Chapter 29: The Eve of Forcing the Palace

  Kuo Wen-tsai looked at me in puzzlement, and I said: "Do you understand the strategy of draining the water to catch the fish? We're spending their money! That tiny Japan has limited financial resources. Now we've drained them dry and made them spend the money they would have used to build ships and cannons ahead of time! Let them be unable to afford to fight a war, let their money go to waste!"

  Guo Wenzai nodded and said: "I understand, I'll go talk to them tomorrow. What project should we discuss?" After some thought, I said: "The repair of the Beijing-Shanghai railway! We'll just borrow money from them, not have them do the repairs. I'm not stupid enough to let them run around China's territory, surveying and mapping it out for the Japanese military! And even more so, we can't give them any money to make a profit off us. What I want is to use their money to prepare to beat those bastards!"

  "How much did you borrow?"

  "I said: 'At least 30 million taels of white silver, at the very least it must be 20 million taels! The more the better, you can handle it according to the quantity!'"

  Not long after returning to Qingchun Garden, Cao Futian arrived. He was only in his thirties, with a clear brow and bright eyes, dignified and majestic, speaking with a Tianjin accent. I talked with him for over an hour and found that he was a man of great insight and ardent patriotism. So I gave him the address of the Beijing Military Academy and told him to take people there for training before deciding what to do next. I also handed over the few long guns I brought, and had Yan'er teach him how to disassemble and shoot them several times. This kid was clever and quickly learned. I left all the bullets I brought with him and said: "Take these few guns and first clean up the surrounding branches and leaves, you need a foothold!"

  Cao Futian nodded and walked away happily with his gun.

  We went to the Dagu Fort and saw Luo Rongguang, a disciple of Zhang Zhidong, the Tianjin General. I knew that he was a patriotic hero who resisted the enemy. In 1900, he resolutely refused the unreasonable request of the Eight-Nation Alliance to "borrow" the fort, led the officers and soldiers in defending the fort, sank or damaged six enemy ships, killed or wounded over 130 enemy soldiers, but due to the ammunition depot being hit by the enemy, there was no ammunition, and without reinforcements, all the forts were occupied by the enemy, Dagu fell, and he also took poison to kill himself.

  We met on the artillery platform, I took a look at the big gun which was German Krupp's, it should be pretty good in modern times, but the key is that the imperial court only fawned on the enemy and sought peace, allowing the enemy army to land around the artillery platform, making the platform an isolated island, how could it not fall?

  I made two suggestions to him after I finished reading. First, strengthen the joint defense and control several key points, not allowing the enemy to take a step beyond the thunder pool! I measured it and designated several points for him to garrison troops and repair bunkers. Second, focus on building an ammunition depot, I chose a location for him and told him how to build it.

  As he was about to leave, he grabbed my hand and said: "Principal Long, I heard from Zuo Bao that he studied under you. Can you let me study with you for a few days too? I always feel that if we want to defeat the foreign devils, we must learn more about their ways of fighting. Only by knowing ourselves and our enemies can we win the battle!"

  "I'm glad to say: 'You can go, I guarantee to accept you!'"

  Back in Beijing, Xiaofuzi brought a young eunuch with clear eyebrows and a face as smooth as powdered milk to my side and said: "Your Majesty, his name is Kou Liancai, the Old Buddha has newly appointed him to be your general manager."

  He looked at him and said: "Alright, since you've come to me, you should know what to say and what not to say, what to do and what not to do!"

  Kou Liancai hastily said: "I know, everything will be done according to your instructions, Your Majesty!"

  "I asked: 'Is the handover complete?' Kou Liancai said: 'Everything has been handed over, and Qi Defu has also gone to the other side to hand over to Li Lianying. The Ministry of Revenue is also checking Li Lianying's accounts! However...' He stopped halfway through his sentence and braked the car. What's wrong with him? Why do they all have this kind of attitude, leaving people hanging like this?"

  "What's wrong with you? Either don't say it or finish what you're saying. If you do this again, I'll slap your mouth!"

  Xiao Fu Zi covered his mouth and laughed, he also had this bad habit at first, I kicked him a few times before he changed.

  "Yes!" He replied, then looked around at Yan'er and Fei'er as well as Bai Xue, without saying a word.

  I smiled: "Come, let me introduce you. This is my Eastern Palace Princess Yan'er, this is my Western Palace Princess Fei'er, and this is...". When I got to Bai Xue, I didn't know what to say, so I looked at her blushing face and said: "This is my Concubine Princess Xue'er!"

  My one sentence made the three women stunned, Xue Er's face turned red to her neck, she twisted her body and rushed out, Yan Er and Fei Er stared at me for a moment, then followed her out.

  I finally got the words out and made a very difficult decision, I let out a sigh of relief, but immediately said: "These three people I didn't think to tell the Empress Dowager, you know what to do, if the Empress Dowager finds out, I'll ask you! Don't think I'm afraid of anyone, Li Lianying will still be punished by me! Say, that half sentence just now!"

  "But just by checking the accounts, it's impossible to find out what's wrong with Director Li. We have to apply each item to where it was used and check against it! The craftsmen who worked for his family even submitted their accounts in a big way!"

  I nodded and said: "Originally, the queen and concubines only stayed here when they were favored, but these three people are all kept secret from the empress dowager, so they have to stay with me day and night, what to do? Ask Xiaofuzi to arrange them well, take care of them, and that Zhen Concubine, I also want to favor her every day, she has to move here too, you take care of it all!"

  Kou Liancai hastily said: "Your humble servant understands what to do!"

  I know that historically, Kou Liancai was sent by Empress Dowager Cixi to supervise Guangxu, but he is also a man who understands the greater good and has shed blood to persuade Cixi to support Guangxu's reforms. Today, Kou Liancai has come here, definitely with the task of supervising me as well. So I said: "In the past, you were someone else's person, I don't care. Once you enter my gate, you must be my person. If you are willing to do so, you can stay; if not, you can leave and still have a chance to survive. But if you neither want to be my person nor leave, then you will suffer greatly!"

  Kou Liancai immediately knelt on the ground, knocking his head repeatedly and said: "The old Buddha indeed let the slave report the whereabouts and words of the emperor at any time, but the slave knows that the emperor is worried about the Qing Dynasty, for the people are worried, so even if the slave is beaten to death, he will not betray the emperor, please rest assured, after entering this door, the slave is the emperor's person, life and death to maintain the emperor!"

  I nodded and said, "That's good, I will treat you like Xiaofuzi!" I stretched my waist and said, "Alright, I'm tired today, you can retire!"

  As soon as the two people left, Yan and Fei came back. They looked around to make sure no one was there, then suddenly pushed me onto the bed. The two of them grabbed my ears and wouldn't let go. Yan said: "You're really too much! Look at what you've done, it's been several days now, and Snow's body is still covered in bruises. You come back and act like nothing's wrong? Don't you feel guilty?"

  Feier said: "You really dare to steal a chicken, there are already three at home, why are you still thinking about the outside? Are we ugly? Or haven't you been satisfied yet?"

  I muttered to myself, "It's all because of Yan'er, she pushed me into her arms, I got excited and lost control! From now on, I won't think about it anymore, I still have a lot of things to do, no time to think about those things!"

  The swallow pulled my ear and said: "Go, go to that house, and have a reckoning with Snow!"

  Fei'er said: "Just right, let's have another set of Sanxiu exercises and raise your wife a bit!"

  "How can so many people practice?"

  Fei'er said: "You're stupid, don't know that I and Yan Jie are a team, the three of us will play a game of San Xiu first, then you can play with Zhen Er and Xue Er in the second round!"

  I was so happy I almost jumped up, but on the surface I still had to pretend to be innocent: "Do you guys want me to die from exhaustion?"

  Faye pinched my butt and said: "You asked for it, who told you to be so greedy? Serves you right!"

  Good times flew by so quickly, and before I knew it, the first month had passed. Cao Futian indeed brought 800 strong men, and Luo Rongguang from Dagou also came to the military school to participate in the study. He was on a one-month leave after his wife gave birth. Li Bin even brought people twice, including spending Chinese New Year at the military school, and became an iron friend of Zhang Zhidong's. According to Zhang Zhidong's military organization method, he organized all members of his Bu Yi She into a formal military organization.

  During this period, I and Yan'er, Fei'er, Zhen'er, and Xue'er repeatedly studied several times, feeling that if we want to truly lead China's ship on the right path, relying solely on our own strength is not enough. We must have a team that can connect with tens of thousands of people, unite tens of thousands of aspiring talents who are determined to save the country, and only then will our cause move forward! For this reason, we should establish our own political party, rely on the party's power to unite the masses, organize the masses, and guide the masses.

  I shared my idea with Weng Tonghe and Zhang Zhidong, they also thought it was very necessary, and said that the party should be established in the military school first, taking the military school as the foundation to develop outward. I handed this matter over to Yan'er, letting her draft the party's program, constitution and organizational regulations first, and let Weng Tonghe and Zhang Zhidong start to connect with reliable people, making preparations for secretly establishing the party.

  Kuo Wen-tsai also came twice, he borrowed money from the Japanese bank and it was almost done, saying that the money would arrive in mid-February. They asked to use the Ministry of Revenue as a guarantee, I thought that since the war has started, I grabbed his tail for raising funds for Japan's invasion of China and wouldn't let go, not even one cent would be returned, who guarantees it doesn't matter! I readily agreed!

  Kuo Wen-tsai said: "Long live, the Kwantung Provincial Bank's Shizuka Eiichi thought to give half of the funds first, and then allocate the other half after the project has progressed halfway!"

  Damn it, can't see the rabbit without scattering the hawk? It seems I really need to prepare for the power generation immediately. I suddenly thought of Zhan Tianyou, who graduated from Yale University with excellent results in 1881 and returned home in the same year. He should now be teaching at the Huangpu Naval Academy. Right, let's find him and have him take charge of repairing this railway!

  I see that preparations for seizing power have matured, so I decided to launch a coup d'etat on the Dragon's Head Raising Day of February 2nd tomorrow and seize imperial power.

  That night, the four concubines entwined me again to start the third watch. As soon as it was over, Xiao Caizi ( Kou Liancai, I'll just call him that for convenience, and he seemed quite happy about it) ran over and said outside: "Your Majesty, Master Weng is waiting for you in the Nurturing Heart Palace!"

  At this time, he rushed over, and there must be something urgent. I quickly put on my clothes and went out.

  As expected, that ignorant Sun Yuwen is going to propose the reconstruction of the Yiheyuan again. It's said that he has already found someone to draw up the plans for the Yiheyuan, and tomorrow at court, they will be presented. They still want to get their hands on the money from the Naval Ministry! Although I've already had the funds allocated elsewhere, they can still use the name of raising funds for the Navy to ask for more money from below.

  I'm so angry, and it just so happens that tomorrow I'll get to operate on him first!