In the feudal dynasty, because the emperor has absolute supreme power and the desire for power, human nature often exposes various ugly states when facing the temptation of supreme imperial power.
For example, Emperor Taizong of Tang killed his brother and launched the Xuanwu Gate Revolution, such as Emperor Zhongzong of Tang Li Xian being poisoned by Empress Wei, the wife of an ambitious woman who wanted to emulate Wu Zetian as a female emperor, such as the Northern Expedition of Zhu Di the King of Yan to drive his nephew from the throne and replace him, such as the tragic capture of the nine sons of Kangxi in his later years...
Imperial power is like a curse, in order to fight for it, monarchs kill each other, father and son become enemies, fratricidal, husband and wife against each other drama is not uncommon in history, dynasty change is always accompanied by blood and intrigue, from the founder of the feudal dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, to the actual ruler Empress Dowager Cixi at the end of the Qing Dynasty, this curse is pervasive throughout the time and space of the feudal era.
Among them, the famous incident of Emperor Wudi of Han leaving his mother and son in history is also a strategy to maintain imperial power, and some people say that the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty issued a secret edict to get rid of Cixi after Emperor Wudi of Han before he died, is this true? Let's start with the conclusion: not true. Let's analyze why it's not true.
Real history
The Xianfeng Emperor was the ninth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the entire Qing Dynasty was already in a situation of thinning and external troubles.
External worries: In the sixth year of Xianfeng, the Anglo-French army captured Guangzhou and launched the Second Opium War; In the eighth year of Xianfeng, the Qing court signed the Treaty of Tianjin, which humiliated the country; In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the greedy Anglo-French army invaded China again, invaded Beijing, burned and looted all the way, and the emperor fled to Rehe in a hurry.
Internal troubles: In the first year of Xianfeng, the Taiping army captured Nanjing and declared the capital emperor; In the third year of Xianfeng, the Shanghai Small Knife Society rebelled, and the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army arrived at Zhangdeng Town, and the entire Beijing Division was threatened.
In a country with internal and external difficulties, the young emperor was physically and mentally exhausted, and as time passed, the ambition to restore the hegemony of his ancestors when he first took the throne gradually dissipated, and in the later period, he felt powerless to return to heaven, began to abandon himself, and nostalgic for enjoyment.
After the Anglo-French army invaded the city of Beijing, Xianfeng took Empress Ci'an, his eldest son Zaichun and his biological mother Yiguifei to Chengde Mountain Resort for refuge, and a large number of twists and turns were transported to the emperor from all over the place, all of which were filled with words such as "foreign invaders, twisted army" and other words that gave him headaches, so he pushed these twists and turns into the hands of the most trusted people around him.
This person was Concubine Yi, the future Cixi. His wife Ci'an was indifferent and unscrupulous, but Cixi was quite assertive, and she gave birth to the only son for the emperor, who was the biological mother of the future Son of Heaven, and Xianfeng naturally relied on her the most.
After Cixi took control of the imperial government, it caused dissatisfaction among Sushun and other ministers, who repeatedly told the Xianfeng Emperor that the harem should not interfere in government, so they had a disagreement with Cixi. Regarding the discord between the two sides, the Xianfeng Emperor knew it well.
On the sixth day of the seventh month of the eleventh year of Xianfeng, the emperor was seriously ill, and before his death, he made Chun crown prince, and asked Su Shun and eight others to assist the young Son of Heaven as the minister of Gu Ming.
In addition, he gave one seal called "Imperial Reward" to Empress Ci'an, and the other called "Tongdaotang" to Zai Chun, because the crown prince was young, his seal was temporarily held by Cixi, and then the emperor's decree must be stamped with two seals to take effect. In the early morning of the seventh month of July, after explaining these important events, the Xianfeng Emperor died in Rehe.
In this process, there is no record of him issuing a secret decree to get rid of Cixi, and combined with the detailed analysis of the political environment of the dynasty at that time, Xianfeng could not make such an arrangement, because Cixi had two important roles for the Qing Dynasty.
Nurturing young children
The Xianfeng Emperor's sons were weak, from Empress Ci'an of the main palace to countless beautiful harems, but for many years, nothing came out, and it was not until he was twenty-five years old that Cixi gave birth to his only son, Zaichun.
When Xianfeng died at the age of thirty-one, Zai Chun had just turned six years old, and in the face of the devastated rivers and mountains, such a child was simply powerless, so the young emperor must not only have a humerus minister to assist the imperial government, but also have a close relative to give life and care.
When it comes to relatives, in addition to Xianfeng, his biological father, Zai Chun has his mother Ci'an and his biological mother Cixi. In ancient times, only the son born in the main palace was the most noble, and Ci'an did not have his own children, and the throne fell to Cixi's son.
Ci'an is not Zai Chun's biological mother, but she has a noble status, and she is a righteous empress dowager who oppresses Cixi in the temple and the imperial court, and it is said that with her, it will not be Cixi's turn to speak, but the personalities of the two are very different, and Ci'an is difficult to be a big task.
Ci'an is a Niuhulu clan, from a famous family, raised in purdah since childhood, educated in traditional etiquette, she has a gentle personality, timid and fearful; And Cixi grew up in a poor family, experienced hardships since childhood, was accustomed to the heat and coldness of the world, and was good at strategizing and scheming; Different encounters and personalities lead to the fact that when encountering difficulties, Ci'an has no ability to make decisions, while Cixi can decisively come up with ideas.
Having lived with these two wives and concubines for many years, Xianfeng was well aware of the differences between the two, and in the turbulent times when there were jackals, tigers and leopards all around, only Cixi could take care of the young emperor.
Checks and balances
As mentioned above, the Xianfeng period was in a special historical environment, so two forces appeared in the court, one was the main war faction headed by Sushun and others, advocating war with foreigners and driving them out of the country, and the other faction was the main peace faction represented by Prince Gong, which advocated taking the outside world first and talking with foreigners, mainly to suppress the Taiping Army.
The above two factions, plus the emperor, there were three forces in the Qing court to check and balance each other.
Su Shun was a heavy minister promoted by the Xianfeng Emperor, and by the end of Xianfeng, he had become an assistant university scholar, a shangshu of Hubu, a minister of the imperial court, a minister of the interior of the bodyguard, and a governor, and he had many positions and power, not only could influence the fate of Li Min and officials, but even the safety of the emperor was in his hands.
Xianfeng knew that once he died, his young son would have no authority or means to balance Sushun, and in order to avoid a repeat of historical events such as "Cao Cao took the Son of Heaven to order the princes" and "Zhao Kuangyin replaced Emperor Zhou Gong's yellow robe", he had to arrange powerful forces to suppress Sushun.
Although Prince Gong of the Lord and Sect was powerful, the Xianfeng Emperor did not dare to respect him. Back then, when the Daoguang Emperor was in power, the fourth brother Yixi and the sixth brother Yixuan were both popular candidates for the crown prince, and finally the fourth brother took the throne, the later Xianfeng Emperor, and he was always worried about this matter and did not fully trust this half-brother.
He was afraid that if he died, the sixth prince would stage a coup d'état to replace his son, so he would not rely too much on him. After weighing the pros and cons, Xianfeng considered that after his death, if he wanted to continue to maintain the situation of checks and balances between the three parties, he could only value the emperor's biological mother, Cixi, so it was impossible for him to give birth to the idea of getting rid of Cixi.
So, isn't he afraid of Cixi's dictatorship? In history, the dictatorship of foreign relatives was all because of the strong sons and daughters, such as Empress Lu and Empress Dowager Dou, these empresses themselves had a strong maiden team support, and the whole family relied on the Empress Dowager alone to gain power, and chickens and dogs ascended to heaven.
But Cixi's brothers were born in the declining Baqi family, they were ordinary people who were honest and had no ambition to make trouble, which Xianfeng was relatively relieved about.
Therefore, under his consideration, he preferred to let the ambitious Cixi dictatorship rather than let the courtiers and princes dictatorship; Because the former is the emperor's biological mother after all, there will always be a day to return to power, but once the latter has supreme power, it is likely to endanger the rule of his descendants.
However, what Xianfeng did not expect was that his son's life was short, and he did not wait for the day when Cixi completely returned to government, nor was he able to change the decline of the decadent dynasty.
Resources
Qing History Manuscript