Aixinjue Luoming, commonly known as Emperor Daoguang, was the sixth emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs. Emperor Daoguang was the most controversial emperor in history. On the one hand, during his reign, he insisted on simplicity, righteousness, and strict requirements for the royal family. On the other hand, under the reign of Emperor Daoguang, internal class contradictions were acute. We still think that I was militarily corrupt, which ultimately led to the losses of the First Opium War, which plunged the Qing Dynasty into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial era. Soon after the death of Emperor Daoguang, the Taiping Rebellion swept across the country. This may seem counterintuitive. The industrious emperor took over an empire that was in good condition. He also takes his countrywork seriously. Why is the result so unsatisfactory? To find the answer, we have to start with the accession of Emperor Daoguang to the throne......
Emperor Xuanzun Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty.
1。Inherited enormous power and returned to public expectations. When he was Emperor Fujin). Min is also the eldest son of Sitola, so according to Han tradition, Min is the typical eldest son.
However, the Manchu regime, established as a minority group, did not completely follow the inheritance system of the eldest son, but paid more attention to ability. Since Yongzhen, the Qing Emperor adopted the secret storage system (the Xianfeng Imperial system was invalid), and selected the prince with both ability and political integrity as the emperor.
Emperor Jiaqing attached great importance to mining before his accession to the throne. From the later years of Qianlong, the Manchu royal family began to show signs of decline. Most of them are not involved in politics and live a luxurious and scattered life. Young Min Ning lived a very simple life. Compared to other royal children, he wore coarse cloth clothes every day and appreciated the power of the people.
Trump card. Min Ning not only lives an ordinary life, but is also able to overcome danger. In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing (1808 AD), the followers of the Tianli Sect entered the Forbidden City at the instigation of the leader Lin Qing. At that time, Min Ning was in the palace. At the critical moment, several Heavenly Force believers climbed the city wall. In the face of danger, Min Ning did not hesitate. He killed two Tenrikyo with a shotgun. His courage is evident.
At that time, Emperor Jiaqing was returning to Beijing. The emperor was not in the capital. The nobles regarded Min Ning as their supporter and negotiated with Min Ning for the safety of the capital. After Jiaqing returned to Beijing, he immediately set the main task of suppressing the rebellion in Minning, and named him "King of He". At present, the mining industry can be said to be very developed.
Jiaqing reigned for twenty-five years, Tonkin died of illness in Rex, and Ming Ning ascended the throne before Emperor Daoguang. Emperor Daoguang was the only prince of the Qing Dynasty to ascend the throne as the eldest son. It can be said that the common people love him. Right now, Emperor Daoguang, who will only be 38 years old next year, is at his peak. Moreover, Emperor Jiaqing left behind a relatively stable state. Emperor Daoguang was ambitious and determined to become a master of Zhongxing like his parents and grandparents.
2。Administrative difficulties and financial difficulties. In general, Daoguang faced two major problems when he took office: First, corruption was rampant. Corruption is not local, but systemic. Secondly, the budget issue is very tricky. The country's tax revenue** is relatively unique, economic growth is stagnant, but budget spending is increasing year on year.
1.Emperor Daoguang's anti-corruption campaign.
01.Reorganize the Military Aircraft Bureau to improve efficiency.
It is said that one emperor and one minister. In the Qing Dynasty, the Military Aircraft Administration was a place of great power. Whether the military department Shangshu can be related to the emperor depends on whether the emperor's orders can be issued smoothly.
At that time, the Military Aircraft Bureau was full of old ministers left by Emperor Jiaqing. Most of these older ministers are highly qualified and old. The advantage of such an old minister is that his work is stable and reliable, and the disadvantage is that he is accustomed to thinking about the emperor and relies on his old age at that time.
Emperor Daoguang's attitude towards these ministers was also very simple. He transferred the former ministers of military aircraft, Tokin and Dai Junyuan, directly from the air base, and replaced them with ministers who had close ties to the air base.
02。Check for bad wires.
In the late and mid-Qing Dynasty, corruption among civil servants became even more serious, and the solicitation of gifts by civil servants was very serious. At that time, it was popular in the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty: "big officials eat small officials" and "Beijing officials eat local officials". In particular, low-level ** should give gifts to high-level**, and local ** should give gifts to Beijing**. The most important thing is to give ** a large sum of money, three holidays, two birthdays. There is also gray income such as ice crystals and carbon crystals.
Emperor Qianlong. The ultimate goal of these gray incomes must be the contribution of ordinary people. During the Kangxi period, the Qing Dynasty had a rule of "no tax increase", so the ordinary ** of the Qing Dynasty began to try different ways to charge additional fees to the people. These shortcomings were collectively referred to as "bad rules" in the Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Daoguang had long heard of these bad regulations. As soon as Daoguang came to power, he began to abolish bad policies. Soon after, Emperor Daoguang ordered a nationwide review of all bad regulations.
It's safe to say that the goal caused a stir and panicked authorities across the country. Subsequently, many ministers wrote letters opposing this policy. Faced with the opposition of his ministers, the Daoguang Emperor was forced to maintain stability, temporarily suspending this policy and deposing the ** who proposed to clean up the bad regulations.
03。Correct "donate" and "donate".
As we mentioned above, the biggest contradiction in the middle of the Qing Dynasty was the increase in budget spending, but the tax channels were very one-sided. As a rule, the "endowment system" is introduced when a country is at war with the army or when the country is in an economic crisis, suffering from internal famine.
The pension system "was originally a temporary system to increase fiscal revenues. Ordinary people can obtain relevant information and false titles by donating property to the state. If they donate more, they can also get real job opportunities. The "charity system" first appeared in the Kangxi era. At that time, the situation in San Francisco was chaotic and the Qing ** was in financial difficulties, so this system was temporarily implemented.
Emperor Kangxi. Since the Qianlong era, the charity system has gradually become the norm. In addition, this donation system leaves a lot of room for subjective manipulation. Under Daoguang's leadership, the philanthropic system has expanded and become more diverse. In order to make the ruler of the country relatively competent, Emperor Daoguang strictly controlled the official positions obtained through donations, and strived to leave no real vacancies, and the judgment of these attempts to become relatively competent ** was very severe.
2。Emperor Daoguang's efforts to overcome the financial crisis.
01。Start with yourself.
Emperor Daoguang can be regarded as one of the most frugal emperors of the entire feudal dynasty. When Emperor Daoguang was a prince, his life was very ordinary. Emperor Daoguang has remained stable since his accession to the throne. Most of the clothes he wears are patchwork. Usually he eats normal food. In the Daoguang era, it was not known as the Mankhan Party.
In order to save on food expenses, Emperor Daoguang was reluctant to even invite his ministers to dinner. Although Emperor Daoguang announced that he would send grain to his ministers to show that the emperor attached great importance to them, this was actually a nominal announcement to the ministers. After talking to the minister, he did not even leave food for the minister. This shows his stinginess.
Daoguang reads the portrait.
There are many similar stories, and most of the descendants will laugh at the emperor's greed. But according to the author, Emperor Daoguang had his own reasons for doing so. Every feudal dynasty in history started out relatively modest, but over time and the accumulation of wealth, most became wealthier. The Qing Dynasty also followed this rule. Under Daoguang's leadership, the entire civil service became more and more luxurious. The author believes that the main reason for the frugality of the Daoguang Emperor was that he wanted to set an example, while the civil servants tried to avoid waste and extravagance on the high-speed train, although in the end it turned out to be absolutely impossible.
02。Grain transportation creates a transportation template for future generations.
During the Qing Dynasty, water transportation referred to the transportation of grain from the southeast to Jingshi through canals, and the surplus grain was stored in warehouses and distributed to the northern provinces. The most important person in charge of water transport is the Governor of Water Transport. Although the water transport passed through many provinces on the way, all aspects of the water transport were under the jurisdiction of the water transport governor. It can be seen that the imperial court attaches great importance to Caoyun.
Since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Yemen's water transport region has been the most corrupt region. First, there are many related families in the Shuiyun Yamen. Many Qing "donors" were eventually appointed to work in the "Water Commission". Secondly, the personnel responsible for water transportation are complex, including several useless civil servants, flag bearers, hereditary ship owners, sailors, etc. These positions will increase over time. Ultimately, this is due to corruption and overspending in the water transport sector.
Map of water transport in the Qing Dynasty.
During the Yongzheng period, the cargo capacity per ship was about 130 to 200 taels**, but in the Daoguang period, the cargo capacity per ship rose to 700 to 800 taels. It can be said that water transportation became a huge burden for the imperial court during this period. Since Emperor Daoguang came to power, the southern rivers have been blocked, and it is difficult for grain to reach Beijing. Emperor Daoguang decided to transport grain by sea. This has proven to be a cost-effective and efficient method. However, due to various institutional reasons, the transportation of grain by sea was temporarily suspended. Although Emperor Daoguang eventually used waterways to transport food, Emperor Daoguang's use of seafood set an example for later generations. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, he completely abandoned the strategy of transporting grain by water and turned to grain transportation.
03。Change the salt law and deal with the salt barons.
Throughout history, feudal dynasties have always attached great importance to the salt law. The salt administration of the Qing Dynasty was a private matter of the governor, and ** was responsible for issuing salt seals. Salt merchants are responsible for the production and sale of salt. In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, salt merchants became rich because of their mastery of salt resources.
However, under Daoguang's leadership, the situation became more serious due to the rise of illegal salt**. Salt smuggling is widespread due to political corruption. As a result of corruption, a great deal of wealth was eventually squeezed by salt merchants. Salt merchants can only increase the quality of salt and reduce the quality of salt, thus creating space for private salt exports.
In response to this problem, Emperor Daoguang sent Minister of State Tao Shu as the governor of Lianghe to severely crack down on illegal salt sales and correct the operation of the salt industry, which eventually achieved good results.
3。The Opium Wars that tore off the last fig leaf.
It can be said that Emperor Guang inherited a chaotic situation of huge population pressure, backward system, and corruption. Thanks to the efforts of Emperor Daoguang, the Qing Dynasty was unable to solve the problem of poverty, but at least on the surface, it looked good. After the death of Emperor Daoguang, he could at least get the title of protector. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Opium War ruined all this.
Opium war. Since Britain wanted to fully open China to the outside world, the main reason for the Sino-British Opium War was the war. The war ended with the loss of the Qing army to the governor, several generals and admirals.
In the past two years of war, it is not difficult for us to find that some of the best in the Qing Dynasty were very responsible, and the soldiers were not as broken as the outside world said. But in the end the British army achieved a complete victory with small losses.
It can only be said that the Qing Dynasty at that time was completely isolated from the world, and the two sides of the Opium War were not at the same level at all. For example, the British ** ship and the Qing army battery ** each other. Due to the technical superiority, the range of the British ** ship far exceeded that of the Qing army. Therefore, the British ** ships could go to the Qing Dynasty fortress ** from an ultra-long distance and easily hit them. Coupled with the political and military corruption of the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that it was a lost war.
The signing of the Treaty of Nanjing.
In order to achieve peace, Emperor Daoguang eventually had to agree to all British demands. The first defeat of the Opium War can be said to have shattered the Qing Dynasty's dream of heaven and the Daoguang Emperor's dream of monarchy.
4。The end of the dynasty.
In his later years, Emperor Daoguang was also devastated to find that more than 9 million taels of ** in the treasury had been stolen by soldiers. This was unthinkable under Yongzheng, but it happened under Daoguang. Treasury security oversaw the theft, but Treasury inspectors went undetected for decades. It may not be a simple oversight. This shows the corruption and weakness of the Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Yongzheng. Emperor Daoguang was very angry when he heard this, but he couldn't do anything about it. He has experienced a lot of pain and failure in his life. His ideals are plump, but the reality is thin. Maybe I shouldn't have been born into royalty.
Emperor Daoguang died in Beijing 30 years ago (18650 AD) at the age of 68 (one year).
5。Reflections on the life of Emperor Daoguang.
What impressed me most about Emperor Daoguang was that he was afraid of taking a wrong step, because he was afraid of taking a wrong step. Emperor Daoguang did not have any ambitions at the beginning of his succession. Perhaps his greatest ideal was to protect the land created by his ancestors.
This mentality not only gave him a deep sense of responsibility, but also tied his hands and feet. It can be seen from the way he handles political affairs that this person is very cautious and has a mentality of only seeking success and not success. For example, when dealing with "bad rules", he knew that there were many bad rules in Qing Dynasty officialdom, but due to extreme opposition, he had to give up in order to maintain the stability of civil officials.
1 Such an emperor had no problem in the heyday, but the Qing Dynasty came to a crossroads between ancient and modern. For a country to progress, it must be bold and innovative. Emperor Daoguang lacked this ability. In other words, Emperor Daoguang took the position of emperor. on, but there are no matching options, and the results are really varied.
6。At last. Emperor Daoguang's life was impressive. According to the Confucian point of view, although Emperor Daoguang was not a great man or general, he was at least a master of national materials. His ** can also be called "Daoguang**".
But in the end, it backfired. The main reason for this is that the Qing Dynasty entered a critical stage at that time. On a deeper level, the feudal society of the time also heralded an important turning point. Neither the Daoguang Emperor's abilities nor knowledge could solve this important problem.
After all, this is not a period in history without solutions. Thinking about how to become a guardian is a completely wrong idea. But at the same time, it cannot be denied that Emperor Daoguang has done his best, which is why the author thinks he is a good emperor. In the final analysis, the tragedy of Emperor Daoguang stemmed from his unsuitability to serve as emperor.