In history, what stupid things did Empress Dowager Cixi do when she was alive?

The Empress Dowager Cixi was the last actual ruler of the Qing Dynasty and held the power of the Qing court for half a century. However, Empress Dowager Cixi's ability to govern the country was indeed not very good. Under her rule, the Qing Dynasty completely lagged behind the Western countries at that time. After Li Hongzhang and others launched the "Westernization Movement", Empress Dowager Cixi's conservative and ignorant vision not only caused the "Westernization Movement" to fail, but also caused many jokes.

During the "Westernization Movement", the Westernization ministers headed by Li Hongzhang, Zeng Guofan and others introduced many new technologies and machinery from Western countries. Trains, the most advanced means of transportation at the time, were one of them. .

Due to the weakening of national power in the late Qing Dynasty, the river had not been dredged for decades. By the time of Guangxu, the Qing Dynasty's water transportation system could no longer meet the country's freight requirements. In order to solve the coal transportation problem of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, Li Hongzhang once wrote to the Empress Dowager Cixi, requesting the construction of a coal transportation railway from Tangshan to Xugezhuang. However, due to the strong opposition of Empress Dowager Cixi, the construction of the railway was ultimately shelved.

So why did Empress Dowager Cixi firmly oppose the construction of railways? The reason for this is really dumbfounding.

As we all know, the Wusong Railway is an officially operating railway in Chinese history. It was built by the British in 1876. In fact, as early as 1865, a British man named Durand built a mini railway outside Xuanwumen in the capital. This railway is only 500 meters long. Its main function is not for operation, but to demonstrate the latest means of transportation, the railway, to the people at that time.

However, when the construction of the Durand Railway was completed, the people in the capital were greatly alarmed by the speeding trains. So, what was the reaction of the Qing Dynasty people when they saw a train for the first time? In Li Yuerui's "Chun Bing Shi Ye Cheng", there is such a record: "The people in the capital were astonished and feared as monsters. The whole country was in a state of madness, and it was almost a great change." ?

Because it was the first time for people to see a train, they regarded the huge train as a steel monster. Both the court officials and the common people were very afraid of new things like trains. The Empress Dowager Cixi was also unhappy when she learned about it, and immediately asked the infantry commander's Yamen to dismantle the railway. Later, after the British built the "Songhu Railway", Empress Dowager Cixi simply bought it for nearly 300,000 taels of silver, and then demolished the railway.

The reason why the Empress Dowager Cixi rejected the railway was very simple. She believed that building the railway would cause "loss of danger to me, damage to my farmland and house, and hinder my feng shui".

However, the construction of railways is the general trend. Although the Empress Dowager Cixi obstructed it in every possible way, the Tang-Xu Railway, which was originally abolished by the court, was completed and opened to traffic in 1881.

After the Tangxu Railway was opened to traffic, the use of trains to transport coal not only improved efficiency, but also greatly saved manpower and material resources. But because this railway was not far from the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi made a ridiculous decision soon after. She believed that the loud roar of the train would disturb the ancestors buried in the Qing Dynasty Tombs, so she ordered the locomotives to be shut down and instead used mules and horses to pull the carriages.

Throughout the life of Empress Dowager Cixi, it can be said that she has done many stupid things. Just let the mules pull the train. After all, many countries had the experience of horse-drawn trains at that time. Later, after the Xiyuan Railway was completed, it was really too much to use people to pull the trains!

Because the Empress Dowager Cixi has always been prejudiced against trains, in order to change the Empress Dowager Cixi's view of trains, Li Hongzhang decided to build a royal railway specifically for the Empress Dowager Cixi so that the Empress Dowager Cixi could experience the convenience of trains.

In 1886, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Empress Dowager Cixi's extensive construction work in Sanhai, Xiyuan, Li Hongzhang built a railway between Zhonghai and Beihai, named "Xiyuan Railway". In order to highlight the noble status of the Empress Dowager Cixi, Li Hongzhang spent a lot of money to customize 6 royal carriages and traction locomotives from France for the exclusive use of the Empress Dowager Cixi and the emperor.

In 1888, after the Xiyuan Railway was completed, the Empress Dowager Cixi lived in the Yiluan Hall in Zhonghai. At this time, the railway built by Li Hongzhang came in handy. Empress Dowager Cixi took a small train to and from Yiluan Hall and Beihai Jingqingzhai every day.

After taking the train, Empress Dowager Cixi indeed felt much more comfortable than riding in a sedan. The only drawback was that the train made a lot of noise when it was running, which made Empress Dowager Cixi very dissatisfied.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager Cixi was very superstitious about Feng Shui and was afraid that the roar of the train would damage the energy of the palace. So she later made a very strange decision, not to use a locomotive to pull the train while it was running, but to monitor each car inside. Four people dragged it through the rope?

It is really ridiculous to leave a good tractor locomotive and use manpower to pull the train instead. It can also be seen from here how ignorant the Empress Dowager Cixi is in this regard. It is strange that the Qing Dynasty did not decline under her rule.