The Shunzhi Emperor died at the age of 24, but gave birth to 8 princes in his lifetime.
There were a total of 4 empresses before and after Shunzhi, of which Kangxi's biological mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, was still a mother with Zigui, who was honored after Kangxi ascended the throne.
In addition to Empress Xiaokangzhang, Shunzhi also had empress dowager, and his lifelong love Concubine Dong also gave birth to a son, so why could Kangxi, who was not a concubine and not a long woman, and also had Han chinese blood, inherit the throne?
First of all, let's first look at what happened to Shunzhi's 8 sons.
Shunzhi's first son was called Niu Niu, and this son was also a bitter man, and it is recorded in the "Qing History Manuscript" that the eldest son Niu Niu died in the 9th year of Shunzhi.
However, according to the research of later scholars on the niu button, jiayingguan once enshrined the heroes of the past generations of river governance, and there was an imperial uncle niu niu in the middle hall wearing a dragon robe.
This niu niu was Shunzhi's eldest son.
So why did Niu Niu die in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty"?
The reason is that Niu Niu's mother is only a palace girl, and the mother and son are deeply excluded in the palace, and they have been framed many times, and after the two cannot survive, they are driven out of the palace.
For the sake of face, Daqing can only record the early death of the cow button. However, whether it was really an early death or was driven out of the palace, the cow button was excluded from the crown prince.
Shunzhi's second son, Fuquan, was the de facto eldest son of the emperor, and it is worth noting that although Fuquan was unknown in history, he was actually a very outstanding military commander.
He was born to Concubine Dong E of Ning, but unfortunately this Dong E'e was not the Shunzhi obsessed Concubine Dong E, who was not favored.
Fuquan was only one year older than Kangxi, and after Kangxi ascended the throne, he had been fully assisting Kangxi, once beating the Dzungars and the russian army into a desert and fleeing, and he was like a brother to Kangxi.
However, Fu Quan is an excellent handsome man, but it does not mean that he can also be a king, Fu Quan does not have this ambition, nor does he have this ability.
The fourth son of the emperor, Prince Rong, was the "first son" in Shunzhi's heart, only because this child was born to his beloved, Concubine Dong.
At that time, when Prince Rong was born, Shunzhi happily offered sacrifices to heaven and earth, and also issued an edict on the birth of the first son of the emperor, not only amnesty for the world, but also held a grand celebration for him.
This treatment, the concubines born in the past generations have not seen a few, Prince Rong was born when Dong Efei was still an imperial concubine, so in fact, this treatment is already excessive.
According to this posture, if there is no accident, the future throne should be Prince Rong,But Prince Rong did not have this life, he died after only 3 months of birth, and even had no time to take his name.
Two years after the death of Prince Rong, Princess Dong E's concubine also disappeared, and Shunzhi suddenly lost his lover and son, and was once hit hard, he posthumously crowned Princess Dong Efei as empress and arranged a solemn funeral for Prince Rong.
The fifth son of the emperor, Chang Ning, was also a concubine, Chang Ning once followed Fu Quan in the conquest, and Kangxi also used him more after he took the throne, but relatively speaking, he was more ordinary than Fu Quan, plus there was no outstanding place in terms of birth, age, etc., so he was not a crown prince.
In addition, the remaining sixth son of the emperor to the eighth son of the emperor of Shunzhi are too young, only one or two years old, regardless of the origin, in theory, the age is too young, the variables are too large, so do not consider being a candidate for the crown prince.
After talking about the situation of the princes, in fact, it can be seen at a glance that Fuquan and Changning are both qualified to compete for the throne, so what ability does Kangxi have to make Shunzhi choose him as the heir?
Let's first look at Kangxi's origins.
Kangxi was Shunzhi's third son, Xuan Ye, and his mother Tong Jia was a genuine Han Chinese, originally surnamed Tong, who entered the palace in the 10th year of Shunzhi.
In fact, Tong Jia, like other concubines, was not treated by the Shunzhi Emperor at all, and Shunzhi favored her several times, which was also hindered by the rules of the palace, but Tong Jia's stomach was very contentious, that is, the Shunzhi Emperor perfunctorily made these few times, and she was actually pregnant.
After Tong Jia gave birth to the third son of the emperor, in fact, there was no change in status, and Shunzhi was not originally an amorous emperor, that is, for the sake of her birth to a prince, she reluctantly turned over the brand several times.
Later, when Concubine Dong entered the palace, Tong Jia was completely snubbed.
What was even more cruel was that Tong Jiashi was still only a concubine until the death of the Shunzhi Emperor. It was not until Kangxi ascended the throne that Tong Jia was honored with Empress Xiaohuizhang and was called Empress Dowager Mother, and Tong Jia was also raised after Kangxi ascended the throne.
That is to say, in fact, Xuan Ye was influenced by Tong Jia, and the Shunzhi Emperor did not have any love for him at all, let alone any preference, if according to the system of "standing up and standing up", it would not be Xuan Ye's turn to be emperor.
In fact, the original intention of the Shunzhi Emperor was not even to pass the throne to his son, but to his brothers.
When the Shunzhi Emperor was young, he was put on the throne by Xiaozhuang, and because of his young age, the power was in the hands of the regent Dorgon, so his psychological shadow over Dorgon was very deep.
Now several of his sons are still young, when Shunzhi died, the oldest Fuquan was only 9 years old, he did not want his sons to repeat his mistakes, so he once wanted to pass the throne to his brother Yue Le.
Yue Le was his cousin Prince An, and the Shunzhi Emperor wanted to pass the throne to Yue Le, not only because his son was young, but also because this cousin coincided with many of his ideas.
After Xiaozhuang helped the young Shunzhi to sit on the throne, the government was in the hands of Xiaozhuang for a long time, because Xiaozhuang's governing philosophy was conservative, while Shunzhi reused Han officials.
Such political differences made the mother and son have no less disagreement, so the Shunzhi Emperor wanted to pass the throne to Yue Le, who also admired Han culture, in order to continue his Sinicization policy.
However, this must have been firmly opposed by the Empress Dowager's faction, and in the process of his reuse of Han officials, it caused the dissatisfaction of many ministers in the court, so that those ministers had no intention of interfering with political affairs.
To this end, the "Shunzhi Testament" written before Shunzhi's death also specifically pointed out this problem, to the effect that he reused Han Chen, causing the officials of the DPRK and China to relax their energy and have no intention of doing political affairs, which was their own sin.
Judging from the content alone, we will not discuss whether this "edict of sin" was written voluntarily or under the persecution of the empress, but it can be proved that his reuse of Han Chen did cause dissatisfaction among officials.
After Shunzhi's idea was denied, he could only choose from his younger sons.
In the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", such a bizarre story was recorded:
After the Shunzhi Emperor's concubine Tong Jiashi became pregnant, she once went to visit Empress Xiaozhuang, and when Xiaozhuang saw Tong Jiashi, she actually saw a dragon around her.
After Tong Jia left, Empress Xiaozhuang said to the eunuch, "This was the scene when I was pregnant with Fu Lin (Emperor Shunzhi). ”
Of course, the emperors of all the dynasties liked to arrange a little myth and legend on their bodies to show that they were destined for heaven, and the story of Kangxi was not too strange.
After Xuan Ye was born, he also showed a difference, he has a loud voice since he was a child, his body is strong, and he is thirsty for learning, every time he reads a book, he must read every word and sentence, and never deceive himself.
Once Shunzhi asked the princes what ambitions they had in the future, and the eldest Fuquan said: "I want to become a sage king in the future", but I did not expect Xuan Ye to say: "In the future, I want to be like my father and emperor."
Because of this sentence, the Shunzhi Emperor believed that Xuan Ye had strong ambitions in his heart, so he looked at him differently from then on, of course, this other look was not enough to make Xuan Ye become the crown prince.
In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor suddenly contracted smallpox, which is a fierce infectious disease, once infected, it can be sick in three days, and the probability of cure is very low.
Once he got smallpox, he basically only had to wait for death, and the Shunzhi Emperor died because he did not survive smallpox.
So in addition to Xuan Ye's intelligence and studiousness, there is a more important reason, that is, smallpox.
In the "Biography of John Tang", this incident was recorded, the Shunzhi Emperor wanted his cousin Yue Le to inherit the throne, and after being strongly obstructed, Tang Ruowang recommended Xuan Ye with Shunzhi.
The reason is that Xuan Ye had smallpox when he was a child and survived.
Having smallpox means that antibodies have been produced in his body, and he will not be threatened with death by smallpox in the future, which is indeed a favorable factor for Sheji.
Therefore, on his deathbed, Shunzhi wrote the "Shunzhi Testament", which declared Xuan Ye, who was only 8 years old, to be the heir to the throne.
Of course, to this day, the Shunzhi Testament is still full of doubts, and in addition to saying that Li Xuanye is the heir to the throne, it also lists more than a dozen of his own sins.
It is more appropriate to say that it is not so much a testament as it is a self-inflicted edict, which is to criticize the consequences of not following the ancestral system and reusing the Han Dynasty, and to almost completely deny the achievements of his life.
This edict was written for a day and a night, and the draft was changed three times in the middle, until Empress Xiaozhuang was satisfied, and then it was announced to the world, and then the drafter of this edict was also silent.
This is worth pondering.
After Kangxi ascended the throne, it was indeed more in line with Empress Xiaozhuang's wishes, and the important ministers used were all Manchu Shangsan Banners, and there were not many Han ministers in the dynasty.
Although there are still many doubts in this edict, but the ancient feudal system is not shallow, for the sake of power in the palace, I don't know how many invisible people are hidden in the open struggle, so these are not strange at all.
It is undeniable that Kangxi has indeed become an emperor for thousands of years, and whether there is Empress Xiaozhuang in the middle or not, Xuan Ye is a qualified emperor.
So do you think that the Shunzhi Emperor had any unspeakable secrets in the process of preparing his will?