"Do you know what kind of big things happened in the few days you left the capital? Haha... The Ai family really didn't expect that the situation would become such a mess, and even he would jump out..."
What Ci'an said has to go back to the past. Ci'an is not an incompetent queen mother. This woman's natural power is not great, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't understand.
To put it simply, this woman doesn't love power very much, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't know the ways and tricks in the field of power. In order to protect herself and the Qing Dynasty, Ci'an was also very ruthless.
After all, she was the famous Eastern Empress Dowager, Xianfeng's wife, the woman who was brought in through the palace's main entrance. Her reputation was far higher than that of Cixi. The Han officials who grew up under Confucian education believed that Ci'an was the real master who listened to politics behind the curtain. , even the Mongolian tribes admired Ci'an.
Ci'an has always been very strong in wining over the Mongolian tribes. For example, the Eight Banners Allied Forces of Manchuria and Mongolia led by Seng Gelinqin. Many of the Mongolian tribes only sent their real elites to participate in the war under Ci'an's coordination. .
With the emergence of Xiao Letian, the situation in the court became increasingly chaotic. Originally, the Tongzhi Renaissance period did not appear in history. Although it was indeed a recovery period economically, more serious killings occurred politically.
Ci'an was very worried about this trend. She even felt that the Qing Dynasty was heading towards a serious civil war. It was not the kind of civil war involving Han people, but a serious conflict between the Manchus and the Manchus.
It is the bounden duty of politicians to prepare for a rainy day. Ci'an arranged for Fuqing to form a reformist faction. In fact, Ci'an herself did not care about conservatism or reform. She just wanted to use various forces to balance the government.
Arranging Fu Qing with one hand, and taking action in the north with the other, she began to install her trusted officials in the Zhangjiakou area, and began to have frequent contact with the Mongolian princes. In the end, even the capital of Rehe took refuge with the Empress Dowager of the East.
Ci'an was secretly building up her strength in the north of the Qing Dynasty. She was very careful not to show off her strength at all, but all her efforts paid off. Just a few years ago, her forces discovered a very strange situation.
A group of horse bandits suddenly appeared outside the entrance, numbering more than 500 people. They were entrenched in the Halawusu River area north of Zhangjiakou, and even wandered further north to the Chahar Zhenghuang Banner Ranch area.
It is strange to say that these horse bandits in the Roaring Mountain Forest rarely commit crimes, disturbing the people but never harming them, and local officials mostly turn a blind eye to them. Gradually, these people caused trouble in the Rehe Capital and the Eastern Four Leagues. The vigilance of the Mongolian tribe leader.
During their careful inquiries, these people actually discovered a shocking secret. The officials who provided protection to the horse bandits were more or less related to a figure in the capital.
"He is the fifth master of our capital, Yi Pei!"
"What!" Fu Qing's tiger body shook and almost knocked Ci'an to the ground. "Fifth prince? This, this, this... how is this possible?"
Among the idle men of the Eight Banners in the capital, whoever hears the name of the Fifth Master should not choose a big thumb! Eating a bowl of tofu pudding and giving a piece of gold to a poor woman, breaking the third leg of a bully who molested a woman... the fifth master did many such righteous things.
Even when the fifth master's name was mentioned in Jianghukou of the capital, he admired him from the bottom of his heart, not because of his status as a prince at all.
People like this want to fight and cause trouble, cracking the head of the iron-hatted Wang family's housekeeper, or breaking the leg of someone's unfilial grandson. Fu Qing believes this news, but now Ci'an has made it clear that the Fifth Master has the intention of entering. Fu Qing doesn’t believe this.
"Haha... what a fool! Don't believe me, just listen to me..."
Ci'an took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his little friend's head. "Later, I asked someone to check it out, and then I found out that the rebellious Yang Zhi under Xiao Letian was already very close to Yi Pei, and A number of officials in the capital, both big and small, are also related to him..."
"During the money crisis in Jiangnan and the stock market, my fifth brother made a fortune... No wonder there are people like Yang Zhi who have followed Xiao Letian to help him. If he doesn't make a fortune, then There’s a ghost!”
"Now that he has money, he also recruits people from the martial arts world to secretly train troops. Although there are only five hundred people, the meaning is too obvious... He is waiting for the opportunity. He has calculated that there will be big changes in the court in the future. He This is preparation in advance!”
"Even Lao Wu, a street gangster, is interested. You can only imagine what kind of chaos it has become outside... The Ai family really didn't expect it! Zhou Daoying, a loser, helps me find out every day, but I don't know what he found out!"
Before he finished speaking, he saw the great eunuch Zhou Daoying running all the way and kneeling on the stone slab, "This slave is a waste, this slave is really useless... But this slave is really attentive and definitely not lazy!" After saying this, he kowtowed.
Third Master Qing quickly smoothed things over, "You can't blame the manager. In fact, I didn't hear anything about the Fifth Master while I was running around outside. This shows that the Fifth Master is hiding deeply, and it also proves that the Queen Mother is very clever..."
"Flatterer..." Ci'an rolled her eyes at him, and then unconsciously rubbed Fu Qing's thigh with her buttocks. The curve of her plump buttocks slipped on her thighs. Fuqing's blood rushed to him, and he almost sprayed from his nose. come out.
"Haha... Queen Mother... Haha, let's just tell us what we should do... don't be pretentious... Hiss..."
As soon as the little enemy said something, Ci'an also announced how angry he was. Without hiding it, Ci'an directly launched his plan: "Before Zai Chun takes office, none of us can conflict with Xi Mian, including the Japanese Liu Gen." No, please tuck your tail!"
"From today onwards, Aijia has been pretending to be sick and asked Taiyuan Hospital to prescribe a prescription, saying that I have a fever and a strong heart and need to rest... It is better to say that I should go to Chengde to escape the summer heat. Aijia, I must leave this place of right and wrong. land!"
"Fuqing, you stay in the capital, and I will help you meet the Fifth Prince. We don't have many soldiers, so we can join together so that we can cope with big changes in the future..."
"Yi Pei doesn't dare to disobey me. If he dares to disobey me, don't blame the Ai family for rudely revealing his secret... Don't worry, he still has to give me the face of my sister-in-law!"
"From now on, we must save more money and food, and raise more soldiers... When Zai Chun takes charge, we must have soldiers to protect us!"
Fu Qing frowned, "Will Prince Gong let the Queen Mother go to Chengde? Couldn't he be aware of it at all? He also has a lot of informants..."
"It doesn't matter, the Ai family has one last resort... call Zeng Guofan right away. You have been recuperating for so long. Now that the weather is warm, it's time to come to Zhili to take office, right?"
"Hahaha... If Lao Zeng is in the capital, do you think Guiziliu can still focus on us? Hahaha..."
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