Chapter 203 Recruiting Talents

After a while of greetings, Su Zhiniang went out to entertain others, while Wei Jichen personally accompanied Li Hongzhang here.

Originally he wanted his soldiers to bring food and drinks, but Li Hongzhang shook his head.

He had to ask the soldiers to bring tea, and Li Hongzhang gently picked it up and took a sip.

Wei Jichen thought to himself: "Li Hongzhang cannot be here just because of his engagement party. There must be other important things. I don't know what this is."

After Li Hongzhang put down the tea cup, he stared at Wei Jichen for a moment. Seeing Wei Jichen's calm and calm expression, he couldn't help but secretly praise him in his heart.

"Zijie, there's a lot of trouble outside right now. It's a good thing you've become a housekeeper here." Li Hongzhang said with a slight sigh.

Li Hongzhang's life is difficult now. As soon as the contract was changed, more and more people began to criticize him verbally and verbally.

Since Kang Youwei teamed up with scholars to write letters on the bus, a custom of private scholars asking for political advice gradually formed, and various political discussion groups began to form.

Kang You was born with a sharp tongue and was good at taking advantage of situations. When he was in Guangdong, he opened a Wanmu Thatched Cottage School to gather his disciples to give lectures and explain his theories.

After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, he found in the capital that Guangxu was very interested in his theory and wanted to reform to become stronger. He even started jumping up and down, causing quite a stir.

This is what Li Hongzhang meant when he said there was a big fuss.

Wei Jichen asked tentatively: "Zhongtang, the emperor has issued an edict to sin against himself, and he has great talent and strategy, and intends to change the law. What do you think of Zhongtang?"

Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Li Hongzhang sighed and said: "Reform and reform are difficult. Kang You is such a person. Although I have not seen him with my own eyes, I can tell from watching his actions and listening to his words that he is a talker. He is a scholar who speaks erratically and cannot clearly see the situation between the DPRK and China, and cannot understand the relationship between the superior and the subordinate. "

Although Li Hongzhang did not clarify the relationship, Wei Jichen knew that he was saying that Kang Youwei had found the wrong person. What effect could he have by finding Guangxu, who did not have much real power?

"Zijie, please don't get too close to these people. What Lafayette is most taboo about is for generals with soldiers to have unclear relationships with some ministers in the court." Li Hongzhang reminded.

"Boy, you understand." Wei Jichen was very grateful for Li Hongzhang's kind reminder.

Li Hongzhang stopped and changed the subject: "Whether they believe that reform can strengthen oneself or those who don't believe it, they all think that training the new army is a top priority. This war also made me see clearly that I The Huai army that was built by one hand has become decayed over the years and is no longer useful. It will be destroyed as soon as it encounters the enemy. It is time to disband. "

Li Hongzhang felt uncomfortable when he said this.

Wei Jichen comforted him and said, "Young man is also from Zhongtang. How can you say that the Huai army was destroyed as soon as it was destroyed?"

Fortunately, Li Hongzhang had lived for so many years and had never experienced anything. He immediately calmed down and said with a smile: "That's why I recommend you to train in the new army. This is Zijie's opportunity and the continuation of our Huai Army. Zijie is a brave and resourceful general in our Huai Army. I hope you can build a strong army and let others see that our Huai Army is full of talents. "

"It's a pity that we still don't know what the emperor and Lafayette mean." Wei Jichen said a little depressed. This feeling of fate being in the hands of others is really not a good feeling.

Li Hongzhang smiled slightly, took another sip of tea, and replied to Wei Jichen: "The emperor values ​​you very much, so there is no need to worry about this. The main thing now is to see what Lafayette wants, and leave it to Lafayette." I'll do it, I still have some influence in the court, and I can have a few words with Lafayette."

Wei Jichen asked knowingly: "Why does Lafayette have some prejudice against boys?"

He wanted to see how Li Hongzhang responded and whether he really had no complaints against Cixi.

Li Hongzhang curled his lips and said helplessly and depressedly: "She is not prejudiced against you, she is just a little suspicious. The emperor has issued an order for you to come to Beijing for an audience. I brought you here by the way today."

Li Hongzhang saw that there was just a hint of surprise on Wei Jichen's face, so he continued: "I only want to give you a message. After you come to Beijing, you don't need to run around like Yuan Shikai. Zijie, your reputation is already big enough, and I also I’m helping you from behind, so just stay calm and calm.”

Wei Jichen was shocked. Jiang was still very old. He had just been thinking about how he would hook up with Ronglu or Yikuang after entering the capital. But now after hearing Li Hongzhang's words, he felt that it was inappropriate.

These people received their own money. If they often mentioned themselves in front of Cixi, it would not make Cixi even more suspicious.

"Thank you for reminding me, I really don't know how to thank you." Wei Jichen never expected that he would receive such care from Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang smiled and took out the telegram and handed it to Wei Jichen.

He was busy with his affairs. After finishing these things, he was ready to leave. Wei Jichen suddenly thought that he didn't have many talents at his disposal, so why not ask Li Hongzhang to recommend some.

Just when he was about to stand up, he said: "Zhongtang has a lot of talented people, please recommend one or two, in case the court orders the boy to train troops, I'm afraid he will be too busy for a while."

Li Hongzhang nodded and said: "I will pay attention to you."

The main reason why Wei Jichen dared to ask Li Hongzhang to recommend talents for him without fearing that he would secretly control his trained soldiers was that Li Hongzhang was now in his seventies.

A man in his seventies, to put it bluntly, is already half buried in the ground. He has suffered such a great blow now, and I am afraid he does not have the ambitions he had before.

The two talked for a few more words, and Li Hongzhang got up to say goodbye, without even drinking a glass of wine.

Li Hongzhang left a lot of gifts, and after Wei Jichen saw him off in a grand manner, the whole banquet was almost over, and Wei Jichen, the host, also showed up in time.

Everyone was still shocked by Li Hongzhang's pomp and circumstance, and they all speculated which senior official in the court he was.

Seeing Wei Jichen show up again, everyone's eyes were a little different. Last time, Wei Jichen only led two or three riders back, and everyone didn't feel anything for a while, but this time they really felt that Wei Jichen had really become an amazing big man.

"General Wei, I wonder if your army is still recruiting people?" As soon as Wei Jichen sat down, an old man in his fifties came over and asked softly.

Wei Jichen gulped and finally drank the wine in his mouth.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm asking for my son." The old man saw Wei Jichen's reaction and knew that he was thinking wrong, so he quickly explained.

"Excuse me, young master?" Wei Jichen asked with a smile. In this era, many generals' personal soldiers came from their fellow townsmen, which at least guaranteed some loyalty issues. So when the old man asked this, Wei Jichen didn't think there was anything abnormal.

The old man scratched his forehead and said embarrassedly: "I have three sons. The eldest son has already started a family and a career. The second son is about to start a family, but he has not started a career. The third son has neither started a family nor a career. So, if the general's army is still short of people, I want to entrust the second and third sons to the general."

Wei Jichen had a bad feeling in his heart and asked softly: "But Huo Yuanjia and Huo Yuanqing."

The old man nodded heavily.