Chapter 061 Funeral

After the seventh break, Zhou Charter will be funeral. Zhou Charter died on the sea, and there were no bones. He could only make a tomb for him, find a set of clothes that Zhou Charter wore in front of him and put them in the coffin. But Zhou Charter's family has always been poor and has not left any good clothes. Until now, Zhao Qiaoer, the wife of Zhao Qiaoer, is still wearing coarse cloth clothes.

Seeing that the Zhou family was so poor, Li Hongzhang couldn't bear it. He turned 500 taels of silver himself and ordered his subordinates to make a set of first-class official uniforms for Zhou Charter. On the morning of the funeral, he personally sent it to Zhongyongbo's house and handed it to Zhao Qiaoer. He asked Zhao Qiaoer to put this set of official uniforms into the coffin in person before covering the coffin.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the sky was bright. Weng Tongqi and Li Hongzhang led hundreds of large and small officials to the coffin of Zhou Charter. In the alley outside the gate of the house, there were thousands of ordinary gentry and scholars from Beijing. They all came spontaneously to see Zhou Charter off and squeezed the alley.

Zhangjun's officers and soldiers, led by Nahawu and Luo Mingfang, Feng Guozhang, Wu Peifu, Zhang Xun, Park Yonglie, Zhang Zuolin, Han Lingjun and other Zhang Jun's old brothers, as well as representatives of soldiers from various regiments and battalions, wore Zhang Jun's gray military uniforms and guarded around the coffin of Zhou Charter, while Yao Xi knelt in front of Zhou Charter. Be a filial son. Hannagan, a foreign devil, wore a black suit and stood on the side of the coffin, bowed to Zhou Charter in silence according to Western etiquette.

The coffin board has not been covered, and it is empty. You have to wait for Zhao Qiaoer to personally send Zhou Charter's official uniform into the coffin before you can cover the coffin and then go out for burial.

Zhao Qiaoer wore a pure white coarse cloth dress, looked calm, and walked out of the inner room with a white cloth package. Liu Yingshu was also dressed in white, with red and swollen eyes, following Zhao Qiaoer, with tears on her face.

There was a sound of praise in the crowd. Zhao Qiaoer was handsome and extraordinary. Although she was not very old, she did not let those old men who ate the salaries of the court. Although Liu Yingshu behind her was not be as calm as Zhao Qiaoer, she was also a beautiful woman with pear blossoms and rain. Everyone praised her, but also He didn't dare to make a sound, so he had to look at Zhao Qiaoer in a dazment.

Zhao Qiaoer first paid tribute to Weng Tongyu and Li Hongzhang. When the two court officials saw Zhao Qiaoer, they all sighed.

Zhao Qiaoer said slowly to the crowd, "I would like to thank you for coming and see my husband off. My husband has always been poor and has not worn any decent clothes. Inside this coffin, it is very shabby. Li Zhongtang made an official uniform for my husband, and my concubine thanked Li Zhongtang for his kindness.

Zhao Qiaoer said and took Liu Yingshu to worship Li Hongzhang together.

Li Hongzhang said in a hurry, "The two ladies, please, the charter is the pillar of our Qing Dynasty. Now he is martyred in the state affairs. The subordinates are ordered by the emperor to see them off to the charter, which is not worth mentioning."

Zhao Qiaoer slowly stood up and said to everyone, "However, before my husband was alive, he did not like to wear the official uniform of the imperial court. When he was in Pyongyang, he first wore a uniform, and then Zhangjun's military uniform. My husband said that the official clothes of the Qing Dynasty are the anointing of the people. If you wear them, you will not be able to sleep!"

Zhao Qiaoer's voice is not high, but the words are clear, and every sentence is clear. Obviously, she is scolding these officials and stripping the people. The officials present were like thorns on their backs. Some officials who had done bad things were even more angry, but when they saw Weng Tonghao and Li Hongzhang standing respectfully in front of Zhao Qiaoer, they were not angry and had to endure it.

"So, please forgive Li Zhongtang. I think it's better for my husband to wear his favorite clothes in life!"

Zhao Qiaoer said, opened the package in her hand, took out a suit of clothes from it, and gently unfolded it.

In the lobby, there was a sudden cry, and Weng Tongqi and Li Hongzhang burst into tears and choked.

What Zhao Qiaoer held in her hand was the military uniform left by Zhou Charter in Lushun!

This is a set of bloody clothes, full of holes and ragged, and the clothes are torn into strips of wiring. Originally, it was a gray military uniform, which was dyed dark red by the blood of the Japanese and the smoke of the battlefield!

The tragedy of the Lushun battlefield is displayed in front of everyone through this military uniform!

Zhao Qiaoer specially told Feng Guozhang to bring this military uniform from Lushun to Beijing.

Hannagan, a foreign devil, stared with blue eyes, looked at Zhou Charter's military uniform and cried loudly: "My brothers wore such military uniforms and died on the Golden Mountain! God, let them go to heaven!"

"Bulls!" Naha's five tears flowed: "Brothers will never enter the paradise of your foreign devils. Buddha will ask them to go to the Western Paradise!"

Zhang Jun's old brothers cried together. They cried not only for Zhou Charter, but also for those dead brothers, but also for themselves. After today, they will go their separate ways. From now on, they don't know when they will get together.

Weng Tongqi wiped his tears and said to Li Hongzhang, "Li Zhongtang, Zhou Charter is a student of Tianjin Wubei School. Weng congratulates Li Zhongtang on training such a good student for our Qing Dynasty!"

Li Hongzhang shook his head and sighed, "Lord Weng, will you still scold me at this time?"

Weng Tonglu said something. He was satirizing Li Hongzhang. At the beginning, he almost killed Zhou Charter.

Weng Tongqi whispered, "Li Zhongtang, Zhou Charter has passed away, and everything has passed. However, now the emperor is determined to reuse Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao to implement the new changes. Li Zhongtang, you can see clearly. You can't make any mistakes again!"

Kang Youwei wrote to the emperor several times. Chen said that he would change the law and renew it. The emperor was finally moved by him and was determined to use Kang Youwei to implement the law change. However, the old-fashioned ministers led by Empress Dowager Cixi are firmly opposed to reusing Kang Youwei, because Kang Youwei's set of "Confucius Reorganization Theory" is obviously using Mr. Kong to practice Western democracy, especially Kang Youwei's theory of equality between the monarchs and the people. In the eyes of the old ministers, it is a fatherless and monarch.

Weng Tongqi resolutely stood on the side of the emperor and supported the change of the law. However, the opposition to the new law is strong. Weng Tongyu is reminding Li Hongzhang not to stand in the wrong line and stand with those old-fashioned Manchu nobles.

Li Hongzhang nodded: "Lord Weng, don't worry, the subordinates know it. However, the subordinate is now idle, and I'm afraid the emperor won't ask me about this big change.

"It's good that Li Zhongtang knows it." Weng Tongqi nodded and said nothing more.

Zhao Qiaoer gently put Zhou Charter's blood coat into the coffin and cried loudly!

These days, so many people have come to mourn, and all of them have cried in the dark, and only Zhao Qiaoer has not shed a tear.

And today, she can't help crying anymore.

Liu Yingshu helped Zhao Qiaoer away, and Naha Wu and Luo Mingfang personally held the axe and nailed the wooden coffin to death.

Zhang Jun's brothers gathered in front of the coffin and were about to carry the coffin. Suddenly, someone outside the door shouted: "Slow, I'm coming from afar and haven't worshipped yet. Please slow down and allow me to finish the worship. It's not too late to go to the funeral."

Everyone looked back and saw a young man in his 20s walking into the mourning hall with his head held high.

The young man was dressed in a long shirt, thin, tall, wearing a pair of glasses and a scholarly appearance. He passed among the officials in the lobby, but he was neither arrogant nor humble, and quite elegant. Seeing the two important court ministers, Weng Tongyu and Li Hongzhang, he ignored them and went straight to the coffin of Zhou Charter.

Natong, the servant of the Ministry of Household, shouted angrily: "He Fang madman, see Lord Weng, Lord Li, you don't worship! Very rude!"

Natong is Najin's brother, which is different from Najin's pedantic. Natong is an exquisite person. He can talk to Manchurian ministers such as Ronglu and Gangyi, and he also has some friendship with important Han ministers such as Weng Tongqi and Li Hongzhang. This time, he came to pay Zhou Charter's funeral on behalf of the Ministry of Household.

The young man sneered: "The ancients said, the dead are great! On this mourning hall, Zhou Charter is the largest, and everyone else came to see Zhou Charter off, and everyone was on an equal footing. Besides, I'm here to worship the Zhou Charter, not to serve the powerful! Why do you want to say goodbye to these two?

Natong said angrily, "This mourning hall has been in place for seven days. If you don't come for seven days, you will have a funeral. You run to stop it. I don't think you are here to worship, but to make trouble! Come on, kick him out!"

The young man sneered: "Why did you bombard me out? I missed the first seven. You officials of the Qing Dynasty bear a great responsibility. I didn't pursue you, but you came to bombard me away!"

Na Tong was so angry that he couldn't laugh or cry. He pointed to the young man and said, "I think he is crazy. Since he is a madman, I won't pursue you. Go out quickly and don't delay the funeral."

The young man sneered: "Don't be busy driving me away, and listen to what I said. If what I say is unreasonable, it's not too late for you to kick me away."

"You..."

Weng Tongqi waved his hand: "Natong, listen to what he said."

Natong had to shut up.

The young man said, "I am Xu Xilin, born in Shaoxing. I have been familiar with sages since childhood, and I respect heroes the most. Hearing that General Zhou was killed, I set out from Shaoxing, Zhejiang on the same day. Along the way, I was afraid that I would miss the way to see General Zhou off. More than 2,000 miles away, I hurried slowly and walked for five days. I arrived in Beijing this morning and came to the house without any delay. All of you should know that at present, the traffic in Western countries is booming. Roads and railways are connected in all directions, and it is thousands of miles away. It can be returned by train in a day, but in our Qing Dynasty, thousands of miles have actually turned me five days. Everyone, you are all important ministers of the imperial court. It is your business to build railways and develop transportation! However, until now, there is no one-inch railway in the Qing Dynasty! Excuse me, I, Xu Xilin, missed the first seven. Isn't this caused by your vegetarian meal? Shouldn't you bear this responsibility?"