Li Lianying is a famous eunuch in China. With the unique skill of combing her hair, she was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi, and she soared upwards and soared. So, what kind of life did Li Lianying live before his departure, do you know?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > carefree, Li Lianying came from a small landlord family</h1>
Li Lianying's ancestral home is in Lijia Village, Dacheng County, Hejian Province, close to the edge of the Ziya River. This is a low-lying area, and when there is a lot of rain in the summer, floods are easy to occur, and the crops are not harvested. It can be seen that this is a poor place, but also a place where eunuchs are born. Cixi's second-in-command, Cui Yugui, and the famous Andehai, were all from this neighborhood.
There was no grain harvest, no surplus grain, and the combination of poverty and illness, Li Lianying's grandparents died. At that time, his father, Li Yu, was only a teenager, helpless, orphaned, and lived by begging for food and short-term work.
Seeing that Li Yu's life was difficult, a distant relative of the Li family often received Li Yu. This is an old couple, childless and childless.
The small population expenditure is small, the husband and wife almost have no entry and exit, and over time they have saved more than twenty acres of land and half an acre of garden belongings. These lands are not a small amount of wealth in the countryside, enough to live a life of abundant food and clothing.
The old couple also imitated the practice of the big mansion door, and gave themselves a hall name, called "Yongde Tang Li", which is equivalent to the current shop name, in order to have a title when rushing to the market.
Li Yu, who has a flexible mind, thinks that this is a big tree, so he often goes to the old man's home to help with farm work and feed poultry, which is deeply liked by the old mother.
Later, Li Yu worshipped the old couple as parents, and the old man was also willing to take Li Yu as an adopted son. On the one hand, because he is young and strong, he can stand up to a laborer; on the other hand, Li Yu has no father and no mother, and he is alone, and there is no worries about taking him in, which is a win-win thing.
After a few years, Li Yu reached the age of talking about marriage.
The so-called "fertile water does not flow into the fields of outsiders". With such a large family business, you don't want to have property outflow, so you can only choose the right girl among your close relatives. In the end, the old mother had the upper hand and married her niece Cao Shi.
Although Cao Is not beautiful, he is shrewd and capable, and he can carry the work outside the home. She was kind to her in-laws, and the family lived in harmony. Soon, he added branches and leaves to the Li family, gave birth to five boys in one breath, and the in-laws could not close their mouths.
Among these five grandchildren, the old man's favorite is the second grandson, Li Yingtai.
Li Yingtai was smart and scheming when he was young, and he was very spirited. The nickname given to him by his grandparents was "Clever". This daimyo child was the future Grand Eunuch Li Lianying.
When Li Lianying was five or six years old, he helped his family with farm work in the summer, and when he was idle in the winter, his family sent him to winter school.
Winter learning is different from private schools, only after the establishment of winter to the fifteenth day of the waxing moon to take three months of class, the course learned is only to memorize the "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Names" and other enlightenment books, simply recognize some words. Students do not have to pay tuition fees, carry a bundle of firewood, hold a handful of dates, or wait until the next summer to pick a handful of vegetables, can be used as tuition materials as a reward.
Five- or six-year-old children are inevitably mischievous, and when they recite scriptures, they often mix some sentences that tease the teacher, and when they are discovered, they are naturally beaten and punished.
The clever Li Lianying could not do such a thing. All he did was clean the classroom, help the teacher clean the cigarette bag, and burn the teacher's hot kangtou. Coupled with diligent study and inquisitiveness, hard work on endorsement, and serious practice of words, the teacher naturally teaches him more knowledge.
In addition to helping his parents do farm work, Li Lianying can also help take his younger brother and guide the rules and regulations of the three younger brothers, and the neighbors all praise.
Originally, the family's life was happy. No one expected that a sudden change would change Li Lianying's fate.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > suddenly suffered a family change, li Lianying embarked on the road of eunuchs</h1>
At the end of the year when Li Lianying was six years old, Li Zhu, the adoptive father of his father Li Yu, died.
In ancient times, the father died and the son inherited the property, which was beyond reproach. However, there are some obstacles to the distribution of property issues.
Ancient Chinese, paying attention to blood relatives. If the blood relationship is close, it is a "strong blood" relationship, which is a close relative; the blood relationship is far away, and the "weak blood" relationship is a distant relative.
Therefore, if there is no latter, it is generally very strict to choose a boy from a close relative or a close relative to pass on.
However, this Li Yu was not Li Zhu's nephew, but only a distant relative, and the Li family's relatives believed that Li Yu was not qualified to inherit the property and should be inherited by the close relatives.
At that time, China's peasants were very poor, and few people owned their own land. Seeing such a large family business, they all want to get a piece of the pie. Who will top the flag, we must fight for the end. According to the traditional custom, whoever carries the banner has the right to inherit the family property. At this time, Li Yu, who had a plan, was calm and calm, did not argue or grab, and only let the old mother speak the main thing.
The old mother understood the thoughts of these people, insisted on making her own cans, and whoever wanted to stop them would crash into whose house. Everyone was afraid of causing a human life, so they had to do it. The storm over family property has finally subsided.
But the old mother also knew in her heart that keeping these lands was always a disaster. When they get old, will these people come to rob them again? Is the family property that I have worked so hard to save all my life left to these so-called clan relatives who have no support for themselves?
Under the plot of Cao's family, the old mother lied that the funeral had fallen into a deficit, sold the field manor to pay off the debt, and the family came to Beijing to make a living.
Originally, with more than twenty acres of land, Li Lianying and his family lived without worry. But now that I have entered the city, there are more places to spend money, and the silver that the old mother sells the field seems to be very small.
Fortunately, Cao's cousin runs a leather shop in Beijing and has contacts with leather dealers at all levels. He helped Li Yu set up a cooked skin workshop, rubbing and washing the peeled animal fur with nitrate, removing the blood and water, and selling it to Cao's cousin. The workshop continues to use the previous hall name, called "Yongdetang Lippi Workshop".
I have to say that Cao's cousin really can do business, so that a simple "industrial chain" has been formed, and the business of both families has been guaranteed. Li Lianying's family also settled down in Beijing, turning from farmers to urban handicraft workers.
Despite a stable livelihood, the family's life is still not rich. In addition to Li Lianying's brothers, the Cao clan added two younger sisters to Li Lianying. A family of more than a dozen people, eating, wearing, living and traveling is not a small expense.
Maybe he was too sensible and wanted to help reduce the pressure on his family; maybe he wanted to change his living environment; maybe he was influenced by his fellow villagers, and at this time, Li Lianying actually wanted to enter the palace as a eunuch!
In that era of inheritance, unless forced, it was not necessary to let their boys purify themselves.
Although reluctant, the woman's heart is like a sponge, and there is no parent who can beat the child. The son cried and wanted to be a eunuch, and Cao had to find a "guide" for Li Lianying to enter the palace. After all, Li Lianying is smart and clever, and the family expenses are large, and there may be a day when he enters the palace.
Through some twists and turns, Cao found the old eunuch Shen Lanyu. He was also a native of Hejian Province, a fellow villager with Li Lianying, and at this time he was already the chief eunuch of the Xianfeng Emperor's side, and he was also given access to the Forbidden Palace and had certain rights.
Shen Lanyu happily agreed to Cao's request, brought Li Lianying into the palace, and also helped her contact the knife smith to operate on Li Lianying for free.
Soon, Li Lianying was lying on the operating table.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > entered the palace to learn art, and Li Lianying took on heavy responsibilities</h1>
At that time, the little eunuch who had just been purified could not enter the palace immediately. It is necessary to heal the wound and send it to the clan mansion for training and internship for a period of time before having the opportunity to enter the palace to serve.
Li Lianying was placed in the residence of Duanhua the Prince of Zheng. Here you learn basic etiquette such as ming titles, pouring tea and pouring water, and dressing.
It is not difficult to learn the rules and etiquette, but the main points are to be understood by careful calculation, and it is not difficult for Li Lianying.
When Li Lianying was more than nine years old, Shen Lanyu arranged for him to enter the imperial palace and work as an errand boy in the concert office; in 1860, he was transferred to Gyeongin Palace to serve concubines.
Li Lianying's change was deliberately done by his master. Their purpose was to have Li Lianying serve Cixi, and before that, to let him work in the meek palace of the concubines, and to cultivate his experience with the harem concubines.
In the summer of 1860, the Anglo-French army captured Tianjin, and soon after marched into Beijing, on September 23 of the same year, the Xianfeng Emperor fled to the summer resort with all his concubines and military ministers, leaving Prince Gong Yishi to stay in Beijing.
When foreign enemies come to attack, the Son of Heaven does not sit at the gate of the country, but instead flees, indulges in wine, and lingers on opium, which is really a shame for a country!
On October 6, 1860, the British and French forces captured the Yuanmingyuan, looted the rare jewels in the courtyard, and burned down the Yuanmingyuan on October 18. Since then, the Qing government has signed the Beijing Treaty with Britain, France and Russia, ceding more than 1 million square kilometers of land to Russia.
Looking at the Xianfeng Emperor who fled to the summer resort, he did not study the countermeasures of the war, but indulged in opium, female color and the sound of silk and bamboo, and enjoyed singing and dancing in the Taiping world. What Xian Feng did not expect was that even if he fled to Rehe, he would not be able to save his life.
On August 20, 1861, Xianfeng became seriously ill; on August 21, he did three things: to make Zaichun crown prince, to determine the candidates for the eight ministers headed by Sushun, and to make two seals of "Tongdaotang" and "Imperial Reward", which were controlled by the Tongzhi Emperor (actually saved by Empress Dowager Cixi) and Empress Dowager Ci'an, respectively, and the constitution drawn up by the eight ministers needed to be stamped with two seals to take effect.
The Xianfeng Emperor specially made two seals, which were intended to jointly govern the two palace empresses and the eight ministers of Gu Ming, and prevent the phenomenon of the dictatorship of the eight ministers and the dictatorship of the two palace empresses.
At this time, Yi Bi, who was far away in Beijing, did not know the news, and gu ordered the eight ministers to quickly control the situation and grasp the initiative: they ordered that no one should enter or leave the palace except the small eunuch who poured swill water.
But Empress Dowager Cixi was ambitious, and as the birth mother of the young emperor, she was not willing to be left with power and did not want to become Lady Hook Yi.
In the later years of Emperor Wu of Han, he made his youngest son Liu Fuling crown prince. In order to prevent the young emperor's mother, Lady Hook Yi, from interfering in the dictatorship, he ordered her to be killed. Although Empress Dowager Cixi had more power than the eight ministers, the fear in her heart forced her to take action.
Cixi accepted the advice of the grand chancellor Shen Lanyu and sent a clever and unobtrusive little eunuch out of the palace to report the news. They chose thirteen-year-old Li Lianying.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > transmitted secret messages, and the little eunuch Li Lianying made meritorious contributions</h1>
Li Lianying took advantage of the opportunity to pour swill water, successfully escaped from the summer resort, and went all the way north to find the palace of Prince Gong Yi of Beijing, and told everything that had happened in the past few days.
Since the Xianfeng Emperor fled to Chengde, Prince Gong Yi bi knew nothing about the situation there, and for a moment he could not distinguish between true and false, so he locked Li Lianying in a secret room. After careful consideration, Yi Bi judged that Li Lianying's words were true.
He came to the palace as a shaman and met secretly with Cixi to discuss the specifics of a coup d'état.
Yi Bi and Su Shun had a conflict, and after returning to Beijing, they secretly contacted the monk Gelinqin and Shengbao, both of whom had military power, and because of the suspicion between the defeat and Su Shun, they fell to the empress dowager's party. Yi Bi quickly took control of the armed forces in the capital, and coupled with the fact that someone had sent a message and launched a coup d'état, Empress Dowager Cixi was already ready for everything and only owed Dongfeng.
Sushun and others also wanted the support and cooperation of the army, and intended to win over Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army, zeng Guofan watched the changes in the situation and did not agree, and Sushun and others were isolated and helpless.
Until this moment, SuShun and others had not realized that danger was coming, believing that the system of taking care of orders was in line with the ancestral system, and did not pay attention to the superficially obedient Empress Dowager Cixi, Duanhua resigned as the commander of the infantry, Zaiyuan resigned as the minister of luan yi and health affairs, and Sushun resigned from the posts of minister of guidance and affairs, losing the only bit of military power.
In doing so, perhaps to show their loyalty and dare not have too much power, but Cixi is determined to seize power, which is exactly what Empress Dowager Cixi hopes to see, Sushun and other people have the closest military power to the administrative center, and arranging their cronies in key positions will undoubtedly increase the chips for the success of the coup.
On October 26, 1861, the coffin of the Xianfeng Emperor returned to Beijing. The overwhelmed Sushun arranged for Duanhua, Zaiyuan, and others to accompany the empress dowager of the two palaces back to Beijing from the small road, while he and Yizhen and others escorted the bulky coffin slowly from the road. Until this moment, SuShun did not know that YiZhen was the person sent by Cixi to spy on him.
Along the way, Empress Dowager Cixi sat in a palanquin, thinking about the arrangement of Su Shun's actions these days, and she was in her own arms. She chose to travel day and night, arrived in Beijing four days ahead of schedule, and sent the eunuch Andehai to report to Prince Gong Yi to prepare for the last thing of the coup.
On November 2, the empress dowager of the two palaces summoned Yi Bi and other ministers who remained in the palace, accusing Su Shun and others of being rebellious and flying in a hurry, and crying about the crimes of Su Shun and others.
At this time, Zaiyuan Duanhua and others came to the upper court, saw the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu, and accused the empress dowager of the two palaces of not summoning Yi Bi and others. Enraged, Cixi ordered Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun, and others to be removed from their official posts and placed under the supervision of emperor's government.
Subsequently, in the name of the Tongzhi Emperor, the empress dowager of the two palaces ordered Yi Zhen to arrest Sushun. Receiving the secret order, Yi Zhen rushed to Sushun's bedroom overnight and arrested him in the bedroom.
On November 8, Yi Bi pronounced the eight major crimes of the eight ministers, ordered Zaiyuan and Duanhua to commit suicide, and escorted Sushun to the execution ground for execution, while the other five were dismissed and sent to Xinjiang as slaves.
Cixi and Yi Bi further purged the Yu Party, changing the era name "Qi Xiang" (祺祥) set by the Eight Ministers to "Tongzhi", with the second year as the first year of Tongzhi, and the empress dowager of the two palaces bowed to the government.
At this point, the coup d'état of Xin You, conspired by Empress Dowager Lianggong and Prince Gong Yi bi, was successful. The little eunuch Li Lianying was also released from the secret room by Yi Bi.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > hard work, Li Lianying was promoted</h1>
Li Lianying delivered important messages, made contributions to Cixi, and ushered in a highlight moment in his life.
13-year-old Li Lianying received 1,000 silver rewards!! A thousand taels of silver is really a huge amount of money! He handed the silver back home, and his parents bought a piece of land with the money and a yard in the alley of the Liquor and Vinegar Bureau not far from the Forbidden City.
Li Lianying, who had made meritorious contributions, did not immediately transfer to Empress Dowager Cixi's side, but continued to do her original errands.
In 1864, Li Lianying was transferred to Chuxiu Palace as an errand boy, where he was given the task of combing the hair of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Cixi had long, dark, shiny hair. Long hair hangs over her shoulders like a small waterfall. With the gentle swing of the head, the picture is also very eye-catching.
Cixi cherished this hair and asked the eunuch who combed her hair to change her hairstyle. At that time, the concubines and palace ladies in the palace combed their hairstyles many years ago, and Cixi was already tired of it. She heard that there was a new elegant bun outside, so she asked the eunuchs to comb her hairstyle as well.
But the eunuchs combed their hair in a bun that she was always dissatisfied with, either tying it loose or leaving a handful outside. The most intolerable thing is the loss of hair. Whenever they saw that the eunuchs had lost hair in their hands, they beat the eunuchs, and some of them died inexplicably.
After a long time, no one wanted to comb Cixi's hair. The news that Empress Dowager Cixi needed to comb her hair as a eunuch also spread for a long time.
Li Lianying, who has a heart, thought that if he could comb a few beautiful buns, it would not be far from Flying Yellow Tengdake.
When Li Lianying's family first arrived in Beijing, they opened a cooked leather shop. Because the chemicals used to wash the skin smell too large, the water after washing the skin is dirty and smelly, and it is impossible to live in the city. The family could only live in the area along the moat outside Xizhimen.
There are many shops similar to "hair salons" in the vicinity, and Li Lianying often goes to watch others comb their hair, and over time learns some fur. After entering the palace, I will continue to go home to visit my relatives, and then go to the store to learn and practice.
With his own experience, coupled with simulated hard training, Li Lianying has mastered dozens of hairstyles. He volunteered and pestered his master to arrange this errand for him.
Li Lianying carefully observed cixi's face shape and combed a new bun for cixi. Cixi sat in front of the mirror, looking at her new hairstyle, very satisfied, and asked Li Lianying to comb her hair again the next day.
This Li Lianying not only worked combing her hair, but also carefully studied the psychology of the empress. He brushed Cixi's hair while telling jokes or folk anecdotes while hiding his hair in his sleeves.
In the laughter, Cixi's attention was diverted, she didn't feel pain, she couldn't see the falling hair, and the hairstyle looked good, and she liked it very much.
From then on, combing Empress Dowager Cixi's hair became Li Lianying's full-time job, and she was soon promoted by Cixi to become the chief eunuch of the combing room. Li Lianying also became a red man around the empress, second only to Andehai.
With his own efforts, Li Lianying also exempted the "cane punishment" and "plate type" of the combing room. So much so that when he was resting, the other eunuchs paid out of their own pockets and "bribed" Li Lianying to let him continue to comb Empress Dowager Cixi's hair.
After Andehai's death, after some twists and turns, Li Lianying soared, sat in the position of grand manager, became Cixi's confidant, accompanied Cixi for decades, and realized his long-cherished wish to soar.
Anyone's success is not achieved overnight, but must be through hard work and long-term exploration and practice. Sweet words can only beat people for a while, if you want to go further in your career, without superhuman skills, it is not long-lasting.