Chapter 54 Section 53

On the seventh day of October, the governors, generals, and admirals who came to Beijing to wish the shrimp all received the decree, and they were allowed to "sit in and listen to the opera" for three days on the ninth, tenth and eleventh day of October.Officials who are over 50 years old will be rewarded with a "boat ride at Xiyuan Gate".Because the Empress Dowager Cixi spent three days singing in Xiyuan. There are many stages in the palace, the largest one is in Rehe Mountain Resort, followed by Changyin Pavilion in Ningshou Palace, and Yile Hall in Summer Palace.These three stages are all divided into three floors, and there are five large wells under the stage. The function of opening the wells is not only to gather sound, but also to add another layer. , "Pagoda Majestic" and so on, all use winches to hang lotus flowers and pagodas from the well, which can dazzle people and make them wonder what's going on.

In addition, such as Changchun Palace and Shufangzhai in Da Nei, Paiyun Hall and Tingli Pavilion in the Summer Palace, there are theaters, but the scale is too small to accommodate court officials.A stage in between is in Xiyuan Fengze Garden. The eunuch called it "nuanhe", because this place is not as spacious as the three major stages, and it is warmer than the three major stages in winter, so it has this nickname. The opening of the opera was after the court celebration, around nine o'clock, the princes and ministers who were ordered to be seated to listen to the opera had already arrived at Fengze Garden.

The place where the opera is performed is in the two verandahs, which are divided into many rooms, which are pre-arranged according to the level of the title.The first room in the east is the princes and county kings next to Qing Wang Yikuang, and the first room in the west is the Manchu and Han scholars headed by Sun Jianai.The last room in this row is Chen Kuilong, governor of Sichuan, and three first-rank military officers: Ma Yukun, Jiang Guiti, and Xia Xinyou. Soon, the eunuchs shouted to each other: "Here!" All the officials knelt down in their places.I saw a yellow satin sedan chair meandering in, and it was Li Lianying and Cui Yugui who supported the sedan chair.There are people in front of the sedan chair, which is the emperor, and there are people behind the sedan chair, including the empress, concubines, princesses, Fujin, and the "female Qing guest" Mrs. Miao.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi ascended to the throne in the middle of the stage, the princes and ministers kowtowed three times in their original places.Immediately, a eunuch with a loud voice proclaimed loudly: "Reward with food!" As soon as he finished speaking, a row of eunuchs came out from the west corner gate, each holding a red lacquer golden dragon box, and they filed in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the first one stood still.Cui Yugui stepped forward to lift the lid of the box, knelt on his knees and said in his sharp and sharp left voice, "Please take a look at it, Lafayette."

"Is the stuff fresh?" asked the Empress Dowager Cixi. "Fresh! Still steaming!" "Okay! Share it with everyone! Prepare more hot soup and good tea." Cui Yugui agreed, and personally led the eunuchs to distribute food boxes, one for each.Tianchu's delicacy is really extraordinary, but this box of Keshi is not cheap, the Minister of Internal Affairs issued a notice in advance, and collected a total of three thousand taels of silver to reward the eunuch.The princes and ministers who sit to listen to the opera will each be given more than fifty taels of silver.

When the officials were eating, two large curtains were set up in front of the stage, one from north to east, and the other from north to west. The three sides did not meet each other, and only the characters on the stage were seen, which was called "sitting apart". At noon, it happened that Empress Dowager Cixi's most appreciated song "Si Lang Visits His Mother" sang "Hui Ling", and the eunuch gave a decree to give a banquet.The banquet is held in the side hall, and the steaming Yipin pot is very popular when there is light snow.The princes and ministers who usually pay attention to dignity and etiquette are very easy-going at this time. They find a seat to sit down, drink heavily, eat large pieces of meat, and go back to the original place to listen to the play until six o'clock after the lights are lit. Fang began to withdraw the curtain.After the play broke up, he still kowtowed to the Empress Dowager Cixi three times before retreating.

This continued for three days, with eight or nine hours of play every day.The Empress Dowager Cixi listened to all the good roles in Beijing, and she was addicted to the drama, but the emperor was so tired that he fell ill. Originally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs hired two famous doctors, one named Chen Bingjun and the other named Cao Yuanheng, each of whom was awarded the title of chief minister by order, and they were ready to call for pulse at any time. This Chen Bingjun, whose medical name is Chen Lianfang, has long seen that the emperor is actually not seriously ill, but weak, he does not need to take medicine, but needs to be taken quietly.And this is the only thing that everyone can do, which is absolutely impossible for the emperor.As time went on, the emperor's health only got worse and worse.And it's too unworthy to bury one's own reputation in it, so he made up his mind early on, it's better to get out.At this time, he asked the official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ask for leave to return to his hometown.

"How can that be done?" Ji Lu, Minister of Internal Affairs, said, "The emperor has violated peace again in the past two days! He is about to rely on his wisdom. Doctor Chen, it is really inconvenient for me to act on behalf of you, and I hope you will reluctantly." "It's really powerless." Chen Lianfang said, "My lord, I have said more than once that if the emperor can't rest, the medicine will be for nothing." "I know, I know! Doctor Chen, you two are only helping me. I'll find a way to get some allowances for you two." "It doesn't matter!" Cao Yuanheng interjected: "Master Ji, to be honest, we also hope to cure the emperor's illness and earn a great reputation back home. Unfortunately, the rules of asking for pulse in the palace are different from those outside the palace. We all have some familiar patients in our hometown, and we can’t treat the symptoms unless we go to see them in person. At this level, the successor has to be considerate.”

"It's impossible!" Jilu's voice was not as gentle as before, "Is your patient more serious than the emperor?" Seeing this situation, Chen Lianfang knew that he couldn't force her anymore.He is from Zhujiajiao, Qingpu, a subordinate of Songjiang Prefecture. He has good medical skills, but his character is not pure, so he likes to use official affiliation to bluff people.He himself is in charge, and his son is the county magistrate. Now he once enshrined in the inner court, and returned to his hometown to play the sign of "imperial doctor". It is a matter of fame and fortune to make friends with Mr. Jinshen, so he urgently wants to go. Seeing Jilu now is not a good idea. It sounds good, so I decided to give in.

"Your Excellency," he said, "as a subject, you should be loyal and wise to do things right, but you may be unable to do what you want, and miss important things, and you have no other intentions." This means no longer insist on going.Jilu also saw the wind, and comforted him: "Let's do this," he said, "it's better for the two to work as errands. Now it's very convenient to travel from south to north. One will go back to his home and the other will be in Beijing. How about replacing him at that time?" ?” With this result, Chen and Cao are naturally happy to follow.So Jilu told Yikuang that he knew about it, and the next day he played the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time issued a decree, allowing Chen Bingjun and Cao Yuanheng to "stay in Beijing for missions in separate shifts, and change them every two months. Those who stayed in Beijing for missions, A monthly subsidy of two hundred taels of silver will be given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs." On the one hand, he sent secret telegrams to various provinces, urging him to find a good doctor, and if there was any result, he would send him to Beijing for pulse.