Empress Dowager Ci'an
The years after the Xianfeng Emperor's death were called the Tongzhi Restoration. It was a period of peace; the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars with the British ceased. The treasury began growing again after decades of depletion. Empress Dowager Ci'an was little mentioned during this period and her only notable intervention in politics was in 1869. An Dehai, a court eunuch and close aide of Empress Dowager Cixi, was on a trip south to purchase a set of dragon robes for Cixi. While travelling in Shandong Province, he abused his authority by extorting money from people and causing trouble. Ding Baozhen, the Governor of Shandong, reported An Dehai's deeds to the imperial court. Empress Dowager Ci'an received news about it and drafted an imperial decree as follows: