Eunuchs who traveled through the Qing Dynasty

Things did go as expected by Prince Gong. As soon as the memorial of "Please hold the first bike race around the city in the Qing Dynasty" was published, there was an uproar in the court. With tears in his eyes, he shouted loudly: "You are corrupt, you are insulting to the state, you are corrupting people's hearts, and the country is in danger."The sound of denunciation almost lifted the top of the court.Prince Gong brought his confidantes in the military aircraft department, including Wen Xiang, Bao Jun, Cao Yuying, Zhu Xueqin, Shen Zhaolin, etc., as well as his father-in-law, Wen Xiang, who really "confronted thousands of husbands with cold eyebrows", and fought with each other.It's a pity that Li Ran's idea is really too bad, even Prince Gong and the others feel that they don't have much confidence. It is obvious that they have committed public anger, and those old and important officials who have provoked are all angry, stomping their feet and beating their chests. If they were not afraid of being scared The empress dowagers of the two palaces and the little emperor, who was only six years old, probably couldn't keep up with each other in the court, and they would have to copy them by hand.

Contrary to the reactions of the ministers, the empress dowagers of the two palaces remained calm.Cixi watched the debates of the ministers with great interest, and chose to watch from the sidelines; Ci'an had obtained Xiao Ran's instruction in advance, and only quietly recorded the list of those ministers who opposed it.The whole debate was noisy all afternoon, but there was no result in the debate.Yi then announced an adjournment for the next day.

And at this time, Xiao Ran was leisurely admiring flowers and drinking tea in Zhongcui Palace with his legs crossed.After leaving court, Ci'an handed over the list of ministers who opposed him to Xiao Ran, but still worried: "Little Sanzi, can you really make them change their minds?"

"Why, don't you believe me? When did I say big things?" Xiao Ran said with a smile.

"Stop talking!" Ci'an thumped him coquettishly, "Look, almost three-quarters of the ministers opposed it, and all of them seemed to be eating weights. I think they are ironclads this time. I'm determined to oppose it to the end. To be honest, I really can't believe it when you say that you can make them change their minds immediately."

"It's a bit bragging to make them all change their minds. But I can guarantee that by tomorrow, at least half of the people will change their votes." Xiao Ran looked confident, rolled his eyes, and suddenly said solemnly: "Sister, if you If you don't believe me, let's make a bet."

"What are you gambling?"

"If you lose..." Xiao Ran chuckled, and whispered a few words in Ci'an's ear.Ci'an jumped up immediately, blushing, raised the tuanxiu fan in his hand and clapped.Xiao Ran was clever, he laughed and ran away.

Strange to say, the next morning, the wind turned 180 degrees.Those ministers who were the most vocal opponents yesterday turned their backs one after another, including the university scholar Woren who scolded the loudest and cried the most fiercely. , citing classics, talking eloquently, and finally determined that doing a good job in the first bicycle race around the city is actually "the most important task of the country's prosperity and the foundation of national rejuvenation". A pioneer of Westernization.What happened was that Prince Gong, Wen Xiang, Cao Yuying and the others were stunned and looked at each other in blank dismay.Yesterday, they got together and stayed up all night until their eyes were red, and finally put together a sub-argument draft, and he rushed to finish talking about his feelings.No way?Obviously it is an infringement!Is it possible that this guy saw the stolen post?

Although there are still some ministers who oppose it, it is so insignificant compared with the voices in favor at this time.Prince Gong and the Empress Dowagers of the Two Palaces were wondering, could it be that the big earthquake in the capital yesterday broke the brains of these people?Or it just rained heavily, flooding their brains with water!Only Ci'an was secretly thinking: this little third son, unexpectedly has such great abilities!I don't know what kind of despicable tricks this bad guy used this time?

His natural methods are as despicable as his behavior.

As soon as I returned to the Xiao Mansion yesterday, I took out the secret letters copied from Sushun that day, compared them with the list recorded by Ci'an, and found a large number of courtiers who had secretly communicated with Sushun before. .In fact, this is also a reasonable thing. Among the courtiers that day, except for the power of Prince Gong, almost all of Sushun ruled the world. This time, those who blatantly opposed Prince Gong were naturally the original minions of the Su Party, including the Zuodu Censor. , University scholar Woren is the number one hidden deepest.Now that Sushun had been beheaded for the crime of treason, these secret letters would naturally become rebellious, at least accomplices.With this handle, who would dare not submit obediently?

Immediately ordered someone to transcribe the secret letters one by one, and sent them to the houses of those ministers overnight.That night, although there were no turmoil and turmoil in the capital, there were indeed countless courtiers who could not sleep at night and were terrified. They were more panicked than when the British and French allied forces attacked Beijing.When they went to court the next day, nearly half of them had red eyeballs and two big dark circles on their faces.Although Wuren is stubborn and pedantic, it is a matter of his own wealth and life after all. Of course, he must turn his guns around and give those ministers who intend to obstruct him a good refutation.

The secret letters sent by Xiao Ran are all anonymous, but everyone knows that there are very few people who can get in touch with such absolutely confidential letters.The copying of Su's mansion that day was done by Xiao Ran and Rong Lu. One was a close confidant of the Eastern Empress Dowager, and the other was an old lover of the Western Empress Dowager, so they made an impression on the ministers.It was Ci'an and Cixi, the two young widows, who were really determined to govern the two palaces together and govern the government together.People who were still a little worried about Prince Gong's behavior of controlling the military aircraft and upholding the principles of government, gradually calmed down at this time.But no one knew that all of this was written by Xiao Ran.

The first bicycle race around the city in the Qing Dynasty was agreed upon.Ten days after the edict was issued, the competition opened on time.

At this moment, Xiao Ran was busy hitting the back of his head.Although the North Korea-China issue has been resolved, there is still a lot of work to be done.First of all, a thorny issue is the attitude of the people in the capital towards this matter.

He can control the attitude and position of the government through a series of means; but the psychology and speech of the people cannot be controlled by him alone.When Dai Tong rode his bicycle on the street for the first time, it could be seen from the reactions of the people in the city that he was under the rule of the ignorant feudal system.Under the consistent policy of closing the country to the outside world, the common people's resistance to new things has already been deeply rooted.In contrast, this made Xiao Ran feel more headache and helpless than the ignorance of those ministers.

What he needs now is to create a sensation among the people in the capital through this bicycle movement, so that everyone can accept and recognize bicycles as "demons and monsters" in the shortest possible time.If things go wrong this time, it will not only directly affect the sales of bicycles, but even affect the rise and promotion of Westernization in the future.Therefore, this time around the city, Xiao Ran felt the pressure he had never felt before.

After careful consideration, Xiao Ran decided to use the signboard of "Happy with the people".Divide the competition into two groups: the big and small officials in the capital headed by King Gong are classified as the ministers and workers group; the other group is completely selected from the common people.This time Xiao Ran spent all his money, and the ministerial team set up an award.As long as you enter the top ten, your salary will increase by one level, the top three will be rewarded with yellow jackets, No. 1 will be promoted by two levels of rank, and those who already have princes and titles will be given the title of "hereditary non-replacement"; All people, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity, can sign up.Finalists will receive ten taels of silver as a reward.A total of 120 contestants were selected, No.1 to No.3, with awards ranging from 500 taels to 50 taels respectively.

Once the news was announced, it was like dropping a heavy bomb in the huge city of Beijing.Ten taels of silver.It is the livelihood of a small family for two or three years; and 500 taels of white money is simply a windfall!Anyway, there is no registration fee, who can guarantee that luck will come to you inadvertently?What kind of demons and monsters, ancestor etiquette, in front of Yinzi, everything can't be taken care of!All of a sudden, all men, women and children in Beijing came out of the nest, but all those who had grown two legs, ranging from eighty-year-old women to young children, came to sign up one after another.

The organizing committee of this competition is composed of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.In the four urban areas of east, west, south, and north, sub-stations for sea elections have been set up.Since Xiao Ran has no experience in such activities, he adopts open registration without any rules and regulations, so that the order of the four sub-stations was out of control for a while, and there were even congestion and stampede accidents of varying degrees in the southern and western districts. order.Seeing the crowded registration site, Xiao Ran couldn't help but flirt: Damn, the auditions for supergirls and good boys in later generations are nothing compared to ours?Look at our event planning, it's at the same level, if you don't want to be the chairman of the Olympic Committee, it's a waste!

At the same time, quite a few of those well-educated gentlemen in the capital jumped out and shouted loudly, angrily denouncing this practice as "violating etiquette and immoral morals", and even mobilized some sages and gentlemen to jointly write a letter.But the scholars at that time were only a very small number after all. In this unprecedented upsurge of sea elections, it was a little bit different.

.Power, no hope of being shortlisted in the audition, just jealous.

Those who lost the election are holding their breath, especially this time, with the support of the government, they are more and more angry at these old pedants.The schools with the loudest voices of opposition were beaten, smashed and robbed one after another. Seeing that they had committed public outrage, who would dare to fart again for a group of Taoist teachers who usually puffed up their chests?

After several rounds of audition, 120 talented contestants were freshly released.And up to this time, more than [-] bicycles have been produced one after another.In the next few days, Xiao Ran took the lead in person, and called the participating ministers and civilians together for unified training on riding bicycles.Originally, Prince Gong refused to participate in the competition even if he was beaten to death, mainly because he couldn't afford to lose that person, but Xiao Ran's eyes glared and his brow broke out in cold sweat.

Bicycles are so simple to say the least.After a few days of training, everyone is riding well.Ten days passed in a blink of an eye, and it was the day of the competition. Early in the morning, the capital was full of gongs and drums, firecrackers, red flags, and crowds of people.That scene was really quite lively.The pre-planned and carefully repaired competition route was maintained by the imperial army along the way, but it still couldn't stop the turbulent people who came to watch the excitement.

At three o'clock in the morning, university scholars Jia and Zhou Zupei, accompanied by the Minister of Rites Zhou Wen, cut the ribbon for the opening of the first bicycle competition around the city in the Qing Dynasty.With the sound of a cannon, the civilian group competition started first. The 120 bicycles rushed out like the wind, and the 120 racers pulled their braids straight behind their heads. They only felt a flash before their eyes, and they had already flashed away. The speed was astounding.In the eyes of the people in the Qing Dynasty, it was simply the possession of gods and the coming of Buddha.Compared with this thing with two wheels, what kind of Luchitu and Hoofed Crow are like 80-year-old toothless old ladies!Even Sun Houzi's somersault cloud is nothing more than that, right?

In particular, these contestants are all selected from civilians, and they are all living people around them.When I first saw this "bicycle" that could run with two wheels, I thought it was a monster and evil method. Now it seems that it can be easily manipulated by people. Seeing it with my own eyes, I can't help but admire it from the bottom of my heart.All kinds of weird talk about bicycles in the past disappeared in an instant.

The race route planned this time is about fifteen kilometers long.It would take less than half an hour to run the entire distance on the fastest horse; however, these more than 100 bicycles galloped like flying, and even the last player took less than two quarters of an hour.This result stunned even the officials of the organizing committee.This stuff is amazing!There is no need to feed grass and feed, and you can jump out for a long distance with one kick. If you use this thing to fly the military newspaper, it will take less than a day and a half to reach it in four hundred li urgently!And the cost of this bicycle is about the same as the price of a pair of saddles and rings on the market. With this iron guy, who will ride a horse?

As the first racer crossed the finish line, the crowd of onlookers in the lane suddenly boiled.The shouts were like a tidal wave, flying all the way from the front, sweeping back and forth over the entire Beijing city.The blood in Xiao Ran's body suddenly boiled at this moment!He knew that this competition was a watershed moment, and from this moment on, an era of his own had finally arrived!

The game is not over yet.At this time, Prince Gong had absorbed enough white powder, his clothes and shoes were bright, and he led a group of ministers and riders to make their debut.However, with the sound of a cannon, the bicycle team drove out of the starting point, and everyone was shocked and booed.Even Xiao Ran himself was so angry.

Compared with the enthusiastic atmosphere of the civilian group, the competition in the ministerial group was extremely harmonious.Everyone was riding their bicycles leisurely. That posture was not a competition, it was like going on an outing.Everyone was afraid that they were not riding slowly enough, and they all looked like snails.They are polite and courteous, smiling and greeting each other from time to time.If it weren't for the fact that these guys are the masters of stomping and trembling, they would have already flown over with rotten persimmons and rotten eggs.

Xiao Ran sighed helplessly.In fact, he should have expected this scene a long time ago.Although rewards such as salary increases and rank promotions are not insignificant, for the ministers, this kind of competition has no real meaning.To make a simple analogy: a Kong Mu from the ninth grade, let him ride a bicycle with Prince Gong, even if he can win, he would not dare to borrow ten thousand guts.Therefore, this so-called competition was nothing more than a show for the imperial court, and it was nothing more than an example for the common people.It is estimated that before the start of the competition, everyone already has the top ten candidates in private.

A farce dragged on for nearly two hours before it was over.When Prince Gong Yi came to No.1, he was granted the title of "hereditary non-replacement" and added a political king.

The first bicycle race around the city has been a complete success so far.The expected result has been achieved. Three days later, Tong Ran Tang established a bicycle branch.The first batch of [-] bicycles were sold out as soon as they hit the market.According to the old rules, franchises from other provinces have also started to start, as usual, they are empty-handed white wolves.All of a sudden, franchise contracts and orders from all over the world flew to Yu Lai's desk like snowflakes, and what was delivered was silver like flowing water, which fell into Xiao Ran's pocket continuously.

♂ Volume 8 in the harem ♀

→Chapter 102 - Bold and bold ←

A bicycle competition really caused a huge shock both inside and outside the court. The conservatives who "learn from the barbarians and learn from the west" wisely shut their mouths.Only the outlaw Shouyang Xiangguo Qi Junzao, who has always been the most picky, was so angry that he ran out of the Meridian Gate on a walking stick and cried loudly. Weeping blood, he wrote a memorial, denouncing this practice as "the way of defeating the barbarian Xia." It is against the established law of the ancestors, it is against the system of the Celestial Dynasty, and it is "changing Xia with barbarians".If it was in the past, the group of disciples and old officials would definitely come to support him. Unexpectedly, this time, from morning to noon, no one came to complain about him.The sun in July is very poisonous, and the roasted old man has almost become a "dried meat Xiangguo". He has a cheeky old face and wants to beg for saliva, but he didn't expect those gate guards to ignore him.

The tree fell and the monkeys scattered, it seems that the general situation is really over!Even if it really turned into dried human flesh here, it is estimated that no one will take a look.Qi Junzao was really heartbroken this time, and cried for a long while with snot and tears, but couldn't stand the sun, so he walked away dejectedly.

This incident marked the complete disintegration of the conservative forces, and the Westernization faction officially entered the stage of history.On July 22, Wang Yimen, the highest political institution, handled all external affairs. Simply put, this was the earliest Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China, and Yimen

Subsequently, a drastic reform began.

At the end of July, Jingshi Tongwen Museum began preparations for its opening.This is also the earliest Westernization education activity in China.It is the first bold attempt of the feudal education system that has been followed for thousands of years. In this respect, Xiao Ran, who has received a good modern education for later generations, is a well-deserved expert.Under the planning and guidance of other places, Tongwen Museum hired foreign teachers to teach English, French and Russian.Learning content includes western science and technology knowledge and translation skills.At the same time, a planetarium and a mathematics hall were added to expand the scope of learning Western culture, and everything was implemented in accordance with modern education standards.Xiao Ran also discussed with Yi that after a while, he planned to select outstanding students to study abroad, and to study advanced Western technology in Britain, the United States, and France.

In a sense, Tongwenguan is equivalent to the Ministry of Education of the Qing Dynasty.There is Xiao Ran sitting in charge.Soon came up with a set of detailed education system promotion plan.Of course, under the conditions at the time, it was unrealistic to carry out such activities as eradicating illiteracy, but Xiao Ran firmly believed in such a principle: education must start with children.

Education is fundamental and the cornerstone of a country.In Xiao Ran's concept, education work is equivalent to software and programs, without them, any advanced computer is a pile of scrap iron after all.Therefore, when it came to promoting the new style of education, Xiao Ran simply forgot all his sleep and food, and spared no effort.He firmly believes.It won't be long before these proud people who walk out of Tongwen Museum will make China, the long-sleeping Eastern Sleeping Lion, stand proudly on the top of the world again, and a brand-new Chinese civilization will also rise from now on!

At the same time, the production of bicycles has also reached a new level.Founded a bicycle factory covering an area of ​​nearly [-] square meters in the suburbs of Beijing.It belongs to Tongrantang Company.The factory was headed by Li San, who recruited a large number of technical backbones with high salaries. While producing bicycles, they also improved steel smelting technology.The mining right of Panyang Mine is exclusively bought out by Tongrantang, so that the supply of raw materials can basically be self-sufficient.

The previously invented explosives will finally come into play.Ore is mined at an alarming rate, in addition to meeting production needs.It can also be sold everywhere.While driving the smelting industry, the use of explosives has also stimulated the entire mining industry, and other mines such as stone mines, placer copper mines, etc. have followed suit. For this reason, Xiao Ran has set up a special explosives sales branch.Business is booming.Although workers have been working overtime to produce, explosives are still in short supply.

The health care product factory has now been expanded into a general chemical factory, which consists of two branches: a pharmaceutical factory and a chemical factory.Rolto officially became the factory director. At the same time, he selected outstanding talents from the former health care products factory and set up a scientific research team. Rolto personally led the team to learn chemical knowledge and carry out research and development of chemicals and Western-style medicines.

In the early scientific fields, the boundary between chemistry and physics was not very clear.For example, Rolto is an expert in chemistry and has a wealth of knowledge in physics.So while shouldering his job, Xiao Ran also ordered him, Li San and Dai Tong to set up a special research team to carry out research on new types of power such as generators, electric motors, and steam engines.Li San has a son and a daughter. The son inherits his father's business and is also a good blacksmith. He works as the workshop director of the bicycle factory; the daughter is born in a beautiful place and is about to marry. So, immediately launched a stalking pursuit.It was also a long-term love affair, and he was really captured by this foreign devil. Although Li San's boss was reluctant, Xiao Ran acted as a matchmaker, and the two fell in love with each other.

Getting married, this is a digression.

Things in the factory have been initially straightened out, and Yulai has taken off a large part of the tedious work and devoted himself to business.The previous business areas were all parallel systems. After a period of exploration and summary, they were divided into several large areas, and outstanding personnel were selected from the salesmen as area managers.This pyramid management mode shifts the focus of management downward, and the regional manager can handle emergencies with full authority, which not only reduces the pressure from the rain, but also greatly improves work efficiency.

The focus of Yu Lai's work began to shift to the preparatory work for the Shanghai branch.

Since that Zeng Shuai made this request to Xiao Ran last time, Xiao Ran readily agreed, and Zeng Guofan also believed it and hoped for it.However, during this period of time, I really couldn't concentrate my energy, which caused Zeng Guofan to send two letters to urge him.As for Xiao Ran himself, he also hoped that this matter could be implemented as soon as possible.After all, the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River is full of gold and silver. It is really painful to see that you can't make money in your pocket.

At that time, Shanghai was the largest trading port in the country, where Huayang was mixed, and it was the place where the wealth in the south of the Yangtze River was concentrated.Since the Taiping Army broke the Jiangnan camp twice in the tenth year of Xianfeng, the Qing government had lost its last main force in the entire lower reaches of the Yangtze River.Under the fierce offensive of the Taiping Army, the gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River fled to Shanghai, which was already an isolated island.In order to avoid the catastrophe, the compradors of the gentry in Shanghai prepared the "Sino-Foreign Conference Defense Bureau" and relied on Western mercenaries to protect Shanghai; on the other hand, they went to Anqing to ask Zeng Guofan to send reinforcements.

In order to impress Zeng Guofan, the gentry raised a sum of sky-high military expenses and promised 60 taels of silver per month.For Zeng Guofan, this was indeed a great temptation.At first, Zeng Guofan planned to send his younger brother Zeng Guo to lead the army, but Zeng Guo was determined to attack Tianjing and make the first contribution; in desperation, he negotiated with Li Hongzhang, and Li came forward to form the Huai Army and assist Shanghai in the east.

At the beginning of the establishment of the Huai Army, local regiments based on the three forces of Zhang Shusheng, Zhou Shengbo, and Liu Mingchuan from Sanshan, Xixiang, Hefei were recruited for training, and they went to Anqing for training.At this time, the Huai army had not yet reached Shanghai, and the defeated Taiping army on the Huaihe River and Huaihe River was gathering in Shanghai. Although they were protected by foreign troops hired by the "Chinese and Foreign Council Defense Bureau", they were under guns after all. Very dangerous.According to Yu Lai's plan, he was planning to leave in the near future, but Xiao Ran refused.Making money is important, but no amount of money can buy human life.If something really happened, not to mention that Yu Ting couldn't spare him, how would he make up for the loss of such a powerful general in the business field?

For him, Yulai was irreplaceable by anyone.Therefore, the forced order is controlled by Yulai remotely, and the backbone is selected to go to Shanghai to open a branch.Although Yu Lai was extremely reluctant, he couldn't resist Xiao Ran, so he could only do as he said.The former star salesman named Liu Quan was sent to Shanghai to open a branch.This man is knowledgeable, experienced, and business-minded.It’s rare that he is extremely dedicated. Back then when he ran the franchising business, he had gone through the house instead of taking a risky job. Xiao Ran discussed with Yu Lai and gave him a share in Tongrantang’s Shanghai branch. I didn’t expect Liu Quan to be very principled. , insisting that no merit will be rewarded, and everything will be discussed after the semicolon is profitable.

Compared with the sophistication of the later generations, the people of the Qing Dynasty were of course more serious, but this kind of simplicity and stubbornness made Xiao Ran stand in awe.

Speaking of Yu Lai, I have to talk about my younger sister Xiao Ying. This little girl seems to have really moved her mind. Since she met Yu Lai last time, she seems to be a different person, and her temperament is rare. , quite a bit of a ladylike meaning.It's just that every time I saw Xiao Ran, I would pester him to ask about some business matters without saying a few words.In fact, what she really wants to ask, no one knows very well.And Yu Lai started to run around Wang Xiao's mansion every three days, under various banners, such as visiting his sister, reporting work, and so on.

Yu Ting was the first to see the signs, and secretly discussed with Xiao Ran.In fact, such things as changing relatives have existed since ancient times, and it is also a matter of great joy for everyone.After discussing it, Yulai was specially called to the mansion this day, and Xiao Yushi was asked to guard it.In the end, the old lady and all the wives agreed that Fang Yulai was a good comrade.Especially when she heard that such a young and handsome guy was able to handle such a big business, the old lady was so happy from ear to ear, as if she had picked a big gold ingot.

Yu Ting and her sister also had no parents, so Xiao Ran immediately acted as a matchmaker. The two parties exchanged their birthdays, and the marriage was considered settled.Xiao Ran suffered a big loss this time, he had to prepare two gifts: one was for his younger sister's dowry, and the other was for his brother-in-law.