She has lived an indifferent life and does not seem to have much ambition for power; Her face is a little green, but she does not lose her mother's graceful demeanor in the world; In fact, among the Xianfeng concubines, she is the only one who can get up and sit with the emperor. She is Emperor Xianfeng's filial piety Empress Niu Colu, and she is also the later Empress Dowager Ci'an.
So, is Ci'an really the "female saint" in the mind of Emperor Xianfeng? Beyond her life, is her death really related to Cixi?
Ci'an was born in Liuzhou, Guangxi, named Niu Colu Ruifen, and his father Mu Yang'a was in Youjiang Province, Guangxi. Although Ci'an was born as a Han woman, she loved to read and practice calligraphy since she was a child, and accepted the admonition of female virtue. She is sensible, generous and gentle, and is really a model for everyone's ladies, so she has been widely appreciated since she was a child.
Ci'an entered the palace at the age of sixteen, and it only took a few months for her to enter the palace to be named the queen, and her promotion speed was so fast that it was unique in the harem of the Qing Dynasty. And before Xianfeng inherited the throne, he also had a concubine of the Sakda clan, and Xianfeng had a deep affection for this concubine.
However, this concubine was short-lived and died of illness before he took the throne in Xianfeng. In the face of Fujin's untimely death, Xianfeng was grief-stricken, and after ascending the throne, he posthumously named this Fujin as the queen of filial piety.
So at the beginning of Xianfeng's accession to the throne, Xianfeng's harem was not sealed soon. There are many concubines in the harem, but there is no owner in the harem. Xianfeng realized that there was no one in the harem, so in the second year of Xianfeng's succession, the first large-scale draft began.
This draft lineup is very large, with more than 1,000 show girls. Among the show girls, in addition to the Ci'an Niu Colu, there is also Cixi. Among the many show girls, Emperor Xianfeng fell in love with Niu Colu Ruifen, who was as beautiful as Qingshui, virtuous and chaste, and did not use powder. As a result, Xianfeng left Ci'an and the good-looking Cixi.
Thus, the fate of the Qing Dynasty was decided at this moment.
As the emperor's woman, she will either be favored or become the master of the harem, and if she does not have both, she will spend her life as desolate as a cage. After entering the palace, those show girls know that their road is either high into the sky or deep into the quagmire. Therefore, everyone wants to strive for the function to be favored by the emperor.
However, for Emperor Xianfeng, who was good at observing people, he soon found that Ci'an was different from other concubines, she was a truly elegant and elegant woman.
Although Ci'an was a few years younger than Emperor Xianfeng, she had a very high level of understanding. Every time Xianfeng talked to her, she didn't have to say it thoroughly, and with a little touch, she had already understood the meaning. Compared with her, other women are beautiful and well-behaved, but they are not as dignified as her, and their manners are restrained and uninteresting.
In this way, Emperor Xianfeng had a good impression of Ci'an, a woman with both virtue and blessing. Therefore, in the year of entering the palace, Ci'an was named a concubine, and it didn't take long for her to be promoted to a concubine, and less than a month after being a concubine, Xianfeng named her the queen.
After Ci'an became the queen, Emperor Xianfeng originally wanted to hold a canonization ceremony for her, but Ci'an said: At present, the Qing Dynasty is constantly crowded inside and outside, and if you don't hold a ceremony, you can save a sum of silver.
When Emperor Xianfeng heard this, he looked at this virtuous and sensible concubine, he didn't expect that everyone was looking forward to the scenery ceremony, but Concubine Zhen refused to hold a canonization ceremony for the world and the emperor.
Ci'an was named the Empress of Xiaozhenxian, diligently took care of the harem, and began her career as a mother in the world.
Ci'an knows his identity and knows the general situation, and every time he sees Emperor Xianfeng, he wears a ceremonial dress, and does not exceed the etiquette system by half a step. As for Emperor Xianfeng's pampering of concubines, Ci'an was never jealous or jealous. Politically, she has no ambitions, and she has never crossed the thunder pool by half a step.
It's a pity that she was upright and never gave birth to a son and a half daughter for Xianfeng.
Soon after, the Qing Dynasty was in the midst of internal and external troubles.
The Qing Dynasty has been going downhill since the Jiaqing period, and here in Xianfeng, the Qing Dynasty is already full of holes. After the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion, it was forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin, and the amount of reparations was huge, resulting in a serious deficit in the national treasury. Emperor Xianfeng became more and more powerless in politics, and felt that he was no longer able to return to heaven, which made him increasingly disgusted with the government and turned to wine.
During this period, Emperor Xianfeng chose to live in the Old Summer Palace, during which he indulged in wine, that is, at this time, he began to favor Han women, there were many concubines in the harem, in order to compete for favor, they were jealous of each other, and now it was okay, Emperor Xianfeng's mind was all placed on the Han small-footed women, and he had no time to take care of these beauties in the harem, and the beauties were even more jealous, especially Concubine Yi was even more dissatisfied.
After Concubine Yi gave birth to a prince for Emperor Xianfeng, she was named Concubine Yi. Seeing that the emperor was in the wine all day long, the vinegar instantly warmed up, but her status was not enough to persuade the emperor, so she asked the queen Ci'an to tell and let the queen Ci'an persuade her.
Ci'an instead persuaded Concubine Yi not to be jealous, the current state affairs are in chaos, and the emperor's worries and pressures are beyond what you and I can understand, as long as you keep to yourself and treat the emperor with leniency and consideracy, you will be considered to have fulfilled the duties of a concubine. If you consider it from the dragon body, you should indeed persuade the emperor to exercise moderation.
Ci'an's implication is that the emperor is annoyed by political affairs, no matter how Emperor Xianfeng "kills himself with a drunken woman", the more irreversible the harem is, but for the sake of the emperor's dragon body, she will not let it go. Concubine Yi is a smart person, and after listening to Queen Ci'an's words, she was naturally relieved.
On this day, Emperor Xianfeng returned to the dormitory drunk, and after Ci'an learned about it, he stayed by Xianfeng's side. The next day, after Xianfeng went to the morning court, Ci'an asked people to tart the concubine who slept last night on the grounds that he was not relieved for the emperor, but despised the emperor's dragon body.
After Emperor Xianfeng retired from the court and returned to the palace, he learned that Ci'an, who had always been gentle and quiet, and had compassion in his heart, beat his favored concubine last night, and Emperor Xianfeng was very angry and asked Ci'an unimaginably. Ci'an knelt down and said: The concubines did not fulfill the responsibilities of the harem, did not supervise the concubines, and made the emperor's dragon body suffer, if it is ignored, it is really a ...... of the harem
The implication of this remark is that Xianfeng is persuaded not to indulge in wine anymore; The second is to fulfill the responsibilities of the middle palace, so that he wants to use the cane tart, so as to supervise the concubines.
After Emperor Xianfeng heard this, he was touched at the moment, not only did he not blame Empress Ci'an, but also assured Empress Ci'an that he would drink less in the future. As soon as this incident came out, no one in the harem admired Ci'an's stability and generosity, and Emperor Xianfeng even called her a "female saint".
In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French troops invaded the Forbidden City, and the king of a country saw that the country was gradually declining, but Emperor Xianfeng was timid, so he had to flee to Rehe with Ci'an and his concubines. After that, Xianfeng was even more depressed, so he wrote the words "and happy people" in him.
Seeing that Emperor Xianfeng was getting more and more depressed day by day, all the ministers were anxious, but no one dared to advise. Ci'an knew that only she could persuade the emperor at this time, so she persuaded: The emperor is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and at this time, the court and the people, all of them are relying on the emperor. Only when the emperor is stable, can everyone have a stable heart.
After Emperor Xianfeng listened, his emotions gradually calmed down, and he agreed that Ci'an took down the four words, however, Emperor Xianfeng's body was getting weaker and weaker, and he was even unable to manage the government.
At this time, Cixi, that is, Concubine Yi, also had the opportunity to show her political talent at this time. In fact, as early as the beginning of Xianfeng's accession to the throne, Concubine Yi had already revealed her ambitions, and she often served when Emperor Xianfeng reviewed the folds.
Later, she also assisted Emperor Xianfeng in classifying and inspecting the seals. After arriving in Rehe, Xianfeng was weak and tired of managing politics, and Ci'an did not interfere in political affairs, so Concubine Yi took the opportunity to further read the chapter on behalf of the emperor and participate in confidential matters.
For this situation, Xianfeng is extremely contradictory, he really needs such a right-hand man to assist him in governing at this time, but in view of the sensitivity of the Qing Dynasty harem involved in politics, he always guards against Yi Guifei's excessive participation in politics.
Later, the ministers saw that Emperor Xianfeng's health was deteriorating, but Concubine Yi did not restrain himself. The ministers persuaded Emperor Xianfeng to follow the "Hook Yi Story", and in order to prevent the emergence of the autocratic situation of the harem and relatives, he gave the death of Concubine Yi to prevent future troubles.
In the end, Xianfeng failed to make up his mind to kill Concubine Yi, he really couldn't bear to let his young and only son be helpless, because Emperor Xianfeng also lost his mother at a young age, which brought Xianfeng a lifetime of pain, thinking about his own tragedy, he really couldn't bear to cause such a tragedy to his son with his own hands. Therefore, the later Cixi was achieved.
In the eleventh year of Xianfeng, Emperor Xianfeng knew that the limit was approaching, and after he arranged the eight ministers for his young son Zaichun, he called Ci'an, and the person was about to die, how could Emperor Xianfeng not know. He thought that Ci'an had a pure temperament, Yi Guifei was very ambitious, and Ci'an was not Yi Guifei's opponent at all, so before he died, he specially gave Ci'an a secret decree, so that the queen would have the power to dispose of anyone in the future.
After the explanation, Emperor Xianfeng died at the age of 31. At that time, Ci'an was 25 years old.
After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Ci'an and Cixi found an excuse to return to the Forbidden City with the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng and the eight ministers, and took the opportunity to execute Su Shun, the head of the eight ministers, and the group of eight ministers collapsed.
Ci'an has a docile and indifferent personality, Cixi is decisive and agile, at the beginning, the two of them were one in front of the other, one strong and one soft, they got along well and complemented each other. But as time went by, Cixi's political desire became stronger and stronger, although Ci'an was detached and all political affairs were handled by Cixi, Cixi became more and more dissatisfied with the constraints of the "division of concubines" etiquette, because Ci'an's opinion must be sought in everything, which made her very unhappy.
Later, Cixi's henchman eunuch An Dehai took the opportunity of Jiangnan to buy dragon clothes and asked for supplies along the way, which caused the dissatisfaction of the public, and the governor Ding Baozhen took An Dehai down and asked to dispose of An Dehai. At this time, Ci'an, who has always been detached from forbearance, made a move, one is to imply that Cixi is restrained; The second is to set an example. So, he pulled Andhai to the entrance of the vegetable market and beheaded him.
In fact, Ci'an, who is gentle and generous by nature, does not lack talent and decisiveness, but her virtue trumps her talent. She transcended her life, just to uphold the duty of female virtue
After that, Cixi also held a grudge.
Another time, when Emperor Tongzhi was seventeen years old, there was a disagreement between the empress dowager of the two palaces after he began to elect Emperor Tongzhi. Cixi favored the younger Fucha clan, while Ci'an preferred the virtuous Arut clan, so they handed over the decision to the Tongzhi Emperor, and Tongzhi chose the Arut clan because Tongzhi trusted Ci'an more.
At this time, Cixi realized that she valued power in peace, but neglected the intimate relationship with her son, and instead made her son more intimate with Ci'an. Cixi was even more resentful of Ci'an.
Since then, Cixi and Ci'an seem to be safe and sound on the surface, but in fact the dark tide is turbulent.
However, Emperor Tongzhi was more lascivious than his father Emperor Xianfeng, and he became seriously ill after leaving the palace to look for flowers and ask willows, and died in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi.
Later, Zai Yan succeeded to the throne as Emperor Guangxu. Ci'an never put too much pressure on Guangxu, and gave him more warmth and maternal love.
In this way, the relationship between Emperor Guangxu and Ci'an is also getting closer and closer. It's just that in the seventh year of Guangxu, without any warning, Ci'an suddenly died in Zhongcui Palace at the age of forty-five.
From then on, Cixi held sole power and became the uncrowned queen.
As for Ci'an's death, one said that she was killed by Cixi, and the other said that she suffered from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Based on some historical data and inferences, the latter seems to be more convincing.
In fact, in Ci'an's life, what she expects is not to have more power, but to be an ordinary couple in the world with Emperor Xianfeng in the next life, but the world is unpredictable, Emperor Xianfeng is blessed and long-lived, leaving her alone to cross the decline and fall of the Great Qing Kingdom. But from beginning to end, Ci'an never thought about it, nor was she willing to put herself on the political stage that everyone was focused on, the reason why she was like this was not to protect herself, but to uphold the duty of a woman.