Chapter 83 Section 83

The two palaces were exiled, and the coalition forces entered the city. The first to die was Xu Tong, a scholar. After Xu Tong escaped from Dongjiaomin Lane, he stayed in the garden of the late scholar Baojun, and when he heard that the banners had been planted in the city, he ordered his old servant to set up two traps on the main beam of the hall, and then summoned two Son, Xu Chengyu, the third child, and Xu Chengxiong, the most beloved youngest son. "I am the Chief Assistant. When the country is in trouble, I should be martyred." He said to Xu Chengxiong: "Your third brother is the second of Qing, of course you know how to deal with yourself." Speaking of this, he glanced at the rope circle: "After I die, You can retire to the Yizhou Graveyard, teach your descendants to farm and study, and you can't be an official for generations to come."

"Father..." Xu Chengxiong knelt down with tears in his eyes, choked with sobs, unable to speak. "Youngest! You go away." Xu Chengyu said: "You will miss the grand occasion of Daddy's life by doing this!" "That's right!" Xu Tong closed his eyes and suppressed tears and said, "Go quickly, don't act like a child!" "Go, go!" Xu Chengyu pushed the younger brother and the old servant and said, "When the devil comes, you won't be able to get away." "So," Xu Chengxiong asked tearfully, "What about you, third brother?"

"I," Xu Chengyu replied, "as Qing Er, of course I will do my best. Go, go, you guys go! Don't miss the big deal between father and me." The old servant knows that at this moment, the most difficult thing to let go is the family relationship.Xu Chengxiong is here, Xu Tong and Xu Chengyu may not be able to die, and the injustice is serious, so it is no small matter, so they dragged Xu Chengxiong away. So Xu Chengyu helped his old father onto the domino stool, Xu Tong stood on tiptoe, and tearfully put his white head into the noose, but his eyes were still looking to the right, expecting the father and son to die at the same time.

"Father, don't worry, my son will accompany your old man to the spring." Hearing these words, Xu Tong closed his eyes, and let go of the noose with both hands.Xu Chengyu was not negligent, and pulled his ottoman, only to see Xu Tong's body sank, and then swayed in the air. Xu Chengyu helped to become the "big festival" of the old father, and quietly looked out the window. The old servant was probably afraid that Xu Chengxiong would be sad when he saw him, so he dragged him to nowhere.If you don't leave now, when will you stay?Xu Chengyu took off his second-rank robe and jacket, and left home quietly in short clothes, preparing to catch up with the rulers of the two palaces. If he can't be a "filial son", he should be a "loyal minister".

Unexpectedly, as soon as I left the alley, I met Japanese soldiers. In front of me was a guide in Han costume. He knew Xu Chengyu and called from a distance: "Master Xu, Master Xu!" Xu Chengyu didn't answer, he bowed his head and walked quickly, which aroused the suspicion of the Japanese soldiers, who caught up with him and grabbed him.Xu Chengyu's legs softened and he knelt down. When the guide arrived, the Japanese soldiers asked him that he was the son of Xu Tong, and Xu Chengyu, who had been imprisoned twice and beheaded the minister unjustly, refused to let him go.They escorted him to their temporary guidance department - the Yamen of Shuntian Mansion, and locked him up with Qixiu.

"Why are you here?" Xu Chengyu asked. "Alas!" Qixiu said regretfully, "One moment of hesitation, I lost the chance to die for my country." Xu Chengyu and him were not very speculative, and they couldn't talk to each other at this time. They just sat silently by the side, trying to get away. "Where's the teacher?" Qixiu said. "Martyrdom!" Xu Chengyu said: "I originally wanted to accompany his old man to Quantai, but the old man said that loyalty and filial piety cannot be both, and his last order required me to serve the two palaces and restore the camera to Shenjing. Now, alas, it seems that the old man's Wishes come true."

"Oh, the teacher died for the country." Qixiu said in awe, "How did you kill yourself?" "It's cast." "Respectable, respectable!" Qixiu became more and more distressed: "Oh! I am really ashamed of my teacher." "It's not too late to try to make up for it now. I know that you have a heart, and you only hate me for losing my freedom. If you can escape and travel north and see your majesty again, I will definitely give you the Jiaoran Zhi Festival that you will not be able to die and be captured and unyielding." , face to face the two palaces."

Qixiu was quite surprised when he heard his words, they didn't hit it off normally, why did they have such good intentions at this moment? After thinking about it carefully, he then asked in a low voice: "What is your plan to get out? If there is anything that can be of help, I will not hesitate to help." Xu Chengyu hoped that Qixiu would cover him and help him get out of trouble.Qixiu made a promise, and at the time of intensive discussions, he didn't want to have ears behind the wall. The Japanese army had already arranged surveillance people there, and immediately put Qixiu and Xu Chengyu in isolation and imprisoned them. At the same time, they sent people to enlighten them. , or shoot to kill.

At this point, Xu Chengyu had no choice but to be patient.On the second day, his old servant Xu Shengdexin came to inquire. When he met him, he burst into tears. Instead, Xu Chengyu comforted him: "Don't cry, don't cry! The country is ruined and the family is destroyed. Doom is inevitable. Where's the fourth master?" "Fourth Lord" refers to Xu Chengxiong, "another person was sent to Yizhou." Xu Sheng wiped his tears and replied, "The fourth master didn't want to leave, I said the old lady was worried in Yizhou, so I had to go After reporting a letter, fourth master left the city in a hurry."

It turned out that the Xu family's women, children and dependents had long been sent to Yizhou's cemetery for refuge. When Xu Chengyu heard that his younger brother was going to report the letter, he asked, "How to report the law?" "The old lady died..." Xu Sheng hesitated and did not continue. "Also," Xu Chengyu pointed to his nose and said, "What about me?" Xu Sheng knew what he meant, if he said that he had promised his old father to die for the country together, then he would have known that he had abandoned his father to steal his life!It is embarrassing to say this even in front of family members.So Xu Chengyu was very concerned.In fact, after Xu Chengxiong found out that his third brother had escaped quietly, he had already asked Xu Sheng, what would he say when he met his mother?Xu Sheng's answer was, what is there, what to say.But at this time, in order to comfort Xu Chengyu, he had to tell lies.

"I think the fourth master will probably tell the old lady that the third master is missing." "I was going to go with the old man. I didn't want to wait for the old man to ascend to heaven, but the Japanese soldiers broke in! At that time, I called you loudly, where have you been?" "Neither I nor Fourth Master heard it." Xu Sheng replied, "At that time, I was in the backyard, and advised Fourth Master not to be sad." "No wonder you can't hear." Xu Chengyu said: "The matter is already like this, so there is no need to talk about it. Has the old man been buried yet?" "I don't know where to find a coffin? I have to dig a hole in the backyard and bury it first." Xu Sheng sighed, and then shed tears: "When I was a first-ranker, I didn't even have a coffin when I died." Xu Chengyu was silent, biting his nails and thinking for a long time, then suddenly shouted to the guarding Japanese soldiers: "I want to see your commander!" The Japanese soldiers couldn't understand what he said, so they found an interpreter. Knowing what Xu Chengyu's request was, he agreed immediately, and sent the interpreter to report on his behalf. After a while, a Japanese second lieutenant named Shibata who could speak Chinese came and said to Xu Chengyu, "If you have anything to say, tell me." "My father died, and I have to go back to attend the funeral. You Japanese also value loyalty and filial piety, so why don't you let me go?" "Is your father's name Xu Tong?" "yes." "Does Xu Tongding believe in the Boxers?" "No, no!" Xu Chengyu said: "My father doesn't care about things. Although he is a bachelor, he is a fake prime minister. I can't tell you clearly. Anyway, he hanged himself, and it is always true. Please follow me The officer went to say, I will take a leave of absence temporarily, and I will come back after finishing the funeral." The second lieutenant agreed to pass on his request, but unexpectedly, "asking for leave" was not allowed to attend the funeral, but the Japanese army sent someone to take care of Xu Tong's funeral.Of course, it will not be a good coffin such as sand Fang, nanmu, a few thin pine boards nailed together, and it will look like a coffin. In any case, Xu Tong can be concluded before the coffin is closed.But some people really have to reach this juncture to be impressive, and the most shocking ones are Bao Ting's descendants. Bao Ting was one of the famous "Four Remonstrances in Hanlin" back then. He married "Sister-in-law Tongyan", a boat prostitute on the Fuchun River, as his concubine on the way back to Beijing after completing the Fujian provincial examination. , build a house in Xishan, search for poetry and get drunk, and die in peace. Two years before his death, the eldest son, Shoufu, had already ordered Hanlin. Shoufu's character was Bofu. He had a long history of family education and was a scholar among the banner people.The most rare thing is that although Shoufu belongs to the clan, he has learned new knowledge. In the eyes of Xu Tong and his like, Shoufu and his younger brother Shoufan are both "monsters" who are "rebellious". Shoufu and Shoufan are brothers and they are both sons-in-law of Lianyuan.Lianyuan was originally a conservative school of Taoism, but he became a new school under the influence of Shou Fu, so he was cursed.After his death, the whole family went to the son-in-law's house.Shoufu felt that his father-in-law's life was in his hands, so before the coalition forces broke through the capital, the will to die had already begun. When they arrived at the two palaces and ran away, people of all sizes in Beijing raised many white flags.Shoufu made an appointment with his younger brother and decided to die for the country. Before his death, he calmly sorted out the manuscripts and then hanged himself.Shou Fu was a big fat man with limited mobility. Shou Fan helped him onto the step stool just like Xu Chengyu served his old father Hanging Liang. After watching him throw the ring with his own eyes, he also hanged himself.Shoufu also left a suicide note to his fellow officials, asking them to have a chance to show his knowledge and deeds, saying that he "although he taught Western learning, he did not surrender to the enemy". Chongqi, who deeply hated Western learning, did not surrender to the enemy, but followed Ronglu from Liangxiang to Baoding.His wife was born in the Paierjia family, one of the eight nobles in Manchuria, and has an extremely staunch temperament.Hearing that the coalition forces had entered Beijing, they were afraid of being humiliated, so they ordered their family members to dig two extremely deep pits in the backyard.Her son Baochu, Minister of Sanzhi, grandson Lianding, Lianke, Lianmi, and Lianhong, the supervisor, all listened to her, took the courage to make a leap, and were willing to die. The family of thirteen, except for one Except for the great-grandson, he was martyred behind closed doors.The news reached Baoding, where is Chongqi still alive?After crying all day and night, he used a rope in Lianchi Academy and ended his old life. In addition, there are several families who threw themselves into water, self-immolated, took poison, and even killed their own flesh and blood like Ming Sizong did, and then committed suicide.It's just that not many Han people were martyred, and there was only one Guozijian sacrificial wine for senior officials above the fourth rank, the famous Wang Yirong of Fushan, Shandong.Guozijian’s sacrificial wine is also lacking in both Manchu and Han Dynasties. The man’s sacrificial wine is called Xiyuan. He is Yulu’s son. Taking poison and martyrdom is worthy of being an example of Shilin. Although the gate of the country has been broken and the capital is full of turmoil, most people in Kinki, especially in the northwest, do not know that the Qing Dynasty has encountered a catastrophe similar to March 19, the 17th year of Chongzhen. Zeng Jize's son-in-law, named Wu Yong, styled Yuchuan, was born in Juren. He was a county magistrate in Zhili and handled Western affairs.This place is the first stop on the way out of Juyongguan. It is located in Beijing and Suizhou, and there are many places to go. There are more than 300 post horses alone. Therefore, although it is a first-class county, it is not easy to deal with a shortcoming. Wu Yong was capable and in the prime of life, so he didn't think it was hard, but since the Boxers started making troubles, in the past half a year or so, there was hardly a day without trouble, which made Wu Yong exhausted and restless day and night.Since the fall of Tianjin, the defeated army has been rushing in from time to time, and the situation has become more and more difficult. The Boxers were also wary, and filled the east and south gates with stone sandbags, leaving only the west gate to go in and out. Use a basket to hang it from the top of the city, and it must be inspected by the Boxers before it is sent and received. It was the 23rd of July, at dusk, the sky was dark and gloomy, Wu Yong was thinking in his mind, the only way to get rid of his worries was to go there to get some wine and get drunk for a while. At this moment, the Boxers sent an "urgent document".When he received it in his hand, it was just a ball of crumpled rough paper. Wu Yong thought to himself: What kind of emergency document is this?Let's smooth out the paper and see what is written on it? I couldn't help but be shocked when I saw the three characters "Emperor Dowager" in my eyes. I hurriedly read it again, and the horizontal slip read "The Emperor, King Qing, King Li, King Duan, King Su, King Na, Lord Lan, Lord Ze Ye, Lord Ding, Lian Beizi, Lun Beizi, Lord Zhen, Minister of Military Aircraft Gang Zhongtang, Lord Zhao, Lord Ying." Under the words "Empress Dowager, Emperor", it is marked "Full Chinese banquet at a table", the following people are "Each one pot".In addition, there are "Shenji Camp, Hushen Camp, and accompanying officials and soldiers. I don't know how many, so we should prepare more food and grass." print.Wu Yong looked at the handwriting, and it was indeed the handwriting of Qin Liangkui, the magistrate of Yanqing Prefecture. Then, there was news from the post station that the Empress Dowager Cixi and the emperor lived in Chadao that day.This is a post station belonging to Yanqing Prefecture. Twenty-five miles to the west is Yulinbao, which belongs to Huailai County, and twenty-five miles further is the county seat. Wu Yong was very anxious, so he hurriedly invited all his relatives and officials to discuss, "In a remote mountain city, the market is so bad, how can we handle this imperial mission?" He said: "The two palaces will start at the fork tomorrow morning, of course. It's at Yulin Fort, so we have to prepare overnight." Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay and remained silent for a long time. Finally, Master Xing Ming said, "In my opinion, it's better to ignore it. Since there is no order from the superior, and at such a time of turmoil, it is inevitable that the emperor's mission cannot be done." He paused slightly A moment: "It's okay if you don't take over. Once you take over, the supply will not be satisfactory, and you will be severely punished. Isn't it self-inflicted?" It's okay if you don't say this kind of words, but it will disturb people's mind if you say it, Wu Yong hesitated again and again, always feeling that the situation is imminent, if he pretends to be ignorant, he will not only lose the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers, but even if strangers are in trouble, they should help them.As for all the supplies, can you be satisfied with the above?There is no need to worry at this time, as long as you do your best and have a clear conscience, if you want to come to the two palaces to see the dilapidated and dilapidated scenes along the way, you will understand. Make up your mind, issue orders immediately, first send someone to inform the Yulin Fort Post Station that the two palaces will be there at noon tomorrow, and try to prepare food as much as possible, and secondly search the warehouse and kitchen thoroughly to collect more precious food materials, such as sea cucumbers and shark fins. All of them were gathered together, half of them were divided, and the cook from the small kitchen was sent to take them to Yulin Castle overnight to help them cook the imperial meal.At the same time, a notice was issued, inviting the gentry of the county to gather at the county yamen to discuss matters. At this time, it had already started to change, holding candles to discuss, and hearing that the great car was coming, all the gentry looked at each other in astonishment and didn't say a word.Because running an imperial errand is a very harassing thing. If you have money to contribute money, if you have the strength to contribute, which family’s house is good, you need to vacate it, and which family has antique calligraphy and paintings, and you want to borrow it for decoration. dismissed.But today's times are different, how can it be compared with the peacetime period?Therefore, keeping silent means dissatisfaction and alertness. If the county magistrate makes excessive demands, he will immediately encounter resistance. Seeing this situation, Wu Yong hurriedly said in a comforting tone: "Don't worry, everyone! The two palaces are just passing by, and they will leave after staying for one night. As for the officers and soldiers accompanying them, they are also easy to deal with. In order to meet the contingency, every family has food reserves. Divide half of it, bake some cakes, steam some steamed buns, cook some porridge, the more the better. It would be even better if you can prepare some salted vegetables. people." Hearing this, the whole house was relieved, and the chief gentry replied on behalf of everyone: "It's possible to do business like this, and you must follow orders." As soon as I said this, the servant came to report that the big brother of the Boxer had brought more than a dozen people to see the county magistrate.Wu Yong then told me to go out of the second hall, pass through Nuan Pavilion, and go to the lobby to receive him. "I heard that the county magistrate is going out of the city at midnight?" asked the Boxer brother. "Yes." Wu Yong replied: "The Empress Dowager and the Emperor will arrive at Yulin Castle tomorrow morning, and I will hurry to pick them up." "They escaped from the capital, where they are still worthy of being called queen mother and emperor." "The emperor patrols the whole country, he can go anywhere, how can he escape?" "It's not escaping. Why don't you stay in the comfortable inner courtyard of the palace and come here?" Wu Yong thought to himself, this is simply a deliberate attempt to raise an argument!The Boxers are unreasonable, and they have no time to reason with them. At the same time, they are disgusting, so the words are not good. "The empress dowager and the emperor couldn't live comfortably in the inner courtyard of the palace because the Boxers boasted that they could destroy foreigners, but they couldn't even keep the capital! I had to run away." Before the words were finished, the elder brother shouted: "Shut up! It's Ermaozi's tone!" He yelled again, "Kill it!" Wu Yong was prepared, turned around and hurried away, and ordered Ma Yong, who was assigned to guard the shift: "If they dare to break into the second hall, they will shoot, there is no need to have any scruples!" Those Ma Yongs hated the Boxers so much, upon hearing this order, they first fired a volley of guns into the sky, the senior brother's arrogance froze, he took his men and ran away. The gentry in the second hall suffered a false alarm for no reason, and they were all worried about Wu Yong. Someone asked: "The boxers are stubborn and unreasonable. I'm afraid the old man will not be able to leave the city! What should we do?" "It doesn't matter!" Wu Yong replied: "I am a local official, and I have the responsibility to guard the land. Now I have to go out of the city to welcome you. Boxers usually call themselves righteous people. Now that the emperor is coming, if you don't let me go out of the city, that's not good. Rebellion is about to happen? To deal with rebels, there are laws of the country, so what am I afraid of?" Therefore, when the gentry resigned, Wu Yong summoned his staff and Zhang Tuimu, who led Ma Yong, to discuss how to maintain local law and order when Dajia arrived.Zhang Tuimu was quite capable, and he immediately said that although his brothers were only twenty, he could shoot nine out of ten shots with one hand at once, and he dared to take full responsibility for protecting the county magistrate. "Okay! You take eight people out of the west gate with me tomorrow, if someone dares to block you, shoot immediately, no matter what." "Tang Weng," was interjected by the county magistrate; prefectures and counties are all Zhengyin officials, and they use the title of "Zhengtang", so they are called "Tang Weng".He said: "I'm afraid there is something wrong. The driver came from the east, so of course he went all the way through the east gate, but now only the west gate passes through. Can't Luanyu be detoured?" "Of course, of course!" Wu Yong thought for a while and said, "I'll leave this matter to my brother. I will send someone to open the east gate tomorrow morning. The earth and stones blocking the city gate are just used to pave the road. There are twelve more Ma Yong, I will leave it to my brother. However, for the Boxers, it is better to scare them and not dare to act rashly." "I know. The commanding soldiers will arrive soon, so I forgive them for not daring to stand in the way." Just talking about this, I saw a figure outside the door, whose face could not be seen clearly, but what shocked me was a large red patch on his chest, which was blood-red at a glance.Called in to see, it was actually a cook sent to Yulinbao. "I hired two donkeys to carry the materials for the banquet. I went out of the west gate and detoured to the east. I couldn't walk two or three miles. A group of Mr. Qiu Ba came and stopped me to ask for a stove. I said: 'This is a load, ready to go. Serving the empress dowager, the emperor.’ One of the leaders scolded: ‘What empress dowager, the emperor.’ Take a knife and chop it off!” The cook pointed to the wounded right arm and said, “I was stabbed here. Even things and donkeys They were all snatched away." Wu Yong and his colleagues looked at each other in blank dismay, helpless.In the end, I had no choice but to rush to Yulinbao early and try my best on the spot depending on the situation.