Chapter 24 Section 24

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who likes to be lively and busy in the palace, thought of having a happy event to choose a match for the princess and the daughters of the kings.In the system of the Qing Dynasty, the marriage of princes and children was decided by the queen mother, which was called "finger marriage".Her first wish was to choose a good son-in-law for Princess Dagege Rongshou, followed by Princess Rongan, who was born out of Concubine Ligui, and then the eldest daughter of King Chun and the two youngest daughters of King Dun. It's time to get married. The minister in charge of the House of Internal Affairs received an order from the empress dowagers of the two palaces to draw up a list of the noble children of Manchuria and Mongolia who met the conditions of "forehead consorts". After the approval of the empress dowagers of the two palaces, they were summoned regularly.As soon as Yi's decree was passed on, some families were happy and some were sad. The happy ones hoped to take advantage of this opportunity to hope for prosperity and solid favor, and the sad ones were Qi Dafei's marriage, and the Lord's marriage was never a good match.

On the third day of September, the empress dowagers of the two palaces summoned them in the Qin'an Palace in the Imperial Garden.There were twenty-three people in total, all around fifteen years old, some were handsome, some were stupid, led by the imperial ministers, each of them reported their resumes, and waited for the empress dowagers of the two palaces to search for inquiries. A few of them were known to the empress dowagers of the two palaces, or they had long liked them.One is Yipin Yinsheng Zhiduan, the son of the sixth concubine Jingshou. He is the sister of the same mother of Prince Gong and born of Princess Shouen.One is Dorobel Narsu, the grandson of the Monk King, who is the opposite of Zhiduan, a general who is very heroic.

After being summoned, the empress dowagers of the two palaces avoided secret discussions and first talked about Princess Rong An's marriage. The Empress Dowager Ci'an has already made a mark on the list, "I think this Ruiyu is quite promising." She said, "I don't know what background?" "He is the descendant of Taizong's ten-head consort Huisai." Empress Dowager Cixi said, "He came from Fei Yingdong, who was the first hero under Taizu's grandfather." "Then, let's assign it to the eldest princess!" Cixi has no objection to this, in fact, she deliberately let the Empress Dowager Ci'an be the master, she took a fancy to Zhiduan and Naersu, and wanted to ration Da Gege and the eldest daughter of King Chun.Zhong Zhiduan is a talent, and Naersu is half of her family background. King Chun is married to the first Mongolian family, which will help her career in the future.

"It's just that the name is hard to pronounce." The Empress Dowager Ci'an repeated it twice: "Ruiyu, Ruiyu, not loud." "That's okay, tell him to change his name." So the empress dowagers of the two palaces discussed changing Ruiyu's name, and asked An Dehai to take a copy of "Book of Rites", chose a dozen or so words suitable for the name, wrote them into squares, and pieced them together for a long time to form "Fu" The word "Zhen" made the empress dowagers of the two palaces very satisfied. Speaking of Zhiduan, Empress Dowager Ci'an asked, "Do you want to ask Liu Ye what he means?"

"Then do you still have to ask?" What the Empress Dowager Cixi meant was that they were close cousins, and they were gentle and refined, and they were very good at reading. There was absolutely no reason why Prince Gong would like such a quick son-in-law.The Empress Dowager Ci'an also knows about this, she thinks Zhiduan is good in everything, the only fly in the ointment is that his body is alone, but at this time, it is natural to think in a good place, the thirteen-year-old Da Gege is already slim and tall. She is really a big girl, but Zhiduan, who is sixteen years old, is still developing, and will turn from weak to strong in the future.

The two marriages have been decided, and the third is to refer to Naersu as the forehead of the eldest daughter of King Chun.Next, two sons-in-laws will be selected for King Dun, one is Duke Kun Lin, who is the descendant of Tong Guogang, the ancestor's maternal family; the other is Baron Enming, the descendant of the founding hero Subai. The assignment is complete and the encyclical is issued.The next day, the nobles who were involved brought their sons to the court to thank them. The princes and ministers who were walking in the inner court came to congratulate them one after another when they heard the good news.The eunuchs and Su La, the deacons of each palace, came to see the forehead son-in-law with the mood of watching the groom's official, and crowded the prince's court room full of joy and excitement.

The same is true in the deep palace. Both King Dun and Prince Chun's Fujin brought their daughters to thank the queen mothers of the two palaces. Prince Gong Fujin also came, happy on the surface, but disapproving in his heart. In the same way, I feel that Zhiduan's body is thin and has secret worries.But the deal was done, so I had no choice but to say nothing, and I didn't even dare to ask Da Gege, did she feel satisfied with the arrangement of Empress Dowager Cixi?I'm afraid that if I ask, I will get into trouble. She is really a "knowledge girl like a mother", Da Gege doesn't appreciate her cousin, and thinks he is thin and unmanly, but she is very sensible, feels wronged in her heart, and refuses to show it on the scene, only weeping in secret.

The little emperor didn't know what was on her mind.He has a very good relationship with his two older sisters, but their attitudes towards getting along are different. He sometimes bullies and quarrels with Princess Rong An, but he is obedient to Da Gege. Gossip, get comfort from her.So when I heard that the Ministry of Rites was already preparing for the "Princess Rongshou's surrender" and she was going to leave the palace to get married soon, I felt panicked as if I had lost something, and hurried to see Da Gege. The eleven-year-old little emperor was also quite sensible about human affairs. Although he was reluctant to part with him, he also knew that it was not appropriate to say those sad words.Seeing Da Gege embroidering flowers, he laughed and said, "Hey, do you want to make a dowry for yourself?"

Da Gege ignored him, his face was as tight as the soft satin on the embroidery frame, he stood up and called out: "Your Majesty!" He sat down and said, "Look, who used this color?" ?” That piece of soft satin is bright yellow, and only the empress dowager and the emperor can use it.The color of Da Gege's clothes was golden, the little emperor knew it, and when he took a closer look at the embroidered pattern, it was a fiery red dragon, which became more and more obvious, and he exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, it's mine!" He was born in Bingchen, the sixth year of Xianfeng, and his zodiac is a dragon. He also heard from Master Xu that Bingding is fire, so he asked Da Gege to make a schoolbag for him, embroidered with a fiery red dragon.After talking about this for several months, he had already put it behind him, but Da Gege never forgot.

"Don't mess with me!" Da Gege picked up the needle and said, "The work is almost finished!" "I don't make trouble." The little emperor asked, "Is it okay if I sit next to you?" "Then you just sit down obediently!" The little emperor listened to her words, sat obediently on the side, stared at Da Gege for a long time without speaking, his heart was empty, he couldn't say anything, it was the first time he experienced the feeling of parting sorrow, but he didn't know it was called parting sorrow. Big Gege ignored him at first, just lowered his head and embroidered on his own. When he realized that there was no movement for a long time, he couldn't help being surprised. When he raised his head and saw the little emperor's eyes were fixed in worry, he became more and more surprised, "What's the matter?" ask.

"Say you're getting married! Don't you?" He answered irrelevantly. Da Gege was a little embarrassed and annoyed: "Why do you think of asking such a question?" She asked, "Who said that?" "Zhang Wenliang." "Listen to his nonsense." "Didn't the sixth son-in-law come here with Zhiduan to thank you? The Queen pointed him out to you. Zhang Wenliang said that the wedding was about to happen, and said that the mansion was all found. It was behind the Great Buddha Temple, and the Great Buddha Temple was there. what?" "Who knows where it is?" Da Gege frowned and said, "Don't ask! I don't like to hear it." "why?" "No reason! I just don't like to hear it." "I see," the little emperor suddenly became clever, "It must be because you don't like Zhiduan." Big Gege let him speak out unintentionally, the more he felt aggrieved, and he was a little anxious, fearing that his casual remarks would cause trouble in the ears of the two queen mothers, so he quickly stopped him and said: "My little ancestor, don't worry about it." It’s okay to be a little busy! Who told you these things? When I find out, I must punish the empress dowager.” "No one told me." The little emperor said, "I figured it out myself." "Wrong idea!" "Then do you like Zhiduan?" "The more you talk, the better it sounds!" Da Gege, who has always been the best at treating the little emperor, felt very troubled at this moment and couldn't deal with it, so he had no choice but to scare him. He stood up and pretended to be angry and said, "I want to go to the Changchun Palace." Go back and play, saying that the emperor doesn't study hard, and bullies me here with nonsense!" This was very effective, the little emperor hurriedly grabbed her and said, "No, no! I won't say anything. Talk about something else." "Okay!" Da Gege sat down now, "It's okay to say something else." "Eldest sister!" The little emperor remembered something, "Tell Uncle Six to ask Zai Cheng to study with me." "I won't tell." "why?" "If Zaicheng doesn't learn well, we can't let him be with the emperor." Da Gege said again, "And it's useless to say it, there must be a decree for it." "Then, then, please ask the Queen Mother." "Why should I ask? It's not my business." The little emperor felt that what she said was wrong, but he didn't know how to refute her?At this time, a court lady said: "Please drive the emperor! Changchun Palace has passed the meal." So the little emperor went to the Changchun Palace in a car seat, had dinner with the Empress Dowager Cixi, and at the same time had to give an account of the day's homework.Empress Dowager Cixi also often asked many questions. Every time he was asked about his homework, the little emperor felt flustered at first. There was too much homework, and he often couldn't figure out what to do. If he answered slowly, the Empress Dowager Cixi's face would darken.The more flustered the heart is, the more dull the mouth will be.An Dehai often fawned over the Queen Mother, pretending to be extremely loyal, and tried hard to persuade the little emperor to remember the Queen Mother's words, play less and work harder, and in these persuasions, many naughty things of the little emperor were revealed. This action turned into fuel to the flames, making the Queen Mother even more angry.Therefore, the little emperor hated An Dehai very much, and said to Zhang Wenhao more than once: "When I grow up, I must kill Xiao Anzi!" These words were not only Zhang Wenliang, but all the little eunuchs who served the emperor knew.It's just that Zhang Wenliang and the chief eunuch knew that once the words reached An Dehai's ears and let the Empress Dowager Cixi know, there would be a series of investigations and a wide-ranging accident, so they sternly warned against talking nonsense. Otherwise, you will be beaten to death with a board!It was because of this pressure that An Dehai had to be concealed from Zhu Zhu. On this day, he asked about his homework at the dining table. The little emperor first recited a few Tang poems taught by Weng Tonghe so eloquently that the Empress Dowager Cixi was very satisfied.It is not quite right to ask about other things, she knew in her heart that the key lies in the master's teaching method.Counting the days, Li Hongzao's 100th day of filial piety is almost over, and he needs to send an order early to let him follow the order to sell the leave. That's what I was thinking in my heart, but when I summoned the military plane the next day, I didn't have time to discuss this matter. There were so many major events these days, and the main ones were military affairs.Yang Yuebin didn't handle the rebellion in Shaanxi well, so he specially transferred Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang who had just cleared the remnants of Hong Yang in Guangdong, to take over. The vacated vacancy was filled by Wu Tang.However, like the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he still cannot take office.Because Zeng Guofan suppressed and suppressed the Nian Army, although he had already set the purpose of stopping the Nian army, he stationed troops in the four towns of Linhuai in Anhui, Zhoujiakou in Henan, Xuzhou in Jiangsu, and Jining in Shandong. The river was defended in sections, and this "long enclosure system" made the Nian army run into walls everywhere, and could not whirl around like a whirlwind like before, but they were erratic and difficult to extinguish.Wu Tang's governor of water transportation, when the defense was tight, was unable to hand over for a while, so he couldn't go to Fujian to pick up the governor who had sealed borders. For this reason, the Empress Dowager Cixi felt very unhappy, and with some censors, she continued to impeach Zeng Guofan's teachers for their ineffectiveness, so she once mentioned to Prince Gong that she might as well change the coach.However, the Nian army was fighting a trapped beast. They fled from Shandong along the south bank of the Yellow River to Henan.But at last a big victory was won, the four major forces of the Nian Army were defeated, Zhang Zongyu fled into Shaanxi, Ren Zhu and Lai Wenguang fled back to Shandong, and Niu Laohong died in the rebellion. In the middle, the divisions are scattered. Now is the time for Yi Shuai.The imperial court thought so, but Zeng Guofan also had the same plan. He wrote a memorial to complain about his illness, asking for the vacancies of co-organizers and governors of Liangjiang, and asking another imperial envoy to take over military affairs. "At the same time, there is an attached piece, which says, "The suppression of twisting is invalid. Please ennoble the minister's income and cancel it temporarily." Between the lines, it can be seen that there is a lot of complaints.At this time, Zeng Guoquan, who was transferred to the governor of Hubei, impeached the governor of Huguang, a scholar, with extremely harsh words. At that time, he accepted bribes from officials, and the bribes given by officials were the public funds on the grain table. Although the Empress Dowager Cixi has never met the Zeng brothers, she knows their temperament very well.Although Zeng Guofan lost his way slowly, he was sincere in seeking the country, humble and cautious, and only occasionally complained. Zeng Guoquan was not as cultivated as his brother. Outside of that booklet, it seems that one can hear such a sentence: "An idiot like Guan Wen hasn't fought a good day's battle, so why should he get an earl?" Realizing this, Empress Dowager Cixi felt apologetic.At the same time, I also understand that this is a trouble that cannot be ignored. If it is not handled well, not to mention stirring up mutiny, it will at least affect morale.So when sending Zeng Guoquan's paperwork, he specially sealed it with his own hands, and wrote the words "opened by Prince Gong", indicating that it was a confidential document that he had to handle personally. On this day, the military plane was summoned, and the order was sent in advance, and only Prince Gong was called to visit.This is the so-called "single pair", Prince Gong knew it well, and with Zeng Guoquan's memorial, he also calculated two ways, depending on his intentions, he chose one to play. "What does Zeng Guoquan's excerpt mean?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked first. "It's hard to guess now." Prince Gong replied very cautiously, "Although the official documents are made by people, they can still be generally maintained. However, there are some lax controls." "Why is it not strictly controlled?" "He dotes on..." Prince Gong wanted to say: He dotes on a concubine and let her decide everything.When the words came to his mouth, he remembered the taboo of big offenders, so he stopped immediately, and changed his words: "If you pet a door and stare at a cook, these two people will inevitably move away." Seriously ask: "Is there such a thing?" "That cook was recommended by Su Shun." "No wonder his cook is so nasty! This has to be investigated." "Yes." Prince Gong replied: "If the governor and governor are not on good terms, we must send officials to investigate and deal with it." "Who should I send?" According to the normal rules, because the official title is extremely high, at least one co-organizer should be sent, but this way it is clear that the official document must be investigated, which will cause a lot of disturbance.Therefore, King Gong explained the reasons and suggested sending Miansen, Shangshu of the Ministry of punishment, and Tan Tingxiang, minister of the Ministry of household affairs, to Hubei.Empress Dowager Cixi agreed. "Where's Hu Jiayu? What's going on?" "The minister has asked him to ask. He admitted that he accepted the two thousand taels of Cheng Yi from the official document, saying that he refused to accept it at first. Later, the official document told him that it was not a private gift, but a public fund, so that he Hire chariots and horses along the way, and reward husbands and servants." "Whether it's private or public money, it's bribery anyway! He's like this, and people look down on him on a military plane." "Yes!" Prince Gong looked at the attitude of the Empress Dowager Cixi and immediately replied: "I request that Hu Jiayu withdraw from the military plane first?" The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded, and turned to ask the Empress Dowager Ci'an for her opinion. She also thought that Hu Jiayu's withdrawal from the military plane was appropriate, and said: "This is also a face for Zeng Guoquan. However, don't go too far. He should understand the answer— — After all, it’s only two thousand taels of silver.” With the result of this case, let's talk about the memorial that Zeng Guofan asked for a vacancy. At this time, it was the Empress Dowager Ci'an who spoke first, "I don't understand why Zeng Guofan didn't even want his title?" She said in a slightly worried voice, "I always feel that what he said this time It's different from before, as if I feel quite uncomfortable. Liu Ye, don't you think so?" "The empress dowager is wise!" Prince Gong replied in a praising tone, "Zeng Guofan is a little angry." "It doesn't look like him! Let's think about it carefully. Is there anything wrong with him? If you push a good man into a hurry, there will be trouble!" What Empress Dowager Ci'an said made Prince Gong terrified, but Empress Dowager Cixi didn't take it seriously.It wasn't because of the words "trouble": "It can't be said that the court forced him, let alone wronged him! Several provinces in the southeast are entrusted to him, and he can do whatever he says. Can this be called wronged him? " Seeing her angry look, Prince Gong felt uneasy, fearing that the two empress dowagers would disagree, and he would be caught in the middle.So he quickly diverted the conversation, "My minister asks for the decree," he said, "Zeng Guofan asked himself to cancel his title, it should be no problem." "Of course." The Empress Dowager Ci'an showed great demeanor, looked at the Empress Dowager Cixi calmly and said, "Let's discuss it calmly while there are no outsiders here." "Yes!" The Empress Dowager Cixi also realized that she had lost her composure, and smiled shyly. "I think, let's think about it first, can Zeng Guofan still be used?" The Empress Dowager Ci'an immediately added: "I mean leading troops to fight. If he can't do military affairs anymore, he can do other things. Zeng Guofan's strengths Isn't it a lot?" Prince Gong admired her opinion very much, and was quite surprised, he never thought that mothers-in-law and mothers, who seemed to be ignorant of foreign affairs, would outline and grasp the key points of the situation. "It's this level that's difficult," he replied while nodding deeply, "I can't tell whether Zeng Guofan can still lead troops to fight? Let's say his teacher has no merit. Now the 'long enclosure system' The method also worked.” "That's right!" Cixi interrupted him and said, "If Zeng Guofan can stand still, he needs someone to help him. He used to be his younger brother, but now he is his disciple. Since he is trying to protect Li Hongzhang, let Li Hongzhang take over the imperial envoy's guards." gone." "What about Zeng Guofan?" The Empress Dowager Ci'an quickly said, "Let him come to Beijing! I want to see him, what kind of person is he?" "That's a good idea!" Empress Dowager Cixi readily agreed. "Yes!" Prince Gong thought in his heart, if Zeng Guofan can use it internally, it can offset the stagnation of Japanese benevolence, and it will be of great benefit to the development of Westernization. According to this plan, it is not appropriate to let him return to office, so he replied like this He said: "Since Zeng Guofan came to Beijing to see His Majesty, it is inconvenient to open the vacancy of the imperial envoy for a while, can you let Li Hongzhang act temporarily?" The empress dowagers of the two palaces agreed with his approach.Prince Gong withdrew, and immediately planned to submit an edict. At the same time, he approached Bao Yun, and told him about the decision to send Miansen and Tan Tingxiang to Hubei to investigate the case, and to ask Hu Jiayu to withdraw from the military aircraft. Bao Yun was startled!One is a bachelor and the other is a minister of military aircraft. It is unavoidably appalling to be dealt with so harshly. Therefore, it is suggested that there is no need to issue an edict.Prince Gong always listened to his words the most, and played according to his words, so did the empress dowagers of the two palaces.But the paper couldn't contain the fire, and Guan Wen and Hu Jiayu were immediately talked about. The next day the empress dowagers of the two palaces summoned the military aircraft, and there were only two people, Prince Gong and Bao Yun.The Empress Dowager Cixi first explained that Li Hongzao will be on the verge of a hundred days, so he should enter the value as usual.Then discuss the vacancy of the Minister of Military Aircraft that Hu Jiayu vacated, who can he find to fill it? Since the queen dowagers of the two palaces have drawn the curtain, an unwritten rule has been established. The two Han military ministers are distributed according to the region, one north and one south. At first they were Li Tangjie and Cao Yuying. Li Tangjie was from Henan, so he was from the north. Li Hongzao of Li.Cao Yuying was from Jiangsu, and Hu Jiayu from Jiangxi filled his gap.Now that something happened to Hu Jiayu, it was still necessary to find a southerner to fill his vacancy. It is difficult to find such a person, he must have sufficient prestige, good conduct, and he must be cautious. Like Pan Zuyin, someone who smells like a celebrity, is always full of guests, and has a lot of friends is not suitable for joining the cardinal.Therefore, after discussing for a long time, there was no result. After retiring from the imperial court, Prince Gong personally went to Li Hongzao's residence to preach the decree. The prince came, and the ceremony was very grand. Li Hongzao had been prepared for a long time.He specially pretended to be haggard to receive Prince Gong. Since he was distressed and distressed, he was in a trance, his heart was beating and he was short of breath, and it was difficult to overcome.However, when it came to Hu Jiayu's lack, Li Hongzao recommended another person. This person was Zuodu Censor Wang Yuanfang, styled Xiao'an, a native of Yuhang, Zhejiang, a Hanlin in the 13th year of Daoguang, a long-term official in the capital, and mediocre.But precisely because of this reason, the guarantee is approved, and the issuance of the edict is all accidental. The empress dowagers of the two palaces really gave a lot of face, but Li Hongzao insisted that he must not be greedy for his position and forget his relatives like Li Guangdi, so he still complained about his illness. After a while, but Li Hongzao was unmoved, so Bao Jun had no choice but to repeat it truthfully. "Fortunately, Weng Tonghe is also very capable." Prince Gong persuaded, "Let Li Hongzao rest at home!" "The arrogance of these people is really a headache!" Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly asked, "Sixth Master, do you know that Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang also have opinions?" Prince Gong only knew that the newly trained Huaiyong and the still-disbanded Hunan Army were in a state of incomparable power. This was also one of the reasons why Zeng Guofan had a hard time dispatching Zhoujiakou. "Zeng Guofan's family members have moved out of Jiangdu's Yamen since April and went back to Hunan." The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "When the boat arrived in Wuchang, Zeng Guoquan left his sister-in-law there to spend the summer. Zeng Guofan married Guo Songtao, and married his daughter from the boat There is only two hundred taels of silver in compensation, Zeng Guoquan didn’t believe it, so he opened the dowry himself to see, isn’t it just two hundred taels of silver at the bottom of the box?” King Gong was very surprised, one didn't know about it, and the other didn't know how Empress Dowager Cixi knew about it?When she was stunned and unable to answer, the Empress Dowager Ci'an spoke. "These words are true. Sigh! It's no wonder that Zeng Guofan is in a bad mood. He is a Marquis, a Prime Minister, and an imperial envoy of the Governor of Liangjiang. Who knows that the situation is so embarrassing!" "I don't understand why Zeng Guofan moved his family out of the yamen? Did he think the court would not call him back? Or was it because Li Hongzhang was so anxious to take over his teacher's vacancy that his teacher and his wife couldn't stay longer? Sixth Master," said Empress Dowager Cixi He resolutely said: "The imperial court can't treat heroes like this, let Zeng Guofan go back to Liangjiang! Let Li Hongzhang go to fight, and let Zeng Guofan raise his salary for him, this is the right thing to do!"