There are always a few strange emperors in every dynasty, such as the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who has not been to the dynasty for thirty years, and his grandson Zhu Youxiao is immersed in the carpentry business and stays in the palace every day to do handicrafts. There are also many strange emperors in the Qing Dynasty, but the most bizarre one is the Xianfeng Emperor, why do you say so? Only because the Xianfeng Emperor was not afraid of indemnity, nor was he afraid of cutting the land, but he was very afraid of seeing foreigners.
It all started with the Second Opium War. Beginning in 1856, Britain, France and other countries took advantage of the Qing army's suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the lack of internal defense to raise troops to attack the Qing Dynasty. The war was fought intermittently for 4 years, including conflicts and armistice talks, but because of Xianfeng's anger at being invaded by foreigners, and the lack of benefits gained from the treaty between Britain and France, there has been no consensus on peace talks. In 1860, the Anglo-French army invaded the city of Beijing in one fell swoop, and the Xianfeng Emperor fled north, leaving his brother Prince Gong Yixun to negotiate with the foreigners.
In fact, when the Anglo-French coalition army had not yet entered Beijing, the Xianfeng Emperor saw that the foreigners were attacking fiercely and could not stop it, so he had already agreed to sign unequal treaties such as land-cutting and indemnity such as the "Treaty of Tianjin" and the "Treaty of Beijing", and even the foreign envoys settled in Beijing.
Why did this three-kneeling and nine-kowtow ceremony seem so important in Xian Feng's eyes? There are two reasons for this -
I. Since ancient times, China has been a big country, and it has always been a small country next to it that pays tribute to China and claims subjection, and there has never been a situation in which China has bowed to any country and submitted to it. And the Envoys of England and France, as the victorious powers, would never bow down on Xianfeng's knees in full view of everyone. As the king of a country, XianFeng definitely did not want to sit on an equal footing with a few foreign devils, so he openly stated that the supreme imperial power was trampled on the ground by foreigners.
Second, the ritual music system has been implemented since the Zhou Dynasty, although there have been decays, but the "ritual" has run through more than two thousand years of feudal rule from top to bottom. As a dynasty ruled by ethnic minorities, the Qing Dynasty regarded "etiquette" more than the Han people, because in this way most Han people could submit to Manchu rule.
When the British emissary Magalni entered Qianlong, it was because he refused to kneel to Qianlong that he was alienated and snubbed. The current British and French envoys are different from the Magalni of that year (Magalni was then an emissary to congratulate Qianlong on his birthday and brought many gifts), they did not bring gifts, but brought war.
Originally, after the defeat of the Second Opium War, the credibility of the Qing court had been declining, and if the foreigners had not knelt down and prostrated their heads when they saw Xianfeng, the emperor's majesty would have directly plummeted, resulting in a situation in which the ceremony collapsed.
Therefore, when he learned that the foreign emissaries would not kneel down to meet him, XianFeng simply disappeared, so as to avoid the ruthless humiliation of the supreme imperial power and his own majesty not to be questioned. "The existence of the national system is difficult to allow. The king's ministers may agree that, if the letter of state is delivered in person, they must kneel in accordance with Chinese etiquette and bow down to the ceremony before they can be allowed to do so", which is the last red line drawn by Xianfeng.
However, in the eyes of the British and French envoys, Xianfeng's behavior was ridiculous and rude, and the last negotiation broke down, the British and French did not talk nonsense, directly invaded the city of Beijing, burned and looted without evil, and finally burned down the Yuanmingyuan, which is known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".
Xian Feng, who should have been in the Forbidden City, but because he insisted on not wanting to see foreigners, he fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort before the city was destroyed, and finally humiliated and sought peace, and the compensation did not fall. Moreover, not only Xianfeng, but also the subsequent emperors of Tongzhi and Guangxu did not directly meet foreign envoys after the defeat, all in order to maintain the dignity of the emperor and the stability of the royal power.
In the eyes of our modern people, XianFeng's behavior is undoubtedly stupid, and he only cares about his ridiculous face compared to the dignity of the country and the integrity of the territory. But Xianfeng is also destined to be a tragic figure, when he first succeeded to the throne, he worked hard to govern, severely punish corruption, and really wanted to do something, but in the face of the invasion of Western powers that had never been seen in a thousand years, coupled with the huge Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, Xianfeng was ultimately difficult to save the Decadence of the Qing Dynasty.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty