We all know that the emperor is the son of heaven, the supreme of the ninth and fifth, has supreme power, dominates the fate of the country, determines the life and death of his subjects, and is awe-inspiring and inoffensible. However, some people dare to risk the world's great disobedience, pretend to be the emperor, and swindle and deceive.
On June 11, 1898, that is, the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, the reform faction represented by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao was supported by the Guangxu Emperor and began to carry out the reform movement of changing the law, unfortunately, because the change touched the vital interests of some stubborn and conservative elements, it lasted only 103 days and ended in failure.
On September 21, Empress Dowager Cixi staged a coup d'état, imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor, and killed the "Six Gentlemen of Wushu", and the Penghu Rebellion was nipped in the bud. Subsequently, Empress Dowager Cixi began her third time bowing to the government. During this period, the news of Guangxu at home and abroad was still very concerned. However, one thing that happened was very strange, that is, in Wuchang City, which was under the jurisdiction of Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangjiang, the figure of the "Guangxu Emperor" actually appeared.
So, what's going on?
Liu Chengyu's account of the "false Guangxu" incident in the Qing Dynasty tells the truth of the matter. This Liu Chengyu personally attended the scene of the trial of the case, witnessed the process of Zhang Zhidong's trial of the case, and also learned the truth of the case from Jiang Xiazhi County, who also tried the case, that is, his teacher Chen Shuping. It turned out that in the year after Guangxu was imprisoned, two uninvited guests suddenly came from Wuchang City, and the two masters and servants were generous and behaved extraordinaryly, and soon stayed in the mansion rented by a waiting official in Wuchang.
I saw that the young master's long eyebrows were clear-eyed, and indeed resembled the Guangxu Emperor, and the servant's attire was clearly a eunuch. On weekdays, the master reads and writes in the mansion and rarely shows his face, but he gives the impression that he is richly dressed and his life is very luxurious. Looking at the servant again, the ones who opened their mouths and closed their mouths were all "slaves" and "slaves" were short, but they called the master "holy", and the etiquette was the same as in the palace. The master covered the golden dragon with a golden dragon bowl, and also carried a jade seal of the "Treasure of the Jade Seal", which were things that only the emperor could have.
But the use of these holy relics by ordinary people is a matter of losing their heads, and from this point of view, this is really the emperor.
Speaking of the alternate official, the words and deeds of the master and servant were really seen by him, and this master looked like the emperor, so he called a few people who had been officials in the capital to confirm it, and they all felt that he was very similar to the current Guangxu Emperor, so he did not dare to distinguish it anymore, and hurriedly went forward to kneel and greet him. Some people compare the appearance of Guangxu with the master and feel that the appearance is similar, some people doubt the authenticity of the emperor, but when they see the gold bowl and jade seal, they no longer have doubts, and some people suspect the identity of the servant's eunuch, so they also verify that it is indeed a eunuch in the name of bathing.
Suddenly, the news of the Guangxu Emperor's visit to Wuchang was spread, and the officials of the three towns of Wuhan came to see the emperor one after another, and the gifts sent by the money and the two masters and servants did not refuse at all. Soon, the news of the Guangxu Emperor's presence in Wuchang was reported by major newspapers one after another, reprinted with each other, and the more outrageous the news became, saying that the Guangxu Emperor fled the capital under the protection of the revolutionary party and came to Wuchang to seek the protection of Zhang Zhidong in order to consider the long term. For a time, such rumors spread all over the world.
Chen Shuping of Jiangxia County was even more restless when he heard about this matter, and hurried to meet Zhang Zhidong, not wanting Zhang Zhidong to hear about this matter was also a big surprise, but he had always been cautious in doing things, he felt that this matter was not so simple, among them, there must be catty. Therefore, he inquired about the facts from the officials who were officials in the capital, and the news came that the Guangxu Emperor was still imprisoned and heavily guarded. Subsequently, Zhang Zhidong received a telegram from Beijing requesting that the "fake Guangxu" case be investigated and dealt with as soon as possible and that he should not neglect his duties.
Zhang Zhidong, who had found out the details, quickly arrested the master and servant and personally held a trial. At the beginning, Fake Guangxu asked to explain the situation to Zhang Zhidong privately, but the matter had reached this point, and he wanted to play tricks again, Zhang Zhidong was very angry, and he shot up the case: "Stealing forbidden objects in the palace has constituted a capital crime, and it should be beheaded according to the law!" But seeing that fake Guangxu instantly panicked and revealed its original form. Originally, this fake emperor's name was Chongfu, a drama, who had entered and left the palace many times in the name of singing opera, was familiar with the etiquette of the palace, and because his appearance resembled Guangxu, he was usually jokingly called "false emperor" by his peers.
What was infuriating was that the eunuch servant, who denied everything in the public court, made it difficult to progress the case, and Zhang Zhidong had no choice but to hand the two over to Jiangxia Zhixian for severe torture, and the old servant finally couldn't resist torturing and finally confessed truthfully: It turned out that this servant's name was Zhao Dexing, a eunuch in the palace, who liked to steal petty things on weekdays, and the things used by the fake emperor were all stolen by him in the palace, and he fled the palace because of the theft, not only did the thief's heart not change but also wanted to do something "big." This old eunuch knew the details of the palace very well, and he also knew more about Guangxu's imprisonment.
Therefore, in his opinion: Guangxu's imprisonment is a secret, few people in the world know, before someone pretended to be Wang Ye to cheat and get rich, why not seize this opportunity to simply pretend to be the emperor to get rich overnight. Therefore, he found the "false emperor" Chongfu and asked him to pretend to be Guangxu to cheat together, this Chongfu is also a ghost obsession, and the two coincide. They first came to Wuchang to deceive, but because of their insatiable greed, Wuchang did not want to leave for a long time and showed his horse's feet. After the case was settled, the two masters and servants were immediately executed, and the sensational false Guangxu case was settled.
It can be seen that people's desires are endless, this old eunuch has stolen so many things in the palace and is not satisfied, and he actually thinks of using the technique of pretending to be the emperor to deceive, and he really wants to get rich and wants to go crazy. There is also that drama Chongfu, playing the emperor on the stage to get over the addiction, the stage also dared to pretend to be the emperor everywhere to cheat, you dare to do the thing of losing your head, of course, it is self-inflicted. Looking at Zhang Zhidong's killing of the false Guangxu can be described as a three-pronged victory, which not only stabilized the political situation of the imperial court, but also proved for himself that he had nothing to do with the false emperor, and also avoided the consequences of this matter causing a crisis of rule to Empress Dowager Cixi.
Resources:
【Miscellaneous Records of Shi Zai Tang", "The Case of False Guangxu in Wuchang"】