In the past few days, Cixi is in a good mood, every day before and after the court, she is in the palace, and often orders An Dehai to take out the things that Guan Zhuofanjin, the governor of Jiangsu, to enjoy.

The objects offered by Guan Zhuofan are divided into two parts. Most of them were handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for storage, and the real good things were handed over to the two queens by An Dehai.

This small part, naturally, is the essence, mainly jewelry, most of which are purchased from the foreign market, which is rare to see in the capital, which is exactly the temperament of Cixi.

She is the person who cherishes her face the most, and she is also very harsh on her makeup, and the jewels in the palace are genuine, but the things used by the royal family, they are those styles over and over again, and they have long been tired of seeing them. This time, I liked these novel and ingenious Western jewelry very much, and when I tried them on, An Dehai always pretended to be admirable on the side, which made her feel that Guan Zhuofan's thoughts were commendable.

She put down the dazzling diamond brooch in her hand and sighed regretfully—it was a good thing, but unfortunately she didn't have the opportunity to wear it. What is the situation of those Western women wearing such things on their chests?

Not ashamed, she shook her head, took the delicate enamel box and opened it, and inside were four small bottles.

This thing is the most haode Western perfume, An Dehai quietly told her, Guan Zhuofan confessed, four bottles of perfume, corresponding to spring, summer, autumn and winter, such a thing, there is only one in Shanghai.

There is only one in Shanghai, and naturally there is only one in China. To whom does the only thing belong? When Zhong Cui Palace and the Empress Dowager Ci'an were dividing things together, her eyes. Let's focus on this box of perfume first.

"Sister. Something like that. Does it work? The Empress Dowager Ci'an said in surprise, "When people hear it, they will think that we are not dignified." ”

Cixi didn't like to hear this, and said lightly: "I don't think there's anything undignified, isn't it just the same as the incense powder we use?" ”

"Then you can take it," the Empress Dowager Ci'an smiled embarrassedly, "I don't dare." ”

Cixi was so happy that Ci'an didn't dare, so this box of perfume. It was placed under the name of the West Palace.

However, the perfume is taken back, and if it is really used, it is also a little weak. These perfumes have a strong fragrance, and if they let the ministers under them smell it when they listen to the government, they are really a little "undignified". So I had to sprinkle a little bit after going down, or even before going to sleep, and enjoy myself.

But there was another thing that made her happy. Because there is one thing that is unique to her but not that the Empress Dowager Ci'an does not have.

20,000 taels of silver.

Foreign officials offered things to the Queen Mother. At this time, there was no trend, and giving money was a unique thing, because it was not tolerated.

However, Guan Zhuofan just did it! Forty silver tickets of five hundred taels passed through An Dehai's hands and quietly handed over to the personal palace maid Zhuzi, who was in charge of the accounts for the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Although Cixi is a person who never likes a lot of money, she does not really lack 20,000 silver. As the queen mother, she pays 60,000 taels of silver every year, including 15,000 taels each for the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, and 30,000 yuan for the second half of the year.

What she is happy about is that she regards these 20,000 taels of silver as Guan Zhuofan's unique loyalty to herself, and Guan Zhuofan's help to the other party's home in the past year, she has also heard about it through An Dehai.

"Grandpa Zhao has already renovated all the house, and the place is bigger, just like new." An Dehai said with added vinegar, "The old lady is looking forward to when the queen mother will go back to see." ”

As a daughter, Cixi was a very filial person, but at the same time a very good-looking person. The grandfather's mansion in Chaoyangmen's inner home is her maiden home, but it is quite old and does not look magnificent, so she is reluctant to go back, for fear of making people laugh. Now, according to An Dehai, it was Guan Zhuofan who helped his brother Zhaoxiang to renovate the house.

Cixi thought to herself, it was really interesting, as if he had earned money outside and used it for himself.

This absurd idea startled her, and she didn't understand how she could have such an inexplicable idea.

She didn't know that what was even more inexplicable was Guan Zhuofan.

The silver he gave to Bai and Hu Qingqing every year was also 20,000.

*

*

Guan Zhuofan's method for Prince Gong was used to deal with the stubborn Waren, and it was very effective.

A sentence in the decree was "The scholars of the university should choose another place to set up a museum, pay attention to astronomical arithmetic, and the students recruited by the Tongwen Museum will work hard with each other to achieve practical results." ”

Cixi saw it and knew it in her heart. Naturally, she never believed that Wu Ren could guarantee any talents, and thought that it would be good to force him like this, lest he always make troubles in foreign affairs, so she nodded in agreement. Although the Empress Dowager Ci'an was to protect the widow, she couldn't see the taste of Pili Yangqiu in this edict, and felt that it would be good if she could ensure that a few people came out, so she readily agreed.

This time, it made Wuren miserable. This is the way to attack the shield of the son with the spear of the son, and the edict is issued clearly, and it is known to the whole court, and there is no room to move and dodge, how is it good?

His own words of "China is so big, why is there no talent" and "there must be people who are skilled in its skills", which were originally generalizations on the road of reason, but Guan Zhuofan caught the sore foot and asked him to point out a few people, where can he do it? If you say that a few people are reported to come out to prevaricate, but the edict indicates that it is necessary to "temper each other" with other people's Tongwenguan, how can this be tempered? Under the rebuttal, it is inevitable that the original form will be revealed and jokes will be made.

Besides, as a master of science, he was also a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, the nominal prime minister, so he couldn't do such a bad thing. So he honestly repeated, saying that his previous excerpt was inappropriate, "there is no one in my mind, and I dare not guarantee it."

Feng Rui was frustrated, and he couldn't help but be discouraged, and Xu Tong, who had always been a teacher with him, was actually in his ear, and Ai Ai said something to the effect that he heard that Guan Zhuofan was doing foreign affairs in Jiangsu, and it seemed that he had achieved some practical results.

Everyone knows that now the two ends of foreign affairs, one end is in the capital, presided over by King Gong, and the other end is in Shanghai, presided over by Guan Zhuofan. Now even Xu Tong, who has always stood with him, said this, which made Wu Ren a little disheartened, and his opposition to foreign affairs was not as fierce as before.

Unexpectedly, King Gong saw that Guan Zhuofan's first method had achieved results, and he was very energetic, thinking that Wu Ren was the leader of the anti-Westernization faction, why not take this opportunity to knock him again? So he refused to let it go, and took out Guan Zhuofan's second method, played the two palaces, summoned Wu Ren, and planned to send him another post of prime minister.

This is even more embarrassing - with the respect of the emperor, it is okay to talk about it on weekdays, how can you really deal with foreign devils? However, the system was closed, although he knew that the king was joking with himself, he still had to harden his head and go to the Yangxin Palace to meet the two palaces.

"Master Wa, you are an old minister of the Three Dynasties, a person from the first emperor Tejian. No matter what the imperial court does, it will naturally have to borrow your prestige extraordinarily. Cixi had a tacit understanding with King Gong, and said at this moment, "Now I plan to send you another messenger, who is also the prime minister, to walk in the yamen of the prime minister's affairs, what do you think?" ”

"Talking back to the Queen Mother," Wu Ren really couldn't say anything about his suffering, so he could only think of words to excuse himself, "The minister is old and decrepit, and he is really unable to walk in the prime minister's yamen." ”

"The Prime Minister's Yamen is the place where foreign affairs are in charge. Speaking of dealing with foreigners, it turns out that you have to have a famous place like you to be able to hold down the position, so why do you want to refuse? ”

"The minister......" Wu Ren was speechless, and he was anxious, and he couldn't help but tell the truth, "The minister really doesn't know much about foreign affairs, even if he tries his best, he is afraid that he will make a mistake." The homework in the study is a first-class event, and the Queen Mother's ministers are invited to do their duty here. ”

At this moment, even the Empress Dowager Ci'an heard that Wu Ren was really unwilling to take this position. She turned her head to look at Cixi, and said to King Gong below: "Sixth master, since this is the case, I think it will be free, Master Wu is also old, and in the end, it is still the emperor's homework that matters." ”

Wu Ren used the emperor's homework as an excuse, which was a reasonable reason, and the meaning of his words was that he did not want to say more about foreign affairs from now on. Cixi and King Gong got such a statement from him, so they naturally didn't think much of it, so they went downhill with the words of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, and they all agreed.

Wu Ren breathed a sigh of relief, kowtowed and thanked him, and was led out by King Gong, and today's court was over. Cixi and Ci'an got down from the throne, each took the eunuch's hand, went out of the heart hall through the back door, and walked side by side to the two imperial sedan chairs parked in front of the Yongshou Gate, and wanted to go back to the palace.

Before the sedan chair arrived, she heard Cixi gently "yo", and pulled the sleeve of the Empress Dowager Ci'an to show her eyes.

I saw a guard standing not far away, tall, slightly bowing his head, the waist card of the imperial guard, shining silver under the sun, not Guan Zhuofan, but who is it?

*

(On Monday, I asked you for a recommendation ticket, xiexie.) ）

*(To be continued......)