October 10, the twentieth year of Guangxu is Cixi's sixtieth birthday ceremony, and in recent days, the whole palace has been busy with this matter. Earlier, Zai Xiang had issued an edict ordering Prince Shiduo of Li, Wang Yixuan of Qingjun, University Scholars El Hebu, Zhang Zhiwan, Fu Kun, Hubu Shangshu Xijing, Weng Tongshu, Ministry of Rites Shangshu Li Hongzao, Military Ministry Shangshu Xu Gengshen, and Ministry of Industry Shangshu Songwa as the ministers of the General Office of the Longevity Celebration, and handled the celebration in conjunction with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Industry.

Just when everything seemed to be in order, Li Hongzhang's 5,000 cloud brocade silks that were working day and night with the Jiangning Manufacturing Mansion were all burned overnight. Nanjing cloud brocade color is brilliant and brilliant, beautiful as the clouds in the sky, exquisite materials, fine weaving, exquisite patterns, gorgeous brocade, elegant style, and inch by inch gold, the weaving process is unique, for the technical requirements are very high, need to be coordinated by the flower worker and the weaver, with the old-fashioned jacquard wood machine weaving, must be completed by the jacquard worker and the weaver two people, the flower worker sits on the upper layer of the loom, responsible for lifting the warp, the weaver sits under the machine, responsible for weaving the weft, makeup and gold, two people can only produce one or two inches a day, Moreover, this process cannot be replaced by modern machines, so Nanjing Yunjin is known as "the crown of brocade".

In fact, Li Hongzhang's 5,000 horses of cloud brocade silk could not be produced in a short period of time, and when Zhirui went, Jiangning Weaving was in a hurry to jump his feet, so in the middle of the night, under the discussion between the two sides, a golden cicada shelling method came into being.

When I learned that the matter had been successful in the Forbidden City, I couldn't help but feel happy and gloating.

Although I have the same heart as Zaiyan, I feel that I shouldn't celebrate my birthday at such a time, and the silver is spent like flowing water, but I feel extremely distressed when I look at it, but I really can't help it, but I can only witness everything that is happening step by step.

In the harem, even the palace maids and eunuchs who can't lift chopsticks are mostly people who tend to be inflammatory, worship the high and the low, and if you want to survive in this kind of place without being bullied, this kind of face exchange is essential.

I'm no exception.

"Only the peony is true to the country, and the flowers move the capital when they bloom."

can probably say a little bit of Cixi's grandeur and honor.

The number of palace lamps in the Wanshou period is very huge, in addition to the standing palace lanterns everywhere, the Forbidden City, the West Garden, the Summer Palace, the Wanshou Temple and other palaces, verandahs, the gate inside and outside all need to be additional, Ningshou Palace, Chuxiu Palace, Zhongcui Palace, Changchun Palace several places have more than 3,000 lights.

And the various landscapes built by the human palace include dragon shed, altar, scripture shed, stage, archway, pavilion, etc., a total of 60 sections, from Changchun Bridge to Gaoliang Bridge on both sides of the long river, the outer eaves oil market sees the new, the bridge base, the gate, the wild goose wings and other places pile up the Yunbu Mountain Stone with a total length of 190 zhang, between the places, by the Ministry of Internal Affairs "to seize the terrain, to handle the moderation".

Since a few days ago, I personally sent the "Bamboo Bird Picture" embroidered for half a month to Ningshou Palace to witness a so-called ushering send-off, and I never planned to step out of Jingren Palace again during this time.

Tomorrow is the celebration of longevity, the osmanthus branches in the yard are patted green, under the cover, the small flowers bloom in clusters, just like the stars in the night sky, clusters, clusters, so set off by the green leaves, more and more colorful. I leaned against the window, the rich fragrance of cinnamon was on the tip of my nose, looking at the golden cinnamon that was as yellow as gold, the silver cinnamon that was as white as jade, and the orange and red osmanthus that was like fire, and called out: "Magpie." ”

Que'er stood aside with a brown rhino horn cup, "Yes, little master, the slave is here." ”

I glanced at the rhino horn cup, the inner wall petals are piece, the layers are clear, the lines are smoothly outlined, and the outer wall has shallow carved buds and fine leaves entangled, and the round carved stem is coiled at the bottom, but it is a clear yellow Pu'er, and I frowned lightly, "Although this rhino horn cup is not precious, it is also a delicate and elegant thing, and it is really not good to use it to hold Pu'er." ”

Que'er glanced at me and hurriedly said, "The slave will go and change." ”

I nodded, "Didn't you brew an urn of osmanthus nectar yesterday and seal it there?" ”

As soon as Que'er raised her feet to leave, I suddenly passed the next day in my mind, hurriedly grabbed her, and asked, "Ming'er is Lafayette's longevity celebration?" ”

Magpie replied, "Yes." ”

I thought for a moment and said, "What is going on today?" "According to the historical process, Zai Yan should have a conflict with Li Lianying in the Taihe Hall today, and this incident should also be one of the most important fuses for the conflict between the two later. But I forgot about it at this critical juncture, and I just remembered it a moment ago.

Que'er whispered: "Speaking of which, something did happen this morning. ”

I asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Que'er's face was a little nervous, "It's all Li Anda's to talk about this." ”

I whispered, "Li Lianying." ”

Que'er nodded, "Yes," lowered her eyebrows, "Early this morning, the emperor led the ministers of civil and military affairs to practice the courtesy of tomorrow's longevity banquet in the Taihe Palace, and Li Anda, as the chief eunuch, naturally wanted to arrive, but he made the emperor and the civil and military officials wait for him for nearly three hours, which really shouldn't be." ”

As soon as I heard it badly, I hurriedly asked, "What happened later?" ”

Que'er shook her head, "Later, the emperor was furious, and without saying a word, he ordered someone to drag Li Anda down and beat him with forty rods." ”

I chuckled, "To be able to force such a person as the emperor to be furious on the spot and order a cane to be punished, this Li Lianying is also a talent, only forty canes, but it should be." ”

Que'er struggled her eyebrows, "The emperor hasn't been very happy these days, and Li Anda just happened to hit the muzzle." ”

I sighed, "The First Sino-Japanese War is about to start, and seven million taels of silver is clearly a Beiyang sailor," he took a deep breath and said, "But it was spent in vain on such a debaucherous pleasure, how could the emperor be happy when he saw it every day?" ”

Que'er pursed her lips and said, "The slave maid went to change a cup of sweet water for the little master." ”

I nodded, but asked again, "Bai Ge went to the Internal Affairs Office to get the silver and came back?" ”

Magpie glanced out, "It seems that it hasn't been yet." ”

I said "um" and said, "Go ahead." After that, he stopped talking.

Sixty years of longevity feast opened in the three halls of the Taihe Palace, here the atmosphere and warmth, the light color is also good, raise your eyes to look at the past, only to see the outer wall is a group of red wall yellow tiles, the brilliant color of Zhu Ying gold door, go to the near place, you can see the carved railing that stands in rows around the pedestal, the column head is carved with the cloud dragon and the cloud phoenix pattern, there are three stone steps before and after, the middle stone step is carved with the dragon, set off with the waves and the flowing clouds. There are the wooden pillars of the lacquered gold and the delicate dragon caisson well in the hall, hang the plaque of "Jianji Suiyou" on it, the middle of the hall is the golden lacquer carved dragon throne, there are a total of thirteen golden dragons wound on the chair circle, the largest one is the dragon standing in the center of the back of the chair, under the chair surface is a Sumeru base, the double dragon play beads are carved in the place of the waist, and the back of the throne is furnished with seven large screens carved with the cloud dragon pattern.