In the late Qing Dynasty, the Guangxu Emperor once tried to carry out a top-down movement to change the law, in order to change the status quo of the Qing Dynasty being backward and beaten, however, even if he was the emperor, he could not change the ills of the imperial court that had been accumulated for hundreds of years at once, and the counterattack of the conservative faction was very fierce, not only did the restoration faction that supported and advocated the change of law suffered a heavy blow, even the emperor Guangxu was directly imprisoned, the emperor of the hall did so, who died if the Qing Dynasty did not die?
And it was the Guangxu Emperor's titular wife, Empress Dowager Cixi, who single-handedly commanded the conservatives and the emperor's mad revenge. Guangxu's disobedience and desire to hold the imperial power with one hand gave this old woman a great shock, and after launching the Wushu coup to stabilize the situation, she once again conducted a political training as the empress dowager, and even once moved the idea of abolishing the Guangxu Emperor.
In order to depose the Guangxu Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi had already found out who to make the new emperor, that is, the son of Duan Wang Ai Xinjue Luo Zaiyi and Empress Dowager Cixi's niece Pu Juan. Although Cixi was the empress dowager, she also had the power to change the emperor in a hurry, and she needed the support of various local officials, so she ordered people and called the governors of the provinces to seek advice, and it was Cixi's favorite minister Ronglu who collected opinions.
Rong Lu this person has a great relationship with the coup d'état, after all, Cixi learned from Yuan Shikai that the Guangxu Emperor and others wanted to attack their favorite subjects, and it was up to the master to beat the dog, Guangxu did not care about Cixi's face and wanted to do such a thing, Cixi simply launched a coup. After the coup, the first thing Cixi thought of was to summon Ronglu back to Beijing to help preside over the overall situation, which led to Ronglu's collection of opinions from the big officials, but although Ronglu was Cixi's favorite, but doing things was also relatively bottom-line, in the matter of changing the emperor, Ronglu was resolutely on the opposite side of Cixi, but did not show his attitude on the surface.
Why didn't Rong Lu approve of changing the emperor? First, the Qing Dynasty never happened when the empress dowager and the ministers joined hands to replace the emperor; second, it was not conducive to the stability of the imperial court, and once the replacement of the emperor was successful, Cixi would only further expand. In order to prevent Cixi from changing the emperor, Rong Lu did not bother to think about it, especially when he first received the opinion of Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, who opposed the replacement of the emperor, did not want to change the emperor, and also wanted to protect Liu Kunyi, he made an opinion that we modern people can't think of - directly went to the vicinity of Di'anmen to let Zhao Blind count a gua.
Who is Zhao Blind? According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", there is a blind person in di'anmen, surnamed Zhao, who has lost his name, and is known as "Zhao Blind", good plum blossom easy counting ("Plum Blossom Easy Counting" is one of the ancient Chinese divination methods, based on the mathematics in Yixue, combined with the "elephant science" in Yixue for divination). This person's divination is very clever, and the rich families in the capital are convinced of it, and Empress Dowager Cixi is a person who believes in yin and yang divination, and once sent someone to find Zhao Blind.
Rong Lu went to the palace with the results of Zhao's blind divination and the spirit sign obtained from the Guanmiao prayer, and Cixi did ask the local officials whether they had replied with a telegram about replacing the emperor, and Rong Lu concealed Liu Kunyi's reply: "The external electricity has not arrived for a long time, and the slaves have also read it from time to time." Yesterday, it was not auspicious to ask for a signature at the Guan temple, and it was not auspicious for the blind man to ask for a sign, and he was quite worried. Cixi asked directly, what is the result of the guaxiang, Rong Lu probed huaixianzhi, the general idea is not to move, the movement is remorseful, Filial Piety is silent, listening to these eight words, Cixi's mind to change the emperor has gone for the most part. After another two days, Rong Lu took out Liu Kunyi's telegram, which read: "The division between kings and subjects has been determined, and the mouth of the world is difficult to defend."
However, everything was said by Liu Kunyi, foreign forces really did not support the Qing government to replace the emperor, and the British minister directly said: "I believe that The word Guangxu is recognized." Cixi no longer had the idea of changing the emperor, and the new emperor who was selected became the heir to the throne, the Eldest Brother.
References:Draft History of the Qing Dynasty