The Cixi clique declared war on the nations, and it has long been concluded that it is purely out of "private indignation" and not out of "justice." This was a ridiculous decision made by the late Qing vested interests represented by Cixi when the most despicable and selfish personal power and desires were threatened. These Manchu Qing magnates regarded the military and state affairs as a child's play, and took advantage of the blind patriotic indignation of the Boxers as their own selfish service, which pushed the disaster-stricken China into an even more miserable abyss. Cixi rashly declared war on the 11 countries, giving the great powers an opportunity to further invade China. As the Boxers besieged embassies, burned churches, and mutilated and plundered clergy and parishioners, Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Austria began to intervene with troops, assembling armies from the sea and attacking in a large scale. After landing in Tianjin, the Eight-Power Alliance quickly defeated the Qing army, quickly entered Beijing, and then carried out a large-scale looting, and then forced the Qing court to sign the extremely harsh "Xinugu Treaty". Among them, the war reparations alone amounted to 450 million taels, which were paid in 39 years, and the total principal and interest amounted to 980 million taels! China, which was already poor and weak, has since carried a heavy burden and has become even poorer and weaker. In order to preserve her personal power, Cixi, an old woman who was already over the age of flowers, made the people of the whole country pay such a tragic price just because of the rumor that she had "returned to the government (referring to the great powers forcing her to return to the government)"!
fortitude
The day before the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, Cixi yi disguised herself and guangxu and her loyal servant Cangqi fled out of the capital and fled to the northwest... The history is called "Gengzi Xi hunt". The destination of Cixi's party's "Western Hunting" was Xi'an.
In the process of fleeing westward, Cixi issued the "Edict of Sin" in the name of the Guangxu Emperor, putting all her responsibility for the Gengzi rebellion on Guangxu. She also instructed Yi Bi, Li Hongzhang, and others to negotiate peace with foreigners.
After the incident subsided, Empress Dowager Cixi, who returned to Beijing, was shocked and calmed down, and then returned to the former lifestyle of profligacy and luxury. Compared with before, there is only one difference, that is, it has become more docile with foreigners. She removed the curtain several times to meet with the ministers of various countries, comforted the ministers' wives, and often held banquets, entertained foreigners, wagged her tail and begged for mercy, and was extremely flattering. This de facto ruler of the Qing Dynasty, the master who said that he was one and the same, was now a slave to the great powers. "Rather give to friends than to give house slaves" was originally an original "famous saying" of Shoshu Bingbu and the co-founder shi Gangyi, but now it was borrowed by Cixi, and she also created a more famous aphorism on this basis - "Measure the material strength of China, and the joy of the country", and finally became a classic joke.
Empress
In order to curry favor with the great powers and cover up the eyes and ears of the people, Cixi actually began to implement the so-called "New Deal" for the first time in the world, such as abolishing the Eight Shares (Imperial Examination) Examination, deposing the prohibition of marriage between Manchu and Han, sending overseas students abroad, rewarding industry and commerce, reforming the law, the military system, the official system, and so on. Perhaps she has a certain sincerity in this move, the purpose is to save the decline of the Qing Dynasty, but it is too late! All this is like a dead sheep to make up for it, and it is impossible to recover the fate of the terminally ill Qing Dynasty.
However, the great powers did not seem to have much interest in Empress Dowager Cixi's New Deal edict, and their greatest interest at this time was to severely punish the culprits. On the second day of the issuance of the Qing Court's New Deal Edict, the eleventh minister invited Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing Yili to the British Embassy to talk about punishing the culprits. After the talks began, the ministers of various countries unanimously demanded that the Qing court must severely punish the perpetrators of the boxing rebellion, and that any prince and minister who participated in the boxing rebellion should not be pardoned. Li Hongzhang and Yi Li did not dare to make the decision, and the talks were not happy and dispersed. A week later, the envoys of the Eleventh State sent a note to Yi Li and Li Hongzhang, and put forward specific demands for severe punishment of the culprits, and a group of hard-line ministers who supported the Boxers were on the punishment list: Zaixun should be given death, Zaiyi and Zailan should be beheaded, Dong Fuxiang, the leader of the Gan army who assisted the Tuanmin in besieging the embassy, should be stripped of military power and severely punished in the future, and the rest of the listed people should be decided. The ministers also demanded that the ministers Xu Yongyi, Xu Jingcheng, Yuan Chang, Li Shan, and Lian Yuan, who had been killed for the peace, be rehabilitated against Zhaoxue. Seeing that the powers had a tough attitude, Li Hongzhang and Yi Li generally accepted the list of culprits listed in the note and forwarded it to the two palaces.
Yu Xian
After receiving the note, Cixi saw that she was not on the list of culprits, and with a long sigh of relief, she summoned Ronglu to discuss it, saying that she was in favor of the matter. After secret discussion, the two reached an agreement: Duan Wang Zaiyi could save his life, but there was only one way, that is, to dismiss his post and exile xinjiang, and other kings and ministers who supported and instigated the rebellion of the Tuanmin people could do as the foreigners wanted. Cixi immediately asked the military plane Zhang Jing to draft an edict to punish the culprits.
Three days later, Cixi issued three edicts in succession in the name of Guangxu, announcing that the perpetrators of the fist rebellion would be severely punished, and that wang Zaixun of Zhuang would commit suicide at the request of Yi Li and Li Hongzhang; Duan Wang Zaiyi and his brother Zailan would be dismissed from their posts in Xinjiang and imprisoned forever; Dong Fuxiang, the viceroy of the Gan Army, would be relieved of his post; Yingnian and Zhao Shu would be beheaded and imprisoned; Xu Chengyu, the left attendant of the Punishment Department, and Shangshu Qixiu of the Rebbe would be dismissed from their posts and investigated, and would be severely punished after the evidence was ascertained; and Xu Yongyi, Xu Jingcheng, Yuan Chang, Lishan, and Lianyuan Kai, who had already been deposed (executed), were reinstated (Zhaoxue's intention).
Cixi was worried that if she did not follow the instructions, she would punish the culprits, and the ministers of various countries would not follow up and strictly investigate, and in order to completely get rid of the interference, half a month later, she issued an edict in the name of Guangxu to prevaricate her responsibility on the Boxer Rebellion. The Encyclical decree said: "Most of the decrees promulgated in the summer are the first and worst offenders of the courtiers, not the intention of the imperial court; the edicts of the summer should be summarized and presented, waiting to be ascertained, and the corrections and false transmission of the various edicts should be eliminated, so as to reveal the history with heavy tones." The encyclical also stated that in the matter of reparations, he would "measure the material resources of China and unite with the country's happiness" and wanted to give more economic compensation in exchange for the understanding of the great powers. Cixi was almost illiterate, but she was well versed in power and scheming, so it was no wonder that she was able to rule the Great Qing Dynasty for so long and stand firm.
Cixi tried her best to flatter, but the great powers did not buy it. The allied commander, Wadesi, threatened to send in another attack if he did not punish the culprits.
Seeing that the foreigners were angry, Li Hongzhang, Yi Xi and others were terrified, and Cixi was like a needle felt. On February 21, the Qing court issued a decree that the punishment would be "handled according to the previous note"; except for Shangshu Gangyi of the Bingbu Department, who was dead and would no longer be prosecuted, Zaiyi and Zailan were assigned to Xinjiang to be imprisoned forever and never be reduced in the future; Yingnian and Zhao Shuqiao were sentenced; Dong Fuxiang, the admiral of the Gan Army, stripped of his military power and was immediately executed after the evidence of the crime was found; Xu Chengyu and Qixiu immediately brought to justice; and the dead Gang Yi, Xu Tong, and Li Bingheng immediately pursued the original officials and dug up the coffin and killed the corpse. After Yi Li and Li Hongzhang conveyed the edict, the ministers of various countries were overjoyed and finally expressed their satisfaction.
After Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict in the name of the Guangxu Emperor to severely punish the culprits, the hard-line ministers of the main war either killed them by the neck, or took poison, swallowed gold, or committed suicide by hanging beams, or exiled by the army, or were exiled in coffins.
Gang Yi, a co-founder university who died in Houma, Shanxi, 5 months ago, also suffered the most severe punishment, being opened to the coffin and killed, and his bones were scattered to ashes.
After punishing the ministers who were the first to commit the crime, the Qing court, under the persecution of the great powers, issued an edict to the governors of the provinces, and it was necessary to severely punish the officials of the prefectures and counties who instigated the Rebellion of the Boxers. After this edict was issued, the feudal officials in all provinces of the country (mainly north of the Yangtze River) identified hundreds of prefecture and county officials who had burned churches and killed priests in the Boxer Rebellion, and severely punished those who were seriously responsible.
Subsequently, the Qing army hunted down the boxers, who had been allies, and mercilessly raised the butcher knife...
【Illustrations from the Internet】
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