When the four military ministers were about to set out to enter the palace, someone shouted outside the door, "General Li is here." He saw the curtain lifting, Li Lianying walked into the Military Affairs Office with a large stack of folded books.

When he met the ministers of military affairs, Li Lianying first put the folded books on the table and greeted everyone one by one, saying, "My dear sir, the Queen Mother occasionally felt cold and could not be in charge of the ministers, and today he would move to the Summer Palace to recuperate. He ordered a slave to hand over these folded books to the Military Affairs Office. The Queen Mother also said that all major events in the court will be handled by the Military Affairs Office and the Emperor, and then handed them over to the Summer Palace after making up his mind, and the Queen Mother will use the seal."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, but they immediately understood that there was such a coincidence that the Empress Dowager became sick at this critical moment. It was obvious that she did not want to argue with the bannermen and the powerful, so she would not pretend to be sick, and pushed Guangxu to the front desk as a shield. Of course, there were probably people who were withdrawing from this sensitive time and asked you to make trouble. When you were out of control, the Empress Dowager came forward to clean up the mess. When the Reform Movement of 1898, the Empress Dowager played this trick, and now she used the same trick again.

However, it is not comparable to the Wuxu year. The court has just experienced the ups and downs. It can't stand the trouble anymore and push the emperor to the front desk. However, the military ministers still dare not put too much expectations for him. Although the emperor's performance during the Gengzi year was quite impressive and was better than the empress dowager, he had the impulse of the Jiawu year and Wuxu year. Therefore, if the emperor became impulsive again at this time and insisted on turning against the overseas Chinese, even if the empress dowager came forward, it would be difficult to deal with. The empress dowager left the line of defense that was sealed at the end, probably because he was afraid that the emperor would be impulsive again.

Prince Qing said: "Master Li, I wonder what the emperor said?"

Li Lianying said: "The emperor said, please take a look at these notes first," and pointed to the stack of notes. "I will go to Wenhua Palace to discuss plans tomorrow morning, so don't be too late." After that, Li Lianying said goodbye and left.

Although no one touched the stack of folded books, everyone knew what the folded books were written in their hearts, but they didn't know what Cixi's attitude was. Although Cixi pretended to be sick at this time, obviously she didn't want to break up with overseas Chinese, no one dared to say what the Empress Dowager thought was, so what should she say when she went to the palace to meet Guangxu tomorrow?

Li Hongzhang looked at Ronglu, thinking about how to hint Ronglu and let him explore Cixi's tone. Among the seven military ministers, Ronglu was the most trusted by Cixi. It would be no big deal to ask him to get a break. Even if he couldn't get a break, he could still explain Chen Poli to Cixi clearly, but the emperor was not impulsive and the empress dowager was angry first.

At this moment, another person came in outside the door and said, "Li Zhongtang, someone has come from the Prime Minister's Office, saying that overseas Chinese require meeting with Master Zhongtang."

It turned out that Li Hongzhang estimated that at this time, the representatives of overseas Chinese in Beijing would come to the Prime Minister's Office to find him. Therefore, when he came to work at the Military Affairs Office today, he told the staff of the Prime Minister's Office that if any overseas Chinese came to find him, he would keep them waiting in the Prime Minister's Office and immediately go to the Military Affairs Office to inform him. Now he is indeed here, and he just happens to understand what the attitude of overseas Chinese is.

So Li Hongzhang immediately said to everyone: "Everyone, I will go and meet overseas Chinese for a while."

Others also understood that it is very important to understand the attitude of overseas Chinese at this time, and only Li Hongzhang can do this job. This is not only because Li Hongzhang is also the errand of the Prime Minister's Office, but also because Li Hongzhang is the most friendly member of the military minister and overseas Chinese. So Prince Qing immediately said: "Shaoquan, go quickly, go quickly, we are here waiting to listen to your reply."

Li Hongzhang hurriedly left the Military Affairs Office and rushed back to the Prime Minister's Office. At this time, Deng Yongjian, director of the Shandong Provincial Office in Beijing, was waiting for him. Deng Yongjian was originally the deputy political commissar of the Kunming ship. After the time traveler captured Beijing, he was responsible for establishing the Beijing Management Committee to manage the public security and administrative affairs of Beijing at that time. Later, the time traveler left Beijing, so Deng Yongjian became the director of the office in Beijing. He stayed in Beijing on behalf of the East China government. While maintaining the liaison between Shandong and Beijing, he also conveyed Beijing's news to the East China government.

The memorandum was an open action of the East China government, and Deng Yongjian came to meet Li Hongzhang to discuss substantive issues.

Although Deng Yongjian did not have any position in the Qing court, Li Hongzhang did not dare to neglect him at all, so he personally received him. After the two met, Li Hongzhang first said: "Director Deng came to the Prime Minister's Office, I don't know what to do to see him."

Deng Yongjian said: "I am representing Shandong. I asked the Zhongtang if Wenrui's behavior this time was ordered by the court?"

Li Hongzhang was stunned for a moment, and was quite confused, saying, "How do you say this?"

Deng Yongjian said: "Li Zhongtang, we don't need to speak roundaboutly now. We sent the memorial to the court. Li Zhongtang should have read it. Of course, I came to Li Zhongtang for this matter. At that time, we reached an oral agreement with the court. Although we accepted the position of Shandong Governor, we dealt with all the affairs in Shandong by ourselves. The court must not interfere. This was determined by Li Zhongtang to our political commissar Qin in person. Li Zhongtang will not forget it."

Li Hongzhang also nodded and said, "There is indeed a matter of this, I wonder what this has to do with Wenrui?"

Deng Yongjian said: "The cause of this incident was that Wenrui sent troops to attack our land reform team in Qingzhou first. However, we believe that Wenrui is the deputy commander of the Eight Banners garrison and the highest officer of the Eight Banners garrison in Qingzhou. He is afraid that he will not attack our land reform team for no reason. Therefore, he was ordered by the court, and we hope that the court can give us a clarification and handover."

Only then did Li Hongzhang realize that Deng Yongjian was coming to seek punishment, and he couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous. It was clearly the overseas Chinese who destroyed the Qingzhou garrison flag army, but instead came to seek punishment first. What is the reason? Wenrui first attacked overseas Chinese. If this is not a lies with overseas Chinese, then it was because overseas Chinese had to divide Wenrui's land that Wenrui sent troops. Didn't Deng Yongjian say that Wenrui attacked the land reform team of overseas Chinese.

But Li Hongzhang couldn't say this, because the court did verbally promise not to interfere in Shandong's affairs. Therefore, theoretically speaking, what overseas Chinese do in Shandong? As long as they do not rebel openly, the court cannot interfere in things like land reform. Wenrui used this principle to attack overseas Chinese, and the court could not make the decision for Wenrui. Moreover, overseas Chinese are still trying to pull Wenrui's troops to the court. Is this clearly a black and white reversal?

However, the other party was in a fierce manner and Li Hongzhang could not confront them. So wouldn’t he be frozen? So Li Hongzhang said: “Director Deng, the court has no intention. This matter is still the private act of Wenrui and has nothing to do with the court. You should not believe the rumors.”

Deng Yongjian said: "Please be honest, Li Zhongtang's words are just one-sided words. Even if I personally want to believe Li Zhongtang, it is difficult to convince our leaders with just one sentence of Li Zhongtang. Therefore, if this matter really has nothing to do with the court, we also hope that the court can make some substantial clarification actions."

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly, knowing that overseas Chinese are trying to blackmail the court with this matter and get benefits. Overseas Chinese will take advantage of the opportunity, but they don’t know what conditions will overseas Chinese give, so they said: “I don’t know what you hope the court will do?”

Deng Yongjian said: "We have already designated Wenrui as a rebellion in the memorial. If this matter really has nothing to do with the court, then I hope the court can confirm it."

Li Hongzhang nodded. In fact, he knew very well that this overseas Chinese was pushing the court to the edge of the cliff. If it was admitted, the relationship between the two sides could be maintained for a while. If the court did not admit it, the two sides would basically have a broken-out. There was no third option, but the court obviously could not choose to break-out. It could only cooperate with overseas Chinese to make the play complete.

Some people may think that Wenrui is dead. Isn’t it unnecessary for overseas Chinese to admit that Wenrui’s rebellion? But Li Hongzhang knew that overseas Chinese never do meaningless things. Forcing the court to admit that Wenrui’s rebellion was of many benefits for overseas Chinese. First, it is to tell the local forces in Shandong that the court is on the side of overseas Chinese, and there is no good result to oppose overseas Chinese, even the bannermen are no exception. Wenrui was killed by overseas Chinese and was charged with a rebellion. In this way, who would dare to oppose overseas Chinese again? Secondly, it is also to criticize the court, do not attempt to interfere in Shandong affairs, and force overseas Chinese to be impatient. At worst, it is impossible to split up. Overseas Chinese are not afraid of breaking up.

Deng Yongjian said again: "We in Shandong have a large number of railways that need to be built, so we hope that the court can send Mr. Zhan Tianyou to Shandong to assist us in building the railway."

Li Hongzhang nodded. This request was not too much, and I believe the court would not have any objections.

Deng Yongjian then said: "There is still hope that the court can formally report to warn local officials in Shandong and stop doing stupid things in the future, otherwise they will be the only one who is unlucky. Moreover, we believe that the court should transfer local officials in Shandong one after another, and we will arrange personnel to fill these vacant positions."
Chapter completed!