Jingshi, Haidian, Yuanmingyuan, Tongyuan. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The gongs and drums on the stage of Qingyin Pavilion are noisy, the Peking Opera "Zhu Xianzhen" is being staged, Xianfeng sits on the play and hums a few words from time to time, this is a play that he likes and is familiar with, many fragments he can hum like a decent, some of the concubines around him are humming, some are fun, and the left and right are to win Xianfeng's pleasure.

During this time, he was happy with the emperor, coupled with the great victory in the Northeast, the Eight Banners New Army in Tibet and Yunnan also returned to Beijing one after another, and all kinds of government affairs were also very handy, which can be called a rare period of satisfaction since Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, Xianfeng would take his concubines to watch the play and listen to music almost every afternoon.

As for the declaration of war on Britain, he has long left it behind, it's not that he doesn't want to care, but he can't manage it at all, he doesn't even have a chance to intervene, he is simply lazy and careless, anyway, Yuan Qi has already sent troops to recover Hong Kong and forced 3,000 British troops in Hong Kong to surrender.

As soon as "Zhu Xianzhen" came to an end, Xianfeng was still unsatisfied, and was about to order another one, but he and the former eunuch Cui Changshou saw the opportunity to step forward and whispered: "Your Majesty, there is a secret fold." ”

Got a secret fold? Xianfeng Yileng, the afternoon is not his time to govern, and the only thing that can make him and the eunuch in front of him ruin his interest is the Yi Zhizhi who has resigned on the bright side, although he feels a little disappointed, he still stands up, and the telegrams and excerpts that are easy to be satisfied with are ordered to be submitted at any time.

Out of the Qingyin Pavilion, the eunuch Liu Duosheng held the dense folding box and walked up quickly, opened the box, took out the dense folding grass and looked at it, Xianfeng's face immediately became gloomy, twisting a few new versions of Yuanqi banknotes and groaning for a long time, he said: "Xuan Wenqing, Peng Yunzhang, Su Shun, Bai Ye, come and see." ”

On the bowel, he commanded: "Go to Fangbi Cong." ”

Yuanqi's new version of the banknote is beautifully printed, his avatar is also extremely realistic, and the feel is also excellent, which is obviously better than the banknotes in circulation now.

The Nanyang Navy captured the three ports of Temasek, Malacca, and Penang in the Strait of Malacca, annihilated 25 warships of the British East India Fleet, destroyed more than 2,000 enemies, and captured more than 3,000 people.

It's just a never-ending posture with England! At this time, Yi Zhizu proposed to ask the imperial court to recognize the legal positioning of Yuanqi banknotes, although it was said euphemistically, but it could not hide the aggressive momentum!

What worries him even more is not the Yuanqi banknote, but Mongolia! Yuan Qi actually got the idea of Mongolia!

For more than 200 years, Mongolia has been the deep-rooted and most reliable and best ally of the Manchus.

At least the Qing clan and the Mongolian aristocracy are as close as a family, it is no exaggeration to say that all the clans of the Qing Dynasty have Mongolian blood, and similarly, most of the Mongolian princes and nobles in the south and north of the desert also have Manchu blood.

This kind of blood relationship has formed a body of interest between the Manchu and Mongolian ethnic groups that are closely related and share weal and woe! Now that Yi Zhishu wants to destroy the relationship between Manchu and Mongolia, what does he want to do? Divide Manchuria, isolate Manchuria!

Fang Bi Cong, Xianfeng has calmed down, he found that his prejudice against Yuan Qi is too big, obviously, Yi Zhicontent is played with a dense fold, if there is really a split between Manchu and Mongolia, the idea of isolating Manchuria, it will not be played on the dense fold, but on the open fold.

It can be said that since the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, in order to consolidate its rule, stabilize the frontiers, and eliminate the threat from Mongolia, in addition to adopting a policy of being gentle and enveloping Mongolia, it has indeed adopted a series of measures and means, and established a series of systems to suppress, restrict, ban, and isolate Mongolia from all aspects.

For example, the establishment of the Khan as the king, the system of dividing and ruling the flag alliance, the hierarchical system, the system of the alliance of supervision and control, the annual class system, the segregation system to prevent the union of Mongolia and Han, the system of banning Mongolia from accepting Han culture, respecting and supporting the protection of the Yellow Religion, encouraging the construction of temples, and taking measures such as exemption from military service, taxes and errands to encourage Mongolian civilians to become monks.

Objectively speaking, these institutional measures have greatly reduced the population of Mongolia, weakened Mongolia's strength, and changed the heroic and combative character of the Mongolian people.

At present, the imperial court is facing a huge threat from Yuanqi, and lifting a series of policies of suppression, restraint, banning, and isolation against Mongolia will be conducive to the unity of Manchu and Mongolia against Yuanqi.

In this case, Mongolia should not continue to be weakened, but to make Mongolia strong as soon as possible, so that Mongolia can become an invincible blade!

After a short time, Wen Qing, Peng Yunzhang, Su Shun, and Bai Ye bowed in to salute, and Xianfeng did not go around in circles, and said straightly: "The Nanyang Navy has captured the three ports of Yingyi in Malacca, annihilated 25 warships of the Yingyi East India Fleet, and sent troops to Calcutta ...... in a big way. After explaining the situation in detail, he took out a few Yuanqi banknotes and motioned for Wen Qing to hand them to a few people.

Wenqing and the four of them did not expect that Yuan Qi was not idle during this time, not only fought with Yingyi in Nanyang, but also sent troops to Calcutta, the capital of British India, and the four of them secretly sighed, Yi Zhizhi was really satisfied with the bear's heart and leopard gall, but for this war, they only had to wait and see, and after a sentence of emotion, they all paid attention to the banknotes in their hands.

Xianfeng said slowly: "The imperial court declared war on the British, the coastal prefectures and counties panicked, and there was a run on the Yuanqi Bank. ”

As soon as he heard this, Bai Ye, who was in charge of the household department, was anxious, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, how can the legal paper money of the Qing Dynasty be in the hands of Yuan Qi?" ”

Su Shun said: "Your Majesty, as far as the servants know, most of the paper money of Western countries is not issued by the imperial court, but by the largest banks in various countries or several major banks jointly issued, such as the British pound, which is issued by the Bank of England, which is to prevent the imperial court from controlling the issuance of paper money and issuing paper money indiscriminately.

After the defeat in the Crimean War, Russia owed a high amount of domestic and foreign debts, and then issued additional banknotes worth hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and the result was ..... Like our official bills, the value of the treasure money is depreciating rapidly, and prices are skyrocketing.

On the other hand, the British pound, since 1821, when the gold standard was officially adopted, the British pound has become the standard monetary unit of the United Kingdom, each pound contains two coins of pure gold, which can be freely convertible, and has not changed in the slightest for decades, which is also the reason why the British pound can be used in all countries in the world. ”

Hearing this, Xian Fengjue's face was a little hot, and he minted a lot of money, and the printing and distribution of official bills and treasure banknotes was not from his instructions, but he stabbed a big leak and was forced to take it back.

Bai Ye didn't think about it, so he asked: "How can you dare to ask how to ensure that Yuanqi will not issue banknotes indiscriminately?" ”

"Yuanqi is not the imperial court, but a bank and a bank, and we must spare no effort to maintain its reputation." Su Shun said in a deep voice: "The Yuanqi branch is all over the prefectures and counties of the Qing Dynasty, and once it loses its credibility, it will go out of business...... ”

"There are a lot of bankrupt money banks!" Bai Ye didn't give in at all: "Who can guarantee that Yuanqi will not go out of business?" In short, the Yuanqi banknote cannot be allowed to become the legal tender of the Qing Dynasty! ”

Peng Yunzhang, who had never spoken, coughed lightly and said slowly: "The banknotes circulating throughout the country are actually only Yuanqi banknotes. ”

Listening to the words, the whole room was quiet, the Qing Dynasty from the Beijing to the local provincial capitals and counties circulated only Yuanqi banknotes, this is an irrefutable fact, the meaning behind these words is also very clear, whether the court admits it or not, Yuanqi banknotes are in fact the only banknotes in the Qing Dynasty, and the reputation is outstanding!

Wen Qing still has lingering feelings about the bad consequences caused by the imperial court's minting and issuing large amounts of money and issuing official bills, and then added, "The imperial court has no ability to prevent Yuan Qi from issuing a new version of banknotes." ”

Su Shun's heart was crossed, and he continued: "As early as when Yuanqi implemented the exchange of silver bills and treasure banknotes for the big money minted by the imperial court and the official bills and treasure banknotes issued by the imperial court, Yuanqi had already monopolized the money industry of the Qing Dynasty!" In fact, the imperial court had already recognized the Yuanqi silver note at that time as the legal paper money of the Qing Dynasty! ”

Listening to this, Bai Ye lowered his head and was silent, this is indeed a fact, the Qing Dynasty, in fact, has long determined that Yuanqi banknotes are legal notes, at this time, even if the court does not admit it, it is useless, besides, the court can not stop Yuanqi from issuing a new version of banknotes, and the banknotes printed with Xianfeng's head are circulating, this matter is even more ironclad, and the court can still deny it?

Xianfeng also figured this out, not to mention, the war was imminent, and he didn't want to have trouble with Yuan Qi at this juncture, after all, the war against Britain had to rely on Yuan Qi! He was about to speak, but Peng Yunzhang kowtowed and said: "Weichen secretly thinks that the imperial court might as well give Yuan Qi a favor to ease the relationship with Yuan Qi ........" ”

Ease the relationship with Yuanqi? Xianfeng couldn't help but glance at Su Shun, will this matter make Yingyi misunderstand that the relationship between the imperial court and Yuan Qi has improved? I have to ask Su Shun to call about this.

He didn't say anything, and changed his head, "The northeast is vast and sparsely populated, so that it is taken advantage of by Tsarist Russia, and the Mobei area is also vast and sparsely populated, and Tsarist Russia has frequent activities, and I wonder whether the policy of Mobei Mongolia should be appropriately adjusted ......." ”

Shanghai, Zhenhai Mansion, Changle Book House.

Russian plenipotentiary Putiyatin walked steadily into the courtyard and walked into the room with Yi Zhicontent, who came to greet him, although he was eager to know Tsar Alexander II's reply, but also knew that it would be counterproductive to be too eager, so he also held back and waited quietly for the other party to take the initiative to mention it.

Entering the room, Putiyatin smiled and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor of our country is very appreciative of your proposal for domestic reform, the abolition of serfdom, the sale of land to serfs, and the acquisition of huge sums of money. ”

As he spoke, he stood up, "I have asked His Majesty the Emperor to extend his highest greetings to Your Excellency on behalf of Russia. With that, he bent down and bowed deeply.

Yi Zhishu really didn't encounter this situation, Russia reformed, abolished serfdom, he just said casually, even if he didn't say it, Russia would carry out drastic reforms in the next few years and abolish serfdom, as for Russia's closest friend, this title, he is really a little creepy.

He hurriedly got up and said with a smile: "Thank you very much for the kind invitation of His Majesty the Emperor of your country, if you have the opportunity to visit Europe, you will definitely visit your country first." ”

Putiyatin said solemnly: "The whole country of Russia will warmly welcome Your Excellency's arrival. ”

Can you not play these imaginary ones? Yi Zhixiang secretly slandered in his heart, but he stretched out his hand with a smile on his face to give up his seat, and sat down again, Putiatin smiled and said: "Please allow me to congratulate Your Excellency first, my country has agreed to sell Alaska and Kamchatka Peninsula to your country for 20 million taels of silver. ”

"That's good news." Yi Zhishu smiled very reservedly, smiled reservedly, but in fact, his heart was happy!

Alaska's 1.7 million square kilometers of land, but there are only tens of thousands of Eskimos and Indians, even if the surging national liberation movement in later generations will not affect Alaska, this land fell into the hands of the Qing Dynasty, the significance and influence are really huge!

The Qing dynasty became not only an Arctic state, but also an empire spanning two continents, and more importantly, with the opportunity to expand into North America, and moreover, it also meant the legitimate, justifiable inclusion of the Kamchatka Peninsula into the territory of the Qing Dynasty! If you can get East Siberia again, the White Collar Strait, and the Sea of Okhotsk will become the inland sea of the Qing Dynasty.

For those who knew about the surging tide of national liberation movements, the deserted Alaska, Kamchatka, and Eastern Siberia were more important than Central Asia and Southeast Asia, because they could not be separated from each other and had coveted natural resources.

He didn't imagine England, where the colonies became independent one after another, and in the end, the world hegemon and the sea hegemon were handed over one after another.

Seeing Yi Zhi's contented smile on his face, Putiatin thought that the other party did not care very much about this transaction, and immediately continued: "His Majesty the Emperor of our country also praised Your Excellency's proposal to build a trans-Eurasian railway, and said that even if you use all your national strength, you will build a railway from Moscow to Central Asia in time. ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled and nodded, he was not surprised at all, Russia built the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok and across Europe and Asia alone, what is it from Moscow to Central Asia? What's more, this is for the purpose of expanding into Central Asia, in order to open up land trade between the East and the West, not to mention exhausting national strength, even if you smash the pot and sell iron, Russia will also build this railway!