Chapter 45 Taking advantage of the emperor's wedding to make money

After the Empress Dowager Cixi promulgated the edict of training the government, she originally wanted to take advantage of Emperor Guangxu's young age to train the government for a few more years, and then completely return to the Emperor Guangxu.However, soon a minister asked Guangxu to get married as soon as possible so that he could give birth to a dragon son as soon as possible.Empress Dowager Cixi had no choice but to choose a queen for Guangxu. In order to stabilize her position, Li Lianying asked Cixi to take care of her younger brother Guixiang's daughter. Cixi also knew it well. At the same time, Changxu, the son of Yutai, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, also had a pair of outstanding daughters.In addition, the two daughters of Jiangxi governor Dexin are also very competitive.

Sure enough, thirty-six of the ninety-six show girls were selected. In addition to Guixiang's daughter, there were also two pairs of sisters from Changxu and Dexin's family. In fact, Guangxu liked the two daughters of Jiangxi Governor Dexin the most. As for Guixiang's daughter, if it wasn't for Empress Dowager Cixi's face, she would have given up.Cixi's inner niece is really mediocre in appearance.On the other hand, the two daughters of Jiangxi Governor Dexin are not only elegant, but also beautiful.Especially the second lady, she is the color of the country and the city, and Emperor Guangxu likes it the most.

The selected eight beautiful women have to go through careful inspection in the palace.Guixiang's daughter lives in the Empress Dowager Cixi's aunt's palace. Of course, this is to give a signal that I am different, so don't argue with me. Emperor Guangxu also felt extremely distressed, because he knew that the reason why the Empress Dowager Cixi praised her niece in a high-profile way was to ask Guangxu to choose her as the queen so that he could place the biggest confidant by his side.But Emperor Guangxu only wanted the second daughter of the governor of Jiangxi to be the queen, which was really contradictory.

Emperor Guangxu told his teacher Weng Tonghe about his troubles.Weng Tonghe knew that Emperor Guangxu didn't like Empress Dowager Cixi's niece, but he firmly asked him to choose this niece according to Cixi's wishes. Emperor Guangxu insisted on choosing the person he likes to be the queen, otherwise life would be worse than death.Weng Tonghe advised him not to act impulsively, but to play by ear. The day of Empress Li came soon, and Guangxu went through another round of selection, leaving only Guixiang's daughter, Dexin and Changxu's sisters.Just when the final candidate was about to be decided, Empress Dowager Cixi came back, and Guangxu hurriedly greeted her, and asked Cixi to choose a queen for herself.Cixi generously stated that the emperor should choose by himself, and gave a jade ruyi as a meeting gift for the future queen, and gave it to her whoever liked it.What Guangxu waited for was Cixi's words.

I saw Guangxu holding Yu Ruyi and walking towards the beautiful girl who was waiting for the choice of fate.Guangxu is also choosing, according to his own ideas, he really wants to hand over Yu Ruyi to the second daughter of Jiangxi governor.But when he looked back at Cixi, he saw angry eyes. The Empress Dowager Cixi's face was blue and her lips were tightly closed. Guangxu could clearly feel that Cixi was giving him hints that he should choose his niece.Emperor Guangxu reluctantly handed the jade ruyi to Cixi's niece Guixiang's daughter Yehenara, and then walked to the imperial case silently without a smile on his face.

Li Lianying and Empress Dowager Cixi finally breathed a sigh of relief.Especially when she saw that Guangxu didn't want to choose Yehenara, Li Lianying was so anxious that she almost cried out. If the emperor recklessly gave Ruyi to other people according to his own will, the Empress Dowager Cixi would definitely be very angry, and her appearance People with bad ideas will not have good results.However, he was also aware of a further problem: the emperor had already started to have his own ideas and made great efforts to implement them, and he was no longer that child who was under the control of others.

Cixi was the most angry. Through this incident, she felt that the emperor had grown up and no longer wanted to be manipulated by her. This could not be more clear.With today's thrilling scene, Cixi was not in the mood to accept the congratulations from everyone, so she drove back to the palace under Li Lianying's guidance. Empress Dowager Cixi forced Emperor Guangxu to appoint her niece as queen according to her own will, and placed the biggest eyes and ears beside Emperor Guangxu, thinking that she could finally hold a big wedding for Emperor Guangxu with peace of mind.According to the rules, the emperor will be in charge after his wedding, which means that the Empress Dowager Cixi will lose her power. She feels that she has to think about this issue carefully.As for the big marriage, anyway, the queen is my niece, so it doesn't matter if I worry about it or not, so I brought Li Lianying over.

Li Lianying has been getting carried away with herself recently, although her idea of ​​becoming a queen has experienced twists and turns, but it is not a big deal, and in the end Lafayette's niece is the queen.From now on, Cixi will be able to know the movements of Emperor Guangxu at any time, which is a great advantage for her.If I can become the manager of the emperor's wedding, the money will definitely flow in. Now Cixi asked him what to do, of course Li Lianying wanted to make a big fuss, so as to make more money, but he couldn't say it directly.On the grounds of maintaining royal dignity and atmosphere, he suggested that Cixi should hold the emperor's wedding ceremony grandly.

The Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to show the royal dignity, so she decided to do it, but she suffered from insufficient funds, because the Sino-French war had just ended at this time, and the country's finances were tight.However, Li Lianying was not troubled by this. He was very good at this, and suggested that Cixi order the provinces to repay him. At that time, the officials of the provinces would have to sharpen their heads and send money and gifts to the palace. Seeing that Li Lianying was familiar with this, Cixi asked Li Lianying to be the manager of the wedding ceremony, and Li Lianying was overjoyed.

Weng Tonghe, the teacher of Emperor Guangxu, was the Minister of the Household Department, and assigned tasks to the provinces, of which Hunan received 300,000 taels.Hunan governor Wang Qixiang increased the task to 450,000 taels, because he heard that the person in charge of the emperor's wedding was Li Lianying. . Since Li Lianying became the manager of the big wedding, she immediately became a busy person, shopping for gifts everywhere, of course she got a lot of benefits from it, often spending 200,000 taels of silver but claiming 350,000 taels of money, robbing money To the point of insanity.

Hunan governor Wang Qixiang hurried to the capital to present Li Lianying with one hundred thousand taels of silver.Li Lianying readily accepted, praised him for his ability to handle affairs, and told him that he must find an opportunity to speak well of him in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi. After a period of preparation, all kinds of gifts and items used have been properly purchased.On the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month, the queen's dowry was transported to the palace.The procession, which was more than one mile long, meandered from the queen's natal house of Fangjiayuan in Dongcheng to Donghua Gate, Xiehe Gate, Back Left Gate, and finally Qianqing Palace.This alone took two full days. The twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month is the day when Xuangang welcomes the queen.All officials gathered early in the morning.At three o'clock in the noon, the emperor ascended to the seat in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In a joyous atmosphere, all civil and military officials performed three kneeling and nine kowtows, and then the officials of the Ministry of Rites read out the imperial edict to confer the title of empress.After the emperor returned to the palace, he immediately escorted the queen from Fangjiayuan via Shijia Hutong, Dongtai Street, Chang'an Archway, Bingyu Street, and Chejiangmi Lane to Daqing Gate.At this time, the Jingyang bell at the Meridian Gate rang loudly, and the sound shook the nine cities.The people under the emperor's feet all knew that the queen had entered the palace. While Emperor Guangxu's wedding was in full swing, there was also the issue of Empress Dowager Cixi's return to the emperor.Li Lianying paid more attention to her own future than how much gold and silver treasures she could get.So, he took the time to ask the Empress Dowager Cixi about her plans to return to power. Empress Dowager Cixi has no special requirements for her life after retirement, she only needs to set up an altar or build an ancestral hall.Li Lianying lost no time in praising Empress Dowager Cixi for not only benefiting the world with kindness, but also being broad-minded, which is really a great honor for the country. Taking advantage of Empress Dowager Cixi's happiness, Li Lianying took the opportunity to mention that there is a governor of Hunan, Wang Qixiang, who has done a good job in Hunan. He is very humble and has good political achievements.Empress Dowager Cixi decided to reward him with an order before returning to power. On this day, Empress Dowager Cixi summoned the military aircraft, and Emperor Guangxu was also present.Empress Dowager Cixi recalled that she had listened to politics behind a curtain for more than 20 years, and said that some people have contributed to the country, but she has not rewarded them.Now that they are about to retire, they have to give them an explanation.Guangxu knew that Cixi wanted to promote officials and leave a good reputation for herself, so he suggested that she make a list and praise them together.The Empress Dowager Cixi then focused on a few people, one was Prince Chun and the other was Prince Gong.In addition, there are Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang (both of whom have passed away at this time) who have made great contributions to the country.In addition, Cixi also specifically mentioned Wang Qixiang, governor of Hunan, saying that he has done a good job in office and should be praised. All the ministers in the DPRK and China knew that Wang Qixiang was very angry with the people in Hunan, but no one dared to come out to oppose it, anyway, it was none of my business.After the Empress Dowager Cixi finished speaking, the Military Aircraft Department will decide the rest. Shi Duo, Minister of Military Aircraft, discussed with his colleagues and opened a list of more than 300 people, including Prince Chun, Monk King, and Chief Taxation Secretary Hude who wore Hualing on his head.In addition, there are current and former ministers of military aircraft, current and former military aircraft Zhang Jing, ministers stationed in Beijing, martyred generals, first- and second-rank officials, etc.The living were promoted to rank, and treasures were rewarded; the dead either built ancestral halls or gave altars, which fully reflected the greatness of the Empress Dowager Cixi. After everything was ready, the Empress Dowager Cixi held a formal pro-government ceremony for Emperor Guangxu in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on the third day of February. Of course Guangxu had to be humble, saying that he had to ask Cixi about some important matters.Cixi saw that Guangxu was so cautious and felt relieved, so she immediately drove to the Summer Palace, and before leaving, she asked him to distinguish between the monarch, the minister, the father and the son, and learn to deal with everything decisively. Emperor Guangxu bid farewell to Empress Dowager Cixi, and then hurried to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.As soon as he sat firmly on the throne, the noon bell rang.Therefore, Shiduo, the minister of military aircraft, read the pro-government edict to all the officials, and then Emperor Guangxu officially took charge of the government amidst the earth-shaking voices of the princes and ministers, my emperor, long live, long live, long live.