China's 5,000-year history has gone through dozens of dynasties, and when Emperor Taiji established the Qing Dynasty, Chinese society entered the last feudal dynasty. Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, during this period, several great emperors were born, especially during the kangqian dynasty, and the strength of the Qing Dynasty reached its peak. However, with the passage of time, the Qing government began to sit in the well and watch the sky and close the country, and corruption prevailed throughout the imperial court, which led to the decline of the Qing Dynasty's national strength and eventually its demise.
In the late Qing Dynasty, a controversial figure was born, the most powerful woman in the entire Qing Dynasty, she was Empress Dowager Cixi. Once a foreign scholar commented that Empress Dowager Cixi was born with arrogance and nobility, but it was only one side of the fate that left a deep impression on him. Empress Dowager Cixi's life is quite legendary, and it can be said that the decline of the Qing Dynasty is closely related to it. But such a legendary figure also needs to go through life, old age, illness and death.
Cixi died on November 15, 1908, and the Guangxu Emperor died mysteriously in his palace on the afternoon of the 14th. The sudden death of the emperor caused a sensation throughout the Qing Dynasty, and the world speculated about the cause of Guangxu's death, and on the second day, Empress Dowager Cixi personally handled the aftermath for Guangxu. In order to avoid suspicion, Empress Dowager Cixi blocked the scene, so that the world could not understand why Guangxu died. Guangxu's death became a historical mystery until 2008, when the real cause of Guangxu's death was revealed, when experts tested Guangxu's body and found a large number of toxins in its body, and the toxin had penetrated deep into the bone marrow, which was arsenic.
The results of such experiments confirmed that the cause of Guangxu's death was arsenic poisoning, and after poisoning, most people thought that it was Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi and Guangxu have always been at odds, Guangxu advocated the restoration and change of law, while Cixi was an out-and-out diehard, and the struggle between the two sides continued for many years. Moreover, at the time of Guangxu's funeral, Empress Dowager Cixi's temperament changed drastically, and she cried in front of everyone, which was obviously a drama for everyone to see to cover up the truth of Guangxu's death.
And the day after Guangxu's death, when the sky was still dark, Cixi began to dot on Guangxu's aftermath. Cixi ordered people to collect Guangxu's clothes before his death, as well as his favorite playthings, and bury them in the tomb with his corpse, and after the death of the emperor, the country still had to function normally, so Cixi began to judge the folds.
After a busy morning, Cixi was preparing to eat, and after lunch, Cixi suddenly felt dizzy. At first, Cixi thought that she was too tired after a busy day, so she returned to the palace to rest and sleep. But lying on the bed, this feeling became more and more intense, and Cixi felt that something was wrong, and quickly invited a doctor to diagnose herself. After the arrival of the doctor, Cixi was diagnosed, but he never found anything unusual about her body.
In desperation, Cixi could only continue to rest, and in the afternoon, Cixi had symptoms of breathing difficulties, at which time she realized that her limit might be approaching. Such a legendary figure also had unlimited scenery after his death, so Cixi summoned the court ministers to organize his own funeral. Cixi has stressed many times that funerals must be infinitely magnificent.
On her last day, Cixi made many major decisions. After learning that her life was short, she performed a handover ceremony to the ministers. First of all, she decided to put Puyi on the throne, which was also because Cixi believed that Puyi was not a tough person, and that he was still young enough not to make a big storm in the DPRK and allow Cixi's henchmen to continue to hold great power. In addition, Cixi stipulated that in the Qing Dynasty, there was no situation in which women were allowed to take power, and there were many opinions about this decision, some people said that Cixi made this decision because she understood the difficulties of women in power. During Cixi's lifetime, she learned that it was not easy to grasp the power of the state, so she made such a stipulation.
On the other hand, it is believed that Cixi forbade women to take power because she wanted to be famous for thousands of years. In Chinese history, in addition to Wu Zetian, the second female figure to win the moment in the DPRK was Cixi, so she was afraid that in the future, there would be more brilliant women than her, surpassing her own status.
After explaining the matter, Cixi went back to the house, took a pearl of the night in her mouth, and lay quietly on the bed waiting for death to come. The reason why Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to contain the Night Pearl was because the Night Pearl had an antiseptic effect, and she wanted her body to be well preserved. More than twenty years later, Cixi's tomb was stolen, and when tomb robbers saw his body, Cixi still looked the same.
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