Prince Su, Shanqi, actually knew that Cixi didn't like him very much, but he didn't care too much about this matter. It wasn't easy to get an audience with Cixi, and Shanqi hoped to persuade Cixi to promote the New Policies as soon as possible through this meeting.

"Empress Dowager, the consensus of the world now is to demand Constitutionalism. And the Court also has this intention. Since it is so, we should promulgate Constitutionalism as soon as possible. This slave knows the Empress Dowager is worried that pushing too fast will always have various deficiencies. It is inevitable that some people will make irresponsible remarks. But regarding the great affairs of the world, which one is not criticized by others? The greatest benefit of Constitutionalism as soon as possible lies in the fact that we are prepared, while those who hope for Constitutionalism are not prepared. After Constitutionalism, all key departments can be controlled by our own people. Since it is Constitutionalism, there must be elections. This election has rules; whether once every four years or once every five years, we have enough time to handle it calmly. But at least we occupy the name of righteousness, hold real power, and have the system of Constitutionalism. We can stand in an invincible position first. If we plan slowly, those with ulterior motives who want to use Constitutionalism will have full collusion, which will lead to many dreams in a long night instead."

Cixi listened quietly to Prince Su's statement. Cixi disliked this "radical" way very much. What Cixi hoped was to win over the hearts of the people first, play the opponent in the palm of her hand through power tactics first, and then promote Constitutionalism in the way of bestowing favors. This was actually the method Manchu Qing nobles were most accustomed to. To say Cixi was conservative was actually an incomplete statement. Cixi had always been one of the "supporters" of the New Policies, or at least a supporter of new measures, and could even be said to be the initiator. After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform, the New Policies did not cease with the death of the people involved. Because the New Policies were largely allowed and supported by Cixi originally. Guangxu relied on Cixi's permission back then to hold the authority of the New Policies. But under the instigation of that group of radicals, Guangxu turned the New Policies into a political struggle. The Emperor's Party wanted to seize power from the Empress's Party, and even went to the extent of preparing to kill Cixi and seize power forcibly. Cixi imprisoning Guangxu was not so much hatred for the New Policies as it was normal self-preservation.

Now Prince Su Shanqi was preparing to do this again, and Cixi opposed it from the bottom of her heart. But she didn't oppose it straightforwardly either. As a ruler holding great power, in Cixi's view, many times no explanation was needed. Explanation represented attention; the other party often wouldn't really care about the opposition in Cixi's words, but would try even harder to persuade Cixi.

Another reason for Cixi not speaking and saving some face for Prince Su was that Prince Su Shanqi was also an anomaly in the Manchu Qing.

One of Shanqi's political achievements was founding the modern police system. During the Gengzi Incident (1900), the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi fled from Beijing in panic. When they arrived at Datong, the Empress Dowager ordered Shanqi to return to Beijing to handle the aftermath together with Prince Qing Yikuang and Grand Secretary Li Hongzhang. Not long after returning to Beijing, Shanqi met Kawashima Naniwa, who served as a translation officer in the Japanese army. The two regretted not meeting sooner and later became sworn brothers. With the support of Kawashima Naniwa and others, based on the Japanese Police Law and the current situation of Beijing city, Shanqi organized a patrol team (this was the origin of the future Beijing police). In the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), Shanqi was appointed as the Commander of the Infantry and Minister of the Works and Patrol Bureau. The Infantry Commander's Yamen was the old institution responsible for Beijing's security, and the Works and Patrol Bureau was the newly established municipal institution leading the newly established patrol police.

The second of Shanqi's political achievements was promoting the municipal construction of Beijing city. He presided over the establishment of the Road Works Bureau, responsible for building roads in Beijing city. He also memorialized to designate a part of the Wangfujing Eight Banners Divine Mechanism Camp playground to open a new-style market, which was the predecessor of the famous Dong'an Market. At that time, the capital presented a new atmosphere. Shanqi also explicitly ordered the opening of a theater called "Civilized Tea House" inside Xizhushikou. The upper floor of the theater was for female seats, and the lower floor for male seats, abolishing the ban that women could not enter theaters to watch plays. This caused a sensation for a while in Beijing, the capital of good governance.

His third political achievement was clearing up the accumulated malpractice of Chongwenmen tax collection. Chongwenmen was the main checkpoint for taxing goods entering Beijing, such as daily necessities and luxury goods. The Superintendent of Chongwenmen could not only accept bribes but also sit and collect part of the tax money. In a year, the Superintendent could get tens of thousands of taels of silver; it had always been a recognized lucrative post. During the Gengzi Incident, Prince Su's Mansion located in Dongjiaomin Lane was destroyed by war. The Qing court ordered Shanqi to serve as the Superintendent of Chongwenmen, containing the intention of letting him get some income from the tax "commission" to build another prince's mansion. But Shanqi didn't accept this favor after taking office and turned over all the tax money.

Shanqi also drastically rectified the tax system, prohibiting extortion and eliminating corruption. In the past, foreigners brought goods into Beijing without paying tax; he changed it to uniform taxation. In the past, merchants entering the pass had brokers handle tax payment, taking a cut from it; he changed it to officials directly inspecting goods and collecting tax, subtracting the intermediate exploitation link. Shanqi served two consecutive terms as Superintendent; tax revenue increased greatly, and all was turned over to the national treasury.

The biggest difference between Shanqi and other princes and nobles was that he still knew the interests of the empire were above personal interests. Later generations who envied Manchu Qing bloodline actually evaluated Shanqi quite highly. In *Diary of Wangshan Studio*, Sun Baoxuan had a few comments on Shanqi: "It is easy to find capable people, but difficult to find incorruptible people; it is easy to find incorruptible people, but difficult to find incorruptible people who can understand the feelings of those below. If all people handling affairs in the world were like Prince Su, why worry that all neglected tasks wouldn't be undertaken!"

If seen by the People's Party led by Chen Ke, these New Policies were not worth mentioning at all. Compared with Yuan Shikai founding the Beiyang New Army, the promotion of these things to the country was also of very limited significance. They could only be called trivial matters. Even Cixi didn't like this person's style.

But compared with other Manchu Qing princes who only knew how to fight for power and profit, living a life of debauchery and gluttony, Shanqi was extremely different. He was in Beijing after all; it is difficult to do things at the foot of the Son of Heaven. Although these small things didn't look big, to get them done required arduous struggles with various forces. It was already very commendable for Shanqi to be able to accomplish these things.

Since she couldn't refute Shanqi's face [dignity], Cixi had to continue listening. Shanqi was not a rash youth who didn't understand the ways of the world; if he were, he couldn't have mixed to his current position. In history, Wang Jingwei assassinated a Manchu Qing prince and was arrested after the matter was exposed. Shanqi strongly advocated pardoning Wang Jingwei. After talking with Shanqi, Wang Jingwei also admired this prince who was "capable, open-minded, straightforward, and humorous" in the eyes of contemporaries. When Wang Jingwei defected to the Japanese and formed the puppet Nanjing government, he prepared to appoint Shanqi's son as the "Ambassador to Japan."

Seeing Cixi completely unable to listen to his advice, Shanqi had to withdraw.

After Shanqi left, Cixi breathed an extremely slight sigh of relief. Dealing with these people made Cixi feel a kind of very unhappiness every time. Other palace maids and eunuchs didn't see it, only the Chief Eunuch Li Lianying served a cup of tea with extreme tacit understanding. Cixi took a sip, but asked: "Is there a memorial from Cen Chunxuan?"

The saying of "Three Butchers of Late Qing" was famous at home and abroad. Zhang Zhidong "Butcher of Wealth," Yuan Shikai "Butcher of People," Cen Chunxuan "Butcher of Officials." Who Cixi asked Li Lianying about was the memorial of this famous "Official Butcher" Cen Chunxuan.

Cen Chunxuan, courtesy name Yunjie, was a Zhuang person from Guangxi, the son of former Governor-General of Yun-Gui Cen Yuying. Historical records state that although this gentleman served as Governor-General of Liangguang for only a mere four years, he dismissed 1403 corrupt officials at all levels! Contemporaries honored Cen as "The Last Clear Sky [Upright Official] of the Great Qing." He was incorruptible as an official, upright and outspoken. deeply valued by Cixi. On the matter of Constitutionalism, Cixi wanted to see Cen Chunxuan's attitude more. In these years, all capable ministers had a very close place in their conduct: they all advocated developing education and promoting industry. And within their scope of authority, these ministers also did their best to practice the political view of "running education, promoting industry." And these capable officials supported Constitutionalism without exception.

Cixi's political bottom line lay in that whether New Policies or Constitutionalism, they could not shake the political leadership status of her and the forces she represented. Therefore, Cixi didn't want rapid Constitutionalism at all. Instead, she adopted the method of buying over and suppressing to complete the constitutional reform step by step. At this time, Cixi could only discover those people and methods that conformed to her wishes from the memorials of those officials she valued.

"Old Buddha [Your Majesty], this slave has checked. There is no memorial from Lord Cen Chunxuan." Li Lianying replied hurriedly.

Cixi didn't make a sound, just took another sip of tea. Li Lianying hurriedly presented the tray; Cixi put the teacup back on the tray. Li Lianying withdrew the tea.

Managing such a precarious Great Qing court gave Cixi, who was deep in the palace, only a feeling of extremely powerless heaviness. The princes and beiles who should have become the pillars of the Great Qing had long rotted into a mess and were simply unusable. After giving these people power, they couldn't do anything other than fight for power and profit. The Beiyang faction rose vigorously, but as Yuan Shikai gradually became high-ranking and powerful, he was also trapped in the vortex of political struggle. And Cixi had no plan to support Yuan Shikai to go to a higher level. In Cixi's view, politics cannot let one person obtain uncontrollable power. Except for herself, no one could have the power to control everything. For politics, it is personnel arrangement. Personnel arrangement must pursue balance; no one side can be allowed to grow too big. regarding the struggle between these people, before big problems arise, one should watch from the sidelines, or even guide cleverly. Only when everyone has to beg the highest power holder Cixi, can Cixi control the situation.

Cixi was very clear about the contradiction between Cen Chunxuan and Yuan Shikai. Because of deep dissatisfaction with the imperial clan minister Yikuang for being greedy and mediocre and harming the country, Cen Chunxuan submitted memorials many times to impeach him, incurring the hostility of Yuan Shikai who regarded Yikuang as a backer, who wanted to eliminate him quickly. Cixi had no love for any "Blue Sky Great Master" [Upright Official] in the mouths of the people; "dusting the light and mixing with the dust" [hiding one's brightness/being worldly wise] was Cixi's favorite. Her reason for valuing Cen Chunxuan was simple: Cen Chunxuan had the ability to solve some problems, was loyal to the court, and had very poor relations with many political factions in the Manchu Qing court. He was an important usable chip. As for whether Cen Chunxuan was an honest official or a corrupt official, it was meaningless to Cixi. Because corrupt officials or honest officials only have meaning for the common people, and Cixi never cared about the life and death of the common people.

The rules of the Manchu Qing political game were just this simple.

While Cixi was considering the political role of "Official Butcher" Cen Chunxuan, thousands of miles away in the headquarters of the People's Party Water Detachment, the Party Committee meeting of the People's Party Water Detachment was discussing Zhang Zhidong, the "Wealth Butcher" among the "Three Butchers of Late Qing." Zhang Zhidong was considered a hero in the Manchu Qing era, but Chen Ke publicly propagated within the People's Party: "Comrades must have confidence in themselves! Ten years later, a person with Zhang Zhidong's aptitude would at most be a section chief in the People's Party. Spending tens of millions of taels of silver, Zhang Zhidong failed to establish an industrial system. Our People's Party's work within ten years will definitely exceed this bit of achievement of Zhang Zhidong by dozens of times."

Since the Party Chairman was so confident, the comrades naturally felt much more at ease. But "know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles." Chen Ke also repeatedly emphasized: "Strategically despise the enemy, tactically take the enemy seriously." The Party Committee meeting presented a seminar where Yan Fu was the main speaker on Zhang Zhidong's personal situation. The vice speaker Mao Ping had once been entrusted by Yan Fu to go to Hanyang to treat venereal diseases for people. He could be considered to have some connections there. He was responsible for describing the situation of Hanyang steel enterprises. The People's Party worried that money wasn't enough, so they simply brought a batch of "914" over. For more than a year, the reputation of 914 had become wider and wider; Mao Ping, who had personally treated diseases in Hubei, bringing this medicine was almost equivalent to bringing cash.

Zhang Zhidong's life, characteristics, hobbies. The People's Party had collected some. As the saying goes, everyone gathering firewood makes the flame high; providing various intelligence one knows to the party organization is also the obligation of People's Party members. Zhang Zhidong was a celebrity; among the batch of people who newly ran to the base area, there were also scholars from Hubei who knew this famous official very well.

After Yan Fu finished speaking about what he should say, he began to observe these party members coldly from the side. Yan Fu not only disliked these personnel matters but was also not proficient in these personnel relationships. The reason he could surpass his contemporaries was related to Yan Fu being able to start from the grassroots and always focusing his energy on frontline work.

Some people were interested in these personnel things, but even in Yan Fu's view, these people seemed more attracted by diplomatic work. More people just listened; they focused more of their attention on Yan Fu.

After arriving at the base area, Yan Fu also received training on the simple core program of the People's Party. The core program at the current stage could be summarized in four sentences: "Labor is most glorious!" "Labor created man himself." "Productive forces determine production relations." "Anyone who wants to be the master of the people and exploit others from high above is an enemy of the People's Party!" These four sentences could be seen everywhere in the Party School and Cadre School. And recent party member training revolved around these contents.

Yan Fu, who translated *Evolution and Ethics*, liked these four sentences very much. The biggest difference between Yan Fu and traditional scholar-officials was "not advocating empty talk." The gist of these four sentences was emphasizing practice and opposing empty talk. These comrades educated by the Party School and the troops were undoubtedly like this too. Everyone was essentially a soldier; following the naval senior Yan Fu, there was endless knowledge to learn. Diplomatic missions seemed just a job to everyone, while the navy was their profession.

Sure enough, after finishing talking about various things to pay attention to. Zhang Yu immediately asked Yan Fu to continue talking about naval knowledge. No one objected; the originally silent comrades immediately became enthusiastic.

Yan Fu did not decline and started teaching immediately. As the principal of the Beiyang Naval Academy, lecturing was an easy task for Yan Fu. He didn't even need to prepare a lesson plan. Most of the regulations of the People's Party Water Detachment were requested by Chen Ke and completed by the comrades themselves. This kind of disciplined amateur way was child's play in Yan Fu's eyes. He didn't look down on the Water Detachment because of this; on the contrary, Yan Fu was very satisfied. What education fears most is not that students don't understand, but that students have wrong perceptions and habits contrary to theory. The current situation of the Water Detachment was what naval educators liked most; Chen Ke established correct habits and directions. What everyone lacked was merely knowledge. What Yan Fu lacked least was knowledge.

The comrades of the Water Detachment also liked Mr. Yan Fu. As a leader, Chen Ke, in everyone's view, made too many rules and couldn't give everyone reasonable explanations. Although everyone dared not question Chen Ke, they always felt something was not quite right in their hearts. And Yan Fu could not only tell everyone the wide application of these rules in practice but also explain the significance of formulating these rules from a theoretical height.

Actually, if Yan Fu had come up and comprehensively criticized the existing rules as wrong, everyone couldn't have accepted it in their hearts either. But Yan Fu not only didn't criticize, but also explained and built the existing system more perfectly. The comrades felt their previous efforts were not wasted at all, and they learned to solve many problems they couldn't understand before. So everyone was sincerely convinced by Yan Fu. Within a few days of arriving at the Water Detachment, Yan Fu faintly became the leader of the Water Detachment.

"Mr. Yan, what should the engine needed for the inland river fleet be like?" Li Zhao asked.

After listening to Yan Fu talk about warships, everyone was full of longing for mechanically powered fleets. Li Zhao's question represented the heartfelt wishes of the vast majority of officers and soldiers of the Water Detachment.

"This needs to be determined according to the tonnage of the ship and the condition of the river channel." Although not from an inland river fleet background, Yan Fu could still explain to the comrades easily based on naval theory. "What the inland river fleet needs to pay more attention to is that the fleet needs to be organized according to hydrological data. In order to achieve maximum efficiency, ships used in the dry season and ships used in the flood season must be different. After all, everyone can't make the river channel change according to everyone's wishes, so we must adapt to the specific situation of the river channel. This requires a comprehensive hydrological data survey."

Hearing this, everyone felt their minds suddenly opened up a lot. Especially Li Zhao; he had been entrusted with the task of hydrological data survey from the beginning. Hearing Yan Fu say this, Li Zhao subconsciously stuck out his chest.

"Then what equipment and methods are needed for hydrological survey?" Zhang Yu continued to ask.

Yan Fu narrated the methods customary in the navy to everyone. Listening to these exquisite and effective methods, quite a few comrades scratched their ears and cheeks in happiness. They couldn't help wanting to experiment immediately.

"Mr. Yan, then what should these engines be designed like?" Li Zhao was still more interested in mechanization.

Looking at everyone's longing gaze, Yan Fu couldn't help smiling. "The base area is already preparing to research and develop a kind of marine engine. After the research and development is completed, everyone can operate this kind of small engine to sweep across the river surface."

"Really?" The comrades had never heard of this matter. Many people had only seen big foreign steamships, but didn't expect that mechanically powered ships would also be built in the base area. Everyone was immediately overjoyed.

Yan Fu was actually very happy too. After arriving at the base area this time, Chen Ke revealed the R&D direction of the base area to Yan Fu. Due to the lack of ability to manufacture high-temperature and high-pressure equipment, the base area was unlikely to build steam engines by itself in the short term. But Chen Ke proposed the concept of a gas-powered engine.

The gas-powered engine can be basically seen as a two-stroke or four-stroke internal combustion engine. Unlike traditional internal combustion engines, the fuel is not gasoline or diesel, but coal gas mainly composed of carbon monoxide. The power of this thing is not high, but the advantage is small size, light weight, and easy manufacturing. If a forty-horsepower engine can be made, the base area can use this engine as a foundation for mechanized production. At least gas tractors are much stronger than livestock. Gas generators can also meet the needs of the base area at this stage. Installing this engine on a ship can also count as a small steam launch.

And a gas engine is an internal combustion engine after all. In Chen Ke's concept, China was left behind by the world in the electrification era of the Second Industrial Revolution. As one of the important symbols of the Second Industrial Revolution, "internal combustion engine," the base area cannot lag too far behind the world level. As long as the revolution can continue, there will be oil, there will be an oil refining industry, there will be everything.

Yan Fu knew the trade very well and agreed very much with the R&D direction of the coal gas internal combustion engine mentioned by Chen Ke. Chen Ke's level of history of mechanical technology was terrible; he actually didn't know that the earliest internal combustion engines burned coal gas. As soon as he stated this result which he thought combined various technological considerations, he found that not only did Yan Fu know about coal gas internal combustion engines, but even several engineers and technicians in the base area were not completely unfamiliar with this. After discussing with everyone, Chen Ke simply took a shortcut directly. First let the Shanghai Branch import a batch of diesel engines from Germany, and modify this batch of diesel engines into machines burning coal gas.

A few days ago, comrades had already gone to Shanghai to contact Wang Bin who worked in a German foreign firm. With such a batch of orders, the Germans wouldn't care who this batch of diesel engines was sold to or what they were used for. Because of fear that the Germans' stock was insufficient, the comrades going to Shanghai also brought another message to Wang Bin, hoping he could contact American foreign firms and contact goods from American foreign firms. In these years, as long as you can pay in real gold and silver, the European and American industrial countries never ask about the technical content and use of the commodities.

Yan Fu knew the price of this batch of commodities would not be very low. He asked Chen Ke how to pay for this batch of commodities. Chen Ke's answer surprised Yan Fu greatly. Chen Ke actually hoped to adopt barter trade. The base area would raise silkworms on a large scale and use silk for barter trade. And Chen Ke didn't keep people in suspense; he told Yan Fu straightforwardly that the price of silk in the base area would be thirty or even fifty percent lower than the market price. And it was all long-filament silk. Exchanging for internal combustion engines at such a low price, presumably the Germans and Americans would not refuse.

Yan Fu didn't understand silk production, so he didn't plan to ask about a trade he didn't understand. He just asked the question he cared about most: exactly how many internal combustion engines would be appropriate for this batch. Chen Ke raised his left hand and extended two fingers. "I hope for at least two thousand units."