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Author: Gao Cheng'er
At the end of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, the Great Qing Dynasty changed hands again, and the imperial court issued the edict of Emperor Daxing, which contained the words: "The gas is strong, and the smallpox is suitable for smallpox in November of this year, and it is a matter of intention to adjust it, but since the beginning of the day, the vitality has been lost day by day, so that it cannot be left behind, is it not heavenly." "As we said before, the Qing Emperor's will rarely mentioned the cause of death, but the Tongzhi Emperor clearly told people that he had died because of smallpox. In the Records of Emperor Muzongyi of the Qing Dynasty, the editor once again reiterates that the Tongzhi Emperor died of smallpox: "And it is smallpox that is thankful, the Eucharist violates the peace, and abandons the subjects."
Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the Tongzhi Emperor was the shortest-lived, and the previous holder of this record was Shunzhi. He lived to be twenty-four years old, he also ascended the throne at the age of six, and also died of smallpox, and now the Tongzhi Emperor broke the record of his ancestors for the same reason, "thirteen years on the throne, nine out of ten holy life", at the age of nineteen, this is the life of "Long Live Grandpa", not even one percent of the ten thousand years old did not live. Since Emperor Xuanzong, the qing emperors have not been as good as a generation, Daoguang has lived for sixty-nine years, Xianfeng has lived for thirty-one, and Tongzhi can't even pass his twentieth birthday. The testament attributed the matter to Providence: Isn't it Heavenly? God listened with a confused face: Can you blame me? What's the matter with me! The most stressful is still the officials of the Ministry of Works, xianfeng Dingling has only been repaired for several years! I thought that the Tongzhi Emperor was young, and his mausoleum would have to wait for decades, but I didn't expect to rush to move in so quickly.
The emperor was so young, did he really die of smallpox? Looking at the written materials left by the Qing Palace, it seems to be like this. There is a file called "Banzai Grandpa Smallpox Medicine Bottom Book" records the treatment process during Tongzhi's illness, Emperor Weng Tonggong was serving in the palace at that time, he could see the "Pulse Case" every day, from the emperor's illness on October 30 to the death of the first five days of December, the content of the "Pulse Case" is basically the same as the "Long Live Grandpa Smallpox Medicine Bottom Book". At the end of the 1970s, in order to solve the mystery of the cause of death of the Tongzhi Emperor, the Palace Museum invited medical experts to study the "Long Live Grandpa Smallpox Medicine Bottom Book", and found that the symptoms at the beginning of the Tongzhi Emperor's illness were chest tightness, fever, soft legs, and acne; the middle symptoms were redness, swelling and rupture in the waist, and pus; in the later period, sometimes bleeding, the gums were black, the waist and buttocks were seriously ulcerated, and the imperial doctor unveiled the plaster, which would flow out a large amount of pus, which could be filled with a half bowl at a time, and the smell was unbearable. Based on the above symptoms, medical experts judged that emperor Tongzhi did indeed die of smallpox. For such a result, it should be said that it will not be surprising, because the name of the material they studied has the word "smallpox", if the final conclusion is not smallpox, it is a problem, indicating that the imperial medical ability of the Qing Palace is not good, and even such a popular disease cannot be diagnosed.
Thinking back to the time when the Shunzhi Emperor died of smallpox, the Kangxi Emperor succeeded to the throne because of smallpox, for two hundred years, the Qing Palace should have a considerable degree of understanding of the disease of smallpox, and the means of protection could not be without, that is, pox. For example, the Jiaqing Emperor had acne when he was a child, and finally lived to be in his early sixties. How could Emperor Tongzhi still die of this disease? He didn't have any pox at all? Or did it have no effect? This is one of the doubts. Another place that makes people wonder is that the Tongzhi Emperor has been ill for a long time, ordinary people have smallpox, if they are fast, they will die in a few days, and if they are slow, they will die for more than ten days, how can the Tongzhi Emperor get smallpox, and he can suffer for thirty-six days, up to twice as long as ordinary people? Although he is known as the "Son of Heaven", it is just a trick to deceive people, in fact, he is just a mortal earthling with naked eyes. What's more, when he was ill for twenty days, the archives showed that his smallpox condition had stabilized, and the acne on his whole body was full and mature, and a pus head appeared, only to wait for the scab to heal. How did he suddenly get sick again until he drove to the west?
According to Emperor Xuantong, a junior of the Tongzhi Emperor, when he was a child, he heard a saying in the Forbidden City that the Tongzhi Emperor was stimulated to worsen his condition and died of ineffective rescue. What kind of stimulation is it? The book "Chongling Transmission" makes it very clear that it is because of the empress. At the time of the first big wedding, Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi debated endlessly about the selection of empresses, and no one obeyed anyone, Ci'an preferred the Alute clan, and Cixi preferred the Fucha clan, and the two could not get a consistent answer, so they handed it over to the Tongzhi Emperor to choose. I thought that my own son Tie Ding was on his side, but he did not expect that he also liked the Arut clan, which laid the groundwork for the future contradiction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. After the big wedding, Cixi was difficult for the empress everywhere, her attitude was very harsh, and she was abused from time to time, and the empress was not good at all. Nominally the mother of a country, she is not as comfortable as the daughter-in-law of a large family.
During tongzhi's illness, Arut came to visit her husband and complained to him: Your mother is really not human! Your mom is really not a thing! How did this day pass! Tongzhi also did not like Cixi, did not speak of his power, and interfered in his son's private life, obviously hated the Fucha clan, but taught him to go to the woman's palace more, which was really speechless. Seeing the queen pear blossoms with rain, she was very pitiful, and comforted: "Qing Qing is patient for the time being, and there will be a day when she will emerge." Unexpectedly, Cixi was also nearby, just heard it, and in anger, grabbed the empress's hair and went outside, punched and kicked, and asked the eunuch to use the court staff, and the Arut clan pleaded bitterly, saying that he was the empress who was brought in by the Great Qing Gate, and asked Lafayette to save some face. More than twenty years ago, it was Ci'an who was brought in from the Great Qing Gate, cixi as the emperor's concubine, that is, the little wife, was not qualified to be carried in from the Great Qing Gate, Arut's words, perfectly poked the mother-in-law's sore spot, and the fight was even more fierce. Seeing the scene in front of him, the emperor was shocked and sad, and rolled down directly from the dragon bed, and after the rapid fire attacked his heart, his already improved health took a sharp turn, and finally there was no cure. Losing her husband, the Arut clan had no place to live in the Forbidden City, and soon she committed suicide by swallowing gold and following Emperor Daxing.
Due to the contradiction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the illness intensified and eventually died, which is a saying. For the Imperial Family of the Qing Dynasty, the Empress and the Empress Dowager fought, and the Emperor lay on the side helpless, which is a very disgraceful thing, and it is a very disgraceful thing, and those who know about it belong to a very small minority, and there are only a few people present. Just like Wu Zetian strangled his daughter and poisoned his son, it is precisely because it is a palace secret and few people know about it, and its authenticity is difficult to guarantee. Even if it is fabricated by later generations, it is difficult to have sufficient ironclad evidence to deny it. There is also a saying that also belongs to ye shi, but there are many people who believe it, that is, after twenty days of the Tongzhi Emperor's illness, his smallpox is indeed better, but the "residual poison has not disappeared", and the other disease is getting more and more serious until it takes away the life of Tongzhi. That is syphilis, commonly known as "willow disease", the transmission method is more similar to HIV, mainly mother-to-child transmission, blood transmission and another.
In the later stages of the disease, the emperor's ulcerated areas were mainly concentrated in the waist and buttocks, and he often suffered from insomnia and dreams, which were very close to syphilis. The imperial doctor was hindered by the royal face, knowing that Viva Grandpa's smallpox had been cured, and syphilis began to attack, but due to well-known reasons, he could only continue to treat smallpox according to the public, and could not make the truth public. Although Weng Tonggong can see "Pulse Case" every day, from the middle stage, the patient is actually no longer this disease. Why did the Tongzhi Emperor contract syphilis? Because of the vast Forbidden City, he couldn't get what he wanted. Like the empress, the mother does not allow Linxing; the concubine who does not like it, the emperor is not interested. In order to be satisfied, he had to go out of the palace in search of fresh stimulation.
Ye Shi records that at that time, the Hualiu Lane in Beijing City was divided into three levels, the first class was frequented by high-ranking officials and nobles, rich merchants and tycoons, the Tongzhi Emperor did not dare to go at all, everyone was superior and subordinate, they all knew each other, if they were recognized, wouldn't it be embarrassing? I'm afraid that the entire Eight Alleys will be fried. Where is the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty? What is the system of the imperial court? The second class is mainly opened in relatively remote streets and alleys, providing services such as tea, but in terms of appearance, talent and the first class ratio, it is far worse, the Tongzhi Emperor accidentally strolled around, in fact, also trembling, in case which middle and low-level officials know themselves, look out, make a lot of storms in the city, it is not good! Therefore, the third class is often patronized by the Tongzhi Emperor, the venue is limited, the quality is also bad, commonly known as: "the next three abuses", which is very inconsistent with the special identity of the customer, but there is no way, he can only choose this.
Because of this, syphilis can be easily spread, whether it is for the poor or the emperor. After the hospital found out that it was syphilis, it did not dare to say it explicitly, but instead went to ask Cixi, Lafayette, how to treat this disease! Cixi was also embarrassed, why did my son not show up so much, he said that he was afraid of smallpox! When the imperial doctor received the highest instructions, he continued to treat smallpox according to the standard, calling on the government and the public to worship the pox goddess and pray for the blessing of the Son of Heaven. The descendants of the tai doctor Li Deli said that the family rumored that the Tongzhi Emperor was suffering from syphilis, and the empress dowager asked for smallpox treatment, and Li Deli told Cixi that it could not be treated according to smallpox, and that it was not right, which made Cixi unhappy. Cixi did not know that it was syphilis, and for the sake of royal face, she must insist that it is smallpox.
At noon in March of the fifth year of Guangxu, the coffins of the Tongzhi Emperor and the Arut clan were carried to the foot of Mount Changrui and buried in the underground palace of Huiling, and they were able to be buried with their father, Emperor Xianfeng, but empress dowager Cixi openly violated the ancestral system. According to the rules laid down by the Qianlong Emperor, the previous emperor was buried in The Eastern Tombs, and the next emperor was buried in the Western Tombs, otherwise there would be a mausoleum area that would be gradually abandoned. However, the implementation effect was not good, and the Daoguang Emperor took the lead in destroying the ancestral system on the grounds of seeping water from the underground palace, demolishing the already repaired mausoleum and building the Wannian Auspicious Land in Xiling. This time, Empress Dowager Cixi also followed the example of her father-in-law in destroying the ancestral system, and she could not bear that after a hundred years, her son was too far away from her.
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The image comes from the Internet