C621 Let's continue with our nonsense!

If you were hungry, you would eat; if you were thirsty, you would drink. If a person had three emergencies, no one could avoid it. This was a very simple and practical principle for Xiao Letian.

In the eyes of Weng Tonghe and the others, the Grand Commission was a sacred and inviolable existence. This represented the prestige of the Empire, so what was left for the Great Qing other than to use respect and awe to intimidate the various kingdoms?

The envoys of the other countries are all watching by the side. Xiao Le, other than humiliating the imperial court, you are the traitor of the Great Qing. You are trying to dig up the roots of the Great Qing.

There was also the concept of clear stream, which could never be made up for by conflict in human concepts. The reason that the thousands of years of self-brainwashing Confucian Scholars had instilled was not something that Xiao Letian could change alone.

The hall was filled with buzzing sounds of discussion and everyone was denouncing Xiao Letian, but Xiao Letian remained unmoved and continued to look at him with a mischievous smile.

"I've never held such an unreasonable meeting. Even if you don't allow people to eat, you won't allow them to eat. So, what's the use of opening this meeting other than tormenting people?"

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager!" Other than hearing the flattering and faking eight papers, this official doesn't see anything else. I believe that the reason why I am listed as a minister and have traveled thousands of miles to return to the capital is not to gather together to brag, eat wine, and then disperse, am I right? "

"How dare you!" The Grand Commission had its own rules and regulations, without the 100 officials reporting about their duties first, how could there be a governance discussion later? "Barbarian …" Weng Tonghe scolded.

"Hehe, since it is a duty that I do not like to listen to, then I have the right to choose not to listen." Hehe, since it is a duty that I do not like to listen to, then I have the right to choose not to listen. With that, Xiao Letian turned and left.

This time, the court officials were even more speechless. Such rogue officials are truly rare in this world. How could they be so willful? The loyal subjects of the Great Qing were all about to go crazy.

But this round, the Grand Commission could not lack Xiao Letian as the main character, and all the following issues were related to him. If he were to throw the match, the Grand Commission would have no meaning.

At this moment, a voice sounded out from the crowd of officials. "Reporting to Your Majesty and Empress Dowager, this humble official has something to begin with!" Everyone saw that it was the Fujian Province's Governor, Zuo Zongtang, who had followed Ceng Guofan into the capital.

Although Xiao Letian had never interacted with him before, he knew quite a bit of information. This steel-faced Chinese Officer had just set up the Ma Wei Ship Building Board this year, and Nan Yang's initial form had already sprouted under his protection. However, Li Hongzhang's Bei Yang was still nowhere to be seen.

This was a very outstanding famous subject in the late Qing. Liang Qichao had once said that Zuo Zongtang was the strongest person in the past five hundred years; this placed his position above Ceng Guofan.

However, this glory was built on the basis that Zuo Zongtang had entered Xinjiang to pacify the Yaqub riots. A famous general who had fought in a foreign battle would definitely have a higher historical standing than a civil war general.

Just for the sake of Zuo Zongtang's past achievements, Xiao Letian had to give him face. He stuffed half a piece of sesame seed cake in his hand into his mouth, then laughed at Tongzhi before turning back to his own seat.

Weng Tonghe's eyes grew dark, as if his blood pressure had risen due to anger. However, the emperor and empress dowager didn't follow what he said, and with Zuo Zongtang stepping out to stir things up, he could only endure it.

"This subject requests Your Majesty, the empress dowager, and now that Yaqub is invading Xinjiang, there are faint signs of unrest in the Ganshan pars dorsalis. This subject requests that the telegraph line s from the capital to Xi'an be constructed to spread the news, your majesty, your majesty, please grant us permission!"

With that said, Zuo Zongtang took out a memorial from his sleeves and started reading. The diary only showed the development of the telegraphic technique and the importance of military matters. It seemed that Zuo Zongtang had worked hard before, and this paper had also been verified by the foreigners. Even Xiao Letian had nodded when he heard it.

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, in 1843, twenty-three years of Xuanzong Deiguang, the Americans Samuel Morse built the one hundred and twenty miles of telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, and in May the following year, he sent the first telegram in the world to Baltimore, using the telegraph he had invented and perfected since 1837, in the Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Capitol Building in Washington."

Zuo Zongtang started to use words that were easy to understand to spread knowledge of telegraphy to the court officials. This kind of mysterious technology that could spread across millions of miles instantly made all the ministers here look at each other in dismay, none of them daring to believe it.

"Are you for real?" Thousand Li Sound Transmission Technique? "Bullshit, these are all tricks used by foreign devils …"

"Listen and see. Look at the empress dowager and the various princes. They seem to have already believed it. Let's not shoot down the bird at the head!"

The most excited one was the little emperor, Tongzhi. The child was originally filled with interest towards the mystical Western technology, upon hearing that the Thousand Li Sound Transmission Technique was real, his eyes lit up.

When Zuo Zongtang finished reading his report, the little emperor was the first to ask, "Do you dare to use your head to guarantee that the telegraphic technique you mentioned was not a fake?"

"This humble subject is willing to vouch for it with his brain!"

"Alright, then tell me, how much does it cost to produce such a long telegraph line?" The little Emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, it is actually not difficult to lay down the telegraph line. It is nothing more than to erect a stake every mile and then import the telegraph line to build it. You don't need to open the mountain and build the bridge, you just need to pay 150 thousand silver taels from Beijing to Xi'an …"

"150,000 gold. It doesn't look like it's a lot of money, but where's the maintenance?" This thing should normally be maintained, right? " The little emperor was really smart. With a single word, he was able to get to the crux of the matter.

Zuo Zongtang smiled, then nodded towards Fuqing in the class: "Your Majesty, this subject is inferior to Fuqing Chen in the examination of telegraph line, I think it would be better to explain this question to him!"

Fuqing's face reddened. This was the first time he was participating in the Grand Commission, and also the first time she was speaking in front of an imperial official.

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager …" This humble one has indeed examined the feasibility of a telegraphic technique. Furthermore, the American Minister, Lord Hua Ruohan, has demonstrated a telegraph call for this subject.

"If you want to lay a telegraph line in the Great Qing, you can use the existing mail route to use the relay station. Normally, the officials of the relay station are responsible for the maintenance of the routes in the local area, it would be sufficient as long as you add a small amount into the original payment. I estimate that the cost of maintenance of this route is only about 100,000 taels of silver per year …"

"What?" Fuqing, you must be crazy … " Weng Tonghe would never give face to Fuqing if he were to give him face, so he stood out and berated loudly, "A hundred thousand gold a year? Do you think the money you made for the court came for nothing? Furthermore, if he built such a telegraph line, would he be able to cultivate from Beijing to Jiang Ling? What about Guangzhou? What about Shanghai? This is a bottomless pit! "

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, our nation's imperial court has not yet recovered. How could we spend money so carelessly? "No, absolutely not!"

Qing San Ye was angry, just like Xiao Letian, he did not have a natural cold towards Qing Liu, so he left with the cold words.

"You don't want to cultivate telegraph line without money? Do you mean to say that if you don't have money, you won't fight? Do you know how important the telegraph line is to the empire? Do you know how fast communication between the government and the local government will be? "

"A message from Beijing can be received by Shanghai in an instant. There is a slight disturbance at the borders of the Empire and the people in the Hall of Supreme Harmony will be informed immediately..." If we had this telegraph line long ago, the conflict between us and the Prime Minister Xiao would not have happened, and the imperial government would not have been fooled by the rumors! "

The mention of Xiao Letian made him even angrier. "Even if you're right, we shouldn't spend this money. This is the common cream of the people. I would rather build a bridge and repair the roads, I would rather subsidize the food prices than spend a single cent for it!"

"Your Majesty, Majesty!" If the telegraph line were to be repaired, then the number of people at the relay stations would be reduced. It would not be a small number, it would be millions of yuan … … Don't forget, how did Li Zi Cheng do it? Isn't Li Zi Cheng a postman in Shaanxi? "

"Emperor Chong Zhen modified the system of relay stations, causing Li Zicheng to lose his job, so he wants to rebel! The imperial government can't help but be vigilant! "

"F * ck!" Xiao Letian was going crazy, this Weng Tonghe's brain was really big, to actually attack the telegraphic technique from such a small point, this was definitely a genius framing someone.

Li Zicheng really lost his iron rice bowl, but he rebelled because of corruption and the bullying of the landlords, and also because of the drought that continued for many years in Shaanxi Province. That was the root cause, okay?

Fuqing obviously did not have much experience cursing and fighting in the imperial court, causing the old man to be so angry that her face turned red. You are simply pestering me! "

"When did I say to abolish the postmen? The telegraph line could only connect to the Regional Palace at the moment, so wasn't the transmission of information from the various counties below still being carried out by relay riders? "You're trying to change the concept …"

It was even more satisfying than watching a play. However, after watching it for a while, the little Emperor suddenly thought of something, "Wait …" Stop arguing first? Fuqing you just said that the American minister had demonstrated the telegraphic technique to you? "Can you let me have a look as well …"

The crowd's gaze immediately focused on Hua Ruohan. The American minister laughed bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, my telegraph has already been bought and sold by Xiao Letian, he only gave me a roast duck for a set of telegraph, I really don't have any more …"

This time, the little emperor looked at Xiao Letian. Prime Minister Xiao of the East China Sea shrugged his shoulders and said, "Your Majesty, this humble subject has long been prepared.

At this time, a black line had already stretched from the left wing to the right wing of the Supreme Harmony Temple's plaza; it was the pitch-black telegraph line.

With regards to the telegraphic technique, they did not really resist it anymore, especially after getting bullied by Xiao Letian due to the lack of information.

However, due to the natural fear of Western technology, the Empress Dowager and the nobles were unwilling to express themselves immediately. They still wanted the imperial court to make a ruckus and be more cautious.

Today, when they saw that Xiao Letian wanted to personally demonstrate his telegraphic technique, the imperial family did not stop him and instead walked out of the great hall in high spirits.

Even if Weng Tonghe had any more complaints, he could do nothing about it at this time. He could only angrily follow the rest of the people out, and the cold winter wind caused him to calm down quite a bit.

Pointing to the left wing door, he said to Weng Tonghe, "Master Weng, you go to the left wing, Prince Kung and the rest of your people will go to the right wing door. When that time comes, you can write a few words and I'll let you see with your own eyes what a thousand miles of sound transmission is …"