On November 14, 1908, a bad news came from the Forbidden Palace, the 38-year-old Guangxu Emperor died suddenly, the 38-year-old emperor lived most of his life as a puppet, almost never got a moment of freedom.
During his 34-year reign, he experienced major historical events such as the First Sino-Japanese War, the Wuxu Reform, and the Eight-Nation Alliance, and was a highly controversial and legendary figure in modern Chinese history.
He once tried to save the Qing Dynasty from the crisis through reform and reform, but was strongly opposed and intervened by the Empress Dowager Cixi. Even the cause of death has become a historical mystery. At that time, it was said that he died of "dysentery", but this statement has many doubts and unreasonableness.
It wasn't until 2008 that a forensic science identification revealed the mystery: Emperor Guangxu died of acute arsenic poisoning! This discovery shocked the world and raised a bigger question: Who was the ** of the Guangxu Emperor who was poisoned? Why poison him?
Emperor Guangxu was born on August 14, 1871, the nephew of Emperor Xianfeng, the cousin of Emperor Tongzhi, and the nephew of Empress Dowager Cixi.
On January 12, 1875, after the death of Emperor Tongzhi, the Qing Dynasty faced an inheritance crisis because there were no children to inherit the throne. In order to seize power, the Empress Dowager Cixi chose her nephew Zai Xiang as the heir to the throne, and passed him to Emperor Xianfeng and the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces.
He was only four years old at the time, and after being welcomed into the Forbidden City, he changed his name to Aixin Jueluo Zailong and was named Emperor Guangxu. His era name was "Guangxu", which means "bright and prosperous", but he failed to do so.
Although Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne as emperor, he actually had no real power, and everything was controlled and intervened by the Empress Dowager Cixi. On the grounds that he was young and ignorant, the Empress Dowager Cixi listened to the government and dealt with the major affairs of the court.
Cixi also arranged for her niece Yehenara to be the empress of Guangxu in order to strengthen her influence on him. Even Emperor Guangxu's daily life was strictly restricted by the Empress Dowager Cixi, who could only study the Book of Filial Piety and Manchu script, and could not come into contact with Western ideas and scientific knowledge.
During the 34 years of Emperor Guangxu's reign, due to Cixi's 'seclusion and seclusion', the people only knew the Qing Dynasty and did not know the world, and they were extremely out of touch with the world, and this period was also known as the most difficult period of the Qing Dynasty.
As the emperor, Emperor Guangxu did not want to see his people living in dire straits, and he tried to save the Qing Dynasty from the crisis through reform of the law, but was opposed and sabotaged by the Empress Dowager Cixi and conservatives.
In 1898, he launched the Wuxu Reform Law in an attempt to implement the new policy, and appointed Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and other reformers. But soon after, the Empress Dowager Cixi staged a coup d'état, imprisoned Emperor Guangxu, and killed many reformers. Since then, Emperor Guangxu has lost his pro-political power and has been reduced to a rubber stamp.
After Emperor Guangxu was stripped of his real power by Cixi, he was imprisoned in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, and could only move around the Hanyuan Hall and the surrounding gardens. Although according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, he had to go to the Forbidden City every morning to go to court, but he was just going through the motions and had no right to speak.
All words and deeds were monitored by eunuchs and guards, and he could not contact the outside world, and his only pleasure was to read and write poetry.
He wrote both helplessness and sorrow into a poem: "Why am I too late to be born, and how many years should I be born?" Once you lose power, everything will go up in smoke. Yingtai is empty and claustrophobic, and the Forbidden is returned. Life is like a visitor, where is home? ”
On November 10, 1908, Guangxu began to experience abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms in Yingtai, Zhongnanhai, and then his condition deteriorated rapidly, making him unable to eat or sleep.
The physician and the guards were very alarmed, not knowing what disease he had, and gave him various medicines, but to no avail, and morphine could only temporarily relieve his pain.
Seeing that the symptoms were getting worse and worse, they had no choice but to report Emperor Guangxu's illness to the Empress Dowager Cixi, who was also bedridden, but the Empress Dowager Cixi did not show any concern and anxiety, and only ordered them not to let outsiders know.
On the night of November 14, Emperor Guangxu's breathing became weaker and weaker, his eyes became deeper and deeper, and his face became more and more gray. He was unconscious and unable to speak. His physician and guards felt powerless and could only weep on the sidelines. They knew that Emperor Guangxu was no longer saved.
Just the day after Guangxu's death, the Empress Dowager Cixi died of illness, less than a day before and after, and the two most powerful people in the Qing Dynasty died in a row, so is there any ulterior secret?
It is a historical mystery and a topic that has sparked all sorts of speculations and legends. Some people think that this matter may be related to the unpredictable technique of "exchanging lives", and Cixi may have known that her time was short, so she borrowed Guangxu to continue her life, so that she could live longer and enjoy longer imperial power.
But this is speculation after all, and it is still uncertain whether this "method of exchanging lives" exists, and some people believe that Cixi was poisoned with chronic poison, after all, there were too many people who hated Cixi at that time, and there is some truth in this statement.
At that time, it was said that Emperor Guangxu died of "dysentery", the so-called "dysentery", which is an intestinal infectious disease, mainly transmitted through food and water. And the Guangxu Emperor lived in the Forbidden City, enjoyed the best quality food and water, and could not be infected with "dysentery".
Secondly, the main symptoms of "dysentery" are diarrhea, fever, dehydration, etc., and will not cause severe toxic reactions such as vomiting and abdominal pain.
Moreover, the fatality rate of "dysentery" is not high, and it can generally be treated with antibiotics and rehydration**. Although the imperial physician of the Guangxu Emperor did not have modern medical knowledge, he was not ignorant of "dysentery". Why did they diagnose Emperor Guangxu with "dysentery"? Could it be that someone is deliberately covering up the truth?
In 2008, a forensic science test revealed the mystery. Wang Zhenyi, a professor of forensic medicine at Peking University, and his team examined the bones of the Guangxu Emperor and found shocking facts.
Emperor Guangxu's skull, sternum, ribs, spine and other parts all contain high concentrations of arsenic, far exceeding the level of normal people. This shows that the Guangxu Emperor died of acute arsenic poisoning.
Arsenic is a poison containing arsenic, which causes abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, very similar to "dysentery", and arsenic can cause multi-organ failure and death. Arsenic is very toxic and can be fatal when taken in small amounts. Also, arsenic is difficult to detect because it has no special color, taste, or smell and can be easily mixed into food or water.
If a trace amount of arsenic was added to Emperor Guangxu's meals every time, in the long run, when the arsenic in Guangxu's body accumulated to a lethal level, he would immediately die of poisoning, which explains why Emperor Guangxu's imperial physicians and guards did not find out that he was poisoned.
After the test results came out, historians speculated on the ** who killed Emperor Guangxu, and according to the historical materials and evidence at the time, it was finally determined that it was Li Lianying, a popular man next to Cixi, who did it.
According to the two historical records of "Chongling Chuan Xinlu" and "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", when the Empress Dowager Cixi was dying, it was difficult to decide the life and death of Emperor Guangxu, so she asked Emperor Guangxu to reveal the news that she was about to die.
Qi Gong, a calligrapher and descendant of the Qing dynasty, pointed out that his great-grandfather, Pu Liang, who was then a secretary of the Ministry of Rites and a minister in charge of banquets, once saw a eunuch come out of the seriously ill Cixi Palace with his own eyes, saying that "it was a lafayette given to the Lord Banzai."
"Tara" means yogurt in Manchu. Qi Gong believed that Cixi may have died of illness before Emperor Guangxu, but he did not mourn until the death of Emperor Guangxu was confirmed.
So who is this eunuch who sent out the "Collapse La"? According to the record of "Qing Barnyard Banknotes", "Xiao Dezhang" that is, Zhang Hengtai was in charge of the eunuch in the imperial dining room of Empress Longyu. According to the "Biography of the Imperial Family in the Late Qing Dynasty", "Xiao Dezhang" is Zhang Lande, who is the personal eunuch of Empress Longyu.
No matter which "little Dezhang" is, he is the confidant of Empress Longyu, and Empress Longyu is the niece of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the puppet of the Empress Dowager Cixi. They may all be the ones who were poisoned by the Empress Dowager Cixi. But why do they choose this food?
There is the shadow of Li Lianying here, Li Lianying is the chief manager of the Empress Dowager Cixi, in charge of all the affairs of the inner palace, including the ** and arrangement of food.
He is also the most trusted and favored eunuch of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and can be said to be the right and left hand of the Empress Dowager Cixi. He was afraid that Emperor Guangxu would reinstate the case after the death of the Empress Dowager Cixi and take revenge on himself and the Empress Dowager Cixi. He also feared that he would lose his power and protection after the death of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and that he would be liquidated and held accountable.
Therefore, he had direct interests and motives for Emperor Guangxu's death, and also had the ability and opportunity to mix a large amount of arsenic into the "collapse", so that Emperor Guangxu could take the deadly poison defenselessly.
To sum up, Li Lianying is the mastermind and executor of the Empress Dowager Cixi's poisonous hand, and "Xiao Dezhang" is his ** and messenger. They used "Laparo", a food similar in appearance to arsenic, to skillfully send poison to Emperor Guangxu's mouth, causing the tragedy of Emperor Guangxu being poisoned.
But after all, these are just the information that has been excavated so far, and there is a certain degree of falsity in this reasoning, as for what the truth is like, who is the real culprit? Further speculation can only be made when more information is unearthed.
Why, then, did Cixi also die the day after Guangxu's death? In fact, this is just a coincidence, and there is no conspiracy or secret. There was only an entanglement of power and interests between the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu.
The Empress Dowager Cixi did not care about the life or death of Emperor Guangxu, but only cared about whether she could control the fate of the Qing Empire. The day before Emperor Guangxu's death, she had already decided to establish Puyi as the new emperor and let Zaifeng be regent, and did not change her plans because of Emperor Guangxu's death.
In her edict, she said: "Yu hung the curtain several times, and those who didn't know it thought they were greedy for power, but in fact, they were forced by the situation and had to do it." This is her last sentence of defense of her 47 years in power, and the last sentence of her summary of her life.