It is said that Cixi ordered the eunuch to poison him. Some scholars believe that because of Yuan Shikai's betrayal and informer, Cixi suppressed the Reform Movement. Yuan Shikai was worried that Guangxu would blame him after Cixi's death, so he colluded with the Qing prince to depose Guangxu and made the son of the Qing prince emperor. If he fails, he will poison Guangxu. Some scholars believe that Guangxu died of illness. Political frustration and long-term mental depression made him suffer from severe neurosis, and symptoms such as palpitation, insomnia and loss of appetite appeared one after another. One year before his death, he was terminally ill. The direct cause of death may be chronic failure of cardiopulmonary function and acute infection. This statement is accepted by most scholars.
In 2008, a strand of hair left by Emperor Guangxu was identified and confirmed to have died of arsenic poisoning. Cixi said
1898 After the coup, Cixi understood that there was no possibility of reconciliation between Guangxu and her. When Eight-Nation Alliance advanced on Beijing in the year of Gengzi, the Qing army was unable to stop foreign troops. When Cixi felt desperate and prepared to commit suicide, she decided not to let Guangxu live in the world.
There is a record in Jingshan Diary: On July 18th, foreigners pushed closer and closer. In Cai Village, Yang Village, Beicang, Youlu was defeated three times. Yulu escaped into a coffin shop and committed suicide. Li Bingheng arrived in Hexi on 14 and tried his best to collect troops. However, Zhang Chunfa and Chen refused to fight, and Li Sui took the medicine and died. Rong Lu entered the palace and reported the news to the Queen Mother. The monarch and his subjects wept at each other, which was caused by princes and boxers, making our country worse. Rong Hong is a very clever man, and he has never shown his foresight since then. The old Buddha (that is, Cixi) said: Instead of leaving, it is better to die for the country and let the emperor die.
Hu Sijing's "Northern City of Chinese Literature" records: "The first Qin Xiao (Cixi) of Dezong (Guangxu) collapsed one day, and what happened in the world was not so coincidental. It is said that Li and his conspiracy were once questioned by the court, but they were afraid of sin. "
Yun is a bachelor of imperial academy and an official stationed in Beijing, who has been accompanying Emperor Guangxu for a long time. He recorded in the Biography of chongling that on the tenth day of October in the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu (that is, before Guangxu died 1 1 day), Cixi was born, and Guangxu led hundreds of officials to celebrate her birthday and visit the sick. He held the eunuch's shoulder to exercise his muscles in order to bow down. But Cixi refused to meet Guangxu. "The queen mother was ill and had loose bowels for several days. It was said that the emperor heard that the queen mother was ill and smiled. The queen mother said angrily, "I can't die first." In the second year of the Republic of China, Yun further said in the Diary of Chengzhai: "Although the Qing Dynasty died because (Empress Guangxu) harmed the first emperor, set up a young master, and gave a heavy weapon, it was a disaster (Cixi)."
Two books, Biography of chongling and Clearing Money, point out that Empress Dowager Cixi was hesitant about how to deal with Zai Tian when she was critically ill, so she revealed to Zai Tian that she was going to die soon. Only when she returned the gift did the emperor smile. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi decided to die before her illness, in order to prevent the emperor from leading the state affairs again and denying the possibility of Empress Dowager Cixi's layout before her death.
Qi Gong, a calligrapher and descendant of the Qing Dynasty, pointed out that his great grandfather, Pu Liang, then the minister of rites, had witnessed the eunuch spreading out a bowl from the seriously ill Cixi Palace, calling it "the collapse of Lafayette's reward to Long Live the Lord". "Collapse" means yogurt in Manchu. I have never heard of any acute diseases in Zai Tian before. Shortly after giving birth, Xiao Zhangde (played by Zhang Lan De), the eunuch of the Jade Dragon Queen, announced the death of Emperor Guangxu in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Then Leshou Palace cried and announced that the Queen Mother had died.
According to the investigation results and historical records, Zhong believed that Cixi had been plotting to depose and kill Guangxu since the coup in 1898. She was more worried that Guangxu would turn over his case after her death, so she killed her when she was critically ill.
Yuan Shikai said
People who say that Yuan Shikai was killed think that Yuan betrayed his kindness and put him in a hopeless situation. Zai Tian is in Yingtai, and he is known as "the book of Japan is the name of Xiangcheng (referring to Yuan) to show his anger". Since Yuan knew that he hated it, he had to be afraid that the queen mother would die and that the emperor was an only child, so he murdered it (see My First Half of Life written by Guangxu's nephew and the last emperor Puyi). But at that time, Yuan Shikai was no longer in his hometown of Anyang, Henan. Moreover, according to the imperial palace system of the Qing Dynasty, any food sent to the imperial palace from outside the palace must be inspected by people first. Therefore, even if Yuan has motive, he is unlikely to have a chance to kill him. It is even more impossible for Yuan to tamper with the records and pulse files of the Qing Dynasty and create the illusion of death.
Li said to him.
Yu Deling, the former Empress Dowager Cixi, hinted in her English translation of Blood and Tears from Yingtai that Li should be the perpetrator. However, this statement is quite different from Li's consistent practice of "being respectful and lenient". There is no other historical support. According to reports, Zai Tian's tomb (chongling of Qing Xiling) was once opened, and was later cleaned and closed, leaving some hair, bones and clothes to be properly preserved there. Dai Yi, director of the National Committee for the Compilation of the History of Qing Dynasty, and other experts 13 jointly wrote the Report on the Study of the Cause of Death in Zai Tian in Qing Dynasty. According to relevant research, ordinary people will be poisoned to death if they take 60 to 200 mg of arsenic orally. The total arsenic intake in Zai Tian is obviously greater than the lethal dose. The arsenic in his belly and clothes was directly eroded by his poisonous corpse, while a large amount of arsenic in his collar and hair was caused by the overflow and erosion of his rotting corpse.