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For a teenage girl used to, if we believe the legends being treated as equal as a boy life in the Forbidden City must have been unbearably strange to Cixi.
对于一个十几岁的女孩来说，如果我们相信传说中的男孩被平等对待，那么在紫禁城生活对慈禧来说一定是难以忍受的陌生。
On the one hand, she was given maids and eunuchs to attend to her and she'd lived with the other concubines in a grand set of sweets.
一方面，她有宫女和太监侍奉她，她和其他嫔妃住在华丽的宫殿里。
On the other hand, the men in her life had gone from seeing her as almost as good as a boy.
另一方面，她身边的男人已经不再把她看成一个好男孩了。
To a pretty sex robot, that was only good for one thing once.
对于一个漂亮的生育工具来说，这只对一件事有好处。
While she was with the emperor, Cixi made the mistake of trying to use her giant brain to suggest ways:
当慈禧和皇帝在一起的时候，她犯了一个错误，她试图用她强大的大脑提出建议:
The army might overcome the deadly Taiping Rebellion roiling China's south.
这支军队可能会战胜中国南方肆虐的太平天国起义。
But rather than being all like whoa, this chick is pretty smart.
但她并没有说，哇，这姑娘很聪明。
Xianfeng was like a girl given a man advice.
咸丰就像一个给男人出主意的女孩。
Please Gods, in some tellings, the emperor was so angry, he signed Cixi's death warrant.
天哪，在某些传说中，皇帝非常愤怒，他下令刺死慈禧。
Which means the fact that this video isn't about to end right now, it was down to one person.
这意味着这个视频现在还没有结束，还剩下一个人。
On the same day, that Cixi's eyes had caught the emperor's attention.
就在同一天，慈禧的目光引起了皇帝的注意。
Another concubine had been admitted to the palace called Zhen but known to history Ci'an.
另一位妃子贞也入宫，但在历史上被称为慈安。
She'd been elevated to the rank of Empress.
她被提升为皇后。
Rather than a source of jealousy between the two women, their different statuses would save Cixi's life.
这两个女人的不同身份非但没有成为她们之间嫉妒的根源，反而拯救了慈禧的生命。
When she found out about the death warrant, Ci'an went to the emperor and laid it on sick.
当慈安知道了死刑令的事，她去见皇上，说皇上不该这么做。
Exactly what she said is unknown, but it likely involved a whole lot of flattery and also the suggestion.
她到底说了什么不得而知，但很可能包含了大量的奉承和规劝。
That maybe, just maybe an intelligent outspoken concubine.
那也许，只是也许一个聪明的直言不讳的嫔妾。
It might be more useful alive than dead.
活着可能比死了更有用。
Whatever she said, it clearly worked.
不管她说了什么，很明显起作用了。
Not only did the Emperor forgive Cixi. He promoted her boosting her from his sixth rank concubine to number five.
皇帝不仅宽恕了慈禧。 还提拔她，把她的位置从第六提升到第五。
Again to our ears, that probably sounds like a bit of a veiled insult, but in imperial China where rank was everything.
对我们来说，这可能听起来有点含蓄的侮辱，但在封建时代的中国，地位就是一切。
It represented a massive boost in her fortunes.
这代表着她荣宠的增长。
She even got a new name from her original concubine name of Lan or orchid.
她甚至还从她原来的名字中得到了一个新名字——兰。
She became Yi exemplary but this would have nothing on the boost she'd received soon after.
她成为了懿贵人，但这与她在不久后获得的晋升相比毫无意义。
Like many global dynasties of the era, the Qing were obsessed with producing male heirs.
就像那个时代的许多世界王朝一样，清朝痴迷于生育男性继承人。
Unfortunately, Xianfeng was struggling like hell to sire any boys.
不幸的是，咸丰拼命想生个儿子。
So when Cixi gave birth to a child on April 27th, 1856.
1856年4月27日，慈禧生下一个孩子。
And it turned out to be a little dude with a pee pee. For the Tsing, it was party time.
一个还在尿尿的小家伙。 对清朝来说，这是庆祝时刻。
The birth of baby Zaichun, when Cixi was just 20 years old, catbolled at her from only alive, thanks to Ci'an to second most important woman in the country.
慈禧年仅20岁就生下了孩子爱新觉罗·载淳，这让慈禧从唯一的生还者变成了全国第二重要的女性。
While Chinese custom and Empress Ci'an was legally considered the mother being the concubine who burst the heir still carried a whole ton of crown.
而中国的习俗，慈安被认为是母亲，产下继承人的妃嫔，必须有足够的位分。
Cixi was promoted first to rank four then with no more concubines producing male heirs, right up to rank three Noble Consort.
慈禧被封妃，排位第四，然后没有更多的妃子产生皇子，一跃升到贵妃，排位第三。
It was the beginning of her rise to power.
这是她掌权的开端。
One that would only accelerate when her biological son became the emperor
当她的亲生儿子成为皇帝时，这一切只会加速
and it turned out that was going to happen a whole lot sooner than anybody anticipated.
事实证明，这一切发生得比任何人预期的都要快。
The same year Zaichu was born, the British launched their wholly unwanted sequel to the original Opium War.
就在爱新觉罗·载淳出生的同一年，英国人开始了他们罪恶的鸦片战争的续集。
Like any good blockbuster, the Second Opium War was bigger crazier and above all else a cynical attempt to make its creators as much money as humanly possible.
像任何一部好的大片一样，第二次鸦片战争更疯狂，最重要的是，它是一种愤世嫉俗的尝试，试图让它的英国尽可能多地赚钱。
As the Taiping Rebellion continued to pull China apart, the British sent diplomats to negotiate a brutally one-sided piece in retaliation.
随着太平天国运动继续分裂中国，英国派外交官就一份残酷的单方面的报复性文件进行谈判。
The emperor had them all arrested.
皇帝把他们都逮捕了。
So the British did what they did best. They burned down one of the seats of government.
所以英国人做了他们最擅长的事。 他们烧毁了一座政府大楼。
The 1860 attack on the Summer Palace came just as people gathered to celebrate the emperor's 30th birthday.
1860年对圆明园的攻击正好发生在人们聚集在一起庆祝皇帝30岁寿辰的时候。
Cixi, Ci'an and more were forced to flee ahead of an orgy of looting and burning in the wake of the palace's destruction.
在宫殿被毁后，英国疯狂抢劫和焚烧之前， 慈禧、慈安等人都被迫逃走。
What other choice did the emperor have broken ?
皇帝还有什么选择呢？
crushed Xianfeng dispatched his brother Prince Gong to make peace the resulting treaty.
崩溃的咸丰帝派他的弟弟恭亲王去求和。
So China humiliated swathes of territory were lost.
因此，中国蒙受了耻辱，失去了大片领土。
Europeans were given staggering concessions in trade and religious freedom and exemptions from Chinese laws for an emperor who'd grown up despising the west.
欧洲人在贸易和宗教自由方面得到了惊人的让步，而这位从小就鄙视西方的皇帝也不受中国法律的约束。
It must have been a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
这一定是难以下咽的苦果。
Fortunately, Xianfeng wouldn't be around to witness the aftermath in August,1861.
幸运的是，咸丰没有在1861年8月目睹这场灾难。
The emperor began coughing up blood after a short illness.
皇帝得了一场小病后开始咳血。
He passed away, leaving only a single male heir,
他去世了，只留下一个男性继承人，
and just like that, young Cixi found herself, mother of the new emperor.
就这样，年轻的慈禧成为了新皇帝的母亲。
