Chapter 60 Section fifty-ninth

In the past, the emperor was just weak and exhausted, but when he met with the military plane on the eighth day of September, he bowed his head to defend the case. This is probably something that has never happened since the founding of the Qing Dynasty when the monarch and his ministers met.After a short silence, Empress Dowager Cixi said: "The emperor has been ill for a long time, and it is getting worse. If you see a famous doctor, you might as well recommend it." So Qing Wang Yikuang replied: "The slave was seriously ill when he was sixty-nine years old. It was Yuan Shikai who recommended the Western doctor Qu Tinggui to see him."

"Oh!" Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "How is this man?" This should of course be answered by Yuan Shikai: "Qu Tinggui has been in Beiyang for many years. He has served as a medical officer and dean. The whole family of ministers invited him to see Bo. Before that, Li Hongzhang, the Minister of Beiyang, was sick, so he was also invited to see him." "Do you know this surname Qu?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked the other four military planes. Jin Wang Zaifeng didn't know who he was, so he didn't speak; Lu Chuanlin listened so hard that he didn't know what to ask; Zhang Zhidong and Shixu gave the same answer. I didn't ask Qu Tinggui for advice. He examines.

"Chinese and Western medicine are the same, as long as the disease is cured, it will be cured." Empress Dowager Cixi made a decision: "Since everyone recommends this surname Qu, you can invite him to come and see." "Yes!" Yikuang replied, "The empress dowager please set a date, and ask for pulse on that day." Empress Dowager Cixi did the math and said, "Thirteen or fourteen!" At noon that day, Wang Zhongqin, Yuan Shikai's attendant medical officer and also a student of Qu Tinggui, reported the news to the teacher by phone.Qu Tinggui was taken aback, remembering a saying in his hometown of Guangdong: "If there is a copy of the house, there is no patent." Just as he was about to excuse his thanks, Yang Shixiang, the governor of Zhili, sent a material officer to invite him with a business card.

Qu Tinggui was also the head of the Beiyang Health Bureau. The chief had an order, so he didn't dare not go. When Yang Shixiang saw him, he said, "I've been receiving calls from King Qing and Yuan Gongbao. Please come to Beijing as soon as possible." "My lord, do you want to go to the palace to see a doctor?" "So you already know." Yang Shixiang said with a smile, "Hurry up and go! Now that you have become an imperial doctor, more people will ask you for advice in the future." "grown ups……." As soon as Qu Tinggui yelled, Yang Shixiang waved his hand and interrupted him, "What are you afraid of?" He said, "You took care of a serious illness for King Qing, can he still harm you?"

Hearing these words, Qu Tinggui was relieved, packed up and went to Beijing the next day, and went to see Yikuang after getting off the train. "You are co-sponsored by the Minister of Military Aircraft, so you have to go. You just need to diagnose and treat with your heart to keep you safe." Yikuang said again: "Is the emperor's illness dangerous? Tell me honestly after you see it. I'm fine." Secretly playing the Empress Dowager." "Yes!" Qu Tinggui replied, "But speaking of the prince, western medicine is different from traditional Chinese medicine. Like the Ming Dynasty, they treated concubines through a tent, and hung a red silk thread on their wrists. They said that they could diagnose the pulse in this way. Not that big of a deal."

Yikuang smiled, "I invite you to read it, I know the rules of your western medicine, I will talk to the Queen Mother first." He said again: "However, there are some things that you'd better not say in front of the Queen Mother." "I know, you can't say in front of the queen mother that the emperor has kidney disease." "That's right, but let me tell you, you can't say that the emperor has kidney deficiency." "Western medicine doesn't say that." "That's fine, you find someone to ask about the etiquette when meeting the queen mother and the emperor, and wait for Thirteen to ask for your pulse!"

The date for pulse-seeking was decided on September 14th. Qu Tinggui lived in Haidian the day before, and it was twilight, so he went from the East Corner Gate of the Summer Palace to the Hall of Renshou and waited for orders. He was not summoned until nine o'clock.Because the military planes met routinely on this day to discuss the method of raising funds to redeem the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway played by the Postal Communications Department.This is what Yuan Shikai is most proud of after joining the military.The Beijing-Han Railway runs from north to south, but the operation right is in the hands of Belgium, because the road was built by Sheng Xuanhuai with a loan.The loan rebate is very generous, and the terms of the loan are very strict. The first is that the management of the vehicle is owned by the Belgian company, and the second is that the parent's annual profit can be divided into 20% by the Belgian company.Regardless of the huge spillover of power, if there are changes in diplomacy or military affairs, this railway from south to north cannot be independent, which means that its lifeline is controlled by others.Therefore, after Liang Shiyi left the General Administration of Railways of the Long Postal Communications Department, raising funds to redeem the Beijing-Han Railway was the first major event in mind.Of course, Yuan Shikai strongly praised its success. After years of planning, it has been successful.

There are three ways to raise funds, recruiting public bonds, raising foreign debts, and raising deposits.Foreign debts have been borrowed, totaling 500 pounds, called "Revitalizing Industrial Loans", and half of the loans are undertaken by HSBC Bank of the United Kingdom and Bank of France-Arily Bank of France.What we are going to talk about today is to prepare for the redemption of 10 million silver dollars of road bonds.The Empress Dowager Cixi didn't quite understand what public debt was, so Yikuang and Yuan Shikai had to explain it in detail, thus delaying the time to ask for pulse.

After entering the hall, I saluted according to the rules in Dongnuange, memorized my resume, and the Empress Dowager Cixi who was sitting on the side asked, "I heard that the rules of seeing a doctor in western medicine are different from those in traditional Chinese medicine. What's the difference?" "According to the rules of Western medicine, the emperor should be asked to loosen his clothes to reveal his chest and back, and listen and watch at the same time." Empress Dowager Cixi thought for a moment, nodded and said, "It's also possible." So the eunuch stepped forward and helped the emperor who was sitting on the imperial couch in front of him up, first took off the long robe, then the jacket, and then lifted the small gown above the chest, exposing the upper body where every rib was visible.

At this time, Qu Tinggui had already wiped his hands with fire wine and cotton, hung the stethoscope on his chest, and began to diagnose.While listening, he asked: "The emperor himself feels uncomfortable there?" "Headache, fever, back pain, and poor appetite." The emperor asked: "Qu Tinggui, how do you think I should be treated?" "Wait for the minister to read carefully before playing back." Qu Tinggui put away the receiver, put the middle fingers of his left hand on the emperor's ribs, and then used the middle fingers of his right hand to tap lightly.The Empress Dowager Cixi was puzzled, and asked Yikuang who was standing beside her, "What is this for?"

Yikuang didn't understand either, so he replied, "Let Qu Tinggui play it with the Empress Dowager." Qu Tinggui has heard this.He was thinking in his heart, listening to the voice, the emperor's lungs are not good, he is afraid that he is sick, if the lungs are sick, it is called "tuberculosis neck" in Chinese medicine, and it will change color when it is mentioned. I can't say that! So when the percussion was over, he said to the Empress Dowager Cixi, "Just now, I was testing whether the emperor's physique is good." "Oh," the Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "is it to see if the emperor's muscles are hard?" This question made Qu Tinggui feel unbelievable, so he had to bite the bullet and answer: "Yes!" "Is it alright?" Yikuang immediately asked Qu Tinggui: "Alright, the emperor wants to get dressed." "Yes, all right." "What's wrong?" the emperor asked the eunuch to dress him. This is a difficult question to answer.According to Qu Tinggui, there are many problems, the kidney is obviously sick, and the lungs are also suspicious, but it is by no means an incurable disease. After thinking for a while, he replied, "It's still because of weakness." "Then how to cure it?" "I have to take it step by step. I first cure the emperor's headache and spinal pain, and at the same time give the emperor some appetizing medicine." The emperor nodded greatly, "You are right!" He said, "If these two diseases are cured, my spirit will be much better." "Yes!" Qu Tinggui said: "I would like to ask the emperor to reward you with a small bottle of urine." Hearing this, the Empress Dowager Cixi, Yikuang and the eunuchs almost burst out laughing. Qu Tinggui also felt that he had made a slip of the tongue and was greatly embarrassed, so he quickly explained: "I want to take back the emperor's urine and go back for a laboratory test, so that the disease can be detected better. .” "What do you want to test?" asked the emperor. "Take a urine test to see if there is any glass in the kidney" "Oh!" The emperor nodded: "Yes!" So Qu Tinggui kowtowed and withdrew, and opened the prescription in the wooden room where the eunuchs sat behind the Hall of Renshou.Now it became a problem again.Because there is no pulse record in the prescriptions of Western medicine, the names of the medicines are all in foreign languages.It can neither be copied and submitted to the two palaces, nor can it be stored in the internal memorial office for princes and ministers to read.In the end, Kui Jun, the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, went to ask the Empress Dowager Cixi for instructions, and received a decree: there is no need to read it, and there is no need to post it, and submit it to the Respect Office for archives.This solves the problem. After prescribing the prescription, Qu Tinggui said: "This prescription can be taken to a foreign hospital or a western pharmacy for dispensing. It can be taken internally or applied externally, and the pharmacist will clearly indicate it." "Doctor Qu," Kui Jun said, "It's all in foreign characters. I'm afraid they won't understand it. It's not good if the medicine is wrong. Why don't you manage it yourself?" "Here," Qu Tinggui also read some history books, and was wary of the story of the "red pill" in the late Ming Dynasty, and honestly replied: "The medicine is all from me alone, and this responsibility is too great to bear. As for the mispreparation of medicine, it is very rare, let alone the emperor's medicine, who dares to be careless?" "It's true!" Kui Jun said again: "The emperor just told me that I have to ask for pulse tomorrow. Please wait a little longer, I'm afraid there are other words. " Qu Tinggui agreed and waited quietly. Soon Kui Jun brought the eunuchs to present the rewards: four boxes of keshi, two hundred taels of silver, and a bottle of the emperor's urine.Qu Tinggui received it on his knees, and then went out of the garden and returned to the city. He lives in the Beiyang Public Office, just after he got off the car and hadn't rested yet, Prince Qing Yikuang sent someone to invite him.So the original car arrived at the palace, and Yuan Shikai was also present. "Yongqiu," Yikuang called his alias and asked, "How do you see the emperor's illness?" "Yes!" Qu Tinggui replied: "The emperor's disease is called neurasthenia. Most people suffering from this disease have headaches, dizziness, insomnia, depression, bad memory, and loss of appetite; this is exactly the same as the emperor's disease. " "Then how to treat it?" Yikuang asked. "If you go back to the prince, this disease is not cured by taking medicine." "Oh!" Yikuang was startled, "Could it be, could it be an incurable disease?" "No! No!" Qu Tinggui quickly denied: "It is by no means an incurable disease. The most important thing to treat this disease is rest. It would be better if you can live in a place that the patient likes." "Why?" Yuan Shikai asked very attentively. "Because people with this disease are inherently related to their innate physique. The main reason is that they are mentally overworked and unsatisfactory. It is rare to have a happy thing in a day. As time goes by, they get bored and afraid of the place they used to live. If you change The place is refreshing, and all the original boredom can be got rid of together, and the spirit will be fine. There is a name for this, called "rehabilitation in different places". There are often such patients in foreign countries. They go to places with fresh air and good scenery to live for two days After three months, it will be like a different person when I come back.” Yuan Shikai and Yikuang looked at each other in dismay, unable to speak for a long time, Qu Tinggui also realized that this is something that is not difficult for ordinary well-off families, but it is absolutely impossible for the emperor. "Yongqiu," Yikuang said with a serious face, "You can't tell other people what you said just now, you should be more careful in front of the two palaces!" "Yes!" Qu Tinggui agreed emphatically. "Apart from 'ex situ recuperation', is there any cure?" "Always focus on mental tranquility. It is best to rub it with cold water every day, and massage is also useful. Of course, diet is also important. However, this must be done after a urine test." "What's the point of this?" "I'm afraid my kidneys are sick, so I can't eat some things." Qu Tinggui remembered, "I went into the palace today and listened to the eunuchs talking in private. The emperor has something wrong with leaking." "Yes. Not only that, but also very heavy." Yikuang replied Said: "The emperor has been afraid of sudden noise since he was a child, such as thunder, or a copper coin falling on the ground, and his face would turn pale with fright. Now as long as he hears such a sound, he will feel dizzy, and he can't even hear the big gongs and drums." "This is not good!" Qu Tinggui said: "The symptoms of neurasthenia are very deep! Best, best..." He couldn't continue. If he didn't say it, Yikuang and Yuan Shikai could guess it, and it's best to avoid hearing that kind of voice.But how can it be avoided?The Empress Dowager Cixi loves to listen to operas, but can the emperor who sits on her seat turn a deaf ear to the big gongs and drums?