Chapter 29 Section 29

At that time, there was no rain in March, and the drought had already occurred. The empress dowagers of the two palaces and Prince Gong were in a very bad mood. Because of this drought, not only was there no hope for a good harvest this year, but the next year was also sad. Fleeing back in Macheng, Huangzhou, Hubei, Nanyang, Xinyang, and Luoshan in Henan, Dongnien broke through the long encirclement, and drove into Lu from Yexian, Xiangcheng, Xuchang, Lanfeng, and Kaocheng. They changed the situation at the time when Seng Gelinqin was killed in battle, and thus pushed into Tai'an and other places, and even Jinan was threatened.

The drought in Gyeonggi has already happened, and an altar has been set up to pray for rain. It has been many days, but every day the sun is scorching hot, occasionally there is a light thunder, and a few light rains can't even moisten the red dust of Jiumo, and naturally it will not help the farmland in Guicha.So when they summoned Prince Gong to talk about the weather, the empress dowagers of the two palaces were all worried. "The Slight Heat is over," said the Empress Dowager Ci'an, "There will be no more rain." "Crops probably don't help. However, when it rains, people's hearts can be at ease." The Empress Dowager Cixi sighed and said, "Gods of Heaven, Earth, Tai Sui, and Dragon King have all sent people to burn incense. If it doesn't rain, it won't rain! What should I do?" ?”

"I think it's time to ask for a card?" asked the Empress Dowager Ci'an. "It's not time to 'ask for a card' yet." "why?" This made Prince Gong unable to answer.There is no evidence of wind and rain, and prayers do not come, which will hurt the prestige of the emperor. Therefore, based on years of experience, a set of procedures for preserving Tianwei's power has been formulated, and "requesting a card" is the last resort.The iron plate of the Dragon God Temple in Handan County was invited to Beijing by decree, and it was enshrined in the City God Temple in the capital, saying that it would definitely rain.If the invitation card is not effective, it means that the Dragon God does not give the emperor face. rain.Empress Dowager Ci'an didn't understand the magical effect, and Prince Gong couldn't expose it.When I have no answer, I think of something that can replace it.

"Wang Yuanfang came up with a fresh idea, you might as well give it a try." "What new idea?" Empress Dowager Ci'an asked with great interest. Prince Gong really disapproved of this idea, but at this time, in order to prevaricate, he had to say it out: "Wang Yuanfang said, find a tiger head and throw it in the Black Dragon Pond to make it rain." "This idea is really fresh!" The Empress Dowager Cixi, because of Liu Mingchuan's case of impersonating meritorious service, made Bao Chao suffer from recurrence of old injuries, and his illnesses and illnesses were all Wang Yuanfang's fault, so she had a bad impression of him. She believed it, so she asked again: "How did he come up with this idea, why can it rain?"

"Probably there is such a saying in that book." Prince Gong replied, "I am thinking about it. There is a saying 'Don't use the hidden dragon'. Throw the tiger's head down and startle it for a while. Maybe it will startle the dive and sting it. It's raining." "Ah, I understand!" Empress Dowager Ci'an suddenly realized, "Isn't that 'Dragon and Tiger Fight'?" To put it bluntly, it is really good!However, the dragon is the symbol of the emperor, and the tiger "corrects and corrects the tiger's ministers". Therefore, it is said that the dragon and the tiger fight can be regarded as the image of the general's rebellion.Prince Gong was afraid that the empress dowagers of the two palaces would be overwhelmed, so he replied vaguely: "There is a little meaning."

"Ah!" Sure enough, the Empress Dowager Cixi said, "It's better not to fight! You have to work together to prosper!" The Empress Dowager Ci'an completely ignored her and Prince Gong's obscurity, and deeply appreciated Wang Yuanfang's fresh idea, and said very enthusiastically: "Dragon, there used to be idiotic dragons and lazy dragons, so they must have fallen asleep." , Forgot to make clouds and rain. Throwing a tiger head down now is like tying a monkey to a manger, so that if it gets mischievous, it will not be lazy! You can try this idea. Just one thing, go there Looking for a tiger head?"

Both Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong remained silent. This was to express their dissent in silence, but it might as well be seen as embarrassment because they couldn't find the tiger's head. "I heard from the first emperor that Lord Kangxi and Lord Qianlong shot tigers with shotguns when they were in Mulan Siege." Empress Dowager Ci'an looked at Prince Gong and said, "Let the Ministry of Internal Affairs look for it in the treasury immediately!" It is rare for Empress Dowager Ci'an to give instructions, so no matter how embarrassing things are, Prince Gong has to agree, and Empress Dowager Cixi is of course too embarrassed to object.So Wang Yuanfang, Minister of Military Aircraft recommended by Li Hongzao, finally had another offer.

Wen Xiang and Bao Yun were still there when they returned to Zhilu of the Military Aircraft. When it came to Wang Yuanfang's place to pray for rain, Wen Xiang didn't take it seriously. laughed at.But he had complied with the order, so he had to find a way to perfunctory, so he decided to ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find a tiger head and send two guards to the Black Dragon Pool to throw the matter away, without saying anything, let alone issuing an order. This time, the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were busy again. Fortunately, the fur storehouse was turning over the leather quilts, so they took this opportunity to search through them. There were many tiger skin quilts, but they couldn't find a complete tiger head.

If you can't find the tiger head, you can't ask the Empress Dowager Ci'an. Ming Shan and Chong Lun, the ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, were very anxious and went to the respect room to find the old eunuch to ask.There was an old eunuch who had entered the palace as a errand in the last years of Jiaqing. He had seen a lot and thought about it for a long time. He remembered that the imperial pharmacy used tiger bones as wound medicine and soaked them in medicinal wine. head. So the eunuch, the head of the imperial pharmacy, was sent to order him to check the files carefully. After a whole day's work, he finally found a tiger's head. .If the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs found a treasure, he specially took it to the military plane to ask Wang Yuanfang to look at it, and then asked the minister of the bodyguard "six foreheads", Jing Shou, to send two guards from the Qianqing Gate to throw it into the Black Dragon Pool deep in the West Mountain.

Who knows that dragons and tigers don't fight, and Yun Ni is unhappy, but those who know about it don't take it as a joke, and they really don't have the mood to tell a joke.There was no rain for a long time, not to mention the hopeless autumn harvest, and the soaring food prices in front of us made life very difficult. In the southeast of Baoding, it was found that the salt owls murdered and set fire to more than 30 villages, threatening more than 2,000 people. Eight hundred horses and more than two hundred carts made people's hearts more and more fluctuating. The next time the weather is falling, the weather is slowly changing. Originally, the sun was scorching like fire every day, but at this time there are often cloudy days. In the future, there will be rain outside the city or inside the city. Although it is not heavy, it is enough to comfort.Officials from the Ministry of Rites, Taichang Temple, and Qintianjian saw that the time for rain was coming, so they invited Fang Ze to sacrifice.This is a great sacrifice, sacrificed at the Temple of Heaven in the southern suburbs of the winter solstice, and sacrificed at the Temple of Earth in the northern suburbs of the summer solstice, which is Fangze.Before that, in order to pray for rain and offer sacrifices to the Altar of Sheji, King Gong Gong was sent to offer sacrifices on his behalf. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to Fangze was one level higher than that of offering sacrifices to Sheji, so King Dun was specially appointed to salute instead of the emperor.

During the three days of fasting before the period, the Nine Cities will be massacred. In the palace, starting from the empress dowager, all will be vegetarians. There is a jade plaque on their bodies, engraved with the word "fasting" in both Manchu and Chinese.But after offering sacrifices to Fang Ze, two days in a row, the heat was unbearable, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces were greatly disappointed. Empress Dowager Cixi had always had a bad impression of King Dun, so she complained: "The old five must be dishonest!" then what should we do?Just after the grand ceremony in the northern suburbs, we can't continue to worship the heavens in the southern suburbs, so the Empress Dowager Ci'an reiterated the saying of "requesting a card". The officials of Qin Tianjian discussed carefully and thought that the weather was sultry and there must be heavy rain soon, so it might as well "ask for a card".This iron plate is hanging in a well of the Dragon Temple in Handan. Handan is a thousand miles away from the capital. If you drive fast in the starry night, you can get there in three days. It's best not to be invited to Beijing, and the rain will fall, so that it can be regarded as the help of the gods, and it will be full of face. Therefore, this iron plate took eight days on the road to Liangxiang. It's also a coincidence that the iron plate really brought rain, but although it was big, it didn't last for a while.It rained in the middle of the night, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces woke up from their pillows, all of them were overjoyed and got up early.The weather was as cool as autumn, and the Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Wu Tang to bring the Suzhou embroidered cheongsam, picked out a moon-white satin embroidered with red peonies, and put it on in front of the full-length mirror. An Dehai held another large mirror and stood behind her. From the left to the right, the Empress Dowager Cixi is holding a handkerchief of the same color and pattern, twisting it around, looking around, extremely proud. When she had seen enough of herself, she thought about the weather, "Go and see!" She said, "How is Tian'er?" "Cha!" An Dehai put down the mirror and went outside the hall to watch the sky. The rain stopped long ago, but the sky was as dark as ink, and the crescent moon was hooked up, so that the shadows could not be seen, and there was wind, so it seemed that there was still rain. So An De Haixing came back in a hurry and repeated: "The sky is as dark as ink, the clouds are thick, and the wind is also strong. There will be heavy rain, and it must." "Get down!" Empress Dowager Cixi raised her face and smiled lightly, as if she was ten years younger, "Get down quickly!" "Master's sincerity, to inspire the gods, can you not let it go? It must be enough to count." "Look! Look at the iron plate in Handan, how effective is it?" Empress Dowager Cixi ordered: "Go and see that side, have you woken up?" "That side" refers to the Empress Dowager Ci'an.The empress dowagers of the two palaces lived together in the Changchun Palace at this time, Ci'an lived in the Suili Palace in the east, and Cixi lived in the Ping'an Room in the west.Eunuchs and maids of honor privately use the terms "East" and "West" to distinguish them.But Empress Dowager Cixi didn't want to say the word "East", so An Dehai and the others followed her and used "the other side" to refer to Empress Dowager Ci'an. The Empress Dowager Ci'an had already left the palace, she was also wearing a cheongsam, still bright yellow, standing in front of the eaves watching, when she saw An Dehai, she asked, "Has your master gotten up yet?" An Dehai greeted her good morning first, and then replied: "I woke up early. I specially asked my servant to come and take a look." "Just ask her to come!" "Cha!" An Dehai hurried back to report. So the Empress Dowager Cixi came from the safety room to the back hall of Changchun Palace gracefully. When she saw the Empress Dowager Ci'an, she smiled and said, "My sister is very happy!" "Isn't it a happy event?" The Empress Dowager Ci'an was as happy as she was, "I still have a good news now, the iron plate is still in Liangxiang, and when I invite you to Beijing to burn incense, then there will be real heavy rain." "That's right." The Empress Dowager Cixi said in a special tone this day, "I will invite him to Beijing today." "Who will you send to burn incense?" "Both the fifth and sixth sons have sent errands to salute on their behalf, and the seventh son is not in Beijing. Send Lao Ba to go! " "Okay, I'll tell them later. Pass it on!" At this time, it was almost Maozheng—six o'clock in the morning, according to summer, it should have been dawn long ago, but there was only a faint light coming through the thick clouds, so the hall was brightly lit, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces were in a good mood. Cool, more appetizing.After eating, the Empress Dowager Cixi had to take a detour to digest food as usual, walking from the front hall to the back hall, thinking about what to say about the military plane summoned that day? Walking to the apse, the grand chiming clock was striking seven o'clock. Suddenly, lightning flashed like a golden snake, and then there was a thunderbolt, and raindrops as big as small coins fell densely.In order to please her, An Dehai was not afraid of making noise and losing his manners, and took the lead in cheering: "Get off, get off!" His yelling was an order, the eunuchs and maids cheered after him, the two empress dowagers found it lively and interesting, they were extremely happy, they both sat in front of the hall and watched the misty rain, feeling unspeakable joy in their hearts. Unfortunately, it still didn't rain enough.The iron plate still needs to be invited to Beijing as soon as possible, enshrined in the City God Temple in the capital, and sent Dingzhong Wang to burn incense and pray for rain.He also knew that this was a major event that was expected by the two palaces and the people, so he went to offer incense three times a day.Although it hasn't rained yet, the clouds are gloomy and the weather is extremely hot, which is still a good sign. After two days like this, the weather finally changed drastically. In the morning, there was a gloomy light rain, which continued throughout the morning. In the afternoon, the wind picked up, the black clouds piled up and thickened, mixed with rumbling thunder, and finally fell down the river. It rained like a sea.It fell into the night in one fell swoop, and the people of Nine Cities all stared joyfully, fascinated by the white rain. This quick rain relieved the drought, and also removed the stones that weighed on Prince Gong's heart. With the reports from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces, since the beginning of summer, the rain has stopped evenly and the harvest is expected, so he feels more at ease.Of course, the queen mothers of the two palaces were also overjoyed, and repeatedly expressed to the ministers that the gods bless them, so they sent the kings to various altars and temples to offer their thanks.