Speaking of Empress Dowager Cixi, I am afraid that everyone knows that she is one of the few women who have been in power for a long time during the imperial period. During Cixi's reign, he was able to manipulate internal politics, especially at manipulating the balance of power between pro-noble courtiers and keeping himself in an invincible position. And to the outside world, Cixi claimed to be obedient to the government, but in her eyes, the emperor was just a decoration, and the two generations of emperors were toyed with by her. As the de facto ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi used her absolute authority to enable the faltering Qing Dynasty to survive for decades.
Of course, in addition to the political dictatorship, in her private life, Cixi was also quite corrupt in her later years, even on a par with Empress Wu Zetian. When the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out, she built a large number of civil engineering projects and spent a lot of money to build the Summer Palace to celebrate her 60th birthday; after the Gengzi Incident, when China faced huge reparations from the Xin ugly peace treaty, her extravagance still did not relent, which eventually worsened the financial problems of the late Qing Dynasty and the people's livelihood withered. It can be said that as a high-ranking feminist, her private life is particularly concerned and enjoyed by modern people, among which when she was 46 years old, she once made a lot of noise because of a strange disease!
According to the "Qing History Manuscript Cixi Biography", "Empress Xiaoqinxian, of the Yehenara clan, was the daughter of Huining Chi Guangtai Dao huizheng in Anhui. In the first year of Xianfeng, he was later elected to the palace and was called a nobleman. For four years, he was a concubine. In March of the sixth year, Gengchen, Mu Zongsheng, entered Yifei. Seven years, into the Concubine. That is to say, since she was drafted into the palace, Empress Dowager Cixi has gathered thousands of favors in one, and with her own ingenuity, she has become the most favored concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor in just seven years. Later, due to the weakness and illness of the Xianfeng Emperor, coupled with the fact that the country was in the midst of internal and external troubles at that time, his heart was haggard, and finally the Xianfeng Emperor often let him ghostwrite and approve the recital chapter, and since then Cixi has begun to come into contact with the majesty of the imperial power!
In 1860, the Second Opium War broke out, and the Xianfeng Emperor Canghuang and his concubines fled to Rehe for refuge, and the following year he died in grief. Before his death, the Xianfeng Emperor entrusted the eight ministers to assist the government, but Cixi, who was extremely powerful, was very dissatisfied, so he joined forces with The Xianfeng Emperor's younger brother Prince Gong Yixun to launch a coup d'état of Xin You, designed and arrested the eight ministers, sentenced Prince Zaiyuan of Yi, Duanhua the Prince of Zheng, and Sushun to a decision, and other officials were dismissed. For this reason, the "Qing History Manuscript Cixi Biography" records: "The edict says: 'Hanging the curtain is not a pleasure, but because of the difficulties of current affairs, the wang ministers and other ministers cannot be unforgiving, but are invited by gu yun.' Emperor Qian succeeded in his classics, that is, he returned to the government. 'Self-righteousness, internal and external chapters, the two empresses read the edict, the king minister proposed the will, the next day into the presentation. ”
During Cixi's reign, it can be said that the Qing Dynasty was defeated and cleaned, and China's glorious history was written with more than 100 years of humiliation. From the "Xin You coup" to her death, she commanded the military and political power of the Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties for 47 years, becoming the longest woman in Chinese history who actually held power. During the defeat of the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War in 1894 and the catastrophe of the Gengzi Fist Rebellion in 1900, Cixi had an unshirkable responsibility. Throughout her life, Empress Dowager Cixi was born for power and died for power, and Cixi eventually fell ill due to day and night labor, according to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty": "In the sixth year (1880), the empress dowager did not hesitate, and the governors of Shangfeng (Guangxu) recommended the treatment of the disease. ”
It turned out that in the sixth year of Guangxu, the 46-year-old Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly suffered from a strange illness, not only was she unwell, lazy and sleepy, but also did not think about tea and rice, nausea and vomiting, although the imperial kitchen of the imperial dining room used all their strength to prepare meals for the empress, but they could not always hang the appetite of empress dowager Cixi, and several imperial cooks were beaten for this. Later, after the imperial doctor diagnosed that Cixi was worried about state affairs and was overly anxious, so that the liver fire was too strong, hurting the spleen and stomach, he prescribed some conditioning formulas for him to take. However, after several days, Cixi's condition not only did not improve, but worsened, often finding it difficult to sleep at night, eating and vomiting, making her describe it as withered and yellow, and even the basic pilgrimage was difficult to maintain.
Empress Dowager Cixi was ill, and this was Tianzi No. 1 patient. When the Guangxu Emperor heard that the Emperor's body was not safe and had not improved for many days, the rather filial Guangxu Emperor issued a secret edict and secretly ordered the provinces to recommend famous doctors to the palace for the treatment of the empress dowager. It is reasonable to say that the Qing court should have made Empress Dowager Cixi's condition public in search of famous doctors in the world, so as to better find the famous doctors who hid the people. So why did the Guangxu Emperor secretly visit the provinces to recommend famous doctors? It turned out that it was not that he did not want to announce Cixi's condition, but that he really could not say it! For Empress Dowager Cixi's condition with features such as nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue and drowsiness, these are clearly female pregnancy symptoms, coupled with the fact that women who have been in power since ancient times have scandals (Lü Yan and Zhen Zhiqi, Wu Zetian and Zhang Brothers, etc.), the Qing court in order to maintain the reputation of Empress Dowager Cixi, naturally can not publicize the condition to the public!
However, after the provincial governors and important ministers received the edicts, whether it was out of the responsibility of the ministers or for other reasons, they naturally attached great importance to them. Later, there were not a few famous doctors recommended for Cixi's diagnosis and treatment, but none of them could diagnose Empress Dowager Cixi's condition. Just when the Guangxu Emperor was worried, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, recommended a famous doctor in Wuxi, Xue Fuchen, to come and treat Empress Dowager Cixi. As for why Li Hongzhang recommended Xue Fuchen, it is now impossible to study, but this Xue Fuchen is indeed a famous doctor, according to historical records, Xue Fuchen has been brilliant since childhood, and he can try to write articles at the age of 7. After becoming an adult, he studied medical books on his own, which lasted for five or six years, became proficient in various family medical books, and became a famous local doctor.
Upon hearing the news, the Guangxu Emperor immediately issued a holy decree, sending Qin Sent Eight Hundred Li to wuxi Xizhang Temple, summoning Xue Fuchen to Beijing as soon as possible to diagnose and treat the empress dowager. And this Xue Fuchen is not only a master of medical skills, but also a shrewd person. He knew very well in his heart that Cixi's husband, The Xianfeng Emperor, had long since died, and the empress dowager would not be happy! Therefore, he saw that Empress Dowager Cixi's condition was carefully considered, and suddenly he thought of volume V of the "Zhengzhi Hui Supplement": "Falling into a closed file, qi reversal, qi depression, mistakenly making up for astringency, stasis in the stomach, the heart is full, eating is vomiting, known as blood reversal; stasis is stored in the spleen, the abdomen is inflated, and gradually becomes full, known as blood clams." "It turned out that Cixi's strange disease was called Blood Clam, which was a bulging evidence caused by the internal stagnation of blood stasis and the prolongation of the cycle.
In the end, although Xue Fuchen's diagnosed pulses were also discussed in terms of blood, the drugs were all dredged up and nourishing products, so they could work, and they were greatly surprised by famous doctors such as Wang Shouzheng of Quyang Zhi County and Menghe Ma Peizhi of Changzhou who went to the consultation. Later, Xue Fuchen stayed in the court for more than two years because of his medical skills, and did not return home until Cixi recovered from illness. According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the Biography of Cixi", "In the eighth year (1882), he recovered from illness. Empress Xiaozhen (Empress Dowager Ci'an) collapsed, and the empress dowager ruled alone. ”
Due to the bloating caused by the blood slug disease, it resembles pregnancy, and the folk associations are rich, so that the legend of Xue Fuchen beating the fetus for Cixi is not shined, so that it has become the talk of the tea and dinner that has been passed down to this day. Folk rumors xue Fuchen gave Empress Dowager Cixi a pill to fight the fetus, let Cixi take it, the empress dowager's blood stasis has fallen, Xue Fuchen immediately released from the palace. Subsequently, Xue Fuchen was afraid that Cixi would retaliate for the scandal, so he resolutely returned to his hometown in Wuxi to pretend to be dead, and asked his family to do a funeral to escape the pursuit and killing of the great internal guards. It is said that the Wuxi proverb "the coffin comes out of the city head - far away from the turn", and the canon is here.
Finally, we would like to say that the strange illness that 46-year-old Cixi got is not incurable, but in order to protect his reputation, he really can't say it! But the rumors are not credible after all, after Cixi's illness was cured, Xue was credited with curing the disease, and he rewarded the headband and adjusted the direct subordinate to Yongdao. It was the Chinese New Year's Eve of the year, and Cixi personally wrote "Fu" Yu and "Professional Cultivation" plaque to give. At the same time, he gave a purple python robe and a pair of jade hook belts, and also gave the Yuan Hall of the Feast Body and the Changchun Palace to listen to the play, which showed that Empress Dowager Cixi had been too generous to her. During his tenure as a direct subordinate, Xue Fuchen was strictly arrested, heavy on coastal defense, and in need of the people, and his political achievements were outstanding, and it was not long before he was promoted to the left deputy capital of the Metropolitan Inspection Bureau. Guangxu resigned in the summer of the fifteenth year, and died in July of the same year at the age of 57. It is said that Cixi, who learned the news, was very sad and specially gave 500 taels of silver to the funeral as a sign of gratitude!