Xiao Dezhang's ending is much better than Li Lianying's, after leaving the palace, he not only married a few more aunts, but also lived peacefully until he died at the age of 81.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were several famous eunuchs, such as An Dehai, who was once popular, and Li Lianying, the confidant of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and in addition, there was a red man Xiao Dezhang in front of the Empress Dowager Longyu.
Xiao Dezhang is another big eunuch with real power after Li Lianying, and he used to be so powerful that the ministers needed his approval if they wanted to see the Empress Dowager Longyu.
So, what kind of life did this powerful eunuch Xiao Dezhang live after the fall of the Qing Dynasty? What was the end? Generally speaking, Xiao Dezhang's ending was much better than that of Li Lianying, who died an unknown death.
The poor boy endured the pain of his own palace in order to survive
In the second year of Guangxu (1876 AD), in a family in Jinghai County, Tianjin, a baby fell to the ground.
The reason for the unhappiness is not that the baby was born with any defects, but that for the family, one more person means that there is one more mouth for eating in the family.
And this baby is the famous eunuch Xiao Dezhang in the future.
Xiao De Zhang's real name is Zhang Land, before him, the family already had an elder brother, his father on weekdays, relying on fishing and working for local landlords to make a living, and his mother is an authentic rural woman, who is planted in housework on weekdays, taking care of the family.
In other words, Xiao Dezhang's family was very poor, and the whole family relied on his father to sell his coolies to make a living, and at the same time, it was a troubled time, so it was not easy for the family to have a full meal.
There is a saying that laughs at poverty and does not laugh at prostitutes, and because of the poverty of his family, the young Xiao Dezhang not only suffered a lot, but also suffered a lot of eyes.
According to records, Xiao De Zhang's family has a rich relative, and one Chinese New Year, Xiao De Zhang and his brother went to pay New Year's greetings together, but when they arrived at this relative's house, not only did the other party speak coldly, but even deliberately laughed at Xiao De Zhang.
This incident greatly stimulated the young Xiao Dezhang, and also laid the groundwork for him to go to the palace in order to develop in the future.
At that time, Jinghai County was a famous "hometown of eunuchs", many poor people who could not live for a long time, in order to prevent their children from starving to death, would send their children to the palace as eunuchs, although it was quite cruel, but at least it was better than starving to death.
And Xiao Dezhang is the same, when he was young, he knew that if he continued to fish and do short-term work like his father, he was afraid that he would have no future in the future, and he would continue to be poor as always, so in order to live a good life, Xiao Dezhang took his own hands from the palace.
It may be due to the lack of anesthetics, or it may be improper operation, in short, Xiao Dezhang after the palace passed out due to excessive blood loss and jealousy, and in the end, it was his mother who took care of him in every possible way to let Xiao Dezhang pick up a life.
However, the life picked up does not mean that you can enter the palace, at that time, there were more poor people who wanted to enter the palace as eunuchs, and a large number of people were queuing up to enter the palace every day, in order not to be starved to death, Xiao Dezhang's family did everything possible to send him to the Yujia errand in the capital, where he began his career as a eunuch.
Because of his cleverness and diligence, Xiao Dezhang was very appreciated in the Yu family, so in the seventeenth year of Guangxu, with the help of the master of the Yu family, Xiao Dezhang spent many years of savings to buy a dead old eunuch name, so that he could enter the palace.
And the name Xiao Dezhang is also because of this relationship.
When he first entered the palace, Xiao Dezhang worked in the tea workshop, and the master who took him was called "Haha Li", who was an old eunuch who had been in the palace for many years, and Xiao Dezhang served Haha Li every day in addition to completing his work.
As we all know, people who have been eunuchs for a long time generally have a very weird temper, and Haha Li is no exception, he is not only moody, but also beats and scolds his subordinates at every turn, and the newcomer Xiao Dezhang is beaten by him a lot.
As long as Ha Ha Li is slightly dissatisfied, he will be beaten, or slapped, or beaten with a bamboo pole, according to Xiao Dezhang's memories in his later years, when he was scolded by Ha Ha Li at least six times a day.
was beaten every day, which made Xiao Dezhang feel very desperate, if this continues, don't say anything about getting ahead, he may be beaten to death, and he must change places to be on an errand.
Xiao Dezhang, who made up his mind, began to pretend to be crazy and stupid in front of Ha Ha Li, and in the end, he was sent to the Nanyuan Opera Troupe by Ha Ha Li, who looked disgusted, and in the drama troupe, Xiao De Zhang was appreciated by the Empress Dowager Cixi, and since then he has been flying into the sky.
According to historical records, the Empress Dowager Cixi in her later years, very fond of listening to opera, so the palace set up a special opera troupe for her to watch, Xiao Dezhang after entering this troupe, fully carried forward the spirit of not afraid of hardship and tiredness, starting from not knowing anything, every day to study hard, and finally, learning has been successful, and has become the master of the drama troupe.
When he was nineteen years old, he performed the famous segment "Yuejiazhuang" for the Empress Dowager Cixi, because its performance was very exciting, so that the Empress Dowager Cixi took a fancy to it, and personally named him to go to his palace as a eunuch, and gave him a name, called "Hengtai".
After that, Xiao Dezhang relied on his superb opera talent and was promoted to five levels in three years, from a eunuch to a eunuch in front of the emperor, and became one of the celebrities in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi.
However, at that time, his status was not the highest, and above him, there was another person who was the most favored, and this person was Li Lianying, because of the existence of Li Lianying, therefore, Xiao Dezhang could only be a man with his tail between his legs.
But in 1908, with the death of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the retirement of Li Lianying, the opportunity for Xiao Dezhang came.
helped the Empress Dowager Longyu ascend to the throne and quietly left the palace for self-protection
Longyu Yehenala is the niece of the Empress Dowager Cixi, before Cixi's death, in order to prevent the fertilizer and water from flowing into the fields of outsiders, Longyu was designated as the empress dowager, but because Puyi's throne was inherited from Guangxu, and he was also the emperor of Tongzhi, that is to say, from a legal point of view, Puyi is the "son" of Guangxu and the "son" of Tongzhi.
This caused Longyu to be Puyi's "mother" in law, and the concubine of Emperor Tongzhi was also Puyi's "mother" in law.
Therefore, after the death of Cixi, Emperor Tongzhi's Concubine Xun and Concubine Yu also had the opportunity to become the queen mother, although Cixi left her last words, but after all, no one is there, and these concubines have no scruples, and they all want to ascend to the position of the queen mother.
In the end, it was Xiao Dezhang who helped Longyu take the lead in getting the golden seal of the empress dowager, and assisted her in getting the regent Zaifeng to issue an official edict, which made Longyu the empress dowager.
Because of this great achievement, Longyu, who had just taken the throne, was very grateful to Xiao Dezhang, and at the same time, after she squeezed Li Lianying away and retired, Xiao Dezhang naturally became a big celebrity in front of the Empress Dowager Longyu.
At that time, Xiao Dezhang became the number one person in the palace, not only won the trust of Longyu, but also was in charge of the four divisions and eight departments of the Forbidden City, and his power was extremely great.
However, Xiao Dezhang, who is in a high position, has a sense of distress, which may be related to his poor background since he was a child, and while he was prominent, he also continued to accumulate money and plan for his future.
Therefore, after Pu Yi's abdication, the eunuchs in the palace were dismissed, and Xiao Dezhang relied on his savings for many years to live very freely.
In October 1911, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and in December, the regent Zaifeng announced his resignation, when the whole country demanded that Pu Yi abdicate more and more loudly, and the Empress Dowager Longyu was also undecided in the face of this situation, and in the end, under the persuasion of her henchman Xiao Dezhang, she finally made up her mind, accepted the conditions of abdication, and announced Pu Yi's abdication.
It is said that at that time, Xiao Dezhang secretly accepted Yuan Shikai's three million taels of silver, and only then did he promise to help him cooperate with the outside and persuade the Empress Dowager Longyu, but the truth of this statement remains to be verified.
After the abdication, Xiao Dezhang continued to serve Longyu for another year, and in 19113, due to the abdication of the throne to Longyu caused a great blow, he was depressed and soon died of illness.
The death of the Empress Dowager Longyu means that Xiao Dezhang has no master, and at that time, the chief minister in the palace was Emperor Guangxu's Concubine Jin, and the eunuch she trusted and entrusted with reuse was called Zhang Qian, and this Zhang Qian had a deep holiday with Xiao Dezhang, therefore, in order to protect himself, Xiao Dezhang had to choose to leave the palace.
After obtaining the consent of Concubine Jin, Xiao Dezhang began to prepare, everything was cleaned up, and in order to leave safely, he also played a play of "Golden Cicada Shelling".
At that time, he ordered the little eunuch to set up a carriage at Donghua Gate to create a false appearance, but in fact, he secretly slipped away from Xihua Gate, took gold and silver, and took the train all the way to his hometown Tianjin.
And in Tianjin, Xiao Dezhang began his life as a "public servant".
The so-called Yugong, in ancient times, refers to those princes and nobles who lost their titles or fiefs, had to live in other places, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, due to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, there were also many former magnates who became sojourners everywhere.
Of course, Xiao Dezhang's apartment is still very nourishing, after all, he has accumulated a lot of real money in his hands.
After arriving in Tianjin, Xiao Dezhang first lived with his nephew Zhang Binru for a period of time, and in 1917, Xiao Dezhang took a fancy to a piece of land in Chongqing Road, spent a lot of money to buy it, and began to design and build a house himself, and finally built a Chinese and Western style house covering an area of several acres.
However, Xiao Dezhang did not live here for too long, this residence was later favored by the last Prince Qing Zaizhen, he used 8 acres of land and four façade houses in the British Concession, plus 270,000 oceans, to buy Xiao Dezhang's mansion.
Later, Xiao Dezhang spent a lot of money to build a building again in Zhengzhou Road, the British Concession, this time he still personally operated, built a total of 13 small buildings connected to the building group, which not only has a stage, but also other facilities are very perfect, and the environment is very good, it can be said that it is surrounded by fruit trees, and the environment is quiet.
Here, Xiao Dezhang spent his comfortable and comfortable secluded life since leaving the palace.
In his later years, he lived a prosperous life and died of a heart attack
In the second half of Xiao Dezhang's life, he lived very freely, and the basis of his freedom was because he started planning early.
He has seen with his own eyes many eunuchs who have been out of the palace and have lived in poverty, so as early as the second year of Xuantong, Xiao Dezhang used his power to leave a way out for himself.
At that time, he co-founded Xiangyi Silk Village, and then opened a separate Tiancheng letter cloth store, near the front door and in today's Dongcheng District, there are several industries of Xiao Dezhang.
These industries allow him not to sit on empty food after leaving the palace, and let him have a fixed income every month to maintain all his expenses.
Therefore, in the second half of Xiao Dezhang's life, he lived very freely, on weekdays, he was writing, practicing, and supervising his children and grandchildren to read, completely looking like a rich man.
According to records, Xiao Dezhang once had a period of great generosity, after he left the palace, he brought out a book called "Collection of Prescriptions" of the inner court secret recipe, with many prescriptions on this secret recipe, personally dispensed medicine, in addition to his own use, but also distributed free of charge.
According to the recollection of Zhang Jihe, the son of Xiao Dezhang's adopted son, when Xiao Dezhang was dispensing medicines, he personally batched the ingredients every time, striving to be meticulous, and when distributing them to the outside world, Xiao Dezhang sometimes came to the scene in person.
The prescriptions distributed to the outside world are also from the hands of Xiao Dezhang, such as the Black Chicken Baifeng Pill, the Eight Treasures Saving Kun Pill, etc., for a time, there was an endless stream of people seeking medicine.
In the beginning, only 100 payments were issued a day, but later, due to the large number of people in need, it was increased to 200 payments a day, and the supply was still in short supply, so that when the medicine was distributed, the number of people was too large, so the police sent the police from the British Concession to maintain order.
However, in the distribution of medicines, there were some things that made Xiao Dezhang worried, which led to the end of this kind of deed.
Once, in the crowd of people who received the medicine, there was a quarrel and provocation because of the scramble, and the person who was sent out to distribute the medicine by Xiao Dezhang was injured, and then later, Xiao Dezhang learned from the people that some people with ulterior motives dragged their families to line up to receive the medicine, and after receiving it, they sold it into a nearby pharmacy to make a profit, and those who really needed it could not get a prescription.
These few things made Xiao Dezhang deeply realize that "the door of kindness is not easy to open", so he finally decided to give alms.
In addition to reading and writing at home and doing good deeds at the same time, Xiao Dezhang also married two aunts and wives during his stay in Tianjin, one of which lived until 1978.
Xiao Dezhang married four ladies in his life, the first lady was married to Xiao Dezhang when he was 20 years old, and his mother Tang was the matchmaker and married her niece to Xiao Dezhang, and the second lady was married when Xiao Dezhang was 36 years old, that is, when he was in the middle of his popularity.
In Tianjin, Xiao Dezhang married two more wives at the age of 43 and 49 respectively, one of whom died of tuberculosis a year after marriage, and the fourth wife, Zhang Xiaoxiang, died of illness in 1978.
In 1933, Xiao Dezhang returned to the capital with his family and servants, and made a special trip to visit the eunuchs who lived in Hong'en Temple and Lima Guandi Temple, and after seeing many eunuchs die early due to physical reasons, Xiao Dezhang also began to attach great importance to his physical health.
According to his grandson Zhang Jihe's recollections, Xiao Dezhang lived a very regular life in his later years, no matter which season of spring, autumn, autumn and winter, he would get up on time at four o'clock in the morning, and began to take his children and grandchildren to exercise at home, so a regular life, at the same time, he also paid great attention to nutrition in his daily diet, so he could live until he was over 80 years old.
In 1950, when the Tianjin Textile Bureau wanted to build a dormitory building for the workers, it took a fancy to Xiao Dezhang's residence in Zhengzhou Road, so he sent someone to negotiate with him, and finally, the building was replaced with 270 pieces of cotton cloth.
After that, with the help of a friend, Xiao Dezhang bought a three-story small building in Jinlin Village, Munan Province, and spent the last few years of his life here.
In 1955, Xiao Dezhang celebrated his 79th birthday, at that time, several surviving old eunuchs came to congratulate his birthday, and during the banquet, Xiao Dezhang also performed a kick to the sky stool in public, which is enough to show that his body is still quite good.
One afternoon in April 1957, Xiao Dezhang, who had just finished eating, was watering flowers in the yard when he suddenly felt panic and chest tightness, and soon fell unconscious, was diagnosed with a heart attack, and finally died at the age of 81.
To sum up, after the great eunuch Xiao Dezhang in the late Qing Dynasty left the palace, his ending was still quite good, not only with a lot of industries, so that he lived a rich life, but also rarely disturbed by outsiders, in short, let him spend the rest of his life in peace, which is much better than his old boss Li Lianying's final death