most likely eliminate the surrendered generals who led the troops and only have one commander without troops, so that he could use them with confidence.

Li Hongzhang only wanted fellow Anhui natives, no matter whether they were Nian rebels or Taiping rebels, and he would accept all those who surrendered and settle them down.

However, the fate of those from other provinces was much more miserable. For example, Gao Yongkuan from Hubei and Wu Guiwen from Hunan were deceived and hacked to death after they surrendered to Li Hongzhang.

The Manchu Shengbao accepted everyone who came, highlighting that he was as his name suggests, and could protect anyone. When he went south to Shandong, he protected Song Jingshi, a member of the Black Banner Army of the Nian Army.

When he arrived in northern Anhui, he recruited Miao Peilin, who had declared himself the "King of the North of the Huai River," and

Even after luring and capturing Chen Yucheng, the King of Ying of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he once wanted to recruit him for his own use, but the involvement was too great and he had to take him to the capital in a prison cart.

But when it came to the Mongolian Senggelinqin, there were no such chances of survival. He killed all those who surrendered regardless of their nationality or province.

The Taiping Army, which was on its own in the Northern Expedition, wanted to lay down their weapons and surrender after hearing the news of the fall of Tianjing. However, when they heard that Senggelinqin had actually ordered the killing of prisoners, they picked up their weapons again and turned into the "Post-Nian Army" that came and went like the wind. They fought tenaciously with the Qing Dynasty in northern Anhui for four years and even killed Senggelinqin.

If the matter ended here, the Mongolians in Beijing might just say "the reason for killing the prisoners is unknown" and think that the monk king was just unlucky.

But the person who killed Senggelinqin was a Nian army soldier from Woyang, Anhui, named Zhang Piliang.

After Senggelinqin's death, the Qing Dynasty sent Li Hongzhang to suppress the Nian Rebellion. As a fellow Anhui native, he could not bring himself to kill the Nian Army, most of whose members were from Anhui, so he dealt with the matter in a perfunctory manner, letting them go when necessary and avoiding fighting when necessary. He did not launch a fatal siege, but instead persuaded the Anhui Nian Army to flee back to their hometown and not to cause chaos again.

Zhang Piliang took this opportunity to change his name and return home, where he got married and had children. It was not until he was found out by the Qing court after he spoke in a drunken stupor that he was brutally executed by slow slicing.

After this news broke out, the Mongolians in the capital were in an uproar. They regarded Zhang Pilang's escape as an act of local Han people colluding with each other, shielding each other and secretly resisting the court, and their hostility towards the Han people continued to rise.

Is this the source of their hostility towards me? They feel that I, Yuan Xiangcheng, came from the Jianghuai region and had served under Li Hongzhang for two years, so I share the same origins as the Nian Army.

Well, think whatever you want.

After thinking clearly about the ins and outs of the matter, Yuan Xiangcheng did not take it to heart.

The Mongols who only knew how to ride and shoot have been swept into the garbage dump of history. The next era is the era of singing and dancing, and the Mongols who cannot dance will be eliminated.

Yuan Xiangcheng smiled faintly at the two of them, as if he was putting his warm face in front of a cold butt, which made Weng Tong sigh that Yuan Xiangcheng really had a good temper.

Weng Tong laughed dryly twice and was about to leave when he heard the eunuch's voice coming from outside the house.

"Order Yuan Xiangcheng to come to the audience, and be led into the palace by Fu Yu!"

Hearing this, the minister on duty, Fu Yu, glanced at Yuan Xiangcheng, then walked out without looking back.

Yuan Xiangcheng followed him outside and after a few steps, they arrived at the gate of the Yuqing Palace in the South Third Office.

"Your servant Fu Yu, here to meet you, the Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces, Yuan Xiangchenghou!" Fu Yu's voice was loud and clear, and it was quickly heard in the palace.

"Xuan!"