Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 28 The Relics of the Emperors (1)
On the first morning after arriving in Fengtian, Lafayette looked quite gloomy, as if there were many things buried in her heart that could not be said, but sometimes they would be conveyed from her eyes.Seeing this situation, none of us dared to speak loudly, lest we offend her and bring about unexpected disasters.The answer to the mystery was not revealed until that night, and she told us the reason for our concern. It was a history about the deeds of our ancestors, including her own, of course.Whenever encountering any unpleasant things, Lafayette always showed a serious expression. Take this morning as an example, her face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, so cold that people could not approach.At noon that day, when we asked her if she wanted to take a break, she immediately said no.

After breakfast, we walked out of the main hall surrounded by the queen mother, and began to wander along the long corridors in the palace.As far as I know, Lafayette likes to wander around. When in Beijing, if there is no government affairs to deal with, she will take us around.Having experienced such wanderings many times, we are already very familiar with Galeries Lafayette's mind at this time. Therefore, without waiting for her arrangement, we lined up in two long lines and stood in our positions in order.At the front are our eight female officials, followed by a group of court ladies, who are holding the things the queen mother needs to groom and dress up, and behind them are a group of eunuchs, who are responsible for transporting a few pieces of more expensive furniture. It is convenient to use when the queen mother is resting.When Lafayette travels, she has to bring everything she needs in daily life, which is why a lot of people are always required to follow her.Although I privately think that this habit of the Queen Mother is not good, there is nothing I can do about it.

In the process of going out for a stroll, sometimes the queen mother would suddenly think of an important military event, and someone had to immediately bring the pen, ink, paper and inkstone needed to write the decree without delay; or the queen mother's hair was blown out during the journey At this time, the dedicated barber will come forward to help her re-groom.There are many other trivial things like this, and from this, it can be seen that the queen mother needs a lot of things when she travels.

The Empress Dowager is quite fond of me. She has said more than once that after I die, I am the only one who can show her personality to the world, so she always gives me more opportunities to get in touch with her on weekdays. , understand her.In the entire Fengtian Xinggong, except for the four palaces, we servants can travel anywhere at will, but the situation seems to have changed a little today.When we walked to the four palaces, the queen mother suddenly spoke, asking us to go in and take a look, and explained the reason why these four palaces were not allowed to enter before—there were treasures left by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.When the queen mother said this, she addressed everyone, but I always felt that she was addressing me alone. She must hope that I can fully and truly show her to the world.

The Queen Mother really took us into those four palaces, and we had the honor to witness the relics that the Queen Mother said.A total of eight emperors' relics are displayed in the four palaces. Strictly speaking, Emperor Guangxu is the ninth emperor of the Qing Dynasty.As far as I know, since Emperor Guangxu did not hold any major political celebrations during his lifetime, not a single relic was sent to Fengtian Palace after his death.Such an approach violated the Qing royal practice, largely because Lafayette did not want the relics of Emperor Guangxu to be placed in Fengtian Palace. In her opinion, Emperor Guangxu was just an unworthy descendant.According to the practice of the Qing Dynasty, after the death of an emperor, all the objects used in his daily life were sent to Fengtian Palace for preservation.Although the royal family of the Qing Dynasty had already entered the customs, due to the existence of these relics, the entire Fengtian Palace did not fall into the cold. A high-ranking military officer led a team of Manchurian soldiers to garrison here all the year round.

The four palaces are close together. We started from the first palace and cruised all the way.The first palace enshrines the relics of the first two monarchs of the Qing Dynasty, namely Emperor Shunzhi and Emperor Kangxi.After entering, the haze on the Empress Dowager's face was swept away, her spirits rose, and she automatically acted as a commentator.Her eloquence is already very good, and it has been displayed at a high level on this occasion.I don't know what the motive is, but the queen mother seems to want to make these two emperors as great as possible. If we put what we heard into our heads without reservation, we will definitely regard them as gods come to worship.Since these two emperors are far away from the present, the Queen Mother has no real emotional experience with them. She just worships them at the same height as gods and Buddhas.

In her narration, the life stories of these two emperors are not like real people, but somewhat legendary.There are a lot of things placed in the whole palace, a large part of which are the dragon robes they used to wear, and there are several boxes stuffed in colorful places.In addition, there are many jewels and emeralds used by them during their lifetime, all of which are packed in glass boxes and neatly arranged on the shelves.In several large cabinets standing against the wall, there are many dishes and utensils, which are said to be the tableware of these two emperors during their lifetime.In terms of value alone, it cannot be regarded as a valuable item, but in terms of commemoration, there is nothing more precious than this.

Walking from the first palace, you will arrive at the second palace not far away. Here is the collection room of Emperor Qianlong.In the history of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong can definitely be regarded as the most famous emperor, and we know the most about his deeds during his lifetime.Among all the collections in Fengtian Palace, Emperor Qianlong has the most and is the most glorious.When we traveled here, we all cherished a kind of special attention, appreciating carefully the things left by the emperor during his lifetime.Of all the relics, the most striking is a huge oil painting with a portrait of Emperor Qianlong hanging in the middle of the wall.After seeing the portrait, everyone couldn't help admiring that he really possessed the majesty and majesty of a generation of emperors, and even the queen mother praised him for being graceful and luxurious, with the bearing of a great monarch.If the author of this painting has faithfully portrayed the appearance of Emperor Qianlong, then Emperor Qianlong can really be said to be handsome, heroic and suave.In fact, I shouldn't use such a mentality to speculate on this painter. Judging from the deeds of Emperor Qianlong during his lifetime, he can indeed afford such an appearance and bearing.

On the screen, there is a hunting portrait of Emperor Qianlong, with a snow lion horse under his crotch, which complements its owner.The saddle is placed in the Mongolian style, and it is also inlaid with many jewels.The two suspended stirrups were also made of pure gold, which gleamed in the sunlight.Emperor Qianlong sat majestically on the saddle, as if a god descended from the mortal world.He is wearing a hunting suit and a long apricot-yellow cape. Since the painting is of Emperor Qianlong in a gallop, the cape is blown backwards by the wind.Around his waist was a broad yellow ribbon studded with beads.As for the soft helmet on his head, it is made even more luxurious and exquisite. The ear flaps on both sides of the soft helmet hang down and are knotted under the chin. The texture of the hat is yellow satin, and the yellow satin is studded with beads. When it is down, there is a cluster of very beautiful red tassels on the top, and the whole hat looks like a rare shell in the sea from a distance.Emperor Qianlong wore a pair of black satin combat boots. Unlike other clothes, the boots were not decorated with any jewelry, not even a pattern.Not only is this outfit beautiful to look at, but its value is beyond my imagination.Sitting on horseback, Emperor Qianlong straightened his waist and looked extraordinarily strong and brave.There is no doubt that this painting is about Qianlong when he was young.No matter how beautiful a person's appearance is, as long as they are eroded by the years, there will definitely be great changes.According to the historical data handed down, Emperor Qianlong was not only an excellent emperor, but also an excellent shooter and hunter. I think Emperor Qianlong must have been very good at riding horses when he was in his prime.

So far, what we have seen is only the big picture of the whole picture. If we look closely for a while, we will find something more exquisite.For example, there are several small buttons made of pure gold on the girdle of the horse, and exquisite patterns are carved on it; the rein is made of leather, which is connected with the girdle after wrapping around the horse's neck for a week.It is these extremely fine trinkets that set off the majestic appearance of horses and people extremely powerfully.When readers read this, I think some people may say that I am bragging. According to common sense, you can’t see such fine things just by looking at the portraits. The reason why I depicted those buttons and beads so finely and realistically is because I Seeing the real things, those things exist in real life.There is a glass box at the bottom of the picture, which contains the outfit worn by the person in the painting, including the Mongolian saddle, the exquisite and luxurious hunting suit, and the stirrups made of pure gold...all the equipment in the painting can be obtained from it. turn up.Therefore, I think, maybe the author of this painting did not finish this portrait in front of Emperor Qianlong, he just saw these equipments, combined with his own imagination, and recalled the majestic appearance of the person in the painting.

There are three other things in the big glass box that I didn't describe just now, one is the leather whip hanging on Emperor Qianlong's left hand, the other is the bow on the left hand, and the third is the quiver with a few sticks inserted obliquely inside. arrow.Because of the existence of physical objects, we can look at these three things carefully.The leather whip is about three feet long, one end is made of several leather belts to drive the horse; the other end is a handle made of white marble, two small holes are pierced at the bottom of the handle, and a silk ribbon is passed through it , so that the rider can easily wield this whip.The things used by the royal family are all about luxury. Look at the arrowheads, which are actually carved from white marble. I wonder, can arrowheads made of white marble be used for hunting?Perhaps, these white marble arrowheads are just a kind of decoration, and iron arrowheads should be replaced when hunting.

There is also a small glass box in the big glass box, which contains two extremely precious things that have nothing to do with the picture: one is a jade ring often used by Emperor Qianlong, and the other is a very delicate and clean snuff bottle.These two can be counted as relatively expensive things.In addition, there are many musical instruments in storage, which is because the versatile Emperor Qianlong liked this during his lifetime.When Qianlong was in his prime, he had a wide range of interests, including piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, among which music was the most accomplished.

In addition to the things displayed above, the relics of Emperor Qianlong also have a large pile of ceramics.Perhaps Emperor Qianlong liked to collect ceramics during his lifetime, so here is almost full of all kinds of ceramics, accounting for about four-fifths of the entire hall, most of which are cloisonne and bronze.These hard-to-find boutiques are piled up here, and the total value is quite considerable.

At this point in the narrative, the relics of Emperor Qianlong have all been finished.Since Lafayette attached great importance to these things, we all accompanied them to appreciate them for a long time.Although these gorgeous clothes and utensils are piled up in front of us, although we can arouse our envy, but after all, the age is too long, and it is difficult for us to recall the memory of Emperor Qianlong in our hearts.Not only us, although Lafayette Cixi looks very pious on the surface, in fact, in her heart, these things do not take up much space with Emperor Qianlong.

(End of this chapter)