After leaving the London Peace Association, he boarded the boat and returned to the Qing Dynasty. After several months, Li Hongzhang was also troubled.

You should know that the transportation level is just like this these days. If you don’t die on the road, you are considered to be a big fortune. Therefore, diplomacy is really not a good job.

But however, when Li Hongzhang returned to the Qing Dynasty, he did not go anywhere else. He took a boat to Hongkou, which is the shanghai area. As soon as he got ashore, Li Hongzhang went straight to Gaochang Temple because the person he wanted to meet the most now was in this place!

Then who is Li Hongzhang going to meet?

"My teacher is here, please accept a bow from Shaoquan!"

At this time, Li Hongzhang gave a big gift to an old man with a thin, yellow hair and a thin braid!

"Shaoquan gets up quickly, there is no need to be like this, no need to be like this."

Who is this old man?

He is no other person, but Zeng Guofan, the Grand Secretary of the Tiren Pavilion who is currently supervising the Westernization Administration of Jiangnan Manufacturing!

Zeng Guofan is so famous. If Li Mengyang saw it, it might be possible, because there was so much research on this person in later generations. Let’s not talk about anything else. When Jiang Guangtou was in the qing negotiations, he was holding a book called "The Complete Works of Zeng Wenzheng" in his hand.

Now, Zeng Guofan still doesn't know his posthumous title. He is not dead yet. However, this person trained the Hunan Army, destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and then wiped out the Nian Army. At this time, he came to supervise the Westernization Movement. This old man... looks so dry?

You can't judge people by appearance. Zeng Guofan is just like this, just a fucking old man.

However, Li Hongzhang respected Zeng Guofan very much. And this time he came here really suddenly.

No matter what, the guest came, and the two of them sat down. Zeng Guofan asked, "Shaoquan, why did you come to me? Why did you do that just now?"

Li Hongzhang did not dare to be negligent and said respectfully: "I haven't seen my mentor for a long time, so I'll come and pay my respects."

I guess Li Hongzhang himself didn't believe this. However, in this officialdom, Li Hongzhang himself was Zeng Guofan's aide and was raised by the top leader. Naturally, he had to do this in his attitude, and he would have to go around the circle.

Zeng Guofan naturally understood, and he smiled and said, "You and my brother, don't have to be so irrelevant. I think you just came back from England this time. I'm afraid those foreigners, especially the French, aren't that easy to deal with?"

"My teacher knows it!" Li Hongzhang said with gratitude: "My teacher knows me and the situation in the world. It is really difficult for the French to deal with. Before the disciple leaves, Prince Gong entrusted an important task. He told the disciple not to offend the French no matter what. He should explain to the French at the negotiating table that it is better not to fight between us. If we can reason, we should be reasonable, and even promised me the right to use money. However, those French people are like stones in the pit, smelly and hard..."

Li Hongzhang was originally acting like a humble gentleman, but when he mentioned the negotiations with the French, he couldn't help it. There was no way, he was really eating turtles in London, and the French were too unreasonable. So, this statement exposed his hooligan side, but fortunately, Zeng Guofan was an acquaintance.

"Shaoquan, then so, the French must fight Vietnam? Their ambitions have been coveting Vietnam for a long time?" Zeng Guofan didn't mind, he was still concerned about the situation of the London conference.

"This..." Li Hongzhang knew that he was talking about the key point, "Mr., I think the French are not as simple as Vietnam. In London, what they want from me is Taiwan!"

"ah?!"

Having said that, Zeng Guofan understood that the French people had a lot of thought!

Let’s talk about Vietnam first, it’s just a foreign country, and then look at Taiwan, it’s my Qing Dynasty… Zeng Guofan could quickly think of this matter in his mind. The French may have been drunk at the beginning, and they may have been fighting for Taiwan at the beginning!

But...will these guys want to destroy my Qing Dynasty?

The more Zeng Guofan thought about it, the colder he felt his spine. This time, the French were coming in full force, and they were simply distorted and ruling. How could Taiwan give them the opportunity?

What’s more important is that the attitude in the court is now divided into two factions, one is the main battle, and the other is not the main peace, because what does the French fight against Vietnam have to do with us?

But now, the French don’t want Vietnam, they clearly want to fight our Qing Dynasty!

But it's not right. Are there any excuses for the French?

By the way!

Zeng Guofan finally thought that it was probably because France suffered a loss when fighting with the New Tang Empire before, and felt unbalanced. And after Vietnam was dealt with, the next thing was to use this excuse, that is, between us and New Tang... The fuck, we have nothing to do with it. Those guys are all traitors!

Even if Zeng Guofan is so famous, he cannot escape his stereotyped worldview. In his eyes, those who go to establish countries outside the territory are rebellious.

"Mr., mentor?" Li Hongzhang was a little worried when he saw Zeng Guofan not speaking for a long time.

"Oh, Shaoquan, the French want Taiwan, then you definitely can't agree." Zeng Guofan casually fooled him. He was indeed thinking about other questions just now.

"Of course, I can't agree. Mentor, I think those French and Westerners will probably use troops to the Qing Dynasty." After saying this, Li Hongzhang stopped talking, he wanted to wait for Zeng Guofan to continue.

"..." But Zeng Guofan didn't say anything. He knew what Li Hongzhang meant, but he just didn't say anything.

Come on!

Li Hongzhang had no choice but to say everything he thought, "Mr. Teacher, what if the French came to beat us?"

Yes, there are signs of this matter now.

"Oh~" Zeng Guofan sighed, then scratched his forehead and said, "Then where can we fight the French?"

This sentence is really helpless!

Zeng Guofan was not a coward. He had also led troops to fight wars. He came out of the sea of ​​blood. He was not afraid of wars. But now he supervised the Western Affairs Office. The more he did this, the more he understood the gap between the Qing Dynasty and the Western barbarians.

This war cannot be fought, and there is no need to be fought. The Qing Dynasty still has nothing. Let’s talk about the Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration. These are some machine tools that have just been introduced from the United States. It has been less than two years since it was built. It can be said that there is nothing, so how can we fight with other people’s strong ships and cannons?

As for these machines, the Westernization Affairs of the entire Jiangnan Manufacturing Administration was carried out very quickly. The machine was purchased from the United States by a guy named Yung Wing.

In other words, this is the place with the highest degree of mechanization in the Qing Dynasty, but what can be produced in such a place?

You can't even get the nails out!

There is no foundation, and now it is in a stage of laying the foundation, but now it is not nonsense to fight with the French.

Li Hongzhang actually understood this truth, of course he was not here to listen to this.

"Mr., since this is the case, how should I deal with myself?"

Yes, this is the most critical issue!

Why is Li Hongzhang here?

It should be said that he was asking this, but this question is not as simple as it seems. Li Hongzhang actually asked who could win the Prince Gong or Cixi in the court!

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Qing Dynasty cannot fight against France now, because there is no chance of victory, so I will give it to France in that place, but Vietnam is also a vassal. If it loses the vassal, it sounds bad.

Cixi seized this opportunity, and there were people who helped her, just those Qingliu, so she took this opportunity to defeat Prince Gong!

Even the vassals cannot protect them. Isn’t that losing the face of our Qing Dynasty?

How can you, Prince Gong, be afraid of fighting and timid enemy?

Anyway, there are some reasons, but Prince Gong doesn’t give it in vain!

The military chief minister, the prime minister's diplomatic affairs, the central government supervised the Westernization Affairs... These are all real power, not to mention that Prince Gong's younger brother is in charge of the army.

Now that foreign enemies are about to invade, who can kill whom in the court?

It sounds a bit annoying, but this is the case. Li Hongzhang is also very smart. He handles things and goes to negotiate, but his ability is just like this. No one else is much better than him. So he wants to know how he should protect himself, that is, who will win between Cixi and Prince Gong and then he will defect to whom.

There is really nothing we can do about this. This is the only way to choose Li Hongzhang’s position.

So, will Zeng Guofan give him the answer?

Zeng Guofan thought for a while and said, "It's not a good thing to be a hen after all."

OK, Li Hongzhang understands!

The hen Sichen is the old hen crowing. The crowing job is not what the old hen should do, but she just does it. So what do you want the rooster to think? What do dogs think?

Simply put, Zeng Guofan meant that Cixi was in power, which was really not very good, but just this one word, it was a bit helpless!

There is no way, I can't stop Cixi, because she is using all the correct means now, and others can't find any problems. According to the political thinking of the Confucian general, she is right.

If others can’t find out her faults, how can we stop her?

It is probably a foregone conclusion that Prince Gong is about to be kicked off the stage!

But however, Li Hongzhang asked again.

"Mr., do you think the court will use your old man?"

This question is very good because this question is actually an answer. Li Hongzhang was telling Zeng Guofan that I understand.

Because Zeng Guofan was to be activated, it means that the court was going to fight against the French. So, now Zeng Guofan has trained the only commander of the Qing Dynasty to strengthen the army, and to support the generals of the building and turn the tide. How could he be missing?

"Hahaha..." Unexpectedly, Zeng Guofan laughed, "Shaoquan, I'm all about to be slapped, so don't laugh at me."

"Hehe..." Li Hongzhang also laughed.

But, he was actually very clear in his heart that Zeng Guofan had already given him the answer.

That is the war between the Qing Dynasty and France this time. Needless to say, and the most important thing is that there is no one available on the Qing Dynasty! (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!