The Ming Dynasty eunuch Liu Jin relied on Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao, Wei Zhongxian relied on Ming Xizong, and the late Qing Dynasty eunuch Li Lianying relied on Cixi, as a red person around Cixi, Li Lianying also received many honors, such as Cixi broke the royal ancestral system of "eunuch grades limited to four products".
Li Lianying was named Li Jinxi before entering the palace, there were four brothers in the family, Li Jinxi ranked second, according to his epitaph, Li Lianying was born in the twenty-eighth year of Daoguang (1848 AD), entered the palace at the age of 8, and Li Lianying did not serve Cixi at the beginning, and after entering the palace for 8 years, he was transferred to the eyes of Cixi in Changchun Palace.
At that time, An Dehai, who entered the palace at the same time as Li Lianying, had served Cixi for a long time and was a big red person around Cixi. With Cixi as the patron, An Dehai was very arrogant, but he was only a eunuch after all, and in 1869, An Dehai was beheaded by the Inspector of Shandong for "violating the ancestral system and leaving the Beijing Division without permission".
Li Lianying started from a small eunuch, witnessed the power struggle in the palace, and also saw the fate of other eunuchs, knew his position very well, and especially said good words, although loyal to the ear, but it is undeniable that everyone likes to listen to good words.
Li Lianying is described in the "Records of the Palace Women's Talk": "The waiters are tepid, just right, so that the people who are served feel very comfortable. The palace ladies were very affectionate with him and sincerely called him Uncle Liu. He often brought some needles and needles and threads to the palace women, which was what the palace women lacked, but he did not give it to a person, anyone could use it. When the palace ladies saw him, they sometimes asked him for an auspicious word, and he always returned the salute very modestly, no matter who it was..."
To put it simply, Li Lianying did not have a shelf, even if he became a red person around Cixi, he treated other eunuchs and palace women well, but he had some good reputations, and compared with the Ming Dynasty eunuchs Liu Jin, Wei Zhongxian and others, Li Lianying's hand never reached out to the government, and although Li Lianying was favored, he never left Cixi, and he was called a conscientious servant of Cixi for most of his life.
We also know that by the time the Qing Dynasty came to power, cixi had already decayed, the dprk was hiding dirt and grime, the corrupt officials had been wiped out endlessly, the water in the official arena was deeper than anywhere, and the Guangxu Emperor was a pawn in Cixi's power, empty of the name of the emperor, but without any real power; although Cixi was the actual ruler, could she really decide everything? Not necessarily.
In 1908, the 74-year-old Cixi was lying on a hospital bed, and she thought that the Guangxu Emperor was still in his prime, and once he died, the Guangxu Emperor was not sure to "be a demon", but although a hundred years later, signs of "arsenic poisoning" were detected from a strand of the Guangxu Emperor's hair, it is unknown whether the Guangxu Emperor was killed by Cixi himself, or poisoned by Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying.
The day after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi died, and many people believe that Cixi died of illness, because her age is not small, and at this time, if she suffers from some disease, it is easy to take her life, which is very reasonable.
However, Li Lianying's cousin, who was also a palace maid who served Cixi closely, told a secret story 20 years after the fall of the Qing Dynasty: Cixi did not die of illness, but was actually poisoned, because Cixi had lost the hearts of the people at that time, and many officials wanted to get rid of Cixi.
This situation was already revealed when Cixi fled west, when Li Hongzhang stayed in Beijing to negotiate with the great powers of various countries, and some people instigated Li Hongzhang to become emperor, but Li Hongzhang still did not know whether it was worth it to be emperor himself? He didn't do that anyway.
After Cixi's westward escape was over and she returned to the capital again, her movements were much smaller. There are relevant historical documents that Cixi often had diarrhea in her later years and never recovered. However, whether Cixi was poisoned or not has no actual evidence.
However, Li Lianying left the palace after dealing with Cixi's funeral, and after another year, Li Lianying also died, and the cause of his death was also controversial, many people believed that Li Lianying was assassinated, in the 60s of the last century, someone dug up his tomb, but found that there was only one head left in his cemetery, and his body did not know where to go.