Chapter 30 People and little ghosts are full of eyes and ears

In June of the 10th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1860), the British led their fleet to invade Tianjin in the north.There was panic in the capital, and someone in the court suggested that Emperor Xianfeng take refuge in the Mulan paddock in the name of hunting for a while. This suggestion immediately met with fierce opposition from all the ministers, and Xianfeng, who made it intentionally, was not easy to express his opinion.At this time, the news of Shengbao's defeat in Tongzhou spread to the palace again, and the second battalion of Seng Gelinqin and Ruilin retreated from Tongzhou to Beijing without fighting first.Emperor Xianfeng was taken aback and didn't care much. He immediately drove to the Old Summer Palace and ordered Duanhua to enter the palace to escort a hundred people including the concubine to the Old Summer Palace, of course the prince Zaichun was indispensable.On August 13th, the tenth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1860), Emperor Xianfeng led a group of people to flee Beijing.

Eight days later, they arrived at the Rehe Mountain Resort. Most of the civil and military ministers were not accompanying them, only Duan Hua, Sushun, and the military ministers Jing Shou and Mu Yin.On the way to escape, the decree arrived in Beijing, ordering Prince Gong Yixin to be the Minister of Plenipotentiary, stay in the capital, and negotiate peace with the British. The British quickly invaded Beijing and set fire to the Old Summer Palace, completely destroying the century-old building and magnificent pavilions.The rare antiques in the Old Summer Palace were also looted by foreign soldiers.Emperor Xianfeng heard that the Old Summer Palace was burned and the national treasury was looted. He felt ashamed to return to Beijing and decided to stay in the Summer Resort.Emperor Xianfeng muddled through in Rehe, suffered again and again, and saw that the whole country was destroyed by himself like this, and he fell ill from then on.By July, even he himself felt that there was no hope of returning to heaven, so he ordered someone to arrange the funeral.

Emperor Xianfeng's favorite concubine was Concubine Yi (later Empress Dowager Cixi), first because she gave birth to a son; second, because she was born beautiful.However, Emperor Xianfeng had long seen that Concubine Yi had ambitions.Once she dies, Concubine Yi will inevitably favor her son with her mother and interfere with the government.Xianfeng planned to follow the example of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in bestowing death on Concubine Yi, but he was afraid that his son Zaichun would hate him for killing his biological mother because of this in the future, so he deliberately wanted to depose her, but he couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he consulted his younger brother, Prince Yixin. mean.

Yixin, on the other hand, thinks that Concubine Yi will not be able to mess up the court plan; moreover, the emperor is in his prime, and may not be able to recover from illness. If he helps the emperor to make a plan to kill Concubine Yi at this time, once he recovers, he will miss Concubine Yi, and he will inevitably hate himself; even if the emperor When she dies, with herself and the queen around, Concubine Yi may not be able to make waves.Therefore, it is suggested that Xianfeng should not depose Concubine Yi for the time being. Emperor Xianfeng felt that Yixin's words made sense, so he was relieved, and then asked Yixin to return to Beijing quickly to avoid attracting attention.Emperor Xianfeng thought he was doing it very secretly, but Concubine Yi had already seen that the emperor's lifespan would not be too long, and also saw that the emperor seemed to avoid her in some matters, so she secretly asked An Dehai to pay attention to the emperor's important matters.Therefore, although An Dehai didn't hear the whole conversation between Xianfeng and Yixin, he probably understood it, so he informed Concubine Yi.

After Concubine Yi found out, she was grateful to Prince Gong for protecting her, but also secretly hated Emperor Xianfeng. She felt that he was too cruel and wished that he would die early so that her son could succeed him and get rid of this bondage as soon as possible.So he told An Dehai to be more careful. Later, Emperor Xianfeng summoned Empress Niu Hulu (later Empress Dowager Ci’an) to the bed, screened off the left and right people, and secretly handed him a handbook, which said: I am worried about the state affairs, causing chronic diseases, and I know that the end is approaching.Had to abandon the subjects of the world.Fortunately, there are sons, and the emperor will continue; although he succeeds to the throne at a young age, I have loyal and loyal ministers who will help me wholeheartedly, so I don't have to worry about it.What can't be relieved is that since the noble concubine Yi gave birth to a prince, and the mother will value the son in another day, she must be respected as the queen mother, but I really can't trust her deeply.From then on, if you can abide by the law.Otherwise, I will show you this edict and order the courtiers to get rid of it. All my ministers will obey this edict as before me, and obey it without violation.

◇ Although Emperor Xianfeng kept it very confidential, it was a pity that Cixi had An Dehai as an insider, and soon knew the content of the private summons.Cixi was very surprised by this, she knew that the emperor had paid attention to her, although it didn't happen immediately.But as long as someone speaks ill of himself to the emperor, catastrophe will follow.She thought that An Dehai alone would not be able to pay much attention, so she ordered Li Lianying to secretly monitor Emperor Xianfeng's movements and report at any time. The reason why Cixi arranged for Li Lianying to be an internal response was mainly because Li Lianying was still young, and she was still a child, and she would not attract the attention of others when she went in and out to pass messages.With Li Lianying interspersed to pass on the news, Concubine Yi knew every move of Emperor Xianfeng clearly.

Li Lianying did not disgrace his mission, and was very clever. He peeped secretly, but did not reveal the slightest trace, and completed the latent mission well.One day, Xianfeng secretly summoned Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Sushun to the sickbed and informed them of the secret edict.If Concubine Yi does anything wrong after he dies, she can ask for a secret edict to punish him.The well-informed Li Lianying quickly told Concubine Yi about this. Concubine Yi, who was in a state of desperation, hated Emperor Xianfeng and the ministers Zaiyuan and Sushun to the bone, and wished that they would all die.Of course, she favored the loyal Li Lianying even more.This is why Cixi is so respectful to the Empress Dowager Ci'an. The handle is in other people's hands!She was afraid that the secret edict was in the queen's hands, so as long as she coaxed the queen well, she would not be afraid of Zaiyuan and Sushun picking on her faults, as long as she coaxed the queen well, no matter what.

When Emperor Xianfeng was dying, he left a will in front of the ministers, making the six-year-old prince Zaichun the crown prince, and ordered Prince Yi Zaiyuan, Prince Zheng Duanhua, and ministers of military aircraft Sushun, Jingshou, Mu Yin, and Kuangyuan. Gu Ming, Du Han, and Jiao Jingying are the eight ministers of Gu Ming, who support everything, and stipulate that the two seals of the Imperial Reward Tongdao Hall should be used as letter symbols in future edicts issued by the government, so as to prevent the power from falling into the hands of the noble concubine (Cixi) or other ministers.

On July 17, the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), the thirty-one-year-old Emperor Xianfeng passed away in the Yanbozhishuang Hall of the Mountain Resort.Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun and other Gu Ming ministers held the six-year-old crown prince Zaichun in front of the coffin. This is the emperor of Tongzhi, and respected the empress dowager Niu Hulu as the mother empress dowager. This is Ci'an Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager Yehenara is the Empress Dowager, also known as Empress Dowager Cixi. Since the six-year-old Emperor Tongzhi didn't understand anything, all government affairs were decided by the eight ministers of Gu Ming. In fact, Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Sushun were mainly in charge, and Sushun was the main one.From then on, these eight people would go to the palace to consult with the Empress Dowager Ci'an when encountering major events.Empress Dowager Ci'an is a loyal and honest person, in fact everything depends on eight people to make decisions, the reason why she is looking for Empress Dowager Ci'an is just for the final seal.

Seeing that she was isolated day by day, Cixi was very dissatisfied with them, but her son Emperor Tongzhi was still young and could not count on it. Although she was unwilling, she had to endure it for the time being. Li Lianying is Cixi's most trusted confidant, but unfortunately she is only fourteen years old and cannot be entrusted with important tasks.Only An Dehai can make up his mind with her.After discussing with each other, the two believed that only by controlling the weak Empress Dowager Ci'an can they control the Great Seal of the Tongdaotang and compete with the eight ministers who are responsible for life.Therefore, the Empress Dowager Cixi went to the Empress Dowager Ci'an almost every day, and they were called sisters, as close as a family.The gentle and generous Empress Dowager Ci'an originally had no heart, and had no ideas when things went wrong.It happened that Cixi came to see her every day, so all ideas were taken by Cixi.

Not to mention that, in order to achieve the goal of interfering in the government, Cixi also secretly ordered Yu Shi Dong Yuanchun to write a memorial, asking the empress dowagers of the two palaces to listen to the government behind the curtain. In fact, she wanted to participate in politics.The eight ministers knew that it was Cixi who was acting as a ghost, and immediately dismissed it on the grounds that there was no such precedent in the Qing Dynasty. Dong Yuanchun's memorial was refuted. Of course, Empress Dowager Cixi was dissatisfied, but she couldn't express her opinion directly.Fortunately, Cixi controlled the imperial treasure and often refused to seal the draft edicts drawn up by the eight ministers. Therefore, two major gangs formed between Cixi and the eight ministers who were responsible for life, and they fought with each other for a long time.Sushun is quite capable and trusted by Xianfeng. Even the Minister of Military Aircraft looks up to him, and even Zaiyuan and Duanhua have to listen to him.Therefore, although Cixi controls the national treasure, the administrative power is still controlled by Sushun and other eight people. Cixi, who has a strong desire for power, sees that the situation is not good for her. If things go on like this, not only will she not be able to control the real power of the court, but she may also be in danger of losing her life at the hands of the eight ministers. Trees move to death, people move to life.She is determined to use Ci'an as a breakthrough point, taking advantage of her political ignorance, together with the sixth prince Yixin, who is in the same situation as the eight ministers, to get rid of the eight ministers together. Sure enough, the Empress Dowager Ci'an, who didn't know what to do, was easily coaxed by the Empress Dowager Cixi, and Cixi persuaded the Empress Dowager Ci'an to appoint him to take charge of state affairs in the name of Yixin being a relative of the Empress Dowager Ci'an.The Empress Dowager Ci'an also felt that it would be more reassuring to hand over the government affairs to her relatives, so she agreed and handed over the full power to Cixi to handle it. Cixi and An Dehai performed Zhou Yu beating Huang Gai that night, one was willing to fight and the other was willing to suffer. Cixi pretended to drive An Dehai back to Beijing, but actually asked him to go back overnight to send a letter to Yixin, telling him to go to Chengde as soon as possible. Discuss important matters. The clever Li Lianying knew that she couldn't get in the way, but it was useful to show her loyalty to her master.Besides, he also saw that the current situation was chaotic and unclear.He temporarily dispelled the idea of ​​changing the mountain, and always inadvertently showed his loyalty when combing his hair to dispel Cixi's suspicion.