Qing Dynasty Secret History

Chapter 116 Pray for the Empress Dowager Ganlin to Pray for the Empress Dowager and the Princess as the Host
It is said that the Empress Dowager was very happy to see that De Ling read so well, she said: "You are so smart, it is unexpected! This kind of thing is originally the "Picture of the Birthday Celebration of the Immortals" in the Qianlong Dynasty. New cut, revised and revised. I once taught three palace family members, and told them to learn, it was very difficult. I taught them for a long time, but in the end I couldn’t do it. In the end, I didn’t have the energy to teach them.”

There is a poem from later generations: Don't open a gambling game to entertain yourself, and use a picture of a group of immortals celebrating their birthdays.

By turning over the old records of the biography, Byrne seems to have no close ministers.

The queen mother said: "Let's enter the game and try it out for a while."

So Mrs. Yu, De Ling, and Long Ling accompanied the Queen Mother, and the four of them started playing.The queen mother went very smoothly and played to the end.The queen mother was very happy and rewarded two embroidered handkerchiefs from De Ling.Returning to the palace in a sedan chair, De Ling and others followed into the palace. The Empress Dowager wanted to go to bed and rest for lunch, so she said to De Ling and others: "Go and rest, you are not needed for a while!"

De Ling went back to the room, was about to change clothes and rest, suddenly reported guests, three people came in: two are palace relatives, one girl named Changshou, only sixteen or seventeen years old.Greeted each other, sat down and chatted with each other.The family member of the palace asked if De Ling was tired, and asked how you love Cixi.De Ling said: "I have never met such an amiable person as the old ancestor. Although I have not been in the palace for a long time, my respect and love for her is already very sincere.

"The palace family listened, and only looked at each other and smiled with Changshou. The palace family asked you whether you like living here or not, and De Ling said: "I really like living here for a long time, and I will try my best to serve the Queen Mother.Because I have not been in the palace for a long time, the queen mother has treated me so kindly.It is my duty to sacrifice my body to serve the master. "

The palace family smiled and said: "I pity you! No matter how diligent you are, it will be useless in the end. Now let me tell you everything, and you can take precautions when you know."

Deling said: "Whatever I should do, I will try my best to do it, and I think there will be no more difficulties."

The palace family laughed and said: "This is irrelevant, the queen mother will find your fault!"

De Ling said: "The old ancestor is so kind, and his heart is very kind, it is expected that he will not find fault with the helpless woman! We are subjects, what the old ancestor wants, we have to obey her orders."

The palace family member said: "You really don't know. You have never heard of the darkness here. All the miseries and sufferings have not been experienced. How could you think of it! I know that you will be very pleased to serve Cixi, and You are proud of your family members. In fact, you are a newcomer, and the sun and the moon have not lasted long. Now, it is very kind to you. As long as you live for a long time, she will naturally get tired of it. At that time, you will know her behavior. We have lived in the palace for a long time, and we know everything about it in detail. Li Lianying is in charge of the affairs of the palace in front of the Queen Mother, and you always know that none of us is not afraid of him! Punishment, everything is up to him to negotiate. So when we made a mistake, we always excused him, but he always refused. The old ancestor was very immature. He loved one today and another tomorrow. He loved it like a treasure, and hated it. It's like an enemy, but it has deep intentions. It's always inappropriate to criticize people. In our palace, even the empress is very afraid of Li Lianying."

Just as he was about to continue speaking, a eunuch suddenly staggered in and reported, "The ancestor is awake."

After hearing the news, the palace family members stood up and said, "Let's go see the Queen Mother."

De Ling also hurried into the bedroom to see the Queen Mother.The Empress Dowager suddenly remembered about dancing, and asked De Ling and Long Ling to dance once.

The conversation was complicated, and from then on, Mrs. Yu and her three daughters coaxed the Empress Dowager to entertain the sun and the moon in the palace.When Dezong saw that Deling sisters were proficient in English and French, he recited the Queen Mother and asked Deling to teach English.That is to say, it is enough to know that Dezong is enthusiastic about Western methods.

This year, there was a long drought and no rain in the capital, and the Empress Dowager was extremely depressed. Every time she went to court, she went to pray in front of the Buddha, and asked the shaman's wife to pray day and night.It turns out that although the Qing Dynasty annexed China for more than 200 years, it still followed the old customs of Manchuria. In the Kunning Palace, the God Hu was enshrined, and it was said that he was the God of Houtu.There is an ad hoc female official named Mrs. Shaman, who eats three grades of salary. Every morning, she respects the queen and pays homage to the gods.When the shaman passed away, he passed it on to his daughter-in-law but not to his daughter, because her scriptures and mantras are not easily taught to others.Later generations have a poem saying: In the Kunning Palace, Nanmiao is worshiped, and the name of the shaman has different translations.

Hereditary competes with the third-rank salary, and the old custom of Manzhu also worships witches.

Unexpectedly, after praying for ten days, the weather is still sunny and the sky is light and cloudless.The Empress Dowager was very bored, she had nothing to do all day long, and she didn't talk to anyone, and all the people in the palace were worried.

De Ling asked Eunuch Wang privately: "It doesn't rain, why is the Empress Dowager so sad? We thought the weather was fine."

Eunuch Wang said: "The ancestors are really worried about the poor farmers, because if there is no rain for a long time, the grains in the fields will wither."

Just as he was talking, a eunuch reported to Lafayette for a three-day ban on massacres in Beijing.For a while, another eunuch went to each room to deliver an order, telling everyone to take a bath and wash their teeth.Tomorrow, Lafayette and Lord Long Live will both go to a certain temple in the Forbidden City to salute.Long Live Lord has a fasting jade plaque hanging on him.

Nothing to say all night.The next day, the Empress Dowager got up very early, threw away the jewels, did not make any changes, and wore plain clothes all over her body.Accompanied by all the family members of the palace, they saw an eunuch kneeling down to the Queen Mother with a big willow branch in his hand.The Empress Dowager picked a branch and put it on her head.The queen and the family members picked one by one, Dezong also picked a branch and put it on the crown.The Empress Dowager also ordered the eunuchs and servants in the palace to remove and put them on.All of a sudden, above everyone's head, the green willow leaves spread out, lined up in a row, just like willows standing in front of each other.Director Li knelt down and said to the Empress Dowager: "In the hall in front of the palace, everything is ready and we are waiting to salute."

The queen mother led the crowd and walked in front of them.When I got there, I saw a large square table with yellow paper on one side, a jade plate filled with silver and vermilion for ink, two large brushes, and two large porcelain vases on both sides, which were also filled with ink. willow branch.

The empress dowager's yellow satin coat is placed on the south side of the square table.There is a large charcoal basin in the local area, and the animal charcoal is burning red.The Empress Dowager took the sandalwood and threw it into the charcoal basin, and the family members also helped to add incense.The Empress Dowager knelt down, and all the court officials knelt down, forming a long line.The Empress Dowager recited the prayer, and everyone kowtowed.A total of three prayers are recited, and the prostration is also three times.

When the day is over, the Empress Dowager orders to drive back to the Forbidden City.

When the queen mother drove out of the palace gate, Dezong, the queen and all the family members of the palace knelt on the left side of the road.After Luan drove by, they each looked for a ride.When driving, there are many books, and there are guards in front of the driver. Four princes, riding horses, live on the left and right sides of the driver.After driving, forty or fifty eunuchs followed on horseback, all wearing formal dresses.The emperor's and queen's cars are the same color as the queen mother's, the concubine's is dark yellow, and the palace family members are all red.On the way, we only stopped at Wanshou Temple to rest for a while.It was too early to reach the Forbidden City.In the palace, Emperor Mu Zong's imperial concubine Yuhuang came to pay her respects.This noble concubine Yu Huang can paint the landscape of Molan, and writes her own small poems, which are called "Lazy Dream Mountain Man".There is a poem from later generations that said: "Lazy dream mountain people have the ice and snow posture, and Jieyu was the most favored at that time."

Burning incense and embroidering Buddha should be spare time, self-painting Lin Luan and embellishing small poems.

In the Forbidden City, apart from praying for rain, there is nothing else to remember.On the morning of the sixth day of April, dark clouds began to appear in the sky.Seeing this, De Ling hurried to the palace to hear about the Empress Dowager.Unexpectedly, there are already people who took the lead, and they knew it early.The queen mother smiled and said: "You are not the first to tell me the good news! I know you must be the first. I am very tired today, and I have to sleep for a while. Wait When I got up, I asked someone to call you."

De Ling withdrew and went to find the queen, and saw that all the family members were with the queen.At this time, the courtyard was already wet, and soon it rained heavily, and the eaves slipped and clattered, and it didn't stop until the lights were turned on.The Empress Dowager was overjoyed, and wanted to change the flag dress for Mrs. Yu and others. She asked the eunuch to record the size, checked the almanac, and decided to change clothes on the [-]th of this month.It rained continuously for three days and three nights, and the Empress Dowager delivered an order to drive back to the Summer Palace.

This year, it is appropriate to hold the first garden party, and invite the family members of ministers from all over the world to visit the garden.

So all kinds of glass cabinets were displayed in the garden, containing rare embroidery, flowers and other things.These many things are prepared to be given to the guests.The invited guests are Mrs. Conger, the American Minister, Mrs. William, the American Counselor, Mrs. Gassel, the Spanish Minister, and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Juguid, the Japanese Minister, and the wife of her embassy, ​​and Mrs. Almid, the Portuguese Deputy Minister, French Counselor Mrs. Kanli and her non-commissioned officer's wife, British Counselor Mrs. Sessen, two women from the German embassy, ​​and the wife of the customs officer.On this day, the Empress Dowager was wearing a coat with peacock green embroidered phoenix, and all the family members of the palace were also dressed gorgeously, preparing to receive foreign guests.For a while, the eunuch came to announce the guests, and the queen mother led Tong Dezong to receive the audience at the court.I saw that Prince Qing led the German minister Du Yang and the embassies to translate the female guests to the hall. Du Yang replaced Chen Song and translated it into Chinese, which was delivered to King Qing, who then conveyed it to Dezong.Dezong replied in Chinese, and the translator translated Du Yang.So Du Yang went to Nuan Pavilion and shook hands with Empress Dowager Dezong to salute.

The rest of the guests moved forward one by one, called each other by name, and had an audience with the Queen Mother.After the audience, King Qing led Du Yang and the interpreters to the other palace for refreshments.He ordered Princess Rongshou to act as the host and accompany all the female guests to have refreshments.This Princess Rongshou was originally the princess of Prince Zhonggong. Emperor Wenzong loved her for her intelligence and wanted to caress her as his daughter many times.In the early Yuan Dynasty of Tongzhi, she was named Princess Gulun, and her kindness was extremely generous.After the son-in-law Zhiduan died, the princess Linguang succeeded the Duke with his ancestors.The queen mother refused to reward him because he was too young.There is a poem from later generations that sighed: "If you don't want to be partial to pottery, you will be born by Tang Mu's frequency."

The different enemy is now the same long princess, Lianyunjia is the first to stand in the east city.

At present, the princess acts as the master, accompanied the guests to have tea and dinner, and looked around in the garden before the guests left.De Ling entered to play the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager said: "Why are Xi Fu's feet so big? The shoes look like boats. It's ridiculous to see them walking. I can't praise her! Although their skin is white, there is a layer of white. Covered with fur, don’t you think it’s beautiful?”

Deling said: "Among French women, there are some pretty ones.

The Empress Dowager said: "It doesn't matter how beautiful she is, but their eyes are green and not very charming, they look like cat's eyes!" "

The Queen Mother hates Xifa the most by nature.After Mrs. Yu's mother and daughter changed their flag dresses, the Empress Dowager loved her more and more.

On May 26th, King Qing played the Empress Dowager again, and the beauty envoy Mrs. Conge came to ask for a private audience and beg for the time.The Empress Dowager became preoccupied again, and asked Mrs. Yu privately: "Madam Kanger wants to see me, what's the matter?"

Mrs. Yu said: "Perhaps someone wants to see the ancestors and asks Mrs. Kang to stay with him. Maybe."

The Empress Dowager said: "No. Anyone who wants to enter the palace must first submit a list. If it is a regular pilgrimage, I don't care much. Now it is a private pilgrimage, and I don't want people to ask. You always know, Xi Although people are kind and respectful, when it comes to etiquette, they can’t compare with us! Chinese customs are the best, and I don’t want to change them for the rest of my life. Do you think what kind of Christianity they believe in, destroying the great-great-grandfather? Lord Kao, I don’t know how many Chinese people have ruined their families because of a few priests? They are used to tempting young men and women to believe in his religion. For this reason, I feel very uncomfortable. Mrs. Minger Meishi has no request , I will definitely return to her, and I must discuss everything with the minister, I cannot make the decision. Although I am the queen mother, I will never dare to violate the laws of the country.

Like Mrs. Usid, the envoy, I like her very much. She is kind and never asks stupid questions. Japan is similar to us, but the evolutionary gap is not very far away.Last year, a pastor's wife, who was also brought by Mrs. Conger, advised me to open a girls' school in the palace. I didn't have time to refute her at that time, so I will discuss it with her later.Just imagine, there is a school in the palace, where can you find students? "

Speaking of this, I couldn't help laughing, and everyone laughed along with me.The queen mother said: "I know you always have to laugh. Mrs. Conger is very kind, and the Americans are very friendly when they stay in China. Gengzi was very fond of him in those years, but I always don't like his priests. Li Lianying told I, the priest here, often gives medicine to the Chinese. After taking his medicine, they will naturally follow his teachings. They also take children from poor families and cut off their eyes as medicine.”

De Ling couldn't hear it anymore, and told the queen mother that what she said was very inaccurate.I have met many priests, and almost none of them is not charitable, and some are willing to help the poor.He also told the Empress Dowager how the priests treated orphans, how they sheltered them, how they provided them with food and clothing, how they entered the interior, took blind children and disabled children from the people, and brought them up.Also tell how perfect their schools are, and how good and beautiful their methods of helping the poor are.The queen mother smiled and said, "I believed what you said, but why don't the priests do all kinds of good deeds in their own country?"

Deling then told the Empress Dowager the details of two teaching cases in Hubei.The Empress Dowager said: "It's true that they help the poor and save people from suffering, just like Buddha's sacrifice of meat to feed hungry birds. Only if they are willing to abandon this place and go to other countries, I am willing in my heart. We still believe in our own religion. Do you know how the Boxers made such a mess? The Chinese Christians really cannot absolve themselves of the blame. The Boxers have been abused for a long time, and taking advantage of this time to retaliate is a common thing in lower society. They were violent and burned their residences in Beijing to get rich. The Chinese priests were the worst among the common people. They often seized the land and property of the villagers. The foreign priests came out to protect their heads and were arrested in the county. Among them, they all stood upright and did not kneel, refused to obey the king's law, and insulted the officials all the time. I know that many people believe in religion, but I know that there are no big officials and rich gentry who are religious."

Speaking of this, he suddenly turned his head around and said in a low voice: "Kang Youwei once persuaded the emperor to be educated! But in my whole life, I have never convinced anyone to believe him. As for Western politics, I also have envy. Kind of like that. But when it comes to culture, China is always the best. The chaos of the boxers, people always say that the government is in contact with the boxers, but it is not the case.

At the time of the attack, I repeated the decree and sent troops to suppress and arrest them.The helpless situation has already started a prairie fire and is out of control.

At that time, I decided not to stay out of the palace. At such an advanced age, life and death have long been ignored.Duke Duan tried his best to persuade me to flee.Let me tell you again, at that time, the servants treated me very badly.

When I left, no one was willing to accompany me.And if the capital was moved, the palace hadn't mentioned it yet, and they had already rushed to avoid it.Those who didn't go stood beside me and watched my movements.I asked them: "Those who are willing to go together, those who are not willing to go together, go separately."Before I finish my words, there are not many people standing beside me.There are only seventeen eunuchs, two old maidservants, and one maidservant, which means longevity.They all said no matter what, they would be with me.My eunuchs have a total of 28 eunuchs, and they will all be gone before I check them out.There are also very bad villains among them, who dared to stand in front of me and smash the vase I usually love, knowing that I was going on my way, so I couldn't punish him.I wept all day long, kowtowed and prayed in front of Taizu Taizong.Those with me also prayed.As for the head of the family, there is only the queen with me.There is a Qi family, I love him very much on weekdays, and I always follow him for anything I want.When I was in trouble, I didn't even follow me.Seven days after we left, I sent an eunuch back, and saw that this Qi family was still in Beijing.He asked the eunuch, should the foreign soldiers catch up?Was the Queen Mother killed?His original intention was that I would be killed by foreign soldiers, so he asked this question.Later, on his way here, he told me how sad and missed we were when we were separated, and wept while talking.I told him not to speak, I will never believe what you say.You think that I am so old and have suffered so much. Now that you hear it, you will always feel sorry for me. It took more than a month to travel to Xi'an.When I returned to Beijing in [-], the world was almost changed.

The furnishings in the palace are either broken or lost.The White Jade Buddha, whom I prayed to day and night, also had his finger broken.A foreigner actually took my throne and took pictures! "

After hearing this, De Ling also sighed.If you want to know what happened next, let's listen to the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)