C623 Court Debate (1/2)
It was very common for the Qing Dynasty to confer a seat. After all, the Emperor was very reasonable. It was common for people to confer seats to stand for several hours in a meeting because one's physical strength was insufficient and the other was not the style of a wise king.
However, the Supreme Harmony Temple was different. This was the tallest meeting in the empire, and in order to display its unique status, no one had ever heard of a precedent here.
But today was different, Weng Tonghe was so angry that he fainted, adding that the meeting could not end in a short time, some of the older officials could not bear it, so no one objected to the empress dowager's suggestion.
Grand Commission had never been given seats, so there were very few piers around Supreme Harmony Hall, and the chairs took up too much of a space. In the end, all the officials at the front of the hall had seats, while the officials at the back could not get anything.
Xiao Letian and the rest didn't have seats, but it wouldn't be difficult for Xiao Letian. He and a new soldier whispered to each other, and soon a group of soldiers carrying Ma Za walked in.
”Sit down...” Try out the new army's little Mazar. I guarantee that it will be more comfortable than an embroidered pillar … ”Come, come, come, come. Sir Wang, there's no need to be so polite. Take one. You take one too, Sir Li. You also have Sir Zhang …”
A Qing Dynasty official dressed in imperial court attire was sitting on a small horse in the Supreme Harmony Temple! If it was recorded and kept as a historical record, it would definitely shock the Historian s of the future generations.
There were also some accidents during the ride on the Mazar. These folded small Mazas were all cross folded with only a few canvas bags at the top, which was the most common style in the later generations of the military camp.
On the other hand, the officials of Qing Dynasty obviously didn't have the experience of being a Maza. They thought that they would have to sit on a chair with their butts down as usual. According to the rules of the Manchu dynasty, you can't sit fully when the Emperor gives you a seat, you can only sit carefully to show your respect.
However, Mazar's center of gravity was not as stable as the embroidery block or the chair. His buttocks were stuck on one side. Wasn't he just waiting to fall? With a series of crackling sounds, all the officials who were half-sitting and half-sitting fell to the ground.
”Hahahaha …” The little emperor couldn't help but laugh as he sat on the dragon throne. He suddenly realised that anything that touched Xiao Letian would become especially interesting.
Ci Xi said with a gloomy face: ”Your Majesty, please take note of your manners. How can you, the emperor, be so presumptuous?” With just that one sentence, Tongzhi lowered his head.
Ci An was an expert at mediating, he then said, ”Alright, alright, let's continue discussing, there are a lot of important matters to attend to today, so there is no need to waste time, Zuo Zongtang and the proposal from Fuqing, does anyone have any objections?”
The royals had already agreed long ago, in order to make it convenient for the empire to rule over the telegraph line, all of the royalty had to keep quiet, the local daoyin s were even more impossible to oppose, Qing Liu was dead set, and the topic of the Empire's two telegraph line just passed.
”Since no one has any objections, let the emperor use the treasures. The Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, is in charge of the two telegraph line from Beijing to Xi'an and the Minister of Foreign Affairs from Beijing to Shanghai. The Imperial Court has allocated two hundred thousand taels. Three years, I had only given you three years, Fuqing, do you dare to issue the military order? ”
”This humble subject dares! It will be completed in three years! ” Fuqing patted her chest and sat down to make up her mind.
”Alright, who still has things to do next?” Ci An didn't want to cause trouble so he quickly activated the next option.
At this time, Xiao Letian suddenly stood out and said, ”Foreign ministers has something to start.” After more than two years of construction, the Tanggu District had already reached its initial scale. Now, I request for the approval of the imperial government to expand the scope of the Special Zone … ”Please reduce the tariffs for ten years, and ten years later, Foreign ministers will still be a prosperous Industrial Zones in the imperial government …”
The expansion plan that Xiao Letian had mentioned was actually just a formality in the imperial court. Everyone already knew that the royalty had secretly made a deal with Xiao Letian, and today, they were just there for a formality.
Seizing the opportunity to defeat Maylor, Xiao Letian expanded the scale of the Special Zone by a wide margin. Not only was the Tanggu taken away by him, even his black hand had been extended towards the north of the Ning River, and the entire two counties had been captured by him.
's aim was to the north, Kaiping and Luanzhou. To the north, Xiao Letian wanted to go there and rush to the rich resources of the coal and iron mines. Now, the Letian Firm had already built a pier at the Caofei Port, and the coal and iron ore from Kaiping and Luanzhou could be transported by sea to the Tanggu.
Right now, Xiao Letian had already sent new troops to seal off the area he wanted.
Since it was an agreement made in the past, the empress dowagers and the royalty could only pinch their noses and accept the debt. The size of the Tanggu District expanded ten times and it became a ten-year lease on the land under the signature of the Prime Minister of the Ryukyu, Xiao Letian.
Not only that, the imperial government also allowed the special administrative region to set up a mineral bureau in Kaiping and Luanzhou. The local officials could not interfere with this, which also acknowledged Xiao Letian's privileged position.
Xiao Letian was not an Englishman, his territory was different from Hong Kong's. The officials of Tanggu were still appointed by the imperial government, hence the Qing Dynasty's righteousness would not be shaken.
Xiao Letian took the Li Clan, the imperial government saved face, this was a joyous situation, the Qing Liu Clans did not dare talk back, after all, the new troops had already taken control of the land.
Xiao Letian also knew to be grateful that he had returned the favor. However, when he received the order to rent a place in the Special Zone, Xiao Letian immediately gave him another book.