Chapter 77 Section 77

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was so scorching that the dogs stuck out their tongues, but there were many people standing under the scorching sun at Caishikou, most of them were white gowns and black mandarin jackets. Relatives and friends of Yuan and Xu's family came to see The last one. After all, the car from the Ministry of Punishment arrived, and drove straight into the official hall that was temporarily built with reed mats in the northern half of the alley.Xu Chengyu sat majestically, with a bright face, when he saw the clothes of Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng, he scolded the soldiers loudly: "What are you doing, why don't you take off the prisoner's official clothes?"

"Don't scold them!" Yuan Chang said loudly, "Although we were arrested and imprisoned, we were not dismissed according to the order. We were tortured as usual. As an official of the Ministry of Punishment, you don't even understand this rule?" Xu Chengyu was at a loss for words and was at a loss for a while.I have served as a supervisor and beheader more than once, but I have never seen a person who is about to be executed, and I can still reason with it, so I am not prepared psychologically.I didn't know how to answer, and I couldn't even find words to cover up my embarrassment, but I just blushed in a daze.

"We are dead! But what is the crime, what kind of comment did we get, and we are punished?" Yuan Chang raised his face and asked, "Please understand the instructions from the supervisor and beheading officer, so that we can rest our eyes on the ground." "What kind of place is this?" Xu Chengyu became a little annoyed, "It's too late for you to reason!" Prisoner sentencing originally had a very strict procedure.Although the judgment of criminals does not require "three replays" like the court trial and autumn judgment, it must at least pass through the Criminal Division of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. "Hand over to the Ministry of Penalties for execution.It's just that in the chaotic world, everything is kept simple, and it is convenient to kill people. At this time, Xu Chengyu yelled, and the two heads fell to the ground very quickly.

The deaths of Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng added a lot of topics to people who enjoyed the cool air and listened to the sound of cannons.There is a legend, which is quite popular, that when Yuan Chang was about to be executed, he smiled at the executioner and said, "Wait a minute! Wait until I finish reciting a poem." The poem is a poem of Qilu: "Old Vimo, a layman in Shuangqiu, has done a lot of good things in the world. The orthodoxy has added new years, and the Qing Dynasty has reorganized the old mountains and rivers. The merits and demerits of Lu Wang helped the Zhou family, and Demai and Zhang Liang scattered the songs of embarrassment. Take care of me Going back today, laughing in the white clouds." It is said that the lingering sound of the word "haha" has not been broken, and the white blade has already been stretched.

This poem baffles people, and no one knows what he is talking about?Just like the two lives of Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng, what can be exchanged for, it is as confusing! What puzzled outsiders the most was that the killing of two ministers who were well versed in Western affairs did not mean that the imperial court was incompatible with foreigners.The first is: "Now all the soldiers are besieging the Xishiku Church. If any Christians escape, they must not be harmed. They should be protected by troops. If they can't defend themselves, they should find another good strategy. Don't use guns to bombard them." No need. For bombardment with guns, the only way is to "surrender", which is actually to make peace.

The scope of the second edict was expanded even further.The first edict was still an "instruction to the Minister of Military and Aircraft", and the outside world would not know that the imperial court had decided to "lend the net" to the religious people.It is said: "Because of the unresolved conflicts between China and foreign countries, the merchants, civilians and missionaries of various countries in China have nothing to do with military affairs. The governors are ordered to protect them as usual. Now that the Kinki army is gathering, the leaders of the troops from all walks of life should also look up to them. With this in mind, all foreign merchant priests should try to preserve it, so as to subdue the imperial court's intention to treat people far away."

In addition to protecting the foreign merchant priests, the religious people are also included in the protection, because this "is also the country's child, and there is no boundary to divide it. However, since the boxing religion started the war, most of the religious people have occupied villages, dug trenches and built fortifications. Those who resist the government and the army are tantamount to treason, and they must be strictly investigated and dealt with. The first thought is that it is driven by fear of crime, and if they can repent and recover from their misfortunes, they can still be lenient."

Then, taking Baodi religious people as an example, they disbanded on their own after being informed by Song Qingji, and specially stipulated: "All the religious people in various places, if they regret and surrender, the generals and the local officials should follow this as a whole. Killings are not allowed. The bandits everywhere, pretending to be righteous people, seek revenge and rob and kill those who will be investigated separately and punished at any time to clear the source of the chaos." Not only that, but also take extra care of the ministers of various countries.This was unanimously suggested by King Qing and Rong Lu on the inside, and Li Hongzhang and Liu Kun on the outside. The ministers of various countries in Beijing should be sent out of Beijing first.Therefore, the imperial edict specially ordered Rong Lu to "select and dispatch proper civil and military officials in advance, and bring them with capable troops. When the envoy leaves Beijing on a regular basis, he will be escorted along the way. If there are bandits watching and looting, they will be suppressed immediately. A little careless."

Since the decree was issued, the Prime Minister's Office naturally had to do everything possible to get in touch with the ministers of various countries. Unexpectedly, some of them were skeptical, and some were angry and ignored them. Initial negotiations failed to reach the point. However, those "great protectors" of the Boxers hated both of these two edicts.Especially Zaiyi, ordered Dong Fuxiang to increase his troops and step up the attack on the embassy, ​​but Dong Fuxiang ignored it. One leaf knows the autumn, and the trend of betrayal of relatives and relatives has become established, and they are more and more in danger!

There will always be two or three days when Zaiyi can't sleep all night, discussing with her heart, and then discussing with her cronies, thinking that riding a tiger is hard to get off, and the only way to drive the tiger away and preemptively is the best policy.So I drew up a list in my heart, the first batch was fifteen people, and I wanted to kill them to establish my prestige.The second batch will be dealt with according to the situation. If King Qing and Rong Lu do not obey orders, they will be killed again! So a single title was given to a memorial, listing fifteen people who were considered traitors who cooperated with foreigners inside and outside, and asked for the order to implement the law immediately.Among the fifteen people, the first is Li Hongzhang, the second is Wang Wenshao, and Chen Kuilong, the acting governor of Shuntianfu, is the second.In addition, governors such as Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong, and ministers such as Xu Yongyi and Liao Shouheng are all included.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw this memorial, she found it to be of no small importance, and immediately ordered someone to seal it and hand it over to the internal memorial office, with a verbal order: "Give it to Ronglu, and come and open it yourself!" Rong Lu was naturally taken aback!While reading the full text carefully, Wang Wenshao arrived.Rong Lu knew that he was timid, so he quickly put the original fold into the yellow box, closed the lid, and kept it at hand.When the military plane was summoned, Li Wang Shiduo asked for leave, led by Rong Lu, went into the palace to hold the yellow box on the imperial case, and then performed the work.After everything is over, only this memorial is left, which has not been dealt with.Empress Dowager Cixi was silent, but the emperor just winked at Ronglu, encouraging him to speak up. Seeing this situation, Rong Lu knew that Empress Dowager Cixi was quite dissatisfied with Zaiyi's actions.I thought, this would save a lot of trouble, so I simply overthrew it entirely! So, he took out Zaiyi's memorial from the yellow box, raised it slightly, and said in a deep and indignant voice: "The breakup between China and foreign countries, the overall situation is so bad, it was all made by King Duan! There is another memorial today, and the slave really I don't know how badly King Duan wants to take over the world of his ancestors, and make such a mess before he is willing to stop?" "I don't think so either!" The Empress Dowager Cixi quickly interjected, and after a little thought, she said: "This excerpt, 'flood' it!" "Yan" means not to deal with it, the original is either kept in the middle, or submitted to the military aircraft department for filing.Rong Lu immediately replied: "Yes!" Kneeling down to meet each other, he turned to Wang Wenshao and said loudly, "Meet and thank you quickly!" Wang Wenshao didn't hear a word of the conversation between Rong Lu and Empress Dowager Cixi, but when he suddenly heard such a sentence, he thought it was some kind of reward from Empress Dowager Cixi, so they met and said, "Thank you, Empress Dowager, for your reward!" The Empress Dowager Cixi had a sullen face, not wanting to express anything, but the emperor grinned, this was the first time in more than two years that he smiled. Back at the military plane, Rong Lu handed the Zaiyi original fold that he held in his palm to Wang Wenshao, "Old Kui," he said, "The Empress Dowager rewarded you with an old life!" When Wang Wenshao saw the case, he broke out in a cold sweat. After reading it, he realized the reason why Rong Lu didn't show it to him before. He bowed his hands and said gratefully: "Zhonghua, I am so grateful!" "Finally, the Empress Dowager is sage, and the major incidents have been resolved." Rong Lu said again: "The empress dowager said that it was 'flooded', so let it be buried in the bottom of the sea and never see the light of day." After finishing speaking, he folded Zaiyi's original paper over, blowing up the paper coal in his hand, and burning it on fire.