The sedan chair shook slightly, and Yuan Shikai also opened his eyes, only to hear the voice of Yuan Ji, who turned outside the sedan curtain: "Master, Jisi has arrived." ”

Yuan Shikai said: "Get off the sedan chair." ”

The sedan chair landed, the sedan chair behind the sedan man lifted the sedan pole, Yuan Shikai came out of the sedan chair, at this time the sky was just slightly bright, the road was still dark and dull, the faint lights had not been extinguished, and there were rare 4 or 5 figures at the palace gate.

Yuan Shikai walked over and only heard someone say, "The comfort pavilion is here." ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly bowed down and saluted: "Lord, you have already arrived, ashamed." ”

Prince Qing smiled and said: "You just rushed back from Baoding, it is common sense to be late, not to mention that it is not time yet." ”

At this time, in addition to Zhang Zhidong, the other military ministers Qu Hongzhen, Prince Zaifeng, Shi Xu, Na Tong, Lu Chuanlin, etc., had already arrived, so Yuan Shikai greeted several other people one by one. However, the others were not as polite as Prince Qing, and their greetings to Yuan Shikai were only a little nodding, and Prince Zaifeng and Natong simply ignored Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shikai also knew that these people didn't deal with him, and he didn't care, anyway, his etiquette was fulfilled, so he only talked to Prince Qing. At this time, the seven ministers of military aircraft were divided into three groups, and the three Manchu ministers of Prince Alcohol Zaifeng, Shixu, and Natong were in one group; Qu Hongzhen and Lu Chuanlin were in one place; and the Manchu-Han combination of Prince Qing Yixuan and Yuan Shikai was another group.

While he was talking, he only heard the sound of footsteps, and another sedan chair came, and it turned out to be Zhang Zhidong. Everyone also came over, greeting Zhang Zhidong, among the 8 ministers of military aircraft, only Zhang Zhidong has no party and no group, but he is the only one left among the four famous ministers of Zhongxing, senior, prestige, and deep cultivation in the local area for many years, protégés are all over the place, but to maintain detachment in the military aircraft, the other 7 people dare not be contemptuous.

Zhang Zhidong also returned the salute to everyone one by one, and when it was Yuan Shikai's turn, Zhang Zhidong smiled and said, "When did the comfort pavilion return to Beijing?"

Yuan Shikai said: "Lao Xiangshuai asked, Shikai arrived last night, and came after going home and changing into court clothes." ”

Zhang Zhidong smiled and said, "It's hard work to comfort the pavilion so much. ”

Yuan Shikai said: "There, there, they are all doing their best for national affairs, how can it be said that it is hard." ”

Zhang Zhidong said: "It's better to be young." ”

In fact, Yuan Shikai was already 48 years old at this time, but among the ministers of military aircraft, except for Prince Zaifeng, Yuan Shikai was the youngest, so Zhang Zhidong was not wrong to say that he was a young man.

Just as everyone was talking, the palace door opened, and Li Lianying came out of the palace and said, "All the adults have arrived." ”

Everyone hurriedly greeted them again, and Prince Qing lowered his voice and said, "Manager Li, how is the Queen Mother feeling today?"

Li Lianying shook her head and said in a low voice: "It's still not good, when Lafayette got up to comb his hair just now, Liu didn't know what to do with his hair, he didn't go along with Lafayette's wishes, and he was beaten 20 times. ”

This "comb Liu" is called Liu Desheng, is a eunuch in the palace who combs Cixi's hair, has served Cixi to comb her hair for more than ten years, not only comb her hair well, but also very good at telling jokes, every time she combs her hair, while laughing, Cixi loves to listen to him tell jokes, and trusts him a lot, and even gave her personal palace maid Rong'er to comb her hair Liu Jiang's wife, I can't imagine that even combing Liu was beaten today, which shows how bad Cixi's mood is.

Originally, Cixi's mood was very good some time ago, because people around the left and right said that as soon as the British and French expeditionary forces arrived, East China ** would be wiped out, Cixi was of course happy, she was not worried that the British and French expeditionary forces defeated East China ** will be unfavorable to the Qing court, foreigners just want money, land, and business, but they will not shake the foundation of the imperial court, but East China ** is the life of the imperial court, it can be said that the arrival of the expeditionary force is the only chance for the Qing court to continue its life.

When she received the news, Cixi was so angry that she smashed her favorite jade porcelain cup, and then for three days, she didn't want to hear the news of East China.

But the problem is that Huadong ** then published a series of articles on the [Seven Days Talks], attacking the Qing court, and also completely pushing the Qing court to the cusp, and Cixi can't pretend to be an ostrich anymore, so she can only cheer up her spirits, but all she has received in the past few days is bad news, and it is East China** Officially and publicly proposed to overthrow the Qing court, Cixi's mood will certainly not be good there, her mood is bad, the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace will follow the bad luck, as long as it is bad luck, touch Cixi's reflex arc, the light is a mouth, the heavy is beaten to death, in the past few days, the palace has been killed 4 eunuchs, 3 palace maids, more than 50 people were beaten, more than 100 people were beaten in the mouth.

Now the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace are like frightened birds, always worrying, walking with their feet, for fear that something will annoy Cixi, and if they can not serve in front of Cixi, try not to go, but Cixi always has to be served in front of her, so every time she goes to Cixi, it is like rushing to the execution ground, trembling, if you come back after serving, you will be as happy as the rest of your life after the catastrophe. The atmosphere in the entire palace was extremely tense, and many people were about to be driven crazy.

However, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty also couldn't come up with any good way, every time they saw Cixi they were speechless, this time Yuan Shikai made a special trip back from Baoding, saying that the foreigners had a way to deal with East China. So Cixi officially summoned the ministers of military aircraft to discuss.

In fact, except for Yuan Shikai, several other people entered the palace every day during this time, and they all knew that Cixi was in a bad mood these days, but there was always a sense of proportion before, and they only scolded the ministers at most, so they didn't feel much embarrassed, but they didn't expect that even combing their hair Liu was beaten, so they were all a little nervous, and Prince Qing immediately took out a silver ticket of 1,000 taels of silver from his sleeve, handed it to Li Lianying, and said, "Thank you for the reminder." ”

Li Lianying was not polite, took the silver ticket, stuffed it into her sleeve, and said, "A few adults, let's enter the palace with our family." Saying that, he turned around and led the way into the palace, Prince Qing immediately took the lead, followed behind Li Lianying, followed by Zhang Zhidong, then Qu Hongzhen, Prince Zaifeng, Shixu, Natong, Lu Chuanlin, etc., and finally Yuan Shikai.

The group entered the noon gate, passed through the three major halls, and came to the Cining Palace where Cixi lived, at this time Cixi and Guangxu were dressed neatly, separated by a small table, sitting side by side in front, Cixi was expressionless, and Guangxu also looked solemn. And after the people visited, they were lined up on both sides.

Guangxu first picked up a few pieces of paper from the small table and said, "This is an editorial article published by overseas Chinese yesterday, you have all read it." ”

Yesterday was the last article in the "Seven Days Talks" series, and it was also a formal proposal to overthrow the Qing court, and of course everyone had already read it, Guangxu said: "This gang of rebels has already openly rebelled, what do you say should be done? Yuan Shikai, you said that Britain and France have a way to deal with this gang of rebels, then you should talk about it first. ”

Yuan Shikai said: "Back to the emperor, the British and French ministers hope that the imperial court will issue an edict to prohibit all merchants in our Qing Dynasty from trading with the rebels, so as to cut off their sources of materials. ”

Guangxu pondered for a while and said, "What do you think of the plan of Britain and France?"

Na Tong first said: "The queen mother, the emperor, the minister thinks this plan is feasible." ”

Guangxu said: "Oh! ”

Natong said: "Although the bandits are strong, but only in Shandong, the product is limited, so a supply of materials, must be purchased from other places to obtain, according to the ministers, the things needed by the bandits, eight or nine out of ten are purchased from Shanghai, so if the imperial court decrees, strictly order all merchants and officials in the Qing Dynasty not to trade with the bandits, as little as 3 months, more than half a year, the bandits will die by themselves, so that the court does not spend a soldier, a gun, a cannon, but also can remove this big trouble. ”

When Guangxu heard this, his expression was also quite eager to try, and he wanted to say something, but he couldn't help it, turned to Cixi and said, "What does the Queen Mother think?"

Cixi's face was expressionless, her eyes seemed to be together, and she said, "What do other people think?"

The others were silent, but except for Prince Alcohol Zaifeng, most of the people showed disapproving looks in front of their eyes, because Zhang Zhidong, Qu Hongzhen, Lu Chuanlin, Yuan Shikai and others are very clear in their hearts, that Tong's suggestion is not feasible at all, first of all, the control of the Qing court has long been much less than a pity, to put it mildly, now the holy decree of the Qing court is to make a little better around Beijing, once out of Hebei, it is basically no different from waste paper, whether the local respect is respected or not, it just depends on their own interests, if it is in line with their own interests, of course, they can pretend to be obedient to the court, otherwise they can be yang and yin.

If it was before the battle of the Taiwan Strait, it might still have a little effect, because most people were not optimistic about East China at that time, but now East China has defeated the expeditionary fleet, who dares to go against East China at this time, and the merchants who broke off trade with East China before the Battle of the Taiwan Strait are now in a hurry to restore relations with East China, at this time, the Qing court issued an order to prohibit merchants from trading with East China, I am afraid that no one will obey orders.

Moreover, during this period of time, East China has continuously published commentary articles, pointing the finger directly at the Qing court, accusing the Qing court of setting up all kinds of obstacles, restricting and interfering with the war in East China for its own selfishness, and even causing great dissatisfaction among the people and localities against the Qing court, which has made the Qing court sit on the crater, and now the Qing court has issued an order to prohibit merchants from trading with East China, isn't it a solid accusation against East China, and the Qing court thinks that they are not dying fast enough.

However, although everyone understood it in their hearts, no one spoke for a while, mainly because these truths could not be said directly, and they did not know Cixi's attitude, if it was not in line with Cixi's mind, it would be self-defeating.

The room was quiet for more than a minute, and no one spoke, Cixi said: "What's the matter, no one has spoken?" Yuan Shikai, you brought this back, you say it first." ”