Jingshi, Yuanmingyuan, Qichun Garden, Fuchun Hall.

There were some newspapers and folds scattered on the desk, Ci'an leaned against the window and looked at the verdant courtyard in a daze, after the abolition of the Military Aircraft Department and the establishment of the cabinet, she rarely asked about government affairs, and she didn't pay attention to the Tianjin teaching plan, after the establishment of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, especially after defeating the British, French, Spanish and Dutch alliances, the Qing Dynasty did not need to worry about foreign affairs at all.

However, she did not expect that the diplomatic incident of the Tianjin teaching case had completely changed its taste, and Western countries had remained silent after submitting a note of strong protest, while domestic newspapers of all sizes were swarming to attack Wu Changqing, the minister and assistant minister of the cabinet, who handled the case, and then directly aimed the spearhead at Yuan Qi.

Obviously, this is the royalists deliberately manipulating public opinion and public sentiment behind the scenes to attack Yuan Qi, but is Prime Minister Prince Gong also behind the scenes? The royalists were agitating for the exclusion of foreign countries in order to prevent the imperial court from implementing constitutional government. Yi is no different from a puppet without military power and financial power, will he also want to take this opportunity to suppress Yuan Qi?

After being silent for a long time, she turned around and ordered: "Someone, Prince Xuangong is here." ”

She can't sit idly by and ignore this, when it comes to manipulating public opinion and public sentiment, the royalists and the constitution are not Yuan Qi's opponents, Yuan Qi not only controls the big newspapers in the southeastern provinces, but also the means of manipulating and guiding public opinion are not comparable to them, and the current situation is clearly Yuan Qi's intention to indulge, obviously not well-intentioned!

If you continue to sit idly by and indulge in indulgence, Yuan Qi may not use the topic to play any new tricks, Yi Zhicontent is not a good man and a woman, when it comes to killing decisively, ruthless, there are few civil and military forces in the Manchu Dynasty who can match him, and it can be seen that the destruction of the country and the extinction of the species of the Japanese State.

Although the constitution of the hypocrisy led to the fall of imperial power, it can always extend the Qing Dynasty and protect the nobles of the clan and the Manchus, which is already the best result. She must put an end to this irrational provocation of the royalists!

Hearing the call of Ci'an, Prince Gong did not dare to slack off and hurried over, and he became the prime minister of the cabinet as he wished, and he was eager to repair the relationship with the Empress Dowager Ci'an, only in this way can he have the capital to compete with Yuan Qi and sit firmly in the position of prime minister of the cabinet.

When he entered the Fuchun Hall, he knocked on Sheng'an according to the rules, and only then did he get up and listen to Ci'an's voice, "Sixth Uncle doesn't have to be formal, sit down and enjoy tea." ”

"Wechen thanks the Empress Dowager for her grace." Yi thanked him before he got up and sat down on the small pestle outside the bead curtain, he knew very well that today's summons must be for the Tianjin teaching plan, but he didn't know what kind of attitude Ci'an would have.

"In the past two days, the government and the opposition have been in turmoil, all accusing Wu Changqing of being unfair in handling the Tianjin teaching case, and many ministers have folded their bullets to impeach him for seeking Yuanqi's selfish interests and ignoring the general interests of the country.

Yi said cautiously: "Weichen secretly thinks that there are people behind this matter who are deliberately manipulating and guiding public opinion, in a vain attempt to hijack public opinion, dispel religion and foreign religion, slander Yuan Qi, and resist constitutionalism. ”

Didn't Yi play behind it? Ci'an pondered slightly, and then said: "Yuan Qi lost the hearts of the people, and it will not affect the implementation of constitutional government in the imperial court?" ”

Yi Ting's heart sank, is this an immortal heart? Or is it temptation? He didn't dare to think about it, and replied in a deep voice: "Back to the Empress Dowager, Yuan Qi has repeatedly resisted Western invasions, and expelled the West to recover the northwest and Nanyang provinces and Burma, and it is deeply rooted in the southeastern provinces and the newly attached provinces, and it is impossible to lose the hearts of the people because of the Tianjin teaching case. ”

Although it was not the answer to the question, it was undoubtedly an expression of attitude, Ci'an continued: "In the face of the attack, Yuan Qi did not react, but why? ”

Hearing this, Yi couldn't understand the other party's intentions, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, what he was most worried about was that Ci'an was manipulating behind this matter, since it wasn't Ci'an, this matter would be much easier to do, and even said: "Back to the Queen Mother, Yuan Qi's silence is obviously intended to indulge, and Weichen prays that the Queen Mother will immediately issue an order to correct the public." ”

Ci'an seemed to hesitate before he said: "Yuan Qi has been planning for the northwest expansion for many years, and now the northwest army is gathering in Anxi, and the Nanyang naval fleet is also moving south, so it should be ...... the western expedition soon." ”

"Back to the Queen Mother." Yi Shen said in a deep voice: "Weichen secretly thinks that Yuanqi at this time is the most dangerous, and the northwest will use troops on a large scale, and Yuanqi will definitely not tolerate domestic instability." ”

Ci'an nodded slightly, Yuan Qi has been planning for the northwest expansion for many years, and he will definitely not allow anyone to sabotage the plan of the western expedition, this provocation will definitely encounter a strong blow, and it really can't be delayed any longer, "Draft." He said slowly: "The Tianjin teaching case corrupts the people's customs, damages the prestige of the imperial court, damages the prestige ......of the Qing Dynasty, and has an extremely bad impact. ”

At the same time as the promulgation of this holy edict, the "Beijing Daily" also published this edict in a timely manner, as well as an article written by Yi entitled "On the Basic Principles of Constitutionalism," which clearly pointed out that the protection of property and personal safety is one of the most basic principles of constitutionalism, and that any act of destroying other people's property and infringing on the personal safety of others in the Qing Dynasty must be severely punished by law.

In less than half a day, the "Beijing Daily" spread all over the Beijing Division, and all kinds of accusations against Wu Changqing and Yuan Qi disappeared immediately, and no one dared to mention the Tianjin teaching plan for a while, and an edict clearly expressed the attitude of the Queen Mother and Prince Gong towards the Tianjin teaching case, and supported Wu Changqing to handle the Tianjin teaching case impartially.

The telegraph office in the Beijing division suddenly became lively, and people who were in a hurry to send telegrams lined up outside the headquarters of the Beijing telegraph bureau and several telegraph sub-bureaus.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

After reading the telegram sent from Jingshi, Yi Zhizu casually forwarded the telegram to Zhao Liewen, and said with a smile: "Didn't we do too much to show traces and react so quickly?" ”

After a few quick glances at the message, Zhao Liewen couldn't help but smile, "Does the big shopkeeper think that this effect is not ideal?" ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled noncommittally and said: "Knowing that taking the initiative to maintain Yuanqi and controlling the further expansion of the situation is not hopeless, so I will use the Tianjin teaching plan to promote the idea of constitutionalism and call Wu Changqing, don't worry, deter and kill for a few days!" In addition, he also asked the diplomats of Western countries to knock on it, so as not to think about it. ”

Tianjin, Zizhulin, British Consulate.

Outside the gate, a group of diplomats from Western countries headed by the British Minister to China, Wittoma, were waiting for the arrival of Wu Changqing, the minister of the Imperial Mission, who had full authority to handle the Tianjin teaching case, and they were talking softly, and everyone was full of cheerful smiles.

Wei Tuoma didn't have any joy on his face, he stood quietly on the side with one hand holding his chest and the other hand holding his chin, he knew very well that Wu Changqing would definitely not be a good thing to take the initiative to come to the door in this situation.

Luo Shuya, the French chargé d'affaires who had dealt with Wu Changqing once and had a closed door, was also not happy, and slowly approached Wei Tuoma, and he said softly: "The other party should not come to negotiate compensation?" ”

"I don't think so." Wittoma rubbed his chin on his beard, "On the contrary, I have a bad feeling." ”

"It is the Qing Kingdom that is to blame, after all, we have died so many people, and the losses are extremely heavy." Luo Shuya said in a deep voice: "No matter how strong Yuan Qi is, he can't fail to abide by international law. ”

Wittoma was silent, even if the church did not abduct babies and did not kill babies, but after all, the matter was caused by the French consul Feng Daye's initiative, and the losses of other countries may be compensated, and France is afraid that it is a bit hanging.

Wu Changqing did not come alone, but came with three ministers of international trade, Chonghou, Tianjin prefect Zhang Guangzao, county magistrate Liu Jie and others with full guard of honor.

Wu Changqing couldn't help frowning, and after greeting Wei Tuma who greeted him, he said straightforwardly: "I came here today to discuss important matters, and the ministers and consuls of various countries can participate in ......" ”

Wei Tuma nodded, and then stretched out his hand to salute, "Lord Chincha, please." ”

Entering the large conference room, after a group of people sat down, Wu Changqing said directly: "I have an investigation report here, please take a look." As he spoke, he raised his hand and motioned for his entourage to distribute the materials, which were printed in English, French, Russian, Spanish and other languages.

As soon as he saw the title of "Investigation Report on the Survival Rate of Adopted Babies in Church Nurseries in China", Wei Tuma's heart couldn't help jumping, and after reading it carefully, his face turned a little pale.

The information and data collected in this report are extremely detailed, and directly reveal that the purpose of the Western churches in opening nurseries in China is not simply to do good deeds, but to meet the number of 'baptisms', and the series of data is shocking, and the number of babies adopted by many nurseries opened by the Western churches is quite high, with an average of more than 70 percent, while the infant mortality rate in the institutions opened in China is only about 15 percent, which is extremely different.

The face of the French Minister Luo Shuya is particularly ugly, France is a Catholic protectorate, and the headquarters of the Holy Child's Society is also in Paris, this investigation report even lists the funds paid by the Holy Child's Society to missionaries in China, and he does not even have the courage to distinguish.

Simple and all the foreigners looked ugly, Chonghou and Zhang Guangzao couldn't help but look at each other, and they all felt inexplicable, and they didn't know what the investigation report was, because the materials were all in foreign languages, and they couldn't understand them, and Wu Changqing didn't prepare Chinese materials for them at all.

"Since the founding of the Society of Jesus in the first half of the sixteenth century, missionaries have been frequently sent to our country, and at the same time they have opened nurseries, and in the past three hundred years, how many babies have died indirectly or directly from the churches run by the church?" Wu Changqing said slowly in fluent English: "I don't know, the missionaries who came to China are here to preach? We still came to hunt our infants and young children, and our country needs the churches of Western countries and all the missionaries in China to give us a reasonable explanation. ”

"Your Excellency." Wittoma said with some difficulty: "Can we question the authenticity of this investigation report?" ”

"Of course." Wu Changqing said without hesitation: "There are church-run nurseries in all treaty ports, and the adoption records and infant mortality and survival rates over the years are archived and can be accessed at any time. ”

Hearing this, Wei Tuma said very simply: "Your country does not have to compensate for the churches that were burned down in Tianjin. ”

Seeing Wei Tuma's statement, the consuls of the United States and Russia hurriedly argued that they did not need the Qing State to compensate for the losses caused by the Tianjin teaching case, but Luo Shuya hesitated and did not dare to speak, it was really the loss of France in the Tianjin teaching case was too great, the church was burned down, and there were too many dead missionaries and nuns.

Wu Changqing glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "In the Tianjin teaching case, all the murderers who committed arson and robbery will be severely punished by our country according to the law, you can wait and see, for the losses caused to various countries, Yuanqi will compensate ........ in full after further verification." ”

Hearing this, Wei Tuoma's heart tightened, he couldn't do it without compensation, what did the other party want? Ban churches in China or church-run crèches?

"The main reasons for the outbreak of the Tianjin teaching case are, first, the suspicion and misunderstanding caused by the frequent deaths of babies in the church-run nursery church, and second, the misconduct of the missionaries on weekdays, tempting people to practice teaching, recruiting local scoundrels, relying on the power to act strongly, carrying lawsuits and resisting debts on behalf of others, forcibly tyrannizing property, oppressing the good, insulting the government, and having deep grievances with the officials and gentry of the other side, which caused public anger.

Third, the French consul was arrogant and domineering, despised our court and laws, and relied on diplomatic privileges and concession privileges to openly lead the armed personnel of the concession to forcibly break into our official office and shoot provocatively.

In order to prevent the outbreak of similar major diplomatic incidents in the future, China has decided to strictly regulate and restrain the missionary behavior of all churches and missionaries in China, and revise the charter of the concession to minimize the confrontation and contradictions between the churches and foreigners in China and the local government, gentry, businessmen, and ordinary people. ”

When the interpreter translated these words, the ministers and consuls of various countries were stunned, and no one expected that the other party would take the opportunity to make this request, which was obviously to restrict the activities of the church and reduce the privileges of the concession.

Chonghou, Zhang Guangzao, and Liu Jie were very excited to hear it, so that the Tianjin lesson plan is tantamount to a bad thing turning into a good thing!

There was silence for a while before Wittoma spoke, "Your Excellency, what if we don't agree? ”

Wu Changqing's tense face showed a smile, "This is to avoid frequently causing major diplomatic incidents and affecting normal diplomatic relations, if you do not agree, my country will consider banning the concession and prohibiting proselytizing!" ”