Preface
She is the daughter of Su Shun, one of the eight great ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, who was born with the powerful, has no worries about food and clothing, and has a gentle and elegant, rich son brother as her brother.
She is also intelligent and talented, and she can easily learn poetry and songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting without hard work. This kind of life, for many women, is the fairest favor from God.
But she was not satisfied. She longs for power, for status, for being the true ruler of the country. So, she happily entered the palace and began a fierce battle with another woman. That is the Empress Dowager Cixi of the West who will change the color of the government and the opposition in the future, and sing for eternity.
Ci'an, she is such a rare woman. She met the Empress Dowager Cixi unexpectedly, and she was a rare bosom friend in the palace for many years. However, the struggle for power and status eventually divided them, and she herself ultimately failed to do so. This is the story of her and the Empress Dowager Cixi.
1. The first powerful daughter of the Qing Dynasty, but she never won a battle
If there is any regret in the life of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, it is that she has never won a wrestling with Cixi.
But then again, it's no wonder. After all, her opponent was the Empress Dowager Cixi of the West, who would shake the entire Qing Dynasty in the future, and the probability of defeat was too great if she confronted her head-on.
In fact, the Empress Dowager Ci'an was born to be the first powerful woman in one day. She was one of the eight great ministers of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the daughter of Su Shun. Su Shun was an important minister of military aircraft in the Xianfeng Dynasty, and his status was not trivial. His promotion can also be regarded as the best in the Manchu officialdom since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.
As such a lady, the Empress Dowager Ci'an was born with no worries about food and clothing, and was pampered. Her brother is a typical gentle, elegant and rich son, and he also loves and dotes on her very much.
Such an environment allowed the Empress Dowager Ci'an to develop a strong character since she was a child. She is extremely intelligent and a little mean, and often teases the palace maids and attendants around her. However, no one around her dared to provoke her-the young lady of the powerful family, who would dare to offend? Such a character was even more obvious after she entered the palace.
Second, the sky is high and the birds fly, and in 1855, they entered the palace as concubines
Empress Dowager Ci'an was born in the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang (1844), four years younger than Emperor Xianfeng. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), she was only 9 years old. This year was the first turning point in her life.
This year, the saint began to draft in the harem. According to the usual practice, a group of show girls from each of the Manchu and Han ethnic groups will be selected to enter the palace in each draft. Empress Dowager Ci'an, as the daughter of the Manchu magnate Su Shun, was naturally selected and entered the harem.
She entered the palace in the same month and in the same year as another show girl selected from the Han Army's banner, the Empress Dowager Cixi. At that time, Cixi was just the daughter of a low-level banner man, and she was not Ci'an's opponent at all.
At the beginning, the Empress Dowager Ci'an did not take these new women into the palace seriously. In her opinion, she is high, the proud daughter of the sky, and no one in the palace can compete with her. She was convinced that sooner or later she would become the mistress of the country.
Sure enough, fortune pays off. In 1855, the Empress Dowager Ci'an's opportunity came. This year, she was made a concubine. And if the average show girl wants to be promoted to the rank of concubine, she has to stay in the palace for at least several years. It took Ci'an two years to achieve an honor that no other woman could have imagined.
But then again, with her family background and talent, and the support of Su Shun's father in the court, this is also a matter of course. Empress Dowager Ci'an's ambition and talent were not satisfied because of a concubine. She is still determined to win, and she is bent on reaching the top of the harem.
3. Confidants are rare, but they are not confidants He ascended the throne in 1856
There is an old saying that ministers can't speak, and women can't speak. Empress Dowager Ci'an, a female woman, even wanted to interfere in court politics, which was unprecedented in the harem of the Qing Dynasty.
But she has nothing to fear, because she knows her talent and charm. At that time, the Empress Dowager Ci'an was graceful and beautiful. Her talent is unparalleled, whether it is playing chess or writing poetry, she is not inferior to the literati of the time.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that she and the Empress Dowager Cixi, who is also gorgeous and energetic. At first, the two admired each other and became rare bosom friends. On many nights, they would get together, play chess or recite poetry, and talk about the dawn.
However, such a bosom friend failed to turn into a confidant in the end. In February 1856, Empress Dowager Ci'an was promoted to the rank of concubine. And in April, she became a blockbuster and became the queen directly. Within a whole month, she jumped from a noble concubine to a queen and became the de facto mother of the country. This was unprecedented in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty.
Perhaps it was the glory of this time that overwhelmed her mind, or the thirst for power that intensified her ambition, Empress Dowager Ci'an never took Cixi in her eyes again after she was promoted to empress. She felt that she was already standing at the top of the harem, and that she had truly become the mistress of the country, what was a mere concubine? But this was precisely the beginning of her break with Cixi......
Fourth, the noble name and real power are missing, and they are sick and weak and have no children
Empress Dowager Ci'an, as a strange woman who became the queen in just 8 months, should have supreme power and glory. However, this is not the case. Although she has the highest reputation, she does not hold real power. Because she had a fatal bruise - her body was too weak to give birth to a prince. This was simply a woman's biggest failure in the eyes of ancient feudal society.
In fact, as early as when she entered the palace, her health was not very good. But no one expected that she would be so weak that it would be difficult for her to conceive even her own flesh and blood. It is said that she has not had a period since she entered the palace.
A woman in her 20s actually has amenorrhea, and it can be said that it is even more difficult to give birth to a prince. The Empress Dowager Ci'an has taken a lot of tonic drugs before and after, but none of them have much effect. It also became a knot in her heart.
I think this is also an important reason why her personality has become more and more eccentric and obedient. A woman who loses the ability to have children is like a whale that loses the ocean, loses the motivation and purpose to run.
This is unacceptable for any woman. What's more, she is also burdened with the heavy responsibility of giving birth to the emperor's grandson for her biological father. It's a pity that she didn't give birth to children for Emperor Xianfeng and her father Su Shun after all, perhaps this is the biggest regret in her life.
5. Join forces with the Empress Dowager Cixi to kill the eight ministers
In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng died. Zaichun, who was only 5 years old, ascended the throne as Emperor Tongzhi. The prince who was too young could not govern in person at all, so when Emperor Xianfeng was dying, he set up eight ministers headed by Duanhua and Zaiyuan.
In other words, these eight people received the title of ministers who overcame all difficulties, provided more support, and protected the imperial power. They held almost all the power in the government. This made the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces extremely dissatisfied. They feel that their power is being hollowed out.
Among them, the Empress Dowager Ci'an, the daughter of Su Shun, was unwilling. She had almost been the king of the harem before, and now that her father was still alive, her real power was taken away, how could she bear it? So she decided to join forces with the Empress Dowager Cixi to launch a coup d'état to oust these ministers and regain power herself.
This is the famous Qixiang coup. Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi joined forces with Prince Gong and Emperor Tongzhi's biological uncle and Minister of Military Aircraft Hang Cui to launch a palace coup. They falsely accused the eight ministers of rebellion and directly beheaded the leader Su Shun in front of others. The other two were also forced to commit suicide, and five were sent to prison.
At this point, the queen mother of the two palaces officially lowered the curtain to listen to the government. They were given the power to dictate from above the court and became the true rulers of the country. It was also from this time that the relationship between the Empress Dowager Ci'an and Cixi broke completely.
Sixth, the second curtain was lowered, but he had no chance to take power again
In 1861, the empress dowager of the two palaces joined forces to launch a coup d'état. The Empress Dowager Ci'an was overjoyed and felt that her dream had come true, and she had finally gained a position of power that was difficult for women to achieve. She must not have expected that she had actually drifted away, and there was no possibility of turning over.
Because, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who stood side by side with her, really began to raise her head at this time. The Empress Dowager Cixi was not as frail and sickly as her, and she gave birth to Emperor Tongzhi's half-brother Yicheng, who later became Emperor Guangxu. This gave her great political capital.
Soon, Emperor Tongzhi also died young, without heirs. According to custom, the throne will pass to Emperor Tongzhi's younger brother, that is, the Empress Dowager Cixi's own flesh and blood - Emperor Guangxu. Among them, although the Empress Dowager Ci'an also played a certain role, the main credit was still in the Empress Dowager Cixi.
After Guangxu ascended the throne, the two queen mothers once again hung the curtain and weighed the system. This time, however, the situation has completely changed. The Empress Dowager Ci'an was powerless to stop the ambitions of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and she was gradually marginalized by this former confidant and companion.
In the third year of Guangxu (1877), when the Summer Palace was being built, he was ordered to go to Fengachim, and a few days later fell ill in the Old Summer Palace. In this way, the Empress Dowager Ci'an fell at the age of 34, which should have been the most prime, and lost her power and status. Her unfinished dream was written down by Empress Dowager Cixi.
Seventh, there is no good death, and the cause of death is still a mystery
The sudden death of the Empress Dowager Ci'an once touched the hearts of the entire harem. Some palace maids thought that she fell ill from overwork, while others thought that she was sick from overwork. However, the most shocking rumor is that she was actually assassinated by the Empress Dowager Cixi.
After all, the relationship between the two has long since broken down. When the Empress Dowager Ci'an was in full swing, what she looked down on the most was Cixi's status as a concubine. And now that the situation is reversed, Ci'an has lost power, and she will naturally become a thorn in the side of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
What's more, her father Su Shun was still at odds with Cixi's in-laws and one of the eight ministers. This layer of relationship is superimposed on the ups and downs of the fate of the two themselves, which makes them incompatible. Some people also speculate that it was the Empress Dowager Cixi's medical skills. She may have aggravated the Empress Dowager Ci'an's condition through some means, which eventually led to her sudden death.
epilogue
But these rumors are just rumors after all. The sudden death of Empress Dowager Ci'an has become a historical mystery, and we have no way of knowing the truth. But what is certain is that her unfulfilled ambition was crushed by deepening suspicion and a struggle for power with Cixi. 34 years of life ended in a hurry. Her unfulfilled wish became a regret in her life.
Life is in the world, and things are often unsatisfactory. Although the life of the Empress Dowager Ci'an was short, she also experienced the true meaning of power. Perhaps, as her brother ridiculed her: How does the daughter's family know what power tricks rise and fall?