Evidence of Emperor Guangxu's poisoning and Cixi's murder?
In October 1908, Emperor Guangxu, who was imprisoned in Yingtai, and Empress Dowager Cixi, who ruled the late Qing Dynasty for half a century, died within 22 hours. The cause of Guangxu's death has become a historical mystery, and the Empress Dowager Cixi is the biggest suspect in the case. In 2008, after repeated examinations of Emperor Guangxu's hair, bones, clothes, and inside and outside the mausoleum, it was finally concluded that Emperor Guangxu died of arsenic poisoning, but does this prove that Cixi ** Emperor Guangxu?
Was He Assassinated: How to Find Out the Cause of Emperor Guangxu's Death?
Although the death of Emperor Guangxu was extremely unusual, due to the secrecy of the imperial family and the fact that Emperor Guangxu's coffin was carried by the palace eunuchs, no one dared to do anything about it, nor did they have the opportunity to study it in depth. It was not until the 80s of the 20th century that Chinese archaeologists formed an excavation team to carry out rescue excavations of the tomb of Emperor Guangxu. Although the tomb was almost stolen, important relics such as the emperor's hair, bones, and clothes were preserved.
hair, as it can"Record"Certain elements of information collected by the human body over a period of time to study the relationship between the human body and the external environment. So, in 2003,"The cause of Emperor Guangxu's death"The research team used the neutron activation method of the microreactor instrument to take two small strands of Guangxu Emperor's hair for testing, and found that the arsenic content of his hair was significantly higher than that of ordinary people, and the content of different hair pieces varied greatly.
By comparing this result with the arsenic content in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor and other people and objects of the same period in the same period, the researchers found that the arsenic content in the hair with the highest arsenic content in the coffin of the Guangxu Emperor was 83 times that of the arsenic content in the coffin of the Guangxu Emperor, while the arsenic content of the environmental samples inside and outside the mausoleum was 97 times that of arsenic, indicating that the arsenic content in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor did not come from the polluted environment. However, arsenic levels were 66 times higher compared to the hair of patients with chronic arsenic poisoning, suggesting that the arsenic levels in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor did not come from chronic poisoning. In addition, the researchers also compared the hair of the Guangxu Emperor with that of the Empress Dowager Longyu and found that the arsenic content in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor was 132 times higher than that in the hair of the Empress Dowager Longyu, indicating that the arsenic content in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor was indeed extremely abnormal.
The researchers concluded that the unusually high levels of arsenic in the Guangxu Emperor's hair could only be caused by contamination of his corpse. After 2006, the research team, with the help of experts in forensic technology, forensics, and other fields, decided to take samples from the bones of the Guangxu Emperor and clothing near the corpse for testing.
The results showed that the arsenic content in the bones and clothes of the Guangxu Emperor was significantly higher than that in the hair, indicating that the high arsenic content in the hair of the Guangxu Emperor was higher than that of his bones and clothes. The results of various studies conclusively showed that the high levels of arsenic in Emperor Guangxu's bones, hair, and clothes were highly toxic arsenic trioxide, commonly known as arsenic.
In 2008,"The cause of Emperor Guangxu's death"The special working group released a research report, and the Cultural Relics Management Office of Emperor Guangxu's Xiling conducted repeated testing, investigation and careful analysis of hair, bones, clothing fragments and environmental samples inside and outside the tomb, and finally confirmed the suddenness of Emperor Guangxu"Death"It is due to acute gastrointestinal arsenic poisoning.
The reason is: Empress Dowager Cixi is most likely a suspect?
Since it has been determined that Emperor Guangxu died of arsenic poisoning, then there must be someone else, so who is the biggest suspect in the killing of Emperor Guangxu? There are currently three names: Cixi, Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying, so is Cixi the most suspicious?
In the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Emperor Tongzhi died, and because Emperor Tongzhi was the only son of Emperor Xianfeng, and left no heirs, Shui Ming's second son, Prince Yixun, ascended the throne of Emperor Xianfeng in order to support the widowed Empress Dowager Cixi. The reason why Cixi chose Changliu is not only because the current Changliu is only three years old and understands her better, but also because Changliu's biological mother is Cixi's sister Yehenara Wanzhen, and the relationship between the two is relatively good.
In the early years of Tongzhi, things turned out to be as Cixi expected, and the entire government was controlled by Cixi's curtain, even after the curtain withdrew and returned to power, Cixi was still"In all cases where there is a summons, it is mentioned that the widowed queen mother ascends to the throne of theocracy", hereditary title of his nephew Yehenala clan as the queen mother, etc., the government is still under control. Therefore, more than two years was enough time for the emperor to move from a pro-government party to a formal pro-government party.
However, after Guangxu became a formal auxiliary, he largely ran counter to Cixi's expectations and adopted a different philosophy of governance, which escalated the conflict between the emperor and the empress. Especially after the First Sino-Japanese War, Emperor Guangxu implemented the Wuxu Reform, which led to the complete outbreak of the contradiction between the emperor and the queen, the outbreak of the Wuxu Reform, Emperor Guangxu was imprisoned in Yingtai, Cixi was **, after the coup, the relationship between Emperor Guangxu and Cixi came to this point! Cixi, who claimed to be a courtier, knew this.
When Beijing was violently attacked by the Eight-Nation Alliance, Cixi was in a desperate situation and was ready to commit suicide because she had the idea of not allowing the Guangxu Emperor to continue to live in the world. Jing Shan wrote in his diary"Lafayette (he was referring to Cixi) said that he would rather die than give in and martyred the emperor"。
It can be seen from this that the contradiction between the emperor and the empress has reached such a serious level.
Chongling Letters"with"Qing Taluban notes"said that during the period of her serious illness, the Empress Dowager Cixi was hesitant to arrange the relationship with Emperor Guangxu, so she revealed the news she wanted to know to Zai Xiang, which surprised Zai Xiang, who was close to Emperor Guangxu, and also angered Cixi. At that time, Cixi decided to let Emperor Guangxu see her before she died, so that Emperor Guangxu would not refuse her order to die after her death.
As we have already mentioned, if these records are correct, then Cixi is undoubtedly the biggest suspect in the assassination of the Guangxu Emperor. Although Yuan Shikai and Li Lianying had a motive to assassinate the emperor, they had neither the courage nor the ability to do so without Cixi's approval.
Evidence of the crime: Is there specific evidence pointing directly to Cixi?
Since it has been determined that Emperor Guangxu died of **, and Cixi also had the motive of **, to determine whether Emperor Guangxu was killed by Cixi**, the only question left is whether there is enough convincing evidence to prove that Empress Dowager Cixi ** Emperor Guangxu. Unfortunately, such evidence is almost non-existent.
At the beginning of October in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (1908), the famous Western doctor Qu Guiting was recommended by Prince Qing Yixuan to diagnose Emperor Guangxu in the Summer Palace in Beijing.
However, on November 14 of the same year, Emperor Guangxu suddenly"I screamed and my stomach hurt", and then sweat rained down on the dragon bed, covering his stomach. Although Qu Guiting noticed Emperor Guangxu"The complexion is dark, and the tongue is yellow"，"This is not related to an old disease", but he didn't say anything to cause trouble, only suggested using a towel to warm up, and then left in a hurry, but soon heard that Emperor Guangxu had died.
As mentioned earlier, Emperor Guangxu was indeed very ill, but after **, he was cured on the surface, but his condition suddenly deteriorated sharply before his death, and although Qu Guiting had doubts, he did not dare to check the diagnosis and treatment at all. Although he wrote down these, this further proves that Emperor Guangxu was simply dead.
Qing Dynasty calligrapher Qi Gong said that his great-grandfather Pu Liang (then a waiter of the Ministry of Rites) saw a eunuch in the seriously ill Cixi Palace, and the eunuch handed Cixi a covered bowl and said:"This Lafayette rewarded Banzai with a decadent (yogurt)."。He had never heard of any sudden or serious illness from Cixi. Shortly after the birth of the child, the eunuch Xiao Dezhang (Zhang Rende), the Empress Dowager Longyu, announced the death of Emperor Guangxu in the main hall of the Tai Hospital.
If what Mr. Qigong said is true, then we can conclude that Guangxu died"Knock down the pull bowl", Cixi was the mastermind. Unfortunately, this evidence can only be used as circumstantial evidence, so it is impossible to judge its credibility.
To sum up, the evidence that Emperor Guangxu died of arsenic poisoning in 2008 can only show that Emperor Guangxu died of **, and other evidence can only further prove that Cixi is the cause of the crime and the main suspect, but there is no direct evidence to prove that it is Cixi, and Cixi can only be used as the number one suspect as an example. Moreover, a crime more than 100 years ago, coupled with the successive deaths of those in the know, I am afraid it is difficult to really see the light.