At noon, Yi Zhizhi came out of the Qianqing Palace, all the way to the Xihua Gate, he was looking for his palanquin, a middle-aged official in a five-grade official robe strode up, and said with a smile on his face: "Xiaguan has seen Master Yi." ”

Listening to his Cantonese official dialect, Yi Zhi couldn't help but smile, and hurriedly returned the salute, saying, "Listen to the accent, the adult is from Guangzhou?" ”

"The Imperial Court of the Lower Officials supervises the imperial history, Luo Bingzhang, a native of Huaxian County, Guangzhou." Luo Bingzhang said and stretched out his hand and said, "Lord Yi, can you take a step to speak." ”

The local voice listened to in a foreign place, Yi Zhishu felt more cordial, and what made him more interested was Luo Bingzhang, this person he had a little impression, during the Taiping Rebellion, it seemed to be the governor of a province, but he couldn't remember whether it was in Hunan or Hubei, and Zeng Guofan, a famous minister in the Qing Dynasty, and Zuo Zongtang had intersections, thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that Zuo Zongtang is still estimated to be a person now, Zeng Guofan doesn't know if he has won the Jinshi?

Slowly leaving the Xihua Gate, Luo Bingzhang stood up and arched his hand: "Lord Yi has a good reputation, which is gratifying." ”

What is there to congratulate, Daoguang summoned him one after another, just to understand the situation in Guangzhou and understand the national conditions of England, the holy reputation is not good, if he doesn't kill people with a soft knife behind his back, he should burn high incense, Yi Zhizhi didn't explain, and said with a smile: "I don't know what Lord Luo is about?" ”

Luo Bingzhang said: "I heard that Master Yi came to Beijing, and a group of Cantonese officials from Beijing specially set up a banquet for Lord Yi to pick up the wind and wash the dust. ”

Word has spread? Yi Zhixiang secretly wondered that the news of the Beijing Master could spread quickly enough, but what was the purpose of the banquet for a group of Cantonese officials? Although he has never been an official, he knows that officials have a system of recusal and are not allowed to be officials in their hometowns, because officials do not value the relationship between their fellow villagers.

He didn't bother to think about it, there was no good banquet, and most of the time there was nothing good, so he immediately arched his hand and said: "Your lords' hearts, I have received it in my heart, but I will go back and write the excerpts, another day, another day to do the east, and invite all fellow villagers." ”

Hearing him say this, Luo Bingzhang was not easy to insist, and immediately smiled: "The Jingshi who arrived, how can you still let Lord Yi break the bank, that's okay, another day Lord Yi is free, let's get together again." ”

"Definitely, definitely." Yi Zhixiang said with a smile on his face.

"I heard that Master Yi is staying outside the Zhengyang Gate?" Luo Bingzhang said: "Guangzhou has built the Nanhai Hall in the Hutong of Jingshi Mishi, with an elegant environment and suitable residence. ”

There are really a lot of Guangdong guild halls in Jingshi, among which the Nanhai Guild Hall is the largest, which is naturally clear to Yi Zhicontent, and he also knows that there are various benefits to moving into the Nanhai Guild Hall, at the very least, the diet is more suitable for the taste, but what he is afraid of is to socialize with a group of officials and businessmen, and move into the Nanhai Guild Hall, I am afraid that he will not be able to have a moment of peace.

"Thank you for your kindness." Yi Zhizu smiled and said: "However, this time when I entered Beijing, I had a lot of contacts with the household department, so I chose to be outside the Zhengyang Gate." Before he finished speaking, he raised his eyes and saw Su Shun, who was wearing an official robe and was full of energy, striding over.

Luo Bingzhang also saw Su Shun, and immediately arched his hand and said: "Since this is the case, then meet again another day and say goodbye." ”

Sending Luo Bingzhang away, Yi Zhishu took a few steps to meet him, and smiled at Su Shun: "Brother Yuting is on duty today? ”

Su Shun nodded and said, "I just came from Da'er Hutong, and the 'Matou Inn' is full of people, and they are all visiting or banqueting Brother Yi." As he spoke, he smiled, "The God of Wealth entered Beijing, and it was really extraordinary." ”

"What God of Wealth, Brother Yuting, don't worry about making fun of the next place, you missed the time."

"I really can't talk to Brother Yi more." Su Shun said with a smile: "My old man also wants to feast Brother Yi." ”

"Prince Zheng?" Yi Zhishu hurriedly said: "Brother Yuting thought of helping me push it, this has to start, it's not good to favor one over the other." ”

"That's right." Su Shun said: "Jingshi's clan is noble, Brother Yi had better not touch any of them, otherwise it will inevitably offend people." As he spoke, he arched his hand and said, "Tomorrow night, find a clean place and wash the dust for Brother Yi." ”

Seeing Su Shun stride into Xihua Gate, Yi Zhi couldn't help frowning, the door is like a city? really treats Yuan Qi as Tang monk meat, everyone wants to take a bite?

Seeing Su Shun leaving, the little servant Li Wang came up with the sedan chair man, Yi Zhizhi got on the sedan chair with his waist, and instructed: "Find a place with a beautiful and clean environment and scatter your heart." Then he said: "Li Wang go back first, don't let them worry." ”

Qianqing Palace, Xinuan Pavilion.

Mu Zhang'a, a scholar of Wenhuadian University and Minister of Military Aircraft, sat on the small pestle followed by Daoguang, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, Yi Zhishu is familiar with the situation of Western countries, and he is good at economics, which is exactly the talent that the imperial court urgently needs at present, so why not leave it in the household department." ”

Daoguang didn't have the idea of leaving Yi Zhizhi in Jingshi, and now there is indeed a shortage of courtiers around him who understand the West like Yi Zhicontent, and there is a shortage of courtiers who can open up financial resources for the imperial court, and there is no need to worry about Yuan Qi if he stays in Jingshi, but he has carefully weighed it, and it is really not suitable at this time.

After a slight groan, he spoke: "Zipu only cherishes talents? ”

"Go back to the emperor. Slaves are indeed out of cherishing talents. Mu Zhang'a said in a deep voice: "Yi Zhizhi is a rare economic talent, Yuan Qi now has a faint tail momentum, Yi Zhi is young and young, if he continues to serve as the treasurer of Yuan Qi, the slave is afraid that he will go astray." ”

After being silent for a long time, Daoguang spoke: "The issuance of treasury bonds, you can't let Yi Zhizhi handle it in Beijing, right?" ”

Mu Zhang'a bowed slightly and said: "Although the treasury is empty, there are still thirty or forty million silver deposits, even if the southeast mobilizes troops, it is enough to deal with it, and the slaves secretly think that there is no need to issue treasury bonds." ”

Daoguang's original intention of issuing treasury bonds was not to deal with the use of troops in the southeast, he subconsciously did not realize that there would be a big war in the southeast, and he sent Qi Shan to Guangzhou to negotiate, hoping to eliminate the possibility of large-scale wars through negotiations, and his original intention was to take advantage of the emptiness of Yuanqi Bank to drain Yuanqi's cash to greatly weaken Yuanqi's strength.

After learning that England had a large increase in troops, he pushed the boat down the river and issued treasury bonds to solve the expenses of using troops in the southeast. Not to mention anything else, it is difficult to predict how much silver will be needed in this war in the southeast.

In fact, Daoguang knew very well in his heart that the other party was against the issuance of treasury bonds, and he was still against war at the root, and he groaned slightly, and then he said slowly: "I am not willing to go to war with England, and you have also read the conditions proposed by England, not to mention the latter ones, just the two items of land reparations, if I want to allow it, I will inevitably bear the infamy of the ages." ”

Hearing this, Mu Zhang'a could sit still, and quickly got up and knelt down and said: "It is a great shame to pay compensation for the land cution, and it must not be allowed, and the slave secretly thinks that since the main purpose of England is to open up my Daqing market and get rid of the economic crisis, it is completely possible to negotiate with the other party on this condition." ”

"I have the same intentions." Daoguang said: "I want to promote Yi Zhixin to be the superintendent of Jiang Customs, to assist Qishan in negotiating with Yingyi, if I can not fight, it is naturally the best, and I am not afraid to fight." ”

At dusk, Yi Zhicontent, who had been wandering around for most of the day, sneaked into the backyard of the 'Matou Inn' through the back door like a thief, and as soon as he entered the yard, he saw Li Wang, and he asked, "No guests, right?" ”

"No, they're all gone." Li Wang smiled: "However, the post has received a lot. ”

Entering the room, Yi Zhizu looked at the thick stack of posts slightly, and saw the banquets of the prince, the county king, Baylor, and the Beizi Mansion, he couldn't help but smile secretly, and really gave him face, and then turned down, there were some unfamiliar officials, and at the bottom were some Guangdong guild halls, chambers of commerce, and merchants' name stickers.

The little girl Jin Ying came in with a basin of water, and when she saw that he was looking through the post, she pursed her lips and smiled: "Our young master's face is really big, as soon as he arrives in Beijing, those princes and county kings Baylor are all vying for a banquet." ”

Yi Zhishu casually threw the stack of posts on the table, and said with a smile: "It's not that your young master has a big face, it's the face of silver, and everyone is here for Yuanqi's silver." ”

"Oh?" Jin Ying said curiously: "Is it difficult for them to dare to force evil?" ”

"People are also relatives of the clan, how can eating elephants be so ugly." Yi Zhixiang said slowly: "However, what they have is the means. As he spoke, he took the towel and wiped his face, and then ordered: "There is no good banquet, they all refuse, and no one is seen, so I said that the young master I am busy writing excerpts and can't spare time." ”

Li Wang listened to it for a while, and hesitated: "Young master, those are all princes or something." ”

"Don't be afraid, the emperor will support us." Yi Zhishu said and ordered, "Get some food." ”

After a hasty dinner, Yi Zhizhi stuffed himself in the room, crooked on the kang and meditated, Daoguang summoned for two days in a row, he basically said what he should say, but Daoguang's mind made him think through, thinking back to the situation of these two summons, Daoguang almost did not say anything, but he was almost trembling.

The emperor's mind is difficult to fathom, this is normal, however, from the normal situation, after Daoguang learned the true situation of Yingli, it stands to reason that he should try to avoid war with Yingjili, but the negotiation conditions proposed by Yingli are very harsh, for Daoguang, this is a very difficult choice, fight, not win, not fight, and lose power and humiliate the country.

In the final analysis, the initiative of the war is not in the hands of England, but in the hands of Daoguang.

The southeast is not better than the northwest, the northwest war, can not shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, with the support of the southeast wealth, the Qing Dynasty is not afraid of fighting in the northwest at all, but the southeast war, but have to be cautious, the southeast erosion, the foundation of the Qing Dynasty will be shaken, if the British army in the southeast for two or three years, the Qing Dynasty's finances must collapse.

But if you don't fight, you can't do it, England has increased its troops on a large scale, after the arrival of reinforcements, the British army is full of confidence, and it will not give in easily, and it is easy to say that it is easy to cut the land, and it is a big deal to imitate Macao, and lease Hong Kong to England, after all, there is a precedent for leasing Macao, and it is not too difficult to accept, the key is reparations, for England, war reparations are international practice, but for the Qing Dynasty, this is absolutely intolerable.

Another key is the crow. Piece trade, this war was actually provoked because of the ban on smoking, and through negotiations, it is absolutely impossible to stop the crows. The slice trade, on the contrary, will also stimulate the crows. The smuggling of pieces, which is also unacceptable to Daoguang, is not a shame-damaging thing, Crow. If the piece trade cannot be curbed, the outflow of silver from the Qing Dynasty cannot be curbed, and the Qing Dynasty will face a shortage of money, which is a more difficult problem.

According to his advice, fight first and then caress later, first of all, it is difficult to grasp this measure, who knows how long the British army will be able to hold out? Furthermore, what would happen if the British continued to increase their troops? The imperial court must not let the southeast be ruined by war! Well, with the financial resources of the imperial court, how long can the war be sustained?

Difficult! Difficult! Difficult! Yi Zhizu sat up and slowly lit a cigar, I don't know how entangled Daoguang should be in his heart now, if he didn't come to Jingshi to tell the truth about Yingli, I'm afraid that Daoguang's life in the dark would be better, at least not so entangled.

The next morning, Daoguang summoned Yi Zhifen again, still in Xinuan Pavilion, and after Yi Zhizhi saluted, Daoguang said very simply: "Sit." ”

Seeing that he sat down as soon as he came, Yi Zhizhi secretly wondered in his heart, this is another posture of long talk, but the problem is that what should be said is basically said, what else is there to talk about?

After he sat down, Daoguang spoke: "Guangdong Navy Ammunition Bureau, I heard that it can already make flowering bombs, and the gunpowder produced is no different from Western gunpowder?" ”

Is this the rhythm of the main battle? Yi Zhixiang secretly thought in his heart, and hurriedly bowed and said: "Back to the emperor, it is true, the Ammunition Bureau has introduced a full set of machinery and equipment from Citigroup for the manufacture of gunpowder and shells, and the output of gunpowder is now growing steadily, and there is no problem at all in supplying the Guangdong Eight Banners Green Battalion, but the output of flowering shells is not high, and it cannot be supplied in large quantities." ”

Daoguang looked at him and said, "What about the artillery?" ”

"Back to the emperor." Yi Zhicontent said cautiously: "The machines used to manufacture artillery in the West are regarded as highly confidential by England, Citigroup, France and other countries, and they refuse to sell them to the outside world.

At present, Guangzhou cannot manufacture large-caliber iron cannons, only small-caliber copper cannons, and because of the limited copper materials, the output is not large. ”

"Where's the gunner?" Daoguang said: "I heard that the Guangdong Navy Division has hired Western artillery instructors to train gunners, and I also want to train gunners for the Zhejiang Green Battalion. ”

"Back to the emperor, this is indeed the case." Yi Zhizhi said: "Wechen specially hired a group of retired artillery instructors from Citigroup with a high salary to train gunners for Humen Fort, and at present, Guangdong sailors can train a large number of professional gunners. (To be continued.) )