Chapter 3 Empress Dowager Cixi's decision

After Gengzi, Zaiyi was listed as one of the culprits and sent to Xinjiang to exile. His son also lost the title of big brother.In the following seven years, there was no public mention of the abolition of the establishment.In October of the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager West spent her seventy-fourth birthday in the Summer Palace. She suffered from dysentery, and on the tenth day of her illness, she suddenly made a decision to have an heir.Then, Guangxu and Cixi died one after another within two days.My father’s diary for the past few days has the following records: I copied this diary from the first day the Empress Dowager Xi announced her decision, that is, the 19th, because of the four sentences on the 19th: "Urgent letter to Qing's residence" and "King Qing arrives in Beijing" on the 20th. The word has a lot to do with establishing an heir.This is one of the necessary arrangements made by the Queen Mother to announce this decision.In order to make this matter clear, I have to start from a distance.

King Qing is famous for handling traitorous diplomacy and selling officials and nobles.In the era of the Empress Dowager, to be favored by the Empress Dowager was equivalent to having a great future.If you want to please the Queen Mother, you must first be able to touch the Queen Mother's wishes at any time, so that you can do what you like.Rong Lu bribed the eunuch Li Lianying to let his wife accompany the Queen Mother to play, and got a lot of the best and fastest information, so his flattery and filial piety always satisfied the Queen Mother more than others.If there is any difference between Yikuang's method and his, it is that Yikuang spent more money with Li Lianying, and Yikuang's daughter, the famous Si, was more clever than Mrs. Ronglu.If the Queen Mother inadvertently reveals what kind of vest she likes, or shoes inlaid with some accessories, then within three days, the vest, shoes and other things that suit her heart will appear in front of the Queen Mother .Yikuang's official career started here.Appreciated by the Empress Dowager, Yikuang was promoted again and again, and served as a general of the country with the lowest title of a distant clan, and gradually became a prince, and his official position was the prime minister's office for national affairs.He got this errand, and his worth was even more different. No matter in the eyes of the empress dowager or foreigners, he had a special status.Xin Chou's peace negotiation was the most important event in his life.In this incident, he not only did his best for the Queen Mother, so that she avoided the name of the culprit, but also made the Eight-Power Allied Forces satisfied with the treaty.At that time, when people talked about the political capital of the princes, they said that a certain prince had a German background, and a certain prince had a Japanese background... It was just that each had a national background. There are as many as eight countries.Therefore, the Queen Mother has valued him very much since then.In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu, he entered the Military Aircraft Department, and his power surpassed other military ministers. The old Prince Li's leadership was just a false name.Later, King Li resigned, and Yikuang officially became the leading minister of military affairs. His son Zai Zhen also became the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce. Father and son are extremely prominent.Even though the princes who opposed him moved him secretly, the censors came forward to accuse him of corrupting the law, selling officials and nobles, it didn't help, but he couldn't.A censor impeached him for "he was a military aircraft, his family was like a city, and he didn't donate anything big and small. His father and son were extravagant in daily life, food, carriages, horses and clothes... and sent 1.2 million taels of private property to the British Merchants and HSBC Bank in Dongjiaomin Lane for storage." Shi Zuo said that someone gave him a birthday gift of 100,000 taels, and spent 12,000 taels to buy a singing girl for his son.As a result, one censor was dismissed and returned to the original Yamen, and the other censor was deprived of his official position.

Is the Queen Mother satisfied with Yikuang?According to the materials revealed by many survivors, we can only say this: the Empress Dowager was worried and dependent on Yikuang later, so she could not move him, and wanted to win over him. What worried the Queen Mother was not corruption and bribery, but the special relationship between Yuan Shikai and Yikuang.Just judging from the situation of Yuan spending money on Yikuang, the relationship is very unusual.Xu Shichang, Yuan Shikai's confidant, said later: Whether it is a birth, a death, or a birthday in Prince Qing's mansion, all the expenses are paid by the Zhili governor's yamen.Not long before Yikuang formally led the military aircraft department, one day Qing Palace received one hundred thousand taels (some say two hundred thousand taels) of silver from Yuan's family. Someone passed on Yuan's words: "Your Majesty will have a lot of expenses, please Don't be disrespectful." Not long after, the news of Yikuang's promotion was announced, and people were amazed by Yuan Shikai's foresight.

After the Reform Movement of 1898, the Empress Dowager attached great importance to Yuan Shikai on the one hand. In a few years, he was transferred from the Zhili inspector to the Zhili governor and minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. , Li Cai can be counted.On the other hand, the Queen Mother was not at ease with this Han minister who commanded the new Beiyang army and was good at speculation.When she heard that Yuan Shikai had sent a large amount of silver to the greedy King Qing, she became vigilant. The Empress Dowager Xi once made up her mind to open Yikuang's vacancy first.She and Qu Hongkou, Minister of Military Aircraft, expressed this intention, but who knew that this Jinshi who was born in military aircraft was too inexperienced, so he told his wife about it.The wife had a relative who worked in a foreign language newspaper, so the news spread to foreign reporters. Before anyone in Beijing knew about it, it was published in a London newspaper.The British envoy in Beijing went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accordingly and asked if there was any such incident.Not only did the Queen Mother dare not admit it, but she also sent Tieliang and Lu Chuanlin to investigate. As a result, Qu Hongkou was dismissed.

The Empress Dowager West failed to defeat Yikuang, and at the same time, because Yikuang had the purpose of contacting foreigners, she didn't touch him anymore, but she didn't hesitate any more about Yuan Shikai.In the 33rd year of Guangxu, Yuan was transferred internally as Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to join the military aircraft.Obviously it was reused, but in fact he was relieved of his military power.Yuan Shikai knew it well, and without waiting for a greeting, he took the initiative to hand over the supreme command of the Beiyang New Army. The Empress Dowager Xi understood that Yuan's actual control over the Beiyang Army could not be lifted immediately, and the relationship between Yuan and Yikuang could not be severed immediately.While planning the next step, she herself fell ill, and then suddenly heard this shocking news: Yuan Shikai was going to abolish Guangxu and promote Dai Yikuang's son Zaizhen as emperor.No matter how Yikuang is good at diplomacy and flattery, no matter how much Yuan Shikai has done to her in the past, and no matter how much their target is Guangxu, whom she hates, this conspiracy with Yuan Shikai as the protagonist made her realize immediately. A terrible doom had arrived—both the doom of the Aixinjueluo dynasty and her personal doom.So she made a decisive decision.In order to realize this decision, she first transferred Yikuang and asked him to go to Dongling to inspect the project, then transferred all the sixth town of the Beiyang Army out of Beijing, drove to Shenshui, and transferred the first town under the jurisdiction of Shangshu Tieliang of the Ministry of War Come in and take the defense.When Yikuang came back, all the major events here had been decided: Cixi announced that I would be the heir, and my father would be the regent.But in order to continue to win over this Prince Qing who has friends from eight countries, he was given the prince's hereditary Sirong.

Whether it is true about Yuan and Qing's conspiracy, and what the specific content of the conspiracy is, I can't tell.But one of my relatives personally heard about the arrangement of the Queen Mother after listening to Tie Liang.Tie Liang said that in order to stabilize Duan Qirui's Sixth Town Beiyang Army, each soldier was given two taels of silver, a new set of clothes and two pairs of new shoes before the departure.In addition, I also heard an old eunuch named Li Chang'an talk about the mystery of Guangxu's death.According to him, Guangxu was still in good condition the day before his death, but it was broken after taking a dose of medicine. It was later discovered that this dose of medicine was sent by Yuan Shikai.According to the usual practice, when the emperor was ill, the prescriptions prescribed by the imperial physician would be distributed to each of the ministers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.According to a descendant of a minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Guangxu died of a common cold. He had seen the prescriptions and found that his pulse was very normal. In addition, someone saw him standing in the room talking like a good man the day before. , so people were surprised when they heard the news that Guangxu was seriously ill.What's even more strange is that within two hours after the news of his serious illness came out, it was said that he had already "passed away".In short, Guangxu died suspiciously.If the eunuch Li Changan's statement is true, it further proves that Yuan Qing did have a conspiracy, and it was a very well-planned conspiracy.

There is also a legend that the Empress Dowager Xi knew that she would not be able to afford it, and she was unwilling to die in front of Guangxu, so she killed her.This is also possible.But what I believe more is that on the day she announced me as the heir emperor, she didn't think she would ever get sick.Two hours after Guangxu's death, she also ordered the regent of the country to supervise: "All military and state affairs will be carried out in accordance with the instructions given by me." It was not until the next day that she said: "I am now in critical condition, and I am afraid that I will not be able to afford it. Military and state affairs are all decided by the regent, and in case of major events, the empress dowager (referring to the queen of Guangxu, her niece Nala) must be asked to order, and the regent will ask for it at any time." After the danger there, or after she determined Guangxu's final fate, she singled out such a regent and such a successor emperor from the clan, precisely because she did not think she would die so quickly at that time.As far as she is concerned, it is inconvenient for her to be the empress dowager, but there is an obedient regent between her and the little emperor, and she can do whatever she wants.

Of course, she doesn't think she will live forever.In her opinion, her decision finally did her best to preserve Aixinjueluo's throne.She would even think that the correctness of this decision lies in the fact that the regent she chose is Guangxu's brother.Because according to common sense, only such a person would not be fooled by Yuan Shikai.

---

Notes: