The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty ruled by the Absolute Monarchy of China. From the rise of Liaodong to the unification of the world, from the cold power field of the prosperous world to the end of the dynasty, there are too many dramatic twists and details of the story that are worth exploring in the history of the Qing Dynasty. Are the historical Ji Xiaolan and Hezhen really as intolerable as film and television dramas? Why did Dorgon not have the throne, and how true was his "private affair" with Xiaozhuang? Under the prestige of Kang Qian's prosperous world, why did the most powerful Yongzheng have no sense of existence? The surging question invited Xiang Jingzhi, a scholar of Ming and Qing history and the author of "Great Qing and Small History", to talk about how far away the Qing Palace drama was from the real Qing history.
In the prosperous world of Kangqian, Yongzheng is the most powerful?
@Little Rabbit: Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong are all political masters, how were they trained and cultivated? Is there a way unique to the Qing Dynasty?
Xiang Jingzhi: Kangxi was only 8 years old when he succeeded to the throne, mainly because of the support of his grandmother, Empress Xiaozhuang. Shunzhi died young, and during his pro-government period, he was at odds with the conservative forces in Manchuria led by Xiaozhuang, and Kangxi benefited from Xiaozhuang's upbringing in the palace from an early age, and continued to support him after he succeeded to the throne. Xiao zhuang, who held the right to decide on the major policies of the Qing Dynasty, actively guided Kangxi to love to read the history of the scriptures and be a good "lord of the world". The Kangxi Emperor said to Xiaozhuang: "The subject has no other desires, but wishes for the righteousness of the world, the happiness of the people, and the sharing of the blessings of peace." After Xiaozhuang's death, Kangxi said: "Remembering his weak age, he lost his humility early, and he tended to inherit his grandmother's knees for more than thirty years, and he cultivated and taught, so that he could succeed." If there is no grandmother, the empress dowager, it must not be established today. ”
Yongzheng ascended to the pole at an old age, whether it was a conspiracy to seize the throne or Kangxi King's determination, he grew up in the contest of brothers. Kangxi deliberately chose the best son as his successor, but did not want him to hinder the concentration and strengthening of his imperial power. Yin ChanTao, who talked obscurely about Zen and was also ordered to assist the government in a strict and prudent manner, was an effective curb to the chaotic situation of bureaucratic ruin and corruption caused by Kangxi's physical and mental exhaustion. Kangxi vigorously defended absolute authority, but still considered that the country was eternally solid, so he gave Yin Chan, who called for the institutionalization of the country, the greatest opportunity. At the same time, he had supported Yin Rong's restoration, and he had close ties with Yin Yu, and was also the brother of The Great General of Fuyuan and the fourteenth son of the Emperor, Yin Zhen, thinking that he could maintain the harmonious coexistence of the princes. In fact, after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he immediately cracked down on his brothers who had wrenched their wrists.
Compared with the Kang and Yong Emperors, Qianlong was a lucky one. Let alone whether he received the nurturing and teachings of Kangxi, yongzheng secretly built the crown prince after he ascended to the throne, qianlong was his carefully cultivated successor, educated early in education in the art of emperor, and entrusted government affairs in his later years, so that he was already a mature young politician when he succeeded to the throne. At the beginning of the Qianlong administration, in the face of a tense political environment left by Yongzheng, he promptly rehabilitated Yun Yu and others, saying that they "did not have any obvious signs of disobedience", and saying that Yongzheng had reflected in his later years, so he restored the original names of those who had changed their names, reclassified them from the clan and re-entered the jade butterfly, released the living from the place of detention, and restored them to the rank and even promoted. This shows that the education qianlong received from childhood was better than that of his father and ancestors.
So three people, one each by political means. And this is not unique to the Qing Dynasty, other dynasties are the same, each with its own characteristics.
Statue of the Kangxi Emperor
@ Surging netizen rmQvyu: What balancing techniques did Kangxi use for the minister?
Xiang Jingzhi: Kangxi's balancing of his subordinates can be said to be a major highlight in the politics of the Qing Dynasty. The first is institutionally. In the eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, he captured Aobai and, after ending the auxiliary government mechanism, strengthened the administrative functions of the cabinet and weakened the traditional parliamentary power of the Council of Ministers (i.e., the Council of Ministers). As Soetu and Mingzhu competed for power, fell in love with each other, and threatened the normal operation of imperial power, he selected a group of Confucian courtiers to enter the South Study to prepare for consulting, and even Mingzhu had to buy news from Gao Shiqi, a middle-level cadre working around Kangxi. In the late Kangxi Dynasty, he relied on the elderly crown prince to organize a special power center, above the cabinet, the council, and so on.
Then there is the Manchurian ministers. This is mainly manifested in the game between Soetu and Mingzhu. Suo Etu was a hero who assisted Kangxi in defeating Aobai, and was the first to receive a heavy responsibility as a scholar of the Bohol Temple. However, as Suo Etu's power grew, he became the prince's mastermind, and when he offended the imperial power, Kangxi tried his best to win over Mingzhu and did not hesitate to betray Suo Etu, who had been friends of life and death. Once the pearl developed strongly, Kangxi took Suo Ertu out and appointed him as the minister of internal affairs to balance and suppress the pearl, and at the same time instructed Gao Shiqi to contact Yushi Guoxuan to impeach the pearl, personally revise the impeachment seal, and change the draft three times. However, after grasping the measure and dispensing with the Pearl University, he also awarded it to his minister of the interior to restrain Suo Ertu.
Then between the Manchu ministers. When Kangxi attacked left and right, suppressing Important Manchurian ministers such as Suo'ertu, Mingzhu, and even Ma Qi, he relied on Li Guangdi, a scholar of Hanchen University, and so on. When he discovered that the Manchu han courtiers were attached to Li Guangdi and Zuo Du Yushi Zhao Shenqiao, he immediately revived Ma Qi, who had severely attacked him, and ordered him to be the chief scholar of Manchuria, and wantonly reprimanded The Manchus for not running around Li Guangdi and waiting for the Hanchens. Although he verbally claimed to be a confidant with Li Guangdi, he repeatedly brought out Chen Menglei, who had fallen into the well by Li Guangdi, making him the master of the third son of the Emperor who had won the sacred heart, and potentially warned Li Guangdi not to act arbitrarily.
@ Qingcha and Yuanshan: Why is it said that Yongzheng is the most powerful in the prosperous world of Kangqian?
Xiang Jingzhi: Great, it depends on which angle. If we talk about power plots, he developed from the beginning of the mountain dew to the final victor of the "Nine Sons and Concubines", and at the beginning of the succession, he was questioned by the vast majority of the clan members, including his birth mother, the Eight Banners, the descendants of Xun Gui, and the Manchu ministers, and became a heavenly son with imperial power and arbitrary decisions.
But Yongzheng's most powerful achievements are Huanghuang's political achievements. His diligence and reform are indeed one of the few emperors in ancient China, and it can even be said that he is the first emperor of diligent administration, and he does not rest even on the first day of the New Year. He achieved the self-proclaimed "diligence in the world", played a key role in the political, economic, and cultural prosperity and development of the Qing Dynasty, and at the same time explored the military aircraft department, basically achieving the peak of the concentration and strengthening of imperial power.
From the beginning of his reign, he used iron fist means to reverse the program of the dynasty, straighten out the rule of officials, and carry out a series of effective political system reforms: secretly building the crown prince, revising the laws of the Great Qing Dynasty, dividing the land into acres, spending envy and returning to the public, raising incorruptible silver, integrating soldiers and the people as a messenger, changing the land and returning to the stream, establishing a directly subordinate camp field, trying to run the Eight Banner Well Field, and reforming the flag affairs. He took over from Kangxi a chaotic government and an empty treasury, and handed it over to Qianlong, a country with strict systems and strong national strength, to improve people's livelihood with a series of major reforms and explore new paths for social development.
It was this top-down reform that enabled him to basically recover the deficit left by the Kangxi Dynasty in the early days of his reign, and "all the stolen money and silver were stored in it, and at the end of the year, more than 30 million, the state was well used" (Zhao Ling's "Miscellaneous Records of the Xiaoting Pavilion", vol. 1). The grain and rice handed over by the provinces came in with the water, and the granaries of the whole country were enriched, and "the accumulation could be used for more than twenty years." He also abolished the five untouchables and changed the historical problems of thousands of years for the five types of people who crawled at the bottom of society, such as Lehu.
Qing Dynasty harem those things
@Gluttonous Tutu: Which emperor of the Qing Dynasty had the largest number of harems, and how many people were there at its peak?
Xiang Jingzhi: I haven't studied this question carefully. But the noteworthy harem life of the Kangxi Emperor should be worth studying more than the Qianlong harem. He had many concubines, sixty-two famous people, and he was at the top of the Qing Emperor's list. During his lifetime, he had three empresses, namely Empress Xiaochengren of the Hesheli clan, Empress Xiaozhaoren of the Niuhulu clan, and Empress Xiaoyiren of the Tong Jia clan. Another Uya clan, the biological mother of the Yongzheng Emperor, was posthumously honored as Empress Xiaogongren. Kangxi was not like his ancestors and his father, but he was also a model of infatuation, which was both political and true.
Emperor Taizong Taiji and Shizu Fulin, the former favored remarrying the daughter Hai Lanzhu at an overage age, while the latter was obsessed with Concubine Dong E, who had a doubtful origin, that is, he was extremely dedicated, even if the princes they gave birth to were just born, the emperors would grant amnesty to the world, and there was a great potential for the establishment of a reserve.
Which woman Kangxi loved most in his life is really difficult to say. He not only did the thing of directly appointing a woman as a new son as a prince, but also devoted himself to a woman in stages. Undoubtedly, this is the emotional journey of a mature politician, who loves beauty more than jiangshan. It is said that when Wu Yashi was fifty years old, he was also ordered by Kangxi to serve and sleep, which is also a miracle. Could it be that the Kangxi Emperor loved him to the extreme, and the young couple came to be a companion? Non also. This is undoubtedly a reward given by Kangxi for attaching importance to the brothers of the fourth son of the emperor, Yin Zhen, and the fourteenth son of the emperor, and of course, it is inevitable that the later historians will adhere to the holy will. Kangxi did not worry about his young wife, and at the age of sixty-five, he also conceived and gave birth to the twenty-seven-year-old Chen Guiren, giving birth to the emperor's thirty-five sons.
Kangxi had his own evaluation and remembrance of the three empresses he had created. After the death of Empress Xiaochengren, Kangxi, with Emperor E and Empress Dowager Shunzhi, went to the mausoleum for twenty-five years on the day of his sacrifice, and the first empress was buried in the emperor's main mausoleum. At the same time, shortly after the death of Empress Xiaochengren, he made his son Yin Rong crown prince. Empress Xiaozhaoren was the daughter of Shu Bilong and the daughter of Ao Baiyi, and her union with Kangxi was also a political marriage, but after Kangxi punished Shu Bilong and Ao Bai, he established them as his successors, praising them as his "good match" and "the good match of the inner court", and there is no doubt that the conjugal life between her and Kangxi is also full of bubbles and similar interests.
Yifei Guo Luoluoshi, deeply loved by Kangxi, was regarded as Kangxi's favorite concubine. When the Kangxi Emperor went out on expeditions, he would order people to write to the Yikun Palace where Concubine Yi lived to report peace, and would also bring back local specialties, which was not a unique favor, but it was rare among harem concubines. Zhang Guoli and Deng Jie's husband and wife's version of "Kangxi Micro Service Private Interview" is based on the emotions of Kangxi and Concubine Yi throughout.
It is worth noting that among the Kangxi concubines was a concubine of the Borjigit clan, who was the daughter of Kangxi's grandmother Xiaozhuang's cousin Ayu, and was divided into Kangxi's cousins. This woman entered the palace very early, and in the palace, Kangxi died of illness in the ninth year and was posthumously honored as a concubine. According to the Qianlong Dynasty's revised "Rules of the Qing Dynasty", Huifei was second only to Concubine Wen, who had long presided over the harem, and before the other concubines in the order of the Kangxi Empress. She and Kangxi were young plum bamboo horses, and if it was not politically necessary to marry the first sony family, and the first Heschel clan was established, Xiaozhuang naturally wanted to continue to appoint this Borjigit clan from her mother's family as empress Kangxi.
Stills of the concubine selection in "The Legend of Ruyi"
@Surging netizen UvYbqu: Were Manchu women significantly more Than Han women in the Qing Dynasty? Uranara clan, Nyūrō clan, did the surnames in these TV dramas really exist in the Qing Dynasty?
Xiang Jingzhi: The Qing Dynasty had strict regulations on the selection of concubines, mainly Manchu and Mongolian. Especially in the early days, royal marriage was a kind of political marriage, forming a Manchu-Mongolian political marriage system. For example, the empress dowager Taiji and the two empresses of Shunzhi, including the famous Empress Xiaozhuang, all came from the Borjigit family in Horqin, Mongolia. Han Chinese women are just an embellishment. Even though the Kangxi Emperor greatly eased the Manchu-Han contradictions, and his birth mother Concubine Tong was from the Han Army, from his 65 famous concubines, concubines, nobles, promises, and concubines, 19 high-ranking empresses, imperial concubines, noble concubines, and concubines, none of whom were Han, and the concubines had Han surnames but all of them were Han troops. For example, among the nearly 20 famous concubines of the Xianfeng Emperor, only the second concubine was a Han army, and there was not a real Han female. As for the Uranara clan, the Niuhulu clan, etc., this is the Manchu surname of the Qing Dynasty. According to the Qing Dynasty Tongdian Clan Luo Manchuria Eight Banners Surname, the most prominent surnames in Manchuria are Tong (Tong Jia), Guan (Guar Jia), Ma (Ma Jia), Suo (Soqi Luo), He (Hesheli), Fu (Fucha), Na (Nala), and Lang (Nyullu), commonly known as the eight surnames of Manchuria. The Nala clan was divided into four major branches: Uranara, Hadanara, Yehenara, and Huifa Nala, who came from the four Jurchen clans of Haixi Hulun, and Dorgon's birth mother, Abhay, and The Yongzheng Emperor's wife, Empress Xiaojingxian, were all Uranara clans. Empress Dowager Cixi was of the Yehenara clan, and the birth mother of Emperor Taiji was of the same clan. There are many famous people of the Niuhulu clan. One of the four major vassals of the Kangxi Dynasty, Shu Bilong, and Qianlong's biological mother, Empress XiaoShengxian, were both of the Niuhulu clan.
"The Great Qing dynasty and small history", by Xiang Jingzhi, Oriental Publishing House, October 2021.