I am rich in martial arts, but choose culture to win

Morishita looked back at Ito Hirobumi, who was still shocked by a series of information, and looked dazed, and sighed softly:

"Fortunately, you are 1.6 meters. If you are shorter, you will not be allowed to become a Ming citizen. Well, you have to write a letter to the Long Live Lord when you go back. Japanese people who are less than 1 meters in length will not be allowed to become a Daming citizen unless they made major invention contributions. If you want to get married, you need to make further contributions, um, let's do it like this!"

Thinking of this, Morishita hurried towards the office, preparing to write a memorial.

[Note: It is not surprising that Morishita has such extreme thoughts. Historically, the Meiji government had carried out forced sterilization of "degenerate families".

Such operations by North American anti-human genocide gangs are even more commonplace.The U.S. government used the Indian Health Service (IHS) to sterilize Indian women. After World War II, the U.S. government also planned to sterilize Germans, but it was not implemented due to the Cold War. The scandal of Latino women being forced to have their wombs removed.

For such anti-human behavior, the author Zun strongly condemns, and Morishita's remarks do not represent the author Zun's position! ]

Chapter 165 Meeting "Li Zhongtang" for the First Time in Shanghai

The second year of Dewu in the Ming Dynasty, April 1864, 4, Shanghai.

A middle-aged man with a goatee is currently listening to an opera with his eyes closed in a small courtyard in the south of the Yangtze River.

"In order to save Li Lang from his home, who would have expected to be number one in the imperial list..."

In the yard, the babbling Huangmei Opera and Huiqu made the servants passing by in the corridor unable to help but slow down.

Suddenly, a 25-year-old young scholar walked into the yard with small steps, and quietly walked behind the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man seemed to have eyes behind his back, and while swaying slightly to the beat of Huangmei Opera, he said, "Yushan, have things been settled?"

"Ming Gong, the students are not doing well..."

The young man sighed and said, "I never thought that Gordon would be so greedy that he would say that 7 yuan is not enough to show his sincerity..."

"It's okay, I'm not afraid that Yang Yi doesn't love money, as long as he loves money, things will be easy!"

The middle-aged man stood up, straightening his body slightly, with a refined and upright appearance.

This person is none other than Li Hongzhang, Li Zhongtang, the prime minister of the late Qing Dynasty who had spent his whole life pasting window paper for the Qing Dynasty.

Standing beside him is his number one confidant, who has been by his side since the establishment of the Huai Army when recruiting troops in Anqing, and Zhou Fu and Zhou Yushan who will be "40 years of wind and rain Longmen" in the future.

Of course, today's Li Hongzhang is not Zhongtang, but after nearly [-] years of hard work in the officialdom, Li Hongzhang is no longer a small fish.

Three years ago, Li Hongzhang relied on the Luzhou regiment to form the Huai Army, which was highly valued by Zeng Guofan and gave him key support.

Last year, the Shanghai gentry spent 18 taels of silver and hired seven British merchant ships to transport the Huai army into Shanghai in batches by land and water.

However, the Huai army who arrived in Shanghai disappointed the Shanghai people.

Because compared with the Western army, the people of Shanghai "all laughed at the Huai army as beggars."

After all, regional discrimination against the interior and obedience to the outside world are also ancestral skills of some Chinese people.

But after all, he is a famous official of a generation, regardless of whether Li Hongzhang's merits or demerits are right or wrong, he still has some means.

A few months ago, the Huai army fought three fierce battles in Hongqiao, Beixinjing, and Sijiangkou, repelling the Taiping army and other anti-Qing forces, and successfully defending Shanghai, which also gained a certain reputation.

Zeng Guofan also took the opportunity to recommend Li Hongzhang as the governor of Jiangsu and the Minister of Commerce of the Five Ports, and he was in the limelight in southern Jiangsu for a while.

The so-called "five ministers of trade and commerce" cannot be appointed unless they are "great talents in foreign affairs", but in fact, Li Hongzhang at this time was not familiar with Westernization.

But there is no way, with the erosion of the two rivers, the older generation such as Wu Jianzhang and other "common foreign talents" were severely injured by forces such as the Small Sword Society, and now the Qing court has almost no one available.

More than once, the Qing court instructed the governor of Liangjiang and Li Hongzhang, the governor of Jiangsu, to dig out more Shanghai officials and local businessmen who are good at dealing with foreigners and who are well versed in "the way of controlling barbarians", and entrust them with important positions.

Prince Gong Yixin, the Prime Minister’s Minister of State Affairs and Yamen Management, also known as Guiziliu, pointed out more than once: “Now the overall situation of Fuyi is controlled in Shanghai, not in Tianjin.” Agree, then act."

In a word, in Shanghai, diplomacy is no small matter, and everything must be taken seriously. We must not offend foreigners, let alone lure their warships to Tianjin!

However, Li Hongzhang seemed to have run out of good luck this time, and did not follow Yi Jinjin's instructions.

He had just taken office as Minister of Commerce of the Five Ports, but because of the "Suzhou Killing and Surrender" incident, he had a conflict with Gordon, the leader of the Changsheng Army (the former foreign gun team, composed of local hooligans).

Of course, Gordon didn't really sympathize with the Taiping Army who were killed by Li Hongzhang after being lured into surrender by Suzhou Mansion, but this did not prevent this guy from taking this opportunity to attack, accusing the Huai Army of being dishonest and not meeting the standards of civilized people.

If it was another foreigner, Li Hongzhang, who had just come into contact with foreign things, might not know his way, and he might really think that the other party was a gentleman who paid attention to human rights.

But Gordon, and Li Hongzhang, his ever-victorious army, couldn't be more familiar with him.

The three leaders of the Ever-Victorious Army were more greedy than the other. Looting was commonplace, and they even robbed the Qing army of their pay, which can be said to be lawless.

Such a group of people told Li Hongzhang that they would condemn his killing of prisoners on behalf of justice, public order and good morals. Li Hongzhang would not believe it even if he thought with his ass.

Gordon's true meaning is obvious. Li Hongzhang's strategy of inducing surrender objectively made Suzhou City surrender peacefully without bloodshed, and made the Ever Victorious Army lose the opportunity to rob Suzhou City.

The Huai army must compensate for this loss.

So Li Hongzhang sent Zhou Fu to make amends to Gordon.

I just don't know why, that Gordon wanted it in his heart, but his mouth was very strong, which made Li and Tuesday confused for a while.

"Hey, Yushan, call someone to prepare the sedan chair. Let's go to the customs office to ask Mr. Hurd for mediation!"

Li Hongzhang pinched the center of his brows, he deeply felt how important and scarce a master like Wu Jianzhang is!

Fortunately, the court was wise and hired a foreigner to manage the customs, and now it happened to ask him for help.

Shaking his head, Li Hongzhang walked towards the door with his hands behind his back. Zhou Fu ordered his servants to follow quickly.

"By the way, Yushan, I heard that you had an argument with someone in the 'Shuyu' the day before yesterday?" Li Hongzhang asked suddenly.

Hearing this, Zhou Fu's heart skipped a beat, and he said hastily, "Mr. Hui Ming, this is... this is the student's recklessness..."

"Haha, it's okay!"

Li Hongzhang said with a smile, "You are a young man, and now you have no family by your side, so it's normal to go to the book apartment. But Shanghai is a place where fish and dragons are mixed, so you have to be careful when doing business!"

The so-called "Book House" is a brothel, and it is a brothel with a high quality.

After the opening of Shanghai, especially after the military disaster in the south of the Yangtze River, a large number of geisha from Suzhou entered Shanghai.

These people are not only beautiful and delicious, but also proficient in all kinds of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, especially good at playing music, so they are called "school script" or "Mr."

Since Zhou Fu came to Shanghai, he likes to linger in Shuyu for pleasure in his spare time.

And a place like a brothel has been a place where it is easy to get jealous and fight.

Two days ago, Zhou Fu became angry at the book apartment and became a concubine, conflicting with a local businessman in Shanghai.

Now hearing Li Hongzhang's words, Zhou Fu hurriedly said: "Thank you, Mr. Ming, for reminding me. I almost ruined Mr. Ming's important affairs. I really can't redeem myself!"

"You are a soldier, but in the Qing Dynasty, what's the use of just being a soldier? If you want to do things, you must first learn to be an official, and to learn to be an official, you need to be slick and know people."

Li Hongzhang patted his confidant's favorite general on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Now that I and Zeng Shuai are both in charge of the army, it doesn't matter much. The disaster of being decapitated in a different place!"

"But this time, don't worry, I've already had someone find out the heels of that local businessman named Xing Jiuliu. He's just an upstart who opened a cigarette shop. It's really unwise to wrestle with such a person. Next time, don't worry." Don't let women fool you!"

Li Hongzhang's point made Zhou Fu's back sweat, and he secretly made up his mind to control his little sparrow in the future.

But he also felt warm in his heart, knowing that Duke Ming regarded him as his nephew, so he would definitely train him well.

As for the opium dealer named Xing Jiuliu, Zhou Fu knew without asking, that he must have been found guilty and thrown into prison.

No one is a good person these days.

In addition to donations from squires, the military expenditure of the Huai army is also a major source of confiscation of various "thieves".

That Xing Jiuliu, this time, has to be skinned if he doesn't die!

This is also a good opportunity for the Huai army to take the opportunity to beat the businessmen of Shanghai Benbang.

……

Just when Li Hongzhang and others arrived at the customs office, Robert Hurd, the General Taxation Department of the Qing Customs and an Englishman, was entertaining several distinguished guests.

Today, American Minister to China Tian Bei and White House Special Envoy Donald came to visit Hurd.

Although the relationship between Britain and the United States is not good, it is a cooperative relationship in the Far East.

Even last year, the British Concession and the American Concession in Shanghai were merged into the United Concession, and the two sides jointly discussed and managed it.

The arrival of the American Sani Moon caravan brought a large number of American specialties, so it was natural to report to Shanghai Customs.

Although Hurd, an Englishman, is generally quite clean, he is not a saint who does not touch meat.

After Donald presented an exceptionally crafted and lightweight watch as a gift, the Sani Moon Caravan cleared the customs quickly.

In fact, the goods declared by Donald through customs are only a small part, mainly a part of cigarettes, and the purpose is to gain fame through formal channels.

In fact, most of the goods were not declared at all, and were smuggled directly through the United Settlement and the American Legation.

Of course, it was inevitable that Minister Tian Bei also got some dry shares in this business.

In theory, doing business as a diplomatic envoy is not a respectable thing.

But who doesn't care about this?

Even in the 21st century, the involvement of foreign officials in smuggling has not been exposed in one case or two.

This age is even more tacit.

Even Hurd knew very well that the ministers of Britain, the United States, France and other countries were engaged in smuggling, but he didn't want to control it, and he didn't dare to control it.

This time, Tian Bei and the special envoy of the U.S. federal government came to him together, which was already a great way to save face, and even made Hurd feel a little flattered.

Neither Tian Bei nor Hurd had any doubts about Donald's identity.

There are few foreigners in the Far East, and even fewer people can own such a large fleet, even including two warships.

What's more, Donald's documents and certificates are all available, even if there is a small mistake, it is not eye-catching at all. The civil servants in the United States in this era are not standardized at all. They were originally a group of businessmen, big landlords, and big capitalists.

Moreover, several orders from the White House put forward by Donald are also normal.

Dumping goods and buying Chinese laborers for road construction are all normal things.

As for putting pressure on the Qing government and hiring a group of Taiping soldiers as battlefield laborers, it sounds very reasonable.

All in all, Donald gets away with almost no acting.

While several people were chatting with each other, Hurd suddenly asked: "Special Envoy Donald, excuse me, I would like to ask where you recruited these oriental servants from. They all look very brave and energetic. You know, I also need to recruit some orientals when I work in Shanghai, but the Asians I see are either sick, or sallow and emaciated drug addicts."

"This one……"

Donald didn't know how to answer the question.

He wanted to bang the Brit on the head with his boot.

Why are people in the Qing Dynasty all yawning drug addicts? Don't you British people have a point in your heart?

Fortunately, at this time, Hurd's Indian servant helped Donald out of the siege.

Indians are good servants, if one doesn't care about their hand hygiene.

This Indian servant is not a tall Sikh with a red turban on his head, but an ordinary Indian who is good at curry paste and flying cakes.

"Master, the governor of Jiangsu is here to visit again!"

"Let them wait, I still have guests here."

……

About an hour later, several people finally finished their lunch, and Hurd drank the "authentic Cuban rum" brought by Donald, and was already very drunk.

"This...Mr. Hurd, are you okay?"

Seeing that Hurd was helped out by several foreigners, Li Hongzhang hurried forward to help.

Only then did he notice that the person supporting Hurd was actually the US envoy to China, who was a more powerful figure than Hurd.

If there is his mediation, the problem of the Changsheng Army will definitely be solved.

However, unlike China Tong He De, Tian Bei did not speak Chinese, and Li Hongzhang did not dare to go forward to make fun of himself.

"Mr. Governor, come here and help! Mr. Hurd stubbornly believes that rum is not alcohol, and it turned out like this. I need your help!"

Li Hongzhang turned his head in surprise, and saw that another foreigner who was supporting Hurd was able to speak good Chinese with his tongue, and his eyes lit up immediately!

These days, there are very few great talents in China, and there are not many "great talents in China" in the West.

When I finally met a foreigner who was fluent in Chinese and seemed to be of high status, but had a mild temper, I naturally wanted to get close to him.

These days, there are still many people like Ye Mingchen who do not fight, surrender, make peace, and never communicate with foreigners, but Li Hongzhang is definitely not one of them.

Not to mention relying on foreign self-respect, but building a good relationship with foreigners is definitely a shortcut to a smooth career in official career, and it can even save one's life at critical times.

When Wu Jianzhang was captured by the Knife Society, wasn't he rescued by the British?

Moreover, he had the experience of being suspected of being a thief, but he was still able to come back and become Shanghai Dao. Wu Jianzhang relied entirely on his contacts with the British.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang hurried forward to support Hurd.