On February 12, 1912, this day was destined to be an extraordinary day for ancient China, on the same day, the Empress Dowager Longyu took the six-year-old Xuantong Emperor Puyi, and issued three edicts in succession, announcing the abdication of the Qing Emperor and the end of the Qing Dynasty.
In the Forbidden City on this day, as usual, the ministers came to the Qianqing Palace early to wait for the court, but it seemed to be different from usual, and everyone's faces looked worried.
Most people already know what is about to happen today, and the news of Pu Yi's abdication has long been spreading, and the reason why the ministers came to the Qianqing Palace today is mainly to wait for the official promulgation of the abdication edict.
Although they know that it is a passing scene, many people are still uneasy, for their own future, but also for the current situation, with a little anxiety in anticipation, anxiety with a hint of excitement, in short, most of the ministers have mixed emotions.
After some waiting, the little eunuch beside the Empress Dowager Yulong sent a message in a shrill voice, inviting the ministers waiting outside the door to come to the palace.
The ministers glanced at each other, bowed their heads, and walked quickly into the Palace of Heart Cultivation, and after standing still, the Empress Dowager Yulong was late.
Coming with the Empress Dowager Yulong was Emperor Puyi, who had just turned six, and at this time, he didn't know what was going to happen today, so as in the past, he looked left and right, and looked at the ministers with solemn expressions from time to time, probably wondering why today's ministers looked so strange.
And the Empress Dowager Yulong, who had no expression at the moment, walked straight to the dragon chair with Xiao Puyi.
But unlike usual, the Empress Dowager Yulong did not listen to the government anymore, but sat down with Pu Yi, in this regard, the princes and ministers naturally knew why, after all, this was the last early dynasty, and the etiquette and rules of the past did not need to be so particular at this time.
After the Empress Dowager Longyu sat down, the ministers began to salute, but instead of bowing three times and nine bows as before, they symbolically bowed three times, as if to say goodbye.
The Empress Dowager Yulong also didn't say anything about the ministers' salutes, and what else could she say at this time? The edict of abdication had already been drafted, and the conditions for the abdication had already been negotiated with Yuan Shikai.
After glancing at the standing ministers, the Empress Dowager Yulong found that today's protagonist Yuan Shikai was not here, and she couldn't help frowning, and said in her heart, What kind of tricks is Yuan Shikai playing? Such an important day does not appear. After thinking about it, he suddenly understood in his heart that the reason why Yuan Shikai didn't come was probably because he was afraid that he would make a bad scene in the main hall today, so he sent his henchman Hu Weide to come.
This future President Yuan Da is really a good calculation.
At this time, Hu Weide, who was standing at this time, seemed to have seen the thoughts of the Empress Dowager Yulon, and hurriedly stepped forward and said:
"The Empress Dowager, Prime Minister Yuan Shikai was unable to get up due to illness, and he specially commissioned the ministers to come to the Empress Dowager and the emperor to say goodbye. ”
Knowing that Yuan Shikai was just a pretext, but the Empress Dowager Yulong was also helpless, so if she didn't come, she wouldn't come, so she paused and said:
"Yuan Shikai is conscientious for the country, and I rely on his strength to continue to the present, today I will issue an edict of abdication in accordance with the original peace conditions, and leave other matters to Yuan Shikai to deal with!"
Although she knew that the abdication could not be changed, but such a formal statement from her mouth still made the Empress Dowager Yulong's eyes red, after all, from the bottom of her heart, she was naturally unwilling to issue the edict of abdication, let alone become a sinner of the Qing Dynasty, but at this time, she and the little emperor Pu Yi had no rights at all, so what could she do if she did not abdicate?
Daqing, it's really going to be over!
As soon as these words came out, some of the old ministers standing in His Highness also had mixed feelings, and a few of them even had dark old tears, and the sad mood permeated the entire hall, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing for a while.
And when the Empress Dowager Yulong and the other old ministers were sad, Hu Weide, who was standing on the side, was a little anxious in his heart, which one is going to make trouble? Now is not the time to reminisce about the past years, President Yuan Da is still waiting to see the edict of abdication, and he has to think of a way to let the Empress Dowager Yulong slip and stamp the edict.
As Yuan Shikai's cronies, Hu Weide has the responsibility not to let anything go wrong today, so he glared at the little eunuch on the side, and the little eunuch immediately understood what Hu Weide meant, and hurriedly presented the abdication edict to the case of the Empress Dowager Yulong.
was agitated in her heart, and then seeing the abdication edict in front of her, the Empress Dowager Yulong could no longer control the suppressed emotions in her heart, and suddenly cried loudly, at this moment, where is there still the spirit and solemnity of the Queen Mother in the past, crying and shouting intermittently:
"I am ashamed of my ancestors and ancestors!"
And some of His Royal Highness's old ministers, seeing that the Empress Dowager Yulong was like this, couldn't bear it, and they secretly wept, and even worse, they knelt on the ground with a "plop" and kept kowtowing.
For a while, there was a mess in the hall, crying and screaming, the scene was a little out of control, and Hu Weide couldn't help but be even more irritable when he saw this situation, and at the same time made countless cordial greetings to Yuan Shikai in his heart.
He just knew that this situation was troublesome, so he asked me to top the cylinder, and now it's good, I'm crying, and I have a headache!
But no matter how much headache you have, you have to find a way to deal with it, otherwise if you continue to cry like this, when will it be finished? If there is any more chaos and you can't get the abdication edict, you won't be able to explain it to President Yuan Da this time.
There was no way, Hu Weide had to take a step forward and said:
"The Queen Mother, today has been decided, I hope you can see some of it, take care of your noble body! Everyone in the world knows that the Queen Mother has all the people in her heart and is attached to the royal family, and she will definitely be praised by the people for making such kindness today. Now that the royal family has been promised preferential treatment, please let the Queen Mother be relieved. ”
Hu Weide's words, how could the Empress Dowager Yulong not understand? Although the Qing Dynasty has returned to heaven and has no skills, but when it is really faced with this matter, it is a different taste, not to mention, the ancestral inheritance of hundreds of years is considered to be lost in her own hands, as soon as she thinks of this, the Empress Dowager Yulong can't help crying louder, even with the little Puyi next to her, she also cries unconsciously.
In this way, Hu Weide is even more irritable, if he goes up and directly snatches the edict, I am afraid that it is a little inappropriate, but seeing that the Empress Dowager Yulong is crying hard, and at the same time tears can't stop staying on the edict, if this is a flower, it will be even more impossible to make a difference, in desperation, Hu Weide's heart is horizontal, and he stepped forward again:
"Queen Mother, please don't be sad yet, here is an urgent telegram from the revolutionary party, please read it for the Queen Mother. ”
Sure enough, when the Empress Dowager Yulong heard the three words of the revolutionary party, she hurriedly stopped crying, wiped away her tears and looked at Hu Weide, this revolutionary party is related to the lives of her mother and son, and there is no change in the emergency report at this time?
Seeing the reaction of the Empress Dowager Yulon, Hu Weide was very satisfied, and his heart was still in the name of the revolutionary party, so he coughed and said slowly:
"The revolutionary party demands that the edict of abdication be stamped and signed before 12 o'clock today, otherwise all the preferential conditions discussed before will be nullified. ”
When the Empress Dowager Yulong heard this, she hurriedly picked up the seal and stamped it on the edict, and at the same time handed it to the little eunuch beside her, and Hu Weide was relieved with satisfaction after examining that everything was correct, and his heart was finally completed.
After that, under the leadership of Hu Weide, the ministers bowed deeply to the Empress Dowager Yulon three times again, and exited the hall one by one.
For a long time, the Empress Dowager Yulon reluctantly got up and stumbled towards the door, but under the loss of her soul, she accidentally fell to the ground and sat on the ground, the Empress Dowager Yulon looked at the hall where the light gradually dimmed, and tears fell silently on the floor again.
Daqing, it's really dead!
At the same time, on the streets of Beijing, a flag man named Suo Wu was playing cards with his buddies in Dashilar, when suddenly, he heard the crisp voice of the newsboy shouting:
Emperor Xuantong has abdicated! Emperor Xuantong has abdicated!"
Hearing this, Suo Wu touched the cards with both hands stunned, and then couldn't help but tremble, for a while, the cards in his hand were pushed, muttering "Really finished?" and then got up, arched his hand, and walked into the distance.
Along the way, Suo Wu saw a lot of familiar flag people, but there was no mood to say hello again, at this time, the sun in the west, the back of Suo Wu dragged longer and longer, and the more and more faint.