In ancient feudal dynasties, the throne was supreme, and the choice of its heirs often experienced many twists and turns. Throughout the dynasties, princes have fought each other for the throne. The most famous battle between princes in the Qing Dynasty was the seizure of the nine sons of the Kangxi Dynasty, which shows that it is even more difficult to sit on the throne.
As we all know, the Qing government in the late Qing Dynasty was corrupt and its strength was declining, but even so, the succession to the throne was still full of bloodshed. Compared with the Guangxu Emperor and the last emperor Puyi, who are well known to later generations, Pu Yan seems to be little known, but it is undeniable that he reigned for three days. In this short period of three days, Pu Juan also experienced many intrigues.
Waste Guangxu, help Pu Juan
The appearance of Pu Yan originated from the struggle between Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, and was also a pawn of Empress Dowager Cixi to satisfy her own desire for power.
In 1874, the Tongzhi Emperor died of illness at the age of nineteen, and he left no heirs during his lifetime, while mourning the death of the emperor up and down the dynasty, various forces also secretly exerted efforts for the successor to the imperial throne.
The ministers of military aircraft were interested in Zai Li, the son of Prince Gong Yixuan, who was also a military aircraft minister, and constantly fought for opportunities for him. Unfortunately, Empress Dowager Cixi personally designated Zai Xiang, the sister of Empress Dowager Cixi and the son of Prince Yizhen of Alcohol.
With the support of Empress Dowager Cixi, Zai Xiang ascended the throne as the Guangxu Emperor, and the Guangxu Emperor at that time would not know that the person who single-handedly supported him to the throne would also let him spend a painful life.
Cixi chose the Guangxu Emperor precisely because he was not a threat to himself and could become her puppet in controlling the government. In fact, before the Guangxu Emperor took over the government, the relationship between the two was quite harmonious, maintaining a superficial "mother-child affection".
However, with the advent of the "Penghu Reform Law" in 1898, the calm between Cixi and Guangxu was completely broken. At that time, the Guangxu Emperor decided to support kang and Liang's change of law in order to gain real power, but this change of law ended in less than 100 days with the death of Tan Si and the other six gentlemen.
This was followed by the infuriation of Empress Dowager Cixi, who intended to depose the Guangxu Emperor, who was already out of control, so she imprisoned the Guangxu Emperor and announced that the emperor was seriously ill. At the same time, Pu Juan appeared. The country could not be without a monarch for a day, and Empress Dowager Cixi naturally had to find a new person who could be used as a puppet to succeed to the throne.
And the person who was selected this time was Pu Juan, and why did Cixi choose him alone among the princes?
Named Emperor, he is actually a puppet
Cixi has only one condition for choosing a successor, that is, controllability, which depends on the background and the temperament of the person, and Pu Juan is the most in line with these two points.
From the perspective of family background, Pu Yan's father, Duanjun Wang Zaiyi, was the son of Yi Qun, the fifth son of the Daoguang Emperor, and was a close relative of the imperial family, and Zaiyi was an important figure in Cixi's power, closely related to Cixi's interests.
Secondly, Pu Juan's birth mother was the daughter of Cixi's brother, which means that Pu Juan still had the blood of the Yehenara clan on his body, which was also an important reason why Cixi chose him.
And looking at Pu Juan himself, although he is a young man, he does not have the spirit of a young man at all, but more is idle, only knows pleasure, and is the most convenient to control the kind of person.
Therefore, Cixi first made Pu Juan the eldest brother and acted as emperor, and decided to support Pu Juan to succeed to the throne in 1900, with the era name "Baoqing". But Pu Juan's dream of tianzi was shattered in just three days, because the envoys of various countries voted against it one after another.
When the news of Cixi's desire to establish Pu As emperor came out, the foreign ministers in China were very angry, and they wrote to them that they only recognized the Guangxu Emperor, and even threatened to invade Beijing if Guangxu stepped down.
In fact, the strong opposition of the great powers was not for the guangxu emperor himself, but only for the fear that after guangxu stepped down, the various unequal treaties signed during his reign might be denied. In any case, Pu Juan's dream of emperor can only end here.
Three days of dreams, bleak old age
At first, Cixi did not care about the attitude of these powers and continued to work on the succession, at the same time, Zai yi was furious at Pu's lack of recognition, so he began to take tough measures against the foreigners, and even vigorously supported the Boxers, behind which he supported the Boxers to kill foreigners.
During the Boxer Rebellion, the German envoy to China, Klinder, and the secretary of the Japanese embassy, Sugiyama Bin, were killed one after another, which also greatly angered the great powers. So in July 1900, the Eight-Power Alliance marched into Beijing, and Cixi, Guangxu Pu'an' father and son fled.
In December, Cixi exiled him to Xinjiang on charges of causing the Eight-Power Alliance's invasion of China. At the same time, several ministers wrote to cixi to request that Pu Yan be abolished as the eldest brother.
Zaiyi had already fallen, and Cixi did not need to continue to cling to Pu Yan, so after the negotiation of the Treaty of Xinugu, she promulgated the decree to abolish the name of Pu Yan's great brother.
At this point, Pu Juan was expelled from the palace and returned to the life of a sound dog and horse. Despite the royal family's support and the various incomes of the royal palace, it could not withstand The money spent by Pu Yan like flowing water, not only lingering in the fireworks willow alley, but also stained with big smoke, and destroyed all the family property.
With the demise of the Manchu Qing, Pu Juan, who had no income, even sold out the real estate of the royal palace and could only live in the horse in his later years. In 1942, the depressed Pu Yan died of illness, and after his death, a simple funeral ceremony was held at the Jiaxing Temple Funeral Home.
A high birth does not mean a good life
"All roads lead to Rome, and some people are born in Rome." This sentence speaks of the impact of birth on the lives of people of different classes.
It is true that a high birth can make people start from a higher starting point than ordinary people, have easier access to favorable opportunities and resources, and are more likely to succeed. But not all high births are positive, and they are not the only factors that determine the final outcome.
Throughout Pu Juan's life, he was born in the royal family, the family was rich, and once approached the supreme throne, although the Qing government at that time was already a battle of trapped beasts, but the emperor's name still attracted countless predecessors and successors.
But Pu Juan never worked hard for all this, he just happened to be born in the royal family, just became the person chosen by Cixi, such a birth and opportunity is naturally envied by people without exception.
But as it is said, "birth is not the only factor that determines the end.". Although Pu Juan had innate conditions and was able to be selected, he did not have that ability, and it is undeniable that the Qing government at that time was already terminally ill and could not be saved, but Pu Juan's ability and character were still unrecognizable.
If he had the ability, then after being expelled from the palace, he should be able to use the remaining resources to survive, rather than indulging in alcohol, squandering his money and becoming an incompetent person that everyone was tired of. If it is said that the first half of Pu Juan's life was manipulated, but the final outcome was caused by himself, it is no wonder that others.
It can be seen that birth is not the end, people born in Rome may also go to the road of deviating from Rome, never looking back, and people born ordinary can also go to Rome step by step, hard work and seize the opportunity is the decisive factor to achieve their dreams.
brief summary
Pu Juan's life is actually not wonderful, he was born as a royal child, enjoy a good aristocratic life, no need to seek a livelihood, each time the energy is spent on pleasure and play, and then start a family, in the DPRK to find an official and a half-job, relying on the income of the royal palace can spend a life of prosperity.
However, Pu Juan was chosen to become Cixi's puppet, and even he only had three short days to get close to that position. And whether he has the opportunity or loses the opportunity, it is not Pu Yan's own will, he is just a pawn in the power struggle.
This also shows that there are two sides to everything, and there are many invisible pains behind a person's scenery.
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