Chapter 80 Section 80

At this moment, the secret documents of the ten ministers and the two empress dowagers were delivered to the palace, and the empress dowager Cixi read it carefully, feeling unspeakable unhappiness in her heart.She disagreed with the "principle" and "potential" mentioned, and in terms of interest, she felt that she had suffered a great blow. Her 40th birthday could have been quite lively, but who would have thought it would be like this? situation!It's strange to blame, only to blame his son for not being up to date, if he hadn't been so nonsense, how could he have provoked such unpleasant words.

A person who has been angry for a long time, waited for his emotions to calm down a little, read the memorial again, and felt that he should discuss it with the Empress Dowager Ci'an.After inviting her here, he read the scriptures to her, and mentioned the words of Jin Wang Fujin, just shook his head and sighed. The Empress Dowager Ci'an was quite calm. Although her heart was shaken and her face was pale, she was able to say a very powerful sentence: "The garden workers can't stop!" The Empress Dowager Cixi was still reluctant to say this sentence, but she couldn't insist on it, so she just said: "It's not a Yizhi to build a garden, so why use Yizhi to stop work now?"

"Then tell the emperor and ask him to issue an order." The Empress Dowager Ci'an said again, "I heard the day before yesterday that Shen Baozhen's performance was approved, and he borrowed two million taels from the Bank of England to take it to Taiwan to repair the fort. I need to borrow three million taels of foreign debt. How can I get it going on like this?" Empress Dowager Cixi was silent.After a long time, he shook his head and said, "It's really annoying!" The Empress Dowager Ci'an saw her like this, so she called out: "Come on!" When the maid approached her, she ordered: "See where the emperor is?"

"Yes!" the maid asked: "Just to watch the back and forth, or did you invite the Long Live Lord?" "Please come!" The emperor was summoned to the Changchun Palace, and seeing the expressions of the Empress Dowagers of the two palaces, he knew something was wrong, so he bit the bullet and greeted with a smile.The two "emperor mothers" ignored him, but Empress Dowager Ci'an pointed to the secret document and motioned him to read it. The emperor became annoyed when he couldn't see the two lines, "It's unreasonable!" He said angrily, "Why alarm the two empress dowagers?"

"He is nice!" Empress Dowager Ci'an replied coldly. Empress Dowager Ci'an rarely used this tone when speaking to the emperor.So even though it was a cold sentence, he felt very sad in his heart, and the more he felt that the empress dowagers of the two palaces who had withdrawn from the ten important ministers and returned to the government were unreasonable. Looking at it again, the emperor felt disgusted again, "What is this called! Chen Zhima and Rotten Millet have all been moved out! Wenfeng's martyrdom happened more than ten years ago, and now he is still talking about 'reason'?" He angrily said Said, "The Japanese have been making trouble in Taiwan for some time. They have managed foreign affairs like this. They don't take the blame and blame themselves, but put on the face of loyal ministers. It's unreasonable!"

Because of this prejudice, the emperor couldn't listen to a single sentence in this booklet. He read it hastily, biting his lip and blinking his eyes, thinking about countermeasures. "I have to ask them." The emperor said in a decisive voice: "It doesn't matter whether it's reason or power, it's all happened before last autumn. It should have been seen a long time ago. Why didn't you say it back then? Uncle Liu took the lead in donating money." Yinzi, why didn't you think about it at that time, the Old Summer Palace is not a 'good place to stay'?"

These few words were justified, Empress Dowager Ci'an had nothing to say, Empress Dowager Cixi was not enthusiastic about the suspension of work, but she believed that the emperor's insignificant behavior must be investigated.She vaguely had an idea that if the emperor could express his repentance and put his mind to work hard, then we can temporarily ignore the suspension of work and try to raise funds step by step, at least to make the Old Summer Palace look good. So she sneered slightly and said, "There are some words that are hard to read. You are making too much noise! ​​You know what you do."

The emperor's heart skipped a beat, probably the Empress Dowager Cixi had heard the rumors, and she couldn't admit that she did something minor, but she couldn't help but explain a bit, and after thinking about it, she replied: "I didn't go to Haidian a few times, it's not a big deal. " "Is it just Haidian?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked, "Have you ever been outside the front door or eaten outside?" "No!" The emperor insisted, "Who made the rumor in front of the emperor's mother?" This sentence made the Empress Dowager Cixi angry again, "Who dares to spread rumors in front of me?" She asked sharply, "Why did Qifu Jin spread rumors about you?"

This time the emperor was silent, and hated others talking about his insignificant behavior in his heart.Seven Fujin of course listened to what King Chun said, but who did King Chun listen to?It must be found out and severely punished. On the one hand, it can be vented, and on the other hand, it can teach others to be afraid of seeing it, and never dare to talk nonsense again. "You are nineteen years old, what else can I say?" Empress Dowager Cixi hinted in such a vague way, "If you cause trouble yourself, let's figure it out!" So early the next morning, the emperor sent an order to summon King Chun, and the former imperial minister Boyan Namo visited and wrote back: "Prince Chun went to Nanyuan to inspect the cannon. I'm afraid I can't go back to the city today. Please order: Can you send someone to go there?" Proclamation?"

The emperor thought for a while and replied: "No need, we will talk about it after seeing the military aircraft." In routine meetings, Prince Gong would always explain the solution one by one according to the papers handed in, and the emperor's reply would always be in a few words, very simple.Sometimes Prince Gong felt that his words were not clear enough, thinking that the emperor would ask more questions, but he often nodded vaguely without asking for further understanding, so the time to meet with military planes every day was much shorter than in the past. Take purpose.The recent major event, apart from the suspension of garden work, is nothing more than the Taiwan incident. Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang have special missions to communicate and deliver letters every day. This morning, I received a letter from Li Hongzhang, saying that Japan sent the negotiating envoy Okubo Litong has arrived in Tianjin and met with Li Hongzhang.According to Okubo Toshimichi, he hoped to come to Beijing as soon as possible to have a meeting with the prime minister's office.

"That Okubo, what is the purpose of his visit?" the emperor asked. "Okubo Toshimichi is from Satsuma Island, Japan, and he is from the same village as the Japanese general Saigo Congdao in Taiwan." Prince Gong replied: "Okubo came here, and it is said that he wants to make peace and war. Ask for military expenses." "Ask us?" This is a superfluous question, and Prince Gong replied: "Yes!" His voice was so soft that it was almost like not answering. "He sent troops to occupy China's territory and asked China to pay for the troops. What is this called?" "Your Majesty blamed it!" Prince Gong took the opportunity to reply, "The total fate is not as good as others, and I can only be wronged temporarily. It only takes a few years for Japan to learn Western methods and become strong. Blessed by God, Hong Yang and Nian bandits were flattened one after another, and Zuo Zongtang was entrusted with full responsibility for the West Road military, and he will surely receive credit. Now it is time to revise the politics, reorganize the army and master the military, and learn from the leaders of the barbarians to control the barbarians. If you are wronged for a while, there will be a day to reaffirm the power of heaven. The ministers and others have made this plan. The deceased Hu Linyi, Zeng Guofan, and the current Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, and Shen Baozhen all think this way. Since the end of Daoguang, the country has been difficult. Day by day, the first emperor worried about the country and abandoned the world. For thirteen years, he relied on the Empress Dowager Shengming of the two palaces, relying on the deep benevolence and generosity of the previous dynasty. Tang and others have been loyal to the country, and they were able to turn the crisis into peace. It's just that although the internal worries are peaceful, the external troubles are still there, and the opportunity to recover from the misfortune and good fortune is all in the emperor's life. No day!" The previous paragraphs were all very pleasant, but the last sentence was harsh, and the emperor said blankly: "Empty words don't add to the facts. Write an account of the negotiation process between the General Administration and the Japanese envoy! " "Yes." Prince Gong looked at Shen Guifen and said, "Remember." "How is Li Hongzhang doing with Li Guangzhao's case?" the emperor ordered, "Hurry him up." "It's being done." King Gong replied, "Now it is ordered to investigate whether Li Guangzhao has colluded with Guibao. Li Hongzhang has to write a letter to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it will take a lot of time to go back and forth. I obey the order and first inform Li Hongzhang to settle the Li Guangzhao case. Say it again." "Well!" asked the emperor, "what else do you want?" "The official department has a note, but the emperor hasn't handed it over yet." The emperor thought for a while, "All dismissals, the punishment is too severe!" He said, "Let's keep it for a while!" "The case of Li Guangzhao has made people laugh at home and abroad. I am in the General Administration. Whenever foreign envoys ask me about it, I really feel ashamed." Prince Gong insisted, "The minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was tricked into the report, deserves the blame. I ask the emperor to let me know what to do." How to play accurately." The emperor became more and more unhappy, thinking that Prince Gong was close to being held hostage, but he finally endured the anger and pushed a memorial on the imperial case out, saying: "You can do whatever you say, and you can't do it if you don't!" So the decree was drawn up and submitted. Because of Chen Yi's participation in the impeachment and the discussion of the Ministry of Officials, except for Kui Ling's leave, Chonglun, Mingshan and Chunyou were all dismissed. When the military plane meeting was over and the whole class had retired, the emperor specially kept Prince Gong behind, "Say I was hanging out outside the front door," he asked, "Who did you hear that from?" Prince Gong blurted out, "My subject Zai Cheng." The emperor's face changed drastically, he sneered again and again, got up and left.