On November 7, 1894, on the occasion of Empress Dowager Cixi's sixtieth birthday, the Japanese army occupied Dalian Bay, and the telegrams of defeat in the front flew like snowflakes and were reported to the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department.
It is said that such a major military matter that concerns the safety of the Jiangshan society should be immediately informed to Empress Dowager Cixi and the emperor in order to find a solution. However, these ministers who had been entrusted with heavy responsibilities and great power in the Military Aircraft Department looked at each other, and they had no idea how to deal with it.
Since the beginning of the year, Empress Dowager Cixi has decreed that she should prepare for the celebration of her sixtieth birthday in the Summer Palace.
In August, as the war between China and Japan intensified, the Hubu wrote to the people to demand that the project of repairing the Summer Palace be stopped, which provoked Empress Dowager Cixi to be furious and forced Weng Tonghe, the Minister of Military Aircraft of the Hubu Shangshu, to change his tune and say: "The matter of stopping work refers to the projects that will be carried out in the future, and what is being carried out now is not in it." ”
Who knew that some ministers of the main war faction did not look at each other, and then wrote letters one after another, demanding that the construction of those ceremonial scenes along the route from the palace to the Summer Palace be stopped, and the cost should be transferred to the salary for preparing for war.
Cixi was furious when she saw it, and shouted according to the desk: "If anyone makes me unhappy on my birthday, I will let him not be happy in the future!" ”
Since then, no one has dared to write to anyone who has ever done anything involving Empress Dowager Cixi's celebration of her sixtieth birthday. The ministers usually go around this matter with everything and everything, for fear that if they are not careful, they will provoke the disaster of killing themselves, which is why the ministers of the military plane hesitate with the telegram from the front.
Now Empress Dowager Cixi is receiving congratulations at the Renshou Hall of the Summer Palace, setting up a banquet to entertain the princes and ministers who have come to pay tribute and the officials of other provinces. At this time, when you go to the newspaper, isn't it obvious that you will sweep away her happiness and make her unhappy?
But who dares to take this matter to the fore? Or do you arbitrarily advocate giving orders ahead?
The ministers brushed their eyes together on the body of Prince Gong Yi, the prime minister of the cabinet. What a character Yi Bi is, known as "Devil Six". He naturally knew in his heart what the ministers wanted to say, but he pretended to be confused and drank the tea one after another without speaking.
Li Hongzao, the military aircraft minister of the main war faction and a scholar of the Military Affairs Co-ordination University, was once a teacher of the Tongzhi Emperor, and he was the oldest among his colleagues, regardless of seniority and age, so no matter who he spoke to, he was rather impulsive. In particular, he was not accustomed to Prince Gong Yi's two-faced style and self-righteous cleverness in the previous set and the two-faced style of the people after the people, and at this moment, when he saw the situation, he finally couldn't hold back his anger and stepped forward and said with a thorn in his words:
"Prince Gong, since you are the Prime Minister and the first share of the country, you should always have an explanation first, right?"
"Everybody discusses, everybody discusses." Prince Gong did not bother with Li Hongzao, left his seat with his bowl of tea, walked around in front of the ministers, and seemed to be humble and said: "There are many people with many ideas, and there will always be good." ”
"You're playing a slippery slope!" Want to escape responsibility! Li Hongzao said.
"Lord Li, why should you?" Sun Yuwen, the head of the bingbu Shangshu, came forward to relieve Prince Gong of the siege. "If Lord Li has a good idea, he might as well say it first so that we can all see it."
"Let me say I'll go to the Empress and the Emperor immediately." Although Li Hongzao's heart was also weak, in order to make these ministers who had been clamoring for peace all day, he had to say this with a straight face: "Truthfully report the situation in the front and formulate countermeasures as soon as possible." ”
"Lord Weng, what do you think?" Sun Yuwen turned to ask The Hubu Shangshu Weng Tonghe.
Sun Yuwen did this with ulterior motives. Weng Tonghe was the leader of the ministers of the main war faction, and as long as he was not willing to stretch out, the rest of the people had nothing to say.
Weng Tonghe wanted to stop the renovation project of the Summer Palace last time, which caused Empress Dowager Cixi to lose her temper, and naturally had to be extra cautious and cautious. After pondering for a long time, he said, "How about I say that I should first give this matter to the Emperor, and then let the Emperor find a suitable opportunity for Empress Dowager Ming?" ”
"This doesn't work! If it must be played, it must be played to the empress dowager and the emperor at the same time. Prince Gong said.
The Guangxu Emperor was young and vigorous, and had just ascended the throne, and he was bent on establishing his own Wenzhi martial arts, so he advocated fighting against Japan, and had already clashed with Empress Dowager Cixi several times.
The reason why Empress Dowager Cixi reused Prince Gong after the war was that she wanted him to suppress the ministers who were in charge of the war. If this matter only played the emperor, and the emperor did not tell the empress dowager that he knew that he had come to the next will without permission, wouldn't his sin be greater?
"This can't work, that can't work, you Prime Minister said a way to work!" Li Hongzao said disapprovingly.
Prince Gong still ignored Li Hongzao's stubble, this was the magic weapon he had always used, and with Prince Gong's old calculations, he would never easily open his mouth to leave any handle to people before he did not think of a perfect strategy.
When Sun Yuwen saw that Prince Gong was being held by Li Hongzao, he stepped forward to break the deadlock and said, "Do you think this is good?" Things must be made clear to the empress dowager and the emperor, but wait for three or four days, and when the celebration of the empress's sixtieth birthday is over, it is not too late! ”
"I hope it's not too late, I'm afraid that in three or four days, the Japanese will come into the city of Beijing!" Li Hongzao coldly retorted.
Weng Tonghe walked over to Prince Gong and said sincerely, "Yes! Prince Gong, if the situation expands and the Japanese hit the capital, we can't afford this responsibility! ”
"Lord Weng, I understand what you mean, but you also know the empress dowager's temper, and now that she is on her head, I am afraid that not only is it useless for us to say it, but it is not good..." Prince Gong stopped halfway through his words.
"Of course I know that." Weng Tonghe understood Prince Gong's meaning.
Although Weng Tonghe, as the head of the ministers of the main war faction, he and Prince Gong showed very different attitudes toward Japan, even to the point of incompatibility between water and fire, but as ministers of the same dynasty, there was no personal grudge between them that could not be solved.
Although Prince Gong had devoted all his efforts to helping Empress Dowager Cixi come to power and seize the reign of the Qing Dynasty after Emperor Xianfeng died of illness in August of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Cixi did not really trust him and removed him from his official position several times.
The first time was in the fourth year of Tongzhi, and he was deposed from the government and all his duties because of the suspicion of the empress. After a short period of time, he was reappointed; the second time was in the tenth year of Guangxu, when the empress dowager arbitrarily put on the hat of "entrusting him with obedience", went to all the messengers, and removed the special Enga's double fenglu, and restored him to shuang feng after two years.
Empress Dowager Cixi's capricious treatment of him was nothing more than letting him know that she was the real master, that she wanted to use him, that she could use him when she didn't want to, and that he had to serve her honestly and serve her.
This time, the reason why Empress Dowager Cixi used Prince Gong again after the sino-Japanese declaration of war was nothing more than to use his old relations with the consuls of Western countries in China in order to ask them to mediate the Sino-Japanese dispute, negotiation, and armistice. Therefore, when Prince Gong handled the affairs of the dynasty, he appeared to be extremely cautious and careful, and all large and small issues were strictly adhered to the will of the empress. As a courtier, Weng Tonghe naturally saw the origin of this.
Weng Tonghe pondered for a moment, as if he had made up his mind to beckon the ministers to gather around him.
"My lords, I see that this matter is not a child's play, it must be played upwards, and the question is how to play it." We are not good at this, naturally not at the banquet, not when watching the drama after a while, it is best to wait until after watching a few plays to rest, when the empress dowager is in a good mood, we will go together to play the empress dowager and the emperor. I think that even if the empress dowager blames it, she will not live up to our responsibility to the imperial court as a subject. ”
All the ministers thought that Weng Tonghe's idea was good. First, the law does not blame the public, that is, No matter how big Empress Dowager Cixi's temper is, she cannot investigate and deal with all the ministers of the Military Aircraft Department for such a thing; second, when things are played, whether the empress dowager and the emperor do it or not have nothing to do with the minister.
"At this point, I'm afraid that's all there is to it." The ministers saw that there was no good way but to agree.
Prince Gong also agreed with Weng Tonghe's opinion, and immediately led the ministers into the Summer Palace to attend the birthday feast, acted according to the prescribed plan, and asked Sun Yuwen to go to Li Lianying, the chief official of the official, and ask him to help stare at the mood of the empress dowager.
Prince Gong had his reason for asking Sun Yuwen to find Li Lianying. First of all, Sun Yuwen was the most proud and trusted person of Empress Dowager Cixi. The reason why Sun Yuwen was able to rise from a local petty official in charge of the township examination in Sichuan, step by step in only a few years of work, and became a shangshu of several ministries until he was the prime minister, was entirely because he was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi and was the result of his hand promotion; secondly, soon after Sun Yuwen entered Beijing, he married Li Lianying, the closest eunuch to Cixi and the most pleasing to Cixi, so that his position in the dprk was as stable as Mount Tai.
Because of this, no matter what Prince Gong encountered, he was not sure for a moment, and he did not know how to report to the empress dowager, he generally let Sun Yuwen try to test first, and there was a good chance that he would succeed.
Prince Gong and the military ministers returned to the banquet to celebrate The Sixtieth Birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, and patiently continued to drink round after round, and after the banquet was over, they came to the grand theater building in Guhe Garden with the empress dowager, the emperor, the concubines and the princes and ministers to watch the play.
This big theater building has a total of three floors, more than 7 meters high and 6 meters wide, and there are interconnected patios between the floors, which can stage the play of ascending to heaven and earth, and the construction is very grand. In order to celebrate Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday and wish her a happy birthday, the entire theater building was remodeled with gold pink paint and added a lantern, which looked both magnificent and full of festive atmosphere.
Since it was to wish Empress Dowager Cixi a happy birthday, the people who could not run were the most famous leaders and the most popular horns in the capital. On that day, there were Tan Xinpei, Yang Xiaolou and others on the stage.
The first play was "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang", which was ordered by the empress dowager herself, which was a reserved play when the palace held a happy event. The second play was "Lost Palace Chop" ordered by the emperor, and whether Guangxu point this play has any meaning, no one can say clearly. But just from the perspective of watching plays, these are all plays that people love to watch. The play was good, the horns were sung well, and the stands were filled with bursts of cheers.
Empress Dowager Cixi was most pleased to see it, and sent people to "send" rewards one after another. This so-called sending is shouting loudly in front of the stage, a bit like the meaning of live reporting with a loudspeaker today. The more you shout, the more energetic you will be, the louder the cheers will naturally be, and the atmosphere in the stands upstairs of this play will naturally be more festive.
Looking at this scene, Prince Gong breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if he had taken a reassuring pill, and did not have to worry about what would go wrong and what big trouble he would encounter today. Sure enough, when the second play was resting, the grand eunuch Li Lianying came to the seat of the military ministers to watch the play.
"Didn't the ministers say that the Empress Dowager had an important matter to report, so let's go now?"
Sun Yuwen asked, "Gonggong Li, empress dowager..."
Li Lianying deliberately rushed to Prince Gong: "Although rest assured, adults, the empress dowager is happy now, and her mouth is almost closed." ”
"Then a few of us will thank Gonggong Li for his help." Although Prince Gong looked down on Li Lianying from his heart, people helped you and had to make a superficial appearance and express it.
"Look where the prince said, this is the slave's business, it should be, adults please."
Li Lianying led the way in front and took several military ministers to the central seat where Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu were watching the play. Li Lianying said a good point, And Empress Dowager Cixi was laughing with Emperor Guangxu, very happy.
Prince Gong took the lead, and the military ministers came forward to give the empress dowager and the emperor a big gift.
Cixi waved them flat and asked, "How was the wine drunk today?" Is it good to watch the play? ”
All the military ministers replied in unison, and the Empress Dowager quantuo and the emperor's Hong Fu fell to their knees together.
"Then say it."
When Empress Dowager Cixi saw the posture, she knew that this group of ministers was about to start playing some important military and political affairs. She couldn't help but let them say it, but there was a faint look of displeasure on her face.
"The empress dowager and the emperor, the defenders in the front came to report that the Japanese army occupied Dalian Bay today, and the ministers did not dare to make a decision on their own and ask the empress dowager and the emperor to make a decision."
The Guangxu Emperor jumped up when he heard this: "What? The Japanese army occupied Dalian Bay! What were those defenders for, and how could they be so fast? ”
"Emperor!" Cixi whispered, but drank Guangxu with unusual majesty, and then asked Prince Gong, "Is there anything else to play?"
"No, Empress."
"Then I ask you, in three days, can the Japanese army reach the city of Beijing?"
"Definitely not." Prince Gong replied.
"Isn't that what it will be?" Empress Dowager Cixi put a smile on her face again, waved her hand, and said, "Go down, in these three days, you are not allowed to bother me with these trivial things, let me be happy and happy to spend this birthday." ”
"Huang Ah Niang!"
The Guangxu Emperor shouted, opening his mouth to say something, but seeing that the empress dowager's face was not good, and seeing that the military ministers had already gotten up and retreated, and the gongs and drums that were playing on the opposite theater floor had been knocked again, he had to secretly sigh and helplessly closed his mouth again.