Cixi and Guangxu were at odds. How did Li Lianying, who was deeply loved by Cixi, get along with each other? The approach of trying to please both sides and being smart on all sides is his strategy to

Cixi and Guangxu were at odds. How did Li Lianying, who was deeply loved by Cixi, get along with each other? The approach of trying to please both sides and being smart on all sides is his strategy to remain invincible and to preserve himself. It is well known that Cixi and Guangxu had political disagreements. What attitude does Li Lianying take between the two? Some people say that he stood with the Queen Mother, opposed the reform, and framed the imperial party. Some even said that Guangxu was poisoned to death by Li Lianying. But some people say that Li Lianying was smooth by nature and could please both sides. Not only did the Queen Mother like him, but Guangxu also liked him because he had been under his care since he was a child, and praised him as "loyal to the master." Wang Zhao once told a story: Cixi led Guangxu and all the civil and military officials to escape and then returned to Beijing and settled in Baoding. The place where the Queen Mother slept was decorated with gorgeous bedding. Li Lianying's place was a little worse, but it was also very good. The place where Guangxu slept was miserable. Li Lianying waited on Cixi and came to visit her after she fell asleep. She saw Guangxu sitting in front of the lamp and no one of the young eunuchs was on duty in the palace. When I asked, I found out that the emperor didn't even have any beds. It was the middle of winter and it was impossible to sleep. Li Lianying immediately knelt down and hugged Guangxu's legs and cried bitterly: "The slaves deserve death!" and held her own bedding for Guangxu to use. When Guangxu later recalled the pain of fleeing to the west, he said: "Without Li Shuda (meaning old friend or master), I would not be alive today." After the Reform Movement of 1898, Li Lianying was cautious in his words and did not clearly express his support for Cixi. Cixi became somewhat emotionally distant from him from then on. After fleeing to the west and returning to Beijing, Li Lianying believed that she had served the royal family responsibly throughout her life and could consider retiring. On October 22, the 34th year of Guangxu's reign, Cixi died in Yiluan Hall in Xiyuan, Beijing. Li Lianying finished handling Cixi's funeral and left the palace where she had lived for 51 years on the second day of February in the first year of Xuantong. Empress Dowager Longyu, who was in charge of the inner palace at that time, in order to thank him for his many years of service in the palace, allowed him to retire with his original salary of sixty taels of silver per month. There are many legends surrounding Li Lianying's leaving the palace and his death. Some people say that he saw Guangxu's younger brother Zaifeng supervising the regency and retreated outside the palace for fear of retaliation; others said that after Li Lianying's death, the eunuchs in the palace robbed his inheritance one after another, and Empress Dowager Longyu confiscated all the property; others said, Li Lianying offended many people during his lifetime and lived in seclusion after leaving the palace. However, he was eventually assassinated near Houhai. Although similar legends are very popular, judging from the arrangements made by the Qing palace for Li Lianying's departure from the palace and after his death, these legends are unbelievable. As an eunuch, Li Lianying's status was extremely humble. The difference is that due to the appreciation and favor of the Empress Dowager Cixi, he enjoyed the unprecedented power and status of a palace eunuch, and money and wealth also rolled in. But precisely because of his special relationship with Cixi, he became one of the most notorious figures in modern Chinese history. When Li Lianying died, she received 1,000 taels of silver from the Qing court and built a luxurious tomb in the eunuch cemetery in Enji Village, Beijing. Li Lianying's tomb was destroyed 30 years ago, and only the rubbings of the epitaph remain. Li Lianying died in the third year of Xuantong at the age of 64. At this time, the Qing Dynasty, which had lasted for more than two hundred years, was in a state of turmoil, and its demise was only a matter of seconds.