Chapter 7 Chapter Six The Emperor

Weng Tonghe entered the palace and secretly told the emperor Kang Youwei's opinion.Call the emperor's attention to this thirty-eight-year-old young reformer.At this time, it was the second year of the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War. China lost the war, cut off Taiwan, and paid 20 million taels of silver. The emperor was depressed. Since the emperor ascended the throne at the age of four, he has grown up under the majestic eyes of the empress dowager. For more than 20 years, there is not a day when he does not feel the pair of terrifying eyes behind him.When he was a child, he sat on the emperor's throne, but there was a curtain hanging behind him, and the empress dowager sat behind the curtain and listened to the government.At that time, he was young, and whoever he listened to was the same to him.He is too young to be an emperor, and his aunt who is thirty-six years older than him, no, the empress dowager, presides over everything.She is behind the curtain, but the orders are always in front of the throne.Every time he went to court, he was carried on the throne, and the soles of his boots were aimed directly at the old faces of the ministers. He didn't understand what they said. In his boredom, he had to do a pastime. Among them, who is When speaking, he leaned against the back of the big chair, pointed his boots side by side at someone, first made himself unable to see the old talking face, then pressed the toes of the boots against each other, secretly separated the heels, and then opened the heels through the triangular gap between the boots. , look at the speaking mouth.Every mouth is different, but every rotten tooth is the same.He compared each mouth and teeth, and secretly smiled.He didn't dare to laugh out loud, auntie, no, the empress dowager is sitting behind her.When he was young, he often heard aunt's finger, which he later realized was the order of the empress dowager; and often heard fish finger, which he later realized was the order of his little emperor himself.He gradually discerned that the Yizhi was true, but the imperial edict was false.He didn't understand these purposes at first, but Master Weng taught them.Master Weng came to class when he was six years old and started school according to the system.I remember that the first class in class was to learn to write Master Weng’s name, Cabinet Bachelor Weng Tonghe, it was so difficult to write!Why does a person's name have so many words?He thought of the opening of his mouth between his boots on the court, and he laughed.However, Master Weng immediately warned him, to be an emperor, you must be solemn, please don't laugh

In this way, he grew up in the palace without a smile, and others kowtowed to him all day long, and he kowtowed to the empress dowager.He is caught between two poles, between which there is only himself.What he faces all day is layer after layer of human walls and palace walls.The human walls are all kneeling, so low; the palace walls are all standing, so high.He has no playmates.I want to play by myself, but they are always watching and peeping beside me. In the end, I am not playing by myself, but as if I am on a stage.In front of the stage in the palace, he accompanied the empress dowager to listen to the opera. Now he plays by himself and is watched by them. How is it different from listening to the opera in the palace?The difference is that his audience is even smaller than that of Liu Gansan.

He really liked watching Liu Gansan's play. He remembered that when he got married at the age of nineteen, the empress dowager said that the emperor had become an adult and wanted to return the power to the emperor. She removed the curtain behind her and returned to power. He looked like an emperor.However, when he accompanied the empress dowager to listen to the opera, he still had to stand by the side and be respectful.One day, Liu Gansan was singing a play of pretending to be the emperor, and suddenly he made jokes on the stage. When the actors on the same stage laughed at him as a fake emperor, he sat there and said suddenly: Don't look at me as a fake emperor, I am a fake emperor. There are still seats to sit on!At that time, because the play made everyone happy, what Liu Gansan said actually amused the Empress Dowager.The empress dowager was very happy that day. When everyone was pleasing her on and off the stage, she actually smiled, slowly raised her index finger, and said: Then give us a chair for the real emperor!Since then, he has had a seat in the theater.

The empress dowager was his mother's elder sister, and the empress dowager's own child, Emperor Tongzhi, was tortured to death by the empress dowager, so he brought his nephew to act as the emperor.Not long after he was born, the empress dowager asked his mother: Did you lock it?His mother's reply was: To the Empress Dowager, no.The servants are not ready yet, they are only waiting for the empress dowager to show mercy.The so-called lock is a lock that hangs around the neck of a newborn child.The Chinese believe that human life is impermanent. In order to make a child grow up safely, they lock him with a symbolic shackle so that he cannot go back the way he came from.The empress dowager gave him gold cleats as a custom, of course he never dreamed that the aunt who gave the cleats was actually the one who locked him up all his life!

After the death of the empress dowager's own son, Emperor Tongzhi, according to the ancestral system, the younger generation should be the successor. The emperor has no heirs, so the crown prince should be selected from the younger generations of the immediate branch.However, the empress dowager refused, because in this way, she herself would be a generation taller and become the empress dowager, and it would be unseemly for her to listen to politics behind the curtain.Therefore, instead of establishing an heir for her son, she found her nephew to act as the emperor.At that time, Wu Kedu, the censor, tried his best to remonstrate with his corpse, but it was useless.Her brother-in-law, Prince Chun, heard that his son was sent to be the emperor, and knew that there was a majestic aunt who was not easy to be an emperor, so he fainted from fright. He knelt in front of the aunt and kowtowed and cried, but held back Do not return to this situation.It is a great honor to think that his son has become the emperor; but when he thinks that the family relationship will be broken, the flesh and blood will be separated, and the relationship between father and son will become a relationship between monarch and minister in the future, and he will feel a kind of pain.The day when the ceremony of enthronement began was also the time when the four-year-old son left home forever.It was a night when a four-year-old boy was woken up and carried into a large sedan chair. The only familiar face he could see was his nurse, which was allowed by the empress dowager's special edict.

Wet nurses are a specialty of wealthy families.According to Chinese customs, when the birth mother conceived in October and gave birth to a son, her physical strength has already weakened, and the actual breastfeeding work mainly depends on more suitable experts. The so-called experts are wet nurses.Most of the wet nurses come from farming families. The women in the farming family are close to nature, healthy, and have a simple personality. The condition for selecting a wet nurse is to find a good-looking baby with thick milk that has just given birth for two months.After the selection, the two parties made an agreement that the wet nurse would not be allowed to return to her home or visit her child. She would eat a bowl of pork knuckle without salt every day to facilitate milk production. After a long time, she was no longer a woman, but a cow.Many rural women willingly come out to be wet nurses in order to save their families.A common phenomenon is that she fattens other people's children, while her own children often starve to death.Once the children of rich and noble families grow up, when she is able to go home to visit relatives, she often finds her own children.Has been gone for many years.

When the four-year-old boy was carried into the big sedan chair, the wet nurse stepped back, got into a small sedan chair, and entered the palace at the end of the guard of honor.She and the little emperor depend on each other for life, but the little emperor is a little bit better than her. In the public meeting, his relatives can be seen secretly among the crowd; but her relatives are always in the dream ! The imperial palace is called the Forbidden City.In China, the Heavenly Palace where the Emperor of Heaven lives is called the Purple Palace. Purple means Ziwei, which is the North Star. The North Star is located in the mid-heaven. It is bright and surrounded by stars, symbolizing the emperor's arrival.The pattern of the Forbidden City was built in this way.The Hall of Supreme Harmony stands in the center, condescending; the emperor’s palace, the Qianqing Palace, and the queen’s palace, the Kunning Palace, are positioned as heaven and earth; the Rijing Gate in the east and the Yuehua Gate in the west, where the sun and the moon are arranged separately; the twelve palace courtyards, the twelve o’clock.Several groups of palaces and pavilions behind the East and West Sixth Palaces are surrounded by stars.From heaven and earth to the sun, moon and stars, the real man is set off by the palace in this way.

During the daytime, the Forbidden City is full of jade buildings, jade buildings and colored glazes; but when the sun sets and the twilight is dark, layers of terrifying atmospheres attack people.At that time, all the people who entered the palace to do business had left, and the eunuchs' screams could be heard in the silent Qianqing Palace: Unlock the bolts, put down the money and food, be careful with the lights, and with the lingering sound of one person, there were sounds one after another in every corner There was an echo from the eunuch on duty.This kind of call made the entire Forbidden City, starting from the center, emit bursts of ghostly aura along with the sound waves, making it creepy.

When the little emperor first entered the palace, he was only four years old.But the feeling of creepiness does not distinguish between day and night.During the day, what he saw was always the majestic aunt, no, dear father, she asked him to call him dear father, which made his hair stand on end; at night, what he saw was the shadow of the majestic palace, serving his corpse. He was horrified by the eunuchs who were residing in the air, neither male nor female, and the ghostly shadows everywhere.The only thing he can rely on in fear is his wet nurse, but the wet nurse is not always by her side, and most of the time, he is still alone and helpless.Until he was six years old, Weng Tong and his master came to teach him to read.His realm has only begun to develop in knowledge.Weng Tonghe has a deep relationship with his teachers and students.From Weng Tonghe, he learned about himself, China, and the world beyond China.There are not only the palaces in the world, but also the land of China and the world outside the palaces.

When he was nineteen years old, the empress dowager formally returned to the emperor, but he, the emperor, was empty-headed, and the real power was still in the hands of the empress dowager.Although the empress dowager no longer hangs curtains in the city of Beijing, there is a sky net covering the city of Beijing in the Summer Palace outside the city. After the emperor returned to power at the age of nineteen, the state affairs he saw were a mess.The empress dowager was fifty-five years old at the time, and China had been under her control for thirty years.More than 30 years ago, the Empress Dowager succeeded in seizing power because of the foreign aggression caused by the British and French allied forces entering Beijing. Now after 30 years, there has been a new foreign aggression from the Sino-Japanese War, but the country is under the ignorant and selfish rule of the Empress Dowager. Down, even weaker.Thirty years ago, China was bullied by foreign devils. Thirty years later, even Japanese devils dared to bully China.As the country's situation deteriorated and as he grew older, the emperor was determined to climb over the palace wall and truly become a decent emperor.I remember when he was a child, in the Forbidden City, he ran and ran over layer after layer of palace walls, but no matter how he ran, he couldn't get over them. He knew that outside the palace walls was his own country. governed country.Now that he has grown up, he is really going to govern, but the palace wall is still there, not only blocking there visibly, but also extending invisible to the outside of Beijing, to the high Summer Palace outside the city.He would go to the Summer Palace five or six times a month to ask the Empress Dowager for instructions and greetings.Although he is the emperor, he can't directly enter the empress dowager's palace, he has to kneel outside the door, waiting to be heard, and he has to secretly send red envelopes to Mr. Li like other ministers.I had to go in quickly, otherwise I would not mind kneeling outside the door for half an hour.What kind of emperor is this!

In the huge court and the civil and military personnel of the Manchu Dynasty, except for the teacher Weng Tonghe, he has no man who can talk intimately.After he was brought back to power, it was rumored that there was a division between the Empress Dowager's queen party and the emperor's imperial party.Does he have any party and team, everyone is the empress dowager's eyes and ears, even his empress is no exception, isn't the empress that Longyu?She is the empress dowager's niece!There are almost no women around him who can talk intimately, except Concubine Zhen, who is his beloved woman.However, this cuteness is enough to constitute the trick used by the empress dowager to punish the emperor.The empress dowager wanted to show her authority to the emperor from time to time, but the method of showing it was to punish concubine Zhen to kneel and order Li Lianying to slap concubine Zhen as a warning to the emperor.How many times, when the emperor went to Jingren Palace or the concubine Zhen's room, and saw the concubine Zhen covering her face and weeping, the emperor knew that it happened again today.On this day, he was sitting beside Concubine Zhen's bed, patting her on the back, he couldn't say anything, heartache, pity, anger, guilt, helplessness and all mixed emotions flooded him together. How many times he came back from Jingren Palace where Concubine Zhen lived, bringing comfort but also nightmares.The nightmare is day and night, it is a kind of obsessive concept, he can't get rid of it during the day, and wakes up in sleep at night.Nightmares always start with the aunt, no, the empress dowager, that is a majestic, stern, and gloomy face, silently pressing in on him, getting bigger and bigger, making him cry Not daring, he stretched his arms to the left and right, grasping with his ten fingers, as if to grab a little aid, a little warmth, as if he had grasped a soft hand with his left hand, and he felt that it was the nurse's, the nurse's hand.But the hand was slipping, slipping.At last he could hold it no longer, he lost his nurse; on the other hand, in a trance, another hand was holding him, his right hand, a softer hand, which he felt Concubine Zhen's, Concubine Zhen's hand.However, his own right hand was so weak that he couldn't help it.In the end, Concubine Zhen's hands were slipping, slipping, and suddenly, the empress dowager in front of her backed up, turned around, and gradually moved away.However, some noisy voices came from a distance, and he rushed over curiously, and a terrible picture was displayed there: in the distance, the empress dowager was surrounded by left and right, sitting high on the big sedan chair, and concubine Zhen was kneeling On the ground, the clothes were torn, and Li Lianying grabbed her hair and slapped her. While beating, she counted in the harsh tone of an eunuch: one, two, three, four, five. The emperor rushed up, he couldn't care less, and shouted: "Stop!"stop!He grabbed Li Lianying's shoulder, and when he stretched out his hand, he slapped her across the face.Li Lianying broke free from him, bent over and threw herself at the Empress Dowager, knelt down, and shouted: The servant is for Lafayette!The servant is for Lafayette!Being beaten by the emperor like this!He rubbed his face with one hand, pretending to cry.This makes the servant unable to do it wow!I can't do it anymore!He kowtowed five times in a row.Please Lafayette show mercy!Let the slave go back to his hometown!Let the slave live like a dog Suddenly, the empress dowager became furious. The emperor's courage is really not small!Even my people dare to slap their mouths!Beating a dog still depends on the face of the owner, right?You don't have Li Lianying in your eyes, do you still have me, an old woman? dear dad!dear dad!The emperor knelt down immediately, but his ministers did not dare. Well, the empress dowager said coldly, we can't afford to offend, and we can't hide. Look at this, we will hide in the Summer Palace and dare not come to your palace.However, let me tell you that the empress dowager opened her eyes and was majestic.Let's ride a donkey to read the libretto and wait and see!Don't think that if you become the emperor, you can beg your concubine and forget your mother.Someone can make you an emperor, and someone can pull you down. You can decide what kind of emperor you want to be! Just figure it out!Just figure it out!The majestic, stern, and gloomy face of the empress dowager approached him again, but this time it was not silent. He had no nurse in his left hand and no concubine Zhen in his right hand.He looked left and right, but the wet nurse disappeared and the concubine Zhen fell down. He suddenly woke up, sat up, sweating profusely.The candles in the room were flickering, and there was only one candle burning itself, bringing a little light to the world in the gloom. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ The emperor couldn't sleep anymore, he looked at the clock that the foreigners gave to Tianchao, it was exactly two o'clock.It's time to get up, he muttered to himself, and he has to go to court today!How many officials are already on the way. The tradition of the ancestors is that spring is the plan for a year, and Yin is the plan for a day.Yin is from 3:00 to 5:00 in the morning, but these 3:00 to 5:00 are office hours, not the time to get up and go to work. It is even earlier to get up and go to work.Usually at one o'clock in the morning, the Han officials who live outside Nancheng leave from their homes.Han officials were not allowed to live in the inner city unless the emperor specially rewarded them with housing. Although Emperor Guangxu relaxed the ancestral rules, the number of officials living in the inner city was still limited.Civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty all entered the palace through three gates. Princes, nobles and relatives went through the Shenwu Gate; personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs went through the Xihua Gate; and other Manchu and Han officials went through the Donghua Gate.There are still rules for walking through these three gates. The rules are originally forbidden and searched, but there are too many officials, and it is hard to search and search.But there is a rule that cannot be avoided, that is, when officials enter the city, the guards guarding the gate must shout at the door, and shouting at the door is shouting!One sound, which means I know you are coming.Oh!It also varies by official size.Come, sir, oh!The voice is long; come, little officer, oh!The sound is short.Sometimes, the guards were sleepy, so they simply spread mats on the ground, and shouted "Oh!"up.Why is this possible?Because the weather is too dark, the candlelight is too dim, and the doorway is long.So even if the sky is low and the emperor is close, he is still corrupt.Those who go to court, in oh!Amidst the sound, lighting the small lanterns, they filed forward one by one, and entered the palace through the three gates.Of course, the senior ministers are different. Sometimes, the emperor saw them walking too hard, and specially gave them two shoulders in the Forbidden City, called wearing a sedan chair; or riding a horse, called wearing a court horse. The preferential treatment only ends in front of Longzong's gate.Weng Tonghe is the emperor's teacher and a highly respected minister, and he is no exception. On this day, he got off the sedan chair in front of Longzong's gate, and walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation full of thoughts. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ Going inward from the outer city, Beijing City has three gates, Zhengyang Gate in the middle, Xuanwu Gate on the left, and Chongwen Gate on the right.Enter Zhengyangmen and go straight in, which is Tiananmen Square, the main gate of the imperial city.Going straight in from Tiananmen Square is the Meridian Gate. The Meridian Gate is a large building in the shape of the upper side, with a building on the front and four turrets on both sides.In front of it, there is a large space, which can accommodate 20,000 people.The national ceremonies of the Ming and Qing dynasties were often held in this place.Of course, there is no other use for this land.For example, the imperial staff of the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor showed his power and beat the minister's buttocks on the spot, was at the Meridian Gate; and for example, in the Qing Dynasty, the emperor showed his power and asked eunuchs to act as representatives to scold the ministers, and it was also at the Meridian Gate.There were also ministers thanking the emperor, and a group of people knelt down, also at the Meridian Gate. After entering the Meridian Gate, it is the Jinshui Bridge, and walking across the bridge is the Gate of Supreme Harmony.The Gate of Supreme Harmony is the main entrance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Entering this gate, the greatest building in the imperial city appears, which is the main hall of the outer dynasty, the Hall of Supreme Harmony.The front of the hall is surrounded by three floors of Longchi Danbi, the first floor has 21 floors, the second floor and the third floor have nine floors each, and each floor is surrounded by Yunlong railings carved from white stone. The largest wooden structure hall in China.The base of the hall is two feet high (about six meters), and the hall is eleven feet high (about thirty-three meters). It is made of eighty-four large nanmu pillars as the skeleton. Because the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the main hall of the outer dynasty, national ceremonies and festivals such as New Year's Day, Winter Solstice, and Longevity are held here. This hall is commonly known as the Jinluan Hall.It and the Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall behind it form three major halls, which are the political center of the Outer Dynasty.Going forward is to clean the door.The Forbidden City's outer court and inner court are divided on this gate.Entering this gate is the inner court.Entering the Qianqing Gate and going straight ahead is the Qianqing Palace, which is the emperor's bedroom.However, the real center of the emperor's daily activities is not here, but in the Hall of Mental Cultivation on the right side in front of the Qianqing Palace.The Hall of Mental Cultivation is the emperor's daily office, where he summoned his subjects and held banquets.This hall has the emperor's small suite, which is a relatively warm place in the huge and cold Forbidden City.The Hall of Mental Cultivation is taken from the allusion in "Mencius" that nourishing the mind is not good at few desires. However, it is too difficult to have few desires, and it is not easy to cultivate the mind. This nerve center is actually the most disturbing place. On this day, the emperor summoned Weng Tonghe alone in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ Weng Tonghe reported in a nutshell that China was facing a change unseen in three thousand years, and asked the emperor to make a plan from the perspective of change. Our country is not the same, it started more than 30 years ago.The emperor said to Weng Tonghe.In the first year of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan set up an ordnance institute in Anqing, and Li Hongzhang set up a gun manufacturing bureau in Shanghai. Later, there was the Foreign Language and Character Institute in Shanghai, the Jinling Arsenal in Nanjing, the Jiangnan Machine Bureau in Shanghai, the Shipping Bureau in Fuzhou, and the Machinery Bureau in Tianjin. The Qi Bureau, the new fort in Dagu, and even the establishment of the China Merchants Bureau are all changes in the Tongzhi era.That is to say, in terms of this dynasty, from the first year of this dynasty to organize iron-clad warships and establish western learning bureaus in various provinces, and then set up telegraph bureaus, railways, mining bureaus, military training schools, Beiyang navy, and Hanyang arsenal until today The emperor is right.Weng Tonghe replied.Our country has indeed begun to change over the past thirty years, but most of what we have changed is that we learn from the strengths of the barbarians in terms of ship strength and artillery, and we want to learn from the barbarians' strengths in this respect to control the barbarians.The strength of ships and guns is the strength of the barbarians, but it is not fundamental. The fundamental advantage is the political progress brought about by their reform and reform. This is the real strength of the barbarians.But we ignored these and did not learn.As a result, not only were we unable to defeat the real barbarians, we were even unable to defeat the real barbarians after Japan's reform and reform.This lesson tells us: we can save China only by reforming the law.I invite the emperor to order. Sitting on the throne, the emperor rested his chin on his right thumb and rubbed his face with the other four fingers, thinking deeply.He is twenty-five years old, and although his body is not strong, his youth and vigor are there. From Master Weng, he has a concrete concept of reform and reform.But the reform and reform needs newcomers and helpers, who to turn to?Master Weng? Chen is too old!The old one is not only sixty-five years old, but the old one can only see the times, but can't keep up with the times.Weng Tonghe said helplessly.However, Kang Youwei, the thirty-eight-year-old young man mentioned by the minister to the emperor a while ago, is a good hand.The minister is willing to strongly recommend.Kang Youwei ranked fifth among Jinshi this year. On the surface, although he is just an excellent Jinshi, this Jinshi is different from other Jinshi. He is actually a Jinshi among Jinshi.When he was a juren, he wrote books such as "Xinxue Apocrypha" and was ordered by Li Hanzhang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to be destroyed by the local officials to avoid material criticism. It can be seen that he is not an idle person.This year, the cession of Taiwan and other terms were passed to Beijing, and he united with 1,200 people from various provinces to write a letter requesting reform.At present, he is opening a strong society in the capital, trying to open up the atmosphere and improve his knowledge.Yuan Shikai and the others all participated, Zhang Zhidong and the others all donated money, and they did a great job.They found that in the whole city of Beijing, they couldn't buy a map of the world, which shows how closed the Chinese people's minds are, even in the capital, let alone other places?A country with such closed minds cannot gain a foothold in the world.If it is said that foreigners must be happy to see that China cannot gain a foothold in the world, that is not necessarily the case.They set up a strong society, and the British Timothy Lee also came to participate.The British and American ministers also sent people to send many books.In short, a progressive China is also what people of insight from all over the world would like to see, and all of this depends on the emperor's order. The emperor nodded slightly, but did not speak.He bit the corner of his mouth tightly and looked into the distance.There is no good vision in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. A good vision depends on the imagination of the ruler.There is a couplet in the West Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, which suddenly popped up in his mind, it is: Only one person can rule the world. How can I serve one person for the world. As the emperor, the whole world has entrusted him with one person. However, the whole world is on the verge of extinction. How to govern the whole world, he feels more and more responsibility. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ 1895 passed, 1896 came; 1896 passed, 1897 came; 1897 passed, 1898 came. Two years have passed, and Emperor Guangxu is already twenty-eight years old.He has been on the throne for twenty-four years, and he does not want to wait any longer.He read Kang Youwei's "The History of the Japanese Revolution" and "The History of the Russian Emperor Peter the Great", which further strengthened his desire to learn from the Japanese emperors and Russian emperors and engage in reforms. His death is in the hands of the emperor. On the eve of the emperor stepping up reform and reform, Weng Tonghe was deposed.This veteran who had been in the political world for forty years was vacated by the emperor and returned to his hometown to show his preservation.This day is Weng Tonghe's birthday.He went to court, but was suddenly blocked at the gate of the palace, and he was not allowed to go in. After a while, the order came down.The emperor's ruthless order was obviously issued under the pressure of the Queen Mother.On the second day after the emperor Zhu Yu announced, Weng Tonghe went to go through the resignation procedures, just in time for the emperor to come out, Weng Tonghe respectfully saw off the holy driver and kowtowed on the side of the road.The emperor looked back and looked, without saying a word.Is it life and death?Farewell?Both the master and the apprentice had indescribable feelings in their hearts.In fact, separation from life is separation from death.Twenty-four years of gathering day and night, and twenty-four years of teacher-student relationship, came to an end. Six years later, the seventy-five-year-old master died in his hometown under house arrest.This person, he built a plank road for reform and reform, and when others walked forward, he became a stepping stone.Whether it is the emperors of the two dynasties or the elders of the four dynasties, the accumulation of everything only enables the successors to advance.He's old, and he doesn't have the strength to reform the law.In fact, after years of erosion, reformers are often conservative elements in the eyes of the new generation of reformers.Isn't Prince Gong, the younger brother of Emperor Xianfeng, a living example?Wasn't Prince Gong a majestic reformer who was so majestic back then?However, when he was old, he became a stumbling block. When Weng Tonghe arranged for the emperor to summon Kang Youwei, Prince Gong strongly opposed it.Four months after this objection, the sixty-seven-year-old Prince Gong died, and eighteen days after his death, the emperor summoned Kang Youwei. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ The day Kang Youwei was summoned was also the same day that the emperor and Master Weng parted ways. Weng Tonghe introduced Kang Youwei, not only serving as a stepping stone, but also causing the empress dowager to hate him.He silently accepted all the hatred, concentrated all the hatred, sacrificed himself, and brought his successor to the table.The place where Kang Youwei was summoned was the Hall of Renshou in the Summer Palace.During the spring and summer, the emperor often came to the Summer Palace to listen to the government, so the courtiers also streamed along the roads in the western suburbs of Beijing.Usually leave Beijing first and spend the night at the Household Office of the Summer Palace, so that you can buy time early the next morning.What an important event the emperor summoned. As a courtier, you must first make up some court rituals and rules. When Kang Youwei was about to ask someone for advice, Yuan Shikai, a fat man with a big head, sent someone to invite him.He took the special car sent and went straight to Yuan Shikai's Haidian villa. It's been a long time, Brother Chang Su.Yuan Shikai greeted him at the gate of Haidian Bieye.While welcoming Kang Youwei into the living room, after exchanging pleasantries, he expressed his intention to invite him. He invited him to come today because he heard that the emperor would summon him in the morning.Since this is the first time, some caveats please dude.First of all, the old man was served in the court room outside the Summer Palace before dawn.Then, guided by the eunuch, he entered the palace gate and reached the gate of Renshou Hall, and the eunuch retreated.At this time, brother, you should pay special attention to the threshold. The threshold is two feet high, and there is a wide and thick curtain hanging on the door. The eunuch inside will lift it up to let you in.Pay special attention, the door curtain rises and falls very fast, the man has to keep up with the movement, if you are not careful, one foot will be inside the threshold and the other foot will be outside the threshold, or the official hat may be hit, and if it is knocked crooked, it is a failure. instrument.Fortunately, I have taken care of my brother first, and asked them to take special care of them.Also, Yuan Shikai stood up and picked up a bag of things from the table. These were a pair of knee pads, which were tied to his knees. Seeing that the emperor was about to kneel down, he would get numb after kneeling for a long time.These are our experiences, especially for my brother.I have something to go back to Beijing, so I can't stay with you for a long time, and I may not be able to go back at night. I have ordered the manager here to take care of everything, and my brother can do whatever he wants.After sending my brother to the Summer Palace today, they will be waiting at the door tomorrow morning.After meeting the emperor, they sent the old man back to Beijing. Kang Youwei expressed his gratitude.I thought that this Yuan Weiting was really an old official, it was not easy for him to be so careful and considerate.He even donated money to set up the Strong Society three years ago. I don't have a deep friendship with him, but he always shows up at the knife's edge to help others. This person is really not simple. ☆☆☆☆☆☆ The early morning in the Summer Palace is much chillier than in Beijing, probably there are mountains and lakes there, as well as the ubiquitous Empress Dowager.When we arrived at Renshou Hall, there were already many eunuchs standing outside the hall.Kang Youwei was arranged to be summoned in the third place.After the first two summoned them, it was dawn and it was Kang Youwei's turn to go in. The first thing he felt was that the hall was pitch black, so he closed his eyes for a while, and looked again, and found that although the throne was large, there were only two large candles on the imperial table.Under the imperial case, there was a slanted obeisance mat, and Kang Youwei stepped forward, knelt down, took off his hat and raised his feathers, and listened quietly to the question. Generally, when summoned, the eunuch should first send a green-headed lottery to the emperor, on which the age, place of origin, origin, current official history, etc. of the person being summoned are written, for future reference.However, this time the green-headed lottery was by the side, and the emperor didn't even look at it, which showed that the emperor already knew Kang Youwei quite well, even though it was the first time we met him, he was no stranger to him. I know you very well, the emperor said softly, Weng Tonghe has recommended you many times.On the third day of the first lunar month of this year, I called Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzhang, Rong Lu, Zhang Yinhuan and other ministers to talk to you at the General Administration, and I know what you said.That day Rong Lu said that the law of the ancestors cannot be changed. You said that the law of the ancestors governs the land of the ancestors. What you said was good, and they reported it, and everyone was moved by it.Later, when I saw your letter, I deeply felt that the law should not be changed, and that I would be the king of subjugation, so I was determined to take this path.I have carefully read the "Japanese Political Change" and "The Russian Emperor Peter the Great" that you submitted.According to your opinion, how long will it take for us to carry out reforms and reforms in China before we can get a little bit of a situation? The emperor's lesson.In Beichen's view, Taixi emphasizes three hundred years of governance, Japan implements thirty years to become strong, and our country has a large population. After the reform, we should be able to stand on our own in three years.Kang Youwei replied calmly. three years?The emperor thought about it for a while, and the whole country worked hard for three years. I believe that in three years, there will be a situation.Tell me more. Since the emperor is far-sighted, the period is three years.Three years ago, the emperor planned it, and the situation in China has long been different Of course I know.The emperor looked out of the curtain with particularly sad eyes, but there were too many constraints.With so many constraints, tell me, what should I do? The emperor's lesson.According to Beichen, the real problem is that the minister is too old-fashioned.Why are they conservative?Because the system hurt them.China's talent policy is stereotyped selection of scholars. Those who learn to write stereotyped essays do not read books after the Qin and Han Dynasties, and do not know the general trend of the world.These people read books but don't understand reason, they can't keep up with the times but they don't know it, so they can only harm the country, not save it.The way for today, fundamentally, starts with abolishing the erroneous system such as stereotyped selection of scholars; as for the emergency, the emperor should issue an edict and not submit it to the ministers, because any good law and good intention will be discussed by the ministers once they are discussed. ruined.What should I do if the minister is too conservative to carry out reform and reform?The emperor can make an exception and use junior ministers instead of ministers, the country will naturally have vitality, and the situation will soon take on a new look.Small ministers only want to do things for the country, and they don't need to add officials, but they have to entrust them with tasks. Instead of dismissing ministers, they promote small ministers, and gradually complete the transition from old to new. This summoning took a very long time, and the emperor probably knew that such summons were rare and should not be repeated, so the conversation lasted for two hours.After Kang Youwei resigned, the emperor issued a new post in the name of walking on Zhang Jing, the prime minister's national affairs office. This is equivalent to the name of a mid-level official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The official position is not big, because the appointment and dismissal of high-ranking officials must be decided by the Queen Mother. , so that the emperor rewards a small official, so it will not be dazzling.However, after five days, Kang Youwei was given a privilege so that he could concentrate on his work, without having to go through the hands of other ministers, and he could go directly to Tianting.Since Kang Youwei first wrote to the emperor ten years ago, time and time again, he has exhausted untold hardships and tried his best to find the ministers' connections, but it is difficult to express his feelings.But after ten years, he finally established a direct channel.What did he want to say, what did he want to say, and what good opinions did he have? Finally, he didn't have to ask someone to deliver it, and was blocked by someone.And the object of his confidance, the object of the statement, is not someone else, but the current holy majesty who is aloof.A kind of pleasure of winning the king's way filled Kang Youwei with hope.Now, he is forty-one years old, and he is willing to be a small minister, offering advice for the country beside the emperor.After being summoned, he successively presented his books "Research on Japan's Political Reform", "Record of Poland's Disintegration", and "Research on France's Political Change", which deepened the emperor's view of China from a global perspective. This is a horizontal effort; Yes, he wrote "A Test of the New Study of Apocryphal Classics" and "A Test of Confucius' Reform", which is a vertical effort.He used a huge amount of evidence and profound knowledge to explain that the Confucius believed by the Chinese people was actually the one who advocated reform. If he used Confucius as a shield, conservatives would oppose it, but they could not.In the past ten years, Kang Youwei's efforts in both vertical and horizontal aspects have now reached the final test. He feels extremely gratified, excited and confident. On the seventh day after the emperor summoned Kang Youwei, he first issued an edict to abolish the eight-legged selection system.Then, under Kang Youwei's planning, the ministers were reused one by one.召見以後不到三個月，皇帝下了命令，給四個小臣均著賞加四品卿銜，在軍機章京上行走，參預新政事宜。軍機章京是軍機處中四品官以下的官，相當於皇帝的機要秘書，軍機處的首領是軍機大臣，都是三品以上的官，都被西太后扣得緊緊的，皇帝無法說了算，只能自己任命四個章京來分軍機大臣的權，把他們特加卿的頭銜，點名參預新政，這種安排，是很費苦心的。四個章京中，小臣楊銳、小臣劉光第是張之洞的學生，小臣林旭是康有為的學生。他們三個人，都參加過康有為召開的保國會，很早便與康有為認識了。可是最後一位小臣，不但沒參加保國會、也沒參加強學會。就跟康有為的關係來說，是後起之秀。這個人籍貫湖南瀏陽，生在北京，三十三歲，身分是江蘇候補知府；他的父親是湖北巡撫，這位巡撫是翁同龢朋友，翁同龢見過老友此子，在日記中寫道：通洋務，高視闊步，世家子弟桀傲者也。可見他的氣派。軍機章京在皇宮裏分成兩班，這個人分到與劉光第一班。第一天上班，他桀傲地走進了內廷外面，御史問他、太監們問他，他一言不發，拿起毛筆，在紙上寫了三個大字譚嗣同。