Although the summer season has not yet entered late May, we can already feel the obvious heat of the weather. Although it was 9 a.m., the sky in Beijing was covered with dark clouds and there was no trace of sunshine. The temperature was not cool, stuffy and hot, and it seemed to be so stressful that it was breathless. Experienced people know that a heavy rain was coming.

The Forbidden City, which is usually extremely serious and quiet, was even suppressed at this time. The eunuchs and palace maids were extremely careful when walking. Not to mention that they dared not make big noises, they even spoke in a low voice, for fear of alarming the Lord Buddha. Even the eunuch Li Lianying, the most favored eunuch whom Lady trusted, and Princess Deling, who has been the ones in the palace, were also cautious. Because everyone who works in the palace knows that the Lord Buddha has been in a very bad mood these days. There are more than 10 eunuchs, and the palace maids have been beaten. Even Eunuch Liu, who has been combing his hair, had some ideas yesterday. He slapped his more than 20 mouths, and only made his cheeks red and swollen and bleeding from the corners of his mouth. Then he got the Lord Buddha's words: "Forget it." Every day, you can hear the sound of "papapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapa

At this time, eight military ministers were present in the Military Affairs Office, but no one was handling official duties. Instead, they sat upright with their eyes closed, like eight clay Buddhas. Fortunately, there were two large pieces of ice in the room, which was a bit cool, but the atmosphere was still depressing. Outside the Military Affairs Office, the waiters and others stood with their hands down and did not move.

I saw the door curtain lifting, and the military ministers opened their eyes together. Seeing that it was Li Lianying coming in from outside, he whispered: "Dear princes, sir, the Queen Mother and the Emperor are here to greet you in the Hall of Peace of Heart. Please follow the servants."

The military aircraft leader Prince Qing Yili immediately stood up, greeted him, and whispered: "Eunuch Li, how is the Empress Dowager feeling today."

Li Lianying shook her head and said in a voice that was small but could be heard by everyone in the room: "It's still the same. I even punished Lao Zhou with 20 slap in one hour ago! I have seen the Empress Dowager today, so you should be careful when speaking and be careful."

Prince Qing nodded, bowed slightly, and said, "Thank you, my father-in-law." As he said that, he pulled out a silver note from his sleeve and stuffed it to Li Lianying.

Li Lianying understood and bowed again, saying, "Dear Princes, sir, please come with me." As he said that, he turned around and was about to leave, while Yuan Shikai, the Minister of Military Affairs, stepped forward and lifted the curtain for Li Lianying and let Li Lianying go out.

This is not Yuan Shikai's flattery to beat Li Lianying, but the rules of the Military Affairs Office. The ranking of the Military Affairs Office is strictly orderly. Every day when on duty, the foreman's military aircraft is headed by the foreman, and others follow one by one. They must not be arranged in a mess. Just when everyone is about to reach the Military Affairs Office, the Military Affairs Office, the Military Affairs Office, who is ranked last, has to trot a few steps, rush to the front of the team to lift the curtains for everyone, and let others in. He also lifts the curtains when he gets off work. When everyone else leaves, he is the last one to leave. Therefore, the Military Affairs Office, who is ranked last, is also commonly known as the roller-blind military aircraft.

Prince Qing turned his head and said, "The Empress Dowager is not in a good mood, so let's be careful." After that, he led the way and left the Military Affairs Office. The others followed him out. Until everyone was finished, Yuan Shikai put down the curtain and followed quickly.

The group followed Li Lianying through several palaces and came to the Palace of Peaceful Heart. At this time, Cixi and Guangxu were sitting in the middle. After the Gengzi Reform ended, Guangxu did not get under house arrest like in the old time and space. Not only did he still live in the palace, but he could also participate in some government affairs in form. Of course, his authority and actions were greatly restricted. In fact, he did not have any real power, and he was basically a tablet, but after all, he could contact government affairs, and ministers sometimes could say a few words, which was much better than the situation before the Gengzi Reform.

After the 8 military ministers gave Cixi a greeting, Guangxu stood in two shifts. Guangxu then said: "It has been more than 10 days since overseas Chinese went to Liaodong to participate in the war. I heard that they have won several battles, and it is a big deal outside now, and even foreigners have been disturbed. Yesterday, the Prime Minister's Office received official documents from Britain, France, Japan and asked about the court's attitude. It seems that the court has not expressed any of them. What should you do?"

As the East China government successively won the Battle of Tsushima, Landing Battle of Lushun, and Battle of Liaohe, the call for commendation of the East China government within the Qing court became increasingly high, and officials from all over the country pushed memorials to the Qing court. Of course, the Qing court still responded slowly to this, ignored the officials' comments, ignored them, and pretended to be confused, but it also made Cixi feel upset and had a bad temper.

However, Britain, France, Japan and other countries were a little impatient, because once the Qing court officially recognized it and supported the East China government's participation in the war, it meant that the East China government would be able to join the war with the entire China. With the huge manpower and materials of the entire China and the strong military capabilities of the East China government, even if Japan and Russia join forces, even the East China government may join forces with the Qing court. Therefore, Britain, France, Japan hurriedly sent an ambassador to China to submit official documents to the Qing court, demanding that the Qing court continue to remain neutral at this time and must not be biased towards the East China government. Japan asked the Qing court to issue a formal order and Yan Li blamed the East China government.

The Qing court could ignore the public opinion of indignation in the country, but when friendly countries were surprised, they could not let it go. Therefore, no matter how bad Cixi was in a bad mood, she would not dare to delay and immediately recruited all the military ministers to make plans. At this time, Guangxu also fully played the role of being a tablet. The words Cixi was not easy to say were all done by Guangxu.

After hearing the emperor's words, several military ministers hesitated for a moment, and then Zhang Zhidong said: "Report to the emperor, the court should not express its opinion easily at this time."

Guangxu said: "Oh! Why?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Both Japan and Russia are both powerful countries in the world, and Japan and Britain, Russia and France have all had alliances. Although overseas Chinese have won several battles now, the final outcome is really unpredictable. If the court makes a statement easily, the consequences will be unpredictable. If it is not careful, it will be a disaster. When Japan and Russia were fighting, the court adhered to neutrality, so there will be no change now."

Guangxu hesitated for a moment before saying, "But now the public opinion is booming, what if it is done?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Reporting to the emperor, public opinion matters are rising and falling suddenly. The court just ignores it. In a few days, the smoke will disappear. The empress dowager, the emperor doesn't have to worry."

Guangxu said again: "How do you explain to the countries of Britain, France and Japan?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Reporting back to the emperor, this is better. Just tell the Prime Minister's Office to negotiate with them. Just tell the countries that overseas Chinese participating in the war has nothing to do with the court, and the court still adheres to neutrality and unchanging, so naturally the countries will no longer have any objections."

At this time, Shixu suddenly said: "The Japanese ambassador asked the court to issue an order to question overseas Chinese. How should we respond?"

Zhang Zhidong shook his head and said, "No, the court adheres to neutrality. Japan and Russia must not offend, and overseas Chinese must not be neglected. The Japanese minister still requested unreasonable and should refuse."

Guangxu was silent for a while before turning to Cixi and said, "What does the Empress Dowager mean?"

Cixi picked up her eyelids and said, "Then let's do it."

Guangxu nodded and said, "Prince Qing."

Prince Qing hurriedly said, "I am here."

Guangxu said: "The court will be dispersed later, you can do it immediately?" Because Prince Qing also serves as the minister of the Prime Minister's Office, the specific matters of negotiating with various countries naturally fall on Prince Qing.

Prince Qing said: "The minister respects the order."

Guangxu paused and said, "So what should Prince Su do?"

The military ministers stopped talking, after all, this topic was too sensitive. After a while, Cixi spoke, "What? She stopped talking? That won't happen. The emperor and I are still waiting for you to make an idea? Zhang Zhidong, what should you do with Prince Su?"

After being named by Cixi, Zhang Zhidong couldn't stop talking and said, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, Prince Su is still a royal family, and he should be sent by the clan's mansion..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Cixi and said, "If the sect mansion can solve it, what do you want to ask? Prince Su's affairs are not trivial, and they cannot solve it. So you have to make an idea. Shi Xu, what do you think?"

Seeing that Cixi finally let him go, Zhang Zhidong was relieved. In fact, Cixi called Zhang Zhidong's name just to throw away bricks and attract jade. She was indeed very sensitive to dealing with Prince Su's affairs, and it was very offensive. Cixi did not want to force Prince Qing. An old minister like Zhang Zhidong expressed his opinion that Bi Jing's government still needed them to support him, but she just used Zhang Zhidong to attract a head, and by the way, she also made a fool of herself, so she quickly walked around Zhang Zhidong.

Shi Xu said: "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, Prince Su's actions were also for the sake of the court. Overseas Chinese have long rebelled against the court and made themselves kings. Everyone was punished for such a rebellious minister and traitor. Prince Su just wanted to destroy the momentum of overseas Chinese. Therefore, Prince Su had no fault and asked the court to surrender."

Cixi refused to comment and said, "Where are you?"

Na Tong said, "Report to the Empress Dowager, Lord Shi Xu's words are reasonable, and I also ask the court to give a slight rebellion to Prince Su."

They were originally accomplices with Prince Su, and Prince Su was also angry with the two of them for planning the attack on the Shanghai New District. Both of them also expressed their support and supported Prince Su 10,000 taels of silver. Therefore, at this time, we naturally had to try our best to defend Prince Su and reduce the blame.

Cixi pondered for a while before saying, "Yuan Shikai, what do you think?"

Yuan Shikai owed his body and said, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, I think Prince Su must be severely punished and used as a police officer."

Shi Xu immediately said: "Mr. Yuan, what are you thinking about? Could it be that you want to vent your anger for overseas Chinese?"

Yuan Shikai laughed and said, "No, why are you venting your anger for overseas Chinese? It's not that it is not enough to demonstrate the majesty of the court."

At this time, Cixi opened her eyes and said, "Yuan Shikai, please make clear what you said. Why severely punishing the prince is to demonstrate the majesty of the court."
Chapter completed!