Liu Hai's message was quickly spread throughout the Qing Dynasty in telegrams and other forms.
The news naturally reached the ears of Empress Dowager Cixi in Xi'an.
After the Empress Dowager Cixi read the copy of the memorandum sent by the young eunuch, she was so angry that she tore the memorandum into pieces. Then she pointed in the direction of the capital and cursed Liu Hai, saying that he was the biggest traitor in the world today.
Li Lianying, who was standing aside, saw that the Empress Dowager Cixi was so angry that she was out of breath. He quickly stepped forward to pat her on the back, and then persuaded: "Lafayette, calm down, this is not good for your health. Let's talk about bangs. He
No matter how much trouble he can stir up, Lafayette can beat him to pieces with just a little thought."
Cixi sat there and took a breath. Although she knew that what Li Lianying said were lies, her words were very pleasant to the ears.
The Empress Dowager Cixi calmed down, and then told Li Lianying: "Go and call Prince Li Shiduo in. The Ai family has something to ask."
"Yes, I'll go right away."
After Li Lianying finished speaking, she bowed and left.
After a while, Li Lianying came in again and knelt in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
"The Empress Dowager Lafayette and Prince Li Shiduo are waiting for orders outside the bank."
"Ask him to come in."
"yes."
Li Lianying stood up and retreated, then reentered the room with Prince Li Shiduo.
After Prince Shiduo came in, he immediately knelt down and saluted Empress Dowager Cixi.
The Empress Dowager Cixi waited for Prince Shiduo to finish the ceremony, and then nodded and asked her to stand up.
"How has your military training been going during this time?"
When Prince Li Shiduo heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi asked about the source of troops, he felt a little uneasy, but he still had the courage to answer: "As for the Empress Dowager Lafayette, I have recruited more than 50,000 strong men in Shaanxi and are intensifying training.
"
The Empress Dowager Cixi was such a smart person. As soon as she heard Prince Shiduo's words and answered the question incorrectly, she knew that things might not be that simple.
"What's going on? Tell the Aijia the truth."
Prince Li, Shiduo, hesitated for a moment, then knelt down on the ground again, kowtowed, and then said tremblingly: "If I go back to Lafayette, my servant is not doing well this time, so I ask Lafayette to punish me."
Empress Dowager Cixi did not ask him to stand up, but stared at him with gloomy eyes and asked: "What's going on?"
"Going back to the Queen Mother, Lafayette, although I have recruited enough people in Shaanxi, I don't have many talents under my command, so the army has not been trained during this period. If we let them go to the battlefield now, I am afraid they will be a bunch of rabble."
It turns out that Prince Li Shiduo also had a military career for many years. Although his ability was said to be average, he still had a good vision.
He is not optimistic about the people he recruited during this period at all.
The combat effectiveness of these newly recruited troops was far inferior to those he had trained in the capital, let alone Liu Hai's proud and powerful generals.
When the Empress Dowager Cixi heard this, she immediately threw the tea cup in her hand at Prince Li Shiduo.
"The Aijia entrusted you with important tasks, asking for money and people, and now you actually tell the soldiers recruited by the Aijia that they are not worthy of a fight?"
When Prince Li Shiduo listened to the Empress Dowager Cixi's instructions, his head touched the floor and he did not dare to lift it up at all.
"Now Liu Hai has sent a message to the Ai family. It is the time to use troops, but you have made a mistake. You said you have several heads waiting for the Ai family to chop off."
Prince Li Shiduo had cold sweat on his face when he heard this.
When the Empress Dowager Cixi got tired of scolding, she sat down on the throne again, took a deep breath, and asked: "Where did the flaw happen? The army is still not strong enough to fight."
"Returning to the Queen Mother, the first reason is that there is a lack of personnel with formal military training under my command, so the army cannot keep up with the progress in training."
"The second is the lack of weapons. Shaanxi is very poor and there is not much money in the place. Although the arms dealers from the Rakshasa Kingdom have asked their slaves to sell weapons several times, we have no money and the other party has no reason to give it to us for free."
The Empress Dowager Cixi was silent for a long time after hearing this. She knew that what Prince Li Shiduo said was true.
Finally, the Empress Dowager Cixi could only ask: "Didn't the Ai family give Zhang Zhidong an order to deliver 2 million taels of silver to the Ai family? This money can be used to purchase arms and hire foreign military officers as instructors.
.”
Prince Li Shiduo smiled bitterly after hearing this, "Back to the Empress Dowager, the Governor of Huguang, Zhang Zhidong, has promised to release 2 million taels of silver to Shaanxi, but so far there has been no movement. I have sent people to urge Zhang Zhidong several times.
The reply from Zhidong was that it was a long journey and I had to make all preparations for safety, so I was told to be calm."
After hearing this, the Empress Dowager Cixi stood up and walked to the gate. She raised her head and looked at the sky, feeling like a pot of boiling water was boiling in her heart.
If she were still in the capital now, these Han people would not dare to deal with her like this no matter how brave they were, the Empress Dowager Cixi thought in her heart.
She knew that her side was weak now and could not offend the frontier officials like Zhang Zhidong, so she could only swallow her anger for the time being and wait until she defeated Liu Hai, the formidable enemy, and then deal with these disobedient Han people.
So the Empress Dowager Cixi sighed, and then said to Prince Li Shiduo who was kneeling behind her: "It seems that these Han people have no hope. At the critical moment, we will have to look at our Manchus."
After the Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, she turned around and returned to the throne. She said to Ronglu who was kneeling below: "This time the Ai family came out of the capital with some belongings. Now you take them all and replace them with
Silver to buy weapons and train soldiers."
Prince Li Shiduo knelt down and heard that the Empress Dowager Cixi was about to take out her private money. He was so moved that he could not help but shed tears down his cheeks.
"How did Lafayette do this? How could the slaves use your private money, Lafayette?"
"Needless to say, these things will not be brought with you alive or dead. As long as it can save our Qing Dynasty, no matter how much things we have, the Ai family will be willing to give up."
After hearing what the Empress Dowager Cixi said, Prince Li Shiduo kowtowed several times, and then his expression became serious.
"Don't worry, Lafayette. Even if I don't care about my life, I still want to train a strong army for Lafayette."
The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded when she heard this, and said to Li Lianying on the side: "You will carry the things out later and let Prince Li take them away."
Li Lianying lowered her head and agreed quickly, "Slave, go down and prepare now."
After a while, Li Lianying led a few eunuchs and carried several large boxes to the outside of the hall.
Li Lianying asked the eunuchs to wait outside, and he went in to inform Empress Dowager Cixi that they were ready.
The Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the boxes outside the yard, and she actually felt a little distressed in her heart.
These are all the good things she brought from the palace. On the land route to Shaanxi, due to the attack by the traitor Liu Hai, more than half of them were lost. Now the only things in these boxes are with her.
, if she gives it away again, she won't have any money left.
However, for the sake of her own wealth and life, and to regain her power, Empress Dowager Cixi could only grit her teeth and endure.
"Prince Li brought something for you. Take it out and use it properly. Don't betray the trust of the Ai family."
"This is my life as a servant. I will not and will never let down the Queen Mother."
Empress Dowager Cixi waved her hands feebly and asked Prince Shiduo to retreat.
When she and Li Lianying were the only two people left in the hall, Empress Dowager Cixi asked Li Lianying uncertainly: "Do you think we can stop the traitor Liu Hai this time?"
After listening to Cixi's question, Li Lianying thought about it and felt really unsure.
You must know that over the years since Liu Hai's record was kept there, this traitor has blocked everything and fought in the west without ever being defeated.
Even the famous Geely Empire was beaten down by bangs and lost its temper.
The Japanese country next to him, who challenged the Qing Dynasty alone, was even more decisive. He was almost destroyed by Liu Hai and now became Liu Hai's vassal.
I heard that some time ago, Liu Hai wiped out almost all the hundreds of thousands of Rakshasa Kingdom's troops. This led Rakshasa Kingdom to sign a peace agreement with Liu Hai, and then the remaining soldiers were defeated and returned to the country.
Therefore, Li Lianying did not have any confidence in the people trained by Prince Li Shiduo.
However, Li Lianying could not express the thoughts in his heart, otherwise, if the old Buddha in front of him became angry, his head would disappear immediately.
"Lafayette, what did you say? That bangs is just a young thief, how can he compare with you, Lafayette. Some time ago, Lafayette, you just failed to find out this kid's conspiracy. Now,
Lafayette, please calm down and come back, you will be able to take care of this kid soon."
After hearing Li Lianying's compliment, Empress Dowager Cixi finally showed a smile and felt relieved.
Empress Dowager Cixi regained some confidence, and what she was thinking now was that although she was currently at a disadvantage, with her years of experience in governing and her prestige in the Qing Dynasty, she should be able to regain her disadvantage soon.
But things did not develop as the Empress Dowager Cixi thought.
After Prince Shiduo returned to his residence with the Empress Dowager Cixi's belongings, he did not waste any time. On the second day, he summoned the wealthy businessmen from all over the city of Xi'an.
After receiving the invitation from Prince Li Shiduo, the wealthy businessmen in Xi'an thought everything over in their minds.
This time when I go back to Prince Shiduo's place, I'm afraid there won't be a good banquet or a good meeting. It's obvious that I'm asking for money from these people.
Therefore, in the evening of that day, these well-known wealthy businessmen gathered together to discuss how to deal with Prince Shiduo the next day.
The most famous among these businessmen are Shanxi businessmen.
Shanxi merchants have been divided into eight imperial merchants since the early Qing Dynasty. Although the older generation of merchants has declined over the years, a new generation has risen.
Therefore, Shanxi merchants still play a decisive role in the shopping malls in the northern part of the Qing Dynasty.
Although there are not many Shanxi businessmen in Shaanxi due to the small land and poor people, and they are not the mainstream among Shanxi businessmen, they still occupy a leading position in the Shaanxi business community.