Qin Zheng led the men and horses all the way to the west, walked for more than 20 days, and finally arrived at the destination of this long-distance trip, Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province. At this time, the Qing court in Xi'an had already been informed, sent people out of the city for twenty miles, welcomed them into the city, and placed Qin Zheng's accompanying army in the military camp in Xi'an City, while Qin Zheng and his entourage, as well as Li Jingfang, who accompanied him, were arranged to rest in the pavilion in Xi'an City. Although Prince Qing went to Beijing for a few months, his family members still stayed in Xi'an, so his residence was still there, so he still went back to his residence to rest.

After lunch the next day, Prince Qing came to visit Qin Zheng and brought two officials of the Qing court, Rong Lu and Wang Wenshao.

It turned out that Prince Qing entered the palace early this morning to face Cixi and Guangxu to report the situation of overseas Chinese in Beijing, although all kinds of situations in Beijing have been reported in the telegram, but it is not as detailed as face-to-face Cheng Cheng, and Cixi and Guangxu still have a lot of questions to ask Prince Qing, so this time Jin Jian spent a whole morning, Prince Qing answered Cixi and Guangxu's questions one by one, and according to Li Hongzhang's reminder, in Cixi, Guangxu strongly advocated that he should be kind to overseas Chinese, and constantly hinted that overseas Chinese now only want to divide one side in Shandong, and they have no ambitions for the imperial court, but if the imperial court wants to return to Beijing, it must have a good relationship with overseas Chinese, and at this time, it must follow the intentions of overseas Chinese.

After all, Prince Qing has direct contact with overseas Chinese, and the information he conveyed is not only direct, but also much more credible, so after listening to Prince Qing's speech, Cixi is also a little relieved, no matter what, the overseas Chinese have no plan to replace the Qing court at present, as long as the requirements of the overseas Chinese are met, the Qing court can return to Beijing, and the Qing Dynasty can continue to continue, as for what the overseas Chinese will do in the future, wait until they return to Beijing.

So Cixi and Guangxu also immediately decided to recruit Qin Zheng early tomorrow morning, officially appoint him as the governor of Shandong, and complete the entire recruitment process, so that they could return to Beijing as soon as possible. He also ordered Prince Qing to go to Qin Zheng with Rong Lu and Wang Wenshao, on the one hand, to show the court's kindness to overseas Chinese, because these two people were both ministers of military aircraft and represented the highest officials of the Manchu and Han dynasties;

Of course, Qin Zheng knew these two people, Rong Lu was Cixi's most trusted minister, at this time, his status in the Qing court was second only to Li Hongzhang, and Wang Wenshao was an old minister who experienced the Xianfeng, Tongzhi, and Guangxu dynasties, and was known for his slippery and slippery appearance, and was a famous tumbler in the Qing court's political arena.

When the two sides met, Li Jingfang was also invited to accompany him, and Prince Qing introduced each other, and after a few polite words, Prince Qing first said: "Governor Qin, the Queen Mother and the Emperor have decided to invite adults early tomorrow morning, and specially sent Rong Zhongtang and Wang Zhongtang to visit. ”

Qin Zheng arched his hand and said, "Thank you, two adults." ”

Rong Lu said with a smile, "This time I suffered a national change in the Qing Dynasty, the invasion of China by the Eight Kingdoms, the Western Tour of the Two Palaces, the turmoil in the imperial court, and the country's security, fortunately, it was the nobles who returned to China at this time and thwarted the prestige of the Eight-Nation Alliance, so that my Qing Dynasty turned the tide of danger into peace, and the merit was high. ”

Qin Zheng said: "Rong Zhongtang is too awarded, we were originally descendants of the previous dynasty, this time to return to China, originally only wanted to recognize the ancestors and return to the roots, and did not seek to be heard in the world, but to have a place to live, but just happened to meet the Eight-Nation Coalition to invade China, naturally can not stand by and defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, mainly the soldiers to defend the country, resist aggression, regardless of life and death, bloody battles, we can be awarded the post of governor of Shandong, in China has a foothold is very satisfied, and does not ask for anything else. ”

Wang Wenshao said with a smile: "The nobles are high-spirited and despises fame and fortune, and we admire them very much, but the merit is rewarded and punished, and it is the way for the court to employ people, but now the court has not yet stabilized, and it is only an expedient measure for the nobles to be enshrined in Shandong. ”

Qin Zheng smiled slightly and said, "If the imperial court is in need, we will naturally do our best to contribute to the country." ”

Rong Lu laughed and said: "Okay, good, tomorrow Governor Qin will see the Queen Mother and the Emperor, and he will definitely make the Sacred Heart happy." After a pause, he said: "However, when Jin sees the Queen Mother and the Emperor, there should be Chinese etiquette, you have lived overseas for a long time, and the etiquette is very different from that of China, please understand this." ”

Qin Zheng knew that Rong Lu meant kneeling etiquette, which was also a major obstacle to exchanges between China and the West in the Qing Dynasty, during the Qianlong period, the British envoy Macartney visited China, hoping to establish diplomatic and trade relations between China and Britain, but the two sides did not talk about the etiquette of meeting the emperor, the Qing court asked Macartney to kneel down on both knees, and met Qianlong with the etiquette of three bows and nine bows, and Macartney insisted on kneeling down on one knee according to the Western style, without kowtowing, and had to break up unhappily. Later, the Qing court failed in the First Opium War, and could no longer ask the envoys of the Western countries to bow to the Qing emperor again, so they had to use the method of prohibiting foreign envoys from entering Beijing to maintain the face of the Celestial Empire, which was also one of the reasons for the outbreak of the Second Opium War.

However, before coming to Xi'an, the crossing group had already negotiated, and there was no need to worry more about etiquette, wasn't it just kowtowing? There were also a lot of meat, so Qin Zheng said: "We founded the country overseas, and there is indeed no bow ceremony, but when we return to China, we naturally respect the etiquette of the imperial court, but we don't know how to perform the ceremony." ”

Seeing that Qin Zheng very simply agreed to bow down, Prince Qing, Rong Lu, and Wang Wenshao couldn't help but be overjoyed, and now the Qing court has basically agreed that the overseas Chinese are separating themselves in Shandong, and there is nothing to negotiate about, and the Qing court is most worried that the overseas Chinese will be like the envoys of other countries, and they are unwilling to bow to Cixi and Guangxu, which is related to the face of the imperial court, so Rong Lu and Wang Wenshao came this time, mainly to negotiate with Qin Zheng about this matter. Prince Qing immediately said: "Although Governor Qin can rest assured, the palace will send someone to teach the adults to perform the ceremony at night, as well as the adults' official uniforms, crowns, court beads, court boots and other things. ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "I heard that the emperor is going to perform three bows and nine bows, which is very complicated, but I don't know if I can learn it in one night." ”

Rong Lu also smiled: "Actually, Governor Qin should not think too much about this bow ceremony, and the Queen Mother and the Emperor also understand that the nobles have lived overseas for a long time and do not understand Chinese etiquette, and now the court is still in the West Hunt, all etiquette should be simple, and there is no need to bow three times and kowtow nine times, just kowtow, it is not very difficult to learn." What's more, as long as the nobles do their best, even if there is rudeness, the queen mother and the emperor are magnanimous, and they will not be counted. ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "I'm relieved to say that." But I thought in my heart, of course, it would be better to be able to kowtow a few less.

Seeing that the etiquette matter was negotiated, Prince Qing, Rong Lu, and Wang Wenshao also had to go back to restore their lives, so Prince Qing said: "Since this is the case, we will not disturb Governor Qin to rest, and after Governor Qin meets the Queen Mother and the Emperor, we will come to Governor Qin for advice." As he spoke, he got up and said goodbye.

Qin Zheng and Li Jingfang sent them out of the pavilion together, and Li Jingfang also said goodbye to Qin Zheng and went back to his room to rest. And Qin Zheng returned to his room, and Deng Yongjian, Liu Hongjie, Zhang Jianping, Jiang Han and others who accompanied him immediately surrounded Long.

Deng Yongjian said: "Political commissar, I just said it for a long time, just to kowtow or not?"

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "Of course, in our opinion, it doesn't matter whether we kowtow or not, even if we kowtow to Cixi, what can we do, is it so difficult that we will really surrender to the Qing court because of this kowtow? But from the perspective of the Qing court, this is not the case, if we bow to Cixi, then from a formal point of view, we are officially attached to the Qing court, and Cixi will be able to get by in terms of face." As for what the essence is, everyone just needs to know it in their hearts. ”

Jiang Han said: "Political commissar, go to see Cixi tomorrow, are you the only one going to go?"

Before Qin Zheng could speak, Liu Hongjie smiled and said, "What's the matter, you also want to meet Lafayette?"

Jiang Han said: "Yes, I still want to take a photo with Lafayette, of course, if I can take a photo with Guangxu again, what a rare opportunity, maybe this photo can be passed down through the ages in the future." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Tomorrow will definitely not work, let's talk about it after I meet Cixi, if the talk is good, I will see if I can find an opportunity for everyone to meet Cixi and Guangxu." ”

When a few people were talking, they saw the post official come to report, and the palace sent someone to send Qin Zheng an official uniform and wear it, and asked Qin Zheng to greet him at the door of the pavilion. It turned out that after Prince Qing, Rong Lu, and Wang Wenshao left the pavilion, they immediately rushed to the palace to meet Cixi and Guangxu and report the results of the negotiations with Qin Zheng. In fact, Cixi and Guangxu did not think of letting overseas Chinese perform three bows and nine bows, but in any case, overseas Chinese are still the courtiers of the Qing court in terms of name, if they don't bow down, then what kind of ministers are they?

So Cixi immediately ordered to send the eunuch Wan Haicheng as an envoy, with the official uniforms, crowns, pearls, boots and other things that had been prepared long ago, and rushed to the pavilion to give Qin Zheng and teach Qin Zheng to bow down. Moreover, Cixi also turned the door and told Wan Hai to be kind and comforting to overseas Chinese.

Although Wan Haicheng and his party only sent clothes to Qin Zheng, as long as the people in the palace were ordered to come out, they could be regarded as ministers, so according to etiquette, Qin Zheng was indeed required to go to the door of the pavilion to greet him. And even if he was ready to kowtow, he didn't care about this etiquette, so Qin Zheng led Deng Yongjian, Liu Hongjie, Zhang Jianping and others to the door of the pavilion to greet Wan Hai and his party.