On October 16, 1872, Emperor Tongzhi got married, and the whole country celebrated!
There were lights and colorful decorations inside and outside the capital, festive firecrackers were set off from the south to the north of the city, and all the streets were guarded by sentries at five steps and ten steps. The Yamen of the capital had driven away all the beggars and refugees half a month in advance!
On today's day, you wouldn't be able to go out for a walk without some silk hanging on your body!
The roads that the wedding procession must pass have long been blocked and guarded, and no one is allowed to enter or exit the streets. All street entrances are also tied up with silk curtains to block the prying eyes of people outside!
The queen's phoenix frame passes here, how can it be allowed to be spied on by irrelevant people? But this ban is just a formality. The shops along the street have already rented out their spaces in advance. People hide inside through the cracks in windows and doors, and even lick the broken window paper, just to catch a glimpse of the spectacular procession to send off the bride!
Simpson, the gold medal reporter of the "Illustrated London News", and his Indian entourage, stayed up all night last night, nervously preparing their cameras and sketch pads!
The two of them and some six or seven Western reporters received special interview documents from the Ministry of Rites of the Qing Dynasty, allowing them to travel in fixed areas of the capital!
In fact, the original intention of the Ministry of Rites was not to allow these foreign devils to run around, but the little emperor was a new emperor. Once he heard that a foreign reporter was coming to interview him, he absolutely could not stop him!
The emperor specially sent a decree to the Ministry of Rites to allow these foreign reporters to interview!
This puts the officials under their command in a difficult position. These officials who read the books of sages do not want foreign devils to interview and take photos at will. After all, there are still many officials who firmly believe that cameras are a magic weapon to enchant people!
The emperor had his will, and the officials below had their own response. Weng Tonghe, Li Hongzao and others made a decision after underestimating it for a while, and suppressed these European reporters in the sub-area!
French reporters set up cameras on the gate tower of Daqing Gate! The American reporter allowed them to take pictures next to the Meridian Gate, and the British man named Simpson was allowed to take pictures near the Dongdan Archway!
Drawing a barrier to prevent them from running around will save a lot of trouble!
Zai Chun had no idea that his will had been tampered with by his officials. This was also a common practice in the officialdom. Officials who didn't know how to deceive superiors and subordinates would not be able to survive!
But Weng Tonghe and others neglected one thing. If they could deceive the emperor, then their officials could also deceive them!
This Simpson had a new friend, Liu Peiqi, the head of the Ministry of Accounts. This man was a big official. When he heard that Simpson had a problem, he laughed and spent more than a thousand silver dollars to smooth things over!
"That's right...my foreign lord, you can interview as you please. I have already smoothed the relationship with the East City of the capital. As long as you don't leave the inner city of East City, you can interview as you please. I guarantee that no one will care about you..."
Simpson thanked him profusely, but he never imagined that in order for his interview to go smoothly, he would have to rely on the power of this corrupt official!
But Simpson never expected that he would really hit a treasure today. Just after six o'clock in the morning, he was preparing his camera in the Dongdan Archway area when he suddenly found that the south door of the Chinese Embassy was open, and one after another The official came out and jumped on the horse at the gate!
Following the crowd, there were actually Emperor Tongzhi in a bright yellow dragon robe and Xiao Letian in a marshal's uniform!
This group of people rode horses and trotted around Dongdan Archway and headed north!
"Ouch... little Dali, hurry up and pack your things. Let's catch up. There must be big news..."
Simpson memorized the wedding procedures carefully. Today, the little emperor should be in the Forbidden City and cannot go anywhere, but he left the palace unusually early in the morning. There must be something important!
And this big thing is so serious that even the queen mothers of the two palaces can't stop it!
Simpson chartered two rickshaws to follow them throughout the whole journey today, one to pull him, and the other to pull cameras and other equipment!
Little Dali, an Indian slave, is not qualified to ride in a car, so he follows the rickshaw as hard as he can!
"Hurry up, hurry up... follow His Majesty's cavalry, keep up with the Führer's cavalry... As long as you keep up, I will give you fifty more silver dollars..."
"Don't be afraid, I am a Western journalist permitted by His Majesty the Emperor to interview...I have documents from the Ministry of Rites!"
Little Dali held the documents from the Ministry of Rites in his hand while running and waving them in the wind. The cavalry guarding the head of state and the emperor had obviously known about Simpson's existence for a long time, and no one stopped him!
They ran from the Dongdan Archway to the Anding Gate. Thanks to Simpson for giving the driver extra money three times, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to get there even if they vomited blood!
When the rickshaw stopped, the two rickshaw drivers were speechless. They lay on the ground gasping for air, and their legs were so tired!
At this time, the head of state and Emperor Tongzhi had already followed the horse path to the city tower. A young eunuch stood at the horse path entrance and looked at Simpson without saying anything.
At this time, Simpson had already learned some of the rules of the Qing Dynasty officialdom. He felt in his pocket that there were no silver coins. He could only take out a few pound notes and secretly handed them over about fifty pounds!
"This...father-in-law...this is British money...it is very valuable and can be exchanged for three hundred taels of silver...it is not fake..."
The little father-in-law smiled, shrunk his hand and hid a few pounds in his cuffs. "Foreign masters, you're so polite... I also went to Europa with Long Live Master. Little Sixi's father-in-law is my master..."
"Of course I recognize this pound... When His Majesty went to the city just now, he made a decree, saying that it is not easy for a British reporter to come to the Qing Dynasty, so let him go up to the city tower to take pictures, and let us not stop you..."
"Please... Mr. Foreigner..."
Simpson stuck out his tongue and thought to himself, "God, if I don't give you money, I'm afraid you won't talk to me unless you stop me. I still can't get up!"
At this time, Simpson did not dare to cause trouble. He led his servants quickly along the horse path to climb the Andingmen Gate Tower. As soon as he reached the city and glanced north, the scene in front of him made his hair stand on end!
"Oh! God! Did the barbarians invade? The capital was invaded by barbarians..."
Under the towering Andingmen tower, there were twenty square cavalry phalanxes, each with about a thousand men!
Flags fluttered, war horses neighed, and a barbaric and disgusting smell rushed towards my face!
Although these barbarian cavalrymen with money rat tails hanging on their arms and furs on their bare arms are not neat and orderly, they are far from the orderly sense of order of the Chinese troops and the new Yulin Army!
But in this chaos, there are genes with the most indelible memory in all civilized worlds for thousands of years!
Barbarian invasion! Extremely violent!
Hunchun rode his horse out of the formation, jumped off his horse and knelt down in front of Anding Gate!
"Chen Hunchun... congratulations on your majesty's wedding... I have no gold or silver to give as a congratulatory gift, so I can only offer 20,000 crippled horses and cavalry to your majesty as a token of my gratitude!"
"Long live my emperor! Long live! Long live!"
"All troops...dismount...kneel down!"
