Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 16 The Little Court on the Train (1)
Let's talk about the Queen Mother's carriage in detail.A small bedroom is separated from the front half. Although the space is not big, it took a lot of people's thoughts and energy.Not only does it look magnificent, but it is also very similar to the Empress Dowager's bedroom in terms of outline and layout. It's like shrinking her old man's bedroom and moving it to the train.

This is only from the appearance, and the furnishings inside are incomparable with those in the palace.In this small bedroom, the only big piece of furniture is the big bed, and there is nothing left.The bed was of mahogany, and the material of the carriage was the finest teak, varnished glossy, and the two woods matched each other very well.At that time, every bed in China had a pair of shelves for hanging mosquito nets, and of course the bed of the Queen Mother also had it.

The Queen Mother's mosquito net is light blue, with many beautiful ring-jam flowers embroidered on it.Because it is the late spring season at this time, and the Linopodium flowers are in full bloom.

To the left of the bed was an ottoman, also of mahogany, about three inches high, and covered with rich yellow satin.For modern people, this stool seems to be unnecessary, but people at that time were used to having such a thing, because no matter how low the bed is, when sitting on it, putting your legs on the footstool will be comfortable. I feel very energy-saving.

Although the bedroom is small, the four windows on both sides are very large. The spring sun shines in warmly, making the room bright.The Queen Mother was very satisfied with this.In particular, there are several gorgeous and vivid murals between every two windows, which are even more radiant and eye-catching under the sunlight.

These are all lacquer paintings, with a fresh and harmonious style.Of course, ordinary railway factory painters are difficult to complete, and the authors are all artists who have been selected in the capital.A narrow wooden board was nailed under the mural, on which were placed all kinds of cosmetics of the Queen Mother, as well as some small things, which were designed to be convenient for her to use.Curtains, also of yellow satin, hung over each window separately.

This bedroom was separated by a partition, which, though not thick, was of teak, and delicately carved.On the other side of the partition is a slightly larger room, which is the "little imperial court" on the imperial train.In terms of size, there is nothing to show off, but the layout and decoration inside are extremely rich and luxurious.

It can be said that no matter how much silver is spent or how much the price is paid, as long as it can make the inside look beautiful and comfortable to use, the Qing court will not care.

The most noticeable thing in the small court is the four vases of flowers, which are placed in the four corners, and each is equipped with a carefully carved wooden shelf, which is tall and beautiful.Let’s talk about the vases containing flowers first, they look antique, no matter the style or the patterns on them, they all have classical beauty, and their value is extraordinary, because they are antiques themselves.The flowers in the vase are not placed casually.The first is peony, peony has always been famous for its wealth and honor, and it is called the "Queen of Flowers in China", probably because of the similar status, the queen mother has a special preference for peony; the second is Tianzhu, which can be said to be unique to the East. The emerald green leaves are dotted with small coral-like red beads, which is very beautiful; the third bottle is winter jasmine, which is golden when it blooms, which is close to the royal color; the fourth bottle is pure white pear blossom, slightly tinged The feeling of green looks very fresh.These four kinds of flowers are common in spring. However, it is not only for this reason that they are used to decorate the small court. What is more important is that these flowers have very strong vitality. The ground grows leaves and blooms.

The floor of this small imperial court was covered with a carpet about two inches thick, made entirely of velvet, light blue, and decorated with many golden peonies and phoenixes.

Compared with the Queen Mother's bedroom, the windows here are smaller, which is also a special arrangement.On weekdays, the queen mother likes to play with her treasures very much, so she decided to take some of them with her when she decided to go to Fengtian.Although she never said that to anyone, it was clear to all of us.Therefore, when Qingshan ordered people to prepare the carriage for the Empress Dowager, he decided to make the windows smaller, so as to leave more space in the middle of the windows, and nailed some small shelves on it to place the Empress Dowager's treasures.

The queen mother was very satisfied with this design, and she ordered people to put those treasures on the car before she got in the car.When she got into the car by herself, she looked left and right as if she had never seen it before, and she was in a daze.

Although this window is not as big as the one in the Empress Dowager's bedroom, the curtains hung on it are very elegant.On the whole, it is still the usual yellow satin, but with a row of short golden beards underneath, it looks more gorgeous.There are also many colorful murals painted on the walls of the carriages. The difference is that the murals here all have stories. They are generally based on old Chinese novels or legends, such as "Jiang Ziya cuts off the general and confers the gods", "Guan Yunchang rides a thousand miles alone" "Wait, probably to inspire people's loyalty and filial piety.The four antique bottles with flowers mentioned above are also painted with this kind of story pattern, which is exquisite and charming.

The queen mother is a person who loves flowers by nature. Besides the four big vases, there are also many small vases, which are soaked with some of her favorite flowers and plants.These small vases are also equipped with special mahogany shelves, which are also very carefully carved.Therefore, in this small court, flowers can be seen everywhere, and the fragrance of flowers can be inhaled by opening one's mouth, which is both pleasing to the eye and refreshing.In this carriage of the Queen Mother, except for the small bedroom and this magnificent little court, the rest of the space is very small.Even so, two large rooms were blocked behind.One of them is reserved for our female officers. When it is time for us to be on duty, we can rest in it and wait for the Queen Mother to call us at any time.

In another smaller room, there is only a small charcoal stove, which is specially used for preparing tea for the Queen Mother.As mentioned earlier, when the Empress Dowager was eating, there was an eunuch Zhang De next to him who was holding a bowl and serving the dishes, and he was also in charge of the tea.Don't look at just doing such errands, but his status is higher than others, so he is responsible in name, but in fact he always picks one or two careful and meticulous eunuchs to do these small things for him. When it was time for tea, he delivered it himself.Of course the Queen Mother would not notice.

The queen mother has a lot of research on tea and can be regarded as an experienced tea taster.There are dozens of kinds of tea that she usually uses, the most common ones are jasmine and lotus, and the rest are all very rare treasures, with so many names that I can’t remember them clearly. Even now, the names of some teas are not familiar to ordinary people. known.

Although there are four houses with different functions in this carriage, the most fascinating thing is the small imperial court.Here, with a soft command, the entire train can be commanded to move forward, backward or stop.However, this is not a big deal. In these few days, all kinds of political, military and economic trends in China were decided by the Queen Mother in this half-car.

The Empress Dowager's throne is placed next to the wooden boards that separate our lounge. This row of wooden boards is also very delicately carved, and there is a special device on the top, which is a solemn and magnificent canopy, like a big open umbrella. , just covering the queen mother's throne below.Whether in the Summer Palace or in the palace, there are ten or twenty thrones for the Empress Dowager, and each one is bigger than the one on the carriage.However, whether it is the general outline or the detailed carvings, they are all the same exquisite and gorgeous.

These thrones are all made of the most noble rosewood, and there are countless pearls and gems inlaid on them, which will shine brightly and dazzle people's eyes at night.There must be no jewels on the cushion, or it would be uncomfortable to sit on, but it was only carefully sewn from a piece of apricot velvet, the color alone was enough to attract attention.

Behind the throne, there is a screen, which is also made of red sandalwood, with a smooth and delicate lacquer surface, and jewels and jade are inlaid on it, which is gorgeous and bright.However, when it comes to the usefulness of this screen, no one really knows. They only know that there must be a screen behind the throne, and they must be placed there together.It seems that this has been the case in all dynasties, and it was not created by the Qing court, but no one can tell its origin.

However, there is a special purpose for inserting screens on trains.The Empress Dowager usually has the habit of taking a nap, and going back to the small bedroom is troublesome, so we prepared a small soft couch for her behind the screen, so that she can rest at any time during the day .

Up to now, I still remember that when the trip to Fengtian just started, at Yongdingmen Station, I and a few other people helped the Queen Mother into the carriage for the first time.At that time, the Empress Dowager seemed dissatisfied with the train, because she was used to living in imposing places, and felt uncomfortable when she came to such a small place all of a sudden.A lot of people's thoughts and energy have been spent on this small court and bedroom, and the layout does have the charm of a real palace, but their size cannot be changed by any great engineer.

Fortunately, the empress dowager's unhappiness only lasted five or six minutes, and she soon got used to it.The first order she gave was to ask the eunuchs to look at the direction of her throne, and make sure it was in the same direction as the train was moving.She thought that her body must not allow the train to drag backwards, that would be an insult to the dignity of the Queen Mother.

After knowing that the direction of the throne was correct, the queen mother ordered the eunuchs to arrange the antique jade objects on the car.She may not be very satisfied with our arrangement method, so she will not hesitate to delay the departure time, but she must first put in her mind to rearrange these treasures, and she will not order to drive until she feels that there is nothing wrong with it.Fortunately, she only felt that the arrangement of the antique jade objects was not satisfactory, and she was very satisfied with the other items such as murals, curtains, vases, carpets, etc. Therefore, it seemed that she was in a particularly good spirit.

(End of this chapter)