NFBE Chapter 182 Cixi and Zuo Zongtang
Chapter 182 Cixi and Zuo Zongtang
Liu Yong's father Liu Tongxun was once the chief executive, but he died after only a few months. It is worth mentioning that there were 16 chief executives of the Sikuquanshu, including many famous officials and scholars, and the most famous one was Heshen, the biggest corrupt official in history. Liu Yong would become Heshen's mortal enemy in the future.
Liu Yong did not work in BJ for long this time. After observing Liu Yong, Qianlong determined that he was capable of handling matters on his own, so he sent Liu Yong to the local area again to serve as the governor of Hunan.
[Understand Cixi's road to power in one breath - History of the Qing Dynasty Cixi]
She was the uncrowned queen of Qingzhou, who ruled China for nearly half a century, ruling from behind the scenes and presiding over the government twice. Some people said that she knew people well, promoted Westernization, and revived the Qing Dynasty.
Some people say that she was greedy for pleasure, abused her power and made China a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. So what was the life of Empress Dowager Cixi like? How should her rule be evaluated? In this video, let us walk into the life of Empress Dowager Cixi in chronological order.
Empress Dowager Cixi, also known as Empress Xiaoqinxian, was a member of the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner and was born in 1835. She is also known as Empress Dowager Cixi. Her father was a bureaucrat and served as the governor of Hui'an, Ning'an, Chi'an, Tai'an and Guang'an. In 1852, Emperor Xianfeng, who had just ascended the throne, ordered a selection of concubines, and the 18-year-old Cixi was selected to enter the palace and was named Lan Guiren.
It is worth mentioning that, along with Cixi, Concubine Zhen, who later became Empress Dowager Ci'an, was also selected to enter the palace. As Xianfeng's first wife died early, the harem was without a master, and Concubine Zhen was considered a candidate for empress after entering the palace. She was made empress only half a year after entering the palace.
Cixi was still unknown at the time and lived in Chuxiu Palace with Concubine Ying and Concubine Li. Cixi was young, beautiful, and eloquent, and soon attracted the attention of Emperor Xianfeng. Two years after entering the palace, she was promoted from Concubine to Concubine Yi, a first-rank official, which means gentle and comfortable.
It can be seen that in the eyes of Emperor Xianfeng, Concubine Yi was a gentle woman, which was very different from her later image of being scheming and powerful. In 1856, Concubine Yi gave birth to the eldest son, Zaichun, who was also Emperor Xianfeng's only son. Concubine Yi's mother was promoted to the rank of concubine because of her son's status. In the first month of the fourth year, she was promoted to the rank of noble concubine, whose status was second only to the empress.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty was already on the verge of collapse due to internal and external troubles. The Western powers were eyeing it covetously, and the Taiping Rebellion was raging inside. In 1860, the British and French allied forces attacked Beijing, and the former imperial concubines fled to Rehe in a hurry. The British and French allied forces burned down the Old Summer Palace.
Four years ago, Emperor Xianfeng was seriously ill in the Mountain Resort in Chengde. Before his death, he designated his only son, Zaichun, who was only 6 years old, as his successor. In order to ensure that his son could sit firmly on the throne, Emperor Xianfeng appointed eight ministers to assist in government affairs, and granted the Empress the Seal of Imperial Appreciation and Concubine Yi the Seal of Tongdaotang. The new emperor's edict would only take effect if it was stamped with these two seals.
This move was intended to allow the former dynasty and the harem to check and balance each other. However, after the death of Emperor Xianfeng, the situation took a 180-degree turn. Concubine Yi was no longer an ordinary concubine, but the actual ruler of the Qing Empire for half a century.
The eight ministers appointed by Emperor Xianfeng were Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun, Jingshou, Muyin, Kuangyuan, Duhan, and Jiao Youying. Among them, there was no Prince Gong Yixin. Prince Gong Yixin was Emperor Xianfeng's younger brother. He was smart and capable, but he was not favored by his elder brother.
Before Xianfeng died, he asked Prince Gong to stay in Beijing to clean up the mess, intending to exclude him from the center of power. Cixi intended to rule the country from behind the scenes, but was blocked by the Eight Ministers. Sushun and others relied on their seniority and did not take the young Cixi and her son seriously. They roared at will and scared the little emperor to the point of peeing his pants.
In order to seize power, Cixi and Ci'an secretly sent people to Beijing to ask for help from Prince Gong. After receiving the news, Prince Gong went to Rehe under the pretext of attending a funeral and discussed the coup plan with Cixi. Under the planning of the two, Prince Gong controlled the army around the capital. Cixi and Ci'an returned to Beijing in advance with the little emperor, and then ordered Prince Gong to arrest the eight ministers and seize power. This is known as the Xinyou Coup.
The two Empress Dowagers ruled the country from behind the scenes and changed the reign title to Tongzhi. As the biological mother of the emperor, Concubine Yi was given the title of Empress Dowager Cixi, while as the legitimate mother of the emperor, the Empress Dowager Ci'an was given the title of Empress Dowager Ci'an. As Tongzhi was young and Ci'an did not like politics, Cixi was in charge of daily government affairs.
Since 1861, the Westernization Movement led by Prince Gong has been carried out, introducing advanced Western production technology and establishing modern industry. After Cixi came to power, she made great use of the Westernization Movement, hoping to resist the impact of Western powers on the Qing Dynasty by learning from the Westerners.
In 1864, the Qing army captured the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's capital, Tianjing, and Hong Xiuquan's son, Hong Tianguifu, was executed by slow slicing. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which lasted for 14 years, was declared extinct. The Qing Dynasty temporarily calmed down the situation of internal and external troubles and saw a period of revival, which was known as the Tongzhi Restoration.
However, this so-called revival was only a last gasp of the late Qing Dynasty and could not bring about fundamental changes to the decadent Qing Dynasty. China was self-satisfied, conservative and backward. Under the erosion of Western powers, China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
In 1872, when the 17-year-old Emperor Tongzhi was about to marry and take power, the two Empress Dowagers disagreed on the choice of empress. Empress Dowager Ci'an favored Arutai, the daughter of the top scholar Chongqi, while Empress Dowager Cixi favored Fucha, who came from a prominent family.
Tongzhi himself agreed with Ci'an's opinion and made Arut the empress, but Cixi disliked this daughter-in-law very much, which doomed Arut's tragic fate in the future. The following year, Tongzhi took power and the two Empress Dowagers withdrew from politics. However, due to her long-term rule, Cixi still had considerable influence in the court.
In 1875, Tongzhi died of smallpox. Since he had no brothers or sons, Cixi immediately made her nephew Zai Tian the emperor, changed the reign title to Guangxu, and continued to rule the country with Ci'an.
The Empress Dowager Cixi was forced to commit suicide. Empress Dowager Cixi rarely interfered in state affairs and let Cixi handle them, but she still needed Cixi's consent for major affairs.
People thought that Ci'an was better in virtue and Cixi was better in talent. In 1881, Empress Dowager Ci'an died and Cixi took over the power. Three years later, Cixi launched a coup, dismissed the military ministers and expelled Prince Gong, which was known as the Jiashen Coup.
But soon Cixi had to face the problem of returning power to the emperor. In 1887, the 17-year-old Guangxu began to rule the country, but Empress Dowager Cixi still firmly controlled the government through training.
Two years later, Cixi married her niece Jingfen to Guangxu as his empress, who became Empress Longyu. However, due to Longyu's ugly appearance and cowardly character, she was not favored by Guangxu. However, Zhenfei Tatara, who entered the palace with him, became Guangxu's confidante.
Guangxu was young and energetic, and was eager to make progress, but he suffered from the control of Cixi. Although he had the title of emperor, he was not an emperor in reality, and he could not even protect the woman he loved.
In 1894, Zhenpin was promoted to Zhenfei. Not long after, she was stripped of her clothes, beaten, and demoted to a noble lady for disobeying the empress dowager. Although she was soon restored to the throne, Cixi had already held a grudge against her. It was also in this year that the Japanese occupied the Korean palace, expelled the Qing troops stationed in Korea, and attacked the Qing warships that were sent to reinforce Korea.
The Sino-Japanese War of 30-1895 broke out. After years of Westernization Movement, the Qing Dynasty established the Beiyang Navy and introduced Western military industry, believing that it could defeat the small and resource-poor Japan. However, the result after the war was unexpected. The Qing army was defeated and was forced to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan in , ceding the Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan Island and its affiliated islands, and the Penghu Islands to Japan.
Although the Liaodong Peninsula was abandoned today under the intervention of Russia, France and Germany, the Qing Dynasty had already lost face. In order to pay the indemnity, the Qing Dynasty had to borrow foreign debts from the great powers. In exchange, the Qing Dynasty had to hand over the economic lifeline such as tariffs to the great powers in order to survive.
After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, the great powers launched a new round of enthusiasm to divide China. In 1897, Germany sent troops to occupy Jiaozhou Bay. The reformists led by Liang Qichao and Kang Youwei wrote to Emperor Guangxu, asking him to implement reforms immediately, otherwise the country would no longer exist.
In June of the following year, Guangxu officially started the reform and issued more than 6 new policies, which was known as the Reform Movement of 100. As soon as the new policies were issued, they were met with overwhelming opposition from conservatives, who gathered around Empress Dowager Cixi and strongly opposed the reform.
On September 9, Kang Youwei contacted Yuan Shikai, wanting him to lead his army to besiege Cixi. Yuan Shikai agreed but then turned around and informed Cixi. Cixi made a prompt decision to put Guangxu under house arrest in Yingtai and ordered the arrest and killing of the reformists. The reform movement, which lasted for 18 days, failed and the Qing Dynasty had no chance of saving itself.
However, through the Hundred Days' Reform, people of insight realized that it was precisely because of the rule of the Qing royal family that China had remained in corruption and backwardness.
In order to combat the power of foreigners, Empress Dowager Cixi supported the Boxers. Subsequently, eight countries including Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and Australia formed a coalition to attack the Boxers and marched straight to BJ and surrounding areas. Cixi fled with Emperor Guangxu in a hurry, and before leaving, she pushed Concubine Zhen into a well and drowned her.
In 1901, the Qing Dynasty signed the Boxer Protocol with other countries, and the Qing government became a tool for imperialism to rule China. After the Boxer Protocol, the Qing Dynasty began its final reforms, including abolishing the imperial examination system, training new troops, and reforming the rule of law. However, these new policies were still aimed at retaining the Qing imperial family, and many aristocratic forces were still unwilling to give up their power and wealth.
In 1908, Cixi was seriously ill. Before her death, she designated Puyi, the nephew of Emperor Guangxu and only three years old, as her successor. She also sent someone to poison Emperor Guangxu. The next day, Cixi died at the age of 3. She was posthumously named Empress Xiaoqinxian. Three years later, the Qing Dynasty fell.
[Carrying the coffin to the battlefield, the life of a pure man in the late Qing Dynasty Zuo Zongtang Qing Dynasty history]
He recovered Xinjiang with his dying body carrying a coffin, and is known as the person who made the greatest contribution to China's territory since Li Shimin. Some say he is the first person in China in 500 years, while others say he is the last tough guy in the late Qing Dynasty. This video will let us understand the life of Zuo Zongtang, a famous general, in one breath.
Zuo Zongtang was born in Xiangyin, Hunan, into a poor family that made a living by farming and studying. His father and grandfather were both scholars, but Zuo Zongtang was a non-mainstream learner. In addition to studying Confucian classics, he seemed to be more interested in military affairs, geography, and even water conservancy, which were practical studies.
In 20, when he was 1838 years old, Zuo Zongtang returned to his hometown for the third time. In a fit of anger, he decided to give up the imperial examination and go home to continue farming and studying. He called himself Zhuge Liang of Longshan, and with the ambition of "not having a single acre of land, but worrying about the world", he waited for the opportunity to make achievements.
In 1852, the Taiping Army besieged Changsha and the provincial capital was in danger. Hunan Governor Zhang Liangji sent someone to urgently invite Zuo Zongtang to come out of retirement. Zuo Zongtang braved the Taiping Army's artillery fire and entered the city in a dodge.
Zhang Liangji was overjoyed by Zuo Zongtang's arrival, and immediately handed over all military affairs to him. Zuo Zongtang served as governor in name only. After his day and night planning, the Taiping Army besieged Changsha for 82 days, but failed to capture it, and finally retreated to the north. Zuo Zongtang became famous in this battle. Soon Zhang Liangji was transferred from Hunan, and Zuo Zongtang resigned and returned to his hometown.
The former governor Luo Bingzhang invited him to come out of retirement many times, but he refused. Two years later, the Taiping Army galloped in northern Hunan, and Hunan was in danger again. Zuo Zongtang returned to the army again because of the military emergency. Luo Bingzhang obeyed Zuo Zongtang's orders and handed over all the governor's affairs to Zuo Zongtang. Zuo Zongtang also assisted him with all his heart and soul. After clearing the four borders internally and aiding five provinces externally, the situation in Hunan finally turned from danger to safety.
At that time, Luo Bingzhang held the title of Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief. The left and the right were more respected than the right, so the people of Hunan gave Zuo Zongtang the nickname "Left Censor-in-Chief", jokingly saying that he, a mere aide, had more power than the governor.
It was also with Luo Bingzhang's full authorization and trust that Zuo Zongtang was able to display his talents and run Hunan's military affairs successfully, making it an important base for the Qing government to fight against the Taiping Army.
However, Zuo Zongtang's actions were suspected by many Manchu ministers at the time. In 1859, Fan Xie, the general of Yongzhou Town in Hunan, reported Zuo Zongtang to Emperor Xianfeng, saying that he controlled the military and political affairs as a staff member.
Although this impeachment forced Zuo Zongtang to leave the Hunan government, it also made his name known to the court and the public. Pan Zuyin, the junior official of the Dali Temple who recommended him, actually wrote in his memorial: "The country cannot do without Hunan for a day, and Hunan cannot do without Zongtang for a day." The fact that a mere staff member could affect the safety of the country also made Zuo Zongtang enter the sight of Emperor Xianfeng.
Sure enough, the following year the Taiping Army broke through the Jiangnan camp, and Zuo Zongtang joined the army of Zeng Guofan, the imperial commissioner and governor-general of Liangjiang, as a candidate for a fourth-rank Beijing official. From then on, he embarked on the path of becoming a famous minister of the country's revival.
Zeng Guofan recommended him as the governor of Zhejiang and he went south to recover Zhejiang. In just four years, the 4-year-old Zuo Zongtang led his army to sweep across Zhejiang and was promoted to the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang.
In 1865, Yakub Beg, who lived in Central Asia, led his army into Xinjiang and quickly eliminated many separatist regimes and established the Hongfu Khanate. At this time, the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had not yet been eliminated in the Qing Dynasty, and the Burmese army swept across the entire northern land. Peasant uprisings also broke out in Shaanxi, Gansu and other places.
The country was falling apart due to internal and external troubles. Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, lamented that China was facing the greatest change in 3,000 years. Zuo Zongtang, the general, stepped forward again and led the army to quell the civil unrest as the imperial commissioner.