"Measure the material strength of China, and tie the joy of the country." --Empress Dowager Cixi.
Who is Cixi?
Cixi entered the palace in 1852, and although she and the emperor were not very close after entering the palace, she gave birth to a son within a few years of entering the palace, and her son was the later Tongzhi Emperor.
Especially in ancient times, the mother relied on the tradition of the son to be noble, and when she had a son, she had a corresponding status. After the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Cixi was promoted to Empress Dowager because of the Tongzhi Emperor.
Since Cixi entered the palace, her career has become eminent, such as passing five levels and slashing six generals, and stepping into the clouds.
However, the young Tongzhi Emperor had not yet formed an imperial pattern, so Empress Dowager Cixi joined forces with other noble concubines and princes to kill the ministers she did not like, and for a while, there were clouds all over the court, and the dynasty was full of trepidation, afraid that Empress Dowager Cixi would point the sword blade at herself.
Since then, there has been a situation in which the Tongzhi Emperor is on the throne, but he is subject to the government by Cixi. It can be said that the young Tongzhi Emperor has already suffered great misfortunes, which also represents the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
The unfortunate Tongzhi Emperor contracted an illness under the threat of Cixi for a long time and died soon after. Cixi made her nephew Guangxu emperor. Once again, the curtain is bowed.
Empress Dowager Cixi had a serious shortcoming, that is, she was too hedonistic. In order to get rid of Empress Dowager Cixi's control, the Guangxu Emperor deprived Empress Dowager Cixi of her control over the regime. He sent people to build the Yuanmingyuan for Empress Dowager Cixi to live in defiance of the Manchu ministers, and Empress Dowager Cixi was overjoyed.
How terrible empress dowager Cixi's hedonism was, that she sent people to embezzle naval and military expenses to build the Yuanmingyuan. This was simply incomprehensible to the Qing Dynasty treasury, which was exhausted at that time, and made many great generals of the navy issue accusations. It can be seen from this that Empress Dowager Cixi's extravagance of life has reached an excessive level.
Cixi's extravagant style
In the history books, there are extravagant acts of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Empress Dowager Cixi built the Yuanmingyuan in order to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. Even the funds for the construction of the Yuanmingyuan were heavy in the national treasury, and they were built in the face of the invasion of the Japanese army. These various acts reflect the luxury of Empress Dowager Cixi, and also reflect the feelings of home and country that Empress Dowager Cixi does not have, which makes the hearts of hundreds of officials chill.
According to relevant historians, Cixi also had many extravagant behaviors. Especially when Cixi was in the shower.
The frequency of Empress Dowager Cixi's baths is very high, no less than the frequency with which nannies bathe babies today.
The slaves in the palace mentioned that Cixi had to sit on a golden dragon chair before taking a bath, a bath tub made of pure gold, which depicted the charm of the emperor.
The temperature regulation of boiling water must be appropriate, and if she is not careful, Empress Dowager Cixi will mutilate slaves and palace women. There are hundreds of towels, and it is the number used for a bath.
The royal floral fragrance, fruits, spices and so on are endless and colorful.
And these hundreds of towels must be depicted with dragons and phoenixes, representing the meaning of auspiciousness. Towels must be clearly textured, and the rough workmanship of the exposed line must never occur.
The focus is on the method of making towels, and the noble silk is exquisitely artificial, adding rare herbs and beauty skin care herbs, so that high-quality towels can be used by Empress Dowager Cixi.
There are also many requirements in personnel, and they must be skillful and able to do things.
Cixi's diet is even more extravagant, it is said that she eats a hundred dishes every time, many dishes he did not eat, like to eat more. This extravagance was hated by the people at that time, and in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the people had a few more people who could eat a full meal.
The Wonders of Cixi
When Cixi fled, Cixi brought more servants and servants than the officers and soldiers who protected herself, was life important or the quality of life important? Cixi's choice made us wonder if the quality of life could match her own.
Cixi's breakfast has more than twenty kinds, each of which has some amazing places. Some breakfasts are suitable for beauty, some are suitable for increasing mental vitality, and some can make your lips and teeth fragrant. The life of this Empress Dowager Cixi could not be compared even to that of a princess of the fairy tale kingdom.
The second is Cixi's rouge pollen and the tedious subtlety of makeup. First of all, the selection of rouge flowers is an extremely important step.
The raw material of rouge is a cinnabar red flower, and what is annoying is that the petals should be selected one by one, each petal has a different color, and the choice of flowers is even more so, to choose the kind of bright and delicate flowers, rather than the bland petals. To keep improving, each petal must reach the level of royal use, otherwise Empress Dowager Cixi would punish the slaves.
There are also Cixi's socks are precious silk, we all know that normal people wear socks are generally wearing that kind of stretch, so that it is more comfortable to wear, and the old lady actually wears silk socks without telescopic silk socks, so that the size of the socks is particularly appropriate.
Once, when Empress Dowager Cixi went out, according to our current style, she should carry a bag or a box. But this old empress dowager of Cixi actually brought a train carriage of clothes, as many as more than two thousand pieces. It's humbling. Moreover, Empress Dowager Cixi did not wear them all at all.
Empress Dowager Cixi had a quirk of collecting clothes, and her clothes numbered in tens of thousands, each of which was ingenious and exquisite, which was called the best in the world. Won the praise of the people in the palace.
Empress Dowager Cixi also loved Meiyu, and on the day she died and entered the tomb, countless jade was used as funerary products, which made the hundred officials sigh at Cixi's inaction and the harm of arrogance.
Cixi's disgusting place
Also, Cixi's potty is made of fine wood, and I heard that the people who made it were all famous craftsmen at that time, and the dragons and tigers on them roared, even the bedpans were like this...
Next to the bedpan is a place where the hand paper is placed, and it is rumored that this paper is a precious white cotton paper, very soft and smooth. The whole palace seemed to be used only by Cixi, and once because she did not know what was going on, the hardness of the white cotton paper was very strong, which made Empress Dowager Cixi angry and whipped many servants.
And Cixi actually came up with a way, that is, to let the palace ladies soak the paper with warm water in their mouths. And when soaking, it should be even, otherwise it will inevitably be punished.
This kind of white cotton paper is different from ordinary paper, it has a strong toughness, as long as it is not torn hard, it is difficult to tear it off. Even so, the palace ladies were extremely careful, and the tension made their foreheads covered with beads of sweat. If you don't get wet, you may face a rage.
Cixi's exquisite life, to let the palace maid wait with warm water in her mouth, this shameful act is really strange. Looking at this matter from today's perspective, we can understand why Empress Dowager Cixi is a lot of derogatory words in people's minds. For this matter, people can't help but feel sick in their minds.
In ancient times, this kind of imperial supremacy was not uncommon, and Empress Dowager Cixi could see that the palace women around her were only promised and cautious.
This is the gap in the status of master and servant, no wonder the Qing Dynasty is even a subjugation of the country here in Empress Dowager Cixi, such an act, it seems that the Heavenly Dao is going to make the Qing Dynasty completely fall.