Me and Empress Dowager Cixi

Chapter 31
This time when she came to Fengtian, the Empress Dowager's original intention was to visit the various scenic spots here, and she did not have too much political purpose.After returning from the Fox Immortal Pagoda, I don't know what the Queen Mother thought, but she decided to go to the Shepu where she used to shoot and hunt before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs.Shepu is located near Dongling outside Fengtian City. It is quite a long distance from the palace courtyard in Shengjing, and it takes quite a long time to take a sedan chair.Long before the royal family entered the pass in the Qing Dynasty, princes and princes of all dynasties often came here to shoot and hunt.Shepu covers a wide area, about [-] to [-] square kilometers, more than half of which are lush forests.Since most of the trees in the forest are tall evergreen trees, the whole forest looks extremely dense when viewed from a distance.There are small forests like this everywhere outside the pass, unlike inside the pass.In the pass, almost all the larger trees have been cut down for fuel, so it is difficult to form a forest.

This shooting garden has a long history. As early as when Manchuria was not unified, the royal family of the Qing Dynasty built it.Even back when the Manchus were a small tribe, this area on the frontier was a very important place, where many monumental things happened, and to some extent, the distant blood of the Qing Dynasty royal family was preserved here.In addition, most of the things that happened here are worthy of the glory and pride of future generations, unlike the current court, which is full of filth and despair.Before coming to Fengtian, we had heard about this place more or less, and now we are very excited when we hear the Queen Mother say we are going to go there.Everyone present felt that this trip would not be as boring as the previous two, and this place was worth going anyway.For this reason, from time to time, we hinted to the Queen Mother to leave early, lest there would be changes midway and missed opportunities.Unlike others, my excitement also came from another reason. I wanted to see how much the Empress Dowager knew about the history of her own nation.

There is a contradiction in the Queen Mother. On the one hand, she likes to explore the history of the rise of the Qing Dynasty royal family very much. On the other hand, her knowledge of Manchu is pitifully small, even to the point where she does not know it at all.In the imperial palace in Beijing, according to the Qing Dynasty royal practice, some people were always assigned to learn Manchu to prevent this kind of writing from being lost for a long time.Many of the memorials circulated in the palace on weekdays were also written in Manchu and Chinese. When encountering such memorials, the Empress Dowager only read the Chinese and ignored the parts written in Manchu.After I knew it, I felt very incredible, so this time I want to take this opportunity to investigate how much she really knows about the history of the Manchu.The queen mother did not disappoint me. She really knew a lot about the history of her ancestors. Through her narration, we learned a lot of little-known historical events and gained a deeper understanding of that Shepu.

When we were about to leave, we were all very excited, but the queen mother stopped us at this moment and told us solemnly that there would be a ceremony after we got there.But she smiled and reassured us, saying that this ceremony is very simple, there is no need to rehearse in advance, and we just need to follow her orders.Of course, when she said this, she was still speaking to our group of close officials, including Guangxu, Longyu, Concubine Jin, and our eight female officials.Seeing that we were all listening to her seriously, a strange light flashed on the Queen Mother's face.I still don't understand, is it really so useful to show off your knowledge?Such a well-informed woman is not exempt, let alone an ordinary person?
Through the introduction of the queen mother, we know the purpose of holding this ceremony, which is to commemorate an ancestor.At that time, the ancestor was just a tribal leader, he didn't claim the title of king at all, and his troops were pitifully small.In a tribal war, the ancestor and his troops were defeated and forced to hide in a forest. The forest has many similarities with the shooting garden we are going to today.The patriarch and his soldiers soon faced a test: how to fill their stomachs when the food ran out?In order to accumulate strength and continue to live, the ancestor led the soldiers to dig wild vegetables and hunt prey, and spent a long time in the forest.Later, they finally waited for reinforcements, and they fought a beautiful victory together from inside and outside.When explaining this story, the Empress Dowager's face shone with pride, partly because she is now the leader of the Qing Dynasty, praising her ancestors in the past for taking the opportunity to raise her social status, and partly because there was a new The ceremony is to be completed under her command.

For many years, the Empress Dowager often lived in the forbidden palace and was bothered by various rituals. Didn't she feel a little bored?Didn't she feel uncomfortable or free at all with the red tape that bound her from spirit to body?No one dared to ask Lafayette these questions, and only she knew the answers.At least, on the surface, the new ceremony has a great temptation for the Queen Mother.Although this ceremony was not big, the change of location from Beijing City to Fengtian City was enough to make the Queen Mother excited for a while.

After walking for quite a long way in a sedan chair, our team finally drove into Shepu mightily.The number of people who went this time was not small, but compared with such a huge shooting garden, the space we occupied was still very small.According to the Queen Mother's instructions, we did not disperse to either side, but walked directly to the first palace.From the outside, this palace is old and looks very dilapidated. I'm sure it must be decades or even hundreds of years earlier than those palaces in Fengtian Palace.Fortunately, there are dedicated personnel in charge of management here, otherwise it may have collapsed long ago.In addition, when the queen mother revealed that she was going to Shepu, someone must have gone here to repair some buildings, otherwise it would definitely not be as clean and tidy as it is now.The first palace is actually a lounge, with some furniture placed in it, presumably every time the emperor came here, he would take a rest here.When the emperor was resting, those in charge of the place would have enough time to release the wild beasts into the forest and prepare for the next hunting activity.When the day's hunting is over, it is necessary to return to this place to rest.But we can see that each emperor's stay was very short, and no emperor has stayed here so far.Because of this, the area of ​​the palace is small, with only three rooms inside, and the displayed equipment is also very simple.

Although this palace is simple, it occupies an extraordinary position in the history of the development of the royal family in the Qing Dynasty. The previous emperors had left their footprints. It is no wonder that the Queen Mother regards this place as a very commemorative place.Following the queen mother, we filed into the palace, and according to the instructions of the queen mother, we arranged large and small decorations in order, and then the queen mother pointed to the decorations in the palace one by one to explain the origin of these things to us.She explained it in such detail and so smoothly that we couldn't even tell it was her first visit to the place.Although the Empress Dowager speaks a lot, I can't guarantee that everything she said is true.Even so, the breadth of her knowledge is shocking enough.From a long time ago, the Empress Dowager has been proud of her extensive knowledge and knowledge. She has heard almost all the customs and anecdotes of various places, and she can tell one, two, three, which is beyond our reach and so envied.But having said that, the empress dowager's effort to explain it to us is actually a manifestation of women's vanity. Maybe she didn't think it herself, but it's just a bit ridiculous to outsiders.Throughout the palace, there are large story paintings drawn with paint everywhere. Because no one manages them properly, the paint has peeled off in many places.Even so, we can still see the big picture.This kind of mural filled the three rooms, and the posture and expression of the people in the painting were vaguely discernible. While guiding us to move forward, the Empress Dowager explained the story in the painting to us.

On the whole, the Empress Dowager is a martial artist, whenever she has the opportunity, she will instill these ideas in us, now in Shepu, it is a good opportunity to promote martial arts, how could the Empress Dowager not take advantage of it? "Success is very difficult, especially in the past few years. A good emperor must not only be able to handle government affairs, but also hunt, ride and shoot. If not, not only the emperor's mind will degenerate, but his skills will also become dull." We As usual, bow your head and listen.Immediately afterwards, the Queen Mother said: "We Manchurians never bring hunting dogs with us. We have many followers around us, so the emperor sent them to look for wild animals. Most of the wild animals that live in the mountains are tigers and leopards. Of course, they are not here. They were born and raised here, but they were caught from other places and kept in cages, and then released when needed. The emperor was already very tired when he arrived here after traveling all the way, so he needed to rest in this palace just after getting off the car. When the emperor is resting, the entourage around him needs to make all the preparations for hunting, such as releasing wild animals, polishing arrowheads and swords, tidying up horses and clothes, and fastening bowstrings. There will be no accidents.”

"Now the conditions are better, and the risk of hunting is lower. You must know that the conditions at that time were not comparable to the present. The reason why we Manchus were able to unify the world and rule the world is because of the spirit of martial arts. Driven by this spirit, the Manchu warriors All of them are brave, sturdy, strong and resistant to battle. To lead such a group of people, if the emperor can't take the lead and go forward bravely, it will definitely not work. Even if the emperor can't exercise a proficient martial arts, at least he must ensure his body It is no worse than any soldier. After entering the customs, it has been a peaceful age, and there is no need to fight on horseback. If you want to show your physical strength and martial arts, the emperor has to choose other ways, and hunting is one of them. Facing the fierce Beasts, if the emperor is timid in his heart, he will surely provoke the ridicule of his companions. In this way, the emperor's majesty will disappear. Powerful and ferocious beasts can only test courage. If you want to test the proficiency of using bows and arrows, small Moles are the best choice. They are small and active by nature, so they are difficult to be shot. If the emperor can easily hit a few moles, it will definitely win the admiration of his subjects. If you want to examine the emperor's mastery of swordsmanship , requires melee combat, this sport is too dangerous and is usually discouraged. Only those emperors with extraordinary courage and ability will try it occasionally in order to convince the people around him. At that time, the emperor will Abandon the bow and arrow, and ride alone in front of the tiger or other wild beasts, and start a hand-to-hand combat with those wild beasts, and try to show your exquisite swordsmanship during the decisive battle."

From the above two paragraphs of the queen mother, we understand the general situation of the emperor's hunting, but we still don't know how to successfully complete a hunting activity.Generally speaking, the behavior of the emperor is rarely out of political considerations, and he has to take into account national affairs while playing.The queen mother obviously didn't finish her words, and we didn't solve all the questions in our hearts, so we all looked at the queen mother, hoping that she would give further explanations.The Queen Mother smiled with satisfaction, and continued:
"After resting in the main hall for a while, the emperor will be ready to go hunting. He took his entourage out of the gate of the hall. The guards guarding the tigers and leopards have already been instructed. The cage, in an instant, the empty ground in front of the hall boiled. Afterwards, a team of specialized personnel would use spears or firecrackers to tease the tigers and leopards, but did not hurt them. It is conceivable that under the threat of so many people outside, Those tigers and leopards have only one choice, and that is to flee to the mountains. The matter is not over yet, and a large group of people have been ambushed in the mountains. Of course, their task is still to lure these beasts, not to hurt them. When people tease them again, the tigers and leopards are already close to madness, and their wildness will be fully revealed. At this time, those people who hid in the forest in advance will drive these beasts to the fixed exit. According to the pre-arranged , the emperor and his entourage will lie in ambush at the fixed exit, waiting for the driven beasts. It will not take long for these crazy tigers and leopards to rush out. At this time, the emperor needs to shoot three arrows in a row. If all three arrows hit, and the tiger and leopard died, then the emperor would be enthusiastically sought after, and at the same time he would successfully show off his martial arts to the people around him. Normally, not all three arrows hit, even if In this way, the tiger and leopard will also be seriously injured. If the tiger and leopard are not dead after all three arrows are shot, then the emperor needs to take the sword to meet them and fight hand-to-hand until the tiger and leopard are killed."

(End of this chapter)