Li Lianying, from a rural family in Langfang, Hebei Province, whose original name was Li Yingtai, was only nine years old because the fortune teller said that he was the "iron broom life" of "Shangke's parents and brothers and sisters", he was sent to the palace by the family with a bite of his teeth and "cleansed" and became a small eunuch in the Chuxiu Palace of Concubine Yi (the future Empress Dowager Cixi).
In the more than half a century since then, as "Concubine Yi" became Cixi, he who was renamed "Li Lianying" by Cixi also soared, calling the wind and rain in the political arena of the Great Qing Dynasty, and almost all the "Middle Halls," "Princes," and "Overseers" in the political arena of the late Qing Dynasty rushed to hug his thick legs.
After fifty-five years of deep palace floating and sinking, he not only served Cixi obediently, but also wandered between the major forces to gain enough benefits.
We all know that Li Lianying's master, Empress Dowager Cixi, was not only the supreme ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, but also the most difficult "master" to serve in the entire Qing Dynasty.
Many people wonder, is there really a master-servant relationship between Li Lianying and Cixi? Why is he so favored?
The first reason is to use her craft to make Cixi happy
Before entering the palace, Li Lianying's parents were shavers, and he inherited his own art of shaving his head and paid special attention to the empress's hair.
Li Lianying has her own secret for hair, first of all, in the hair care, he did experiments with pig hair, and found that adding vinegar in the water will make the hair very soft.
Second, he can hold a lot of broken hair together to make the hairstyle look neat and tidy.
Finally, there was a headache of hair loss, but Empress Dowager Cixi never lost a single hair through Li Lianying's hand.
Using the principle of static electricity generated by the horn comb and fur, he hid a piece of leather in the cuff, so that the combed hair could be taken away, creating the illusion that the hair would not fall out.
After observing Empress Dowager Cixi's habit of combing her hair, Li Lianying still thought of using her own craftsmanship to make her master happy.
So, he read a lot of books on this subject and studied various combing techniques.
In the end, his craftsmanship did not disappoint Cixi, and gradually Li Lianying became a red person around Cixi.
Later, An Dehai was beheaded, and Li Lianying was promoted to grand master, and he was only 21 years old this year.
The second reason is his "viciousness".
Almost all the "sensitive events" during Cixi's reign, from her power struggle with several princes to her grievances with the Guangxu Emperor, almost all had Li Lianying's shadow, such as "spying on Guangxu" and "plotting to kill Concubine Zhen", which were all "handled" by Li Lianying.
For example, the feud with Zhenfei vividly reflects Li Lianying's "hot hands". During the Sino-Japanese War, Li Lianying found out about Zhenfei's brother colluding with the eunuchs to sell officials. He first hid and did not report it, waiting for the defeat ahead to come, Cixi was anxious, and then deliberately "stabbed" Cixi. At this time, Cixi, who had always hated Zhenfei, found the reason for the anger, imprisoned Zhenfei in anger, and specially set up a forbidden card to write the ins and outs of this ugly matter. Concubine Zhen, who had always been favored by the Guangxu Emperor, was lightly beaten by Li Lianying's "black gun" and fell to the ground.
The third reason is that he helped Cixi "carry the thunder"
After the fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War, when Tsarist Russia took advantage of the fire and robbery and opened its mouth to the Qing government lion, Cixi asked Li Lianying to come forward to contact the Russian emissaries, and the two sides had Baiyunguan as the contact point and held many secret talks. Shi said that "the peace negotiation came from the empress dowager, and the eunuch Li Lianying left and right." The "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty," which betrayed a large number of China's sovereign interests, was negotiated by Li Lianying " out of the blue.
And more importantly, Li Lianying's high emotional intelligence.
In a book called "Memoirs of a Palace Girl", it was written that the more the empress dowager appreciated her father-in-law, the more humble her father-in-law became.
Li Lianying paid great attention to winning people's hearts whether she was up or down. A late Qing Dynasty palace lady described Li Lianying as a "Buddha seeing a pear", that is, looking at black and black, but it tastes sweet and delicious.
When going to the Beiyang military parade, Li Lianying, as a Chincha, had no shelf and obediently followed the side of Prince Shuo (the father of the Guangxu Emperor), like a small follower, and deliberately kept a distance from Li Hongzhang. Even at night, prince Alcohol washed his feet before going to bed, and it was Li Lianying who took the initiative to help the waiter. This moved the originally wary Prince to tears, and when Cixi knew about it, she first felt a deep growing face, and Xi Zizi said, "I didn't hurt him in vain (Li Lianying). ”
In 1908, Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi died one after another, and Li Lianying did three very clever things.
First, return the treasures given to him by Cixi to Empress Longyu;
Second, to keep filial piety for Cixi for a hundred days;
Finally, say goodbye to the old people.
Leaving the Forbidden City where she had lived for half a lifetime, Li Lianying was very low-key, until three years later, Li Lianying died suddenly, at the age of 63.
Because li lianying was not a "complete body", Li Lianying could not be buried in the ancestral tomb, and Empress Longyu prepared a grand funeral for Li Lianying and buried him in a separate courtyard.
Until 1966, Li Lianying's tomb was excavated, but the scene in the tomb stunned everyone's eyes.
Inside the coffin, there was only one skull with three-foot-long braids dragged on it, and there was no body, that is, Li Lianying's body was in a different place after death.
Experts have looked through the history books and have not found any records of his cause of death, let alone where his body is.
From this, it is inferred that his death should not be simple.
If there is any secret in the middle, we can only wait for posterity to continue to investigate, Li Lianying's death may one day be fully revealed, or perhaps, it will continue to be sealed.
References: "Li Lianying, The Power Supervisor at the End of the Qing Dynasty", "Li Lianying, who was a generous person", "Li Lianying, the Gold Medal Butler".