The Qing Dynasty, which has been in the past 300 years, has experienced eleven monarchs, of which the longest reign is Kangxi, and the longest-lived is his grandson Qianlong. According to historical records, Qianlong lived a total of 87 years and 4 months. At the same time, Qianlong was also the most controversial monarch.
For a long time, whether in the historical circles or history enthusiasts, the evaluation of Qianlong has been uneven. However, in the debate, it was unanimously agreed that Qianlong was very faint in his later years
The reason why the Qing Dynasty declined also had a lot to do with his fainting in his later years.
Next, let's take a closer look at what were the faint places in Qianlong's later years.
1, can not listen to the advice of the ear, but also a very good face
In his later years, Qianlong could not hear different voices at all, and some people once suggested that the "silver of the discussion of crimes" system be stopped, and some people suggested that the northeast should be opened to migrants to alleviate the pressure on the population. All of this was suppressed by Qianlong, why?
The reason is that this old man likes to listen to flattery too much. It seems that at that time, as long as it was flattering and political correct, it could be put on the throne, and the specific reference can be made to the ascension experience of Hezhen. So the upper beam is crooked, and the lower beam is naturally not correct.
Since He Yan and the Lords came to power by patting Qianlong on the ass, other officials naturally followed suit, so the "He Lords" of all sizes filled the official circles of the Qing Dynasty, they were corrupt and corrupt, and they worked upward and downward, so that the finances of many areas of the Qing Dynasty at that time had a large deficit. In order to curry favor with Qianlong, the officials of the imperial court even fabricated all kinds of lies to make Qianlong happy, and over time, a large number of social contradictions accumulated.
Not only that, Qianlong also had a very good face, and in the final analysis, his good face was a good and great achievement, very conceited, liked to engage in face projects, and even went to war everywhere to show his martial arts.
2, serious waste
In his later years, Qianlong thought that he had finished and could enjoy it. So what he does is spend money, spend a lot of money. The cost of Qianlong is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, large-scale cruises, which have been documented to more than 150 times, including 6 times south.
These tourist activities not only put great pressure on the Qing court's finances, consumed a lot of money, but also increased the burden on the people along the way. It should be noted that every time Qianlong travels, no matter where he goes, the local government needs to spend a lot of money to provide him with food, build roads, and build palaces.
In addition to frequent travel, Qianlong also engaged in civil engineering construction and built many gardens and palaces. These include the expansion of the Old Summer Palace and the Chengde Summer Palace. The Yuanmingyuan was originally a garden given to his father by his grandfather, and Qianlong was not satisfied with the size of the Yuanmingyuan and ordered a large-scale expansion.
Chengde's summer palace was also considered too frugal by Qianlong, so the thirty-six scenes became seventy-two scenes, and the large-scale construction of the project did not stop until Qianlong was more than seventy years old.
Even if qianlong's behavior cannot be regarded as a disaster for the country and the people, at least it is a labor and a loss of money, and it has made a mess up and down the vast country. Moreover, Qianlong's desire to control this person is really too strong, and he has not counted as an emperor for sixty years, and he still wants to be the emperor for a few more years. It is such a faint old emperor who not only does not recognize his mistakes, but also firmly holds on to power, which is bound to cause the indignation of many people, especially Jiaqing, who has already succeeded to the throne. In this way, the cause of Qianlong's death recorded in the History of the Qing Dynasty is very suspicious.
So, how did Qianlong die? Is it the end of life? According to historical records, Qianlong rarely got sick in his life, his body was always in good health, and he was alive and well the day before his death, with no signs of illness. So how did such a healthy old man suddenly die?
After analysis, some scholars gave the latest explanation: Qianlong actually died in a bowl of soup.
According to historical records, when Qianlong was 87 years old, he began to drink a large number of nutritional supplements, mainly drinking ginseng soup, people with a little common sense of traditional Chinese medicine know that ginseng is mainly suitable for people with yin deficiency to supplement, and Qianlong's insomnia and dreams in his later years are obviously yang deficiency, and the final cause of his death is this ginseng soup, a yang deficiency person long-term eating yin deficiency medicine, the results can be imagined.
According to records, on the second day of the first lunar month in 1799, when the taiyi gave Qianlong a pulse in the evening, he still gave the conclusion: the holy pulse is peaceful, but the qi is weak and weak, and he enters the ginseng lotus drink (ginseng one dollar five, Jianlian three dollars) four times, and uses ginseng six dollars. In the morning of the third day of the first year, Qianlong died. In other words, it was this bowl of soup that took Qianlong's life.