Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 21 Yuan Shikai (2)
At that time, Guangxu was standing behind Cixi, his body was very straight, and his majesty was daunting.But, what kind of face is that, without any color, as white as the face of a dead person, the lips have changed from white to gray, and then from gray to black, it is extremely terrifying.Those eyes were full of red blood, as if they could spew out fire at once.

For me, this is the first time in my life that a person can be so angry and miserable and have to hold back, just because he has no real power.I believe that if Guangxu still had a little power in his hands, he would definitely get rid of this famous person at any cost.In that case, the sands arranged by Yuan Shikai himself may be stained with his own precious blood.

However, Guangxu didn't say anything, and he didn't even move.Obviously, this treacherous official who made him never free was worthless in his heart.He used his extreme indifference to show people that at this time, his only enemy Yuan Shikai was kneeling in front of him, but he didn't take this person seriously at all.

Of course Yuan Shikai could see Guangxu's face, but he also knew very well that this poor emperor no longer posed any threat to him.Therefore, he looked very calm and calm, invited St. Ann, and chatted with the Queen Mother.

At this moment, the band that was preparing for the holy car began to play.Yuan Shikai tried his best to please the Queen Mother, even this band was extraordinary.He prepared a purely Western band, with about twenty people in it, all using the instruments of foreign brass bands.Among them, the leader of the band was sent by Yuan Shikai to Germany to study music and composition with a lot of money.After returning from his studies, he became one of the few Western musicians in China at that time.He spent all his time teaching the young officers selected by Yuan Shikai how to play Western music.At this moment, it sounds like the band is playing really well, and it must have been rehearsing for a long time.

Yuan Shikai himself was a soldier, so all the ceremonies to welcome the holy driver this time, except for the band formed by the twenty young officers, were all colored by the army.Not only that, but there was also a large army of heavily armed army horses neatly paying homage to the Empress Dowager at a distance of about a hundred yards from the platform.

This Yuan Shikai is really inexplicable, I don't know what he is going to do.Those men and horses just stood respectfully and did not intend to practice, so they must not be inspected by the Queen Mother; if they were transferred to protect the Queen Mother, there would be too many; standing so far away, how to protect them?Besides, do they have the ability?Even if you come here just to pay tribute, it's not appropriate enough. It's so far away, and the queen mother can't see it even if she knocks her head off.

It stands to reason that for such a grand event, pre-arranged music must be played, and the rehearsal should be very proficient.It has always been the custom of Western countries to play their own national anthem first in every grand gathering.Then Yuan Shikai's band should be the same, right?It is a pity that the Qing Dynasty at that time never thought about what the national anthem was!Therefore, when the Queen Mother walked to the platform with our support, the Western orchestra actually played "Marseillaise".It's the national anthem of the French Republic. The people next to me may not know it, but my sister and I know it very well, and we couldn't help laughing.But this must not be told to the Queen Mother immediately, otherwise, the heads of the 21 members of the band will move immediately.Later, after a few days, I mentioned this incident in the chat, and suggested that the Queen Mother ask those ministers who have nothing to do to set the Chinese national anthem quickly, so as not to make jokes again.The Queen Mother immediately agreed, but she forgot afterwards that the Qing Empire did not have its own national anthem until its demise.

Of course, the moment we arrived in Tianjin, the queen mother didn't know these inside stories. Although it was the French national anthem, to the queen mother who heard Western music for the first time, the novelty overwhelmed everything, so she was very happy. As soon as the "Marseillaise" was played, she asked Li Lianying to go there in person and bring the instruments, and she examined them carefully one by one.And asked Li Lianying to ask the leader of the band specifically, what are the names of those instruments, what are their origins, how to use them, and so on.Although the queen mother knew nothing about it, the question was very professional. The leader of the band did not dare to take it lightly, and explained everything in detail.

The first activity of the reception ceremony was to play music. After the end, all the officials came to present treasures to the Queen Mother.The so-called presenting treasures means presenting something that one has already prepared to the Queen Mother face to face.At that time, it was a necessary and public activity for ministers to present gifts to the emperor or empress dowager; it is completely different now, and the bureaucrats now call themselves "public servants". Know.The comparison between the present and the past is unavoidably confusing and sighing.

Compared with offering bribes in public, the harm done to those officials far outweighs the benefits.Think about it, giving things in public is obvious to all, and you can immediately tell who is good and who is bad. In order not to make a fool of yourself on the spot, those with lower official positions often have to collect all their family assets. For such officials, Giving treasures is tantamount to a catastrophe.

This time, the Empress Dowager was only passing through Tianjin by train, which was normal, and it was fine for the local officials to pick her up. It was also appropriate to show respect to the Empress Dowager, but giving gifts seemed a bit redundant.However, at that time, the more than 40 officials not only knelt down to pick him up, but also sacrificed their lives in private early to prepare many excellent gifts, waiting to be presented to the empress dowager.

The gifts are dedicated to the Queen Mother, so of course they can’t just put them in the car. These officials have to carry their gifts to the Queen Mother one by one according to their official positions, and the eunuchs will put them away after asking her to check them out.On the Tianjin platform, Yuan Shikai was the first to come to present the treasure.I saw him bent down, looked at the ground, and played loudly to the Queen Mother: "What I want to dedicate to the Queen Mother is a pair of parrots specially sent from India to express my loyalty and filial piety." .”

As he spoke, he waved to his entourage, and the man immediately stepped forward, holding a pair of red, green and green parrots in his hands.Although I'm not sure if the pair of parrots are actually from India, but it looks really beautiful.They are not caged, but tied to their feet with a very thin gold-plated short chain, and there is a beautiful branch for them to perch together.There are small cups carved from white jade at both ends of the branches, with clear water on one side and food on the other.

This special gift obviously won the Empress Dowager's favor. She couldn't see it enough from a distance, so Li Lianying held it two or three feet away from her to look at it.At that time, we all thought it was quite funny that the queen mother watched such a common bird like a parrot so carefully.Who knows, after a while, they make us look at each other with admiration.One of the parrots actually yelled loudly and uttered a very crisp sentence:
"Auspicious Lafayette!" This is really a "blockbuster"!Not only the voice is loud, but also the words are very clear, like a child talking.Just when everyone was discussing and surprised by this, the other one also called out, this time saying: "Lafayette is safe!"

I guess, Yuan Shikai must have tried his best to please the empress dowager.It must have taken a lot of painstaking effort to make these two little birds speak so clearly, even if someone else helped him raise it, it is not an ordinary effort!Otherwise, even if you can speak, you may not be able to grasp the timing so well.

Later, I heard people say that it took Yuan Shikai only half a year to train the two parrots.At first, he planned to take it to Beijing to dedicate it to the empress dowager, but it happened that the empress dowager was passing by Tianjin soon, so he changed his mind and waited to show his intelligence in full view, so that the empress dowager would look at him more differently.

In fact, for those who specialize in raising birds, getting parrots to speak clearly, or learning to grasp the timing of speaking, is not a profound skill, but the queen mother has never seen it before, so she thinks it is very rare, and she can't help but feel very happy.There was only one person who didn't take these two little birds seriously at all, and still stood upright, his face ashen - he was Guangxu.

After Yuan Shikai presented the treasure, other officials also brought up the gifts they had prepared.If I were to tell them one by one, it would be like keeping accounts, so I won’t repeat them.In a word, those gifts are dazzling and amazing.Most of them are eaten, but in order to prevent decay, they are all raw.

The following are the officials who came to pick us up.The first is Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili. He commanded the entire province of Zhili and the armies in Shandong and Henan. He was very powerful, so he became the leader of this area.Next is Futai, who manages the civil affairs of a province.Then there are Fantai and Jiantai. Fantai is in charge of the province's finances, and Jintai specializes in trying criminal cases in the province.

Although the four people mentioned above are in charge of the military, civilian, political, and legal affairs in name, the boundaries are in fact very blurred, and it is very possible to interfere or evade each other.Regardless of these things, these four are all leaders among more than 40 officials.Below them is Daotai. At that time, a province was divided into several roads, and the chief of each road was Daotai.Daotai is similar to the current mayor, but strictly speaking, there are still essential differences.The current mayor needs to have direct contact with the people, but the Daotai back then did not bother to do so. In their eyes, the people are the lowest level, and dealing with the people will make them lose face.Therefore, they handed over all the tasks of managing the common people to their subordinate state and county magistrates, and they only asked occasionally, and some people didn't even bother to ask.

In Zhili Province, there are seven other officials at the same level as Daotai. They have only one task, which is to manage the minting of silver coins. They are known as the General Office of the Mint.Don't mistakenly think that these people are proficient in this, and they are here to guide or supervise the minting of silver coins. They just sit in this position by virtue of relationships and money.

In addition, two of these officials are called Seng Gangsi and Dao Jisi, who are also on the same level as Daotai, but they only manage monasteries and monks and Taoists, which are equivalent to foreign bishops.Whenever the imperial court or governor-general plans to build a grand altar, these people will come forward.When monks and Taoists do not abide by the clear rules or do not conform to the rules, they are responsible for investigating and punishing them.What's more, if the houses and Buddha statues in the big monastery are damaged, they are also responsible for supervising and repairing them.These are all the duties expected of such officials.

It can be seen from this that these high-ranking officials have nothing to do, and they dress up beautifully every day, putting on airs and arrogance in front of the common people.Not only holding the imperial court's salary, but also constantly searching for the people's fat and anointing, and all the government affairs that they should be responsible for are pushed down layer by layer, which is taken for granted.

Besides, the queen mother is a person who is very curious and likes new things. Therefore, Yuan Shikai's western band aroused her great interest when she first appeared. Ask Yuan Shikai to lend them to himself and follow our train to the outside of the pass.Yuan Shikai couldn't wait for it, so he immediately sent the 21 officers to pack their luggage and get on the military vehicle.

Since I know a thing or two about Western music, whenever the Queen Mother wanted to hear the band play, she assigned me to contact them.Over time, I learned that the leader of the band was not only an accomplished pianist, but also fluent in German, which was a very rare talent at that time.

(End of this chapter)