Although it is still very cold in the morning and evening, the thick ice on Zhongnanhai has also melted, and it is no longer possible to see all kinds of waterfowl playing in it. The weeping willows by the lake have also sprouted new shoots the size of rice grains, and the tender yellow ones are particularly cute. It's just that spring in Beijing is not a suitable season for fun, because generally speaking, March and April are the time when the wind and sand in Beijing are strong, and when the wind and sand rise, the whole sky becomes yellow. If someone goes out on an urgent matter, but forgets to close the window, and comes back from a busy circle, he will find that his desk has been covered with a thin layer of pale yellow sand.

However, today's weather is exceptionally good, since early in the morning, there is no wind, since there is no wind, naturally there will be no wind and sand. At noon, the sun is warm, and the sky is blue and high.

Empress Dowager Cixi, the true ruler of the Qing Empire, had just ended her early dynasty and was returning to Zhongnanhai with Emperor Guangxu. The Empress Dowager Cixi now lives in Fengze Garden in Zhongnanhai, and Guangxu is arranged to live in Yingtai in Zhongnanhai.

Yingtai is a small island surrounded by water, and is only connected to the land by a bridge. After the Wuxu coup, Cixi has always looked at Emperor Guangxu very closely. This is especially true after the Gengzi change. Now Cixi chose to live in Zhongnanhai instead of her former residence in the Chuxiu Palace in the Forbidden City, largely because of the fact that Yingtai was particularly suitable for house arrest for the Guangxu Emperor, who lacked both political wisdom and self-knowledge.

Today's Cixi is more than seventy, and her body is not as good as before, before Emperor Xianfeng was still there, when she was still Concubine Yi, she helped Emperor Xianfeng to review and deal with the Hongyang Rebellion in the southeast, and was often busy with the ugly time, but she was still very energetic, and now it was just more than half an hour of court, and she felt very tired. Although Li Lianying often said that the Queen Mother is strong and can live for a thousand years and ten thousand years. But Cixi herself knew that it was just to make her happy.

"How can there be anyone in the world who can live for a thousand years or 10,000 years, and then he won't become an old monster." Cixi knew that her days were numbered, but death was not particularly frightening to her, although there were many rumors against her on the market, what poisoned Ci'an, what raised the face, and what a lot of paragraphs. There are also accusations that she is greedy for power, kills ministers, and violates imperial power. But Cixi didn't care, just wiped them away like a spider's web. Because she felt that everything she did was for the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, and the decisions she made were the most in line with the interests of the Qing Dynasty. Although she was not able to revive the Qing Dynasty, if it weren't for her efforts, if she really handed over the power to Guangxu and let him mess around, I was afraid that it would be over early in the morning. Therefore, she felt that even if she died, when she went underground, she would have the face to meet the ancestors of the Aixin Jueluo family.

But when she thought about the situation in the Qing Dynasty after her death, Cixi was really a little afraid. The current Guangxu Emperor is obviously not a weapon, he only sees power, but he does not see what the basis of the power of the Qing Dynasty is, and where does the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty come from. He thought that by virtue of his status as an emperor, he could make the world submit, but he didn't know how weak the foundation of the Manchu imperial power was now, and he needed to be very careful and very careful to use various skills to maintain it.

After the Hongyang Rebellion that year, almost half of the Han ministers were supervised in the world, and there was even an obvious trend of secession in the southeast. Zuo Zongtang even wrote a letter to Zeng Guofan, taking the opportunity of writing a couplet to Shending Mountain, and wrote "What God relies on will be in Deyi; The weight of the tripod seems to be questionable", which is obviously full of disobedience. The southeast region is already a semi-divided situation, and the southeast mutual protection in the year of Gengzi is obvious, and the Manchurians actually have no strength to suppress them, so they can only use a name to take advantage of the contradictions between their interests, and the differences between foreigners and their interests to play a balance by means. Therefore, even if there was a disobedient southeast mutual protection, in the end, Cixi had to issue an edict to admit that the governors were completely right. Such a thing would have been unimaginable in Kang Qianyong's time, but now ...... Maintaining such a balance requires a great deal of skill, and the Guangxu Emperor obviously did not have such skills.

It's not just that Guangxu doesn't have such ability, but among the entire Manchu people, once Cixi dies, no one else has this ability. Over the years, no matter what he did, the outstanding figures were not Manchurians, and in this sense, Cixi had no successor, and this made Cixi even more afraid.

Just now, when she walked to the edge of Yingtai with Emperor Guangxu, Cixi suddenly coughed because of a little wind, and she almost coughed out of breath. Although Emperor Guangxu made a particularly filial appearance to his "father", Cixi still saw a trace of joy in his eyes.

Emperor Guangxu hated her, and Cixi knew this. Because in his opinion, she took away the power that should have belonged to him. It's natural. But to her disappointment, even after experiencing so many things, Emperor Guangxu still didn't grow at all, and he didn't even have the most basic ability to hide his emotions. There is no such forbearance, so if he really regains his authority one day, I am afraid that he will immediately be able to break the balance that Cixi has spent countless efforts to maintain.

"I can't let myself die and be buried in the grave." Cixi couldn't help but think so.

Entering Fengze Garden, Li Lianying helped Cixi to sit down. After resting for a while and drinking a cup of ginseng soup, Cixi's spirit improved again. asked Li Lianying: "Is there any excerpt today?" ”

"Our Lady Queen Mother has also been busy for a day today, and she will not rest." Li Lianying said softly.

"Rest, the mourning family wants to, but who of them can make the mourning family rest at ease?" Cixi sighed, shook her head again, and said, "I can't rest, unless...... Can't rest! …… Go get those folds. ”

The Qing Empire is so big, and there are naturally a lot of messy things every day. And there is one kind of thing that Cixi is most concerned about, that is, the affairs of the sub-revolutionary party. To be honest, the ability of these revolutionary parties is very limited, and they are not much worse than Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing in those years, and every time they just gather dozens of or so people in remote places, make trouble, and then go to foreign countries. If such a thing was before the Hongyang Rebellion, it would not be worth mentioning. It can even be classified as a criminal case. It's just that compared with the Qing Dynasty at that time, although there are a lot more foreign guns and cannons, it is much weaker, and even a little bit of wind and grass may lead to the subversion of the balance, so although these chaotic parties have no ability, they have to guard against it.

"That gang of rebels spread rumors that the mourning family wants to kill the emperor?" Turning to a certain piece of music, Cixi was taken aback. This surprise was not because the rumors created by the chaotic party were too despicable, but it seemed that these words suddenly touched something that she was not willing to think about before. So she read it carefully......

After a while, Cixi raised her head and asked Li Lianying, "What about the newspaper mentioned in this recital?" ”

"Back to the words of the Queen Mother, that newspaper is a newspaper of the chaotic party, and it is full of wild words, which are unsightly......" Li Lianying knelt down and replied.

"The newspapers that rebellious the party naturally don't say good things about mourning the family." Cixi smiled, "To be honest, are there still fewer people who have changed their tricks and scolded the mourning family over the years?" What's the big deal? Okay, let's go and bring it to the mourners. ”

"Huh." Li Lianying answered and went down. Although this article may not be good for the Queen Mother, since the Queen Mother has decided to read it, he will never dare to do it. Although Li Lianying is the so-called great eunuch, the power and status of the great eunuch of the Qing Dynasty are still very limited. From this, it can be seen that the Manchus were indeed barbarians and discriminated against people with disabilities. Since Zulong, the orthodox Great Unification Dynasty has never allowed the status of eunuchs to be so low.

In a few moments, the newspaper was handed to Cixi. Cixi took the reading glasses handed by Li Lianying and put them on, and asked, "Where is that article?" ”

"Our Lady of the Queen Mother, right here." Li Lianying hurriedly helped Cixi turn the newspaper to the second page, pointing to the article on the headline and said. In Asia in this era, the first page of a newspaper is often not a formal content, but a variety of advertisements, and the people's newspaper, which has always been short of money, is no exception. So its second edition is the equivalent of our current front page. Cixi first looked at the author of the article, and then said with a smile:

"Zhang Jiang's article mourning family has also read some of it, and he is quite a learned person, he scolded the emperor at the beginning, but it is a pity that he is a chaotic party......"

But as she looked down, the smile on her face vanished, her eyes widened, and her hand holding the newspaper trembled.

"Our Lady Queen Mother, don't be angry, for such an ignorant chaotic thief, it's not worth ...... being angry," Li Lianying hurriedly said.

"The mourning family is not angry, but a little tired." At this time, Cixi had already finished reading the article. She threw the newspaper casually on the table next to her, then leaned back on the back of the Taishi chair, closed her eyes, took off her reading glasses, handed them to Li Lianying, and held her forehead with the other hand.

Li Lianying borrowed reading glasses, and gently picked up the newspaper again, wanting to take it out.

"Just put it there." Cixi's tired voice suddenly sounded in his ears, "Put it there first." I'll have to look at it again in a while. ”