The great eunuch Li Guangxu’s savior was also Cixi’s scandal

Li was a famous eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty with a rather bad reputation. Li was born in the 28th year of Daoguang's reign, and was originally from Dacheng County, Hejian Prefecture, Zhili.

Before Li entered the palace, because he was poor, he sold Yuanmingfen in private, nicknamed Yuanmingfen Li. After selling sodium sulfate, he was arrested and imprisoned. After he was released from prison, he made a living by repairing shoes. His good friend Shen saw that he was pitiful and introduced him to the palace as a eunuch. Li, known as "Bi Xiaoli", was admired by Cixi for his beautiful hair-combing skills.

His duty room is not far from the residence of the Queen Mother. Sometimes, when the Queen Mother came to his room, Li would wrap all eight chairs where Cixi had sat in yellow cloth. The Queen Mother sincerely praised his loyalty and concern, and she trusted him more and more. The Empress Dowager Cixi's love for Li was immeasurable. Li could even sit and watch a play with Ci Xi; if there were snacks in the palace made for Empress Dowager Ci Xi that Li liked to eat, Empress Dowager Ci Xi would often eat less herself or let the eunuchs take them away and leave them for Li to eat.

As the manager of Li Palace, he is very smart about his work. For example, Li was very familiar with the placement of objects and etiquette procedures in the palace, and the eunuchs in the palace often asked him for advice when encountering problems. When there are festive events in the palace, Li is best at arranging and coordinating them, and does everything well. What are the other princes and ministers happy about? Especially if the Empress Dowager Cixi wants to "bring in wealth", she often asks Li Xian to show me the etiquette and arrangements, so as to please Cixi.

Li's more important ability is that he is good at flattering and able to guess Cixi's thoughts. Li is very witty and likes to tell jokes. Although he read little when he was a child, the jokes he told were sophisticated and round, not vulgar, but quite attractive. When the Empress Dowager Cixi had nothing to do, she often asked Li to tell a few jokes to make everyone happy. Li always makes everyone happy. Even if he tells some political jokes that satirize the government on the street, he can tell them with such wit and humor that people cannot hear the irony in them.

In 1886, the construction of the Beiyang Navy began to take shape, and Li Hongzhang asked the court to send officials to inspect the military parade. At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi planned to send Prince Chun Yikun, but Yikun was Guangxu's biological father. He was afraid that the Empress Dowager Cixi would suspect that he had exceeded his authority, so he took the initiative to ask Li, a popular figure next to the Empress Dowager Cixi, to accompany him to show that he had no second thoughts. The Empress Dowager Cixi also wanted to take this opportunity to let Li go out to see the world, so Prince Chun went to inspect the Beiyang Navy with the imperial ambassador and Li as deputy envoy. This eunuch went out for inspection as an imperial envoy. This was not surprising in other dynasties, but it was the first time in the history of the Qing Dynasty.

In order to prevent others from making irresponsible remarks, before setting off, Li deliberately replaced the second top hat given to him by the Empress Dowager Cixi with a fourth top hat, and then set off gracefully with Prince Chun. Along the way, Li did not have the airs of an imperial minister, but consistently followed Prince Chun in his later years and served him. Even at night, Prince Chun washed his feet and Li personally gave him hot water. Prince Chun was so moved that he handed over his hand again and again. After returning to China, he naturally praised Li Dui's loyalty in front of Cixi.

As far as this business trip is concerned, Li earned face for the Empress Dowager Cixi and blocked the mouths of those ministers. Empress Dowager Cixi later said, "Finally, I did not harm him in vain." Empress Dowager Cixi fled to the West with Guangxu in the Gengzi Year, and the group returned to Beijing after the "Xin Chou Treaty" was signed. When returning to Baoding, the group stopped to rest. At that time, the palace of Empress Dowager Cixi was decorated and kept there for several weeks. When Li was waiting for Cixi to sleep, he went to Guangxu's palace and found that there was no eunuch inside. Guangxu

Li knelt down and asked, "Master, why aren't you sleeping now?" Guangxu said, "Look at this room. "Teach me how to sleep?" In the middle of winter, there was no quilt in Guangxu's room except a mattress and a chair pillow. Li felt that Emperor Guangxu had done so pitifully, so he knelt down, hugged Guangxu's legs and cried bitterly: "The slaves deserve death!" Then he quickly got the quilt and said: "It's too late tonight, we can't pass it on to them." . This is the bedding they put on the slaves. Please use it. I can't do anything to increase the sins of my slaves." After Guangxu returned to Beijing, he often talked about it and said, "If not. Master Li, I'm afraid I won't survive today." In the last years of Guangxu, the Empress Dowager Cixi was often embarrassed. Li didn't hit anyone when he fell into trouble, and sometimes gave Guangxu some care. Compared with other sycophantic eunuchs, Li is relatively kind.

There are too many historical mysteries of the Qing Dynasty, the records in the National Historical Archives are too few and incomplete, and there are many mysterious cases and social rumors. It is said that Empress Dowager Cixi had male favorites, such as Wu Zetian, Xue Huaiyi and Zhang Changzong. The Qing Dynasty article "Wen Chen Ou Ji" says: In the spring of the eighth year of Guangxu's reign, there was an antique dealer named Bai in Liulichang. Fortunately, Li introduced him to Cixi. Cixi was 46 years old at the time. Bai was released after living in the palace for more than a month.

Soon, Cixi became pregnant, and Empress Dowager Ci'an was furious. She called the Minister of Rites and asked about the gift for the deposed queen. The Minister of Rites said: "This matter cannot be done. I hope my queen mother will stay sane." That night, Qian Lu died suddenly.

According to unofficial records, Cixi’s delicious soup - Woguo. She sent someone to the palace gate every morning to buy four fruits for lying in soup, which were delivered by the waiter of Jinhua Hotel. There is a young man named Shi in Jinhua Hotel. He is well-proportioned and handsome. Shi met Li and was often taken to the palace to play by Li.

One day, Cixi suddenly found a handsome young man standing next to Li and asked Li who he was. Li was very scared, because bringing outsiders into the palace was a serious violation of the palace ban, so he had to tell the truth. Cixi showed no anger, just a little excitement. She left Shi in the palace to "promote prostitution day and night" and gave birth to Guangxu a year later. Cixi did not dare to keep it in the palace, so she ordered Prince Chun to take care of it and then killed Shi. Cixi was a generation younger than Guangxu Tongzhi, which violated the convention of having a son but no brother, perhaps because Guangxu was her biological son. There are rumors that Li and Cixi slept together, which is not true.

There is no real sexual relationship between Anhai, Li and Cixi, even if there is any ambiguity. Because if they are unclean, they are fake eunuchs and cannot hide it from everyone. The Qing Dynasty had particularly strict requirements for eunuchs. After becoming an eunuch, he had to be reviewed by the Ministry of Punishment every other year.

In 1908, Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi died one after another, and Li asked to retire the next year after their funerals. Li left the palace where he had lived for fifty-one years.

Coincidentally, Li died in 1911, which coincided with the fall of the Qing Dynasty. During his lifetime, Li summed up his life in eight words, which was "respecting things and being generous to others". On the other hand, eunuchs are also human beings and may also be talents. It is not easy for a eunuch to do this. Why be harsh? Li's emotional intelligence is really high, and it's really difficult for ordinary people to do it. Do your job well, be kind, friendly to others, and humorous. Li actually has many qualities worth learning.