How embarrassed were the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu when they fled to Xi'an?

In the early morning of August 15, 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces were about to capture Donghua Gate in Beijing. The Empress Dowager Cixi had to take Emperor Guangxu all the way west, passing through Hebei and Shanxi provinces until Xi'an. This was a very short route.

How many people did Cixi take with her when she and Guangxu fled to Xi'an? How did you eat and live along the way?

At the beginning, things happened in a hurry, and the whereabouts of the two palaces were relatively confidential. For safety reasons, there was no order to receive them from various places for the time being. Empress Dowager Cixi changed her appearance and made up herself as a commoner's wife. She left the Forbidden City and found a mule cart outside the Xihua Gate. When we arrived at the Xizhimen area, we met the remnants of Ma Yukun's army, plus some other soldiers, about 2,000 people were on the road together.

The group first arrived in Guan City, Changping, 70 miles away from the capital, and lived in a farmer's home with a simple diet. After that, he went to Huailai County in what was then Zhili Province and today's Hebei Province. Although it was May and June, the weather at night was still very cold, making me feel hungry and cold. According to Cen Chunxuan’s recollection:

As you can imagine, transportation was inconvenient at that time, and we were walking in a hurry, and we didn’t carry much food and water. In Huailai County at the end of the Qing Dynasty, unlike today, you can find hotels to stay in and restaurants to eat. Instead, his eyes were completely dark and he had nothing to do. He had no choice but to stay overnight at Jiming Inn.

Originally, local officials did not receive the news about the two palaces leaving the capital. However, not long after, the magistrate of Huailai County learned the news through Wu Yong, who was in charge of the post. The unknown man felt that an opportunity had come. , immediately led a group of government servants and hurriedly went to the post station to pick him up. At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu had lost their former majesty, and the monarchs and ministers looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

However, Wu Yong did not consider it thoroughly, and it was also because he was anxious to see Jia Jia. The crowd had no time to prepare, so they only had some simple food. After a while, Cixi and Guangxu were served home-cooked food such as millet porridge, cornmeal, and steamed buns to express their filial piety.

If they were in the palace on weekdays, for the pampered Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the Queen Mother of the West Palace, these would certainly be rough and difficult to swallow. However, at this time, Cixi and Guangxu, who were originally noble, were basically exhausted and needed food.

This was like rain after a long drought. Cixi was very happy after eating, and praised Wu Yong for being very loyal, and for being able to face the crisis with determination, and she felt a little grateful.

From this time on, Wu Yong followed Luan Jia of the two palaces, responsible for the catering work, and served as the food organizer during the trip until Xi'an. In fact, Cixi led a group of remnant soldiers. Before arriving in Taiyuan, the soldiers burned, killed, and looted along the way in order to eat, and the people suffered greatly.

The journey was long and bumpy. After the two palaces arrived in Taiyuan, Shanxi, they gradually stabilized their footing and required the local government to supply more than 100 taels per day, basically 200 taels per day, so that their living and food could be guaranteed. Cixi and Guangxu began to carry out the emperor's orders, issued edicts, announced to various places, and asked local officials along the way to prepare for reception and supply matters. The days of eating chaffy vegetables became a thing of the past.

On October 26, after more than two months of traveling, they finally arrived safely in Xi'an. Cixi, the princes and retinues formed a temporary court to smoothen communication channels, open up the express delivery system, and generate electricity to control the government affairs.