Now, let's leave the mountains and nests of central and southern Lu, face north, cross the icy and snow-covered North China Plain, and gaze at a majestic city towering at the foot of Yan Mountain.

Open the map of the world, in the eastern land, depicting two great projects, one is the winding and undulating Great Wall that runs through the east and west, and the other is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which is crystal clear and straight, running through the north and south. At the northern end of the Grand Canal is the Jingshi in the mouth of the reader.

It has a resounding name, Beijing. It is the capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with a central axis running through the north and south, and the imperial palace is located in the center of the city. The city palace, the altar temple garden, the temple of the government office, and the market houses are all symmetrically unfolded on both sides of the central axis, with a rigorous pattern and a clear distinction between primary and secondary. Its city walls, by the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city, the outer city, stacked into four phalanxes, the original design is square, but due to financial problems, the outer city failed to seal the square. The whole city is closed, layered, hierarchical, and clearly bounded.

Since the 11th century B.C., as of today, Beijing has been the capital ten times, which is Ji, Yan, Qianyan, Dayan, Liu Yan, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing.

The year of Gengzi is approaching, a year destined to bring painful memories to Jingshi and even profoundly affect the mental journey of several generations of Chinese, but for ordinary citizens, it does not show any signs of its differences. As the sun rises, the streets and alleys of the capital begin to be lively. Mountain goods from the northwest region were brought in from Deshengmen in the north of the city, and they were already piled up in the market. Sheep with delicious meat outside the mouth are crammed into the trading market because they are consumed in large quantities every day in winter. The commercial street outside Zhengyangmen is full of mule carts with mixed passenger and cargo loads. When the curtains of the pawnshop and the money house were lifted, the old smell of the sandalwood counter and the heat of the charcoal fire wafted into the street. The restaurant that could serve Manchu and Han dishes at the same time was open, and the young man was soliciting customers loudly outside the door. Women dressed in Manchu and Han cotton costumes wander in front of the grocery stalls of Longfu Temple. Long-established retail stores began to hire Western bands to advertise the sale. In the Bada Hutongs near the front gate of the pornography industry, lanterns stained by the cold winter wind hang - people at the lower levels are planning their lives, and officials at the top are talking privately about the emperor's illness - it is said that Western doctors have been invited to Yingtai to see the emperor's illness. And the so-called scholars, generally referring to the literati, are gathering sentences in the warm pavilion __ the first good place of the ancient empire, filled with the tranquility of the smell of decay.

Long Qian guessed right. The big men in the Beijing Division, who could decide the future and fate of this old empire, had no time to take into account the "deeds" made in the mountains by the bandits who slipped through the net in Lunan, because the troubles encountered by these big men were much more important and complicated than the failure of the official army.

Of course, there are still bigwigs who care about this matter, such as Zhao Shuqiao, the new minister of military aircraft and the secretary of the criminal department.

Since the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department by Emperor Yinzhen of the Qing Dynasty, the imperial power in China's 2,000-year-old feudal history has reached its highest peak, surpassing the Ming Taizu who abolished the prime minister in one fell swoop. Although the Ming Dynasty abolished the prime minister, it still set up a cabinet, and the cabinet ministers were the de facto prime ministers, such as Zhang Juzheng, who had monopolized power for more than ten years in order to reform the tax system and create a situation of Zhongxing. The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming system, and the Yongzheng Dynasty set up the Military Aircraft Department, the emperor monopolized the military and political power, and the Minister of Military Aircraft became the de facto prime minister. The minister of Han who entered the military discipline was actually a very human minister.

Because Zhao Shuqiao's concubine Hexian was robbed by Mengshan Strongman when he returned to his hometown a year ago, although he released the person back after paying the ransom, he was still forced to commit suicide. Etiquette is like this, a woman like her is plundered by a strongman, her chastity is difficult to protect, even if the strongman is only for money, the chastity of the concubine is ruined, and the redemption is for the face of the master, and death becomes her only way out.

If the bureaucratic class of the empire is compared to a high mountain, then Zhao Shuqiao has already stood at the pinnacle of majesty. The extermination of the Mengshan thieves made Lord Zhao Qiaoshu let out a sullen sigh that had been depressed in his heart for nearly two years. The concubine's revenge is avenged, and her face has been saved: the heads of Sun Dewang, the leader of the Mengshan bandits, and several major leaders have been sent to Jingshi by Yuan Shikai, as the most important evidence to report to the Jingshi, and also as ironclad evidence of the destruction of the Mengshan thieves, as for the very few exiled Mao thieves, the court will not care.

For this reason, Zhao Shuqiao owed Yuan Shikai a favor. What's more, Yuan Shikai is extremely beautiful, Bing Tanjing is the highest, and he is not picky in face.

But recently, Zhao Shuqiao heard that the Mengshan bandits had not fallen, they killed Mengshan and fled to the Lunan Mountains to continue to fight against the imperial court, and defeated Li Chun's army twice in a row.

This incident shocked Zhao Shuqiao extremely much. There are many bandits in mountainous China, but there are not many who can defeat the official army, and it is unbelievable that they can defeat Yuan Shikai's right army. If the elite soldiers of the small station trained by Yuan Shikai were not opponents, this group of bandits should really attract the attention of the imperial court.

However, the twists and turns about the Lunan war were suppressed and did not reach the imperial front. Obviously, Yuan Shikai has someone at the military aircraft, and he is not the only one who buys it, who is this person?

It is a common practice in officialdom to deceive the upper and lower levels, and every day there are mountains of twists and turns piled up in the military aircraft department, and it is impossible to report everything to the Queen Mother, although the Queen Mother is in good health, but after all, she is more than 60 people. An incident of defeat against bandits can be big or small, and it is okay not to report it and approve it directly, but Zhao Shuqiao firmly believes that there is something wrong with it.

Prince Li Shiduo is the foreman of the military aircraft, in fact, he doesn't care about anything, he is an old nobleman who has no opinions, and he will not be him. Co-organizer of the university, Han Minister Wang Wenshao is more tactful, how many years of ups and downs in officialdom, the biggest feature of this person is irresponsible, let alone him. Moreover, the military affairs have nothing to do with him. Fortitude, co-organizer of the university, a mediocre but self-righteous Manchu official, but I haven't heard of any friendship between him and Yuan Shikai, not like. Qixiu, Manchu, Minister of Military Aircraft, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, this matter is not under his control. The only one in the last is Rong Lu, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, a scholar of the Ministry of War, and the general control of the five armies of the armed guards, Rong Lu is the real henchman of Lafayette, and he is in charge of the military, it must be him.

Of course, Zhao Shuqiao will not forget the rumor last year, Yuan Shikai grasped himself at the critical moment, and with the help of Rong Lu, he not only got rid of the suspicion of the Kang Party, but also was promoted.

It must have been Rong Lu who helped Yuan Shikai suppress this matter.

Zhao Shuqiao was not prepared to oppose Rong Lu, and concealing the news of Yuan Shikai's defeat did not harm his interests. At present, Zhao Shuqiao's biggest headache is the increasingly serious problem of boxers. The problem of the boxers that broke out in Shandong but spread to Zhili has become a big problem that endangers the empire, not to mention, it involves another major event, that is, the abolition of the emperor.

In the past, the imperial court's attitude towards the boxers was basically repression, which was the main reason why Yuan Shikai, who acted harshly, was deeply appreciated by the Empress Dowager Cixi. However, in the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu, the imperial court's attitude towards the boxers quickly changed 180 degrees. From the original prevention and repression to support.

The reason is incomprehensible to the officials below, but Zhao Shuqiao knows it. The Empress Dowager, who had held the power of the Qing Dynasty for decades, intended to depose the current emperor, but the foreigners resolutely supported the emperor, so the enemy of the enemy was naturally an ally. The Boxers who played the slogan of exterminating the foreign world became the strength of the imperial court in an instant.

It is no wonder that Yuxian, the former governor of Shandong, was particularly favored by the Queen Mother, and even rewarded a handwritten word "Fu". Although the Queen Mother is a woman, she writes well, and very few of the Queen Mother's handwriting is circulated in the world. The fact that Yuxian, the former governor of Shandong, was rewarded with a handwritten letter from the Empress Dowager after entering Beijing speaks volumes: Yuxian, who had strongly supported the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong, would regain the importance of the imperial court.

Because he was in the military aircraft department, he was naturally well-informed, and Yuxian had already been appointed as the governor of Shanxi.

Yuxian is a cool official, perhaps one of the few cool officials in the history of the Qing Dynasty, this person is not a mediocre official, when Cao County is the county commander, he is diligent in political affairs, encourages integrity, does not take bribes, and is quite loved by the people under his rule. The only drawback is that the punishment is harsh, and the killing is calm, which is similar to killing chickens, so it has earned the nickname "butcher".

Yuxian hated foreigners deeply and attributed all the country's problems to foreigners, so he connived at the Shandong Boxers. It is said that the name Boxer was taken by Yuxian. The Boxers also climbed the pole and embroidered the word Yu on their banners, indicating that they had the support of the government.

Why did you support the Boxers? Just because the Boxers burned churches and killed foreigners. Yuxian was dismissed by the imperial court due to the protests of foreigners, and the Empress Dowager's use of Yuxian illustrated the change in imperial policy. Zhao Shuqiao sniffed a hint of danger from it.

Zhao Shuqiao sorted out the chaotic political situation, on the surface it was a problem of attitude towards the boxers, but the core was the issue of abolishing the emperor. At present, the administrative center of the Qing Empire, the six military aircraft of the Military Aircraft Department, Gangyi and Qixiu, openly support the Boxers, while they themselves oppose the Boxers. Shi Duo and Wang Wenshao have never made a clear statement, and the most critical person, Rong Lu, Zhao Shuqiao thinks that he knows what the Boxers are, but this old and cunning guy hides it deeply and does not express his opinion at all.

After the Wuxu Change, Zhao Shuqiao knew that Emperor Guangxu's dragon chair was no longer stable, and if there was no case of "encircling the garden", Cixi might be able to endure it again, after all, the Restoration was also for the sake of enriching the country and strengthening the army. But instigating Yuan Shikai's new army to surround the garden completely broke through Lafayette's bottom line. If you are yourself, you can't bear it. The emperor is good at everything, but after suffering the humiliation of the First Sino-Japanese War, the mood of enriching the country and strengthening the army is too serious. The emperor has no queen, and the new monarch can only be selected from the relatives of the close branches, but Lafayette's choice of the son of the king of Duanjun is really a little speechless.

Zai Yi was awarded the title of King of Duanjun, which was originally a joke.

Zai Yi, a Manchu, the second son of Prince Xuan, the fifth son of Emperor Daoguang of Xuanzong, was the nephew of Cixi, and was a cousin with Guangxu. Inherited is the title of Prince Ruihuai Mianxin's son Yizhi after his death, even if he becomes the king of the county, he should be named "Ruijun King" according to Mianxin's title, but the document was written incorrectly, "Rui", mistakenly written as "end", the emperor was also confused, and the Zhu pen was accurate. As soon as the emperor's words came out, it was a law, and the king of Ruijun became the king of Duanjun. As a result, Prince Ruihuai's party was "expelled from the country".

Zhao Shuqiao is in the center and has heard a lot about the secrets of the palace. The reason why Zai Yi's son was chosen as the prince was because Zai Yi's Fu Jin (Mrs.) had a very close relationship with Cixi, to the point where he could dangle in front of Cixi's sedan chair and whisper to the Empress Dowager from time to time. And Zai Yi is a bullshit in Zhao Shuqiao's eyes, although he is the prime minister, the minister of national affairs and the chief soldier of the Tiger God Battalion, and he is in charge of the military power of the Gyeonggi troops together with his brother Wang Zailian of the county, his brother Fu Guogong, and the chief soldier of the right wing of the Praetorian Guard.

If Zai Yi becomes the emperor, Zhao Shuqiao can't think about it.

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