In 1902, he returned to the Forbidden City

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In the summer of 1901, a rumor began to circulate in the city of Xi'an:

Galeries Lafayette is going back to Beijing! ”

Many people in Xi'an counted their fingers and realized that time passed quickly - in a blink of an eye, Lafayette and they had been in Xi'an for almost a year.

Speaking of which, it was still the year of Gengzi the previous year:

The Eight-Nation Coalition entered the city of Beijing, and the Empress Dowager Cixi took Emperor Guangxu and the imperial relatives selected by Yigan, put on makeup and fled out of the city, all the way, and finally came to Xi'an.

Of course, everyone was soon told that Cixi and Guangxu were not called "fleeing west", they were called "Xijiao", and the "Zuo Chuan" was exemplified, which could be understood as "going to the west to inspect" - Xizhan "can't be regarded as fleeing, can the affairs of the queen mother and the emperor be called "fleeing"?

However, although Xi'an is located in Guanzhong, it is the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties after all, is Lafayette not satisfied?

Cixi and her entourage at the gate of the palace in Xi'an

After their entourage arrived, they immediately converted the yamen of the governor of Shaanxi, which owned hundreds of houses, into a palace. Not to mention anything else, just talk about eating: the "Imperial Dining Room" alone has a "Meat Bureau", "Vegetarian Bureau", "Dinner Bureau", "Vegetable Bureau", "Porridge Bureau", "Tea Bureau", "Cheese Bureau", "Dim Sum Bureau" ......There are hundreds of chefs of all kinds.

Galeries Lafayette's various details were also taken care of: to drink milk, the relevant personnel specially purchased six or seven cows urgently; To drink iced sour plum soup, someone transports ice from Taibai Mountain, more than 100 miles away, every day.

According to the rumors, Lafayette stayed in Xi'an for ten months, and millions of taels of silver went out.

So why not enjoy it for a while?

Because the Empress Dowager Cixi has already received a clear report.

The report came from Li Hongzhang, who had already negotiated with the foreign adults.

Prior to this, although Cixi had already intended to return to Beijing, she was shocked that the foreigners' troops were still stationed in Beijing, and she had lingering palpitations and asked Li Hongzhang to let the foreigners' troops be withdrawn before she was willing to go back.

On September 7, 1901, on behalf of the Qing Empire, Yixuan and Li Hongzhang signed the "Xinchou Treaty" with representatives of 11 countries, including Britain, the United States, Russia, and France, in addition to various other concessions, they also had to pay 4500 million taels**, plus interest on amortization, for a total of 9800 million taels.

But this treaty is undoubtedly a guarantee to Cixi's heart, because it means that Lord Yang has no intention of driving her ** - as long as this can be guaranteed, it is enough.

Now that the decision has been made, it is time to determine the route back to Beijing.

This should not be an issue that needs to be discussed.

At the beginning, Cixi and her entourage escaped from the city of Beijing, from Hebei (Zhili) to Shanxi, then into Shaanxi, and settled in Xi'an.

But Cixi was reluctant, and her final route was: from Shaanxi to Henan, to Luoyang, along the Yellow River all the way east to Kaifeng, and then north through Anyang, into Beijing.

Approximate route map of "Gengzi Seika" (red) and "Ryonomiya Huiluan" (blue).

Some people think that it was Galeries Lafayette who came all the way in a hurry and was unwilling to take the same "turning back"; Some people also believe that Shanxi and Hebei provinces were most hurt by the "Gengzi Rebellion", people's livelihood withered, and there were many complaints, and there may be unstable factors; More people believe that Cixi chose this route so that she could stop and go to see if the foreign army had completely withdrawn from the city.

So, not long after the signing of the "Xinchou Treaty", an edict was issued - in the tone of Emperor Guangxu:

I serve the Empress Dowager to live in Guanzhong temporarily, and she will pass through the years, cherishing the sect and society, and feeling guilty. Today's peace situation has been decided, and yesterday's edict ordered the Minister of the Interior to sweep away the palace and return to Luang on the same day. However, now that the weather is hot and the Virgin is old, it is advisable for the Virgin to live in order to take care of her, and since the festival is a little cooler, I hereby choose to return to Beijing from Zhili, Henan Province on July 19, and prepare carefully in advance for the yamen. ”

It was said that it was the 19th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, but Cixi delayed it again, and finally set it on the 24th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar (October 6 of the Gregorian calendar).

Once the decision has been made and the date has been set, the next step is the hectic preparation for departure.

The preparation of the work is very detailed, for example, Wu Yong, who made great contributions to the first stand of Cixi's "Western Hunting" - he has already been promoted from a small Huailai County county order to a four-grade grain platform meeting - wrote down a budget plan, including:

The road through which the Lafayette convoy passes must be paved with yellow sand, and the cost of paving sand per mile is about 20 taels. Every sixty miles of land, there is also a palace for everyone to rest. As for the road on which the convoy left the city on the first day, every household along the street had to put up lanterns, set up incense tables, and offer snacks and fruits.

At dawn on October 6, 1902, a trumpeter blew the horn and the gates of Xi'an were opened.

At about 7:45 in the morning, first the vanguard horse team drove out in a mighty way, then the eunuchs and eunuchs, the imperial guards, and then the sedan chair of Emperor Guangxu and the Empress Dowager Cixi, the queen's sedan chair, and the sedan chair of the princes and nobles ......

As for luggage, large and small, a total of 3,000 cars were packed.

At that time, the first cartoon in the West about the "Two Palaces Huiluan".

People who are fortunate enough to visit the two sites of the two palaces in and out of the city are estimated to have the same impression:

When you come, people are panicked, and when you leave, you are majestic.

No one expected that as soon as the two palaces returned to Luan, there would be a big mistake:

The local magistrate who was responsible for the reception at the first stop actually disappeared!

This county is called Xia Liangcai, and the county he is in charge of is Lintong. When the convoy of the two palaces entered the territory of Lintong County, Xia Liangcai, who was in charge of the reception work, evaporated, so that most of the people in the convoy of the two palaces did not even have to eat, and at night, they couldn't even find the candles that were lit.

In the end, it was Shaanxi Governor Yunsheng who personally came forward and temporarily Zhang Luo, so that the Queen Mother and the Emperor were settled. The embarrassed and angry governor immediately ** Xia Liangcai - in fact, there is no need for him, the furious Cixi has already ordered Xia Liangcai to be executed immediately.

Just a county order, is it because he has eaten the bear's heart and leopard gall and dares to make fun of Lafayette?

A discerning person can see at a glance that there must be a story behind it. And at that time, the so-called "truth" was indeed circulating in the market:

Of course, Xia Liangcai had already prepared to welcome him, but just before the arrival of the two palace teams, a few eunuchs suddenly came and asked Xia Liangcai for the so-called "palace gate fee" (the cost of opening up the palace joints), saying that if it was paid, there would naturally be various benefits, and if it was not paid, it would be unlucky.

Xia Liangcai is also an "iron rooster", and told him that he really has no money here, and he doesn't even have gold and silver jewelry that can be deducted. The eunuchs cursed and returned empty-handed.

As a result, when Xia Liangcai led the team out to pick up the car, dozens of big men who spoke Beijing dialect came to the kitchen of the palace, and looted all the delicacies that had been prepared. When the convoy of the two palaces arrived, it was naturally too late to prepare dinner, so Xia Liangcai was heartbroken, so he simply hid.

When she got some food in the evening, Cixi found that it was either too salty or smelly—all of which the eunuchs had deliberately put in. Not only that, but the eunuch also said that Xia Liangcai once said outside that it was because of the chaos that Lafayette himself made last year, and what kind of face did he have to come to the local place to ask for reception.

Cixi was angry and wanted to kill someone, and her mood can be imagined.

According to the rumors, it was Emperor Guangxu who persuaded Cixi in the end, on the grounds that a county official would definitely not dare to say such a thing, and he must have offended the eunuch. And now, if you want to kill this county official because you don't do a good job in reception, your reputation will not be good.

Cixi finally listened to Guangxu's words, stopped her murderous thoughts, and only ordered Xia Liangcai to be demoted and punished.

Of course, this rumor has a lot of folk characteristics - for example, everyone always imagines that the emperor is a good emperor, and the queen mother will listen to the emperor - but those eunuchs extorting and looting the kitchen are not necessarily imaginary, and it is more likely that someone secretly leaked the inside story, otherwise it can't be explained anyway, Xia Liang, who has already made preparations for the reception, will take the risk of killing his head and play hide and seek.

But regardless of the rumors, Xia Liangcai's reception fee for this station is clearly written in Wu Yong's "Gengzi West Hunting Cong Talk": 27,000 taels**.

The ** of the funds is apportioned to the local people in the name of "taking over".

In fact, all the funds generated along the way back to Luang of the two palaces were required to be raised by the localities.

Give you a chance to receive Lafayette and the emperor, don't you cherish it?

Like the prefect of Henan, Wen Yi, belongs to the kind of people who cherish opportunities.

The convoy of the two palaces returned to Luan into Luoyang, Henan, and the first stop of the accommodation was Tiemen Town, Cixi opened her eyes: the whole palace was magnificent, there were eleven rooms in Cixi's room alone, ten rooms for the emperor, nine rooms for the queen, and the indoor floor was covered with reed mats, covered with red felt, and the red carpet was laid on the felt. The walls are hung with famous calligraphy and paintings, and the courtyard is planted with exotic flowers and plants......

The person behind all this is the prefect of Henan.

The construction cost of this palace alone was as high as 60,000 taels** - Wen Yi asked his superiors Henan Governor Songshou only asked for 30,000 taels of funds, and he forcibly apportioned them after returning to Luoyang, and finally got 80,000 taels**.

The gate of the palace in Luoyang

Not only that, Wen Yi, who is well versed in officialdom, has also carried out in-depth work on the people around Cixi, especially focusing on public relations Li Lianying, who not only arranged thoughtfully, but also put all kinds of "filial piety" in place in a timely manner.

Sure enough, Cixi and his entourage were extremely satisfied with all aspects of the Henan itinerary and greatly praised Wen Yi, so much so that Wen Yi's boss, Henan Governor Songshou, was also forced to "roll" up, requiring all relevant places in Henan to take the reception level of Shaanxi as the minimum requirement, work hard, and do a good job in the reception of the two palaces Huiluan.

No pain, no gain, Wen Yi and Songshou quickly waited for their return:

After the two palace teams left Luoyang, Wen Yi, who was originally the prefect, was promoted to Guixi Daotai, and Songshou, who was originally the governor, was promoted to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.

Cixi's praise for the local government of Henan is like a huge signal flare, lighting up the hot heart of the follow-up reception.

Soon, the Zhili side sent a special working group to learn from the Henan side on all aspects of the reception work, and got nearly 100 details that made them sigh and decide the success or failure

In rooms where different people live, the felt should be of different colors and specifications; There are special standards for the candles and palace lamps that are lit; The size of the sedan chair and the number of sedan chair drivers are strictly regulated; The pen and ink inkstone should be ready, but not put out; The calligraphy and paintings on the wall cannot be ...... by name

But after all, not every place can come up with such a mind and such pomp.

For example, Ji County, which also had to undertake the task of reception in Henan Province, finally hanged himself because the county magistrate could not raise the silver needed for the reception, and could not bear to collect taxes from the people.

But Cixi may not know all these things. According to her own ideas, when she returned to Beijing this time, she advocated "frugality" and paid attention to "low-key". To this end, she decided to lead by example, announcing the day after her arrival in Kaifeng:

Considering that on the way, for the sake of frugality, this year's 67th birthday should not be handled.

But having said that, the account in the hearts of the people below is still very clear.

On November 9 (the tenth day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar), the size ** dressed in official uniforms, lively in the Kaifeng Palace to Lafayette birthday, the ministers each got "two horses of silk, a roll of silk robes" and a variety of food gifts.

Cixi's birthday banquet was organized by a famous chef in Henan, and the dim sum was specially invited from Shandong to make it, and more than 1,000 pots of chrysanthemums were purchased in the garden alone

So that the two palaces can see the world of flowers, and the flowers in their hearts will bloom. This can also be regarded as the blessing of being the queen mother and the emperor, and the loyalty of being a courtier. ”

It is said that Cixi, who took care of "don't make a big deal" that day, was really in a good mood.

On the one hand, it's naturally because it's my birthday.

On the other hand, she also knows that she is getting closer and closer to Beijing.

Entering the territory of Zhili, Cixi felt some new atmosphere.

It's not that the reception work - Henan's reception work has belonged to the "ceiling" of this trip, although the Zhili side has sent people to learn from the experience before, but the overall aspect is still difficult to surpass Henan.

But the governor of Zhili at that time was Yuan Shikai.

In addition to the regular reception work, he has his own set of ideas, such as the honor guard to greet the two palaces and their line.

According to the previous rules, the people who greeted the two palaces on both sides of the road were nothing more than some kneeling people and squires, offering some fruits and pastries, and shouting a few words.

But Yuan Shikai sent his army.

It was a new-style army that imitated the German Army and had just been honed by the training of the Tianjin Station. When the neatly dressed soldiers who stood straight on both sides of the road like telephone poles met Cixi's eyes, they really aroused her heartfelt admiration.

But she soon discovered a problem: these soldiers, when they saw the emperor and the queen mother, actually did not kneel!

Soon, the commander of the army, a 37-year-old officer who was said to have studied in Germany, approached the commander of the army, a 37-year-old officer who was said to have studied in Germany, and asked him why he did not let his soldiers kneel to greet him.

The officer named Duan Qirui had no intention of changing his mind at all, and he told Prince Alcohol that the new-style army only saluted and would not kneel, even if the German ** people saw their own emperor.

The furious Zaifeng was finally stopped by Cixi, and the empress dowager, who has top political skills, said at the moment

Good, good, as long as you can fight, it doesn't matter if you kneel or not. ”

She also reprimanded Zaifeng who looked unhappy:

Those Eight Banners Green Battalion soldiers smoke a lot and can't carry guns, they can kneel, but if they can fight, will we still go to Xi'an? ”

Duan Qirui, the "Tiger of Beiyang", the leader of the Anhui warlords, was the actual ruler of Beiyang

At that time, in the new army organized and trained by Yuan Shikai, there was also an officer who coordinated the protection of Cixi and Guangxu. The 48-year-old officer named Zhang Xun was obviously much more sophisticated than Duan Qirui, and he first knew that he wanted to curry favor with Li Lianying, and the latter revealed to him the daily itinerary of Cixi in advance, so he took the lead in arranging the guard work along the way, which made Cixi very happy.

Cixi on the occasion of employing people naturally had to be praised and rewarded in person, which undoubtedly made Zhang Xun grateful to Dade, so that the spiritual braid in his heart naturally remained, and he also let the troops under his command keep the physical braid at the back of his head, until he later used practical actions to "uncover the rod" and forcibly injected a shot in the arm on the stiff corpse in the early morning.

Zhang Xun. After the Xinhai Revolution, because he ordered the army under his command not to cut braids, his troops were called the "Braided Army", and he himself was called "Braided Shuai". He directed the short-lived farce of "Zhang Xun's Restoration" (extended reading: "Zhang Xun the Man").

When the car arrived in Baoding, a Western orchestra invited by Yuan Shikai played a welcome song, which made Cixi even call it a novelty.

After staying in Baoding for four days, Cixi and her entourage continued to get on the bus and embarked on the last leg of their journey back to Beijing.

At 12 o'clock in the morning of January 8, 1902, the "Huiluan Special Train" slowly stopped at Majiapu Station in Beijing. Outside the station, a large mat shed and a large archway have already been built in advance.

The scene when Cixi and her entourage arrived at the station

After a year and a half away from Beijing, Lafayette returned with the emperor's honor, what is this little money?

The procession of Huiluan entered the city from Yongding Gate.

Naturally, the buildings and roads along the way will have to be repaired at a great cost. It's just that when she went north from Yongding Gate and entered Zhengyang Gate directly south of the inner city, Cixi was still stunned for a moment.

More than a year ago, when the Eight-Nation Coalition attacked Beijing, the four-story arrow tower of Zhengyangmen was cut in half by artillery fire, and there was no money to repair it. Considering that the two palaces are back to Luan, this scene is afraid to "poke the mood", so they built two colorful sheds on the city wall - costing 50,000 taels** - to decorate the façade.

This act of tying a bow on the wound didn't seem to affect Cixi's mood too much, because the Chinese and foreign ** who were at the scene that day all recorded a detail:

After Cixi arrived at Zhengyang Gate, she took out the sedan chair to offer incense to the Guandi Temple, and when she looked up, she saw the foreigners taking pictures of her on the city tower.

Lafayette, who was ready to fight them to the death more than a year ago, did not hide in the face of the camera.

She looked up and smiled.

End of this article).The author said

On November 7, 1901, when the procession of the two palaces to return to Luan was resting in Kaifeng, Cixi received an unexpected news:

78-year-old Li Hongzhang died.

The news of the passing away, the deep mourning", these are the eight words in the edict issued by Cixi after Li Hongzhang's death - think about it, it should also be her true feelings.

In fact, if she had listened to Li Hongzhang's words, she would not have had this so-called "Western Hunting" and "Huiluan" at all: when she issued an edict declaring war on the eleven countries at the same time, Li Hongzhang, who was then the governor of Liangguang, went against the norm and directly replied to the imperial court with eight words: "This chaotic fate is also, Guangdong will not obey the edict", thus opening the curtain of "mutual protection in the southeast".

The disaster was caused by Cixi herself, but in the end, it was Li Hongzhang who went to Lizheng to review and slap him. After signing the "Xinchou Treaty", Li Hongzhang took a big mouth, it was said that it was stomach bleeding, but it is estimated that his heart was also painful.

In fact, if Li Hongzhang had not tried his best to promote the completion of the Tangxu Railway and the implementation of railway transportation, Cixi and his entourage might not have been able to take the train on the final trip back to Beijing; If it weren't for Li Hongzhang's efforts to push for the completion of China's first telegraph office, Cixi would not have been away for more than a year, and it would have been impossible for her to efficiently grasp so much information and make so many arrangements - the news of Li Hongzhang's death was also photographed by telegram.

It's not that Li Hongzhang is omniscient and omnipotent, or has no shortcomings, but at least compared to Cixi, who is obsessed with the art of power and conspiracy, this Qing Dynasty "pasteur" still sees more or less than her, and goes further.

A tense and hasty escape turned into a "western hunt", a return trip that should have been low-key, turned into a carnival of enjoyment, flattery and corruption. Does Cixi know this? She probably knows some of them, but she must also have a lot of them that she doesn't know, some of them don't want to know, and it's useless to know. Of course, there are some more that she thinks should be the way they should be, so what's so strange about that?

Wu Yong recorded in "Gengzi Xi Hunting Cong Talk" that after the two palaces returned to Luan:

After years of sowing and returning, the city is still the same, and the people are the same. ”

This year, the 43-year-old Yuan Shikai has become the governor of Zhili, holding a new army completely different from the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion;

In this year, the 36-year-old Sun Yat-sen established the plan of three procedures for the establishment of a republic through revolution, and has become a well-known revolutionary in China.

This year, all kinds of new-style schools have sprung up in various places, and all kinds of Chinese and foreign newspapers and periodicals have spread all over the streets and alleys.

This year, there are still three years left before the imperial examination system is abolished.

This year, 1911, is only nine years away.

How can it still be? How can it be the same as before?

End of full text).This article mainly refers to **:

1. "Gengzi West Hunting Cong Talk" (Wu Yong, Zhonghua Book Company, October 1, 2009).

2. Cixi's Return to Luan: A Special Trip in 1901 (Yang Honglin, Joint Publishing House, May 2017).

3. Modern China in the Eyes of Morrison (Shen Jiawei, Dou Kun, Fujian Education Press, January 1, 2007).

4. "The Controversy of Huiluan on the Occasion of Gengxin" (Gao Zhijun, Journal of Radio and Television University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 2018.04).

5. "Cixi and Guangxu's "Gengzi West Hunting" Harassment of Henan Folk (Chen Depeng, Tianxue School Journal, 2016 Issue 01).

6. Research on the report of "Gengzi West Hunting" in "Declaration" (Wang Runxin, Master**, Liaoning University, 2022).