In April 1905, Li Hongzhang, who had been bedridden for more than a month, recruited his sons to Beijing, intending to explain his funeral.

Li Hongzhang has 3 sons and 3 daughters, and now he is all adult. After the Gengzi Kingdom, Li Hongzhang entered the military and returned to the peak of power. His sons were also favored by him and each had official titles and promoted them.

Li Hongzhang's wife, Zhou, had no more, so Li Jingfang, adopted the eldest son of the sixth brother Li Zhaoqing, and became Li Hongzhang's eldest son. Because of his age, Li Jingfang has been with Li Hongzhang and has done a lot of things. He is now named the Left Minister of the Ministry of Rites and walks on the office of the Prime Minister's Office; his second son Li Jingshu was born by Jixian Zhao, famous for his poetry and articles, and is now the Minister of Guanglu Temple; his third son Li Jingmai was born by the side of the Mo family, and is now the candidate for the third-rank official; of course, except for Li Jingfang, the other two are all empty positions and have no actual power, and they are Li Jingfang's left assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. Although the rank is high, they are not considered important officials. However, at this time, the Zhou family and Zhao family were both dead, and there was only the Mo family, and there was a concubine Dongmei who was waiting for Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang's eldest daughter married Guo Enlai, but died in his early years, and his husband married another one and had no contact with the Li family. The younger daughter Li Jingpu was born by Mo, and his husband's family was Ren Dehe. Because Li Jingpu was older than her husband's mainland, he was quite disliked by his husband's family. This time Li Hongzhang was seriously ill. Although he also sent letters to the Ren family, the Ren family only sent people to greet him and did not come. Therefore, the only daughters who are with Li Hongzhang are the second daughter Li Jinggong and son-in-law Zhang Peilun.

On April 3, Li Hongzhang's spirit improved slightly, so he recruited all three sons and one daughter to the ward, and sent him away from the side room, Mo Shi, who was taking care of him, and his concubine Dongmei, so that they could all be temporarily exempted in the outer room, while his son-in-law Zhang Peilun could only wait outside the house.

In the ward, the three sons stood respectfully by the bed with their hands hanging down. Only Li Jingchun sat on the edge of the bed, helped Li Hongzhang to sit up, and then placed the pillow behind him.

Li Hongzhang took a breath and said, "This time I am afraid I can't escape the deadline. I have written the confession I gave to the court, but I still have to explain the things behind me clearly. I left with peace of mind, so I recruited you all to Beijing."

Although he was mentally prepared, after hearing Li Hongzhang's words, he couldn't help but feel sad. Li Jingshu said: "Father should be at ease to recuperate, so don't think too much."

Li Hongzhang waved his hand and said, "I know my illness, and I don't need you to comfort me, let alone I am eighty-three, and I am a long-lived person. Even if I die, I will not be sad. You are all adults, so why should you be a child?" He said that and coughed twice.

Li Jingchun hurriedly patted and stroked Li Hongzhang's back gently. Li Jingfang brought the tea. Li Hongzhang took a few sips and said, "Jingfang, go and prepare the pen and ink, and write down everything I say."

Li Jingfang hurriedly put down the tea tray, took the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and spread it on the table in the ward. Li Hongzhang pointed to the small sandalwood box on the bedside table, turned to Li Jingshou and said, "Chrysanthemum lotus, go and bring that box to me."

Li Jingchun hurriedly took the box and placed it in front of Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang opened the box, took out a booklet and said, "All my property and wealth distribution are in this booklet, and there is also a copy of chrysanthemum lotus and Jingpu. After I die, you will follow the arrangements in the booklet and use them to protect your life for the rest of your life."

Li Hongzhang's property and property are mainly divided into two categories. One is that after becoming famous, he and his brothers purchased real estate and land in his hometown of Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places. Of course, it is mainly based on land. Li Hongzhang has 6 brothers, and at the most, he owned more than 2.5 million mu of land. The land under Li Hongzhang's name is about 300,000 mu, and he can collect about 50,000 shi of rent per year. At the same time, Li Hongzhang also has some housing and real estate in Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places. The other category is that Li Hongzhang occupied shares in the Westernization enterprises he established during the Westernization Movement, including several factories invested in Qingdao. Not only can he reap huge amounts of wealth every year, but these shares themselves are also valuable. Of course, there are also some gold, silver, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc., although there are many, but compared with the first two categories, it is only a small part.

In fact, in the early stages of his illness, Li Hongzhang knew that he could not escape death this time, so he sent someone to clean up his property early and made a distribution plan so that his family would turn against him due to property distribution after his death.

Li Hongzhang said again: "It's just that the property is easy to divide, but the situation is chaotic and complicated. If you are not careful, your family will be destroyed and your entire clan will be destroyed. Therefore, after I die, the court will be rewarded with kindness. But you must not become an official. You just take advantage of the opportunity of worrying, resign and return to your hometown, close your door to thank guests, and wait and see what happens."

As he said that, Li Hongzhang looked at Li Jingfang, and he was just looking at Li Jingfang's eyes. Li Jingfang's body trembled and he lowered his head. In fact, this one is targeting Li Jingfang, because among Li Hongzhang's children, only Li Jingfang has a substantial official position. In addition, he has accumulated a lot of qualifications after following Li Hongzhang for the longest time. Moreover, Li Jingfang's desire for fame and fame is the most important. He has asked to stand alone many times before. After Li Hongzhang's death, the Qing court will definitely be generous to Li Hongzhang's children. With Li Jingfang's qualifications, at least he can be a Taoist platform. Even a governor is very likely. However, according to Li Hongzhang's last words, it is undoubtedly a complete severance of Li Jingfang's idea of ​​making achievements.

Li Hongzhang also: "Although Juou and his wife have established industries in Qingdao, they are not suitable to live in Qingdao for a long time. I still have a mansion in Shanghai, so I will leave it for you. I will settle in Shanghai. Shanghai is not far from Qingdao and it is convenient for management. Youqiao is a person who knows what I have done."

Li Jingchun hurriedly said, "Yes, father."

Li Hongzhang sighed again and said, "In my opinion, although the court is reforming and reforming now, it is difficult to return, and there is no one who can do great things. There are overseas Chinese on the side of the bed and there are powerful people around them, so they are afraid that they will not escape the limit. Therefore, if there are less than 10 years, China will have some chaos in the past. In the chaotic times, only overseas Chinese have a new style, and may be replaced. However, with various countries hindering each other, it may not be possible to easily determine the tripod. And when the current situation is not yet determined, you must not participate, and be more wise and safeguard yourself. If all parties do not control the overall situation, they will not be too embarrassed for you."

After hearing this, the sons immediately said in unison: "Respect my father's teachings."

Li Hongzhang nodded slightly and said, "It's just that the way of governing the country in overseas Chinese is different from that of others. If they can finally conquer the world, or occupy Anhui and Jiangsu, they will definitely collect all the land in the world as public. You must not fight with overseas Chinese. It is best to take the initiative to sacrifice all the land. The inheritance I left to you, even if you go to all the land, you will not be poor, and you will not lose the overall situation because of small profits. If there are other branches asking you for land, you must never agree. Instead, they should urge them to sacrifice the land as well. If they listen or not, they must not join forces with other branches to fight against overseas Chinese."

"If overseas Chinese really start a career, they will have a little bit of incest. In order to calm people's hearts, you may be invited to serve as an immortal. You don't have to refuse. You can come out to serve. However, you should keep in mind that everything should be low-key, not open-minded, and not participate in the internal struggles of overseas Chinese. If the current situation is still good, you might as well work for a longer time. If the current situation changes, you should immediately resign and not do it. Return to your hometown, do more good deeds to promote education and help the people, build bridges and roads, and gain a good reputation, so that you can maintain the prosperity of my Li family."

After hearing this, the children agreed again.

After hearing this, Li Hongzhang looked a little calmer and said, "Have you remembered it all?"

Li Jingfang hurriedly said, "Father, I have all recorded it." He said, and handed the recorded paper to Li Hongzhang to see.

Although Li Jingfang polished his words, the content was exactly what Li Hongzhang meant. Therefore, after reading it, Li Hongzhang nodded, took the pen from Li Jingfang, signed his name on the paper, and stamped his own seal. Then he put the will into the sandalwood box and said, "That's all I want to say, you should do it yourself."

After saying that, Li Hongzhang signaled Li Jingshu, let himself lie on the bed again, closed his eyes, and the others quietly exited the ward one after another.

Just at 11 o'clock that night, Li Hongzhang died of illness in his mansion, Heng was 83 years old.

In fact, the Li family was mentally prepared for Li Hongzhang's death, so Li Hongzhang's funeral had been arranged, and the coffin and mourning clothes had been settled. At that time, Li Hongzhang's body was immediately buried, then arranged a mourning hall, and arranged a scented turf, paper, horses and other items, and reported it to the Qing court overnight.

Cixi and Guangxu received news of Li Hongzhang's death the next morning, and also received the demolition of Li Hongzhang. During the demolition, Li Hongzhang mainly emphasized two things: one is to warn the Qing court that they must not participate in the dispute between the Japanese, Russian and East China governments, nor must they be enemies with the East China government. Only in this way can the Qing court be safeguarded; the other is to recommend Yuan Shikai to the Qing court, and recommend Yuan Shikai to enter the military aircraft and participate in national affairs.

In fact, these two are Li Hongzhang's usual propositions. After the Gengzi Reform, Li Hongzhang entered the military aircraft and always advocated that the Qing court should not be enemies with the East China government, and used his prestige to suppress the radical plans of the Manchus' powerful people several times. Moreover, after Li Hongzhang gained power again, he has always supported Yuan Shikai, and Yanran treated Yuan Shikai as his successor to train him. Although Yuan Shikai had the ability in recent years, it was because Yuan Shikai himself had the ability, but it also had something to do with Li Hongzhang's support. Of course, it was also because of the mountain Li Hongzhang that Yuan Shikai's actual power was still worse than in the old time and space.
Chapter completed!