Chapter 20 Ten The Last Days of the Forbidden City
The failure to rectify the Ministry of Internal Affairs this time does not make me "stop".The car didn't stop, but turned a corner.Since I got in the car, people have been cheering me up, or pointing out the direction of the road signs.
The survivors told me the "big plan" for restoration, and what I mentioned above is just one example.After I got married, there were people everywhere who wanted to work for me like that.For example, Kang Youwei and his disciples Xu Qin and Xu Liang, father and son, carried out activities at home and abroad under the banner of "Chinese Imperial Constitutional Party".Their activities continued to be transmitted to the palace through Johnston.Xu Qin wrote a memorial boasting that the party has 100,000 members and five newspapers overseas.Two years before I left the palace, Xu Liang went to Guangxi to find the warlord Lin Junting to carry out restoration activities. He wrote to Johnston saying that the leaders of the three military factions in Guangxi, Lu Rongting, Lin Junting, and Shen Hongying, "all share the same purpose as our party, and they will be able to do things in the future." Help each other and treat the opposition parties as well."After the Spring Festival in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, Kang Youwei said in a letter to Johnston: "After years of running, I will return on New Year's Eve. Fortunately, I can hear and hear my lobbying, and I am tired of all parties. People have the same heart." According to him. Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu.Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan have all been agreed, or they can be discussed at that time.Wu Peifu was the one he pinned his hopes on the most, saying, "Luo (referring to Wu, who was in Luoyang at the time) was loyal to Meng De (referring to Cao Kun), but he heard that he was seriously ill. If he had it, he would be able to rotate it by transmission."It is also said that Xiao Yaonan in Hubei said that "one electricity can come", and on his birthday, "one can reward it".It now appears that Kang Youwei uttered a lot of nonsense in his letter, which later turned into ostentatious acts without practical effect.But at that time, Johnston and I not only had no doubts about his words, but were very happy, and gave birthday gifts and rewarded blessings according to his instructions.Under their guidance, I began to know how to use wealth for my "ideal".
The same example is "charitable donation".I don't remember which master gave this advice, but the motive is very clear, because I understood the value of public opinion at this time.At that time, on the social pages of Beijing newspapers, there was news that "Emperor Xuantong gave charity and hospitality" almost every day.There are roughly two kinds of my "helping" activities. One is to send money to the newspaper agency on behalf of the poor according to the news published in the newspaper, and the other is to send people directly to the poor households.No matter which method is used, there will always be such news in the newspaper after a day or two: "The Emperor He Qing sent someone to send X yuan to this newspaper for the help of XX..." It not only praised me, but also publicized "this book" report" function.For the latter, there are almost no newspapers that do not publish stories of the poor that attract my attention, and I am happy to have all kinds of newspapers give me publicity.Some newspapers even published such an article:
An article like this is naturally worth much more to me than a grant of ten or eight yuan.
The biggest donation I made was for the Japanese "earthquake" that occurred in September of the 12th year of the Republic of China.The loss of that Japanese earthquake shocked the world. I wanted to let the world know the "kindness" of "Emperor Xuantong", and decided to donate a huge sum of money to help.My master Chen looked further than I did. After he praised "the emperor's grace is mighty and the heart of heaven is benevolent", he told me: "The impact of this move must not be limited to this." Later, because of cash difficulties, he sent it to me. The treasure of antique calligraphy and painting is estimated to be around US$300,000.When Minister Yoshisawa of Japan accompanied the delegation of the Japanese Diet to thank me, the excited atmosphere in the palace was similar to that when foreign envoys came to watch a big wedding.
During this period, my life was even more absurd, and I did many contradictory things.For example, on the one hand, I blame the Ministry of Internal Affairs for spending too much, and on the other hand, I am extravagant.I saw photos of foreign dogs in foreign pictorials, so I asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to buy them from abroad, and the dog food was also ordered from abroad.A sick dog pays more for a veterinarian than a human.A veterinarian surnamed Qian from the Beijing Police Academy probably saw my personality and tried his best to curry favor with me. He wrote me several memorials about raising dogs, and got ten treasures including green jade bracelets, gold rings, and snuff bottles. reward.Sometimes I see something new in the newspapers, for example, a four-year-old child can read "Mencius", and when someone finds a strange spider, he will be called into the palace to have a look, and of course a reward will be given.I fell in love with stones all of a sudden, so someone bought all kinds of stones and sent them, and I rewarded them all with huge rewards.
On the one hand, I asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to lay off staff, reduce the number of people in each department from 700 to 300, and reduce the number of cooks in the "imperial dining room" from 200 to 37. On the other hand, I asked them to add "fancai" for Western food Dining room", these two "dining rooms" cost more than 1,300 yuan a month for vegetables.
As for my annual expenses, according to the condensed figures fabricated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs one year before my marriage (that is, the tenth year of the Republic of China), it does not include my food and clothing, or the expenses of various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. , only counting the "handover" and "rewards" paid by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the total annual expenditure is 870,597 taels.
This kind of dark life didn't change until November 5, 13th year of the Republic of China, when Feng Yuxiang's national army expelled me from the Forbidden City.
In September of this year, in the second Zhifeng War, which began with the Battle of Chaoyang, Wu Peifu's Zhijun was still in a superior position at first. He defected and returned to Beijing, and sent a peace telegram.With the cooperation of Feng and Zhang, Wu Peifu's Shanhaiguan frontline army was defeated, and Wu Peifu fled back to Luoyang by himself.Later, Wu failed to gain a foothold in Henan, and fled to Yuezhou with his remnant soldiers and defeated generals. He did not come back until he united with Sun Chuanfang two years later, but this is a later story.Before the news of Wu Jun's defeat in Shanhaiguan came, Feng Yuxiang's national army, which occupied Beijing, had already put the bribed president Cao Kun under house arrest, and then dissolved the "Piggy Congress".
As soon as the news of the coup reached the palace, I immediately realized that something was wrong.The inner city guards of the Forbidden City were disarmed by the national army and transferred out of Beijing city. The national army took over their camp, and the Shenwu Gate was replaced by the national army sentry post.I observed Jingshan Mountain with a telescope in the imperial garden, and saw soldiers with different costumes from the guards up and down.The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent people to bring tea and food, and the national army accepted it without any strange attitude, but no one in the Forbidden City felt relieved.We all remember that when Zhang Xun was restored, Feng Yuxiang joined the "Rebel Army". If Duan Qirui hadn't transferred him out of Beijing in time, he would have kept fighting in the Forbidden City.After Duan Qirui came to power, Feng Yuxiang and some other generals sent telegrams to demand that the small imperial court be driven out of the Forbidden City.With this experience, we have a foreboding about the coup d'état and the adaptation of the Guard.Then, I heard that all the political prisoners in the prison had been released, and I also heard that all the "radical parties" had come out to operate. The various education about "radical" and "terrorism" that Johnston and Master Chen gave me-the most important thing One was that they were going to kill every nobleman - and that's where it worked.I found Johnston and asked him to go to Dongjiaomin Lane to inquire about information for me, and asked him to try to arrange a place of refuge for me.
The princes and princes were in a state of panic, and some of them had reserved rooms at the "Liu Guo Hotel" in Dongjiaomin Lane, but when they heard that I was going out of the city, they all thought it was unnecessary for now.Their basis is still the same: with the preferential treatment conditions recognized by all countries, nothing will happen.
But what had to happen, did happen.
That morning, around nine o'clock, I was eating fruit and chatting with Wanke in Chuxiu Palace, when the ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs suddenly staggered in.The leader Shaoying held an official document in his hand and said out of breath:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty...Feng Yuxiang has sent troops here! There is also Li Shizeng, a descendant of Li Hongzao, who said that the Republic of China will abolish preferential treatment conditions. This is called a signature..."
I jumped up all of a sudden, and the apple I just bitten rolled to the ground.I snatched the official document from his hand, and saw it read:
To be honest, this new correction condition is not as scary as I originally thought.But Shaoying said something that immediately made me jump up: "They said that everyone should move out within three hours!"
"Then what should I do? Where's my property? Where's the concubine?" I turned anxiously, "Call Master Zhuang!"
"The phone line is broken, broken, broken!" Rong Yuan replied.
"Go find the lord! I told you something was going to happen! Why don't you tell me to go out! Find the lord! Find the lord!"
"I can't get out," Baoxi said, "someone is trapped outside. Don't let anyone out!"
"Negotiate with me!"
"Hey!"
At this time, Concubine Duankang had just passed away not many days ago, and there were only two concubines Jingyi and Ronghui left in the government. These two old ladies refused to leave no matter what.Shaoying used this as an excuse to discuss with Lu Zhonglin, and the result was that the delay was allowed until three o'clock in the afternoon.After noon, after negotiations, my father entered the palace, masters Zhu and Chen were let in, and only Johnston was kept out.
When I heard that the prince had come in, I immediately went out of the house to meet him. When I saw him walk into the palace gate, I immediately called out:
"My lord, what should I do?"
When he heard my cry, he stuck there as if he had been immobilized. He neither approached me nor answered my question. His lips trembled for a long time before he uttered a useless sentence:
"Listen, listen to the will, listen to the will..."
I was anxious and angry, and I turned around and entered the house by myself.Later, the eunuch told me that when he heard that I had signed the revised conditions, he immediately tore off the feathers on his head, threw his hat on the ground, and muttered, "It's over! It's over! Stop it!"
I went back to the house, and after a short time, Shaoying came back with an even uglier face than before, and said tremblingly: "Lu Zhonglin reminded me, tell me, let me limit it to another 20 minutes, otherwise, otherwise ...The cannons are about to fire on Jingshan..."
In fact, Lu Zhonglin only led twenty pistols, but his scaring words were very effective.First, my father-in-law, Rong Yuan, was so frightened that he ran to the Imperial Garden, went east to Tibet, found a place to hide from shells, and never came out again.Seeing that the princes and ministers were all frightened like this, I had no choice but to quickly agree to the deer's request and decided to go to my father's house first.
At this time, the National Army had prepared cars for me, five cars in total, Lu Zhonglin took the first car, I took the second car, and Wanrong, Wenxiu, Zhang Bi, Shaoying and others got into the back car in turn.
When the car arrived at the gate of Beifu, when I got out of the car, Lu Zhonglin came over, and only then did I meet him.The deer shook my hand and asked me:
"Mr. Puyi, do you still plan to be an emperor in the future, or do you want to be a commoner?"
"I am willing to be a civilian from today on."
"Okay!" Lu Zhonglin smiled and said, "Then I will protect you." He also said that it is unreasonable to have the title of emperor at the same time as the Republic of China, and he should serve the country well as a citizen in the future.Zhang Bi also said:
"As a citizen, you have the right to vote and be elected, and you may also be elected president in the future!"
When I heard the word President, I felt very uncomfortable.At this time, I already understood the meaning of "keeping a low profile" and said:
"I've long wanted to get rid of that preferential treatment condition, but abolishing it this time is exactly what I want, so I completely agree with your words. Being an emperor is not free, but now I can be free."
After this passage was finished, the surrounding national army soldiers applauded.
My last sentence was not entirely false.I really hate the restrictions and obstacles that princes and ministers have placed on me.I want "freedom", I want to be free to realize my ideals according to my own ideas - to sit on the "throne" I lost again.
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