In the summer of the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, Jiaqing led the civil and military officials to the summer resort. However, the elderly Jiaqing, without any warning, died suddenly, leaving a "vacuum" of power.
Beginning with Yongzheng, the Qing Dynasty adopted the method of secretly establishing a reserve in order to avoid the cruel dispute over concubines, that is, when the emperor was alive, he personally wrote the edict of succession, and then hid it in the box and placed behind the "Zhengda Guangming" plaque. When the emperor dies, the will will be announced to the world. At the same time, write another copy and take it with you. This has two advantages, one is to prevent the content of the edict from being tampered with, and the other is that if the emperor dies in the field, the content can be published at any time, and the new king can succeed to the throne in time.
Jiaqing also adopted a secret storage system before his death, and it is reasonable to say that he would carry a "copy of the will" with him in other places, but the princes and ministers accompanying him rummaged through the boxes and cabinets in Jiaqing's palace, and they did not find the will. The country could not be without a monarch for a day, and the minister quickly sent people back to Beijing, first, to inform the empress of the news of Jiaqing's death, and second, to look for the will, but still did not find it.
On the side of the summer resort, at a moment when everyone was anxious, Jiaqing's close attendants found the secret box containing the will and testament from close to his body. The prince and chancellor took out the edict, and the successor was officially the second son of the emperor, Mianning. Therefore, the ministers supported Mianning Ke to inherit the throne, and it was for the Daoguang Emperor. Empress Xiaohe could not know about the situation in the summer resort, and when she heard the news of Jiaqing's death, she immediately issued a decree in the name of the empress dowager:
"Since the Emperor Of the Imperial Family, he has worked diligently and thought of the country under the heavens every day. Now that the mourning has risen, the heir is particularly important. The Second Son of the Emperor, Prince Renxiao Congrui, a heroic and martial artist, is now accompanying him, and he has been entrusted with him since he was entrusted... For this reason, he specially sent a message to the second son of the Emperor Chi, the minister of the King of Liujing, that is, the right throne, in order to comfort the spirit of the Emperor Daxing in heaven and to conform to the hopes of the subjects of the world. ”
This Will, for the Daoguang that has "waves" in the succession, is like a timely rain. Therefore, when Daoguang received the Empress Dowager's will, he was very touched and wept bitterly. The empress's biological son was not Daoguang, but the third son of the emperor, Miankai, and the fourth son of the emperor, Mianxin, so why would she set up a Daoguang who was not her own? Don't you want your son to succeed to the throne?
1. Daoguang was the concubine of Jiaqing's original empress, and had made great contributions to the rebellion of the Tianli Sect, and had already made a great reputation and was expected by all. His succession to the throne has almost become an open secret. The two sons of the empress dowager, no matter how senior or prestigious, were inferior to Daoguang.
Second, once the Yi Will conflicts with the will of the succession, it will cause great turmoil, and then it will not be said that his son will succeed to the throne, but he is afraid that all three mothers and children will become sinners of the Great Qing.
Therefore, the empress dowager might as well push the boat along the water, establish an unsustainable heir to the light, and get the courtesy of the new emperor in the future. Later facts also proved that the empress dowager's investment in "betting on Daoguang" was quite correct, and Daoguang was extremely filial to her. The empress dowager was naturally able to enjoy her old age in peace, but what about the Miankai and Mianxin she was born?
Before Daoguang succeeded to the throne, Miankai and Mianxin were brothers with him; after Daoguang succeeded to the throne, the relationship between brothers became a relationship of kings and subjects.
First, Miankai who rides the "roller coaster"
When he first succeeded to the throne, Daoguang may have looked at the face of the empress dowager, or he may still remember the brotherly feelings, and he still cares about this brother.
As soon as Jiaqing died, Daoguang promoted Miankai to the position of Prince of Heshuo. A month later, he also made Miankai's son Yi Miao the Eighth Duke. It was customary for the prince of Heshuo to be crowned as the Eighth Duke only at the age of 16, while Yi Miao was only 3 years old at this time. And ordered Yi Yi to release the clothes, admire the top of the head and wear the eyes.
At the beginning of the third year of Daoguang, the two brothers were unhappy because of a small matter. Miankai's family made mistakes, and Daoguang punished Miankai slightly, but Miankai continued to operate behind the scenes. Daoguang ordered that all errands be removed and fined for five years, and that he could receive half a salary every year and deduct it for ten years. Later, the empress dowager reconciled with the middle, and Daoguang fu summoned Miankai to walk for the inner court and was exempted from punishment for three years.
Not long after Miankai was punished, he regained the trust of Daoguang, and more and more government officials were in charge. Unexpectedly, in the seventh year of Daoguang, Miankai was dismissed from all errands because of his private friendship with eunuchs, and was demoted to the position of king of the county.
In the eighth year of Daoguang, when Daoguang was reviewing the recital, he thought that he had fought side by side with Miankai to suppress the past of the Tianli Sect, and he couldn't help but think of his brotherhood, so he ordered: "Reward the Prince of Miankai."
In the thirteenth year of Daoguang, when Miankai was in charge of the empress's funeral, he mishandled things, and was again punished by Daoguang, stripped of the capital, and fined for ten years.
In June of the eighteenth year of Daoguang, Miankai privately imprisoned many people, adopted dramatists, and withheld money from subordinates, but was later denounced and demoted to the rank of king of the county again. After this incident, Miankai's life fell to a low point, and he died of illness half a year later at the age of 44. After his death, Daoguang once again rewarded him with the title of prince, but unfortunately he was no longer blessed.
Miankai was punished, completely out of official business, and Daoguang also showed mercy to his subordinates many times, and did not follow the law. Later, Miankai's son died, and Daoguang even passed on his own son to him.
Second, prince Rui, who died young
Mianxin was a well-behaved child from an early age, studied hard, and was very loved by Jiaqing, and at the age of 14, he was named the Prince of Rui, the same level as Mianning.
After Daoguang succeeded to the throne, he still treated Mianxin kindly, and let him manage the affairs of the Wuying Hall Imperial Library, and wore a red velvet knot. Three years after Daoguang, Daoguang deliberately let Mianxin participate in the government and ordered him to walk for the inner court.
For Mianxin's lifelong events, Daoguang, as an older brother, did not forget it, and pulled a red line for him, allowing him to marry a daughter waiting for Lebao.
From the third year of Daoguang, Miankai moved out of the imperial palace and lived in the palace.
In the five years of Daoguang, the books hidden in the Wuying Hall, which Mianxin was in charge of, were stolen by the staff many times, but the library management personnel did not know it. After the incident, Mianxin, as a leader, was dismissed from the affairs of the WuyingDian Imperial Library.
Eight years after Daoguang, Mianxin died of illness at the age of 24.
Qiu Mei said: Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, Daoguang should be regarded as a person with a lot of feelings, filial piety to the empress dowager, and more care for his brothers. It's just that Miankai and Mianxin were unlucky and died early, so that the white-haired person of the empress dowager sent the black-haired person.