An Dehai was Cixi's confidant eunuch. When the Xianfeng Emperor died, he assigned his son 8 auxiliary ministers. At the same time, in order to prevent the auxiliary ministers from abusing their powers, Xianfeng gave Two Seals to Ci'an and Cixi, and asked them to restrain the 8 Ministers. After Xianfeng's death, Sushun and eight other ministers persuaded the two empresses, Ci'an and Cixi, to stay in the harem and let them handle state affairs for the emperor.
Cixi was not willing to let her power fall into the hands of Sushun and the other eight ministers, so she sent An Dehai to travel between Rehe and Beijing to help her secretly contact Prince Gong Yixin and others. With Yi Xin's help, Cixi decisively launched a coup d'état, eliminating the eight ministers of Gu Ming and seizing power.
After Cixi gained great power, An Dehai was successfully promoted to the position of chief eunuch and became a prominent figure in the court. With Cixi's favor, An Dehai often interfered in the affairs of the dynasty, and his power was monstrous, and many officials in the court were afraid of him, even Prince Gong Yixin, Andehai dared to be sloppy.
In the eighth year of Tongzhi, Cixi prepared to marry her son Tongzhi. Anderhay in order to get away with it. At the same time, he also wanted to take the opportunity to accumulate wealth, so he asked Cixi to go to Jiangnan to purchase clothing tasks, and took a group of people out of Beijing with beautiful scenery. An Dehai and his party, under the banner of the Chincha Minister, flaunted their might and showed off bribes, and no official along the way dared to neglect them. After arriving at Tai'an Province, Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, found that There was no formal procedure for An Dehai's trip, so he arrested and imprisoned An Dehai on the grounds that the eunuch had left the palace for forty miles without permission to violate the ancestral system of the Qing court.
Ding Baozhen reported the matter to the imperial court.
An Dehai often said bad things about Tongzhi in front of Cixi, which led to Tongzhi's frequent reprimands from Cixi, which made Tongzhi hate An Dehai to the bone and wanted to kill him long ago. After receiving the letter from Ding Baozhen, the governor of Shandong, under the auspices of Ci'an, Tongzhi approved ding Baozhen's handling according to law.
After Ding Baozhen received the approval of the imperial court, Ding Baozhen, who had long been unaccustomed to being arrogant and arrogant, directly ordered Thatehai to be executed.
After Anderhay was killed, the government shook up and down. Prince Gong Yixin and other important courtiers praised Ding Baozhen for removing Andehai, and Cixi was furious and summoned Yixin to inquire about it. Yi Xin used An Dehai to violate the ancestral system and commit many crimes to put Cixi back.
Although Ding Baozhen killed Andehai and got the approval of Ci'an and Tongzhi, it was Cixi who was in power in the dprk, and Ding Baozhen killed Andehai, regardless of whether An Dehai was at fault or not, he would offend Cixi, but Ding Baozhen held these 3 powers, so that he was not afraid of Cixi.
First, Ding Baozhen held military power. Ding Baozhen was the governor of Shandong, the military and political chief of a province, responsible for the military and political affairs of a province. The governor's authority focused on civil affairs, but he also had his own direct subordinate army, about 1,000 people, this part of the army, the inspector can be directly mobilized, other armies in the province, need to ask the imperial court, before they can be mobilized, the inspector can not directly command them.
After the outbreak of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Green Camp and the Eight Banner Army of the Imperial Court were corrupt and defeated by the Taiping Army one after another, and the Imperial Court could only reuse the local Han chinese armed forces and let the local organization of soldiers and horses to recruit and suppress the Taiping Army and other rebel armies, which made the local military power fall into the hands of local officials such as governors and inspectors. Ding Baozhen was the governor of Shandong, in charge of the army of a province, and also had great relations with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and other feudal officials, and important ministers such as Prince Gong Yixin of the Dynasty, as well as Ci'an and Tongzhi, all supported him, so Cixi did not dare to move him easily.
After Ding Baozhen killed Andehai, Cixi not only did not punish him, but also praised Ding Baozhen for killing well, and played down the matter as much as possible. Later, Ding Baozhen was promoted to governor of Sichuan because of his outstanding political achievements, and Cixi gave Ding Baozhen the four characters of "Treasure of the Country" and publicly praised him.
Second, Ding Baozhen holds financial power. The financial power in the hands of local governors, inspectors, and other officials was originally very limited, and the annual collection of land grants, salt taxes, etc., had to be handed over to the state treasury, and then the imperial court allocated them to the localities according to the use of each province, but after the outbreak of the Tianping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the imperial court was nervous and could not come up with enough money to pay the military salary, so the provincial governors were rescued to solve the problem of grain and wages.
Gradually, the local financial power was controlled by the governor and the governor, who later simply withheld the regular taxes paid to the imperial court for their own use, and only gave a small part of the imperial court. After the reduction of the imperial court's revenue, in order to maintain a huge expenditure, it was also necessary to go to the local governor and inspector in a low voice, which weakened the prestige of the imperial court and improved the status of the local governor and inspector.
Ding Baozhen and other local governors, inspectors, and control of military and financial powers, and the imperial court also needed to give them three points in case of trouble, and did not dare to punish them easily.
Third, Ding Baozhen holds the power to appoint and dismiss personnel. Originally, the local governors and inspectors did not have the right to appoint and dismiss personnel in their hands, even in Qipinzhi County, his appointment and removal power was in the hands of the imperial court, and the governors and inspectors had no right to appoint and dismiss officials, but in the Xianfeng years, due to the need to suppress the taiping army, the twist army and other peasant army uprisings, the local personnel appointment and dismissal power gradually fell into the hands of local governors and inspectors such as Zeng Guofan.
During the Tongzhi period, most of the governors and inspectors of the Qing Dynasty were Han Chinese, and most of them came from the Xiang army and the Huai army, and their close relationship between them made Cixi jealous of them. At a time when the Qing Dynasty was worried about internal and external troubles, Cixi needed the governors of the provinces to help her stabilize the situation, and even though Ding Baozhen's power could not be compared with Zeng Guofan and others, and did not pose a threat to the imperial court, Cixi did not dare to punish him casually.