Ever since Rehe's imperial edict reached Prince Gong's residence in the capital, the palace had been in chaos.
Li Qing's heart was burning with a fire. If someone stood in front of him at this moment, they would realize that Li Qing's eyes were filled with a burning ambition.
Ever since he was reborn, Li Qing had always been on tenterhooks. Although he could turn misfortune into good fortune every time, only he knew the ups and downs, bitterness, depression, and helplessness.
No one in the world knew better than him what the Qing Kingdom was like now.
The entire country was plagued by internal and external problems. The rulers did not want to make progress, the local officials were rotten, and the Eight Banners Green Camp could not withstand a war. Moreover, the court, which was not rich to begin with, still had to bear the huge burden of the Eight Banners.
Although it was very difficult for him to change everything now, it did not mean that Li Qing was not working hard.
The victory of this chess game meant that Li Qing's 8,000-strong Gong Wang Army had a legal identity. Most importantly, the imperial edict did not express any intention of returning to the capital. This meant that the direction of history had not changed, and he could still control the overall situation.
The initial plan had been set, and the next step was Li Qing's next target-the Prime Minister's Office for Foreign Affairs. This was the most important link in his plan, and it was the springboard for him to seize power in the future.
following day
Li Qing summoned Gui Liang, Wen Xiang, Bao Yun, and the other ministers to discuss the feasibility of setting up the Prime Minister's Office.
"Your Highness, the European and American countries are now in contact with our country, and there are more and more matters to deal with. Moreover, these countries are powerful and are not our vassal countries. The court system is different from the previous Fan countries, so this humble servant feels that it is necessary to set up a special yamen for foreign affairs.”The new Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wen Xiang, spoke first.
As an old official and the father-in-law of the Gong Prince, Gui Liang was generally inclined towards Li Qing, but this time he did not make his stance clear.
"Gong Prince, now that the matter has been settled, this old man is more inclined to focus on stability. Ever since the emperor's Mulan Autumn Hunt, the Gong Prince first discussed the aftermath, and now he wants to set up a yamen for the affairs of the various countries. Isn't this a little too fast?”
Grand Secretary Gui Liang said worriedly.
"Lord Guiliang's words are reasonable. This time, we were safe and sound, and luck played a large part. Moreover, Sushun suffered a loss this time, so he will definitely hate wangye even more and keep an eye on our every move. Most importantly, although His Majesty did not reward wangye, the punishment for Sushun was not painful, so this official asserted that His Majesty must be dissatisfied with wangye, but there is no suitable reason!”Baoyun stood up and said.
After Wen Xiang heard this, he said worriedly: " But the government is in a difficult situation now. If this conflict was handled by a professional department, the result would probably be much better!"”
Li Qing saw that it was difficult to persuade everyone, so he said,"The Prime Minister's establishment of the various country affairs yamen is imperative. I've called you all here because this matter is of great importance. The international situation is becoming more and more complicated, and no country can stay out of it. Even the small country of Japan next door has its doors opened, let alone the Qing Kingdom, which has the largest population in the world and a vast territory.
Moreover, this king can be certain that if the outside world does not actively integrate into this huge change, they will be abandoned and become fat meat on the chopping board, allowing others to slaughter them. I think Lord Guiliang should have a deep understanding of this feeling.”
"Then according to wangye's meaning, should we use those foreigners 'names to ask the emperor?”Bao Yun raised her head and asked.
"You can say that. Now that the various countries are buying land to build an embassy in Beijing, this king thinks that they should be very happy to help us!”Li Qing said with a smile.
"Also, right now, we don't lack officials who can write poems and songs, but we lack people who understand foreign languages and foreign affairs. So, in this period of time, we can set up this framework as soon as possible.
Wen Xiang, you are currently in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. You can see if there are any officials who are good at arithmetic and accounts. After you have inspected them in advance, you can use them to be responsible for the future customs review.
Baoyun, you can go to the Ministry of Justice or Hong Kong and Macau to find talents who are familiar with foreign affairs. As long as you are proficient in foreign languages, you can recruit them from any country.
As for Lord Guiliang, he was in charge of investigating the location of the yamen in the capital. As long as the court discussion passes, we will start working.”
......
This night was destined to be a sleepless night. Not only that, for the next few days, Li Qing kept Wen Xiang, Bao Yun, and Gui Liang alone to discuss this matter.
After a few days of discussion, under Li Qing's deliberate guidance, they finally created a new set of rules and regulations.
On the night after that, Li Qing informed the envoys of the various countries in the capital to go to the British embassy to discuss the establishment of the Prime Minister's Office for Foreign Affairs.
The envoys of the various countries naturally supported Li Qing's proposal. After all, before this, they had always dealt with the Fan Court. As they stayed in the Qing Kingdom for a long time, the envoys of the various countries naturally knew that the Fan Court was the yamen for the Qing Kingdom to deal with the vassal states.
They naturally did not want to consider themselves as vassal states, and were even more unwilling to deal with the Fan Yuan as " barbarians." As for the five trade ministers set up by Daoguang, it was even more so. They believed that they represented a country and that local governors had no right to deal with foreign affairs. Moreover, they also wanted to maintain their reputation. Therefore, they repeatedly requested the Qing Kingdom to set up a special foreign agency.
However, Emperor Xianfeng was an emperor who was extremely disgusted with foreigners and repeatedly disagreed.
Now that they heard that the Gong Prince had taken the initiative to ask, how could they not be happy?
When the Gong Prince's carriage arrived at the British Embassy, to show their respect for the Gong Prince, envoys from various countries welcomed him from outside.
"Your Highness the Gong Prince, welcome!”
"This king is also grateful that you can gather outside and wait!”
"This is what we should do. For an open-minded prince like you, we all think that you should take on more responsibility for this country!”
Li Qing looked at the messenger who was speaking confidently and said with a smile,""I hope so!"
After some discussion, the petition signed by the envoys of the various countries was handed over to Li Qing.
After Li Qing left, the emissary smiled and said," I really don't know what Emperor Daoguang's taste is like. He didn't choose such a good successor, but chose an idiot!"”
"No, no, no. We should thank Emperor Daoguang. If this prince were to succeed the throne, we would not have the chance to lord it over here!”
"What Ge Luo said makes sense. Ever since I witnessed this prince's vicious method of reducing the stove, I think I really don't want to communicate with him anymore!”
"You can't say that. You only saw his vicious side and didn't see his open-mindedness. You didn't realize that under his guidance, not only did we enter the capital, but we also took the initiative to push for something that we couldn't achieve even after fighting for 20 years.”Mi Shi said with a smile.
" Hua Ruohan is right. I've discovered that both the public security and traffic in the capital have undergone a tremendous change in less than two months. The roads have become clean, the traffic is orderly, and even thieves have almost disappeared. I feel that the capital is very likely to become the first civilized city in the Qing Kingdom!”
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