01
For the first time, Empress Cixi was "forced" to listen to politics behind the curtain.
How did Cixi spend the last day of her life?
The day after Guangxu died, Cixi was still dealing with Guangxu's funeral affairs in the morning, and in the afternoon she put on the shroud with a luminous pearl in her mouth.
Emperor Guangxu and Cixi died one after another, which led to many speculations about Guangxu's death. So was Guangxu killed by Cixi?
What happened during the time when the two people passed away one after another?
Cixi left a very interesting saying on her deathbed:
"From now on, women are not allowed to predict state affairs. This is contrary to the family law of this dynasty and must be strictly restricted. In particular, strict precautions must be taken to prevent eunuchs from taking over their power. In the late Ming Dynasty, This can serve as a lesson for Yin."
This passage means that women will not be able to participate in politics in the future, and eunuchs will not be able to take power. The Ming Dynasty was an example of this.
Cixi spent her whole life trying her best to climb up. In her later years, as the actual person in power of the Qing Dynasty, she could be said to have reached the pinnacle of her life, and she was considered a successful person in history.
But she said these words when she passed away, which can be regarded as a summary and understanding of her life.
When Emperor Xianfeng died, Cixi was just a noble concubine, but there was a serious queen in the palace. Cixi's scheming and ruthlessness were revealed from that time.
After the death of the late emperor, there will definitely be turmoil in the court. Cixi, who wants to take power, has an unfair reputation and a lot of dissatisfaction. Cixi immediately secretly contacted Prince GongYixin and eradicated all the forces that opposed her. .
Later, she supported her biological son Tongzhi to ascend to power, but she insisted on holding on to power. In order to prevent Tongzhi from regaining power, she even delayed his marriage.
In history, there were many queen mothers who listened to politics behind the curtain, but generally speaking, the emperor would return to power after his wedding. In order to hold the power in his hands, Cixi waited until Tongzhi was 17 years old before choosing a queen for him.
In 1875, Tongzhi died in Yangxin Hall. Cixi summoned Li Hongzhang and other ministers to discuss state affairs. In this year, Tongzhi was only 19 years old. Historical records record that he died of smallpox. In fact, the real cause of his death is unknown. Everyone knows it.
The emperor is dead, and now there are many problems waiting to be dealt with in the court. The emperor has no children, how should he choose a new emperor? A country cannot live without a king for a day. Who will take charge of the overall situation now?
At this critical moment, an old minister told Cixi the solution: "The clan is the most important thing, please choose the virtuous to establish, and then please let the curtain down."
Cixi was waiting for this sentence, and this sentence came from her mouth It doesn't work to say it out loud, it has to be said from someone else's mouth, so that she can be "forced" to listen to politics behind the curtain.
After deliberation, Guangxu, who was only 4 years old, was finally selected from the clan to inherit the throne. After that, another emperor began his miserable life.
Cixi valued Guangxu's education very much, and selected the great bachelors and champion scholars of the dynasty as imperial teachers. Of course, the focus of education was "filial piety", which had a great impact on Guangxu's life.
In the early years when Guangxu was underage, he had a good relationship with Cixi. Apart from the bottom line of power, Cixi loved Emperor Guangxu in all aspects.
She did her best for Guangxu, both in life and in her studies. In fact, her love for Guangxu was true, but the premise was that Guangxu had to be obedient and completely under her control.
02
Guangxu and Cixi's "Mother is kind and her son is filial"
Guangxu got married in 1889. After the emperor's wedding, the Queen Mother would return to power, and this also meant that the relationship between Guangxu and Cixi began to deteriorate.
The first conflict between Guangxu and Cixi was over choosing the queen.
There were three candidates for the queen at that time, namely Cixi's niece Jingfen, the daughter of the governor of Jiangxi, and the daughter of the minister of household affairs.
Although Cixi had a candidate in mind, she still had to look good, so she pretended to let Guangxu choose the queen by himself. After all, Guangxu was still a teenager. When he heard what Cixi said, he thought Cixi really trusted him, so he said bluntly Walk towards the two show girls behind.
This immediately made Cixi furious. She not only stopped Guangxu, but also signaled that he should choose Jingfen as the queen.
The first dispute between the two ended with Cixi's victory. These three people were later Queen Longyu, Concubine Jin and Concubine Zhen.
In fact, the biggest crux of Guangxu's later doting on Concubine Zhen was also here. By neglecting the Queen and doting on Concubine Zhen, he was also declaring his position to Cixi.
Cixi was very dissatisfied with Guangxu's disobedience, and the gap between the two gradually deepened. Guangxu not only forced himself to a dead end, but also ruined Concubine Zhen's life.
Guangxu was a very motivated emperor. When he first took back power, he naively wanted to make some achievements, and even thought about saving this rotten court.
Maybe without Cixi, Guangxu might have been able to extend the Qing Dynasty for a few more years. Unfortunately, Guangxu still lost because he was too young. After losing the first dispute with Cixi, he did not hide his capabilities and bide his time and learn lessons. Instead, he defeated Cixi. The contradiction is laid out in plain sight.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 broke out, the conflict between Guangxu and Cixi deepened. The reason was that one of them advocated war and the other advocated peace.
Guangxu was young and full of ambitions. When the invaders entered the Qing Dynasty, the young emperor was full of passion and wanted to drive them all out of this land.
Guangxu met with Kang Youwei and Zhang Yuanji and began to order the vigorous implementation of reforms. Although he encountered opposition from some old forces, it was not a big deal. Although he was a puppet emperor, he still had this decision-making power.
The idea is very good, but how can Cixi make him happy?
To say that Cixi did not mean to go against Guangxu, it was because her sixtieth birthday was approaching. If she started the main battle now, it would definitely affect her birthday.
In order to stop Guangxu, she tried every means to dismiss Kang Youwei from his post, and jailed and exiled those who participated in the reform movement. She was not relieved until the reform forces were eliminated.
At this time, Cixi completely realized that she would not be able to control Guangxu if she continued like this. This time Guangxu's "betrayal" made her very panicked, so she began to think about how to establish a new king.
To change the emperor, there must be a reason that can convince everyone in the world. What kind of reason can prevent everyone from saying no? There is no better reason than that the emperor is dying of illness.
So Cixi began to issue edicts in the name of Guangxu, looking for powerful doctors among the people to diagnose and treat the emperor. The emperor was now in poor health.
During the period, special envoys from France and Britain proposed to diagnose and treat Guangxu, but they were all rejected by Cixi. I am afraid many people know whether there is something fishy about it.
03
Later scholars revealed the cause of Guangxu's death
After 1904, Cixi's health had become very bad. It was during this time that Guangxu also began to become "seriously ill".
Historical records: On the evening of November 14, 1908, Guangxu died in Hanyuan Hall at the age of 38.
"Medical Cases of Emperor Guangxu" said that Emperor Guangxu died suddenly without any warning signs before his death. However, more soldiers were guarding the palace entrance for no reason, and the atmosphere in the entire palace was extremely serious.
At that time, Cixi suffered from dysentery, which had lasted for more than a month. Every day, she had more air coming out and less air coming in. It is said that a eunuch reported to Guangxu that the Queen Mother was seriously ill, and Guangxu immediately beamed with joy.
Cixi found out about this, and she said angrily: "I can't die in front of you!"
There was no one on duty in Hanyuan Hall that day. Normally, the emperor would always be surrounded by palace maids and eunuchs. Yes, but I don’t know why there is no one on this day.
In the evening, Queen Longyu went to Hanyuan Palace to look for Guangxu, but found that Guangxu had already lost his breath. She was so frightened that she ran away crying and ran to Cixi to say that Guangxu had passed away.
Cixi breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this. She finally defeated Guangxu in this life.
After Guangxu's death, Cixi began to prepare for Guangxu's funeral. Although she could no longer get up, she still had to work hard to resolve the matter of establishing the prince.
She discussed with the ministers matters related to the appointment of Puyi , and then issued three decrees to establish the prince:
The first decree: Puyi, the son of the regent Zai Feng, became the successor emperor;
The second decree The third decree: Puyi inherited the emperor Daxing;
The third decree: Regent Zaifeng supervises the country;
After doing this, Cixi finally felt relieved. Just 20 hours after Guangxu's death, Cixi also passed away.
Here Empress Dowager Longyu is still sorting out the remains of Guangxu. When she heard that Cixi passed away, she left Guangxu behind and went to find Cixi. Or Li Lianying seeing that the majestic king of the country did not even have a person to be buried, she ordered Guangxu's body was sorted out.
Cixi took the Night Pearl in her mouth and followed Guangxu in the evening.
In the following more than a hundred years, people have always had many speculations about Guangxu's death, and various unofficial rumors among the people continued. Did Guangxu really die suddenly, or was he poisoned by Cixi?
In 2008, "Modern History Research" published an article announcing the answer to this question.
The article stated that relevant investigators have been studying extracts from Guangxu’s hair and clothes in the past five years, and conducted several tests and speculations on the cause of Guangxu’s death based on historical data.
Finally, an ultra-high dose of arsenic was found on the back of Guangxu's neck and the ends of his hair. This dose was enough to cause death. The arsenic in his hair was formed by vomiting after death.
In other words, Guangxu took a large amount of arsenic, commonly known as arsenic, before his death, which led to acute poisoning .
Although this cannot directly prove that it was Cixi who did it, under the circumstances at that time, who else had the motive and ability to poison the emperor, besides Cixi, who else could do it?
Cixi put on her shroud and died dignifiedly with a luminous pearl in her mouth. Queen Longyu came to dispose of Cixi's body. Then Li Lianying got the order from longyu and kept vigil for Cixi every day.
Puyi ascended the throne on this day of "national mourning". This era was finally ruined in the hands of Cixi, but it was Puyi who was forced to become the emperor of the subjugated country.
