Liu Chengyin did not answer again, but stood aside respectfully, quietly listening to the Empress Dowager Cixi tell the past when she was young. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

"I remember when I first entered the palace, I didn't see much of the world, but I just thought that these porcelain vases were much better looking than those at home, and I later learned that these were all pastel porcelain burned in the Yongzheng year, which was the most beautiful, no one before and no one after that......"

Empress Dowager Cixi's eyes flowed among these colorful porcelain, recalling the past events, the corners of her mouth were full of a faint smile, obviously extremely happy.

“…… The first emperor was worried about state affairs and was worried all day long. Only when I came to the 'heaven and earth family spring', I had to see some smiles, once the first emperor looked at this bottle, and then frowned, I asked the first emperor, why not happy. The first emperor said that today's Jingdezhen can no longer burn such a porcelain vase. I asked why it couldn't burn out? The first emperor said that the long-haired disaster in the southeast half of the wall, affected Jiangxi, the porcelain industry was greatly affected, many potters died, escaped, Tang Yingshi Imperial Kiln Factory passed down the craftsmanship, many have been lost, I am afraid that in the future, I may never be able to burn such good-looking porcelain...... "Cixi's voice gradually choked, "Now such pastel porcelain, there are not many in the palace, I can't think of today, I can still see the old thoughts......

"It's a pity that the good things of our Qing Dynasty have been robbed by foreigners...... Liu Chengyin said, "Fortunately, a little bit of it can be found now......"

"Do you really think that these things were all snatched by foreigners?" Empress Dowager Cixi sneered.

Of course, Liu Chengyin understood what the Empress Dowager Cixi was talking about, and couldn't help but secretly regret what she said casually just now, which reminded her of the troubles of the past.

As an eyewitness to the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces, the Empress Dowager Cixi certainly knew what the truth about the burning of the Old Summer Palace was.

The real situation is that before the burning of the Old Summer Palace, the British and French forces sent a 39-member negotiation team to the Qing court to negotiate. However, some of the main battle factions of the Chunting court, mainly composed of monk Lingqin, were arrogant, wantonly insulted and tortured, and disregarded people's lives. In the end, all 39 delegates participating in the negotiations were detained and escorted back to Beijing, among whom Pashali and the secretary of the British plenipotentiary to China, Ergin, were imprisoned in the prison of the Criminal Department, and the rest were held in the Old Summer Palace.

So what happened next in the Old Summer Palace?

“…… The men were escorted with their hands bound with soaked leather ropes, which were never untied again. Such a leather rope is tightened more and more, and within a few days, the binding place begins to rot and grow maggots. When these people first came, Emperor Xianfeng also came to interrogate them, and later the Battle of Baliqiao failed, and Emperor Xianfeng fled in a hurry, and no one cared about the rest of these people. As a result, the foreign envoys were put on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs, and for three days they did not receive water, and later survivors recalled: Bowlby, a Times journalist, died on the fourth day, and his body was left in a cell for three days, after which he was thrown into the field and eaten by wild dogs; Lieutenant Anderson, whose hands and feet were strangled to maggots, watched the maggots spread all over his hands, and he was delirious, screaming and dying after three days; A French prisoner, maggots got into his mouth, ears, nose, and also went crazy...... One of the survivors was still counting maggots in prison, saying that 1,000 maggots could be bred in a day! ”

Later, at the strong request of the British and French forces, the Qing government released the surviving prisoners. There were 39 people when they went, and only 19 returned, and they were all tortured to the point that they were no longer human, so the coalition decided to retaliate. According to the provisions of the public law of the nations established by them, if any envoy is killed, he will break the city one day, and no chickens and dogs will be left. Moreover, Ergin also deliberately put forward a point, that is, when he entered Beijing, he would not kill people or disturb the people, but he must burn the Old Summer Palace, because his envoys were imprisoned there.

Before setting fire to the Old Summer Palace on October 18, Ergin also posted a notice in Beijing explaining the reason for the burning of the Old Summer Palace and the scheduled time of the fire: "Everyone, whether high or low, must be punished for his foolish fraud, and on the 18th the Old Summer Palace will be burned as punishment for the emperor's broken promise, as revenge for violating the truce." None of the people involved in this action were affected by this action, but the Qing government was responsible for it. "But the people of Beijing feel that this seems to have nothing to do with them, that garden was originally lived by the emperor, what does it have to do with me, whoever comes in belongs to whom, how is love, what can you not stand about the abuse of a prisoner, how many years has China been like this, and also picked out some grammatical errors in the notice. As far as Ergin's thinking could reach, the psychology of the Chinese was incomprehensible to him, the emperor was untrustworthy, the people were numb, and in revenge, he finally gave the order to burn the Old Summer Palace.

This is how the Old Summer Palace was burned, not only because of China's military failure, but also because of China's diplomacy, a country that does not know how to fight for its rights and interests in accordance with international conventions, has created this eternal ruin with barbaric sadism. A hundred years later, not many people knew that the Anglo-French army set the fire to punish the Chinese emperor for mistreating the envoys and breaking his promises.

The witnesses at that time recorded the real situation at that time with such brushstrokes:

Prince Gong wrote in his recital to the emperor: "The country should be swept away for thousands of miles, originally for the circulation of goods, all by the evil traitors, instigated by hundreds of ends, so that such a break. …… On the morning of the 22nd, because the Yi was copied to Desheng and settled the second gate, the matter was urgent, so he made an appointment with Wenxiang to go out of the city overnight, replied to the Yi note, promised to return the Ba chief, and ordered the Ba chief to write a letter to the chief to stop the army. After the note was sent, the Yi did not reply, and by noon the Yi had been copied to the outside of the Tucheng of Deshengmen, and secretly attacked the monk Greenqin, our army was defeated without a fight, and the defeated soldiers retreated to the Old Summer Palace, and the Yi bandits also came at the end. "This is how the Anglo-French troops arrived at the Old Summer Palace.

"Yi people into Beijing, then to the palace, see the rich furnishings, do not enter, cloud fear to claim lost property. and raze the people, and the nobles and the poor, advocate the traitors, pretending to be razed, so they first set fire, raze the people back, and plunder. ”

"The culprit of burning and plundering the Yuanming Dynasty was not the British and French coalition forces, but the poor banner people in the Haidian area. …… On the 23rd, Jiashen Ji: Wen Gongdi fled, Yi people according to Haidian, Yi people burned the Old Summer Palace, and the night fire was up to a candle sky. On the 24th, the second unitary: Wenyi people only burned the official and private houses outside the garden. On the 25th, all the doors outside the city were closed,...... Outside the city, there were robberies everywhere, and they were all plundered. On the 27th, Wuzi Ji: After hearing that the Old Summer Palace was looted by the Yi people, the traitors took advantage of it, grabbed the remnants, and pulled the cart to transport it, and the top was treasured and scattered. …… In the Battle of the Old Summer Palace, the original coalition army only burned the official houses outside the garden, or it was a militarily necessary move. And many bannermen and bandits took the opportunity to plunder, so the coalition forces also entered the park."

"A significant number of ordinary Chinese people were directly involved in the looting and burning of the Old Summer Palace. Moreover, according to the recollections of the French officers at the time, one of the main reasons why the coalition forces issued the order to burn the Old Summer Palace was to expel the Chinese who kept coming to participate in the looting. ”

"Neighboring villagers and poor people from Haidian came one after another, and the outside of the wall of the garden gradually approached my camp, and the Chinese servants in the camp exchanged words, and the Chinese servants carried ladders to climb one by one, and entered over the wall."

"When the coalition forces finally gave the order to set fire, the armies had no firearms, only buckets and pots. The Haidian Chinese and Chinese servants will bring the fire line, straw and all the things that cause the fire to be gathered. After that, they set fire everywhere and burned ......"

Living around the Old Summer Palace and in the Haidian area, tens of thousands of people went to the Old Summer Palace to rob for days. After the situation calmed down, the imperial court recovered a large number of cultural relics and treasures from the local people. It can be seen from this that the Old Summer Palace was looted and burned, and the culprit of the "main culprit" was naturally the British and French forces; But those people who took advantage of the fire to rob the country and make a fortune are real "accomplices"!

"The Queen Mother, now the long hair has been leveled, and the twist has been extinguished, seeing that the world is peaceful, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and all industries are revived, and such a peerless porcelain will be able to be burned." Liu Chengyin carefully worded the words, trying to comfort Cixi, "When the time comes, the garden will be rebuilt, and the Queen Mother will go to 'Heaven and Earth One Spring' again, and put these old and new good porcelains together, isn't it a beautiful thing?" ”

"Just you can talk." The Empress Dowager Cixi smiled and nodded, obviously appreciating Liu Chengyin's idea.

"I didn't dare to think that if I could rebuild this 'heaven and earth and one spring', I would have a place to support the elderly in the future." Cixi looked at the Tibetan porcelain of the "Heaven and Earth One Spring" in front of her with some amazement, and sighed leisurely.

"That's a good idea! At that time, the slaves will also follow the queen mother and go to the 'Heaven and Earth Family Spring' to see this fairyland on earth. Liu Chengyin said with a smile.

"The fairyland on earth is not counted, but ......" Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the exquisite porcelain, and suddenly said, "These precious porcelain, it is extremely difficult to get another one, and it will be put back in the original place in the future, so I want you to send someone to take care of it, which one dares to touch it, I want his head!" ”

"Yes! The minions will be arranged. Liu Chengyin replied repeatedly.

"This Lin Yizhe, who is young, is really heartfelt." Empress Dowager Cixi's gaze fell on the "Baohe Taiji" green jade seal on the table, and said, "This time he should really be rewarded with something, but if it is passed out, it will inevitably give a chance to those who tend to be inflammatory......"

"What the Queen Mother said is very true, according to the slave, this time it's better not to reward him for any officials." Liu Chengyin said, "If the queen mother wants to reward him, just give him something, you can show her grace, as long as you do your best, you will not forget him; Second, it can also be exempted from external negotiations. ”

Unlike other eunuchs, Liu Chengyin is clever and coarse. Even the current situation is quite insightful. Most of the eunuchs in the palace were just bent on their wills for motivation, while Liu Chengcheng could help the Empress Dowager Cixi get big ideas. What's even more valuable is that Liu Chengyin never loves power, and he is kind and kind, because the Empress Dowager Cixi relies on him very much, and sometimes asks him for advice.

"It's still thoughtful," the Empress Dowager Cixi nodded, "just do it." But the time for this reward is not yet in time, and there is no need to rush at this time. ”

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