The Qing dynasty official Yun Yuding , who served as a resident official for 19 years, had more contact with Emperor Guangxu. In his " Chongling Biography" it was recorded: "When the Queen Mother was sick for a few days, some people said that the emperor heard that the Queen Mother was sick, and she was happy. The queen mother was angry and said:'I can't die first. "'On the first day of late October in the 34th year of Guangxu, the dying Empress Cixi ordered the eunuch to carry her to Yingtai, and came to the bed of Emperor Guangxu who had been imprisoned by her for ten years. The emperor and the empress dowager looked at each other in silence. In their silent eyes, the leaders of the reformists made a final struggle against the leaders of the conservatives. As long as they could live longer than her, they would have the opportunity to implement the reformation propositions the Empress Dowager Cixi opposed. But on this day, Emperor Guangxu died. The next day, Empress Dowager Cixi also died. The mystery of history is left to posterity: Did Emperor Guangxu die naturally? Why did he die only the day before the Queen Mother? This has aroused all kinds of speculations in the world.
The grievances between Guangxu and Cixi
Since Guangxu's accession to the throne, he has lived in the shadow of Empress Dowager Cixi, and the Empress Dowager Empress Cixi, who is "listening to politics", has real power. Until the Sino-Japanese War , the Qing Dynasty was defeated by its strong neighbor, Japan, and Emperor Guangxu finally had a chance to govern. "Never be the king of subjugation", the young emperor resolutely adopted the ideas of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao .
Emperor Guangxu announced the reform on June 11, 1898. He issued several reform edicts such as the edict on "Determination of the State", in order to make China stronger, the famous "" in the history of the Hundred Days Reform ".
However, the empress dowager Cixi, who loves power like her destiny, is afraid of losing her power, so she used a strong conservative force to launch the " reform ".Killed Tan Sitong and other six veterans of the reform, wanted Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, imprisoned Emperor Guangxu at Yingtai, and sent the concubine Zhenfei who supported Guangxu into the cold palace. At the same time, Cixi also issued an edict declaring that she "will sit in the temple from tomorrow after the emperor has repeatedly pleaded for political training."
From then on, Emperor Guangxu lost political power and personal freedom. After that, Emperor Guangxu spent ten years desolately in Yingtai. Soon after the death of Guangxu, it was rumored that the emperor was poisoned by Yuan Shikai and Yi Kuang. The main motive was that when the empress dowager Cixi was critically ill, the two were afraid that after the death of the empress dowager, the young emperor would have the opportunity to change the law again, so they conspired. Guangxu was poisoned, and the son of Yi Kuang became emperor.
How did Guangxu die?
Contrary to rumors, the official historical view is that Guangxu died of a serious illness. The evidence is that the emperor was weak and sick since childhood, and was excluded in the struggle for royal power, losing power and freedom, physical weakness and spiritual weakness. Torture is the main reason that affects his health.
According to the diary of the palace eunuch Kou Liancai, the people in the palace were restricted from being close to Guangxu at that time. Emperor Guangxu had dozens of dishes every day, but the dishes were not imported. He wants to add vegetables, must first inform the queen mother, Cixi not only blames him for extravagance, but also firmly forbids adding vegetables. It is recorded in " Qing History Draft", "Records of Qing Dezong" and "Guangxu Dynasty Lehua Records" that Guangxu was originally ill and physically weak. By the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, he was already in a state of dying illness, and was eventually treated as a result of ineffective medical treatment. Die.
The most popular argument in later historical analysis is that Cixi murdered Emperor Guangxu. Those who hold this view believe that although Guangxu was imprisoned for a long time, the royalist party relied heavily on him, and Cixi did his last to defeat his political opponents before he died. At that time, it was Yun Yuding who was able to approach Guangxu. He recorded some conditions before the death of Emperor Guangxu in "Chongling Biography", which is also "Guangxu Waizhuan": The thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, that is, the autumn of 1908. On the news of a serious illness, famous doctors outside Beijing were called to the palace for consultation.But when diagnosed the pulse , Guangxu quietly put his hands on the case and wrote out his illness. The doctors who came to the clinic said that Guangxu was still in good health. On the tenth day of October of that year, it was Cixi's Longevity Day. Guangxu came out of Yingtai to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday. Some people discovered that he first moved his muscles and bones in preparation for bowing. On the 19th of that month, there was a great chaos in the palace, the number of guards increased, the investigation was found, and it was rumored that Guangxu died. On the 21st, when the queen entered Yingtai to visit, Guangxu had already died of anger. Obviously, in this record, Yun Yuding alluded to Cixi who killed Guangxu.
Different from Yun Yuding's statement, Ms. Deling , who served as a female official in the palace, suspected that Li Lianying poisoned Guang to death in books such as The Two Years of the Qing Palace.
There are different opinions about the cause of Guangxu's death. The historical records are unknown and it is difficult to choose. The death of the young emperor has become another mystery in the Qing palace.
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