The captain nodded his head, and the captain comforted Hurd, "My old fellow, don't complain, the queen mother from the east, as long as these fun things, it is not very difficult to prepare, I heard that she has helped her son govern the country for ten years, can't she travel abroad to relax after retirement?" It's like when we go on vacation to Cyprus, but it's just a long trip, and besides," the captain disdainfully despised the Queen Mother from the East, "such a ruler who thinks about having fun all day long is not at all comparable to the Queen of the British Empire!" ”

On April 20, after a long journey, Her Royal Highness Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Empire, escorted by the Indian fleet, finally arrived in the port of London.

Founded in 1785 and now more than 100 years old, The Times published a front-page headline: "Madonna or butcher? The mysterious female ruler of the East. ”

"As the mother of the Chinese emperor, she should be a holy mother, giving birth to an heir for the empire, working hard to manage the harem, maintaining a non-jealous mentality, and letting everyone love each other, this is a template for the image of the Oriental Queen Mother, but the Queen Mother who is about to visit the United Kingdom, the blood stains on her body and the halo on the back of her head are as eye-catching."

"When she was the favorite concubine of the former emperor of China, she made a plan and burned tens of thousands of Catholics on the Yangtze River," "Fortunately, Britain is Protestant." "And by instigation, the two leaders of the rebels killed each other, and a city was bleeding bright red blood for several days...... The minister of the army was instructed to catch the thieves and cut them into pieces of meat with a sharp knife, and then it was the son of the queen mother who interceded to cut off the thumbs of all the captives and send them to sweatshops to drain their labor. ”

"After she gave birth to an heir to the Empire, she became the queen of this ancient country. The Empress took advantage of the Emperor's trust in her, stole the right to handle the government on behalf of the Emperor, and continued to brutally oppress the rebels, promoting officials of different races and sending young children of the imperial family to die on the battlefield. ”

"She is a stubborn person in response to the punitive measures imposed by Britain and France on China. After her master, her husband, had fled the capital, she resolutely stayed and mobilized the strength of the whole country, and in the event of a defeat in the naval battle, with some cavalry and some weapons purchased from the British, she was very fortunate to achieve victory, and many of the British Indian soldiers slept peacefully on the land of the Far East. ”

“…… This very fortunate victory established her position among her subjects, and she took advantage of her husband's death. Having defeated her husband's appointed cabinet ministers, she sat down behind her son, the new emperor of the empire, and used the political means she knew to govern the ancient kingdom. While governing the country, it brutally suppressed the pagan uprisings in the northwest and carried out a great purge of them, and thousands of villages were wiped off the map, according to the Chinese, another ethnic group in the north. It is also necessary to accept the punishment of having the head of a child who exceeds the height of the wheel for a certain period of time...... Since the Queen Mother governed the country. He seems to be aware of the importance of friendship with the British, not only bought many excellent British warships and industrial supplies, but also changed his husband's stubbornness, opened the country, and allowed foreign countries to enter and leave freely for trade and mission, you know, the Archbishop of Manchester. Preparations were already being made to award the Queen Mother a medal to spread the glory of God in the Far East, a land of hundreds of millions of people, and to give her the position of Apologetic...... I heard that the Empress Dowager also admired Western science and technology very much, and had added British arithmetic and astronomy to the examination for the selection of officials in China. Such an enlightened but cruel predominantly monarch of the East, what did she come to the British Empire for? What to do? What do you want? Is her arrival a good thing for the British Empire? Or is it an unlucky star? But there is one thing, reliable news, about the opium cultivation merchants are going to be unlucky, this time the Chinese queen mother, coming to the United Kingdom, will definitely involve the import of opium into China, which is a very serious problem in the eyes of the Chinese. You know, Britain and China had two wars, both of which were related to opium. Benjamin, Disraeli. ”

The pen of the British unit of the Prime Minister's Yamen read the article in today's "Times" with trepidation, and did not dare to speak motionlessly, in the cabin, the Queen Mother was standing with her hands open, and asked the palace maid to dress herself neatly, put on the morning beads, and the Queen Mother put on her armor, "Finished reading?" ”

"Yes."

"Who is this Benjamin, Disraeli? To be able to publish a signed article in The Times must be a remarkable figure. ”

"It's the leader of the Conservative Party," Mr. Hurd said, "and he's always advocated a tough policy abroad. ”

"So, the opium industry is also turning to the Conservatives?" The Empress Dowager Cixi brought herself three strings of Dongzhu earrings on each side.

"Yes," Hurd smiled bitterly, "Queen Mother, you are really wise. ”

"This matter, I'm not in a hurry, and I don't know where he came from, but he actually inquired about me so clearly," the Queen Mother took the newspaper, she knew a few English, "Tut-tut, Iron Queen, I like this word, the Virgin or the butcher?" How can I be the Virgin, such a holy word," the Queen Mother laughed, "and it is better to put it on Mary's head." ”

Hurd bowed slightly, "Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, the Foreign Secretary of the British Empire and the Chinese Ambassador to Britain and France, Guo Songtao, have already greeted you at the port. ”

"Okay," the Empress Dowager Cixi put on the crown, and the five golden phoenixes on it were about to fly into the air, "Then bother Mr. Hurd to go down and hand over first." ”

"You go down," the Queen Mother instructed Gao Xinkui, "if you are in a foreign country today, don't bow down in China, lest Chinese and Western customs are incomprehensible and make jokes, just bow."

"Yes." Gao Xinkui also turned to leave, Tang Wufu also wore a python robe, and there was a peacock feather behind his head, and he picked up the mirror with a smile and stood in front of the Queen Mother, flattering, "The master is bright and amazing today, and the foreigners must be stunned when they see it." ”

The salute outside roared, and the Queen Mother smiled slightly, "Wufu, you follow me and go down together, now we can really see the Western scenery!" ”

Tang Wufu picked up the hand of the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother was wearing a bright yellow auspicious dress today, wearing a stone blue Five Dragons Regiment supplement dress outside, and a golden pearl was hung around her neck, this pearl was paid tribute by the Sulu State, the Queen Mother smiled, pressed the anxiety in her heart, the attendant opened the hatch, and the Queen Mother walked out, greeted the cheers outside, raised her hand, and waved generously and appropriately to the crowd. (To be continued......)