In 1795, at the age of 86, the Qianlong Emperor announced that Zen was located in Yuanyan. After Qianlong abdicated, he did not delegate power, and he also held an abdication ceremony: 5,000 elderly people over the age of 70 were invited to the banquet. Unexpectedly, many old people died after eating the feast, what is going on?
In 1795, that is, the sixtieth year of Qianlong, when the Qianlong Emperor was 86 years old, in order not to exceed the record of his grandfather Kangxi's 61 years of reign, he decided to cede the throne to the fifteenth son, Emperor Yan, in the year of his 60 years of rule. Qianlong's imperial skills were clever, although he was a Zen position, but it was only for the world to see, in order to gain a good reputation, he did not want to be put up by his son Emperor Jiaqing and end up like Li Yuan.
Therefore, in the years from the reign of Qianlong to the death of Qianlong, the Jiaqing Emperor was only an empty emperor, and the real power was in the hands of the Qianlong Emperor and Hezhen. Especially in the second year of Jiaqing, after the death of the foreman military aircraft minister Ah Gui, The Qianlong Emperor was in a position of great power, the Qianlong Emperor was inconvenient to move, the language was not clear, and when he was in the upper court, He Yan stood next to Qianlong and Jiaqing, and after the minister knelt three times and bowed nine times, he played something, and He Yan "listened" to Qianlong's words, and then he made his own judgment and issued his will, because only He Yan could understand what Qianlong was saying.
At this time, Hezhen was equivalent to regency, and people at that time called Hezhen "Second Emperor". Jiaqing, who was sitting on the side, was just a decoration, like a transparent person. In fact, in Qianlong's later years, not only did Jiaqing have no real power, but even the Qianlong Emperor was somewhat controlled by Hezhen.
Because He yan held multiple positions and held military power, the eunuchs, palace women, and officials around Qianlong and Jiaqing could all be spies and eyeliner of Hezhen, such as Jiaqing's attendants Wu Shengqin and Wu Shenglan brothers. These two were once heyan's teachers, and after Hezhen was promoted, Wu Shengqin only embarked on the path of Hezhen, and they were all Hezhen's people. Therefore, Jiaqing hated Hezhen so much that as soon as he ascended the throne, he couldn't wait to get rid of Hezhen.
If this was the case, why did the Qianlong Emperor always favor He yan, so that in the late Qianlong period, he was a bit hollowed out by He Yan?
The Qianlong Emperor himself imitated his grandfather Kangxi everywhere, such as going down to Jiangnan many times, engaging in banquets for thousands of people, loving face, engaging in formalism, extravagance and waste, pursuing a luxurious life, and so on. But these all need the support of money, and in the early days of Qianlong, he still spent his own small treasury, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave silver.
But later, Qianlong's expenditure was too great, and the silver of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not enough for him to use, so he had to "borrow money" from the treasury, but this matter was too humiliating, and the money in the treasury was spent, and the courtiers would go to the court to dissuade him. Therefore, Qianlong's extravagant life was constrained to a certain extent, and it was at this time that Hezhen appeared.
The Qianlong Emperor found that He Yan was a financial expert, as long as he gave the power to He Yan, he could always get money, and all the funds for Qianlong's activities were covered by He Yan, and he did not use a penny from the national treasury, and he did not even need to pay money from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
For example, in the forty-ninth year of Qianlong, the Qianlong Emperor began the sixth southern tour, he ate and drank all the way from the Beijing Division, took the concubines, princes and other people to Jiangnan to play a large circle, the whole process of affairs were handled by Hezhen, not only did not spend a penny from the national treasury, but the princes, concubines and other people also got the treasures and treasures offered by the provinces, how could everyone be unhappy. Therefore, the Qianlong Emperor ordered He yan to stand next to him when he toured the south to show his merits.
In the fifty years of Qianlong, Qianlong Xitian was the fifth grandson, and the Qianlong Emperor, in order to show his imperial grace and win a good name, invited more than 60 people from all over the country, with more than 3,000 people, to gather together and hold a banquet of a thousand sons to carry forward the prosperity of Qianlong. The feast of a thousand monks was so large that it was unprecedented, but the cost was also huge, as high as a few million taels of silver, and the annual income of the Qing Dynasty government at that time was only tens of millions of taels, just imagine, if this money came out of the national treasury, how much impact it would have, how many people would attract opposition.
However, there is peace, funding is not a problem, the national treasury does not have to pay money, and officials have no reason to dissuade them. A thousand feasts came down, the old man got the benefits, Qianlong got a good name, and He Yan invited favors in exchange for real power, how could everyone be unsatisfied?
In the sixty years of Qianlong, the 86-year-old Qianlong, after three days of meditation, held the second Feast of the Thousand Sorrows, and the age of the elderly who attended the feast was changed from 60 years old to more than 70 years old. Although the age has increased, the number of people has increased, and the number of invitees has reached 5,000, which is more than the number of people who were invited to the last Feast of a Thousand Sorrows.
In order to cater to Qianlong's pompous and pompous psychology, he raised the reward, and those who could walk would go to the banquet, and those who could not move would also be given a quota and a reward. The Feast of the Thousand Sorrows is completely different from other banquets, not only all royal tributes and drinks are free, but also include round-trip fees, giving gold and silver, a scepter, a royal product, and even a reward of official titles and top wear. At the banquet, the old people were grateful to Shu Zero, while shouting: "The policy of the imperial court is good, and the Emperor Taishang is a holy prince", while wolfing down.
As a result, before the end of the banquet, many elderly people were overly full and overly happy, fainting, happy, full, drunk countless, and a few days later, some elderly people with poor physique died one after another. And those old people who did not die, when they returned to the township, praised Qianlong in every way and boasted about Qianlong in every way. Therefore, although Qianlong abdicated, he won the reputation of loving the people and the holy king, and won the hearts of the people, and qianlong's glory was precisely due to the operation and support of Hezhen, so Qianlong became more and more dependent on Hezhen, and Hezhen gradually became Qianlong's spokesman and became the "Second Emperor".