Cixi said unhurriedly: "What kind of attitude is the overseas Chinese?" ”

Prince Qing was stunned, after the incident, only Li Jingfang had contact with overseas Chinese, and the others had not met with overseas Chinese, so he said: "If you go back to the Queen Mother, only Li Jingfang has contact with overseas Chinese, please allow Li Jingfang to play." Although Li Jingfang also came in with him, his position was soft-spoken, and if he wanted to speak, he had to get permission from Cixi or Guangxu.

Cixi lifted her eyelids and said, "Li Jingfang?"

Prince Qing hurriedly said: "It is Li Hongzhang's eldest son, who went to Xi'an with his ministers, and he lives in the same pavilion with overseas Chinese." After a pause, he said: "He has more contact with overseas Chinese, and he also knows a lot about the style of overseas Chinese.

Cixi nodded and said, "Li Hongzhang's family can be regarded as doing their best for the Qing Dynasty." Li Jingfang. ”

Li Jingfang hurriedly took a step forward, bowed his head and said, "The minister is here." ”

Cixi said: "What kind of attitude is the overseas Chinese?"

Although Cixi's sentence just now, "Li Hongzhang's family can be regarded as doing their best for the Qing Dynasty", Li Jingfang was quite moved, but he also knew that when answering the Queen Mother's words, he had to be extremely careful and never say a wrong word, so he relayed the conversation between himself and Qin Zheng after Wan Haicheng left the pavilion as it was, only changed a few wordings to be slightly relaxed, but he did not express his opinion.

After listening to Li Jingfang's speech, Cixi closed her eyes slightly and fell into deep thought, and no one else dared to disturb Cixi's train of thought, so for a while the room was quiet as if there was no one.

After a long while, Cixi opened her eyes and said, "What do you think overseas Chinese mean by this?" ”

In fact, Guangxu wanted to speak just now, but he didn't dare to disturb Cixi, but now when he saw Cixi asking, he immediately said: "Overseas Chinese have made such a great contribution to our Qing Dynasty, but they came to Xi'an but were blackmailed by a slave. ”

Cixi sneered and said, "Then what kind of explanation is it?"

Guangxu hesitated for a moment and said, "Everything is decided by the Queen Mother." ”

Cixi "hum" With her political acumen, of course, it can be seen that what the overseas Chinese want is not actually an explanation, but to take this opportunity to demonstrate to the imperial court, and even ask the imperial court to bow to them, because even if Wan Haicheng is wrong to ask for bribes from overseas Chinese, he is representing the imperial court after all, and the overseas Chinese's unceremonious suppression of Wan Haicheng is actually not leaving any face to the imperial court, but I don't know that overseas Chinese will also be a big trouble for the imperial court sooner or later.

In fact, after the Wuxu coup, Guangxu has indeed matured a lot, and he can guess a few points about the intentions of overseas Chinese, but for Guangxu, it doesn't matter, because everyone knows that he is just a puppet emperor, and the real power is in the hands of Cixi, so if you want to say that you want to slap your face, it is also a slap in the face of Cixi, and it has nothing to do with Guangxi. And this is also what Guangxu is happy to see, and he even wants to push it again.

But now Cixi doesn't have the energy to entangle with Guangxu, after all, Guangxu's little trick is at most to make Cixi have a snack, but it will not affect Cixi's power for the time being, and the top priority now is how to deal with this slap in the face of overseas Chinese. If it was before the Gengzi National Revolution, Cixi might really have torn her face with the overseas Chinese, and even did not hesitate to fight with the overseas Chinese, but now Cixi does not have the courage to do so, because of the Gengzi National Change, because of the hardships of the road after her escape from Beijing, Cixi understands that her current strength is not qualified to turn her face with the overseas Chinese, so the final result of fighting is probably that the fish is dead, but the net is still unbreakable.

But in this way, Cixi was a little unwilling, of course, it was not that she was afraid of losing face, the Qing court fled to Xi'an, and there was nothing to lose face, but because Guangxu had first proposed that "you should give an explanation to overseas Chinese", if Cixi gave in to the overseas Chinese, it was as if she had listened to Guangxu's suggestion.

After the coup d'état, Guangxu's mind was much more sober, long before the Gengzi State Change, Guangxu had repeatedly proposed that the boxers could not be trusted, but unfortunately Cixi chose to be willful at that time, and on the way out, Guangxu asked to return to Beijing several times to negotiate with foreigners, showing the courage to take responsibility, these actions and words, have added a lot of political points to Guangxu, so many officials have "If the emperor is in power, there will be no Gengzi State Change" The idea invisibly increased Guangxu's prestige a lot, plus Guangxu was still the emperor after all, occupying the name of righteousness, which was what worried Cixi the most. To be honest, now Cixi has regretted it in her heart, and she knew that she should have brought it up first.

In addition, Guangxu maintained overseas Chinese in this way, but also Cixi had some doubts, I don't know if overseas Chinese will support Guangxu, although Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing have vaguely expressed that overseas Chinese have no intention of intervening in the political struggle of the imperial court, but if Cixi will be so gullible, she will not be in power for more than 40 years, but Cixi can't ask others the questions in her heart, so now she is also in a dilemma, after pondering for a while, Cixi still can't think of a foolproof solution, so she said: "What do you think?"

A few people didn't know what Cixi's attitude was, how could they dare to express their stance easily at this time, and after waiting for a while, no one responded, Cixi's heart couldn't help but be a little anxious, and she slapped a few times and said sharply: "You are all dumb, what is the court raising you for, and now you have no words when you want to make an idea?" King Qing, what do you have in mind." ”

Prince Qing was also taken aback, and did not go to Cixi to put it on his head first, but seeing Cixi's angry face, he also knew that the Queen Mother was really anxious, and if he couldn't say a "son ugly Yinmao", he couldn't fool him, so he said: "Back to the Queen Mother, according to the minister's opinion, the overseas Chinese should still be appeased, and everything should be taken to return to Beijing as the first priority." ”

Originally, when Cixi heard "pacify first", she was about to have a seizure again, but then she heard that "taking the holy drive back to Beijing as the first priority", and finally endured it again, so as not to suppress the fire, and said: "What kind of pacification method?"

At this time, Rong Lu suddenly said: "The queen mother, the emperor, there is a way for the slave to arrive, I don't know if it is feasible?"

Cixi glanced at him angrily and said, "Say it, what a way." ”

Rong Lu glanced at Wan Haicheng, who was kneeling on the ground, and said: "This matter was originally caused by Wan Gonggong asking for bribes from overseas Chinese, according to the slave's opinion, since the disaster was caused by him, it is better to give Wan Gong's bus to overseas Chinese to dispose of, kill and leave it to overseas Chinese to do their own thing, and then the court issued another holy decree, indicating that the bribery was not instructed by the imperial court, and appeased the overseas Chinese, and even added a few titles, which can be regarded as an explanation to the overseas Chinese." ”

Cixi thought about it for a while, and then understood Rong Lu's intentions, and handed over Wan Haicheng to overseas Chinese to dispose of, although it seemed to be soft to overseas Chinese, but it was to put all the fault on Wan Haicheng alone, and asking for bribes became Wan Haicheng's personal behavior, but it was to keep the imperial court out of the matter, and it was to push overseas Chinese to the forefront, because everyone would watch how they dealt with Wan Haicheng, no matter how overseas Chinese dealt with Wan Haicheng, it was not appropriate. Of course, killing Wan Haicheng is too much, and Bi Jing's asking for bribes is not a crime to death, and it seems that the methods of overseas Chinese are cruel and vicious, if the overseas Chinese release Wan Haicheng, it will make this matter thunderous and rainy, and it will be a blow to their own prestige. Therefore, it can be said that Rong Lu's suggestion is very much in line with Cixi's wishes.

So Cixi nodded, turned to Guangxu and said, "What does the emperor mean?"

Guangxu hurriedly said: "Everything is subject to the decision of the Queen Mother." In fact, he also felt that Rong Lu's suggestion was good, and he couldn't find a reason to oppose it. And Guangxu also thinks that in this way, it should be able to satisfy overseas Chinese. After all, Guangxu didn't want to completely get into a stalemate with overseas Chinese, he still had a lot of expectations for overseas Chinese, hoping to use their strength to fight Cixi.

Cixi said: "Okay, then it's decided, Wang Wenshao, you immediately draft the decree, early tomorrow morning, you will take this slave to meet the overseas Chinese, and see that they are not satisfied." After a pause, he said: "Xiao Lizi, you also go with you, Wan Haicheng is your godson, he caused trouble, and you can't get out of it, you have to be careful tomorrow, don't mess it up again." ”

Li Lianying hurriedly said: "Slave Honor." ”

At this time, Guangxu said again: "Queen Mother, what about the matter of recruiting overseas Chinese? Is it postponed or is it still tomorrow?"

Cixi snorted and said, "You are the emperor, you can just watch it." ”

Guangxu hesitated for a moment before he said: "The matter of the meeting should not be postponed, if it can appease the overseas Chinese, it will be summoned tomorrow afternoon." ”

When Li Jingfang came out of the palace and returned to the pavilion, it was already early in the morning, and at this time, the overseas Chinese had already rested, and Li Jingfang also slept for more than two hours, and got up early the next day, rushed to see Qin Zheng, and told Qin Zheng the resolution of the court last night. And repeatedly explained that Wan Haicheng's solicitation of bribes is just a personal act, not the intention of the imperial court, and hopes that Qin Zheng can accept the results of the imperial court, which is also Li Jingfang's task, communicate with the overseas Chinese in advance, if the overseas Chinese are satisfied with the result, and then send someone to pass on the decree, if they are not satisfied, they will immediately enter the palace to discuss, so as not to be bored.

Qin Zheng originally used the topic to play, and when he saw that the Qing court was soft, he just borrowed the ladder to go down, saying that he could no longer care, and agreed to enter the palace in the afternoon to meet Cixi and Guangxu. And Li Jingfang also breathed a sigh of relief, and no matter how busy he was, he went to send a letter to Prince Qing and asked them to deliver the message.