Cixi's palace in Taiyuan is the former Shanxi Governor's Yamen, roughly in the middle of Taiyuan City, and it is only more than a mile away from the south gate of Taiyuan. It is divided into three courtyards, south, middle and north, and the north courtyard is Yuxian's residence, and the conditions are better, so Cixi chose here. The Intermediate People's Court and the South People's Court were originally offices, but now they have been vacated, and the household, military, criminal, and industrial departments have been kicked out. It became the temporary residence of the palace ministers who fled west with Cixi.

The yard is dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. It was the season of continuous autumn rains, and many houses were leaking, making these nobles who were accustomed to enjoying blessings in Beijing miserable. The dilapidated residence of the head of a province seems to be the epitome of this dying empire.

Cixi's main concern was, of course, the evolution of the political situation. She lives in the palace by herself, and she has to grind a person's name almost every day, and he is Li Hongzhang.

Well, the news is always not so timely and accurate. As mentioned earlier, Li Hongzhang has already set off from Shanghai and will soon arrive in Tianjin. Later, it was said that Li Hongzhang was still in Shanghai, and it was said that he was sick. The decree was already issued, appointing the Qing Dynasty's "pasteur" (Li Hongzhang called himself) as the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang Commerce, with full responsibility for peace negotiations with foreigners. Cixi knew that none of her ministers, in terms of prestige or skill, could match the Han Chinese who had served the Manchu court for decades.

In addition to looking forward to Li Hongzhang's return to Beijing, Cixi was still worried about the safety of Taiyuan. Listening to Rong Lu, Long Qian had already set off with his Shandong soldiers in accordance with the order. Cixi regretted that she had not summoned the young lieutenant general. Whether the lady can keep it or not, she has no bottom in her heart. even discussed with Rong Lu whether to resist or not. The two of them agree that they must resist, otherwise where should the court go? Going to the South? The road is too far and fraught with danger.

Another news said that the German, Italian, and Austrian armies occupied Xuanhua, and this news also made Cixi nervous for a long time, and later said that the coalition forces did not advance westward, but went north from Xuanhua to occupy Zhangjiakou. This made Cixi feel a little relieved.

The governor of Shaanxi, Duan Fang, said that Dong Fuxiang's troops crossed the Yellow River from Hancheng to the west, and did not enter Xi'an, but went to the Xifu area and stopped. Dong Fuxiang wrote a letter to Duan Fang, saying that he had been wronged. He didn't ransack the palace at all. The imperial court not only did not recognize the military exploits of the department. Moreover, he listened to the slanderous rumors of traitors and framed Zhongliang, which made him and his troops very chilled. The reason why he returned to the northwest was because he was afraid that the imperial court would kill him by mistake. If the imperial court decrees the world. Affirm his wrongs. Commend his subordinates for their exploits. He was willing to continue to serve the imperial court.

This note caused the collective anger of the princes, although Prince Zhuang made a mistake in the matter of boxing and bandits, it was also the prince of the imperial court, right? King Qing was even more wronged. Dare to kill the prince. Isn't robbing the palace a rebellion? If it wasn't the thief who did it, who did it? Who has so many centaurs and so much strength? If the imperial court pardons Dong Fuxiang, how will the face of the imperial court remain? Prince Li, Prince Su, and King Duanjun, who tried to avoid Cixi, all told Cixi that they must not spare Dong Fuxiang's old bastard.

How much strength does Cixi have to clean up Dong Fuxiang now? However, Duanfang's note gave Cixi a little comfort. If Taiyuan can't hold it, Xi'an can still go. Rong Lu thinks that this is not in a hurry, you can wait and see. If Li Hongzhang goes to the capital to talk about a result, won't we need to go to Xi'an?

In the final analysis, it still depends on the foreigners.

Cixi has been sleeping very poorly lately, and she always thinks about things with her eyes open at night. The blow to her was unprecedented, and she finally had a relatively quiet environment where she could think about it. The southeast mutual insurance made by the governors of the south had made her grit her teeth and hate, but she was helpless. Including the end side, they all agree with and implement the so-called "mutual insurance" policy. Since the Hongyang Rebellion, the imperial court's control over the local area has declined unprecedentedly, not to mention the British lords such as Shengzu, Shizong, and Gaozong, even Jiaqing and Daoguang. This battle not only lost the Jingshi, but also crippled several forces directly controlled by the imperial court. This made Rong Lu particularly deplorable. Originally, in recent years, the imperial court has gone all out to rectify the army, organize the armed guards, and want to build an army that is loyal to the imperial court and can fight wars.

No, there is still one army that has not been eliminated, and that is the Wuwei Right Army brought into Shandong by Yuan Shikai. After learning about the situation of Long Qian's department, Cixi was disappointed and even angry with Yuan Shikai in her heart, thinking of Yuan Shikai's first rat two years ago, Cixi said to Rong Lu that Yuan Shikai was afraid that he was wrong.

Rong Lu didn't see it that way. Rong Lu said that Yuan Shikai was a very capable person, and he was deeply influenced by Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Liu Kunyi ideologically, and he was not optimistic that the imperial court could win the war, and he was unwilling to lose the right army of Wuwei, which was not wrong. At least a unit that spent a lot of money on training equipment was saved for the imperial court. sent Long Qian, a horse who had just surrendered, to Beijing, indicating that he still had the court in his heart. That's fine, when the situation in Beijing stabilizes, the foreigners will always have to withdraw, and the defense of the capital will probably have to use this army in Yuan Shikai's hands. The imperial court has been training this army since the 21st year of Guangxu, and how much silver has been spent before and after.

Speaking of silver, Cixi's troubles came again. Cixi is a person who has lived a hard life, she is still the daughter of that small family in her bones, and she knows that it is not easy to live. But she is very fond of pomp and consumption, now she is the queen mother of a country, and has been in charge of the country for nearly 30 years, and she is more clear about the petty cats of the officials who handle money and food, so after she settled down in Taiyuan, those tributes from all over the country arrived in Taiyuan one after another, and decided to personally control the financial power. She carved a small hand seal, and the inscription on it was "Fengnuma Enbo", and all expenses, even if they received a penny and a meter, had to be stamped by her.

When she was in the capital, her personal expenses were more than 40,000 taels every month, and when she arrived in Taiyuan, the expenses of the entire court were compressed by her to less than 10,000 taels. It seems that Cixi's role in managing finances is quite large.

Her birthday is approaching, and the people who please Lu below plan to celebrate Lafayette's birthday, but who knows that she was scolded by Cixi, who announced that all future festival celebrations will be canceled, and there will be no more waste. The winter weather in Taiyuan was cold, and Cixi and Guangxu's house was only covered with shabby blankets. It looks shabby. Someone proposed to replace it, but Cixi resolutely refused to do so. Later, the glass in Cixi's house was broken, and she did not let it be replaced, but asked the palace maid to cut the window grilles with dense patterns and paste them.

The first thing Cixi did after settling down in Taiyuan was to send messengers to the provinces to collect money, and these envoys saw the governors of the provinces and described the tragic situation of the displacement of the imperial court.

Cixi and Emperor Guangxu, who were offered like a tablet, had a quiet time in Taiyuan. It's lonely again. The pain in the heart of Emperor Guangxu, who lost Concubine Zhen, can be felt by almost everyone. Especially the palace ladies and eunuchs who served the emperor. Emperor Guangxu was by no means an abusive person. Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been like a dying old man, continuing his life in the last days, there is still no shortage of young and beautiful women around Emperor Guangxu, theoretically speaking. The women of the palace belonged to the emperor. But Guangxu never molested the palace maids around him. I seldom talk to them. In the words of the palace maids, Lord Guangxu's decency is in his bones, and his every move is decent. Never like a big brother, he behaves frivolously, like an obscene billet.

The eldest brother in the mouth of the palace maid is Pu Jun, the son of Duanjun Wang Zaiyi, who has reached adulthood and was designated by Cixi as the heir of the heirless Guangxu Emperor. If you study the imperial history of China's feudal dynasties, you will find a secret that whenever a dynasty enters its twilight years, the heirs of its rulers must be difficult. The rulers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty must have missed the grand occasion of the prince Manchu in the capital in the Kangxi Qianlong era, and Kangxi Ye took care of state affairs day by day, and he also gave birth to a large number of dragon spirits and fierce brothers, otherwise he would not have made the swan song of the nine kings to win the heir.

The empress of Guangxu was the niece of Cixi. To be honest, this woman is indeed too shabby in appearance, and her personality is a little gloomy. Perhaps it was because of the support of an aunt who held the authority of the Qing Dynasty, and Empress Longyu was not so considerate and understood her husband who was once ambitious and ready to do something. Since human beings have entered the patrilineal society from a matrilineal society, the husband is the wife, but Longyu has not understood this. Although Guangxu handed over the wishful thinking that marked the status of the queen to Longyu according to Cixi's hints, he did not accept this woman in his heart, Guangxu rarely slept with Longyu after the marriage, and he didn't even talk to each other, Longyu naturally couldn't conceive the dragon species, in fact, Guangxu didn't let any woman get pregnant, it seems that the problem is Guangxu. However, Guangxu's indifference to Longyu aggravated Cixi's dissatisfaction with him, so that Cixi became more and more fond of the idea of changing emperors. Wuxu Change, if it were not for the clear opposition of various countries to Cixi's abolition of the emperor and the establishment of a separate emperor, Guangxu would have already stepped down, and it is difficult to say whether he could save his life.

The news of Concubine Zhen's death still reached Guangxu's ears. Cixi did not pursue who leaked the secrets. Secrets are meant to be leaked, especially in the royal family. Guangxu's mood is obviously not good, and everyone looks at him with hatred. Cixi didn't care about the emperor's emotions, the emperor was finished in her eyes, and the reason why he was allowed to hang that name was because the situation did not allow it. Otherwise, it would have been scrapped long ago. Since the story of the encirclement of the garden the year before last, Cixi hated the emperor very much. She is a person who holds grudges, although she also remembers gratitude, but she holds grudges more strongly. She will never forgive those who try to harm her. Therefore, it is good to know that Concubine Zhen is dead, and Guangxu's sadness brings a little happiness to Cixi. Let her have more warm colors in this lonely and frightened autumn and winter.

Many people know that Guangxu likes the woman named Concubine Zhen. In fact, the emperor's favorite woman was not Concubine Zhen, but the daughter of Dexin, the governor of Jiangxi at that time. When the girl was drafted, Guangxu fell in love with the bright girl who grew up in the water town in the south of the Yangtze River at a glance. However, Cixi hinted that she gave her niece Ruyi, which marked the status of empress, and thus the later Empress Longyu. The beautiful girl who was favored by the emperor but not accepted by Lafayette was immediately sent back to Jiangnan.

Cixi thought that if the emperor had a woman he liked, he would definitely be dazzled and ignore the government. This logic does not stand up to scrutiny, and Cixi firmly believes it. One of the wonders of an autocratic system is that everyone doesn't think about it, and the highest position says whatever he says, even if he says it ridiculously, everything will be fine if he does not follow it. Thinking people are dangerous, and the basic function of the autocratic system is to eliminate people's different thoughts, in other words, it is called unified thinking, and the thinking of hundreds of millions of people is unified to the highest level of thinking, in fact, there is no need to think below at all. Just like the Gengzi Rebellion just ended, Cixi thought that the Boxers could destroy the foreigners, and the Boxers were the vanguard of national salvation, and a few months later Cixi thought that the Boxers were a scourge to the Qing Dynasty, and the Boxers were heinous and immediately cut off.

Concubine Zhen was chosen as Guangxu's concubine along with her sister. But Guangxu likes his sister but hates his sister, so Concubine Jin and the queen got together, slandering her sister in every way, Concubine Zhen has her own faults, but before the royal family left Beijing, she was thrown into the well and killed, as a sister, Concubine Jin did not let people see how sad she was. Perhaps she thought that the emperor would change his mind and take care of them, the women who were actually sent to the cold palace. As everyone knows, with the death of Concubine Zhen's incense, Guangxu's interest in women has completely lost. In this sense, it is actually a misunderstanding for the palace maids to say that Guangxu Ye is decent at his roots.

Xu Handu, the prefect of Taiyuan, has been very busy recently. He was appointed superintendent of the Inner Court Branch. Handle everything for the logistics of the royal family. After running every day, the hard work is abnormal. Cixi wrote a few blessing characters to reward her close ministers, and Xu Handu also got one. To say that Cixi's handwriting is really good, the authentic handwriting of the Queen Mother in Xu Hand's hand can be hidden and passed on to future generations. But the Queen Mother's words in the house moved Xu Handu even more. Cixi said. Recently you have been cleared. The government of the first county is complicated, and the hard work can be known. This sentence made Xu Handu run more happily, and he knew it. The Queen Mother Chrysostom praised her, and her promotion was just around the corner.

From ancient times to the present, there have been many cases of the royal family going into exile for some reason. As a general rule, the royal family is exiled, and the personality of those in power generally changes, becoming approachable and mild-mannered. Cixi did show a changed side, and now that the Empress Dowager, who regarded the people as grass mustard, had been exiled to Taiyuan, a city of coaxing people, Cixi's temper was indeed much better. Because she was in extreme worry.

In the cold and narrow "palace" of Taiyuan, Cixi could not enjoy the luxury of a hundred dishes per meal in the past, and there was no fragrant fragrance of several large vats of southern fruits in the house, and the smell of charcoal smoke wafting in the room, Cixi sat on the kang like an old peasant lady and thought silently, thinking about how to live her life.

Of course, the first thing to think about in life is money. This is the case for the common people, as well as for the important ministers of the court and even the emperor and the queen mother. Cixi as the empress dowager, how much money she "earns" every year is a rule, according to the "current rules in the King James Palace", Cixi's annual silver is 20 taels of gold and 1,000 taels of silver. Of course, this does not include food, clothing, housing and transportation, such as her clothes, which are also placed there, and there are clear rules on how many clothes to make in what season. The money given to Cixi was completely free to spend, such as giving to relatives and family, including rewarding subordinates. Twenty taels of gold and one thousand taels of silver are already a huge amount of money for a small family, and it is enough to buy a fairly good courtyard house in Beijing. But it was definitely not enough for Cixi, and she spent more than 400,000 taels a year (not including the prescribed food, clothing, housing and transportation). Where does all this money come from? Cixi has her own methods, and one of the main channels is to sell officials. Although she strictly forbade the concubines in the palace to sell their official titles, she was very happy about it. The autocracy is like this, the superior can, but the subordinate cannot. The officials can, but the people cannot. Cixi has always been worried about the safety of his small treasury in the inner hall, and heard the news brought by King Qing that the foreign soldiers broke into the first three halls, but they did not enter the inner court, and the concubines and palace maids who stayed behind were not harassed and humiliated, at least the small treasury did not fall into the hands of foreigners. But this does not mean that the silver is safe, it has always been difficult to prevent thieves, who dares to guarantee that the eunuchs and palace maids and even concubines who stay behind have clean hands and feet?

For the overall situation of the country, she, the actual supreme ruler, is actually not too concerned, in fact, she is also in a state of out of control, the foreign soldiers are still entrenched in Beijing, and Prince Qing also ran to Taiyuan as a representative of the imperial court. The power of the state is out of control.

Cixi pondered to get rid of her silver money during this time, and the more important thing was the attitude of foreigners, how did it do well in Beijing? Cixi knew that she had offended foreigners, and she didn't know what kind of punishment she would receive from foreigners. In Cixi's heart, foreigners are a group of people who cannot be provoked, and the Beijing incident once again proves this. It is certain that foreigners will retaliate, and Cixi, who has experienced strong winds and waves, knows it very well in her heart. The Xianfeng Dynasty burned down the Old Summer Palace, and this time they won't destroy the Forbidden City, right? According to Prince Qing's report, the coalition forces have made a list of punishments, all of whom are important ministers of the empire, and King Qing does not know who is on the list. However, the coalition forces have said that all those on the list are accomplices, and the real main culprits have not yet been listed.

Who is the main culprit? Cixi knew it. How will foreigners be held accountable? With Cixi's understanding of foreigners, the possibility of killing the head is very small, and the foreigners don't mention anything else, but the respect for women is not comparable to China, how can they cut off a woman's head? But will it be like the year of Wuxu, clamoring to return to the emperor?

The thought of her power being threatened made Cixi's heart ache. From the age of twenty-seven to the present, what has supported Cixi through countless rapids and rapids to the present is power. It was the most important thing in her life, and if she was deprived of power, Cixi couldn't even think about it.

It is impossible to consider returning the government to Guangxu. This nephew really broke Cixi's heart. I take him with him as my own son, why don't you have the same heart as yourself? It is really unconscionable to think of borrowing soldiers to imprison himself. What will be the result of foreigners' support for Guangxu's restoration? Give Tan Si the same name? Will Kang Youwei please come back? Imprison yourself in Yingtai and wait for death? Guangxu stepped down, and Cixi could not learn from Wu Zetian. She must set up another emperor who loves Xinjue Luo, and this person is the son of the established crown prince Pu Jun, the king of Duanjun. Although Pu Jun did not have any talent that satisfied Cixi, he also did not have any bad deeds, but now there is gossip about "molesting the palace maid", which makes Cixi deeply disgusted. Gossip is gossip after all, and Cixi will not confirm it for this, but the matter of Cen Chunxuan, the governor of Shanxi just appointed by Cixi, to seize a certain opera troupe in Taiyuan did affect Pu Jun. This eldest brother actually fought with the officials and soldiers for seats, and took a group of eunuchs to use knives. Fortunately, the Gan army led by Cen Chunxuan blocked it and did not cause a big chaos, otherwise it would be unimaginable. Handed over her ancestors to this person, Cixi was really a little worried.

Cixi pondered again the list that Yixuan had mentioned. Fortitude is certain, but he's dead. Yuxian definitely has, and she has already hinted that Yuxian has apologized for his crimes. Zhao Shuqiao may also have. The other is the king of Duanjun. If Duan Wang is punished, what should Pu Jun do? Abolish Pu Jun, what will Guangxu do? These questions gave Cixi a headache. After thinking of Long Qian, will foreigners include Long Qian in the list? Cixi thought not. If you want to punish Yuan Shikai, Long Qian is just a petty officer under him.

However, Long Qian's team of more than 1,000 people from Xiangma actually embarrassed the coalition forces and captured a British lieutenant general. To say that this battle in the year of Gengzi, if it weren't for this Qinwang soldier, the face of the court would have been completely lost.

Will a foreigner swallow this breath? It is said that thousands of foreigners died, among which the Japanese, Russians and Germans died the most, Cixi did not believe that number, but the foreigners suffered a loss. Punish if you want to, as long as it doesn't get on your head, they will punish whoever they like! Especially the Hanchens.

Those who are not of my race will have different hearts. After all, the Han people are unreliable. Look at it, Li Hongzhang, Liu Kunyi, Zhang Zhidong, these governors and important ministers, all abandoned the court at a critical moment. Yuan Shikai is also a Han Chinese, and he is also unreliable in his bones. Li Hongzhang can't deal with them at the time, the court still needs them, Prince Qing is almost the same as engaging in corruption, to say that negotiating with foreigners to deal with the aftermath is 108,000 miles away from Li Hongzhang. In terms of prestige, knowledge, and means, he is not even worthy of being Li Hongzhang's assistant. Cixi has decided to let Li Hongzhang enter the center again and lead the handling of the aftermath, the Beijing division of the Qing Dynasty in Beijing cannot always be occupied by foreign soldiers, and the imperial court cannot always bend in Taiyuan, one day earlier, one day earlier, one day earlier, and one day earlier to dispel those who have grievances against themselves.

Cixi's mind once again turned to Shandong Qinwang Bing. Right now, Long Qian must be commended, because he traveled thousands of miles to help, because he rescued the driver. If the foreigners want to find trouble with Long Qian, the court still has to fight. Handing over Long Qian to foreigners, who will dare to rescue the court in trouble in the future? Long Qian must be commended. Cixi wanted to understand this verse, and shouted outside the door, "Lianying, that Long Qian, is there any news now?" ”

"I'm about to give good tidings to Galeries Lafayette." Li Lianying ran in, panting, "I just received a report from Kuaimatang, Long Qian and Chen Eun defeated the German-French coalition army that occupied Guancheng at Niangzi Pass, the foreigners gained and lost, Niangzi Pass is still in our hands, and the foreigners have withdrawn." ”

"Really?" Cixi came to the spirit, "Quickly report the pond to me, and spread the glory to come!" ”

"Huh." Li Lianying agreed. (To be continued......)