Hi, everyone, welcome to the new phase of exploring the historical storm
As we all know, the primogeniture inheritance system that has always been popular in the mainland in ancient times has effectively stopped the slaughter of the struggle for the throne, so it can be passed down. However, this system also has many drawbacks, for example, many incompetent people will ascend to the throne because of their birth. Moreover, there were monarchs of some dynasties who did not want to abide by this system at all, and they still killed their brothers and even their fathers.
By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, this system was basically no longer used, and at that time, the emperor adopted the method of secretly establishing reserves. This system arose because later emperors learned the lessons of the conquest of concubines. The specific method is that the emperor himself decides on the candidate for the crown prince, writes it down, puts it in a fixed position, and announces it when the time is ripe. There are many advantages to this practice, for example, it can prevent competition between the princes, and it can also prevent the princely princes from forming parties for personal gain.
The first person to adopt this method was the Yongzheng Emperor. We all know that the emperor's sons were not many, only four of them actually grew to adulthood, and later, one of them died of depression. Therefore, there are only three candidates for the crown prince, of which Hongli is the most outstanding, and people also think that he is nine times out of ten, but this kind of thing, others say it does not work, only the emperor can count.
In order to test this son, the Yongzheng Emperor once gave him a piece of meat, and it was a piece of meat that had only been boiled in white water. This was a real chore for the prince who was accustomed to eating delicious delicacies, but he still endured the nausea and ate this large piece of meat. But he didn't understand the meaning of this, and his mother was very happy when she heard about it, so what was going on?
It turned out that this piece of meat was no ordinary meat, it was an item for priesthood. In order to commemorate this history, the descendants held priests at a specific time every year, and the priest's items were boiled meat, and after the priesthood ended, these meats were distributed to everyone. However, not everyone can eat this kind of meat, only the blessed can get it. The emperor gave the meat to Hongli, that is, he had already approved of him, and at the same time, he also meant to test him, because if he could eat such a difficult thing, he would be able to face all kinds of difficulties in the future.
Hongli passed the test, and he became emperor, and like his father, he secretly chose his heir.
Well, today we will introduce you to the next issue of see you soon!