As we all know, after the eunuch An Dehai became a red man around Empress Dowager Cixi, he was pampered and arrogant, and he could no longer hold back his foolish heart. In the DPRK, he really treated himself as a horn, as if he would not die without making some big moves.
As a result, he ruined his great future at a young age.
According to records, An Dehai entered the palace as a eunuch at a very young age. Because of his cleverness and cleverness, he was soon favored by the Xianfeng Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. Shortly after Xianfeng's death, An Dehai made a great contribution to the Xin You's coup d'état carried out by Cixi to seize power, and after that, he was promoted to the position of chief eunuch and became a pivotal figure in the court.
At this point, An Dehai was on his toes all day, not taking anyone seriously, even the little emperor Zaichun, he was also dismissive, and often provoked the mother-son relationship between the little emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. That arrogant look made the little emperor Zaichun hate him so much that his teeth itched, and even the ministers of the DPRK and China were jealous of him and couldn't bear it. As the saying goes, once you have achieved success, you will be oblivious.
With the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, An Dehai was very restless and always wanted to make a name for himself. In the eighth year of Tongzhi, he was not happy to stay in the palace, and he still wanted to go outside the palace to show off, and By the way, Andehai, who had collected some foreign wealth, could no longer bear it. Under the pretext of preparing a wedding ceremony for the Tongzhi Emperor, he repeatedly asked Empress Dowager Cixi to leave the palace and go to Jiangnan to buy dragon robes and wedding items.
Empress Dowager Cixi could not resist Andehai's rhetoric, so she verbally agreed. With the consent of Empress Dowager Cixi, An Dehai ignored the Qing Dynasty's system of not allowing eunuchs to leave the palace at will, and took his family and servants out of the palace.
Based on the serious consequences of the Ming Dynasty's eunuchs' misfortunes and chaos in the government, the Qing Dynasty formulated a series of strict management systems for eunuchs in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, and resolutely prevented eunuchs from interfering in the government.
During the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, there was a clear stipulation: "Eunuchs must not leave the capital without authorization; they must not interfere in anything in the DPRK except for their own work; they must not hand over to outsiders; they must not hand over to foreign officials; they must not let their brothers and nephews and relatives secretly hand over; they must not buy land property under the guise of their brothers and nephews, control the official palace, and harm the people." Later, it was also stipulated: "The eunuch rank is below the level of sipin, unless it is sent by order, otherwise, it is not allowed to leave the capital without permission, and those who violate it are punished by death." ”
At that time, An Dehai was only a six-pin blue plume eunuch, but he ignored the ancestral system of the Great Qing Dynasty. Leaving Beijing without informing any local official, this move eventually brought him to the scourge of death. An Dehai carried the banner of Chincha all the way, but did not carry a single official document. Moreover, on the way, he also made a big noise and showed unlimited scenery, and when passing through the Dezhou area of Shandong, Zhizhou Zhao Xin felt very confused, since it was Chincha transit, then how could he not get any edicts.
Logically, when Qing Dynasty ministers were dispatched out of Beijing, they would issue official documents, and officials along the way would be treated according to etiquette. There were also servants brought by An Dehai to buy things, and they did not show the "pass card survey", that is, the entourage ordered to leave Beijing had issued identity documents. With the certificate, it does not cost money to buy things along the way, and it is provided free of charge by the local government. All of this, in Anderhai's party, could not be seen.
Therefore, Zhao Xin hurriedly reported the matter to Inspector Ding Baozhen.
Inspector Ding Baozhen has always been upright and honest, not inflammatory, and has long heard of Andehaiqi, and has always been dissatisfied with his arrogance and arrogance.
After receiving Zhao Xin's report from Zhizhou, he immediately wrote a secret and painful account of Andehai's various illegal acts, and complained that he was an official, could not neglect his duties, and should be impartial in enforcing the law:
First, for more than two hundred years in the Qing Dynasty, eunuchs were never allowed to hand over to outsiders, and eunuchs were never sent out of Beijing.
Second, the dragon robe is such an important brocade and satin, it will be carefully woven, and there is no need for eunuchs to go far away to buy and waste funds. Moreover, the empress dowager and the emperor have always advocated frugality, and it is reasonable not to let eunuchs go out of Beijing to buy offices, that is, there must be such things, at least there must be edicts and official documents.
Third, eunuchs should also have a pass card survey when they travel back and forth, and they must not be allowed to consume and play arbitrarily.
Fourth, the dragon and phoenix flag is a forbidden object for royal use, but An Dehai blatantly hangs the dragon and phoenix flag on the boat and travels out of Beijing, as a eunuch, he knows the etiquette system and deliberately offends.
Fifth, even if it is a business trip, there are still female relatives, what a system.
The secret fold was urgently delivered to Emperor Zaichun, who immediately summoned Prince Gong and the military ministers for consultation. Tacitly, everyone decided to execute An Dehai on the spot, and issued an edict: "There are eunuchs surnamed An who have traveled out of Beijing without authorization, there have been many illegal acts, if they are not severely punished, how can they respect the ancestral system, order Ding Baozhen to quickly arrest and bring the eunuchs to justice, so that the entourage of personnel to point out the evidence is true, there is no need for interrogation, and immediately put the law on the spot." ”
Ding Baozhen received the edict and immediately escorted An Dehai to the execution ground in Jinan and beheaded him with a knife.
It took Only Five Days for Anderhai to go from being caught to Fa-rectification.
When An Dehai gained power over Empress Dowager Cixi, when traveling through other situations, officials in various places were afraid of angering Empress Dowager Cixi, so they swallowed their anger, so why could they be killed by Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong?
Looking at the reasons for this, in fact, this is also reasonable.
First of all, let's analyze the relationship between the two palaces at that time.
The Tongzhi Emperor Zai Chunshi was born to Empress Dowager Cixi, but Zaichun was close to Empress Dowager Ci'an. Ci'an also became an obstacle to Cixi's power, which intensified the contradictions between the two palaces. After that, An Dehai left the palace without permission, violating the ancestral system, and Empress Dowager Ci'an sided with Tongzhi and Prince Gong and advocated the execution of An Dehai, which also greatly shocked Empress Dowager Cixi.
Secondly, the Tongzhi Emperor wanted to get rid of Andehai from beginning to end.
After receiving Ding Baozhen's secret fold, he said that he would immediately kill An Dehai, and even more in front of Empress Dowager Cixi, he made a first slash and then a play. In essence, this was a contest of power, a rebellion against Empress Dowager Cixi's power, and at the same time, a defense of imperial power.
Finally, An Dehai itself violated the Qing Dynasty's strict management system of eunuchs.
The Qing Dynasty has always severely punished eunuchs for violating the ancestral system, and how can they tolerate a single eunuch going unpunished.
When Anderhay died, he was only 25 years old, and his great future was so easy for him to ruin, because he ignored the law and blamed himself. Moreover, it is really tragic to bear the infamy of a lifetime after death.
Resources:
["History of the Qing Dynasty", "Draft history of the Qing Dynasty, volume 21, Benji", "Draft of the History of the Qing Dynasty, Biography of The Later Concubines"]