Chapter 12 The cause of Ci'an's death is strange

Why did the kind and cautious Yuzi change the will?She has long seen that the Empress Dowager Cixi is deceitful.She saw that Cixi's arms were reddened with a white cloth, but not swollen. She thought that no matter how good the wound medicine in the palace was, even if it had an analgesic effect, if it was cut yesterday, it would still be red and swollen today. It took seven days to become more agile, but Cixi did not show any pain in her gestures.Therefore, Yuzi kept a mind and left the will. It's a pity that Yuzi's painstaking efforts did not save the master's life in the end, and the kind Ci'an was still killed by the conspiracy of Li Lianying and Cixi.

That day, the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had achieved her goal, returned to the palace happily, and her steps were much lighter.Seeing Cixi so happy, the eunuchs and maids knew that they would not be scolded today, and they were all secretly happy. Cixi also specially rewarded Li Lianying with some of her favorite dishes. When having dinner, she herself ate more than usual, and the food was delicious. In Cixi's eyes, if the edict is gone, the goal will be initially achieved.But although Ci'an lost the Shangfang sword that restrained her, she is still her elder sister emotionally.Therefore, she decided to completely get rid of Ci'an, so that she could do whatever she wanted and satisfy her desire for power.But how can we get rid of the Empress Dowager Ci'an?At this time, the clever Li Lianying offered a plan.Empress Dowager Cixi nodded after hearing this, so she decided to start this plan.

A few days later, Empress Dowager Cixi said that her illness would not be cured, and that the imperial physician's repeated medications had no effect. Recommended famous doctors to treat Cixi, but still no effect. Cixi was unable to attend the court due to illness, so the Empress Dowager Ci'an had to watch the court alone, and she had to handle many political affairs in person.One morning in March of the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), Ci'an summoned Prince Gong Yixin, academician Zuo Zongtang, Shangshu Wang Wenshao, co-organizer Li Hongzhang and others to discuss matters, and then retreated from the court.Around evening, news of the sudden collapse of the Empress Dowager Ci'an suddenly spread from the inner court.

North Korean and Chinese officials were very shocked. The news was so sudden that no one knew the reason, and there was no warning before.And it was fine when he went to court, how could he collapse so easily?But it was about the death of the Empress Dowager in the palace, no one dared to speak nonsense, all the ministers could only look at each other to express their ideas, no one dared to speak out.All the ministers hurried into the palace, only to see that the Empress Dowager Ci'an had already been buried.The Empress Dowager Cixi was sitting on a low stool, she didn't appear to be sick, she just said lightly that the Eastern Empress Dowager, who had always been in good health, hadn't experienced any abnormalities recently, but now she suddenly passed away, which was really unexpected.Since she said so, the ministers couldn't talk anymore, they could only beat their chests and stamp their feet to express their sadness.

At this time, Yuzi, the maid of the Empress Dowager Ci'an, ran out haggardly, and was about to ask Prince Gong for help.Li Lianying knew that Yuzi came out to complain at this time, so she must have done so with confidence, and it must be detrimental to Cixi.So, he rushed over in two steps in three steps, grabbed her hair with one hand, and covered her mouth with the other. Empress Dowager Cixi also discovered this emergency, and immediately excused that Yuzi was an ignorant slave who didn't know how deep she was, who dared to disturb the court and ordered people to be beaten to death with sticks.

Of course Li Lianying knew what Cixi meant, and left without saying a word.The Empress Dowager Cixi was afraid that everyone would focus on herself, so she continued to preach: People cannot be resurrected after death, and everyone should not be too sad. You should go out and discuss the funeral soon!Zuo Zongtang wanted to speak at first, but seeing King Dun, King Gong, King Chun, and King Fu bowed their heads and said nothing, he thought to himself: These clan princes and ministers will swallow their anger and refuse to come out to speak a word of justice. , I'm afraid it's useless to talk too much.So he sighed secretly and let out a sigh of relief.

At the gate of the palace, I happened to meet Li Lianying rushing into the palace from the outside, vaguely heard that Li Lianying seemed to be replaying the execution of Yuzi to the Empress Dowager Cixi, as if something was found from her Li Lianying's voice was very low, left and right Zongtang really couldn't hear clearly.In fact, Zuo Zongtang heard it right, Li Lianying searched out the will that could put Cixi to death. In fact, Yuzi secretly rejoiced that she had kept the edict back then, and wanted to present it to Prince Gong and other princes and ministers to show Cixi's crimes, but Li Lianying, who didn't want to, saw through it and took decisive measures to quickly cover up the incident.Even so, the Empress Dowager Cixi was still terrified when she saw the posthumous edict. She secretly rejoiced that she was lucky, and greatly appreciated Li Lianying's fearlessness and calm handling in the face of danger.Therefore, Cixi trusted Li Lianying more and became more obedient.

Although all the ministers murmured in their hearts, they did not show it after all.So, how did the Empress Dowager Ci'an die? In fact, there is a big conspiracy that only the Empress Dowager Cixi and Li Lianying know about.Others are not clear, so it also caused the result of unknown cause of death. The book "A Brief History of the Qing Palace" also records such words: In March of the seventh year of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Ci'an collapsed in the Zhongcui Palace, and the cause of death is unknown. In fact, Ci'an died suddenly after being tampered with by Cixi and Li Lianying.It is generally believed that the Empress Dowager Ci'an collapsed suddenly after eating a poisoned snack, but in fact it is not that simple.

There is a Ziyun Temple outside Beijing. The main surname of the temple is Le and his name is Huan. He is from Hejian, Hebei.By chance, he and Li Lianying had a fellowship with Li Lianying.This person has considerable research on Chinese medicine and can prepare various prescriptions, which has won Li Lianying's trust.Le Huan once recommended to Li Lianying an aphrodisiac that can cause heartbreak and death, and Li Lianying was deeply impressed by it. When Cixi decided to get rid of Ci'an, Li Lianying took the opportunity to tell Cixi about the medicine.Cixi felt that this medicine was the best poison to deal with the Empress Dowager Ci'an, so she asked Lehuan to prepare it immediately, and told him not to leave any traces, and promised a great reward after it was done.

Le Huan heard that Cixi wanted to reward him, so he prepared the medicine immediately and handed it to Li Lianying, and then waited happily for the reward. After Li Lianying got the medicine, she prepared to poison Ci'an.Knowing that Ci'an likes to eat fruit cakes the most, he immediately ordered people to make sweet and delicious fruit cakes with high-quality date paste, honey and other raw materials, just waiting for Ci'an's arrival. One day, Empress Dowager Ci'an came to visit Cixi's condition.Cixi sat on the soft couch with a quilt to show her respect for Ci'an, and then ordered someone to take out the fruit cake and put it on the table.

Ci'an greeted Cixi's health, and Cixi expressed her gratitude, and said that she had been having a bad appetite recently, but thanks to eating fruit cakes, her appetite was widened.Ci'an originally liked to eat fruit cakes, even when she came out, her personal maid, Qiu Ju, would often hold the fruit box and eat at any time.Now that Cixi also benefited from fruit cakes while she was ill, she couldn't help but look at the fruit box.Seeing that Ci'an was hooked, Cixi took the opportunity to give her a box to take back to eat. Ci'an didn't know what to do, and thanked Cixi for being so considerate. Ci'an chatted with Cixi for a while, advised Cixi to pay more attention to rest, and left.Cixi and Li Lianying couldn't help laughing at each other seeing that Ci'an was hooked so easily. In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Empress Dowager Ci'an had to deal with a few things, and she felt hot inside, her throat was dry, and her blood flow accelerated.An eunuch came over, and under the influence of the medicine, Ci'an even recognized him as Emperor Xianfeng, and couldn't help bowing down to the eunuch, the eunuch was so frightened that he was flustered and quickly knelt down and kowtowed.Fortunately, Yuzi arrived in time and called out to the Queen Mother.After Yuzi called out, she suddenly woke up, and sent someone to send the imperial doctor.Yuzi beckoned several court ladies to help Ci'an into the inner room to rest, who knew that the medicine had a strong stamina, and soon Ci'an passed away unconsciously. Cixi, who had expected the result long ago, just came in, and quickly killed Yuzi, Qiuju, and several court ladies who served Ci'an, and even the eunuch who went to call the imperial doctor disappeared. Empress Dowager Ci'an died in such an unexplained manner. Although no one was caught, people believed that it was Cixi's idea, at least Li Lianying contributed.It's just that because Cixi covered the sky with her hands at that time, no one dared to track it down.