Shortly after entering the palace, Yela became pregnant and gave birth to the only prince of Xianfeng Emperor, the later Tongzhi Emperor, thus enhancing Yela's status and making him a noble lady. Shortly after the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Emperor Tongzhi succeeded to the throne, and Yelash became the empress dowager. At that time, the king was young, and for the sake of politics, Empress Dowager Cixi listened to politics. This was the first time that Cixi came to power. At that time, there were eight assistant ministers left by Emperor Xianfeng before his death in North Korea, but Cixi didn't like that they often fought for power and profit with themselves, so she teamed up with Prince Gong at that time to arrest all these ministers and put them to death.
From this incident, we can also see that Cixi has strong political means and is quick and accurate in handling political affairs. She used Zeng Guofan, Zuo and other ministers many times to suppress the vigorous Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement at that time, which lifted the crisis in the Qing Dynasty and stabilized the political power. Although the Tongzhi emperor repeatedly said that he wanted to lead the government, Cixi still clung to her power.
Later, the Tongzhi emperor died of smallpox, and the young Guangxu succeeded to the throne, giving Cixi the opportunity to listen to politics openly. At this time, Cixi has been in power for many years, and she is one of her own from top to bottom. Now no one can shake her position. Although Guangxu tried to regain power through political reform in the later period, he was young and inexperienced and soon failed.