Chapter 13 Finally became the chief executive

Originally, the Qing court had regulations that eunuchs were not allowed to be second-rank officials, but Li Lianying was an exception. He finally became the second-rank Dingdai Hualing chief supervisor.How did he do it? Mr. Tang Yinian has detailed records in the article "The Life of Li Lianying, the Chief Eunuch Li Lianying".After reading this record, many things become clear at a glance, and many mysteries are also revealed: In July of the seventh year of Tongzhi (1868), An Dehai was awarded the seventh-rank Dingdai, and Li Lianying had just won the eighth-rank Dingdai. Two months later, An Dehai was awarded the sixth-rank Dingdai Lanling.However, An Dehai was soon convicted of violating the ancestral system and fleeing the capital privately because of his success at a young age, arrogance and pampering, and on the seventh day of August in the eighth year of Tongzhi (1869). Ding Baozhen is rectifying Fa in Jinan.

However, Li Lianying did not quickly replace An Dehai's position as in the folklore, but was dragged down by the An Dehai case, and was punished with fines and salaries together with all the official eunuchs in the palace.A month later, when the other eunuchs were being dismissed one after another, he was dismissed from the eighth-rank top wear and money and food because of his laziness and misconduct.It was not until December that the punishment was lifted, and the eighth-rank top wear and money and food were restored.During this period, Li Lianying was not particularly favored and appreciated by the Empress Dowager Cixi.

After all, Li Lianying is a very clever and dexterous person, just as the inscription on the epitaph says that someone who is smarter than others, he quickly figured out a problem through An Dehai's experience, that is, how to correct the relationship between the master and the slave .An Dehai lost his life because he relied too much on his talents and invited favors. Li Lianying firmly remembered this painful lesson.Therefore, not only has he learned to speculate on his master's psychological character, habits and hobbies, he can do everything possible to please his master, but at the same time he can always be cautious.Be respectful in everything, and lenient in everything. If you have years, you will not slack off.This is the secret of Li Lianying's success after An Dehai.

From the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872), after years of accumulation and forbearance, Li Lianying finally ushered in the explosive period. The monthly salary is eight taels of silver. In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Li Lianying's official movement began to exert strength.On March 30 of this year, he was appointed as the chief eunuch in charge of Chuxiu Palace.You may not be surprised, because Li Lianying has been in the palace for seventeen years after all.However, according to the old system of the Qing palace, eunuchs who had served in the palace for 30 years without major faults could be selected as replacement chief eunuchs, and two or more chief eunuchs were required to recommend or guarantee.From this, it can be seen that the palace attaches great importance to this position, and it can also be seen that the Empress Dowager Cixi has a deep affection for Li Lianying.On September 15th of the same year, Li Lianying was again awarded the fourth rank with a flower feather on top, and on November 12th, she was awarded a sable mandarin jacket.

On December 28th in the fifth year of Guangxu (1879), the 31-year-old Li Lianying was appointed as the chief manager of the fourth grade of Hualing in Chuxiu Palace, with a monthly salary of 22 taels; in the tenth year of Guangxu (1884) On the first day of October, a monthly salary of thirty-eight taels of silver was rewarded; on June 17th in the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), an additional ten taels of silver was ordered, for a total of forty-eight taels of silver per month; in the 20th year of Guangxu ( 1894) On the first day of the first lunar month, Li Lianying was awarded the second rank and wearing a flower feather.So far, Li Lianying's road to promotion has come to an end.It's not that his luck has come to an end, but that his official position has come to an end, and even Cixi doesn't know what position to give him.

From the 11th year of Tongzhi (1872) to the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), in more than 20 years, he was promoted from an ordinary eighth-rank eunuch to a second-rank Hualing supervisor. In today's words, he took a helicopter, which is incomparable to others. Due to the appreciation of the Empress Dowager Cixi, even when his official position was smaller than that of other eunuchs, he always gained more respect.Not only that, Cixi always rewarded him much more generously than others.In December of the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), Li Lianying received three pairs of large purses, six small purses, six one-two heavy silver coins, and six five-dollar heavy silver coins.Situations like this are numerous during this period.

In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), after Li Lianying was awarded the second grade Dingdai Hualing, she immediately became a hot spot of attention among the ministers of the court and the people in the market.It is believed that to promote a person who has survived punishment to the same position as a senior official in the court is an insult and contempt to the ministers.In fact, the second-rank Dingdai Hualing chief supervisor cannot be confused with court officials.Mr. Tang Yinian once made such an exposition: The princes and princes of the royal family in the imperial court are all of the Tianhuang lineage, with noble blood and high political status; while the civil and military ministers at all levels are either of formal background (imperial examination), military merit, or hereditary, no matter what their origin is, they are all established. Participating in national political activities, it is one of the members of the ruling group that has the right to speak and exercise management power in national politics.On the contrary, for the eunuchs, whether they are the chief or the leader, their political status cannot be compared with those of the courtiers. In fact, the official rank of the eunuchs does not belong to the category of state officials. They are just the leaders of the royal family's private servants. The scope is also limited to the palace.

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi favors Li Lianying a lot, after all, the Empress Dowager Cixi also has her own sense of propriety, and she will not spoil Li Lianying infinitely.In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1880), Li Lianying was stripped of her title for doing wrong duties and fined for six months.In July of the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), Li Lianying himself was fined Yueyin for one year for committing negligence.In December of the 11th year of Guangxu (1885), he was fined Yueyin for six months for failing to monitor the head of the office for missing work.From the first month of the twelfth year of Guangxu (1886), the respect room received a six-month fine of 204 taels of silver from Li Lianying on a monthly basis.From this point of view, Cixi is still a political figure with means and scheming.The reason why Li Lianying was favored by her seemed to be because she recognized her temperament and gained her trust.As for those punishments, they are mostly deceptions, right?In any case, the fact that Li Lianying took the position of chief executive in her early thirties has already explained everything.