On June 2, 1859, this day can be said to have withstood the test of ice and fire for the Qing Dynasty, with good news and bad news coming one after another.

Lin Haijiang did it with the bandits! The fleet almost blocked the entire Yangtze River estuary, covering the sky and the sails of warships, this news seemed to make them a little excited to sleep!

But then Lin Haijiang formally established the Chinese Empire in the old port, invaded Liangguang, Fujian, Qiongya, Taiwan, and the Ryukyus, and occupied the old port and Indonesia.

The Qing court had already received similar information and insider revelations before, but from the empress dowager of the two palaces to Prince Gong Yixin to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, everyone coincidentally chose to be an ostrich, and even the imperial historians who kept making noise before were unexpectedly silent.

Don't look at the imperial historians' usual impeachment of this prince, that middle hall or military aircraft, in fact, there are many special doorways, especially some powerful clans, and from time to time they have to spend money to ask the imperial history to impeach themselves, which is a typical basic way of breaking down big things into small things and turning small things into small things.

Solve the little things one by one, which is equivalent to giving the necessary conclusions, in case people with intentions use this matter to stumble on themselves, you must know that the Qing Dynasty has not seen progress in science and technology for more than 200 years, but it is only regressive, but people are neat, and people play with people's knowledge is accumulated over time, which can be called unfathomable.

However, this time, the imperial historians also know very well that the Nanyang piece is a bomber, whoever touches it will die, and Lin Haijiang is also a mad dog, unlike these biting mad dogs in the imperial history, once they bite Lin Haijiang, it is a big battle to the death, so many imperial historians have wisely chosen to avoid or turn a blind eye.

Everyone stuck their necks into the sand like ostriches, completely unconcerned about the world, and only today did they have to pull their heads out, because Lin Haijiang really pulled the flag and set off the cannon, and it was ironclad evidence.

The dozens of ice basins in the Heart Cultivation Hall are still very hot and difficult to solve, in fact, everyone understands that most of the hot and irritable things are still on the mind, and this weather is just adding to the chaos.

The two empress dowagers Cixi and Ci'an did not hang the curtain today, but raised the curtain to face Prince Gong Yixin and other ministers, and on the table of Zaichun, that is, the Tongzhi Emperor, placed the text of the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty" that was not approved and exchanged, and this text pressed on everyone's hearts like a mountain.

Cixi hesitated for a moment, looked at Ci'an, and after getting the signal's approval, she said: "The mourning family asks you, a treaty today, a treaty tomorrow, when is this the end?" How much land do I have left in the Qing Dynasty to give up? ”

Seeing this, Li Zhiming, the squire of the Ministry of War, hurriedly stepped out of the column and said loudly: "The minister has a book, Qian Wenbin, the secretary of the minister's staff department, and the military aircraft Amosaha have misled the country, deceived the king, and lost my territory, lost power, and humiliated the country. ”

The words of Li Zhiming, the squire of the Ministry of War, exploded like a bomb, and the ripples rolled everywhere, and the two of them hurriedly knelt down and scolded Li Zhiming, the squire of the Ministry of War, and the squire of the Ministry of Rites, Qian Wenbin, and the military aircraft Amosaha The two hurriedly knelt down and scolded Li Zhiming, the squire of the Ministry of War, and Qian Wenbin, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the military aircraft Amosaha.

Prince Gong Yixin saw that the queen mother of the two palaces was pale, so he yelled: "What kind of system is it to roar the court?" Someone! Give me twenty canes to go out, so that the three of them are sober and sober! ”

Ci'an said coldly: "The text of the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty" exchanged will definitely be found out, how can Qian Wenbin, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the military aircraft Amosaha negotiate with the Russians? If two of them are investigated and punished for corruption and perversion of the law to the point that I ignore it, the mourning family will punish its nine clans. ”

Looking at the courtiers of the Manchu Dynasty, Cixi suddenly remembered a person who was ordered to be killed by her at that time, Su Shun, if Su Shun's old ministers were still alive, they would definitely not be able to reach the point where they are now, bandits are rampant, Nanyang has become a country on its own, and the shadow of the Beiyang half of the ships that rely on the Russians has not yet been seen, and the Russians' treaties are one after another, and the appetite is getting bigger and bigger.

Cixi still remembered that after Xianfeng arrived in Rehe, he was ordered to take charge of the seal key of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the name of the head of the household department and the co-organizer of the university, and to lead the Minister of the Interior of the Guard, who was responsible for all matters in Rehe. At that time, Su Shun not only participated in all military affairs, but even the affairs of the royal court were under his control, as if he was the plenipotentiary of the Rehe Palace.

Xianfeng due to his weak body, so he attached great importance to Su Shun, due to frequent summons, Xianfeng even allowed Su Shun to wear civilian clothes at ordinary times, and could enter and leave the palace at will. As the head of the inner palace, the queen Niu Hulu was extremely dissatisfied with Su Shun's behavior of entering and leaving the palace at will, because this not only violated the ancestral system of the harem that foreign ministers were strictly forbidden to trespass, but also violated the traditional morality and etiquette system of men and women. However, Niu Hulu was peaceful and kind, and she did not express her dissatisfaction excessively, so she looked for an opportunity to give advice to the queen.

In fact, Cixi herself knows best, she and Su Shun had a deep grudge as early as Yanjing, Su Shun expressed dissatisfaction with Xianfeng for letting her reply to the chapter and interfering in the government, which was also heard of Cixi as a concubine at the time, but the biggest contradiction was that on the way to Rehe when Xianfeng and his party fled to Rehe, due to insufficient preparation along the way, Cixi was in a very poor condition of the car, she couldn't stand the bumps on the road, so she had to condescend to Su Shun several times to beg for a better car.

But on the way to escape, the mountains are high and the road is far away, Su Shun can't find a good car for a while, and he is forced to be in a hurry, so he impatiently scolds himself and says that even Huang Yanjing has to endure hardships, what qualifications do you have to ask for this or that?

These words deeply hurt Cixi's self-esteem, and Cixi held a grudge against her, but Su Shun didn't care. After arriving in Rehe, the living conditions were far from being comparable to the imperial palace in Yanjing, and Su Shun, as the chief of the palace, did not take good care of the life of the harem, and the supply was extremely thin, and the concubines, including Ci'an and Cixi, were quite resentful of Su Shun. What's even more annoying is that Cixi once proposed to Xianfeng to remove the banquet and dine according to the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and there was a banquet called the banquet called the banquet to reduce expenses, but this very reasonable suggestion was opposed by Su Shun, because it was necessary to maintain the emperor's dignity and show the stability of the dynasty during the extraordinary period, and the withdrawal of the banquet was easy to arouse the suspicion and panic of outsiders and cause turmoil in the situation.

According to the regulations of the Qing system, after the emperor succeeds to the throne, his biological mother must be honored as the queen mother regardless of whether she is still alive or not. For example, after Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he respected Empress Yuan as the Empress Dowager Renxian, while his biological mother was honored as the Empress Dowager Cihe, and Su Shun deliberately delayed the title of Concubine Yi for a whole day, indicating that it was different from Ci'an in the main palace.

In fact, Su Shun's death was the coffin nail he nailed for himself with his own hands, and now Cixi misses Su Shun's old ministers, it is really a national disaster and a good minister! Cixi really wanted to reactivate Zaiyuan, but Zaiyuan was still unwilling to serve the imperial court, which Cixi did not have at all in her heart, Cixi looked at Tongzhi not far in front of her, and then looked at Ci'an, who was also worried.

Now everyone understands that the text of the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty" exchanged is just a punching bag used by the two palaces to vent, the real reason is nothing more than that Nanyang is really reversed, Lin Haijiang established the Chinese Empire independently, listen to this name to know that it is the Han people who are restoring, with Lin Haijiang's strong strength, the Manchu Dynasty is more worried about the solid defense situation of Tianjin Weidagukou, Lin Haijiang is not Hong Xiuquan who likes the inner bar, that is a guy who likes to work hard to govern the thin set of thick hair.

For Lin Haijiang's unspeakable, a blockbuster move, Cixi and Ci'an have long been numb, but now they are unwilling to face Lin Haijiang's rebellion, which is tantamount to giving the Qing Dynasty the most fatal blow, the bandits are from the land, Lin Rebellion is from the sea, so the Qing Dynasty is not forever peaceful?

Ci'an saw that there were few top civil and military personnel in the Manchu Dynasty, so he waved his hand and simply dispersed the court, and then summoned Prince Gong Yixin, Beiyang Minister Zeng Guofan, and Li Zhiming, the military squire.

Cixi hesitated for a moment and suggested: "Sister, is it okay to recruit Zaiyuan as well, he also knows some about Lin Haijiang, if there is a good way, why don't you reward his prince and remove the hereditary lineage?" ”

Ci'an nodded and said: "Now my Qing Dynasty is a great catastrophe that has not been encountered in two hundred years, as long as you and my sisters are of the same heart, don't take care of those villains who chew the root of their tongues, such villains harm others and are not beneficial to themselves, lest the world be chaotic, find one and kill one, and offer it to ten people, kill them within ten, and hinge out their tongues within twenty." ”

Cixi suddenly understood the original reason of Ci'an, and immediately cried: "There is only my sister in the world, you can understand your sister's hard work, the emperor is still so young, the clan may as well be young, strong and resourceful, there are bandits and thieves inside, and there are foreigners and tigers outside, I originally took the risk to stabilize the Nanyang Lin Haijiang, thinking that to give him trust and the grace of heaven, he will be able to change the evil and return to the right, but I didn't expect that a mind would do useless work, and provoke the villain to chew the root of the tongue, if it is like a rumor, I will really let go of this body, At least it can keep the Qing Dynasty safe, and this kind of thing is not unheard of in our Daqing Dynasty. ”

Seeing that Cixi was getting more and more out of control, Ci'an even mentioned Kangxi's grandmother, which was a great disrespect, so he pretended to be angry and said: "Be cautious, be cautious!" The Qing Dynasty has not yet fallen to that point, whether it is a bandit or a Lin rebellion, it is only a matter of time before it is punished, and everything will naturally be solved when we run Beiyang well. ”

After a while, there were eunuchs who passed on Prince Gong Yixin, the prince of the county, Zaichun, the minister of Beiyang, Zeng Guofan, and Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, and others were waiting outside the palace.

This is the first time that Zeng Guofan and Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, have entered the inner palace, and Prince Gong of Cining Palace, Yixin and Zaiyuan, have hardly been here, you must know that this is the place where the queen of the Qing Dynasty rules the six palaces in the world, even if the prince rashly breaks in, it will be difficult to escape death, which is equivalent to the harem concubines going to break into the military aircraft.

In the past, Xianfeng held a banquet in the so-called Cining Palace, which was an outer hall outside the palace walls, saying that Cining Palace was just a glory for the courtiers.

The trembling Zaiyuan, the respectful Prince Gong Yixin, the somewhat apprehensive Zeng Guofan, the panicked military squire Li Zhiming, Ci'an also found that this Cining Palace is indeed not a good place for secret talks, but there are many people in the court, and I don't know when someone will leak the strategy of the court.

Ci'an looked at the four people sitting below who were very uncomfortable: "I know the rules of your courtiers, I only owe a little bit of your body, and you have to straighten your waist to maintain balance, otherwise the stool will turn over, and the mourning family has also set up rules, and you will come here like this, I will remove your stool today and allow you to sit cross-legged." ”

Without waiting for Prince Gong Yixin, Zaiyuan and others to excuse themselves, several little eunuchs removed their stools one after another, and the four of them sat firmly on the ground, looking at each other from a distance and bowing their heads silently.

Ci'an took a deep breath and said: "In the eventful season, there are not so many rules, many things that cannot be said freely in the court can be counted in this Cining Palace, you must know that now in the entire Qing Dynasty, only the imperial study and this Cining Palace can keep secrets." ”

Prince Gong Yixin looked at Zeng Guofan, and handed a few glances back and forth, Zeng Guofan finally said helplessly: "The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, now the surname Lin is acting against the sky, I am blessed by the Qing Dynasty for thousands of years, I should fight for injustice with great righteousness, and use the righteous teacher to adjust his unrighteous teacher!" It is a matter of time before it is annihilated, and now Lin Rei and Hong Bandit are fighting because of a woman Fu Shanxiang, I thought that I should respond to all changes with the same change, sit back and watch the two sides fight, and send secret envoys to Lin Rei and Hong Rei respectively, declaring that I have no intention of intervening in the dispute between the two parties, so that the two sides can fight without scruples, and we will reap the benefits of the fisherman. ”

Zeng Guofan paused for a moment and continued: "If my secret envoy is intercepted and robbed, or if Lin Wei and the Hong bandits are both defeated, I can completely disagree with the so-called secret envoy agreement before, and I can stabilize Lin Wei and the Hong bandits, and I will not be able to tell the truth." ”

Ci'an nodded to Zeng Guofan with satisfaction and said, "What Lord Zeng said is extremely true, but how to solve the matter of the text of the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty" exchanged by the Russians? ”

Because Tsarist Russia was involved, Zeng Guofan had to be cautious, because it involved Beiyang, why didn't Zeng Guofan understand that the Russians were coercing with cooperation with Beiyang, and they were not satisfied with this group of extremely greedy guys, they would be willing to sincerely help them to form Beiyang into an army?

No! Zeng Guofan didn't believe that the Russians, who had been blinded by greed, would not be sincere, so he sent Tang Jiayao to Shanghai secretly to contact with second- and third-rate countries such as England, France, and even the Netherlands and Spain.

Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department who was beaten and flowered because of the buttocks, could only kneel aside, and saw that the Empress Dowager mentioned the exchange of the text of the Sino-Russian "Aihui Treaty", Zeng Guofan and Prince Gong Yixin frowned, so they kowtowed and said: "The Empress Dowager of the Second Palace, the minister thinks that the original intention of the Russians lies in the land, and their surname is extremely greedy, and the Russians are not first-class in Europe, but relying on the vast territory of their empire, their industrial products are not as good as those of the Netherlands, Citigroup and other countries, and the muskets made by Nanyang Lin are far stronger than the Russians several times, It was a mistake for me to choose the Russians to help build my Beiyang. ”

Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, said that he didn't notice at all that the faces of Prince Gong Yixin and Zeng Guofan, who had negotiated an agreement with the Russians, became extremely ugly, and the queen mother of the two palaces was there, so neither Prince Gong Yixin nor Zeng Guofan dared to make a mistake.

And Zaiyuan, who is the king of the county, is like an outsider, he doesn't care about the things around him, and from time to time he asks the little palace maid to add tea to his cup, and he doesn't see the toilet after drinking more than a dozen cups before and after? This made Prince Gong Yixin a little strange, and he pondered for a while and went out of Cining Palace to ask Zaiyuan for it, and saw what home remedies the old guy ate so magically?

Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, said bluntly after drinking a few sips of tea: "We might as well be tough on the Russians, it's not that I don't have money in the Qing Dynasty, the so-called aid of the Russians is actually sucking the flesh and blood of my Qing Dynasty, as long as we have silver, England and France will sell warships to us, why do we want to recognize the Russians?" We have to give the Russians some hard money, and we can't give even an inch of land, haven't the Russians always wanted to seek a port in the Golden State? We might as well point the Fujian horsetail to the Russians, and even Taiwan can be leased to them. ”

Zeng Guofan and Prince Gong Yixin gasped at the same time, and said in unison: "You want to kill the two soldiers with peaches?" ”

Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, nodded seriously, and Prince Gong Yixin hesitated to the offensive knot of Li Zhiming's outspoken Beiyang strategy before the squire of the military department, so he said in a strange manner: "Lord Li is so self-righteous!" Britain and France are still invincible to Lin Rebellious, why would the Russians go to the tiger's mouth to extract teeth? Taiwan and Mawei are all known to the world under the jurisdiction of Lin Wei? Will the Russians not know? Just with those few ships of the Russians, still dare to compete with Lin Yi? ”

Li Zhiming, the squire of the military department, nodded and said: "What the prince said is very true, although the Russians can't now, it doesn't mean that they won't dare in two years, Lin Rebellion is just one side of the disaster, but Russia is a big empire like my Qing Dynasty, so we can also be regarded as having an explanation to the Russians, we will lease you what you want, whether you can get it is your business, never cede only lend, the popular diplomacy of Western countries is mutual recognition, otherwise just like Lin Rebellion, even if the founding of the country is a bandit, the name is not right." ”

Ci'an and Cixi, who had been terrified by the land reparations, looked at each other, and they suddenly found that this soldier Li Zhiming seemed to be a talent! Do not cede the land only lease, this lease is a temporary surname, when the lease period is up, it will naturally be the territory of the Qing Dynasty again, Ci'an is considering whether to lease Qiongya to the Russians as well?

(To be continued)