Time turns, the little eunuch who used to be smiling in the preface of Emperor Xianfeng has finally become the chief eunuch who is silent and doesn't say a word, Gao Xinkui saw Ruyi's appearance, smiled slightly, and didn't say much, turned his head and motioned for the two subordinates to follow, crossed the high threshold of the Qinzheng Palace, and arrived in the Dongnuan Pavilion, Su Rili summoned Gao Xinkui and others were in the grass, where it was elegant and pure, and it was not as depressing and solemn as the Qinzheng Palace, but today the Queen Mother did not move the place, but just saw Gao Xinkui and the three ≥people in the Dongnuan Pavilion.

Gao Xinkui and the three of them knelt down to say goodbye, Ruyi let the three of them get up, still knelt on the ground and replied, the queen mother's voice behind the bead curtain was tired, "How is the matter?" ”

"Yes," Gao Xinkui said the errands he had done these days and the next plans one by one, and when Gao Xinkui finished speaking, he asked the first two subordinates in charge of the Shengping Administration and the Information Agency to pick up the missing and fill in the gaps, the Queen Mother nodded, picked up the paper and pen in the middle of the throne and wrote a few sentences, "There are other errands, the Information Agency has to prepare a special topic, well, just write about the species and fashion of foreign inflows into China since the Han, Tang and Ming dynasties, and then talk about how these things have changed China. It always has to be fresh and lively. Shengping Department, when to go out, the worship skills in the garden are exquisite, the people in the palace are the first few times a year, set a charter, let them go out to perform, An Dehai said once, said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs runs a big theater, I see that this action is good, but it is a little faster, but you can put it in the martyr's shrine on a regular basis, stage the legend of the martyrs and other plays, and let the heroes, these two things, you go to do it, always, not afraid of no novelty, just afraid of sticking to the rules, okay, go down. ”

The Empress Dowager quickly sent two subordinates, leaving only Gao Xinkui alone, Gao Xinkui was silent, kneeling on the mat with her head bowed straight, the Empress Dowager Cixi sighed slightly, stood up from behind the bead curtain, and the silent An Dehai hurriedly held on, the Empress Dowager Cixi walked to the kang next to the emperor's throne, the palace maids served tea, and the Empress Dowager waved her hand, "Get up." He took half a sip of the bowl, his face was tired, and he closed his eyes for a while before he said to Gao Xinkui: "I discussed a lot of things just now, but unfortunately few of them were successful." ”

"One of them must be the Nanyang Sailor proposed by Zuo Zongtang." Gao Xinkui replied with his hand down.

"The people who are inside and outside the border should be pulled down and killed," the Queen Mother said disdainfully, "There is no conclusion on anything, the people below all know, but that's it, this matter was not originally from the secret decree, not from the secret decree, naturally everyone knows, why do you think this matter is not possible?" ”

"It must be that the military aircraft ministers feel that the finance and taxes are insufficient," Gao Xinkui said quietly, "not enough to support another fleet, since the establishment of the Beiyang Naval Division in the old years, in addition to the cost of training sailors and opening schools, we have set up an annual contract of 10 million taels with foreigners, although we have not purchased them every year in the past few years, but the annual cost of arms for warships and sailors is between 8 million and 9 million taels, not including the cost of privately supplying and supplying the Sailor School in Shanghai, in addition to the annual fixed cost of purchasing arms for the Eight Banners of Hegong and 100 officials, Over the years, there has been an extra cost for the army to counterbalance the rebellion, and there is one less money for donations," Gao Xinkui's face was very strange, "In this way, the household department can't come up with extra money, and besides, the center's point of view is that the northern Xinjiang can be pacified, and the land of the South Seas, if there is a sailor, it is naturally the best, and if the two are compared, it is naturally more critical to the North Ocean." ”

"Don't do it again!" The Empress Dowager Cixi said categorically, "No matter how much money this money is, I can't start this again, if it goes on like this, there will never be peace!" ”

In the late Qing Dynasty, the main channel for entering officialdom, in addition to the imperial examination, was a candidate.

On August 24, the 32nd year of Guangxu, Shanghai's "Declaration" published an article entitled "Recent Investigation of the Official Registers", saying:

Recently, the Ministry of Officials has sent various departments to compile the titles and names of registered candidates, totaling more than 257,400 people, who are not yet registered, and there are also many talents in Chinese officialdom.

If the data in the article is accurate, it shows that there were 257,400 people in the reserve team of officialdom in the late Qing Dynasty, not including those who did not register.

It stands to reason that as a reserve force of officials, under normal circumstances, the number of officials should be the number of officials in order to estimate whether the ratio between the two is appropriate. According to statistics, the number of officials in the late Qing Dynasty was about 40,000. According to this figure, the number of alternate officers should be more than six times the official establishment, which is a staggering number.

In the late Qing Dynasty, why was the candidate army so vast and huge? One of the main reasons for this is the Qing government's donation policy.

In fact, it is an unreasonable but legal act of the government to openly buy and sell officials in order to increase fiscal revenue. (To be continued......)