Li Hongzhang's convoy was driving rapidly in the wind and snow. Wang Chenhao thought the convoy would go to the dock, but unexpectedly the convoy stopped at the Laolongtou Railway Station in Tianjin.

Due to strategic security considerations, the Qing Dynasty central government had no road connection except a narrow post station horse road. After the establishment of the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau, this horse road was also abolished, and officials could only take the canal waterway to and from Tianjin. In winter, the water level of the canal is low and often frozen, so the transportation to Beijing is very inconvenient.

This was obviously unbearable in later generations, but at this time the diehards of the Qing Empire were very happy, thinking that the traffic was inconvenient and the enemy would not easily attack Beijing. However, they did not know that this was self-deception. If the enemy attacked the Tianjin portal, it would be difficult for Beijing to reinforce. Even when the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Tianjin, Cixi in Beijing did not know the situation, so she rashly declared war on the eleven countries. If she had known the news earlier, she would probably not have the courage to declare war.

The Westernization Movement of the Qing Empire lasted for 30 years, but due to the opposition of the conservative and diehards, the effectiveness of the Westernization Movement was greatly reduced. Not to mention anything else, Wang Chenhao finally knew that the Qing Empire had already had the first railway - the Tianjin-Tang Railway.

The Tianjin-Tang Railway is a freight railway built by Li Hongzhang to transport coal from Tangshan to Tianjin Shuiguan Wharf. It took Li Hongzhang a huge effort to build this railway.

Everyone got off the carriage and entered the train station. Along the way, Zhang Peilun explained to Wang Chenhao a series of ridiculous stories that happened during the period. Wang Chenhao always thought that the Westernization Clan was the most powerful in the late Qing Dynasty, but he did not know that in terms of railways, the Westernization Clan fought with the diehards for more than 30 years and was finally defeated.

The power of the conservative and diehards in the Qing court was powerful. Because Li Hongzhang, the world's top governor, only built 10 kilometers of railways in the first fifteen years of taking charge of Zhili and Beiyang. Later, because a series of problems were exposed after the Sino-French War, the Qing Empire established a naval yamen and allowed Li Hongzhang to build the Tianjin-Tang Railway.

What surprised Wang Chenhao was that the railway was under the jurisdiction of the Navy's Office. In order to build the railway to Beijing, Li Hongzhang had to show goodwill to Prince Chun Yihuan. Although Yihuan agreed to Li Hongzhang to repair the Jinlu Railway, the stubborn factions firmly opposed it. Li Hongzhang had to show goodwill to Zhang Zhidong and attract foreign aid. In this way, the stubborn factions agreed to build the railway, but Zhang Zhidong dragged Li Hongzhang back and proposed to stop the Jinlu Railway first and repair the Luhan Railway first. The Luhan Railway was 3,000 miles long and cost 30 million taels of silver. The Qing Empire's finances could not be completed. Soon, the situation in North Korea was turbulent, and Japan sent troops to North Korea to make the Qing Empire nervous about the safety of the northern ancestors' land, so Li Hongzhang proposed a plan to build the railway into the Northeast.

In this way, Li Hongzhang could take the opportunity to build the Jinlu Railway. However, at this time, Prince Chun Yihuan suddenly died and the naval yamen fell into Yili's hands. Yili only recognized the money and kept extorting Li Hongzhang, and as a result, the Jinlu Railway was not completed until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, he had no money to build it and it has been put on hold until now.

Now that Yi has entered the Navy yamen, Li Hongzhang naturally has to visit him, hoping to successfully build the railway.

In Wang Chenhao's opinion, the Qing court would only have three minutes of passion after being beaten. After the Sino-French War, the naval yamen was opened and the railway was built. After the Sino-French War, a new army was started, and it was inevitable that the railway project would be put on the agenda.

So he said: "Prince Gong and Prince Chun are both rare and knowledgeable people. In addition, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 exposed the unfavorable reinforcements of the imperial army. I think there should be no problem in building the railway!"

"I hope!" Li Hongzhang didn't seem to have a good result. Zhang Peilun explained to Wang Chenhao: "Prince Gong and Weng Tonghe have a close relationship. When they were kicked out of the Zongli Yamen, they must be careful!"

Wang Chenhao was stunned and suddenly remembered the holiday between Li Hongzhang and Weng Tonghe, and immediately smiled bitterly.

The train is not long, only six cars, and the huge steam locomotive can only be seen from old photos in Wang Chenhao's era.

"Didn't the Tianjin-Tang Railway go to Tangshan?" Wang Chenhao suddenly thought of this question.

Li Hongzhang and Zhang Peilun looked at each other and smiled mysteriously. The latter quietly explained to Wang Chenhao: "This is something we secretly built by ourselves! But we only extended the Tianjin-Tang Railway near Langfang. After passing Langfang, it will not be under our jurisdiction, so we dare not repair it again!"

Wang Chenhao smiled, just in response to the words "There are policies above and countermeasures below", Li Hongzhang was not completely at the mercy of the Qing court.

After getting on the train, Li Hongzhang asked Wang Chenhao to write down his training instructions in detail. Wang Chenhao thought that many things in the future would be easy to forget if he didn't think about them for a long time, so he chose to write them down with paper.

When the train arrived in Langfang, Wang Chenhao had already written his training note. Li Hongzhang took it and frowned. He saw that Wang Chenhao was written in simplified Chinese, and it was crooked. Li Hongzhang could only use the words before and after to roughly judge the words he didn't know.

"After going back, Youtuan has to urge Chen Hao to practice writing more!"

Li Hongzhang couldn't stand it anymore, so he gave it to Zhang Peilun and asked him to copy it again and sort it out before showing it to him.

Wang Chenhao just smiled awkwardly in response to this.

It is not far from Langfang to Beijing, where there is a convoy specially kept by Li Hongzhang, and everyone got on the bus and went to Beijing.

Before dark, Li Hongzhang's convoy arrived outside the door of Prince Gong's mansion. A sign-in official went up to knock on the door and handed over the sign, and carried the boxes of gifts for Yi first.

Li Hongzhang was very good at making time, and he was in the dark sky with wind and snow, so he was not discovered. At the same time, he told Wang Chenhao to have a good meal in the palace and eat enough.

OK! Wang Chenhao has to admire Li Hongzhang's abacus for being loud and manly!

"The prince invites Lord Li, Lord Wang, and Mr. Zhang!"

Because Zhang Peilun had no official position and had been punished by the court, he was not allowed to meet Prince Gong as usual. However, today Li Hongzhang came to see Yi as a visiting couple with two sons-in-law, so Yi let Zhang Peilun in.

It was windy and snowy outside, and Li Hongzhang and Wang Chenhao's personal guards were arranged to wait in the royal palace wing room.

Li Hongzhang took Wang Chenhao and Zhang Peilun into the palace with the butler. As soon as he walked out of the front hall, he saw someone laughing and greeting him. It was Prince Gong Yi.

When the two met, they were definitely praised and praised by the officials. Zhang Peilun was famous, so he naturally had met the Japanese 6th, and the two were also very familiar with each other.

Of course, Wang Chenhao and Yi had met several times, during the negotiations in Tianjin. But at that time Yi did not care about Wang Chenhao, thinking that a young boy could have any skills, so he ignored him.

Now he dares not underestimate Wang Chenhao anymore, let alone Li Hongzhang's fourth son-in-law, and his status is different, so Yi naturally needs to pay attention to him.

"The young man is so terrifying!"

"The prince is too awarded! The prince is the most knowledgeable among the Qing royal family! He is just a little bit of a star, how dare he compete with the prince Haoyue?"

Yi laughed a few times, without saying much, and hurriedly invited the three of them into the room.
Chapter completed!