https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Gong
He seemed to get most policy questions right as a senior imperial advisor, worked with the Dowager Empress Cixi, and when they had rifts later he was taking the more reformist and fiscally responsible stances. He also lived till 1898.
What if the Xianfeng Emperor died before the Daoguang Emperor did, and Prince Gong became Emperor then in 1850 at 17. ...and, as a consequence, his own mother, and not Cixi, would be Dowager Empress. His own mother died in 1855.
What difference does any of this make of 19th century China?
He seemed to get most policy questions right as a senior imperial advisor, worked with the Dowager Empress Cixi, and when they had rifts later he was taking the more reformist and fiscally responsible stances. He also lived till 1898.
What if the Xianfeng Emperor died before the Daoguang Emperor did, and Prince Gong became Emperor then in 1850 at 17. ...and, as a consequence, his own mother, and not Cixi, would be Dowager Empress. His own mother died in 1855.
What difference does any of this make of 19th century China?