Chapter 21 Ten The Last Days of the Forbidden City

The failure to rectify the Ministry of Internal Affairs this time does not stop me from stopping.The car didn't stop, but turned a corner.Since I got in the car, people have been cheering me up, or pointing out the direction of the road signs. The survivors have told me about their plans for restoration, and what I said above is just one example.After I got married, there were people everywhere who wanted to work for me like that.For example, Kang Youwei and his disciples Xu Qin and Xu Liang, father and son, carried out activities both at home and abroad under the banner of the Constitutional Party of the Chinese Empire.Their activities continued to be transmitted to the palace through Johnston.Xu Qin wrote a memorial boasting that the party has 100,000 members and five newspapers overseas.Two years before I left the palace, Xu Liang went to Guangxi to look for the warlord Lin Junting to carry out restoration activities. He wrote to Johnston saying that the leaders of the three military factions in Guangxi, Lu Rongting, Lin Junting and Shen Hongying, all share the same purpose with our party, and they will definitely help each other in future. The opposition party also [1].After the Spring Festival in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, Kang Youwei said in a letter to Johnston: After years of running around, I will return until New Year’s Eve. Fortunately, I can hear and hear my lobbying.According to him, Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan have all been agreed, or they can be discussed at that time.He placed his greatest hopes on Wu Peifu, saying that Luo (referring to Wu, who was in Luoyang at the time) was loyal to Meng De (referring to Cao Kun), but he was seriously ill.It is also said that Xiao Yaonan in Hubei said that if he can get a phone call, he can get a reward on his birthday.It now appears that Kang Youwei uttered a lot of nonsense in his letter, which later turned into ostentatious acts without practical effect.But at that time, Johnston and I not only had no doubts about his words, but were very happy, and gave birthday gifts and rewarded blessings according to his instructions.Under their guidance, I began to know how to use wealth for my ideals.

The same goes for charitable donations.I don't remember which master gave this advice, but the motive is very clear, because I understood the value of public opinion at this time.At that time, on the social pages of Beijing newspapers, there was news of Emperor Xuantong's donations and hospitality almost every day.There are roughly two kinds of my ministering activities. One is to send the money to the newspaper agency on behalf of the poor according to the news published in the newspaper, and the other is to send people directly to the poor households.No matter which method is used, there will always be such news in the newspaper after a day or two: Emperor He Qing sent someone to send X yuan to praise me and publicize the role of this newspaper.For the latter, there are almost no newspapers that do not publish stories of the poor that attract my attention, and I am happy to have all kinds of newspapers give me publicity.Some newspapers even published such an article:

current events The mighty grace of the emperor is a common phrase used by the emperor to compliment the emperor. Unexpectedly, after the reconstruction of the Republic of China, the sound of the mighty grace of the emperor was also heard.Since the beginning of winter this year, there have been more and more poor people in the capital. Anyone who has been disclosed by this newspaper has received money from the Qing emperor.That is to say, this newspaper is the introduction, and the colleagues are busy with the help of the same people, but they are doing their duty as a newspaper. On the one hand, they appeal for the poor, and on the other hand, they are on behalf of the Qing emperor.Or it is not surprising that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty abdicated and was in the deep palace, sitting on a huge sum of money, and had nothing to spend, so he had to help the poor.However, the politicians and warlords in the Republic of China all had huge sums of money, and there was not a single person who gave relief and charity, which shows the greatness of Emperor Xuantong's grace [2].

An article like this is naturally worth much more to me than a grant of ten or eight yuan. The biggest donation I made was for the earthquake in Japan that occurred in September of the 12th year of the Republic of China.The loss of that Japanese earthquake shocked the world. I wanted to let the whole world know the kindness of Emperor Xuantong, and decided to give a huge sum of money to help.My master Chen looked further than I did. After he praised the greatness of the emperor's kindness and kindness, he told me: the impact of this move must not be limited to this.Later, due to the difficulty of cash, they gave away the treasures of antique calligraphy and paintings estimated to be around US$300,000.When Minister Yoshisawa of Japan accompanied the delegation of the Japanese Diet to thank me, the excited atmosphere in the palace was similar to that when foreign envoys came to watch a big wedding.

During this period, my life was even more absurd, and I did many contradictory things.For example, on the one hand, I blame the Ministry of Internal Affairs for spending too much, and on the other hand, I am extravagant.I saw photos of foreign dogs in foreign pictorials, so I asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to buy them from abroad, and the dog food was also ordered from abroad.A sick dog pays more for a veterinarian than a human.A veterinarian surnamed Qian from the Beijing Police Academy probably saw my personality and tried his best to curry favor with me. He wrote me several memorials about raising dogs, and got ten treasures including green jade bracelets, gold rings, and snuff bottles. reward.Sometimes I see something new in the newspapers, for example, a four-year-old child can read "Mencius", and when someone finds a strange spider, he will be called into the palace to have a look, and of course a reward will be given.I fell in love with stones all of a sudden, so someone bought all kinds of stones and sent them, and I rewarded them all with huge rewards.

On the one hand, I asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to lay off staff, from 700 to 300 in each department, and from 200 cooks in the imperial dining room to 37. On the other hand, I asked them to add a fan vegetable dining room for Western food. The two dining rooms cost more than 1,300 yuan a month for vegetables. As for my annual expenses, according to the condensed figures fabricated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs one year before my marriage (that is, the tenth year of the Republic of China), it does not include my food and clothing, or the expenses of various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. , only counting the handover of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the rewards and other funds paid by order, the total annual expenditure is 870,597 taels.

This kind of dark life didn't change until November 5, 13th year of the Republic of China, when Feng Yuxiang's national army expelled me from the Forbidden City. In September of this year, in the second Zhifeng war, which began with the Battle of Chaoyang, Wu Peifu's direct army was still in an advantage. In October, when Wu's troops were launching a general offensive against Zhang Zuolin's Fengjun in Shanhaiguan, Wu's Feng Yuxiang suddenly defected Return to Beijing and send out a peace telegram.With the cooperation of Feng and Zhang, Wu Peifu's Shanhaiguan frontline army was defeated, and Wu Peifu fled back to Luoyang by himself.Later, Wu failed to gain a foothold in Henan, and fled to Yuezhou with his remnant soldiers and defeated generals. He did not come back until he united with Sun Chuanfang two years later, but this is a later story.The news of Wu Jun's defeat in Shanhaiguan has not yet arrived. Feng Yuxiang's national army, which occupied Beijing, had already put the bribed president Cao Kun under house arrest, and then dissolved the Piggy Congress. Yan Huiqing's cabinet announced his resignation. cabinet.

As soon as the news of the coup reached the palace, I immediately realized that something was wrong.The inner city guards of the Forbidden City were disarmed by the national army and transferred out of Beijing city. The national army took over their camp, and the Shenwu Gate was replaced by the national army sentry post.I observed Jingshan Mountain with a telescope in the imperial garden, and saw soldiers with different costumes from the guards up and down.The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent people to bring tea and food, and the national army accepted it without any strange attitude, but no one in the Forbidden City felt relieved.We all remember that when Zhang Xun was restored, Feng Yuxiang joined the rebellion army. If Duan Qirui hadn't transferred him out of Beijing in time, he would have been fighting into the Forbidden City.After Duan Qirui came to power, Feng Yuxiang and some other generals sent telegrams to demand that the small imperial court be driven out of the Forbidden City.With this experience, we have a foreboding about the coup d'état and the adaptation of the Guard.Then, I heard that all the political prisoners in the prison had been released, and I heard that all the radical parties had come out to operate. The most important thing about the education about radical terror that Johnston and Master Chen gave me was that they would kill everyone. An aristocrat came into play at this time.I found Johnston and asked him to go to Dongjiaomin Lane to inquire about information for me, and asked him to try to arrange a place of refuge for me.

The princes and dukes were in a state of panic, and some of them had reserved rooms at the Liuguo Hotel in Dongjiaomin Lane, but when they heard that I was going out of the city, they all thought it was unnecessary for now.Their basis is still the same: with the preferential treatment conditions recognized by all countries, nothing will happen. But what had to happen, did happen. That morning, around nine o'clock, I was eating fruit and chatting with Wanrong in Chuxiu Palace, when the ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs suddenly staggered in.The leader Shaoying held an official document in his hand and said out of breath:

Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Feng Yuxiang has sent an army!There is also Li Shizeng, a descendant of Li Hongzao, who said that the Republic of China would abolish preferential treatment conditions, and used this to call it a signature. I jumped up all of a sudden, and the apple I just bitten rolled to the ground.I snatched the official document from his hand, and saw it read: Grand Presidential Directive This decree sent Lu Zhonglin and Zhang Bi to negotiate on the revision of the preferential treatment conditions for the Qing Dynasty. November 5th, thirteenth year of the Republic of China

Acting Premier of the State Council Huang Yu Amendments to room clearance conditions Today, because the emperor of the Qing Dynasty wanted to implement the spirit of republic of the five ethnic groups, and did not want to violate the various systems of the Republic of China that still exist today, the preferential treatment conditions for the Qing Dynasty were revised as follows: Article 1, Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty will abolish the title of emperor forever, and enjoy the same legal rights as the citizens of the Republic of China; Article 2. After the revision of these conditions, the government of the Republic of China will subsidize 500,000 yuan a year for house cleaning, and spend 2 million yuan to open factories for the poor in Beijing, and take care of the poor with flag status first; Article 3. Cleaning the house should follow Article 3 of the original preferential treatment conditions, and move out of the palace on the same day, and you can choose to live freely in the future, but the government of the Republic of China is still responsible for protection; Article 4. The ancestral temple mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty will be enshrined forever, and the Republic of China will set up guards to protect it properly; Article 5. The private property of the Qing Dynasty is fully enjoyed by the Qing Dynasty, and the government of the Republic of China shall give it special protection, and all its public properties shall belong to the government of the Republic of China. November 13th Year of the Republic of China To be honest, this new correction condition is not as scary as I originally thought.But Shaoying said something that immediately made me jump up: They said that they would all move out within three hours! So what to do?What about my property?Where is the toffee?I turned around in a hurry and called Master Zhuang! The phone line is broken, broken, broken!Rong Yuan replied. Go find the prince!I said something was going to happen!Why don't you ask me out!Find the prince!Find the prince! I can't get out, Baoxi said, someone is trapped outside.Don't let anyone out! Negotiate with me! Whoa! At this time, Concubine Duankang had just passed away not many days ago, and there were only two concubines Jingyi and Ronghui left in the palace. These two old ladies refused to leave no matter what they said.Shaoying used this as an excuse to discuss with Lu Zhonglin, and the result was that the delay was allowed until three o'clock in the afternoon.After noon, after negotiations, my father entered the palace, masters Zhu and Chen were let in, and only Johnston was kept out. When I heard that the prince had come in, I immediately went out of the house to meet him. When I saw him walk into the palace gate, I immediately called out: My lord, what should I do? When he heard my cry, he stuck there as if he had been immobilized. He neither approached me nor answered my question. His lips trembled for a long time before he uttered a useless sentence: Listen, listen to the will, listen to the will I was anxious and angry, and I turned around and entered the house by myself.Later, the eunuch told me that when he heard that I had signed the amendment, he immediately tore off the feathers on his head, threw his hat on the ground, and muttered, "It's over!"It's over!Don't want this either! I went back to the house, and after a short while, Shaoying came back with an even uglier face than before, and said tremblingly, "Lu Zhonglin reminded me, tell me, let's say another 20 minutes, otherwise, otherwise Jingshan going to fire In fact, Lu Zhonglin only led twenty pistols, but his scaring words were very effective.First, my father-in-law, Rong Yuan, was so frightened that he ran to the Imperial Garden, went east to Tibet, found a place to hide from shells, and never came out again.Seeing that the princes and ministers were all frightened like this, I had no choice but to quickly agree to the deer's request and decided to go to my father's house first. At this time, the National Army had prepared cars for me, five cars in total, Lu Zhonglin took the first car, I took the second car, and Wanrong, Wenxiu, Zhang Bi, Shaoying and others got into the back car in turn. When the car arrived at the gate of Beifu, when I got out of the car, Lu Zhonglin came over, and only then did I meet him.The deer shook my hand and asked me: Mr. Puyi, do you still plan to be an emperor in the future, or do you want to be a commoner? I am willing to be a commoner from today. good!Lu Zhonglin smiled and said: Then I will protect you.He also said that it is unreasonable to have the title of emperor at the same time as the Republic of China, and he should serve the country well as a citizen in the future.Zhang Bi also said: As a citizen, he has the right to vote and be elected, and he may be elected as the president in the future! When I heard the word President, I felt very uncomfortable.At this time, I already understood the meaning of keeping a low profile, so I said: I had wanted to get rid of that preferential treatment for a long time, but this time it is abolished, which is exactly what I want, so I completely agree with your words.Being an emperor is not free, and now I am free. After this passage was finished, the surrounding national army soldiers applauded. My last sentence was not entirely false.I really hate the restrictions and obstacles that princes and ministers have placed on me.I want to be free, I want to be free to realize my ideals according to my own ideas and sit on my lost throne again. [1] After I left the palace in the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, the aftermath committee of the Qing Dynasty, which took over the Qing palace, found two letters from Kang Youwei and Xu Liang to Johnston in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, together with Tiaochen from Jinliang and Jiang Kanghu's letter asking for an audience They were all published, but this one was not published at that time, nor was Kang Youwei's correspondence with Wu Peifu about his activities.author [2] See "Ping Bao" on December 15, 12th year of the Republic of China, author: Qiu Yin. 【3】Huang Yu, a native of Zhejiang, was a reactionary speculative politician. Later, during the Northern Expedition, he helped Chiang Kai-shek plan a counter-revolutionary coup. He became a pro-Japanese faction of the Kuomintang and one of the leaders of the Department of New Politics.