Chapter 18 Relics of Emperors of the Eighteenth Dynasty

This morning was the first morning after we arrived in Fengtian. We peeked at Lafayette's expression, it seemed very gloomy, as if Yi had a lot of things in his mind and was thinking chaotically, but no one Dare to ask Yi.It wasn't until that night that we realized why Yi So was so thoughtful and reticent. ——It turned out that on this day, what Yi thought of and told us was a thick volume of very sad and secret history; this thick volume of history included all the biographies of the leaders of the Manchu Qing government. Of course, a small part of it is the biography of Mr. Yi himself.

Whenever the Empress Dowager encountered something that would make Iraq sad, she always liked to express it in a serious and calm manner.Today, Yi's face seemed to be covered with heavy frost, and she almost never showed a smile; moreover, she looked a bit tired, but whenever we asked her if she wanted to take a rest, Yi She always refuses immediately, and tells us how peacefully she slept last night. After breakfast, following the Queen Mother's idea, we formed a long line, surrounded by Mrs. Yi, and slowly walked out of the main hall, and began to tour these ancient palace courtyards.When Yi was in Beijing, Yi did not sit still in the temple all day long, but often took us on a tour around the area; so we, like soldiers who are accustomed to training, can quickly arrange Form a neat team with ten shots, according to everyone's usual position, without any chaos.The eight female officials standing in the front are probably our eight female officials, because Guangxu and his wives and concubines are rarely present (but they are also here together today); followed by a group of court ladies, each holding something that the Queen Mother used when grooming.The third is a group of eunuchs, they have to bring at least two pieces of very heavy furniture, the first one is a screen covered with yellow satin, because the queen mother is getting old, if she walks a few more steps, she might be too tired to lie down At that time, this screen had to be used as a cover for Yi; the second piece was a dragon chair, which was prepared for the Empress Dowager to sit and rest at any time in the imperial garden.However, these two pieces of furniture alone cannot make the Empress Dowager feel as convenient as possible!Otherwise, Yi wouldn't have to run around with such a large group of people!Therefore, almost all the things that the elderly Yi needs to use at any time are followed behind Yi!Assume that: Yi is halfway through his tour, and suddenly thinks of an important military event. If he wants to write an edict immediately, he can send it to Yi immediately with pen, inkstone and paper.If Yi's hair is supposed to be blown away by the wind, if she wants to tidy it up quickly, she only needs to wave her hand or say a word. Yi's hairdresser is also a eunuch, and has the trust of the Queen Mother. He is often praised as the number one master barber in China. ——and immediately came up to serve with the tools in hand.As for hand towels, face powder, and various other cosmetics, etc., they are all available and can be easily obtained anytime, anywhere.

"There are four palaces here, we have to go and see them." The Empress Dowager suddenly spoke to us as the group of people marched.I said it to all the people, but I always feel that I said it to me alone; although I also know that this is a delusion, but I really hope so in my heart.Because I remember very clearly that Yi has told me over and over again that once Yi dies, I am the only one who can tell the whole world about Yi's temperament, personality, behavior, and daily private life; Therefore, Yiji would like to let me understand the truth and reality of everything, so as not to be separated and misunderstood like outsiders.Her hope for me is that in the future I will tell what I have actually seen, neither more nor less. ——At that time, Yi continued to explain to us why the four palaces cannot be missed or entered. "Hidden here are the relics left by our emperors of the Qing Dynasty!"

Yi really led us into the four palaces, so we knew that the relics of eight emperors were hidden in them.It turns out that Emperor Guangxu, who is a political prisoner, is already the ninth generation of monarchs after the entry of the Qing Dynasty.However, after Guangxu passed away, because no grand funeral ceremony was held, not even half of the relics were sent to Fengtian for collection; .The so-called reasonable way is to respectfully go to Fengtian to treasure his daily clothes and accessories, or the objects he is used to.This method was initiated by Emperor Shunzhi, the first monarch of the Qing Dynasty, which means not forgetting the homeland; at the same time, it also means to enhance the status of the ancient palaces in Shengjing.Because Shengjia and the members of the royal family have all moved to the pass, the palace on the other side of Fengtian will inevitably be closed and ignored. Now there are these relics of the emperors of the past dynasties in it, and there is a special set up. A high-ranking military officer led a team of Manchurian soldiers to garrison all year round. In this way, the empty and closed palaces were not completely uninhabited, and their status was also elevated invisibly.

Let's start with the first palace, and visit them one by one.This first palace houses the relics of the first two emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi and Kangxi.As soon as we walked in, the queen mother explained to us like a teacher in a school; Yi's eloquence was extremely fluent, and at this moment, she deliberately laid out the history of these two generations of monarchs to the point of incomparable greatness .If we close our eyes and listen to Yi's eloquent and eloquent speech with all our ears, we will definitely treat these two generations of monarchs as gods, and we will also firmly believe that the old man Yi is really very familiar with and It is a pity that we never closed our eyelids, and the expression on Yi's face when he spoke clearly told us: the two generations of emperors, because the years have been too long, can no longer have any sincere and sincere words for the empress dowager. imaged.Yi just treated them as gods and Buddhas in the temple, and just fabricated some fragmented myths for them, but there are quite a lot of relics piled up in this temple; most of them are the robes they wore, There were several colorful boxes piled up, which looked like theater boxes used in troupes; there were also many rings inlaid with precious jade or pearls that they had worn during their lifetime, all of which were stored in glass boxes; there were not many dishes The utensils are said to be the tableware of the two dead emperors.Although these things are very common and not very precious in terms of value, they are used as souvenirs, but they do have the power to make the younger generations feel a little bit thinking about others when they see them.

These four palaces are connected. We cruised all the way, walked about half of the way, and arrived at the place where the relics of Emperor Qianlong were collected.We know the most about the deeds of Qianlong's life, and comparing all the relics left by the emperors in the four palaces, it is natural that Qianlong's part is the most glorious.Therefore, with a special emphasis, we all plan to carefully appreciate the things left by this brilliant emperor, which are enough to add a lot of glory to these ancient palaces. There are many relics of him, and the most striking one is a large oil painting hanging on the wall in the middle, which is the portrait of Qianlong.

"Oh, how majestic and majestic he looks!" "Such a graceful and luxurious spirit is worthy of being the monarch of a great country!" After seeing this portrait, everyone couldn't help admiring secretly.I think if the author of this portrait didn't specially edit and render him because he is an emperor, then Qianlong's appearance is really handsome and heroic, which is rare in the world!However, if we speculate based on the words and deeds of the Ming Lord recorded in the official history and private biographies, it is not difficult for us to believe that what this portrait shows has indeed never exceeded the scope of "truth".

Qianlong in the painting is hunting, riding a white horse like a snow lion on his crotch. Its majestic steed matches its owner's appearance.On the back of the knife, there is a pair of saddles as usual: this pair of saddles is pure Mongolian style, and there are countless precious stones inlaid on it.Those two stirrups are all gold, and they shine brightly in the painting.Qianlong was sitting on this pair of extravagant saddle stirrups like a small hill, and he was also painted in a full hunting suit, covered with an apricot-yellow long bikini, with a long skirt around his waist. A very wide ribbon, also yellow, with many beads nailed on it.His soft helmet is even more unique. The helmet itself is a top hat, but there are two ear flaps hanging down on both sides and connected to the chin, very similar to the leather hat worn by airplane pilots today.The material of this hat is yellow satin, with a long and beautiful tuft of red tassels on the top, along this tuft of red tassels down to the brim of the hat below, this part of the yellow satin is covered with countless beads , surrounded by nails row by row, looking from a distance, it seems to be a marine shellfish, lying on top of his head.How strange!However, its value is definitely beyond what I dare to imagine.Under his feet is a pair of black satin combat boots, which can be said to be the simplest of all his attire, not only without jewels, but also without any embroidery.

His body is very straight, enough to fully show his strength and bravery; his face is even more delicate and handsome. ——Of course, what this portrait shows is Qianlong in the prime of his life in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is by no means a portrayal of his later years. ——I think he should always be very proficient in riding, because everyone knows that the great emperor was a famous archer during his lifetime, and all archers are proficient in riding. After looking at the portrait carefully for a while, we found that there was another very elegant ornament on the saddle!Those are the buttons on the horse's girth belt.These buttons are not only made of pure gold, but also chiseled with exquisite patterns.The bridle is also made of leather, wrapping around the horse's neck and connected to the girdle, with several clusters of red tassels hanging on it; these embellishments strongly accentuate the majestic appearance of the horse.

Readers may have to ask me after reading this, why do we see gems, beads, gold buckles, girdles so realistically just by looking at this portrait?It doesn't seem logically possible.It is true that the portrait does not tell us in such detail; what it tells us is a large glass box, which happened to be placed under the portrait, and contained everything in it was every dress of the person in the picture: he His Mongolian saddle, his exquisite hunting suit, his pure gold stirrups, everything is complete.All that was missing was a living man and a living horse.According to my speculation, the author of that portrait must first draw a shell based on these realistic things, and then recall the identity of the owner of these things, add them carefully, and then put together this moving portrait .

There are three other things on the painting, which have not been mentioned above.The first item is a leather whip hanging on Qianlong's left hand; the second item is a bow on his left hand; the third item is a quiver with several arrows stuck in it.These three things are also displayed in the big glass box, so we have to appreciate them carefully.The whip is about three feet long, one end is braided with several leather belts, which can be used to drive the horses; the other end is a white jade handle with two small holes drilled into it In addition, a silk sash is tied, and a person's hands are covered in this silk sash, so that they can wave it at will.Looking at the arrows and bows, they are usually inlaid with white jade. I feel a little suspicious when I look at them. Can arrows made of white jade really be used for hunting?Perhaps these arrows were merely ornamental, replaced by iron arrowheads when practical. In addition to this large glass box, there is another small glass box, which contains two things that have nothing to do with the portrait; but they are also very precious.One is an emerald dating finger, which according to the Empress Dowager, was commonly used by Qianlong during his lifetime; the other is a very delicate and clean snuff bottle, which is usually carved from the brightest emerald.These are more expensive things, followed by many musical instruments.Because Qianlong was a versatile monarch, he knew everything about piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and his knowledge of music was even more special.These instruments have been played by himself for a long time, so they can be regarded as some very memorable relics. Probably because this wise emperor liked to hide porcelain during his lifetime, most of his relics are all kinds of porcelain.Almost occupied eight tenths of a hall.Among these porcelains, many are cloisonne and bronze, and those who know the goods will know that it is not easy to find high-quality goods.If they have been treasured until now, their value must be very considerable! Here are all the relics of Qianlong!Although we all paid special attention to it and admired it for a long time, because of the distance between Qianlong and us after all, we can no longer make us feel more about him while looking at the remains. Sincere and sincere feeling; although in fact Yi is the ruler who directly inherited the authority of Qianlong, and Yi often mentions the ancestor of this intelligent man with joy, which seems to be honored, but in Yi's heart, he is really No status! After leaving the second palace, we entered the third palace.Here, we can see that the queen mother will have a special performance!Therefore, all the people who followed in had already carefully inspected themselves, and did not dare to make a sound at all.Because of the relics hidden in this palace, the Empress Dowager will inevitably recall a period of Yi's past history very sharply after seeing it.The facts contained in this history are nothing but hardships, pains, horrors, sorrows, struggles, and many heart-rending events; no doubt, it is a very poignant memory.If it can be avoided, I think the queen mother will never want to recall it from time to time. However, the pile of relics displayed in front of her is the relics of Yi's own husband, Emperor Xianfeng. Evoked Yi's bitter memories. When Yi entered the imperial palace at the beginning of the year, she was selected together with sixteen girls from China and abroad. The seventeen of them were generally young and beautiful, as delicate and beautiful as flowers; but Xianfeng only loved After falling in love with Yi Yiren, Yi Ce was officially established as a concubine soon, and she was favored by the first palace. Regarding the history of Xianfeng, the Empress Dowager is of course the most detailed and clear one; Li Lianying was next in line; but at that time, Li Lianying was only a child in her teens, so he might not have a clear understanding.As for those of us, Guangxu, Longyu, Concubine Jin, and our eight female officials. ——Maybe each knows a little bit, and they all heard it indirectly from others, and among them, I have to let me hear the most!Because the Empress Dowager and I chatted the most, and every time we chatted, we couldn't avoid going back to the past, and many of these past events involved Xianfeng. After the Empress Dowager walked into this palace, she suddenly seemed to lose consciousness, her eyes were always looking straight ahead, and her walking was extremely unnatural, as stiff as a person walking in a dream.But there were no tears on Yi's cheeks.As if she had lost her mind, she suddenly walked to the glass box on the left to have a look, and then turned to the one on the right to look; or looked again after looking at it, twice, three times, so many times.It is especially embarrassing to Yi that Xianfeng's relics are very few, not only can't be compared with Qianlong's, but also compared with other emperors of all generations, it is also far behind, it can be said that it is a relatively small part!How little!What is the reason for this?It’s very simple to say, and there are people like us who don’t know.Perhaps among the readers of this book, there is no shortage of people who understand.To put it simply, it was because the great emperor only knew about pleasure during his lifetime, gambling and drinking were almost all his daily homework; besides, there was no need to hide that he also had lustful habits.A person with so many bad habits, of course, can no longer be familiar with any literary talent or martial arts; and all the government affairs that he should be responsible for are all neglected.Strictly speaking, the Qing Dynasty was so weak that it collapsed, and the first seed was sown by his old man.At least, no one can defend him, saying that he is not a fool who does nothing! When we visited the two palaces in front, we were very happy to see the Queen Mother pointing things out, and everyone forgot to be afraid, and asked questions one after another, or asked Yi directly. The old man, or the two of them were discussing with each other, and the scene was really lively; but once we got here, we peeked at the wrong color of her, and quickly picked up the fun, and everyone was patient and did not dare to say a word. On the surface, the things displayed in this hall are the relics of Emperor Xianfeng, but from the spiritual point of view, it can be said that these things belong to the Queen Mother herself!Because each of Xianfeng's relics has a considerable relationship with the Queen Mother, and all of them have been contaminated with Yi's Teze; so these relics are really shared by Yi and Xianfeng!When Yi saw Yi's own things, how could she not have a special feeling?But Yi didn't make any moves, and just kept her face as if she was a clay sculpture; even if there was a famous clown performing in front of her at this time, I don't think Yi would ever laugh! Finally, Yi finally turned around slowly, facing us, still expressionless and unnatural.Yi began to speak. According to my guess, Yido probably felt the need to explain to us automatically. Yi wanted to explain to us why there are so few relics of Xianfeng here.In fact, Yi may not be unaware that we have seen the truth; but in order to fulfill Yi's responsibility as a loving wife, Yi must deliberately defend Yi's husband.So Yi used a very sincere tone and tried her best to cover up everything for the fatuous Xianfeng, hoping that everyone could forgive him. "You need to know!" Yi's voice was very low. "Emperor Xianfeng is not an artist. He doesn't have any hobbies, and he doesn't like to collect any kind of playthings; he doesn't pay attention to the things he uses every day. To be clear, he is a person who tends to nature! He only loves Life, never caring about all lifeless obscene crafts! Calligraphy and painting, jade, gold, silver, and antiques are all unfavorable to him! But he is still a talented ruler after all!" We have listened, although everyone knows that the queen mother is lying, especially the last sentence, which is absolutely contrary to the facts, but who dares to refute her openly?The Queen Mother herself had expected that no one would dare to be so bold.But Li Lianying, Yi's favored slave, has already made an expression between his eyebrows, showing that he is ready to help the Queen Mother at any time; he has seen very little about Xianfeng with his own eyes, and he knows that Xianfeng is not a wise monarch; However, for the sake of serving the Queen Mother, he deliberately pretended to always be on the side of the Queen Mother. If any of us dared to challenge him, he vowed to obliterate the facts and support the Queen Mother to the end.But sorry!We were not very courageous, and no one dared to say a word, so Li Lianying's loyalty and courage could not be shown, which was very disappointing to him. After the Empress Dowager made this reluctant explanation, half of the melancholy and gloom in her heart seemed to have disappeared. It was unexpected that such self-deception could sometimes give herself some comfort.Yi turned around again and again, looked at the few relics of Liao Liao, as if she was satisfied; she raised her head slowly, and smiled at me with a very pitiful arrogance.Yi seems to mean to say: "Don't look at how few relics he has. Before he was alive, he was an emperor after all!" In this way, we left this main hall, turned a corner, and walked into a main hall in the same palace; the queen mother is still leading the way, but we all know what kind of place Yi's current destination is. Therefore, we are more cautious and absolutely do not say a word.It turns out that we are now going to the place where the relics of Emperor Tongzhi are collected! Tongzhi was the eighth-generation monarch of the Qing Dynasty, and he was the queen mother's own son.It's a pity that the little emperor died too early. He only lived for 19 years before he contracted a severe smallpox and died.This is of course very sad for the Queen Mother! Although Tongzhi's position in time is so short, he can't talk about making any contribution to the national economy and people's livelihood; even his broad talents and military strategies must be very limited.But he really has quite a collection of relics, far surpassing that of his poor old man—Xianfeng.This may be because he was still a child, happy in everything, he already owned a large part of treasures and supplies during his lifetime, and left so many after his death.Or it's not like that, but because the Empress Dowager loves him so much, she can't bear to let people forget him because he has no political achievements, so she puts extra effort into packing up his relics and sends them to these ancient palaces for collection , I want him to use the power of these things to gain an immortal name. In this hall, the Empress Dowager has transformed into a loving mother full of grief!The first thing that caught Yi's eyes was a square glass box.There is a small bowl of pure gold in it, which is very light in style. Although it is gold, it will never look heavy; there are many fine patterns and auspicious words chiseled on it, which was used by Tongzhi during his lifetime. rice bowl.Stored together with this rice bowl is a small silver balance scale, which was used by the Empress Dowager to prepare food for Tongzhi every day to prevent him from overeating or undereating. In another larger glass box, we saw a small dragon robe worn by Tongzhi when he was in power. ——Although he never knew how important the responsibility of being an emperor should be, he did sit in court, so there was such a small dragon robe. ——The gown is made of yellow satin, top, bottom, left and right, all embroidered with golden thread to form many flying dragons, and the color is still very bright; Through the glass, it reflected on the Queen Mother's face.Just in order to keep Yi's son qualified to wear this dragon garment, the queen mother had indeed risked great dangers and fought against the bad environment around her shortly after Xianfeng's death; , so that the old man Yi can monopolize the power, look down upon the world, and become a rare female politician in history.Yi Dangri was originally fighting for the master of this non-dragon robe, but later he achieved Yi himself. This result is undoubtedly tantamount to failure! We gathered together to appreciate this yellow robe embroidered with many dragons, and then found that its collar was made of blue satin, and there were a few pearls the size of longan nails on it. Very luxurious, but small enough to be small!Judging from the size of this dragon garment, Tongzhi was indeed a very thin child. He seems to have a special interest in copper things, so there are many collections here; among them is a pair of small bronze drums, which are very delicately made.I think that if this pair of drums is played by a skilled drummer, the beauty of its syllables cannot be compared with any drum in the world.But their lives have also ended with their masters, and they will curl up in these ancient palaces forever without a word. In addition, there are two large glass boxes that store all kinds of toys that Tongzhi played with: small bows, small arrows, clay figurines, wooden horses, diabolos, etc., which are almost used; but they are very common and do not have any characteristics.We looked at it and felt very disappointed. We couldn’t think of a little emperor’s toy, which was only equal to all the gifts we had when we were young.But later we finally found a rather ordinary thing, which was a little rabbit made of clay: the outside was painted with bright white paint, and the shape was very vividly shaped, and there were two bright red eyes, which made people feel amazing. See spontaneously love.The Empress Dowager seemed to be looking for it there too, and once she found it, she focused her gaze on it for seven or eight minutes, before instructing Li Lianying to gently lift the lid of the box, and let Yi stretch out her hand Go in and pick out the mud rabbit.After Yi took out the mud rabbit, we really realized the advantages of this toy: It turns out that it not only has a particularly cute appearance, but also has some small mechanism devices!This mechanism is hidden in its stomach, and a short red thread is passed through its back.One only needs to pull this red thread, and its two bright red eyeballs will immediately turn, and at the same time, no half of the red tongue will be spit out from its mouth; if this red thread is pulled continuously, Then its eyeballs will not stop, and its red tongue will stretch and shrink continuously.The Queen Mother knew about this mechanism, so Yi pulled the red thread a few times, and we almost burst out laughing; but the Queen Mother looked unhappy, and even more depressed.Yi Jin held the mud rabbit and stood there blankly, without saying a word. It was not until a long time later that Yi said slowly: "It was several years ago. He always liked to play with this rabbit." Yi wasn't talking to that one, Yi was just talking to herself; when she finished speaking, she lowered her head again and played with the mud rabbit.The mud rabbit is still intact, but some traces of Yi's beloved son are missing!It is really hard for Elder Yi to see things hurt.We saw that Yi's face had become very pale, and her eye circles were completely red, but in order to preserve her dignity, Yi still tried her best to endure and not let her tears hang down.Such a miserable expression is really unbearable to watch.Therefore, I thought of a legend I heard outside the palace. This legend was not only passed down orally by people, but many historians and writers also recorded it as a letter of history. ——They said that the death of Emperor Tongzhi was a conspiracy by the queen mother, and Yi did not hesitate to poison Yi's youngest son to death for the sake of being in charge. —What a cruel rumor this is!I think if these rumor-mongers could personally witness the grief of the Queen Mother after seeing Tongzhi's relics at this time, they would definitely repent deeply and shouldn't make such irresponsible remarks!What is especially sad is that although there is such a legend outside, the Queen Mother never knew about it, and she didn't even have a chance to explain it. After staying in these mourning palaces for about half a day, everyone felt tired, and all the relics of the emperors of the past were all read for us.So still under the leadership of the Queen Mother, they retreated in line.At that time the Empress Dowager did not return the mud rabbit that Tongzhi loved to play with into the glass box, Yi held it and walked back with it solemnly as if she had found a treasure.In the past, Yi never walked with anything. Everything she needed was taken with her, and she was always empty-handed; Elder Yi remembered Tongzhi's deep pain. After such a pilgrimage, not only the Empress Dowager felt very sad, but those of us who have relatively shallow relationships also felt infinitely sad; although people have to die, after death, their relics are often amusing. It is really a very unpleasant thing to recall the infinite mourning of future generations! After the queen mother returned to Yi's toilet, she sat and rested quietly by herself, and the gloomy impression she felt just now lingered in Yi's mind.We all withdrew together, leaving only one female officer on duty to wait on Yi. I am also on the list of rest, but my body has not worked much, so I don't feel tired at all. It's just that I feel extremely bored in my chest, but I really want to idle for a while; unexpectedly, Guangxu added another layer of boredom to me.When he saw that no one was paying attention, he suddenly whispered to me: "I can assure you! In these ancient palaces, no matter what time it is, there will never be anything to commemorate me!" He said, and gave out a wry smile that was uglier than crying. "What do I have now? Which one can be said to belong to me? There will be none in the future!" After speaking, he covered his face and walked away quietly. Originally, there was still a piece of bright sunshine in the sky, but now it seemed to be covered by a heavy cloud, and all I saw was darkness, sorrow, and gloom.