The next morning, Prince Zhuang and Zhao Shuqiao worshipped the Qing emperors in Taimiao first. In fact, during the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing, the tablets of the Qing emperors were plundered by the Eight-Nation Alliance. However, after the People's Army regained Beijing, the property that was plundered by the Eight-Nation Alliance was collected and all of these tablets were taken back. After cleaning up, these tablets were belonged to items that could be returned, so they were put back in the Taimiao. After all, these tablets were tablets of other people's ancestors. According to the Chinese custom, death is the most important thing, and robbing other people's ancestor tablets of their ancestors could not be used as a drama. Therefore, there are tablets in the Taimiao in the imperial palace for salary, but most tablets were damaged to varying degrees.

But despite this, Prince Zhuang and Zhao Shuqiao felt very grateful. After all, these tablets were not lost. This was of great significance to Qingting, so he also had a little more favorable impression of overseas Chinese. So the two cried and worshiped in the Taimiao before entering the palace to check it out.

A few eunuchs in the palace did not know Prince Zhuang, not only because of the prince, but also because of this prince's generous move. Every time he came to the palace, the eunuchs who served him would receive generous rewards, at least 100 taels of silver. Therefore, serving Prince Qing has always been the most passionate thing for eunuchs. Of course, at this time, money is still the second thing, and Guan Jian finally saw his own people this time.

Although there are rumors that Empress Dowager Cixi is moody, and the most famous story is the story of "You kill me, I kill your whole family", in fact, Cixi is not a violent ruler, and she is even more kind in most of the time. Moreover, due to the special identity of eunuchs, most officials, including senior officials like the Minister of Military Affairs, are generally polite to eunuchs. In fact, eunuchs' life in the palace is not bad, at least higher than the average level among the people.

But after the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied the palace, the eunuchs had a hard time. Although they were not killed at any time, being beaten and scolded was the norm, and they were all working as cows and horses. Although the People's Army controlled the palace, life was better, and they did not have to be beaten and scolded, nor were they cows and horses, they were locked up in the palace, basically isolated from the outside world and had no power. Now that Prince Qing is back, many eunuchs are thinking that since the prince is back, then the old Buddha is probably coming back soon, and the palace is finally going to return to its former appearance. Therefore, many eunuchs cried with excitement.

Prince Qing and Zhao Shuqiao also comforted them, and then accompanied the eunuchs and walked around the palace. Overall, the buildings in the palace were not damaged at all. Of course, the utensils stored in the palace were basically robbed. The time travelers selected about 20,000 various cultural relics that could be returned to the Qing court, and they were piled up in the main hall for sealing. After Prince Qing and Zhao Shuqiao saw it, they were a little relieved. It seemed that the palace would not need to be overhauled. The empress dowager and the emperor could move in directly after they came back.

It took a morning to worship the Taimiao and the palace to see the palace, so the remaining day and a half was naturally time to do their own private affairs. Prince Qing was the one who rushed back to his mansion. Fortunately, their mansion was not damaged. Of course, all the property and other things in the mansion were washed away. However, Prince Qing had a great family and had many servants. When he left Beijing, there were still hundreds of people in the mansion. Although most of them fled, more than 20 people remained in the mansion, led by an old family member to guard the house. Therefore, after the People's Army occupied Beijing, it did not seal the Prince Zhuang's mansion.

It turns out that the ancestors of this old man were born in Prince Zhuang's family for three generations, and he can be regarded as a hardcore slave. Because he is similar to Prince Zhuang, he became Prince Zhuang's personal playmate after Prince Zhuang was born. The two grew up together since childhood. Although he has no ability, Prince Zhuang still trusts him very much, and the old man is also very loyal to Prince Zhuang.

After the Gengzi Rebellion, although Prince Zhuang escaped from Beijing, he was left to take care of the royal palace in Beijing. Although the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing, this old family member had experienced the Gengshen Rebellion (the Second Opium War). Therefore, he firmly believed that the same was true this time. He also saw that the empress dowager and the emperor escaped, but he would definitely come back. Therefore, although most of his family escaped from the royal palace, he still stayed in the royal palace, and under his persuasion, more than 20 people were willing to stay.

However, when the Eight-Nation Alliance looted the royal palace, he did not dare to stop it. Therefore, the property in the mansion was basically robbed by the Eight-Nation Alliance. Now these more than one person mainly relies on working for overseas Chinese. It turned out that overseas Chinese set up security stations and police stations in Beijing to clean up Beijing sewers, which required a large number of people, and also provided a large number of jobs for Beijing residents. Generally, a family with a population of 4-5 people can almost support the whole family. Under the auspices of their hometown, there were 7 people in Prince Zhuang’s mansion going out to work, which was enough to support these more than two people.

Seeing that the prince suddenly came back, the people who stayed in the mansion were surprised and happy, and they cried and bowed to the ground. Even Prince Zhuang felt uncomfortable. After crying for a while, everyone stopped the sadness. Prince Zhuang explained that this time he returned to Beijing was to follow the order of the empress dowager. The emperor wanted to go to Tianjin to recruit overseas Chinese, but just passed by Beijing to check it out. However, soon, the empress dowager and the emperor would officially return to Beijing, and he would be able to truly come back then, so he would have to wait for a while.

However, Prince Zhuang praised everyone's loyalty and asked them to continue to guard the mansion, leaving 1,000 taels of silver for the living expenses in the mansion and the purchase of daily necessities needed. Of course, there was no need to work anymore. In addition, other fleeing families were also recruited. After all, it was normal to escape during the war, so there was no need to plan too much. Moreover, most of these people had served in Prince Qing's mansion for many years and were easy to use.

Compared with Prince Qing's mansion, Zhao Shuqiao was much more unlucky. After all, he was an official who rose from the bottom. Not only was his family business unable to compare with Prince Qing, but his family's cohesion was not formed. Therefore, after the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, all his family fled. After the People's Army took over Beijing, although he carefully managed the mansion, he saw that no one was in charge, so he sealed the mansion. Now it was naturally unblocked, but the whole mansion was empty and covered with dust.

Fortunately, Zhao Shuqiao was already mentally prepared for this. This time he brought a few people back, so he ordered people to find them. As a result, more than 10 people were found. Zhao Shuqiao arranged for them to clean and organize the mansion and left them some silver.

Two days passed in a blink of an eye. Both of them arranged their family affairs and jointly sent a telegram to the Qing court in Xi'an to report the situation in Beijing. The palace was generally safe. Please ask the Queen Mother and the Emperor to rest assured.

Early on the third morning, the two led the army and boarded the train arranged for them at the Temple of Heaven and entered Tianjin.

Prince Zhuang and Zhao Shuqiao took the train for the first time. In fact, Beijing should be the first place to build a railway in China. In 1865, an Englishman named Durand built a narrow-gauge railway of only 50 meters outside Beijing and tried the train. Unexpectedly, when the train whistle sounded, the people in the capital were filled with fear and surprise: because vehicles without a cattle and horse can run like flying, Ju. "Qingbai Leichao" records: The people in the capital were a monster. As a result, the railway was quickly demolished by the army stationed in Beijing, and the Chinese breathed a sigh of relief.

In the following time, the construction of railways became a long-lasting Yonghuan topic between the Qing court and other countries. Foreigners repeatedly demanded the construction of railways in China and made efforts to demonstrate the goodness of railways. They used various means such as deciding first and then reporting, hiding the world and covering the sea, and secretly built several railways. However, the Qing court refused, and the reasons for rejection were varied, such as destroying Feng Shui, disturbing gods, and hitting evil spirits. Even if the railways were built by foreigners, they would spend money to buy and demolish them. Although the railways were built, they were not allowed to be pulled by motorcycles, but instead used horses to pull the carriages on the rails.

At that time, among the important officials of the court, only Li Hongzhang realized the benefits of railways. In order to convince the court to build railways, Li Hongzhang built the first railway in Beijing, the Ziguangge Railway, in the Xiyuan of the Qing Palace (now Zhongnanhai and Beihai), between 1886 and 1888, with a total length of 151o. 4 meters, and 6 carriages were purchased for Cixi to travel and ride, and they were between Yiluan Hall and Beihai Jingqingzhai. However, the carriage was not pulled by a motorcycle, but was pulled by eunuchs.

After the completion of this railway, it gradually dispelled the court's doubts and disgust towards the railway. Therefore, in 1887, before the completion of the Tsinghua Railway was completed, Liu Mingchuan, the then governor of Taiwan, started to build the railway on Taiwan Island. It took six years to complete the 106.7 kilometers of railway from Keelung to Hsinchu, becoming the first substantial railway built by the Chinese.

The imperial court then approved the construction of the Tianjin-Tong Railway and Luhan Railway. From then on, the development of China's railway industry entered a new era with difficulty. But until this time, China had only more than 6 kilometers of railways.

Before the Gengzi Rebellion, there were two railways in Beijing, Jinlu and Lubao, which were opened to traffic in 1896 and 1898 respectively. However, the Qing government and the Qing government did not allow trains to enter the city on the grounds of destroying Feng Shui. Therefore, when going to Tianjin, they had to get on the bus at Majiabao Station outside Yongding Gate, and when going to Baoding, they had to get on the bus at Lugouqiao Station. After the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, they set up a general station at the Temple of Heaven. For transportation convenience, they connected from Majiabao along the track, entered the city from Yongding Gate to the Temple of Heaven, and set up a main station outside the Circular Mound Gate, called the Temple of Heaven Outer Station, and then diagonally connected to the track to Qigu Temple Gate, called the Temple of Heaven Inner Station. Of course, they are now controlled by the People's Army. The Ziguang Pavilion Railway, which only has symbolic meaning, was demolished by the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Chapter completed!