"Originally, it was Mr. Li's people who took care of this place, but then we were replaced, and the servants and men who took care of her were changed twice, and we had to clean up the old people who were replaced."

Outside the wing, the leader of the guards was explaining the situation to Gao Zhi, and when he said "clean up", his face was still twitching unconsciously.

"Triple the salary every month, and some people keep transferring out, saying that they are promoted, we are still very energetic here, but I didn't expect ......"

Then the leader's face changed, as if he was talking about some terrifying ghost story.

"Someone told us that Manager Li had no one available, so we managed to persuade the Queen Mother to hand over the matter to Lord Chang. Why is there no one? Because...... The old people to be cleaned up are not only the servants and men, but also us. ”

Speaking of "us", the leader's face was dark, as if he had a serious disease that would die suddenly at any moment.

Gao Zhi nodded knowingly, the person in the room, to be precise, that "thing", should have died of illness in the Forbidden City two years ago, although there are vague rumors, but just like the rumors of the Queen Mother's Japanese Imperial Ten Men, although it is groundless in the original meaning, it is too legendary.

Unexpectedly, this rumor is not only true, but it is more legendary than the rumor, and the Empress Dowager Cichun has really become Empress Lu and Wu Cao.

The Queen Mother is not Empress Lu after all, she wants to vent her anger and enjoy the pleasure of torturing that "thing", but she also has to cover up the matter closely. Regularly terminating people who come into contact with that "thing" is an essential part of secrecy measures. It's a pity that this measure is too regular, so that these guards feel that they are worried about their future, no wonder as soon as Gao Zhi opened his mouth, they neatly changed masters.

"The one who told you these things is the one inside."

The young and old Gao Zhi had more inferences, and the leader nodded admiringly.

Gao Jin asked, "Why do you believe her?" She obviously only said those things that were aimed at the Queen Mother. ”

A trace of horror appeared on the leader's face, and he didn't know whether he was recalling the situation when he first saw the "thing" in the house, or when he recalled the first time he knew who the "thing" was, "If you know who she is, you will know who the Queen Mother is." Words are superfluous. ”

Gao Jin asked again: "Then what else did she say to you?" ”

The leader hurriedly cleared himself: "Slaves are just slaves, and they know things related to slaves." ”

Gao Jin didn't delve into it, looked sideways into the room, and whispered to himself, "Is that so...... I'm really curious, what will she say to the emperor. ”

The house that had been cleaned up by the servants was no longer as stinking as before, and the little emperor of Daoguang, Yongqi, was pinching his nose and standing seven or eight feet away from the water tank, talking to the man in the water tank. And when the man said something, he was so shocked that he forgot the stench, and his hands were clenched into fists, and his face was incredulous.

"Impossible! The Queen Mother was very good to me. Treat me like my own son, how is it possible!? Queen Mother, you must be lying to me! You just hate the Queen Mother for treating you like this, so you have to say bad things about her all the time! ”

The Queen Mother in Yongqi's words is not a person, there are both the Queen Mother Cichun and the Queen Mother Ci'an in front of her, who eats and drinks Lazar in the water tank, and is a benevolent version of the person.

"yes, she's treated you well, until sometime in the future. will also say that you are her biological son, and make you believe that she will never harm you, will you believe it? ”

Ru An's eyes in the water tank were as bright as snake eyes, although Ru Xi was still in front of the queen mother and firmly controlled the Manchurians, but God sent Yongqi to her, how could she let go of this opportunity?

Just now Ruan said his mother. The first emperor Qianlong Yu Concubine Keriette had been executed by the secret order of the Empress Dowager Cichun, and he shouted in his mouth that he didn't believe it, but he believed most of it in his heart.

Four years ago, Qianlong reported illness, Ru'an's son ascended the throne as Emperor Jiaqing, and half a year later, the official notice inadvertently mentioned a sentence, saying that "Emperor Taishang" died of illness, and many concubines also died of mourning, including Coriette.

That's just the official statement. The rumors that Lord Qianlong fled south to Yinghua are known to both the north and the south, and Yongqi knows that his Ama and Uncle Fourteen are both in the south to retire, of course, the wife Emperor Yongzheng Ye is also alive in Yinghua, which is a bit legendary. Only three points can be trusted. And as an attachment to this rumor, that is, the whereabouts of his mother Coriette, it is a two-choice truth, one is that he also fled to Yinghua with Amma, and the other is that he was executed by the Queen Mother.

Yongqi has always chosen the former on this topic, and when he arrived in Shengjing, when he was faced with the crisis that the Qing Dynasty was about to go to the country and the Manchus were about to be wiped out, he gradually had doubts about the Empress Dowager Cichun, and the choice began to tilt towards the latter. Ru'an's words just now are just another strong piece of evidence.

And Ru An's rhetorical question really shocked Yongqi, the Empress Dowager Cichun is her mother!?

Yongqi never thought of this possibility, even if according to Ru An, it was just the Empress Dowager Cichun who deceived him, this possibility also made Yongqi's inner world fall apart and almost collapse.

Ru An said in a still terrifying tone: "It seems that ...... She really put a lot of effort into treating you on weekdays, and even you have three points of faith, and she ...... it."

Then the tone changed, and the gloomy aura surged, Yongqi's scalp was numb, and his soul was recondensed.

"She's been acting for almost thirty years, what's the point of deceiving you, poor little child!? She has been benefiting herself for thirty years, and the whole world, except her, everyone is an enemy! She is Wu Cao of the Qing Dynasty! Even if it is her own son, she will be ruthless, not to mention that you are not her biological son! ”

Ru An's pupils flickered, and he deliberately accentuated the tone on the word "not", and Yongqi's soul was completely in place, that's right, Empress Dowager Cichun is the concubine of the imperial grandfather, how could she give birth to me with Amma? This is ridiculous......

As for how ruthless the Empress Dowager Cichun is, there is no need for Ru An to speak, just looking at her appearance is very clear.

"Do you want to know why she did this to me?"

Ru An said again, and Yongqi nodded stunned.

She often said that in the world, she knew the Holy Dao Emperor best. And in the world, the one who knows her best is me! Before telling you why she hurt me, you have to understand how she indirectly harmed Kangxi, Yongzhengye, Qianlong, and my son Hong, that is, your uncle Emperor Jiaqing......"

Ru An's words were like a thick wooden pestle, suddenly stabbing into the depths of Yongqi's heart, stirring up waves that rushed to the sky.

It sounds like his family, Aixin Jueluo, was murdered by the Empress Dowager Cichun alone.

Summer night, cool breeze, Tokyo Weiyang Palace, harem moon viewing terrace. A group of concubines led by Sanniang, including Xu Wumei, who had just entered the palace, and Ma Qianyue, who entered the palace as a concubine, surrounded Li Xian in the middle.

It seems to be happy, but Li Xi is complaining bitterly, the concubines have different expressions, Sanniang and the others are frowning and staring straight, and the fifth sister and Ma Qianyue are bowing their heads and stirring their fingers, with a suspicious expression. In short, Li Xi felt that he was sitting like pins and needles, and his sweat was hard to get rid of.

Li Shi encountered a huge problem, even if he became a superior, he had been trained for nearly 30 years. His eloquence has been tempered, but in the face of his daughters-in-law's questions, he is now at a loss for words.

"It's a pity that Samniang is not here, so ......"

Li Shi tried to change the topic, after he accepted Xu Wumei in Beijing, he returned to Tokyo, and welcomed Luo Shenniang and Ma Qianyue into the palace at the beginning of the month, but Luo Shenniang refused. She is unwilling to give up her current life, and wants to continue to run her Feitian Art Workshop, even if she can only be a dew husband and wife with the emperor, she will not hesitate.

This decision also means that even if it is a dewy couple, it will be difficult to do it in the future, and Li Xi let go very understandingly. But he also regretted that confessing his regrets in front of Sanniang and other daughters-in-law at this time was really an excellent bitter ploy to change the topic.

It's also a pity that except for Xu Wumei's head pierced lower, she seemed to be unbearable for the straightforwardness of the "uncle", and Ma Qianyue was still immersed in the panic that she actually admired the moon with all the mothers, and the other daughters-in-law still stared at Li Xi without saying a word.

Li Shi said with a broken face: "This matter...... It's really hard to explain to you all at once. ”

There was a click. Sanniang knocked open the sunflower seeds and said lightly: "Try it." ”

Li Xi almost groaned, "Anyway...... I'm not as you think it is. ”

That's right, Ru Xi, tonight's daughters-in-law organized a group to brush Li Xi, just for Ru Xi.

This matter was started by Sanniang: "We women should not interfere in politics." But everyone in the world is biting their ears about this, and we can't turn a deaf ear anymore. ”

Zhu Yuyou's sarcastic voice: "Official, why do you want to stop the army!?" Not only the Seventh Army, but also the Mongol cavalry in the north, the First Army in the Guannai, all stopped? Did the official family also issue twelve gold medals? ”

An Jiuxiu was a little nervous, and her speech was vague: "Our family is a ...... Whole...... Received, so ...... That one...... You can't enter the palace. ”

Xiao Fumei said compassionately: "As long as she is dedicated to goodness now, we don't have to ask about the past merits and sins, just let her practice with me." ”

Guan Xuan defended Li Xi as always, but the angle made Li Xi a little crazy: "If those rumors are true, Ru Xi is really a strange woman, we must not treat others badly!" ”

Siniang was so anxious that she went crazy: "What is true!?" Didn't she lie to me at the beginning, but because the official family wanted to cover her, she lied to me and said that she was lying to me!? Ah-why are people all over the world scamming and cheating around!? ”

The major event that caused the fire in Li Shi's harem was the rumors that had been circulating in the country since July, and the rumors from all levels and angles were combined to gradually piece together a "truth" that made the Chinese people jaw-dropping, revealing the truth about the relationship between the Yinghua Shengdao Emperor and the Manchu Empress Dowager Cichun.

First of all, the terms of the request for surrender left by the Empress Dowager Cichun to Acton were leaked, which is not surprising, and it should even be said that it is inevitable.

On the basis of this surrender clause, there began to be a lot of play, and the direction all fell on the old things that had been silent for a long time: Ru Xi, the Empress Dowager Cichun of the Great Qing Dynasty, was the internal response of the Holy Dao Emperor in the Manchu court in his early years.

The rumors showing this direction are extremely rich, and there are also a number of storytelling jokes among the people, such as "the school field exercises and spit out their hearts", "Xiangge conspires to make a big plan", all describe Ru Xi as an anti-Qing martyr inspired by the Holy Dao Emperor, in order to complete the Holy Dao Emperor's entrustment, she resolutely sacrificed herself to seek a great cause, entered the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Holy Dao Emperor should cooperate with the outside world, and climbed to the high position of the Queen Mother step by step, and now it is the last moment of the great cause.

This statement existed in the early years, but at that time, it was mostly a topic of ridicule that everyone laughed at, and it was not taken seriously, and now it has made a comeback, and the gossip of the Chinese people is suddenly boiling, in addition to storytelling, there is even a series of novels with the theme of "Qing Palace Queen", and the government has tried its best to ban them, but they have not been able to ban them all.

Such rumors were originally limited to the category of gossip, but after the Anshan War, the emperor ordered the whole army to stop, and the situation ignited at once, and the gossip rumors exploded instantly and turned into political rumors.

Even the old farmers in the countryside are saying, "Why do our red clothes stop?" Because the stubborn Tartars of the Wuwei Army have been wiped out. Now Long Live Lord will be able to push the Queen Mother to squeeze more benefits from the Tartars, so that they can obediently wait for the fall. ”

Look, the power of the rumors is so great that many people in the country even directly call Ru Xi "Queen Mother".

Of course, this is not to blame those people for being ignorant, who has made Li Xi's attitude towards Ru Xi in the past 30 years, from the surface of it, always support more than punish. And Ru Xi's attitude towards Li Xi is always more deferential than fighting.

Even the civil unrest two years ago and the Unity Fist Rebellion during the Northern Expedition seem to be blamed on the die-hard Manchus, and the fact that the Manchurian Five Tigers are so rampant in Liaodong is the best example......

It's good now. Even Sanniang and others began to doubt the relationship between Li Xi and Ru Xi, to be precise, they once again doubted whether the two were playing a big chess game that had been buried for 30 years.

Li Shi's clarification didn't have much effect, and Sanniang pointed out the key: "You can start from...... Why did the army stop in the beginning? ”

Why should the army stop!?

Just because this matter is difficult to explain, Li Xi felt extremely tricky when facing his daughters-in-law.

After the Northern Expedition, public opinion arose, and then there was an alliance to communicate with the various forces of the Chinese people who were advancing north. The already thriving Yinghua "media industry" has once again ushered in explosive development. At the beginning of the month, when the "Dengwen Yuan," which had been upgraded from the Menxia Provincial Information Department to the Central Court's direct management, counted the distribution of newspaper and periodical writs in the first half of the year, it was shocked to find that there were now more than 1,700 newspapers and more than 500 periodicals in the Anglo-Chinese country, not including the informal newspapers and periodicals run by county governments, colleges, guilds, and associations that were run by the county governments, colleges, guilds, and associations and distributed free of charge without advertising rights.

What does this mean? It means that "public opinion" is growing rapidly, and the most violent part of public opinion comes from the ordinary people at the bottom. In their eyes, political rumors are not much different from gossip and gossip, and the rumors that clamor for the "abnormal relationship" between Li Xi and Ru Xi come from this part of "civilian public opinion".

The rise of civilian public opinion began to divide public opinion in the country, and when Sanniang and others and most of the Chinese people were disturbed by rumors, they did not notice the controversy from another part of public opinion, which was mainly composed of the elite class involved in politics, and it had not yet completed the docking with the nascent civilian public opinion.

The controversy was sparked by an "official diplomatic document" received by the Consulate General in Beijing, which had not yet had time to revoke it. "Official diplomatic document" is the term of the General Office, and in layman's terms, it is an edict stamped with the seals of both the Manchu Empress Dowager Cichun and the Daoguang Emperor.

If Hadaha Yellow Spring has knowledge. What may he have said about this credential, which was delivered to the Consulate General on 2 August, when he, along with Ah Gui, Zhao Hui, Gao Jin, and others, was enthusiastically preparing a plan to resist the enemy on the north bank of the Shahe River in Anshan.

Is it a good thing that the Manchus officially asked for surrender?

Of course, it is not a good thing, not to mention that it does not meet the expectations of Li Xi and the radicals in the country, and this incident has also awakened the moderates and made them dare to speak out. Look, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has surrendered, and the listed pile conditions are already groveling to the extreme, and if they continue to fight, whether they are extinct or relocated, not only will it violate the righteousness of benevolence, but the soldiers will also shed blood, and the people will sweat.

The moderates were not just preaching about benevolence and righteousness, they also raised extremely practical questions, the Manchus still controlled most of the Shengjing, and hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese and hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese who had been forced into the green flag of the Han army were still under the control of the Manchus. If the Manchurians are forced to retreat, the bloody storm in the land of Hebei is likely to be staged again in Shengjing. The Manchu letter also euphemistically mentioned the issue of the Han people in Liaodong, which was not a threat.

If the momentum of the destruction led by Li Shi is compared to a four-horse carriage, then the horse of the moderates is already dragging the back of the carriage, while the horse of the radicals is deviating from the direction. At the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the theory of ethnic superiority similar to that of the Nazis appeared in the country, and by this time, this theory was more mature, and began to systematically explain why the Han people were superior and why the Manchus and other Yidi were barbaric and backward on the basis of blood inheritance.

Some of the arguments that have grown from this argument that ignore the belonging of civilization and look only at blood groups are very dangerous, including the definition of "Huaxia" and "Yidi" as a basis of blood rather than civilization. Emphasizing that "Huaxia" and "Yidi" under this definition are absolutely incompatible, and that each other is a life-and-death struggle, this argument wrapped in the concept of the national law of the jungle advocates that the Yinghua should strictly implement the ethnic segregation policy of subdividing ethnic groups and separating them from each other, so as to benefit the Han people's "pure blood" ethnic segregation policy.

One law professor named Zhuge Jisheng was even more radical, and he conceived a whole set of plans to "completely annihilate" the Manchurians, both physically and mentally, one of which was to use the large-scale nitric acid preparation process developed by the Luofu Mountain Chemical Research Institute of the Tiandao Academy last year. Build a "sea of gunfire" and throw all the people into it......

The moderates pulled back, the radicals ran off topic, and those who followed the crowd, no, it should be said that the wall-riding faction also had their own ideas. The Wall-Riding Party has a greater impact on the country, after all, their main body is the two houses.

The performance of the League in the great cause of the Northern Expedition inspired the two academies, and they were like they had just entered the county school. No, according to the "Anglo-Chinese School System Edict" promulgated this year, the county school was changed to a middle school, and they are like they have just crossed the first grade of middle school. The panicked freshmen were left behind, and the students who entered the second year of middle school began to be pretentious, thinking that Lao Tzu was invincible in the world, and even the emperor would not dare to do anything to us.

These group of court officials, who had only been in office for three months, did a great thing that pierced the zenith, and they even sent someone to directly order Chen Run, demanding that the Manchu letters be sent to the two courts, and then the replies of the two courts were sent to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they also emphasized. This is the final ruling of the Anglo-Chinese state.

Chen Run didn't say a word, on the one hand, he ordered to tie up the court affairs who came to herald the order on behalf of the two houses, and on the other hand, he reported to Li Shi, who was on the way back.

Li Xi's first thought when he received this news was...... The Anglo-Chinese Revolution is coming!?

The second thought was: the opposite! This is a rebellion!

The third thought is: the blood is up, confused, this is not only talking about himself, but also about the two houses.

For Li Shi, this incident was the first "monarchy crisis" since the founding of Yinghua. How to solve this crisis is secondary, the two houses not only gave an order to the general office, but also issued a declaration through the newspaper, saying that Yinghua Hongyi will never stop, and will enter Shengjing within three or five days to capture the old witch alive.

Li Shi believed that most of the two houses were newly elected to the court, and they did not have the courage to dare to usurp power so blatantly, and these behaviors were just the result of not being familiar with the affairs and power boundaries of the two houses, and not understanding the struggle between the two houses and him, the emperor, in the past. They are passionate. If they really think that they are the hearts of the people, their decision, the emperor will raise his hands to support it, the original red clothes are about to enter Shengjing, and instead of the emperor to refute the Manchu Qing Dynasty's national letter, it is also for the emperor to share his worries......

Whereas, the wall-riding faction of the two houses jumped off the wall in a daze. Emperor Li Shi had to temporarily contradict the two houses, stopped the army, confirmed that the state apparatus of Yinghua was still in his hands, and also warned the two houses to figure out the current state power system and military and political affairs process of Yinghua.

The halt of the army was not all about maintaining his monarchy and ensuring the stability of the Anglo-Chinese state, but also partly because of the fourth horse of the carriage: the Calm faction.

The "think tank" formed mainly by the Hanlin Academy, the General Office, the Privy Council, the military staff team, and many non-governmental figures keenly discovered that the situation in Liaodong was rapidly evolving to a new stage before the Battle of Anshan was staged, and that Vladivostok and Korea controlled by Nian Bin would be a series of extremely uncertain major variables, and if we did not consider it as a whole, the series of turmoil caused by the collapse of the Manchu Qing Dynasty would trigger these two major variables and disrupt the situation in the entire Beiyang region Japan, which is fragile and balanced, will see great turmoil.

People of insight pointed out that the existence of the Yan State of the Nian clan was an unsealed door in Liaodong, and if the problem of the Yan State was solved first and the changes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were sealed within Liaodong, the external influence would be greatly reduced.

This judgment added a new weight after the Battle of Anshan, the Zhaohui Department of the Wuwei Army advanced eastward, the Agui Department advanced south, the next wave of reserves of the Seventh Army had not arrived, and there were only four divisions in red clothes, and it was impossible to abandon Shengjing and divide the troops to chase these two forces, so in the black box of Liaodong, the dying Manchu Qing began to look a little like "Schrödinger's cat".

Calmly sent this horse to wait and see, the four horses pulling the cart have been completely messed up, taking into account all factors, Li Xiancai resolutely ordered to suspend the march of troops, he needs to adjust the interior first, of course, urgently transfer troops to Vladivostok, first solve the problem of Nianyan, is also an important step.

Faced with such a complicated ending situation, how could Li Xi explain it to his daughters-in-law? He worked hard to talk about a lot, maybe in exchange for a sentence "If you faint, we'll win".

Li Xian sighed in his heart, on a starry night in summer, the cool breeze is blowing, and the family admires the moon, it should be a good time to talk about family life......