In Chinese history, the three women who sat on the highest thrones of power were undoubtedly Lü Hou, Wu Zetian and Cixi. Of the three women, the one with the best fate and the most stable power is obviously Cixi. As soon as Lü Hou died, her Lü family was destroyed; before Wu Zetian died, she was pulled from the throne by her son. Only Cixi received a good death. Of course, although the tomb was stolen by Sun Dianying, this is another story.
Speaking of which, when these three women were in power, the most turbulent person in society was Cixi. Cixi's ordeal was simply too much! The Opium War, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Russian War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Invasion of the Eight-Power Alliance, in addition to the Taiping Rebellion, the Twister Rebellion, the Huimin Uprising, the Agubai Rebellion, and so on. Moreover, at that time, people of insight throughout the country also criticized Empress Dowager Cixi. But even so, Empress Dowager Cixi's position was the most secure.
(Portrait of Lü Hou)
So, what exactly is the reason for this? Comparing Cixi with Lü Hou and Wu Zetian, what is the difference between her?
In the process of controlling power, Lü Hou and Wu Zetian had a big difference from Empress Dowager Cixi, that is, wu Zetian and Lü Hou both tried to change the status quo of power. When they try to change the status quo of power, they inevitably provoke great contradictions.
Lü Hou tried to transfer the power of the Liu family to the Lü family.
In fact, Lü Hou did not think of seizing the liu family's world at first, she was just dissatisfied with Liu Bang's favor of Lady Qi, and tried to make Lady Qi's son crown prince. Therefore, when Liu Bang died and Lü Hou took power, Lü Hou retaliated and vigorously attacked Lady Qi. This in turn caused dissatisfaction among Liu Bang's other sons. As a result, Lü Hou killed many of Liu Bang's sons, which formed a state of unjust retribution.
Although this kind of retribution increased the fear of the Liu family's clan, it also increased the fear of Lü Hou herself and her clan. In order to ensure stability, Lü Hou took control of the army and hoped to use the army to embolden himself. Later, when Lü Hou died, she warned her nephews that they must control power. If you don't control power, you can easily be killed.
Although Lü Hou changed the status quo of power because of fear. However, Lü Hou did change the status quo of power, which caused uneasiness among Liu Bang's children and grandchildren, as well as his ministers. Therefore, Liu Bang's children and grandchildren and ministers would launch a coup back, and Lü Hou and her family would end so tragically.
Wu Zetian was also the one who changed the status quo of power in the Tang Dynasty.
Originally, Wu Zetian controlled power when Li Zhi was emperor. All kinds of things in the imperial court were handled by Wu Zetian, and everyone was also accustomed to the situation of the "Second Holy Dynasty". However, Wu Zetian did not change the status quo of power, so she did not encounter much resistance.
Later, she took her son's country, which changed the status quo of power. So, why did Wu Zetian change this situation?
(Portrait of Wu Zetian)
On the one hand, Wu Zetian felt that her son always made her dissatisfied with things. On the other hand, her son also tried to take her power away. As soon as his son came to power, he arranged for his father-in-law to be prime minister. Wu Zetian criticized him for being sloppy in using people, but he said that even if he gave Jiangshan to his father-in-law, he was willing. Wu Zetian was furious and simply deposed his son, thus changing the status quo of power.
Lü Hou changed the status quo of power because of fear, and Wu Zetian changed the status quo of power because of dissatisfaction. But whatever the starting point, both changed, thus triggering a power upheaval.
Cixi was different, although Cixi launched a coup d'état of Xin You, defeating the eight ministers of Gu Ming. But she did not thrive in the imperial court. She and the ministers and members of the imperial family actually shared power, such as she shared power with Ci'an and Prince Gong. This made Cixi not too vengeful.
Many people may not understand why Cixi can share power with others.
In fact, the reason is very simple, because Cixi does not have to panic. The emperor was her son, and the emperor was still a little emperor, and it was impossible to speak up. Therefore, Cixi's voice is the voice of the emperor. Cixi represented the emperor. This was Cixi's unique advantage, and neither Lü Hou nor Wu Zetian had such an advantage.
When Lü Hou came to power, her son Liu Ying was already an adult. Don't look at Liu Ying's weakness, he is also a person with a desire for power, and he also wants to play his role. After he came to power, he once criticized Cao San, saying that Cao Gan was not an official. In fact, he hoped that Cao Shen could help himself and regain power from Lü Hou.
In addition to Liu Ying, Liu Bang had other sons, who were even more dissatisfied with Lü Hou's assumption of power, and they were all a bit foolish. Lu hou was facing so many threats, so she panicked and wanted to change the status quo of power.
Wu Zetian's power was also unstable. Because Wu Zetian also has an adult son, the son is also seizing power from her.
If an adult son becomes an emperor, the emperor must have a group of brothers around him, and it must be a group of forces. This group of forces must use the emperor to play a role, so they are bound to have conflicts with Lü Hou and Wu Zetian.
It can be said that if Lü Hou and Wu Zetian also shared power with everyone, then they would mean losing power.
(Portrait of Cixi)
Cixi's son, the Emperor, was a minor. At the same time, the Xianfeng Emperor had only one son, Zaichun. Even if Zaichun was a child, no one could compete with him. Therefore, Cixi is able to calm down.
Cixi's power, which was more stable than that of Lü Hou and Wu Zetian, was precisely because Cixi was in a turbulent era.
Cixi is in such an era, what is the advantage?
On the one hand, this made Cixi a backbone of the imperial court. At all costs? The imperial court needs a backbone. Without such a backbone, when faced with complex problems, no one has an idea. Therefore, neither the ministers nor the Imperial Family of the Qing Dynasty were so eager to overthrow Cixi. After all, when he came to power, he did not necessarily do a better job than Cixi.
Cixi, on the other hand, took full advantage of social unrest and cultivated her own clique of forces.
Throughout his life, Lü Hou did not cultivate his own powerful power group. Including Chen Ping and Zhou Bo, these people were not Lü Hou's people. The only people who really belong to Lü Hou are Lü Lu and Lü Lu. But these people themselves have no ability, just a bunch of straw bales. Wu Zetian, too, including Di Renjie, did not truly support Wu Zetian.
Cixi took a different path. She fully trusted the Han ministers, who not only solved practical problems, but also supported Cixi because they were promoted by Cixi. In this way, Cixi easily changed a group of ministers. Of course, this group of ministers strongly supported Cixi.
For example, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded, although Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others had signed the "Southeast Mutual Protection", they had actually always supported Cixi and did not take the opportunity to overthrow Cixi's rule.
In short, the reason why Cixi's power and position were more stable than those of Lü Hou and Wu Zetian was that in addition to the objective conditions in which she was located, it was also inseparable from her more mature and stable political skills. Cixi is known as a sinner of the Chinese nation, but her political means are obviously quite clever in her political means when she was able to rule steadily for half a century.