Chapter 2 The second time the Empress Dowager ordered the train

Recently, the queen mother's temper seems to have become very cheerful.I think maybe Yi was influenced by the last trip to Rehe.Before going to Rehe, wherever Yi went, she couldn't escape the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.Although Yi went to Xi'an once during the Gengren Boxer Rebellion, but it was a forced escape, which of course cannot be regarded as a trip.Over the past few decades, Yi has been shut down to the brim; and those court attendance ceremonies in the palace, as well as the morning meetings with Yi's ministers to discuss military and state affairs every day, inevitably made Yi feel a little tired.Regardless of what the reason is, in short, Yi is very enthusiastic and hopes to live a different life.I also thought that my usual mysterious guesses about my own race—the Manchurians—may also be one of the motives for making Yi's plan to travel.Therefore, many people later commented that I—although I was not clearly designated—was the chief culprit who persuaded the Queen Mother to go to Fengtian.But as a matter of fact, since the ancestors of our Manchurians entered the customs in 1644 in the Western calendar, the Manchurians have only come in day by day, and rarely go back, so it is no wonder that my sister and I are so concerned about our own nature. Township, I miss and wonder like this.

Later, the empress dowager decided to go to Fengtian for a walk.Probably also want to see those ancient palaces in Tanglin.Of course, once Yi's idea was decided, it was as if it had already been implemented. Immediately, a telegram was sent to Fengtian to inform the people there and prepare everything.Although the palaces over there are guarded all the year round like the Jehol palaces, before the queen mother left, Beijing sent many people to decorate the palaces that had been empty and closed for a long time. It is as luxurious and comfortable as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.

But the journey from Beijing to Fengtian is really too far away, even the queen mother herself knows that she can't take Luanyu again.Moreover, I happen to have bought a "queen train" from a foreign railway company, although I have already spent an astonishingly huge sum of money—it's not that people from the railway company deceived me, because everyone who handles it requires money. , adding up layer by layer, until at last the total amount is enough to cover the whole year's expenditure of a smaller country.Of course, Li Lianying also had a share, and no one knew how much money he got. ——But Yi has never used it once!Yi often wonders what it's like to take a train, so this time, she decided to give it a try.It is really rare for Yi to leave the city of Beijing. Taking this opportunity to go to Fengtian, Yi wants to see the land that Yi himself rules; maybe Yi also wants to meet some commoners, but this is impossible in reality. Because ordinary civilians are not allowed to see Yi as a rule, so Yi was able to see them.Whenever Shengjia is on a tour, not only are no idlers allowed to stay on the avenue, but even the pedestrians on the nearby small streets will be expelled.However, as far as my sister and I know, whenever the empress dowager or the emperor passes by on the street, all the residents on both sides dig out paper windows at home and peep through the small holes; The Luanyu that the empress dowagers ride in and the big red sedan chairs that the female officials ride in are all covered up, so although they peek through the windows, they can't see our hands and feet.Sometimes I like to open my car curtain a little so that I can see the scenery outside, but I don't dare to open it too far so that people outside can see me; because if I am so informal, others will be shocked. Plus blame.

Although the purpose of Shengjia's eastward trip has been decided, there are many things that need to be prepared before the departure!The first step is to ask the Queen Mother to issue a formal edict specifying when Yi's special car will leave Beijing for Fengtian.At the same time, a new law has to be added, that is, when the Queen Mother's special car is driving on the road, no other vehicles are allowed to move on the whole road, and violators will be sentenced to death.Of course, this time the officers on the Beijing-Fengzhou Railway will inevitably be sent as basic followers.In addition, the Empress Dowager had to randomly select a few important courtiers to accompany her. As for all the other preparations, General Qing Shan and I were responsible for handling them, so there is no time to describe them in detail here.

As soon as the preparatory work began, the railway workers were the first to get busy.Because according to our estimates, to carry all the officials, eunuchs, court ladies, and various utensils, materials, etc., this special train for the imperial use must be loaded with sixteen vehicles.At the same time, because these vehicles have never been driven after they were purchased, for the sake of prudence, an inspection must be carried out first; this part of the work was actually completed very quickly.The second is to completely repaint the 16 cars to represent the royal yellow.The only locomotive that can maintain its original appearance.I think if the Empress Dowager thought of this point, she would never let the locomotive not change its color.

What a pity!We can't have a yellow locomotive dragging us back and forth across the wilderness of China. I still feel regretful to this day! Although the empress dowager is determined to leave Beijing, she still has to ask the ministers in the court to express some opinions on this matter as usual.Whenever something important happened, Mr. Yi would consult them.However, as far as I know, in fact, Yi is often very indifferent to the opinions that the courtiers have contributed to Yi; especially those who disagree with Yi's own opinions, he is even more unwilling to listen!This time, in order to obey the habit, Yi had no choice but to issue another routine edict, but after the edict went down, the courtiers inevitably became flustered, and memorials were sent in like snowflakes. Nothing more than the following words:

"In China, since Yao and Shun, the emperors of all dynasties have never heard of a person who is as light as ten thousand chariots, entrusting them to the wind and lightning, and the dangerous train; besides, my empress dowager is already high in spring and autumn, and You Jiazhen took photos with her Consolation for the hope of the people... Even the affairs of the court are determined by the holy will and cannot be abandoned for a day. The ministers and others sincerely hope that my empress dowager will not be deceived by the barbarian's demonic words, and stop the lucky journey. It is the best good!"

The so-called "monster words of the barbarians" here probably refers to me and my sister. During the 20 days when we were preparing to leave, such memorials were sent in almost every day, but the empress dowager ignored them, tore them into pieces and threw them all over the floor.This is also Yi's habit, whenever she sees any memorial that is contrary to Yi's own opinion, Yi always tears it up like this!Yi said angrily: "Because the former emperors had never taken a train, why can't we take it now? If there were a train at that time, they would have taken it long ago! And we are not afraid of any danger! The dangers we have passed are still Can you say less? It is especially annoying that these servants dare to say that I am old!"

However, Yi is indeed old!At that time, Yi was nearly seventy years old.Her face and her fingers showed the signs of old age just like ordinary old women; but if someone said outright that she was old, she would be very annoyed and took it as a serious insult. . "...Besides, they shouldn't have said that," Yi continued to talk to himself, and Yi's anger gradually increased: "Because there are things to be done here, we can't leave Beijing! Could it be that they don't know Wherever our people go, the entire imperial court will follow. Isn’t everything still possible? Just like when Gengzi was in chaos that year, we hoped that as soon as Xi’an left, the foreign soldiers would not be able to keep up; But our imperial court is still in our hands! Don’t Yimen even understand this? What do you want them to do with such a stupid thing!”

Therefore, the matter of the Empress Dowager Dongxing was decided in this way, and Ruan Tianjian picked an auspicious date and time for us to set off.On this day, the Forbidden City was filled with a fanatical and busy atmosphere, from Li Lianying to the lowest court ladies; To us ladies-in-waiting: all equally busy. Of course, the main road from Chaomen to the railway station has to be paved with a layer of yellow sand as usual; this yellow sand is very wet, like a beach on the seashore, so as not to be disturbed by the wind. stand up.As soon as we got out of the gate of the Forbidden City, we got into the sedan chair together; my sedan chair just happened to follow the empress dowager's Luanyu.We passed through Zhonghuamen, Qianmen, along Qianmen Street, until we reached Yongdingmen; there is where we got on the bus.

Of course, the Empress Dowager's Luanyu was still carried by sixteen eunuchs, and it was decided to take it to Fengtian, so a boxcar was specially prepared to load it. The rest of the female officials and I sat in the big red sedan chair as usual, but I couldn't bear to sit still, so I opened some sedan chair curtains as usual and peeked at the scenery outside: on the left, I first saw the Temple of Heaven. The blue glowing dome in the sky; then the Xiannongtan on the right; finally, the majestic and towering Yongding Gate.Our ranks passed through the door opening like a file, and did not tie up until the platform.At this time, the imperial train had already parked there safely.Sixteen cars are usually painted a very beautiful golden yellow, how unique they look!Although their wheel axles still maintain their original black color, these painters have been able to completely paint 16 car bodies in a very cramped 20 days. It can be seen that their work is indeed very hardworking. . After arriving next to the conductor, the second step is to prepare to board the train.But it is very easy for us to get on the carriage, we just need to walk up those common iron steps; but the queen mother can't be so hasty, she has to prepare a special road for her, but she is not in a hurry I was in a hurry to come up, and I wanted to see what happened to this train first, because it was the first time I had seen this imperial train; even other trains, I had never seen it before!As far as I know, I have never seen a picture of a train, except for some common knowledge about trains that I accidentally told him.Therefore, I couldn't help worrying secretly for the railway employees who were driving the trains. Maybe there would be something dissatisfied with the empress dowager in the rotation of these trains, and they would die together.As long as the old woman said a very simple sentence casually, their heads would immediately fall off! At that time, our empress dowager was really like a child getting a new toy. Before Yi stepped on this mysterious train, Yi decided to take a look at what kind of thing it was?So Yi ordered the person who carried the sedan chair to stop Luanyu, so that Yi could command at will.Yi first taught the train to move forward slowly.When the train moved, Yi was extremely happy; she even forgot her own dignity, and bent down, staring at the rotating iron wheels in a trance, while at the same time uttering countless questions like pearls.Yi asked: How could there be steam in the locomotive?How is steam made?What exactly is moving these wheels?Why can't trains run on flat ground, but on rails?Yi's demeanor has completely changed into that of a child, and no one will ever think that Yi is an autocratic empress again! The train moved forward, backward, forward, and backward according to Yi's orders, until Yi was satisfied; it seemed that Yi himself understood how the train would move, so Yi ordered to get on the train. In front of the car that Yi was using, there was a wooden platform like a gangplank on a ship, covered with a yellow velvet blanket; Many eunuchs protected her with their hands to prevent her from falling, and when Yi stepped onto the carriage, the wooden board was removed immediately. This is also stipulated in advance: every time the train runs, it must first obtain Yi's permission; although the stop of the train, sometimes due to the needs of the facts, the driver's person has to make some opinions on his own, but this is only an exception.Yi also repeatedly warned that no matter what, the whistle on the locomotive is not allowed, and the bell is not allowed to ring at the station. Because the journey to Fengtian this time is indeed much longer than the journey to Rehe, so Yi had to try this novel thing.When Yi was young, if people saw this kind of train, they would all be astonished as supernatural!No one would believe that this kind of thing can be convenient for people!Now, Yi personally tried something that Yi thought was absolutely impossible when he was young, and was carried by this thing, watching Fengtian from the railway, isn't that an incredible miracle? However, Yi finally brought Yi's Luanyu with her, thinking that perhaps this strange and suspicious method of shrinking land would encounter some obstacles along the way.