"Yi Bing (foreigners) are going to attack Donghua Gate!"
Zhen Guo Gong Zailan ran into the Yiluan Hall in a panic and shouted these words to Empress Dowager Cixi in a panic. This day was the early morning of July 21, 1900, the day after the Eight-Power Coalition invaded Beijing.
Exhausted and sleepless all night, Cixi panicked when she heard Zailan's words, and she hurriedly put on her palace clothes and tried to commit suicide by throwing herself into the water. Zailan quickly grabbed Cixi's clothes and said eagerly, "It is better to avoid it first, Xu is the last plan." ”
Cixi was shouted at by Zailan and quickly calmed down. She changed into a blue gebu and ordered Li Lianying to change the old woman's hairstyle for herself.
At this moment, Guangxu panicked and entered the warm cabinet, and before he could ask for anything, Cixi ordered, "Hurry up and change your clothes, you can't wear this outfit!" ”
Before the Guangxu Emperor could react, the palace ladies had already stepped forward to take off the red hat for the emperor, take off their robes, and put on a dark gray jacket. The Emperor's robe was large and old, and he looked like a disgraced Mr. Teaching.
When Guangxu was dressed up, Cixi had been thinking about a major issue related to Guangxu: how to deal with Guangxu's favorite concubine Zhenfei, who was being imprisoned.
Guangxu and Zhenfei
"Summoning Concubine Zhen, waiting for the order at the Jingqi Pavilion." Seeing that time was not waiting for anyone, Cixi said to Cui Yugui. At this time, Cixi was not prepared for how to deal with Zhenfei, but she knew that "this matter must be done now."
Since being imprisoned, Cixi had not summoned Zhenfei, and she really did not want to see this woman. People say that the "mother-in-law relationship" is the most difficult relationship, and the same is true for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the imperial family. For this daughter-in-law, Cixi has a bit of a meaning in her heart of "hating iron is not steel".
Cixi had also thought about being good to Zhenfei, but helplessly, this woman was free by nature, and she had repeatedly confronted herself. Looking at the whole Qing Dynasty, the only person who dared to openly disobey her will was Zhenfei.
Cixi is the No. 8 personality of the "Enneagram" in the psychological concept, and the typical traits of this personality are: good leadership, like leaders; dare to take risks; strong desire for power; and not afraid of difficulties. Their credo is "My life is up to me", and the biggest taboo is that personal authority is challenged.
On the contrary, Zhenfei, who did not know what psychology was and did not understand human nature, repeatedly touched the taboo of Cixi. She challenged Cixi's authority several times, and each time she did not eat good fruit.
For Cixi, "empress dowager" is directly equivalent to challenging her authority. This matter, Zhenfei did it blatantly. After Princess Zhen gained favor, she not only often ignored the harem etiquette in the palace to "dress as a man", but also colluded with her sister Concubine Jin to buy and sell officials. According to Hu Sijing's "National News And Preparation", Lu Boyang was once awarded the position of Su Song Tai Dao Tai (Sipin) for donating 40,000 taels of silver to Zhenfei.
After Cixi grasped the evidence, she gave Zhenfei and Concubine Jin a great punishment: she directly demoted them both from "concubines" to nobles. It was not until a year later that the two sisters were restored to their concubines.
There are rumors that when Princess Zhen was punished that time, she was also "stripped of her clothes", that is, stripped of her clothes and beaten. This matter was later considered to be "inconsistent with the ancestral system", after all, such a punishment was bound to lead to direct contact between the concubine's "jade body" and the eunuch.
Regardless of whether Princess Zhenfei was punished with a "cloaked court staff" or not, she did indeed cause great dissatisfaction from Cixi. According to historical records, while punishing Zhenfei, Cixi either executed or sent dozens of eunuchs under Zhenfei to death or sent them to charge the army. However, The people under Concubine Jin did not move at all.
The two sisters were obviously dealt with for the same thing, so why did Zhenfei obviously punish her more intensely? There is only one possibility, and that is that after Zhenfei was punished, she confronted Cixi.
As a typical No. 8 personality, Cixi hates most of all that her authority is challenged, so she can't stand any form of confrontation or even rebuttal. In short, what she wants is obedience, and the world is transferred by my will.
Empress
Li Lianying and others under Cixi were well aware of this characteristic of hers, and they had always thrown themselves into her favor and seized on this characteristic of her to desperately please her.
Once, when Cixi entered the imperial dining room, she saw that the flowers in the courtyard of the imperial dining room were all thanked, and she was very unhappy. Li Lianying actually took advantage of her turning to go out and changed all the flowers. When Cixi came back to see that the flowers that had just been sick were all in full bloom at this time, Li Lianying took the opportunity to praise:
"Lafayette, when the flowers meet the heartwarming people, they have died out of wood in the spring."
Cixi was overjoyed to hear this, did she not know that the flowers had been changed? Of course not, she was glad to see that the world was shifted by her will, and she didn't care how it was transferred.
Cixi, who had been surrounded by Li Lianying and others for a long time, suddenly saw the role of Zhenfei, and her heart was naturally a hundred unhappy. Another thing Cixi was dissatisfied with Zhenfei was that she and Guangxu were too affectionate, which hindered her eyes.
Cixi felt that Zhenfei and Guangxu's love was an obstacle to her eyes, and it was related to her perennial widowhood, which widowed person was willing to watch the scene of grace and love? On the other hand, after Guangxu had Concubine Zhen, she completely ignored her niece, Guangxu's empress Longyu, which also made her feel distracted.
All in all, the role of Zhenfei is definitely "not to deal with" for Cixi, the no. 8 personality.
Princess Zhen, who was quite "unhandled" with herself, later supported the Guangxu Emperor's proposal to restore and change the law. After Cixi strangled the Restoration and Reform, she imprisoned Guangxu in Yingtai, and Princess Zhenfei, who had developed many talents for the Guangxu Emperor, was implicated and was claustrophobic in the Northern Third House behind the Zhong Pu Palace.
The specific sanctuary of Zhenfei is located in an abandoned hut in the small courtyard behind Jingqi Pavilion.
Soon after Cixi and her party arrived at Jingqi Pavilion, Concubine Zhen was brought in and knelt down. The concubine who had been imprisoned in the Cold Palace for a long time seemed to have completely lost her former radiance. Suddenly, I couldn't recognize that the emaciated and gaunt woman in front of me was actually a beautiful and graceful concubine in the past.
Cixi did not think about how to deal with Zhenfei in her heart, and when she saw her look like this, and then looked at her current dress, she actually moved her heart of compassion. However, soon, Cixi's heart hardened, and she found that when Zhenfei gave herself auspicious words, she seemed very perfunctory, and Cixi once again felt that she did not get the respect she deserved.
"What is the 'auspicious' or something, the foreigners are going to fight in, the outside is a mess, no one can decide what to do, in case of insult, then lose the royal face, and I am sorry for the patriarchs, you should understand." 」 Cixi raised her chin and said that she didn't even look at Zhenfei with her eyes.
Cixi and Zhenfei
ZhenFei was stunned for a moment and said, "I understand that I will not disgrace the ancestors." Zhenfei's voice was still as simple and concise as before, and she exuded a sense of strength that no one would accept. This momentum made Cixi very unhappy.
At this time, Cixi made up her mind: This person cannot be taken away, and taking away must be a trouble. Therefore, she said leisurely: "You are young and easy to cause trouble, we must avoid it, it is inconvenient to take you away." ”
Concubine Zhen suddenly blurted out, "You can avoid it, you can leave the emperor to sit in the capital and maintain the overall situation." ”
When Cixi heard this, anger flashed in her eyes. The biggest trait of the Enneagram No. 8 personality is that he does not like to accept the guidance of others, but on the contrary, this concubine, a junior, a concubine who is imprisoned, even came to "guide" her.
"When death is imminent, dare to talk nonsense!" Cixi scolded angrily. Princess Zhen listened but looked up and said loudly, "I have no sin to die, I want to see the emperor." ”
At this time, Zhenfei still did not recognize the situation, she did not know: after the restoration and change of the law, the Guangxu Emperor had been completely hollowed out. In order to make it clear that Zhenfei died, Cixi said angrily, "The emperor can't save you, come here, throw her into the well." ”
Princess Zhen finally realized how serious the situation was, and she shouted loudly, "I want to see the emperor, I want to see the emperor", but unfortunately, the emperor at this time did not know that she was being summoned.
Immediately, Princess Zhen was pushed by Cui Yugui and Wang Dehuan and brought to the well inside the Shunzhen Gate. Princess Zhen was clamoring to see the Emperor from beginning to end! Finally, he shouted, "Emperor, I will repay you again in the next life!" ”
Princess Well
After disposing of Concubine Zhen, Cixi's mind was actually more stable, and before she fled west, she expressed her respect for the people in the palace who had not been chosen to flee together:
"Don't be alarmed, in order to let Li Hongzhang negotiate with the foreigners about the conditions, the emperor and I had to go out of the city." You don't have to follow along, I don't have to be difficult for the ministers of various countries, and then they will not let the coalition forces be difficult for you! The Emperor and I will be back soon..."
Everyone knew that those who were not taken away could only completely resign themselves to fate, and there were cries from the crowd. Cixi again exhorted, "Don't worry, I have arranged for RongLu to liaise with the ministers of various countries to protect you well!" ”
After saying this, Cixi got into the car under the kneeling of everyone in the palace and fled west...
On January 7, 1902, more than a year after Princess Zhen was executed, Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor returned to Beijing. On the third day of her return to Beijing, Cixi issued a decree to "rehabilitate Zhaoxue" for Zhenfei. This edict does not explain the death of Concubine Zhen in any way, but only says that "it is difficult to be in the palace."
Obviously, Cixi adopted the "obfuscation method" in the death of Zhenfei.
At the same time, Cixi also affirmed and praised the death of Concubine Zhen as "a commendable martyr of the Xun Dynasty", so "Gian posthumously gave the title of noble concubine as a sign of praise".
On the day Yi Was released, Cixi also threw Cui Yugui out of the palace. Cui Yugui later recalled:
"When the old lady threw me out of the palace, she said that she did not push Zhenfei into the well at that time, but only said angrily, if she did not obey, she would throw her into the well. She blamed me for being able to throw Princess Zhen down, so she saw that I was angry and sad, and forced me out of the palace. ”
The left one is Cui Yugui; the right one is Li Lianying; and the middle is Cixi
Judging from the speed at which Cixi "rehabilitated" Zhenfei, Cixi ordered "throwing Zhenfei into the well" that day, more or less because: "When the emperor fled in a hurry, he was angry."
Looking back, if Zhenfei could say a few soft words at that time and no longer challenge Cixi's bottom line, perhaps, she would definitely not end up like this.
For a no. 8 personality like Cixi, if you have to "argue according to reason", you must pick the time as much as possible and choose a way that they can accept.
Unfortunately, this point was not fully understood by ZhenFei's death, so that she harmed Qingqing's life.
Psychological Tip 1: Precautions for Getting Along with Person No. 8
1, do not argue with the 8 personality, because arguing with them is equivalent to challenging their authority;
2, the no. 8 personality should be as much as possible to affirm, praise, encourage, even if the suggestion, but also in advance to praise, encouragement, etc.;
3, to win the respect of the 8th personality, in addition to showing respect for them (especially respect for privacy), we must also pay attention to not being humble, especially in case of trouble can not show mud and water, indecisive;
4, and the 8th personality should pay attention to "speaking brightly", and avoid "turning corners";
5, love tips with the 8th personality: praise their strong strength, heroism, and iron shoulders of morality and sense of justice, etc.
Psychological Tip Two: The No. 8 Personality Alarm Bell
1, do not persist in the pursuit of self-sufficiency;
2, do not "fear dependence", must not: think that they do not need anyone, independence is the best "self-protection", and fight with the world, struggle to the end;
3, if the No. 8 personality unfortunately does not become a leader, must not be because "do not want to be ordered", and blindly risk entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship needs to be cautious;
4, do not: when competing, you must master the environment, and you must not blindly win.