In 2019, the large-scale drama costume film and television drama "Qing Yu Nian" starring Zhang Ruoyun, Li Qin, Chen Daoming and others became a hit, and also caused widespread discussion among the public. "Qing Yu Nian" is mainly about the protagonist Fan Xian who has tasted all the tastes of the world through the cold and warmth of the world, but still adheres to justice, and has gone through many tests in the temple and the rivers and lakes, and finally wrote a legendary life.
Although the plot with Fan Xian as the main line is eye-catching, there are other side plots that are also interspersed to add luster to the whole drama. And today we are going to talk about one of the branches: the crown prince dispute.
What we can see in the plot is that Emperor Qing had two sons, one is the prince and the other is the second prince. As we all know, since ancient times, China's feudal society has had a principle of establishing an imperial crown prince, that is, the "primogeniture inheritance system": lizi is not long to be long, and lizi is long instead of virtue. This means that the heir to the throne must first distinguish according to the identity of the concubine and the concubine, and the concubine takes precedence; but if there is no concubine, the eldest son is chosen instead of the person with remarkable talent.
But as Chinese history has evolved, this principle of succession has long since been undermined. There were many dynasties and the emperors of those dynasties who established heirs to the throne according to their preferences or court situations. The original novel of "Qing Yu Nian" belongs to the overhead historical novel, so in the novel and even in the film and television drama, this principle is not reflected. In other words, the dispute between the crown prince and the second prince is all based on their respective abilities and is free to play.
However, in the plot, the prince is only a mediocre qualification, and cannot be said to be a talent who governs the country and the world. However, how can such a mediocre person win the victory in the bloody battle of the wife?
It is often said that there is no harm without contrast. The crown prince can become the winner of this battle for the crown prince, all thanks to the affection of another person - the second prince. If the prince can only be a mediocre posture, then the second prince can be described as stupid.
To talk about the "efforts" made by the prince in the plot to gain the favor of the emperor, it can be described as "colorful". For example, Emperor Qing was in his prime, and it was precisely when he wanted to show his hands and feet to make a great achievement, but the prince openly formed gangs under the eyes of the emperor and co-opted the courtiers, which was said to be good to "strengthen the internal unity of the imperial court", and to say that the ugly point was to form a party for personal gain. For example, Chen Pingping, Fan Jian and other important ministers relied on emperor Qing the most, and had greater power and discourse power, but the prince did not win over any of them, but instead used calligraphy and paintings to bribe the emperor's guards.
In the last example, Fan Xian, as a rising star, was deeply appreciated by the emperor in the climax of the whole play, and the prince bribed Fan Xian unsuccessfully and changed to extinction. Crown Prince Yi falsely passed on the secret order, assassinated Fan Xian, and later prevented Fan Xian from taking over the Neiku Mansion. Although Fan Xian could not be regarded as the emperor's confidant at that time, the crown prince wanted to kill Fan Xian and replace him with his own people, but this was a cure for the symptoms rather than the root cause. Without Fan Xian, there would be a second and third person to replace Fan Xian in the position, and how could the prince ensure that the next person was a princeling without being favored by Emperor Qing? Moreover, this is not just a crime of disobedience to the Holy Order, but to be more serious, it is simply a challenge to the imperial power and contempt for the imperial authority, which in ancient times was a major sin.
However, it is also such a person who finally becomes a winner in life, which shows how the second prince who competes with the prince is "unenlightened". In fact, the reason for the failure of the second prince is very simple, there are two main points. The first is dress. As the saying goes: "The clothes are not neat, how to rule the world", in film and television dramas, the second prince often shows his lazy and sloppy face. The royal family represented authority at that time, and if it was so untrimmed as an authority, how could this convince everyone and make the world submit?
The second is that there is no city government, no shot when it should be shot, and trouble when it should not be shot. If you want to compete for the position of crown prince as the second prince, you must either try to prove your ability, or pick the fault of the prince and let the emperor disappoint the prince. However, even if these two avenues are in front of him, the second prince can still "take the sword to the side" and go in the wrong direction.
Take, for example, the case of Bullpen Street. The mastermind behind the case is Lin Jue, and Lin Jue is a princeling. As long as the second prince confronted the prince in front of Emperor Qing, coupled with the prince's rebellion in leading the crowd to surround the Control Yuan, it was not impossible for the second prince to defeat the prince and sit on the throne. However, the second prince did not say a word when confronted, but on the contrary, he let the prince beat a rake upside down.
It can be seen from this that the second prince was not born to be the material for political conspiracies. Because of this, the prince laughed to the end. In the eyes of Emperor Qing, compared with the second prince's incomplete instrument, the prince was still superior in intelligence. With contrast, there is victory.
In fact, this film and television drama also hints at the inevitable decline of the feudal dynasty. In such a dynasty without a relatively perfect succession system, how can the feudal system and dynasty last? What's more, in ancient China, which had a system of primogeniture, its feudal autocracy did not last long.