In the feudal dynasty of "family world", the rise and fall of the country is closely related to two major factors, one is the issue of war related to life and death, and the other is the issue of establishing a prince who continues the incense sacrifice.
A proper successor can make the country prosperous and peaceful for a long time; On the contrary, if the people are not selected correctly, then the country may be like the Great Qin and the Great Sui, and it will go into decline after only two generations.
As the two last feudal dynasties in Chinese history, the Ming and the Manchu, their historical relationship is like that of natural enemies. Not only do they have national hatred and family hatred, but even when it comes to choosing an heir, they have chosen a completely different approach.
The Ming Dynasty followed the tradition of "establishing a successor and establishing a long line", while the Manchu Qing Dynasty chose the method of "selecting the virtuous and standing up". These two systems of succession have been debated for thousands of years, but there has been no clear answer to which one is better.
Today, let's take a look at the most famous story of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and maybe the answer will appear in your heart. The system of "establishing succession and establishing growth" was perfectly implemented during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, a great man who "recreated China", and ensured the stability of the country.
Since ancient times, those who have been considered the rightful heirs are the eldest sons, whom are respected by orthodox Confucianism.
In 1364, when Zhu Yuanzhang first ascended the throne of King Wu, he determined the status of Zhu Biao's heir, and at the same time equipped him with an education team represented by Song Lian. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao participated in national affairs as a supervisor for a long time, which shows Zhu Yuanzhang's deep expectations for him.
However, the later fact was that Zhu Biao died early, so Zhu Yuanzhang ignored other princes who had the upper position in mind, and made Zhu Biao's eldest son Zhu Yunwen the crown prince. Many people believe that this is because Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao have a deep relationship, and their love for him extends to his eldest son.
But in my opinion, as the founder of the Ming Empire, Zhu Yuanzhang personally designed all the systems of the Ming Empire, including the Lichu system. Therefore, his choice of Zhu Biao's eldest son as his heir is a firm defense of the national system.
From Zhu Yuanzhang's various systems, such as military households and civilian households, it can be seen that he is committed to building a stable system in which each performs its own duties, and the primogeniture inheritance system is one of the cores of this system.
Although Zhu Yunwen was deposed, under the governance of the usurper Zhu Di, he had to re-implement the "eldest son" inheritance system. is just a simple sentence of "good holy grandson", which cannot explain why Zhu Gaochi, the eldest son who is not loved by Zhu Di, was able to ascend to the throne.
But from another point of view, we may be able to find the answer: after Zhu Di usurped the throne, he has been looking for an excuse for the "legitimacy" of his succession. Among them, the most famous is to recognize Queen Ma as his biological mother to prove that he is a "sister-in-law" (various historical sources show that Zhu Di was not born to Queen Ma).
Since Zhu Di initiated the "Jingnan" as a "son-in-law", there is no reason to "abolish Chang Lixian" when choosing an heir. Therefore, Zhu Di finally chose his eldest son Zhu Gaochi, perhaps a compromise of the "system".
Why did Zhu Di succumb to the system of "establishing succession and growth"? The reason is that the inheritance system of the "eldest son" is the fundamental system of the Ming Dynasty, and only in this way can we ensure the perpetuation of the country and avoid the continuous disaster of Jingjing.
Since then, the inheritance system of the Ming Empire has not changed, even the "Fight for the Country" incident, it also ended with the victory of the "son-in-law" Zhu Changluo. Without a clear system of "establishing a successor and establishing a long-term succession", the Ming Dynasty may face greater chaos in the court, and may even lose the country.
Therefore, the biggest advantage of primogeniture is that it is stable and easy to operate. In contrast, the Qing Dynasty's "selection of meritocracy" led to the chaos of "nine sons seizing the heirs".
Because Kangxi deposed the "son-in-law" Yinren without any alternatives, it aroused the hearts of many princes to seize the heir.
In these long 20 years, the adult princes have shown their talents, forming a situation of many parties, such as the Eight Masters Party, the Fourth Master Party, the Third Elder Brother Qingliu Party, and so on.
The civil and military officials also had their own evil intentions and formed parties for personal gain, which made the entire Qing Dynasty miserable and not a day of peace. It all started with the abolition of the crown prince in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi, and it didn't end until the eighth elder brother and others passed away in the fourth year of Yongzheng.
This court chaos deviated from Kangxi's original intention and led to turmoil within the Qing Dynasty. This is not the first time that the Qing Dynasty has caused turmoil due to problems in the Lichu system, as early as the Huang Taiji period, there was a chaos in which the four major Baylors were jointly in power, and later there was a struggle for power between Brother Hao and Dolgon, which almost brought down the newly established Qing regime.
In the feudal dynasty of "family world", the establishment of a successor is the most simple and effective way to establish a reserve. However, "selecting the best and standing up" seems to be a simple standard, but it is difficult to operate.
After all, it is difficult to define what kind of person can be called "virtuous". The emperor's love for the house and the Wu, or the entanglement of the interests of the courtiers, will be under the banner of "planning for the country and establishing a virtuous king", but it is difficult to say how many of them are loyal to the country and how many personal desires.
However, true public loyalty and selflessness are not easy to achieve, which is the sadness of feudal dynasties.