Chapter 67 Chapter Five: Empress Dowager Cixi's Art of Imperialism

What ability does Cixi have that made Li Hongzhang feel so suspicious of her?Could it be that Cixi can't be president if Li Hongzhang is alive?This involves the secret of Cixi's control of power, that is, how Cixi controlled ministers such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. I talked about Zeng Guofan's battle with Hong Xiuquan for several years, and I talked about Zeng Guofan learning the method of cultivating people from the master of Neo-Confucianism Wo Ren when he was in the capital.When Zeng Guofan pacified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and made illustrious military exploits, he was announced to Beijing by the Empress Dowager Cixi. When he met in the court, Zeng Guofan was the first among the Han courtiers, and Wo Ren was the first among the Manchu courtiers.In other words, Zeng Guofan's outstanding achievements can at most be tied with Woren who doesn't do any work.This Japanese benevolence is used to contain Zeng Guofan.

Similarly for Li Hongzhang, there was also a large group of people who specifically restrained him, and this group of people was also called Qingliu.What is Qingliu?They are people with pure ideas, they will never be contaminated with any practical work, because practical work requires compromise and some dirty transactions, and Qingliu is not needed, they just need to sit by and comment and criticize.The trick used by the Empress Dowager Cixi to control Li Hongzhang was that she asked Li Hongzhang to work, while on the other hand, she used a group of people who did not do any work and specifically criticized Li Hongzhang.The existence of this group of people constituted a great constraint on Li Hongzhang. If Li Hongzhang wanted to be emperor or president, he had to use violence to kill these people, but if he used violence, he would not be Li Hongzhang.This is the way the Empress Dowager Cixi uses her power - containment.

The secret of the so-called power is that it is not used to get things done, but to make you not get things done. This is the essence of power.