Long Qian and Wu Yong were in Xuanhua to prepare for the escort, and sent Chi Chunxian to lead the cavalry company to Huai'an to fight the front station. He and Wu Yong always had to see Cixi before they could set off.

Xuanhua was an important fulcrum of the northern defense line of the Beijing Division in the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty once set up the Governor of Xuanda, which was one of the important towns on the nine sides. In the Qing Dynasty, because of the alien status of the rulers and the traditional strategic alliance with the Mongols, the threat from the north was basically lifted, and Xuanhua became more of a commercial city, reducing the function of a military fortress, but its prosperity was still incomparable with Huaihua County, where Wu Yong served. It's much easier to raise supplies, as long as you take cash, even the increasingly popular foreign koyo, you can buy almost anything you want.

The matter of welcoming the driver went smoothly, and the magistrate of Xuanhua was of course responsible for the food and lodging of the two palaces and the entourage of the princes, ministers, and escort soldiers, but they would never provide Long Qian with good horses. Long Qian couldn't withstand Chi Chunxian's request, so he asked Lian Shupeng to spend money to replenish twenty horses for the cavalry company, so that the cavalry company, whose strength had been greatly reduced due to the continuous death of horses, recovered some vitality.

Many people think that horses have more endurance than people, including Long Qian, who doesn't know anything about horses. This period of continuous fighting and marching allowed Long Qian to come to a conclusion. War horses are actually very delicate animals, and excessive driving and lack of concentrate feed make horses easily tired to death.

Fortunately, it will enter a relatively peaceful period of time in the future, and the cavalry will still develop at this stage, but the formation of a large-scale cavalry force is not in Long Qian's consideration.

But it wasn't until the evening of the next day that the convoy arrived at Xuanhua City. Long Qian noticed that Cixi and Guangxu were not in a good mood. Cixi drooped her face, and Guangxu was also gloomy.

Long Qian was a little puzzled, what happened?

Lu Shan quietly told Long Qian that the reason why the trip was delayed was because the emperor and the queen mother had a quarrel, because the queen mother asked the emperor to write an edict, but the emperor refused to write it. A group of high-ranking officials went to persuade the emperor and tossed for a day in vain.

What edict is so laborious? Only the edict of oneself!

The emperor is the Son of Heaven, a person who never makes mistakes on behalf of the herdsmen of heaven, and may not be a human being in the first place. Edicts of guilt are issued only in very exceptional circumstances. Right now. This is the case.

Cixi lived in Wu Yong's bedroom, which was many times stronger than her spending the night in a ruined temple. But she still didn't sleep well, and before dinner she met with Wang Chonglie and Enming, and the tragedy of Jingshi shocked her. She's pondering what's next. Even if the foreigner spared himself. How to explain this national disaster to the subjects of the world? Who is responsible?

She can't take that responsibility. Although the country has fallen to this point, and the Qing government has been turned into a government in exile by her, there is no doubt that her responsibility is the greatest. It is useless to put the blame on the Boxers. The people are good to say, but the officials don't do it! The front foot killed four or five ministers who opposed the reuse of boxers and opposed the war with the coalition forces, and the back foot put the blame on a group of ignorant boxers, who could not convince the officials of the world.

After thinking about it, I can only let Guangxu carry this black cauldron. So, after breakfast, Cixi called Guangxu and asked him to write such a letter to the subjects of the world, and also to the foreigners to give an explanation.

Guangxu was reluctant to write. He was already aggrieved. If the Queen Mother can listen to him, why is the situation like this?

"Emperor! If you don't do this, do you want me to do it? Cixi was furious.

Guangxu had no choice but to find someone to write this ridiculous document. The reason why it is absurd is that it is simply ridiculous in the explanation of several important issues.

First, it must be made clear that the Qing court left its subjects and fled. The answer to the manuscript is that the emperor and the empress dowager did not leave, "I and the empress dowager swore to die together, and the spirit of the nine temples was thanked", but on July 21 (August 15 of the Gregorian calendar), when the emperor and the empress dowager were grieving, several princes and ministers forcibly took the two of us out of the palace in a rain of bullets and bullets, and hunted in a hurry.

It's not that we've left the millions of subjects in the capital to flee, it's a bunch of bastards who kidnapped us!

The second is the unavoidable Boxer Rebellion. The imperial court never supported the Boxers, and issued several edicts to severely ban them. But the following group of courtiers, large and small, proceeded from their own selfish interests and did not take the edicts of the court seriously, so that they caused a big disaster. The core meaning is that the Boxers brought trouble to the foreigners, not the problem of the queen mother and the emperor, but the problem of the courtiers who did not obey the order.

Neither Cixi nor Guangxu realized that under normal circumstances, the life and death of courtiers were indeed controlled by the supreme ruler. Since Dong Zhongshu tampered with the Confucian scriptures, it has become a rule that the monarch wants his ministers to die, and the ministers have to die. But that is an ordinary situation, now that the court has become a lost dog, whether it can pass this level is still between the two, such an edict really chills the hearts of the courtiers.

The most beautiful passage of the guilty edict is at the end, "In the past 20 years, every time there has been a provocation, there must be a warning." Lying on the salary to taste the guts, empty words. Financial self-improvement is almost a routine. After the incident, the face is the same, the perfunctory business is the same, and the court is deceived as before. Ministers, big and small, think to themselves at night, that is, without the change of boxers and bandits, can I be self-reliant? ”

That's a good question, but who's going to answer? Moreover, this sentence is the whole article, and it can be regarded as something to say, like the tone of the emperor.

This sentence is difficult to answer even after a hundred years.

Because of this guilty edict, Cixi's dissatisfaction with Guangxu increased a few points. But the situation does not allow Cixi to play tricks, and if she is unhappy, she has to endure it. The foreigners support Guangxu, and their attitude is relatively consistent. In the current situation, any kind of blow to Guangxu may trigger an unforeseen situation. Cixi must consider the position of the foreigners, whether she can survive the current hurdle depends on whether the foreigners are ready to let her go.

Xuanhua's preparations are much more meticulous and thoughtful than Huailai's, the residence is much more luxurious, and the bedding is also new. And the bird's nest was actually served for dinner, which was really embarrassing for Long Qian and Wu Yong. Cixi deliberately called Long Qian to her table to show her favor.

This table excludes Cixi and Guangxu, as well as the three military planes and Prince Su, and there is no King Duan and Pu Jun, who has been established as the prince, to express Cixi's dissatisfaction with this pair of father and son.

"Long Qian. Where are we going, Ming'er? ”

"Ji Lu rowed the next stop to Huai'an." Long Qian glanced at Rong Lu, "I don't know if the Queen Mother needs to rest here for a few days." Wechen made sure we didn't have our pursuers behind us. ”

"Rest what! Go to Taiyuan early for good morning birth. Something seemed to have touched Cixi's sensitive nerves, and Cixi's face, which had regained some glory, stretched again.

"Retreat, continue to walk tomorrow and rest in Huai'an." Rong Lu said.

"Commanded by humility." Long Qian bowed and retreated.

After coming out of the "Xingyuan", Long Qian still had to inspect his troops.

"Lao Cheng! How is Xiaoyue? Saved your life, right? Long Qian walked into the stationing place of the troops, and asked Cheng Fugui, who was standing in the courtyard and was explaining something.

"Keep it. I slept soundly last night. In the morning, he told me that since he was injured, he has never slept as comfortably as last night. ”

"That's good. By the way, I asked Lian Shupeng to buy four more cars. It is used to house the wounded who are not fit to walk. Who should ride in the car, who should walk, you have the final say. ”

"Hey, that's good." Cheng Fugui was happy.

Long Qian went to see the injury number first. There aren't many seriously injured people left. Those who can't survive it will pass. After this time, the injury is slowly improving. When Long Qian went, Xiao Yue, who sawed off his arm, was already asleep. He didn't wake him up.

When he came out, he was blocked at the door by Feng Lun and Ye Yanbing.

"Commander, what are we going to do in the end?" Feng Lun asked.

"Yes, the brothers all want to go back to their hometown__" Ye Yanbing said in a low voice.

Long Qian sat down on the steps, "Let someone get me some water first, I want to take a bath." "He felt tired.

"It's cold, let's boil some hot water." Feng Lun turned around to make arrangements.

"No, I don't. I take cold showers in the winter. He looked at his two battalion commanders, "What do you two think in your hearts, tell me." I know you both have something to say in your hearts. ”

Feng Lun scratched his scalp, he originally had a stomach full of dissatisfaction to vent, but in the face of Long Qian's clear gaze, Feng Lun was a little speechless, and hesitated for a long time, "Commander, what will happen if we keep the court like this?" ”

That's a good question. Because I don't have time to talk to everyone these days, I guess this problem is not just your Feng Lun's personal problem, right? Long Qian saw Cheng Jianguo coming over with a bucket of cold water, "Don't worry." You go first. He waved at the lad.

"Yes, even the platoon commanders, including the squad leaders, are asking this."

"Why do we accept the imperial court's recruitment, why do we not fight with Yuan Shikai to the end, when I was in Zhengjiazhuang, I told you more than once. I know you," Long Qian stared at Feng Lun, "I know that you Feng Lun is not so convinced, thinking that we can completely defeat Yuan Shikai and then occupy Yizhou, Yanzhou, and even Jinan Mansion." I don't think so. Yuan Shikai didn't use all his strength, and we did our best. We can discuss this truth slowly," Long Qian saw Situ Jun looking at him, beckoned to him, and asked him to come over and listen.

"It's okay to discuss it politically, militarily, or even logistically supply. In the future, if any of you are interested, you can do a special research project. Now you can't talk about it, not only you can't talk about it, but you can't talk about it. For what? Because we have already taken this step, our battle in Xigu has shaken the imperial court, the whole country, and the foreigners! Our Shandong army is famous, famous all over the world! Now we march in the wilderness every day, and we don't feel it. I dare say that when we arrived in Taiyuan, everyone felt it. So, we can't go back in time, we can only move forward. ”

"Are we going to Taiyuan?"

"Yes. It is expected that Taiyuan Mansion is our end point. From here all the way to the west, to Datong Mansion to the south, there will be more than ten days to arrive. When we arrived in Taiyuan, we had to find a way to get out. Not to go quietly, but to walk with the arrows of the imperial court. Where to? The first thing I want to go to is to go back to our hometown of Shandong! But what the court is going to do, I don't know what to do. And Yuan Shikai, the current owner of Shandong, definitely doesn't want us to go back! This is why I try my best to coax the Empress Dowager Xi to be happy, and there are three people who can help us in this matter, the first is the Empress Dowager Xi, the second is Rong Lu, and the third is Li Lianying, the great eunuch next to the Empress Dowager Xi. ”

"Then, what if the imperial court doesn't let us go back to Shandong?" Ye Yanbing asked.

"We have built our army from Mengshan Mountain, and what runs through it is the construction of base areas. Now we are outcast, not only because we are homesick, but also because we have tasted all kinds of hardships from being far from the base area. Isn't it? Therefore, where we choose to go in the future, we must be suitable for establishing a base area. My plan, if I really can't go back to Shandong, let's go to the Northeast! The land over there is vast and sparsely populated, and the power of the imperial court is getting weaker and weaker, which is enough for our Mengshan army to spread. ”

"Northeast?" Feng Lun and Ye Yanbing glanced at each other, and both saw the doubts in each other's eyes, while Situ Jun was full of fanaticism, thinking that Long Qian's gaze was indeed extraordinary.

"Yes. The Northeast is a very important place for us and the country, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is very important. Just now, Lao Feng asked me what the result was. That's the result. In the next step, we don't have to think about fighting a war when we build a base area, and we can do it openly and honestly by recruiting troops and buying horses and establishing factories and businesses! Got it? ”

"Got it!" Ye Yanbing replied loudly, Feng Lun was still thinking.

"Now what I ask you to do is to bring our soldiers! Be disciplined, vigilant, and ready to fight. Can it be done? ”

"Yes." This time, three people answered at the same time.

"That's good." Long Qian stood up and began to unbutton his buttons, just in the courtyard, pouring buckets of cold water from his head, calming his fiery thoughts in the cold well water. (To be continued......)