Chapter 363 Chapter 362 Mu Zong Aixinjueluo Zai Chun

Zaichun is Emperor Tongzhi, who is the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history—the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty since Emperor Shunzhi.He only lived to be 19 years old, and has been under the coercion of his mother, the Queen Mother, basically doing nothing. On March 23rd in the sixth year of Xianfeng (AD 1856), there was a busy atmosphere inside the Qing Palace, especially the Chuxiu Palace located in the west of the Forbidden City. Nala's childbirth is making intense preparations.It's such an exciting and anxious time.It turned out that although Emperor Xianfeng had three palaces and six courtyards and had many wives and concubines, he was 26 years old, but he never had a son.The ancients said that there are three kinds of unfilial piety, and that having no offspring is the greatest. In feudal society, ordinary families still need a man to carry on the family line, let alone the family of an emperor?Emperor Xianfeng longed to have a son so that he could inherit his throne.At around 2:00 p.m. on March 23, Yehenala gave birth smoothly, and indeed gave birth to a boy.After receiving the report, Emperor Xianfeng was very happy to see that he finally had a son.He couldn't hold back the excitement and excitement in his heart, and immediately swiped his pen to personally approve Zhu Yu.The child who brought joy to his father Xianfeng and favor to his mother was the later Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun.

Zaichun's biological mother, Yehenara, was born in a middle-level bureaucratic family that had been officials for generations.His father's name was Hui Zheng, who was once the Guangtai Taoist in Ningchi, Anhui.Nala's baby name is Lan'er.She is good looking and very smart.Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne at the age of 20, chose Niu Gulu as the queen, and widely drafted beautiful women to supplement Gong'e. Lan'er was lucky to be selected.In the second year of Xianfeng (1852 A.D.), Lan'er entered the palace and was named a nobleman of Lan.After entering the palace, although Lan'er was not satisfied with her title of "noble man", there was nothing she could do.Lan'er is a scheming person. In order to please people, she works diligently, works hard, bears the burden of hard work, and has a gentle attitude towards people, is willing to help others, and is very popular.More seize every possible opportunity to approach the emperor.It is said that Emperor Xianfeng once visited the Old Summer Palace and walked near the "deep part of the cave". He was very surprised to hear someone singing a southern ditty with a clear and clear voice and a long and melodious tune.Emperor Xianfeng asked the eunuch who was singing, and the eunuch told Emperor Xianfeng that he was from Langui.So Emperor Xianfeng stepped into the "deep part of the cave" and ordered Lan Guiren to come to see him.Emperor Xianfeng was very happy to see Lan'er was extremely beautiful, so he asked her to sing another southern ditty.Lan'er is eloquent and considerate, she pleases the emperor very much, gradually she is favored, and soon she is promoted from a nobleman to a concubine.In the sixth year of Xianfeng, his son Zaichun was born, which satisfied Emperor Xianfeng's eager wish for a son.

In the few years after his birth, Xiao Zaichun lived a happy and happy life.His father, Emperor Xianfeng, placed great hopes on him and hoped that he could inherit the great cause.His mother, Nalashi, not only came from the natural mother-child relationship, but also because her son brought him great benefits (Zaichun is not only Nalashi's own flesh and blood, but also her important political capital), so she is also very happy. Love and pity Zai Chun, and take good care of his life and growth.But this happy life didn't last long. An accident pushed Zai Chun to the throne of the emperor, and at the same time pushed him into the abyss of pain and depression.

In the second Opium War, the Qing army retreated steadily, but the British and French allied forces drove straight in, approaching Beijing.In August of the tenth year of Xianfeng, Emperor Xianfeng fled Beijing in a hurry.At this time, Xiao Zaichun was only 4 years old, and he also fled to the summer resort in Rehe with his parents.After Emperor Xianfeng fled to Rehe, his condition gradually worsened, and he often vomited blood. He knew that his condition was serious, so on July 16, the eleventh year of Xianfeng, he sent Prince Yi Zaiyuan, Prince Zheng Duanhua, and co-organizer Sushun 8 people including Jing Shou, Minister of the Imperial Palace, Minister of Military Affairs Mu Yin, Minister of the Ministry of War, Kuang Yuan, the left servant of the Ministry of Officials, Du Han, the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and Jiao Youying, the Shaoqing of the Taipu Temple, were summoned to the couch to accept the will and make the eldest son of the emperor Zaichun as the The crown prince, and appointed the above 8 people as "Ministers of the King of Zanxiang Government Affairs" to assist Zai Chun.The next day, Emperor Xianfeng died of illness, and Zai Chun, who was only 5 years old, succeeded to the throne, with the proposed year name "Qixiang".However, this year name has not been officially used, and a major struggle for power took place within the Qing court.The outcome of this struggle affected the life of the little emperor Zaichun.

It turned out that during the lifetime of Emperor Xianfeng, Sushun and others were very trusted and had great power, which made Zaichun's biological mother Nala very jealous and hated; Sushun and others thought that after Emperor Xianfeng died, Nala would become the emperor The queen mother would be detrimental to herself, so she often slandered the Nala family in front of the emperor. After Zaichun succeeded to the throne, Sushun and others took power and took charge of the government in the name of "praising the government affairs king minister".Nala and Niu Colu were honored as empress dowagers.Because the Niu Gulu family and the Nala family lived in the East Palace and the West Palace respectively when they were in Rehe, they were also called the East Queen Mother and West Queen Mother respectively.The Empress Dowager was even more dissatisfied with the power of Sushun and others due to the above reasons, so the contradiction between the two further intensified, and a change was inevitable.

The Empress Dowager Xi understood that if she wanted to compete with Sushun and others for power, she must first obtain the consent and support of the Empress Dowager East, so she proposed to the Empress Dowager East about governing.The Eastern Empress Dowager has a mild personality, timid and fearful, and is not as interested in power as the Western Empress Dowager. Therefore, she did not agree to the proposal of the Western Empress Dowager at first.The Empress Dowager West told the Empress Dowager East about all kinds of domineering things about Sushun and others, so as to arouse the empress dowager's dissatisfaction with Sushun and others.Discuss.So they secretly ordered Yi?Go to Rehe quickly.Yi?Disagreement with his brother Emperor Xianfeng has always been unhappy.When Emperor Xianfeng chose to go to Rehe, Yi?Being left in Beijing to clean up the mess, after the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Yi?Even Minister Gu Ming didn't have a share, and Sushun and others delivered the decree, Ming Yi?Still staying in Beijing to handle business, not having to attend the funeral, which arouses Yi?So Sushun also became Yi?Enemies against each other.Yi?Arrived in Rehe on the first day of August in the eleventh year of Xianfeng (AD 1861).Hurry up and conspire with the two queen mothers.He pointed out that in order to subdue Sushun and others, he had to return to Beijing, and he assured the two queen mothers that foreigners would not interfere in this matter.Immediately after the plot, he returned to Beijing to prepare for the coup.

In order to get rid of the control of Sushun and others in order to carry out a coup d'etat, the Queen Mother insisted on returning to Beijing.Sushun and others seemed to have forgotten the ancient rule of "taking the emperor to order the princes", and did not pay enough attention to it, so they agreed to return to Beijing.On September 23, the little emperor Zai Chun respectfully returned to Beijing from Zi Palace of Emperor Xianfeng.In the morning, after the opening ceremony, the two empress dowagers and the young emperor Zai Chun went first, Zai Yuan, Duan Hua, Jing Shou, Mu Yin and others followed, and Su Shun followed Zi Gong.In this way, the Queen Mother isolated Sushun, the most difficult enemy to deal with.

On September 29th, after arriving in Beijing, did the Empress Dowager see Yi?They were ready and immediately issued an edict on September 30, dismissing Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun, Jingshou, Mu Yin, Kuangyuan, Duhan, Jiao Youying, and the eight ministers of government affairs.On October 6, another imperial edict was issued: Zaiyuan and Duanhua were given grace to order them to commit suicide, Sushun Jiaen ordered them to be executed, and the other five were either dismissed or exiled.In this way, the Empress Dowager Xi and others completely defeated the forces of Sushun and others in one fell swoop, and ascended to the throne of "listening to politics behind the curtain".This is the famous "Xinyou coup" in history, also known as "Qixiang coup".

On the ninth day of October, Zaichun officially succeeded to the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.When in Rehe, the promulgated year name was "Qixiang", but it was not implemented.After returning to Beijing, the government changed, and someone proposed to change the year name, so the Queen Mother ordered a meeting of princes and ministers.The people agreed that the new year name would be "Tongzhi" to show the meaning of the two empress dowagers coming to the court and governing together.The Queen Mother was very happy after hearing this, and issued a special decree, changing the year name to "Tongzhi", and taking next year as the first year of Tongzhi.Shortly thereafter, princes and ministers formulated the regulations for hanging curtains, which were approved and implemented by the queen mothers of the two palaces.On the first day of November, the two empress dowagers and the little emperor went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to accept the worship of the ministers. From then on, the period of the two empress dowagers "listening behind the curtain" officially began. That is, from this time on, Emperor Tongzhi lost his family life. to be a puppet and a tool in his mother's hands.

In order to train Zai Chun into a king, the empress dowagers of the two palaces selected a strong lineup of teachers for Emperor Tongzhi.Especially after Tongzhi ascended the throne, the uncle of Emperor Tongzhi, Prince Chunjun Wang Yixuan, was specially assigned to teach Mongolian and riding and archery, the university scholar Woren taught Manchu, and Prince Gong Yi?Inspect all the affairs of the Hongde Hall, and Prince Hui Mianyu is permanently stationed in the Hongde Hall to take care of everything.As early as when Emperor Xianfeng was alive, Li Hongzao, a bachelor, was appointed as the master of Emperor Tongzhi. Later, Woren, Li Tangjie, Weng Tonghe and others entered Hongde Hall one after another to teach Emperor Tongzhi Chinese.Yi? , Yizhen, Mianyu, etc. are all nobles of the royal family and have a very high status; while Woren and others are mostly powerful officials of the Qing Central Committee and have high feudal cultural literacy.In order to restrain Emperor Tongzhi, according to the ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty, there are very strict regulations and requirements on learning content and learning methods.When Emperor Tongzhi went to his study every day, he would draw his bow first, then learn Mongolian, read Manchu scripts, and finally read Chinese scripts.

Originally, Emperor Tongzhi had been intelligent since he was a child, had the demeanor of an adult, and had a strong nature. If he developed according to common sense, he could have become a person who could make a difference.However, although Zaichun is the king of a country, he has many misfortunes and troubles: his father Xianfeng Emperor died early, which made him lose his father's love prematurely; , Fighting for power and profit, caring little about Emperor Tongzhi, there is no maternal love at all, let alone maternal education.Zaichun can't get the fatherly and motherly love that other children enjoy, and can't enjoy the fun of family. He can only hang out with the eunuchs, looking for joy, so as to make up for his lack of warmth in his heart.Most of the eunuchs were flatterers. In order to please the young emperor, they couldn't provide beneficial care and education to the emperor.Since the masters couldn't scold the emperor in class, they found some noble children to study with them. When the emperor made mistakes or didn't study hard, he would use them to stand up.But the children of the nobles were playful, and after growing up a little, under the guidance of some of them, they often left the palace in low clothes, wandered around, and had fun.In particular, Emperor Tongzhi and Prince Gong's son Belle Zaizheng were very close, and Zaizheng was a womanizer, so under his leadership, they visited almost every prostitute, tavern and stall with women. As a result, Emperor Tongzhi could not study at ease at all, and his weariness of studying became more and more intense.The heavier the homework, the more attached he is to the fun and ease of play; the more serious the masters, the more he likes those flatterers. Therefore, Emperor Tongzhi became a very naughty "student" in Hongde Hall. , although his masters repeatedly warned him to "study diligently", he ignored it at all. He was not focused, moved and laughed, or fell asleep, and even fought with Zai Zheng, who was reading with him. The masters couldn't help but laugh, and tried their best to do nothing. Because of this, although Wo Ren and others worked hard to teach and work hard, Emperor Tongzhi's studies did not make much progress. Not enthusiastic, although his master is very anxious, he can't change it.Therefore, when he was in power, Emperor Tongzhi not only couldn't explain the most basic classics such as "Zuo Zhuan", he couldn't even read a sentence, and he couldn't make a sentence when he read the memorial.This is the cultural level and quality of the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Tongzhi was the biological son of the Empress Dowager Xi, but the relationship between mother and son did not have the kind of family happiness that ordinary people have, nor the kindness and filial piety that mothers and children often require in feudal ethics.As a mother, the Empress Dowager had the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of power in the Qing Dynasty because her son was the most precious. In her eyes, her son was nothing more than a tool for her to fight for power and profit.She lacks the maternal love and warmth that a mother should have for her son, and is more about controlling and using her son.Emperor Tongzhi had a stubborn personality, and he didn't have that lingering feeling for his mother. On the contrary, he was more disgusted and dissatisfied. Especially after Emperor Tongzhi came to power, he was even more dissatisfied and annoyed by his mother's domineering power, and he often wanted to get rid of his mother's control. idea. What annoyed Emperor Tongzhi even more was that the Empress Dowager interfered arbitrarily in his private life.In the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869 A.D.), Emperor Zaichun of Tongzhi had turned 14 years old. According to the usual practice, it was time for a big marriage, and after the big marriage, he would be in charge of the government.The Empress Dowager West has a strong desire for power and regards power as her destiny. She is unwilling to return the government to Emperor Tongzhi, so she has repeatedly postponed her marriage to Emperor Tongzhi.By the eleventh year of Tongzhi, Emperor Tongzhi was already 17 years old, and the Queen Mother had no reason to procrastinate any longer, so she had to propose marriage for Emperor Tongzhi.At that time, among the candidates, Fucha, the daughter of the servant Fengxiu, was beautiful, while the daughter of the servant Chongqi, Alut, was inferior to Fucha in appearance, but she was graceful and luxurious, and her manner was dignified.The Eastern Empress Dowager thinks that Fucha is frivolous, so she likes Alut very much, and intends to make Alut her queen; the Western Empress does not like Arut, because Alut is the niece of Prince Zheng Duanhua, the political enemy of the Western Empress Dowager. , she did not want to give up the position of queen to such a person, so she wanted to make Fucha the queen.The Eastern Empress Dowager told the Western Empress Dowager: "Fengxiu's daughter is too frivolous, how can she be chosen as the queen? She can only be a noble person." These words hit the sore spot of the Western Empress Dowager who was born as a nobleman.The two empress dowagers disagreed, so they let Emperor Tongzhi make up their minds. The result was beyond the expectation of the Empress Dowager West. His own son turned against him. Emperor Tongzhi expressed his love for Alut and wanted to choose her as queen. In September, Emperor Tongzhi held a grand ceremony. At the wedding ceremony, Arut entered the palace and was named Empress Xiaozheyi, while Fucha entered the palace at the same time and was named Concubine Hui. After getting married, Emperor Tongzhi and Empress Xiaozheyi respected each other as guests and fell in love with each other.Empress Xiaozheyi was stern and dignified, and Emperor Tongzhi admired and respected her very much.When there was nothing to do in the palace, Emperor Tongzhi often asked the empress about Tang poems, and the empress could answer them fluently, and Emperor Tongzhi liked it very much.However, the Empress Dowager Xi could not understand her son's mood, and deliberately provoked the relationship between Emperor Tongzhi and the empress, which not only caused a bad relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but also further strained the relationship between mother and child.The Empress Dowager West said to Emperor Tongzhi many times: "The empress is too young to understand etiquette. The emperor should not go to the central palace often, so as not to hinder government affairs."Not only that, but the Empress Dowager also sent people to monitor Emperor Tongzhi all the time.Emperor Tongzhi was very dissatisfied with his mother, the Empress Dowager Xi, who interfered in his private life, so he refused to listen to his mother's words, and simply lived alone in the Qianqing Palace as a protest against his mother. On January 26, the twelfth year of Tongzhi (AD 1873), the Empress Dowager of the East and West returned to power, and Emperor Tongzhi ruled in person.However, Emperor Tongzhi still has no real power, and the power of the Qing Dynasty is still in the hands of the Queen Mother.After Emperor Tongzhi came to power, he didn't do any political actions, and what he paid most attention to was probably the restoration of Yuanmingyuan.On this matter, he and his mother, the Empress Dowager, agreed and walked in unison, which can be regarded as a rare understanding between their mother and son. Restoring the Old Summer Palace was not an easy task. The project was huge and costly. It not only brought a huge burden to the Qing government's finances, but also caused extravagance, which aroused a lot of criticism.At this time, Prince Gong Yi who originally disagreed but did not dare to dissuade him?Had to come forward.On July 16, the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, Yi?Shangshu asked Emperor Tongzhi to stop repairing the Old Summer Palace, and pointed out some life styles and behaviors of Emperor Tongzhi that did not conform to the ancestral system.Such as fighting with eunuchs in the inner palace, going out of the palace to play, not paying attention to reading, etc.After the memorial, Yi?He was also afraid that Emperor Tongzhi would not understand, so he asked the emperor to summon him, but Emperor Tongzhi ignored him.Yi?Please again, Emperor Tongzhi summoned Yi on the 18th? , When summoned, Yi?After repeatedly explaining all the items in the memorial, Emperor Tongzhi said impatiently: "I just stop working, why do you bother so much?"Said: "I have played a lot, not only asking to stop the construction of the Old Summer Palace." Emperor Tongzhi was even more angry, and said angrily, "How about giving me my seat?" On the 29th, Emperor Tongzhi went to court and summoned all the kings Minister, blame Yi?No courtesies should be dealt with seriously.Emperor Tongzhi issued an edict to complete the military ministers and all the missions of Prince Ge Gong, and handed over to the clan's government for strict discussion.Although the kings and ministers tried their best to dissuade him, the anger of Emperor Tongzhi still persisted.On the 30th, another decree was issued, in the name of "many inaccuracies between languages", to remove Yi?The prince was hereditary and relegated to the county king, still walking on the minister of military aircraft.On the first day of the eighth month, another decree was promulgated, in the name of "comparison for misbehavior", to punish Prince Gong Yi? , Prince Chun Yixuan and other 10 people's positions, so as to vent against the competition?dissatisfaction.When the empress dowagers of the two palaces heard the news, they rushed to the Hongde Hall and scolded Emperor Tongzhi for being young and ignorant, so Emperor Tongzhi had to cancel the match?Punishment of others.After this turmoil, Emperor Tongzhi and the Empress Dowager had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​restoring the Old Summer Palace, but once again offered to build Xiyuan Sanhai in exchange.So far, the debate surrounding the restoration of the Old Summer Palace has come to an end. Although Emperor Tongzhi was the king of a country in name, he did not have the dignity and power of a king of a country.Politically, Emperor Tongzhi was under the control of the Queen Mother, let alone when he was young, even after he was in power.In addition, in fact, he did not have the young and promising qualities of Emperor Kangxi, so it can be said that he has achieved nothing politically.In life, he was also unreasonably interfered by the Queen Mother, and lost family fun, which made the stubborn Emperor Tongzhi very depressed and troubled.Therefore, Emperor Tongzhi went out of the palace wantonly to find fun.He searched for flowers and asked willows everywhere, indulged in promiscuity, and did not look like a king at all.The long-term promiscuous life caused Emperor Tongzhi to contract syphilis, and his body collapsed. Around October in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (AD 1874), Emperor Tongzhi felt very uncomfortable and sent the imperial physician to see him.The imperial physician was shocked when he saw it. He knew it was a virus caused by promiscuous life, but he dared not say it out loud, so he asked the Queen Mother.So the imperial physician used the medicine for treating smallpox to treat Emperor Tongzhi, but of course it would not work.Emperor Tongzhi was very painful and said angrily: "My disease is not smallpox, why should I treat it according to smallpox?"During Tongzhi's serious illness, Empress Xiaozheyi kept visiting Emperor Tongzhi's bed, comforting him with kind words, and personally wiped off the pus and blood on Emperor Tongzhi's body to show the love between husband and wife.Even when her son was critically ill, the Empress Dowager West did not do her due maternal love. On the contrary, she often blamed Empress Xiaozheyi for excuses, and even yelled at her.At this time, Emperor Tongzhi was unable to fight against his mother, but only hated him. Emperor Tongzhi soon realized that he had no hope of living. Looking back on his 19 years of life, he was full of emotion and hatred. Only then did he realize how miserable he is!Therefore, he summoned his master, Li Hongzao, Minister of Military Aircraft, and dictated a will, requesting that after his death, he should find an older person to succeed him in order to avoid his own tragedy.Li Hongzao held the edict of Emperor Tongzhi, his whole body trembled, his complexion changed drastically, and he immediately rushed to report to the Queen Mother.The Queen Mother of the West was like a thunderclap, hated and shocked at the same time, and tore up the edict of Emperor Tongzhi on the spot.On December 5th of the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, Emperor Tongzhi died of illness at the age of 19.Empress Xiaozheyi couldn't bear the abuse and censure of the Queen Mother, and died of martyrdom less than 100 days after the death of Emperor Tongzhi. After the death of Emperor Tongzhi, he was buried in Huiling, posthumously named "Emperor Yi", and the temple name was "Mu Zong".