An Dehai (1837 - 1869) entered the palace at the age of 10, and was later promoted to eunuch serving Emperor Xianfeng. In 1852, two years after An Dehai served Emperor Xianfeng, Cixi entered the palace. Wanting to be favored by the emperor, Cixi intentionally became close to An Dehai. After Emperor Xianfeng died, An Dehai became Cixi's personal eunuch, taking care of all the food, accommodation, and clothing in the empress dowager's life.
An Dehai (far left), Empress Dowager Cixi (middle) and Li Lianying (far right). (Photo: Sohu)
An Dehai consolidated his position during the Xinyou Coup after Emperor Xianfeng's death in August 1861. He helped Cixi secretly contact Prince Gong Yixin and assisted the empress dowager in the purge of the eight regents. After this coup, Cixi became the empress dowager regent, and An Dehai's eunuch career took off like a kite.
He was promoted two ranks in a row, becoming the chief eunuch at the age of 20. Empress Dowager Cixi loved An Dehai so much that she even gave him a 19-year-old girl in marriage and a wedding gift of 20,000 taels of silver. As Empress Dowager Cixi gained more and more power, An Dehai's position also rose.
He gossiped every day, causing Prince Gong Yi Xin to gradually lose his "deputy king" rights. An Dehai also did not put Emperor Tongzhi and other ministers in his eyes, causing dissatisfaction among the court.
In the 8th year of Tongzhi, that is, 1869, Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to buy a wedding gift for Emperor Tongzhi, who was then 14 years old. An Dehai took this opportunity to go sightseeing, so he proactively asked Empress Dowager Cixi to assign him this task. An Dehai brought his entourage down south, and wherever he went, he plundered treasures. When he arrived at Dezhou, Shandong Province, An Dehai even slapped the local official for giving him too little money, which angered Shandong Governor Ding Baozhen.
Dinh Bao Trinh was originally an upright person, but he had previously been dissatisfied with hearing bad things about An Duc Hai, so he decided to take action. He assigned the prefect of Lieu Thanh, the prefect of Te Ninh, and officials to closely monitor An Duc Hai's journey, arranging a net of traps to prevent An Tong Quan from falling into the trap.
Finally, An Dehai was captured when he arrived at Tai'an and was executed there. Chinese historians still debate who ordered An Dehai's execution. Some believe that before capturing An Dehai, Ding Baozhen secretly sent someone to Beijing to report the news, not through Empress Dowager Cixi but directly to Emperor Tongzhi. Emperor Tongzhi, who hated An Dehai, ordered the eunuch's death.
Some historians also believe that Prince Gong Yixin secretly joined forces with Ding Baozhen to plan to kill An Dehai. Another theory is that Empress Dowager Cixi set up a trap to kill An Dehai because the Qing Dynasty's ancestral law stipulated that "eunuchs were not allowed to leave the palace 40 miles without permission", and anyone who violated it would be executed on the spot by local authorities. An Dehai left the palace without bringing any edicts.
An Dehai died at the age of 25. Li Lianying, at the age of 21, became the new "red man" next to Empress Dowager Cixi. From then on, Li Lianying was the most powerful eunuch in the Qing Dynasty. After Empress Dowager Cixi died in 1908, Li Lianying took the initiative to hand over his position to Xiaode Zhang, the last chief eunuch of feudal China. Li Lianying died in Beijing in 1911 of dysentery.
TUE LAM (Source: Sohu)
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