Chapter 21 Abandon Pujun on the way back to Beijing

Cixi arrived in Luoyang leisurely all the way.This year was the 27th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1901). It coincided with a good year for the whole province of Henan.In order to show the greatness of the emperor's grace, Cixi passed the decree not to clean up the streets along the way, so that the people can help the old and the young, kneel on both sides of the avenue where the imperial driver passes to welcome the two palaces, and see the beauty of the queen mother and the emperor.The common people were also excited and rushed to present melons and fruits to their sedan chairs.Li Lianying stayed by Luanyu's side all the time, and took the opportunity to say some auspicious and funny things to make Empress Dowager Cixi happy, which made Cixi burst into laughter from time to time.

Cixi stayed in Luoyang for three days. By the way, she and Guangxu visited Longmen and Qianfoyan, and also went to Xiangshan Temple to burn incense in memory of a generation of poet Bai Juyi.On the way into the city, I also specially went to Guanlin Temple to offer incense. After leaving Luoyang, they went eastward through Yanshi County, Gong County, Xingyang County, Zheng County, and Zhongmu County, and arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture, the capital of Henan Province, on October 5.We are delighted to meet Longevity in the Two Palaces (Guangxu's birthday is on the eighth day of October, and Cixi's birthday is on the tenth day of October), so we decided to stay in Kaifeng for half a month.Kaifeng is the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is located on a plain and has a wide open space, which is convenient for holding celebrations.The birthday celebration is scheduled to be held on the tenth day of October.

On the same day, under the auspices of Li Lianying, the birthday celebration was very grand and full of royal demeanor, almost no different from that in the imperial palace in Beijing.Not only that, but at this time, when the Yellow River carp is fully grown, officials at all levels are full of belly.Although they spent a lot of money, they all put the expenses on the common people and spent a lot of money to save face, and they didn't feel bad at all. During the half-month stay in Kaifeng, the Empress Dowager Cixi visited the Dragon Pavilion together with Emperor Guangxu and the Empress.During this period, I received the news that Li Hongzhang, the minister of Beiyang, governor of Zhili, and important minister, had died of illness.Cixi couldn't help but grieve in her heart at the loss of such an influential veteran minister, and Li Lianying was also very grieved that she lost another important source of wealth.

Cixi seems to be really sad, Kaifeng is the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Cixi is not in the mood to play around.Seeing that Cixi relied so much on Li Hongzhang, Li Lianying persuaded Cixi to order preferential treatment.In view of Li Hongzhang's great contribution to the imperial court, Cixi passed the decree, in addition to setting up special temples in places where he had made contributions in various provinces, and allowed a temple to be established in Beijing, granting the posthumous title of Wenzhong. After a grand celebration of Wanshou and a few days of rest, Cixi decided to leave Kaifeng and head north.Kaifeng is on the south bank of the Yellow River, only about twenty miles away from the Yellow River. Cixi and his party soon reached the bank of the Yellow River.

Due to the large number of entourage and chariots and horses, they crossed the river at Liuyuankou and Heigangkou respectively.The current of the Yellow River is not very big, and the flood season has passed at this time, and the width of the river is only ten miles. In addition, local officials carefully prepared dragon boats for them, so the group crossed the Yellow River quickly and safely, which was many times better than crossing the river hastily in Huailai County before. Since leaving Xi'an and marching towards Beijing, the political struggle of the accompanying ministers is about to start again.Just before Cixi left Kaifeng and was about to leave for the north, several imperial ministers believed that the catastrophe was caused by Zaiyi, and intended to ask the Empress Dowager Cixi to abolish her elder brother Pujun and expel him from the palace.But they didn't know what Cixi meant, so they didn't dare to play rashly, lest they ruin their own future, so they pooled money and gave Li Lianying a large sum of money to persuade Cixi.The elder brother Pu Jun has turned seventeen years old, and he has personally experienced everything that happened in Xi'an.His father, King Zaiyi, was sent to Xinjiang to serve as an army. If he succeeded to the throne and ruled the world in the future, he would definitely retaliate against these ministers.

Firstly, Li Lianying came to collect the money, and secondly, most of what those people said was true, besides, it was just a suggestion, and it was not a big deal.More importantly, he himself is also the main planner to exile King Duan. If he doesn't kill the grass now, he may really be liquidated in the future.In addition, Empress Dowager Cixi is very old, even if she does not return to heaven, she will always return to politics. At that time, if she is alive, she will not be able to escape even if she has wings.Even if he died, I am afraid that he would inevitably kill the corpse to apologize.After such comprehensive consideration, Li Lianying immediately agreed to their request.

That night, Li Lianying told Cixi what the ministers wanted to depose the elder brother Pu Jun, but Cixi didn't know the unfavorable factors for her.Therefore, without knowing the real motive for this proposal, Li Lianying's opinion was sought as usual. Li Lianying hurriedly told Cixi what she had heard during the day, and said that although the queen mother was forced to depose King Duan by foreigners, the elder brother Pu Jun and King Duan were father and son after all, and it was inevitable that they would do things that were not good for the old ministers or even the queen mother after they ascended the throne. move.It is better to follow the words of the ministers and abolish it as soon as possible before returning to Beijing, so as not to be disturbed by all parties after returning to Beijing.If foreigners seize the opportunity and hold on, it will be more troublesome than it is now.

After taking refuge in Beijing this time, Cixi had long been very afraid of foreigners. Although foreigners forced Duan Wang to Xinjiang to do so, Pu Jun didn't necessarily think so. Keeping Pu Jun by his side was always a source of disaster.Now that what Li Lianying said was what the ministers wanted, so he nodded in agreement.Seeing that things had progressed, Li Lianying sent someone to notify these ministers overnight. Sure enough, Cixi called the ministers to hold an imperial meeting the next morning, and decreed to depose the elder brother Pujun. In this way, the Empress Dowager Cixi blasted Pu Jun from the throne of the prince with an edict, and his status plummeted, and no one had any contact with him immediately.Because he has no hope of inheriting the great rule, nor can he inherit the shadowy position of King Duan, and he is usually a playboy, now the wall is overthrown by everyone, and he quickly disappeared from everyone's sight.

After dealing with this confidant's serious trouble, Cixi continued to travel northward.Arrive at Zhengding via Shunde (Xingtai, Hebei) and stay in Zhengding for three days.During this period, Cixi brought Guangxu, the empress, and other princes and ministers to the Great Buddha Temple to lay incense, and hung a plaque for the bronze Bodhisattva, thanking the Bodhisattva for protecting her safe return. Yuan Shikai, governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang, heard that the governor of Henan made a big show in Kaifeng in order to welcome the Empress Dowager Cixi.Therefore, he stepped up to supervise the construction of the palace and rebuilt the lotus pond for Cixi to enjoy and play.

Travel thousands of miles and finally return to the palace In order to ensure the completion of the palace in a short period of time, Yuan Shikai recruited strong men everywhere.Among the captured construction craftsmen, there are two people: one is Sailuban Guantongshan, he is good at painting and sculpture, and he is omnipotent in tile, wood and masonry; A master specializing in stone carving.These two people are upright, upright, superb in skills, and have similar temperaments.After the real experience of the Eight-Power Allied Forces entering Beijing, they not only hated the foreign invaders, because they witnessed the British, French, German, Yi and other foreign devils bloodbathed this ancient cultural city; For fun, you can surrender and betray your country just to survive, but you have no intention of resisting foreign humiliation.

The two of them were arrested by Yuan Shikai as strong men, knowing that they were going to build a palace for Cixi.In order to expose the traitorous crimes of the Empress Dowager Cixi and satirize her ugly face of being servile, obsequious, weak and incompetent, and finally fled in embarrassment, the two discussed together and decided to carefully design a pattern of lotus leaves and peaches within the scope of the building they were in charge of.With the help of the homophony of these four characters, Cixi was accused of not resisting the foreigners and fleeing overnight.In order to let Cixi see this pattern clearly and not be ignored, Guan Tongshan designed this pattern on the theater tower on the top of the pavilion, so that Cixi will leave her infamy through the ages and make future generations take a warning. Yuan Shikai not only built a luxurious palace for Cixi, but also offered gifts to Cixi, so he ordered He Pu to make a jade carving as a gift to Cixi. If he could not complete it, he would be severely punished.Fortunately, when Guan Tongshan was mining stones in the mountains, he got a piece of beautiful jade. In order to help He Pu tide over the difficulties, he gave this piece of jade to him. When He Pu saw this piece of jade, he was very surprised and thought it was a treasure in the world.I saw it was natural and ingenious, exquisite and translucent, with green underside, white in the middle, and a piece of red on the top, which happened to be carved into a lotus leaf holding a peach.If the Empress Dowager Cixi took this treasure back to the palace, it would be a wonderful irony for her.Therefore, according to Yuan Shikai's request, He Pu rushed to work day and night, and finally completed the task before Empress Dowager Cixi came to Baoding. Empress Dowager Cixi led a group of civil and military officials, Guangxu, the queen and others to Baoding in a mighty way.Yuan Shikai personally brought Cixi into the resplendent palace with officials of all sizes.Cixi was very satisfied with Yuan Shikai when she saw that the palace was built in such a grand style, especially when she saw the lifelike stone carving of lotus leaves holding peaches on the gazebo, she was full of praise.The ministers of civil and military affairs who followed along with him also echoed, and they did not hesitate to praise Yuan Shikai and the palace. Yuan Shikai couldn't help being smug when he received Cixi's praise.Unexpectedly, Li Lianying said with a serious face that the pattern on the gazebo has a lot to say.The accompanying princes and ministers saw that he didn't look like he was joking, but they didn't know what he meant, so they all stared at Li Lianying blankly, wanting to hear his advice. Cixi also looked puzzled, and asked Li Lianying to explain the reason.Now that Li Lianying saw the truth, she didn't dare to say that she was satirizing Cixi, so she first asked Cixi to spare him the crime of disrespect, and then she dared to tell the truth. Cixi nodded in favor, and saw Li Lianying pointing to the stone carving of the gazebo, saying that everyone saw a lotus leaf holding a peach. This was obviously using the homonym to ridicule the Empress Dowager Cixi who escaped overnight during her western tour! In fact, some of the officials had already seen the way, but they didn't dare to say it clearly. Now seeing Li Lianying's point, they all nodded and whispered to each other.Among them, Yuan Shikai was the most afraid.Although it was early winter and people had put on winter clothes, after listening to Li Lianying's explanation, Yuan Shikai's sweat rolled down from his forehead.He thought to himself, Li Lianying, I've always been kind to you, and I've never done anything wrong to you. Now that you say that, isn't it killing me?Even if you see it, you should tell me later, I'll just replace it, why make me make a fool of myself in front of the Queen Mother. Yuan Shikai was wondering how the Empress Dowager Cixi would deal with him. Knowing that he had embarrassed Cixi in front of all the ministers, he couldn't escape the guilt. He has always been loyal to the Queen Mother, this time it was definitely an unintentional mistake.Seeing that Yuan Shikai made himself look ugly in front of so many people, Cixi would not listen to him, so she immediately ordered someone to remove Yuan Shikai's crown and wear a feather, and pushed him out to beheaded. Seeing that Yuan Shikai was about to be decapitated, no one dared to speak to Yuan Shikai. Even those princes and ministers who were usually on good terms with Yuan Shikai, seeing that Cixi was angry, no one dared to speak to Yuan Shikai.At this time, Li Lianying came out to intercede for Yuan Shikai.It was Li Lianying who pointed out Yuan Shikai, but now he came out to speak for him. No one knew what kind of medicine Li Lianying was selling in the gourd.Regardless of everyone's doubts, Li Lianying told the Empress Dowager Cixi that Yuan Shikai was not a person who would never repay favors.Therefore, Yuan Shikai would definitely not do such a rebellious thing, and judging from Yuan Shikai's reaction, he didn't know it.Therefore, it must be the craftsmen who built the palace.This person not only wanted to use this to mock the Queen Mother, but also wanted to plant the matter on Yuan Shikai. Li Lianying finally reminded Empress Dowager Cixi that she must not fall into the scheme of killing two birds with one stone, and begged Empress Dowager Cixi to let Yuan Shikai smash the stone carvings immediately, and arrest the mason for detailed interrogation, so as to make up for the mistakes. Cixi has always trusted Li Lianying the most. Now Li Lianying's words are not only clear, thorough and reasonable, but also make Cixi's mind clearer. The fate of imprisoning Xiyuan, he immediately ordered Yuan Shikai to be released.Yuan Shikai thanked En and got up, immediately had people smash the pattern, and personally led people to arrest Guan Tongshan and He Pu who were in charge of this project. Why did Li Lianying do this to Yuan Shikai, who has always had a good relationship?Many people think that he is pushing Yuan Shikai to the opposite of himself.In fact, this also truly reflects Li Lianying's insidiousness and cunning.Yuan Shikai was eager to ask Cixi for credit, and made the scene a big one, which was unanimously praised by Cixi and all the ministers, and became more and more popular.Li Lianying deliberately played this trick in front of the princes and ministers to let everyone see that only he, Li Lianying, was the one who could anger Cixi and then appease Cixi in an instant.Even if Cixi is furious, just a word from me, Li Lianying, can dispel Cixi's anger.I am the most popular person in front of Cixi, and the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty are a little bit acquainted, and they recognize who is the real power figure. What would Yuan Shikai think of Li Lianying?He is still very grateful to Li Lianying. At a critical juncture, after all, he took the risk of offending Empress Dowager Empress Dowager Cixi to rescue him and make him tide over the difficulties. The relationship is still extraordinary. Furious, Yuan Shikai led a large group of people to look for people everywhere. Soon Guan Yueliang, Guan Tongshan's son, learned that Cixi wanted Yuan Shikai to take someone back, so he fled Baoding overnight and told his father to run away as soon as possible. Guan Tongshan knew that once he escaped, Yuan Shikai would definitely make the whole province uneasy, and maybe he would wrong others casually, and then his own crime would be serious.Therefore, he decided to let his son escape first, and he lied to him that he was going to find He Pu. In fact, he stayed with the heart of death, so as to prevent the officers and soldiers from continuing to harm the people. After Guan Tongshan informed He Pu of the news, he was arrested and killed by Yuan Shikai soon after. When He Pu learned that Yuan Shikai was going to arrest him, he asked his son and daughter to take his carved lotus leaves and peaches away from home overnight, but he himself took a jade-carved grasshopper and cabbage to see Yuan Shikai, hoping to get rid of it. Exchange the life of old friend Guan Tongshan.The treacherous and cunning Yuan Shikai left the treasure behind and killed He Pu as well. Some folks who admired He Pu and Guan Tongshan secretly bribed Yuan Shikai's subordinates to steal the bodies of Guan Tongshan and He Pu and bury them in the cemetery outside the city for future generations to look up to.Moreover, in order to commemorate the patriotism of Guantong Mountain and He Pu, people re-carved a peach with lotus leaves and put it in Baoding Lianchi Academy. Cixi rested for a day in Baoding. Except for the lotus leaves holding peaches, she was generally in a good mood.The next day, she took the train to Beijing.At that time, the train was still a novelty, and Cixi used it as her imperial chariot, and arranged the interior of the train according to court rules: yellow satin barriers were used, and carpets with yellow dragon patterns were laid. The entire carriage looked resplendent and luxurious. In less than half a day, the train arrived at Majiabao Station, the starting point of Beijing-Han Railway in Fengtai, Beijing.The princes and ministers in Beijing got the news that Cixi was going to arrive early, and led all the civil and military officials to the station to greet her.There were even some foreigners around, and they all came to the station to watch the scene of the Chinese Empress Dowager who had listened to the government for many years, and the Chinese Emperor who had lost power and was really a puppet. When the Empress Dowager Cixi, Guangxu and the Empress came out of the station, foreigners flocked forward without any order at all, and many people took pictures with cameras.These actions are really disrespectful to Empress Dowager Cixi. In normal times, before Empress Dowager Cixi ordered, Li Lianying would have been taken down for questioning.But facing the foreigners, Cixi, who had lingering fears, did not dare to do anything, so she had to let them take pictures and make noise.In any case, Cixi finally came back after going out for more than a year. This is the happiest thing for Cixi.