"Under normal circumstances, the empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty is 16 characters, but there is an empress who has 22 characters, almost meeting the emperor's standards, and this woman who can be called the uncrowned empress of the Qing Dynasty left a thought-provoking sentence before her death."
1. Daughter of a family of military merit
Speaking of Empress Xiaoqinxian, we often refer to her as Cixi, a controversial historical figure who is unsurpassed in terms of popularity, but Empress Xiaoqinxian's family lineage is little known.
Yehenara is a very famous surname in the Qing Dynasty, and the birth mother of emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Xiaocigao, is surnamed Yehenara, but this Yehenara is not PiyeHenara.
Empress Xiaocigao was the daughter of Yang Jiping, the lord of the Yehe Tribe, and belonged to the royal family, and this branch of the Yehenara clan was incorporated into the Manchurian Zhenghuang Banner, and also produced some well-known figures, such as the Kangxi Dynasty's powerful minister Nalan Mingzhu, the Qing Dynasty's first poet Naran Zhide, and the Qianlong harem's Shu Concubine.
Empress Xiaoqinxian's ancestors were indeed from Yehebu, but they were only SuQuan, who had lived in Yehe for generations, and the ancestor who entered the flag was named Kazan, and the Manchurian Blue Banner was entered, and there was no blood relationship with the Yehe tribe royal family Nala clan, simply put, they were just the same surname.
After Kazan entered the banner, he was recruited throughout Liaodong, made military merits, was named a third-class male, and was awarded a second-class viscount for his meritorious service in raising princesses, in addition, Kazan's descendants also had two hereditary positions, which was the eighth ancestor of Empress Xiaoqinxian.
Empress Xiaoqinxian's great-grandfather, named Ji Lang'a, had served as a member of the Jiaqing Dynasty as a criminal officer, Wailang and Zhang Jing, a military machine, and died in Jiaqing for twenty years. Ji Lang'a had a son, named Jing Rui, the grandfather of Empress Xiaoqinxian, jingrui had served as a criminal langzhong, married his wife Guarjia clan, and had three sons, the second son was named Huizheng, who had served as a Daoist member of Ningchi Guangtai in Anhui, and he was the father of Empress Xiaoqinxian.
From the above, it can be seen that Empress Xiaoqinxian's family started with military merit, and most of her family members served in the six ministries of the DPRK, although the official position was not too high, it also belonged to a middle-level bureaucratic family. Overall, Empress Xiaoqinxian's family lineage is still very good, although there have been no major officials, but it is still much stronger than the general official eunuch family.
However, Empress Xiaoqinxian's family had a crisis in the Daoguang Dynasty.
Twenty-three years after Daoguang, there was a deficit in the Hubu Silver Treasury, Daoguang conducted an inventory of the Treasury, and Empress Xiaoqinxian's great-grandfather Ji lang A, who served as a member of the Hubu Silver Treasury, the imperial court recovered 21,602 silver from the Ji Lang A family. At that time, Ji Lang'a was no longer alive, and this supplementary payment fell to Jing Rui, the grandfather of Empress Xiao qinxian.
However, Jing Rui could not get together so much silver, so he was imprisoned, watching his father being imprisoned, Empress Xiao Qinxian's father Hui Zheng quickly collected money and paid the money, and finally Jing Rui was released from prison in Daoguang twenty-nine years.
Empress Xiaoqinxian's father Hui Zheng married Fu ChaShi, the daughter of Hui Xian, the deputy capital of Naturalization City (the son-in-law and the old man's name seemed to be brothers), Hui Zheng had more sons and daughters, three sons, three sons were Zhaoxiang, Gui Xiang, and Fo You, the eldest of the four daughters died in his early years, the second was Empress Xiao Qinxian, the third was married to the seventh son of Daoguang, Yi Zhen the Prince of Alcohol, as a concubine Fujin, and gave birth to the Guangxu Emperor Zaixiang, and the fourth married to Yi Xun, the younger brother of Prince Yi of Qing.
It can be seen that from the generation of Empress Xiaoqinxian's sisters, they have continued to marry the imperial family, and to the generation of Empress Xiaoqinxian's nieces are all married to the princes of the near branch, it is obvious that this is the intentional arrangement of Empress Xiaoqinxian, one can facilitate the inheritance of the throne to find the son born to the daughter of the family, and the two can ensure the wealth and glory of the family.
For example, Empress Xiaoqinxian's eldest niece, Yehenara (daughter of Du tong Guixiang), under her arrangement, married her sister's son Zai Xiang (Guangxu Emperor), who was known as "Empress Dowager Yao shun".
2. Concubine Yi guifei whose mother is noble with her son
In February of the second year of xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, because Xianfeng's original Sakda clan died before succeeding to the throne, the harem of the Qing Dynasty was almost idle at that time. To this end, XianFeng ordered the eight flags draft to be held, and this time, XianFeng selected four show girls to enter the palace in one go, namely the concubine Niu Hulu, the noble Ilgen Jueluo clan, the Lan gui yehenara clan and the Li gui ren Tatara clan.
This person who was given the title lan gui was the empress dowager Cixi, who later became famous.
However, at that time, Lan Guiren was only a young girl of only 17 years old, perhaps because her father Hui Zheng died of illness in the third year of Xianfeng (the second year of Lan Guiren's entry into the palace), and Lan Guiren, who lived in the Lijingxuan of Chuxiu Palace, was not the first to be favored by Xianfeng.
Among the four selected showgirls, the concubine Niu Hulu was obviously elected to the harem as a preparatory empress, and sure enough, within a month of entering the palace, the NiuHulu clan was promoted to the title of Zhen Guifei and immediately made empress. Even the noble Ilgen Jue Luoshi was promoted to concubine at the end of the year of entering the palace, and it was obvious that the Lan nobleman Yu Li in the early Xianfeng period was slightly inferior and walked behind.
However, from the third year of Xianfeng, the concubine Ilgen Jue Luoshi was demoted one after another, which was obviously out of favor. In the fourth year of Xianfeng, Xianfeng's main energy began to shift to Lan Guiren and Li Guiren, who were successively promoted to Yi Concubine and Li Concubine, becoming the most favored lord of the harem at that time.
In May of the fifth year of Xianfeng, Concubine Li gave birth to the first child of the Tara clan and gave birth to the eldest daughter of the Emperor, Princess Rong'an Gulun, although it was only a daughter, but this was Xianfeng's first child, which made Xian Feng extremely excited, and on the day of the third wash, he promoted him to Thera clan as a Concubine Li. The reason why Xian Feng was excited, in fact, there was another reason, Li Fei gave birth to prove that she did not have any physical problems, so she took advantage of the hot iron to spoil the Concubine Yi of Chu Xiu Palace, and the kung fu did not pay off, and before long, Yi Concubine was also pregnant with a dragon fetus.
In March of the sixth year of Xianfeng, the 21-year-old Yi concubine Yehenara gave birth to the eldest son of the emperor at Chuxiu Palace, named Zaichun, and it is clear that this time, Xianfeng was even more excited, and on the day of Zaichun's birth, he ordered yehenara to be promoted to Yi concubine.
It can be seen that whether it is entering the palace, or gaining favor, or being promoted to a famous position, Concubine Yi and Concubine Li are almost synchronous, and it is easy for people to form an illusion, the two people have an obvious state of competition, and the relationship is definitely not good. Therefore, some wild histories are even more exaggerated, saying that after Cixi came to power, she persecuted Lifei and even made her a "human", but from the official historical records, on the contrary, Cixi treated this woman who entered the palace with herself.
In the first month of the seventh year of Xianfeng, Concubine Yi's mother was honored as a concubine of Yi Gui. Although Mei Gui, who had been demoted to an official woman, gave birth to the second son of the emperor in the eighth year of Xianfeng, the young prince died on the day of birth. As a result, Concubine Yi guifei became the only concubine who gave birth to a prince for Xianfeng. Moreover, at that time, Yi Guifei was ranked second only to the Empress Niu Hulu of the Middle Palace.
Eight years after Xianfeng, the Qing harem added a lot of new people, Xianfeng gradually transferred her energy to these newcomers, for Yi Guifei, the focus at this time was obviously on her son Zaichun, because she knew that as long as she saved her son Zaichun, she could have everything.
3. Lafayette with three hanging curtains
On July 17, 1111, XianFeng died at the age of 31 in the Rehe Palace, and after returning to Beijing, the empress dowagers of the two palaces, Ci'an and Cixi, together with Prince Gong Yixuan, launched a coup d'état, eliminating the eight ministers of the Zanxiang government in one fell swoop and replacing them with a new system of "two palaces hanging curtains, and princes assisting the government", which was the first time that Cixi hung the curtain.
In fact, during the first curtain period, although Cixi was the biological mother of the Tongzhi Emperor and the empress dowager, the decision-making power of major state affairs was in the hands of Ci'an. Moreover, due to the difference between concubines and concubines, Cixi has always been respectful to Ci'an and has not been half disrespectful. During this period, the relationship between the two empresses and empresses was described in the Qing Palace Relics:
"The Eastern Palace is superior to virtue, and the Great Reward is the Master of Great Deeds; the Western Palace is superior to the Talent, and judges the pros and cons of reading the recital and summoning the right time to consult."
Obviously, the power at that time was in the hands of Ci'an, and Cixi's function was mainly reflected in the daily government affairs, relatively speaking, the relationship between the two was still relatively harmonious, and no major conflicts broke out. If you want to find one, it is the problem of the establishment of the Tongzhi Emperor.
In the eleventh year of Tongzhi, the two palaces selected an empress for the Tongzhi Emperor who was about to be married, and Ci'an's favorite daughter of Zhuangyuan Chongqi, Alute, who was also Ci'an's cousin niece, Cixi favored The Fucha clan, the daughter of Fengxiu from the famous gate, and finally the Tongzhi Emperor still adopted Ci'an's suggestion and chose the dignified and atmospheric Alute clan, which can be seen that Cixi's status in the eyes of her son is also inferior to that of Empress Dowager Ci'an.
In December of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, at the age of 19, Tongzhi died in the Yangxin Temple, and subsequently, the second son of Prince Yizhen of Alcohol, the nephew and nephew of Cixi, Zai Xiang, was elected as the heir to the imperial throne, as the Guangxu Emperor. Due to Guangxu's young age, the two palaces had to hang the curtain again, which was the second time in Cixi's life.
Relatively speaking, this time the curtain was lifted, but Cixi experienced a change from an auxiliary status to a dictatorial era.
First of all, in the sixth year of Guangxu, Cixi had a serious illness, a series of diseases caused by dysentery, and this time the illness was very serious, almost endangering Cixi's life. In the seventh year of Guangxu, Cixi gradually improved, however, what people did not expect was that in March of the seventh year of Guangxu, Empress Dowager Ci'an collapsed in zhongpu Palace, and as a result, the curtains of the two palaces were replaced by the dictatorship of the first palace, and the era of Cixi's family dominance came.
During this period, such as the Guangxu Decade, Cixi launched a coup d'état with monopoly of power, called Jiashen Yishu. In the coup d'état, Cixi unexpectedly deposed all the military ministers headed by Prince Gong Yixuan and replaced them with a long-domesticated alcohol party clique, through which Cixi could be said to have truly become an uncrowned empress and almost ascended the throne as emperor.
In September of the 24th year of Guangxu, Cixi launched a third coup d'état called the Wushu Coup. In this coup d'état, Cixi almost wiped out the reformists led by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and even the Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned in Yingtai, and Tan Si and the other six gentlemen were dragged to the vegetable market to be beheaded.
After the coup, Empress Dowager Cixi lowered the curtain for the third time, until the end of her life.
4. The end of the uncrowned empress
Since the serious illness of Guangxu in the sixth year, Cixi has been paying great attention to health maintenance, and there are even records that Cixi takes human milk regularly, which is indeed the case. Except for the serious illness in the sixth year of Guangxu, Cixi's health has always been relatively healthy, and there have been no major problems, but since the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu, Cixi has added a new disease of facial nerve spasms, and after thirty years of Guangxu, it has become more and more frequent.
In the autumn of the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, Empress Dowager Cixi's body originally had no problems, but in October, she manifested herself as "cold fever, cough, thirst, dry tongue, tiredness of the body and limbs, and chest pain", so that she died on the twenty-second day at the age of 74.
In fact, Cixi may have anticipated her own life expectancy and made careful arrangements for the aftermath. For example, the death of the Guangxu Emperor is now tended to be poisoned by Empress Dowager Cixi.
In addition, Cixi also chose the last heir for the Qing Dynasty, she was Guangxu's nephew, Zaifeng's son Puyi, and a young doll, so that her niece Longyu could hold power. It has to be said that Cixi still overestimated the ability of her niece Longyu, and three years after her death, the Qing Empire came to an end, and her niece Longyu only won the reputation of "Female Yao Shun".
"And at the end of Emperor Wenzong, the two empresses Xiaozhen and Xiaoqin bowed to the government, and there were virtuous kings inside and famous generals on the outside, who cut the great difficulties and praised Zhongxing. Unfortunately, Muzong was born, Empress Xiaozhen collapsed, Empress Xiaoqin listened to the government for a long time, left the palace slightly, repaired the celebration, and regarded The Holy Ancestor Fengxiaozhuang Empress and Emperor Gaozong Fengxiaosheng Empress xiaosheng did not arrest one of the ten, and the world's carers had private opinions, foreign insults and disasters were frequent, and it was not the right time. Unfortunately, he was at odds with Emperor Dezong, and once he provoked the controversy, he provoked the rebellion of Gengzi. In the evening, it is a matter of changing the law, fearing the difficulties of the Mandate of Heaven, observing the people's hearts and minds, and wanting to save them with a constitution, a hundred ends at the same time, the government is anxious and the people are annoyed, the tomb soil is not dry, and the national pace is changed. The rise and fall of a generation depends on the palace. alack! Isn't that heaven forbid? Isn't that heaven forbid? ”
Zichen said:
Cixi can be said to be the most controversial figure in the history of the Qing Dynasty, originally a female stream, she had a strong desire for power, step by step, and embarked on the top of the Forbidden Purple, but what she did not expect was that the Qing Empire also completely declined in her hands. It sounds a bit ironic, but Cixi left a meaningful sentence before her death: "After that, women cannot predict the state politics." This is contrary to the family law of this dynasty and must be strictly restricted. In particular, it is necessary to guard against eunuchs without authorization. The things of the end of the Ming Dynasty can be Yin Jian! ”
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Remains of the Qing Palace, Records of Emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty, etc