Chapter 25 Looking for a retreat

After Cixi entered the coffin, all the princes and ministers mourned. After the ceremony, only Li Lianying was left in front of the coffin, crying more than when his father and mother died.Not only that, but his crying appearance is also very special, singing and telling stories while crying.The general idea is that the Empress Dowager Cixi should not leave him alone in the world, if there is a spirit in heaven, she will also take him away.His expression was extremely sad, and he cried for a long time. In fact, most of the people present were crying because they had to cry. Only Li Lianying was really sad.First of all, Li Lianying served Empress Dowager Cixi for a total of fifty-two years from entering the palace at the age of nine in the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856) to the age of sixty in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908); secondly, The death of the Empress Dowager Cixi made him lose his backing, and he could no longer be a domineering man. Not to mention, he has no idea about his own destiny, and it is hard to say whether he can keep his head; Empress Guangxu, because now his life is in the hands of Empress Dowager Longyu, as long as Empress Dowager Longyu says that he cannot be killed, then he will be safe.Compared with saving his life, this little crying is nothing, so he cried so hard that no one could pull him up, but he was actually waiting for a word from Queen Mother Longyu.

At this time, Empress Guangxu (later Empress Dowager Longyu) had a double emphasis on filial piety.Both Cixi's mother-in-law and her husband Guangxu died.Besides, although she entered the palace as a queen and the lord of the six palaces, she has never been the lord for a single day, and everything is under Cixi's orders.Now that Cixi died, she was a little at a loss.Now Li Lianying kept crying, and others couldn't persuade her, and Li Lianying had been nice to her recently, so I persuaded Li Lianying not to cry anymore, and everything was up to her. Li Lianying finally got the sentence he wanted, and with this sentence, he had a talisman.So, stop crying right now, and hurriedly kowtow to thank you.

Li Lianying had long been prepared to change jobs. After Cixi died, except for Cixi's relics, he pushed all other things in the palace to his favorite student Xiao Dezhang, saying that he was old and frail After Long Yu was honored as a guest, he was overly sad and confused about the matter, fearing that he might miss the Empress Dowager Longyu's important event. Li Lianying's retreat-for-advance strategy can be described as killing two birds with one stone.On the one hand, it seems that the power has been handed over to Xiao Dezhang, who is quick-witted, so that Xiao Dezhang can go on the road quickly, but in fact, he avoids the limelight. At this time, he should not make public;

Li Lianying did everything possible to leave a way out for herself, in order to prevent someone from harming him by taking advantage of his loss of power. ), he requested to retire to South Garden for the elderly.This request was approved by Empress Dowager Longyu. Li Lianying had a huge garden in her hometown, seven or eight outhouses in Beijing, four or five businesses, and adopted four nephews.It can be said that the family has a lot of wealth, the farmland is contiguous, the mules and horses are in groups, and the children and grandchildren are full.As far as his furniture is concerned, apart from being inferior to the royal family, he is also inferior to the prince.But why doesn't he go back to his hometown to spend his old age peacefully and enjoy the family happiness, and is willing to live this lonely life?

In fact, the focus is on the South Garden. What kind of place is the South Garden?According to old Beijingers, this South Garden is located on Nanchang Street outside the Xihua Gate of the Forbidden City, also called Bite Spring Garden.Why is it called Bite Spring Garden?It turns out that fresh radishes are imported to the palace in spring, and the name is called Bite Spring, so it is called Bite Spring Garden.In the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed the Shengping Department, and the theater troupe in the palace lived here, so it was also called South Garden.Flowers, trees and vegetables are planted in the garden, and there is also a greenhouse to cultivate some precious flowers, such as peonies and peonies, which will be sent to the palace at the end of the year for the emperors and concubines to watch.It is not difficult to see from here that this is indeed an elegant and secluded place for retirement.

Even though he found a place far away from court battles, he was still very afraid that someone would plot against him. When Cixi's Zigong Fengan (half a year later than Guangxu Zigong Fengan), Li Lianying did not dare to leave the Empress Dowager Longyu for a moment, for fear that someone would take the opportunity to attack him. Kill him. Emperor Xianfeng's mausoleum is in Dongling, so of course Cixi's Zigong should also be buried in Dongling.After coming back from Tangling with trepidation, Li Lianying lived in South Garden and seldom went out at ordinary times. Only during the Qingming Festival and the first day of October, which were the two big mourning festivals, did Li Lianying go to Dongling to burn paper for Cixi.

The beginning of October was indeed different for Li Lianying.First of all, Li Lianying entered the palace as an eunuch in October of the sixth year of Xianfeng (1856), and was assigned to Cixi's subordinates as soon as he arrived, and his life of prosperity began from then on.Secondly, Cixi was born on the tenth day of October, and died on October 23rd in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), which means that Cixi was born in October and died in October. Li Lianying, who gained power and lost power after Cixi, of course also made her fortune in October and fell out of favor in October.Therefore, at the end of September every year, regardless of the wind or rain, Li Lianying would rush to Dongling to cry in front of Cixi's tomb about her current bleakness and recall the glory of the year.It can be said that when Cixi left, she took everything about Li Lianying.

After Xuantong came to the throne, the regent Zaifeng was in charge of all major affairs in the court, and he seldom discussed with the Queen Mother Longyu.As a result, not only Longyu was depressed, but even the new eunuch Xiao Dezhang, who had to rely on the Queen Mother for food, was also unhappy. In order to make a fortune, Xiao Dezhang encouraged the Empress Dowager Longyu to build the Crystal Palace despite the national mourning period, which made the regent Zaifeng very unhappy.It's a pity that he is as cowardly as his father, Prince Jin Yizhen, and has few political means, so he has to let Xiao Dezhang control the Empress Dowager Longyu.

Li Lianying, who is extremely sensitive, immediately sniffed out the opportunity. He controlled the Empress Dowager Longyu through Xiao Dezhang, and asked Prince Qing Yikuang and the former imperial minister Natong to restrain Zaifeng so that he could not do big things, so as not to make rebellious actions. Things that are not good for you come. Li Lianying not only contained Zaifeng, but also saved her old friend Yuan Shikai.It turned out that after Guangxu's death, when the Empress Dowager Longyu was packing up Guangxu's belongings, she found Guangxu's autograph in the inkstone box, which said Yuan Shikai was put to death.Yuan Shikai was a minister with heavy troops in his hands. Longyu didn't know what to do, so he handed it over to Zaifeng.Zaifeng didn't do anything during the national funeral, but observed carefully for a while.Seeing that there were no major changes in the country, he convened a meeting of the princes and took out Emperor Guangxu's handbook. Facing such a big incident, everyone couldn't make a conclusion for a while. Only Prince Qing Yikuang opposed the execution of Yuan Shikai.At that time, Yuan Shikai held the military power in Gyeonggi. If he was punished, it might cause a mutiny.He suggested that Yuan Shikai's military power should be dismissed under the pretext of his recent foot disease.

Zaifeng was also afraid that the soldiers would mutiny, so he had to deal with it leniently according to this plan.In fact, Yuan Shikai was good friends with Li Lianying and Yikuang, so Yikuang would naturally take care of him.Soon, Yuan Shikai asked to resign in the name of foot disease.Seeing that he didn't need to do it himself, Zaifeng decided to let him open a vacancy and return to his hometown. In late September of the second year of Xuantong (1910), during the Golden Autumn Festival, Li Lianying, who was tired of palace life and official battles, finally decided not to interfere with any palace affairs, because his body could no longer support him.