Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/187

 regarded him as a faithful blood brother. (The two men had taken the oath of brotherhood several years before.) "Of course I do," replied the Viceroy. "You well may, for the Emperor has sent me to kill you, and instead, I now betray his scheme, because of my loyalty to the Empress Dowager and of my affection for you." Jung Lu, apparently unaffected by the message, merely expressed surprise that the Old Buddha could have been kept in ignorance of all these things, and added that he would go at once to the capital and see the Empress Dowager that same evening. Yüan handed him the Emperor's Decree, and Jung Su, travelling by special train, reached Peking soon after 5

He went directly to the Lake Palace, and entered the Empress's residence, boldly disregarding the strict etiquette which forbids any provincial official from visiting the capital without a special summons by Edict, and the still stricter rules that guard the entrée of the Palace. Unushered he entered the Empress’s presence, and kotowing thrice, exclaimed, "Sanctuary, Your Majesty!" "What sanctuary do you require in the Forbidden precincts, where no harm can come to you, and where you have no right to be?" replied the Old Buddha. Jung Lu proceeded to lay before her all the details of the plot. Grasping the situation and rising immediately to its necessities with the courage and masculine intelligence that enabled her to overcome all obstacles, she directed him to send word secretly to the leaders of the Conservative party, summoning them to immediate audience in the Palace by the Lake. (The Emperor was still in the Forbidden City.) In less than two hours the whole of the Grand Council, several of the Manchu princes and nobles (Prince Ch'ing, with his usual fine "flair" for a crisis, had applied for sick leave and was therefore absent) and the high officials of the Boards, including the two Ministers whom the Emperor had cashiered (Hsü Ying-ku'ci and Huai Ta Pu) were assembled in the presence of the Empress. On their knees, the assembled officials besought her to resume the reins of government and to save their