After Liu Bang's death, Lü Hou took power, and the sons of the imperial family were killed and wounded. Since then, the royal families of all the dynasties in China have been very taboo for women to interfere in politics, after all, no emperor is stupid, who wants to give up the jiangshan he has worked so hard to lay down to people with different surnames. Even in such an environment, there are still two "heroes" in China's political arena.
One of them, not to mention that everyone knows, is the famous female emperor - Wu Zetian. In ancient times, when the mainstream idea of male superiority and female inferiority, Wu Zetian was above the men in the world, which had to make people feel her superb wrist. The other, who is notorious in history, is the burial bearer of the Qing Dynasty, the real ruler of the late Qing Dynasty Tongzhi and Guangxu Dynasties- Empress Dowager Cixi. Although Cixi herself did not claim the title of emperor, she held the power of the state for 47 years in the name of "bowing to the curtain and listening to the government".
For such a long time, she was not an emperor but was better than an emperor, which was also a historical miracle.
Empress Dowager Cixi was able to rule China for so long that she did have her superiority in power skills, and even, to a certain extent, could be compared with Wu Zetian. However, when it comes to her contribution to the country, Empress Dowager Cixi is hard to come by. In the hands of Wu Zetian, the Tang Dynasty further prospered and became stronger; in the hands of Cixi, the Qing Dynasty could not even protect its own national sovereignty, and the empress dowager could be said to be the biggest "roadblocker" on the road to national reform and prosperity.
If it were not for her, perhaps China would not have suffered a series of disasters such as the invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance, and Chinese would not have been oppressed by the great powers for so long. Therefore, some people refer to Cixi as a demon queen, which is really not exaggerated.
What exactly happened to Cixi's life is now unclear, but we will only tell the story of Cixi after she entered the palace. The story begins in the second year of Xianfeng. In this year, at the age of 17, Yehenara entered the palace to participate in the draft and was awarded the title of Lan Nobleman. After entering the palace, the Yehenara clan was almost a favorite harem, and once let the Xianfeng Emperor indulge in gentle townships, and even did not go to the early dynasty. Within two years, the Yehenara clan was promoted to concubine without having children.
In the sixth year of Xianfeng, the Xianfeng Emperor, in great joy, welcomed his eldest son and only son, Aisin Jueluo Zaichun. In the harem, the mother was always a noble son, and in the same year that Zaichun was born, the birth mother Yehenara was promoted to the throne as a concubine. A year later, she was promoted to the throne again as Concubine Yi and became the most honorable woman in the harem except for the empress dowager and empress. In just five years, the Yehenara clan went from a small nobleman to a noble concubine position under the two harems, and it has to be said that this is really a miracle.
I think that Wu Zetian was just a talented person who had been suffering in Tang Taizong's harem for many years. From this point of view, Cixi is obviously much luckier.
Cixi's luck was far more than that, the Xianfeng Emperor had always been weak and sickly, and at that time, outside the Qing Dynasty, there were the steps of the Anglo-French allied forces, and there was the FoolishNess of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom inside, and internal and external troubles made the Xianfeng Emperor anxious and tired of running for his life. Poor Xianfeng Emperor was already in poor health, and he was even more exhausted under long-term hard work. Cixi's calligraphy was quite good, so the seriously ill Xianfeng Emperor took his favorite concubine with him and gave her the right to approve and play on her behalf.
Sometimes, the Xianfeng Emperor also asked the Yehenara clan to express his views on major state affairs, and Cixi's political ability was gradually exercised at this time. In 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor, who had gritted his teeth on the throne, died, and on his deathbed he appointed eight auxiliary ministers, and gave two seals representing imperial power to the empress and the crown prince respectively to achieve the purpose of mutual checks and balances. The crown prince's one was temporarily kept by Cixi, which provided conditions for Cixi's subsequent interference in politics.
After Zaichun ascended the throne, her biological mother Yehenara and her concubine Niuhulu were honored as empresses. At this time, the contradiction between the two empresses and the eight ministers of Gu Ming began to appear. The eight ministers united for power and wanted to stop the dictatorship of the two queens, which made Cixi, who was eager for power, very dissatisfied. She joined forces with Prince Gong and launched the "Xin You Coup", arresting the eight auxiliary ministers in one fell swoop. In December of the same year, the Qing Dynasty changed its era name to "Tongzhi", and the two empresses jointly listened to the government in the Yangxin Hall and took over the power of the state.
And Empress Dowager Ci'an was not a person who was keen on power, so in fact, Cixi was a one-man monopoly.
At the beginning of her reign, Empress Dowager Cixi still made many contributions to the country. With her support, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and others successively suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Twister Rebellion, giving the precarious Qing Dynasty a temporary respite. In the eleventh year of Tongzhi, the Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun was 17 years old, reaching an age when he could personally govern. Empress Dowager Cixi was forced by pressure from inside and outside the imperial court and had to retreat to the harem. However, Cixi did not give up her power, and her interference in the government was as usual.
The Tongzhi Emperor was restrained everywhere above the court, and his mood was not hesitant, and he died of illness at the age of only 20, ending up with an untimely death. The Xianfeng Emperor had only one son, so Cixi chose Emperor Xianfeng's 4-year-old nephew, who was also her own nephew Ai Xinjueluo Zaixiang, as emperor. In April 1881, Empress Dowager Ci'an died violently, and at this time Cixi no longer had any opponents and became the only ruler of imperial power, and she returned to the court to listen to the government and make decisions on major state affairs.
At this time, although Cixi held the lifeblood of the country, she did not make corresponding contributions to the country, but instead bowed her knees in front of the great powers and let them be slaughtered. During the Sino-French War, the two countries obviously had their own victories and losses, but the Qing government under the leadership of Cixi was bent on peace talks and sought a hypocritical illusion of peace. The soldiers in the front fought bloodily and finally reversed the situation on the battlefield, making it obviously beneficial to our country, but unfortunately, the Qing government not only did not seize the opportunity to counterattack the French army, but instead used this opportunity to seek peace with France and signed the Sino-French Treaty, which enabled France to gain a lot of benefits in vain.
At the time of the Sino-Japanese War, Cixi was even more strongly advocating "avoiding war and seeking peace", and under the severe situation of internal and external troubles in the country, she still coveted pleasures, built a large number of civil engineering and summer palaces, and later, even used military funds to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. China was gradually defeated on the sea and land battlefield, resulting in the loss of a large amount of silver, the loss of national sovereignty, and the great powers began to frantically divide China. In 1898, the young Guangxu Emperor began to implement the law change nationwide. However, this reform of prosperity and strength was abolished only 103 days later. Cixi joined forces with the old forces in Manchuria to launch a "Coup d'état", and the Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned and killed by Tan Si and 6 others, and the change of law failed.
From then on, the country had no chance to reform, and it was so decayed and fell that it became food for the great powers.
The most speechless thing is the Qing government's response after the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion. After the Boxer Rebellion arose in the north, Cixi ordered its encirclement and suppression. However, after many failed crackdowns, Cixi came up with a solution that she thought was very clever. While using the Boxers to attack foreign embassies, she also asked countries to send troops to "solve problems" for her. As a result, the Eight-Power Coalition instead took her old lair. Cixi, who fled in a hurry, even shook his tail and begged for mercy to the great powers, saying: "We must please them with the power of Chinese things." "It's really shameless to a certain extent.
After the signing of the Treaty of Xinugu, Cixi felt the shaking of her dominance, and she also began to carry out reforms. However, she will only gain power after all, and her ability to govern the country is really not very good. It is hard to imagine that the basis for her rectification of the bureaucracy is only a novel, and looking at the world, there should be no second person. In 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died, and the emperor's heart was all about the strength of the country, but unfortunately, he had nowhere to show his ambitions, which was really pitiful and sad. The day after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Cixi, who had already given the heir to the throne, also died of illness.
Before her death, she left her last words and said: "In the future, women must not be allowed to interfere in politics, and eunuchs have unauthorized power." "It's just that at this time, there is no point in talking about this, and there is no longer a chance for China to reform and become rich and strong."
Resources:
["Cixi's Road to Reform", "Cixi's Merits and Disadvantages Are Overrepresented"]