Why did Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty pass the throne to his son Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty in his later years? This Emperor Jiaqing is simply the most non-existent emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he has reigned for 25 years, and the only thing that has been on the hot search is to eradicate Da ** and Shen. In addition, whether it is to punish corruption or anti-corruption, there is no decent political achievement, it belongs to the kind of "no such person" in history, and some people often confuse him with the Jiajing Emperor who has not worked for decades in the Ming Dynasty and has been hiding in the harem to cultivate and refine the pill, Jiaqing, Jiajing, the difference between the words, the pronunciation is still very close, in short, this Jiaqing Emperor really has no outstanding ability, so many people feel incomprehensible, Why did Emperor Qianlong, who has always been confident and far-sighted, choose such a mediocre son to inherit the throne?
To put it simply, Qianlong has no choice, he can't pick He Shen to succeed him, right? Although he is very fond of Heshen, that is, there is not much room for him to choose, what is going on?
This is the twelfth episode of the Qianlong, He Shen and Jiaqing series.
As a feudal emperor, Qianlong created the first in history in many aspects of his life, such as his longest-lived emperor in Chinese history, he is also the emperor who has actually been in power for the longest time in Chinese history, and he is also the poet with the most extant works in Chinese history, can't you think of it? However, Qianlong, who lived to be 89 years old, is not the first in the number of princes. His grandfather, Emperor Kangxi, had a total of 32 sons and 20 daughters, while Qianlong had a total of 17 sons and 10 daughters in his lifetime. Among them, 5 sons and 5 daughters died young, and 17 grew up. This number ranked second among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, second only to Kangxi.
Among the 17 children, Qianlong's favorites are, of course, the two sons-in-law born to his wife, Empress Xiaoxianchun, Fucha. There are two reasons here, one is that Qianlong and Empress Xiaoxianchun have a very good relationship, they love the house and Wu, and love the mother and son; On the other hand, these two sisters-in-law are really outstanding. Qianlong commented on the first son-in-law Yonglian, saying that he was "smart and noble, and his aura is extraordinary", and the evaluation of the second sister-in-law Yongcong was "from the main son-in-law, and he is exceptionally intelligent". It can be said that the love is beyond words.
In the first year of Qianlong, that is, when Qianlong just succeeded to the throne, he made his first son-in-law, Yonglian, who was only seven years old, the crown prince, and his father Emperor Yongzheng had already set a precedent for secretly establishing a prince, so he wrote a secret decree and hid this decision behind the "Zhengda Guangming" plaque in the Qianqing Palace.
However, there are unforeseen circumstances in the sky, and people have good and bad luck, and two months after the secret decree was issued, Yonglian unfortunately fell ill and died. Qianlong was devastated. However, he still did not give up, and planned to set up his second son-in-law, Yongcong, as the crown prince. Unexpectedly, before he could write the secret decree, the child died at the age of two. Empress Hyohyun was also grieved excessively and died the following year. Emperor Qianlong's wish to establish a concubine was in vain.
If you don't have a son-in-law, then you have to set up a concubine. When Empress Xiaoxian died in the thirteenth year of Qianlong, there were two older princes: the eldest son Yonghuang was 21 years old, and the third son Yongzhang was 14 years old. The death of two sons-in-law greatly increases the chances of them inheriting the throne. Who would have thought that the eldest son of the emperor was scared to death by Qianlong's father, what was going on?
Qianlong, don't look at the person who is suave on the surface, can write poems and pick up girls, in fact, he is more vigilant in politics than anyone else, to prevent anyone from threatening his power. Including his own sons, even if Yonghuang and Yongzhang behaved as usual at the queen's funeral, Qianlong didn't look pleasing to the eye. Qianlong believed that when the eldest son died, the throne was most likely to be inherited by them, so they were all secretly happy in their hearts, no matter how they looked at it, how they felt that their grief was pretended...
The queen's mourning period had just reached 100 days, and Qianlong begged the eldest brother in front of the princes and ministers for "not being ashamed of mourning" for the death of his mother-in-law, and the third elder brother "could not do anything about the way of the son of man". Qianlong even made it clear murderously: "The eldest brother and the third elder brother are so unfilial, I can't bear to kill them with the love of father and son." But a hundred years later, the emperor will never be able to inherit it! If the eldest brother and the third elder brother are dissatisfied in the future, they will stop until the brothers kill each other, and it is better for me to kill them on the day than for them to kill each other! Even the words "killing the son" were said, which shows how much Qianlong felt wary and antipathy to the two concubines? Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, this angry rebuke is actually just Qianlong's emotional out-of-control caused by excessive grief after the death of the queen. However, this "nameless fire" scared the eldest brother out of a sick body, and died of fear two years later.
Since the loss of two sisters-in-law, Concubine Yu's fifth elder brother Yongqi has entered Qianlong's sight again, yes, he is one of the male protagonists in the TV series "Huanzhu Gege", the fifth elder brother is handsome and chic, good at riding and shooting, abiding by filial piety, and proficient in multiple languages, belonging to the all-round talent of civil and military affairs, Qianlong is very satisfied with him, and once wanted to make him the crown prince, but I didn't expect fate to make a big joke with Qianlong again, Yongqi also died of illness at the age of 25, and on the day of the bad news, Qianlong cried and fainted in the toilet, one blow after another, Let Qianlong be discouraged, and after that, for a long time, he no longer planned to establish a prince, until the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong, the 63-year-old emperor finally decided: set up the fifteenth elder brother Yongyan as the crown prince, this is the Jiaqing Emperor who later ascended the throne, so the question is, how can Yongyan be able to stand out?
Jiaqing Emperor Yongyan ranked fifteenth. According to the rules, Yongyan, who is at the bottom of the ranking and is a concubine, will not be his turn to inherit the unification at all. Qianlong did not consider him at first. But God always seems to be deliberately unable to get along with Qianlong, his beloved Yonglian and Yongcong died one after another, and most of the other princes also died young. By the time Yongyan was born, 8 of his 14 brothers were gone, and even the fifth elder brother Yongqi, who was deeply loved by Qianlong, was gone, and when Qianlong was old and had to consider the heir to the throne, only 7 of the 17 children were still alive. Among them, the twelfth elder brother Yongxuan is not qualified to be listed as a candidate for the crown prince at all because his biological mother is the Wulanala clan, that is, the second queen who was abolished by Qianlong. The fourth elder brother and the sixth elder brother were succeeded by Qianlong to other princes very early, so they had no chance. Looking back, only the four fruits of the eighth elder brother Yongxuan, the eleventh elder brother Yongxuan, the fifteenth elder brother Yongyan and the seventeenth elder brother Yongxuan remained.
The eighth elder brother Yongxuan should be the first of these four to be excluded by Qianlong, because Yongxuan is not only "addicted to wine" but also has a "perverse personality", and is often reprimanded by Qianlong. In this way, the only people Qianlong can choose in his later years are Yongying and Yongyan.
It is said that Yongyan is talented, outstanding poetry, especially calligraphy, was once listed as one of the four major calligraphers of the Qianlong Dynasty, why did such an excellent son Qianlong not choose, but chose a talent and ability Yongyan, that is, the later Jiaqing Emperor, for details, please see the thirteenth episode.