Qianlong is the first Qing Dynasty to succeed to the throne, and the lucky emperor, under the protection of Yongzheng's secret reserve system, Qianlong at the best age, inherited Kangxi and Yongzheng after 73 years of hard work in exchange for a stable country, at this time the Qing Dynasty has no war outside, no famine inside, the country and the people are safe, a peaceful scene, can be described as a rock of peace.
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty died very neatly, and there were few people who were sick in bed for a long time, dragging mud and water, especially the emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, and Jiaqing, who almost had no signs before they died.
On August 23, 1735, Emperor Yongzheng died suddenly without warning. Yongzheng was one of the most controversial emperors of the Qing Dynasty, he was diligent, but at the same time, he treated his brothers particularly cruelly after the succession, and there were many deviants in his life.
After Yongzheng's death, after the minister Zhang Tingyu read out the edict of succession, Qianlong immediately lay on the ground and cried, and the ministers repeatedly persuaded him, but he did not get up. After all, when my father died, sorrow came from it, and it was normal for people to cry more than once. And at Yongzheng's funeral, Qianlong rushed up several times to stop the master of ceremonies and prevent others from covering the coffin.
Qianlong cried from the middle of the night to the next morning, and the water and rice were not exhausted, even though the ministers repeatedly prayed for mourning, Qianlong could not stop the tears, which made the ministers on the side sad and sighed, our new emperor is really filial, and he will definitely be a benevolent monarch in the future.
Qianlong not only cried to death at the funeral, but when he helped the coffin back to the palace, he insisted on escorting Yongzheng's coffin throughout the whole process, regardless of the requirements of the etiquette system. The ministers all advised him: Your Majesty, according to the rules, you need to greet him in the Qianqing Gate, but Qianlong is not.
Qianlong also specially wrote a decree to explain: "If you greet me in the Qianqing Gate, I really can't bear it, so don't persuade me anymore, let me do a little more filial piety." --Records of Qing Gaozong.Judging from all kinds of behaviors, Qianlong was a big filial son, crying all the way, and when he arrived at the Qianqing Gate, he did not enter as the heir emperor, but entered from the right door to show his respect for Yongzheng.
However, on the third day after the funeral, Qianlong's image of filial piety completely overturned.
The sudden death of Emperor Yongzheng made his cause of death full of legends, and from his accession to the throne to his death, there were various rumors among the people.
Yongzheng usually likes to study Buddhism, advocating Taoism, often holding Dharma meetings in the palace, and the current Beijing Lama Temple is the residence of Yongzheng back then.
Yongzheng not only liked Taoist priests, but also let Taoist priests participate in national affairs, invited monks to live in the palace, and he also personally compiled the "Record of Picking Demons and Distinguishing Differences". With the support of Yongzheng, Buddhism and Taoism have achieved unprecedented development in the Yongzheng period.
In addition to believing in Taoism, Yongzheng is also very interested in Taoist pills, he raised a lot of Taoist priests in the palace, specially for him to refine a variety of longevity, health pills, he not only eats himself, but also rewards his own ministers to eat.
Emperor Yongzheng's obsession with pills is recorded, and he also wrote a poem "Burning Dan" before:
Lead sand and medicine, pines and cypresses surround the cloud altar, the furnace transports yin and yang fire, and the power is both internal and external.
In fact, everyone knows that all pills contain minerals such as lead, mercury, sulfur, arsenic, etc., and it is easy to be poisoned by metals if you eat too much, which is very harmful to the brain and five organs of the human body.
"Activity File" records that "the chief eunuch Chen Jiuqing and the chief eunuch Wang Shougui passed the message together: The Old Summer Palace will use a cow's tongue to use 200 catties of black lead." ”
And 12 days before the death of Emperor Yongzheng, 200 catties of black lead were transported into the Old Summer Palace, and not long after, Emperor Yongzheng died in the Old Summer Palace. This indirectly proves that Emperor Yongzheng died of pill poisoning.
Yongzheng's death was disgraceful after all, but on the third day after Qianlong ascended the throne, he issued a decree that completely exposed Yongzheng's disgraceful cause of death:
My father is usually very busy with work, and when he heard that there are pills that can get rid of diseases and prolong life, he wanted to see what was going on, so he found a place for these Taoist priests to practice and play, just to have fun with them, and he had never listened to them, let alone eaten the pills they refined.
If Qianlong didn't make this explanation, maybe Yongzheng died of pill poisoning, and few people knew about it. In addition to this special explanation, Qianlong also deliberately ordered that all the Taoist priests raised in the palace be driven out of the palace, requiring that from now on, there must be an official degree for monks. **Ten Thousand Fans Incentive Plan Since ancient times, how many emperors have not been acting schools, Qianlong's sadness at Yongzheng's funeral has both a sincere part and an acting part. And his behavior of expelling Taoist priests has a taste of "there are no silver three hundred taels here"!