On the afternoon of the 22nd day after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Cixi was also ordered to return to Huangquan at the Yiluan Hall. Needless to say, the cause of death of this authoritarian empress dowager has always been questionable, and many people tend to think that her death was not only due to the effects of disease.
The day before yesterday, she could also issue an edict confirming that Puyi had entered the throne, and Cixi seemed to still want to be the heroine of the curtain and listen to the government, and she did not want her to die for no reason.
Or she had a premonition that she would soon die, and before she was about to die, she issued an edict to quickly establish Puyi as the new emperor's candidate, and let her father Zaifeng be the regent of the jianguo, which was also the last major event for the imperial unification of the Qing Dynasty.
As for the cause of her death, it is widely said that after she forcibly obtained the edict to establish a new order in her isolated ward, according to the ancient Chinese custom, she was given a piece of gold and made her swallow the gold and suffocate her to death.
According to this theory, Cixi "swallowed gold and died" under the persecution of Zaifeng and others, and did not die of natural illness. However, as for this statement, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
It is said that Cixi had menstrual irregularities when she was young, and later in her forties, she suffered from menopausal syndrome, and she was also patronized by hemorrhoids, wheezing, diarrhea, gastrointestinal irregularities and other diseases.
Thirty years after Guangxu, due to old age and frailty, illness continued. Thirty-three years of the first month, that is, suffering from chronic gastrointestinal diseases, indigestion, although the imperial doctors tried their best to regulate, but the effect was very small. No, it was this gastrointestinal discomfort that buried the root of her illness towards death. In June 34, the condition was aggravated, and the imperial doctor Chen Bingjun recorded that "because the yin and yang are not removed, the qi is slightly weak, and the back is suddenly cold and hot, pulling the hips." ”
This also caused her spleen and stomach to be weak, and she needed to nourish the yin conditioning of the liver wood. From this, it can be seen that Cixi's original various pathologies appeared, the disease of the spleen and stomach showed signs of aggravation, and there were changes in dizziness and insufficient liver and yin.
Since then, the diarrhea has not healed, and there is a tendency to aggravate, due to continuous diarrhea and chronic consumption, energy gradually caused, so that the seventy-year-old Cixi physical strength is not as good as before. Because of the busy government affairs, it is difficult to recuperate and cannot get good conditioning.
It can be seen from the "Notes on Inner Life" that during this period, Cixi often issued edicts, approved the recitals, received ministers in the court, discussed government affairs, and fatigue led to uneven pulse rhythm or hypertension. In addition, Cixi's 73rd birthday was busy holding celebrations, busy participating in celebrations during the day, and watching dramas for days at night.
According to records, Cixi watched the play at the Xiyuan Yinian Hall for six consecutive nights, until she got up and went back to bed after the play. Days of exertion and exertion made her already weak body even worse. Coupled with greedy mouths, eating foods such as indigestible "cheese apples", resulting in low immunity, he caught a cold while playing Guanyin and the eunuch palace women swimming in the lake.
There should be many factors that make its condition take the birthday as the joint point of conversion. On the night of the birthday celebration, the imperial doctor diagnosed the disease and showed that in addition to continuing diarrhea, Cixi was also sick to the lungs.
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth day of the same month, Cixi's condition also did not change significantly, except for "coughing at times, dry tongue when thirsty, pain under the ribs, diarrhea in stool, and laziness and weakness in the body", there were no other symptoms. It was recorded from the beginning of the nineteenth that there was not much grain to eat.
At the same time, considering that the Guangxu Emperor's condition was becoming increasingly critical, Cixi began to consider the establishment of an heir. It is said that after Cixi decided that Zaifeng, the son of Prince Yizhen of Lifeng, would be made the regent and Puyi, the son of Zaifeng, would be the heir apparent, she secretly summoned the military chancellor Shi Xu and Zhang Zhidong to ask lifu who was the most suitable.
Shi Xu and Zhang Zhidong ensemble: "The state is the chief king, and the blessing of the society is better than the path to stand up and carry the feng." Zhang Zhidong said: "The emperor has been in the imperial palace for more than thirty years, and he must not make no queen." There is a system of ancient times, which seems to be imitatable. ”
Cixi considered and agreed to Zhang Zhidong's suggestion. After Cixi's decision, a pre-imperial meeting was held in the Yiluan Palace on the nineteenth, and the meeting on that day was presided over by the empress dowager alone, and Cixi's speech was still the same as before, her voice was loud and strong, and there was no discomfort.
On the twentieth day of the same month, two edicts were issued, one appointing Zaifeng as the regent, and the other appointing Zaifeng's son Puyi To huang, "to be educated in the palace and to study in the upper study."
However, Cixi issued two edicts in succession, appointing Zaifeng as the regent and determining Puyi as the empress dowager. The next day, the Guangxu Emperor died, and Cixi issued three edicts in succession.
On this day, although Cixi was extremely hard, her spirit was better, and she did not look like a seriously ill person, and there was no crisis, but only "stomach loss". At six o'clock the next day, as usual, the Minister of War, the Prince Regent, and others were summoned to discuss government affairs.
At noon, I was eating, and suddenly fainted, for a long time. After waking up, he felt that his body was not supported, his illness was critical, and he could not afford to know it, so he urgently summoned the Empress Guangxu, the Prince Regent, the Minister of Military Aircraft, and others to arrange the aftermath.
Cixi was ordering everything at that time, calmly and clearly, but then, her physical strength gradually declined, and in less than half an hour, she had entered a state of death. The imperial doctor has been admitted to the clinic three times, all of them shaking their heads and sighing, and the magic hand cannot be rejuvenated. The authoritarian woman who had controlled China's destiny for half a century died of illness at the age of seventy-four.
According to the imperial doctor Cixi, Cixi died a normal death, after all, very few people in ancient times could live to be more than seventy years old, and cixi's age was placed there, and it was normal for cixi to die due to long-term infection.
So, is there anyone who will harm Cixi?
Judging from the situation at that time, Cixi monopolized power, but after all, she was only the empress, and the way to hold power was to listen to the government, even if it was a word, no one dared to resist, but there was a Guangxu Emperor in the middle, if you say, the most wanted to kill her should be the Guangxu Emperor. After all, Guangxu was inherited, and his feelings were not deep.
Regarding the cause of death of both people, the main history records that they all died of illness, while ye shi has different views, after all, Guangxu and Cixi were both bedridden before they died.
According to the investigation, the Guangxu Emperor died of poisoning, and the hair, clothing, and bones of the Guangxu Emperor's body contained a high degree of arsenic trioxide.
It is said that a few days before Guangxu's death, Li Lianying learned through the little eunuch that the Guangxu Emperor had written a secret passage in his book, and Li Lianying learned enough through the little eunuch and reported it to Cixi, who decided to poison Guangxu first.
Regarding the content of that passage, according to historians, Guangxu believed that his illness was lighter than Cixi's, so he wrote a list of those who must be executed in advance, including Li Lianying. Frightened, Li Lianying lied to Cixi, saying that Guangxu planned to settle accounts after Cixi's death.
Cixi said angrily, "I can't die first!" This record became the basis for posterity to identify and poison the Guangxu Emperor. It is said that Cixi was strong first and poisoned the Guangxu Emperor.
Of course, there is also a possibility that the two people will hurt each other, but this possibility is very small, because Guangxu has no right and no ability to harm Cixi.
If there is any cause for Cixi's sudden death, it is likely that it was the death of the Guangxu Emperor as stated in his posthumous posthumous words. However, whether it was because of the grief of the Guangxu Emperor that aggravated the illness, or because the Guangxu Emperor died, the heart disease had been eliminated, and there was no longer any obsession, so that his original nervous spirit was loosened, resulting in the collapse of the long-term support of the sick body, it is unknown.
Write at the end
All in all, Cixi's death, although sudden, is also reasonable. Empress Dowager Cixi was weak, there were no major illnesses, minor illnesses continued, mainly for a long time, stomach pain and spleen weakness, so that the doctors were helpless, and she had been dragging a heavy sick body to support the decaying Qing Dynasty, although the illness was weak, but the overall situation was undecided, she did not dare to relax. When Guangxu was poisoned, the heart disease had gone, Puyi had been established, the overall situation had been determined, there was no attachment, and the original sick body naturally could not hold up, and he died immediately. Of course, as soon as Cixi left, Zaifeng faced the decaying Qing Dynasty, and Zaifeng was unable to maintain it, and within three years, the Qing Dynasty collapsed in the gunfire of the Wuchang Uprising.
—End—