Southern Dynasty Liu Ziluan lamented before his death."
May the next life not be born again in the imperial family
", how many puppet emperors' voices were spoken.
Although they are in high positions and are ostensibly the rulers of the whole country, they actually live a life controlled by others, and even life and death cannot be decided by themselves.
The life of the Guangxu Emperor in the late Qing Dynasty was probably like this, he was forced into the palace at an early age, and suddenly died in his prime
Throughout his life, he was manipulated by Empress Dowager Cixi
What kind of life did this young emperor go through?
Enter the palace and grow up in the Forbidden City
The Guangxu Emperor, who was born in the tenth year of Tongzhi's reign, was the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi, which laid the foundation for his future entry into the palace.
Emperor Tongzhi was frail and sick at a young age, and died in his twenties, he was himself the only son of the Xianfeng Emperor, and he left no heirs, so
Succession to the throne
It became a big problem.
Zai Xiang, who was born in the palace and was the second son, would not have entered the palace, but he was
Empress Dowager Cixi's one-handed manipulation
At the age of four, Zai Xiang was passed on to the Xianfeng Emperor and succeeded to the throne, and the following year he changed his era name to "Guangxu".
There was a cry in Prince Alcohol's mansion,
But no one can stop the power of Cixi,
In the Forbidden City, Cixi and Guangxu
Mother and child are commensurate
Cixi would personally take him to sleep and teach literacy.
The imperial court chose Weng Tonggong and Xia Tongshan as Guangxu's teachers, he was talented, loved to read from an early age, learned things quickly, and was quite loved by teachers and Empress Dowager Cixi
。
At that time, the Qing government was in a very complex political environment, and the Opium War had gradually reduced China to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
The Westerners are actively promoting the Western-style movement with the slogan of "self-improvement and seeking prosperity."
On the surface, it improved the situation of the Qing Dynasty's ruins, but in fact it did not change its decaying interior
According to historical records, at the age of 16, he could approve the recital and judge the ancient and modern, which showed that he was one
Very thoughtful young ruler
Maybe he should have had a bright future and great political achievements
Born ahead of one's time
Pro-government was blocked and the change of law failed
Empress Dowager Cixi's ambitions"
Sima Zhao's heart is well known
The Guangxu Emperor was so intelligent that her worries outweighed her relief, and it was obvious that the Guangxu Emperor had already possessed the ability to pro-government, and Cixi's "curtain-dropping and listening" had become unjustified.
In the thirteenth year of Guangxu, the young emperor finally took the throne, but the return of power was only a superficial work, and in fact, all the upper performances had to pass the pass of the empress dowager before being handed over to Guangxu.
Meanwhile, Cixi
compulsion
He married his niece to Guangxu as empress, that is, Empress Longyu.
The Guangxu Emperor was now nearly twenty years old, and in the court he was forced to acquiesce to Cixi's interference in the regime, and even harem life was controlled by her.
The Guangxu Emperor liked the young and beautiful Concubine Zhen and talked to her, but ignored Empress Longyu, whom Cixi had appointed, causing Cixi to be dissatisfied.
In the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894), Japan deliberately provoked war, which is famous
Sino-Japanese War
In this matter, the Guangxu Emperor always advocated actively responding to the war and opposed the practice of negotiating peace with the Japanese army proposed by Li Hongzhang and others.
However, at such a critical juncture of national life and death, Cixi continued to embezzle naval funds to repair the Summer Palace in preparation for her sixtieth birthday.
It was impossible to expand naval equipment without money, and he repeatedly ordered an end to this practice and the expansion of the navy, but no one listened.
In the end, the Qing court was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War.
The Beiyang Navy was completely destroyed, and the foreign affairs movement was declared a failure
The young emperor had a fierce national sentiment, and he was full of enthusiasm, opposing the signing of the "Maguan Treaty" and supporting the change of law and the strengthening of the law.
Despite certain limitations in his vision, the Guangxu Emperor insisted on reform, and he agreed to Kang Youwei Liang Qichao's reform and reform method, and launched a war with the conservative faction represented by Cixi without smoke.
The restoration and reform method lasted only a hundred days, and the strength of the conservative forces exceeded the imagination of the restorationists, and despite the strong support of the Guangxu Emperor, the feudal remnants of the court only listened to the words of Empress Dowager Cixi's "Yi Will", making the guangxu emperor's various orders become
A blank piece of paper
Imprisoned Yingtai and killed overnight
The failure of the Reform and Reform Not only led to the beheading of many of the main members of the Restoration Faction, but also the Guangxu Emperor was also killed by Cixi
Imprison Yingtai
The life of captivity did not overwhelm Guangxu, he still carefully read the general history of the West, actively accepted new things, and even learned English.
He knew in his heart that the feudal system of the Qing Dynasty must be changed, and that he had to learn from the West to have a bright way out, and later when he returned to Beijing, he had a huge estrangement from Cixi, and his behavior was more strictly controlled.
In such a case, his
Ambition has nowhere to go, isolation and helplessness,
In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), he was seriously ill and bedridden, and in the winter of that year, he was
Died of a violent illness
whereas
Only one day later
Cixi also cried out for her life.
This had to arouse people's suspicions, Guangxu was in his prime but suddenly seriously ill, and his death was also very strange, suddenly dying overnight.
In 2008, archaeologists tested the Guangxu Emperor's hair and found that it contained it
arsenic
There is no doubt that he was poisoned by someone, and the most likely to poison him was the one who had been close to him like a mother and son
Empress Dowager Cixi
One of the most speculated statements now is that Cixi is afraid that Guangxu will be reinstated after her death.
In addition, he had always had the idea of killing him after changing the law, and chose to poison the emperor one step ahead of his own life soon after.
Of course, there are also Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying who say, but these statements are not as corroborating as cixi poisoning.
Whoever it was, the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned by others was indisputable, and the thirty-eight-year-old emperor tried his best to save the country from decay, and finally became
Victims of political struggle
brief summary
"If you can save the country, why don't you have the right to do so?" The emperor of a feudal society could have such a consciousness, and the Guangxu Emperor was undoubtedly the representative of the progressive ideas of that era.
The life of the Guangxu Emperor was
Depressed
In the end, he still did not find the most correct path for the country.
But his attempt was
Meaningful
It is on the road of exploring a new China and saving the survival of the dead
A stroke of color