Chapter 73 ill-gotten gains

When Li Hongzhang first came to Shanghai to serve as the governor of Jiangsu, the governor was the highest chief executive of a province. According to the official rules at that time, local gentry and lower-level officials all came to pay their respects.At that time, Li Hongzhang was forty years old, and some local officials and gentry came to his house to celebrate his birthday, almost breaking the threshold.Shanghai is a wealthy place, so the birthday presents it brings are naturally considerable. But Li Hongzhang came to Shanghai because he wanted to start a career. Shanghai is a place full of fish and dragons. If you want to gain a foothold here, you must first keep yourself clean. If you are easily dragged into the water, what will you do in the future?He still remembers what his teacher Zeng Guofan told him before leaving: be careful.So he thought of a way: wrote two notices, one was pasted on the screen wall in front of the yamen, and the other was pasted outside the camp gate of the Huai Army.The notice reads: This Futai will not celebrate birthdays this year, accept gifts, treat guests, or place wine, but welcomes local gentry talents and foreign friends to come to exchange current affairs.For the congratulatory gifts that had been received earlier, Li Hongzhang sent his subordinates to return them to the original owner one by one.In this way, the trend of clinging to gift giving has finally been stopped.

Later, when Li Hongzhang was sent to Russia to sign a secret agreement, Europeans at that time rumored that Li Hongzhang had received bribes from Russia, and many Chinese also held this view.However, according to the recollection of Russian Finance Minister Witte, in order to win Li Hongzhang to sign the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty", Russia allocated 3 million rubles from the bonus of the Trans-Siberian Railway as Li Hongzhang's fund. However, Witte solemnly stated in his memoirs: Li Hongzhang No bribes were received in Petersburg at that time. Once Li Hongzhang’s son-in-law, Zhang Peilun, also asked about this matter: I heard that Russia has set up a fund for you. Now we are in urgent need of money. Why don’t we take the money out and use it?Li Hongzhang replied: If the money was used, wouldn't I really be a traitor?

During the period of the Republic of China, Liang Shizhi, a senior transportation and financial official of the Beiyang government, once said such a thing: When Liang Shizhi came to the Beiyang shogunate in the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), he was given a monthly transportation fee by the Beiyang Bookstore, which was sent by the Huai Army's money and food.He found it very strange that the Huai Army had long since ceased to exist, so how could it still have the name of the Money and Grain Institute?Later, Wang Wenshao, an old friend of Li Hongzhang, the left servant of the Ministry of War, told him the truth: after the Sino-Japanese War, Mr. Li Wenzhong went to Japan to negotiate a peace, and I took over the post of Beiyang Minister. This is what Wen Zhonggong has saved from various miscellaneous expenses for decades.If I, Mr. Wang, leads the troops to save the money, I have to consider whether I can hand it over, but Wen Zhonggong ignores it indifferently.Afterwards, this money has been used as public funds. After I left office, I handed it over to Ronglu, and Ronglu handed it over to Yuan Shikai. After the Gengzi Rebellion, this money can still be preserved.Now Yuan Shikai spends this money on military training at the small station, and this is all thanks to the blessing of Mr. Li Wenzhong.