My Italian

After the war, the Governor's Yamen in Tianjin City became more lively, and more and more officials were waiting in line at the gate to receive them.

This is enough to show Li Zhongtang's power, and it is getting heavier and heavier, otherwise why are those officials waiting in long queues.

However, outsiders only saw the scenery of Li Zhongtang, and no one knew about his troubles.

"Yushan, have you raised enough money?"

In the governor's yamen, Li Zhongtang asked his most trusted confidant, Zhou Fuzhou, the governor. Lord Zhou is now promoted to governor of Shandong. However, since Li Zhongtang is now inseparable from Lord Zhou, this can only be regarded as a distant lead. Of course, no matter if Lord Zhou is going to take office, is Shandong still out of the control of the Huai Army?

Facing Li Zhongtang's urging, Zhou Fu hurriedly said. "Dongweng, you need it urgently. Xingsun and others are already working hard to raise it, and they have raised more than 2.3 million taels of silver..."

"Too little, too little!"

Li Zhongtang interrupted Lord Zhou, "Yushan, you know that we still owe the country more than 8 million taels of silver. The Minister Jia has already arrived in Tianjin, and he must ask me about the money. How do you want me to reply? ?"

As for Li Zhongtang's difficulties, Lord Zhou is of course aware of it, but it is indeed difficult to raise money now. Xingsun (Sheng Xuanhuai), who is in charge of raising money, has complained to him more than once that it is difficult to raise money now. His legs were broken, and he found this money. The requirement of 8 million taels is really difficult to fulfill. I hope he will say a few good words for himself in front of the middle hall for the sake of his colleagues.

Of course, just based on Sheng Xuanhuai's one-sided words, Zhou Fu is not so trustworthy. He has also inquired about it, and it was indeed difficult to raise money at the beginning of this year.

In the previous war with the Japanese, money had been raised many times, but now everyone is tight, and it is really impossible to repay Li Zhongtang.

And more importantly, as the war subsided, it was not enough to intercept the tax and silver first, and the imperial court also acted to eat the grain, waiting for the tax and silver to be put to the pot.

In addition, after the war, whether the Huai Army units should give rewards or not to other Huai Army troops participating in the war, this also requires money.

Zhou Fu didn't even have time to tell Zhongtang about these messy things.

Just when Lord Zhou wanted to speak, a servant suddenly came to report, and Minister Jia was at the door.

"Please, please come in. No, open the middle door, the old man will go in person."

Following Li Zhongtang's words, the central door of the Governor's Yamen was slowly opened, and Li Zhongtang, with a smile on his face, happily walked towards Jia Liwen, who was waiting outside the door.

"Hahahaha, made Minister Jia wait for a long time."

Facing Li Zhongtang who went out to greet him in person, how could Jia Liwen, who had been a minister in the Far East for many years, not know what he was thinking.

Immediately greeted with the same enthusiastic smile. "I take the liberty to disturb Lord Zhongtang, and I hope to forgive you."

"Where is the interruption, this is the arrival of the distinguished guests to make the old man flourish, please come in!"

The group quickly came to the living room, and after the servants brought tea, Minister Jia quickly expressed his intention.

"I heard that Your Excellency Zhongtang has been short of money recently?"

As soon as Jia Liwen opened his mouth, Zhou Fu, who was accompanying him, sank inwardly, because he was afraid of something.

Although this remark made Zhou Fu uneasy, but who is Li Zhongtang, I saw him suddenly laughing.

"Hahaha, since this is all I heard, it must be wrong. Although my Huai army has only just finished the war, it is impossible for me to be short of money and food. I will ask people to pay you tomorrow without the funds from your army. It's over."

Li Zhongtang is Li Zhongtang in the end, and the tiger will not fall. In his words, he did not take the money owed to Italy seriously. He showed considerable wealth and wealth, and he did not see the urgency of Mr. Zhou behind him.

Although Jia Liwen didn't know where Li Zhongtang's confidence came from, he had already figured out his trump card, but he knew that his subordinate Sheng Xuanhuai was raising funds everywhere. Of course, Jia Liwen's visit this time is not to expose Li Zhongtang, he has no spare time.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, I believe you misunderstood my purpose this time. I didn't come here to ask for money. I heard that you are short of money. I have an idea to increase your country's income."

Jia Liwen's remarks surprised Li Zhongtang and Lord Zhou. This Minister Jia didn't come to ask for money to open a shantang?

But no matter if the Minister Jia is what he said, there is no harm in listening.

So Li Zhongtang said happily. "Since your minister is so attentive, this old man will listen carefully."

Seeing Li Zhongtang who looked like he was asking for advice, Jia Liwen said immediately. "I don't know how much knowledge your Excellency Zhongtang has about railways?"

"Know some."

How could Li Zhongtang not know about the railway mentioned by Jia Liwen? It is necessary to know that the Jingu Railway, which is currently in operation, can only be built under the protection of Li Zhongtang. It was written more than ten years ago, and he believed that "the seven provinces of the North and the South must be united in order to be able to respond to China Unicom", not to mention that when something happens, the military situation changes rapidly."

"There is an inland train and railway~www.wuxiaspot.com~ troops are stationed nearby, and I hear the police rushing to help, but it can be hundreds of miles a day, so the commander will not make mistakes."

Yes, Li Zhongtang was optimistic about the future of railways from a military perspective.

However, this did not affect what Jia Liwen said next. "Your Excellency Zhongtang, the railway can not only transport troops in wartime, but also transport goods and passengers on weekdays. As far as I know, the Jingu Railway currently in operation is mainly for the transport of goods, and the railway company can get 30,000 yuan every year. Two more silvers in profit."

"I know this."

Li Zhongtang certainly knew what Jia Liwen said, and he knew even more. This was still the profit after deducting the upper and lower hands. If it was added, it would be at least 50,000 taels. The interest of this railway is very good, but it is a source of money, but Minister Jia said that this would not be his plan to let Li Zhongtang build the railway, right? He still owes a lot of money, where can the money come from?

Seeing Li Zhongtang's suspicious eyes, Jia Liwen said immediately. "Our country believes that if your country wants to open source, this railway construction is definitely a great tool. For example, build a railway from your country Guangzhou through Changsha, Wuhan, Baoding to Tianjin or Beijing through the north and the south (the Beijing-Guangzhou line, the end point is changed to Tianjin) ), which can definitely be very profitable.”

Hearing this, both Li Zhongtang and Lord Zhou laughed. This Minister Jia really dared to think that the thousands of miles of railways would cost nothing more than the money needed. Open your mouth. Even if he had this money, how should he deal with the senior members of the ruling party? He Li Er didn't think he had the ability to let them sell their face.

So Li Zhongtang said immediately. "Minister Jia is joking. Although this railway is good, it is thousands of miles from Guangzhou to Tianjin. It is too urgent and not conducive to construction."

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