The Shattered Mirror

The heavy doors of Cixi's private audience chamber slammed shut, the sound echoing like a thunderclap in the sudden, tomblike silence. The last of the attendants had been dismissed with a sharp, furious gesture. Only three people remained: Cixi, the co-regent Empress Dowager Ci'an, and the silent, ever-present Li Lianying, who seemed to shrink into the shadows, making himself as small as possible.

Cixi's mask of serene, icy control, the face she had maintained throughout her public humiliation in the Grand Council, finally shattered. With a cry that was halfway between a scream and a sob of pure rage, she swept her arm across a nearby table. A priceless porcelain vase from the Kangxi era, a masterpiece of celadon green, flew through the air and exploded against a marble pillar, its fragments scattering across the silk carpet like fallen leaves.

"How dare you!" she shrieked, her voice no longer the measured, musical tone of a ruler, but the raw, ragged sound of absolute betrayal. She spun on Ci'an, her eyes blazing with a volcanic fury. "How dare you humiliate me in front of the entire court! In front of those arrogant, posturing old men! You, my 'sister'! My co-regent! The one person in this forsaken palace I thought I could trust! You sided with that arrogant dog Prince Gong against me!"

Ci'an, who had followed her from the council chamber in a desperate attempt to explain, to smooth over the unprecedented rift, flinched as if struck. But she did not back down. She stood her ground in the center of the room, her gentle face pale but her expression resolute.

"I did not side with the Prince," she said, her voice trembling but firm. "I sided with the Emperor. And I sided with what is best for the dynasty. Can you not see it, Cixi? The fleet needs men who understand ships, not your poets and cronies whose only skill is flattering you! You are so blinded by your personal feud with Prince Gong that you are willing to sacrifice the nation's safety to spite him!"

The accusation hung in the air, sharp and true. It was a truth Cixi could not bear to hear.

"Blinded?" Cixi laughed, a sharp, ugly sound devoid of all mirth. "I am the only one in this city whose eyes are open! You are the one who is blind! A naive, sentimental fool, manipulated by a few pretty words from a power-hungry prince and the nonsensical scribbles of a sick child!"

"He is not a sick child!" Ci'an retorted, her own voice rising with a passion that surprised even herself. "He is the Son of Heaven, and his insight is a gift. He saw the danger from Japan when all your wise councillors were looking the other way! The choice of Li Fengbao was a sign from Heaven, a chance to place competence above politics, and you would have ignored it out of pure, petty pride!"

This was the heart of their conflict, a schism that had been growing in silence for years. Cixi saw power as a game of personal loyalty, of factions and favors, a system to be controlled through fear and patronage. Ci'an, in her simple, straightforward way, still believed in the ideals of good governance, in duty and competence. For years, she had deferred to Cixi's stronger will, convincing herself it was for the good of the dynasty. But no more. The Emperor's strange wisdom, his vulnerability, and his quiet validation of her own worth had given her a strength she never knew she possessed.

"A sign from Heaven?" Cixi's voice dropped to a low, venomous whisper. She advanced on Ci'an, her small frame radiating a terrifying intensity. "You think that was Heaven? That was Prince Gong's faction, whispering in the ears of that disgraced tutor Weng Tonghe, who then fed the words to the boy. It is a simple, transparent political ploy, and you, in your infinite foolishness, have fallen for it completely. You have allowed them to use you. You have allowed them to use the Emperor. You have made us both look like weak, squabbling women."

"It is your paranoia that makes us look weak!" Ci'an shot back, her own heartbreak turning to anger. "Your endless need to control every appointment, every decision! Your spies and your secrets! You trust no one, and so you are creating enemies where none existed. Your obsession with your own power will be the ruin of this dynasty, Cixi! I can no longer stand by and watch you burn it to the ground."

The final, unforgivable words had been spoken. The mirror of their long, complex partnership, already cracked, now shattered completely.

Cixi stopped directly in front of Ci'an, her face a mask of cold, settled hatred. "Then don't," she said, her voice flat and dead. "From this day forward, you are relieved of the burden. You will not be consulted on matters of state. You will not attend the Grand Council. You will not have a vote. You are a Dowager Empress. Attend to your embroidering. Tend to your gardens. Say your prayers." She smiled, a chilling, cruel twist of her lips. "But the governing of this empire is now my concern, and mine alone. The co-regency is over."

She had effectively declared a coup. She was casting Ci'an out, stripping her of all political power, isolating her.

Ci'an stared at the woman who had been her sister-in-law, her partner, her rival, and her tormentor for decades. She saw no path to reconciliation. The break was final and absolute. Without another word, her shoulders slumped in defeat and heartbreak, she turned and walked out of the chamber, a lonely figure of quiet dignity.

Cixi watched her go, her chest heaving, the adrenaline of the confrontation slowly giving way to the cold reality of her new position. She had won. She had asserted her dominance. But she was also, for the first time, truly alone at the top. She had lost her partner, her collaborator, and her veneer of ruling by consensus. She was no longer a regent acting in partnership. She was now a solitary dictator, a position that was both more powerful and infinitely more precarious.

She turned to her one remaining, truly loyal servant. "Lianying," she commanded, her voice regaining its iron control. "Double the guard on Prince Gong's mansion. I want a report of every person who enters or leaves. And begin a full investigation into the family and associates of this… Li Fengbao. Find his weakness. Everyone has one."

She was isolated, but she was not defeated. The war for control of the throne had just become much simpler. It was now her, and her alone, against all her enemies.