"Thank you, the omnipresent God, for guiding me out of my confusion through the mouth of You, the wisest and wisest guest from the Far East. Although William I was already a little drunk, he immediately understood the deep meaning of Lin Yizhe'www.biquge.info s words, "Thank you! Mr. Lim. ”

Bismarck threw a touching glance at Lin Yizhe, he turned his head to look at Moltke, and was surprised to find that Moltke, who had always been moody, had an extremely excited expression on his face, and even his body shook slightly.

"I propose, toast to the health of our distinguished friends who have come from afar." Moltke sensed Bismarck's gaze, and he froze, raised his champagne goblet, and said in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Cheers to the health of His Majesty the King, His Excellency the Prime Minister and His Excellency the General, and to the friendship between the Qing Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia!" Lin Yizhe smiled and raised his wine glass.

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

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Hong Jun's "Diary of the West": "...... After Kiel was finished, the general lord and the minister returned to Beijing first, leaving the prince and his wife to accompany him, and at eleven o'clock, he went to **** Berlin by steamer. At three o'clock on the 21st, the car arrived in Berlin. The buildings are beautiful all the way, and the roads are flat, just like the French capital and Paris. When he arrived at Po Sidan, the general lord sent the court chariot and the first-class governor to take Qinxian to live in the palace, and the supply was good. At two o'clock, the Lord came to pay his respects in person, and he was very attentive. Sit and talk for a long time, and order a boat to browse the scenery of the lake island. ”

"On the 23rd, the general lord asked to read the drill of his land division, and then went with Kunyu, and saw that his land division was extremely majestic, and all the artillery teams, horse teams, and infantry teams, their guns and cannons were neat and fine, and they could be described as the crown of the Taixi countries. When Yu did not arrive in Europe, he said that France was the first power in Europe, but the Lu Division was defeated by the Franco-Prussian War and the land was ravaged, why did it come to this? When I saw it today, I knew that Prussia rose on the side of the French couch and merged the North German states into a great power, which was not an overnight achievement. …… Puxiang invited celebrities from all walks of life in his business to invite Qin Xian to view his factory. Kunyu and Yu went to the Krupp factory, saw that the size of the guns it made, are extremely sophisticated, the owner of the factory is quite interested in selling its new breech gun to China, Kunyu said that although the gun is fine, but the gun bolt is slightly insufficient, if you can try to improve, absorb the multinational cannon style, make up for its shortcomings, when it can be popular in the world, the factory owner Baron Krupp admired, said that he was willing to try to make this cannon for China. Kun Yu ordered 100 Krupp 7-and-a-half (75 mm) guns, and both the general minister and the factory owner were very happy, and the general minister strictly instructed the Ke family to pay attention to the quality of the guns and not to delay the construction period. Kunyu also purchased a 50-ton steam hammer from the gram factory. …… Yu saw that there were many factories and courtyards in Puguo, and the equipment made of them, from the huge cannon to the small tools, was extremely strong. Gap's strict and rigid nature of life is that although his industrial start was later than that of Britain and France, he has a tendency to catch up later. From the rest of the view, this time the whole country is weak and invincible to the law, but the unification of Germany will not be stopped......"

On the 28th, the general minister invited to visit the shipyards, Qin Xian felt his hospitality, and now planned to return to England after the completion of the factory, and return to China together with the ship's crew. …… Everything on this trip is due to the blessings of the country, and everything is appropriate, which can be comforted by Chen's thoughts......"

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Beijing, Forbidden City, Zhongcui Palace.

"Sister, please see, these treasures are all claimed by the envoys from Britain and France." The Empress Dowager Cixi pointed to the treasures in the old collection of the Yuanmingyuan on several cases, and said to the Empress Dowager Ci'an with a smile.

Ci'an's gaze swept over the golden pagodas, golden Buddha statues, jade ornaments, and bronzes placed there one by one, and finally landed on the calligraphy and paintings.

Ci'an doesn't like luxury by nature, and is extremely partial to calligraphy and painting, although the expression on her face seems to be very peaceful and quiet, but Cixi, who knows her character, knows that at this moment, her heart is rippling.

Ci'an's eyes stared at the seals of those calligraphy and paintings, and he casually pulled out a book with a yellow cover, and Cixi couldn't help but be a little excited when she saw the four words written in the black box in the upper left corner of the book's cover.

Those four words are the "Yongle Ceremony"!

"This "Yongle Canon" is also coming back from foreigners?" Ci'an gently flipped the pages with her hand and asked.

"If you go back to the Queen Mother, this "Yongle Grand Canon" was collected from England by the envoys this time, with a total of forty-five volumes." Liu Chengyin hurriedly replied, "Since the envoy was invited to visit the country of Prussia, in order to prevent loss, I sent these treasures back by ship first. ”

"Lin Kunyu is really careful." Ci'an bowed slightly, his gaze still on the page, "You must know that this time to claim the national treasure, you can't just think about asking for pearls and jade gold objects, this classic book of the past dynasties should also be on the list of recourse." ”

"He's really careful." Cixi said with a smile, "If you want to say that his errand is really not easy, in the capital of France, he was bombed by assassins, but fortunately there is no danger." ”

"Have you handed over those murderers?" Ci'an raised his eyebrows, put down the book in his hand, and asked.

"It's been handed back, and the murderers who were handed over to us by the Italian State for disposal were also taken on the ship and transported back." Cixi said.

"These fanatics who have lost their conscience dare to assassinate my Qing envoys, and their crimes deserve to be punished." Ci'an Zhengse said, "I have to let foreigners know something, if not, I'm afraid there will be such things in the future." ”

"What my sister said is that she has been strictly interrogated by the Criminal Department, and in accordance with international law, she will be executed at noon, and foreign ministers will be ordered to watch it, so as to show the prestige and law." Cixi told Ci'an what to do with the Italian murderers.

"That's very good." Ci'an nodded and said, "Those foreign envoys are used to being domineering, and this time, it is also a lesson for them." ”

"When the hour comes, there may be a gunshot, my sister will remind my sister first, I am afraid that the cold gun will go off and surprise my sister." Cixi smiled and reminded Ci'an.

"It's not like you and my sister haven't experienced anything, it's just a little musket, like setting off a cannonball, what's so terrible." Ci'an smiled and shook his head, signaling not to worry.

Different from the chatter and laughter of the two queen mothers, the Qingliu officials who were ordered to watch the execution in the noon gate square at this time, like the foreign ministers present, all had gloomy faces.

The Noon Gate is the main gate of the Forbidden City, located on the north-south axis of the Forbidden City. This gate is in the middle of the sun, and it is located as the meridian, so it is called the noon gate.

There are Duan Gate, Tiananmen Gate, Daqing Gate in front of the noon gate, and there is Taihe Gate behind it. On both sides of each door are neatly arranged corridors. The east, west and north sides are connected by three city platforms, surrounding a square square. The north gatehouse, nine rooms wide, the top of the yellow tile hall with heavy eaves. There are thirteen rooms on the east and west city platforms, row up from both sides of the gatehouse to the south, the shape is like a goose wing, also called the wild goose wing building. In the east and west, the north and south ends of the goose wing building each have a heavy eaves and a pavilion with a spire. The majestic noon gate, like three mountains embracing, five peaks protrude, majestic momentum, so commonly known as five phoenix towers.

The noon gate is divided into two parts, the lower is the pier platform, three doors are opened in the middle, there is a folding door on both sides, commonly known as "bright three dark five". On both sides of the pier, there are horse roads for going up and down the city platform. The five door openings have their own uses: the middle gate is dedicated to the emperor, in addition, only when the emperor is married, the queen can enter the palace from the middle door, and then the champion who has passed the palace examination selection, the list eye, and the flower, can go out of the palace from the middle door after announcing the results of the palace examination. The east gate is for civil and military officials to enter and exit. The west gate is for the princes of the clan to enter and exit. The two doors are only open for large events. On the pier platform, there is a gatehouse in the middle, the face is wide and nine, and the top of the palace is heavy. At both ends of the corridor, there are square pavilions with heavy eaves and spires. There are three bell and drum pavilions on both sides of the main building, every time the emperor comes to the Temple of Heaven and the altar of the earth to worship, then rings the bell, to the temple to worship the drums, and every large-scale event then the bells and drums ring together. The emperor gave spring cakes in the beginning of spring, gave cold cakes on the Dragon Boat Festival, gave flower cakes on the Chongyang Day, and issued the following year's almanac on the first day of the tenth lunar month, all of which were held at noon. On the first day of the lunar month every year, the "awarding" ceremony of promulgating the calendar of the following year is held at noon. In the event of a major war and the triumph of the army, a "prisoner ceremony" was held at the noon gate to present prisoners of war to the emperor.

In the Ming Dynasty, the "court staff" of the emperor to punish the ministers was also held at the noon gate. At first it was a symbolic beating, but later it developed into a beating to death. It is spread by the folk that "launch the noon gate beheading". In fact, in the Qing Dynasty, the front of the palace was extremely strict, and the beheading of prisoners was not here, but had to be sent to the execution ground in Chai City or Vegetable Market.

But today, Wumen Square really served as an execution ground.

"The envoy was unharmed in the law, only a cheap servant died, but now he wants three people in Italy to pay for his life, and the word will go out, which will make Siyi chill and criticize me for being **** and narrow."

"The saint has a cloud: 'People are born with good nature. And to show goodness, so to set up a king for good, this providence also'. The emperor is the lord of the four seas, the people are obedient, but also the desire for the face of the sky, there is a heart for goodness, the emperor is holy and virtuous, if the world is governed by benevolence and benevolence, and the four Yi are harmonious, then the world is grateful for virtue, and naturally affects the stubborn. Broadcast and teach outside the eight wildernesses, and flow benevolence benefits the table of the nine circles. Courtesy and concession, the above because of the moral words and chapters, is my **** has always been the national policy. The ancestors of the emperors did not uphold the gift of leniency and benevolence, in order to show the court's forgiveness and tenderness, but now they want to kill Yiren at the noon gate to show intimidation, it is really putting the cart before the horse! ”

Prince Gong heard the discussion of the Qingliu officials led by Song Jin from a distance, and couldn't help but sneer again and again.

"It is the nature of the people to be robbed, the strong will be thieves, and the weak will be humble, regardless of kindness and righteousness, and it is their nature to look at it from ancient times. Since they were stationed in our court, there are few people who have not caused trouble, so it can be seen that educating Mu En is not enough to feel it. Virtue is soft in China, and punishment is in power, although it is not shackled, it should also be punished. Some Qingliu officials also expressed their opposition, "Wanting to influence and make him feel graceful is like playing the harp to a cow, and it is better to punish him with power than to influence Huairen." The emperor's intentions can be described as good. ”