On the evening of October 21, 1908 (November 14, 1908), the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor lay in the cold and silent Yingtai Hanyuan Hall in Zhongnanhai and left the world full of sorrow and indignation.
Guangxu Emperor
The next afternoon, Empress Dowager Cixi, who had manipulated the late Qing dynasty for half a century, also died in the Zhongnanhai Yiluan Hall at the age of 74. As soon as the news of the death of the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi came out, it shocked people at home and abroad. It is widely believed that Guangxu died the day before Cixi, which was not a coincidence, but a deliberate murder...
The Qing Dynasty notes excerpted from the late Qing Dynasty scholar Yun Yuding's "Records of Chongling Transmissions" and Xu Ke's "Qing Barnyard Notes" believe that during empress dowager Cixi's critical illness, she was afraid that Guangxu would return to power after her death, causing Guangxu to be killed.
The Englishman Puland BaiKehaosi's "Biography of Cixi" and Deling's "Yingtai Weeping Blood" believe that Li Lianying, the grand eunuch of the Qing Palace, and others usually slandered and fooled Guangxu under Cixi's power, and they were afraid that After Cixi's death, Guangxu would settle their sins, so they killed Guangxu before Cixi would die.
Puyi said in the book "The First Half of My Life" that Yuan Shikai betrayed Guangxu's trust and betrayed the emperor when he changed the law. Yuan Shikai was worried that once Cixi died, Guangxu would never spare him, so he took the opportunity of medicine and secretly poisoned Guangxu to death.
Qu Guiting, who was once the imperial physician of the Qing Palace, published an article in the 29th issue of the magazine "Yijing" during the Republic of China period, saying that three days before Guangxu's death, he entered the palace for the last time to see the emperor, and found that Guangxu's condition, which had gradually improved, had suddenly deteriorated, rolling around in bed, screaming and stomachache. Within a few days, Guangxu died. The imperial doctor believed that although it was impossible to determine who killed Guangxu, it was certain that Guangxu was secretly killed.
Secret file: Guangxu's dying condition
Due to various rumors, the death of Guangxu became a major mystery in the history of the late Qing Dynasty. How did Guangxu die? Let's see how the Guangxu illness archives of that year, which are treasured by the First Historical Archive of China, are recorded.
Archive 1: Guangxu's "Pathogen" when he was 37 years old said that he had lost sperm for nearly twenty years, his waist, legs, shoulders and back were often sore, and his tinnitus was also nearly ten years. It can be seen that Guangxu has been in poor health.
Archive 2: Guangxu's Twenty-six Years of "Pulse Case" records that from this time on, Guangxu's condition continued to deteriorate. From the perspective of modern medicine, Guangxu has suffered from severe neurosis, arthritis and bone tuberculosis, as well as hematologic diseases, which are the direct causes of Guangxu's death in his prime.
Archive 3: Guangxu Thirty-four Years of March Ninth "Pulse Case", the imperial doctor Cao Yuanheng wrote down, the emperor liver and kidney yin deficiency, spleen and yang deficiency, qi and blood loss, the disease to the extent that there is no medicine available.
File 4: In the first ten "Pulse Cases" in the beginning of May of the same year, the imperial doctor Chen Bingjun wrote the words "Conditioning for a long time, all without inch effect". Du Zhongjun, a famous doctor in Jiangsu, also said that he would not seek merit after seeing the emperor, but only for no mistakes, indicating that the doctors could not do anything about Guangxu's illness.
Archive 5: In September of the same year, "Pulse Case", at this time Guangxu's pathology was more complex and changeable, and the internal organ function had been completely out of balance.
File 6: On October 17 of the same year, three imperial doctors consulted the "Pulse Case", at this time Guangxu's condition had entered a critical stage, and the clinical symptoms of pneumonia and cardiopulmonary failure appeared. After the consultation of the imperial doctor, he privately said to the courtiers: "This disease will not be four days away, and there will be danger." ”
File 7: In Guangxu's "Pulse Case" on October 19 of the same year, Guangxu had chest tightness and shortness of breath, continuous coughing, impassable stools, and symptoms of general weakness, and the imperial doctors "felt very troublesome".
File 8: On October 20 of the same year, Guangxu's "Pulse Case", that night Guangxu began to enter a state of death, delirious.
Archive 9: On October 21 of the same year, Guangxu's "Pulse Case", at noon that day, Guangxu's pulse seemed to be nothing, his mouth was open, and in the evening, Guangxu passed away with a grudge.
Judging from the archival records of the eight years before Guangxu's death, Guangxu's illness deteriorated step by step and should be a normal illness and death.
Guangxu succeeded to the throne as the truth
The Qing Palace secret file told people that Guangxu was indeed ill and died. But from the day Guangxu died, people suspected that he did not die normally, which was also a cause. Looking at Guangxu's unfortunate marriage and his bitter imperial career, we can understand people's speculations.
Although Guangxu and Cixi are called "mother and son", he is not Cixi's own child. Guangxu was a cousin of the Tongzhi Emperor. On June 28 of the tenth year of Tongzhi, he was born in the Palace of The King of Alcohol County, Beijing.
Prince Shuo was the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor and the younger brother of the Xianfeng Emperor, and his mother Yehenara was the younger sister of Cixi. Therefore, Guangxu was both Cixi's nephew and Cixi's nephew.
Late at night on the fifth day of the first month of December in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, Cixi's only son, Emperor Tongzhi, died suddenly of smallpox. Since she did not leave a will on her deathbed, Empress Dowager Cixi suppressed all other opinions and insisted that the 4-year-old Zai Xiang, later the Guangxu Emperor, enter the palace to inherit the throne.
The reason why Zai Xiang was able to become emperor was on the one hand because the Tongzhi Emperor did not leave a son, and more importantly, Cixi wanted to find a son emperor to create an opportunity for her to listen to the government again.
On the twentieth day of the first month of the first year of Guangxu, the 4-year-old Zai Xiang officially took the throne at the Taihe Hall. From this day on, Guangxu was firmly held by Cixi as a tool for power struggle.
A brief happiness after marriage
Although Guangxu became emperor, since entering the palace, only loneliness has accompanied him. He grew up in the tedious palace etiquette and cixi's harsh reprimand, without maternal love and without the joy of childhood, which caused him to be depressed from an early age, weak in body, difficult to resist the invasion of disease, leaving an incurable root of the disease.
According to the rules left by the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor had to be pro-government at the age of 16. As Guangxu grew older, his wedding and pro-government dates gradually approached, and cixi's transfer of power to the Guangxu Emperor was inevitable.
On the twentieth day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Guangxu, the 19-year-old Guangxu held a big wedding ceremony. Empress Guangxu and two concubines were chosen by Cixi, and the empress was Yehenara, the daughter of Cixi's brother Guixiang. This empress was really not pretty, thin and hunched over, and Guangxu was extremely dissatisfied, but also helpless. The reason why Cixi chose her niece as empress was to use the empress to control and manipulate the emperor.
Guangxu's two concubines are Concubine Jin and Concubine Zhen, the two are sisters, Concubine Jin has a general appearance and a fragile personality; Concubine Zhen is beautiful and dignified, and her temperament is sensitive.
Princess Zhen's entry into the palace was like a stone thrown into a pool of stagnant water, and her sympathy and consideration for Guangxu aroused Guangxu's vision and enthusiasm for the future, and at the same time, it also triggered his desire to get rid of the shackles of politics and make a difference. In the years after the big wedding, he and Zhenfei spent the more relaxed time of their lives together. And this is the last thing Cixi wants to see.
Empress Dowager power struggle
After Guangxu took over the government, the 53-year-old Cixi ostensibly retired to the Summer Palace to recuperate for a long time, but in fact, as always, he grasped the state's administrative affairs.
On the one hand, she restricted Guangxu everywhere, and all major state affairs had to be handled according to her wishes; on the other hand, she secretly monitored Guangxu's whereabouts through Empress Longyu and her trusted eunuch Li Lianying.
Cixi stipulated that every other day, Guangxu must personally go to the Summer Palace to report to her on government affairs and listen to instructions. Guangxu often came cloaked in stars and went against the moon, suffering from running, named emperor, but actually a puppet. Guangxu's political ambitions could not be realized, and as time went on, he was mentally depressed, and the old diseases did not go away, and new sorrows were added.
Judging from Guangxu's "Pulse Case", for a considerable period of time, Guangxu's physique did not improve, but the number of medical treatments and medicines was relatively reduced. This was mainly because Guangxu was trying to make a difference politically, busy with government affairs all day, and in addition, he had to deal with Cixi's reprimands at any time, and had no time to take care of medical treatment and medicine. This made his health worse.
The biggest political move in Guangxu's disease-ridden life was the change of law. Under the influence of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and others, and with the support of Zhenfei, Guangxu tried to reform politics and enrich the country and strengthen the army.
On April 23, 2004, Guangxu promulgated the edict "Ming Ding Guo Is", announced the change of law, emphasized the use of Western learning, implemented the new policy, and granted Kang Youwei the privilege of "special folding and playing things".
Fearing that reform would touch their position, the conservative magnates turned to Cixi and tried their best to sow a "mother-son" relationship. Cixi was also deeply afraid that the success of Guangxu's reforms would affect her dictatorship. In this way, "post-party" and "imperial party" appeared among the imperial court ministers, and the two sides began a fierce struggle.
The decade of Guangxu's pro-government was a decade of political and power struggle with Cixi, and the contradictions between the two sides became increasingly acute from the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War to the Penghu Reform Movement.
Heavy Blow: Failure of the Pentagram Transformation Method
In August of the 24th year of Guangxu, under the opposition and suppression of the conservative forces led by Cixi, the reform movement finally failed, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fled, Tan Si and the other "Six Gentlemen of Wushu" were killed, and Guangxu himself was imprisoned in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, and his political life ended here.
After that, Guangxu spent 10 years as a prisoner without personal freedom.
After the failure of the Wushu Reform, Cixi imprisoned Guangxu's beloved Concubine Zhen in the Northern Three Houses behind zhong pu palace, and made a rule for her: she was not allowed to see the emperor again in the future. Cixi re-emerged to discipline the government and tortured Guangxu in many ways. At first, Cixi thought about murdering Guangxu, but later wanted to depose him.
Guangxu was well aware of Cixi's sinister intentions, and day and night he was terrified, and he sighed to the heavens: I am not even as good as Emperor Xian of Han! Guangxu, who was imprisoned in Yingtai, became increasingly ill. On the second day of the first lunar month of the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu, the imperial doctor Zhu Zhi Waiting for people to write in Guangxu's "Pulse Case": The emperor has a weak pulse, a yellow face, a nose ulcer, an unscented meal, indigestion, an irritable mood, often sighing, shortness of breath and too lazy to speak, mental trance, often waking up in the middle of the night, laughing at the wall for no reason. The emperor was not in good health, his qi and blood were both lost, his heart and kidneys were weak, and now he was depressed in his chest, and the false fire rose, causing spleen and stomach discord. On July 21, 1900 (August 15, 1900), when Cixi killed Zhenfei Guangxu, the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing. Cixi fled with the Guangxu Emperor, and legend has it that before she left, she ordered the eunuch Cui Yugui to push Zhenfei into a well outside the Ningshou Palace and kill her. There is no record of this in the canonical history, but Zhenfei did die at that time, because there has been no record of Zhenfei since then. And later a eunuch had a memoir about The Death of Concubine Zhen by Cixi. When Guangxu learned of Zhenfei's death, the old disease recurred and could no longer recover.
It can be seen from this that from Guangxu's illness since childhood to the aggravation of his illness after his youth, it is closely related to his political situation and spiritual life. Cixi's long-term suppression and crackdown is an important reason for Guangxu's illness, and from this point of view, folklore that Cixi killed Guangxu is not entirely unreasonable.
Although we conclude from the Guangxu case that Guangxu died of normal illness, people always think that he died only one day earlier than Cixi, which is very strange. Guangxu was very weak at that time, but why couldn't this day be delayed? Did Cixi's men put something in the medicine in the last few days, or did they do something else? These suspicions are speculations, because until now there has been no conclusive evidence.
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