Empress Dowager Cixi has always been criticized by posterity. From ancient times to the present, her evaluation is not very high. Most people felt that Cixi herself was extremely greedy for power, and during her reign, she coveted money, manipulated the imperial court, and gained benefits for herself, which exacerbated the corruption of this society. Moreover, in dealing with foreign countries, they still regard themselves as heavenly kingdoms, are not civilized, and do not think of making progress. When foreigners come in, they do not try to cope, but choose to escape. This was followed by a series of unequal treaties. Moreover, when the law was implemented in China, Cixi came out as a representative of the conservative faction to suppress the change of law, resulting in the failure of the change of law. Cixi also used the civilian Boxer Rebellion to oppose foreign powers, which led to the invasion of the Eight-Power Alliance and the signing of the most humiliating "Xin Ugly Treaty".
Where did all this income come from? In fact, people with power never worry about not having an income. Although the Qing Dynasty forbade the imperial family to engage in business, Empress Dowager Cixi still used her private money to invest in commerce and used her power to suppress her peers. And when she had no money, she would sell the official, all the officials, the titles are clearly marked, through the sale of the official, Empress Dowager Cixi is to earn a lot of black money. To digress, Empress Dowager Cixi is still relatively vicious. Because the Guangxu Emperor liked Zhenfei, and Zhenfei did have some abilities, this caused Empress Dowager Cixi to resent, so before the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing and Empress Dowager Cixi fled the capital, she found out the reason why Zhenfei betrayed the official Andejue and threw her into the well and drowned.
Cixi not only earns black money but also likes to enjoy it. In 1860, the British and French troops burned the Yuanmingyuan, and most of the Three Mountains and Five Gardens on the outskirts of Beijing were also burned. For example, the Qingyi Garden, the predecessor of the Summer Palace, was burned down in this fire. After the Tongzhi Emperor ascended the throne, Cixi especially wanted to build the Summer Palace as a garden for future retirement. In 1874, with the approval of the Tongzhi Emperor, the construction of the Summer Palace began, but it was strongly opposed by Prince Gong Yi. He suggested that Guotai Min'an should build a garden after that, but Cixi had to give up. By 1885, Empress Dowager Ci'an had died, Prince Gong had gone into the wilderness, and she had become a center of power, so she began to plan the construction of the Summer Palace, known as the establishment of the Naval Academy on Kunming Lake, and began to build in 1888. We don't know whether the construction of the Summer Palace has embezzled naval military expenses, and according to calculations, the cost of the Summer Palace is about 7.5 million taels. The construction of the navy was also affected, and the purchase restriction order of 1891 was due to the emptiness of the national treasury. Eventually, the Beiyang Navy's combat readiness lagged behind that of the current world.
Empress Dowager Cixi's daily life consumption is also very large, there is a TV series called "Towards the Republic", there is such a scene, in Japan, the Japanese emperor shrinks his clothes and food, eats only two meals a day, and donates money to build a navy, but Empress Dowager Cixi is facing a table full of Han and can't eat. A stark contrast is formed. According to the data, the emperor's daily meals were 22 catties of pork knuckles, 5 catties of soup meat, 1 catty of lard, 2 sheep, 5 chickens, and 3 ducks. This was the emperor's own, and Empress Dowager Cixi must have had more than that. And at that time, because there were more clerks, more levels, and layers of exploitation, the quotation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also quite high. It's just about eating. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi's daily consumption is about 40,000 taels of silver, and some people convert it into 400 to 8 million yuan, which is really a shocking number. In this way, it can only lead to greater social instability and lay the bitter fruit for the development of the country.