Prince Qing and Li Jingfang came to the door of the palace, and they were not busy going in, but to help the guards guarding the palace, and first went to the palace to call a eunuch with status to come out, preferably Li Lianying, if Li Lianying couldn't come out, then Cui Yugui would be fine, and then Liu Xiang, in short, one must be called, and at the same time, Prince Qing also gave the guards 1,000 taels of silver for their hard work.

Cui Yugui is now the second eunuch in the palace after Li Lianying, and Li Lianying is listed as the "second general of Humm" next to Cixi, he was an errand in Prince Qing's palace when he was a child, because of some martial arts foundation, he was recommended by Prince Qing to enter the palace to act in the Shengping Department troupe, which won the favor of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and has been able to make a career since then. During the Guangxu period, he was promoted to the second chief manager (the chief manager is Li Lianying), and the blue top was worn with three ranks (Li Lian was the second rank).

And Liu Xiang, also known as Liu Desheng, is Cixi's full-time hair-combing eunuch, known as "combing Liu" in the palace, and is also Li Lianying's godson, although he does not have the power of Li Lianying and Cui Yugui, but with his one-handed combing skills, he also won Cixi's favor, and won Cixi's personal palace maid Rong'er as his wife. It was not uncommon for eunuchs to marry palace maids in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but being able to marry Cixi's personal palace maid Rong'er shows that this "combing Liu" is also a powerful eunuch in the palace.

The guards naturally knew Prince Qing, and they couldn't help but sell the prince a face, not to mention the huge sum of 1,000 taels of silver, and it was not difficult to find these eunuchs, so the guards collected the money and arranged for two people to go into the palace to find someone.

While Prince Qing and Li Jingfang were waiting, Rong Lu and Wang Wenshao also rushed to the palace gate, and the four of them met, Wang Wenshao said in a trembling voice: "How did you get to such a point?"

Prince Qing smiled bitterly and said, "One hundred secrets, one hundred secrets!" I thought of other things, but it was just that something happened to the people in the palace, and it was not good to find anyone, and I wanted to come to the head of overseas Chinese, and these minions were too indulgent to them on weekdays. ”

Wang Wenshao stomped his feet and said, "These damn minions, dare to make money from this oil pot? But this overseas Chinese is too, isn't it over if you give it to him? ”

Rong Lu said: "It's too late to say all this now, let's think about how to deal with the aftermath, I don't know if the Queen Mother knows about it now?"

Prince Qing said: "I don't know yet, I have sent someone to go in to find someone, and when someone comes out and asks, I will know." ”

At this time, Li Jingfang said: "My lords, whether the Queen Mother knows about this matter or not, but we can't offend overseas Chinese this time because of this matter, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

When the other three heard this, they were all silent, in fact, there was no need for Li Jingfang to say, the three of them also knew that they must not offend overseas Chinese at this time, let alone offend overseas Chinese in this way, but no one can say what kind of mentality and attitude Lafayette has. Rong Lu also sighed and said, "Let's act when the opportunity arises." ”

When a few people were talking, they saw a person hurriedly coming out of the palace, it was the chief manager Li Lianying, and several people immediately greeted them, only to see Li Lianying's face was not very good-looking, and before everyone could speak, Li Lianying smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Wang, Rongzhongtang, Wang Zhongtang and the eldest prince, you have come just in time, the queen mother and the emperor are waiting to see you? ”

When a few people heard this, their hearts couldn't help but sink, it seemed that Cixi knew, otherwise she wouldn't have summoned everyone immediately. In fact, from the hearts of several people, it is best not to let Cixi know, because once Cixi knows, she will rely on variables, even if she settles things out in private, it is not too late to let Cixi know. But it seems that this hope has been disappointed.

It turned out that after Wan Haicheng returned to the palace, his mood calmed down a little, and he also found that this matter was a little difficult to end, because the official uniform given to Qin Zheng was brought back by himself, how could he reply to Lafayette? It could not be said that overseas Chinese did not give him silver, so he brought back the official uniform! Wan Haicheng knew in his heart that he could not say this at all. And making up lies and putting the blame on overseas Chinese, Wan Haicheng also understands that this can't deceive Lafayette at all. Therefore, Wan Haicheng thought about it, so he could only go to his godfather Li Lianying first and ask him to give him an idea.

So Wan Haicheng quietly found Li Lianying and told Li Lianying what happened. And after listening to Wan Haicheng's speech, Li Lianying was also frightened with cold hands and feet, he is not Wan Haicheng, I don't know the severity of the matter, what kind of characters are overseas Chinese, now the entire Qing Dynasty can't afford to provoke overseas Chinese, even Lafayette wants to go back to Beijing to see the faces of overseas Chinese, and Wan Haicheng actually went to ask overseas Chinese for money, and as a result, he offended them, this is okay, and he is his own godson, and he can't get rid of it.

Li Lianying was angry and remorseful, she knew this, she should have reminded him when Wan Haicheng left the palace, but this slave was too blind, and he even dared to fish for the money in the oil pot. Therefore, Li Lianying was furious, slapped Wan Haicheng more than a dozen times, and scolded: "What is a dead thing, lard covers the heart, and overseas Chinese dare to ask for money? Sooner or later, they will die in the eyes of money." ”

Although he was slapped more than a dozen times, Wan Haicheng didn't realize it, thinking that Li Lianying was just normal anger, so he knelt on the ground and said: "Godfather, it's not that the son is greedy for money, but this overseas Chinese is really too blind, and the son has been a bad boy for so many years, and I haven't seen ......."

Before he finished speaking, Li Lianying raised her leg and kicked him twice, scolding: "What is a dead thing, you are still dreaming of the Spring and Autumn Festival, what are the overseas Chinese, even the foreigners have been beaten by them very farth, how did we escape to Xi'an, even Lafayette did not dare to offend the overseas Chinese, you still dare to go to the overseas Chinese to ask for money, and you don't know how you died." ”

Now Lafayette is afraid that the foreigners are terribly afraid, and the foreigners have been defeated by the overseas Chinese, which shows that the overseas Chinese are more interested than the foreigners, and this is not a series of games of "sticks, tigers, and chickens", so whether Lafayette is afraid of the overseas Chinese, this result is not difficult to deduce. He actually went to ask overseas Chinese for money, and he really died by himself.

After thinking about this, Wan Haicheng couldn't help but tremble with fright, knelt on the ground, kowtowed to Li Lianying again and again, and said, "Godfather, it's my son who is confused for a while, you can save your son." ”

At this moment, a palace maid came to Li Lianying and said, "Chief Administrator, the old ancestor has asked, why hasn't Gonggong Wan come back yet, this is the point where the old ancestor rests, and the old ancestor and Long Live Lord are still waiting for him to reply? If Gonggong Wan comes back, hurry up...... ......Isn't this Wan Gonggong? How to ......"

Li Lianying knew that this palace maid was Cixi's personal palace maid Rong'er, sighed and said, "Rong'er, if you go back to your ancestors, Xiao Haizi will come back and talk back immediately." ”

Rong'er also knew that there must be something here, but she didn't dare to ask more, so she hurriedly agreed and left in a hurry. And Wan Haicheng hugged Li Lianying's thigh, and said with tears in his eyes: "Godfather, godfather, you must save your son." ”

Li Lianying let out a long sigh, shook off Wan Haicheng, and said, "It's not that I don't want to save you, I'm afraid even I can't protect myself this time." Follow me to see Lafayette and Banzai, and tell Lafayette and Banzai honestly what happened, as for whether it is a kill or a disaster, it is up to Lafayette to decide. ”

As a result, after listening to Wan Haicheng's words, Cixi and Guangxu were very angry, just at this time Prince Qing, Ronglu, Wang Wenshao, and Li Jingfang asked to wait for Wei to enter the palace to find someone, and at this time Li Lianying and Cui Yugui were unable to get out of front of Cixi and Guangxu, so Zhiwei found Liu Xiang.

Although Liu Xiang was not on duty today, he was Rong'er's husband, so after hearing Rong'er say this, and hearing that Prince Qing and others were looking for him outside the palace, he understood that they were here for Wan Haicheng's matter. However, since Lafayette now knows, there is no need for him to see them, so Liu Xiang asked Rong'er to report to Cixi, and said that Prince Qing and others were waiting outside the palace.

Cixi understood as soon as she heard that these people must have come for the affairs of overseas Chinese, and she happened to discuss with them, so she asked Li Lianying to come out and lead them into the palace.

Originally, Li Jingfang's official position was low, and he was not qualified to meet the empress dowager and the emperor, but first, the court was dusty, and all etiquette was simple; second, when was it now, he couldn't tell so many rules, so he also followed Prince Qing, Rong Lu, and Wang Wenshao into the palace together.

The four of them came to the courtyard where Cixi lived, only to see Cixi and Guangxu sitting side by side on the kang, only separated by a low table, Cixi's face was pale, and Guangxu was also full of anger, but there was a hint of abuse in his eyes. And Wan Haicheng knelt on the ground, his forehead was clubbed, motionless like a dead dog. And after Li Lianying informed Cixi and Guangxu, she did not stand on Cixi's side as usual, but stood beside Wan Haicheng with her head bowed, as if she was pleading her mistakes.

And seeing the four of them coming, Guangxu immediately said: "A few of you came just in time, this damn slave did a good job, my state affairs in the Qing Dynasty fell to such a point, it was bad in the hands of such a slave, you are all important ministers of the country, and it is your fault that such a thing happened." ”

The four of them listened to Guangxu's reprimand, but they thought in their hearts, this is something that the people in the palace do, what does it matter to us? But when the emperor said this, he could only listen honestly. In fact, these four people all understood in their hearts that the emperor was scolding Huai, ostensibly to blame himself, but in fact he meant something, and he was just a scapegoat, but since the queen mother didn't speak, he had to bow his head and remain silent.

Guangxu saw that he had borrowed the topic to play, and even Cixi had nothing to say, he was quite happy in his heart, and he was still a little unsatisfied, and said: "My Qing Dynasty should also be rectified, otherwise I don't know how bad it will be......"

At this moment, Cixi coughed lightly, Guangxu was stunned, and finally did not continue to speak, but turned to Cixi and said, "Queen Mother, how to deal with this matter, you can give me an idea." ”