At the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was basically ruled by Cixi, and after the death of her son Emperor Tongzhi, the Guangxu Emperor became the new emperor, but the power in this dynasty was still in the hands of Cixi, and Guangxu was only a nominal emperor. Cixi climbed to the top rule of the Qing Dynasty, and did not want to govern the country like Wu Zetian, but she thought about how to enjoy pleasures, life was quite luxurious and rotten, and Cixi was very pompous in everything, especially on birthdays.
Guangxu twenty-one years, coinciding with cixi's sixtieth birthday, for Cixi, who has always loved to talk about pomp and circumstance, it is natural to celebrate it well, and the civil and military officials have long looked at this once-in-a-lifetime period, desperately trying to find ways to loot the people's fat and people's ointment, collecting folk treasures to make gifts to honor Cixi Tianhou, in order to get promoted, although the Guangxu Emperor is the emperor, he also has to do a filial piety, so he also thinks about what gift to buy for Cixi.
The Guangxu Emperor naturally did not need to personally go to the market to buy gifts, he only instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and told them to find the right treasure gifts, and the person who was responsible for buying gifts for the Guangxu Emperor at that time was called Qingkuan, who was a small official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and when he got this opportunity to do things for the emperor, he did not want to satisfy the emperor, but wanted to blackmail the emperor fiercely.
Qingkuan searched in the folk for a while, and finally found a pair of bracelets, gorgeous jasper without marks, is made of exquisite western jasper, the process is perfect, after a pair of bracelets, he is not eager to give the Guangxu Emperor a look, as an old fritter who is well versed in the way of the officialdom, he wants to blackmail the Guangxu Emperor, naturally can not do things according to the convention.
After Qingkuan got the bracelet into the palace, he first went to see Cixi, and let Cixi see how this bracelet was, this is a treasure, Cixi is also a collector, when he saw the jade bracelet, he said it was not bad, then Qingkuan finally felt at ease, he took the jade bracelet to find the Guangxu Emperor, Guangxu also felt good after seeing it, and asked: "How much does this jade bracelet need?" Qingkuan then hissed: "The slave took the boss's efforts to bargain with the boss for half a day before convincing the other party that such a good thing only needs 20,000 silver." ”
Guangxu listened to his heart, a pair of small bracelets actually wanted 200 million silver? But as the emperor, he naturally could not show a look of surprise, otherwise he would appear too ignorant and stingy, so he said: "A pair of bracelets for 20,000 taels, then you want it." Unexpectedly, Qingkuan said: "It is a bracelet for 200 million taels, and a pair needs 400 million taels." At this time, the Guangxu Emperor was completely frightened, and since he became emperor, he had been suppressed by Cixi, and for twenty years he had only 40,000 taels of private money, and this time it was gone.
Seeing that the Guangxu Emperor was a little hesitant, Qingkuan said: "Although this pair of bracelets is not cheap, but just now Lafayette has seen it, and her old man likes it very much." Guangxu had no choice but to say decadently, "Then buy it." There was a eunuch next to Guangxu who saw this scene the whole time, and just wanted to remind the emperor not to be pit by Qingkuan, but Qingkuan made a look at him, meaning "After the event is completed, it is indispensable to your benefits." As a result, the eunuch was silent.
The Guangxu Emperor bought such an expensive bracelet, there was no way, otherwise Cixi's sixtieth birthday would appear to be unfilial, but when he bought this bracelet, the eunuch next to him secretly laughed at him.