Wu Zetian was afraid of cats, why did Cixi avoid sheep?

Cixi was born in the year of the sheep, so she was very taboo about hearing people say "sheep". In fact, she was taboo about others talking about her zodiac sign, so during her reign, sheep was definitely a taboo word in the palace. "Ten sheep and nine imperfections" was meant to mock Cixi. At first it was "ten sheep and nine blessings are complete", but then some people opposed Cixi, so they changed this sentence to "ten sheep and nine imperfections". It can be seen that the public's opinions on Cixi are quite strong, so much so that they are even hostile to the zodiac sign of sheep.

During Cixi's reign, no one in the palace dared to mention the word "sheep", and the mutton in the palace was not called mutton, but called blessed meat. Life in the palace was very boring. Cixi had to listen to plays every day to amuse her time. However, when listening to plays, the word "sheep" could not appear in the title of the play, otherwise Cixi would be blamed. Hou Junshan and others went to the palace to perform. They performed well, and Cixi was very happy to hear it, and even said that she would reward them generously. But when they sang "I'm like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth, I can't return", Cixi immediately turned her back and ordered them to be beaten up, and they were never allowed to perform in the palace again. In order to cater to Cixi's preferences, this sentence was also changed to "I am like a fish in a net that goes away but never returns."

Cixi not only couldn't hear the word "sheep", but she also couldn't see others killing sheep. Wang Fushou entered the palace to perform "Pick the Pulley". After hard work, Cixi said: "You sang very well, but you sell mutton outside the palace, right?" You have to slaughter sheep every day, and you still want to get rewards, so it’s okay if you don’t get punished. ?

Not only that, Cixi also couldn't tolerate people who were subordinates of the Tiger, just because the Sheep and the Tiger were in conflict with each other. She ordered an inventory of the maids and eunuchs in the palace who were born in the year of tiger. All those who were born in the year of tiger would be punished and sentenced to battle. After that, they were kicked out and exiled to the desolate land of the northern desert. These palace maids and eunuchs were exiled because of the taboos of their superiors, which was extremely miserable.