In 1820, the 60-year-old Jiaqing Emperor died violently at the Summer Resort in Chengde, Hebei. Until his deathbed, he did not understand.
Throughout his life, he was diligent in his administration and loved the people, and he worked hard to govern, not only did he not reverse the decline of the Qing Dynasty, but on the contrary, he sowed the seeds of the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
It is also a mess, why is Yongzheng able to refresh the rule of officials, but Jiaqing has failed?
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In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), the Qianlong Emperor died, and the Jiaqing Emperor began to govern in the true sense of the word.
He first killed the Hezhen family with lightning speed, and then put up the banner of "Salt and Restoration" to rectify internal affairs and rectify the discipline.
A series of measures were also promulgated: imperial court officials were prohibited from paying tribute to the emperor, and the ancestors were not brought concubines when they left the palace, and the cost was cut by more than half.
At the same time, officials who had been suppressed for their advice during the Qianlong period were vigorously suppressed by the White Lotus Sect.
Jiaqing finally won the victory at the end of Jiaqing's seventh year through a series of severe punishments for corruption and adjustments in personnel appointments.
For a time, the Qing Dynasty seemed to have changed its appearance, allowing everyone to see hope.
The Jiaqing Emperor was also deeply pleased that his series of reform measures had achieved initial results.
Not only the common people, Jiaqing also has a glimmer of hope, maybe he can really bring the Qing Dynasty back to the track of prosperity?
Alas, he was so naïve!
The White Lotus Rebellion was nothing more than a manifestation of the deep contradictions within the Qing Dynasty.
Beginning in the late Qianlong period, the Qing Dynasty had already begun to go downhill, advocating extravagance in the DPRK and the Central Committee, and the officials were defeated.
Land annexation led to the displacement of peasants, internal uprisings and harassment by external powers.
The Qing Dynasty was already in tatters in the hands of Jiaqing, because the treasury was seriously empty, and Jiaqing's life was very frugal.
Despite Jiaqing's great efforts, in the end it was unable to contain the end of the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
During his reign of more than 20 years, the Jiaqing Emperor can be said to be one of the most diligent emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
Every day, I get up before dawn and turn over the records of the former emperor.
After breakfast, he began to meet with the minister, often so busy that he forgot to eat lunch.
After dealing with Hezhen and many local officials, Jiaqing suddenly slowed down his reform initiatives.
At that time, there were three main problems in front of Jiaqing.
One is greed and anti-corruption, one is fiscal deficit, and there is also a food shortage.
Face corrupt officials
At the beginning, Jiaqing did sweep away a large number of corrupt officials and corrupt officials.
At that time, there were a total of 11 governors in the country, and Jiaqing replaced 6 of them, and under severe punishment, it really relented for a while.
But before long, the attitude of local officials remained the same.
Faced with a fiscal deficit
The way Jiaqing thought of was to cut down on food and clothing, open source and reduce expenditure.
In the face of food shortages, Jiaqing even slapped his thighs and let the displaced people return to the countryside to cultivate land.
These 3 measures of Jiaqing can be seen that Jiaqing is not an emperor at all.
Because he didn't see the root of the problem at all, just like a firefighter, where there was a fire, he went to extinguish it.
First of all, in order to solve the problem of corrupt officials, we must first improve the financial system and the supervision and punishment system.
The replacement of officials is only to change the soup and not to change the medicine, the time is long, and it is just as easy to be affected by the environment.
In fiscal matters, production should be developed and excess labour reduced.
On the land issue, it is even more inverted.
Peasants were originally displaced and displaced because their land had been annexed by the powerful.
Now the displaced people who have found other jobs, such as mining, small businesses, etc., have been driven back to the countryside and once again lost their jobs.
Under the wrong decision of Jiaqing, in the Qing Dynasty, the peasants were constantly frictional, the dynasty was scattered, and the imperial palace was like a decoration.
A series of strange events have occurred.
In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, the folk Tianli Church led more than 200 people to attack the Forbidden City under the eunuch Neiying.
A mere 200 or so people caught the Janissaries who remained in the palace by surprise.
The commander of the guards was even ready to let the harem concubines flee, responsible for the guarding of the noon gate, and he himself fled first.
If it were not for the later Daoguang Emperor Mianning coming to the rescue at a critical moment, stabilizing the scene and working with reinforcements to clear the rebel army.
I am afraid that these 200 people will easily take the Forbidden City.
At that time, the Jiaqing Emperor was still in the Chengde Mountain Resort, and when he heard about this incident, he couldn't believe it, describing it as "something that the Han, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties had never done."
He even issued a "sin edict" for this.
The Jiaqing Emperor was furious, and he did not make his subordinates grow more eyes.
In the late Jiaqing Dynasty, the gate of the Forbidden City almost became a vegetable market, and even a "net red punch card"
One day, the Jiaqing Emperor was walking in the Forbidden City, sneaked to the gate, and found that there were people herding sheep in front of the palace gate.
Jiaqing was speechless when he inquired, and the eunuch who herded the sheep explained that these muttons were raised in the imperial dining room, and in order to make the meat fat and delicious, the sheep were driven to the palace gate to graze.
Jiaqing shook his head when he heard this, isn't this treating me like a fool? Were the sheep in the imperial dining room so miserable that they were going to grab grass at the palace gate and the horses to eat it?
Later, someone reported to Jiaqing that this was just a cold corner.
At the gates of the Forbidden City, there are not only sheep herders, but also people picnicking in the nearby woods.
There are even more farmers carrying burdens at the gate of the Forbidden City to sell vegetables, you come and go, it is not lively!
In fact, the laxity of the Forbidden City's access control was far more serious than what Jiaqing saw.
One year, when the Jiaqing Emperor was out of the palace to sacrifice, the Great Seal of the Bingbu mysteriously disappeared, which scared him out of a cold sweat.
Because the Great Seal of the Ministry of War is very important, one is used for the daily office of the Ministry of War to process documents.
One was a seal, which the emperor had to carry with him when he went out, so that he could dispatch troops to use it at any time.
An investigation revealed that the Great Seal had been lost for three years.
During this period, no one in the military department actually reported it, and in the end, it was not found out who lost it.
In the face of the serious dereliction of duty of the military department, Jiaqing actually stopped it and directly re-created a big seal for the military department.
For Jiaqing at this time, the heart is extremely complicated and painful.
A series of reform measures of its own have not only failed to bear fruit, but have made the unhealthy atmosphere in the DPRK and China even more rampant.
The national strength is weakening, the people are suffering unspeakably, and various problems and contradictions are becoming more and more acute.
He began to reflect on himself, since the reform did not work, then refer to the practice of the ancestors!
So he gave up forging ahead and began to refer to the solutions of his ancestors when he encountered problems.
At this time, Jiaqing could only pretend to be "diligent" to numb himself, when a monk hit a day clock.
He did not understand at all that from Nurhaci to Dolgun, it was these people whose minds were untethered, guided by the situation, and used flexibly.
Only then did the Qing Dynasty enter the Forbidden City from outside the Guan.
It is precisely because of the continuous revision and improvement of the system that leaders full of enterprising spirit follow the trend.
Jiaqing shouted the slogan of "reform" on his lips, but in his heart he stuck to the rules, lacked the courage of a brave man to break his wrist, and was afraid to bear the risk and responsibility of failing reform.
Jiaqing was destined to be a failed emperor.
Therefore, although Jiaqing did not have major defects in character, it has never been able to realize its long-cherished wish to revitalize the Qing Dynasty.
Instead, he left a stall worse than his father Qianlong to Daoguang.
Why can Yongzheng turn the tide, but Jiaqing has failed?
1. Growing up is different
At the beginning, Yongzheng knew that he had no connection with the throne, so there was no pressure from the crown prince.
You can let go of your hands and feet to perform, participate in the government as a prince, and get experience. The personality is also relatively mature.
After Jiaqing was secretly established as a reserve, he faced the arbitrariness and harshness of his father Qianlong.
He can only obey his words and observe the colors. For the successor, do not seek merit, but seek no fault.
The long status of the prince has caused great damage to Jiaqing's character.
Doing things forward and backward, afraid of making mistakes, saying that the good point is called steady, and the ugly point is the moderation, and it is also the shackles of Jiaqing's life.
Even after Qianlong abdicated, he refused to relinquish power.
This also led to the fact that Jiaqing was accustomed to referring to Qianlong's opinions, and lacked the vision and pattern of independently looking at things.
2. Personality reasons
Mercy does not control the soldiers, and righteousness does not control wealth.
Jiaqing lacked the courage and courage of Yongzheng, and when his men made mistakes, he was too soft-hearted.
His compassion made him unbearable to inflict a dead hand on sinners.
Repeated exercises were often held high and gently lowered, and over time, the ministers became more and more arrogant when they figured out Jiaqing's temper.
The majesty of the emperor is also non-existent.
3. The mess left by Qianlong is too big
When Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the treasury was empty, only eight million taels of silver, but Yongzheng was very good at making money.
Under his administration, the treasury accumulated 60 million taels of silver.
However, after Qianlong succeeded to the throne, he began to play everywhere, and the cost was amazing.
In his lifetime, he went down to Jiangnan six times and made four eastern tours, and lived a very dashing life.
Under the rule of Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty looked prosperous and prosperous, and its interior had long been decayed.
In the late Qianlong period, there were already very serious failures in the administration of officials and disorder in social order, and everyone knew that the government at that time was on the verge of collapse.
The Jiaqing Emperor was also well aware of this problem, but Jiaqing had a fundamental starting point.