Not long ago, I saw several self-media articles on the Internet about Cixi's flight to the west, which were very exaggerated, saying that Cixi went through 2 months of hunger and cold before she went from Beijing to Xi'an. In fact, as the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the city of Beijing and Empress Dowager Cixi fled west, there were only two days of real suffering, and from day 3 onwards, she restored the dignity of the empress dowager. The detailed experience of these two days was told to Mr. Jin Yi by Rong'er, the maid of honor of Cixi, and Mr. Jin and his wife Shen Yiling co-authored the book "The Record of the Palace Women's Conversations". Taking the opportunity to test drive the Buick GL8, I set off from the Forbidden City according to the description in the book, passed through the Summer Palace, Xiguan City, Juyongguan, fork city, and walked all the way to Yulinbao, reviewing Cixi's most embarrassing experience.
The Russian, Japanese, American, and British armies of the Eight-Power Coalition invaded Beijing on August 14, 1900. In the early morning of the 15th, Cixi learned of this and immediately absconded in makeup. Pass by the Summer Palace and Hot Spring Village, and arrive at Xiguan City in the evening. On the 16th, he passed through Juyongguan and stayed overnight in Fork Road City. On the 17th, Huailai County Order picked up the driver in Yulinbao. From here, Cixi bid farewell to the embarrassment and was accompanied by many princes and ministers and troops to Shanxi.
The invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance is also known as the "Gengzi National Disaster". The reason was that after the Wushu Reform Law was stifled in 1898, Cixi intended to establish a new monarch, but the Western countries were more in line with the new ideas of the Guangxu Emperor and did not want to see the conservatives gain the upper hand, so they refused to recognize Cixi's eldest brother. Cixi, who failed to do so, was very angry, believing that the Western countries were interfering in her internal affairs, but it was not easy to confront her, so she used civilian forces to attack the foreigners, which was the reason for allowing the Boxers to enter Beijing.
The Boxers entered Beijing on June 11, 1900, and on June 20, German Minister Klinder was killed on Dongdan North Avenue, the same day that Qing troops began to besiege the embassy district. On the 21st, Cixi issued a mobilization order, calling on everyone to unite and contribute vigorously, have money and money, and defend the country with hatred and hatred. Some have interpreted this mobilization order as a declaration of war. In fact, it is only for the compatriots, not the real declaration of war. On this point, I think Cixi is not confused, she should know her own strength, and she should know the consequences of being an enemy of the world. The so-called mobilization is actually a power technique for maintaining rule. Of course, there are more encouragements from Prince Zhuang Zaixun, Duanjun Wang Zaiyi, University Scholar Gangyi and others.
Some of these encouragements, some of them are ill-intentioned, some of them are brain fever, and the end is known to everyone - by August 14, the four armies have entered Beijing. According to Cixi's maid Rong'er, she was on duty at the Leshou Hall of the Forbidden City that night, and at three or four o'clock in the morning, there were constantly "cat calls" outside, and when Cixi woke up at 4 o'clock, the "cat calls" became more and more dense. Everyone was wondering, Li Lianying ran in and said that the foreigners had come in last night, had already occupied the Temple of Heaven, and were shooting at the Forbidden City. It turned out that "cat barking" was the sound of bullets whistling in the air.
After a while, a stray bullet landed in Leshou hall, and Cixi panicked and quickly ordered him to flee. Li Lianying brought a bag, which contained a full set of ordinary Han costumes. At this time, the Guangxu Emperor, the Empress and others also came, and everyone changed their clothes and immediately left the Shenwu Gate.
At the time of the Divine Martial Gate, there were 15 people: Cixi, The Guangxu Emperor, Empress Longyu, Concubine Jin, Brother Da, Pei Zi Pulun, Cixi's niece-in-law (Grand Grandmother Yuan), Prince Qing's 2 daughters (3 Ge Ge and 4 Ge Ge), eunuch Li Lianying and Cui Yugui, 2 maids of Cixi (Juan Er and Rong'er), 1 maid of the Empress and 1 maid of Ge Ge. Cixi's two daughters-in-law, Concubine Yu and Concubine Yao, were left in the palace.
Because it is absconding, it needs to avoid people's eyes and ears, so the clothes of ordinary Han people are changed, the car in the palace can not sit naturally, it is easy to expose the identity, and the means of transportation are 3 cars temporarily hired: 2 cars (as shown in the following figure), a pulong car (estimated to be a large car). Cixi, the eldest brother, and the maid Juanzi sat in one, the Guangxu Emperor and Pulun sat in one, and the remaining 8 women were all crowded in the pulong car, and Li Lianying and Cui Yugui rode mules in front of the road.
Cixi and his party set off at about 7 o'clock in the morning. Out of the Shenwu Gate to the west, not far to turn right, along the Jingshan West Street to the north.
Bypass Jingshan and come to Di'anmen Inner Street. Di'anmen is the northern gate of the Imperial City - there are 4 gates in the Imperial City, and the only one that still exists today is the South Gate: Tiananmen.
Out of Di'anmen is Di'anmen Outer Street. On the way, she encountered the car at the home of Zhao Shuqiao and Grandpa Lan at the military plane, and Cixi asked Zhao Shuqiao to open the road in front, and borrowed the car for the empress and Concubine Jin to sit in. By the way, Duke Lan was a cousin of the Guangxu Emperor, and because he instigated Cixi to go to war, he was listed as the "culprit" by the Eight-Nation Alliance and should have been executed, but because of his imperial family, he was sent to Xinjiang. He gave a volume of Dunhuang Buddhist scriptures to Bo Xihe in Xinjiang, and Bo Xihe ran to Dunhuang and took away 2,000 volumes of Dunhuang documents from Wang Daoshi's hand for 500 taels of silver.
At the north end of Di'anmen Outer Street is the Drum Tower. There is a diagonal street on the west side of the Drum Tower: Gulou West Street, along which you can reach DeshengMen. But in order to avoid the flow of people, Cixi and his party made a circle - first along the old Gulou Street to the north, to the root of the city wall, and then along the city wall to the west, to the Desheng Gate.
When they came to DeshengMen, they encountered congestion and many people were waiting to leave the city. Under the dredging of Zhao Shuqiao, Cixi and his party did not queue up and gave priority to leaving the city.
After leaving the city, he immediately turned left, left the avenue, took the path to the west, bypassed Taiping Lake (where Mr. Lao She committed suicide), and then turned onto the avenue again. This trip is now difficult to replicate, and the closest thing to it is College South Road.
I walked along the South College Road to the westernmost village, Weigong Village. In the next section, the road in history is roughly consistent with today's road, that is, it passes through Huangzhuang, Haidian Town, Yuanmingyuan, and finally to the Summer Palace. In fact, if you go straight to the Summer Palace, you should go out of Xizhimen, not Deshengmen, and it is a bit of a detour to take Deshengmen. After Cixi left the Desheng Gate, she stopped by the side of the road for a while, and the maid Rong Er guessed that she might be thinking about where to go. It can be seen that when Cixi fled, she did not even have a clear goal.
The road after turning right in Weigong Village is now called Zhongguancun South Street, and this section of the road used to be called Baiyi Road, which means Baishi Bridge to the Summer Palace.
To the north, after Huangzhuang, the old road is oblique in history, passing through Haidian Town, and then turning onto summer palace road. On the west side of this section of the road is the Changchun Garden of Kangxi, and now only 2 small red gates remain; The east side of the road is also a garden, and it is said that there are 9 in total, the more famous of which is the Shuchun Garden in Wakan. In 1919, Yenching University was founded, and the first president, Stuart Layden, used the donation of the Alcoa king Hall to transform the former garden into a university.
Yenching University is one of the largest, best quality and most beautiful universities in the modern history of mainland China. In 1952, the Department of Ethnology of Yanda University became today's Central University for Nationalities, the Law School became today's China University of Political Science and Law, the Department of Economics became today's Central University of Finance and Economics, and the School of Engineering was merged into Tsinghua University. The most advantageous is Peking University, which not only obtains the Faculty of Arts and Science of YenchingDa, but also the campus of Yenchingda University.
After passing Peking University, there is a T-shaped intersection in front of you, and directly opposite is the 101 Middle School, which is the range of the former Yuanmingyuan. Turn left at the T-shaped intersection, not far from the West Garden, and further ahead, you will come to the main gate of the Summer Palace: the East Palace Gate. 17 kilometers from Shenwu Gate to here, Cixi arrived at about 11 o'clock, and she walked for about 4 hours.
Cixi stayed at the Summer Palace for nearly 2 hours and ate lunch. At this time, Prince Su Shanqi, Prince Qing Yili, and King Zaiyi of Rui County rushed from the city, and Cixi judged from the information they brought that the foreigners did not know that she had fled, but in order to prevent the unexpected, they decided to continue running, and ordered Cui Yugui and Zhao Shuqiao to open the way in front, and the three princes led the rear of the Palace Ofe Palace - Cixi was most afraid of the foreigners at that time.
When departing from the Summer Palace, the car borrowed by Grandpa Lan was returned on the way, and 2 cars were added, the empress and Concubine Jin sat in one, Cixi's niece and 2 Gege sat in one, and there were only 3 maids left in the Pulong car.
Out of the Summer Palace to the north, through the northwest Wang to the west, and finally to the hot spring village. This section of the road is now Hongshan Road, Black Mountain Road, Black Dragon Pond Road and Hot Spring Road, and basically follows the Jingmi Diversion Canal.
Walked 15 kilometers to the hot spring village. Cixi and his party rested under the tree at the east end of the village, and also went into the village to beg a large family to borrow a toilet. According to custom, it is not easy for women to go out to borrow toilets, because it will bring obscurity to the family, so they have to enter the door to drink cold water, suppress the evil qi, go out to send a red envelope, and scatter the obscurity. But there was no red envelope prepared in advance, only 2 pieces of silver were sent by Rong Er - this toilet is expensive enough.
In the memories of Cixi's personal maid Rong'er, she was very puzzled about the westward escape, and she couldn't understand whether Cixi had prepared in advance or whether she had made a hasty decision. If you said that you were prepared in advance, why did you come all the way and ask for nothing, especially awkward? If it was a temporary decision, why did Li Lianying immediately take out a package with a full set of Han Chinese clothes?
Take a break in the hot spring village and continue north, this section of the road is now called Wenyang Road: Hot Spring to Yangfang. On the way, they also rested in another market town, and several maids bought some green corn and cowpeas through the people of the big car shop, cooked them and shared them for everyone to eat. But the maid Rong Er did not say the name of the market town, and based on the mileage, I guessed that it might be the former Sand Stream.
Cixi and her party left the Summer Palace at 1 p.m. and arrived at Xiguanshi Village at about 7 p.m. Xiguan City is a Muslim village, Li Lianying went to negotiate, but the villagers did not want to receive, but only promised to lend them an abandoned mosque in the village for one night.
Counting from the Forbidden City, it was 41 kilometers to get here, and Cixi and his party took about 8 hours, with an average speed of 5 kilometers per hour, which was not slow.
There was almost nothing in the abandoned mosque, and the maid had to take down the mat on the car and let Cixi lean on. Then the basin that the coachman fed the cattle was washed and used to wash Cixi's face—and then everyone used this basin to wash up, and it was the turn of the last person, and it was already midnight.
Dinner was a pot of porridge that Cui Yugui had found from the village, plus green corn and cowpeas bought during the afternoon break.
At this time, several princes and ministers came from Beijing, but there were not so many people living in the mosque, so they could only be aggrieved and sat in the car for the night, in fact, even Cixi was crammed into a room with the Guangxu Emperor.
The next day, a large family in the village, surnamed Li, heard their true identities from nowhere, and sent steamed buns, pickles and millet porridge, as well as 3 mules and camels, and sent a guide. This big household was opened with 2 characters of East and West Guangyu, and at home that day was Li Ziheng, the boss of DongGuangyu, who later Cixi awarded him the order of Ili County in Xinjiang. The guide was Yang Juchuan, who accompanied Cixi to Zhangjiakou and was given the title of "Marquis of The Guide".
After breakfast, Cixi and her party continued to move forward. In the 3 mule camel caravans, Cixi, the Guangxu Emperor, and the Empress each sat one, the others were still in the car they sat in yesterday, and the maids also changed to a car, and the temporarily hired pulong car was no longer needed.
Leaving Nishikan City, to the north, this section of the road is now Wennan Road, the meaning of hot springs to the south entrance. The so-called south entrance refers to the mountain pass south of the Guangou, after the south exit, it is time to enter the mountain.
From the western city, about 15 kilometers is Nankou Town, not far from the town into the mountains. Where you enter the mountain, there is a beacon on the left and right sides.
Standing on the beacon tower, looking south, the panorama from the Summer Palace to the West Pass City and then to the South Exit can be clearly seen.
The road into the mountains after the south entrance is Guangou, which is a shortcut from the North China Plain to Saiwai, with a total length of 20 kilometers, because it is close to the capital, there are 4 military defense lines in the ditch, namely the south mouth, Juyongguan, Shangguan and the north mouth, and the north mouth is Badaling, which is the most important place for tourists to see the Great Wall in Beijing.
After walking along the Guangou for a few kilometers, we came to Juyongguan, which is 22.6 kilometers from Xiguan City to here. When Cixi left, there was rain on the way, and there was a long delay, so she set off at 6 o'clock in the morning and arrived at Juyongguan in the afternoon, a 7-hour walk.
In the memories of the maid Rong'er, she called this place Fang Cheng, and Badaling was called Juyongguan. In fact, Badaling and Juyongguan are the same defense system, and on the gate of Badaling, it is written "Juyongwai Town".
Of course, you can also understand it like this: Badaling is the front-line position, and Juyongguan is the base camp in the rear. That is to say, Badaling is the Great Wall, and the Great Wall on the mountains on both sides of Juyongguan is only a small section, and when the Ming Dynasty built it, it was not connected to the Great Wall.
The Juyongguan Great Wall seen today was restored in 1994, and the real historical monument is Yuntai. This city platform was built in the Yuan Dynasty, originally there was a pagoda on it, which is equivalent to a street tower, and the stone carvings in the door opening are very exquisite, and the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty had to pass through here every year when he traveled between Dadu and Shangdu.
When Cixi came here, she had lunch in the barracks—there was a garrison here at the time, and the officers kowtowed to Cixi to ask for peace. The maid Rong Er recalled that there was a bowl of vermicelli cucumber soup in the lunch, and Cixi liked it very much and ate it very fragrantly.
After passing juyongguan, the road has become relatively narrow, of course, I am taking the old road, next to the old road, there is the Beijing-Tibet Expressway and the first railway we Chinese, that is, the Beijing-Zhang Railway built by Zhan Tianyou, a Guangdong Nanhai man, is still in use, if you go to Badaling, it is recommended to go back, although the speed is not as good as the new high-speed railway, but the sense of history is irreplaceable.
Counting from Juyongguan, drive 10 kilometers to Badaling. There is a stone next to the road, called Wangjing Stone. Legend has it that Cixi walked here and once stood on a stone looking at Beijing from afar —of course, this is just a legend.
Wangjingshi is close to the gate of Badaling. Among the sections of the Great Wall in Beijing, Badaling is the most well-known and has the most tourists. In addition to Badaling, Beijing also has Mutianyu, Simatai, and the Jinshanling Great Wall in Hebei Province next to Simatai, with their own advantages.
Badaling Great Wall pass, is a small area of the urn city, the bottom of the middle of the far row of houses, is the Badaling Great Wall entrance, the earliest car can drive to the front of the door, in front of the door this open space is the parking lot, and later changed to steps, you can only walk pedestrians.
For tourists, Badaling is the most convenient, as soon as you enter the door is the Great Wall, you don't need to walk much, and the momentum is very majestic. Other passages, such as SimaTai and Mutianyu, have to climb the mountain first and climb for half a day to see the Great Wall.
There are 2 city gates at Badaling Pass, one is written about Juyongwai Town, and the other is written on the north gate lock key. In fact, Badaling belongs to the Inner Great Wall, and to its north, there is an Outer Great Wall. After passing through the Outer Great Wall (this section is Zhangjiakou), it is considered to have truly entered the territory of the Mongols.
Cixi walked to Badaling, rested for a while, and then continued to walk forward. By the way, in the book "Gengzi Xi Hunting Cong", it is an exaggeration to say that Cixi did not see a single person on the road. According to the maid Rong'er's recollection, along the way, there were many scattered soldiers, many of whom were scattered Boxers. Although Cixi and his party had escorts, they did not dare to provoke them.
Rong Er also told a rather interesting experience: not far across Badaling, someone hid in the bushes and shot, although no one fired, but still frightened people, Li Lianying, Pu Lun, Juan Er, Rong Er rushed up together, with their bodies to block Cixi's car. After a while, the guards rushed over and surrounded the place where the shots were fired, but did not find the gunmen--presumably seeing that they were crowded and ran.
1.3 kilometers out of Badaling, is the fork road city, Cixi and his party arrived at 5 p.m., counting from Xiguan City, it is 37 kilometers to here.
There are two gates in the east and west of the fork road city, because of the turmoil of the times, the west city gate is sealed, only the east city gate is open, Cixi is the city from here.
At that time, the forked road city not only had garrisons, but also post stations, mansions and theater buildings. The garrison vacated a large courtyard for Cixi and his party to live in. Although Cixi still couldn't change her clothes on this night in Fork Road City, the conditions for eating and sleeping were already worlds apart from those in Xiguan City last night.
At this time, more than 10 princes and ministers had come to accompany Cixi, and they brought the situation in Beijing—the Eight-Power Alliance had not invaded the Forbidden City, and the palace was still safe so far. That night, Cui Yugui and his guide Yang Juchuan went to Yanqing and borrowed a four-wheeled sedan from the governor. The governor also carried the official seal and followed Cui Yugui to fork in the city, but Cixi did not receive him.
On the third day, at 6:00 a.m. on August 17, 1900, Cixi sat on a palanquin carried by four people, came out of the east gate of the fork road city, and went west along the city wall, and the next stop was YulinBao.
The fork road city to Yulinbao is only a little more than 10 kilometers, but because it is a palanquin carried by people, not a car pulled by livestock, the speed is very slow, plus there is rain on the way, delayed for a while, at 11:00 a.m., only to walk to Yulinbao.
On this road, my driving distance is 11.4 kilometers, and due to the good road conditions, the fuel consumption has dropped from about 10 liters to 6.5 liters.
Yulinbao is an ancient caravanserai that lasted for three generations: the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. It is said that it is called the three major forts of Jingbei along with Jimingyi and Tumu Fort.
Historically, Yulinbao once had a 2-kilometer-long wall, but unfortunately it was destroyed twice in the 1950s and 1960s, and only a small section remains today.
Wu Yong, the county commander of Huailai County, rushed from the county seat to Yulinbao, dressed in imperial clothes, and greeted Cixi with formal etiquette, which greatly touched Cixi.
In Wu Yong's book, it is recorded that Cixi cried to him, saying that after walking hundreds of miles in 2 days, he did not see a single person, he did not have to drink water, he did not have to eat food, and he was hungry and cold. Although Wu Yong arranged for the inn to cook 3 pots of porridge, but was snatched away by the scattered soldiers You Yong more than half, Cixi probably did not eat enough, let Wu Yong send a few eggs over, Wu Yong quickly ran to the street, looked for them from house to house, found 5, cooked and sent them up, Cixi ate in one breath.
Seeing this paragraph, I can't help but wonder a little - from the summer palace after lunch, to Yulinbao, full count for 46 hours, is not a mouthful of food, for a person with a superior life, should also be able to survive, not so hungry so miserable, right?
Moreover, Cixi's real hunger was only in Xiguan City on the first night, and the three meals in the morning, middle and evening of the next day were guaranteed.
As for walking hundreds of miles, not seeing a single figure, no water to drink, and so on, it is obviously exaggerated. Perhaps, Cixi is like the people who take the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and the Xinzang Highway today, obviously it is a flat asphalt road, it is a car that can walk, but some people like to exaggerate, like to stir up emotions, whether they shoot videos or write articles, they describe the journey as extremely difficult.
Cixi had lunch at Yulinbao and then set off for the county seat of Huailai County, where he stayed for 2 nights, and then continued west, escorted by a large number of officials and troops. The maids Juan'er and Rong'er both believe that Yulinbao is the dividing line between yin and yang.
From the Forbidden City, to Yulinbao, my driving distance is 99.9 kilometers, because now the Badaling section needs to be detoured, so Cixi's cumulative mileage in that year should be about 90 kilometers. If there is a time tunnel, I drive the GL8 back through, and I can send Cixi from Beijing to Shanxi Province on the same day, and the car is still very comfortable, much more comfortable than the so-called "car" of the Qing Dynasty.
Having said that, what I want to do more is to stop the absurdity of Cixi and those few people with ghost fetuses—just for personal gain, to use the Boxers as tools and push the people into the fire pit, which is really not a good thing.