The Queen Mother allowed the Hurds to go up the hidden staircase to visit. The staircase www.biquge.info her bed was in the corner of her bed, leading to her own Buddhist hall on the upper floor. Under special circumstances, lamas and monks will perform Buddhist services here. It is a comfortable refuge, and its dim, reverent light leads people to contemplation, to prayer.

On the high incense table, in front of a large golden Buddha with exquisite shapes, the tall gold wax skewers shine with pearls and rubies. Sumptuous enamel vases are filled with precious bouquets, and cigarettes curl in gold-patterned incense burners. A beautiful carpet of bright yellow silk was laid on the floor, and small, delicate portraits of saints and personified certain characteristics were plastered around the walls. The strangely shaped windows are intricately shaped, and the translucent shells are embedded in the light, and the light that shines through the mysterious depths is the beautiful jewelry on the incense table, the faint golden body of the Buddha, and the slightly shiny circle of saints in red and gold clothes on the wall. This was the Queen Mother's favorite Buddhist hall, and she walked up behind Mrs. Hurd, proudly pointing them out to the Hurders. Hurd believes that in addition to loving its religious nature, she has also attained an equally high level of appreciation for its perfect artistry.

As long as she wanted, she could climb the stairs hidden inside from the side of the bed to get here, without anyone noticing or following. Here she sought the peace that seemed so distant in the turbulent years of the past, when all was so hopeless in her country.

The Empress Dowager's throne room was located in the first of the three halls in the northeast corner of the palace wall, and these three halls, together with the courtyard in which they were located, extended to the foot of the outer wall of the palace. The buildings are about 8 feet above the white marble slabs of the courtyard, with beautiful white marble steps to climb up. On the steps of the second hall, Hurd saw for the first time the relief of the soul ladder used in secular architecture. This relief is a piece of white marble placed in the middle of the staircase, extending from its highest point to its lowest point. This piece of white marble was not made into a cascade, but a double dragon was carefully carved on it. It lies in the middle of the steps, as if covered with a beautiful, heavy carpet on top of it, too hard to rise and fall with the steps.

All good temples have such megalithic reliefs on the steps at the entrances that the feet of the worldly are not to touch them; When there are a lot of steps, like the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, the effect will be both beautiful and fresh and unique.

The hall with the relief on the steps is the most beautiful of the three halls in the area of the Queen Mother, with an interior of 50 feet, with exquisite caissons, and the walls are made of wood, which are exquisitely carved, and equipped with cloisonné wall decorations, which looks glorious and luxurious.

Above the high basilica is a circle of terraces, with doors leading into the inner rooms; The inner room is just above the side house below, and it is not particularly high. This large front hall contains the throne of His Majesty, screens, and pheasant tail fans, and is obviously used for more important occasions than the throne room that the Hurds first entered. Opposite the Dan Majesty, there is a delicately carved jade water tank, which is used to store water and cool down in summer. Surrounded by a beautiful music box, Queen Victoria's gift to the Queen Mother, as well as several other gifts from European monarchs. The room on the right was used by the emperor when he came to the nearby theater to watch a play. On the left is the room used by the Queen Mother at night. Two doors open on the openwork fan that separates the back of the main hall from the entrance, and there is a large beautiful piece of jade, about 5 feet high, which is carefully carved with scenes of jade mining and transportation. A raised white marble platform leads from the central hall to the third building. This is the highest point of the central hall, and the side is divided into two floors. This is one of the emperor's throne rooms.

In the Forbidden City, the area of the Empress Dowager is separated from the emperor's area by a high wall, and there are guards in front of the door. The houses in the Emperor's area are even more magnificent than those of the Queen Mother. The Imperial Hall of the Forbidden City is in the Emperor's area, and the traditions here seem to be more strictly observed than in the Qingqi Garden, and everything seems to depend on the Emperor; In Qingqi Garden, the first person seems to be the queen mother, where traditional habits are often put on hold temporarily.

After the visit of the Hurds, the two most important ministers of the empire, Prince Jing and Prince Chun, arrived, and after a little greeting, after everyone was seated, the Queen Mother asked Hurd about the currency system.

In fact, today's private meeting is not to discuss whether or not to reform the currency system, but the general policy of reform has already been set, and it is necessary to change it, and what we want to discuss is the issue of the currency value of the new mechanism of silver coins.

As early as the tenth year of Tongzhi, the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau was ordered by the imperial court to purchase the first set of machine-made silver coins of the Qianguo - "Fuzhou Military Salary", which adopted the one or two system, and after the issuance of the coin, because of the exquisite material, exquisite pattern, easy to use, it was very popular with the merchants, but later it was abandoned because the scale was too small.

Silver Liang is the traditional silver currency of Middle-earth, with a large amount of small value, and has been used in the field of circulation for hundreds of years, whether it is in terms of government revenue and expenditure, or ordinary private trading activities. However, in modern times, the silver dollar, which was consistent with the two units of silver, was resisted by merchants and could not be smoothly circulated in the market. For more than a decade, due to the uncertainty of the "tael" or "yuan" unit of the silver dollar, various factions in the Qing court have been arguing about it. During this period, the Mints of Hubu, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei, Fengtian, Jilin, and Beiyang also tried to mint one or two silver coins, but they were not recognized by the market for various reasons. This not only exposed the chaotic situation of the currency system of the Great Qian Empire, but also revealed the collision between the emerging concept of reform and the old traditional concept from one side.

Since the establishment of the shipyard to mint silver coins, the provinces have started to mint silver dollars, and the styles are flat and inconsistent, resulting in difficulties in circulation. Moreover, the silver dollar minted at that time was an imitation of the Mexican Eagle Ocean, and the weight was seven coins and two cents, which was inconsistent with the traditional silver system of Middle-earth, which caused difficulties in calculation. This means that Qianguo not only lost a huge amount of silver, but also endured additional losses caused by the exchange. Only then did the imperial court realize that the original monetary system could no longer adapt to the changes of the times, and that it was time to reform. At the same time, Britain and the United States felt the inconvenience of currency exchange in commercial trade, and in order to expand their respective economic interests in the Qianguo, they also exerted pressure on the imperial court of the Great Qian, forcing it to reform the currency system. This is because the treaty of commerce and shipping signed by Qianying and the subsequent treaty of Qianfa and Qianmei all have provisions on a unified currency system. For this reason, a currency reform was proposed shortly thereafter, proposing to recast a tael of silver coins that were in line with the silver system.

In September 9082 (the eighth year of Daqian Guangxu, the fifteenth year of the Meiji era of Japan), Guo Yunxian, the minister of the Prime Minister's Yamen, asked for the reform of the currency system: "The country of Mexico mints money with ninety percent of silver, runs Middle Earth, and changes ten percent of my silver, and consumes hundreds of millions of dollars." Recently, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei, Beiyang, and Nanyang have successively minted silver dollars, the weight is light and heavy, and the ink silver is accurate, and the two can not be wasted for the yuan, and the warehouses are in and out, and the ingots are needed, so that there will be no silver to cast. It is proposed to ask the Beijing Division to set up a special silver dollar bureau, with Guangdong, Hubei, Tianjin, and Shanghai as sub-bureaus, to mint silver coins, and each yuan weighs one tael of silver, and then mint gold, silver and small silver coins, so that the children and mothers can act in power. In addition, Yin Hu Yicheng of Shuncheon Prefecture and Wang Pengyun, the superintendent of the imperial history, also put forward proposals for reforming the currency system.

Under these circumstances, Empress Dowager Renxi, in the name of Emperor Guangxu, issued an edict on March 25, 9083 (the ninth year of Daqian Guangxu, the sixteenth year of Meiji in Japan): "The situation is difficult, the financial resources are scarce, and the country and the people suffer from their diseases. Since the overall planning of the non-overall plan, according to the time and conditions, Anwang has an improvement in the financial future. The author sent Prince Jing Yixin, Prince Chun Yixuan and the Minister of Military Aircraft to conscientiously rectify and carefully manage all the matters that should be done. That is, the silver money used in various provinces is different in style and color, and it is the most tired for the merchants. Since it should be clearly determined that the silver coin factory should be set up in Beijing, and the new silver coin should be minted to the full, all the money and grain tariffs, donations, and all public funds will be earmarked for this silver coin. ”

Then, in accordance with the order, the Ministry of Household Affairs set up a special finance department to sort out the finances and solve the problem of currency confusion, and surveyed the terrain in Tianjin, and actively prepared for the construction of a general coin of the mint factory, preparing to mint new national silver coins. In the ninth year of Guangxu, the Hubu Mint Factory tried to mint five kinds of silver coins with the mechanism of "Guiwei one tael", which was the first kind of national silver coins tried to be minted by the government of the Great Qian Empire in order to improve the financial situation and unify the currency system. On October 23, 9084 (the 10th year of the Great Emperor Mitsui, the 17th year of the Meiji era of Japan), an edict was issued: "The Ministry of Finance shall make a statement to propose the minting of silver coins in two parts and in parallel with the regulations, and it is said that the silver dollars minted by the provinces in the past are a temporary expedient and cannot be customized." Now the national currency is clearly determined, and the proposed minting of one or two silver coins is set as the standard; It also minted three kinds of silver coins, five coins, two coins, and one coin, and the old coins of the copper dollars that were minted were paved with each other. The neat circle method is the main financial plan of today, and the Mint General Mint of the Ministry of Household Affairs shall hastened to mint the branches of Zhili, Jiangnan, Hubei, and Guangdong in accordance with the proposed regulations, and then the public and private payments shall be sent and received in silver coins, so as to make a custom and show great faith." This shows that the government of the Great Qian Empire officially recognized one tael of silver coins as the national currency. Subsequently, the Hubu Mint tried to mint a set of "Jiashen One Tael" mechanism Daqian silver coins. Following Fujian and Guangdong, the Hubei Mint tried to mint one or two silver dollars in Guangxu in the 10th year, and the Beiyang Mint, Fengtian Mint, and Jilin Mint also tried to mint one or two silver coins.

Another major reason why the government of the Great Qian Empire was so determined on the issue of currency reform was to prevent the loss of silver from the national treasury.

The traditional silver two system, once prevailed in the Shuqian and Qianguang dynasties, to the modern era, its drawbacks have become greater and greater, in the Daqian Shaoguang Dynasty reached its peak.

In the year when Emperor Shaoguang was 62 years old, the treasury was stolen 9 million taels of silver!

In the twenty-third year of Shaoguang, internal and external troubles made the Great Qian Empire precarious. Although the smoke of the anti-smoking war has dissipated and calm has returned to the coastal areas, everything is a mess as far as the eye can see. At this time, the biggest internal worries faced by Emperor Shaoguang came from the financial aspect, and the severe economic situation was like a mountain weighing him down. The two-year-long forbidden war used up 30 million taels of silver, and the post-war indemnity made the financial situation of the Daqian Empire even worse. As the proverb goes, the roof leak happens to be rainy, and that's true. At the same time as the outbreak of the anti-smoking war, the Yellow River burst year after year, blocked the breach, rescued the victims, and more than 23 million taels of silver were lost again.

In short, in the past two or three years, the total expenditure on war, reparations, and river control was nearly 70 million taels of silver, while the total annual income of the state at that time was only more than 40 million taels. The silver was spent like flowing water, and Emperor Shaoguang, an emperor known for his frugality, could be said to be distressed. But it can't be helped, it takes money to grit your teeth and stomp your feet. At that time, the silver inventory of the household bank was only a little more than 10 million taels, which was already the lowest value since the founding of the country. In any case, this little money can't be moved anymore, if it is used again, it will break through the psychological defense line of Emperor Shaoguang, such a big country, you have to keep some reserves.

However, Emperor Shaoguang never dreamed that the treasury was empty, and 10 million taels of silver was just a book number!

At the beginning of the twenty-third year of Shaoguang (9043 in the Western calendar), the nephew of Zhang Chengbao, a treasurer of the household treasury, donated an official (buy an official, the name is called a donation official, donate the money to the state, and the state gives an official title), the money was donated to the household department, and his uncle Zhang Chengbao was responsible for collecting the money on the scale, and finally the money was confiscated, but a receipt was issued. This matter was concealed from the top and bottom, and because it involved complicated personnel relations and the distribution of benefits, it was stabbed out. As a result, the shady curtain became bigger and bigger, and finally the huge shady curtain of the Hubu Treasury was exposed. History said that "(Shaoguang) twenty-three years, the treasury officials divided the silver unevenly, and the internal self-attack, its affairs could not be concealed, and it reached the heavens. ”

Emperor Shaoguang was horrified when he heard the news, and quickly ordered the Ministry of Punishment to go to check, this investigation was not trivial, and found that the difference between the number on the book and the actual inventory of silver was as much as 9.252 million taels. I thought that the country still had 10 million remaining in the treasury, but it was a bubble when it was checked, and it can be said that it was destitute.

As we all know, Emperor Shaoguang is a thrifty master, the minister went to Beijing to report on work, catch up with the meal time, are reluctant to leave the minister for a meal, this time lost 9.25 million taels of silver, you can imagine what kind of mood the thrifty Emperor Shaoguang should have.

On March 26 (April 25 in the Western calendar), Emperor Shaoguang bitterly reprimanded his ministers and said: "It is unprecedented to lose more than 9,252,000 taels of silver. With the country's proper money and food, dare to cheat, and grab it at will, it seems that this is unscrupulous, and acts like a thief who betrays the country...... The previous treasurers and the ministers who sent the kings of Chaku were all cronies, and they also followed the same rate, and they were unaware, and none of them could commit adultery, and they were even delegated, I don't know if the kings and ministers were ashamed! I blame myself for being ignorant! At the same time, he instructed the criminal department, the official department, and the infantry army commander Yamen to immediately intervene in the investigation and investigate to the end.

A large number of treasury soldiers were arrested and imprisoned, a large number of officials were suspended for examination, and officials of the criminal department were busy day and night. After preliminary research, criminal investigation experts have come to a unanimous opinion: 9.25 million taels of silver were not stolen by one person, nor was it committed in a short period of time; As for the culprit, it can basically be concluded that he is a treasury soldier of the bank.

Where is all this silver? How was it stolen?

At that time, there were ten large warehouses in Beijing, some of which were loaded with grain, money, and cloth and satin. Among them, there are three banks that contain money:

The first is the Inner Library of the Forbidden City. This inventory of 1.2 million taels of silver, is for the emperor to spare the "river money", that is, the emperor is desperate to use the passage of exile, because it has never been used, and it is a large silver ingot of 50 taels, not easy to steal, so a seal, the superior officials basically do not check the library;

The second is the Treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Although the name is called the silver warehouse, it does not hide silver, and specializes in gold and jade jewelry, and the treasury is not large, and the management is also very convenient.

The third is the Household Treasury Bank, that is, the state treasury. The treasury is full of white silver, and it is almost every day that it is worth collecting and disbursing. Kubing is moving in and out every day, and he is very busy.

In order to ensure the safety of state funds, the treasury of the Great Qian Empire formulated a strict management system, and set up a member of the treasury minister, who was concurrently served by the household minister, and the middle rank of Lang below, and then there were several treasury books, none of these people had the right to enter the treasury, and only the treasury soldiers could enter the treasury.

If the treasury soldiers want to enter the treasury, even in the harsh winter, they must take off their clothes and pants, and then change into the clothes and pants in the treasury after entering the warehouse; When you finish your work and go out of the warehouse, you can take off your clothes again, there is a bench at the door of the warehouse, and the warehouse soldiers step over the bench naked, pat their hands up, and shout "come out", and then you can put on the clothes you wore and go home from work. Straddle the bench, raise your hands, clap your hands, and shout to show that you don't have any silver in your body, under your armpits, in your mouth, or in your hands.

From this point of view, the treasury supervision system is very strict, and it seems that the treasury soldiers have no chance to take advantage of it, but in fact it is not. Ku Bing guards the silver of white flowers, how can he not go to great lengths to make a little flowers.

It is said that there are two ways for the treasury soldiers to steal silver:

The first is "hiding silver in the valley road". Kubing stuffed the silver into his body through **, and when he stuffed it, he wrapped the silver with pig fat, and at the same time had to use some medicine to loosen the bones, which could be stuffed with up to 80 taels at a time, and he could endure it for 30 minutes. This trick is to be practiced diligently, but there are also two limitations: first, it is difficult for older people to carry it; Secondly, it can only be used in summer, not in winter.

So in the harsh winter, how did the treasury soldiers steal silver?

The second way is to use a teapot to bring out the silver. There is water in the pot, put the silver in the teapot, open the lid of the teapot when you leave the warehouse, and pour the teapot down. In fact, the silver is frozen in the teapot and naturally cannot be poured out.

These are the two main ones, and there are a number of others. In this way, as time went by, little things piled up, and a lot of silver was stolen from the treasury before you knew it.

The investigation team investigated the answer, but the problem came again. If it was not done by one day, and it was not stolen by one man, why was it not discovered until that day? (To be continued.) )