In fact, Cixi's actions certainly have her own profound meaning. She really does not intend to pursue the officials of Southeast Mutual Protection. First, Southeast Mutual Protection has indeed preserved the southeastern part of China. Overall, the officials involved in Southeast Mutual Protection are still loyal to the Qing court and Cixi. After the court fled to Xi'an, almost all officials involved in Southeast Mutual Protection sent financial funds to the court, which is a good proof that it is also the biggest capital that the Qing court can still rebel after the Boxer Reform. Second, after this great disaster, if the court wants to recover its vitality, it still needs to rely on these local officials. Because the threat from foreigners has not been completely eliminated, there is a new big trouble for overseas Chinese. Therefore, at this time, the court cannot withstand the demolition and banishment, so it is necessary to appease these local officials.

Although the Qing court had issued an order to recognize the correct behavior of Southeast Mutual Protection, this did not completely eliminate the doubts of local officials. Therefore, now he is pacifying Yuan Shikai, which is also for other local officials to see.

At this time, Guangxu suddenly said: "Yuan Shikai."

Yuan Shikai's heart suddenly became hung again. He betrayed the reformists and stood firmly on Cixi's side, but he completely offended Guangxu. Although Guangxu was just a puppet emperor and could not pose any threat to Yuan Shikai, when face to face, Yuan Shikai was still the weaker side. After all, Guangxu represented the supreme imperial power. Therefore, Yuan Shikai hurriedly lowered his head and bent down and said, "I am here."

Guangxu said: "As the governor of Zhili, how do you manage the local area? The robbers are so rampant that even the imperial convoy dares to rob and kill. Fortunately, the escorted officials were trying hard to protect the Empress Dowager and me."

Speaking of this, Guangxu took a peek at Cixi. Seeing that Cixi's eyes were slightly closed, it seemed that she had no intention of stopping her. She couldn't help but become more courageous. To be honest, his resentment towards Yuan Shikai was even greater than that of Cixi, because during the Reform Period of 1898, Guangxu had great expectations for Yuan Shikai. In the late period of 1898, Guangxu specially recruited Yuan Shikai and added the title of Right Minister of Works to Yuan Shikai, who was the supervisor of the new army and the Zhili Censor. Although he was still responsible for training troops, he was promoted from the third rank to the second rank, which was considered to be a great emperor. As a result, Yuan Shikai turned around and reported to Ronglu and betrayed himself. Therefore, Guangxu naturally hated Yuan Shikai to the core.

This was the first time Guangxu saw Yuan Shikai after the Wuxu Coup, so he couldn't help but start and said, "The court appointed you as the governor of Zhili, how trust you have in you, but how did you become the governor of Zhili? Even the guards of the court cannot be spared. This shows that this place is still in chaos."

Yuan Shikai couldn't help but sweat on his forehead. Although this uprising was not actually Yuan Shikai's responsibility, he had to take the blame. He hurriedly knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "I deserve to die, please punish the emperor."

Although Guangxu said a few harsh words, he did not have the ability to punish Yuan Shikai, so he had to look at Cixi and said, "What is the empress dowager?"

At this time, Cixi said, "Yuan Shikai, what is the origin of this group of thieves? Have you found out?"

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said, "Report to the Empress Dowager, I have found out." As he said that, he briefly said the uprising of Jing Tingbin, Zhao Sanduo and others, focusing on the fact that this uprising took place before he became the governor of Zhili. After he took office, he was busy welcoming the court back to Beijing, so he was unable to quell the rebellion at all times, so the thief actually disturbed the court's convoy and apologized for himself again.

After hearing Yuan Shikai's words, Cixi said slowly: "So what should I do if I see this group of thieves?"

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said, "Report to the Empress Dowager, wait for me to escort the Empress Dowager. After the emperor and his party returned to the capital safely, I should lead the army in person to quell the rebellion of this group of thieves and to redeem the fault of the minister."

Cixi nodded, turned around and asked Guangxu again, and said, "What do the emperor think?"

Guangxu hesitated for a moment. Although he was a little unwilling to let Yuan Shikai go easily, he also said, "Please ask the Empress Dowager to make the decision."

In fact, Guangxu's performance had long been calculated by Cixi. It was also Cixi who deliberately arranged to send Guangxu to meet Yuan Shikai together. Although the local officials who participated in Southeast Mutual Protection should be appeased, the court could not blindly express kindness. Old ministers like Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Liu Kunyi were more serious than that, but new ministers like Yuan Shikai were prone to serve the kindness and were not arrogant in the court, so they had to fight from time to time. Together with kindness and power was the way to control the subordinates.

Guangxu was undoubtedly the best candidate to come forward to beat Yuan Shikai, and Cixi was just pretending to be blushed, so that she could beat Yuan Shikai, making him more respectful to the court in the future, and at the same time strengthening Yuan Shikai's loyalty to him, because once Guangxu was in power, the first unlucky one must be Yuan Shikai. Therefore, in order to protect himself, Yuan Shikai could only be loyal to himself. So Cixi said: "Let's do it. Yuan Shikai, put this thief to you, and I will leave it to you."

After hearing this, Yuan Shikai breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "I respect the Queen Mother's decree."

Cixi said again: "So when can the imperial court set off?"

Yuan Shikai said: "If it is the Empress Dowager, the Emperor can set off and set off tomorrow. I am the Empress Dowager in Baoding. The Emperor has prepared everything and will definitely satisfy the Empress Dowager."

Cixi nodded with satisfaction, thought for a while, and then said, "Okay, then let's go tomorrow, you can kneel down first."

Yuan Shikai kowtowed again, then he took a break to Cixi and Guangxu. When he walked out of the temporary journey, Yuan Shikai realized that his vest was wet with sweat. The political skills of the Lafayette had indeed reached a state of superb level, so both the emperor and herself were played with by her.

The next day, Cixi set off from Zhengding Prefecture without waiting for the arrival of the brigade of supplies behind her to Baoding. Because Zhengding Prefecture was too close to the place where Jing Tingbin and others revolted, and Baoding Prefecture was not only farther away, but also a major town in Zhili. Yuan Shikai had set up heavy troops in Baoding Prefecture, so he could ensure worry-free when he arrived at Baoding Prefecture.

Zhengding was not far from Baoding. The Qing court had only walked for one day and arrived in Baoding in the afternoon. Yuan Shikai had already made full preparations for Baoding, held a grand and grand welcome ceremony, and arranged a Western band to play a Western music. Yuan Shikai's training troops was completely imitated by the Western military system. Even the military band was introduced into the Beiyang New Army. This time, he also specially asked the old lady to see these "rare things" to make her happy.

However, Yuan Shikai was worried that the level of the Beiyang New Army's military band was not enough, so he specially found a foreign band, put on military uniforms, and played military music. However, Yuan Shikai didn't know that the song played by the foreigners was the French national anthem "Marseille", a war song during the French Revolution.

Of course, Yuan Shikai's arrangement was not just a welcome ceremony. Baoding's palace was also decorated in dazzling and magnificent. Although it was not as luxurious as the Forbidden City, it was indeed a world of difference compared to the places where Cixi lived along the way. All the imperial porcelain bowls and cups such as Cixi and her group were also the latest customization. This was presented by Sheng Xuanhuai. At the same time, Yuan Shikai also presented Cixi with 500,000 taels of silver for Cixi to reward on the way back to Beijing. Of course, the reward of Lafayette should not be too shabby. Yuan Shikai also presented a special gift to Cixi, a pair of parrots, one would say "Lafayette is good and good", and the other would say "Lafayette is safe", and they were all fragile, like a boy, which was used to relieve the burden of the Lafayette. In addition, Yuan Shikai also prepared a train for the imperial court to return to Beijing, saying that it could arrive in the capital within half a day to reduce the suffering of the journey.

Cixi was also very satisfied with Yuan Shikai's arrangements and decided to take a few days off in Baoding and wait for the backpacking. Anyway, she would be able to arrive in Beijing in just half a day.

Of course, the court still had many important things to do in Baoding, and was about to return to Beijing. First, it issued an edict to reward meritorious officials. Therefore, it was proposed to issue an edict in the name of Guangxu: Prince Qing Yiji was awarded the prince's double salary; Rong Lu was awarded the double-eyed feather and was given the title of Prince's Taibao; Wang Wenshao and Zhao Shuqiao were given the title of Prince's Feng; Li Hongzhang was given the title of Prince's Feng; his son Li Jingfang was given the title of Right Guardian of the Ministry of Rites, and Li Jingmai was given the candidate for the third-rank Jingtang; Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kun and Yi were given the title of Prince's Feng, Yuan Shikai, Sheng Xuanhuai was given the title of Prince's Young Guardian; other officials also had their own rewards.

He also implemented the official positions of the former Minister of Revenue Lishan, Minister of War Xu Yongyi, Minister of Personnel Xu Jingcheng, Minister of Cabinet Scholar Lianyuan and Minister of Taichang Temple Yuan Chang. These people were all opposed to Cixi's emphasis on the Boxer Rebellion and went to war with various countries, but they either died in the court or the chaos. Now they have proved that their claims were correct at the time, so they naturally had to restore their reputation.

At the same time, taking advantage of this celebration atmosphere, Cixi specially summoned Emperor Guangxu to see him, and said to him with kindness, "In this national crisis, it is best for mother and son to work together to help the times. I have decided to remove the name of Puye's eldest prince."

Guangxu felt very relieved when he heard this. The eldest prince had always been a trauma for him. At this time, he felt that he finally vented his anger and hurriedly thanked him, saying, "The emperor's father is wise and has no intention of being kind, and he will not change his stubbornness. He will remove his eldest prince. The child is very convinced."

In fact, Cixi knew very well that it was impossible for the emperor and empress to recover their relationship before the Wuxu period, but after the Gengzi State Change, Cixi completely cut off the idea of ​​replacing people. After all, Guangxu was still the emperor in the famous discussion, so it was necessary to ease the relationship between the emperor and empress, at least on the surface. After rewarding, there must be punishment. Zaiyi, Zaixun, Zailan, and the eldest prince who once advocated relying on the Boxer Regiment to go to war with various countries were naturally the targets of punishment. Taking the opportunity to remove the eldest prince, the punishment for these people was also decided.

So the next day, Guangxu officially issued an edict, dismissing Duan Zaiyi and Zhuang Zaixun's title and demoted to Duke Zhenguo; Duke Zailan of the Fuguo was demoted to General Fengguo; Pu Ye removed the title of Grand Prince and immediately left the palace, and gave him a 80-cent salary. After the resignation, he would leave the palace immediately.

The Qing court and his party stayed in Baoding for 6 days. After the luggage and luggage arrived in Baoding, they set off on a train to leave Baoding. Yuan Shikai prepared a total of 22 cars for the train. Among them, there were 4 of the top-level cars, all decorated with yellow Shaofeng and yellow satin. Cixi and Guangxu each used one. The rest of the cars were for the concubines of the palace, princes, ministers, concubines, wife, and internal supervisors to ride. The luggage alone was loaded with nine cars. Yuan Shikai also personally escorted the car to Beijing.

Just at 2 pm on January 7, 1902, the train arrived at Yongding Gate in Beijing, and the "Long Live" tsunami tsunami was sent out on the platform. Prince Qing, who was left behind in Beijing, led Beijing officials and eunuchs to welcome Cixi and her party at the station.
Chapter completed!