An Dehai, one of the most powerful eunuchs in the late Qing Dynasty, under the protection of Empress Dowager Cixi, dared to ignore the imperial power and oppress the people to amass wealth. At that time, as long as there was a place where Andehai was haunted, no courtier official dared to rebel against him, for fear of touching Cixi's moldy head, and then he would end up with the end of the Nine Tribes. However, just when Andehai was in full favor, an inspector named Ding Baozhen spent a mere five days looking for evidence of the crime and writing a letter to the emperor, directly cutting Downhai. When everyone was worried about Ding Baozhen. Cixi, who heard of An Dehai's death, acted as if nothing had happened. Could it be that Cixi's favor for Andehai was just an illusion?
In fact, looking through history from the cause of An Dehai's death, we can see that Cixi did not want to blame Ding Baozhen but that the current political situation did not allow her to vent her private anger.
In the eighth year of Tongzhi, the insatiable An Dehai was ready to use the gimmick of the Tongzhi Emperor's big wedding to enrich his small treasury. So he ran to Empress Dowager Cixi to flatter her. He was allowed to lead the palace people to the Jiangnan area to buy dragon robes and buy the items needed for the wedding day of the Tongzhi Emperor. At that time, the ancestral system of the Great Qing Dynasty did not allow eunuchs to leave the palace without permission. Even with the support of Cixi, no one else dared to say anything, so An Dehai led a group of retinues to the Jiangnan area.
When the officials along the way saw Cixi's favored courtiers coming, they all flattered him, and the gold and silver treasures were generally offered to him like sand that did not want money. At this time, when he heard about Andehai's whereabouts, Ding Baozhen, who was the inspector of Shandong at the time, was greatly surprised and did not receive any documents about Andehai coming here. Originally, in order to strengthen the legal system that eunuchs were not allowed to leave the palace without permission, the Tongzhi Emperor had made a law that anyone who left the palace should have an official document issued outside the military aircraft department.
When An Dehai left the palace at that time, Cixi did not get him an official document at all, but only gave a verbal promise. Originally, ordinary people did not dare to leave the palace when they saw that there was no document, but An Dehai thought that he was Cixi's darling, and no one else dared to move him. It is possible to pass the test without paperwork. Unexpectedly, I met Ding Baozhen. Ding Baozhen had long been dissatisfied with Andehai's indulgent behavior. Therefore, as soon as An Dehai stepped into the area under his jurisdiction in the Shandong territory, he sent someone to arrest him.
After being arrested, An Dehai had no remorse for himself, and Yang Yan said that he would make Ding Baozhen look good after he went out. In the face of An Dehai's threat, Ding Baozhen did not compromise, directly listed him five pieces of evidence of guilt, wrote a document and reported it to the Tongzhi Emperor, requesting that he be punished with death.
The offences are:
First, ignoring the ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty, eunuchs left the palace privately.
Second, the dragon robe, the imperial wedding all the things in the palace are responsible for a special person, this person without documents out of the capital is to deceive the emperor and the empress dowager in order to achieve their purpose of accumulating wealth.
Third, use public funds to travel during travel.
Fourth, hanging such an important thing as the dragon robe on the bed is for the sake of filial piety to the emperor.
Fifth, the female relatives around them are in groups, which is contrary to morality.
At this time, the Tongzhi Emperor who received the document also wanted to kill An Dehai but was afraid of being blamed by Empress Dowager Cixi. Empress Dowager Ci'an, who happened to hear the news, had long wanted to kill Cixi's might. So he sided with the Tongzhi Emperor, and in this way, Ding Baozhen received the approval of the Tongzhi Emperor. Directly dragged Andehai to the execution ground and slashed with a knife.
Empress Dowager Ci'an had always been cixi's biggest obstacle to her power, and at this time, if she stood up for An Dehai, she would inevitably be caught by Ci'an with her pigtails. At the same time, he would also be attacked by the courtiers of Prince Gong's faction, after all, the five pieces of evidence listed by Ding Baozhen were all committed by An Dehai and each of them was a crime of deception. Besides, Anderhay is just a dog to her, and when the dog is gone, she can keep another one, and when the power is gone, it is difficult to snatch it back. Therefore, she did not have to be caught by the enemy for the sake of a dog.