Xianfeng was a eunuch for five years and entered the palace the following year. In six years, he was appointed as the second general manager. Xuantongyuan 6 1 year. Observe filial piety for Cixi for a hundred days and abdicate. Xuantong died at the age of three at the age of 64.
Li was the most powerful eunuch in the late Qing Dynasty, who accompanied Empress Dowager Cixi for nearly fifty-three years. As a villain of the eunuch class in the Qing Dynasty, Li bought a lot of real estate under the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi. However, after the death of Cixi, Li's power and status declined sharply, and he was afraid of being liquidated. How did he spend his last days? The author visited Li's former residence in Haidian.
While repairing the Summer Palace, three private houses were built.
Everyone in Haidian Town knows that Li has three homesteads in Haidian Town: one is located in the Military Department and the other is located in Cai He Square.
However, there are different opinions about why a big eunuch who waits on the Western Empress Dowager all day takes up so many properties. Some people say that the Western Empress Dowager rewarded him with several properties so that he could have a place to rest nearby. Some people say that this is where Li makes friends with corrupt officials and accepts bribes; Others say that Li is very rich, hiding in the golden house of the town, and raising three wives and four concubines to show off. Others say that Li pays attention to mutual affection and is a comfortable nest for brothers, sons and nephews.
When did Li buy these three properties? Why "The Three Caves of the Tricky Rabbit"?
Li is inextricably linked with the western suburbs. He went to Beijing when he was young, and his early foothold was Dayouzhuang outside the northeast wall of the Summer Palace. At that time, his father Li Yu was repairing shoes here, and Li Yin was nicknamed "Peeling Plums" for helping his father. After becoming a eunuch, Li lived in the Summer Palace all the year round to serve Cixi. Later, Cixi spent 13200 taels of silver to build a memorial hall for Li Jian in the northeast of Leshou Hall. Li himself bought three homesteads in Haidian. After his death, he was buried in the Eunuch Cemetery of Enjizhuang in the western suburbs.
Haidian Town is located on the Imperial Road from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace, not far from the Imperial Garden. This is the best place for Li to buy a homestead.
Li's house in the military department turned out to be an extra-value, Manchu military plane. Every time Zhang Jing, a Manchu military aircraft on duty in Yuanmingyuan, comes back from duty, he has to spend the night here. After the Yuanmingyuan burned down, the emperor no longer went to court in the imperial garden, and Zhang Jing, a military plane, did not come to Haidian for rotation, so the homestead here was abandoned.
From the 12th year of Guangxu, the burnt Qingyi Garden was converted into the Summer Palace after the Western Empress Dowager. There is the Ministry of War in the south of Renshou Hall, and there are two quadrangles in the southwest of the archway outside the East Palace and the east of the Foreign Affairs Office as the external value of Zhang Jing, a Manchu-Han military aircraft. It turned out that Lu Qifeng Villa, located outside Hangjiatun Hanzhangjing, became the home of military affairs minister Lu. Haidian military department was taken by Li for himself. But Li didn't live here, but let his younger brother Li Chunpu and his family live here. Until the founding of New China, Li's descendants still lived in the Fifth Hospital of the People's Armed Forces, and this person once served as the "Chief of Joint Insurance".
Li's other two homesteads were acquired in the 17th and 18th years of Guangxu. He also became the owner of the property without spending a penny. The construction of the Summer Palace was organized by Yi _, who assisted Prince Chun as a naval staff officer.
Lifu, where the house is located, is located at the western edge of Haidian Terrace, near a stream flowing from Ganggou to the north, facing the road to the east. There is Qingshuiling gatehouse at the gate, and two white marble lions and a pair of framed stones stand on one side of the gate. There is a shadow wall in front of the door, decorated with phoenix flowers, which is exquisite and spectacular. The garden is divided into middle, east and west roads. The middle road is a quadrangle with four entrances, the east road is a garden, and the west road is a garage. This house, after the founding of New China, became the dormitory for faculty and staff of Peking University.
Cixi distributed wealth and arranged her own affairs before she died.
Li Fu, there is a wooden sign of "Li Zhai" at the gate, which was also built by Li Shan, the Minister of the Interior, and is called the brick wood of the Summer Palace. The gate is east-west, with chariots and horses Ku in the south and a courtyard with multiple entrances in the north. The gatehouse on the roof faces south, and the eaves are inlaid with exquisite bricks and elegant Four Treasures of the Study patterns. At the entrance, there is a green brick wall hanging from the mountain. The center of the square brick is inlaid with phoenix flowers. In the center of the square brick on the front of the wall battlements, there are decorative patterns such as playing birds and lotus flowers, attracting chrysanthemums and magpies to jump, paving the floor with pine cranes, and living birds in orchid bamboo. There are flower baskets on it and brick beams with dense eaves on the top. Our house is occupied by our brother Li.
Although Li doesn't live in Cai He Square, this is where he died and held a funeral.
Li is clever, alert and kind to people. Among the incorruptible officials, he is deeply loved and trusted by the western Pacific. Within a few years, he was promoted to the position of general eunuch by an inexperienced little eunuch and was put on a second-class high hat. In the palace for more than 50 years, for the sake of power, he sold officials and titles, widely planted private parties, intervened in state affairs, and had military aircraft inside and princes outside, all of which made up with him. In the reform movement of 1898, the imperial party and the reformists were trapped. When Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beiping, he fled to Xi 'an with the Western Pacific. After returning to Beijing, I am still in the newly restored Summer Palace, serving Lafayette wholeheartedly.
In these decades, Li has accumulated a lot of property. Hebei Dacheng hometown, 36 hectares of arable land, no movable property; Apart from the bank number and gold deposit, there are more than three million silver deposits in the palace. Before the Reform Movement of 1898, he divided his property into seven parts: dividing the land equally among the five brothers; Divide the money equally into seven parts, and the two sisters will share it equally; In addition, each person got seven boxes of jewelry. He said to his nephews, "wealth is a disaster!" " "Remind them to always be vigilant.
After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, Li Wei expressed his deep condolences for the 100-day death. After careful consideration, he gave her all the treasures that the Queen Mother had given to the Jade Dragon Queen Mother for many years in seven boxes. He said: "This is a matter for the royal family and should not go to the people. I have kept it carefully for the royal family for decades. Now I am old and weak, and I request to leave the court. These things are returned to the owner! " Li's words and deeds deeply touched the queen mother. She refused Li's request and left the palace to support the elderly in Nanyuan.
By the end of the first year, after the hundred days of mourning of the Western Empress Dowager, Li kowtowed to the Empress Dowager for a long time. He said, "I have served the Queen Mother for fifty-two years. Thanks to the kindness of the queen mother, I can't repay it in my life! After I leave the palace, I will honor the old lady for three years and show a little filial piety to my minions! " In this way, Li quietly left the palace and never appeared in public again.
Li's death is a mystery. Some people say that he was killed by the enemy. According to the Li family, three years ago in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Li got "throat-locked dysentery" and died of purulent blood. Stop at Caihe Fangfu to handle the funeral. On the fourth day of April, he held a "funeral". According to the custom in Beijing, he was treated with courtesy.
During his mourning in Cai Fang, Li Zhai followed the old routine of "picking up filial piety" or "breaking it". The custom of "gathering filial piety" in Beijing is that, after a person dies, in order to keep good relations with the old neighborhood for many years, even passers-by who pass by occasionally will give a mourning dress and a meal, including a hat, a mourning belt, knee-length mourning clothes, three steamed buns and a bowl of vermicelli meat, as long as they can kowtow to express their condolences. So in the past three days, people have been coming and going in front of Peng Ling. The person in charge of maintaining order will always guide undertaker to follow and avoid getting together.
Those who came to Caihe Square to pay their respects, as well as some dignitaries and acquaintances in Li Palace. On the sixth day of the first month, the Queen Mother Yu Long issued a decree to give the funeral expenses 1200 silver as a gift. Minister Zhang Xun, Jiang Guiti and other dignitaries came to Li Zhai to offer their condolences. He, the wife and maid-in-waiting of the Western Empress Dowager who attended the "Comb Liu" with Li, also came to offer condolences. Liu, the eunuch who combs the hair of the Western Empress Dowager, is Li's apprentice. Rumor has it that Li Yin was very good at combing her hair, won the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi, and was promoted as a housekeeper by a little eunuch. This is groundless and misinformed. Because of the words of Empress Dowager Cixi of Liu Desheng, she married Rong Er, the maid-in-waiting of Le Shoutang, which led Rong Er to follow the eunuch for life and become a lifelong widow. Took the post of brother-in-law, Li, Langzhongbai, Zeng. He asked his wife He to come to Haidian Town to mourn his death, not forgetting the kindness of the old teacher, who was unable to move because of his serious illness.
He later recalled: "The funeral was held in Cai He Square. The Qing Dynasty was the last lantern temple. Manager Li, in particular, has no power after the death of the old lady. The sons and nephews at home are afraid of trouble, and the funeral is simple. I work in Cai He Square in Haidian, because I am afraid to show off in the city. However, in order to appease the local poor, but also for the safety of the land a hundred years later, the famous collection of filial piety was adopted, which could not be done without huge financial and human resources. However, this is quite propaganda and buy-off. His filial piety soon ended. " She also said, "I have only been to the crane once since Li died. Because Liu was ill, I went to hold a memorial service for him. Because there were few female guests in the Li family, I didn't want to show my face there, so I went back by car and had a hasty dinner party. People can understand that his family is cold and seems to be absent-minded. "
Li was buried in Enjizhuang Eunuch Cemetery, more than ten miles southwest of Haidian Town. This Qinci Cemetery, built in the 12th year of Yongzheng, covers an area of more than 460 mu and houses more than 2,700 eunuchs. It is the largest eunuch cemetery in China. Li Tomb is located on the west side of the cemetery, covering an area of more than 20 mu. But during the Cultural Revolution, Li's tomb was opened, with only one head and no body.
Liying, the grandson of Li's younger brother, and his brothers buried Li. They have been living in the Li family in Cai He Square. I got married and had children here, wrote articles and published periodicals, and spent more than ten years. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, it became the office of Haidian District Health Bureau. Now he runs a catering and entertainment enterprise. The original pattern and main building of Sanjin Courtyard are well preserved, and the peony flowers on the brick wall are still on display. The garden in the east has long been destroyed, and now three courtyards have been built.
1999, the quaint Cai Fang Lizhai was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Haidian District. It records the rise, prominence and decline of a court figure in the Qing Dynasty, and the history of the existence and demise of the eunuch system in China.