At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi had power over the imperial court. Empress Dowager Cixi was authoritarian and extravagant. To celebrate her 60th birthday, she not only spent all the money from the national treasury, but also embezzled a large amount of money from the military expenses of the Beiyang Navy. Cixi originally wanted to throw a special birthday party, but in the process of preparing for the birthday party, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, and Cixi had to reduce the scale of her birthday. Our story begins with Cixi preparing for her birthday.
That day, Li Hongzhang sat at his desk, frowning at the information of his subordinates. It turns out that the Japanese Navy has been challenging the Qing Dynasty, showing an aggressive posture. Although Li Hongzhang was the commander of the Beiyang Fleet, it was not up to him to decide whether to fight or not. This decision remained in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi. After sorting out his thoughts, he went to the palace of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Li Hongzhang walked to the palace gate of Empress Dowager Cixi, but was told to wait a while. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi was trying on clothes at home. Except for the eunuch Li Lianying, no one else was allowed to enter. Li Hongzhang was very annoyed in his heart: "When is it?" Are you in the mood to change your clothes?" However, he naturally did not dare to show his face in person, so he had to smile and wait.
About half an hour later, the eunuch Li Lianying opened the door. Li Hongzhang and Li Lianying exchanged greetings and learned that Empress Dowager Cixi was in a good mood and was carefully preparing for her 60th birthday. After waiting for a while, Cixi finally came out to see Li Hongzhang. When Li Hongzhang saw the clothes Cixi was wearing, he couldn't help but make a fuss. It turned out that Cixi was wearing a dragon robe, which only the emperor could wear.
Li Hongzhang couldn't help but tremble in horror: "What does empress dowager mean?" Now that Lafayette is in power, she is on top. Now that she is wearing a dragon robe, does she want to learn martial arts? However, Li Hongzhang's seemingly natural performance is normal. He first handed over his zhou zhang and consulted Empress Dowager Cixi.
After Reading it, Cixi sighed: "Since these Japanese people have bullied us, if they don't fight, it will damage the face of Daqing, and if they don't go to the ancestors, if they start fighting, it will affect my mood of the big birthday, and you know that when I was in my twenties, the Xianfeng Emperor died, until I did my best to assist Tongzhi, it was hard to wait until my sixtieth birthday, and I should celebrate it with a good scenery."
Li Hongzhang didn't know how to handle cixi's words, and his heart couldn't help but get anxious. But Cixi said, "I haven't thought about it yet." You go and report to the Emperor and ask him to invite Prince Gong to discuss the matter. But I want to remind you that no matter what the outcome, he can't get in the way of my birthday party!"
Li Hongzhang hurriedly knelt down to thank Empress Dowager Cixi, and was about to take Zhou Zhang to see the emperor when Cixi suddenly asked, "Li Zhongtang, what do you think of my birthday clothes?" When Li Hongzhang heard Cixi's question, he secretly scolded Cixi in his heart, is this a pit for himself? According to etiquette, the empress dowager cannot wear a dragon robe, but give Li Hongzhang a hundred guts and it does not dare to say it, and after thinking about it for half a day, Li Hongzhang's answer is: "A little big", the big here is not only talking about clothes, Cixi also understands Li Hongzhang's meaning, although she is a little upset in her heart, she still let Li Hongzhang retire first.