Everyone knows that the royal family has a large number of children and grandchildren, after all, they have a large number of wives and concubines. However, Emperor Qianlong also had dozens of wives and concubines and gave birth to 17 princes, but he was particularly worried when he chose a successor in his later years.
Because he was too good to live, he lived to the age of 89 and survived most of his sons to death, and when he chose an heir in his later years, he only had 4 sons, including the eighth son of the emperor Yongxuan, the eleventh son of the emperor Yongxuan, the fifteenth son of the emperor Yongyan and the seventeenth son of the emperor Yongxuan.
Among them, Mian En is his second grandson, in addition to being one year younger than the eighth prince, he is older than the other three princes, and even 13 years older than the later Jiaqing Emperor.
At this time, Qianlong also began to set his sights on his grandchildren, Mian En was the much-loved imperial grandson, and he inherited the title since his eldest brother Miande was robbed of the title for his crime. So, why didn't Qianlong pass the throne to him?
Mian En was born in 1747, just one month after his eldest brother. His elder brother Miande did nothing all his life and died in his forties. However, Mian En has been very smart since he was a child, when he was eight years old, Qianlong assessed his princes and grandchildren, Mian En participated in archery skills, first shot directly to the bull's-eye, and then Qianlong increased the difficulty for him, saying that if he could shoot the yellow coat held by the minion, he would directly reward Mian En. Later, he also shot.
Qianlong did not have a yellow coat worn by a child for a while, so he could only choose an adult's yellow coat to reward the emperor and grandson, and this time it left a deep impression on the heart of the emperor Qianlong, and he was also particularly fond of him.
Everyone knows that Qianlong's eldest son, Yonghuang, was Mian'en's father and died young. However, his father has an irreplaceable responsibility for his death. Therefore, after the death of his eldest son, Qianlong has always been very sad, and he is also very guilty about this son.
Then, when his eldest grandson and second grandson were all from the Yonghuang branch, Qianlong at this time also made up for the guilt of his eldest son on the emperor's grandson. Therefore, when Miande and Mianen grew up, they began to be crowned Beizi, county kings and even princes, and even many of Qianlong's princes were still not knighted at that time. It is conceivable how high the status of these two imperial grandsons is in the heart of the emperor.
When Mian En was 4 years old, his father Yonghuang died. Therefore, he has been raised by the emperor's side since he was a child, and Qianlong knows that this emperor's grandson is more intelligent and clever, and he is more cautious when doing things. When he was able to do things, Qianlong directly handed over the most important official position in the capital, the Beijing Division Janissaries, to Mian'en.
When he grew up, Mian En also served as the affairs of the Zongren Mansion, the commander of the infantry army, the minister of military parades, and the Jianrui battalion. If you carefully understand these official positions in the Qing Dynasty, you will know that this is a very important position, and if it is not the emperor's confidant minister, you will not dare to hand it over to others.
You must know that Mian En has been affirmed by the emperor through his own efforts, and he also has enough strength with himself. Both in figure and in civil and military talent, he is outstanding. Later, when the Korean envoys came to China for a visit, they met the princes and grandsons of the imperial court, after all, they needed royal people to receive them.
Later, the envoys could see that only Yongyan and Mian En had enough ability to inherit the throne, almost from their faces. Of course, the envoy didn't know that Mian'en was just Qianlong's imperial grandson, after all, these princes were all about the same age, and how many of them were more than ten years younger than Mian'en?
Therefore, when it comes to the probability of these two candidates, the envoy actually thinks that Mian En is a little more likely. After all, Mian En is 13 years older than the fifteenth uncle, and he is also relatively burly, including a slight advantage in personal ability, which shows that there is still a certain reason for choosing Mian En.
When Qianlong talked about the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty in his early years, he thought that Zhu Yuanzhang should not pass the throne directly to his imperial grandson, after all, he had a total of 26 sons, in addition to the death of his eldest son Zhu Biao, there were other excellent sons, such as Zhu Di was very good, why not pass it on to him?
Therefore, it was because of Zhu Yuanzhang's mistake that Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingjing, and as a result, he killed his grandson.
Therefore, Qianlong criticized Zhu Yuanzhang's way of choosing a successor, so he definitely can't learn from Zhu Yuanzhang.