The Tongzhi Emperor died at the age of 19, looking at his absurd and unbridled life, 19 years old is already a high lifespan
In 1860, a fire burned in the east next to the capital of a three-thousand-year-old civilization. And the emperor of this empire, the 29-year-old Xianfeng Emperor at the time, had fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort. At that time, the Xianfeng Emperor did not know that he would be fixed outside the capital in this life. And his 5-year-old child will also become the new puppet emperor in this crumbling empire.
At this time, the Qing Empire was on the verge of collapse, and under the internal and external troubles, the 30-year-old Xianfeng Emperor cried out for his life. On his deathbed, he entrusted administrative affairs to eight ministers in the imperial court, who were called "Zanxiang Ministers", and in the people, they were also known as the "Eight Ministers". Their task was simple, to assist Emperor Xianfeng's 5-year-old son until he reached adulthood and personally attended the government.
The emperor who ascended the throne at the age of 5 was the Tongzhi Emperor, but at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, the proposed era name was Qi Xiang. Three months later, Cixi, the biological mother of the Tongzhi Emperor, and a number of ministers launched the Xin You coup d'état, officially opening the era of the late Qing Dynasty.
5-year-old widow, a pawn at the mercy of others
When Su Shun knelt at the mouth of the beijing vegetable market in 1861, he must have regretted in his heart why he did not kill Cixi earlier. However, any political struggle is a victory or defeat, and at that time, sitting in the Forbidden City, she was already Empress Dowager Cixi.
Once Xian Feng died, the huge empire was leaderless, although there were eight ministers such as Su Shun, but because Xian Feng died outside the capital, this provided a good opportunity for Cixi and others to stage a coup. Although the Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun was Cixi's biological son, when she was orphaned, she was excluded from the highest power.
If there had been no coup d'état, Cixi's future fate would have been to be an empress dowager in the Forbidden City, but Cixi's thirst for power could rival that of men. She knew that the emperor had just died and the new emperor was young and had not yet established himself, so she did the best thing at this time, so she instigated Empress Dowager Ci'an to do it together.
At that time, Empress Dowager Ci'an was empress, Zaichun was her concubine, and Cixi was only a concubine. Although she was the birth mother of the new emperor, from the strict rank and political ordering, her status was not only inferior to that of Empress Dowager Ci'an, but also she had no role of speech in the imperial court. However, Cixi had a political vision, and she saw the contradictions at that time.
Therefore, on September 5, 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor's brother Prince Gong Yishi rushed to the Chengde Summer Resort in the name of funerals, but in fact conspired with Cixi to plot a coup d'état. Yi Bi was excluded from the highest power, and his heart was naturally not happy, now that he had this opportunity, why didn't he do it?
After that, Yi Bi rushed back to Beijing, co-opted a group of ministers in Beijing, and united with the governors of the provinces to prepare to plot together. More importantly, Yi Bi was supported by The Soldier Shilang Shengbao, who had a heavy army, and the monk Greenqin, the Prince of Korqin. In order to increase the success rate, he even co-opted foreign forces in Beijing.
Just when Cixi and Yi Bi were planning on the outskirts, the "Eight Ministers" of Gu Ming foolishly presented themselves as the highest center of power, and were only busy dealing with the aftermath of the Xianfeng Emperor.
On October 26, the coffin of the Xianfeng Emperor was transported back to Beijing from Chengde, and Cixi asked Sushun to escort the coffin in the back, and he returned to Beijing with his son first, but it happened that Sushun, a man without political brains, was once again tricked by Cixi. Only a week later, SuShun, who had escorted the coffin to Miyun, was arrested. After being escorted into the Zongren Mansion, he saw that the other seven people had also gathered.
Soon, Zaiyuan and Duanhua, among the eight ministers of Gu Ming, committed suicide because they were princes, and only Sushun was beheaded, and the other five were removed. The two empresses, Ci'an and Cixi, bowed to the government, and Yi Bi was promoted to the position of King of The Council, and Zaichun officially succeeded to the throne on November 11 of that year.
At this point, the coup d'état planned by Cixi was successful. The 5-year-old Tongzhi Emperor did not know all this, and this widow would be completely at the mercy of his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, for the next ten years or so.
He was the Reserve Emperor for 13 years
Although the Tongzhi Emperor became emperor, he was too young, and the actual power was in the hands of the two empresses Of Ci'an and Cixi, as well as his uncle Prince Gong Yishi.
In the next few years, the main task of the Tongzhi Emperor was to receive education and strive to become a qualified emperor in the future. Only when the great ceremony of the state was held did he come out to accept the worship of the hundred officials. At other times, like most children of the same age, the place where the Tongzhi Emperor read was the Hongde Hall on the west side of the Qianqing Palace.
In order to cultivate emperor Tongzhi well, one of the teachers he chose was Qi Liaozao, who was a jinshi in Jiaqing in 19 years, and he had been a teacher to emperor's grandfather and father, he was a Confucian scholar who was good at poetry and gave fine teachings; the other teacher was Weng Xincun, a jinshi in the Daoguang years.
From the first year of Tongzhi to the eighth year of Tongzhi, the little emperor also grew from 5 years old to 13 years old, and the imperial court was ready to prepare for the big wedding for The Tongzhi Emperor at this time. Among the previous emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi and Kangxi both ascended the throne at an early age, married at the age of 13 and pro-government. Therefore, according to the previous practice, the Tongzhi Emperor should also complete his coming-of-age ceremony.
The emperor's wedding was not only solemn, but also extremely cumbersome. Three years later, the wedding ceremony was officially completed, after which the Tongzhi Emperor was officially pro-government. However, after only one year of the Tongzhi Emperor's pro-government, he died of a violent illness at the age of 19. As a result, he became the shortest-lived emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Pro-government died of adolescent rebellion after only one year
In the main history, it is said that the Tongzhi Emperor died of smallpox. Because the symptoms of smallpox are similar to syphilis, many folk theories are that the Tongzhi Emperor actually died of syphilis.
Although the Tongzhi Emperor was emperor, he was subject to his mother and uncles at every turn. Especially in the past few years when the Tongzhi Emperor chose concubines, the Tongzhi Emperor liked Chongqi's daughter and wanted to be close to this girl. However, Cixi's favorite was Fengxiu's daughter, Emperor Shushen, and she hoped that her son would be closer to the latter.
This situation, how much like today's children, does not like the parents' matchmakers. The Tongzhi Emperor was in his youth, and the person he loved could not be close to, and he had to listen to the arrangement of the adult to like another person, which made him feel that the life of the harem was very boring. On the other hand, cousins of the same age as the Tongzhi Emperor spent their days outside drinking wine every day.
Because he did not like the girl that Cixi had chosen for himself, the Tongzhi Emperor lived alone in the Qianqing Palace after marriage. At this time, Prince Gong's son ZaiLi, his cousin, planned to take the little emperor and sneak outside the Forbidden City to play.
The age of teenage is the period of youth rebellion, and even the emperor cannot change this mentality. Therefore, under the leadership of his cousins, the Tongzhi Emperor often sneaked out to mess around. The place he often went was outside Chongwen Gate, where the liquor stores and theaters were gradually becoming very familiar. After drinking and watching plays, he often haunted the flower street Willow Lane.
Therefore, at the age of vigorous energy, many people were favored by the Tongzhi Emperor. After gradually learning badly, some people also showed him obscene novels and some Spring Palace diagrams. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, who could withstand this temptation, so the frequency of the Tongzhi Emperor sneaking out of the palace was getting higher and higher.
In the end, because he often mixed in the Fengyue Building, the Tongzhi Emperor contracted syphilis. Because the symptoms of syphilis appear on the surface of the skin, it is impossible to hide. However, the symptoms of syphilis are somewhat similar to smallpox, so when the doctor gives diagnosis and treatment, it is treated according to smallpox, which can be imagined to have no effect at all.
There is also a theory that Cixi learned that the Tongzhi Emperor had syphilis and forced the imperial physician Li Deli to declare smallpox and go to the clinic according to smallpox. Because the skin will ulcerate and drain pus in the later stages of syphilis, and its smell is unpleasant, Li Deli endured the stench every day to wash the emperor's poultice, so that Dr. Li finally lost his sense of smell.
The Tongzhi Emperor, who had only been in power for a year, died inexplicably. Perhaps the one who could not bear this blow the most was Cixi. It was precisely because of her face that she had the motivation to falsely call the tongzhi emperor's illness smallpox.
After surviving for more than ten years, Ben hoped that his own son would be able to inherit the unification, but in exchange for such an ending, this is the most unacceptable fact for Cixi. But in fact, perhaps it was precisely because Cixi had too high hopes for her son, the strict requirements at every turn in the stage of Tongzhi Emperor's growth, coupled with her own strong personality, so the mother and son finally broke out during the rebellious period of Tongzhi Emperor's youth.
The dissatisfaction of the wedding was only an inducement, and the tongzhi emperor's more than ten years of deep palace life, once he saw the life of the city, he could not extricate himself. And he is precisely the identity of the emperor, what he does, no one around to remind or dare to stop him. Therefore, when he went out of the palace in secret from Cixi to find pleasure, the end of The Death of Emperor Tongzhi was also doomed.
If it rises to the level of the state, if there is a situation of child-to-child motherhood in any dynasty, whether it is for the small family or for the country, it is the beginning of decline.