Liu Chengyin led the eunuchs to search for a while, and found a large number of aphrodisiacs and prostitution aids presented to Emperor Tongzhi by Zaicheng and Wang Qingqijin in the dormitory. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

"This ...... Or is it the work of a courtier? ……”

Wang Dehuan trembled when he heard Liu Chengyin's voice, and saw the muscles on his old face jumping suddenly, knowing that at this moment, Liu Chengyin should have been out of anger.

After properly disposing of the body of Emperor Tongzhi and taking all the female eunuchs of the palace around Emperor Tongzhi into custody, Liu Chengyin took Wang Dehuan and other eunuchs to rush back to the "Heaven and Earth Family Spring" to report.

When Liu Chengyin got off the train and came to the "Quanshi Self-Entertainment Pavilion", where the Empress Dowager Cixi lived most often, he immediately felt the indescribable sad atmosphere that permeated here.

"In all the order I commanded?" Liu Chengyin glanced back at Wang Dehuan and asked in a low voice.

"Back to the general manager, everything is lined up according to your orders, and the slave has seen it again just now." Wang Dehuan replied in a voice that could only be heard by two people.

After coming out of the Qianqing Palace, Liu Chengyin ordered Wang Dehuan to arrange the evidence that could prove the cause of the emperor's violent death that was ready to be presented to the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, and put all the words "Minister Wang Qingqi Gong Cheng Cheng Gong Yu Lan" in the back, Wang Dehuan knew Liu Chengyin's intentions well, and quietly followed Liu Chengyin's instructions to do so.

Liu Cheng entered the pavilion, at this time the queen had already woken up, and was hugging her head and sobbing with Concubine Hui, while the Empress Dowager Cixi was sitting there in despair, and a pair of phoenix eyes that were not angry and self-righteous on weekdays were already dim at this time. Seeing Liu Chengyin coming in, she turned her face to Liu Chengyin blankly.

Liu Chengyin ...... Have you seen it? ......" Empress Dowager Cixi asked in a dumb voice.

"Back to Galeries Lafayette's words, minions...... After seeing it...... Liu Chengyin knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, "Your Majesty...... The dragon is in the sky...... Please Lafayette mourn and take care of the phoenix body......"

Hearing Liu Chengyin's answer, the Empress Dowager Cixi's tears flowed again, and the Empress Dowager Ci'an on the side also wept.

"Liu Chengyin, the emperor is ...... Why? Has the doctor tested it, how do you say it? Empress Dowager Ci'an asked sadly.

The Empress Dowager Cixi listened attentively, took a handkerchief, and wanted to wipe away the tears on her face, but her hands were shaking vigorously, and her fingers were tightly pinching the handkerchief.

"Back to Lafayette's words, the emperor ......," Liu Chengyin cried, "The emperor is ...... Let the traitorous villain ...... I used the medicine to get rid of the yang ......"

Hearing Liu Chengyin's answer, the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Empress Dowager Ci'an suddenly stopped their grief and stood up suddenly. The queen and Concubine Hui over there were also shocked and stopped crying.

"What? Did the emperor hurt people with a coquette? The Empress Dowager Ci'an asked, "What do you mean by that?" ”

"Back to Lafayette's words, when the emperor went up, there were a total of 14 naked palace women on the dragon bed, five of them had lost their breath, and the remaining nine were unconscious, and after waking up with cold water, they were all ...... sanity" Liu Chengyin said, "The slaves found some medicine boxes in the palace, and some ......."

"Show me!" The Empress Dowager Cixi interrupted him sharply.

After listening to Liu Chengyin's words, Wang Dehuan hurriedly took the tray with the medicine box in the hands of the little eunuch and knelt down in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

The Empress Dowager Cixi only rummaged through the contents of the tray twice, and the sad look on her face disappeared, replaced by frost on her face.

Her eyes were fixed on the medicine boxes that read "Chen Wang Qingqi Gong Cheng Yulan", and the muscles at the corners of her mouth began to twitch.

"Concubine Hui, you accompany the queen first and go down to rest." Empress Dowager Cixi seemed to regain her composure at this moment, she returned to her chair and sat down, turned her head to Concubine Hui and said.

"The daughter-in-law obeys." Concubine Hui hurriedly stood up and saluted and said.

"Queen, you are pregnant, don't be too sad and have a fetal gas." The Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the empress whose eyes were already swollen from crying, and said gently, "Let's go down with Concubine Hui and rest well." ”

"Daughter-in-law...... ......The queen sobbed and got up to salute, and then walked out of the warm pavilion with Concubine Hui.

The Empress Dowager Cixi stared blankly at the backs of the Empress and Concubine Hui, and it was not until they went out of the courtyard and got into the chariot that they let out a low sigh, their expressions turned sad again, and tears flowed down again.

"Liu Chengyin, what did you do with the emperor's death?" The Empress Dowager Ci'an asked, "Has the emperor's body been examined by the doctor?" ”

"Back to Lafayette, the Qianqing Palace, a palace eunuch, has already been detained. The emperor's dragon body was already neatly dressed and moved to the apse. Of course, Liu Chengyin understood the true intention of Empress Dowager Ci'an's question, and immediately replied, "Because the matter is very important, I haven't called the imperial doctor to examine it yet." ”

"You're doing a great job." Empress Dowager Ci'an nodded quietly, and he glanced at the things in the tray in Wang Dehuan's hand again, "Just a few of you know about this matter, don't spread it, whoever leaks the news, I will not spare him." ”

Listening to the Empress Dowager Ci'an's words that were extremely cold, Wang Dehuan and the other eunuchs all secretly shivered.

"Huh." Liu Chengyin sweated on his forehead and hurriedly replied.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an turned her head, looked at the Empress Dowager Cixi, who was still crying there and was already a little messy, and said: "Sister mourns, now is not the time to cry." ”

The Empress Dowager Cixi nodded and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, but she only wiped them a few times before she couldn't hold back the sadness in her heart and began to sobble again.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an felt sad, came to the side of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and gently wiped the tears on her face with a handkerchief, "Sister, don't cry, you can't come back to life after death." The country cannot be without a king for a day, and now we must establish a prince as soon as possible, otherwise it will ......"

This sentence of the Empress Dowager Ci'an reminded the Empress Dowager Cixi, and her tearful eyes radiated a resolute light.

"That's what my sister said." The Empress Dowager Cixi choked and nodded.

"Liu Chengyin, you go and invite the sixth master, the seventh master, Wen Xiang, and Shen Xiang to come to the garden, and say that the emperor is in charge of Bintian." The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "Our sisters have important matters to discuss with them. ”

"Huh-"

Prince Gong's Mansion, Ming Dao Zhai.

At this time, in Mingdaozhai, there was a sumptuous banquet, and the four of them were sitting together, drinking wine and talking freely.

"Wen Kunyu has always been very frugal with himself, and this time he led the shipmaster and sailor to go on the expedition, and he shared the joys and hardships with the soldiers, so he was able to win the hearts of the soldiers and drive out the Japanese invaders. This is back in Beijing, even more so," Prince Gong pointed to a table of delicacies, and said to Lin Yizhe with a smile, "Today I set up this 'swallow wing seat', and the right should be a reward for Kunyu's hard work in the past, a little bit of heart, Kunyu should not be polite." ”

Hearing that Prince Gong invited him to eat the "swallow wing seat", Lin Yizhe couldn't help but secretly admire in his heart.

This "swallow wing seat" Lin Yizhe has heard of it originally, it is said that it is from the palace dining room, the dishes are extremely chic, the first dish is a small dish, including fried salted shi, pickled cucumber, shrimp and celery heart, mustard dun, Beijing bacon, phoenix chicken, amber peach kernel, osmanthus sugar lotus, rose jujube, fried red fruit, etc.; The second dish is cooked vegetables, including braised shark fin, white grilled abalone, soft-fried fresh shellfish, live fish in sauce, roast duck and swallow vegetables in clear soup; The third course is soup and sweets, including bird, fish, egg and chicken soup, scrambled egg custard, walnut cheese, etc. In the original historical time and space, when he was in Beijing, a friend invited him to eat once, and he didn't expect to travel to this era, and he was able to eat the most authentic "swallow wing seat" in Prince Gong's mansion, and it was Prince Gong's treat, Wen Xiang and Guo Songtao as companions.

"The prince is too polite. How can the younger generation dare to be a prince so loving. Lin Yizhe smiled and said politely to Prince Gong.

Seeing Lin Yizhe claiming to be a junior with a modest attitude, Wen Xiang, who was sitting on the side, smiled uncontrollably.

Prince Gong moved first, and Wen Xiang, Guo Songtao and Lin Yizhe were no longer polite, and began to taste all kinds of dishes one by one.

The four of them chatted while eating, very casually, chatting and chatting, and the topic shifted from idle talk to the current foreign affairs.

While chatting with Prince Gong and others, Lin Yizhe looked at the appearance of Prince Gong Yixin, the initiator, leader and protector of the Western-style self-improvement movement.

Lin Yizhe, who is familiar with modern Chinese history, is limited by the limitations of information, and has only seen two old photos of Prince Gong on the Internet before, as well as some foreigners describing Prince Gong's appearance, but today's close contact with Prince Gong has finally given him a direct impression of Prince Gong.

A Brigadier General named Grant wrote of Prince Gong at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Peking: "Prince Gong was a humble gentleman, and he was clearly in control of his nervousness. Elgin's assistant Lodge recalled: "Prince Gong was only 28 years old at the time, but he looked much older than he really was. He was very intelligent in appearance, but he seemed very anxious. Actually, given his situation, this is not surprising. He hid his fears, if any. ”

In the more than two decades since the First Opium War, the British never seem to have had any positive opinion of senior Chinese officials. But the young Prince Gong made them discover that in addition to a large number of unscrupulous, ignorant, and greedy officials, China also has such high-ranking officials with such grace and fresh style. Going through the historical materials, whether it is the news reports of the time or the diary memories of the contemporaries, although all aspects of China are described as extremely dark, it is difficult to find a negative evaluation of Prince Gong, the young prince, who seems to have become the only flower blooming behind the Iron Curtain.

Even judging from the wild history handed down from the Qing Dynasty, Prince Gong can hardly be called handsome. Regarding Prince Gong's appearance, Ding Yunliang, an American missionary and later the first president of Peking University, who had many contacts with Prince Gong, once wrote bluntly: "Prince Gong is thin, dark-skinned, and has squinted eyes because of myopia, and he is not beautiful," and "he is not a very 'prince-like' person." Although some sources say that he is "handsome", that is also relative to his elder brother, Emperor Xianfeng. It is said that Emperor Xianfeng fell from a galloping horse when he was a teenager and injured his bones. What is certain from the official history is that Emperor Xianfeng was weak and sickly, while Prince Gong was in good health. Although Emperor Xianfeng was in the harem, and even left a large number of unverifiable romances among the people, he only gave birth to a son and a daughter. And the other brothers of Emperor Xianfeng, including Prince Gong and Prince Alcohol, are all flourishing and full of descendants.

According to the official history, the brothers Prince Gong and Emperor Xianfeng when they were young once practiced martial arts together, and also created 28 styles of marksmanship and 18 styles of sword, which made Emperor Daoguang Longyan Dayue name the marksmanship and knife technique respectively "Dihua Cooperation" and "Bao Yi Xuanwei". At the same time, Prince Gong was also given a white rainbow knife with a golden peach skin sheath, which also shows Prince Gong's key role in this "invention and creation". Prince Gong is good at martial arts, there are many records in the historical materials, and many poems and texts that have been recited to later generations, the literary brilliance is flying, and his literary and military all-round talents can be described as the absolute best among the princes at that time, but after all, the luck is not good, and the throne is not related, and after the Xianfeng Emperor ascended the throne, he is even more suspicious.

"His eyes, nose, etc., all show that he is quite a person with substance. When he began to speak, his face shone with wisdom. He speaks quickly, and the accuracy of his words far outweighs his profundity. "He behaved in a manner that was both kind and elegant, and spoke quickly and forcefully, giving the impression of having autonomous strength."

Dr. Reni, a member of the British delegation at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Peking, who later wrote extensively about the Orient, recalled: "Prince Gong was very amiable, and his appearance was very typical of Tatars: he had two shallow scars on his right cheek, joined together, which looked like the marks of a boil before. His face and hands looked small, and his fingers were tiny, like a woman's. Reni devoted a lot of space to describing in detail the gentlemanly demeanor displayed by Prince Gong during the interview, and was greatly impressed by it.

And Prince Gong's graceful demeanor has become more mature as he gets older. "Prince Gong is different from the princes and statesmen of the East I have met before, he is very vivid. This is an astute man, with sharp instincts and a strong will. The princes of India and ******, as well as our friends in Hindustan and Egypt, often sit in a dull manner, and the whole conversation is so glazed that you think you are talking to a stone. However, in the conversation, Prince Gong's expression was rich and vivid. ”

Now Prince Gong in front of Lin Yizhe is thin and even sunken cheeks, and his waist size seems to be completely disproportionate to his status, and it is very different from the image of the high-ranking officials of the Qing Empire who are full of brains. Lin Yizhe knew that Prince Gong's thinness was undoubtedly not a blessing, it was mostly caused by hard work, but it was not due to congenital weakness, let alone malnutrition, perhaps because the burden of Jiangshan Sheji was too heavy for him.

As the first person to wake up in the "iron house" of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Gong could not shout loudly because of his special status, and he could not say what he could do, at least not more, but he could not do what he could say, at least he could not really do it.

Under his thin appearance, he is a "beautiful man" on the personality level, gentle and elegant, with a good demeanor, neither humble nor arrogant to the occupation forces of the great powers, and amiable to his subordinates, which has won him considerable recognition at home and abroad. At that high-level level where criticism and struggle were rife, he was the general backstage of almost all those who did practical things, and the slogan of "seeking truth from facts," which was familiar to later generations, was clearly put forward by him in those years. In the reform and opening up of the late Qing Dynasty, people who were respected by later generations, such as Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang and others, were actually just oarsmen of reform, but the real helmsman, Bole, and escort behind the scenes was Prince Gong.

Seeing Prince Gong's thin appearance, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but think about it for a while.

Traditional Chinese painting did not focus too much on realism, and Prince Gong was able to become the first Chinese "premier" to leave a realistic image. Prime ministers are often below one person and above 10,000 people, and they are all called "Chitose" or even "9,000 years old" in operas, but Lin Yizhe found that an interesting phenomenon is that the Chinese premiers after Prince Gong, whether virtuous or foolish, are almost "lean type", which has become the standard image of this position, in stark contrast to the "everything is great" of those presidents, ruling parties, and chairmen.

The reason for this situation is naturally related to the difficulty and cumbersomeness of taking charge of China's "big ship", but it may also come from the "companion of the king and the tiger" walking on thin ice.

The identity of the "second child" is embarrassing, you can't do things, but you can't do too many things, especially not too many things. Devoting oneself to specific and subtle government affairs and becoming a "transactionalist" may not only be due to his personality, but also to send a signal to the "boss": I will only bury my head in pulling the car, not good at looking up at the road, and will not be far-sighted, please rest assured that the "boss" will criticize and correct more. After all, a "second child" with impeccable ability and character is the biggest pain in the heart of the "boss"!

Prince Gong in front of him, although he was talking and laughing with himself, there was a unique vicissitudes between his eyebrows, was this because of the burden of a huge empire, or because of the delicate status of the "second child"?

Perhaps, the news that he is now feasting with Guo Songtao in Prince Gong's Mansion will bring him huge trouble once it is rumored that he will go out!

Under power, even if you don't want to form a party and a faction, you will naturally become a party and a faction, which is the helplessness of Chinese politics. Prince Gong, as the "second child" closest to the highest power, although he is very "worried and fearful", he still can't help but become a big tree covering the sky!

For himself, a newcomer to foreign affairs, he has the heart to protect and cultivate, but his current position is also easy for the officials to impeach him for "forming a party"!

Thinking of Prince Gong's misfortune in history, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

Now, because of his relationship, Prince Gong has improved his relationship with the Empress Dowager Cixi, but how long will this seemingly stable relationship last?

Lin Yizhe suddenly remembered that today was the first day of 1875, the New Year's Day of the Western calendar, and thought of a major event that was about to happen this year, Lin Yizhe's heart suddenly tightened.