33. Treaty of Tientsin (VII)

After receiving the news of the loss of Dagukou, Xingzhen happened to be in Bitong Academy with her arms around the eldest brother, calmly and leisurely watching Anqian and Fan'er and a few little palace maids sewing a summer covered reed quilt for the eldest brother, and heard the panicked voice of Ruyi who came to report the news, Xingzhen sighed, asked Chen Shengwen to take the eldest brother down to take a nap, and stood up, "The palace knows, is the emperor calling to see the military plane?" If the emperor summons it, go to the palace again," sent Ruyi, Xingzhen instructed An Dehai, "Take the phoenix seal of the palace, go out of the garden, let Deling come over, the palace has something to tell him!" "Tell Fan'er, "You send a letter to the Cheng'en Mansion!" Everyone took the order and left, Xingzhen looked down at the half-sewn lilac Shu brocade unicorn boy brocade quilt, and sighed. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info

It is estimated that there will be no more idle days in the future.

"Ridiculous!" Emperor Xianfeng opened his red eyes and paced back and forth in the Qinzheng Hall angrily, "This Tan Tingxiang is useless, he can't fetter foreigners; Monk Greenqin is even more useless, the fort has been handed over to him for three months, and he is still so incompetent that he can't stop the foreigners' warships! Passed the decree, Tan Tingxiang was dismissed from his post and recharged to the army, stripped of the three-eyed dazzling feathers of Monk Greenqin, and demoted to the king of the county! After saying the disposition of the two ministers, the emperor calmed down a little, and shouted to the ministers of the military aircraft neatly lying on the gold bricks: "What should I do now? Peng Yunzhang, you say it first! ”

Peng Yunzhang first kowtowed vigorously, "Please calm the emperor's anger, take care of the dragon body," Emperor Xianfeng's snort became heavy, and Peng Yunzhang hurriedly spoke again, "Weichen thinks that now that the foreigners are powerful, it is still the preservation of the top, you can send a person who is good at foreign affairs to Tianjin, take a look at the terms of the foreigners, if it does not damage the national body of the Celestial Empire, it can also be seen that the Chinese temperament is allowed to agree to them." ”

Bai Ye, Mu Yin, Du Han, and Kuang Yuan bowed their heads to express their agreement with the opinions of the foreman of the military aircraft, and the ministers of the kings were also meaningless, all bowed their heads and said yes, only Su Shun was unscrupulous, stood tall, and said loudly:

"Your Majesty. Don't do anything rashly to appease! ”

"Oh? Yuting, what do you mean? Emperor Xianfeng raised his eyebrows, stared at Su Shun, and spoke eagerly.

"The slave thought. This foreigner came from thousands of miles away, and he must have far-reaching intentions, just from the fact that the minister is stationed in Beijing, his heart can be punished! ”

Ancient China was a huge country and governed the country with Confucianism. The core idea of Confucian political doctrine is etiquette. The role of etiquette at that time and its place in the hearts of people at that time were unimaginable today. The bowing ceremony performed by foreign envoys to meet the emperor has been valued by rulers throughout the ages. Because it shows the sincerity of the vassal state to the Chinese Son of Heaven. In short, China's traditional diplomacy is to let Yidi come to kowtow, and thus establish a complete diplomatic model that Mr. Fairbank called the tributary system, which can also be more vividly called "kowtow diplomacy". Those envoys from foreign countries who came to pay tribute kowtowed to the Chinese emperor and were treated with courtesy and reward; If you don't kowtow, you will be treated slowly or even expelled. When King Bo Ni (in today's Brunei) came to the Chinese Dynasty to see Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, he first bowed down in accordance with the rules of the Chinese etiquette system before he could make a speech. Later, Ming Chengzu had the following impression of this Boni king: "I look at his elegant speech, deferential appearance, and demeanor in accordance with etiquette. It can be seen that he has gotten rid of barbarian customs...... In this way, the king of Bo Ni led his wife and children, brothers, relatives and courtiers. Bow down to the majesty's steps together, but there has never been. This king's sincerity can be described as a god. So the Yongle Emperor also gave the King of Boni the courtesy and rich rewards of the princely specifications. And it is this kind of kneeling ritual that has been strengthened in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty tripled the number of ceremonial prostrations prescribed by the emperor, that is, the ritual of three kneeling and nine prostrations. In 1793, Magorny led a delegation to China and asked to meet the Qianlong Emperor, but refused to perform the ritual of kneeling three times and bowing nine times. After Emperor Qianlong learned of his attitude, he ordered the ministers who handled the reception affairs to use the following reasons to open the way: "All the countries of the four feudal domains, those who come to the Celestial Empire to pay tribute and sightsee, not only the courtiers must bow three times and bow nine times. Even when the king of the country comes to the court in person, he must bow to it...... If you stick to your own customs and do not perform this ceremony, then it cannot show the sincerity of the king of Er's reprimanding Pyer and others who have sailed far away to lose their sincerity and return to obedience. Not only did the envoys of the vassal states ridicule you for not understanding the etiquette of the Celestial Empire, but I am afraid that the officials of our court would not allow it. In the end, because Magorny refused to perform the salute of three kneels and nine prostrations, the two sides broke up unhappily. Emperor Qianlong issued a decree ordering him to leave the country as soon as possible. Of course, the purpose of Magorny's trip was not achieved. Not to mention being courteous and generously rewarded by a prince like King Boni. The cup is silent

Emperor Xianfeng read history books and Confucian classics, of course he knew this, and he also understood that the ceremony of three kneels and nine bows was the only etiquette for the Qing emperor to receive foreign envoys. In his eyes, the rite represents the hierarchical order of the upper and lower levels, and is the symbol of his own rule, and if there is no etiquette, even the supreme position of his emperor cannot be explained. The status of rites in the heart of Emperor Xianfeng is unimaginable to us today.

"Under the whole world, it is not the king's land; The guest of the land is none other than the king's minister. This sentence in the Book of Poetry actually reflects the concept of the world in the minds of the Chinese at that time, that is, the concept of "under heaven". And the world is composed of the Chinese people within the "Kyushu division" and the Yidi outside this division. The Chinese people are in the center of the world, relative to the surrounding barbarians, they are "China", and the emperors of China have long thought that they are the "co-masters of the world". It is a clear interpretation of the self-centered consciousness of the Chinese people. The surrounding uncivilized tribes, according to their relationship with China, are called Beidi, Dongyi, Nanman, and Xirong. In this way, the Huayi international order was formed. And this kind of relationship is unequal, and it is manifested in strict accordance with the way of the relationship between the monarch and the minister required by the Three Principles and the Five Constants. For thousands of years, China's emperors, and even the common people, took this hierarchical Huayi international order for granted. The concept of internationalism in the modern sense is something that the ancient Chinese never dreamed of. Shi Jie, a Song dynasty, said in "On China": "Heaven is above and below, and those who live in the middle of heaven and earth are called China, and those who live in the middle of heaven and earth are called Siyi." Siyi is also outside, China is inside, and heaven and earth are inside and outside, so it is limited. "From this, we can appreciate how clear and firm the traditional Chinese's belief in the Huayi order is. Therefore, China's relations with foreign countries can only be a relationship of "superiority and inferiority", and there is no other second choice. (To be continued.) )

PS: Jiang Yong'an is a native of Changzhou. One day, he and four friends were drinking at Xu Zhaohuang's house. The Xu family is proficient in cooking techniques. especially

He is even better at cooking puffer fish. This time, puffer fish was also displayed at the banquet. Six people greedy puffer fish meat is delicious, and each of them raises chopsticks to eat.

But I was worried about poisoning.

Suddenly, a guest surnamed Zhang fell to the ground abruptly, foaming at the mouth and unable to make a sound. Everyone thought he had been poisoned by puffer fish and was in a hurry

They hurriedly searched for dung juice to pour it on him, but he did not wake up, and the other five said in fear, "I would rather take the medicine before the onset of toxicity." ”

So they each pinched their nostrils and drank a glass of fecal juice.

After a long time, Zhang Guest actually woke up, knew about the detoxification of dung juice, and said with a smile: "I have always had sheep epilepsy, often."

The seizure is not puffer fish poisoning! ”