Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 29 The Relics of the Emperors (2)
After entering the third palace, we found that the Empress Dowager's expression gradually changed.The reason for this is that everyone tacitly communicated with each other, and they each carefully checked, lest they make any mistakes that would offend Lafayette.Starting from this palace, everything stored in it has an inseparable relationship with Lafayette, and to some extent it records her past life.Every relic here carries a history of Lafayette, which is full of sadness, despair, struggle, pain, terror and sorrow, as well as many heartbreaking tragedies, showing a sinful history and A poignant memory—memories so poignant that I don't think even Lafayette himself would want to think about them.We saw the relics of Emperor Xianfeng, that is, the relics of Empress Dowager Cixi's own husband.Back then, the Empress Dowager was selected into the palace together with [-] other girls. These [-] girls were all very beautiful, but for some reason, Emperor Xianfeng only fell in love with the Empress Dowager, and he soon helped her up. Queen's Throne.

Regarding Emperor Xianfeng and his affairs, Li Lianying was the most familiar person besides Lafayette. However, Li Lianying was still a child at the time, only in his teens, so it was impossible for him to have a deep impression of those people and things.In addition to these two people, Emperor Guangxu, Longyu, Concubine Jin and our eight female officials have also heard about it. Among all the people, I have heard the most, because the Queen Mother always tells me some old memories in her spare time. Many of these things involved Emperor Xianfeng.

After entering the palace, the Empress Dowager's expression changed a lot, but she didn't seem to be sad at all. Her eyes were straight ahead, as if something was calling her.She seldom speaks, as if insane, she moves from one glass box to another, and sometimes touches a glass box repeatedly.From these actions of hers, we can guess that the queen mother must be immersed in great sadness.Among all the emperors, the relics of Emperor Xianfeng are relatively few, and they cannot be compared with the previous Emperor Qianlong. As for the reason, everyone present is well aware of it.To put it simply, the reason why there are so few relics of Emperor Xianfeng is because he was not outstanding in martial arts and literature in his life, and he was addicted to wine and sex throughout his life.If later generations have to draw a dividing line between the early and late Qing Dynasty, it must be the time of Emperor Xianfeng. Since he started, the national fortune of the Qing Dynasty has been worsening day by day.In the two palaces in front, Lafayette seemed very happy, happily explaining those historical allusions to us, with great energy.Because of this, many people forget about temporary etiquette and blurt out a question or two.But at this time, everyone looked at the queen mother's expression changed, and the whole palace suddenly became deserted. Except for Lafayette's own footsteps, no one dared to say a word loudly.

From the perspective of the ownership of the relics, these things indeed belonged to Emperor Xianfeng, but on a deeper spiritual level, which thing here has not been contaminated by the Queen Mother's hard work?To a certain extent, these relics do not belong to Emperor Xianfeng personally, but are something jointly owned by the two of them.In this way, facing these relics that he was familiar with in the past, how could Lafayette not feel emotional?Her face was tense, and her whole body was like a clay sculpture. At this time, even the most funny actors in the world would not be able to make her smile.After a long silence, the queen mother finally spoke, perhaps she herself felt the need to explain to us.No matter from which point of view, the queen mother should explain to us the reason why the number of relics of Emperor Xianfeng is so small. Even if it is just to fulfill her responsibility as a wife, it is necessary to excuse her husband. For this reason, she is a little sincere. Please forgive us for the mediocrity of Emperor Xianfeng.When explaining the reason for the scarcity of relics, she said that Emperor Xianfeng did not have many hobbies and was not an artist. He could not collect as many things as Emperor Qianlong did. Therefore, after Emperor Xianfeng died, there were naturally very few relics that could be transported here.

After listening to what the queen mother said, although we nodded in agreement on the surface, we all knew in our hearts that the queen mother was justifying her husband.The Empress Dowager must have known our thoughts, but she expected that we would not dare to refute them, not to mention that there was Li Lianying by her side at that time.When Emperor Xianfeng was in power, Li Lianying was still young, and it was difficult to understand what Emperor Xianfeng did, but he would maintain a high degree of consistency with the Queen Mother at all times.When the Empress Dowager said these words, he said yes again and again, while scanning our side with the corner of his eyes to see the situation at that time. If anyone had a slight objection, disaster would definitely happen afterwards.After the Empress Dowager delivered a vague and false statement, it seemed that most of the depression in her heart was relieved immediately, and her complexion eased a lot.It's really unexpected that some self-deceiving lies can be so effective.Before leaving, Lafayette took a closer look at the relics, and then fixed his eyes on me, as if to say: "Don't think these relics are too few, anyway, he was an emperor after all."

Leaving this main hall, turning forward and turning a corner, you will arrive at another main hall, which is the last of the four main halls.The Empress Dowager was still leading the way, she didn't speak during the journey, and everyone didn't make a sound. Even the most stupid people knew what was displayed in the last main hall.Knowing this, we are more cautious, lest we bring disaster.That's right, readers should also understand that the last main hall houses the relics of Emperor Tongzhi.Emperor Tongzhi was the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the biological son of Lafayette. Originally, he would have a very bright future, but he died too early, only 19 years old.The cause of Emperor Tongzhi's death has always been different, but the consistent caliber in the palace is that he died of smallpox.His reign was so short that he didn't make any contribution to the country at all. Not only that, but his literary talent and military strategy were also very shallow.Unlike his father, there are many relics of Emperor Tongzhi. I think this may be because he was a child and had a strong interest in many things.Of course, this may contain the Queen Mother's selfishness. She wants to use the many relics to win her son a reputation as a virtuous monarch.

In this palace, the queen mother is no longer the king of a country, but a loving mother full of sorrow.Walking into the main hall, what came into view was a square glass box, inside which was a beautifully carved golden bowl.Although this small bowl is made of pure gold, it doesn't look bulky at all, and there are many fine patterns carved on it.Put together with the golden bowl is a small silver balance scale, these are the utensils used by Emperor Tongzhi during his lifetime.Next to it is a huge glass box, which stores the dragon robe worn by Emperor Tongzhi when he ascended the throne as a child.Although Emperor Tongzhi didn't know the great responsibility of being an emperor at the time, he was an emperor after all.The dragon robe is made of yellow satin, embroidered with golden dragons all over the body, and the color is still very bright today.Taking advantage of the afternoon sun, the Empress Dowager bent down to look inside the glass box, as if she wanted to see Emperor Tongzhi's childhood and her own happiness from it.Back in the day, for the young master of this dragon robe, the queen mother put all her strength and went through untold hardships before she finally took over the power.However, the goal of fighting for the children at the beginning has become a step for the Queen Mother to enjoy herself. To a certain extent, is the Queen Mother's struggle a kind of failure?The collar of the dragon robe is made of blue satin, decorated with a few pearls the size of longan eyes.No matter how you look at it, this dragon robe is extremely exquisite, and the only regret is that it is small. From this, we can also see that Emperor Tongzhi must have been very thin at the time.There are many copper products in the relics of Emperor Tongzhi, presumably because he has a special preference for copper products.Among the many copper products, there is a small bronze drum, which is very exquisitely made. I think that when Emperor Tongzhi beat the bronze drum with a drumstick in his little hand, the sound must be very pleasant.It's a pity that such drums did not echo for a long time, and soon after, the notes of Emperor Tongzhi's life came to an abrupt end.

In addition, there are two large glass boxes, which are full of bows and arrows, wooden horses, clay figurines, bells, etc., and almost all kinds of toys can be found there.But these things are very common, and not only children of the emperor's family have them. For this reason, we are all a little disappointed.If these things can be seen by the people at the bottom, the children of poor families may feel very relieved: the toys of an emperor when he was young are not much different from their toys.After searching for a long time among such a lot of ordinary things, we found a slightly unusual thing, which was a little rabbit made of mud.The whole body of the little rabbit is painted with white paint, it is completely white, and there are two bright red eyes, which makes people want to touch it when they see it.The Empress Dowager seemed to have been looking for it too. After finding it, she stared blankly for seven or eight minutes, and then ordered Li Lianying to take it out carefully.Until then, we realized that this little rabbit is not just cute, there is a mechanism in its belly, which is threaded with a red thread and pulled directly outside the little rabbit's body. Just pull the red thread gently, and the two eyeballs will be opened. It will turn and its mouth will open, and a bright red tongue will protrude from it.If you keep dragging the red thread, the little rabbit's eyeballs and tongue will keep turning and stretching.Of course the queen mother knew this, she gently pulled the mechanism, and the expression of the little rabbit suddenly became vivid, we couldn't help laughing at that time, but the queen mother didn't look happy at all, so we could only watch blankly , dare not say anything.Finally, the queen mother said slowly: "This happened many years ago, when he always liked to play with this rabbit."

The queen mother didn't look at anyone when she said this. Of course, she didn't say this sentence to anyone, she was just talking to herself.After saying this, she lowered her head again and played with the rabbit again.Today, the lifeless little rabbit is still alive, but the Tongzhi Emperor, who should have been in his prime, has long since disappeared. The white-haired man sends the black-haired man, and the pain in the queen mother's heart is naturally very deep.The queen mother's expression became worse and worse, and her face became paler and paler. In order to maintain her dignity, she tried her best to endure.I was sore at the time: such a strong woman could hardly bear the pain and sorrow of losing her beloved son, let alone an ordinary person?At this moment, I suddenly remembered a rumor. This rumor is so true that many historians are collecting and investigating it, trying to make it from rumor to reality.The rumor is that the death of Emperor Tongzhi was a conspiracy by the Empress Dowager Cixi in order to make herself ascend to the pinnacle of power.Before that, I was skeptical about this rumor, but now that I have witnessed the pain of the Queen Mother losing her son, I no longer believe in this rumor. If she killed her son, then the emotion I feel at this moment should be regret rather than grief.

So far, all four palaces have been visited, and most of the day has passed.Many people are tired of this, and they want to go back and rest as soon as possible.After reading the relics of the late emperors, everyone followed the queen mother and retreated.When leaving the palace where Emperor Tongzhi's relics were stored, the Queen Mother did not put the little rabbit back into the small box, but took it back like a treasure.Since I came to her, I have never seen her walking with anything. Even if she needs anything, someone will give it to her. From this detail, we can also see how sad the Empress Dowager Cixi is for the death of Emperor Tongzhi. .After this pilgrimage, not only the Empress Dowager felt very sad, but even us attendants felt extremely melancholy.As a person, death is unavoidable, but after death, if your relics can still arouse the grief of others, then this death is somewhat meaningful.

After returning to her bedroom, the queen mother has been sitting quietly alone, immersed in the memories and sorrows of the past.Seeing this situation, it was inconvenient for us to go in and disturb, so we retreated outside the door together, leaving only one maid to serve.I don't feel tired, I just feel that my heart is blocked and extremely bored.Just as he was about to hang out for a while, he saw Emperor Guangxu walking over. He said sadly, "I'm almost sure that after I die, nothing will be sent here for storage." Laughter, then covered his face and left.I have been in the palace for so many years, and I believe what Emperor Guangxu said, there may not be a house in these ancient courtyards that can house the relics of Emperor Guangxu.Feeling sad, I looked up at the sky, and the originally bright and clear sunlight was now covered by dark clouds. What I saw in front of my eyes was nothing but darkness, sorrow and melancholy.

(End of this chapter)