From the beginning of the Manchu establishment of the Qing regime, and then to the subsequent step by step decline, we fully show the process of a feudal dynasty from rise to fall, and the demise of the Qing Dynasty marks not only the demise of a dynasty, but also the end of China's feudal dynasty since the Qin regime, which is a trend and a general trend.
After the collapse of this lingering "building" of the Qing Dynasty, the regent Zaifeng did not suddenly disappear, but resigned all his positions and returned home to live a retired life. He was recorded in history as "forced" to resign, but fortunately, Zaifeng at that time had already clearly understood the situation, did not block the "tide of democracy", and did not, like his son Puyi, defected to the Japanese in order to restore the Qing Dynasty and become a weapon to split China.
Young and promising royal heir
Many people think that Zaifeng's origins are because of Puyi's succession, after all, people who have not carefully studied the history of the late Qing Dynasty will only look for the name of the regent Zaifeng during the Xuantong period, but will not pay attention to Zaifeng, who is still only the Prince of Alcohol. In 1883, Zaifeng fell to the ground and broke through the sky with the sound of babies crying, which was the greatest gospel and song in Prince Alcohol's palace.
He was the hereditary prince in 1890, and when he was eighteen years old, the German minister was killed for angering the Boxers, and Germany used this matter to exert pressure on the Qing court, in order to be able to handle this matter well, in order to ease the "friendship" between the two countries, the Qing court chose Zaifeng, and it was such an opportunity that Zaifeng showed his fists in modern history.
At that time, in order to make the Qing government reflect "sincerity", Germany specifically required that when the Qing court sent people to visit, there must be a prince-level person to participate, the reason why Cixi chose Zaifeng, on the one hand, because he was the nephew of Empress Dowager Cixi, the loftiness of status and blood was incomparable to other princes, on the other hand, Cixi also took into account Zaifeng's young age and flesh and blood, even if he arrived in Germany, the Germans insulted and humiliated, Zaifeng can also argue on the basis of reason, after all, he is still an eighteen-year-old prince with his own personality. Even if something goes wrong, the Qing court has room for maneuver; if it is replaced by a prince with qualifications and experience, he will have some concerns when doing things outside, even if he will not compromise with the requirements of the Germans, he will consider everything in his work, and consider everything, which will lack a decisiveness, a character, which will inevitably make him personally angry and the country angry.
Sure enough, after prince Zaifeng arrived in Germany, the Germans asked Zaifeng to bow down to the German emperor at that time, but for the dignity of the country, the eighteen-year-old Zaifeng argued with reason and resolutely refused to bow to the German emperor. This move not only made the domestic subjects applaud, but also made the Germans look at China with disdain.
Because Zaifeng was still young at that time, so he had a strong curiosity about new things, he had heard the magic of foreigner countries at a very young age, in order to be able to find out, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to visit Germany abroad, and traveled through several countries around Germany with a bang, after knowing Zaifeng's ideas, the German authorities expressed strong opposition, and blocked and intercepted Zaifeng's idea of continuing to visit Britain, Belgium, Italy and other countries.
In order not to provoke Germany, Zaifeng later compromised, after all, he had successfully completed the task given by Empress Dowager Cixi, and if he re-offended the German authorities because of his own selfish desires at this time, it would be an unattainable deal.
It was this visit to Germany that broadened Zaifeng's horizons and smoothly made a contribution to the Qing government, which laid the groundwork for him to continue to grow up and gain Cixi's trust.
Seeing that her nephew successfully completed the task, Empress Dowager Cixi was very happy in her heart, because on the one hand, Zaifeng's return played a role in calming the contradictions between Deqing and Qing, and on the other hand, Zaifeng was a person appointed by herself, and his smoothness represented the correct employment of Lafayette, which could further consolidate Cixi's position in the Qing court.
Therefore, the completion of this task, Zaifeng is equivalent to invisibly enhancing his own status.
In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu, more than two years had passed since Zaifeng completed his task, and he had grown from the original eighteen to twenty. When he was just twenty years old, the imperial court promoted him to the position of minister of sui, and three years later he was promoted to the head of the Jianrui battalion and the Manchu governor of the Zhenghong Banner.
At this time, Zaifeng was only in charge of military affairs, but in the following years, his position and power slowly moved to the fast track of rising.
Zaifeng held important positions as military chancellor and regent during the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu and Xuantong respectively, especially during the Xuantong period, Zaifeng's position can be described as extremely important, and every word has a very heavy weight.
The emperor of the prosperous world is good, and the heavy subjects of the chaotic world are not easy to do
After Emperor Xuantong, the puyi emperor who is familiar to everyone, ascended the throne, his father Zaifeng the Prince of Alcohol served as the regent of the Qing Dynasty, and the lifeblood of the entire dynasty was tightly held in his hands, and he also understood the situation he was facing and what kind of endgame he was taking over. To put it bluntly, if Puyi had not become the emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, Zaifeng would probably not have become the regent of this supervision country, but Puyi later became the successor of the Great Qing through the will of Empress Yehenara, and he could no longer shirk his promises.
Everyone has a heart to reach the pinnacle of power, but in such a dangerous situation, this position of Zaifeng is not easy to do. In order to suppress the mighty Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the imperial court let many Han Chinese return to their hometowns to practice, which led to the central government's power becoming smaller and smaller, and the local strength becoming greater and greater. In these three years of governance, Zaifeng wanted to stabilize the domestic situation on the one hand, and on the other hand, he still wanted to take back the military power and power from the hands of local officials.
However, the local forces have become bigger is already a deep-rooted thing, and Zaifeng's efforts are also a drop in the bucket, although in the later period, yuan shikai, who was the most threatening, was eventually counterattacked by Yuan Shikai.
The regent's hidden and later
"Hidden" means "hidden by a mysterious force", which specifically refers to a person evaporating from the human world, without a message or destination, without a trace, etc. However, in fact, three years after the declaration of reunification, after the collapse of the foundation of the Qing Dynasty, Zaifeng, who had stepped down as regent, returned to his family compound and began a "retired" life. Even when he knew about the actions of the "Zhang Xun Restoration", he did not have the intention and action to participate in.
It is worth talking about that after Zaifeng learned that Puyi was lured by the Japanese to the northeast to establish Manchukuo, he was very angry, not only did not support Puyi, but also constantly advised him not to listen to the Japanese rumors and be careful of being used.
During this period, even though the Japanese spent a lot of money trying to bribe the former regent, Kazaifeng was unmoved.
In 1951, the once-powerful regent, the last powerful minister of the Qing Dynasty, died of illness in Beijing at the age of sixty-eight.