Chapter 37 Chapter Two

Collecting money for An Dehai Li Hongzhang was a pivotal figure in the late Qing Dynasty.After he became a Jinshi, he has not been able to be an official. He worked as a staff member under Zeng Guofan and later trained the Huai Army. He was promoted because he tried his best to flatter Zeng Guofan and Empress Dowager Cixi.Li Hongzhang had a lot of contact with foreigners, and most of the unequal treaties in the late Qing Dynasty involved Li Hongzhang.During the reign of Empress Dowager Cixi, he participated in all dealings with foreigners, and he also had considerable influence in the court. An Dehai is the favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi.An Dehai's mother passed away. In order to make a good impression in front of Cixi, Li Hongzhang rushed from Baoding to Qing County to offer sacrifices to Mrs. An Dehai and sent five thousand taels of silver.

An Dehai has been obsessed with money since he was a child. It can be said that he has recognized money since the day he became sensible.Now that there is an opportunity to make money, of course he will take the opportunity to make a fortune.Li Lianying is An Dehai's apprentice, and he is also a good flatterer.In order to win An Dehai's favor, try to grab as much wealth as possible for An Dehai.An Dehai looked at the family's money piled up like a hill, and he was naturally happy from ear to ear, and he trusted Li Lianying even more. Regarding An Dehai's greed, the people in his hometown made up a jingle to mock him:

When the mother dies, she gets rich and pockets, and the father dies in the future. If there are many mothers and many fathers, the wealth is prosperous and reaches Sanjiang. Since An Dehai had the help of Li Lianying, a money-making master, his family property has become more and more prosperous.Therefore, he said a lot of good things for Li Lianying in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi.It can be said that the two masters and apprentices are very busy, one is for fame and the other is for profit.But what An Dehai never imagined was that the apprentice he taught by himself not only refused to rescue him when he was detained by Shandong governor Ding Baozhen, but secretly helped Emperor Tongzhi and Prince Gong Yixin, killing him Jinan.

The greater An Dehai's power, the stronger his desire to get rich.But at this time the Empress Dowager Cixi was still restrained by Prince Gong Yixin.Therefore, although An Dehai was favored in front of Cixi, he still couldn't do whatever he wanted, and his way to get rich was hindered. One day, Li Lianying, who was extremely clever, joked with An Dehai that he would let An Dehai marry a teacher.An Dehai didn't understand Li Lianying's deep meaning, and even scolded him for joking with his master.Only then did Li Lianying explain the purpose: if An Dehai marries a daughter-in-law and holds a big wedding, not to mention the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, even the Empress Dowager Cixi will reward her with money.Not only earn enough face, but also can take the opportunity to collect money.

An Dehai, who regards money as his life, was finally persuaded by Li Lianying, and he really made a big fuss.Li Lianying also moved out Wei Zhongxian, the great eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, to find the root cause for eunuchs to marry wives, and the Qing law did not clearly stipulate that eunuchs cannot marry, which provided support for An Dehai's actions. Li Lianying was really thoughtful. He introduced Ma Saihua, a female actress from the Nankun class outside Qianmen, to An Dehai.Marseille Hua's stage name is Seven Years Red. After more than ten years of singing, she got tired of singing and wanted to stop singing.After all, she was very popular, and she listed three conditions specifically for the man: common people do not marry;

Li Lianying analyzed the benefits of marrying her to An Dehai. Firstly, it was not for the purpose of having children, so there was no need to worry about her background; An Dehai couldn't help but smile when he heard what Li Lianying said so clearly, and ordered Li Lianying to take five hundred taels of silver to do this matter.The Nankun troupe can also be regarded as the royal troupe, often going to the palace to sing operas, knowing An Dehai's power, only charged one hundred taels of silver.Ma Saihua herself has hated this art career for a long time. Although she knew that the other party was a eunuch, she finally jumped out of the bitter sea of ​​singing, so she agreed.

When An Dehai waited for everything to be done, he played the Empress Dowager Cixi, saying that he would marry a daughter-in-law.As expected, the Empress Dowager Cixi was very happy, and specially rewarded a thousand taels of silver and ten bolts of colorful satin as a wedding gift and allowed her to leave for three days. An Dehai's drunkard's intention was not to drink, and with the approval of the Empress Dowager Cixi, he sent invitations to all the officials of the palaces, six ministries, nine ministers, and four prime ministers, and specially found the largest restaurant in the capital. As a place for banquets, it is convenient for more people to give gifts.

An Dehai's marriage to a daughter-in-law became the number one news in Beijing, and it soon spread throughout the streets and alleys of the capital. Men and women, young and old, everyone was discussing this new event.People with a discerning eye saw that An Dehai was trying to grab money, so he was so angry that he cursed behind his back, but he had the invitation in his hand, so the gift still had to be given.None of the big officials and small officials in Beijing dared to curry favor with the chief executive of Anda, because he said what he said to the Empress Dowager Cixi.Even Emperor Tongzhi had to give a gift for Cixi's sake.

On the day An Dehai got married, Li Lianying was still in charge of receiving gifts and keeping accounts.Seeing the pearls, emeralds, gold and silver treasures all over the room, the master and the apprentice burst into joy.At this time, Prince Gong Yixin, the leader of the Hunan Army Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang who had made contributions to the west and served as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the governor of Shandong Ding Baozhen came to make trouble. Yixin stood up and said that the four of them had just heard that An Dehai was getting married, so they didn't bring a gift in a hurry, so they had to verbally bless them and congratulate them on the early birth of a son.Yixin's words made everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone knows that eunuchs can't have children, and Yixin said that, obviously to find fault.Not only that, Zuo Zongtang continued to sarcastically say that he had to wait to drink the child's hundred-day wedding wine. An Dehai didn't dare to do anything to Prince Yixin, so he could bear it.But Zuo Zongtang dared to taunt him, he really couldn't bear it, and was about to get angry, but was persuaded by Li Lianying.It turned out that Yixin was looking at him angrily.An Dehai knew that the matter should not be made a big deal, so he had to endure it and continue entertaining guests.

Although An Dehai made a lot of money by marrying his wife, it was not pleasant because Prince Gong Yixin had stirred up a wedding banquet for him.He wanted to sue in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, but was persuaded by Li Lianying.Because even if you sue now, the Empress Dowager Cixi will not do anything to Prince Gong, because the Empress Dowager Cixi can't take care of herself.But anyway, after this incident, the conflict between Yixin and An Dehai intensified.An Dehai was ready to overthrow Prince Gong Yixin at any time, and Prince Gong Yixin was also ready to get rid of An Dehai's confidant at any time, which laid the fuse for An Dehai's death in Shandong.But Li Lianying was a spectator in the middle with ease and gained the greatest benefit.