Summer in the capital is extremely hot. As soon as the sun rises in the morning, the entire Forty-Nine City is like a steamer. The sky and the earth are filled with steaming heat. In a daze, people can even see the shadow of the heat wave rolling in the air. .
Throughout the day, except for those poor people who couldn't live without going out, the entire city of Beijing seemed to have turned into a dead city. Even if all the teahouses, wine shops, and opium dens put up their awnings, there were only a few customers. When I came to the door, the waiter who was guarding the shop had his upper body plucked clean, a frizzy whip was coiled around his neck, and his tongue was sticking out to compete with a dog.
This kind of weather has been inevitable for hundreds of years. Even the Han people here can't stand it, let alone the Manchus. The ethnic minorities who come from the white mountains and black waters simply shut themselves up in their houses when encountering this kind of weather.
At this time, people can deeply appreciate the benefits of living by the water. The three large seas in the capital are surrounded by the mansions of princes and nobles. Senior civil and military officials and wealthy businessmen are also willing to spend money to buy some properties here. When the summer is miserable, letting the moisture by the water blow in can at least provide a little bit of cooling.
"Hurry up, hurry up... walk faster, blind eyes, can't you see that the ice in the copper basin is about to melt? If it turns into water when you enter the study, I will skin you..."
"Ouch... You idiots have said it over a hundred times that the cold noodles the prince eats should be put in a silver bowl and chilled with ice water... This is your first time. Waiting on errands?"
"As for those who stick to the stick, why don't you hurry up and get to work? Listen to how the cicada monkeys are screaming, and why don't you stick them to me one by one..."
This is Prince Gong's Mansion, this is Cuijin Garden, and this is the royal mansion next to Shichahai. He Shen chose to build his house here, probably because of the coolness in the summer.
The eunuch in charge next to Prince Gong was so anxious that his forehead was about to burst into flames. The hot prince had not had a single meal for several days in a row. He finally asked for a bowl of cold noodles. These clumsy people My grandson just doesn’t know how to serve.
"Come on, come on, you bastards, you lazy ones, if you miss the little bit of appetite that the prince just had, I will really kill someone today..."
Under the urging of the elder eunuch, the little eunuchs and maids all turned pale with fright. They all ran away, lowering their heads and not daring to say a word.
At this moment, a maid carrying an ice plate, who might have suffered from heat stroke, suddenly tilted her body and fell to the ground with a clang of the copper plate, and large ice cubes rolled all over the floor.
"Oh, you bitch... This is such precious ice. I can't even afford to sell it to you... If you dare to fall to the ground, you are going to die. Don't blame me..." The eunuch pulled With his unique long voice, he rushed forward and kicked the little girl on the head.
"My lord, I was wrong, please forgive me..." The dizzy maid kowtowed and begged for mercy, and couldn't even remember to put the ice cubes on the plate.
For Prince Gong, using some ice in summer is really not a valuable thing. In fact, even an ordinary middle-class house in Sijiu City can buy less ice as long as it spends a little money. Today, the little maid The beating was purely because everyone in the palace was unhappy.
The prince has not smiled for several days, and even all the servants are stern and do not dare to smile.
Just as the eunuch in charge was beating the little maid wildly, a little eunuch suddenly ran out from the sidewalk beside the pool. He was seen holding up his robe in one hand and holding a large envelope high in the other hand. With a whoosh of heat, he came out of the chaotic crowd. Ran past the edge.
"Give way, everyone, give way... We can't delay the important mission of the military aircraft. If you step on it to death, it will be in vain..."
"Sixth son, you precious military aircraft, send me a letter, I will treat you to tea and a show tonight..." The supervisor who hit the person stopped beating, and suddenly flashed his collar and blew out hot air.
Normally, the little eunuch named Liu Zi would have to stop and talk to his elders. Even if it was an emergency, he would have to say something like "wait and wait". But today, it was so weird that the little eunuch didn't say a single nonsense.
"Oh, this grandson is so disrespectful today. Are you asking me to deal with him?" Just when he was scolding, the little eunuch had already disappeared. Not even a quarter of an hour later, the queen of the rockery heard The prince's thunderous roar came from the study room, "What, the fight is about to start, how could it be so fast..."
The eunuch in charge who hit the person was so frightened that he almost jumped into the pool and committed suicide. He looked at the maid with blood on her forehead in horror, as if she had seen a ghost, "You, you, you... who are you? How did the prince know you?" .”
Yes, he thought the prince was angry about him beating the maid. Of course Prince Gong would not care about the life or death of a little maid. What he is holding in his hand now is the secret letter just sent by the Prime Minister's Yamen. Every word in it All shocking.
"French warships appeared in the Ryukyu waters four days ago and began bombarding Naha Port without declaring war... The spies we planted earlier flew pigeons to pass the message, and it took 21 pigeons to piece together the complete information..."
"The French fleet has a total of ten battleships, one battleship, seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers... Oh, it's all a mess, why waste this pen and ink... Well, the number of artillery actually exceeds 700."
"The artillery battle continued that day, and the Naha Castle was blazing with flames. The sky and the earth seemed to collapse amidst the rumbling cannons... At noon, two warships of the French fleet suddenly attacked Kunigami Village. Now they have captured the village chief, and the French have established a landing bridgehead. …”
The master with a mustache read the information to the prince one by one. He was also a second-hand swordsman and a fake Western learning expert in Sijiu City. He didn't understand many professional military terms at all. He just talked and talked about it. Prince Gong also got angry.
With a snap, Qinghuocha was thrown on the table. "I didn't ask you to come here to ask you to follow the script. I want to ask you if you have analyzed anything, what is going on with the battleship, what is going on with the cruiser, and what are the 700 cannons?" Cannon."
"Why are you rolling your eyes? Let me ask you a question... You said that the enemy and we are shooting at each other. Ryukyu can still shoot at the French. What kind of cannons do they use? What the hell is Kunigami Village? What is a bridgehead? "
Mousebeard shivered for a long time before he squeezed out a few words: "Your Majesty, these intelligence clues are really too few... Wait, there is another line of fine print at the end. The Kunigami Water Ghost actually sank a cruiser and a group of students. The soldiers captured another ship."
This time Prince Gong completely collapsed, "Why is this so chaotic? A weak country like Ryukyu can sink a French warship and even capture one. Are you lying to me?"
Mousebeard rubbed his hands anxiously, "My lord, that's what it says in the intelligence. There are no specific details. How many things can the homing pigeon carry? If you can write more than a hundred words on a piece of silk, it's considered to be powerful... …Oh, by the way, Your Majesty, there is another big harvest this time.”
"You tell me." Prince Gong became excited all of a sudden, Mouse Beard held his few Mouse Beards in a mysterious manner and whispered. "My lord, the identity of Xiao Letian, Prime Minister of Ryukyu, has been mentioned in this information more than once. This has proven that everything he said before was all lies. He resigned and did not do anything. These are all lies to fool people. The court wants to punish him. A crime of deceiving the emperor..."
There was a crisp sound, and Prince Gong went up and said, "Fuck you, what use do I need for this waste like you? Get out of here..." Amidst the scolding, the rat's beard was like a ball from the study room. He ran away.
Prince Gong is going crazy. Isn’t what you, old bastard said, all nonsense? The court has known for a long time that Xiao Letian is lying. There are so many Qing businessmen and fishermen traveling to Ryukyu. Isn’t it possible that this little bit of information can’t be detected? .
But what can you do if you know it? Fall out with Xiao Letian, mobilize an army to conquer him, what a joke, even if you can win on land, what about the sea? How can you fight Ryukyu? Does the Qing Dynasty have a navy?
Let’s talk about Xiao Letian’s previous attack on leaflets and newsprint. That battle scared the court. Everyone found that if Xiao Letian really launched such crazy propaganda and threw away the foundation of the court, the country would be in ruins. Sooner or later it will collapse.
"You are not smart, you are confused. Is this Xiao Letian dead or alive? Why are you so difficult to deal with?" Just when the prince was sad, there was a sudden bang and all the doors and windows of the study room were knocked open by the strong wind. Prince Gong was frightened. A thrill.
There are many thunderstorms in summer, and today's surprisingly sultry weather indicates that there will be a heavy rainstorm in the evening. Prince Gong stood in front of the window, facing the sultry heat mixed with a strangely cool wind, and the garden was full of people running wildly. Eunuch and maid.
Looking up at the sky, the dense black clouds were pressing up like ferocious demons and ghosts. The sky in the distance was flickering, and the sound of muffled thunder had become louder.
"My lord, please be careful... Please close the window, slave..." The eunuch who had been violent just now was now hiding under the wall like a cat and mouse, and said with a smile.
"Go away." Prince Gong slapped his fat face away. "I want to have some wind, can't I? I want to see the rain, can't I? You, my little slave, are here to trouble me."
The fat manager knocked his head to the ground, "Your Majesty, calm down your anger, Your Majesty, please calm down your anger..."
"Fuck you, I'm annoyed by this character Xiao the most today, Xiao Xiaoxiao... The air leaks in Qing Dynasty are all caused by this person named Xiao. Are you dead or alive... Give me Can’t I just believe it?”
Amidst Prince Gong's roar, raindrops as big as soybeans fell down, and dark cumulonimbus clouds covered the entire Prince Gong's palace. The sky and earth were dark, with only the wandering electric light showing its power like a hidden dragon between the sky and the earth.
At the same time, there was heavy rain in the Forbidden City. The faucet in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony opened its mouth and sprayed out water jets. The white waves rolling in the Jinshui Bridge looked like a water monster.
There are many eunuchs and maids in the Forbidden City. The Yang energy here is not enough. Amidst the lightning and thunder, some weak-minded people were even frightened and fainted. Many old eunuchs even knelt in the room and chanted Buddha to resist the fear in their hearts.
In the Yangxin Palace, the little emperor Tongzhi stood at the entrance of the palace and looked at the pouring rain outside the palace with the eyes of a child, but his two ladies in the palace were already looking sad.
"Sister, everything we have now is to know whether Xiao Letian is alive or dead. My sister will never forget the scolding she gave me on the Beihai coast. But more than a month has passed, and there is no new news from the foreigners' mouths. This Xiao Letian, I think he must be dead..."
Ci'an listened to what Cixi said and sighed, "Sister, I know you want to deal with Xiao Letian. In fact, sister is just as cruel to him as you are, but running a country is like cooking fresh food. There can't be any omissions in the early stage... That distance between Europe and the United States The Qing Dynasty is more than 108,000 miles away, and it is a territory that even Tang Sanzang had not visited back then."
"I'm afraid that the foreigners will lie to me. Some of those big-nosed people have good intentions. If they give us false information, we will have to count the money after we are sold..."
Ci'an was as cautious as ever. This Qing Dynasty still needs to be more cautious.
