In November 1924, the last emperor, Puyi, was expelled from the Forbidden City. After a brief stay in Beijing, he took his family to settle in the Japanese Concession in Tianjin.
Before leaving the Forbidden City, Puyi had already transferred a large number of antique treasures treasures treasured in the palace to the outside of the palace. These things are all valuable things, and after they are sold, they get countless money. Therefore, when Puyi first arrived in Tianjin, he was a rich man with a wealthy family.
However, this countless property actually made Puyi squander it in just a few years. Where did all this money go?
First, being deceived by foreign crooks.
Puyi left the Forbidden City in 1924, when the warlords were fighting, and the various warlords fought for each other's turf, and looked around, a miasma of black smoke.
At this time, there was gossip coming out: for the sake of their own interests in China, foreigners did not want chaos, and hoped that there would be a unified figure to be the head of the dragons. The elders around Puyi believe that only Puyi has this qualification.
Under the influence of the widows, Puyi dreamed of restoration, thinking about returning to the Forbidden City all day. After Puyi's dream of restoration was known to many foreign deceivers, they all came to the door one after another and expressed their willingness to help him restore it in order to get Puyi's generous gift.
Among these foreign deceivers, the most famous is the Russian officer Semenov. This Semenov, who committed an accident at home, fled to China in desperation. Unexpectedly, in China, it has transformed into a spokesman for Tsarist Russia. He met with Puyi and claimed that he could return to China and move around to help Puyi achieve his wish for restoration.
Puyi saw that there were foreigners to help, and his heart was full of flowers, and he gave Semenov fifty thousand silver dollars at the first meeting as an activity fund. Since then, Semenov has received countless financial support from Puyi.
In addition to Semenov, the British swindler North, the Austrian swindler Akdi and others were also Puyi's guests, and they defrauded Puyi of a large amount of money.
Second, being deceived by the elders around him.
After Puyi arrived in Tianjin, although he was a light car and a simple follower, after all, he was the last emperor, so there were still some "loyal" widows around him. Most of these people were moral models at that time, known for their "loyalty to the king and patriotism".
They are by Puyi's side and supervise Puyi at all times. Once Puyi has something out of the ordinary, they will call out the sky and the earth to "make direct advice", and whenever this time comes, Puyi will send them away with generous gifts, otherwise, they will seek death and life.
For example, there was an old Hanlin Hu Siyi, who through this method , "extorted" countless treasures such as precious fox fur coats and emeralds from Puyi's hands.
Third, being squandered by women.
While in Tianjin, Puyi had two women, Empress Wanrong and Concubine Wenxiu. After these two celebrities arrived in Tianjin, they quickly transformed into fashionable girls, spending money every day and going out to buy clothes, jewelry and so on.
The two competed with each other, were jealous of each other, and spent money like flowing water, making Puyi helpless. In the end, due to Puyi's partiality to Wanrong, Wen Xiu dengbao divorced him, which became a big scandal of the year.
Under the joint efforts of the above three forces to "blackmail", Puyi soon sat on the mountain and ate the air.
As an emperor, Puyi also had times when he was hungry
Cixi is a very extravagant and pompous person. She had to put more than a hundred dishes on each meal, in fact, there were only three or two dishes that moved the chopsticks, and the others were dumped; she also specially raised a wet nurse for her to drink human milk, the purpose of which was to nourish her face; the toilet she used to go to the toilet was specially kept by a eunuch, and when she went to the toilet, she had to be served by several palace women; she took a bath, went through several processes, and used up nearly a hundred towels.
Compared with Cixi, the life of the last emperor Puyi was much more "simple"—of course, this is only relative.
Puyi's meal should be served with more than thirty dishes. These thirty or so dishes are served by the Imperial Dining Room. However, because of the need to prevent the emperor from passing on the meal at any time, these dishes are not cooked freshly, but prepared in advance. As a result, the taste is lacking.
Puyi felt that it was not fresh, so he almost did not move a chopstick for these thirty dishes. Since he did not eat the meals of the imperial dining room, what did he eat?
He ate meals sent by the empress dowager and the concubines, and there were more than twenty dishes at each meal. According to Puyi himself, the empress dowager and the concubines all had their own cooks, and the skills of these cooks were much higher than those of the cooks in the imperial dining room, so the meals were more delicious.
Despite this, the meals in the imperial dining room are still a must-have meal. Bring it up, put it on a pose, and then put it on as it is.
Before Puyi eats, a eunuch must first taste each dish, in order to prevent anyone from poisoning the meal. This eunuch in charge of tasting vegetables is actually Puyi's "substitute ghost". However, in the hundreds of years of Manchu Qing history, there has not yet been a case of a eunuch who tastes vegetables being poisoned.
Puyi has so many meals per meal, he must eat a belly round. Slowly, Puyi actually has times of starvation.
Once, Puyi ate chestnuts and ate too much, braced up, and his body was slightly sick. After this news reached Empress Longyu's ears, Empress Longyu ordered that Puyi's daily imperial meal be cancelled and he be allowed to drink porridge every day.
Moreover, the amount of porridge is also controlled. This can make Puyi hungry. He cried and complained, but without Empress Longyu's order, no one dared to give him something to eat.
Because he was so hungry, Puyi also made a lot of jokes.
For example, Puyi feeds goldfish by the pool, and the eunuchs give him a steamed bun. As a result, Puyi didn't say a word, and filled the steamed bun that was originally used as fish food into his mouth. The eunuchs hurriedly grabbed the steamed buns.
For example, once when the princes and ministers paid tribute to some sauce elbows, the eunuchs carried the food box past, and were seen by Puyi. When he went up, he grabbed a large elbow and nibbled it in a big mouth, which was extremely ugly. Unfortunately, this elbow was eventually taken back by the eunuchs.
Until Empress Dowager Longyu ordered puyi's daily imperial meals to be restored, Puyi finally did not have to starve anymore.