The sedan shook slightly, and Yuan Shikai also opened his eyes and heard the voice of his family Yuan Ji, "Master, I've been here."

Yuan Shikai said: "Falling in sedan chair."

The sedan chair fell to the ground, and the sedan chairman behind lifted the pole, and Yuan Shikai came out of the sedan chair. At this time, the sky was just slightly bright, and the corridor was still dark, and the dim lights had not yet been extinguished. There were vaguely 4 or 5 figures shaking at the gate of the palace.

Yuan Shikai walked over and heard someone say, "Weiting Ting is here."

Yuan Shikai hurriedly bowed and said, "Prince, you have arrived a long time ago, I feel ashamed."

Prince Qing laughed and said, "You have just arrived from Baoding. It is common sense to be a little late, let alone not to be the time yet."

At this time, except for Zhang Zhidong, other military ministers, Qu Hongsheng, Prince Chun Zaifeng, Shixu, Na Tong, Lu Chuanlin, etc., had already arrived, so Yuan Shikai greeted the others one by one. However, the others were not as polite as Prince Qing, and they just gave a little greeting to Yuan Shikai. Prince Chun Zaifeng, and then Tong simply ignored Yuan Shikai.

Yuan Shikai also knew that these people were not against him and did not care. Anyway, his etiquette was fulfilled, so he only talked to Prince Qing. At this time, the seven military ministers were divided into three batches, including Prince Chun Zaifeng, Shixu, and Natong, three Manchu ministers; Qu Hongsheng and Lu Chuanlin, two Han ministers, were in one place; Prince Qing Yili and Yuan Shikai's Manchu and Han combination was another group.

While he was talking, he heard footsteps and another sedan chair came over. It turned out that Zhang Zhidong was coming. Everyone also came over and greeted Zhang Zhidong. Among the eight military ministers, Zhang Zhidong was alone, without party or group. However, he was the only one of the four famous ministers in Zhongxing. He was experienced and had a high prestige. He had been deeply engaged in the local area for many years and had many disciples. Instead, he remained detached in the military. The other seven people dared not be disrespectful.

Zhang Zhidong also returned the favor to everyone one by one. When it was Yuan Shikai's turn, Zhang Zhidong smiled and said, "When did Weiting return to Beijing?"

Yuan Shikai said: "If you have any questions, Xiang Shuai asked. Shikai arrived last night. He came home and changed his court uniform."

Zhang Zhidong laughed and said, "Thank you for such a hard time comforting the Pavilion."

Yuan Shikai said: "There are all efforts to do their best for state affairs, so how can we say we are working hard?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "It's better to be young."

In fact, Yuan Shikai was already 48 years old at this time, but among the military ministers, except Prince Chun Zaifeng, Yuan Shikai was the youngest, so it was not wrong for Zhang Zhidong to say that he was a young man.

Just as everyone talked, the palace gate opened, Li Lianying came out of the palace and said, "All sirs are here."

Everyone hurriedly went up to meet him again. Prince Qing lowered his voice and said, "Master Li, how is the Empress Dowager feeling today?"

Li Lianying shook her head and said lowly: "It's still not good. When Lord Lady Has got up to comb her hair just now, Liu didn't know why he did not follow Lord Lady Has his wishes and was beaten 20 times. When you meet Lord Lady Has today, you must be careful to serve him."

This "hair combing Liu" is called Liu Desheng. He is a eunuch who combs his hair in the palace. He has been combing Cixi's hair for more than ten years. Not only does he comb his hair well, but he is also good at telling jokes. He always combs his hair while joking. Cixi loves to listen to him telling jokes and trusts him quite a lot. He even gave his close palace maid Rong'er to Liu General's wife. Unexpectedly, even combing Liu was beaten today, which shows how bad Cixi was in a mood.

Cixi was in a good mood some time ago, because everyone around her said that once the British and French Expeditionary Force arrived, the East China government would be destroyed. Cixi was of course happy. She was not worried that the British and French Expeditionary Force would be detrimental to the Qing court if it defeated the East China government. Foreigners only asked for money, land, and business, but they would not shake the foundation of the court. However, the East China government took the life of the court. It can be said that the arrival of the Expeditionary Force was the only chance for the Qing court to prosper.

When he heard that the British and French Expeditionary Forces were defeated by the East China government, Cixi was so angry that she smashed her beloved jade porcelain cup on the spot. Then, she didn't want to hear the news from the East China government for three consecutive days.

But the problem is that the East China government then published a series of articles on the [Seven Days Talk], which greatly attacked the Qing court and completely pushed the Qing court to the forefront. Cixi could not pretend to be an ostrich anymore, so she could only force herself to cheer up and serve as a director. However, all she received was bad news in recent days. As a result, the East China government officially proposed to overthrow the Qing court, Cixi's mood would certainly not be better. When she was in a bad mood, the eunuchs and maids in the palace would be unlucky. As long as she was not lucky and touched Cixi's reflex arc, the minority would be a slap in the mouth, and the worst was a slap in the palace. In these days, four eunuchs and three palace maids had been beaten to death in the palace. More than 50 people were beaten to death. More than 100 people were beaten to death in the palace.

Now the eunuchs and maids in the palace are like frightened birds, always worried and always keep their feet on their feet when walking, for fear that something will annoy Cixi, and that they will not go if they can go without Cixi's presence, but Cixi always needs someone to serve her. Therefore, every time she goes to Cixi, she is like rushing to the execution ground, trembling. If she comes back after serving, she will be as happy as if she has a lifetime of disaster. The atmosphere in the entire palace is extremely tense, and many people are about to be driven crazy.

However, the ministers in the court could not come up with any good ways. Every time they saw Cixi, they were speechless. This time, Yuan Shikai made a special trip to come back from Baoding, saying that foreigners had a way to deal with the East China government. So Cixi officially recruited the ministers of military affairs to discuss.

In fact, except for Yuan Shikai, the other people who entered the palace every day during this period knew that Cixi had been in a bad mood these days, but she always had a sense of responsibility before. At most, she just scolded the ministers and did not make any difficulties. However, she did not expect that even Liu was beaten to comb her hair, so she was a little nervous. Prince Qing immediately pulled out a silver note of 1,000 taels of silver from her sleeve and handed it to Li Lianying, saying, "Thank you, the general manager, for the reminder."

Li Lianying was not polite, took the silver note and stuffed it into his sleeve, and said, "Several sirs, please come to the palace with our family." As he said that, he turned around and entered the palace first. Prince Qing immediately took the lead and followed Li Lianying, followed by Zhang Zhidong, then Qu Hongsheng, Prince Chun Zaifeng, Shixu, Natong, Lu Chuanlin, etc., and finally Yuan Shikai.

The group entered the Meridian Gate, passed through the three halls, and came to the Cining Palace where Cixi lived. At this time, Cixi, Guangxu was dressed neatly, and sat side by side in front of a small table. Cixi had no expression on her face, and Guangxu also looked solemn. After everyone met, they were lined up on both sides.

Guangxu first picked up a few pieces of paper from his junior table and said, "This is an editorial article published by overseas Chinese yesterday. You have read it."

Yesterday was the last article in the [Seven Days Talk] series, and it was also a formal proposal to overthrow the Qing court. Of course, everyone had read it. Guangxu said again: "This group of rebel bandits has rebelled openly. What do you think should you do? Yuan Shikai, you have submitted a memorandum saying that Britain and France have a way to deal with this group of rebel bandits, so you can talk first."

Yuan Shikai said: "Report to the emperor, the ministers of Britain and France hope that the court will issue an order to prohibit all merchants from our Qing Dynasty from dealing with the anti-brethren to eliminate their source of materials. Even if the anti-brethren soldiers are strong, they will not be scary."

Guangxu sneered for a while and said, "What do you think Britain and France have the plan?"

Na Tong said first: "Empress Dowager, the emperor, I think this plan is feasible."

Guangxu said: "Oh! How can it work."

Na Tong said: "Although the rebel bandits have strong forces, they are only in Shandong and have limited products. Therefore, they must be purchased from other places to obtain them. As far as the ministers know, eight or nine out of ten things needed by the rebel bandits are purchased from Shanghai. Therefore, if the court issued an order to strictly order all merchants and officials of the Qing Dynasty to not trade with the rebel bandits. At least three months or more, the rebel bandits will perish themselves. In this way, the imperial court will not spend a soldier, a gun, and a gun, which can eliminate this great trouble."

After hearing this, Guangxu looked a little eager to try. He wanted to say something, but he held it back and turned to Cixi and said, "What do the Empress Dowager think?"

Cixi had no expression on her face, her eyes seemed to be uneven, and she said, "What do others think?"

Others didn't say anything, but except Prince Chun Zaifeng, most people showed disapproving expressions in front of them, because Zhang Zhidong, Qu Hongsheng, Lu Chuanlin, Yuan Shikai and others knew very well that Tong's suggestion was simply not feasible. First of all, the Qing court's control was much worse than being too much. To be honest, the Qing court's imperial edict is still a little better than Beijing. Once it is out of Hebei, it is basically nothing different. Whether the local people respect or not depends on their own interests. If it is in line with their own interests, of course they can pretend to be obedient to the court, and on the contrary, they can be regarded as a yin.

If it was before the Battle of the Taiwan Strait, it might have had some effect, because most people were not optimistic about the East China government at that time, but now the East China government has defeated the Expeditionary Fleet. Who would dare to fight against the East China government at this time? Merchants who interrupted trade with the East China government before the Battle of the Taiwan Strait are now eager to restore relations with the East China government. At this time, the Qing court issued an order to prohibit merchants from trading with the East China government, and I am afraid no one will obey.

Moreover, during this period, the East China government has published continuous commentary articles, pointing the finger directly at the Qing court, accusing the Qing court of setting up various obstacles, restraining and disturbing the war of the East China government for its own selfishness, which has even caused the people and local governments to be extremely dissatisfied with the Qing court, which has caused the Qing court to sit on the crater. Now the Qing court issued an order to prohibit merchants from trading with the East China government, which has confirmed the accusation of the East China government, and the Qing court felt that it was not dead fast enough.

However, although everyone understood it in their hearts, no one spoke for a while. The main reason could not be expressed directly, and they were not clear about Cixi's attitude. If it was not in line with Cixi's wishes, it would be a way out.
Chapter completed!