But the emperor kept showing kindness to overseas Chinese, which made Empress Dowager Cixi feel suspicious. Could it be that the emperor was really sure that overseas Chinese would definitely help him, and some of the words and actions of overseas Chinese were also spread to Xi'an. Many of them were accusing the court. However, when Empress Dowager Cixi saw it, she always felt that these words seemed to be criticizing herself, because for the past few decades, the court was the head of the court, and then overseas Chinese were actually accusing the court.

What's more, there are many remarks from overseas Chinese that require the court to reform and reform. In the view of Empress Dowager Cixi, isn't this the same tune as Kang Liang? At the beginning, Kang Youwei and Liang Qi presided over the reform. At the beginning, Empress Dowager Cixi actually supported it. After all, as the actual ruler of the Qing court, if the reform was successful, the biggest beneficiary would naturally be Empress Dowager Cixi herself. From this perspective, it was unreasonable to say that Empress Dowager Cixi opposed the reform. However, the reform changed over and over again and again and actually became the head of the Lord Buddha. Because Kang Youwei, Liang Qi asked Emperor Guangxu to be arbitrarily. If this emperor really be arbitrarily, then Lord Buddha would have to stay in Xihe Garden to embroider.

Nowadays, the Chinese overseas are not comparable to Kang Liang. Kang Liang is both a white-faced scholar, so he can play tricks on his face. When Empress Dowager Cixi turned against her, she immediately scattered her birds and beasts. However, overseas Chinese have strong troops and are not even rivals of foreigners. Moreover, after defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance, their power is even more elusive. Therefore, if they really want to help the emperor, they will definitely become Empress Dowager Cixi's confidant.

So during the Shanghai negotiations, Empress Dowager Cixi instructed Li Hongzhang to bypass overseas Chinese and negotiate with foreigners in private, so as not to let overseas Chinese make full contributions, but eventually ruined the negotiations. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi was secretly happy, knowing that after the negotiations in Shanghai broke down, overseas Chinese actually became a powerful force. Not only did they send troops to take Beijing, but they completely defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, but now they defeated the Russians. Even countries had to bow their heads like overseas Chinese to seek peace and restart negotiations. However, in this round of negotiations, the Qing court completely became a wall-by-waiting viewer and could only watch.

Empress Dowager Cixi was not unaware that at this time, she should immediately appease the overseas Chinese and agree to their conditions in exchange for their support for the Qing Dynasty. Only in this way can Daqing stabilize and restore national strength as soon as possible. Although this will completely increase the power of overseas Chinese and become a major concern of the Qing court in the future, it is a distant problem, not a near-term worry.

In addition, Empress Dowager Cixi also knew that she was almost 70 years old and had a few years of life. When she closed her eyes and was not upset, she could just follow the overseas Chinese to dismantle it. But she still had to live safely in the past few years. If she wanted to live safely in the past few years, she had to continue to gain power. If she really became the emperor and returned to power, she would definitely not have a good result.

If overseas Chinese clearly express their support for Empress Dowager Cixi to continue to take power, then Empress Dowager Cixi will agree to the conditions of overseas Chinese without hesitation. Shandong is not important at all. Before the Reform of 1898, after the Reform of 1898, he might still be able to enjoy his old age in the Summer Palace. However, after the Coup of 1998, he had completely broken up with the emperor, so he must not let the emperor be willing to accept it. All the conditions of overseas Chinese can be agreed, but it is the most important thing to not let the emperor take power. Now, not only can he not let him leave himself, especially not let him meet overseas Chinese, but if he really can't do it, he will issue another imperial edict saying that he is so sick that he can't get up. If he had known this, he would have deposed him when he left Beijing and let the eldest prince succeed to the throne. It is much easier to deal with now.

When I think of the eldest prince, Empress Dowager Cixi was upset again. The eldest prince, Pu Jun, the son of Prince Duan Zaiyi, was a prince in the royal family before becoming the eldest prince. Compared with the playboys of other Manchu nobles, he had neither particularly outstanding talents nor particularly bad behaviors. The disciples of the Eight Banners should have all the problems. If they were just a prince, it would be harmless, but as the emperor's heir, then his behavior would be ridiculous. Just a few days ago, the eldest prince fought in a group because he was fighting with the official army in the theater. Cen Chunxuan, who was in charge of the security of Xi'an, arrested the troupe leader for this. Not only did he seal the theater, but he also sealed the teahouses in the city. Later, the theater, the teahouse owner asked someone to bribe Li Lianying, and the closure was lifted. After Empress Dowager Cixi found out, she scolded the eldest prince, but also knew that it was absolutely impossible to rely on such a child to support the Qing Empire for her.

But no matter what, the eldest prince was established by himself, and it was better than the emperor. Once he became the emperor, he could at least live a peaceful life. It is obviously impossible to change the emperor now. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi urgently needs such a person to clean up the situation. He must have enough prestige and qualifications to match prestige; it will not arouse the disgust of overseas Chinese, and it is best to have a lot of face with overseas Chinese; it is capable of dealing with difficult and major problems alone; it is necessary to protect the interests of the court as much as possible with overseas Chinese; it is more important that he can understand Empress Dowager Cixi's psychology, ensure that Emperor Guangxu does not make a comeback, and safeguard the real power of Empress Dowager Cixi.

And this person is Li Hongzhang. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Li Hongzhang to come forward to handle the matter of pleading overseas Chinese. I believe Li Hongzhang would understand his feelings and negotiate with overseas Chinese in advance. As a result, the overseas Chinese submission schedule has come, and Li Hongzhang's secret comments have also come. However, except for mentioning the conditions for overseas Chinese, Empress Dowager Cixi's most concerned thing has not mentioned a single word.

Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but be surprised. Could it be that this old guy was really confused and could not even guess his own thoughts? But the matter of recruiting overseas Chinese could not stop as soon as it started, so Empress Dowager Cixi had to let the Military Affairs Office discuss it first and he slowly thought about it.

Of course, Empress Dowager Cixi knew that Li Hongzhang would not be confused. On the contrary, although this old guy was getting older, he became smarter as he grew older. Before the change of the Gengzi Kingdom, he saw that the limelight was wrong, and asked the court to release him as the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, leaving Beijing, a place where things were wrong, and he escaped this great disaster. When the country became uncontrollable and needed to negotiate peace with other countries, he could stand up and clean up the mess and take the opportunity to make a comeback...

Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Cixi also figured it out. This old thing has indeed become a master, and the ability to seize opportunities has been superb. Empress Dowager Cixi cannot give up power, and Li Hongzhang also wants power. Although the power of various countries has been completed, Li Hongzhang has established a relationship with overseas Chinese and became a link between the Qing court and overseas Chinese. This is obviously to use overseas Chinese to put pressure on the court. Although the court had previously restored Li Hongzhang's official position as the Minister of Beiyang and the Governor of Zhili, these were all false positions. Beiyang is now in name only, and Zhili is not occupied by overseas Chinese. What can this Governor of Zhili do? Li Hongzhang wants substantial power.

Moreover, Li Hongzhang is not a person who only has power but does not know the importance of it. He dared to use overseas Chinese to put pressure on the court, which means that he was sure that he could make Empress Dowager Cixi feel at ease. Empress Dowager Cixi also understood how to satisfy Li Hongzhang. After understanding this, Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly felt much more relaxed. At this time, the Military Affairs Office requested the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to punish him. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi followed the flow and ordered the recruitment of major ministers to discuss the matter of advocating overseas Chinese.

The house where Cixi lived in Xi'an had a round moon gate. Although it was already spring at this time, it was cold in the northwest and the spring was still cold, so she hung a cotton curtain outside the door. The room was covered tightly and there was a coal stove for heating, but it did not have the fragrance of the palace smoked with southern fruits; on the contrary, the whole room was filled with the choking smell of charcoal fire.

Three wax tables were lit in the house. Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu sat on the kang, one left and one right, wearing leather pills, looking like a rich man. There was a small table between the two, and a three-candle lamp stand on the table. This was also the only light source in the house, making the whole house dim and yellow.

Everyone arrived and after seeing the courtesy, Guangxu said: "It has been three days since the overseas Chinese's acceptance schedule was sent to Xi'an. The Military Affairs Office has not yet discussed a result. If you drag it like this, how will it be delayed? Prince Qing, you are the foreman of the Military Affairs Office, how do you explain it?"

Prince Qing hurriedly said: "Emperor, this matter is of great importance. Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, except for the Shizushi entering the pass to establish the tripod and still setting up the three vassals, there is no matter of enfeoffment, and it is difficult for the ministers to decide. Therefore, I asked the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to punish him."

Guangxu sneered and said, "It's been half a year since overseas Chinese returned to China. The court has not yet come up with a proper way to pacify it. The Qing Dynasty has reached this point. You still argue and refuse. What did the court raise you ministers for?" As he said that, Guangxu slapped his palm on the low table, shaking the sparks, and only shaking the shadows.

Although Guangxu was a puppet emperor, he occupied a great reputation after all. The imperial authority accumulated over thousands of years has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the ministers. What's more, the overall situation is not yet determined, and no one knows that the situation will be in which direction. Therefore, after the Guangxu fire, the ministers immediately lowered their heads and looked in fear.

Seeing that the ministers stopped talking, Guangxu felt much more relieved. He was about to say a few more words, but Empress Dowager Cixi coughed gently. Guangxu was stunned for a moment, and finally turned to Empress Dowager Cixi and said, "Empress Dowager, what should you do when you see this?"

Cixi's eyes closed slightly, but her face was blank and said, "What does the emperor mean?"

Guangxu hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have some ideas, but I don't know if it's right?"

Cixi said: "If you have any ideas, just say it, right? Just tell me if you say it out loud. There are so many ministers and the prince is here, so everyone can discuss it together."

Guangxu said: "According to Erchen's wishes, it is better to recruit overseas Chinese as soon as possible to calm their hearts and give them generous gifts, and rely on them to fight against foreigners. It is not a solution to snatch them like this."

Duan County Prince Zai Yi immediately said: "But overseas Chinese want Shandong."
Chapter completed!