Chapter 78 Section 77

When Zaifeng returned to the military plane, the will had already been drafted under Zhang Zhidong's auspices.This is a major event that can determine the major policy of the successor emperor, so the drafting of the will has always been based on the last order of the emperor Daxing, but it also needs to consider the opinions of relatives and important officials, and it is quite troublesome to finalize the draft.It's just that the Daxing Emperor in front of him couldn't summon his subjects at the time of his death. After his death, he also returned to Yingtai as the queen to guard the spirit, so it was difficult for the subjects to look up at the remains.At the same time, because the Empress Dowager Cixi was also in a precarious situation, she could hardly speak, and of course it was impossible to have any opinions on the will.In this way, the will saves trouble. Apart from the usual formulas, there is only one thing to instruct: "Er Jing's civil and military ministers and workers have a clear heart, break old habits, strictly abide by the previous edict, and prepare for each year according to each year. Nine years later, a constitution was promulgated to end my unfulfilled ambitions. In the spirit of heaven, please take some comfort!"

For this edict, Zaifeng himself could not have any opinion, he only announced the intention of Empress Dowager Cixi: prepare to summon. "What is the empress dowager's announcement?" Zhang Zhidong asked, "I think the empress dowager already knows that Long Yu is the guest of honor." "Yes. It cannot be concealed." "Then the empress dowager's summoning is of course announcing that the heir emperor has succeeded?" "The empress dowager didn't say anything. But I think it must be." "So, the will must be issued today!"

Everyone was silent.Because the heir emperor succeeds to the throne, he must declare it to the world in the will, and the emperor has not collapsed, so where does the will come from?Zhang Zhidong's statement is correct, but when the emperor dies, he must immediately report the funeral to the capital officials of the third rank and above and the governors of the provinces, and then go to the funeral.The Beijing official rushed to the gate of the palace, first went to the internal affairs office to see the last prescription, then mourned like a heaven and earth, then took it, and then issued a will.If there is no previous procedure, it is too abrupt to say that the will is promulgated suddenly, and it will cause extremely serious suspicion.

"Of course," Zhang Zhidong corrected himself: "It doesn't matter if the edict is a day late! However, the new king of the country should be announced to the world as soon as possible. I think that after seeing the benevolent sage and receiving the edict of the successor emperor's enthronement, he will immediately It's time to report the funeral." This is not bad, but Yikuang, Shixu, and Yuan Shikai all knew that there were tricks in it, and it was inconvenient to explain it to Zhang Zhidong, who was criticized by Li Hongzhang for "serving an official for ten years, but he is still a scholar".There was silence for a while, and finally Shixu broke the deadlock.

"The funeral should be reported in the afternoon. If you don't report it at that time, you have to think carefully. If there are different opinions, it is not good. In my humble opinion, everything will be discussed after meeting the empress dowager." He added: "Anyway, I'm not going home today!" As soon as I said this, the eunuch came to "wake up", and at that time the clock struck ten. The Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to be in good spirits, dressed neatly, and summoned military planes in the East Nuan Pavilion of Fuchang Palace. "The emperor is gone!" Her voice was a little hoarse: "Pu Yi is the heir emperor. He is the son of Mu Zong and concurrently the emperor of Daxing."

"Yes!" Yikuang felt that this was the case, and there should be a clear statement, so he added another sentence: "I will obey Yi's order." This does not necessarily mean support, but at least it means recognition of the new monarch, and Zhang Zhidong accepts his suggestion by declaring the Empress Dowager Cixi as the heir emperor and the emperor of Daxing. "I personally feel that if I do this, people who are alive and dead will be worthy." The Empress Dowager Cixi said sadly: "If Gengzi hadn't been Rong Lu in those years, how would we have today? His painstaking efforts and situation, both Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai Not necessarily knowing everything, Yikuang should be very clear."

"Yes!" Yikuang agreed. Regarding Ronglu, Empress Dowager Cixi didn't say any more, but the meaning was clear.Rong Lu made great achievements in the Xinyou Rebellion, so his grandson's becoming emperor is also considered a reward. This is naturally a slip of the tongue of the Empress Dowager Cixi. For more than three generations, the world belongs to the people of the world, and below three generations, the world belongs to the same surname.After the Qing Dynasty abolished the feudal vassals, how could a person with a different surname not be a king, be honored and meritorious, and use his grandson as the emperor as a reward?Of course, this is only Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai's thoughts. Others can't think of what Empress Dowager Cixi said wrong for a while.

"You say, Guo Lai Changjun, I know this level very well. In the past, Pan Zuyin and Xu Pengshou, the Hanlin of the former Southern Study, compiled a book "Zhiping Baojian", and sent people to give lectures in shifts. These principles are very clear. Now that Zaifeng is named The regent and the heir emperor are still young, so I think it's better to send Zaifeng to supervise the country, just like the elder king." "I'm afraid I'm not up to the task." Zaifeng hurriedly met, but before he had something to say, the Empress Dowager Cixi didn't allow him to speak any more.

"I also know that you still can't pick it up! It doesn't matter, I'm here." The Empress Dowager Cixi said in an unambiguous voice: "In the future, all important military and state affairs will be dealt with after clarifying with me. You can watch it according to my instructions." !" Hearing this, except for Zaifeng and Lu Chuanlin, who was hard of hearing, everyone convinced her from the bottom of their hearts!It turned out that Puyi was the successor of the Datong, and Zaifeng was also used as a puppet.According to this arrangement, the real power is still in her hands. As the empress dowager, she can control the state affairs without hanging the curtain, and there is nothing to discuss in terms of form. Her skills are really clever!Pull out the second, and the back wood fades away!Shell mattress   real collapse skeletal bone cowardly cut Chun Ai  嗖 ring hunting Su 飧 鍪 baked 蛩 Deng  ! ?

Zhang Zhidong really wanted to make a strong remonstrance about the conflict between the army and the people in the Manchu-Han territory, but when Fang was writing his words, Yikuang had already spoken. "The empress dowager is in good spirits, it is really a blessing for the subjects of the world! Please take good care of the empress dowager, and recover health and strength as soon as possible." "I'll get better slowly..." At this point, the bell rang.Empress Dowager Cixi stopped talking, and when the bell struck eleven times, Fang said again: "You go to Emperor Daxing to have a look!"

"Yes!" Yikuang took the lead, knelt down and withdrew. After leaving Fuchang Palace, Yikuang stood up and said, "Now King Chun is the regent overseeing the country, please come to the front! From now on, everyone will follow the regent!" "It should be so." Shixu said, pushing Zaifeng forward at the same time. "Empress Dowager's imperial decree, I can't do anything about it!" Zaifeng said: "In the future, everyone will continue to do things as usual, as long as we don't distinguish between each other!" In his words, the first two sentences were not very appropriate, but the last two sentences were modest and sincere, and Yuan Shikai felt particularly comforted.But as he got closer to Yingtai, he became more and more afraid. The past of the whistleblower ten years ago came to mind, and he recalled a person's venomous words recorded in the book, which said, "Turn a fierce ghost to hit its brain!" I couldn't help shivering, I kept making excuses in my heart: What the hell is there in this world?No, never! Along the way, I was playing tricks like this, and unknowingly found a palace with scattered lights, and at the same time I heard Zhang Zhidong saying: "Should we pick the tassels first?" "Of course, of course!" So I went up the steps, first took off the warm hat in the corridor, and removed the red tassels on the top. After finishing the cooking, I suddenly found a woman in her thirties, wearing a cheongsam, with no flowers or silk tassels on her head. The "two heads".Zhang Zhidong, Lu Chuanlin, and Yuan Shikai didn't know who she was, but Yikuang and Zaifeng all knew her. Shi Xuxu had been walking in the inner court for a long time, so he had seen her, so he immediately knelt down and called, "Queen!" This call was specially addressed to the Minister of Han, Zhang Zhidong and others also knelt down after Zaifeng, only to hear the queen ask: "Who is the heir to the emperor?" All the ministers who knelt down were stunned!Who is the successor of the emperor? Could it be that the Empress Dowager Cixi never mentioned it to the empress beforehand?What is the reason for not mentioning it?Why didn't the empress ask first, and ask the ministers rashly? These questions couldn't be answered for a while, and only Zhang Zhidong understood the Queen's mood at this time, and immediately replied: "Emperor Mu Zongyi, the successor.... Before the words were finished, the queen asked again: "Isn't the heir emperor the successor of the Daxing emperor?" "It's Emperor Kaneyo Daiko." "So, what about me?" the Queen asked, "What am I?" It turned out that the queen had also heard the story of the previous dynasty.Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty collapsed and had no sons. The Empress Dowager Zhang and the ministers made a plan to welcome the son of the king to inherit the Datong and become Sejong.Shizong respected Empress Dowager Zhang as the emperor's aunt. Although she lived in the place of the empress dowager, she was not a real queen mother. Later, Shizong wanted to kill Zhang Heling, the younger brother of the empress dowager Zhang, and the empress dowager Zhang knelt down in front of her nephew to plead for mercy. Now the successor emperor is the son of Mu Zong, and she is the aunt of the new emperor. Her situation is roughly similar to that of the Empress Dowager Zhang during the Jiajing period, and her relationship with the regent Zaifeng is like the relationship between Emperor Daxing and Mu Zong's Jiashun Empress Arut Shi.This situation, this relationship, is extremely embarrassing, so I can't help but care.So after knowing that Emperor Si is the son of Emperor Daxing, he still has to ask about his identity. But Zhang Zhidong thought that the empress was asking too much, and replied without hesitation: "Of course it is the empress dowager." "It's not bad! It's finally settled!" At this point, the queen cried out with a "wow", and walked in while crying, wiping her tears. All the ministers were miserable, they had aversion to the queen at first, but now they feel sorry for the queen, they stood up, looked at each other, at a loss what to do. Of course, Shixu was the one who was most vigilant. Looking around, Emperor Daxing's face was covered with a white silk, and the Empress was sitting in front of the coffin, and he suddenly had an idea. "Jianguo, lord, everyone, let's salute before the banquet!" Not to mention paying respects to the remains, but to salute, to remind everyone not to rashly remove the white silk covering the face of Emperor Daxing!Yuan Shikai suddenly felt relieved, and he kept muttering that he was afraid of seeing the face of Emperor Daxing.Shixu's words hit his heart, and he immediately agreed: "Yes! Just salute before a few feasts." So Zaifeng took the lead, knelt in front with Yikuang, and the other four ministers knelt behind, and they kowtowed three times and kowtowed nine times in two rows.According to the rules, after saluting, one should wave one's hands and stamp one's feet and cry bitterly, which is called "jumping", which is of course avoided at this time and place.But Zhang Zhidong really cried, when he cried, others had to cry, especially the empress and eunuchs, and the Zaoyun Building immediately became lively.