Anecdote of the Fifth Queen Mother

Chapter 33 The Empress Dowager (5)
Emperor Tongzhi was originally Cixi's biological son, but the mother and son were at odds with each other from time to time, and in the end they became like enemies.There are many reasons for this, and An Dehai's interference is an important factor.

Tongzhi hated An Dehai very much.This eunuch is good at predicting the meaning of the master, and he is very pleased with the master.But Tongzhi couldn't get used to it since he was a child, especially he really didn't want to watch his appearance of trying to please his master, and he was even more disgusted with his behavior of relying on others.As he grew older, Tongzhi deepened his resentment towards An Dehai.He heard and saw that An Dehai could enter and leave his mother Cixi's bedroom at will, "knowing how embarrassing what he is doing."It seems that someone whispered to him, "An Dehai...has entered the palace as an eunuch, and is good at the poisonous art of Lvbuweishe people. At that time, the Nala clan was not over thirty, and he had a good time with it" ("Man Qing Barnyard History Manchu Qing Foreign History "Volume II).These embarrassing and conspicuous things made the emperor feel that the harem would be chaotic if it went on like this.He wants to punish An Dehai.

One day, Tongzhi's master gave him a lecture. When talking about the painful lessons of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he specifically mentioned the disaster of eunuchs and severely criticized Wei Zhongxian's monopoly.Tong Zhihuo, who was sitting at the bottom listening to the class, stood up, expressing his dissatisfaction with An Dehai.

"Andehai gradually took over the power of the country, first scorned his shortcomings, in order to get rid of his political power, and at the same time won over court officials, so that he ran to his door, and he was so hot that he had an affair with Wei Zhongxian in the Ming Dynasty." ("Grand Views of Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty" volume. One, "Underhay")
Tongzhi not only expressed his dissatisfaction with An Dehai to his master.And he often went to Ci'an to vent his dissatisfaction, and said many times: "I will kill An Dehai!"

Ci'an understood Tongzhi's mood very well. Recently, she also felt that Cixi spoiled the eunuch so much that An Dehai was domineering.What's more, those ambiguous things are frequently reported in the palace, and there are also bad palace rules.She also thought that An Dehai should be punished.But An Dehai was different from ordinary eunuchs, if he didn't handle it well, it would cause serious troubles, so she advised Tongzhi many times to be patient and wait for the opportunity.The opportunity finally came shortly thereafter.

One day, Cixi called Tongzhi to discuss a matter.Tongzhi heard the call and went immediately.Just sat down, Cixi said:

"I want to send someone to the south to buy dragon clothes, who do you think is the most suitable?"

Tongzhi thought for a while and replied:

"Empress Shengming, for sending people out of the capital, the child has not yet considered a suitable candidate, and I still hope that the empress will make the decision."

"Little Anzi is shrewd and capable, and he will live up to the heavy trust." Cixi expressed her opinion.

"The queen mother's words are very appropriate, and the child thinks so too." Tongzhi suppressed his anger and expressed his opinion against his will.

"That's it." After Cixi finished speaking, she ordered Tongzhi to go back.

Tongzhi was both angry and happy when he got such news.Angry that the queen mother doted on An Dehai too much, happy that she could take the opportunity to get rid of An Dehai.He didn't go back to his bedroom, but went directly to Ci'an to discuss countermeasures.

Tongzhi told Ci'an about the summoning, and Ci'an thought it was a good opportunity, because according to the official regulations of the Qing Dynasty: the inner prisoner is not allowed to go out of the capital, and he can be killed in one step outside the capital!If An Dehai went to the south, it would be a case of beheading.So Cixi has no reason to protect him.After some consideration, she said to Tongzhi:
"In addition to the power supervisor, a loyal and brave person must be appointed. Who can take on this task?"

Tongzhi didn't answer. He didn't find a suitable candidate. After thinking about it, Ci'an suddenly slapped his thigh and said:
"Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, has acted bravely. The emperor can give him a secret order."

After the two agreed, Tongzhi personally wrote a secret edict in Zhubi: "Put An Dehai at the opportunity."

An Dehai went out of the capital with a heavy mission, staggering along the way, shouting and hugging, what a grand gesture!But when he was proud, he was captured in Tai'an.At first he made a lot of noise, and after being escorted to Jinan, he made a big show of arrogance. He fully thought that Empress Dowager Cixi would support him, so he made a big fuss in the court and uttered wild words:

"I am ordered by the Empress Dowager, whoever dares to commit an offense will be sent to death!"

How did he know that his master Cixi was powerless to save him at this time.From the Empress Dowager Ci'an to the Emperor Tongzhi, most civil servants and military generals invoked the ancestral system, please execute An Dehai. She knew that public anger is hard to offend, so she had to give up her car to protect the handsome.In this way, An Dehai was finally executed in Jinan.To this end, someone wrote a poem:
The iron plate was deeply cast and never published, and the eunuch was called to Russia to hear about it;
The ancestral precepts are brilliant and brilliant, and the treasures of Qi Dian are holy and enlightened both at home and abroad.

("Selected Ci of the Qing Dynasty: Execution of An Dehai")
After An Dehai was executed, the conflict between Cixi, Ci'an, and Tongzhi deepened, which also planted the fire for the subsequent struggle.

[-]. Mother and child are unfeeling

Tongzhi, the little emperor, was really born at an untimely time. Although Cixi was his biological mother, she did not devote time and energy to nurturing him. Instead, she was running around for her personal future and destiny, thinking about it all day long. How to improve their status and how to seize power.And that father, who indulged in sensuality and entertainment all day long, did not ask about his studies and other conditions.During the eleven months in Rehe, that small world became his paradise, where he played to his heart's content and developed many bad habits.When he ascended the throne as the empress, the empress mother took charge of everything, and he was still the same, except that he sat on the throne and acted as a puppet during worship, and he could arrange the rest of the time freely.Since returning to Beijing, he has been confined to the small palace in the Forbidden City, which is really uncomfortable!He finally slipped out of the palace and became a wandering emperor.

Tongzhi sneaked out of the palace for a wild tour started with the cooperation of Baylor Zailian.Of course, it was Tongzhi who made the suggestion first.

"Zai Lian, I am so tired of life in the palace. I really want to go out to relax, but I can't. If only I were in Rehe." One day Tongzhi expressed his heart to his little friend Zai Lian talk.

"Yes, you are the emperor now, how can you go out casually? The empress dowager will definitely not agree, and the eunuchs will not let you go." Zai Lian said in embarrassment, thinking..."

"Hey, I think we'll leave the palace quietly, without letting the empress dowager know, and..."

Before Zai Lian could finish speaking, Tong Zhi hurriedly interrupted him,
"Yes, don't let the empress dowager know! Then do you bring eunuchs?"

"No, it's just the two of us." Zai Cheng said resolutely.

"Yes! Just the two of us." Tongzhi also expressed the same opinion.

"However, we still have to change our clothes." Zai Lian made a new suggestion.

"Of course." Tongzhi said while stripping off his clothes.Since then, two teenagers in black often appear in the streets and alleys of Beijing, and some legendary stories related to these two teenagers continue to appear.

In the year of a certain exam, candidates from various provinces set off to Beijing to wait for the exam. Among them, a candidate from Hunan also came to Beijing to take the exam. After staying in the guild hall in Beijing, he was busy preparing for the exam.One day, when he was reading a book, a young man came in unannounced, flipped through the papers he had brought, picked up the examination paper written by Juren, and picked up the brush drawing on the desk. When he got up, people didn't see what he wrote, and finally left a sea of ​​ink, which made people very surprised.He wanted to stop the boy, but he didn't know who he was, so he had to swallow his anger and wait for the boy to finish painting and leave.

After the young man left, Juren hastily summoned the servants of the guild hall and told the situation just now.Then ask:
"Do you ever know who this young man is?"

"To be honest, this young man has been here several times. If we see him, how can we treat him politely? He is a distinguished guest of Mr. Zeng Guofan. He often goes in and out of Zeng's mansion. Today when Mr. Zeng is out, his distinguished guest will come. This turn around, this is normal.”

After returning home, Zeng Guofan learned about the young man, he was shocked and said: "This is the current Emperor Tongzhi." After hearing this, the Hunan Juren hurriedly put on his clothes and set off on his way home. (Hu Jichen's "Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty")
Wild tours in Tongzhi are omnipresent.Once, he also visited Liulichang.He is not tall, but his appreciative ability is not low. I saw him walking around, competing for the jade version with great interest.After watching for a while, he said to the shopkeeper:

"I want to buy that." He pointed to Yubanxuan with his finger.

The shopkeeper took a look and saw that it was a child, so he just smiled and didn't go to pick it up.After a while, the child spoke again with an unhappy expression on his face.

"Get me some, I'm going to buy that."

"Master, let's find a place outside to play, this thing is not fun." The shopkeeper refused with a smile.

"I'm going to buy it! Here." As he spoke, the child took out a melon seed-shaped gold coin from his pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper picked up the melon seed gold, but was a little dumbfounded. How could he believe that such a valuable thing was taken out of a child's pocket?Is he the young master of some lord? Did this sunflower seed gold come out secretly? ...

"Is it enough? How many more can I give you?" Just as the shopkeeper was thinking about it, the child asked again.

"Ah, that's enough, enough, enough. But we don't buy it with gold. If you really want to buy it, then I'll send a man to accompany you to your mansion to pick up the silver, so that he can bring it back for you. Say yes." ?”

"Of course, come with me!"

The shopkeeper immediately sent a guy to go with the kid.I saw the child walking straight to the palace, and the man followed him timidly, feeling agitated in his heart.When he saw the child walking into the Meridian Gate, he dropped the jade tablet in panic and slipped back.The next day, the palace sent a small eunuch to pay off the silver taels owed yesterday.The shopkeeper learned from the little eunuch that the child yesterday turned out to be Emperor Tongzhi.

With the growth of age, the content of Tongzhi wild tour is also different.It can be said that "those who have women in prostitution taverns and stalls travel everywhere."Actors were discriminated against in China's feudal society, and Tongzhi had a hot fight with these people.Tongzhi used to like to go to the theater very much. Once when he and Zai Lian went on a field trip, they also visited a theater.When listening to the play, Tong Zhi can be said to be engrossed, but he does not appreciate the plot, but the actor.After the performance, the two of them went straight to the backstage, and under Zai Lian's planning, they finally got to know the actor.

Since then, they have often appeared in this theater.Tongzhi was handsome and rich, so the actor was also willing to make friends with him, and after going back and forth like this, the relationship developed to the point where fish and water were inseparable.

The two handsome young men kept coming, and they had frequent contact with the beautiful girl, and people made various speculations.From the boy's behavior and speech, people already vaguely knew that they were from the palace, they were incomparably precious people, as for who they were, no one dared to ask.Youling already knew that they were from the palace, this was evident from the things they presented, and from the fact that they were not eunuchs.They got along like this without knowing why, and the fight became more and more heated.

Just when Tongzhi and the beautiful girl were seeking to satisfy each other and were inseparable from each other, the girl quietly left him in March when all the flowers were about to bloom, and left him forever.People at that time wrote four poems for this.

Born before a hundred flowers, there are thousands of purples and reds.

Bow your head in the spring and return to the evening of March, the world and the sky always lose your soul.

(Liu Tiren's "Different Cilu" Volume [-])
"Where is there no fragrant grass in the world?" After the girl passed away and passed away, Tongzhi went to look for other "fragrant grass".This time he didn't look for it in the theater, but went straight to the brothel.However, he didn't go to those famous brothels in the capital, because he was afraid of running into court officials in such places.So, he went to those mean streets and alleys to search for flowers and willows.As recorded in "The Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty":
"(Tongzhi) went out to indulge in prostitution, but he didn't dare to go to the famous prostitutes in the outer city, for fear that his subordinates would see him, so he exclusively sought out private prostitutes in the inner city for fun."

The anecdote of Tongzhi's micro-travel was passed on to ten, ten to a hundred, and over time, it was heard by Cixi, who hated her unworthy son more and more.In Cixi's view, Tongzhi's "unworthy" is not all a bad thing, because he will not compete with her for power in these aspects.She can confidently take over the power and intervene in politics.But then another thing happened, which aggravated Cixi's resentment towards Tongzhi, and finally made up her mind to sever the mother-child relationship.To clarify this matter, we have to start with Rehe.

After Xianfeng's death, the struggle between the two forces in Rehe, the Sushun party and the two palaces, entered a tense stage, and the two sides fought openly and secretly.Sushun and others also understand that although their power is far greater than that of the two palaces, the two palaces have a more important trump card - the emperor, who is the key figure in the struggle, especially the empress dowager who is her biological mother , clinging to the little emperor, if they can take the little emperor out of their hands, then everything will be much easier.They thought hard about a divorce plan.

Among the eunuchs, court ladies, and even some ministers in Rehe, there was a news whispered: the little emperor was not born in the West Palace, but a court lady.At that time, Xigong had no children, and shortly after the maid was born, Xigongqian caused someone to die with poison, and the maid became a tyrant, and reported to Emperor Xianfeng that she had given birth for more than a month.

Whispering is justifiable, but Sushun and others, in order to achieve their goals, actually "declared that they were not born of Xiaoqin (that is, Cixi, also known as Empress Dowager Xiaoqin)" in the name of the Military Aircraft Department ("Qing Barnyard Notes·Mu Zongbin Strange News from Heaven, p. 369).

But Sushun's goal was not achieved.On the one hand, this is due to Cixi's active preparation of countermeasures: firmly control the emperor, and prevent rumors from being heard.On the other hand, Su was defeated by the way not long after the incident, and Cixi listened to politics behind the curtain, and the rumors disappeared by themselves.Therefore, Tongzhi didn't know at all.

However, at the end of Tongzhi, when the relationship between mother and child deteriorated day by day, the wind blowing by Rehe Sushun and others revived from the dark corners.This gust of wind actually blew into Tongzhi's ears, but he just believed it again.Tongzhi looked back on his life with Cixi for several years, especially after the scenes of uncoordinated life flashed in his mind, he finally found the answer: it turns out that she is not my biological mother.

In order to find conclusive evidence, the emperor sent his confidant eunuch to "beg for the portrait of his biological mother".Cixi's eyes and ears are all over the palace. When Tongzhi was looking for the portrait of his biological mother everywhere, Cixi had already got the report.She was really sad, and she was so sad that she gave up any hope for Tongzhi, and put it to death, and the relationship between mother and child was completely severed.

Nine, Li Si Guangxu

In November of the 13th year of Tongzhi, first in the palace, and then in the outer court, there was such a news that the emperor was suffering from smallpox.

Rumors, after all, are rumors, so many people who are used to hearing rumors do not believe it is true.But soon, this rumor became official news, and it was an undoubted official news issued in the form of an edict.

"Jiayin, in November of the 13th year of Tongzhi, told the cabinet: I have suffered from smallpox this month, and I will be honored by Empress Dowager Cixi, Duanyu Kangqing, Empress Dowager Cixi, Duanyou Kangyi, and Empress Dowager Kangyi to take care of me. I am deeply pleased to honor the emblems of the empress dowagers of the two palaces, so that I can look forward to the kindness of the emperor." (Volume 370 of "Records of Emperor Muzong of the Qing Dynasty" three)
After the edict was issued, various speculations were made, but most believed that the emperor was probably out of danger and that an edict of recovery would be issued soon.However, the facts are contrary to most people's expectations, Tongzhi's illness is getting worse day by day.Tongzhi is very clear about his illness.At first he thought it was just a minor illness, nothing serious.However, the rapid deterioration later made him feel that he might not be able to afford it.Now he had to think about his funeral.

The 19-year-old Tongzhi emperor felt that his biological mother Cixi was more than serious and caring enough for him since he could remember.These four words are engraved in his young child's mind: "fear, dissatisfaction".After assuming the throne, he witnessed Cixi's fierce methods, concentrating on eliminating dissident forces, seizing power and intervening in politics, so that his emperor was useless.He was resentful for this, but he dared not speak out; he fought for this, but he was powerless, and reprimands and threats were often accompanied by him.Therefore, he has been considering a plan-a plan to prevent Cixi from taking power and intervening in politics.He thought hard, and the plan was still brewing, but it was not finalized.Today, with his life at stake, he can no longer hesitate.Therefore, he decided on the final plan, and sent a verbal order to the Military Aircraft Department: "Single summon Li Hongzao, Minister of Military Aircraft Minister, to see the bedroom."

Li Hongzao is Tongzhi's master, and the two get along very well, even surpassing the monarch and minister like father and son.Recently Tongzhi Dragon is not in good health, he is uneasy about it.After the news of Tongzhi's deteriorating condition came out, he was anxious about it.But without the emperor's decree and the empress dowager's order, how could he dare to rush into the palace?Just when he was restless, the oral order of Tongzhi's summoning came, and he was both surprised and delighted.Surprised that he was called in urgently, the body of the dinosaur was already in danger, but happy that he could always meet the emperor.He came to Tongzhi's imperial couch with anxiety.Just when Li Hongzao stepped into the palace, the empress was waiting for her salary. When she saw the minister approaching, she hurriedly backed away. Just as she took a step, she was stopped by Tongzhi:

"The queen stays behind. The master is an old minister of the former emperor, and you are the daughter-in-law of the disciple. I have something to say to you, so don't avoid it!"

The queen stopped her pace when she heard this, and turned her head to see Li Hongzao already kowtowed and knelt on the ground with his hat off.Tongzhi hurriedly stopped again:

"Master, get up quickly, why are you talking so much about etiquette!"

Li Hongzao stood up and looked at Tongzhi with warm eyes.Tongzhi waved his hand, motioning for him to move forward.When he stepped into the imperial couch, Tongzhi reached out to hold his hand, and said in a very low tone: "I can't afford to be ill anymore."

As soon as the words fell, Li Hongzao burst into tears and burst into tears.Seeing this, the queen couldn't help but burst into tears and burst into sobs.

"This is not when we are crying. I still have something important to ask." Tong Zhi said while shaking his hands to stop him.

The two present stopped crying when they heard this, wiped away their tears and waited for the important task entrusted by Tongzhi.

"After I die, there will be no sons in succession, and heirs will be established. To whom do you want to belong? Tell me quickly!" When the two stopped crying, Tongzhi said the important things to be entrusted.

Li Hongzao didn't think about such an important matter, and stayed there after being asked by Tongzhi.The queen felt even more uneasy when she heard this. She felt deeply guilty for not giving Tongzhi a child, and she just bowed her head in silence to express her apology.Seeing that the two were hesitant and speechless, time waits for no one, and the illness is relentless, Tongzhi quickly told them the result of his deliberation for several days.

"It is advisable to use Baylor to carry the people to inherit the great rule. I dictated the will, and the master quickly drafted it."

(End of this chapter)