Chapter 51 Falling into a well and hurting Concubine Zhen

Li Lianying's great power can be seen from the death of Concubine Zhen.Concubine Zhen died on the morning of the Gengzi Rebellion in 1900, when the empress fled Xi'an.Later generations all expressed sympathy and pity for the death of Concubine Zhen, and deeply hated the viciousness of Empress Dowager Cixi.In fact, Li Lianying was also one of the main figures who murdered Concubine Zhen.The reason why Li Lianying wanted to murder Concubine Zhen was not only because she hated Emperor Guangxu and Concubine Zhen, but more importantly, to cater to the wishes of Empress Dowager Cixi, so as to achieve the purpose of consolidating her position.

Concubine Zhen was born in a Manchu family in 1876. She was born with a red banner. Her grandfather, Yutai, was the governor of Shaanxi.Concubine Jin and Concubine Zhen lived in Guangzhou with their uncle Changshan since they were young. Changshan asked Wen Tingshi to teach her and her sisters to read in the office. According to the system of the Qing Dynasty, when the emperor selected his concubine, all the daughters of officials of the Eight Banners with a rank of three or more were among the candidates.In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), the nineteen-year-old Emperor Guangxu had reached adulthood.According to the ancestral system, the emperor who enthroned at a young age must hold the ceremony of choosing a concubine three months before the wedding ceremony.The chosen queen is the main palace, and the chosen concubine is the east and west palaces.For the selected empresses and concubines, a decree must be issued to make it known to the world.

As we have said before, the Empress Dowager Cixi made the decision to designate her niece (the daughter of Guixiang, the deputy governor) Yehenala as the queen, and at the same time, she selected sisters Jin and Zhen as concubines.On the fifth day of October in the fourteenth year of Guangxu, after Emperor Guangxu got married, he had a normal relationship with the queen.The reason is that the Empress Dowager Cixi has always had a bad attitude towards Guangxu, and Guangxu has no good opinion of Cixi's family members. Only Concubine Zhen, who was still young, wanted to please Emperor Guangxu, and she appeared more innocent, lively and clever.She often accompanied Guangxu in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and was very favored by Emperor Guangxu.Because Concubine Zhen was too lively, sometimes she would openly disguise herself as a man, with court boots on her feet, a crown on her head, three-eyed feathers, a robe and mandarin jacket, a ribbon around her waist, and a big braid hanging down her back, just like a court official.What's even more outrageous is that Emperor Guangxu liked her and even acquiesced in her doing so.

It's a pity that Li Lianying found out. Out of jealousy for Guangxu and Concubine Zhen, she told the Empress Dowager Cixi about these things.After hearing this, Cixi thought she had found the root of the cold relationship between Guangxu and the queen.Empress Yehenara also hated Concubine Zhen very much, and often spoke ill of Concubine Zhen in front of Empress Dowager Cixi.Annoyance and even anger gradually appeared on Cixi's face.Li Lianying is usually a person who adapts to the situation, but when she sees Cixi's attitude, she knows that Cixi doesn't like Concubine Zhen either.So strike while the iron is hot, slander the concubine Zhen to confuse the emperor, not to mention disturbing the imperial court, but also turn the world upside down, and disguise herself as a man all day long, which really loses the dignity of the royal family.

The Empress Dowager Cixi, who was on fire, couldn't bear what Li Lianying said, and immediately summoned Concubine Zhen to the palace to punish her with a stick on the grounds of damaging her prestige and bewitching the emperor.Although Concubine Zhen begged bitterly, Cixi, who was in a rage, couldn't listen at all. Li Lianying wanted to please both sides, so she pretended to beg Lafayette to forgive Concubine Zhen, saying that Concubine Zhen was just having fun for a while, and she would gradually correct it in the future.Cixi happened to have a step down, so she took advantage of the situation and stopped punishing Concubine Zhen.Concubine Zhen, who is not well-established in the city, still regards Li Lianying as one of her own.

In June of the 20th year of Guangxu (1894), the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out. As a result, the Qing army was defeated and Japan became more rampant.In September, the Japanese aggressors had brought the flames of war to the border of China, and the situation was imminent.At the same time, Empress Dowager Cixi's 60th birthday is imminent.After more than eight months of preparations and spending 5.4 million taels of silver, the Wanshou event suddenly turned into smoke and dust, and Cixi was very disappointed when it failed to come true. Li Lianying felt that this was another good opportunity to frame Concubine Zhen, so she reported the fact that Concubine Zhen, who had been secretly inspected long ago, colluded with the eunuch in the office to sell officials, and reported it while combing Empress Dowager Cixi's hair.Not only that, but he also brought up Emperor Guangxu, saying that the emperor encouraged Concubine Zhen to sell her position in the palace.

Cixi was very surprised after hearing this.In fact, why did the Empress Dowager Cixi and Li Lianying stop doing this kind of donating to officials, but they only allowed themselves to set fires and did not allow others to light lamps.In order to take the opportunity to vent her anger, Cixi asked Li Lianying to tell the story from beginning to end.Cixi was furious when she heard this, and told Li Lianying to go straight to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. At this time, Guangxu was discussing the strategy of arriving in Japan with the ministers. Suddenly, when he heard that the Queen Mother was coming, he went out to greet him and knelt down to meet him.With a gloomy face, Cixi went straight into the hall without saying a word, and Emperor Guangxu then followed him into the hall and knelt down to pay his respects.Only then did Cixi sternly reprimand him for why he took the lead in the battle, so that the situation got out of hand.Before Guangxu could answer, he turned around and asked Li Lianying to bring Concubine Zhen.Empress Dowager Cixi was so angry that Emperor Guangxu trembled with fear, and all the ministers dared not show their anger.

As soon as Concubine Zhen arrived, Cixi became even more furious. Without saying a word, she scolded her head and face for a while, and then asked her to tell all about the selling of officials and nobles.Concubine Zhen was originally without a city, but now she saw that the incident had been exposed, she couldn't hide it, and she didn't dare to admit it directly, so she knelt on the ground and kowtowed silently. Cixi thought that Concubine Zhen would not repent after she died, so she ordered someone to punish her.Emperor Guangxu saw that Concubine Zhen would be severely punished, so he knelt down to plead for Concubine Zhen, but Empress Dowager Cixi, who was in a rage, still insisted on punishing Concubine Zhen severely, regardless of Guangxu's feelings.Like last time, Li Lianying came out to intercede for Concubine Zhen in order to punish her further.

When Li Lianying interceded, she deliberately implied that the Empress Dowager Cixi could use other methods to punish.Reminded by Li Lianying, the Empress Dowager Cixi immediately changed her mind, saying that in the face of General Manager Li, the rod responsibility can be exempted, and she should be imprisoned instead, and ordered Emperor Guangxu to write an edict to reduce Concubine Zhen to a noble person. In order to humiliate Concubine Zhen and let her have a long memory, the Empress Dowager Cixi also hung a forbidden sign in her forbidden room as a punishment. The content reads: On the first day of November in the 20th year of Guangxu, according to the order of the empress dowager, the empress has the responsibility to rule the six palaces. If there are concubines who do not abide by the family law, interfere with the state affairs in front of the emperor, and reverse right and wrong, the empress will strictly visit and investigate. In fact, Chen Zou will be severely punished, and will never be lenient in loans.

◇ Because Cixi didn't like Concubine Zhen, she also hated the case of her selling an official, and made great efforts to investigate it.Later, the case was so involved that Concubine Zhen's elder brother was forced to flee to Guangzhou. More than 60 eunuchs involved in the palace were punished and died. On the sixth day of August in the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu (1898), Empress Dowager Cixi launched the Reform Movement of 1898.Not only did Emperor Guangxu fail to achieve the goal of reform and reform, but he was also imprisoned in Yingtai. Concubine Zhen was completely imprisoned because she was involved in it, and she was isolated from the world.In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900), the coalition forces of Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Austria, and Italy broke through the Dagu Fort and aggressively invaded the capital, threatening the safety of the palace.Empress Dowager Cixi was very frightened and immediately ordered to prepare to flee.In the early morning of July 23, deafening gunfire was heard in the Forbidden City.When it was just dawn, the Empress Dowager Cixi was restless in Ningshou Palace, ready to take Guangxu, concubines and princes and ministers to leave Beijing in a hurry and flee westward.

In an emergency, everyone was running for their lives. Only Concubine Jin thought of her sister and asked Emperor Guangxu what should Concubine Zhen do.Guangxu intends to take her to escape with him, but Cixi disagrees, thinking that carrying her is a burden, and staying in the palace will inevitably be captured by foreigners, so she has the heart to kill her. Empress Dowager Cixi walked to the west side of Jingqi Pavilion, stopped suddenly, and ordered Cui Yugui, the second chief executive, to bring Concubine Zhen to her.At this time, Concubine Zhen was imprisoned in a small courtyard behind Jingqi Pavilion. Due to long-term torture, she was already disheveled and her clothes were worn out.Concubine Zhen was brought in front of Cixi and knelt down to pay her respects to Empress Dowager Cixi.Ci Xi severely reprimanded: "Nowadays foreigners bully me too much, the war is urgent, I intend to take you away, I'm afraid there will be inconvenience on the road, stay in the palace, you are still young, if you are humiliated by foreigners, you will have no face to your ancestors, It's better to let you die, but you will be clean.After listening to Concubine Zhen, she stood up from the ground and said calmly and dismissively: I don't regret my death, but the emperor should stay in Beijing and not leave all the people alone! When Emperor Guangxu saw that concubine Zhen was still thinking about national affairs for him at such a critical moment, he was very sad and had mixed feelings, so he begged concubine Liu Zhen to live.At this moment, the sound of cannons came again and again from the southeast. Cixi looked anxious, so she said to Guangxu viciously: You can't save your own life, so what's the use of keeping her! After finishing speaking, Emperor Guangxu, who was begging on the sidelines, ordered the manhole cover in the aisle behind Jingqi Pavilion to be opened, so that Concubine Zhen could commit suicide.Seeing that the situation was critical, Concubine Zhen wanted to ask Li Lianying for help.In fact, Li Lianying's benefits to Concubine Zhen are usually fake, just to ease the conflict between Cixi and Guangxu.In the face of such big right and wrong, Li Lianying would never stand on the wrong side. Li Lianying not only sees death but does not save her, but instead makes trouble, and advises Concubine Zhen to quickly carry out Empress Dowager Cixi's order, lest it will be too late and everyone will be implicated if she fails to escape. Concubine Zhen has a strong desire to survive, and she refuses to do so.The Empress Dowager Cixi immediately ordered Cui Yugui and others to lift Concubine Zhen to the mouth of the well and push it into the well.In this way, Concubine Zhen was killed by Cixi's viciousness and Li Lianying's indifference. In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), after Li Hongzhang and Prince Qing Yikuang negotiated peace with the Eight-Power Allied Forces in Beijing, the Empress Dowager Cixi sent Cui Yugui, the second chief executive, back to Beijing to inquire about the situation.Cui Yugui asked someone to fish the concubine Zhen out of the well and buried her at the northern end of the farm in the western suburbs of Beijing.In the winter of this year, Cixi returned to Beijing from Xi'an.In order to cover up the truth of Concubine Zhen's murder, she hypocritically added a title to Concubine Zhen.According to the "Records of the Great Qing Dynasty", the empress dowager issued a decree: the change of the capital last year was in a hurry, and the concubine Zhen was too late to follow her, so she was martyred in the palace. Show compliments.It wasn't until the reign of Xuantong, when Concubine Zhen's elder sister Concubine Jin was promoted to Concubine Jingui, that Concubine Zhen's remains were buried in the Concubine Chong's Garden in Xiling, Yi County.