On November 7, 1901, Li Hongzhang, who had been scolded by the people, came to the moment when the oil ran out, and when the Russian minister forced him to sign the treaty, he had slowly closed his eyes. At this time, the staff member Zhou Fu shouted, "There is still something to say to Lord Zhongtang!" Li Hongzhang opened his eyes with difficulty again, and Zhou Fu said in Li Hongzhang's ear, "The Russians said that after Zhongtang left, he would never be embarrassed with China." ”
After listening to Zhou Fu's words, Li Hongzhang's eyes were bright and bright, and he seemed to have to say something when he opened his mouth. At this time, Zhou Fu continued, "The unfinished business, I am in my lifetime, please rest assured!" Li Hongzhang passed away with endless regrets at the age of 78. When the news of Li Hongzhang's death reached Xi'an, Empress Dowager Cixi sighed and said, "In the future, there will be no one to worry about." ”
At the funeral of Li Hongzhang's death, Empress Dowager Cixi gave enough face and gave it to Taifu, the Marquis of Jinyi and The Marquis of Suyi. Empress Dowager Cixi also gave 5,000 taels of mourning expenses and built an ancestral hall in her hometown to commemorate it, and the Jingshi Ancestral Hall also had regular sacrifices by officials, and Li Hongzhang was buried in Daxingji, Hefei, Anhui After his death. Li Hongzhang, who was obsessed with foreign affairs before his death, may not have dreamed that his cemetery would eventually become part of the steel factory.
In the 1950s, Li Hongzhang's cemetery was excavated. According to the recollections of those involved at the time, the excavation of Li Hongzhang's tomb was a huge project, and when people cleaned up the mound of the grave, they found a well-sealed burial chamber, and an iron hammer went down to the tomb chamber intact. It turned out that Li Hongzhang's tomb was made of imported refractory bricks, what to do? One of them thought of a way to blow it up with explosives, and it took dozens of kilograms of explosives to blow up the cemetery.
After entering the burial chamber, I saw two coffins placed side by side inside, namely Li Hongzhang and his wife Zhao Xiaolian. Although buried underground for more than half a century, the two coffins are very intact, which shows that their quality is superior. Uncovering the coffin lid, the remains of the two were relatively well preserved, Li Hongzhang had a pair of glasses, a pocket watch, a crutch next to him, and seven gold coins under his body, which were placed according to the shape of the seven stars of the Big Dipper.
What excited everyone the most was the unexpected discovery outside Zhao Xiaolian's coffin, an iron box, and there was a very delicate wooden box inside after opening. According to the regulations, all the cultural relics found are to be handed in, but everyone can't resist curiosity, open the wooden box and find that there are two gold dangling "gold bricks" inside, weighed nearly 30 pounds.
Later, after everyone sent the "golden bricks" to the bank for identification, they found that the "golden bricks" were actually made of copper, and the reason is still a mystery. After Li Hongzhang's cemetery was excavated, except for the warehouse of the steel mill in Xiangtang, which was preserved, the rest became a ruin.