The mystery of Guangxu's death: Very tragic, Empress Dowager Cixi arranged revenge

Having been a puppet all his life, the mystery of Emperor Guangxu's death still makes posterity curious. Some experts say that his death was not as tragic as many people think, but it was not until 2008 that the truth was revealed.

Guangxu was born in 1871. His father was the son of Emperor Daoguang, his mother was the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. He had an older brother who died young, so he was the only son in the family at that time. If Emperor Tongzhi had not suddenly passed away in 1874 without having any children, in the meeting between Cixi and the high-ranking officials in the court, Guangxu's name would not have appeared repeatedly like that.

It is known that at that time, in order to be able to easily control the court and later take over the regency, the Old Buddha ignored Dich Han's son Tai Trung and instead established the second son of Prince Thuan Than Dich Hoan, who was also King Quang Tu, as the new king.

During the years living in the deep and sad palace, perhaps Emperor Guangxu also resented his father, thinking that he sacrificed his only remaining son to become a "puppet king" for his future. But in reality, after Cixi announced her intention, Prince Chun rolled on the ground and cried endlessly, even if someone supported him, he could not stand up, because he knew that the son that he and his wife had meticulously cared for had to suffer.

In 1875, Emperor Guangxu officially succeeded to the throne. Empress Dowager Cixi arranged for him to be sent to the Yuqing Palace to read books and write, and for the court officials Ong Donghe and Ha Dongshan to teach him. In addition, she also sent people to teach her "puppet" martial arts, horse riding, and archery, but did not teach him how to be an emperor. That's why Guangxu thought that being an emperor meant studying hard and practicing hard, so Cixi praised him with the phrase "diligent and hardworking".

Then from 1876 to 1880, the politics of the Qing Dynasty had nothing to do with him. In 1881, Empress Dowager Ci'an passed away, and Cixi became the sole ruler of the court. At this time, Emperor Guangxu was already 15 years old. In the ancient concept, 15 years old was no longer a child, and the Old Buddha could no longer directly hold power, but she did not want to give up power.

At this time, Prince Chun gave an idea to Empress Dowager Cixi. He said that after letting Emperor Guangxu handle the affairs of the court, she would stay by his side to "teach him politics", and all matters related to important matters would have to follow her arrangements. It was called "teaching politics", but in fact, in everything, Emperor Guangxu had to listen to Cixi.

Emperor Guangxu even sacrificed his love for this. In order to control him, Empress Dowager Cixi gave her niece to Emperor Guangxu as her Empress. On September 26, 1889, Emperor Guangxu got married. He did not know what love tasted like, nor did he want to know.

However, Guangxu also had a few happy moments. However, in 1900, the eight-nation coalition invaded the Forbidden City, and Cixi put Zhenfei in a trap. That was the last bit of his nostalgia that disappeared with the smoke. He also tried to fight one last time before dying.

In 1908, due to extreme oppression, Emperor Guangxu fell ill and was bedridden. Cixi saw that he was about to die, so she immediately welcomed Puyi into the palace, preparing to let Puyi succeed him when Guangxu died so that she could once again take control of the government. On October 21 of the same year, Emperor Guangxu passed away at the age of 38, and he and Consort Zhen were about to be reunited.

Rumors about him in history have been spreading endlessly, one of the main reasons is because Emperor Guangxu was not seriously ill at first but suddenly became more ill. In the book "Chongling Chronicles", Uan Duc Dinh recorded that before Emperor Guangxu passed away, he said that Cixi would definitely die sooner than him, causing the Old Buddha to hold a grudge.

In the book "The Secret History of the Treatment of Emperor Guangxu", Qu Guiting also said that the symptoms of Emperor Guangxu's death in the 3 days before his death were severe stomach pain that made him roll around in bed, his face was black and his tongue was purple. These signs showed that Emperor Guangxu's death was not normal.

Those who were skeptical about his death at that time could not clarify the truth because 4 days before Emperor Guangxu died, Empress Dowager Cixi had prepared the funeral and was just waiting for him to pass away. So as soon as he breathed his last, she hurriedly put his body in a coffin, and did not build a proper tomb for him, but instead moved it to Yixianxing Palace and left it there until 1912.

In 2008, archaeologists opened the coffin of Emperor Guangxu and took some of his hair for testing. The results showed that the roots of his hair contained the highest concentration of arsenic, up to 362.7g/g, far exceeding the lethal dose.

This shows that he had consumed a large amount of arsenic, which caused the concentration of arsenic in his hair to be so high. Arsenic is a highly toxic substance, and after ingestion, symptoms of abdominal pain and vomiting immediately appear, causing a decrease in heart and lung function. Under normal circumstances, death would occur within an hour. Therefore, even experts said that his death was truly tragic.

Experts all believe that it was Empress Dowager Cixi who did it. From the details above, it can be guessed that Emperor Guangxu said that Cixi would die before him, and Cixi was filled with hatred and poisoned him. Therefore, Cixi prepared his funeral before he died, which shows that she knew the day Emperor Guangxu would die, but she did not expect that he would persist for 4 days, and because his death was unclear, he was hastily put into the coffin.

Li Lianying's sister revealed the shocking secret about Cixi's death, shocking everyone who heard it. Phượng Vũ19:40:36 28/01/2025After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, her death has always been a mystery that has made future generations curious. Later, her sister Li Lianying revealed something related that surprised everyone.