Chapter 17 Chapter 16: The Beginning and End of the Xinyou Coup

The Xinyou coup was an extremely important event in modern Chinese history. It determined the fate of modern China for nearly 50 years and greatly affected modern times.It left people with many mysteries, among which the most distressing to the Chinese is that the Tongzhi New Deal after the Xinyou coup and the Meiji Restoration in Japan started almost at the same time, why Japan’s Meiji Restoration was successful, and Japan quickly became a country with Western powers Neck-to-neck powerhouses while China fails?The two countries started reform at almost the same level, while China seems to be superior.Is there no talent in the late Qing Dynasty?No, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong and other ZTE ministers in the late Qing Dynasty are all figures comparable to Zhuge Liang.It is full of talented people, but the fortune of the country has not been prosperous. Why is this?One of the important reasons is undoubtedly the Xinyou coup and a woman who entered the Chinese political stage because of it-Cixi.

Cixi was born in a family of officials in the Xianglan Banner of Manchuria.Her great-grandfather, Jilang'a, once served as a member of the household department, Uiro, left behind a shortfall in silver and passed away.Grandfather Jingrui, in Shandong Division Ren Lang of the Ministry of Punishment, is equivalent to a director of the department in the Ministry. In the 21st year of Daoguang (1841), he failed to refund the shortfall of his father Jilang'a when he was working in the Ministry of Households. was dismissed.His grandfather, Huixian, was the deputy governor of Guihua City, Shanxi Province. His father's name was Huizheng. He was a secretary of the Ministry of Personnel and a translator. A fifth-grade Taoist in Anhui Province.

Cixi's surname is Yehenala, and her nickname is Lan'er.Huizheng is a veteran in the officialdom, and often travels to different places, and Lan'er followed her father and learned the ability to adapt to changing situations since she was a child.Lan'er's father Huizheng died of illness in Anqing, Anhui.Laner then returned to her hometown in Beijing with her mother. Lan'er was elected to the imperial palace when she was eighteen years old. Because she belonged to the Yehe family, she could never get close to the emperor.The Yehe tribe was the last tribe that was wiped out in the northeast before the Qing army entered the pass.The leader of the tribe, Buyangu, said angrily when he was dying: "Even if there is only one woman left, Manchuria must be overthrown." Therefore, the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty did not allow women from the Yehe family to enter the palace.

But Lan'er is really charming, not only good at singing and dancing, but also proficient in rhythms from all over the world, especially Jiangnan folk songs.One day, Laner saw Emperor Xianfeng walking among the flowers and bamboos in the Old Summer Palace, so he deliberately hid in the depths of the woods and sang softly. The singing attracted Xianfeng Emperor, and he followed the direction of the singing She walked up to Lan'er and found that Lan'er was very beautiful, so she fell in love with her and named her Lan Noble.Nala is clever, able to guess the emperor's mind, sweet talk, won the favor of Emperor Xianfeng, and was made a concubine Yi, not long after, Nala gave birth to the prince Zaichun.

Although Emperor Xianfeng had many concubines, none of them gave birth to a son. He was very happy to have a son this time, and immediately named Nala as Concubine Yi, and after a few days he was named Concubine Yi, second only to the empress.Because Emperor Xianfeng was often ill and unable to manage state affairs, he sometimes asked Nala to write and review.From then on, Nala could discuss state affairs with the emperor, and no one dared to offend her.Because Empress Niu Hulu didn't have a son, she gave Yi Guifei three points in everything, let alone other concubines. Due to his long-term participation in state affairs, the Nala family gradually developed a great desire for imperial power.But at this time, Emperor Xianfeng fled to Chengde Mountain Resort because of the British and French allied forces attacking Beijing. He was anxious and angry, and soon died of illness.Opportunity, courage and skill enabled her to launch a palace coup and finally ascended to the pinnacle of power.

After Xianfeng's death, the imperial court was mainly divided into three political forces: one was the power of Minister Gu Ming, that is, the eight ministers appointed by Xianfeng to assist the crown prince Zaichun when he was dying: Sushun, Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Jingshou, and Mu Rui , Kuang Yuan, Du Han, Jiao Youying, with Sushun as the leader.The second is the royal power, that is, the royal prince group headed by Prince Gong Yixin. Other members include Prince Chun Yizong, Prince Chunjun Yizhen, Prince Zhong Yihui, Ministers of Military Aircraft Wenxiang, Guiliang, Baojun and others.The third is the power of the emperors and empresses, that is, the empress dowagers of the two palaces, mainly Cixi.These three forces all want to take over the power of the government and are fighting with each other. Whichever force can combine with the emperor and empress will increase the possibility of victory.

From the time when Xianfeng Chengde died, the power of the three powers began to compete.The eight ministers first supported Zai Chun to succeed him as emperor, and changed his reign name to "Qixiang".Empress Niu Hulu was revered as "Mother Empress Dowager", and Yigui Concubine Nala was also honored as "Holy Mother Empress Dowager" because she was the emperor's biological mother.Of course, Yehenara was not satisfied, her purpose was to control the power of the government and let herself listen to the government behind the curtain.Sushun and the others have long been trusted by Emperor Xianfeng, who hold the military and political power, and they have long been wary of Nala, preventing her from interfering in government affairs.

In this way, Nalashi hated the eight ministers.She didn't show any expressions on the surface, but uncharacteristically became intimate with Niu Hulu, and said to her: "The eight ministers are unreliable. If we don't get rid of them, we will be restrained everywhere." Niu Hulu was an uninitiated person, and at the same time he was dissatisfied with the restrictions imposed by the eight ministers on himself. Hearing Nala's words, he said: "But we don't have real power in our hands, and we don't control the army. How can we get rid of the eight ministers?" ?”

Nala said: "You don't need to worry about this, I have secretly sent my confidant eunuch to invite Prince Gong." Xianfeng's younger brother, Prince Gong Yixin, who was just thirty years old at the time, was originally dissatisfied with Xianfeng's ascension to the throne. The idle prince of the title.But when the British and French allied forces attacked Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng and the ministers of military aircraft, imperial ministers, and internal affairs fled to the summer resort. Almost no one was on the front line, but Prince Gong Yixin was on the front line to deal with such a mess .When Yixin heard that his name was not included in the list of Ministers of State Affairs who were appointed by Xianfeng when he died, the old resentment and new hatred gathered together.He wanted to go to Chengde for the funeral but was rejected. When Yizhen was complaining at home, the attendants handed over Nala’s secret letter. Yixin opened it and was overjoyed. He thought it was time to seize power. He nervously After some preparations, I rushed to Chengde for the funeral.

When Sushun and others saw Prince Gong appearing in the Summer Resort, they were all shocked. They asked Yixin, "What do you mean by the six kings not staying in the capital and leaving their posts without permission?" The empress dowagers of the two palaces ordered me to come here to cry, to show my brotherhood, is there anything wrong?" Only then did Sushun and the others know that Prince Gong came here after receiving the order from the Empress Dowager. After all, he is the half-brother of Emperor Xianfeng, and the principles of human relations must be talked about, so they have nothing to say.Yixin cried on the first day, and on the second day he had an audience with the Empress Dowagers of the Two Palaces. Sushun and others tried their best to stop him, but Yixin said eloquently: "Why, the emperor's brother passed away, and the emperor's wife is very sad. I am a little uncle." Is it okay to comfort you? Ordinary people have weddings and funerals, don’t you want to take care of the emperor’s family affairs?”

While speaking, a former imperial eunuch came and shouted: "The empress dowagers of the two palaces have been waiting for Prince Gong for a long time, please come and see the sixth prince immediately." Sushun and others had no choice but to avoid it, so Prince Gong met with the queen mothers of the two palaces in the palace, and discussed how to get rid of the eight ministers.Yixin stayed in Rehe for two days, trying his best to show a peaceful posture in front of Sushun and others, in order to paralyze Minister Gu Ming.Then return to the capital for deployment. Soon, Yizhen, the king of Chunjun, was appointed as the capital commander of the Han army in Zhenghuang Banner.Then, the censor Dong Yuanchun submitted a memorial to invite the Empress Dowager to govern the government.Therefore, the empress dowagers of the two palaces summoned the eight ministers based on the memorial of Yushi Dong Yuanchun.Sushun objected: "There has never been a precedent for a queen mother to listen to the government in the Qing Dynasty, and the first emperor has a will, and the queen mother cannot change it without authorization." Nala said: "Don't you even listen to the Queen Mother?" Sushun said loudly: "We are ordered to assist the emperor, and we cannot obey the orders of the queen mother." Then, the two sides quarreled, Nalashi cried and yelled, and the eight ministers talked loudly, no one could persuade anyone, Nalashi was so angry that his hands trembled, he pointed at the eight ministers and was speechless, even holding the baby in his arms. The little emperor was so frightened that he cried and urinated all over Nalashi.The eight ministers came out from the Nala family and immediately issued an order, rejecting the proposal to let the queen mother listen to the government, and stipulated that only the emperor should be written on the minister's memorial, and the words "empress dowager" were not allowed to be written. Nala knows that without military power, it is impossible to be in power.Together with Yixin, she brought in Shengbao, who held military power, and completely controlled the troops around Beijing.After the arrangement was ready, Nala urged the eight ministers to leave as soon as possible to escort Xianfeng's coffin back to Beijing.She said to the eight ministers: "Our two empress dowagers and the emperor are accompanied by seven people, Zaiyuan and Duanhua. We will go from the small road first. Sushun leads the army to escort the coffin and walk from the main road. We will go to Beijing first and lead all the civil and military officials to welcome us. .” The eight ministers didn't know what to do, so they followed suit.In fact, the Nala family did this to separate the seven people including Zaiyuan and Duanhua from the core figure of the eight ministers, Sushun, so that they can be defeated individually.Nala and his party traveled hurriedly along the trail and returned to Beijing four days earlier than Sushun.At this time, Prince Gong Yixin was already ready for the coup d'état.He said to Nala: "Everything is ready, just wait for the Queen Mother to issue an order." Sure enough, on that day, there was a wave of voices in the court asking the Queen Mother to listen to the government behind the curtain.Sheng Bao, who holds the military power, said: "It is up to now that the empress dowager must come to the court to listen to the government and take power. Otherwise, there is no way to stabilize people's hearts and maintain the political system." The civil and military officials saw that the power of life and death was in the hands of Yixin, Shengbao and others, and no one dared to oppose it. The princes and ministers went to the palace to pay their respects to the little emperor as usual.The Nala family suddenly took out the imperial decree that had been written and issued in the name of the little emperor, announcing the dismissal of the eight ministers, and arresting Zaiyuan, Duanhua and others.Before Zaiyuan and Duanhua could figure out what was going on, the guards arranged in advance rushed up like wolves and knocked them down, escorting them to prison.Nala immediately sent guards to arrest Sushun who was far away on the road.Sushun escorted the coffin to Miyun County. It was already late. He had just fallen asleep when the guards who arrested him broke into the door, pulled him out of the bed and tied him up. The coup was successful. Since this year was the Xinyou Year in the old calendar, it was called "Xinyou Coup".At the meeting announcing the crimes of the eight ministers to the princes and ministers, Nala's nose and tears told how Sushun and others did not obey the law and how they bullied her and the little emperor, vividly.She also said: "The first emperor never asked these people to support government affairs. This is a trick played by Sushun and others privately. The last emperor's edict is fake." The little emperor Zaichun also followed what Nala had taught him in advance: "These people are ungrateful and should be beheaded." In the end, Prince Gong Yixin was appointed as the king of politics and minister of military affairs.After discussing with Yixin and others, Nala family decided to behead Sushun who they hated the most, order Zaiyuan and Duanhua to commit suicide, and the other five were exiled into the army or dismissed from their posts.Then, the Nala family and Yixin arranged for Zai Chun to ascend the throne of the emperor, abolished the "Qixiang" year name proposed by the eight ministers, and changed the second year to the first year of "Tongzhi".Nala pretended to be humble and said: "In the Song Dynasty, there was a precedent for the empress dowager to listen to the government behind the curtain. I dare not go to the court alone to listen to the government, so I will listen to the government together with my mother, the empress dowager. The reign name 'Tongzhi' means that we govern the world together." The Xinyou coup was a major conflict between the power of the monarchy and the power of the prime minister. The direct reasons for its victory are as follows: First of all, the empress dowagers of the two palaces and Prince Gong Yixin took advantage of Minister Gu Ming's paralyzed thinking of Cixi and Yixin's underestimation of the power of Cixi and Yixin, and also took advantage of the fact that although the empress was an orphan and widowed mother, she had mastered the "imperial reward" and The two seals of "Tongdaotang", although Minister Gu Ming can draw up an order, but it will not take effect without affixing these two seals, but the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces and Yi Xin can be effective if the minister draws up an order and affixes these two seals favorable conditions. Secondly, the empress dowagers of the two palaces and Prince Gong Yixin seized the opportunity and pre-empted the attack. They did not go with Emperor Xianfeng's coffin, so they returned early to gain time. Fourteen days is enough time to prepare for the coup. Thirdly, the empress dowagers of the two palaces and Prince Gong Yixin seized and took advantage of the strong dissatisfaction of the officials and the people with the invasion of Beijing by the British and French allied forces and the burning of the Old Summer Palace, and shifted all historical responsibility to the eight ministers who were in power at that time, and also blamed Emperor Xianfeng. The responsibility of Chengde was added to them, thus gaining the political initiative, and winning the hearts of the officials, the army, the banner and the people, and the eight ministers of Gu Ming became scapegoats. The Xinyou coup showed the wisdom of Cixi and Prince Gong Yixin. Its major result was a major change in the Qing Dynasty system. The ministers who "praise government affairs" were denied, and Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi listened to the government behind the curtain.At the same time, Prince Gong Yixin became the king of politics, which is the reappearance of Prince Rui Dorgon's assistant government.But one difference is that the royal family and nobles acted as kings and ministers of military affairs, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces listened to the government behind the curtain. In this way, there was a duality of imperial power: the king who discussed politics was in charge of the government, and the empress dowager was the president. The biggest feature is that the empress dowager and Yixin jointly governed, and later gradually evolved into a situation where Cixi monopolized the government.Then a system came into being: the head of the military aircraft minister was served by relatives and nobles, two military aircraft ministers were Manchurians, and two Han people.During the Tongzhi period, the situation of this five-man military aircraft structure was generally maintained. After the Xinyou coup, the empress dowagers of the two palaces listened to the government behind the curtains, and Wang Yishan was in charge of the government outside. It also encountered a rare historical opportunity. The country was between the two major social turmoils of the "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom" and the "Boxer Rebellion". Internationally, it was between the two invasions of the British and French Allied Forces and the Eight-Power Allied Forces, and the political situation was like a buffer period between two major storms.Daoguang and Xianfeng before Tongzhi, and Guangxu and Xuantong afterwards did not have such favorable conditions, so the Tongzhi New Deal began.The Meiji Restoration in Japan was also going on at this time.Under the auspices of Yixin Group, the main measures of the New Deal include: the establishment of the Prime Minister’s Office, the establishment of the Tongwen Museum, the establishment of new schools, the sending of people abroad, the establishment of factories and mines, the construction of railways, etc., the implementation of learning from Western modernization measures, and began to move towards openness and progress . However, the effect of this new policy was far from people's expectations. It did not bring China out of the predicament. Basically, it only sowed some seeds for China's future, but failed to harvest; Why has it become a powerful country on par with the Western powers?Of course, the reason cannot be single.China's strong Confucian autocratic cultural tradition, the internal friction between several ZTE ministers, the low quality of the people, and so on.Among all the reasons that hindered China's rejuvenation, the personal factors of Empress Dowager Yehenala, who reached the peak of power in the Qing Dynasty after the "Xinyou Coup", was obviously an extremely important reason. Cixi seems to "have the foresight, courage, wit, strategy and skill that ordinary women do not have", but she can only be regarded as a "small citizen" in terms of overall quality, and she is not talented at all. A woman full of scheming, almost all of her mind has been turned into power tactics. She has spent her whole life trying to keep the power in her hands, and she doesn't know what the power in her hands should be used for.In order to stabilize her power, she made several courtiers with opposite political views evenly matched and fought each other, but this caused the entire country to stagnate.Cixi firmly grasped the imperial power in personal hands, reaching the peak of the Qing Dynasty's power system.In order to listen to the government behind the curtain forever, after Tongzhi's death, she appointed a six-year-old child as emperor. When Guangxu was about to become an adult, she poisoned the Empress Dowager Ci'an to death in order to be the sole ruler of the court, and then removed Yishan from Yizheng. With the post of minister of military aircraft, Yixin became an idle prince again.Guangxu has been controlled by Cixi from the time of the pro-government ceremony in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, either as a scepter to show his majesty, or as a doll on the throne.On the surface, she retreated to the Summer Palace to recuperate, that is to say, every other day, Guangxu must personally report to her on government affairs, listen to instructions, and ask for orders at any time when there are important events. She is called the emperor, but she is actually a puppet.After the Reform Movement of 1898 was suppressed by her, Guangxu was imprisoned, and Cixi came forward to teach politics again. She refused to let Guangxu take power until she died, and she deliberately poisoned him to death.She put her own self-interest above the interests of the country and the nation, and she was greedy for political power to the point of perversion.She also didn't teach the prince how to study. She often went to Shufangzhai in Chonghua Palace to do errands, watch operas, and pass on meals. She didn't have a cultural strategy for coordinating the country, and she trained her only son, Emperor Tongzhi, to be a waste.Her dictatorship over China for forty-eight years has caused China to lose opportunities to reform and become stronger. Cixi is such a woman who is greedy for imperial power and good at playing tricks, but actually has no political foresight and general strategy.It is the tragedy of my nation that such a woman has ruled China for nearly fifty years. The Xinyou coup was the peak of Cixi's power.She stepped onto the Chinese political stage purely by accident, and she was not the kind of hero who was created by the times and came into being at the right time.However, it is such a little woman who has dominated China's destiny for nearly fifty years and has greatly influenced the development of modern Chinese civilization. In this, historical contingency has transformed into a historical inevitability.Its drama and tragedy are endlessly memorable.