Guangxu was raised to the throne by Cixi, and there is no doubt about this. He would have become a carefree prince, and after the death of the Tongzhi Emperor, Cixi, in order to continue to hold power, found such a relative, and in her opinion, a small child of her own relatives was both easy to control and loyal to her.
When Guangxu ascended the throne, he was only four years old, and the empress dowager of the two palaces listened to the government, but he didn't need anything, all he needed to do was wait for him to grow up and slowly learn.
If a small child cannot yet be pro-government and still ignorant of the world, then as he grows older, it is logical for Guangxu to be pro-government.
In the first month of the thirteenth year of Guangxu (1887), he began to pro-government. However, this pro-government was not pro-government in the full sense, and Cixi thought of many ways to control Guangxu.
First of all, he chose a empress for Guangxu that she was ideal, that is, her niece Du Guixiang's daughter Yehenara, so that Cixi and Guangxu had a deeper connection.
Secondly, Cixi used more people loyal to him in the arrangement of civil and military officials, which embarrassed Guangxu, who faced these people every day.
In the end, in order to better control Guangxu, he even asked him to ask for peace for himself every day. Apparently, Empress Dowager Cixi set up numerous roadblocks for the Guangxu Emperor's pro-government.
But no matter what, as a young emperor, he always had to exert his political ambitions. Then the emperor who wants to have power and the empress dowager who does not give up power will become an irreconcilable contradiction.
However, Guangxu was incapable of changing all this, after all, he had been accustomed to Cixi's control for so many years, and to be honest, he had made any arrangements and preparations for his own pro-government.
This is due to his personal ability. It is not uncommon to say that such a thing as the ascension of a small emperor to the throne is not uncommon, and there are many people who can eventually gain great power, such as the Shunzhi and Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, who all ascended the throne as teenagers.
Of course, there are many factors in this, but it can be seen from the Kangxi Zhi Dou Ao bai that he has this confidence and ability, and it is obvious that Guangxu is not such a person.
Although he had no ability, Guangxu would not sit still. Although we often say that Guangxu is not as old as Cixi, when Cixi dies, everything will be completed.
But what if something unexpected happens in between? What if Guangxu is abolished? What if he died early? Therefore, it was obviously impossible for Guangxu to survive like this until Cixi died.
The defeat in the Sino-Japanese War was an opportunity for Guangxu. He used Kang Youwei to write a letter and decided to use the little power in his hands to change the law. Guangxu agreed to change the law for two reasons, on the one hand, the failure of the Great Qing made him feel uncomfortable, after all, he was the first responsible person, on the other hand, he hoped to take this opportunity to truly pro-government. Unfortunately, in the end, he failed, and this became his only chance.