It can be said in one sentence to describe the relationship between Cixi and the five emperors of Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Puyi, and it is said that Cixi was the daughter-in-law of the Daoguang Emperor, the concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, the birth mother of the Tongzhi Emperor, the aunt of the Guangxu Emperor, and the aunt and grandmother of the Xuantong Emperor Puyi.
1. Daoguang Emperor
Daoguang Emperor is the 8th emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the decline of the Qing Dynasty began with the Daoguang Emperor, during the reign of the Daoguang Emperor, in 1840 AD there was the famous Sino-British Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was defeated, land-cutting indemnities plus trade, European and American powers began to open the door of the Qing Dynasty, but also means that the Qing Dynasty began to enter a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
Daoguang Emperor
In the same year, Emperor Daoguang's empress Dowager Niu Cobalt Lushi died, the third empress of the Daoguang Emperor, and she bore emperor a son named Ai Xin Jueluo Yixuan, who was later the Xianfeng Emperor. In 1850, the 69-year-old Daoguang Emperor died of illness, and according to the secret reserve system of the Qing Dynasty, the living Daoguang Emperor made his fourth son Yixuan his heir.
1 year after the death of the Daoguang Emperor, the largest uprising in the history of the Qing Dynasty - the Taiping Rebellion broke out, 2 years after the death of the Daoguang Emperor, the Yehenara clan (Cixi) entered the harem of the Xianfeng Emperor through the draft, the Qing Dynasty stipulated that all eight flag women must go through the draft to get married, first chosen by the emperor, the selected can enter the harem, and the one who is not selected can marry someone else.
Although Cixi was the daughter-in-law of the Daoguang Emperor, the two were not directly related, cixi entered the harem and had nothing to do with the Daoguang Emperor, and the two did not even meet.
2. The Xianfeng Emperor
Xianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor was the 9th emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the worst-lucky emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the Xianfeng Emperor's ability was no worse than that of the Jiaqing Emperor and the Daoguang Emperor, and the reform of the Xianfeng Dynasty was also stronger than that of the Jiaqing and Daoguang Dynasties, but during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor, not only experienced the largest Taiping Rebellion of the Qing Dynasty, but also the Second Opium War led by the Anglo-French coalition army broke out, the Anglo-French coalition army invaded the city of Beijing, looted a lot, and burned the Yuanmingyuan. This was followed by forcing the Qing government, headed by the Xianfeng Emperor, to sign a series of unequal treaties.
In addition to a series of internal and external turmoil during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor, what is more important is that he took a fancy to the Yehenara clan, changed all the history of the Qing Dynasty later, and made all the Qing emperors after Xianfeng have no real power, and politics was controlled in the hands of the Yehenara clan, which is probably something that Xianfeng could not have imagined no matter what.
In 1852, the 17-year-old Yehenara clan entered the harem because of the draft, two years later, the 19-year-old Yehenara clan was named Yi concubine by the Xianfeng Emperor, which shows Xianfeng's love for the Yehenara clan, the Qing Dynasty concubines had a total of 8 ranks, namely: empress, imperial concubine, concubine, concubine, nobleman, Chang Zai, official woman, Yehenara clan was a noble title as soon as he entered the palace, two years later he was promoted to the first rank to concubine, 4 years later gave birth to the only son of the Daoguang Emperor Ai Xinjue Luo Zaichun, 5 years later promoted to Yi Guifei, Second only to the Xianfeng Emperor's favorite empress, Niu Hulu (later Empress Dowager Ci'an).
Xianfeng and Cixi
The Qing Dynasty began with the Xianfeng Emperor, the emperor childless became the norm, the Xianfeng Emperor's father Daoguang also had 7 adult sons, to the Xianfeng Emperor, there was only one adult son, and the choice of heir did not have to be chosen at all, while the emperors after the Xianfeng Emperor, including the three emperors of Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong, did not have a son.
It is precisely because the Xianfeng Emperor only has one son, and this son is still the Yehenara clan, and the mother is noble, so the Xianfeng Emperor attaches great importance to the Yehenara clan, not only that, the Xianfeng Emperor is frail and sick in his later years, and also allows the Yehenara clan to participate in politics and approve the chapter on behalf of the zhang, which increases the desire of the Yehenara clan (Cixi) to engage in politics and bury the fuse for the harem to interfere in politics.
In a sense, the Xianfeng Emperor was somewhat similar to Li Zhi of Tang Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, allowing empresses or favored noble concubines to participate in politics, and then they were weak and sick, providing conditions and platforms for the harem to interfere in politics, although their original intentions were not so, but they provoked Cixi's ambitions to interfere in politics.
Empress Dowager Cixi
Cixi was the concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, and what is more special is that Cixi was also the biological mother of the only son of the Xianfeng Emperor, and even more so, the biological mother of the next emperor of the Qing Dynasty, a very special status, although Xianfeng's empress Dowager Ci'an was still alive, but Ci'an's status was still inferior to Cixi's.
3. Tongzhi Emperor
The Tongzhi Emperor was Cixi's biological son, named Ai Xin Jueluo Zaichun, a few days after the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi, together with Empress Dowager Ci'an, Prince Gong Yixin, and Wang Yizhen of Shu County, launched the Xin You coup d'état, overthrowing the eight ministers selected by the Xianfeng Emperor during his lifetime, and overthrowing the xianfeng Emperor's will, from the year of Xianfeng's death in 1861 until Cixi's death in 1908, When Empress Dowager Cixi controlled the qing dynasty for 47 years.
After the success of the Coup d'état of Xin You, the empress dowagers of Cixi and Ci'an began to bow to the government, at this time the tongzhi emperor who had just succeeded to the throne was only 6 years old, until the tongzhi emperor was 17 years old, the two palace empresses would let the tongzhi emperor marry and pro-government, but just over a year later, the tongzhi emperor died of illness, only 19 years old, and it is said that the cause of death was smallpox.
Tongzhi Emperor
Cixi is such a son, of course, attaches great importance to it, when choosing a wife for the Tongzhi Emperor to marry, Cixi and Ci'an are different, Cixi also specially let Tongzhi choose himself, even if it gives the Tongzhi Emperor a certain choice and autonomy, but at the same time Cixi and Ci'an also interfered in some politics, such as the Tongzhi Emperor willfully wanted to repair the Yuanmingyuan, dismissed all the important courtiers who opposed him, or the Empress Of the Canyon Palace came forward to prevent this matter.
But Cixi did not think that the Tongzhi Emperor could only live to be 19 years old, and at this time the Tongzhi Emperor did not have a son, which was equivalent to choosing another heir, and the heir chosen by Cixi was the later Guangxu Emperor.
4. The Guangxu Emperor
The name of the Guangxu Emperor was Ai Xin Jueluo Zaixiang, and his father was Yi Zhen the Prince of Alcohol, who was also one of the people who assisted Cixi in the coup d'état of Xin You, and the mother of the Guangxu Emperor was Yehenara Wanzhen, who was Cixi's sister, and Cixi was also the great aunt of the Guangxu Emperor. Cixi has a younger sister and three younger brothers, and she is the eldest.
The Guangxu Emperor
Why did Cixi choose Zai Xiang as her heir?
There are three main reasons: first, Zai Xiang's father, Yi Zhen the Prince of Daoguang, was the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor, zai xiang and the Tongzhi Emperor were both grandsons of the Daoguang Emperor and were authentic imperial families; second, Cixi's sister was Zai Xiang's mother, Cixi was related to Zai Xiang, and it was better for her relatives to be emperor than outsiders, and the third was that Cixi wanted to continue to control the government and set up a young emperor to be more controllable, and Zai Xiang was only 4 years old at the time.
Cixi personally selected Zai Xiang, and it was useless for the military chancellor to oppose it, and even Zai Xiang's father, Yi Zhen the Prince of Alcohol, cried when he heard the news, and still could not stop Cixi, so the matter was settled, and in law, Zai Xiang was passed on to the Xianfeng Emperor as a son, inheriting the incense of the Xianfeng Emperor, and at the same time legally Zai Xiang (the Guangxu Emperor) became the son of Empress Dowager Cixi.
After Empress Dowager Ci'an died in 1881, the government was controlled by Empress Dowager Cixi, cixi's control over the Guangxu Emperor was very strict, the Guangxu Emperor was almost equivalent to Cixi's puppet, there was no independent power, although nominally, the Guangxu Emperor was pro-government in 1887 at the age of 17, but unlike the Tongzhi Emperor period, Empress Dowager Cixi still interfered in the government in the form of "training the government" after Guangxu pro-government, which was naked interference.
Therefore, although the Guangxu Emperor wanted to implement a series of reforms, as long as it did not conform to Cixi's wishes, almost all of them failed, such as the famous Pengshu Reform Law, which failed with Cixi's intervention, Cixi controlled almost all aspects of Guangxu, and The Empress of Guangxu was also chosen by Cixi, that is, the later Empress Longyu, who was the daughter of Cixi's younger brother, that is, Cixi's niece.
The death of the Guangxu Emperor was also related to Cixi, and after later research, the Guangxu Emperor was confirmed to have died of arsenic poisoning, who would kill Guangxu with arsenic? Everyone knows that both the Guangxu Emperor and Cixi died in 1908, and the date of their deaths was only one day apart, and it was the Guangxu Emperor who died first, and Cixi who died later.
5. Emperor Xuantong
Before his death, Cixi chose Ai Xinjueluo Puyi as his successor after the Guangxu Emperor, Puyi was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the Xuantong Emperor, Puyi's father was the regent Zaifeng, Zaifeng and the Guangxu Emperor Zaifeng were half-brothers, and Puyi was the nephew of the Guangxu Emperor.
Emperor Xuantong and his concubines
Puyi's mother was Su Wanguarjia, his grandfather was Yizhen the Prince of Alcohol, his grandmother was Liu Jiashi, Empress Dowager Cixi's sister Wanzhen and Liu Jiashi were both Yizhen's wives and concubines, counting Cixi was Puyi's titular aunt and grandmother, after Guangxu's death, Puyi was passed on to both the Tongzhi Emperor and the Guangxu Emperor, in law, Puyi was the common son of the Tongzhi Emperor and the Guangxu Emperor, and was also the grandson of Cixi.
This relationship seems to be quite complicated, this is Cixi artificially complicated, the most important thing is that Cixi let his niece Empress Longyu become Puyi's legal mother, and then let Longyu follow his own example and let his relatives continue to control the Qing Dynasty after his death, and finally the abdication of the Qing Dynasty was also promulgated in the hands of Empress Longyu.