Three years ago, on the eve of the Boxer Rebellion, he secretly visited Tsarist Russia and signed secret terms with Tsarist Russia in an attempt to use Tsarist Russia to deal with the greed of the Oriental people.

Use the Western barbarians to control the Eastern barbarians and survive in the cracks.

This was the opinion of Li Jingfang, Sheng Xuanhuai, and later Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi and other Westernizationists.

Chen Tianhua's entire plan, including a series of measures such as the opening of Niutoushan Coal Mine and the liquidation of Changxing Yaojin Coal Industry, are completely in line with his strategy of "using Western barbarians to control Eastern barbarians".

Of course he is very interested and wants to get involved, whether it is investing or participating in planning and management.

"I personally heard that you were very indignant about the Japanese people's attempt to occupy our country's coal resources, and I firmly support you to get ahead of the Japanese people and mine the Niutoushan coal mine in Guangde, Anhui."

"In my opinion, you might as well take some time to outline this plan in a concise and concise manner. I will present it to Shanda people first. If it is basically feasible, he will naturally arrange a time to see you, and then you can elaborate on it.

"

Li Jingfang first expressed his attitude with a clear-cut stance, and then asked Chen Tianhua to draw up a mining plan and submit it to him.

Chen Tianhua fully understands and supports this idea and suggestion.

Investing in a coal mine is a big project, which requires a large amount of capital investment. It does require a "project plan" like the one in later generations.

This requires feasibility analysis, establishment of investment projects, investment scale and investment costs, income return forecasts, investment risks, etc.

Of course, such a project plan must be written by specially organized personnel after the project is determined, and what is currently being submitted to Sheng Xuanhuai is only a project proposal.

"That's no problem. Please give me a room, uncle. I will start writing immediately and try to complete it within two days." Chen Tianhua immediately expressed his position.

"No problem. There are many rooms in this mansion. I will immediately arrange for the housekeeper to make a room for him. I have all the pen, ink, paper and inkstone ready so that you can complete the construction document of this mining project with peace of mind."

"Thank you very much, uncle." Chen Tianhua stood up and bowed his hands in salute.

"I think this is the arrangement. During the rest of the afternoon, I will take you two to the Li family ancestral hall to pay homage to the old patriarch, your cousin. We will come back to have dinner together, and then Hua Zhi will start writing the plan. How about that?" Li Jingfang was good at it.

Planning, he thought it through very carefully.

"Junior, please follow uncle's arrangements."

"Qianhua listens to you, uncle."

Chen Tianhua and Li Shuzhen, who was listening on the sidelines, both expressed their stance.

Li Jingfang nodded and smiled, and immediately left the reception room to make arrangements.

After a while, a servant came in and announced that the carriage was downstairs and asked them to get in and go to the Li family ancestral hall.

When we arrived at the intersection with Huaihai West Road, the ceremonial gate and archway of the Li family ancestral hall were erected there, and the next thing that came into view was the bronze bust of Li Hongzhang.

This so-called Li Family Ancestral Hall, visited by Chen Tianhua in later generations, is located in Fudan Middle School on Huashan Road.

This newly built Li family ancestral hall is actually a special ancestral hall established by the three brothers Li Jingfang, Li Jingshu and Li Jingmai in Shanghai for their father Li Hongzhang. It should be more appropriately called the 'Li Hongzhang Ancestral Hall'.

Later generations' history books called this place the ancestral hall of the prime minister in the late Qing Dynasty.

This ancestral hall is of the same nature as the Li Hongzhang Ancestral Hall in Beijing. They are both temples specially designed to commemorate Li Hongzhang.

This is different from the Li family ancestral hall in Dongxiang, Hefei, which is the true mourning hall of Li family ancestors for hundreds of years.

However, it is said that Li Hongzhang's lineage is not a direct line of the Dongxiang Li family, but a branch. This gave the three brothers Li Jingfang the original intention of establishing a separate Li family ancestral hall.

They want to take Li Hongzhang as their ancestor and pass it down from generation to generation starting in Shanghai.

Li Hongzhang was loyal to the Qing court until he vomited blood and died after the Xinchou Peace Treaty was signed. He took the blame for countless times for the corrupt Qing court, and also dragged his eldest son Li Jingfang down.

Based on the Dongyuan meeting with his father-in-law Li Cunzhi and the face-to-face contact with Li this time, Chen Tianhua suddenly felt that Li Hongzhang did something wrong regarding the issue of successor in his later years.

That is to elect Yuan Shikai as Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, handing over the entire Huai Army to Yuan Shikai.

He believed that none of the Li family's nephews could bear the burden.

In fact, he ignored his eldest son Li Jingfang.

Looking at Li Jingfang's life, he got an official position because of Li Hongzhang, but he was not able to realize his ambitions because of his father.

It's just that success is Xiaohe and failure is Xiaohe!

Since his debut, he has been living in the shadow of his father Li Hongzhang, acting as a first-class secretary and special assistant. He has always been a tragic figure with a bad temper, doing the most unflattering things, "a weak country has no diplomacy", which Taotao was infamous for.

According to Li Cunzhi, Li Jingfang was smart and capable, proficient in the languages ​​​​of five countries, and had a high prestige in the family.

When Li Hongzhang was critically ill, the Li clan wanted to elect Li Jingfang as the leader of the Huai Army, with him in charge and assisted by Li Cunzhi, Li Jingxi and other Li's nephews.

Li Jingxi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, was also the teacher of General Cai E, and he led troops well.

It's a pity that Li Hongzhang didn't allow it. I don't know whether he couldn't see it or was afraid that the Li family couldn't defeat Yuan Shikai, so he forced the Li family's nephews to kneel down and swear allegiance to Yuan Shikai.

What's more, his last memorial to the court bluntly stated that "Jingfang cannot be reused," which directly cut off Li Jingfang's thoughts.

I don’t know if Li Hongzhang is dim-sighted here, or because he is protecting Li Jingfang and asking him not to get involved in politics again.

In the end, Li Hongzhang left hundreds of millions of property to his descendants and passed away.

But he did not consider that Li Jingfang was still in his prime, young and promising, and had great ambitions. This would only make him depressed for the rest of his life.

Based on Chen Tianhua's understanding, recommending Yuan Shikai was the biggest foolish thing Li Hongzhang did in his later years.

In fact, after Yuan Shikai stole the military power in Beiyang and forced the Qing Dynasty to step down, he became the only one in the world. He actually went against the grain and dreamed of becoming an emperor.

After his death, the Beiyang warlords suffered from civil war and internal strife for decades, which caused many ugly things. The country's power became even weaker, the people became poorer, and the real people were in dire straits.

Eventually suffered the invasion of Japanese militarism.

If Li Jingfang had been elected at that time, perhaps the country would have gone to the other side, and it would not have been in a civil war for decades and the country would have retreated instead of advancing.

Of course, these are Chen Tianhua's personal perceptions and arguments, but now, he has decided to cooperate well with Li Jingfang.

Speaking of which, Chen Tianhua and Li Shuzhen burned incense and kowtowed in front of Li Hongzhang's memorial tablet and portrait. They respectfully knelt down to worship this veteran of the Qing Dynasty. After taking the blame, they followed Li Jingfang back to the Li Mansion.

At Li Mansion, Chen Tianhua and Li Shuzhen visited Li Jingfang's British wife Mary before dinner.

In addition to several Chinese wives, Li Jingfang also has two foreign wives, British and French, but there is absolutely no legendary Japanese wife.

The British wife Mary followed him back to live in China.

After dinner, Chen Tianhua followed the butler to the guest room in the east courtyard and began to write his plan.
Chapter completed!