Chapter 43 Chapter Three

Be an accomplice on the road to power After Xianfeng's death, Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an jointly governed.Cixi acted arbitrarily in everything and became more and more arrogant, but because the Empress Dowager Ci'an was still there, she was bound by etiquette and law, so she couldn't help feeling constrained.Empress Dowager Cixi felt more and more that Empress Dowager Ci'an was a thorn in her side and a thorn in her flesh. One year during the Qingming Festival, the empress dowagers of the two palaces went to Dongling together to pay homage to Emperor Xianfeng.

Seeing the sunny weather and the warm spring breeze, Cixi dressed up carefully, but was scolded by the Empress Dowager Ci'an in plain clothes. This was going to Dongling to worship, not going out for an outing, which made Cixi very embarrassed. The two were speechless all the way, after entering the main hall of the Taimiao, the eunuchs were busy making arrangements.After a while, ten cups of wine, ten pairs of chopsticks, four plates of yellow rice, and one whole lamb were placed in front of the Xianfeng Lingpai. After the ceremony, the Empress Dowager Ci'an stepped forward slowly, and knelt down on the worship mat after burning incense and candles.Then the Empress Dowager Cixi stepped forward and was about to kneel down next to the Empress Dowager Ci'an, but was stopped by the Empress Dowager Ci'an and motioned for her to kneel down. It turned out that this seat was reserved for the late Empress Xiaode.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was very embarrassed to hear this, and thought that she should not kneel behind the Empress Dowager Ci'an, because she and Ci'an listened to the government behind the curtain, and the mother respected the world. Seeing that the Empress Dowager Cixi did not obey the precepts of the ancestors, the always gentle Empress Dowager Ci'an couldn't help but get angry, saying that when her late emperor was alive, Cixi was just a concubine, and she was the queen.The two queen mothers quarreled with each other. The princes and ministers don't know what to do. Both are queen mothers.Prince Gong Yixin saw that it would be useless to continue the quarrel, and he was afraid that the sacrifice would be difficult, so he advised the Empress Dowager Cixi to follow the rules left by her ancestors and really should be at the back.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw Yixin say this, she was about to refute, but Prince Jin came out to speak for her: Although the rules left by the ancestors are stipulated in this way, today the empress dowagers of the two palaces are listening to the government together behind the curtain. In the future, I am afraid it will be difficult to guarantee the implementation of the decree. With the prince as the foreshadowing, the other ministers stopped watching from the sidelines and expressed their opinions one after another.These people are usually awed by the empress dowager Cixi's despotic power, so naturally they speak for her more now.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an saw that she was weak, and there would be no benefit if she persisted, so she had to acquiesce to the Empress Dowager Cixi kneeling beside her.The sacrificial ceremony was finally able to proceed smoothly. When Cixi returned to the palace, she was still angry about it.Li Lianying appeared in time to comfort the Empress Dowager Cixi: How dare you not bow your head when you are under the eaves!At present, the most important thing is to take care of the jade body, and I will take care of it later.It was fine if Li Lianying didn't say anything, but when he mentioned this matter, Empress Dowager Cixi was annoyed, saying that his elbow was turned outward.

Li Lianying wanted to gain favor by comforting the Empress Dowager Cixi, but flattered her hoof.Li Lianying hurriedly apologized to the Empress Dowager Cixi, saying that she was stupid and just wanted to comfort the Empress Dowager, but accidentally said the wrong thing, and expressed her repentance with tears streaming down her face.Li Lianying's behavior moved the Empress Dowager Cixi very much, and her relationship with Li Lianying became even closer. Since the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Empress Dowager Cixi was busy with political affairs every day, and she watched a few plays occasionally, and gradually became fascinated.Since then, whenever I am troubled, I go to the theater.This time he competed with Empress Dowager Ci'an for status, and she was so angry that she even forgot to go to the theater.Fortunately, there is also Li Lianying who is good at grasping the master's mind.

The next day, Li Lianying brought all the famous actors in the capital into the palace to rehearse plays.Cixi felt that it seemed inappropriate to listen to the opera just after offering sacrifices to Xianfeng.Li Lianying advised her to listen.Firstly, this is Li Lianying's responsibility, and secondly, it is also to show outsiders that the rules of Cixi's powerful ancestors can be changed.After hearing Li Lianying's words, Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but feel happy, so she agreed to go to the opera.Li Lianying agreed, and was about to go through the process when suddenly the Empress Dowager Cixi asked him to deliver an order to the princes and ministers, asking them to come to the opera to see if they would be deterred by the authority and had to come, so as to test their qualifications. loyalty.

The Empress Dowager Ci'an soon knew that Cixi was going to arrange for an opera troupe to enter the palace and let ministers come to listen to the opera.This is against the family law of the ancestors, of course Ci'an must stop it. If Ci'an can really stop the Empress Dowager Cixi, it means that she still has charisma and influence. Unfortunately, she was soft-hearted for a while, thinking that Cixi was in a bad mood recently, so she let her go, sending a wrong political signal to the ministers of the DPRK and China. One of the plays is "Water Flooding Jinshan Temple".In order to cheer Cixi up to watch the play, Li Lianying even ordered his disciples to turn on the water pipes installed in the palace and wet the clothes of the princes and ministers present.Empress Dowager Cixi leaned forward and back together with joy.Although the princes and ministers were angry with Li Lianying, they did not dare to say more.

In this way, under the instigation of Li Lianying, Cixi realized her political ambition step by step.