Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 26
Fengtian has finally arrived. These days of travel and life are really tiring. Everyone wants to take a rest quickly. No matter how beautiful and attractive the scenery is, they have no intention of admiring it.Fortunately, we didn't leave immediately, the Queen Mother had already made a decision to stay here for seven days.If you want to take a good look at it, seven days should be enough, but it is definitely not possible today. You can only enjoy sightseeing after you have rested.I can't be idle, I really want to go around right away, but after all, I don't have that freedom, and I have to serve the Queen Mother!Therefore, I had no choice but to pack up my regrets and wait for tomorrow.

I don't want to just look at these empty palace compounds.In fact, there is nothing very attractive about their appearance, even much less attractive than those in Beijing; what attracts me is the history hidden behind them, and the stories of people who have had a relationship with this place, these are the most interesting part.It's a pity that there are not many people who can tell these histories, and probably only Li Lianying and Qingshan can say a few words among those who accompanied them on the tour.But it's inconvenient for me to ask, and I don't want to have too much communication with them. Moreover, even if I ask, they may not be able to answer me satisfactorily.If only my father had been around, he would be able to tell me a good story.From this point of view, I have to take the risk of asking the Empress Dowager tomorrow. If she happens to be happy with her, that would be great, and she will definitely give me a very satisfactory answer.

Although these palaces have been idle for a long time, they have been tidied up now and look very tidy.The decorative items are also placed very well, making people feel very comfortable. The Queen Mother will definitely be very satisfied.The eunuchs who came earlier did this. In fact, there were not many of them. It was really not easy to tidy up the place in just a few days.

Looking at it in the hall, the queen mother said that she was going to take a nap.This request is not excessive at all, she is used to sleeping for a while every day.It was about twelve o'clock when we got off the imperial train, and after the reception ceremony was performed step by step, it was almost three o'clock, and the nap time was long past, even if the Queen Mother didn't talk about the nap, we I will definitely order it too.

The palace here has been tidied up very well, the queen mother must have a rest, and the bedroom must be properly arranged, so the queen mother is anxious to go to her bedroom to take a nap.After listening to the order, we acted quickly. The colorful crowd just now, soon there were only a few scattered people left.The number of eunuchs was the largest, and they all returned to their positions at this time, doing their own things; although Emperor Guangxu was like a prisoner, he didn't need to serve the queen mother, so he took a few eunuchs to his own bedroom.In fact, why did he serve the Queen Mother willingly?Why is the queen mother willing to let him serve?His bedroom is very close to that of the Empress Dowager, next to the bedrooms of Empress Longyu and Concubine Jin.

Whether it is an ordinary house or a palace, each has its own unique taste.The sleeping palace here is different from the sleeping palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing.When I first came here, I really felt a strange feeling, but the eunuchs who came first were indeed very capable, and under their rectification, many inappropriate things here have become proper.Even if it is really impossible to change, I have tried to cover it up so that it no longer looks so eye-catching.

The main body of the empress dowager's bedroom is a tall and large main hall. Although it is smaller than the bedroom in the Forbidden City in Beijing, it is much larger than the one in the Summer Palace.The two side halls are connected with the main hall to form an inverted concave shape. The side halls are neatly arranged on both sides like the two wings of the main hall.Connecting the side hall and the main hall is a very long corridor, which is also very distinctive. The roof is covered with glazed tiles, which is both beautiful and can keep out the rain.The corridor is in front of the hall, so no matter which way you want to go, you have to go out of the hall first, and then walk along the corridor.That is to say, although these three palaces are all the sleeping palaces of the Empress Dowager, they are independent buildings, and the corridors are the passages connecting them.

The Queen Mother walked into the main hall, and we accompanied the attendants to the inside together.The main hall is very well lit, because there is a large courtyard in front, and the side halls on both sides are far away from the main hall, not only cannot block the sunlight of the main hall, but also their light will not be affected.There are three rooms in the main hall, and in the middle is the Queen Mother's side hall, where she works and rests.The one on the right is the Buddha Hall, which is specially prepared for the Empress Dowager. She is very devout to Buddhism and has been enshrining a porcelain Guanyin statue for many years, which has now been placed here.And she likes to chant scriptures when she is free, so a quiet room like this is a must.As for the left side of the side hall, it is the queen mother's bedroom.The layout here is very reasonable, clean and tidy, and the queen mother expressed her satisfaction when she took a look at it.Those eunuchs who came here in advance can finally rest easy.

In the middle of the room we entered first, there was a small round table, which was nothing special, but what caught the eye was the thing placed on it, which was a pair of dominoes that the Queen Mother liked.When we didn't set off, it was originally hidden in a side hall in the Summer Palace.The day before departure, it was still there, we all saw it, and the queen mother didn't say that she would bring it here.Who knew that Li Lianying and Zhang De were so clever, they thought that the queen mother might want to play after she arrived in Fengtian, so they secretly brought them here.We didn't know about it at all, so when we first entered, all eyes were on this deck of cards, and even the queen mother seemed very surprised.However, of course she understood that this group of slaves were thinking of ways to honor themselves.

Near the door of the dormitory, there is also a large table, which is specially prepared for the Queen Mother's office.A pair of brushes and inkstones are neatly placed on it, as well as ink pads, water bowls, and various papers.

As mentioned earlier, the thrones in the small imperial court were custom-made due to limited space.The throne here does not need to be newly made, there are several ready-made ones.However, after all, it has been used for a long time and is not often used. Compared with the ones in the Beijing palace, the carving technology lacks some exquisiteness and magnificence, but it does not look very old.They are generally made of rosewood, and the rosewood screen stands behind it, which is inlaid with precious marble.Like the walls of the train, there are also large-scale paintings on the walls around here. The authors are still those court painters and painters. Whether it is figures or flowers, the colors are very bright, which makes people feel a little tacky.

If this main hall is regarded as the representative of all the palaces in Shengjing, then, from the outside, it can be regarded as resplendent and resplendent.However, if the Rehe Palace is put together with them, it will show the inferiority of the Shengjing Palace.

Take the walls as an example. Although there are many murals in Shengjing and the colors are gorgeous, they are a little less unique and do not make people feel very precious; but the palace in Rehe is different. The walls of the palaces I frequented were entirely made of satin in different colors.Of course, there are patterns on the satin, and all of them are embroidered, so the value is not comparable to that of those lacquer paintings.In addition, in the bedroom of the Empress Dowager Rehe, all the pillars of the main hall are as thick as several people hugging each other, and there are many vivid flying dragons hovering above them.The material of the flying dragon is neither wood nor clay sculpture, but cast from gold.The ceiling is also dotted with many flying dragons and phoenixes, also of pure gold.Even the decorative columns and ceilings are made of the most precious woods.What about Shengjing in front of him?Not only is the wood common, but none of the decorations are made of pure gold.Almost all the door keys and window bolts in Rehe Palace are made of silver, even if they are not silver, they are also made of high-grade copper or cupronickel.At this time, what they saw in Shengjing were only components made of brass and white iron.It can be seen from the above examples that the Rehe Palace is indeed much better than the Forbidden City in Shengjing in terms of material conditions.

The economic development of the three northeastern provinces is not backward, and famines rarely occur, but the people here are used to living a frugal life and find it difficult to accept luxury things.In addition, the taxes here are less than other places, so they feel that such a palace can be built, and they feel that it is already very magnificent, and there is nothing that should be renovated.And the government here, limited by economic capacity, is similar to what the common people think.The building of Fengtian Palace is quite dilapidated, but it is suitable as a temporary accommodation for the emperor or empress dowager.

Just arrived here, the Queen Mother never showed the slightest dissatisfaction, she seemed very satisfied with this place.Unlike the Empress Dowager, we servants are not used to it, perhaps because we have lived in Beijing for a long time, not only has our spirit of endurance disappeared, but we have also developed many extravagant habits.Those of us who have been waiting in the Forbidden City for a long time, mostly look down on these ordinary objects in Fengtian Palace.

(End of this chapter)