Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 371 The End of the Historical Line
Upon hearing this, Li Yi showed an interested expression on his face and then asked.

"and then?"

"What will be the result of this internal fight among the Qing Yao?"

Li Liang continued.

"To reply to your Majesty, the internal fighting among the Qing demons this time was very fierce."

"First, Gui Liang led his army to ambush in the palace. During a meeting, he smashed a cup as a signal, and suddenly rushed out and killed Prince Rui Renshou, Prince Su Huafeng and others in public."

"We forced the Qing court to approve the plan to redeem Yi from the Tang Dynasty."

"Afterwards, after the high-ranking officials of the Qing court left the palace, Prince Zhuang Yiren, Prince Zheng Yueling, Prince Li Yiling and others gathered their old subordinates and surrounded the palace."

"They want to use the threat of a mutiny to force the Qing court to change its decision and appoint a new emperor."

"Gui Liang and the others naturally refused, and then the two sides fought each other in Chengde City."

"Afterwards, Guiliang was defeated and led his troops to retreat to Liaodong, escorting the Queen Mother Borjigit and the Empress Guarjia."

"The remaining remnants of the Qing court stayed in Chengde and established Emperor Daoguang's seventh son Yihuan as the new emperor, with the reign title Xuantong."

"Now, the Qing Dynasty has split into two parts."

After listening to Li Liang's narration, Li Yi's face looked very strange.

It is not surprising that the Qing Dynasty had internal strife, but the reign title given to the new emperor after the strife made Li Yi feel powerless to complain.

The reign title Xuantong sounds pretty good.

It not only promotes orthodoxy, but also promotes rule. The implication is quite good.

But, he is unlucky!

This was the reign title once used by the Qing Emperor Puyi.

But now it has been used in advance by the Qing court.

Li Yi just wants to say that this world is really wonderful.

Li Yi thought that he would have to work hard and try his best to make the reign title Xuantong the last reign title of the Qing Dynasty.

Well, this is called the convergence of the historical line.

After saying this, Li Liang stared at Li Yi with burning eyes and asked.

"Your Majesty, what should our Tang Dynasty do next?"

Li Yi pondered for a moment, then spoke.

"Since the Qing Dynasty is fighting among themselves, let them fight."

"Just assign someone to keep an eye on it at all times, and don't do anything extra."

"Next, our Tang Dynasty will focus its main efforts on the interior of the country."

"Complete the unification of the interior as soon as possible, and then launch the Northern Expedition."

Upon hearing this, Li Liang clasped his fists to show that he understood.

Then he turned and left.

Li Yi continued to deal with the government affairs at hand.

Li Yi has had too many things on his hands recently. Not to mention other things, just the arrangement of local officials in several provinces that have just been recovered, such as Zhili and Shanxi, is a very complicated and troublesome task.

In addition, there is Vietnam.

After the Tang Dynasty conquered northern Vietnam, Li Yi ordered the establishment of Guangnan Province in northern Vietnam and appointed governors, provincial governors, and provincial governors to manage it.

Li Yi also has to consider the candidates for governor and governor!

……

The sun sets in the west.

The bright red setting sun shone on the earth, dyeing the solemn palaces of the Forbidden City blood-red.

It seems to symbolize the bloody transition of imperial power.

It was time to get off duty. Zhang Zhidong left the classroom, nodded and greeted the sergeant of the Imperial Guard on duty, and walked out of the Forbidden City.

Sitting in the carriage outside the city, Zhang Zhidong slowly exhaled a breath.

The coachman beside him asked as he drove the carriage.

"Master, where should we go next?"

"Going back home?"

Zhang Zhidong, who was sitting in the carriage, shook his head and said.

"Don't go back home yet, go to the Honglu Temple."

"His Majesty has ordered me to meet the envoy sent by Tsarist Russia on his behalf. This matter cannot be delayed."

Although Li Yi did not explain when Zhang Zhidong would meet the Russian envoy.

But in Zhang Zhidong's view, the earlier the better.

As a subject, how can you not take the monarch's orders seriously?

Upon hearing this, the driver immediately responded.

Afterwards, he drove towards the Honglu Temple.

The carriage was moving on the stone road in the capital, and the wheels rolled over the ground.

With the dual shock absorption of rubber tires and springs, the carriage runs very smoothly.

Zhang Zhidong sat in the car, thinking quietly.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion outside the carriage.

He subconsciously reached out to lift the car curtain and looked outside.

On the roadside, a young man ran out of a dark alley and was chased by several people.

"Tartar, don't run!"

"Tie Mu, I knew it was you, stop and don't run!"

"You damned Tartar, weren't you very arrogant before? You said that you were a descendant of the Eight Banners and were naturally superior to us Han people. Now what are you doing?"

"..."

The people were chasing and shouting something, looking very excited.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhidong withdrew his gaze from the car window.

He knew that the people in the capital were helping the court to hunt down the remnants of the Eight Banners.

The reason why the people worked so hard was not only because of the conflicts and hatred between the Han people and the Eight Banners in the past.

It was also because the Tang Dynasty court offered a reward for the remnants of the Eight Banners.

Every time the people assisted the court in capturing a remnant of the Eight Banners, they would be rewarded with ten Tang Dynasty silver dollars.

As long as it is confirmed that the right person has been caught, the reward will be paid on the spot.

For ordinary people, ten dollars is not a small amount of money.

Ten silver dollars is something that many people may not be able to earn even after working hard for a year.

It is precisely because of the reward offered by the imperial court that the remnants of the Eight Banners who had escaped the Tang Dynasty's house-confiscation activities in the capital today have almost all become rats in the gutter. They are hunted by the Tang Dynasty court and are in constant fear.

Someone is arrested almost every day.

Of course, even if these remnants of the Eight Banners were caught, they would not be killed. At most they would be sent to labor camps.

There is a shortage of people on the Yellow River embankment now.

These Eight Banners descendants are all excellent labor force. Li Yi would not kill them if it is not necessary.

Zhang Zhidong withdrew his gaze, without any feeling in his heart.

He just urged the driver to speed up and get to the Honglu Temple as soon as possible.

Soon, Zhang Zhidong arrived outside the Honglu Temple.

After showing his ID to the guards of the Honglu Temple, Zhang Zhidong stepped into the Honglu Temple.

And in a room he met the Russian envoy Nikolai Ignatiev.

As soon as the two met, they shook hands and greeted each other enthusiastically.

"Dear Zhang, long time no see, I hope you are well."

The last time Nicholas met Li Yi in Jining, he had met Zhang Zhidong.

The two of them are quite familiar with each other!

Zhang Zhidong also replied with a smile.

"Minister Nicholas is more impressive than ever."

After a round of greetings, the two sat down in front of a coffee table.

Zhang Zhidong picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then asked.

"I wonder why the Minister has come to the capital this time?"

Upon hearing this, Nicholas did not keep anyone in suspense and spoke directly.

"I'm sure the Tang Dynasty has also heard about the news that the Russian Empire, Britain and France have gone to war in Crimea, right?"

Zhang Zhidong nodded and said.

"really."

"The Tang Dynasty has learned about the war in Crimea."

"I am here to wish your country victory in the war."

Well, Zhang Zhidong's words were obviously just a courtesy.

Even if the envoys from Britain and France were sitting opposite him today, he would only say the same thing.

Anyway, good words don’t cost money.

Moreover, the outcome of the Crimean War had nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty.

No matter who wins or loses, the Tang Dynasty will make a lot of money.

The more intense the fighting was, the more excited the Tang Dynasty was to watch the show.

Nicholas was deeply moved when he heard this.

"Thank you for your blessing, Master Zhang."

Since the Crimean War, the Russian Empire has experienced several shameful betrayals.

Austria and Prussia both betrayed the Holy Alliance and stood on the side of Britain and France to target Tsarist Russia.

This made Tsarist Russia isolated in the European diplomatic arena!

They are also very passive on the battlefield.

It was a continuous defeat, and the army had to rely almost entirely on a few fortresses to resist the offensive of the British and French forces.

Therefore, when Nicholas heard a rare good word from the Tang Dynasty, he felt indescribably moved.

Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but look a little strange when he heard this.

He was just being polite, why would this guy in front of him be like this?

Nicholas continued.

"I came to the capital of the Tang Dynasty today precisely because of the Crimea issue."

"With the outbreak of war in Crimea, our Russian Empire has a huge gap in military weapons."

"I came here this time to ask Datang to deliver the previous arms order as soon as possible."

"This is very important to our Russian Empire!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but look thoughtful.

After a moment he spoke.

"It's not that our Tang Dynasty is unwilling to help your country in this matter."

"But the production orders at our Tang Dynasty's arsenal are already full, and our Tang army is in urgent need of military equipment..."

Zhang Zhidong could not agree to this matter.

One reason is that he had no power to interfere with the arsenal's delivery procedures.

The second reason is that the current national policy of the Tang Dynasty is to increase the strength of Tsarist Russia.

In this case, it is naturally impossible to make an exception and provide them with weapons first.

Hearing Zhang Zhidong's evasion, Nicholas became a little anxious and couldn't help but speak.

"We can add money."

Nicholas knew that this matter was not so easy to handle, so he was prepared to pay more money.

Well, in this world, ninety percent of the problems can be solved by simply adding money.

The remaining ten percent is simply because not enough money was given.

Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but hesitate when he heard this.

Although the current national policy of the Tang Dynasty is to strengthen Tsarist Russia first, but based on his understanding of Li Yi.

Our own emperor is a money-hungry person!

If Tsarist Russia is willing to pay more, it is not impossible to go lower than this level.

Of course, the reason why Li Yi was so greedy for money was not because he was greedy for gold and silver.

But there are too many places in the Tang Dynasty where money is needed.

It takes money to build the Yellow River embankment, it takes money to build railways, it takes money to support industrial development, it takes money to repair infrastructure, and it takes money to expand the Tang army...

It can be said that Li Yi is starving every day when he opens his eyes.

No wonder he is obsessed with money!

……

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(End of this chapter)