Chapter 63 Chapter 1 The Power Seizure of Two Women

Cixi is a woman full of mystery, even her life experience is also full of mystery.She was not the main concubine when she entered the palace, she was carried in from the side garden.The review department at the time was not responsible, and they didn't even know her birthplace.But where she was born is not important, what is important is that she entered the palace and was favored by Emperor Xianfeng.She shared the favor of Emperor Xianfeng with Ci'an.Ci'an is the Empress Dowager of the East, she is the Empress Dowager of the West, they are two equals.Such a woman, according to historical practice, should not have much to do.However, the power politics with Chinese characteristics finally pushed this woman to the center of power.

When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War was coming to an end, that is, when the Hunan Army was besieging the Tianjing camp and launching a frenzied attack, Emperor Xianfeng was seriously ill, so he planned to leave the country to his son Tongzhi.But there was a problem, that is, Tongzhi was too young, and Xianfeng had to form a check and balance of power in the court to protect Tongzhi.When Huang Taiji died, he had a regent, and when Shunzhi died, he had Gu Ming veterans. When Xianfeng died, he appointed eight Gu Ming veterans, and eight old men to assist Xiao Tongzhi. These eight old men are also famous in history, but they were unlucky, they met Cixi.

When Emperor Xianfeng appointed these eight old men, he also had to consider such a question: What if these eight old men don't like my son?What if they crippled my son all of a sudden?Can my son handle eight old men? Therefore, it is necessary to decentralize power again, and the eight old men cannot be allowed to hold all the actual power.Then the power will be divided again, and the power will fall into the hands of the queen mothers of the two palaces.The auxiliary power was left to eight old men, and Xianfeng left the jade seal to the two empress dowagers—Cixi and Ci'an.This arrangement is also unreasonable. Xianfeng forgot one thing: the queen mothers of the two palaces can also draft decrees.He only thought of eight old men writing the decree and these two women stamping it, so that it would take effect.

When this arrangement was made, Xianfeng obviously forgot about it, but Cixi knew that the opportunity had come, and the power had been granted to her. All she had to do was write a word on this note and stamp it. , which means power. When Emperor Xianfeng's body was still in Rehe, the empress dowagers of the two palaces and the eight auxiliary ministers were already incompatible.Why are fire and water incompatible?According to the history books, these eight old men go to the palace every day to make troubles, often laughing at the two women and bullying little Tongzhi.Of course, all the claims may be nonsense, and there is only one real reason: the queen mothers of the two palaces want to seize power.

They want to take this power back from the eight auxiliary ministers, so what are they doing after taking it back?We don't care about that, anyway, power is better in our own hands than in others' hands.In this way, the empress dowagers of the two palaces formed an incompatible confrontation with the eight auxiliary ministers. At that time, Cixi secretly wrote a letter, asking Prince Gong and Prince Jin to come and help out, and wanted to get rid of the eight veteran ministers.After this letter was issued, the contradictions had become acute. At the same time, Cixi urgently summoned the military general Shengbao to escort Rehe. That is to say, the two sides have formed the possibility of a military coup.But in fact, the real coup was the queen mother of the two palaces, and the eight old men were still confused.But when Cixi and Ci'an yelled at them, it seemed that they were in such a dangerous situation, and how disrespected these eight old men were to them, as if these eight old men were going to rebel and do anything wrong, but in fact nothing happened.But no matter whether there was or not, everyone thought at the time that there was, and this was the tragedy of the eight old men.

Therefore, when the eight old men escorted the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng back to Beijing, the two empress dowagers, Cixi and Ci'an, went one step ahead. They rushed to the capital first, and arranged it secretly after arriving in the capital.When the eight old men were taken down, they were all surprised: We drafted the decree, and we wrote the decree. We haven't written this decree yet, and we can't arrest ourselves. ! They can't understand.But they forgot that Cixi and Ci'an could write imperial edicts.The arrangement of Emperor Xianfeng before his death was tantamount to giving power directly to Cixi or Ci'an.And Ci'an failed to survive Cixi, so the power eventually fell into the hands of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Since then, the Empress Dowager Cixi has become a very important figure influencing modern Chinese history.