According to Lao Huang's calendar, the Boxer Movement.
Let's talk about the whole story first. After Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing, Li Hongzhang, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was appointed as the plenipotentiary, responsible for Beijing affairs. At that time, Cixi disguised herself as a peasant woman running all the way and fled to xi 'an. Her instruction to Li Hongzhang was: "Measure China's material resources and win the favor of the country." It means, whatever the cost, as long as it can make foreigners happy and leave me alone.
After half a year's negotiation, Li Hongzhang made a compromise and signed the "Xin Chou Treaty" with foreigners, agreeing to pay 450 million taels of silver. Only then did foreigners withdraw from Beijing with satisfaction. The matter was settled, but Cixi did not leave for Beijing. It was not until the ministers kept coming to "respectfully ask the two palaces to return to mourning" and repeatedly assured foreigners that there was no malice that Cixi let his men pack their bags and return to Beijing. Cixi is a luxurious person who stresses ostentation and extravagance. When Cixi fled to the west, there were only a dozen eunuchs around her, and it was really a mess to run all the way. In Cixi's view, this undoubtedly undermined the majesty of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, Cixi should make up for this majesty when she started driving back to Lu 'an, because now she is the ruler of the Great Qing Dynasty.
Of course, during the days when Cixi took refuge in xi 'an, some eunuchs who escaped from the palace were also found one after another. When Cixi returned to her funeral, thousands of eunuchs had gathered around her. These eunuchs saw that Cixi regained power, and officials from all directions kept coming to please Cixi with expensive gifts. They tried their best to make things difficult for these officials, preventing their gifts from being delivered to Cixi smoothly and profiting from them. Now that Cixi is back in mourning, these insatiable eunuchs will definitely not miss this opportunity to make a fortune.
Cixi entered Tongguan, which was the first stop for Cixi to return to Beijing after she left xi 'an. She found that the Tongguan county magistrate didn't come to pick up the driver, so that even the horses and chariots in the two palaces had problems. Empress dowager cixi was very unhappy, and the eunuch on board hurriedly said to her, "I didn't prepare anything for the business here, and the county magistrate didn't work here." Please show me. " When Cixi checked, Tongguan County ordered the summer.
In fact, Xia had already prepared food, drink and accommodation for Cixi and her party, but he didn't give it to him because the eunuch asked him for too much money. As a result, the eunuchs smashed all the food and drinks he prepared. Seeing that Xia couldn't find a job and was afraid of being beaten by eunuchs, he hid in the country to avoid disaster. It is said that the eunuch dares to hit a court official, which will definitely lead to his head being cut off. But Cixi didn't care, but arrested Xia Cai Liang on charges of "improper handling and delayed delivery".
With the warning, the officials behind naturally dare not neglect these eunuchs. Besides, some officials also hope to put in a good word for them in front of Cixi. Therefore, along the way, officials should not only prepare for the food, drink, housing and transportation of Cixi and her party, but also give thousands of taels of silver to the eunuchs who came first. The farther we go, the more local officials do. When I arrived at a small county in Luoyang, Henan Province along the Yellow River. The eunuchs were very dissatisfied, because the local county magistrate didn't have much money, so they had to say that the charcoal prepared by the county magistrate was not suitable for the size of the palace, so they just beat it back. The magistrate had no choice but to borrow money from the East Palace and send a large sum of money to the eunuch.
At that time, some foreign journalists heard about these things and published articles in China Daily and Foreign Daily. It is said that hundreds of eunuchs passed through Ganxian County, Henan Province. Because the county magistrate did not meet their requirements, their horses and chariots were too simple. The county magistrate argued for a word or two, but they beat him and hurt him. Although the record of eunuchs beating officials is sporadic, the eunuch's behavior has been condoned since Xia, the magistrate of Tongxian County of Cixi. It is conceivable that in the eyes of Cixi, the eunuchs who served her comfortably were all her slaves, and those court officials didn't let her eat happily and live comfortably along the way, so the value in her eyes was definitely not as good as that of eunuchs who were slaves. (refer to historical materials: the story of boxer's boxing change)