On November 14, 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died in Yingtai. Since Guangxu was childless, under Cixi's arrangement, Prince Shuo's 3-year-old son Puyi passed on to the Tongzhi Emperor, and at the same time inherited the guangxu emperor's throne and inherited the throne. The Guangxu Emperor's empress Dowager Longyu was revered as empress dowager.
(Yu Fei stills)
However, after Cixi's death, The Tongzhi Emperor's widow, Concubine Yu, made a big fuss in the palace.
1. It is forbidden to treat favors with the same treatment.
Princess Hesher was the daughter of the prefect Chongling. At the time of Tongzhi's marriage, he was elected to the palace. At first, she was named a concubine, but at that time, Tongzhi favored the empress Arute, so she, like other concubines, was idle and lived a very miserable and lonely life. Fortunately, Yu Concubine is good at painting and people are also intelligent, so she often uses calligraphy and painting to pass those boring times.
After Tongzhi became seriously ill, the empress dowager of the two palaces blessed Tongzhi with concubines, and Yu concubines were also successfully named Yu concubines. However, with the death of Tongzhi, empress Arut was also forced by Cixi to swallow gold and die. As a result, Concubine Hui, who had always been in love with Cixi, was given the title of "Noble Concubine of the Emperor Dunyi", above Concubine Yu, and often commanded her.
Becoming a widow and being swayed by Concubine Hui, Concubine Yu's pain can be imagined. Fortunately, because before Tongzhi's death, she was not favored, plus she was talented, so Cixi was kind to her. Gong Min Danqing's pen and ink affairs were sometimes entrusted to her as an agent, so she could still protect herself in the harem.
However, after all, it is Tongzhi's widow. Whenever Cixi saw a few concubines, she always involuntarily recalled a sad past, so she rarely summoned them. Concubine Yu also lived in simplicity, living a life of "burning incense and paying more leisure to the Buddha, painting herself Lin Luan and embellishing small poems".
(Cixi stills)
2. Cixi must not pay attention.
In the blink of an eye, Cixi's 60th birthday, Concubine Yu Suixi was again named Yu Guifei. For Concubine Yu, who was struggling in the palace, the natural living treatment and fame had been improved, which was a fortunate thing.
In the 26th year of Guangxu, the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked the city of Beijing. Horrified, Cixi fled west with Guangxu and Longyu, while Concubine Yu and the widow of Tongzhi were left in the palace.
Seeing that the Eight-Nation Alliance was about to enter the Forbidden City, Huifei, who had no decision, could only cry. In desperation, Concubine Yu found courtiers to discuss countermeasures, and appeased the palace people, and jointly closed the palace doors and did a good job of protection. Fortunately, the Eight-Nation Alliance did not want to destroy the Qing Dynasty, so they had a lot of etiquette after entering the palace, and they were also polite and courteous to Concubine Yu.
Because Concubine Yu coped properly, under her command, the Forbidden City had no losses, and the palace people did not panic. It is said that after Cixi returned, she should have been rewarded, but unfortunately Cixi did not have the heart to pay attention to these things, so she did not even say a word of praise. This made her very disappointed in her heart, but because of Cixi's majesty, she could only say nothing.
(Stills of Prince Regent Zaifeng)
Third, it is not valued by the royal family.
After Puyi succeeded to the throne, Guangxu's empress Longyu was made empress dowager, and Concubine Jin, who had always been close to Cixi, was also made a concubine, but Concubine Yu, who was the widow of Tongzhi, was not honored.
It is said that Longyu was not liked when Cixi was alive, but because Concubine Yu was good at writing and painting, she often did pen and ink things, so Longyu sometimes relied on her sniffles.
Now, Longyu was made empress dowager, and she was just an imperial concubine, according to the Qing system, she saw Longyu, had to kneel on the ground to kowtow to Longyu and call herself a slave. Originally two people who sat on an equal footing, now she was actually reduced to a slave, which naturally made her feel a nameless fire in her heart.
Therefore, when Cixi was buried in The Tanglin Tomb, when the prince's ministers, Longyu, and the harem concubines were present, Concubine Yu walked up to the regent Zaifeng and asked him loudly: "When the emperor enters the throne, will he only succeed Emperor Dezong and not Muzong?" ”
This means that Puyi entered the succession, whether he only succeeded Guangxu and did not inherit tongzhi. Zaifeng was so busy that he didn't have time to think about it, so he replied, "Succeed Muzong." ”
Princess Yu waited for this sentence, and she immediately pointed at Zaifeng's nose and said, "Now Muzong's widow is left with me, if the emperor succeeds Muzong, why is Longyu honored as the empress dowager, and I am still a slave?" Without waiting for Zaifeng to answer, she cried again and said that she had been favored by Tongzhi and Cixi, but now that both were gone, she was regarded as a slave by people... Crying and crying, he was about to crash into a pillar and say that he would be buried for Cixi. Fortunately, the people around her pulled in time and tried to persuade each other, so she gave up.
However, Concubine Yu refused to return to the palace, not to say that instead of returning to the palace as a slave, it was better to die in front of Cixi's tomb.
According to the Qing system, if there is a dead person in the tomb of a member of the royal family, it is a very inauspicious thing. In addition, Concubine Yu made such a big fuss in public, and she also lost her royal style. In order to calm the storm, Zaifeng and Longyu and others consulted, but had to agree to honor her as the imperial concubine, and did not have to salute the empress dowager.
Concubine Yu, who had reached her goal, did not cry or make trouble, and followed everyone back to the palace.
(Reference historical materials: "Kiyoshi's manuscript"))