At the end of the Qing dynasty, the strength status was already the existence of internal troubles and foreign invasion. Empress dowager cixi is in charge of state affairs, which has made people complain. Under the oppression of the Qing government, there were more and more peasant uprisings, especially the uprising army dominated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which directly threatened the imperial rule of Cixi. On the other hand, western powers mostly enslaved the Qing government for trade and economy. At that time, such a purpose was not obvious. At least Cixi thought that she would not overthrow her imperial rule. Compared with the two, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is directly fatal. If western powers want money, it will definitely destroy the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. As far as comprehensive strength is concerned, the closed-door policy of the Qing Dynasty made the former powers gradually decline, making it difficult to use warships against more advanced artillery, but it still had advantages against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
With the support of western powers, after the Qing government was attacked by western powers, it only hoped that the Qing government would cede land and pay reparations. Compared with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which was bent on overthrowing the rule of Qing Dynasty, Cixi still knew which was more important. Especially after the reparations, the Qing government got the support of the western powers to jointly suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which also made Cixi paralyzed that the western powers had become their allies and would not destroy their imperial rule. With the help of the advanced guns of western powers, Cixi saw the obvious superiority of suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, which also enabled Cixi to realize the main purpose of eliminating the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom more quickly. Although the Qing government was still subjugating the country, Cixi only wanted to keep the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty, but she didn't care too much and was lucky enough to have a wrong understanding of the real purpose of western powers.
Blindly confident that Cixi, as a high-ranking imperial ruler, has always been her own master, and anyone in the Qing Dynasty can be killed in one sentence. Cixi, who once lived a pampered life, still looked down on the western powers even after they demanded compensation from the Qing Dynasty, thinking that these outsiders were not comparable to their aristocratic status. Blind self-confidence also made Cixi misjudge the real situation, which is also a manifestation of not daring to act. Therefore, she still did not dare to resist the western powers, but she was even more dismissive of countries that had been ruled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. To wipe out the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, it is natural for Cixi to see these rebellious and disorderly troops wiped out.