Expedition to Europe

The Forbidden City was built in the fourth year of Yongle reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. It was modeled after the Forbidden City in Nanjing and was completed in the eighteenth year of Yongle reign.

In general, the Forbidden City is a rectangular city, 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west. It is surrounded by 10-meter-high walls on all sides and a 52-meter-wide moat outside the city.

The buildings in the Forbidden City are divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. The center of the outer court is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, collectively known as the three great halls, where the country holds grand ceremonies. The center of the inner court is the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union and Peace, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, collectively known as the three palaces behind, which are the main palaces where the emperor and the empress live.

The Forbidden City was once known as the first of the five largest palaces in the world, the others being the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom, the White House in the United States, and the Kremlin in Russia.

The Forbidden City that Qin Zhiyuan had visited was a huge museum. Because there were many tourists and the Forbidden City was not short of funds, the renovation was naturally perfect.

But when time goes back to 1920, the Forbidden City still looks majestic from the outside. If you look at it from a distance, it is full of royal majesty. But if you look at it from a closer distance, the Forbidden City is just a huge broken courtyard, and its degree of dilapidation is almost the same as that of the collapsed Qing Empire.

According to the "Conditions for the Preferential Treatment of the Qing Dynasty" signed by Puyi and Yuan Shikai, the title of the Qing emperor will remain unchanged, and the Republic of China will treat him with the courtesy of foreign monarchs; and the Qing emperor's annual expenditure of 4 million taels will be allocated by the Republic of China government; at the same time, the guards will be retained as usual; the deacons in the palace can be retained as usual, but no more eunuchs can be recruited; the original guards will be organized by the Ministry of the Army of the Republic of China, and the number and salary will remain the same.

This regulation does look good, guaranteeing some of the power of the young emperor, but also has some constraints. Therefore, the Empress Dowager Longyu at that time approved this agreement, and then Emperor Xuantong officially abdicated.

The "Conditions for the Preferential Treatment of the Qing Dynasty" is indeed written in black and white, but whether it will be strictly implemented after signing is beyond the control of the young emperor.

Anyway, as far as Qin Zhiyuan knows, the 4 million yuan per year seems to have never been paid enough.

After all, the Aisin-Gioro family still has private property, and the little emperor's food, clothing, housing and transportation have not been discounted much, but if the entire Forbidden City is expanded, it is beyond their ability to repair and maintain.

The Forbidden City is a wooden building. These buildings look beautiful, but it also costs a lot to maintain them, and they have to be maintained every year. This cost is definitely not affordable for Puyi now.

So the dilapidated Forbidden City can be imagined.

From entering Tiananmen Square, the "Imperial Road" in the middle is still clean, but the sides of the road are already overgrown with weeds, even more lush than the flowers and plants in the garden. If you look at the buildings again, they are even more dilapidated. They are all wooden buildings. They used to be colorful with gold powder and jade, but now the colors are falling off and mottled. Some palaces a little further away have collapsed in a small area, and even the roofs of the main buildings on the central axis have weeds. This is simply a waste of natural resources.

Faced with this situation, Xu Shichang didn't know what to say, and could only speak vaguely.

What is there to say? The Forbidden City in front of him is almost the same as the Republic of China under Xu Shichang's rule, with holes everywhere and chaos everywhere.

"It's a pity. If we turn this place into a museum, attract ordinary people to visit, charge a certain fee, and then use the money to repair it, it may be a virtuous circle." Qin Zhiyuan couldn't help but make suggestions.

No matter how you look at it, the Forbidden City is a treasure of the Chinese nation, and Qin Zhiyuan couldn't bear to see the Forbidden City fall into disrepair.

"Alas, Your Majesty doesn't know, this is easier said than done. Now the former Qing emperor is still living in the Forbidden City. You have seen the situation just now. Our people don't have the right to come in and out here at will. If we want to turn this place into a museum, I'm afraid it will not be a day or a night." Xu Shichang also has his own difficulties.

"Haha, he is just the former Qing emperor. Can you still let him live here? He is only 15 years old. If he is allowed to do this, it will probably take only a few years for these palaces to become a pile of ruins." Qin Zhiyuan was not worried. Even if Qin Zhiyuan did not exaggerate now, Puyi would be driven away by Feng Yuxiang in a few years.

Not necessarily. Feng Yuxiang expelled Puyi during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. The two warring parties at that time were Cao Kun of the Zhili clique and Zhang Yuting of the Fengtian clique. The cause of the war was the civil strife of the Beiyang government and the result of long-term accumulated contradictions.

If Qin Zhiyuan remembered correctly, the First Zhili-Fengtian War should be going on now.

Thinking of this, Qin Zhiyuan suddenly realized that because of his appearance, the progress of the Republic of China had also changed. Now that Cao Kun and Zhang Yuting did not fight, there would not necessarily be a Second Zhili-Fengtian War. In this way, whether Puyi would be driven out of the Forbidden City as in history is still a question.

Thinking of this, Qin Zhiyuan suddenly felt a sense of responsibility. Some things, after all, need people to push them forward.

"This, I guess it won't take that long." Xu Shichang's words were obviously hesitant.

Xu Shichang is already 65 years old this year. Although he looks in his prime now, he is old after all. He might fall ill at any time. Even if Xu Shichang is always in good health, it is estimated that Xu Shichang will not be able to outlast Puyi, who is still a young boy. Maybe Puyi will be driven out of the Forbidden City in the future, but no one can guarantee that Xu Shichang will see it.

"I have a case here. Last night, the people I sent to Hankou captured several people at Pinghan Station. They were said to be the stewards of Prince Chun's mansion. They were going to Tianjin and carrying several large boxes with them. After inspection, those boxes were filled with literati calligraphy and paintings, antiques and cultural relics. After preliminary statistics, there were authentic paintings of ladies by Wu Daoxuan and blue and white porcelain vases from the Yuan Dynasty. These are all national treasures." Qin Zhiyuan revealed the information at the right time.

"This, there is such a thing?" Xu Shichang was shocked.

Xu Shichang is the "President of Civil Affairs". He is very clear about the value of these antiques, and he has an extraordinary hobby for literati calligraphy and paintings. When he heard the words "Wu Daoxuan", Xu Shichang was shocked and angry.

"Wu Daoxuan" is Wu Daozi. Even in the 21st century, no authentic works of Wu Daozi were found at that time, which shows how rare they are in the world.

Well, in the 21st century, there are many artworks claiming to be authentic works of Wu Daozi on the market, which cost about 100,000 yuan per piece. You can tell with your heels that if you buy an authentic work of Wu Daozi for 100,000 yuan, you can make a thousand times the profit by reselling it.

"Yes, and it is said that it is not an isolated case. That group of people often travel between Beijing and Tianjin, and they always carry several large boxes, and then the boxes disappear when they return. This has been going on for a long time." Qin Zhiyuan didn't mind taking the opportunity to make eye drops.

"Damn it, how could this happen? How could this happen?" Xu Shichang muttered to himself, and the pain in his eyes made people feel sympathetic.

Regardless of where those things came from, such a large-scale transfer of property is definitely abnormal, and Xu Shichang can almost confirm that many of them must have come from the Forbidden City.

The Beiyang government has no idea how many cultural relics there are in the Forbidden City.

After Puyi abdicated, the Beiyang government once asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the former Qing government to provide a list of cultural relics in the Forbidden City, but this request was similar to the annual 4 million yuan demerit, and it was never seriously implemented.

So until now, how many cultural relics are in the Forbidden City is a mystery, and Puyi himself probably doesn't know.

The original text is in Liu # 9 @Shu/Bar!

One thing is certain, as the current owner of the Forbidden City, Puyi has the right to dispose of these cultural relics. For example, when Puyi's family came to visit Puyi, Puyi casually rewarded "points"...

It is completely possible. In the past history, Puyi used this method to steal a lot of things from the Forbidden City.

Yes, this behavior is indeed stealing, so Xu Shichang lost his temper.

"This is also normal, when power is unsupervised, it is almost certain to lose control. If it were me, I would do the same..." Qin Zhiyuan sighed faintly.

"Humph, they will definitely pay the price." Xu Shichang's eyes turned cold, and the look he gave to the Hall of Supreme Harmony could freeze the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

When Qin Zhiyuan and Xu Shichang were talking, they had already arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Oh, this place is not called the Hall of Supreme Harmony now, but the "Hall of Imperial Ultimates". There was originally a plaque with the words "Jian Ji Sui You" written by Emperor Qianlong hanging in the hall, but it was replaced when Yuan Shikai ascended the throne and is now missing.

So when you look up in the current Hall of Imperial Ultimates, you can only see the empty beams. Combined with the content that Qin Zhiyuan and Xu Shichang just talked about, it really feels extremely desolate.

"Are you the King of Lan Fang?" A slightly sharp and immature voice suddenly sounded.

Qin Zhiyuan looked in the direction of the voice and saw a slightly thin young man. The young man was wearing traditional Manchu costumes, followed by two servants who were a little timid. It is estimated that the young man is in the voice change period, so the voice sounds a little strange. There is nothing surprising about the young man's appearance, that is, he is an average person, but his expression is a little arrogant, and his standing figure is a little leaning back, which is a very conceited body posture.

The middle school boy, Qin Zhiyuan just thought of this term, and then he realized that this was Puyi, the last emperor of "my Qing Dynasty".

Sure enough, with the appearance of this boy, all the people of the Republic of China present, including the President Xu Shichang beside Qin Zhiyuan, bowed slightly. Although they did not shout "Long live" three times, this further confirmed Qin Zhiyuan's judgment.

Even if Xu Shichang did not have real power, he was still the president of the Republic of China. It was estimated that no one else could make Xu Shichang bow except Puyi.

"Yes, I am Qin Zhiyuan, the King of Lanfang. Who are you?" Qin Zhiyuan did not respect or deliberately belittle him, but answered Puyi with the normal mentality of normal communication.

Puyi obviously did not have much "emperor" airs, and did not care about Qin Zhiyuan's disrespect, but sighed to himself: "You are so young!"

Really, it was absurd for a little kid of fourteen or fifteen to say this. Qin Zhiyuan felt it was really absurd for a moment.