China's feudal society was a patriarchal society, and the ruling class was almost male-centered. But in this political class that is completely in the authoritarian power of men, there are still women who have ascended to the highest point of power, such as Wu Zetian, such as Cixi.
Compared with Wu Zetian, although Cixi did not officially claim the title of emperor, she was actually the supreme ruler of the Qing Empire from 1861, when she was only 26 years old. By his death in 1908, Cixi ruled the vast empire for 47 years. And it was also at the hands of Cixi that the Qing Dynasty went to the final demise.
What did Cixi rely on to rule this vast empire for 47 years?
Throughout Cixi's life, you will find that this woman has a very high degree of political struggle, and this is concentrated in three political struggles.
Xin You coup d'état
The change in Cixi's life was the Coup d'état of Xin You in 1861, and if it were not for this coup, Cixi would probably have been just a concubine living in the deep palace.
During the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor fled Beijing with his concubines and some of his ministers and fled to Rehe. After this drastic change, XianFeng's health deteriorated under internal and external troubles, and he died at a young age.
However, before his death, Xianfeng still did several important things.
1. Establish Zaixiang as the crown prince.
2. Arranged for the eight ministers of Gu Ming with Su Shun as the core to assist Xinjun.
3. Leave Empress Ci'an with a royal reward seal and give the prince a seal of the Tongdaotang, because the prince is young and is kept by his mother Cixi. It is stipulated that the upper edict drawn up by the Minister of Gu Ming must be stamped with the imperial reward seal, and the seal of the same way hall can be issued.
Xianfeng's arrangement can be described as painstaking, and the 8 ministers who care for the order avoid the dominance of a single power minister. In order to prevent the ministers from overriding the emperor, Xianfeng arranged a backhand for the two empresses, and the decision of the eight ministers needed to be jointly stamped by the two empresses, so that the edict could be effective.
On the surface, XianFeng's plan seems to be perfect, but there is a fatal bug in the real work - what if the two palaces and the eight ministers disagree?
In fact, there was no need to wait for the next day, the day after XianFeng's death, the two sides quarreled.
SuShun and others believed that "the edict was drawn up by the minister, and the empress dowager could not be easier, and the chapter was not presented in the interior." What does it mean? That is to say, we have the final say in the major affairs of the military and the country, the two empresses can't watch the folds, the decisions we make can't be changed, and you two will be a stamping tool person.
If the empress dowager of the two palaces does not stamp it, then I am sorry that a few of us will strike. This is an empire, and so many military and national events cannot afford to wait.
The ministers in Rehe were all submissive people, and although the two palaces were unhappy, they could only swallow their anger for the time being. However, Su Shun and the others also took a step back, saying that the two empresses could watch, but only to see.
Here I have to mention one more word about SuShun, who is the seventh grandson of Zilharang and has great ability. Xianfeng fled to Rehe along the way, Sushun was not very obedient to the two palaces, which made the two palaces very unhappy.
Among the eight ministers arranged by Xian Feng, he was the best at his brain, and he also advised Xian Feng to emulate Emperor Wu of Han and kill the crown prince's mother to prevent the empress dowager from monopolizing power. That is to say, Sushun wanted to kill Cixi first, of course, it is not known whether Sushun was trying to prevent Cixi from monopolizing power or to consolidate his position as a vassal.
All this is not pleasant to the two palaces, and Cixi is particularly unhappy.
When she was in Rehe, Cixi was not willing to accept her fate in this way, and she hinted at Yushi Dongyuan to fold the music and ask the empress dowager to listen to the government. This was to change the mechanism of the Eight Ministers, SuShun and others naturally strongly opposed, and in the end this matter ended with Cixi failing and Dong Yuanluo being exiled.
But Cixi was not a woman who let go easily, she knew that in Rehe were all submissive people, and she couldn't get them on her own. So she wanted to find foreign aid, and this foreign aid was Sushun's political enemy Prince Gong Yili
Yi Bi was the younger brother of Xian Feng, who had never fought for the throne before Xian Feng, and at this time was left by Xian Feng in Beijing to negotiate with foreigners. Yi Bi is resourceful and is known as "Devil Six". The "foreign affairs movement" of the late Qing Dynasty also had a lot to do with him.
Su Shun was very crazy in the DPRK, and his popularity was not good, and he and Yi Bi were particularly unsophisticated. And if the Eight Ministers' mechanism continues to operate, there will be nothing to do. This is absolutely unacceptable to the ambitious Yi Bi.
It is said that Cixi secretly sent his confidant eunuch An Dehai back to Beijing to meet Yi Bi, and Yi Bi also took advantage of the opportunity given to XianFeng to meet with the empress dowager of the two palaces and set a plan for a coup d'état to seize power. Yi Bi also assured the two palaces that he could get the military power, because the troops around Beijing were mainly in the hands of the monks Greenqin and Shengbao, but both of them hated Sushun.
And Yi Bi guarantees:
Foreign countries have no objection, and if there is any difficulty, only the slave is the one who asks
Sushun and others actually did not want to return to Beijing, and they also knew that Beijing's own power was not as great as that of Rehe. However, the coffin of the former emperor was buried, and the ascension of the new emperor to the throne was carried out in Beijing.
Beijing had to go back.
On the way back to Beijing, Cixi, under the pretext of the emperor's young age and Sushun and others, went separately and ran wildly along the trail, arriving in Beijing 4 days earlier than Sushun.
From the moment Cixi and the others arrived in Beijing, Sushun was a dead man.
Su Shun was so crazy, he thought that the two women could make some kind of storm? Paralyzed, when the soldiers and horses in Beijing came to arrest him, Sushun slept soundly.
As soon as Cixi arrived in Beijing, she launched a coup d'état without stopping, saying that the eight ministers of Gu Order had "corrected and abused power." Subsequently, he ordered Zaiyuan and Duanhua to commit suicide, beheaded and obeyed the city, and the other ministers who took care of the order were dismissed from their posts and never used.
After solving Sushun's gang, the 26-year-old Cixi ascended to the pinnacle of power. Looking at this series of operations, Cixi is meticulous, reclusive and fierce, and decisive and rapid, all of which are not inferior to men.
Suppress Prince Gong
After the coup d'état of Xin You, the Qing Empire formed a pattern of "the second palace hanging curtains, the prince deliberating on the government". Although Cixi has reached the peak of power, it is not yet a monopoly of power in the true sense.
Although Ci'an in the two palaces did not have the strong desire for power of Cixi, he was not a mediocre person. In the "Qing Palace Testament", it is recorded that "the Eastern Palace (Ci'an) is superior to morality, and the great reward is the lord of the great measures." At the hands of Ci'an, he killed Cixi's close eunuch An Dehai
Therefore, Cixi actually had the restraint of Ci'an inside, and prince Gong had the power to divide power, which was not a monopoly of power. Ci'an died in 1881 at the age of 45. Ci'an's death made Cixi the sole ruler of the harem.
Because of his meritorious participation in the seizure of power, Yi Bi was appointed as the king of the council and served as the foreman minister in the military aircraft department; At the same time, he was also the prime minister who presided over foreign affairs, overseeing the internal affairs and foreign affairs of the Qing Dynasty, and his power was temporarily overwhelming.
Cixi began to be uneasy about Yi Bi's strong rise and was ready to attack this former meritorious minister.
Cixi first arranged for someone to impeach the Xiang army, ostensibly targeting Zeng Guofan, but in fact had the intention of beating Prince Gong. Because Prince Gong was Zeng Guofan's patron. However, at first, Prince Gong did not care, after all, at this time, he was in a spring breeze. As a result, Cixi's people soon directly impeached Prince Gong for corruption, taking pride in his achievements and monopolizing power.
In the name of the emperor, Cixi also directly ordered that Prince Gong be removed from his position except that of a prince and not allow him to participate in political affairs. Later, Prince Gong was reinstated, but he himself was much more restrained.
Although Prince Gong has relented, he is still the chief leader of the aircraft, and his power cannot be ignored.
By 1884, the Qing army had suffered defeat in the Sino-French War. Prince Gong, as the minister of the General Headquarters, was naturally responsible for this failure. Cixi once again seized the opportunity to denounce the incompetence of the Military Aircraft Department under the leadership of Prince Gong, and took the opportunity to change the people in the Military Aircraft Department, and Prince Gong once again lost all official positions.
This time, Prince Gong never had a chance to do it again. Cixi handed over the military aircraft office to the Guangxu Emperor's father, YiZhen the Prince of Alcohol. This is the famous "Kashin Yishu" in history.
Prince Yizhen of Alcohol was obedient to Cixi, but Cixi was the leader of the horse. Through this series of operations, Cixi suppressed prince Gong's power, and she herself completely grasped the power of the Qing Dynasty, opening the era of her monopoly of power.
Coup d'état
After Cixi's monopoly of power, it was not that no one challenged her. This person is the legitimate emperor of the Qing Dynasty: Guangxu.
As Guangxu grew up and matured day by day, Cixi also had to end the "curtain to listen to the government" and return the government to Guangxu, but she still controlled everything behind the scenes.
Guangxu naturally did not want to have a Cixi above him, and the conflict between the two deepened, and this conflict finally reached its peak in the Wushu coup.
Cixi was not that she did not accept the change, what she could not accept was that Guangxu was completely in power. To put it bluntly, it doesn't matter whether cixi can take power or not, whether Cixi can take power or not is the most fundamental.
Power, once you've tasted it, how many people can let it go?
Everyone knows about the coup d'état, Cixi launched a coup again, put Guangxu under house arrest, and Tan Si and six other people chattered on the blood of the city. Cixi once again walked to the front of the stage.
Cixi was a woman, but she was not an ordinary woman. In the midst of political struggles, she sees farther and more thoroughly than many self-righteous men.
She can always find the right moment to hit her opponent at the most critical moment and make the most of it. Once shot, it will not be soft, either destroying the political life of the opponent (Prince Gong, Guangxu) or physically destroying the opponent (Sushun, Tan Citong).
She danced with long sleeves and circled among various political forces in the late Qing Dynasty, using them to suppress her opponents; She knew better than anyone else in her time who was her friend and who was her enemy in politics. And she has the flexibility to switch between friends and enemies. It can be said that Cixi was born to be a good fighter for power.
Unfortunately, Cixi is very good at political struggle, but she really lacks a strategic vision for national construction, and she is short-sighted and stupid at this point. And in the 47 years that she was in power, the Qing Dynasty inevitably went to extinction.