In the middle of summer, people often feel that the heat is unbearable, and in recent years, extreme heat weather has occurred frequently, which makes people feel distressed. However, in today's technologically advanced society, people have mastered a variety of ways to cope with extreme heat weather.
However, in ancient societies, the advent of extreme heat weather was undoubtedly a man-made disaster. There was an extremely hot summer in history, which happened in the eighth year of Qianlong. The extreme heat this summer is unimaginable.
In 1743, the eighth year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong, who was thirty-two years old, was ambitious and determined to win, but the sudden extreme heat cast a shadow on his ambitions.
From late June to late July of this year, the Gyeonggi region experienced a rare scorching heat, affecting 48 specific locations including Beijing, Tianjin, Zhili, Shanxi, and Shandong.
By modern standards, a hot day usually refers to a temperature above 35 degrees Celsius that lasts for several days. And this extremely hot weather is clearly beyond people's understanding.
Is the extreme heat in Qianlong's eight years the worst in history?It is difficult to answer this question definitively, because the concept of temperature has only been established in recent times. In the historical materials before the Qianlong Dynasty, there are indeed sporadic records of "hot summer", but due to the long age and lack of specific descriptions and references, it is difficult to make a clear judgment.
Thankfully, there is a wealth of historical records of the extreme heat events of the eighth year of Qianlong, as well as some letters from early missionaries to China, including eyewitness reports of the scorching heat, observations of astronomical instruments, and relevant weather information. These precious materials provide a reliable basis for scholars to study historical temperature.
According to the data, after calculating the historical temperature data, it was found that the maximum temperature in the summer of the eighth year of Qianlong actually reached an astonishing 444 degrees!It was the hottest summer in history, the hottest on record. Well, close to 44What exactly does 4 degrees of extreme heat mean?What unimaginable disasters it will bring to people?
The dangers of hot weather to people are obvious. From a scientific point of view, the suitable temperature of the human body is generally between 20 and 30 degrees, and more than 35 degrees Celsius will become extremely dangerous, because at that time, the balance function of the human body will be unbalanced, resulting in the temperature in the body cannot be dissipated, which may eventually lead to heat stroke and even life-threatening.
At 40 degrees Celsius, which is almost close to the critical point that the human body can bear, most people find it difficult to endure such continuous high temperatures, and the situation becomes extremely dangerous. And in 44With a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, the situation faced by people can be imagined, which can be described as a disaster.
According to historical records, the impact of the extreme heat at that time was extremely terrifying. The earth and stones on the ground were scorched, the metal decorations of the roofs were baked, and the lead and tin products were deformed. The walls and utensils in the house were a little hot, unbearable even in the cool shade, and you could even smell the trees being burned.
In ancient times, due to the lack of cooling equipment such as electric fans and air conditioners, people had very limited means to cool down and escape the heat in extreme weather, which was extremely powerless. As a result, there are countless cases of death from heat, thirst, and sudden death, even the splendid Jingshi is not spared, and even more serious conditions have appeared.
Song Junrong, a French missionary in Beijing at the time, was one of many foreign missionaries who witnessed the disaster. "Since July 13, the scorching heat has become unbearable, with many poor and fat people dying suddenly on the road, in the streets or in their houses, causing panic," he wrote in his eyewitness report. Many a** disciples have spontaneously prayed for those who have died!”
According to incomplete statistics, the number of people who died due to the scorching heat in the capital and the surrounding suburbs alone is as high as 1140,000 people. This kind of scene is probably far beyond the scope of the word "horror".
In the face of high temperatures and scorching heat, the lives of royal family members and court officials were relatively comfortable. After all, they had a lot of servants around them, and they could get ice cubes from the cellar to cool them down. However, for Qianlong, the supreme ruler at the time, life became quite uneasy.
The heat not only hurts, but also poses another potential threat: dry rivers, widespread drought, crop failures, and displacement of people, leading to rampant disease and social unrest. If it is not handled properly, it may lead to civil unrest, and the situation is difficult to manage.
As a ruler, Qianlong must consider everything that may happen while enjoying the cooling of the summer, so as to ensure that potential risks are nipped in the bud. Therefore, once he learned that the people were suffering from the disaster, he not only ordered his ministers to discuss the implementation of relief measures and quickly put them into practice, but also went to the people himself to calm the emotions of his subjects.
When the emperor goes out, he must maintain the emperor's prestige, even if the heat is unbearable, he cannot be shirtless like ordinary people. In the extremely hot weather, Qianlong was still wearing a heavy dragon robe, and the hardships can be imagined.
In order to soothe the people's feelings, Qianlong ignored the public opinion and personally went to the rain platform to pray for heaven to rain down to save the people from danger. When the people learned that the emperor was praying for rain for the people under the scorching sun, they were deeply moved and joined in praying for rain. Perhaps it was the sincere intentions of the people who moved the heavens, and since July 26, the heat has subsided suddenly, followed by the rain to put an end to this far-reaching disaster.
Of course, the so-called "moving the heavens" is only the ideology of feudal society, and it is not actually true. However, what is unbelievable is that in the summer of the Jiaqing Dynasty, there was an unexpected disaster, not "hot summer", but "midwinter". In 1816, the twenty-first year of Jiaqing's reign, the scorching summer suddenly encountered a cold wave, and "the weather was as cold as winter".
According to the ancient way of thinking, catastrophes were often seen as the result of poor performance by those in power. So, Qianlong and Jiaqing, the father and son, have experienced the test of "** two heavens", have they really made any mistakes?
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