However, after the court discussion was disbanded that day, Yihuan came to Yuqing Palace with a brocade box. At this time, Zai Tian had completed his morning studies.

Yihuan first gave his son a courtesy of the king and his subjects, and then asked a few academic questions. Then Weng Tonghe left. After Weng Tonghe left, Yihuan took out the brocade box and handed it to Zai Tian.

"What is this?" Zai Tian has never received a gift from Yi Huan in the past three years, and there is a difference between the monarch and the ministers. How could Yi Huan give the emperor something for nothing? So Zai Tian asked curiously.

"This is brought by Prince Gong this morning. It is said that the French envoy asked Prince Gong to hand it over to the emperor. It was something assigned by the emperor." Yihuan replied respectfully.

"Ah!" Zai Tian was overjoyed, "It turns out that I bought it, and it was almost the 'dear father's life. I thought it was too late." Then he played with the brocade box and saw that the seal on the box had not moved, he calmly put it in his arms.

That night, after going to bed, Zai Tian took out the brocade box in the tent, gently tore off the seal, and opened the brocade box. There was a white transparent glass bottle inside, about half a liter, containing some transparent liquid. There was also a note in the brocade box, which was written in French. Zai Tian picked up the note and looked at it. A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Then he put the brocade box aside, put it in his mouth, and slowly chewed it down.

October of the fourth year of Guangxu.

This day is the birthday of the Queen Mother of the Virgin.

Since Emperor Muzong's death, the court stopped all banquets and stipulated that he could not wear gorgeous clothes or drink or have fun within 27 months of hunger, so as to serve filial piety to Emperor Muzong. Therefore, since the first year of Guangxu, neither the young emperor Zai Tian nor the two empress dowagers had a grand birthday. It was not until July of the third year of Guangxu that Empress Dowager Ci'an's birthday that this rule was abolished. It was only in July of the third year of Guangxu that the empress dowager Ci'an had a long life, but he could not show up in public. Moreover, Empress Dowager Ci'an was calm and gentle, and did not like to make a big fuss, so he issued an imperial edict to the governors, governors, and ministers, but did not handle it.

In August, the birthday of the little emperor Zai Tian, ​​naturally there is no need to stop the birthday party.

Empress Dowager Cixi was different. She loved the excitement and especially watched Peking Opera. Therefore, on her birthday, she specially found a famous opera troupe in the capital to celebrate the birthday of the Empress Dowager. In addition, she invited the wives of several foreign envoys and the princes, ministers and concubines to have fun together.

Prince Chun Fujin Yehenara Wanzhen, as the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi, was naturally invited.

Since Zai Tian was taken to the palace to inherit the throne, Wanzhen would go to the palace to pay tribute to her sister every year for festivals. The purpose of this is of course to hope to have the opportunity to meet her son. But every time, Cixi would directly refuse with the words "The emperor is so good, there is no need to pay tribute." Wanzhen could only find out her son's scales and half of her claws through her husband's mouth, and knew that her son had eaten, warm clothes, grew taller, well-behaved, literate, and studied.

Wanzhen was absent-minded all day yesterday because she knew that tomorrow was her sister's birthday, and her son, as the emperor, must pay the birthday of the empress dowager at the banquet, and she could take the opportunity to see her son.

Sure enough, not long after the banquet began, Cixi's personal eunuch Li Lianying shared the news: "His emperor is here to pay tribute to the Empress Dowager."

Cixi smiled and nodded, "Please hurry up!"

"Zhe~", Li Lianying hit Qiandao, then got up and pulled Changyiner and said sharply: "The emperor is here!"

Everyone hurriedly paid homage and shouted 'Long live! Long live! Long live!"

Wanzhen naturally bowed with everyone, but she secretly glanced at her son with her eyes.

However, the little emperor did not squint his eyes and did not look at his biological mother at all.

"My son is here to meet the Queen Mother of the Holy Mother, pay tribute to the Queen Mother of the Holy Mother, and wish the Queen Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother of the Holy Mother!" Zai Tian said, kneeling down to pay a great gift to Cixi.

In fact, Zai Tian usually says to Cixi for "Dad's good luck", but today there is a foreign envoy's wife, which is a formal occasion, so when he meets, he called Cixi the title "Holy Mother Empress Dowager".

Zai Tian performed the grand ceremony of three bows and nine bows. Cixi said with a smile: "Prince, please get up." Li Lianying hurriedly went over and bowed to help him up. Eunuchs and palace maids had already brought the brocade bed to the empress dowager. After the women around him gave the emperor a salute, they all stood up straight.

Zai Tian stood up, but did not go over to take a seat immediately. He just laughed and said, "Dad, I have a gift for my dear father."

Cixi smiled and said, "If I had known you would like to offer treasures, I'd take it out."

On Ci'an's birthday three months ago, Zai Tian presented a machine box caused by the United States. When you open it, you can get simple music, which is extremely exquisite. I wonder what Zai Tian will take out today.

At this time, Zai Tian took a brocade box from the eunuch beside him. Of course, it was no longer the one that Yi had handed over some time ago. Zai Tian praised the bigger and more gorgeous ones. Li Lianying hurriedly took it, opened it and saw two crystal clear crystal bottles, one big and one small, inside, and there was an unknown translucent liquid in it.

Cixi smiled and joked: "Well, the bottle is exquisite, but what is the content in this bottle? It's too few."

Zai Tian hurriedly said, "This is perfume, which was specially bought by the sons from France. Dad, don't look at this small bottle, in fact, just a small drop can be fragrant. This bottle can last for a long time."

"Oh? How fragrant is it? I want to try this."

After hearing this, Li Lianying quickly took out the small bottle. As soon as she opened the bottle plug, a fragrance suddenly emanated. Then she drew a drop on the table and suddenly felt a strong and strange fragrance coming to her nose. This fragrance is different from the fragrance of flowers and musk, and no one has ever smelled it. Moreover, Cixi felt that this fragrance made her feel a faint excitement.

This excitement is hard to tell what kind of emotion it is. Cixi thought in her heart, yes, it was as if she had just killed Sushun and was in power behind the curtain. It was the excitement brought by the desire to control it was satisfied, and it was the desire to control life and death.

Cixi immediately fell in love with this fragrance.

Seeing that the "dear father" was satisfied, Zai Tian's smile became even more intense. At this time, an eunuch came over to ask whether the show would start. Cixi was in high spirits, so of course she ordered the show to start. Li Lianying quietly put away the brocade box.

After the dinner, Cixi, who returned to the bedroom, called Li Lianying, "Have you tested it?"

Li Lianying said respectfully: "Yes. I took a little bit and put it into dog food. I had nothing to do. I took a small amount of it on a small Lassu and a walking eunuch. They all acted and did things as usual, and they were fine. The slave also asked the French and confirmed that what the emperor asked him to buy was indeed a fragrance."

Cixi listened silently and said nothing.

Li Lianying paused and said softly: "Sister can investigate in detail."

Then Cixi said, "No need."

He paused again, and then said, "Let's use this in the future, but pay attention to the dosage."

Li Lianying immediately responded: "Zhe."

Time flies, and it is the autumn of the sixth year of Guangxu.

The Changchun Palace was in a mess, but no one in and out dared to make a sound, for fear of disturbing Empress Dowager Cixi lying in the house.

Ci'an was also sitting outside at this time, with the young emperor Zai Tian standing next to him. Both mother and son frowned and said nothing, as if they were carrying a huge heart for the people in the inside.

Cixi was in a coma during the hearing in the Hall of Yangxin. At that time, all the ministers were discussing the matter of honor.

During the Tongzhi period, Muhammad Yahofu, a Hui native in Central Asia, was rebelled and established the Zedshar Khanate in 1865 and led his army to invade Xinjiang. In the first year of Guangxu, the two palaces appointed Zuo Zongtang as the imperial minister to supervise Xinjiang military affairs. Jin Shun was appointed as the deputy chief of Urumqi to fight against the Hui rebellion in Xinjiang. In the third year of Guangxu, Agubo was defeated by Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu in the Qing Dynasty.

However, Aguba was supported by Tsarist Russia behind the scenes. In April of the 10th year of Tongzhi, Tsarist Russia used the border crisis caused by Aguba's invasion of China's Xinjiang and blatantly sent troops to occupy the Ili area and penetrated into the surrounding areas. After Zuo Zongtang defeated Aguba, he should have further recovered Ili, but the Qing government was unable to fight against Tsarist Russia. So in the fourth year of Guangxu, the court sent an envoy, Russian imperial envoy Chonghou, to Russia, hoping to resolve the Ili issue peacefully.

Chonghou arrived in St. Petersburg on the 8th day of the 4th year of Guangxu. He began negotiations with Russia three days later. Unexpectedly, Chonghou acted boldly and signed the Rivachia Treaty with the Russians without permission without the permission of the court, ceding a large area of ​​territory west of the Horgos River in the southern border of Ili to Tsarist Russia, and compensated Ili soldiers and 5 million rubles (2.8 million taels of silver).

The treaty also allows Russian merchants to trade in Mongolia and Xinjiang to be exempted from taxes and add three additional trade routes - increasing Nibchu to Kulun; from Kobrunto to Naturalization, and transfer to Tianjin through Zhangjiakou; from Xinjiang through Jiayuguan, Xi'an or Hanzhong to Hankou. Moreover, import tax on Russian goods transported by land to Tianjin and Hankou needs to be reduced by one-third compared to those transported by sea. Open the Songhua River, and Russian merchants have added consulars in seven places including Jiayuguan, Urumqi, Hami, Turpan, Gucheng, Kobdo, Ulyasutai, etc.

After the signing of the treaty, the country was in an uproar. The Qingliu ministers condemned Chonghou for losing power and humiliating the country. Even Yishu, who had always been peaceful, believed that the treaty had lost too many rights and it was better not to sign it if signed.

Zhang Zhidong reported to him: "If it is like the New Testament, what you get is the empty name of the two characters Yili, and what you lose is the reality of Xinjiang and thousands of miles." He asked the court to immediately "take Chonghou, who "mislead the country and bewitch the enemy" and "give him the Ministry of Justice to understand the punishment of the righteous and righteous decree", and think that later generations are warned.

After hearing the news of the signing of the treaty, Zuo Zongtang said angrily: "I have only a wasteland left in Yili. There are Russian tribes within one or two hundred miles of the northern border, and they are trapped in thousands of miles. How can I survive?"

In the fifth year of Guangxu, the court informed the Russian minister that this agreement was "extremely ill" and refused to approve it. Chonghou was dismissed from office and handed over to the Ministry of Justice for punishment, and appointed him as a prison sentence and executed him after the autumn.

But today, a minister defended Chonghou, hoping that the court would allow Chonghou to use 300,000 taels of silver as military expenses to atone for his sins. Cixi was furious and said, "Is the tens of thousands of land in the northern border of Yili worth only 300,000 taels of silver? What's more, he has to compensate the Russians for military expenses." As soon as he finished speaking, Cixi felt dizzy and was unconscious. She was immediately sent back to Changchun Palace.

At this time, the imperial physician had been watching inside for half an hour, and finally waited until the eunuch, Li Lianying, who was beside Cixi, lifted the curtains. The little emperor asked quickly: "Master Li, what's wrong with the Empress Dowager?"

Li Lianying first stepped forward to salute Empress Dowager Ci'an and Emperor Guangxu, and then said, "Your mother, Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, is awake, and I am asking my mother, Empress Dowager."

When Empress Dowager Ci'an heard this, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and waved her hand and said, "I'll go in now." As she said that, she stood up. Zaitian hurriedly came over to help her, while Li Lianying hurriedly set up a curtain for the two of them.

The two entered the inner room. Before the imperial physician left, they saw that they came, and immediately knelt down to salute.

Empress Dowager Ci'an waved her hand and said, "Forget it, hurry up and boil the medicine." As she said that, she walked to Cixi's bed and sat down. The little emperor saluted Cixi and stood beside her.

Cixi just woke up and was weak all over and did not get up. Ci'an was an easy-going person, so of course she would not care about her even more.

"Sister, I'm not talking about you as a sister, so why do you have trouble?"

At that time, Cixi was in poor health. Every time she listened to politics, she tried her best to support her.

From the winter of the fourth year of Guangxu, Cixi became more diligent in handling government affairs. To the fifth year of Guangxu, she worked until late at night every day, and asked about everything in detail. During this period, the young emperor Zai Tian had repeatedly persuaded "dear father" to pay attention to her health, and Cixi put "state affairs first" and ignored it. Even when Empress Dowager Ci'an persuaded her, she thought Ci'an wanted to share her rights, so she started arguing with Ci'an. So Ci'an stopped asking about it. But at this time, seeing Cixi lying on the bed again, she naturally couldn't help but raise it again.

Cixi smiled hard on the bed and said weakly: "I'm not sick for a day or two. If I have to wait for a good time, I don't know when it will delay the business. It just made my sister worry so much that I couldn't bear it."

"Look at this time, you are still so strong. What medicine do the imperial physician use?"

Cixi said: "Hmph, it's not the same as usual."

Cixi had dysmenorrhea in her early years, with lower symptoms. During the Xianfeng period, she took "Mental Pills". In addition, Cixi liked to eat meat-based oils such as Beijing duck, so she suffered from spleen and stomach problems for many years. After the fourth year of Guangxu, Cixi's symptoms of "shen deficiency and not sleeping easily" became more serious. In addition, she was already obsessed with power, and at this time, she always had three o'clock in handling government affairs.

By the fifth year of Guangxu, sudden coma began to occur. I asked the imperial physician many times to check it out, and they all thought it was a 'bone steam' disease. After taking the medicine, it was effective at the beginning, but the later disease recurred and the effect of the medicine became less and less obvious. However, the imperial physician did not find any other diseases, so he could only use the medicine as 'bone steam'.

"These quack doctors should have cut their heads down, none of them were attentive. My sister's disease has been cured for two years, but it has become more and more serious. In my opinion, it is better to pass on the orders of the world and recruit famous doctors. I don't believe it. There are no one or two miracle doctors in the Qing Dynasty?"

Cixi's condition was always treated by the Imperial Hospital, but now it seems that she must find another prescription. She sent a decree to seek medical treatment in the world for her own illness, so Cixi naturally would not object: "My sister cannot go to court these days, and she has to work hard for her sister. The political affairs will be handled entirely by her sister's decision."

Ci'an patted Cixi's hand and said, "Sister, rest with peace of mind. You know my sister's temperament. I don't like these at all. I still hope you get better soon. You have to carry this burden."
Chapter completed!