The Qing Dynasty was one of the few in history that was established by ethnic minorities for power. In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, politics was corrupt and the world was in turmoil. The Qing army took the opportunity to move south, occupy the Central Plains, and eventually establish the Qing Dynasty. Because it was a regime established by ethnic minorities, it was, to some extent, different from previous dynasties. For example, in the management system, there are great differences. Because the Qing army was composed of ethnic minorities, it was composed of many tribes. At that time, in order to better control these tribes, Nurhaci came up with a way to reorganize the internal population, which is the eight flags system that we are familiar with. He divided the people of each tribe into eight banners, each with its own leader. They have enormous power in their hands and play a leading role in this tribe. But the leader of the Eight Banners must obey Nurhaci's orders.
Nurhaci also did this in order to manage the affairs of the tribes more effectively. After all, the customs and habits of each tribe are different. If they were all treated in the same way, disputes would inevitably arise. During Nurhaci's reign, the leaders of these flags still had a lot of power. However, in the later period, the emperors realized the importance of centralized power, so they gradually began to weaken the power of the Eight Banners. Although the Power of the Eight Banners of Manchuria was enormous at the beginning, it was weakened step by step until it existed in name only. In fact, there are certain practical reasons for such a phenomenon. At first, Nurhaci had more than a dozen sons, but when they reached adulthood, some of them were executed for their crimes, some of them died of illness, and not many of them could eventually take on big responsibilities. Later, during the reign of Emperor Taiji, he had eleven sons, but eight of these children had no heirs. Faced with such a situation, it provided a good opportunity for the emperors to seize power. Therefore, in the decades that followed, the emperors continued to weaken the power of the Eight Banners and take power into their own hands. By the Shunzhi period, the Eight Banners had basically been dismantled.
At that time, only the status of the three flags was more respected, they were, the yellow flag, the yellow flag and the white flag. The strength of the lower five flags is relatively weak, and it is already at risk of being completely controlled. At that time, in order to be able to control these forces in their own hands, the emperors thought of a way to make their own princes into a family, and then sent them to the banners as leaders. In this way, the emperor has his own eyeliner in each flag. Although on the surface it is these princes who are in charge, it is the emperor who makes the decisions behind them. In this way, the real leadership of the flags was still controlled by the emperor. By the time of the Kangxi Dynasty, the emperor had more rights over the Eight Banners. They could appoint commanders, so that the Eight Banners were almost under the emperor's control.
At that time, as long as there was a war, Kangxi would appoint his son as a marshal and personally supervise the battle in the front. Therefore, the forces within the Eight Banners were gradually divided by the emperor. In the later period, almost all the capitals of the Eight Banners were kangxi's sons. But they all only have the right to administer, not the right to rule, they all manage the flags on behalf of the emperor. During the Yongzheng period, imperial power was concentrated at its peak. Therefore, the power of the Eight Banners was also reduced to a minimum. At that time, the Yongzheng Emperor strictly controlled the number of flags and arranged more people to supervise. Therefore, the power that originally belonged to the Prince of the Eight Banners was all controlled by the emperor. One of the most obvious examples at that time was that the Yongzheng Emperor revoked the succession of the Prince of Gong'an, the King of the Eight Banners at that time, and passed the princely throne to his younger brother. Obviously, Yongzheng's purpose was to use his own people to manage the Eight Banners and prevent them from having the idea of seizing power.
The author believes that in fact, the weakening of the power of the Eight Flags is an inevitable process. Because of its existence influenced the concentration of imperial power. In ancient times, there was a clear trend of change in imperial power, that is, step by step it was in the hands of the emperor and constantly expanded. During the Nurhaci period, the Princes of the Eight Banners were allowed to administer their own tribes in order to better rule. In order to avoid unrest among the tribes because of management problems. However, after the unification of the world, the way to ensure the stability and peace of the world is to put the power in the hands of the emperor. If you let these Eight Banners disciples hold too much power. Inevitably, they will have the intention of rebellion, and when the time comes, it will be detrimental to the development of the country. There are many things in history that the kings of the clan have done in turmoil, and if they do not control the power in their hands, it is inevitable that history will play out again. Therefore, the emperor will find ways to weaken the power of the Eight Banners. So when the Qing Dynasty reached its peak, it was when the Eight Banners were the least powerful.