When the young emperors of the Qing Dynasty ascended the throne, they had to set up a regent, and the regents generally had high power, and their power was basically the strength to be the emperor, but many ministers assisted by the regents did not become emperors, and there were many reasons for this. One of these people once reached out and touched the emperor's throne.
One of the most famous of these was Dorgon, and Dorgon was also the biggest contender for imperial power at that time, with military power in his hands and many supporters, but why didn't Dorgon choose to be emperor himself? What kind of insider information is there?
First, the Qing Dynasty system
The inheritance system in ancient China is called the primogeniture system, after the death of the old emperor, the eldest son of the emperor will generally be established to inherit the throne, but many dynasties will break this tradition, such as the Qing Dynasty, there are several emperors who are not the eldest son. Because the Qing Dynasty was tribal ruled by the Manchus, they usually recommended their leader and was generally called the "Great Khan".
Nurhaci was the leader of the "Great Khan" that everyone promoted at that time, and the policy decision was also made through meetings, and his sons had four big baylors, and they would also participate in the discussion of serious matters, the most famous during the period was the big belle hauge, the second baylor grandfather daishan, and the ranking of the emperor Taiji was still very low.
Because it was a recommendation system at that time, after Nurhaci's death, he did not leave a will, but through the election of the public and through fierce fighting, recommended the emperor Taiji at that time, and the emperor Taiji was not the eldest son. At that time, there were also many people competing with Huang Taiji for election.
In the years when Emperor Taiji became emperor, he often participated in decision-making with the four great baylors, and later in order to avoid the division of imperial power, the real power of several great belles was weakened after the emperor taiji took power, and really became a state of monopoly of power, and when emperor Taiji died, he did not absorb the lessons of his predecessors and did not make a will.
The question of the heir to the throne once again became the victory of the competition between various forces at that time, among which there were mainly such a few people, one was Hauge, who had exploited real power by the Emperor Taiji, and the other was Dorgon, who had been active in the political front and had repeatedly fought on the battlefield.
Hauge, on the other hand, had a group of loyal henchmen from the previous dynasty, both sides were very powerful, and when the parties were in dispute, another small force was also quietly growing, which was the later Shunzhi Emperor. In response to the proverb "The clams fight each other, the fishermen win", and the biggest winner in this political struggle is the Shunzhi Emperor.
The Shunzhi Emperor's mother was Empress Xiaozhuang, and in the face of the stalemate between other forces, Xiaozhuang stood up to make his six-year-old son emperor, and Xiaozhuang first found other princes who supported Hauge and pointed out that Hauge was arrogant, and if Hauge was elected, he would definitely adopt a policy of weakening the real power of the major princes.
This made the princes move and decided to follow Xiaozhuang's advice. Instead, he supported Flint-Leon. Then Xiaozhuang found Dolgun, who was at that time full of words, and proposed that if fulin was made emperor, he could suppress the forces of the other side, and in this way, Dolgun also agreed to Xiaozhuang's request to establish a six-year-old young emperor Fulin, which gave birth to the future Shunzhi Emperor.
Second, behind-the-scenes transactions
As the regent of the powerful government at that time, why did Dorgon choose to accede to Xiaozhuang's request? Is it really just trying to suppress the power of the other party? It is still rare for ancient political struggles to choose to withdraw in the middle of the way, and many people have to climb to the top of power even if they sacrifice bloodshed to see, why did Dorgon give up?
Many books have different records, and the relationship between Xiaozhuang and Dorgon does not seem to be so pure, some wild history also rumors that the two once held a wedding in the Qing Palace, but the TV series "The Secret History of Xiaozhuang" further deepened the relationship between the two into a couple, but from the later Dolgun's bad end, I think things are not simple.
How Xiaozhuang persuaded Dolgun in history is unknown to people today, but for Dorgon, who was victorious at that time, he was very powerful to become an emperor. Unfortunately, he missed a good opportunity, but since then he has been following the agreement with Xiaozhuang.
In the process of breaking the Shanhaiguan Pass in the Qing Dynasty to achieve national unification, Dorgon also made indelible military achievements, and for the development history of the Qing Dynasty, Dorgon was also a meritorious minister. Dorgon, who became regent, had supreme power.
In the face of Shunzhi, the child Dorgon always inadvertently showed an arrogant look, showing his lofty position, but did not know that his behavior had already quietly planted his future evil consequences, Shunzhi ostensibly succumbed to the oppression of Dorgon's power and obeyed Dorgon's arrangement.
But he did not know that the Shunzhi Emperor had already planted the seeds of hatred in his heart. After Dorgon's death, the Shunzhi Emperor demanded that all dorgon titles and titles be removed, and that a burrow be dug up, which was a very taboo thing for the ancients, and how much dissatisfaction would make such a decision.
It can be seen that the Shunzhi Emperor hated Dorgon very much. The Shunzhi Emperor's jealousy of Dorgon may also have been manifold. In short, Xiaozhuang in order for his son to be able to smoothly ascend to the throne, and all the forces to compete, and participated in some behind-the-scenes transactions, so that the six-year-old little emperor can smoothly succeed to the throne, had to admit that Xiaozhuang is a very political means of a strong woman.
3. Summary
The regent was a very special position in the Qing Dynasty, and his power was even greater than that of the emperor for a period of time, which is why the emperor wanted to get rid of these auxiliary ministers, and Dorgon did not choose himself to be the emperor when he was in power, which was not allowed by strength.
Dorgon experienced two political struggles, one was when Emperor Taiji successfully ascended the throne, when he was too young to have the strength. The second time he had the strength, he once again lost touch with the imperial power, the political struggle has always been cruel, and the choice of one side must bear the corresponding results.
Dorgon and Xiaozhuang have a variety of behind-the-scenes deals in their political struggles. This made Dorgon give up his idea of becoming emperor, but the tragic end after his death may also be unknown to Dorgon's historical records, if he could have predicted such a result, would he have chosen to give up his own as emperor in the first place?