According to historical records, Li not only accompanied Cixi for more than half a century, but also was the first person to call Cixi "Lafayette" and was her absolute confidant.

However, behind Li's successful entry into the palace, there is also a smoke-filled past of his humble origins. Then, how did Li, who was born in a poor family, jump from a poor boy living on the streets to a powerful eunuch?

First, years of poverty

In 1848, Li was born in a poor family in Dacheng County, Shuntianfu.

Li's father is an unemployed person. He supports his family by working for a distant uncle who has no children. But this distant uncle is not rich, so although Li's father works day and night, he can barely make ends meet.

Then my distant uncle passed away. Li's source of life was suddenly interrupted. The poor Li family had to go to Beijing to make a living.

Li's parents began to help people repair shoes, which is called "peeling Li". However, the income from this job is still meager. Seeing that life at home was getting more and more difficult, Li, who was only seven years old, had to be sent to the government by his parents as a eunuch to improve his family's financial difficulties.

Fate seems to have played a joke on Li. Li, who had to become a eunuch in order to survive, would not have thought that becoming a eunuch was not the darkest moment in his life, but the starting point for his soaring.

Second, winning in a row made a fortune.

After entering the government, Li was diligent and eager to learn, and he was very good at reading people's hearts, and soon won the favor of others.

According to folklore, Li learned a good hair art when he was an official. With this exclusive combing technique, Li successfully entered the palace to comb the hair of Empress Dowager Cixi on the recommendation of the eunuch in her hometown.

It is said that after Li combed Cixi's hair for the first time, Cixi looked around and found that Li's bun was dignified and generous, unconventional, and could not help but love it. Love me, love my dog, and Cixi values Li more.

Li gained a firm foothold in the palace under the esteem of Cixi, and gradually grew into the most powerful eunuch in the palace.

The legend of Li's prosperity is not recorded in the official history, but it is widely circulated. After Li became a great eunuch, some officials who impeached him called him "Little Grate Li" in their memorials.

Third, an imperial envoy

There is no textual research on "small", but it is an indisputable fact that Li's emotional intelligence is high. 1886, Prince Chun was ordered to inspect Beiyang Navy, and Li also set out with him.

Before leaving, Cixi specially ordered Li to leave Beijing as an imperial envoy. After leaving Beijing, the local official in charge of reception prepared a beautiful room for Prince Chun, with all kinds of daily necessities. At the same time, these officials also arranged all the needs of Ang Lee's journey, which is second only to Prince Alcohol in all aspects.

However, Li did not enjoy the luxury tour package arranged by local officials, and took the initiative to work as a waiter for the wine prince, which proved his high emotional intelligence.

It turned out that Prince Chun took Li on a business trip just to avoid the suspicion of Cixi. Unexpectedly, when he met with local officials, Prince Chun was surprised to find that Li actually helped him serve food with a pipe, and there was no shelf for an imperial envoy. During the evening break, Li took the initiative to wait on Prince Chun to wash her feet, and even personally helped Prince Chun to wash her feet, so that Prince Chun experienced a high-standard service that Cixi only had.

In the long run, Prince Chun completely fell in love with low-key and humble Li. After returning to Beijing, Prince Chun praised Li in front of Cixi until Cixi, who had always been proud, proudly said, "I didn't harm him in vain!"

Low-key and humble life style, sharp-edged and restrained high emotional intelligence make Li gain power in the court and be respected and loved.

Fourth, openly ask for bribes.

In A.D. 1894, Cixi gave Li Er and others to wear the Hualing, which broke the ancestral system that "the rank of eunuchs was limited to four levels" since Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, and Li became the most powerful eunuch.

After his success, Li turned his attention to getting rich and began to take advantage of his position to openly ask for bribes from officials at all levels.

For example, Jiangning weaving needs to ask the eunuch in the palace to make clothes every year, which is a good opportunity for Li Facai. If Jiangning Weaving wants to finish the work smoothly, it must first bribe Li and his eunuchs.

Maybe Li asked for bribes too many times. In the thirteenth year of Guangxu, the unbearable weavers in Jiangning, Beijing, wrote to Jiangning Weaving Guanghou, saying that this time Li blackmailed silver 120 Liang with patterns.

Jiangning weaving would never have thought that even on the way to Li Xixing, he still didn't forget to ask for bribes. According to the official who served as the office of the Grain Bureau on the way to the Western Expedition, Cixi was still very ostentatious on the way to the Western Expedition, so Li took the opportunity to publicly blackmail local officials and earned at least 100 silver each time.

However, although Li openly asked for bribes, because of his smooth and versatile life, he was able to make ends meet in the DPRK, and even Emperor Guangxu, a member of the "Imperial Party", was full of affection for Li.

After Li's death, there was a sentence on his epitaph: "Be respectful and lenient. If you have a year, you will never relax. " . This high emotional intelligence in dealing with people may be Li Chenggong's secret.