Seeing that Rong Lu, who was invincible in history, kowtowed and begged for mercy at this time, calling "slaves should die", Song Xiaofei felt funny in his heart, and at the same time felt pathetic, the Han people now don't even have the qualifications to call themselves "slaves", under the [***] system, except for the emperor, everyone lives without dignity. Of course, if this emperor is a real monarch, neither can a puppet like Emperor Tongzhi.

When Emperor Tongzhi saw that the time had come, he lifted Rong Lu on the ground and said, "Manager Rong, it is not impossible to live." ”

Seeing that things were still taking a turn for the better, Rong Lu hurriedly grabbed the last straw and said, "The slave is stupid, please make it clear to the emperor." ”

Emperor Tongzhi glanced at Song Xiaofei, Song Xiaofei understood, and said to Rong Lu: "Lord Rong, what the emperor means: You trespassed into the emperor's palace and were rude to Concubine Hui, you have to admit your mistake in this matter." ”

Rong Lu hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying, "Of course." The slave admits his mistake, and the slave deserves death! ”

Song Xiaofei handed over the pen, ink, paper and inkstone that had already been prepared in the room: "Lord Rong, there is no basis for your words, you should set up a note." ”

Rong Lu broke out in a cold sweat and hesitated for a while, he knew that once he made a note, he could only be at the mercy of Emperor Tongzhi. Song Xiaofei also guessed Rong Lu's thoughts, so he urged him: "If Lord Rong doesn't want to make a big deal about this, write it down in black and white according to my words." ”

Rong Lu was dizzy and had no choice but to write a confession according to Song Xiaofei's request. His hand holding the brush kept trembling, and it took a cup of tea before he wrote the confession: "The slave Ronglu, in the middle of the night on the third day of the ninth month, offended Concubine Hui in the dormitory, and the crime deserves death." ”

Emperor Tongzhi read the confession, saw that the time, place and people were there, nodded with satisfaction, asked Rong Lu to draw a seal according to his handprint, and then hid Rong Lu's confession into his personal clothes like a treasure.

After writing the confession, Rong Lu guessed that the emperor summoned him to the palace overnight, not so that he and Concubine Hui had some scandals, so he asked tremblingly: "Dare to ask the emperor what is the matter with summoning servants into the palace late at night?" ”

Emperor Tongzhi only then got straight to the point and said, "I won't embarrass you. This year's Mulan Autumn Festival, I plan to go to the Chengde Mulan enclosure with the princes of Xinjiang Province, Tibetan Province, Mongolia and other princes, 'Autumn Hunting and Martial Arts, Suifu Yuan Domain', it is an important ceremony of the Qing Dynasty, this is the first hunting since my pro-government, the momentum must be huge, in addition to the princes, I also invited ministers and wives from various countries to attend, the scale is double that of previous years, I plan to send 2,000 people from the Shenji Battalion to participate in the performance, and transfer another 100 Shenji Battalion elite to enrich the pro-military camp, Hu from me to hunt. ”

"Huh? Mulan Qiuqiu's guards had already been arranged and reported to the Queen Mother. The slave had to report it again before she could decide. Rong Lu guessed that things were not so simple and replied.

Emperor Tongzhi took out the confession letter written by Rong Lugang, raised it in his hand, and said loudly: "Lord Rong, what you just did to Concubine Hui, do you have to report it to the Queen Mother before making a decision?" ”

"This, the slave doesn't dare to ......" Rong Lu's forehead broke out in cold sweat, and his legs trembled.

Song Xiaofei took the opportunity to persuade as well: "Lord Rong, don't hesitate. The emperor's autumn hunting, the scale expanded, and the addition of the Shenji Battalion to escort the army was also a matter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. ”

"Yes, it's the minions' business." Rong Lu said.

"However, you don't have to worry about these two thousand people, and they will be under the command of Ruilin, the governor of Liangguang. He is a veteran, when he was the emperor, he had managed the affairs of the Shenji Battalion, and he was familiar with the training of soldiers and horses, and I wanted to let the two thousand sergeants of the Shenji Battalion perform foreign guns and foreign cannons in the autumn of Mulan, so as to raise the prestige of our country, and let those foreigners also take a look, and the army of my Great Qing Dynasty can also make foreign guns and foreign artillery. You cooperate with the horse Jingshou as soon as possible, select the elite 2,000 of the Shenji Battalion, and allocate enough ammunition for foreign guns and red-coated cannons to them. Emperor Tongzhi said.

Rong Lu saw that Emperor Tongzhi had made up his mind, and he had nothing to say, so he had to nod and agree.

After sending Rong Lu away, Song Xiaofei walked in the empty Forbidden City, looked up, a gloomy night wind blew away the dark clouds in the sky, and the half moon climbed up the sky of the Forbidden City, the cold light shone on the city wall that was stained red by countless blood, and the cold frost covered the eaves of the imperial palace.

That night, getting closer and closer to his goal, the Tongzhi Emperor was so excited that he couldn't sleep, and he couldn't wait to carry out the third step of the coup, and summoned Ruilin, the governor of Liangguang, in the Qianqing Palace overnight. These days, he is the only one among the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty who has been a staunch supporter of the Tongzhi Emperor in repairing the Old Summer Palace.

Emperor Tongzhi took Ruilin's wrinkled hand and cried as if he had met a bosom friend, he expressed his helplessness between the Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong, and expressed his determination to be a real monarch, saying to Ruilin, who had white hair, "If you are not afraid of death, follow me." ”

Ruilin's enthusiasm was completely aroused by the tears of Emperor Tongzhi, he knelt on the ground and shouted: "Women are involved in politics, which has been a disaster for the society since ancient times!" Thanks to the grace of the first emperor, Ruilin was able to go into battle with a seven-foot body to kill the enemy and serve the country. The first emperor passed away, I only know that there is an emperor in the world! The emperor's words are holy decrees! As long as I can be loyal to the emperor, I am a person who is dying in the twilight of Ruilin, and I am over the age of six, so why be afraid of death? ”

"Ruilin is worthy of being the old minister of the first emperor, and he has been loyal for generations." Emperor Tongzhi hurriedly stepped forward to help him up and said, "With the help of the old general in this matter, I can rest assured." ”

For more than a month after that, on the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, more than 40 miles away from the Forbidden City, Ruilin commanded 2,000 elite soldiers of the Shenji Battalion, practicing every day, and the shouts shook the sky.

The Old Summer Palace was originally composed of the Old Summer Palace, Wanchun Garden, Changchun Garden, three large gardens, about 20 miles around, the landscape scenic spots, the pavilions and terraces are countless, after being burned down by the robbers of the British and French forces in 1860, only a few truncated tiles remain, the grass is desolate, it is very desolate. After the construction of the Old Summer Palace was suspended, the Tongzhi Emperor asked Ruilin to bring people here for training.

Later, the Empress Dowager Ci'an of the East Palace, Prince Gong Yixun, Prince Alcohol Yixun and others all supported the Tongzhi Emperor to perform during the Mulan Autumn Festival to show the foreigners the prestige of the Qing Dynasty. As Mulan's autumn season approached, the young Emperor Tongzhi couldn't hold back the joy in his heart, and as soon as he had time, he ran to the Old Summer Palace to personally inspect the team trained by Ruilin.

As Mulan's autumn season approached, everything was ready, and Song Xiaofei had insomnia instead. That night, outside the window, a hook moon sinks, Qinghui sprinkled on the ground, he didn't sleep all night, yawned a lot, thought about a lot of things, he also looked forward to Mulan Qiuqiu, Emperor Tongzhi can create a new history. But Song Xiaofei vaguely felt that things would not be so simple. Cixi and Prince Gong are also scheming, will they be tied up? It is difficult to say whether Jingshou and Ruilin will betray Emperor Tongzhi. Moreover, as a college student in the Department of History, he knew that there were strong barriers in history, not to mention the backwardness of industrial technology, people's thoughts and lifestyles were difficult to change in two or three generations, even if Cixi and Prince Gong were imprisoned, Emperor Tongzhi would be dictatorial. Of course, he also knew that he could not pin the hopes of the country on the Ming monarch, and the more enlightened the king, the easier it was for the people to be fooled. But now that my own time is far from coming, I can only mix in the system and go all out to make the people at the bottom of China as humiliated as possible. Thinking of this, Song Xiaofei finally closed his eyes and said to himself in his heart: "Whatever, when the sky falls, I'll sleep first." ”;