After the coup d'état of Xin You, gu ordered the eight ministers to kill and close, and almost none of them ended well. In particular, Su Shun, as a royal family relative, was actually escorted to Caishikou to openly ask for beheading, which opened a precedent for the Ai Xinjue Luo family. Then, why did Cixi hate Sushun so much that she didn't even leave a whole corpse for Sushun? In addition to the struggle for imperial power, there are also some little-known private contradictions behind this.
Although Sushun was only a co-founder of the university and a Hubu Shangshu, he was not a top-level honored and important minister. However, because of his harsh government and courage to do things, he won the trust of the Xianfeng Emperor and was actually the first of many ministers who accompanied the Xianfeng Emperor to Rehe. Dare to act boldly and act vigorously is certainly an indispensable basic quality of a politician, but if it is not done well, it will also lead to unexpected results, such as the relationship between Sushun and Cixi.
Originally, Sushun was a red man on the side of the Xianfeng Emperor, and Cixi also had to let him divide it, respect it, and even deliberately curry favor with it. Unexpectedly, the stubborn and somewhat empty-eyed Su Shun did not take the woman who was only in her 20s at the time in her eyes. In his mind, Cixi was nothing more than an ordinary nobleman and concubine who was greedy and jealous, and competed for favors.
Generally speaking, the relationship between two people is not good, contradicting each other or fighting openly and secretly, and the harm between each other will be great or fatal. However, when a person has bowed to the wind and showed kindness to the other party, but is still ruthlessly rejected, even despised, then the wound to the person's self-esteem will be deeper, more painful, and more unable to heal. If there is no chance, once the opportunity comes and the power is in hand, it will be necessary to take revenge, and it will lead to death and then quickly.
The deterioration of relations between Sushun and Cixi stemmed from one or two trifles. Among them, there are both reasons for Su Shun's excessive arrogance, as well as Cixi's narrow psychological role as a woman, especially a woman with a strong desire for power, and some misunderstandings.
The first incident occurred when the Anglo-French troops approached Beijing, when the Xianfeng Emperor ordered the Shuntianfu to collect hundreds of carriages and horses, and nominally the general led the sixth division to personally march, but in fact prepared to lead some of the princes and concubines to flee to Rehe. However, after the news came out, they were opposed by the courtiers, who pleaded with the Xianfeng Emperor to "quickly determine (from the Yuanmingyuan) the grand plan to return the palace", and there were many folk rumors, and people's hearts were confused. In order to temporarily stabilize people's minds, the Xianfeng Emperor had to issue an edict ordering all spare carriages and horses to be returned separately.
Because of this, when the Xianfeng Emperor led the princes and ministers to flee, only one palace car was accompanied, and the empress dowager and others had to temporarily hire civilian carriages and horses. Of course, the folk carriages and horses cannot be compared with the palace cars, and riding in them is very guilty. Not to mention the harem concubines, even the accompanying princes and ministers could not bear it.
At first, Cixi was still able to grit her teeth and endure, but then Sushun rode past the car, and Cixi hurriedly flattered and said, "Sixth Master, can you change a better carriage for me?" Su Shun did not take Cixi in his eyes, and at this time he was busy directing the fleeing team, so he casually said perfunctorily: "Wait until the next resting place." Cixi was also reasonable, and did not further embarrass Su Shun.
However, after arriving at the next resting place, Cixi sent someone to call for Sushun. Su Shun was busy at this time, and he was also very upset, so he said impatiently: "Now when, I can't be busy with the emperor's affairs, where is the time to take care of these miscellaneous things?" Isn't the car that the queen rides also hired from the people, and what kind of person are you, who wants to be above the queen? After Cixi heard these words, although she did not dare to say anything more on the surface, from then on she deeply hated SuShun.
The second incident also occurred on the way to the River of Ree. On the way, the diet and living of the Xianfeng Emperor and his party were very problematic, whether it was the emperor or the princes and ministers, or the harem concubines, they could not eat on time at first, and even had to suffer hunger. The situation improved slightly, but the supply of the concubines was still limited. However, someone reported to Cixi that Sushun had food boxes there that could be offered to wine and meat. Therefore, Cixi and the harem concubines believed that this was the powerful SuShun's intention to insult the harem, so they were greatly dissatisfied with him.
In fact, in this matter, Su Shun was really wronged. Because according to the regulations, the provision of meals for the queen and her concubines was responsible for a special dining room, and the foreign ministers did not dare to provide for themselves. Therefore, Sushun himself had no responsibility for preparing the food supply of the concubines, and did not have this power. However, at that time, the concubines, including the empress, did not understand the reasoning and gritted their teeth at Sushun.
No matter who the responsibility is, anyway, the festival between Sushun and Cixi is over. As the saying goes, "a slap can make three enemies", Cixi and Sushun have a grudge, and indeed some women are small and childish. But it was often these personal grudges that ultimately doomed Cixi to kill Su Shun, and not even a whole corpse was left for him.