C1127 Southern Emergency

In the Western Warm Pavilion in the Yangxin Palace, on the east side of the famous Sanxi Hall in dryad, a round table had already been set up. In the middle was a hot pot filled with many flowers and copper, containing many silver threads. Beneath the rich dishes, it was filled to the brim with pickles and fans.

This was the special hot pot that Qing Dynasty had brought into the Central Plains to eat. It was a little bit like a hot pot in a Jiangnan furnace, but the ingredients were much more domineering than the hot pot in the furnace. The ingredients were also mostly focused on the wild food, which gave off a strong temperament to the people of the White Mountain Black River race.

The circle surrounding the blue hotpot was filled with appetizers. They were not too big, but they were all very delicate. With just a glance, one could tell that the imperial kitchens were well-prepared and definitely not a warm meal.

The fact that Ci Xi and Ci An could put out a show of a banquet outside of was a very clear signal. Today, it was a family banquet, and there weren't many courtesies in it.

Li Lianying and Zhou Daoying stood by the table, one holding a wine jug and the other a towel, laughing like two old chrysanthemums. Such a warm and intimate atmosphere was rarely seen in the Forbidden City.

In fact, the two of them knew very well that this kind of banquet was very disrespectful. Although the rules of Qing Dynasty were much less than before, being able to have their sister-in-law and brother-in-law eat together at the same table and without a third party present was not a situation that was allowed.

But who could? If the core members of the Manchu were to sit at these four seats, only they would be able to cause trouble for others, who would be able to cause trouble for them.

Furthermore, the two head eunuchs had long given the order to keep quiet during today's feast. It was best not to think about knowing even a little bit of the external court's influence.

"This is the five years old Chen Shaoxing Wine that Jiangnan sent over. Elder sister should drink a few more cups of it while being warm …" "Uncles, the dried deer sent by General Heilongjiang this year are really not bad, try some more …"

Ci Xi toasted and toasted to everyone, the atmosphere had become incomparably warm for him, if not for the fact that everyone present knew each other's background, he would have truly tricked them when they first arrived.

Prince of Alcohol secretly sighed. Back then, when you forced Ci An onto the Jingshan to the point where he almost hanged himself, you did not have such a pleasant expression. Now that the late emperor's secret decree has been burnt too, you can be considered as fearless.

Only the common folk would hold a grudge for the rest of their lives. The politicians in the imperial court would be allies tomorrow if they were mortal enemies. The benefits were greater than the heavens, so their personal reputation was nothing.

The sweetness of the Shaoxing Wine was not high, but the aftereffects were still very strong. After three or four cups, empress dowagers's face had become even redder.

Ci An drank a few mouthfuls of hot soup, suppressed the smell of alcohol, and said with a smile, "I still have some energy to myself, although Fleeting Time is not well, but at critical moments, there are always people who can change the course of events. A bunch of Xiang Army came out, and Zuo Jigao came out of the chaos in the northwest …"

"When the British and French combined forces called, I really thought that the imperial court would be finished, but he never expected that the group of westernization would leave with just a little bit of silver. Furthermore, they have provided us with a lot of Mercenaries s to help us grow feathers.

Ci Xi clapped his hands and said, "That's right! If only we had known that the foreign invaders had not overturned our hearts, why would we have fought against them when they just wanted money? "

Yi Yu smiled bitterly and said, "Ah …" At that time, all of the civil and military officials, including the late emperor, would be exhausted from both internal and external troubles. However, from the bottom of his heart, that big brother of mine thought that the foreigners were like the hairy men, and were here to overthrow the entire Manchu! "

"In the end, it dawned on me when I was talking to a foreigner in Beijing. From the very beginning to the end, that group of people only wanted switches, they wanted to do business … To put it bluntly, we are just looking at how wealthy our Great Qing Empire is, and all of us are so jealous that our eyes are popping out! "

"If we have to use our money to solve this problem, we will definitely use weapons. It would be a wonder if we don't suffer a loss …"

Ci Xi nodded his head, "Fortunately the crisis has passed, and now a Xiao Letian has appeared. But similarly, Yang Zhi, the Frenchman and the Russian have come to restrict him … What did this mean? This means that we haven't even finished! "

In today's small meeting, Yang Zhi's unveiling of the whole story caused these four people to be in a very good mood, and life was sometimes like this. The reason for the panic is because you don't understand, and once you figure out what was going on, no matter how strong the enemies were, they wouldn't be as scary as they were.

Moreover, Xiao Letian was not that strong now. There were many powers in this world that could restrain him.

Just as the four were deep in thought about how difficult it had been over the past few years, the sound of footsteps came from outside the hall. A young eunuch along with an official on duty from Head Office knelt outside, her entire body drenched in sweat.

"Reporting to the empress dowager, Head Office received an urgent message from Jiangnan … Lord Zeng called! "

"Eh? The marshal sent a telegram? Hadn't there already been congratulatory messages sent to the imperial government a few years ago? " Everyone's expression changed, Li Lianying quickly brought the message up.

According to the imperial court system of the Qing Dynasty, every yamen in the country during the Spring Festival would have five days to be sealed, unless it involved the military's lifeline. This was the legal day to rest during the Qing Dynasty.

However, in the process of execution, people would usually rest until the fifteenth day of the first month. The imperial government would obviously not find trouble with the servants because of such a small matter.

Ceng Guofan had already sent a New Year greeting message to the Emperor, Empress Dowager and Great Qing Dynasty before the Spring Festival. According to common sense, there shouldn't have been any movements before the fifteenth day of the first month, but today was the first day of the new year!

Ci An snatched the message from Li Lianying's hands and read through it ten times. In the end, her face had an inconceivable look, "How can this be? This, this, this... The marshal was entering the capital? He asked the imperial government for the position of Viceroy! "

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned, no one thought that Ceng Guofan would send such a message during the new year.

In fact, according to the rules of history, after Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Twisted Army were pacified, Ceng Guofan was quickly transferred to the capital. After being conferred the title of Marquis, the imperial government did not let him leave, but instead arranged for him to be seated in the position of Viceroy.

What was even more interesting was that the Viceroy spent most of his time doing errands in the capital, and the Governor's Office only stayed for a few days. This showed how taboo the Qing Dynasty had towards Ceng Guofan.

However, Xiao Letian's sudden appearance had changed the situation. Because of Xiao Letian's sudden arrival, the hundreds of thousands of Xiang Army s that were suppressed began to stir.

First, let's not talk about other things, just based on the fact that Xiao Letian's Letian Firm opened his own business in Tanggu, Jiu Shuai would actually personally take charge of it.

After thinking about it, the imperial government felt that Ceng Guofan would still be the one to handle the situation in the southern part of the river, because he was still a bit old and mature. Once the radical members of the Xiang Army formed an alliance with Xiao Letian, the consequences would be dire.

Therefore, Zuo Jigao's western expedition was much smoother compared to the historical western expedition, and the amount of resources he had to take away was much more. The imperial government's goal was to have Zuo Zongtang take away more of the Xiang Army's elites so that they could be divided into the northwest and the southeast.