Chapter 55 Section fifty-fifth

On December 15th, just after a heavy snowfall, a fire broke out in the Forbidden City in the middle of the night. The location was the Supreme Harmony Gate in front of the Supreme Harmony Hall. Taihe Gate has nine couplets and three gates, surrounded by a water, and spans five stone beams, which are the Jinshui River and the Jinshui Bridge.There are thirty-two couplets in the east and west of the gate, and the corridors connect each other. In addition to Tiren Pavilion and Hongyi Pavilion, there are silver warehouses, clothing warehouses, satin warehouses, leather warehouses, tea warehouses, and the storage of felt blankets and saddles in the Military Equipment Institute. A place.The fire started in the teahouse, and quickly spread to the Zhenshun Gate west of Taihe Gate.

There is a disaster in Da Nei, and all officials have to rush to the rescue. At one time, horses and horses from nine cities came through the snow.The "Water and Fire Festival" in the outer city came one after another with the sound of gongs.Although there is a ready-made Jinshui River outside the gate, it is sealed by solid ice, and it takes a lot of effort to cut through a foot of ice, while the water at the bottom of the river is only a few inches, so it is useless. You can only sit and watch the flames rise. From west to east, it burned to Taihe Gate, and then to Zhaode Gate.The Taihe Gate with soaring eaves and winding stone railings is surrounded by fire, only hearing the crackling and crackling noises, and seeing the painted pillars and carved beams turn into ashes in an instant, Fu Kun, the Minister of Internal Affairs, was so anxious that he could only Constantly stomping his feet and shouting: "Broken Fire Road, Broken Fire Road!"

So the firefighting guards found craftsmen and braved the blazing fire to demolish the two houses in the east of Zhaodemen.The beams of the house fell from the air, injuring more than a dozen people, but the fire finally stopped spreading.The princes and ministers who were present could finally breathe a sigh of relief. At this moment, two sedan chairs came galloping forward, and a "top horse" opened the way in front of the sedan chairs.In front of the gate of Taihe, the sedan chair stopped, and two people came out one after the other, both beauties and eyebrows, with Prince Gong in front and Bao Jun in the back.

All the princes and ministers came forward to greet him, Prince Gong shook his head and sighed: "It's heart-stirring, what can I do, what can I do?" "It's such an unfortunate coincidence that this fire happened!" Bao Yun interjected, "The beginning of the new year is a grand wedding ceremony, and the Taihe Gate in the emperor's office is too ugly to burn like this." This statement reminded everyone that they were worried about each other, and they forgot to fight the fire, and talked about how to repair the aftermath of the Taihe Gate as soon as possible?For such a big job, it would take several months just to survey, estimate, bargain, and collect materials. Now it only takes forty days.

There is nothing out of the court plan, and the deep palace is even more concerned.After the Empress Dowager Cixi woke up in the middle of the night until two o'clock in the afternoon, she was relieved to know that the way to report the fire had been cut off so that it would not spread again. This is such a sad thing.The only consolation is that I heard that the princes and ministers, including Prince Gong and all the officials who asked for leave and did not go to court, all went to the fire scene to rescue the disaster in person, and they were conscientious if they were anxious about the disaster of the king and father.Followed by the "Water and Fire Association" in the inner and outer cities, the infantry commander's yamen, Shenjiying, Shuntianfu, Daxing, and Wanping counties' soldiers and servants also contributed a lot.The Empress Dowager Cixi issued a special decree, issuing internal money to reward, soldiers and conscripts, two taels per person, and ten taels per person for the injured.Therefore, the praise of the Empress Dowager's kindness spread throughout the Taihe Gate.

The second is to investigate the cause of the fire.This fire started very strangely. The guards on duty were warming up at the place where they stayed in the east of Zhenqing Gate. In the middle of the night, a spark burst into the borehole of the pillar.The Gate of Supreme Harmony was rebuilt in the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi, and the wooden pillars of nearly two hundred years were not only extremely dry, but also bored in the pillars, so a little spark caused a serious disaster.First of all, he was stuffed in the pillar and burned, and when he found out, it was impossible to save it.Of course, the guards must not absolve themselves of the blame, and Zhang Jing and the guards on duty will be handed over to the Ministry of Punishment for severe punishment.

However, beheading the dereliction of duty guards will not help the loss and trouble caused by the fire.Empress Dowager Cixi, like the princes and ministers in the outer court, was anxious about the upcoming wedding, how can the door of Supreme Harmony be repaired as soon as possible?Even if we can't fully restore the old view, at least we should cover up the remains of the fire so that it is not dazzling. Li Lianying, who was good at prying out intentions, thought that she would be worried about this before the Empress Dowager Cixi had to open her mouth. She asked Li Shan a long time ago and got a very satisfactory answer. There is a Supreme Harmony Gate in the same format."

"You're talking nonsense again." The Empress Dowager Cixi said angrily, "It's just talking in sleep." "Slave, how dare you lie? Lafayette thinks about it. Last year when he went to Xiling, all the palaces along the way were repaired to the ground, just like new ones. Aren't they all driven out?" "Ah!" Empress Dowager Cixi remembered, "Are you looking for a paper maker to build a door of Supreme Harmony?" "Yes! My servant said, is there anything that can be hidden from Lafayette?" Li Lianying said, "I need to find a scaffolder, a paper maker, and a color maker. They have a way to build a Supreme Harmony Gate."

"Is it okay?" Empress Dowager Cixi was still a little puzzled. "Okay!" Li Lianying replied decisively: "The slave asked Li Shan, and he said that he would definitely do it! What a big deal, he dared to speak up without being sure? Lafayette, just wait and see, when the day of great joy comes, There must be a Gate of Supreme Harmony that cannot be seen as fake." It was such a firm answer that the Empress Dowager Cixi had to believe it.However, this only eliminated a fraction of the worries in her heart. Bigger and more worries were about to come one after another.She felt anxious when she thought about it, and she was really afraid to touch this aspect of her thoughts, but after all, she had gone through countless storms and waves, and she knew that there was no way to avoid troubles, so she could only hold her head up and face it, so she gritted her teeth and decided to make plans first.

Before you make a decision, you need to do some research, "What's going on outside?" She asked Li Lianying, "You've heard it, don't hide it from me!" Li Lianying also had the same troubles and worries as the Empress Dowager Cixi, the difference was that he was a little more hopeful, and always felt that the Empress Dowager Cixi would be able to deal with it calmly, turning major issues into minor ones and turning trivial matters into nothing.So seeing that she has a responsible attitude at this time, I feel comforted in my heart. However, the wording of the replay must be cautious, neither should it conceal the truth, nor should it be embellished, so as not to anger the Empress Dowager Cixi.With this understanding, he slowed down his speech, "I always blame the fire for being unlucky!" He said, "People's hearts are already a little floating, and this fire seems to have more to say."

"What did you say?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "I shouldn't install electric lights in the Summer Palace, and I shouldn't build railways in Xiyuan?" "They don't dare to take care of the railway construction in Xiyuan, and they say that the railway from Tianjin to Tongzhou should not be built." Li Lianying said, "There is a saying, I am afraid that Lafayette will be angry, and my slaves dare not say it." "It doesn't matter, you agreed!" "To say that this fire is, is the wrath of the sky." The Empress Dowager Cixi understood that this was a half-sentence. It turned out that the sentence must have been caused by human resentment to arouse the wrath of heaven, and the disaster of the Taihemen was a warning from God.This sentence sounds harsh, but there is no need to be angry. "anything else?" "And..." Li Lianying felt that there was something she couldn't hide, "it's that the past two years have cost too much." Empress Dowager Cixi was silent.Thinking about it calmly, the cost of building the Three Seas, the Summer Palace, the big wedding, and building the Navy is too much. Now that the rebuilding of the Gate of Supreme Harmony costs hundreds of thousands of silver, it seems that we have to restrain ourselves. However, it is strange that Li Lianying actually said the same thing. Although he was paraphrasing someone else's words, it might as well be regarded as his own thinking.I have to ask, "What do you think? Is it a little too much?" Li Lianying was originally a temptation.The two major projects, plus the errand of the General Director's big wedding announcement, he also "hugged" a lot.Full of fear, haunting my heart all the time, I specially wanted to test the meaning of Empress Dowager Cixi at this time, and I really had the idea of ​​restraint, which is also the way to cherish blessings.It's just not to prevent her from asking this rhetorical question, but she finds it difficult to answer. At this time, he is not allowed to hesitate, let alone annoy the Empress Dowager Cixi, so he can only say against his will first, "In fact, it can't be too much." He said, "Just to do a few big things together, it seems to spend too much money." Empress Dowager Cixi felt that these two sentences were very real, "Well said." She said without hesitation, "Let's take it easy! Let's talk again after we breathe. " "Yes!" Li Lianying replied, "Lafayette is a wise man." "You told Lishan to see the unfinished project of the Summer Palace. Is there anything that can be postponed? Let him write a post for me to read." Empress Dowager Cixi asked again: "Where is the emperor? Did you hear what he said?" The emperor said only one word. "I knew something was going to happen a long time ago!" In addition, there were only two faces. In front of the Empress Dowager Cixi, they barely pretended to be open-minded. When they turned their backs, they immediately showed a gloomy and depressed expression, and they kept panting, as if they were holding their chests and stomachs. It's like a clear, endless depression. Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't see that other face, but Li Lianying could.However, he dared not tell the Empress Dowager Cixi, and he also severely warned the eunuchs under his control, including the "Second Chief" Cui Yugui, not to gossip in front of the "Lafayette", otherwise he will be severely punished.Because he could see very clearly that after the sudden collapse of "East Buddha" in the palace, it was a situation where "West Buddha" was the only one who respected me.The most important thing to maintain this situation is silence.If it is possible to make a lot of trouble out of nothing and leave a good life, but make the chickens and dogs restless, it is not only a very stupid thing, but also an unforgivable sin. Just because he held such an idea, he was also like Princess Rongshou, protecting the emperor invisibly everywhere, so of course he refused to tell the truth at this time.But if the emperor said nothing, the Empress Dowager Cixi might not believe it.The emperor is about to take charge of the government, reviewing the chapters every day, and has to find a way to obey his orders, but how can he remain silent about the current series of rebellions? Li Lianying can only choose what she can say.What can be said is the state affairs, but what cannot be said is all the actions of the Empress Dowager Cixi for her own enjoyment. Adhering to this purpose, he replied: "Long live God seems to disapprove of the construction of the Tianjin-Tongzhou railway." "Oh," Empress Dowager Cixi paid attention, "What did he say?" "The slave is not very clear. It seems that he thinks that the Beiyang Yamen is in charge of too many things." "The repair of the railway is the seventh master's book." The meaning of Empress Dowager Cixi's words was not easy to understand at once.Li Lianying was always very careful when she heard that "Seventh Lord" and "Long Live Lord" were connected together, and she thought for a moment before replying: "Long Live Lord only listens to what Lafayette says, and Seventh Lord's remark depends on what he says is correct." No? That's not right, did Long Live Lord reject it in a different way?" The Empress Dowager Cixi didn't answer immediately, but she had a gratified expression on her face. After a long time, she nodded and said: "He can think so, and he finally understands in his heart. It will benefit him in the future."