After the holy decree was read, Zuo Jigao was already like a thorn in his back.

Although he expected in advance that the imperial court might punish him, according to his thoughts, it might be a few criticisms, or a few months of punishment, but he really didn't expect that the imperial court would demote his title!

Such a humiliation is even worse than killing him!

In his life, what he attaches the most importance to is fame!

What founded the shipyard and what went west to Xinjiang, his purpose was to make his fame above Zeng Li's master and apprentice!

And now that he has earned the title so easily, he has been cut by one level because of an irrelevant excerpt, how can he not make him angry?

"Lord Zuo, do you have the order?" Zhang Demin looked at Zuo Jigao, whose skin was already the color of pork liver, and said coldly.

"Minister...... Decree ...... Shane! Zuo Jigao glared at Zhang Demin fiercely, and immediately jumped up after taking the red sandalwood dragon pattern wooden box containing the holy decree with both hands.

Zuo Jigao felt that everyone's eyes in the hall were focused on him, he was extremely ashamed for a while, and turned to leave, but stopped Zhang Demin.

"Lord Zuo, the waist card has not been returned." Zhang Demin said.

Zuo Jigao turned around hatefully, and untied the ivory waist card of "First-Class Kejinghou" hanging on his waist, at this time Zhang Demin had already taken out Zuo Jigao's "First-Class Kejingbo" new waist card and was ready to change it for him.

Zuo Jigao looked at the marquis's waist card in his hand, and was very reluctant for a while, he was caressing his name on the waist card with his hand, but the waist card was taken away by Zhang Demin.

Zuo Jigao glared at Zhang Demin angrily, but Zhang Demin was not afraid of his gaze. Instead, he shook the new earl's waist card in front of him.

"Lord Zuo. This is a new waist card issued to you by the imperial court. Please keep it away. Zhang Demin smiled slightly and said.

Seeing Zhang Demin's mocking expression, Zuo Jigao's guards were all angry, and a few people were about to step forward and want to wave their fists at Zhang Demin, but the guards around Zhang Demin saw this, and they all stepped forward and pressed the handle of the knife with their hands.

Zuo Jigao stared at Zhang Demin deadly, he couldn't understand why this young eunuch couldn't get along with him so much. But he knew that if his men beat him, it would do him no good!

After all, Zhang Demin is the palace envoy of the decree and represents the supreme imperial power!

Zuo Jigao turned his head and glared at the guards, then took a deep breath, and took the new ivory waist card of "First Class Ke Jingbo" from Zhang Demin's hand with both hands, and hung it on his waist.

"Lord Zuo, this is the case, I take my leave." Zhang Demin nodded at Zuo Jigao, turned around and walked towards the door.

Zuo Jigao watched Zhang Demin's figure disappear at the door with eyes that could breathe fire. Turning around, he hurried to his room, leaving behind the stunned people in the hall.

on the carriage. Zhang Demin recalled Zuo Jigao's appearance just now, and couldn't help laughing. For the first time in his life, he smiled so heartily.

Qingqi Garden, Beijing.

The sun is shining outside the window, there is a breeze blowing in from time to time, there is no cloud in the blue sky, and from time to time a flock of pigeons flies by, making bursts of pigeon whistles, which arouses the attention of the Empress Dowager Renxi in the study.

Because she had just taken the chilled lotus leaf porridge, although it was the hot season, the Empress Dowager Renxi did not feel hot.

Due to the scorching heat of Beijing in summer, the emperor's center of government affairs was sometimes not in the Forbidden City, but in the gardens of the Qingqi Garden. But since the Qingqi Garden was burned in the tenth year of Xianfeng, this rule has disappeared. Since the beginning of the Tongzhi Dynasty, she can only nest in this big and stuffy Forbidden City, accompanying her son to survive these difficult years. Fortunately, her son was filial and his subordinates were loyal, and this Qingqi Garden was rebuilt in a few years, and she was able to enjoy the freshness and loveliness of this garden again.

Today's recital is not much, the Empress Dowager Renxi is rarely busy, she raises her head from time to time to look at the sky, hoping to see new auspicious signs.

That time, the cranes came to fly, the beasts competed, and the deer spit out people's words, which really impressed her too deeply.

Just when she was excited, the chief eunuch Liu Shengyin walked in quickly.

Looking at the newly sent piece from the Military Aircraft Department that Liu Shengyin was holding in his hand, the Empress Dowager Renxi couldn't help frowning. She looked at the gold enamel "Joy Elephant Shengping" Western table clock in the corner and asked, "Why is it late today?" ”

"Back to the Empress Dowager, the Prime Minister's Yamen received a note from the Russian State today, and the Military Aircraft Department is still discussing, so it's a little late."

"Oh? What's the matter? Been talking about it for so long? Empress Dowager Renxi asked,

"Back to the Queen Mother's words, the slave didn't inquire in detail, hehe, it seems that the Russian state is going to soften, and put forward a Hokkaido punishment opinion." Liu Shengyin said with a smile, placing the notebook on the bookcase, "The slave thinks that it should be a good thing." ”

"This matter of Russia's occupation of Hokkaido has been dragging on for so long, and the poor handling of the military aircraft department is really getting more and more roundabout." Empress Dowager Renxi snorted, a look of displeasure flashing in her eyes.

"The so-called good things come in pairs, and there is another good thing today, and the slave has to report it to the queen mother." Liu Shengyin, as the chief eunuch favored by the Empress Dowager Renxi, is of course very good at observing her face, and he immediately began to talk about things that made the Empress Dowager Renxi happy, "The slave didn't want to disturb the Empress Dowager here, but I really can't wait, hehe, the minion is here, I will congratulate the Empress Dowager first." ”

"Oh? What's the good thing? Let's hear it. Empress Dowager Renxi's furrowed brows furrowed.

Unlike those eunuchs who can only bend their minds to meet each other, Liu Shengyin has always been cautious in his duties, never lied, and spoke kindly and funny, talking and laughing can make people suddenly brightened, Empress Dowager Renxi trusts him very much, and now Liu Shengyin can't wait to report the good news to herself, which is naturally something that makes her happy.

"Fuzhou found a batch of rare porcelain that was lost in the palace for the Queen Mother. The slave knew that the queen mother must be happy to see it, and someone had already put it in the room for the queen mother. Liu Shengyin said, "In today's notebook, there is such a thing, and the Queen Mother will be able to see it in a while." ”

"You bring that notebook first, and I'll take a look." Empress Dowager Renxi's eyes flashed with surprise and said.

Liu Shengyin stepped forward and found Lin Yiqing's notebook. It was presented in front of the Empress Dowager Renxi.

Although Lin Yiqing has no official position. But because he was rewarded with a silver medal. became a "silver angel" who handled special affairs for the emperor, and those who held silver medals were allowed to perform special folds, and the folds were handed over to the local government to deliver them, so that Lin Yiqing could directly play the court no matter where he went.

Empress Dowager Renxi opened Lin Yiqing's notebook, only glanced at it, her complexion immediately changed greatly, and she closed the notebook suddenly.

Liu Shengyin. Have you seen everything? There was a rare tremor in her voice.

"Back to the Queen Mother's words, the servants have all inspected them one by one, there are a total of 16 bottles, plates, honors, etc., all of which are pastel, and the money from the Rongfang official kiln is ......" Liu Shengyin didn't finish speaking, and was interrupted by Renxi.

"Quick! Take me to see it! ”

When Renxi, who returned to Daya Zhai, looked at the sixteen pieces of porcelain originally used for furnishings in the pavilion that originally belonged to "Yongqing Changchun", some tears oozed from the corners of her eyes......

Liu Shengyin carefully observed the expression of the Empress Dowager Renxi, and the Empress Dowager Renxi knew that Liu Shengyin was looking at her, so she took out her handkerchief and pretended to wipe her sweat. Quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

In front of outsiders, she will never reveal the weak side of a woman.

Only this time. She couldn't contain the excitement in her heart.

Renxi came to the flower stand where the celestial globe vase with the inscription of the poem was placed, gently stroked the smooth glaze, and hummed softly.

Liu Shengyin heard that the Empress Dowager Renxi was humming the song "Sunny Day", and couldn't help but be stunned.

Renxi, who was humming a little song, had a strange look on her face, like a girl who was pregnant with spring.

From entering the palace to the present, it is the first time he has seen the Empress Dowager Renxi behave like this.

"Does it sound good?"

"The queen mother sings beautifully, and the slave is full of ears this time." Liu Shengyin immediately praised with a smile.

"I haven't sung for many years, and I'm a little rusty......" Empress Dowager Renxi laughed, "Actually, it was better to sing back then." ”

"Back then, in 'Yongqing Changchun', the first emperor liked the little songs I sang......" Without waiting for Liu Shengyin's interface, Renxi talked about the past by himself, as if he was telling Liu Shengyin or himself.

"After I entered the palace, I lived in 'Yongqing Changchun', these bottles, were originally placed in this'Daya Zhai', the paintings on them, are painted by famous painters in the Ruyi Museum, 'Daya Zhai' is where I learned to paint, I was still depicted according to the paintings on it......"

Liu Shengyin did not answer again, but stood aside respectfully, quietly listening to the Empress Dowager Renxi tell the past when she was young.

"I remember when I first entered the palace, I didn't see much of the world, but I just felt that these porcelain vases were much better looking than those at home, and I later learned that these are all pastel porcelain burned by Rong Fangnian at that time, which is the most beautiful, no one has ever seen before, and there is no one after that......"

Empress Dowager Renxi's eyes flowed among these colorful porcelain, recalling the past, 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 'Yongqing Changchun', 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, affecting Jiangxi, the porcelain industry was greatly affected, many potters died, escaped, Tang Ying's imperial kiln factory passed down the craft, many have been lost, I am afraid that in the future, I may never be able to burn such good-looking porcelain......" Renxi's voice gradually choked, "Now there are not many pastel porcelain stored in the palace, I can't imagine that today, I can still see the old thoughts......

"It's a pity that all the good things we did were robbed by foreigners......," Liu Shengyin 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 Renxi sneered.

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

As a witness to the burning of Qingqi Garden by the British and French forces, the Empress Dowager Renxi certainly knows what the truth about the burning of Qingqi Garden is.

The real situation is that before the burning of the Qing Qi Garden, the British and French forces had sent a 39-member negotiating team to negotiate. However, some of the main fighting factions of the Great Cadre Imperial Court, led by the monk Ge Rinchen, were arrogant and wantonly insulted and tortured. Grass cares about human life. In the end, all 39 delegates who participated in the negotiations were detained. Escorted back to Beijing. Of these people, 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 Qingqiyuan.

So what happened next in Kiyokien?

“…… 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 then the Battle of Baliqiao failed, and Emperor Xianfeng fled in a hurry, and no one cared about the rest of these people. So these foreign ministers were tied their hands behind their backs. Kneeling on the ground, three days without rice, later survivors recalled: Bowlby, a Times reporter, died on the fourth day, and his body was left in a cell for three days before being 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, and nose, and he went crazy...... One of the survivors was still counting maggots in prison. Say, 1,000 maggots can be bred in a day! ”

Later, at the strong request of the British and French forces, the Daqian court 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, Erjin also deliberately put forward a point, that is, once he attacked the city of Beijing, he would not kill people or disturb the people, but he must burn the Qingqi Garden, because his envoys were imprisoned there.

After that, the British and French forces stormed the city of Beijing, but due to the desperate defense of the cadres, they were never able to conquer it, but this strengthened the determination of the British and French forces to retaliate.

After defeating the cadres outside Beijing under heavy artillery fire, the Anglo-French forces attacked the outskirts of Beijing and prepared for large-scale retaliation. After several discussions among the commanders of the coalition forces, it was decided that burning down Qingqi Garden was the best way to retaliate.

Before setting fire to the Qingqi Garden, Ergin also posted notices in various places outside the city of Beijing, explaining the reason for the burning of the Qingqi Garden and the scheduled time of the fire: "Everyone, whether high or low, must be punished for his foolish fraud, and on the 18th the Qingqi Garden 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 Daqian court was responsible for them. "But the people on the outskirts of Beijing feel that this has 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 have Middle Earth 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 people of Middle-earth was beyond his comprehension, the emperor was discredited, the people were numb, and in order to retaliate, he finally issued an order to burn down the Qingqi Garden.

Prince Jing wrote in his memorabilia to the emperor: "The country should have been swept away for thousands of miles, and it was originally for the circulation of goods, but it was all instigated by evil traitors and hundreds of duans, so that such a break was made. …… On the morning of the 22nd, because the Yi copied to Desheng and settled the second gate, the matter was urgent, and he made an appointment with Wen Bochuan 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 Ge Renqin, our army was defeated without a fight, and the defeated soldiers retreated to Qingqiyuan, and the Yi bandits also came at the end. "This is how the British and French troops arrived at Qingqiyuan.

"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 Dianyuan was not the British and French forces, but the poor people in the Haidian area. …… On the 23rd, Jiashen Ji: Wen Gongdi fled, Yi people according to Haidian, Yi people burned Qing Qi Garden, and the night fire was up to a candle sky. On the 24th, the second unitary: Wenyi people only burned the house of the foreign government office in 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 Qing Qiyuan was looted by the Yi people, the traitors took advantage of it, grabbed the remnants, and carried the car to transport it, and the top was treasured, and there was no trace left. …… In the Battle of Qingqiyuan, the original coalition army only burned the official houses outside the garden, or it was a necessary move for military purposes. And many traitors and bandits took the opportunity to plunder, so the coalition forces also entered the park."

"A considerable part of the ordinary people of Qianguo were directly involved in the looting and burning of the Qingqi Garden. Moreover, according to the recollections of the French officers involved, one of the main reasons why the coalition forces ordered the burning of the Qingqi Garden was to expel the locals 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 our camp, and exchanged words with the local servants in the camp, and the local 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 natives and soil servants will bring the fire line, straw and all the things that cause fire to be gathered. After that, they set fire everywhere and burned ......"

Living around Qingqiyuan and in the Haidian area, tens of thousands of people went to Qingqiyuan 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 Qingqiyuan 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"! (To be continued......)

PS: "Why do I get acne when I come to aunt?" "Nonsense, don't your relatives come to your house with some fruit or something?"

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