In November 1908, Emperor Guangxu, who was only 38 years old, died of illness, and after only 20 hours, Cixi, who had been in power for nearly half a century, also drove west.
The late Qing Emperor and the Empress Dowager passed away one after another, and such a coincidence caused a lot of speculation in later generations, and the two views were in stark contrast.
One view is that this is purely a coincidence, and Guangxu died of illness, while the other view is that it is not a coincidence, but man-made, and many people believe that Emperor Guangxu was poisoned.
So, what happened to Guangxu's death? A hundred years later, modern technology has revealed the mystery.
The idea of coincidence stems from the fact that Emperor Guangxu's health has always been bad. In the book "A Brief Description of the Pathogen", it is said that he has had spermatozoa for nearly 20 years, and in the first few years, it must have been more than ten times a month, and in recent years, it has only been two or three times a month, but it is worse in winter.
In other words, Emperor Guangxu's kidney deficiency was serious, and such a disease made him weak and weak.
However, what is even more cruel is that he is not having a good time mentally. Before he was imprisoned, he had been under the long-term suppression of Cixi, and his spirit was often tense.
When he was in power, he couldn't do everything to the fullest, and he was also dissatisfied with his career, and he suffered another mental blow.
At that time, his health was affected, causing a series of respiratory tract, digestive tract, neurosis, and other complications.
In addition, he was born weak, his spleen and stomach are weak, although he is a son of heaven and enjoys top medical treatment, his physical foundation is thin, and it is difficult to be a normal person.
Guangxu has no heirs, which also proves from the side that his health is indeed worrying.
According to Kou Liancai, a eunuch in the palace, Cixi had a strict control over Guangxu, and also controlled food and drink. As an emperor, there are dozens of dishes every day, but they are not to Guangxu's taste, he wants to add a few delicious dishes, but also to inform Cixi first, but Cixi often thinks he is extravagant and wasteful, so he refuses.
After he was imprisoned, his situation was even more difficult, to 1908, the famous doctor Du Zhongjun of Jiangsu had entered Beijing to treat Guangxu's illness, when he went full of confidence, thinking that he could cure the emperor's illness, so as to become famous in the world, but after seeing Guangxu's illness, his wish was immediately disappointed.
Because Guangxu's condition has been delayed for too long, there is no possibility of cure, as long as Du Zhongjun does not make any mistakes in the treatment, it is good to save his life.
From this point of view, Emperor Guangxu has been in poor health for a long time, and his death is not unexpected. And Cixi was nearly 74 years old at the time, which was already a long life, and her death was a normal death.
Therefore, there is an opinion that the death of Guangxu and Cixi within 24 hours is purely a coincidence, because their deaths were predictable.
So what is the basis for holding the opposite viewpoint that Guangxu was poisoned? The reason for those who hold this view is derived from Guangxu's three political enemies, and three theories have also been produced.
First, it is believed that Guangxu was poisoned by Cixi.
There is a deep grudge between the two, according to the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", it is said that Cixi was very afraid that she would die before Guangxu during her critical illness, and if Guangxu returned to power after her death, she and her family would definitely be liquidated, which was one of them.
Moreover, according to Yun Yuding, who served as the living note official at that time, mentioned in the "Chongling Cun Xinlu" that Cixi fell ill on her birthday on the tenth day of October, and someone told Cixi that Guangxu was very happy to hear that she was seriously ill, and Cixi was furious, and immediately reprimanded Guangxu in person, and said, "I can't die first!"
Since then, Cixi has carried out a series of big moves, first the next day to create public opinion that Guangxu is seriously ill, and as soon as this public opinion comes out, Guangxu's condition has really taken a turn for the worse.
Cixi was busy summoning the Minister of Military Aircraft twice and issued two edicts, one was to bring Pu Yi into the palace to raise, and the other was to grant Pu Yi's father Zaifeng as regent.
It is clear that Cixi had chosen an heir for the late Qing Dynasty before Guangxu died. Under normal circumstances, for an emperor like Guangxu who had no heirs, he usually chose a successor after the emperor's death, and Cixi's move was not conventional.
On the second day after the edict was issued, Emperor Guangxu died, Pu Yi succeeded to the throne, and Cixi died on the third day. All the results seem to have been arranged by Cixi during her lifetime, and it is difficult not to question what Cixi did.
Second, some people believe that Guangxu was poisoned by Yuan Shikai. The reason is that during the Wuxu Reform, Yuan Shikai betrayed Emperor Guangxu to Cixi, which eventually led to the failure of the reform and Guangxu was imprisoned.
It is rumored that Guangxu often angrily calls Yuan Shikai's name in his dreams. Later, after Cixi fell ill, Yuan Shikai also had the same worries as Cixi, that is, he was afraid of being liquidated. So he bribed the eunuch and finally poisoned Guangxu to death.
Regarding this statement, the last emperor Puyi also mentioned it in "The First Half of My Life", saying that he heard an old eunuch who had served Guangxu say that Guangxu had used a dose of medicine the day before he died, and this medicine was given by Yuan Shikai.
However, this statement lacks historical evidence and is doubtful.
Third, some people say that Guangxu died at the hands of the great eunuch Li Lianying.
According to the "Biography of Cixi" and Deling, who served as a palace maid in the palace, recorded in books such as "Yingtai Weeping Blood", it is said that the eunuch Li Lianying often relied on Cixi's power on weekdays to ruthlessly slander and fool Guangxu.
Similarly, after Cixi fell ill, Li Lianying was also worried that she would be liquidated by Guangxu after Cixi's death, so she made the first move.
From the above three views of unnatural death, it is not difficult to find that whether it is Cixi, Yuan Shikai, or Li Lianying, they are all political enemies of Emperor Guangxu, and they are all afraid of being liquidated by Guangxu, and it is undeniable that they do not want Guangxu to take over the Qing Dynasty alive, but who carried out the poisoning operation cannot be verified at present.
But with modern technology, what can be verified is whether Guangxu died a normal death or was poisoned.
In order to solve the mystery of Guangxu's death, since 2003, CCTV, Qing Xiling Cultural Relics Management Office, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Forensic Inspection and Appraisal Center and other units have formed a special research group on the cause of death of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty.
For five years, the experts of the special group used a series of modern professional technical means such as "neutron activation" and "X-ray fluorescence analysis" to repeatedly test and analyze the hair, remains, clothes and environmental samples inside and outside the tomb of Emperor Guangxu.
The results showed that the total amount of arsenic stained on some of his clothes and hair after Guangxu's body was decomposed was as high as about 200 mg, and a normal person would be poisoned to death if he took 60~200 mg of arsenic.
It can be inferred from this that the total amount of arsenic in Guangxu's body is even greater than this value, that is, Emperor Guangxu died of arsenic poisoning.
According to the records of Qu Guiting, a famous doctor who treated Emperor Guangxu on his deathbed, it is said that three days before his death, Emperor Guangxu kept rolling on the bed, constantly screaming "my stomach hurts so much", his face was dark, and his tongue was yellow and black, which was obviously a symptom of poisoning.
A century-old mystery case has finally been confirmed, but this conclusion is heart-wrenching, the king of a country actually ended up being poisoned, and the power brought to this poor emperor was not only recorded in history, but his life was painful.