The Last Empress - Anchee Min [82]
When Prince Ts'eng accused me of missing the opportunity of a lifetime for the Manchus to bring Li to his knees, I withdrew in the middle of the audience.
I could hear the creek splashing behind the palace garden in the Forbidden City. I got up before dawn and sent my eunuch to summon Li Hung-chang.
Li arrived at sunrise wearing a simple blue cotton robe, which made him look like a different man.
"You have been packing?" I began, knowing that he was leaving Peking.
"Yes," he replied. "My carriage will depart in an hour."
"Where will you go?" I asked. "Chihli? Hunan? Or your hometown, Hefei?"
Unable to answer, Li dropped to his knees.
I reminded him that etiquette allowed us only a brief meeting and I had to speak my mind.
Li nodded, but insisted on remaining on the floor.
I let him and said, "Please understand how awful I feel about what I have done to you. Though hardly a decent excuse, I had no choice."
"I understand, Your Majesty." Li's voice was calm and almost undisturbed. "You did what any mother would do."
My tears came and I broke down.
"If it helps the throne, I am honored," Li said.
"Can you at least let me offer help for your long journey south?"
"There is no need," he said. "I have enough to support my family. My wife understands that if I were charged with treason and found guilty, my life would be forfeited. She only wants me to make sure that our children escape with their lives."
"Has the matter been taken care of?" I wiped my face with a handkerchief.
"Yes, arrangements have been made."
My eunuch came and announced softly, "My lady, the Emperor is waiting."
"Farewell."
Li Hung-chang rose. He took a step back and got down on his knees and kowtowed.
Custom did not allow me to accompany him to the gate, but I decided to ignore it for once.
The door curtain was lifted and we went out to the courtyard. The eunuchs were still doing their morning cleaning. They rushed to get themselves out of sight. Those who crossed our path apologized.
The sky was beginning to brighten. The glazed wing roofs were bathed in golden light. Unlike the Summer Palace, where the air carried the scent of jasmine, Forbidden City mornings were cold and windy.
I heard the sound of my own footsteps, the wooden platform shoes hitting the stone walk. Li Hung-chang and I walked side by side. Behind us, sixteen eunuchs carried my room-sized ceremonial palanquin.
Two weeks later, Prince Kung, who was sixty-five, was called out of retirement. Emperor Guang-hsu issued the decree at my urging. Kung was reluctant at first. For ten years he had nursed grievances against those who had removed him from leadership, including his two half-brothers. I pleaded with him, saying that the death of Prince Ch'un should put the unpleasant past to rest. The twenty-four-year-old Emperor needed him.
Guang-hsu and I met with Prince Kung in his chrysanthemum garden, where the ground was covered with star-shaped purple flowers. Prince Kung picked up a leaf. He laid it flat on his palm and hit it with his other palm, creating a sound like a firecracker.
"The balance of power in Asia has been decisively altered since the Japanese took our fortified harbor at Weihaiwei." Prince Kung's voice had softened over the years, but his passion, perspective and wit remained. "Past misdeeds have bred present impotence. In the world's view, the war is essentially over and China has been defeated."
"But our spirit hasn't!" Guang-hsu's face turned red and his chest swelled. "I refuse to call it a defeat. Our admirals,