Chapter 50 The fiftieth festival goes to Beijing to give gifts

November of the seventh year of Tongzhi (AD 1868). As in previous years, every time this time comes, the capital always blows sand and dust for a few days.Sand and dust mixed with wind and snow made the capital dark and cold. The car was getting closer and closer to the city gate, and Li Hongzhang, who was sitting in the car, became more and more excited. Counting from the third year of Xianfeng (AD 1853), he left here for fifteen years.At that time, he was just a seventh-rank editor of the Hanlin Academy, at best he was a grand historian, but now he is not only ranked among the three princes, promoted to the top of the ranks, but also a famous frontier official who holds a heavy army and is famous all over the world!

Thinking of these, and thinking of the scene when he just left here, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but his eyes became hot, and he couldn't help crying. Li Hongzhang's car finally stopped at the gate of the city, and the officer at the front station came to the car first to greet him. As soon as Li Hongzhang was helped out of the car door, the officials sent by the Military Aircraft Department and the Ministry of War took a step forward, saluted Li Hongzhang respectfully, and said: "I am honored by Prince Gong and the yamen commissioner of the Ministry of War. I am here to welcome the Marquis Minister Li. Please." Your Excellency, get on the sedan chair and go to Xianliang Temple to rest first."

After the official has finished speaking, a large green woolen sedan chair is carried over on the opposite side. The officers who support the sedan chair, guide the sedan chair, and protect the sedan chair are all available.Li Hongzhang knew that this was a rule specially set by the imperial court for meeting with ministers, so he didn't say anything at the moment, he just nodded to the officials, and asked people to draw up the curtain of the sedan chair, bend down and sit in the sedan chair, and let the sedan chair be carried to Xianliang Temple. An officer led the way on horseback in front, and Li Hongzhang's accompanying chariot followed behind the green baize sedan chair. A group of people walked through the city gate in a mighty way, causing the guards and soldiers to stop and watch, unable to guess who was sitting in the sedan chair. senior officer.

Xianliang Temple is located in Bingzhan Hutong of Donghua Gate. It was originally the mansion of Prince Yi Yunxiang during the Yongzheng period. After Yunxiang left, he changed the house into a temple. The word "Xianliang" was inscribed by Sejong himself, and it was exclusively for the officials of Fengjiang to enter. For debriefing and stay. When they got off the sedan chair at the gate of Xianliang Temple, the county magistrate of Jing County came to greet him with a handbook, and said goodbye. After half an hour of hectic work, Li Hongzhang really stepped into the high threshold of Xianliang Temple and went to rest inside.

The abbot of Xianliang Temple led the novice monk to bring several plates of vegetarian snacks and put them on the table. Li Hongzhang simply used a few pieces of snacks, then asked someone to change his clothes, put on an official uniform, and ordered the sedan chair to be prepared.The sedan chair was quickly carried out of Xianliang Temple and went straight to Prince Gong's mansion. It was just after noon that day, and Li Hongzhang speculated that Beijing officials had the habit of taking a nap, so Prince Gong would definitely rest in the mansion after lunch.The sedan chair landed at the gate of Prince Gong's mansion, and the accompanying official took the notebook and the door bag first to the porter's room to meet the gatekeeper, and then the gatekeeper informed him to enter.After these procedures, the word "please" was quickly shouted inside, and there was a lot of shouting.

Li Hongzhang got out of the sedan chair, straightened his hat first, then dusted off the dust, and then stepped into the palace; someone from the palace ran out to lead the way.After passing through three corridors, he arrived at the hall where the prince met guests. Li Hongzhang saw Prince Gong standing in the door and looking at him. Li Hongzhang took a few steps, knelt down on both knees, and said: "Li Hongzhang, the governor of Huguang, who co-organized the university, is here to greet the prince!" Prince Gong stepped out of the door, laughed, helped Li Hongzhang with both hands and said: "Shaoquan, please get up quickly. My prince made good tea three days ago and waited for you to come. Please sit in the room."

Li Hongzhang stood up and said, "I don't dare to do so, the prince will invite you first." Two people walked in the door one after the other.Prince Gong asked Li Hongzhang to show him a seat first, then made new tea and put it on the table, and then said: "Look at you, but you just arrived in Beijing?" Li Hongzhang replied: "Responding to the words of the lord, the official only spent two dim sum at Xianliang Temple, and then came to see the lord." Prince Gong looked at Li Hongzhang carefully, and said, "Shaoquan, you are old too. You have suffered a lot in the past few years since you left Beijing. Didn't you go to Baoding to see Marquis Zeng?"

Li Hongzhang hurriedly replied: "Responding to the words of the lord, I am in a hurry to go to Beijing. I want to go to Baoding to see my mentor after I have seen the emperor and the two empress dowagers." Prince Gong said: "Marquis Zeng has been ill since he arrived in Baoding. In the past few years, it has been really difficult for him. By the way, Shaoquan, have you prepared the paperwork for the training? If it is ready, I will hand it over to the king. , this king will send someone into the palace in the afternoon, and see if I can ask for grace for you." Li Hongzhang hurriedly took out the instruction booklet and a silver note of fifty thousand taels from his sleeve, and handed it to Prince Gong, saying, "Your official is forty-five years old this year, so I dare not make such a distinction." The idea. The prince should not be embarrassing and dismiss the official."

Prince Gong pushed the bank note away symbolically, and said, "You can't be so polite." Li Hongzhang said: "This time, the official came in a hurry and didn't do anything. You should treat the prince to a cup of tea." Prince Gong smiled, put down the bank note, and said, "You really can talk." After speaking, he took the booklet and opened it to read, "For the matter of grace, I will tell you about it. I will be waiting for you later." I will get you some food, and after eating, you can rest here. When the king comes down from the palace, I will clean up the dust for you."

Li Hongzhang hurriedly stood up and said, "I don't dare to bother the lord, I'd better go back to the Xianliang Temple and rest." Prince Gong gave Li Hongzhang a reproachful look, stood up and smiled and said, "You Li Shaoquan! What does this king say, Just do whatever you want, and wait for the king to come back at the palace." After a while, someone took Li Hongzhang to dinner.When Li Hongzhang was eating, someone had already cleaned a room and came out, and arranged mattresses for Li Hongzhang to rest after eating. Li Hongzhang slept until Prince Gong came down from the yamen and was not woken up.

When Prince Gong saw Li Hongzhang, he immediately laughed and said: "The imperial edict has come down. Tomorrow, I will personally lead you into the palace to meet the saint. En Yan has also invited you down. You Li Shaoquan, you have to thank me very much!" When Li Hongzhang heard this, he immediately turned over and knelt down, kowtowed and said, "Thank you, my lord, for your kindness! Your lord's great kindness to me..." Prince Gong pulled him up and said, "This king is joking with you, but you take it seriously. Wake up, this king has asked someone to prepare a table of thin wine to wash you off. After dinner, we have to discuss tomorrow About entering the palace." Prince Gong reached out to hold Li Hongzhang's hand, laughed and walked out the door. The "grace" in Prince Gong's mouth is what people often call "riding a horse in the Forbidden City", and the common people also call it "chao horse".According to the ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty, ministers who are less than sixty-five cannot enjoy this treatment, but for those who have made great contributions, there is naturally an "exception". Li Hongzhang is forty-five years old, and now he wants to reward the Forbidden City with riding horses, which is an extraordinary grace. After dinner, Li Hongzhang talked with Prince Gong about his plans for the future, then he left and returned to Xianliang Temple in a sedan chair to rest. In the early morning of the next day, Li Hongzhang wore an official uniform and rode a sedan chair outside the palace gate to wait for the news. Sure enough, a message came from inside: "Let Li Hongzhang ride a horse in the Forbidden City!" After Li Hongzhang thanked God, someone from the palace brought a red-haired war horse with flowers. Li Hongzhang was served and rode on his horse, and then someone led him to the palace until he reached the gate of the Hall of Mental Cultivation before he was helped down.A group of Wang ministers are waiting here to be summoned by their superiors. Li Hongzhang greeted Prince Gong first, and then saluted Chunjun Wang Yixuan, and then he greeted and greeted all the ministers of military affairs and acquaintances one by one.The ministers also gathered around him asking questions, as if reunited after a long absence.This is all hypocrisy in the officialdom, which is similar from top to bottom, let alone talk about it. The first is the Minister of Military Aircraft, and the second is Chun Wang and Guan Wen. Li Hongzhang was ranked third, led by Prince Gong himself. During the face-to-face meeting, as usual, the Emperor Tongzhi sat in front of the two palaces, and the Empress Dowager Cixi asked him questions. It was just a cliché of what happened in the past and what will happen in the future, and then he knelt down and withdrew. After coming down, naturally, a group of ministers who like to be lively clamored to have Li Hongzhang's wedding wine, and of course there were not a few who asked Li Hongzhang to go to a restaurant for a big meal.Li Hongzhang agreed with a smile, without showing anyone's favor. Li Hongzhang spent a whole month in the capital before leaving the city.Before leaving, considering that the New Year was approaching, Li Hongzhang dispatched three officials to Hefei to take the whole family to the governor's office in Wuchang, Hubei, hoping to have a reunion year with his family. In this way, it saves him traveling back and forth, and he can stay in Baoding for a longer period of time. Li Hongzhang also invited Ding Richang, Rong Hong, Xue Fucheng, Wu Rulun, Zhang Yuzhao and Li Shuchang to meet in Baoding.These people are all people of insight in Li Hongzhang's mind.Except for Ding Richang and Rong Hong, the remaining four were also disciples accepted by Zeng Guofan in his later years, which made him closer to Li Hongzhang virtually. For several years, Li Hongzhang was willing to write to the four of them for business whenever he had anything to do, and the four of them also regarded Li Hongzhang as a senior brother. Xue Fucheng was fifteen years younger than Li Hongzhang. He was born just after this year. He was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.Xue Fucheng joined Zeng Guofan in the sixth year of Tongzhi (1867 A.D.) and worshiped Zeng Guofan as his teacher. While studying Neo Confucianism, he also handled foreign affairs for Zeng Guofan.Xue Fucheng has been recommended by Zeng Guofan for many years, and now he has the title of Zhizhou from the fifth rank. Wu Rulun is a native of Tongcheng, Anhui. His style name is Zhifu. He was a Jinshi in Tongzhi.Wu Rulun is two years younger than Xue Fucheng, but his knowledge is comparable to Xue Fucheng's. Zhang Yuzhao is different from Xue and Wu.Zhang Yuzhao was born in Wuchang, Hubei, and his style name was Lianqing. He was a candidate in the first year of Xianfeng, and he was awarded the cabinet secretary.Zeng Guofan was serving as the minister of the Ministry of Rites in Beijing at that time. He accidentally read Zhang Yuzhao's article and admired it.During Zeng Guofan's brave training, Zhang Yuzhao went to the shogunate to write and write for Zeng Guofan.After the restoration of Jinling, Zhang Yuzhao gave lectures to academies in Jiangning, Hubei, Zhili, and Shaanxi instead of being an official.After the rise of the Tongcheng School, it began with Zhang Yuzhao. Li Shuchang's experience is also special.Li Shuchang, courtesy name Chunzhai, was born in Gongsheng, a native of Zunyi, Guizhou. He first studied under Zheng Zhen and later joined Zeng Guofan.Li Shuchang is good at poetry and prose, especially in textual research and ancient books. Regardless of the old books from any dynasty or generation, he can tell the general idea just by looking at them, which is unmatched by anyone.He has a more thorough understanding of the current situation than ordinary people, emphasizing respect for people's hearts and customs, and was recommended by Zeng Guofan as a county magistrate of the seventh rank to be dispatched with the camp.At that time, Xue Fucheng, Wu Rulun, Zhang Yuzhao, and Li Shuchang were called the four disciples of Zengmen, while Li Hongzhang was regarded as a disciple of Zeng Guofan's school, which shows that the people of the time had good eyesight.The four people including Li Hongzhang and Xue Fucheng do have different levels of knowledge and vision, but they are all extraordinary people.