"Emperor Tongzhi died in search of pleasure, why is it all to blame on Cixi? "Tiger poison also eats children" There is a history behind this sentence that makes people sigh. Emperor Tongzhi's untimely death at a young age caused shock and countless speculations in the government and the opposition. What exactly led to the fall of this young emperor? Is he too indulgent in lust, or is it a conspiracy of power struggles? Or is it the result of Empress Dowager Cixi's ambition and manipulation of the overall situation? The answer to everything seems to point to Cixi, but is the truth so simple? Let's go back in time to those turbulent years and discover the truth hidden in the fog of history.
Game of Thrones: The Grievance Entanglement Between Emperor Tongzhi and Cixi
In October of the 11th year of Tongzhi (1872), Emperor Tongzhi officially took over the government after his marriage, opening a dynasty in which he monopolized power. This was originally a grand event to celebrate, but the Empress Dowager Cixi was apprehensive about it. As the former ruling Cixi, she could not tolerate the slightest weakening of her authority, and even secretly planned the opportunity to regain power.
As Cixi's biological mother, Emperor Tongzhi has been strictly disciplined by her since he was a child, and there is a lack of sincere feelings between mother and son. However, after Emperor Tongzhi became in power, he gradually got rid of Cixi's control and began to deal with the affairs of the court and politics alone, and the contradiction with Cixi intensified. Cixi not only summoned Tongzhi many times to reprimand, but also secretly instigated her cronies such as Prince Gong and others, and frequently played excerpts to criticize Tongzhi's actions.
Emperor Tongzhi originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of rebuilding the Old Summer Palace to stay away from the sight of Cixi in the Forbidden City and dictate politics alone. However, Cixi knew this well, and she not only acquiesced in Tongzhi's actions, but also secretly instigated it, hoping to use this to tilt the relationship between Tongzhi and the ministers. Sure enough, the ministers repeatedly wrote letters and admonishments to Tongzhi for abusing money and idleness, and the relationship with Tongzhi fell to a freezing point.
During this period, Tongzhi often wandered in the land of fireworks and willows, and was witnessed by his prostitution and prostitution. When Cixi learned of this, she did not reproach her, but instead took the opportunity to sow discord and lead the contradiction between Tongzhi and the courtiers to a white heat. On July 29, Tongzhi angrily revoked Prince Gong's hereditary title, and the two sides were at a stalemate. At this juncture, Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an came forward to mediate in time and severely reprimanded Tongzhi.
In the entanglement of grievances between mother and son, the debauchery of Emperor Tongzhi and the ambition of Empress Dowager Cixi to seek a return to power have forced the relationship between monarchs and ministers to the precipice. And this game of thrones also laid the foundation for the untimely death of Emperor Tongzhi later...
The price of a royal erosive life
In September of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Emperor Tongzhi and dozens of royal family and eunuchs came to Xiyuan, which was an ordinary autumn outing. However, the result of this garden tour brought the doom of terminal illness and dying life to Emperor Tongzhi.
Since Emperor Tongzhi officially came to power, he has loved to have fun and indulged in the sound of dogs and horses. From time to time, you can see some lazy and lazy idlers in the palace, who are slapping their horses and beards, and they are arrogant. Among them, the most well-known is probably Wang Qingqi, the confidant eunuch of Emperor Tongzhi.
This originally humble man, relying on the favor of Emperor Tongzhi, has the power to serve the government and the opposition, and is a blessing. Wang Qingqi not only cultivated a group of cronies, but also set up a prostitute in the palace to lure Emperor Tongzhi to indulge in all kinds of beauties. Some palace maids recalled that those concubines in the palace were regarded as "commodities" by Wang Qingqi and used as bargaining chips in exchange for benefits.
It was in such a declining environment that the life of Emperor Tongzhi became increasingly bohemian. Seeing that Emperor Tongzhi was set aside by these eunuchs, several cautious ministers repeatedly wrote to advise, but only in exchange for Emperor Tongzhi's cold treatment. As a result, Emperor Tongzhi's Longyang was also shunned one after another, and he had to gradually degenerate.
In the autumn of that year, shortly after returning from a trip to Xiyuan, Emperor Tongzhi fell ill with a strange illness. At first, it was covered in a red rash, and the doctors diagnosed it with smallpox; Then the lower limbs, especially the buttocks, began to fester, and the pus flowed, and Emperor Tongzhi's condition improved for a while, but it took a sharp turn for the worse in December. I saw that his young body was already collapsing and rotting everywhere, and he had no skills to recover.
What caused Emperor Tongzhi to suffer from this strange disease? It is said that when Emperor Tongzhi was visiting the garden in Xiyuan, he had made love with a woman who suffered from syphilis and contracted this terminal disease. Some people also suspect that this is a conspiracy by the eunuchs against Emperor Tongzhi. In any case, under the conditions of the time, syphilis was indeed a stubborn disease for which there was no cure.
Emperor Tongzhi's style of life, as well as the influence of the ministers around him, doomed him to pay a heavy price. At that time, the imperial physicians could neither diagnose the cause nor prescribe the right medicine, so they could only allow the young and heroic emperor to spend his short life in pain...
Conspiracy theories in the context of power struggles
As soon as the news of Emperor Tongzhi's strange illness spread, the government and the opposition were shocked, and there were many disputes in the capital. Especially in the hearts of those powerful ministers who have a delicate relationship with Emperor Tongzhi, there is a conspiracy theory of suspicion.
At that time, the most suspicious and condemned was the Empress Dowager Cixi, the biological mother of Emperor Tongzhi. As a woman, Cixi once held power for fifteen years. It wasn't until Emperor Tongzhi was in power that her power gradually lost its focus. Now that Emperor Tongzhi's life is dying, can Cixi take advantage of this to regain control of power?
There are slanders and slanders that it was the Empress Dowager Cixi who single-handedly planned this conspiracy, specifically looking for a woman suffering from syphilis, and luring Emperor Tongzhi to make love with her and contract the epidemic. What's more, it is suspected that Cixi directly poisoned him, causing Emperor Tongzhi to suffer from this incurable stubborn disease.
However, outsiders can only rely on suspicion and no conclusive evidence for these rumors. After all, even at the beginning of Emperor Tongzhi's illness, Cixi had hurried to visit the Palace of Nourishing Heart and summoned the top imperial physician team in the palace to make every effort to treat him. This act does not seem to be a person who plotted to kill the emperor's life.
However, with the twists and turns of Emperor Tongzhi's illness, sometimes good and sometimes bad, people of insight are more convinced that there is another conspiracy behind the whole thing. They noticed that whenever Emperor Tongzhi's condition improved, Cixi would pretend to be calm; Once her illness worsened, she began to work hard again and planned for a long time.
Especially in the last moments of Emperor Tongzhi's dying, Cixi's actions aroused deep suspicion. She not only put the two concubines of the late Tongzhi Emperor under house arrest, but also restricted the right of her trusted ministers to visit, acting arbitrarily and recklessly. This kind of behavior is undoubtedly clearing the way for her to return to power.
Did Emperor Tongzhi suffer a conspiracy? Did Cixi use this opportunity to regain the throne? The truth of all this is best known only to the person concerned. But in the atmosphere of suspicion and uproar between the government and the opposition, a new power struggle is slowly kicking off...
The untimely fall of a generation of Ming Jun
On the fifth day of the first month of the fourteenth year of Tongzhi (1875), it was a rainy day. In the Forbidden City, a grand funeral is taking place. Emperor Tongzhi, who was only 19 years old, died young, ending his short and painful life.
At that time, Emperor Tongzhi's condition had reached the point of no cure. His young body was full of festering wounds, pus and blood. In particular, the lower limbs and buttocks are completely rotten and deformed, and the white bones are visible to the naked eye. Even as a palace maid, as long as she gets close to Emperor Tongzhi, she will be disgusted by the rancid smell.
Facing the critical juncture of life and death, Emperor Tongzhi was already in a trance and dying. He sometimes breathed hard, and at other times fell into a brief coma. Occasionally, when he woke up, he could only let out a weak moan. In this way, Emperor Tongzhi came to the end little by little in extreme pain and suffering.
It wasn't until five o'clock in the afternoon on the fifth day of the first lunar month that the young body of Emperor Tongzhi finally stopped breathing and slept in the world of the living. Seeing this, others hurriedly reported to the two empress dowagers, Ci'an and Cixi. But Cixi was calm at this time, as if she had already known the news of Emperor Tongzhi's death.
After the death of Emperor Tongzhi, a wail immediately sounded in the Forbidden City. However, even at such a moment of mourning, Cixi did not show a trace of sadness. On the contrary, she immediately ordered the two concubines left behind by Emperor Tongzhi to be placed under house arrest, and restricted the visitation rights of the ministers of the court. Together with Wang Qingqi, the emperor's favorite minister, he was also guarded against and ostracized by Cixi.
For a time, the capital was filled with an uproar. People can't help but wonder if Cixi began plotting to regain control of power before Emperor Tongzhi died. Moreover, why is her attitude towards Emperor Tongzhi so cold?
However, when Emperor Tongzhi was finally buried in Tangling, people had to mourn in silence for the young emperor. As a generation of Ming monarchs, although Emperor Tongzhi died young, he also left a lot of achievements in the short period of pro-government...
The fog of historical truth
To this day, the real reason for the early death of Emperor Tongzhi remains a foggy historical mystery. Even the people who experienced this past at that time could only have different opinions and disagreement.
Some people insist that the reason why Emperor Tongzhi suffered from this strange disease that has no cure is entirely due to his excessive debauchery and excessive life. After all, before his illness, Emperor Tongzhi was indeed addicted to lustful dogs and horses, and prostituted himself with his courtiers. This was undoubtedly an important trigger for his imminent death.
However, some people suspect that the reason why Emperor Tongzhi suffered such a catastrophe is likely to be due to the conspiracy of others. At that time, the entire government and the opposition were wondering whether the Empress Dowager Cixi took advantage of this opportunity to regain the throne. Especially before and after the death of Emperor Tongzhi, some of Cixi's actions aroused people's suspicion.
However, there are still some people with insight who have reservations. They believed that Emperor Tongzhi's physical fitness doomed him to not live long. Emperor Tongzhi, who had been thin since he was a child, was naturally in trouble when he later lived a life of indulgence and debauchery. Even the imperial doctors at that time had no way to prescribe the right medicine and treatment.
As for whether the Empress Dowager Cixi has a conspiracy, there is no way to verify. Some people say that she did secretly plan when Emperor Tongzhi was seriously ill, preparing to regain the throne; Some people also believe that as the biological mother of Emperor Tongzhi, Cixi was actually extremely sad in her heart, but it was inconvenient to reveal it out of royal reserve.
All these suspicions do not seem to be able to give a conclusive answer. The only thing that can be determined is that Emperor Tongzhi was humiliated by Cixi many times during his lifetime, and the relationship between mother and son naturally cannot be maintained; And Cixi may not be completely innocent about the cause of Emperor Tongzhi's death.
In this way, the mysteries about the early death of Emperor Tongzhi were forever sealed in the fog of history. How can all the suspicions and speculations circulating in the world restore the truth of the past? They can only add layers of mystery to this past...