Know all about the secrets of the harem

Chapter 70
While celebrating the birth of the prince in the palace, the British and French allied forces provoked the second Opium War, and the flames of war spread all the way to Beijing.Emperor Xianfeng led Prince Zheng Duanhua, Shangshu Sushun, Minister of Military Affairs Mu Yin and the Queen's concubine to flee to Rehe in a hurry, and stationed in Mulan as an official, leaving the mess in Beijing to his sixth younger brother, Prince Gong Yisu, to take full power. deal with.He called himself "Qi Le Taoist" and indulged in sensuality all day long.

As soon as Emperor Xianfeng arrived at Mulan to take his official position, the British and French allied forces captured Beijing.In order to retaliate and even protest, they not only looted all the treasures and foreign objects in the Old Summer Palace, but also burned the royal garden, which covers an area of ​​more than [-] mu and is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens", causing irreparable damage. People at home and abroad, including Marx, the great French writer Victor Hugo, etc., have written articles denouncing this beastly behavior.Emperor Xianfeng saw that the country's situation was even more difficult, and as usual, with the idea of ​​breaking the pot, he ruined himself even more.

The life of debauchery and drunkenness soon emptied Emperor Xianfeng's originally very weak body. In July 1861, Emperor Xianfeng died.At this time, Concubine Yi Lan'er was 7 years old, and Prince Zaichun was only 27 years old.Before his death, he appointed the eldest son of the emperor, Zaichun, as the crown prince, and appointed the former imperial ministers Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Jingshou, the scholar Sushun, and the military ministers Mu Yin, Kuangyuan, Duhan, and Jiao Youying as ministers of state affairs.Empress Niu Hulu's "Imperial Reward" seal was awarded, Prince Zai Chun was awarded the "Tong Dao Tang" seal, and Emperor Xianfeng "sent Zai Yuan and other eight ministers to praise all government affairs" seal (in charge of Cixi).After Minister Gu Ming drew up the decree, he asked the two empress dowagers to affix the seals of "Imperial Reward" and "Tongdaotang".

Emperor Xianfeng's original intention was to let the power of the eight ministers and the two empress dowagers check each other, so as not to let the auxiliary ministers cover the sky with one hand, but also to avoid the dictatorship of the harem.But Emperor Xianfeng's wishful thinking failed, and a palace coup kicked off.

After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, the Crown Prince Zaichun ascended the throne with the title of "Qixiang".The first two words in the emblem given to Niu Kulu are "Ci'an", also known as Empress Dowager Ci'an; because the Zhongcui Palace where Niu Kulu lived is on the East Road of the Forbidden City, it is also known as the Empress Dowager Ci'an. Ci'an was called the Queen Mother of the East.The first two words in the emblem given to the Yehenala family are "Cixi", also known as the Empress Dowager Cixi; because the Chu Xiuguan where Cixi lived is on the West Road of the Forbidden City, Cixi is also called the West Road. Queen Mother.

Since Xianfeng arrived in Rehe, Sushun has been highly relied on by Xianfeng. In addition to the title of Shangshu, he also has the title of University Scholars and Chanxiang Minister of Government Affairs, and Yan Ran is the position of Zaifu.This time he took the lead in the defense, and before the two officials and queen mothers could make a decision, he handed Dong Yuanchun's memorial to the Military Aircraft Department for rejection.After Xianfeng's death, the "Eight Ministers of Gu Ming" somewhat ignored the two officials and the Queen Mother, and began to control the government. The good old Ci'an was fine, and the arrogant Cixi felt unprecedented pressure and crisis.

Empress Dowager Cixi first wooed Empress Dowager Ci'an, and the next step was to contact Prince Gong Yisu who stayed in Beijing to negotiate with foreign countries. He was Xianfeng's younger brother, very talented, nicknamed "Ghost Six".Because the "court force" headed by the eight ministers is mainly concentrated in Rehe.So the best place to get rid of them is the capital, but how to break through the siege of surveillance and contact Yi?Cixi took a lot of thought. She beat her confidant eunuch An Dehai publicly, and then ordered him to be sent to Beijing to be dealt with by the inner court. In this way, An Dehai brought the decree of the two rich empress dowagers to Beijing.Prince Gong Yi immediately came to Rehe to attend the funeral for the emperor's elder brother. With snot in his nose and tears, he made a grand plan to kill Sushun and others. Cixi then immediately contacted his lover Ronglu who held military power, and the arrangement was set. Then Yisu rushed back to Beijing to prepare.

On September 1861, 23, Sushun escorted the Lingshu of Xianfeng first. On the second day, the empresses of the two palaces and the young emperor, accompanied by Zaiyuan and Duanhua, took shortcuts day and night and rushed back one step ahead of Sushun. the capital.The two official empress dowagers with the seals of "Yu Shang" and "Tongdaotang" were out of the sight of the eight ministers, so Cixi had enough time to arrange the coup.As soon as Cixi arrived in the capital, she immediately received Prince Gong Yifu. The next day, Cixi launched a coup and arrested and punished the eight ministers of Gu Ming with lightning speed. The power of the eight ministers was completely destroyed.

Immediately afterwards, Zaiyuan and Duanhua committed suicide, while Sushun was beheaded and his home was ransacked, and the other five were dismissed from their posts and sent to the army.

Empress Dowager Cixi terrified the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty with a woman without the strength to restrain a chicken. Facing the civil and military officials prostrating all over the palace, Cixi clearly felt the pleasure and satisfaction of reaching the pinnacle of power.The empress dowagers of the east and west palaces listened to the government behind a curtain in the East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the palace on November [-], and changed the emperor's year name from "Qixiang" to "Tongzhi", implying that the empress dowagers of the two palaces jointly governed.This coup is the famous "Xinyou coup" in history.

Empress Dowager Cixi was in the prime of her life in the Spring and Autumn Period, and her needs for power, material desires, and lust were all quite strong, while Ci'an was just the opposite.It turned out that when Xianfeng was still the elder brother, the daughter of Futai, the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, was originally chosen as the first-born Fujin. Unfortunately, her life was poor and her fortune was poor. She was ill a year before her husband took the throne. She took the servant girl by her side as Zhen concubine, and was later canonized as Empress Xiaozhen, which is now Ci'an.Ci'an is docile by nature, but also has no knowledge. Not only are all the memorials reviewed by the Empress Dowager Cixi, but she also has to explain the meaning to Ci'an anxiously. Ci'an feels very bored, so Cixi decides everything, and she does not It's too much to ask, so in name, the two officials and the queen mother listened to the government behind the curtain, but in fact, it became Cixi who monopolized all the government affairs.

Although the authority of the Empress Dowager has been consolidated, Cixi is in her prime of life, widowed, and has unspeakable loneliness. Cixi had no choice but to use local materials to vent her desire on the eunuch An Dehai.It is said that An Dehai has "the art of detoxifying poison", and even took a special aphrodisiac, which can revive the yang path, so Cixi and An Dehai were lawless in the palace, which provoked Prince Gong Yisu, Ci'an, and the little emperor. Together, they secretly ordered Ding Baojian, governor of Shandong Province, to take advantage of An Dehai's ostentation to go out of Beijing, and when he passed by Shandong, he was arrested and rectified on the spot, which greatly hurt Cixi's heart and suffered a dumb loss.

During the growth of Emperor Tongzhi, Cixi was greedy for power and lacked communication with Emperor Tongzhi, so Emperor Tongzhi had a close relationship with Ci'an. In 1872, Emperor Tongzhi was 17 years old, and he could get married as usual, so the empress dowagers of the two officials began to choose a queen for him.Although Emperor Tongzhi was young, he also knew that virtue should be the first priority when choosing a queen. In addition, his most respected Empress Dowager Ci'an also liked the daughter of the number one scholar Chongqi very much. Therefore, Arut, who was two years older than the emperor, was logical. Emperor Tongzhi chose her as queen.Originally, Cixi fell in love with Fucha, the daughter of Wailang Fengxiu, a member of the Jiangxi Division of the Criminal Ministry. Because Emperor Tongzhi and Ci'an agreed, Cixi was forced to agree, but she disliked her daughter-in-law very much.

Arut's elegant, virtuous, well-educated and reasonable, won the favor of Emperor Tongzhi, and the relationship between the emperor and empress was very harmonious.Under Arut's persuasion, Tongzhi studied hard, worked diligently in political affairs, and made great progress.After the emperor got married, it meant that the emperor would be in charge. This was Cixi's heart disease. Cixi, who was nostalgic for power, was unwilling to hand over power. Although her son was born by herself, she had long felt that Emperor Tongzhi was not close to her. His heart was leaning toward Ci'an, and even his plan to control his son by choosing a queen fell through.Cixi vented all her grievances on Empress Alut. She even interfered with the number of times Emperor Tongzhi went to the Queen's bedroom, implying that Emperor Tongzhi often went to Fucha's bedroom.The young and energetic Tongzhi was quite disgusted with his mother's wanton interference in the privacy of the boudoir. He simply refused to go to the imperial concubine's bedroom and stayed alone as an upright official in protest, which made Cixi even more worried.Then, under the lure of unworthy eunuchs and shameless courtiers, Tongzhi lingered in Huajie and Liuxiang, came back infected with syphilis, and died.

Emperor Tongzhi had no descendants, so a member of the close royal family should be selected from his descendants "Pu" to inherit the throne, and the empress Alut of Emperor Tongzhi should be the empress dowager to listen to the government behind the curtain.However, how could the power-hungry Cixi voluntarily hand over power? She decided that Xianfeng's nephew, Zaitan, the son of Prince Chun, would take over the throne, and the four-year-old Zaitan became Emperor Guangxu.Zaitian is the cousin of Emperor Tongzhi and the son of Cixi's younger sister. Firstly, he is related to relatives, and secondly, if everyone of the "Pu" generation inherits the great rule, Cixi will become the empress dowager. The farther the distance is, the more inconvenient it is to manipulate it.Li Zai's generation can still be the empress dowager, and she can train politics again.Empress Alut was buried under the power of Cixi with the flesh and blood of Emperor Tongzhi on a hunger strike. In 1881, Empress Dowager Ci'an passed away, leaving only Cixi behind the curtain. So far, the Manchu Qing court was dominated by her alone.

Three times facing the court, ruling the world alone

During her reign, Cixi faced internal and external troubles. In order to enrich the country and strengthen the army, she actively promoted the Westernization Movement, decisively changed the rules of the Qing Dynasty, and employed Hanchen on a large scale, thus creating a ZTE situation.Without Cixi, there would be no Westernization Movement.The Westernization Movement is the beginning of China's modernization, and it is already a conclusion.

(End of this chapter)