The Guangxu Emperor died the day before Empress Dowager Cixi's death, was he really killed by Cixi? On November 14, 1908, the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor died suddenly in the imprisoned yingtai, the cause of death was a mystery, and the next day, the 74-year-old Empress Dowager Cixi also died. Later generations of people about the cause of the guangxu emperor's death are divergent, all kinds of conjectures emerge in an endless stream, in this article, we will explore the reasons behind the guangxu emperor's violent death.
The Guangxu Emperor, named Ai Xin Jueluo Zaixiang, was born in the Palace of The Lord of Beijing, the son of Yi Zhen the Prince of Alcohol, the eleventh emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the temple name Dezong. The Guangxu Emperor ascended the throne at the age of four, and at first the empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi were subordinate to the government and assisted Guangxu in handling the affairs of the world. After the death of Empress Dowager Ci'an in the seventh year of Guangxu, Empress Dowager Cixi hung the curtain alone until the Guangxu Emperor was eighteen years old. Although Cixi nominally returned to power under the Guangxu Emperor, in practice the power of the state remained in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi. It can be said that the Guangxu Emperor was controlled by Empress Dowager Cixi all his life and never held real power. As the emperor at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Guangxu Emperor was facing a fragmented state. The Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned by Cixi before his death, and finally died violently in Yingtai.
Regarding the cause of death of the Guangxu Emperor, there are two more mainstream theories, one is that the Guangxu Emperor died of a natural illness and was not killed by him. According to the book "Pathogens", Guangxu at the age of 37, personally said to the imperial doctor that he had a "sperm" disease, this disease accompanied him for twenty years, the first few years of the month sperm more than a dozen times, the next few years of the month sperm two or three times, often no dream and self-leakage, summer is better, winter is more serious, often feel the waist, legs and shoulders back heavy numbness, slightly encounter wind chill headaches, tinnitus phenomenon also for ten years. From the above records, it can be seen that Guangxu is a typical sick man whose health has always been bad, which has also been recorded many times in the diary of his teacher Weng Tonggong. Twenty-six years after Guangxu, his condition did not improve, but worsened. The Qing Palace archive "Pulse Case" records that in the ninth day of March in the 34th year of Guangxu, when the imperial physician Cao Yuanheng diagnosed the pulse for the emperor, he found that his liver and kidney were weak, his spleen and yang were insufficient, his qi and blood were white, there was no blood on his face, and he would be breathless after walking a few steps. Neither cold medicine nor warm tonic medicine can be used, and there is no medicine available.
On the tenth day of the first month of May, the imperial doctor Chen Bingjun wrote in the "Pulse Case": "Conditioning for a long time, but no inch effect". At this time, the imperial doctors were already powerless against Guangxu's illness, and could only delay it again and again, trying various formulas to make up for it. By September, Guangxu's illness was more complex and changeable. The function of the internal organs has been completely out of balance, and when people reach this point, death is sooner or later. During this period, some people proposed to invite foreigners to come for diagnosis and treatment, but they were refused. By October, Guangxu had struggled to stand up, and he had symptoms of pneumonia and heart failure. On October 17, Zhou Jingtao, Lü Yongbin and other imperial physicians consulted the emperor at the will of the empress, but unanimously agreed that the emperor was extremely weak and could not recover his vitality, and recorded in the "Pulse Case" that "within four days, there will be danger." On October 19, Guangxu appeared to have chest tightness and shortness of breath, coughing non-stop from morning to night, cold hands and feet, sometimes convulsing and sometimes straight, and the facial state was extremely painful. Thirsty and unable to speak, he could only use his fingers and whimper.
By the twentieth day, Guangxu's eyelids were slightly open, and the corners of his mouth that were drooling could only shake slightly. At this time, except for the two little eunuchs, there was no one else to serve him, which was very miserable. That night, Guangxu entered a state of dying, reaching out and grabbing randomly, his limbs were as cold as ice, his white eyes were turned up, his teeth were closed, and he was unconscious. At noon on the twenty-first day, Guangxu suddenly opened his eyes to look around, and after the imperial doctor examined his pulse, he found that his pulse was intermittent, and his eyes changed from chaotic movement to direct vision. In the evening, Guangxu passed away and his soul returned to western bliss.
The archives of the eight years before Guangxu's death have all been preserved, and from the archives, it can be clearly seen that the emperor's health has been bad, and it is very bad, and the condition has deteriorated step by step, rather than suddenly deteriorated. But archives can be forged, and archives from more than a hundred years ago, even if someone did something, people today will not know. Moreover, the cause of death of the Guangxu Emperor has always been a major mystery in the history of the Qing Dynasty, and it is not enough to convince the public if only one side of the file is used. During the imperial doctor's treatment of Guangxu, Cixi would ask the emperor about the situation every time, and although the two were not harmonious, Cixi was still very concerned about Guangxu. If Cixi wanted to kill Guangxu, she could do it at any time, and there was no need to wait until the last day.
There is also a theory that the Guangxu Emperor was assassinated by someone and died of his killing, the most powerful evidence of this statement is the "Summary Report on the Study of the Cause of Death of the Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty" issued in 2008, but the Specific Who Assassinated the Guangxu Emperor was assassinated, until today the historians are still arguing endlessly, and there are three main speculations that are widely circulated, the first speculation is that the Guangxu Emperor was murdered by Empress Dowager Cixi, the Battle of Jiawu, the Qing government was defeated, bullied, and from time to time cut the land to pay compensation, asking the great powers for forgiveness. The imperialist powers have further set off a frenzy of dividing up China. The once powerful Qing Empire could face the calamity of national subjugation at any time, and the contradictions between the Chinese nation and imperialism quickly intensified. The national crisis inspired Guangxu's determination to change the law. He knew very well that although Empress Dowager Cixi had nominally returned power, she was still tightly controlling him in practice.
However, the Guangxu Emperor was determined, and for the sake of the country's rejuvenation, he put aside his personal interests and honor and disgrace, saying: "If the empress dowager does not give me great power, I am willing to abdicate the throne, and I am not willing to be the king of the country." "The Guangxu Emperor insisted on using Kang Youwei and others to restore the new and change the law, in an attempt to save the peril through the restoration, but the result was obviously not as good as he expected, the change of law was resisted by most local diehard forces, the court above the Empress Dowager Cixi obstructed in every way, the local real power faction even turned a deaf ear to Guangxu's orders, in 1898 Empress Dowager Cixi launched a coup d'état, the Guangxu Emperor was placed under house arrest in Yingtai, Tan Si and the other six gentlemen were arrested and killed, the Hundred Days Restoration was short-lived, and since then the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi's Liang Zi has thus been formed. In 1908, Guangxu was seriously ill and bedridden, cixi also became ill during this period, Guangxu wrote in his diary: "I am very ill, but I think Lafayette will die before me, if so, I will order the beheading of Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying." ”
However, Guangxu may not have expected that Cixi had already been by his side, and this diary was learned by Li Lianying, who immediately reported the matter to Cixi. He said, "The emperor wants to die after Lafayette." Cixi listened to the hatred and said, "I can't die in front of him." Not long after, Guangxu died violently in Yingtai at the age of 38. Although Guangxu was seriously ill at that time, it should not be life-threatening in a short period of time, and later, according to the recollection of a certain eunuch, Cixi gave Guangxu a bowl of pagoda at that time, and Guangxu could not do it after eating.
The second speculation is that Emperor Guangxu was murdered by Li Lianying, who was afraid that after Cixi's death, Guangxu would return to power to blame himself, so he took advantage of the fact that Cixi and Guangxu were seriously ill, first slandering Guangxu to Cixi, and then poisoning Guangxu with Cixi's acquiescence, letting Cixi carry the pot for herself, after all, Li Lianying was Cixi's most trusted person, plus Cixi, who was already terminally ill, may be a little confused, and before she could think about it, Li Lianying had already learned about Emperor Guangxu.
The third speculation is that the Guangxu Emperor was actually killed by Yuan Shikai, and when Guangxu was in Yingtai, he repeatedly said that he would have to kill Yuan Thief when he had the opportunity to do so in the future. After Cixi's death, if Guangxu was pro-government again, then Yuan Shikai was bound to die, at that time Yuan Shikai's power was already very large, almost can be said to cover the sky with one hand, coupled with Yuan Shikai's friendship with Li Lianying, Cixi was critically ill at that time, no one in the DPRK could restrain Yuan Shikai, and assassinating Guangxu was easy for Yuan Shikai.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable for many historians to list Yuan Shikai as the first murderer. The common point of the above three speculations is that the Guangxu Emperor died of murder, and the latest research results reveal that the Guangxu Emperor died of arsenic poisoning, and the National Qing History Repair Project Major Academic Issues Research Group did scientific research and testing on the cause of Guangxu's death, extracted Guangxu, Empress Longyu, and a hair sample of an ordinary corpse of the Qing Dynasty, this study revealed that Guangxu did die of arsenic poisoning, that is, poisoned by arsenic.
The arsenic content in Guangxu's body was 260 times that of Empress Longyu and 132 times that of ordinary corpses in the Qing Dynasty. It is 17171 times that of modern people. This content is far beyond the normal arsenic content of the human body. After comparison, the research team found that the arsenic content in Guangxu's body was also much higher than that of his coffin and funerary products. This also excludes the possibility that the body will be contaminated by funerary products. So is there another possibility that these toxins are chronic poisoning caused by long-term medication and diet? Some people have made a comparison, the arsenic content in Guangxu's body is 66 times that of general chronic arsenic poisoning patients, that is to say, it is not chronic arsenic poisoning. Therefore, Guangxu died of taking a large amount of arsenic-containing food in a short period of time, which actually means eating a lot of arsenic and dying of arsenic poison.
According to the recollection of Gui Ting, the doctor who diagnosed Guangxu at that time: Three days before the violent death of the Guangxu Emperor, he suddenly appeared unwell, his face was black, his tongue was scorched yellow, his stomach hurt badly, and he kept rolling on the bed. Such a tragic situation is unbearable to think about. But it is still too early to determine who the murderer is, and whether it is Cixi or not, and it is still debatable. Guangxu was in the emperor's throne, but never had the power of the emperor, a lifetime of manipulation like a doll, he had great ambitions to try to change the law and seek strength, but due to improper methods and eagerness and eventual failure, resulting in the future confinement was killed, Guangxu died for more than a hundred years, but left posterity with a great question, who is the real murderer who killed him? There are many opinions and speculations, friends in front of the screen, what do you think?
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