Before we start today's topic, let's first understand the specific identity of Ronglu.
As a loyal lackey of Empress Dowager Cixi and an eagle dog of the late Qing government, Ronglu's existence cannot be ignored. The author believes that he is a veritable tyrant, who can recognize his own identity, clearly know his position, and know who gives him power and wealth. Therefore, Rong Lu's loyalty to Empress Dowager Cixi is absolutely a matter of heaven and earth.
As we all know, the Manchurian Zhengbai Banner to which Ronglu belongs belongs to the "Upper Three Banners" among the Eight Banners, and its status is relatively lofty, and the opportunity to serve as an official is also better than that of the "Lower Five Banners". Moreover, his grandfather commanded the army and died in battle, and his uncle and father, as the commander-in-chief, both died in battle against the Taiping Army, which was particularly praised by the imperial court. Therefore, the Xianfeng Emperor issued a congratulatory edict and praised the Guarjia clan as "Shi Du Zhongzhen". It was through this ancestral shadow that Rong Lu entered the official field and was recognized by the emperor.
In addition, from the family point of view, Rong Lu was the nephew of Empress Dowager Cixi, but the reason why Empress Dowager Cixi was able to trust Rong Lu so much was not only because of their kinship, but also because of Rong Lu's own talents and his loyalty to Empress Dowager Cixi. But in fact, Rong Lu's life was not smooth sailing, and he climbed up step by step from a small official who was once unattended. The turning point of his fate was the "Beijing Coup", before which the Anglo-French army went straight into Beijing, and the Xianfeng Emperor fled in the direction of Rehe.
This time, Rong Lu, as the bodyguard of the Xianfeng Emperor, performed his duties conscientiously along the way, and did not dare to slacken off in the slightest. He knew it was a tribulation, but it was also a rare opportunity for him. After all, his conscientious attitude was not in vain, and all this was seen by Empress Dowager Cixi at that time, who thought that he was a person worth cultivating.
Later, the Xianfeng Emperor cried out for his life, and the Young Emperor succeeded to the throne, and Empress Dowager Cixi participated in the imperial government as the mother of the Young Emperor, but was blocked by the collective obstruction of the ministers who took the order.
This time, it was Rong Lu who stood firmly with Empress Dowager Cixi and gave her advice, encouraging her to act first and kill the ministers who obstructed her ascension to the throne. Later, Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong joined forces to remove the obstacle of Empress Dowager Cixi's obedience to the government, and ronglu's role was immeasurable. He not only acted as Cixi's eyes and ears to monitor the movements of the ministers at all times, but also spared no effort to advise Empress Dowager Cixi, facilitating Prince Gong's launching of the Xin You coup and killing eight ministers.
Therefore, everything Ronglu did was seen by Cixi, so cixi immediately activated Ronglu after taking power and relied heavily on him. After this, Rong Lu remained an absolute confidant of Empress Dowager Cixi, and when the Guangxu Emperor launched the Pengshu Rebellion, Rong Lu saved Cixi's life. As we all know, corrupt diehards such as Empress Dowager Cixi were unusually opposed to the Guangxu Emperor's change of law, and they feared that their power would be violated. Power is definitely one of the most delicious poisons, and few people who have tasted it have been able to quit.
Therefore, when the Guangxu Emperor's change of law infringed on the interests of Empress Dowager Cixi and others, it was doomed to failure.
Of course, Kang Youwei and others were not fools, and after sensing Rong Lu's intention to sabotage the revolution, he immediately pleaded with Yuan Shikai to directly strangle Rong Lu.
But unfortunately, this time, Heaven did not side with the reformists, because Yuan Shikai turned around and sold the Guangxu Emperor and others to nothing. Moreover, after ronglu learned the news, he crawled to the Summer Palace with a rolling belt and informed Empress Dowager Cixi of the origin of the matter. The next day, Cixi and others launched a palace coup d'état, which caused Tan Si and other people of insight to be persecuted on a large scale.
Rong Lu ascended to the heavens step by step after this incident and directly sat in the position of minister of military aircraft. In fact, many people will subconsciously think that Rong Lu is the evil party and that he hindered the progress of old China. But in the author's opinion, Rong Lu only lives for himself, it can be said that he is selfish, but it can never be said that he does not care about the world. After all, man is not for himself, the heavens are damned, he just wants to live a good life, just want his children to be able to live happily. But unfortunately, the heavens did not seem to arrange according to his ideas: his children ended more miserably than they did.
Ronglu had a total of seven daughters, but only two of them left records in history and lived a fairly good life.
One of the two daughters was married to Prince Li, what kind of king was this? If we look at the history books, we will find that the first recipient of this throne was the brother of Emperor Taiji. Therefore, the status of Prince Li was absolutely honorable in that era, and the life of Ronglu's daughter was enough to make most girls in the feudal era envious.
Another of Rong lu's more famous daughters is named Youlan, and it is absolutely not an exaggeration to say that she was born with a golden key. Not to mention her own illustrious family lineage, when she was very young, she became the adopted daughter of Empress Dowager Cixi. As the most powerful woman in the Qing Dynasty at that time, her daughter naturally had no one to provoke, thus cultivating her flying character. The sky is not afraid, the earth is not afraid, from childhood to adulthood has never suffered.
Youlan's final destination was Zaifeng, the younger brother of the Guangxu Emperor, and the two combined to give birth to Puyi.
As we all know, Puyi was the deposed emperor of the Qing Dynasty who was ousted from the throne, but Youlan, who had a strong personality and a respectable status since childhood, did not want to accept this kind of nest and has been working hard to restore the imperial system. However, instead of getting her son's forgiveness and encouragement, everything she did was rejected by his son. In the end, in discouragement, Youlan finally couldn't stand the burden on her and chose to commit suicide.
It can be seen that Youlan, who was born noble, her fate is undoubtedly the most miserable of all Ronglu's daughters, and it can really be described as a good deck of cards.
Resources:
["Qing Barnyard Banknotes, Names, Guarjia Clan With Su Quan as Precious", "Qing History Manuscripts, Vol. 437, Liechuan 224"]