In the seventh year of Xianfeng (1857), the British army captured Guangzhou, and in the eighth year of Xianfeng (1858), the British and French allies went north, arrived in Tianjin, conquered Dagukou, and the Anglo-French coalition army and the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Tianjin, and in the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), the Anglo-French coalition army once again arrived in Tianjin and asked for a change of treaty. The two sides disagreed and fought, and the Qing Dynasty won a small victory this time. The Xianfeng Emperor was blindly arrogant and tore up the Treaty of Tianjin, and the Anglo-French coalition army revived its strength and came to Tianjin again to capture Tianjin, and Xianfeng sent his ministers to negotiate. Xian Feng's heart is also very contradictory, whether it is war or peace, due to uncertainty.
(Restoration of the Old Summer Palace)
In the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860), the Anglo-French coalition army fought from Tianjin along the canal to Beijing and reached Tongzhou, and Xianfeng once again sent ministers to negotiate. This negotiation failed, several ministers seduced the British envoy Pasha Li, the whole situation became very serious, the Anglo-French coalition directly hit the Bali Bridge outside Beijing, at this time the Xianfeng Emperor, completely panicked, he hinted to the minister, give him a chapter, let him go hunting in the summer resort, the Xianfeng Emperor took his wife and children, fled to the summer resort. The mess in Beijing was left to Prince Gong Yixuan, and the final result of the negotiations was to cut off the land, pay indemnities, and compensate the British and French allied military expenses of 16 million taels of silver.
(Summer Resort)
The most painful thing is that in the Xianfeng Decade (1860), on the third day of september, the leader of the British army, Erjin, with the support of British Prime Minister Palmerston, burned the Yuanmingyuan, and 3500 British and French troops rushed into the Yuanmingyuan, and the fire was not extinguished for three days. After the Anglo-French army entered Beijing, the common people suffered a lot of charcoal, but at this time, the Xianfeng Emperor only blindly evaded responsibility. If an emperor has not fulfilled his due responsibilities and obligations, then why did the Xianfeng Emperor not emulate Emperor Zhu Di's "Heavenly Son Guarding the Gate of the Country"?
(Emperor Zhu Di)
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, because the Ming Dynasty had just been established, there were still many unstable factors in the northern Xinjiang region, the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty constantly harassed the border, in order to ensure the stability of northern Xinjiang and Guanwai and prevent the country from splitting, Zhu Di personally guarded the country's gate on the front line, and when the Chongzhen Emperor arrived in Beijing, some people advised him to flee, he did not flee, and the Chongzhen Emperor Coal Mountain hanged himself and died, Zhu Di and Chongzhen two generations of emperors told us that "the son of heaven guards the gate of the country, the king dies in the community", to be loyal to the state society.
(Chongzhen Emperor)
However, the Xianfeng Emperor did not guard the gate of the country, took his family and the opera class, fled to Rehe, or in the name of "hunting", the Xianfeng Emperor did not order the people of the Qing Dynasty to fight with the enemy and unite with the outside world. After arriving at the Chengde Mountain Resort, the Xianfeng Emperor continued to covet beauty, still listening to the opera in Chengde, Xianfeng let the opera class sing in the morning, sing in the afternoon, and continue to sing in the house when it was cold. Faced with internal and external troubles, the Xianfeng Emperor was helpless, and drinking all day became the way for the Xianfeng Emperor to solve the psychological pressure. What is even more hateful is that XianFeng smokes opium more, and he uses opium as a life-prolonging ointment and often consumes it.
(Xianfeng Emperor)
The Xianfeng Emperor as an emperor is incompetent, the enemy is currently, he actually ran away first, completely disregarding his subjects, he did not emulate Zhu Di's "Heavenly Son Guarding the Gate of the Country", and his personality also has a lot to do with it, the Qing Dynasty scholar Qian Yong recorded in the "Tales of the Garden" that "the ancient heroes are not ambitious, and the people who end up with alcoholic women are not the same." "For the description of Xianfeng, it is very appropriate.
(Yuanmingyuan Ruins)
Xianfeng Emperor faced the invasion of the Anglo-French coalition army, the pressure on him breathless, the young Xianfeng Emperor was depressed, confused, coupled with overwork, 1861 AD, July 17, Xianfeng Emperor died of illness at the age of 31 in the summer resort, at this time the Qing Dynasty was already devastated, from internal and external troubles to the end of the road, and later the Qing government signed a series of unequal treaties, which accelerated the demise of the country.