Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as Yehe Nana, was a Manchu, from November 29, 1835 (October 10, 1835) to November 15, 1908 (October 22, Guangxu 34), also known as "Western Empress", "Nala Empress", and "Lafayette".
Cixi was a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, the biological mother of the Tongzhi Emperor, and the adoptive mother of the Guangxu Emperor. She was the de facto ruler of the late Qing Dynasty. Her traitorous behavior varies, and today I would like to introduce to you how Cixi misled the country on her sixtieth birthday.
In 1889, the Guangxu Emperor held a big wedding. After that, Empress Dowager Cixi ended her obedience to the government and handed over the rule of the Qing Dynasty to Guangxu. Since then, Cixi has retreated behind the scenes.
Although Guangxu needed to consult Cixi on most issues, Guangxu still gained some power after all, and began to gather a group of people and ministers around him.
Most of these people were Qingliu figures who had no real power, and among them were Led by Guangxu's master Weng Tonggong, who was called the "Imperial Party" at that time. Corresponding to this was a group of powerful bureaucrats under the arrangement of the former Cixi, who at that time was also known as the "Post-Party".
Since the "Imperial Party" evolved from the southern faction of the original Qingliu Party, and the "Hou Dang" was a political force cultivated by Cixi for many years, the "Hou Dang" was also named "Old Mother Class", and the "Imperial Party" was called "Children's Class".
In the twentieth year of Guangxu (1894 AD), Cixi was sixty years old and decided to hold the sixtieth birthday. To this end, Guangxu issued an edict a year in advance (1893 AD) to prepare for Cixi's great birthday, and ordered the establishment of a celebration office to handle celebration matters.
Since there were no festivals such as National Day and Labor Day in ancient times, the birthdays of emperors and empresses became one of the most important festivals in the Qing Dynasty, and their grandeur can almost be juxtaposed with the Spring Festival. If the country is stable, united, and prosperous, it is not too much for the leaders to hold a celebration, let alone the sixtieth birthday that the people have always attached great importance to.
Therefore, Cixi's ideas and Guangxu's approach are quite reasonable.
However, Cixi's luck was also really back. In the blink of an eye, it was 1894, and October of this year should be Cixi's sixtieth birthday, but unfortunately, this time Cixi still seems to be unblessed!
In the same year, there was an uprising launched by the Dongxue Party in Korea, and the Joseon Dynasty was greatly frightened, so it had to ask the Qing court for help and borrow troops to help suppress it. The Qing court considered Korea to be its own vassal state, so it was reasonable for the Qing Dynasty to send troops to quell the internal turmoil in Korea.
However, at that time, Japan was suspicious and deliberately planned to include Korea in its sphere of influence, and had worked in Korea in the "Noon Mutiny" of 1882 and the "Koshin Coup" in 1884, but the Qing court unexpectedly discovered the conspiracy.
This time, japan saw that the Qing army was invited to enter the DPRK, so under the pretext of protecting Japan's commercial interests in the DPRK, it sent a large number of troops into the DPRK, and the number of troops even exceeded the number of the Qing army in the DPRK.
Under the patronizing policy of the King of Joseon, the Donggak uprising had basically ended at this time, so The Dprk successively sent notes to Japan and China, demanding that both sides withdraw their troops.
The Qing court did not want to do much and immediately agreed to the request to withdraw, but Japan was harboring a ghost and tried to take the opportunity to monopolize Korea, so the situation in North Korea was suddenly tense, and the Sino-Japanese conflict was on the verge of breaking out.
On July 25, 1894, Japan attacked and sank the Qing Dynasty merchant ship Gaosheng near Toyoshima Island, outside the Asan Pass, and all 700 people on board were killed. On August 1 of that year, China and Japan officially declared war.
The Qing army and the Japanese army fought fiercely in Korea, but the Qing army lost more than it won, and retreated all the way, and Pyongyang lost its hand. On September 17, the Japanese Navy and the Beiyang Fleet encountered each other in the Dadonggou Sea at the mouth of the Yalu River, and the two sides launched a life-and-death decisive battle, in the end, the Beiyang Fleet lost 5 battleships and the Japanese fleet seriously injured 5 ships, and the Beiyang Fleet suffered a lot of losses.
Under the tense atmosphere of the war, the sixtieth celebration of Empress Dowager Cixi, which had been carefully prepared for several years, began to change its flavor. According to Cixi's idea, she wanted to give herself a beautiful birthday, and at that time, the imperial court also regarded this birthday celebration as an overriding event. However, after the news of the defeat on the front line came, there was a lot of discussion in the government and the public, and some bold officials simply wrote a letter directly, demanding that the celebration project be stopped and the relevant expenses be transferred to military expenses.
Under the pressure of public opinion, although Cixi insisted on carrying out the celebration activities as planned, she also had to express her appeal to the ministers, that is, the scale of the celebration was compressed on a large scale, such as allocating 3 million taels of silver as military expenses, and changing the celebration from the Summer Palace to the palace.
In this regard, this anger in Cixi's heart really cannot be expressed in words.
I think that when she was celebrating her fortieth birthday, she met her own son, Emperor Tongzhi, who was critically ill, and did not have the heart to engage in any celebration; at the time of the fiftieth birthday celebration, she wanted to be lively, but she encountered a war with the French; now that the sixtieth birthday celebration is celebrated, there is no peaceful birthday, and this little Japan is really bullying to the head.
Cixi was indignant, and she thought to herself, I have worked hard for the Qing Dynasty for so many years, there is no merit and there is hard work; now that the emperor is also in charge, I should also enjoy the blessings. Even if it is an ordinary old lady, these sixtieth birthdays should be celebrated lively, but how can I encounter such and such unfortunate things every time I have a big birthday? Who messed with me?
The atmosphere is returned, and the celebration must be held as usual. On September 25, 1894, the princely ministers of Jingzhong and local officials from other provinces began to pay tribute to Cixi, which also kicked off the celebration.
Ironically, the very next day (September 26), the Japanese crossed the Yalu River and invaded southern Liaoning on a large scale, then landed at Huayuankou and attacked Dalian and Lushun. Under the attack of the Japanese army, the Qing army collapsed all the way and almost no victory.
Coincidentally, the day the Japanese army occupied Dalian Bay (October 10) also happened to be Cixi's sixtieth birthday.
On this day, Empress Dowager Cixi sullenly went to the Imperial Pole Hall to receive congratulations from the Guangxu Emperor and the Wenwu Hundred Officials. On this day, although the Forbidden City is full of lights, the gongs and drums of the Ningshou Palace have also been sounded, which looks like a festive color, but under the shadow of the defeat of the war, the people who come to celebrate the birthday ceremony are overshadowed.
On the tenth day of the first month of October, outside the Ningshou Gate to the Imperial Pole Gate, the Empress Dowager Cixi was set up to drive in honor. Chen carved, Cixi dressed in a dress, from the Leshou Hall by eight people flower pole peacock top car out of the Shenwu Gate, into the north door, to the ShouHuang Hall in front of the saints to pick incense ceremonies, and then to the Chengqian Palace, Yuqing Palace, Qianqing Palace Dongnuan Pavilion, Heavenly Vault Treasure Hall, Qin'an Hall, Dou Altar and other places to pick incense to perform the ceremony, and also Leshou Hall.
At the beginning of the reign, Cixi took the eight-person flower pole peacock top palanquin from the Leshou Hall to the Yang Sex Gate and ascended to the throne of the Imperial Pole Hall. The official of the ceremonial hall led the Guangxu Emperor to enter the middle gate of the Ningshou Gate, and arrived at Cixi to kneel down and enter the table, wishing the "Empress Dowager's Holy Birthday".
The Guangxu Emperor then led the princes and ministers to perform three kneeling and nine prostrations. After the ceremony, all the princes and ministers retired. Cixi then accepted the empress, Concubine Jin, Concubine Zhen, Princess Rongshou Gulun, and Fu Jin.
Cixi returned to the Leshou Hall and ascended the throne, the Guangxu Emperor knelt before Cixi and handed Ruyi, and the Empress led Concubine Jin and Concubine Zhen to kneel in front of Cixi. Cixi then took an eight-person flower pole peacock top palanquin from Leshou Hall to the courtyard of the Yueshi Building, where the Guangxu Emperor led empresses, Concubine Jin, and Concubine Zhen to kneel, eat, enter the fruit table, and watch the play.
After the play was sung, the Guangxu Emperor led the empress, Concubine Jin, and Concubine Zhen to kneel, and Cixi took the eight-person flower pole peacock top palanquin and retreated to the Leshou Hall.
Such a scale and such a celebration stunned Weng Tonggong (the teacher of the Guangxu Emperor), who personally participated in the celebration, and wrote in his diary: "Ji Ji Yan, grand ceremony!" (The Diary of Weng Tonggong)
On this day, the Japanese army captured Dalian, an important town in southern Liaoning. At the moment of the loss of the land, the loss of the important town, and the tragic slaughter of the people, Cixi was congratulated in the palace, feasted on the courtiers, and enjoyed the drama for three consecutive days.
On the thirteenth day of the first month of the 21st year of Guangxu (February 7, 1895), Liugong Island, the base of the Beiyang Navy, fell, and the Beiyang Navy was completely destroyed. However, the envoys sent by the Qing court to Japan to negotiate peace, Zhang Yinhuan and Shao Youlian, were again rejected, and Japan demanded that another person with full authority and prestige be sent as the negotiator.
Empress Dowager Cixi decided to send Li Hongzhang as plenipotentiary to Japan to discuss peace. At this time, Li Hongzhang had been stripped of his three-eyed flower plume, stripped of his yellow coat, and dismissed from his post. On the 19th day of the first month (February 13), Empress Dowager Cixi issued an edict, and Li Hongzhang rewarded li Hongzhang with a reward for returning the top of the ling, opening the punishment of reform, and rewarding the yellow coat, and went to Japan as a first-class plenipotentiary minister to negotiate peace.
On March 23 (April 17), Li Hongzhang signed the Treaty of Maguan with Japanese representatives.
When a dynasty values the birthday of the supreme ruler as more important than the rise and fall of a nation, the dynasty is on its way to a hopeless end.
According to later historical sources, one of the reasons why the Japanese government chose Guangxu to launch this war of aggression in the twentieth year of Guangxu was:
"Knowing this year's celebration of mercy and holiness, Hua will tolerate it." If you see that I will make a big move, or easy to end, otherwise I will not be able to go unless I have gained. (Li Wenzhong's Public Telegram)