On 22 August 1861, in the wake of the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor died at the Rehe Traveling Palace (), northeast of Beijing, where he and his imperial court had fled to when the Anglo-French forces closed in on the Forbidden City. He was succeeded by his sole surviving son, Zaichun, who was only five years old then; Zaichun was enthroned as the Tongzhi Emperor. A power struggle broke out between two factions over the issue of who should assume the regency until Zaichun was old enough to rule on his own. On his deathbed, the Xianfeng Emperor had appointed his close adviser Sushun and seven others to be the regents. However, Noble Consort Yi, the Tongzhi Emperor's birth mother, also wanted to assume the regency. The Empress initially agreed to cooperate with Sushun and his seven co-regents, but changed her mind after being persuaded by Noble Consort Yi. In November 1861, with aid from Yixin (Prince Gong), the Xianfeng Emperor's sixth brother, the Empress and Noble Consort Yi staged a coup – historically known as the Xinyou Coup – against the eight regents and ousted them from power, thereby securing control of the regency.