History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Speaking of Cixi, a woman who has listened to the government three times in Chinese history, the politics of the entire late Qing Dynasty were single-handedly stirred up by her. It is conceivable that in feudal society, the social status of women has always been low, and it is not easy to survive alone, but in the ever-changing political struggle, Cixi ruled the Qing Dynasty for 48 years, and it can be said that some of the things she did must exceed ordinary people.
Whether in political struggles, harem favor competitions, or personal life, Cixi can say that "nothing can be done, only the unthinkable", as long as it can bring her benefits, she can achieve the goal by any means, in fact, this is the way the harem women survive.
But once Cixi interfered in the regime, the whole country was in a bad situation. In order to exchange for the so-called "peaceful life", she signed unequal treaties with foreign invading imperialist countries again and again, and in the end, the country was arbitrarily slaughtered by foreign enemies like a lamb. It can be said that the later Qing Dynasty has always been in a passive position, and the step-by-step retreat can only lead to the final fall. Just when the country was divided and the people were in a precarious situation, Cixi actively prepared to build gardens and lay pomp and circumstance for her 60th birthday.
Because of this, the funds for the establishment of the Beiyang Marine Division have not been approved by her, because the national treasury has been in deficit, a lot of silver has been handed over to the imperial invaders, the people's food has become a problem, and it is a major event of the country at that time to build the Beiyang Marine Division with taxes. However, Cixi, who has always lived an extravagant and lascivious life, will not care about these things that the people do not care about and the country is in danger. She only wants to make herself comfortable, and she wants her 60th birthday to remain beautiful, but her words are: "This is for the face of the country." If you are too poor and sour and look down upon by foreigners, the future of the Qing Dynasty will be even more worrisome. ”
This kind of excuse can be found, and it is conceivable that there is nothing else she can't do.
In view of Cixi's position in the Great Qing Dynasty at that time, no one in the palace dared to disobey her wishes, and even the emperor, who had always been a noble son of heaven, had to succumb to Cixi's obscenity. Although the Guangxu Emperor was nominally the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, everyone knew that he was a ragdoll who was toyed with by Cixi. As soon as Cixi became angry, the Guangxu Emperor immediately prostrated himself and confessed his guilt in fright, otherwise, he would be retaliated against by Cixi in various ways, and the means of which ordinary people could not imagine. And the ministers are even more "looking forward to their horses", because Cixi's words will make many people who violate her fall to the ground.
Just when Cixi was planning to embezzle public funds to build a garden for a big birthday, Li Hongzhang, who was bent on organizing the Beiyang Marine Division, did his best to please Cixi because he had no funds. After being inquired and knowing that Cixi liked parrots, Li Hongzhang tried his best to find someone to train a valuable parrot, and planned to personally dedicate it to Cixi. Perhaps, as soon as she was happy, she approved the funds of the water division, so that the Great Qing Kingdom could have its own water division and resist the invasion of the outside world. But in the end, in the choice of selfish desires and the establishment of a water master, the greedy and selfish Cixi still chose the former.
This is only a small matter in Cixi's hedonistic life, and in order to keep herself young forever, Cixi even came up with a way to drink human milk.
It can be said that breast milk is the most natural, safest and most complete natural food for infant growth, and it contains all the nutrients and antibodies needed for infant growth, so for an adult woman, breast milk is still a tonic "holy product".
Since Cixi was 26 years old, she began to drink human milk and has been drinking it for more than 50 years. In fact, this has long been recorded in the Qing Palace, and 40 nurses are selected in the inner court every season, called "sitting show milk mouth"; 80 nurses are selected in the palace, called "point milk mouth" as candidates. When the "sitting show milk mouth" can not provide human milk unexpectedly, it is made up by the "point milk mouth". During the Cixi period, eunuchs were asked to go to the people to select a woman who had just given birth, and she had to be healthy and petite in order to enter the palace and offer her breast milk. Moreover, in order to ensure that the milk was sufficient, the diet of the nursing mother was specially designed by the court nutritionists and imperial doctors, involving chicken, duck and fish meat, but less salt and less soy sauce. As for whether the newborn child needs to be breastfed, whether it can survive without breast milk, this is completely out of her consideration. Here, what is even more infuriating is that the women who have breastfed her over the years have been secretly executed by her, because, in her heart, she also admits that this is a disgraceful thing.
It is conceivable that in the past 50 years, how many women have died for Cixi's beauty!
Later, at the Smithsonian Museum in Sulan, Maryland, THE United States, a restored huge oil painting of Empress Dowager Cixi was exhibited.
According to records, this oil painting portrait was painted by the American female painter Carr in 1904, that is, when Empress Dowager Cixi was 69 years old, according to the portrait, it can be seen that Cixi in the painting has fair skin, clear eyebrows, youthful beauty, radiance, and even, it does not look like an old woman who is almost 70 years old, but like a beautiful woman who is not yet 30 years old!
So why did Cixi leave such an oil portrait, when the appearance of the top echelons of the court was not strictly confidential? In fact, at that time, the wife of the American ambassador, Conger, persuaded Cixi to show her beautiful image to the world, using portrait paintings as the exhibits of China's first participation in the World Expo, so that the world could see the true face of Cixi and the style of the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire, and Cixi readily agreed.
During the exhibition, many visitors praised Cixi's beauty, but many people wondered about this "69-year-old oriental beauty woman": "What aphrodisiac did she take to make herself so young?" ”
Cixi was not only loyal to enjoyment when she was born, but even after her death, she planned to do her utmost luxury in the underworld, and her funeral offerings can be said to have brought half of the treasures of the Great Qing into the earth. However, such extravagant greed made her not only spurned after her death, but also suffered the treatment of digging up corpses and digging graves.
Just after the Second Northern Expedition in 1928, Sun Dianying garrisoned the Mashen Bridge in Jixian County, and the Qing Tombs not far from here were where Cixi was buried. The bandit Ma Futian and his party were active in the Tanglin area, at this time Sun Dianying took the opportunity to sweep away the bandit Ma Futian, and sent soldiers to rob Cixi's tomb one by one, which is the legendary "Tanglin Treasure".
Cixi had many evil deeds during her lifetime, and in her lifetime, in order to enjoy all her glory and wealth, she could use all kinds of means to achieve her goals by any means. And for the sake of selfish desires, the exclusion of dissidents is an all-out "enemy" who mutilates her. Countless people died at her hands, and in the end, she could not even rest comfortably after her death. Although the scenery before his death was infinite, he left many crimes in history, is this life not very sad?