The Qianlong Emperor was known as the "Ten Perfection Old Man", and his personal ability was very strong, but there was one thing he really couldn't do, very sorry, and even felt very faceless.
This incident is that he changed 3 princes in the thirty years of ascending the throne, and the Jiaqing Emperor who finally ascended the throne was actually a helpless choice for Qianlong, not because the prince made a mistake and was deposed, but because the 3 princes died and died prematurely.
The first crown prince Yonglian was born to Qianlong and Empress Xiaoxian, yonglian was the first son born to Empress Xiaoxian, was Qianlong's concubine, and even the child's name was Yongzhengqi, so Yonglian was naturally considered to be Qianlong's heir.
Soon after Qianlong ascended the throne, he wrote the name of the 6-year-old Yonglian into the edict and hid it in the box behind the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming", which was the secret reserve system of the Qing Dynasty.
However, when Yonglian was 8 years old, he died of illness, and Qianlong was very sad, announced Yonglian's status as crown prince, and posthumously honored him as "Crown Prince Duanhui" and buried him in the Tomb of the Crown Prince, which is also the only imperial prince mausoleum in the Qing Dynasty.
After Yonglian's death, Qianlong was very distressed, and there were no other concubines, so he did not make a crown prince for 8 years. At this time, Empress Xiaoxian risked her life to get pregnant and gave birth to her second son, named Yong chun, the Qianlong Emperor was very happy, when the child was only one or two years old, Qianlong threw a series of good words on this second concubine, but unfortunately Le Ji was sad, Xu Was Yong Chun was too young to bear these praise words, and died when he was 2 years old, and after the child died 3 months later, Empress Xiaoxian also unfortunately died of illness.
The early death of the prince twice in succession, coupled with the death of the empress, made Qianlong suffer a critical blow, and he no longer wanted to do anything about the prince.
However, with the passage of time, there was no prince, and the empty behind the zhengda guangming plaque was always unfavorable to the future of the country, just when Qianlong was thinking of establishing another prince, the fifth brother Yongqi entered Qianlong's eyes, Yongqi was both literate and martial, erudite and talented, and was the best among Qianlong's dozen sons.
Although Qianlong also made a lot of efforts to cultivate Yongqi, unfortunately, in 1766, yongqi died of illness at the age of 25. Qianlong also couldn't help but beat a drum in his heart: "I have been on the throne for thirty years, and I have established three princes, and they have all died, what is this called, if it is not a secret reserve, if this matter is said, I am afraid that I will be laughed to death." ”
Qianlong also had to consider why whoever he made himself crown prince would die. So he had to put this matter on hold, who expected that the Qianlong Emperor was too able to live, many of his sons could not live him, and 2 sons passed on to the clan, there was no right to inherit, and finally when he had to make a prince in his later years, his choice was only 4, and finally he had no choice but to choose Yongyan, who was still OK, to inherit the throne.
Of course, if anyone in Yonglian, Yongzheng, and Yongqi were alive, in the face of Qianlong, the "longevity" emperor, when he inherited the throne, he would also be an old man of fifty or sixty years old, and he would no longer have the passion and ability of young people.
