Chapter 76 Section 76

The emperor has long understood.Regardless of whether the Empress Dowager Cixi said this as an excuse to hold on to power, and to discuss the matter as it stands, this should be interpreted as if the Empress Dowager Cixi had not had the power to "train politics" and be able to restrain Zaiyi, the elder brother would have Take the place.Thinking of this sentence that he had thought through for a long time, he finally understood the attitude he should hold, which was to be consistent with the Empress Dowager Cixi, standing next to the Empress Dowager Cixi, and his steps must be steady.

So he knelt down immediately: "Lafayette protects his son everywhere, how can the son not know? No matter how stupid and stupid the son is, he can't be stubborn like that." No matter what others say, my son only listens to Lafayette's instruction." "You finally understand it in your heart." Empress Dowager Cixi nodded to express her satisfaction, "Look at these two letters, how do you deal with them?" When encountering such a related matter, the emperor has not made any claims since the coup d'état the year before last, and only replied as usual: "May the Lafayette be the master."

"I thought these two people were familiar with Western affairs. When Li Hongzhang came, I asked them to be a helper. Who knew that these two people colluded with foreigners and hijacked the emperor. How is this different from traitors who have liaison with foreign countries? Heavy Code, can no longer be tolerated!" "yes!" The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded again, then raised her voice and said, "Lianying is serving the emperor to write Zhu Yu." "twitter!" He is used to this kind of errands, and most importantly, Zhu Yu must write in front of Empress Dowager Cixi.In fact, it had to be done face to face, because the emperor's Zhu Yu was either dictated to the general effect by her, or simply read a sentence and the emperor wrote a sentence.

But this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not speak, and only handed in a manuscript submitted by Zaiyi.When the emperor received it, his heart was shattered, and he couldn't help but look up, only to see that the empress dowager Cixi didn't even have a smile on her face.Just this expression suppressed his desire to intercede for Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng. With a strong pen and tears in my eyes, I finally finished writing a piece of Zhu Yu.Fortunately, a drop of tear fell on the vermilion brush, so that the handwriting would not be scattered.Li Lianying was at his side and could see clearly. She couldn't bear it, and hurriedly took a handkerchief and handed it to the emperor.

"Please wipe off your sweat, the emperor." Words and actions are ulterior motives.The words were addressed to the Empress Dowager Cixi, saying that the water stains on the Zhuyu were sweat, and the towel was not just for wiping sweat, but mainly for the emperor to wipe away tears. Wiping away his tears, the emperor turned around and held the Zhu Yu with both hands, but the Empress Dowager Cixi didn't answer it, but said, "Read it to me." "Yes!" The voice trembled a little. But Li Lianying quickly took another cup of chrysanthemum tea mixed with honey, "Drink your saliva first to moisten your throat." As she spoke, she winked and signaled the emperor to stop making trembling voices.

The emperor nodded slightly, took a sip of chrysanthemum tea, adjusted his breathing, and read slowly: "Xu Jingcheng, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, and Yuan Chang, the minister of Taichang Temple, have been repeatedly played by others, and have a bad reputation. They deal with foreign affairs on weekdays, and each has their own selfish intentions. Whenever they are summoned, they play arbitrarily. Those who can’t bear to speak are really disrespectful! If you don’t punish them severely, how can you purge the group of bureaucrats? Xu Jingcheng and Yuan Chang both wrote and practiced the righteous law immediately, and set a clear example. Appreciate this!”

"That's it!" Empress Dowager Cixi said: "You keep it first, and hand it over to the military aircraft tomorrow." So the emperor folded the Zhu Yu and hid it, knelt down and exited, and when he got on the soft sedan back to Xiyuan, he would have a chance to talk to Li Lianying.He yelled softly: "Ada!" This is the Manchurian dialect. Anyone who teaches the emperor, the princes riding and archery, or the Manchurian language is called "Advanced". The status is not as good as the "Master" of the Han people, but it is also a respectful title.The emperor had called Li Lianying like this since he was a child, but Li Lianying never dared to pretend to be a master, and when he was greeted, he rushed to the sedan chair and leaned over to wait for the order.

"You send someone to tell Rong Lu that you have to go to court tomorrow morning no matter what." "yes!" Li Lianying knew that the emperor's intention was to hope that Rong Lu could save Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng.But he didn't dare to tell the truth, and he didn't dare to repeat the emperor's oral order. He sent someone to Dongchang Hutong to ask Ronglu for his own opinion, and said: "Director Li said, 'Please go to the court tomorrow morning, no matter what. '." Just this one sentence made Rong Lu unable to sleep well. He got up in the middle of the night and entered the palace at the dawn of dawn. Who knew there were others earlier than him, it was Gang Yi and Zhao Shuqiao, both of whom Smiling all over his face, as if there was some happy event.Rong Lu had something on his mind, so he was lazy to ask, and leaned on the wicker chair with his eyes closed.

"Look," he heard Gang Yi say, "Should I call Xu Nanshi to be on standby?" Xu Nanshi is the son of Xu Tong, Xu Chengyu. Since the coup of 1898, he has been the left servant of the Ministry of punishment.Calling him into the palace to wait for orders, he thought there must be a big case to be handed over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Thinking about it like this, thinking about Li Lianying's words, Rong Lu felt that he had to ask and understand. If you want to ask, of course you have to ask Li Lianying.He found a very capable Su La, and secretly ordered him to find out where Li Lianying was now.Immediately waiting for an answer.Soon, Su La reported that Li Lianying was resting in a hut to the west of Rongshou Hall.

Rong Lu knew about that room, so he hurried over there, pulled him aside as soon as he met and asked, "Are you going to kill someone today?" Li Lianying nodded: "Yes." "Kill who?" "Zhongtang will know immediately." "Lianying, now that things have come to an end, don't hesitate! You said you want me to enter the palace no matter what, so why don't you come now?" Rong Lu thought to himself, Li Lianying and Li Shan have a good relationship, and they probably want to kill Li Shan and entrust him to rescue him. , so he asked bluntly, "Is there something wrong with Li Yufu?"

"No." Li Lianying hesitated for a moment: "Let's be honest with Zhongtang, probably to kill Xu Jingcheng and Yuan Chang. Please ask Zhongtang to enter the palace no matter what, it is the emperor's confession." Hearing this, Rong Lu clasped his hands, turned around and left. As soon as he left the Leshan Hall, he saw Li Wang Shiduo, who had already led the class to see him, so he followed him and entered the hall together. After finishing the ceremony, Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "Where is Wang Wenshao? Didn't you come today?" "Yes!" Li Wang replied, "He suffered from heat stroke yesterday, so he needs to ask for leave today." Empress Dowager Cixi didn't ask any more questions, but said, "Emperor, don't you have Zhu Yu to hand over?" "Yes!" The emperor's voice was extremely low, and with pale and slender hands that looked like a piece of skin covered with bones, he picked up a piece of paper in front of him and stretched it out from the imperial case. Shiduo hurriedly stood up, took Zhu Yu, and read it standing up, looking quite at a loss.Rong Lu couldn't bear it anymore, and stretched out his hand to pull Shi Duo's clothes.This time, it reminded him, and immediately handed Zhu Yu over to him.Someone went to take care of this problem, he breathed a sigh of relief, wiped off his sweat, and returned to the original place. At this time, Rong Lu had finished reading Zhu Yu, and they bumped into each other and said, "If you play the Empress Dowager, slaves will have something to say." "You can say anything," Empress Dowager Cixi said quickly, "It's not okay to plead for these two people." "The Empress Dowager is wise," Rong Lu said, "According to the crimes accused in the Zhu Yuzhong, Xu Jingcheng and Yuan Chang are not guilty of capital crimes. This slave has the courage to ask the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to take back their orders." "Xu Jingcheng and Yuan Chang are accused of alienating the court. The crime is serious. As the emperor, it is inconvenient and unbearable to talk about it." "As expected, Xu Jingcheng and Yuan Chang deserved what they deserved. However, talents are rare, so I ask the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to be extra generous. Leave them two lives, and maybe there will be a place where they can redeem their sins in the future." "You mean, let them deal with foreigners?" Empress Dowager Cixi sneered: "In my opinion, it's better not to let them deal with foreigners!" "The empress dowager's instructions, the slaves don't quite understand..." "Ronglu," the Empress Dowager Cixi interrupted impatiently, "You want to resist the decree?" Hearing this, Rong Lu hurriedly met, but he still said: "I invite the Empress Dowager and the Emperor to summon Prince Qing and explain to him face to face!" This is because King Qing is an official in the Prime Minister's Yamen, and Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng can be regarded as his subordinates.If the subordinate officials are guilty, they should be handed over to the officials. This is the right thing to do.On the surface, Rong Lu's petition must not be miscalculated. In fact, it is hoped that there will be a turning point, and a chance to redeem may be found. But Empress Dowager Cixi knew his intentions well, ignored his words, and only said: "You tell Prince Qing, it will be his turn soon!" This sentence scared Rong Lu into a cold sweat.With King Qing's status today, and the friendship with the Empress Dowager Cixi when her mother's family was poor, wouldn't it be terrifying for her to say such a thing?Thinking about it on a deeper level, after King Qing, I'm afraid it will be my turn! The Empress Dowager Cixi's direct warning to King Qing was equivalent to an indirect warning to Rong Lu.At this time, he didn't dare to say a word anymore, he knelt down and retreated, his clothes were wet with sweat, and after handing Zhu Yu back to Shiduo, he collapsed on the wicker chair in Zhilu, his eyes closed as if dead, and he couldn't move for a long time. On the contrary, Gang Yi was very excited, he took Zhu Yu over from Shiduo half-begged, and handed it to Zhao Shuqiao, saying: "It's your business, let's do it according to Zhu Yu! It is best to return to life today. " Zhao Shuqiao is the minister of the Ministry of punishment.At this time, there is a sense of sadness. The coup of 1898 killed all Han people. Now a bannerman was arrested and put in prison. He was not sentenced to death, but he killed two Han ministers.I am also a Han Chinese, so I think this has gone too far. Therefore, his face was very heavy, and of course he would not take care of the matter himself, and Xu Chengyu had already gotten the news and came here, Zhao Shuqiao had no choice but to hand Zhu Yu to him. Xu Chengyu was happier than Gang Yi, and returned to the ministry triumphantly, saying repeatedly: "Please come, Master Qiao, please come, Master Qiao!" "Master Qiao" is Qiao Shuzan, the head of the prison hall nicknamed "Qiao Kezi". "Look, Shujian, what should we do with this big case?" "The officer doesn't know." Qiao Shuzan shook his head and replied, "There is no case for the execution of the law." "I've never done it before!" Xu Chengyu scratched his head and ordered loudly: "Please invite the hall master, Mr. Jing, to come!" "Master Jing" is called Jing Yu, he is a bannerman, but he is the old boss of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, and he is very familiar with business affairs.After thinking for a while, he said: "The only way to do it is to go to the Wenbu army to command the yamen, arrest them by name, send them to prison, and then 'go on a big mission'." "Yes, yes! Let's do it like this!" Xu Chengyu said to Qiao Shuzan: "Please prepare a place, pass on the executioner, and prepare for a 'big errand'." "It's ready!" Qiao Shuzan said indifferently, "There is no need to prepare." "The place of temporary detention must be prepared." Xu Chengyu deliberately made trouble: "Two people are separated into two places, and they are not allowed to talk." "There's nothing to talk about at this meeting!" Qiao Shuzan returned to the prison, with tears in his eyes, and prepared clean rooms, mats, mosquito nets, fans, herbal tea, well water, etc. for Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng. At that time, the infantry commanded the yamen and sent people to arrest Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng.In fact, both of them came here by deception, under the pretext that there was a business discussion in the yamen, and when the car exited the alley, they rushed to the yamen of the infantry commander without any explanation, and were immediately transferred to the Ministry of punishment. Therefore, when the two were imprisoned, they wore public uniforms. They really lived up to their official uniforms, both of them were very calm.After entering the so-called "imperial prison", Qiao Shuzan personally received him. Since Xu Chengyu had to obey Xu Chengyu's order, he said respectfully, "My lords, live in the north and south separately." Therefore, Yuan Chang shook Xu Jingcheng's hand and said, "You live a hundred years, but you must die at the end. Death is not surprising at all, what is puzzling is, why did he die? " "Of course I'll know after death!" Xu Jingcheng smiled and said, "Shuangqiu, don't you still see it?" Yuan Chang bowed his head and did not answer, let go of his hands and walked towards the south residence, leaving the cooler north residence for Xu Jingcheng to live in.Qiao Shuzan watched the two of them disappear in the yard, thought for a while, but finally did not enter the house, he was afraid that Yuan and Xu might inquire about the news, so why did he answer. That is to say, just after returning to his house, Xu Chengyu had already sent someone to summon him.Qiao Shuzan knew that the time limit for the two of them had come, so he quietly ordered the jailer: "Prepare the red rope!"When the jailer prepared the vehicle and the red velvet rope, and notified the executioner, Qiao Shuzan had already rushed back panting. "It's not enough, go directly to Caishikou." He burst into tears suddenly, choked up and said to the jailer: "You go to cook! Serve the two loyal ministers well." The last word came out, and then he covered his face and mouth , staggeringly dodged away.