February**Dynamic Incentive Program To this day, I can't help but feel regret and emotion when I think back to those past events - this man, born in a declining empire, seems to have taken on responsibilities that far exceed the burden of his young body. However, in his short life, he resolutely moved forward, even in the whirlpool of internal and external troubles, until the last moment of his life, he still stubbornly chose to live and die with his mission.
He is the eighth emperor of the late Qing Empire - Emperor Xianfeng. A man who has endured too many misfortunes and died young, a symbol of symbiosis and death with this country.
Xianfeng, the little prince, was born destined to take on responsibilities that go far beyond the throne and crown. Back in 1856, the autumn of that year was exceptionally cold, just like the declining fate of the Qing Dynasty. The first blow Xianfeng, who had just ascended the throne as emperor, was the news that his biological mother and one of his father's favorite concubines, Emperor Daoguang, was killed by a palace maid.
At only 25 years old, he never imagined that he would have to suffer such a heavy blow when he first ascended the throne. He lost the person who loved him the most in the world, and he also lost the sadness and inner desolation of his mother as a son.
He had to hold a brief funeral in the palace, and then hurriedly deal with the affairs of the court. For a new monarch who has just ascended the throne, the outside world shows no mercy. He had no choice but to endure the pain and bury his heavy sorrow deeply.
It may just be that this situation is barely able to bear, but then more severe blows followed. When the flames of war in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom spread from the south, engulfing almost the entire Jiangnan provinces, the young monarch felt as if he was overwhelmed by powerlessness.
He sat in the Taihe Hall all day long, facing the heavy good news that the ministers had come to report and the tragic situation on the southern front, and his feelings were mixed. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was just a peasant rebel army, and with what kind of strength did they almost overthrow an empire that had existed for more than 200 years?And how could he, the new king, be so incompetent to stop it?
Emperor Xianfeng couldn't sleep at night. He kept imagining the plight of the soldiers on the front lines and the suffering of the people, and those real and bloody images seemed to pour in from thousands of miles away every night, tormenting him and making it difficult for him to find peace in his dreams.
He understood that this time the situation did not seem to be more favorable than it had been during the Opium War. The country, like his ancestors, is at a critical moment of life and death. But what can he do? When the gloomy clouds in the Taihe Hall were bleak and the government and the opposition fell into despair, the artillery fire from the West seemed to come unexpectedly, adding to the situation of this already badly damaged country.
Since the Opium War, the Western powers have been staring at the Qing Empire, a "sick country". Finally, they found the best excuse - *'s maritime ban policy.
In the autumn of 1856, under the pretext of the so-called "safeguarding of interests", the Anglo-French forces again jointly attacked the Qing Dynasty. This time, they intend to directly divide the land of **. The Qing court had already paid huge reparations for this, but the greed of the Western powers seemed to be never-ending. The concessions of the Qing court only provided a brief respite, and the next round of aggression was imminent.
At the same time, ** is also eyeing the northeast territory of our country year after year. The once vast territory is gradually shrinking, and the new owner of this country is the 25-year-old Emperor Xianfeng. What could he do?
When the artillery of the British and French forces crossed the Shanhai Pass and instantly approached the Beijing Division, Xianfeng once again couldn't sleep all night. He was eager to personally lead the army to fight, even if he was one enemy and one hundred, but his identity was limited, so he could only send Prince Gong to the bitter side, and he chose to flee north.
Providence makes people, such a prosperous era is so short. Faced with successive disasters, how can this young man in his early twenties turn the tide? Although he was the Son of Heaven, he could not save the torn country, and frustration and powerlessness almost knocked him down.
In an environment of internal and external troubles, the 25-year-old young emperor ascended the throne and became emperor. He seems to have become a symbol of turbulent times – how could he survive the twilight of the empire?
Sure enough, the artillery fire of the Western powers soon hit the city of Beijing. In the summer, 1860, Tianjin was captured. Soon after, the coalition forces were closing in on the Forbidden City, and it was clear that they wanted to overthrow the already precarious dynasty outright.
At this critical moment, Emperor Xianfeng made a decision - to leave the capital and temporarily escape the storm. He left Prince Gong to guard the city of Beijing, while he himself fled north in a hurry, rushing to Rehe and joining the summer resort in Chengde.
This ancient palace was built by his ancestor Emperor Kangxi to escape the summer. And now, it has become his last refuge. He stood there, looking out into the distance, the once prosperous capital was now shrouded in smoke and dust. His subjects, his land, were in crisis—and yet, as the master of the country, he seemed so weak.
At that moment, he was clearly aware of the heavy responsibility and mission on his shoulders. However, no matter how much he struggled, the already dilapidated giant ship of the Great Qing seemed destined to sink. He wanted to save, but he couldn't. This feeling of helplessness made his entire soul tremble, making him ten years old in just one night.
The moment he arrived at the summer resort, the young monarch, who was overwhelmed by time and mission, seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief. During his years at the Rehe Palace, his indulgent and wanton life finally began.
When night fell, he could still hear the wails of the fallen soldiers in the capital and the front line. However, when the court music and the laughter of the singers wafted in his ears, he was able to forget all this for a moment and immerse himself in another round of revelry.
Beauty, wine, and food seem to have become his only sustenance in this troubled world. A man who was born in troubled times and grew up under heavy pressure is another relief for him. However, this enjoyment is also quietly consuming his mind and body. From the initial small indulgence to the almost abandonment of the government, Emperor Xianfeng's life became more and more decadent and degenerate in this year.
Not only is it beautiful, but opium smoke often fills his bedroom. The wisps of psychedelia seemed to be full of pleasure and forgetfulness that fascinated him. All the troubles, sorrows, and smoke of war seem to have dissipated in this fog. In its place is the emptiness, numbness, and pleasure of day after day.
He seems to have forgotten his responsibility as the ruler of a nation; Forget those innate ambitions, and the innocent heart of a young man who wanted to save the country from danger. Everything was in vain, and he just wanted to enjoy a few more days in this difficult world.
Unfortunately, the good things in the world are short-lived. The extreme of anything means another kind of overturn, and this is also true for the life of Emperor Xianfeng. Indulgence and indulgence eventually led him to a rapid weakening – and so did an empire he had worked so hard to protect.
In the summer of 1861, at the age of 31, he died of illness in Chengde. The last of the powerful emperors went west and fell into the dust. And the catastrophe he had been putting off was really coming at the moment of his death.
With the untimely death of Emperor Xianfeng, the abyss hidden under the surface of the precarious empire finally collapsed completely. The rebels of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were almost approaching Beijing; The warships of the Empire on which the sun never sets hovered along the coast, ready to make a final dismemberment and partition of the dismembered empire. At the moment when his coffin was far away from Rehe, the Qing Dynasty, a dynasty that had stood for more than 200 years, seemed to have come to an end. It seems that its glorious glory, its vast territory and the honor of the ** kingdom are gone forever. Its owner is gone, and its subjects are ravaged and ravaged by internal and external troubles. It was the deadliest blow it has faced since its establishment. However, even at its most shattered moment, the soul of this ancient Eastern Empire was never truly extinguished. The heavy and stubborn life reveals its unique bearing after stripping away all appearances, and proudly faces the impermanence and cruelty of fate in its own way. It has endured the baptism of suffering in the darkest years of modern times, and has also been resurrected again and again in the flames of war and gunsmoke. Until it finally shines again, standing as majestic as it did in the first place. The trauma caused by the wars between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Western powers on Chinese society can be daunting to anyone. However, the Chinese civilization has gone through baptism again and again, and it is still tenacious and unyielding. Perhaps this is the most innate and great spiritual aura of this ancient nation - even if it is not recovered, it will eventually be reborn. But that's many, many years later.
Perhaps in the long course of history, everything will be washed away, but in any case, those deep pains and torments in the heart will never fade away. We can't change the past, we can only learn from it and keep improving ourselves. We can only miss the man who endured turmoil in his short life, but remained on his mission until the end of his life, and he was deeply connected to the land and destiny despite the passage of time. It is because of their sacrifice and struggle that this ancient civilization can regain its glory after the storm.