The Cixi in front of her was the same as even Shang's evaluation, and as soon as she heard Yang Xingguo ask her for silver, her face became unpleasant. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The observant Hubu Shangshu hurriedly stood up and explained to Yang Xingguo: "Chief Yang Bing, I can't hide it, and the court has no money. Not to mention millions of taels of silver, even 300,000 taels of silver, the imperial court can't come out! ”

Soon after the imperial court collected the taxes, there was no silver, and Yang Xingguo did not believe the answer to the Hubu Shangshu.

At this time, Cixi may have felt that it was too unkind to refuse like this.

As the old saying goes, if you want a horse cannon but don't want the horse to graze, even if Yang Xingguo has no opinions on the surface, when he really arrives on the battlefield, no one dares to guarantee that Yang Xingguo will not drop the chain.

Therefore, as soon as Hubu Shangshu finished speaking, Cixi followed, and she still looked righteous and awe-inspiring.

"Of course, no matter how much money the court has, it can't hurt the front-line soldiers. The mourning family decided to transfer 200,000 taels of silver from various departments to the Liaodong Army. Once the Japanese army launches an attack, the Liaodong Army must stop the Japanese attack at all costs! ”

"Cixi, this old woman is really embarrassed to say it!" Yang Xingguo secretly slandered in his heart.

In Yang Xingguo's view, no matter how much Cixi deducts it, she will give herself two or three percent of the silver for the sake of doing things for the imperial court. Unexpectedly, Cixi only gave herself less than one percent of the silver as soon as she opened her mouth.

Hearing this result, Yang Xingguo wanted to scold. But thinking that such a good situation today should not be ruined by his own words, Yang Xingguo finally held back.

Besides, don't give up 200,000 taels of silver in vain, and I didn't pay anything anyway.

Not only that, in addition to the 200,000 taels of silver that Cixi Bai gave him, he also prepared a backhand, otherwise Yang Xingguo would not have taken such a big risk to enter Beijing.

Thinking of this, Yang Xingguo hurriedly thanked him: "Empress Dowager Xie, the last general must make good use of these 200,000 taels of silver!" ”

Speaking of this, Yang Xingguo's tone changed and he continued: "However, compared with the three million taels of silver needed by the Liaodong Army, these two hundred thousand taels of silver can't solve the problem at all. ”

"Of course, the last general also knows the difficulties of the imperial court, so the imperial court can support the last general with 200,000 taels of silver, and the last general is already very happy!"

"However, after all, the silver gap is still so big, in order to keep the Liaodong Army from falling into chaos because of the pension, the last general has an idea here to solve a lot of silver, please approve the Queen Mother!"

"Tell me about it!" After saying 200,000 taels of silver, Cixi was also a little embarrassed, after all, the gap in the middle was too big. So as soon as Yang Xingguo's words came out, she asked.

"The last general heard that the imperial court was forming new armies in the provinces and buying weapons from abroad. The last general had 80,000 Japanese rifles and 18,000,000 rounds of ammunition captured from the Japanese army, and if the imperial court had purchased them directly from the Japanese, it would have required at least 3,500,000 taels of silver. Considering the financial difficulties of the imperial court, the minister only needed 2.8 million taels to let the last general have the money to pay pensions to the soldiers who died in the Liaodong Army. No matter how low it is, it won't work, after all, these rifles are all exchanged for the names of those who died in battle. ”

As soon as Yang Xingguo's words came out, many people in the court stared at Yang Xingguo with bright eyes, and Cixi was no exception.

Shangshu of the Ministry of War, who was quite familiar with weapons, was the first to stand up and question Yang Xingguo: "Chief soldier Yang, everything you said is true, all the 80,000 rifles are the new rifles that the Japanese army is equipped with now, not the old-fashioned rifles that they have eliminated and replaced. “

Yang Xingguo nodded in affirmation: "All the 80,000 rifles were captured from the Japanese army, and all of them are new. Not only that, but about 20,000 of them were new guns that had just been equipped with the troops! ”

Seeing Yang Xingguo so sure, the military department Shangshu immediately said to Cixi: "Queen Mother, 80,000 new rifles, even if we want to buy them, the Japanese will not sell them to us." Even if the Japanese agreed, with Lao Chen's understanding of the Japanese, he would definitely not be able to take it without four million taels of silver. ”

"If General Yang was really willing to sell these weapons to the imperial court at a price of 2.8 million taels of silver, the imperial court would not only save 1.2 million taels of silver, but also get 80,000 new rifles that could not be bought. This definitely has a great effect on improving the combat effectiveness of the imperial army. ”

In the case of the expansion of the new army in various provinces, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang New Army is also expanding its army on a large scale.

For these rifles, Yuan Shikai is also very jealous.

Although he was very dissatisfied with Yang Xingguo's resolution of the crisis in Beijing so quickly, he also knew that he was helping Yang Xingguo by opening his mouth in the court to facilitate this transaction. But the temptation of 80,000 rifles was too great for Yuan Shikai, forcing him to give up his immediate grievances to help his potential opponents and enemies.

After many people in the court stood up and hoped that the court would agree to this deal, the red-eyed Yuan Shikai also stood up and said to Cixi.

"Queen Mother, the old minister is willing to take out 700,000 taels of silver from the military expenses of the Beiyang New Army to buy 20,000 rifles and 4.5 million rounds of ammunition from General Yang Bing!"

Yuan Shikai's words undoubtedly reminded many generals in the court that even if the court did not agree to this transaction, he could use military funds to buy directly from the Liaodong Army.

After all, the opportunity to buy such a good rifle so cheaply, if you miss it, you won't have it.

Soon, you 200,000 taels, and I will divide up the 80,000 rifles in Yang Xingguo's hands with 100,000 taels.

As for Cixi, who has not spoken, she also wants to buy some rifles to equip her own forbidden army. But Cixi was reluctant to give up the silver, and seeing that 80,000 rifles were divided up by the princes from all walks of life, Cixi's face slowly became embarrassed.

However, all the princes of all walks of life are not easy to mess with, even if they are the rulers of the Great Qing Kingdom.

Therefore, even if Cixi, who also wanted to buy weapons, was dissatisfied, he could only suppress his dissatisfaction in the bottom of his heart.

When Yang Xingguo dealt with these princes, a pair of eyes did not leave Cixi.

In order to completely eliminate Cixi's suspicions about herself and the Liaodong Army, and give the Liaodong Army a longer time for peaceful development.

After dealing with the generals who held military power from all walks of life, Yang Xingguo immediately stood up and said: "Queen Mother, the last general heard that the Queen Mother's forbidden army still lacks a lot of weapons. Before entering Beijing, the last general had prepared 5,000 new guns and 1 million rounds of ammunition equipped by the Japanese army, which were sent to the imperial court for free to equip the new army and protect the queen mother! ”

Cixi's eyes lit up, and she replied with great satisfaction: "Good! Yang Aiqing is worthy of being a loyal minister of the imperial court, a blessed general of the imperial court, Aiqing, your heart, mourning the family! ”

In addition, in order to relieve Yang Aiqing's worries, he led the Liaodong Army to repel a possible attack by the Japanese army with peace of mind. The mourning family granted the title of Yang Aiqing as the governor of Liaodong. Defend Liaodong for the imperial court and guard the gates! (To be continued.) )