Although the end of May has not yet entered the midsummer season, but can already feel the obvious heat of the weather, although it is 9 o'clock in the morning, but the sky in Beijing is dark clouds, not a trace of sunshine can be seen, but the temperature is not cool, stuffy and hot, it seems to be overwhelming, experienced people know that a heavy rain is coming.

And the Forbidden City, which is already extremely solemn and quiet on weekdays, is even more depressed at this time, and the eunuchs and palace maids are extremely careful in their walking movements, not to mention that they dare not make a big move, and even speak in a low voice, for fear of alarming Lafayette, even the most trusted eunuch Li Lianying of Lafayette, and the most favored county lord of Deling recently, are also cautious. Because everyone who is on an errand in the palace knows that Lafayette's mood is very bad these days, and more than 10 eunuchs and palace maids have been beaten, and even Eunuch Liu, who has been serving Lafayette to comb his hair, somehow annoyed Lafayette yesterday, and slapped himself more than 20 mouths, only to hit his cheeks red and swollen, and the corners of his mouth were bleeding, so he got a sentence from Lafayette: "Forget it." "Every day near the worship room, you can hear the sound of "popping" boards.

At this time, in the military aircraft department, 8 military aircraft ministers were all present, but no one was handling official business, but they sat upright with their eyes closed, as if 8 mud bodhisattvas. Fortunately, there are two large pieces of ice in the room, which is a bit cool, but the atmosphere is still depressing. Outside the military aircraft department, the waiters and others also stood motionless.

I saw that the door curtain was lifted, and all the ministers of military aircraft opened their eyes together, and saw that it was Li Lianying who came in from outside, and whispered: "Princes, lords, the queen mother and the emperor are recruiting you at the Palace of Heart Cultivation, please come with the slaves." ”

Prince Qing, the foreman of the military aircraft, immediately got up, greeted him, and whispered: "Gonggong Li, how is the Queen Mother feeling today." ”

Li Lianying shook her head, and said in a voice that was small, but could be heard by everyone in the room: "It's still like that, an hour ago, I fined Lao Zhou 20 palms! ”

Prince Qing nodded, bowed his hand slightly, and said, "Thank you, father-in-law." As he spoke, he took out a silver ticket from his sleeve and stuffed it to Li Lianying.

Li Lianying understood, owed again, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please come with the slaves." As he spoke, he turned around and was about to leave, but Yuan Shikai, the military minister at the bottom of the ranking, stepped forward and opened the curtain for Li Lianying to let Li Lianying out.

This is not Yuan Shikai beating Li Lianying's whiskers, but the rules of the military aircraft department, the ranking of the military aircraft minister is strictly orderly, every day when on duty, the foreman military aircraft starts, and the others follow in turn, and must not be arranged randomly, and just when everyone is about to walk to the military aircraft, the military aircraft minister at the bottom of the ranking has to trot a few steps, rush to the front of the team to lift the curtain for everyone, let others in, and when he gets off work, he also lifts the curtain, and waits for everyone else to leave, before the last left, so the military aircraft minister at the bottom of the ranking is also commonly known as the rolling shutter military aircraft。

Prince Qing turned his head and said, "The Queen Mother is not in a good mood, let's be careful." After speaking, the leader left the military aircraft department. Everyone else also followed, and it wasn't until everyone was gone that Yuan Shikai lowered the curtain and followed quickly.

The group followed Li Lianying through several palaces and came to the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, at which time Cixi and Guangxu were sitting in the middle. After the end of the Gengzi State Change, Guangxu was not under house arrest as in the old time and space, not only still living in the palace, but also being able to participate in some government affairs in form, of course, the authority and actions have been greatly restricted, in fact, there is no real power, it is basically a tablet, but after all, you can contact government affairs, ministers, and sometimes you can say a few words, so it is much better than the situation before the Gengzi State Change.

After the 8 ministers of military aircraft gave Cixi and Guangxu a salute, they stood in two shifts, and Guangxu said: "It has been more than 10 days since overseas Chinese went to Liaodong to participate in the war, and I heard that they have won a few battles, and there is a lot of uproar outside, and even foreigners have mixed in.

With the victory of the East China government in the Battle of Tsushima, the landing battle of Lushun, and the battle of the Liaohe River, the call for commending the East China government within the Qing court became higher and higher. Of course, the Qing court was still slow to react to this, ignoring the officials' excerpts, ignoring them, and pretending to be confused, but it also disturbed Cixi and gave her a bad temper.

However, Britain, France, Japan and other countries were a little breathless, because once the Qing court officially recognized and even supported the East China government's participation in the war, it meant that the East China government would be able to participate in the war with its back to the whole of China, so with the huge manpower and materials of the whole of China, coupled with the strong military capabilities of the East China government, even Japan and Russia would have to kneel together, and the East China government might join forces with the Qing court in this regard, so Britain, France and Japan hurriedly sent envoys to China to submit official documents to the Qing court, demanding that the Qing court should continue to maintain neutrality at this time and must not favor the East China government。 Japan even demanded that the Qing court issue a formal decree to severely punish the East China government.

The Qing court could ignore the public opinion of the domestic public indignation, but the friendly countries were shocked and could not let it go, so Cixi did not dare to delay no matter how bad she was, and immediately summoned all the ministers of military aircraft to discuss. And Guangxu also fully played the role of a tablet at this time, and the words that Cixi was not easy to say were all done by Guangxu.

After listening to the emperor's words, several ministers of military aircraft hesitated for a moment, and Zhang Zhidong said: "Back to the emperor, the court can't easily express its position at this time." ”

Guangxu said: "Oh! Why?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Japan and Russia are both powerful countries in the world, and Japan and Britain, Russia and France have an alliance, although now overseas Chinese have fought a few victories, but although the final victory is really unpredictable, if the imperial court is easy to state, the consequences are unpredictable, a little carelessness is a catastrophe, when Japan and Russia were at war, the imperial court abided by neutrality, and now it can not change." ”

Guangxu hesitated for a moment before he said: "But now that public opinion is boiling, what can I do?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Back to the emperor, the matter of public opinion, the rise is also sudden, the death is also sudden, the court just ignores it, and in a few days, it will disappear, and the queen mother and the emperor don't have to bother." ”

Guangxu said again: "Britain, France, and Japan, how can they explain?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Back to the emperor, this is better, just teach the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office to negotiate with them, just tell the countries that the participation of overseas Chinese in the war has nothing to do with the imperial court, and the imperial court still abides by neutrality, and the countries will naturally have no objections." ”

At this time, Shixu suddenly said: "The Japanese minister asked the imperial court to issue an edict to question overseas Chinese, how should this be replied?"

Zhang Zhidong shook his head and said: "By all means, the imperial court abides by neutrality, Japan and Russia must not be offended, and overseas Chinese must not be neglected, the Japanese minister is still an unreasonable request and should be refused." ”

Guangxu was silent for a while before turning his head to Cixi and said, "What does the Queen Mother mean?"

Cixi's eyelids picked for a moment before she said, "Then let's do it." ”

Guangxu nodded and said, "Prince Qing." ”

Prince Qing hurriedly said, "The minister is here." ”

Guangxu said: "After a while, you will do it immediately?" Because Prince Qing is also the Minister of the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, the specific responsibility for negotiating with various countries naturally falls on Prince Qing's head.

Prince Qing said: "The minister's decree." ”

Guangxu paused, and then said, "Then what should Prince Su do?"

The ministers of military aircraft were silent for a moment, after all, this topic is too sensitive. After a long while, Cixi spoke: "Why? Don't you speak? That can't be done, the emperor and I are still waiting for you to make up your mind? Zhang Zhidong, what do you say to do with Prince Su." ”

was named by Cixi, Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but speak, and said: "Back to the Queen Mother, Prince Su is still the clan, and it should be ...... by the Zongren Mansion."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Cixi: "If the Zongren Mansion can solve it, I want to ask you what to do? Prince Su's matter is not a trivial matter, and it is not something that the Zongren Mansion can solve, so I want you to have an idea." What do you say?"

Seeing that Cixi finally let go of herself, Zhang Zhidong also breathed a sigh of relief, in fact, Cixi pointed out Zhang Zhidong's name, but it was just throwing bricks and attracting jade, and dealing with Prince Su's matter was indeed very sensitive, and it was very offensive, Cixi didn't want to force Prince Qing and Zhang Zhidong to express their position, Bi Jing's government still needed their support, but he just used Zhang Zhidong to lead the way, and by the way, he also beat this old slippery head, so he quickly bypassed Zhang Zhidong.

Shi continued: "Back to the Queen Mother, Prince Su's move is also for the sake of the court, overseas Chinese have already rebelled against the court and established themselves as kings, such a chaotic minister and thief, everyone will be punished, Prince Su just wants to take a break from the momentum of overseas Chinese, so Prince Su is not at fault, and please let the court be lenient." ”

Cixi was noncommittal, and said, "What about you?"

Na Tong said: "Back to the Queen Mother, Lord Shixu is reasonable, and I also ask the court to give Prince Su a lenient sentence." ”

They were originally accomplices with Prince Su, and Prince Su's plan to attack the Shanghai New Area was also angry with the two, and both of them also expressed their support, and each supported Prince Su with 10,000 taels of silver. Therefore, at this time, it is natural to work hard to defend Prince Su and reduce his responsibility.

Cixi pondered for a while before she said, "Yuan Shikai, what do you think?"

Yuan Shikai owed himself and said: "Back to the Queen Mother, the minister thinks that Prince Su must be severely punished, so as to serve the police." ”

Shi Xu immediately said: "Lord Yuan, what are your intentions? Isn't it because you want to be angry for overseas Chinese?"

Yuan Shikai laughed and said: "No, how can the minister be angry with overseas Chinese? ”

At this time, Cixi opened her eyes and said, "Yuan Shikai, you make it clear why you severely punish Prince Su to show the majesty of the imperial court." ”

Yuan Shikai listened to it, and he was relieved, Cixi's question also proved that his judgment was correct, in fact, Cixi also wanted to severely punish Prince Su in her heart, so of course she had no scruples.