Most of the succession to the throne in Chinese history used the system of primogeniture, and there were also brothers and brothers, but in the Qing Dynasty there was a new inheritance method, that is, the secret reserve system. This succession system was founded by Yongzheng, mainly because his road to reserve was quite difficult, and in order to avoid the mistakes of the past in future generations, Yongzheng created the secret reserve system. So how many of the 12 emperors of the Qing Dynasty succeeded to the throne in this way? How did the other emperors succeed to the throne? This article will take you to understand together.
1. Qing Taizu Nur Hachi
Nurhachi was the founder of the Qing Dynasty, and he was not strictly an emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Nurhachi started his army with 13 pieces of armor, and after years of conquest, unified the Jurchen forces. In 1616, Nurhachi established Daikin in Hetuala, established himself as a khan, and established the Mandate of Heaven.
Nurhach
After Nur Hachi established Dajin, with the Ming Dynasty as the goal, began to continuously invade the Ming Dynasty, the Battle of Salhu, Nur Hachi adopted the combat principle of concentrating troops and defeating each one, defeated the Ming army, and the forces entered the Liao River Valley. In 1626, in the Battle of Ningyuan, Nur Hachi was defeated by Yuan Chonghuan and died soon after at the age of 68.
2. Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty
Huang Taiji was the eighth son of Nurhachi and one of the four great Baylors. After Nur Hachi's death, Houjin's most powerful was the four major Baylors. Among the four, Daisan is the oldest, but he made some mistakes and was deprived of the qualification to inherit the Khan's throne by Nur Hachi, Amin is Nur Hachi's nephew and is not qualified to inherit the Khan's throne, Manggultai is a rough man, no one supports, and finally under the support of Daishan's father and son, Emperor Taiji inherits the Khan's throne.
Huang Taiji
It is also said that Nurhachi wanted to pass the Khan throne to Dolgon at that time, but Dolgon was young and had no military merits, and the four great Baylors naturally did not accept Dolgon's inheritance of the Khan's throne, so Dolgon's mother Abahai was martyred, and finally under the auspices of the four Baylors, Emperor Taiji inherited the Khan's throne.
After Emperor Taiji succeeded to the throne of Khan, he ruled jointly with the other three major Baylors, and in the following years, Emperor Taiji successively cut off the real power of Amin, Manggultai and Daishan, and called Khan in the south alone, and in 1636, Emperor Taiji became emperor and named the country "Daqing".
Huang Taiji was a promising king, and if he lived a few more years, he would become the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
3, Shunzhi Emperor Fulin
In the eighth year of Chongde (1643), Emperor Taiji died suddenly, and because he did not make a will who would succeed him, the throne of the Great Qing was temporarily vacant, and the ones who had the strength to compete for the throne were Emperor Taiji's eldest son Hao Ge the Prince of Su and his fourteenth brother Dolgon.
At that time, Haug and Dolgon fought for the throne for more than 40 days, and neither of them could completely overshadow the other. In the end, under the compromise of all parties, Fu Lin, the ninth son of Emperor Taiji, succeeded to the throne, and Dolgon was regent, and Hauge did not catch anything.
Shunzhi Emperor
At only 6 years old, Fu Lin became the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty without knowing anything. However, in the first few years, the Shunzhi Emperor was often "bullied" by Dolgon, who was like a puppet, and in the seventh year of Shunzhi (1650), Fulin was able to govern after Dolgon's death. However, the Shunzhi Emperor died at the age of only 24.
4, Kangxi Emperor Xuanye
Although the Shunzhi Emperor died at the age of 24, he had 8 sons, the older at that time was the second son Fuquan and the third son Xuanye, but they were 10 years old and the other was 8 years old. The other sons were still young, so they could only choose the heir to the throne from Fuquan and Xuan Ye.
Kangxi Emperor
At that time, smallpox was rampant in the Qing imperial family, and Xuan Ye was selected as his heir because he had immunity to smallpox, and the Shunzhi Emperor made Xuan Ye the crown prince in the form of an edict on his deathbed. After the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, Xuan Ye succeeded to the throne and changed his name to Kangxi.
The Kangxi Emperor was a very successful emperor in the history of the Qing Dynasty, who laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty and also created the situation of the Kang Qian Dynasty.
5, Yongzheng Emperor Yinhe
The succession of the Yongzheng Emperor should be said to be the most difficult of the Qing emperors. In the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Nine Sons Incident, in which the nine outstanding sons of Kangxi fought openly and secretly for the throne. After the deposition of Crown Prince Yinren, the competition between the princes became more intense, especially the old Bayinhe, who supported him with many princes and ministers.
Yongzheng Emperor
In the battle for the throne, Yin Yu's performance was relatively low-key, he did not expose his ambitions for the imperial throne, but devoted himself to the imperial court. After Kangxi's death, Yin Yu succeeded to the throne by his widow. After the regime stabilized, Yin Yu cleaned up his political enemies Lao Ba and others.
In order to avoid the situation in which the princes of the Kangxi Emperor fought each other for the throne in his later years, the Yongzheng Emperor established a secret reserve system. This method effectively avoided the situation of princes competing with each other for the throne.
6, Qianlong Emperor Hongli
The Qianlong Emperor was the first emperor to succeed to the throne through the secret reserve system. There were only three surviving sons when Yongzheng ascended the throne, and he preferred the old fourth Hongli, but the old third Hongshi was a "threat" to Hongli, so the Yongzheng Emperor secretly made Hongli the crown prince, and placed the secret decree behind the "Zhengda Guangming" plaque in the Qianqing Palace.
Qianlong Emperor
During Yongzheng's reign, he cut off the lineage of Hongshi and passed on to the old Bayinhe as heir, so that Hongli had no rivals. After Yongzheng's death, the chamberlain took out the secret decree from behind the Zhengda Bright Plaque and announced that Hongli would succeed to the throne, the Qianlong Emperor.
7, Jiaqing Emperor Yan
The Jiaqing Emperor also succeeded to the throne through the secret reserve system.
The Qianlong Emperor respected the Han dynasty's primogeniture system, so after he succeeded to the throne, he made his eldest son (the second son of the emperor) Yonglian crown prince by secretly establishing a crown prince, but Yonglian died at the age of nine, and Qianlong turned to secretly appoint his second son (the seventh son of the emperor) Yonglian as the crown prince, but Yongxian died at the age of two.
Jiaqing Emperor
After the death of the two concubines, Qianlong intended to make the fifth son of the emperor, Yongqi, as heir, but before Qianlong could write an edict, Yongqi died. The three failed to establish the reserve, and the Qianlong Emperor did not mention the establishment of the reserve for a long time.
In the 38th year of Qianlong (1773), the Qianlong Emperor secretly made his fifteenth son Yan Yan crown prince. Fortunately, this time the establishment of the reserve was successful, otherwise the Qianlong Emperor would really collapse. In the sixty years of Qianlong, Qianlong was officially declared crown prince, and in the first year of Jiaqing, the Qianlong Emperor ceded the throne to Qianlong, but the major matter was still decided by Qianlong, and Qianlong was officially pro-government after being the emperor for more than three years.
8, Daoguang Emperor Minning
The Daoguang Emperor also inherited the throne by secretly establishing a crown prince.
Daoguang Emperor Minning was the eldest son of the Jiaqing Emperor and the only emperor among the Qing emperors to inherit the throne. In April of the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), the Jiaqing Emperor personally wrote Minning's name according to the family law of the Crown Prince Mijian, and hid it in the iron box of the bright plaque of the Qianqing Palace.
Daoguang Emperor
In July of the 25th year of Jiaqing (1820), when the Jiaqing Emperor was seriously ill, all the ministers opened the iron box of the Qianqing Palace in public, announcing the edict of the fourth year of Jiaqing and establishing Min Ning as the crown prince. After the death of the Jiaqing Emperor, Min Ning ascended the throne at the Hall of Taihe.
9, Xianfeng Emperor Yixi
The Xianfeng Emperor also inherited the throne by secretly establishing a reserve, and the Xianfeng Emperor was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty to inherit the throne through the secret establishment of a reserve.
The Daoguang Emperor originally did not have many heirs, the first three sons died early, and when he considered the heir to the throne, only the old fourth Yixi and the old sixth Yiqi, these two people naturally have a stronger ability to talk about Yi Yu, but Yi Yu is more filial (it may also be shown). The Daoguang Emperor had always been hesitant, and in the twenty-sixth year of Daoguang (1846), the Daoguang Emperor finally made up his mind to establish the candidate for the crown prince by secretly establishing a crown prince, hiding it behind the Zhengda Guangming plaque.
Xianfeng Emperor
In the 30th year of Daoguang (1850), when the Daoguang Emperor died, he sent someone to take out the secret decree and announced: "The fourth son of the emperor, Yi Yu, is established as the crown prince." Ministers and other ministers, how to say nothing, they praise and support with one heart, always put the national economy and people's livelihood first, and have nothing else. Special Oracle". Soon the Daoguang Emperor died, and Yi Yu succeeded to the throne and changed his name to Xianfeng.
10, Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun
The Tongzhi Emperor should be said to be the most suspenseless person in the succession of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
The Xianfeng Emperor originally had two sons, but his youngest son died early, and he had no other sons born, so when the Xianfeng Emperor died, there was only one surviving son, Zai Chun, so when the Xianfeng Emperor was seriously ill in Rehe, he made Zai Chun the crown prince, assisted by eight ministers. After the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Zai Chun succeeded to the throne smoothly.
Tongzhi Emperor
11. Guangxu Emperor and Xuantong Emperor
The Tongzhi Emperor died when he was 19 years old, and he had no son, so there was no one to inherit the throne of the Qing Dynasty, and at that time, the Tongzhi Emperor's mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, did not want to give up power, so he chose his sister's son, Zai Ming, who was only 4 years old, to inherit the throne. She passed on to the Xianfeng Emperor so that she could continue to control the power of the Qing Dynasty. The poor Guangxu Emperor reigned for 34 years but was a puppet and died in 1908.
Guangxu Emperor
The succession of the Xuantong Emperor Puyi was the same as that of the Guangxu Emperor, Puyi was Zaifeng's son, the nephew of the Guangxu Emperor, and the Guangxu Emperor had no son, so when she was seriously ill, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Puyi to be raised in the palace, and after the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Puyi to inherit the imperial lineage, succeeding the Tongzhi Emperor Zaichun, and at the same time inheriting the Guangxu Emperor's concubine, one person and two rooms. However, by this time, the Great Qing was on the verge of dying and perished three years later.
Brief summary:
It can be seen that among the 12 emperors of the Qing Dynasty, only four emperors Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng succeeded by secret reserve method, and the Forbidden City did not give birth to a prince in the last 50 years of the Qing Dynasty, so the inheritance of the last three emperors was not inherited through the secret reserve method. The five emperors in the early Qing Dynasty, except for Nur Hachi, the other four succeeded to the throne for their own reasons.