Young Master Meng has long been stunned, Prince Gong Yixun, Zuo Zongtang, Xu Tong, Li Hongzao, and now there is only one Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, otherwise, the main ministers of the Great Qing Kingdom have all arrived, and even Weng Tongyi can only sit at the table below, and he sits at the same table with these famous big people.Although Zuo Zongtang is at the peak of his military exploits, he is indeed dressed as a literati, and his voice is not loud, "I just heard that Lord Li accepted the disciples of the closed door, so I came to bother him, Lord Li will not be surprised" Li Hongzao took Zuo Zongtang's hand and said with a smile: "Ji Gao, don't come to these false courtesies, please sit down quickly." ”Zuo Zongtang saw Yixun, and the expression on his face did not change at all, but he simply arched his hand, "The prince has also arrived" This time let the young master Meng secretly praise, Zuo Zongtang's demeanor and Li Hongzhang are different, Li Hongzhang always gives people a sense of wisdom, always feel that in front of Li Hongzhang, everything will be seen through, and no matter what trick you make, Li Hongzhang can accumulate thick and thin, preemptively, and give you a second at once.Zuo Zongtang gives people a feeling of being thick and capable, it seems that if you hit him, you will definitely be able to fight, but it is difficult to hurt his muscles and bones, but if he hits you, you will be flattened, which makes people involuntarily feel awe.In short, the aura of these big men makes Young Master Meng very intoxicated, and the big men who can achieve the position of the pinnacle of a country, which one is not really talented and learned, of course, it is Hanchen, and there are still many stupid Manchen who occupy high positions, and they are confused.Prince Gong smiled coldly: "Ji Gao is rare, this is the first time this king has seen Ji Gao outside the court, it seems that Lord Li's wine is good." ”Zuo Zongtang is far inferior to Li Hongzhang, but his prestige in the court is not less than Li Hongzhang, but his connections are very poor, which is related to Zuo Zongtang's character.From Zuo Zongtang's refusal to answer Yixun's words, Young Master Meng can see it.Prince Gong Yixun is also a person with a lot of kung fu, but being snubbed in front of him is very rare in Yixun, that is, Zuo Zongtang, that is, in Li Hongzao's mansion, otherwise, he really can't help but leave with his sleeves.Young Master Meng saw that no one at the table spoke, the atmosphere was very embarrassing, and hurriedly bowed his head to Zuo Zongtang and saluted, "I have seen Lord Zuo" Young Master Meng not only relieved the cold atmosphere, but also got a different look from the guests at the table, not only behaved calmly, like a little adult, but also knew how to see the timing, it was really rare, even Xu Tong smiled, "Lord Li, I am really envious, you, a closed disciple, should be a genius made in heaven." ”Zuo Zongtang laughed and touched the head of the young master: "I don't have anything to give you, here is a piece of red jade pendant, which is obtained from the conquest and returned to the department, and it is given to you this child" Everyone is a person who knows the goods, looking at the jade pendant is red all over, they know that it is not an ordinary product, it is the same volume of important gold, and there is absolutely no value of this piece of red jade Everyone did not expect Zuo Zongtang to say that he would give it away, and they all secretly sighed that Zuo Zongtang was heroic.Li Hongzao hurriedly said: "This is too precious to be collected" Young Master Meng sweated profusely, and people gave me drops, but I thought that without Li Hongzao, why did Zuo Zongtang send such a valuable thing to a child who he just knew, looking at the jade pendant and secretly liking it, secretly greedy, even if Young Master Meng now has a net worth of millions of taels of silver, he has never seen such a treasure, and secretly sighed that people like Zuo Zongtang are indeed extraordinaryZuo Zongtang smiled: "This is for the child, Lord Li don't stop it, and it's not for Lord Li" Li Hongzao saw Zuo Zongtang's resolute attitude, and also knew that Zuo Zongtang had a big temper at any time, so he had to smile and stop talking, this was in front of everyone, it was not a private gift, and it was indeed not a violation of etiquette, so he nodded to Yuemeng with a smile.Young Master Meng was overjoyed, and thanked him: "Thank you Lord Zuo for your love" Zuo Zongtang smiled and hung the red jade on Yue Meng's neck, which was originally tied to Zuo Zongtang's waist, "This jade, it was originally suitable for children to bring, it is said that it is to be raised from an early age, and it will be human nature in the future, and if this jade is sold, it is worth at most fifty or sixty thousand taels of silver, if it can be sold for six million taels, to help my court send troops to the northwest to fight against Agubai's invasion of my Qing Kingdom, I will be reluctant." ”When Li Hongzao heard it, he knew that the topic was coming, but he didn't expect Zuo Zongtang to say it in public.Prince Gong smiled slightly, but did not answer.Xu Tong continued: "Agubai's invasion, no matter how difficult it is for the imperial court, it must not ignore my approval of Lord Zuo's proposal to use troops in the northwest. ”Li Hongzao nodded and said, "Yes, the country's inch of land should not be humiliated in favor of Lord Zuo." ”With Li Hongzao's words, everyone present nodded one after another, and most of them were in favor of using troops to resist the insult Zuo Zongtang was even more overjoyed when he heard Li Hongzao express his approval so clearly, "Okay, what Lord Li said is good, Lord Li has this attitude, I am relieved." ”Prince Gong said with a smile: "This king is also in favor of using troops in the northwest, the key is, how much silver is there in the imperial court now, everyone here should know that it is less than 700,000 taels, just such a little silver, and there is also a need for disaster relief, and the emperor's wedding has been delayed for a long time, the queen mother's birthday, don't these all need silver" Zuo Zongtang snorted, "The matter is serious, the land is not complete, what is more urgent than this, is there a fire at home, and at the same time, it is impossible to do happy events" Meng Young Master Khan, Zuo Zongtang really dares to talk about it, look at your old thing's polite appearance, but you speak very cannonly.Prince Gong Yixun was not angry, still with a faint smile on his face, "Lord Zuo, don't you need it, didn't this king say it just now, and this king also approves of the imperial court's use of troops in the northwest."
At present, the urgent task is that foreign affairs should be placed on shipping, while selecting schoolchildren to go to sea to learn the advanced technology of foreigners, on the other hand, buying foreign ships, and setting up a steamship investment bureau to make the circulation of goods in the north and south of the Qing Kingdom smooth. ”Zuo Zongtang hurriedly said: "It is natural to restore your vitality, but outsiders have already run to your kang to sleep, how can you still sleep and recover your vitality without driving away foreign enemies, and how can you continue to do foreign affairs" Prince Gong Yixun smiled and said: "To do foreign affairs, Lord Zuo does not understand, Lord Zuo has not done less foreign affairs in Jiangnan, and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau is the first to be done by Lord Zuo, how to lose money year after year, and the cost of the ships built is much higher than that of the western country." ”Young Master Meng sweats, Zuo Zongtang and Yixun, who are both Westerners, seem to be very unmanageable, in the heart of Young Master Meng, the relationship between Yixun and Li Hongzhang seems to be very good, it seems that Li Hongzhang has a good relationship with anyone, this is also Li Hongzhang's superiority, at least, if Li Hongzhang is now swapped with Zuo Zongtang, he will never quarrel with the high-ranking Prince Gong in public.Young Master Meng also felt that Yi Xun was talking too much, he was running an industry himself, of course he understood the difficulties of Zuo Zongtang running the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau, without the backing of the energy industry and the metallurgical industry, he came up directly to open a machine bureau, which is the same difficult materials and equipment are completely dependent on imports, how can this fraud not be high Moreover, he Young Master Meng still knows a little bit of science knowledge, it must be much stronger than Zuo Zongtang These people from the imperial examination, he can think of it, people like Zuo Zongtang want to run an industry, they must be completely dependent on foreigners, Casually entrust a foreigner, the money is not flowing out of the way Meng Young Master knows that the manager of the Fuzhou Ship Administration Bureau is a Frenchman Riyige, and the young master Meng estimates that the money that this Frenchman Riyige has made in the past few years of opening the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau may be more than the money he made in the Klinsmann Development Zone during this period Zuo Zongtang was exposed by Prince Gong Yixun in person, and where did he hang his face and snorted: "Lord, you can't say that, you buy a boat in your hand, who doesn't know, it cost millions of taels, I bought a bunch of old ships and came back, and you said that you wanted to run a steamship China Merchants Bureau, which has been said for seven or eight years, why haven't you done it now"t1706231537: