The impression of history lovers in the first and middle periods of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is still good, whether it is Nurhaci, Huang Taiji or Kang Yongqian,the Three Emperors, they are all very powerful and promising kings.
However, since Jiaqing, the level of Emperor Aixin Jueluo has plummeted, and even the situation of "one generation is not as good as a generation". Why, then, did the far-sighted Qianlong choose Jiajing as his heir?
The answer was very cruel: the Qianlong Emperor had seventeen sons in his lifetime, but thirteen died prematurely, and the remaining four were not the material for the emperor.
Yongxuan, the Prince of Jin, indulged in sound and color all day long, and did not have the slightest ambition at all. Once Qianlong sent him out with a group of cultural relics to pray for rain, and such a precious performance opportunity was wasted by him. Yong Xuan pretended to say a few words on the altar, and then returned to the house to continue drinking and having fun, leaving the group of courtiers to look at each other, such an elder brother was obviously not suitable for inheriting the unification.
Although Prince Yongyao of Chengzhe did not have any bad habits, he had no intention of going to politics, and concentrated on studying calligraphy and painting every day, and had no communication with his courtiers. The prince who hangs high every day under the banner of "not caring about himself" is difficult to get the treatment of his courtiers.
Prince Yongxuan of Qingxi was the youngest prince, and although his hopes of competing for the throne were slim from the point of view of his succession, it was not without hope. However, this prince gave up on himself and got by, and often said: "Even if the emperor's crown falls like raindrops, it will not hit his head!" ”
After all, only a decent Yongyan remained, that is, the later Jiaqing Emperor.
It has to be said that Yong Yan's luck is far better than other brothers, he can successfully survive to the throne, and has a very strong adaptability. Although his level was not high, Qianlong still chose him as the heir with the mentality of "pulling out the big one in the box".
To put it bluntly, Qianlong chose Jiaqing as a last resort, because he had no choice.
From a certain point of view, Qianlong zhen can be described as the most unlucky emperor of the Qing Dynasty. After ascending the throne, he was very fond of Empress Fucha, and Qianlong, who loved Wu and Wu, planned to make the concubine born to the empress crown prince.
Speaking of this, we may wish to talk about a digression, the inheritance system of the Qing Dynasty imperial family is relatively special, the emperor will not directly approve the heir before he dies, but will write the name of the candidate on the will, hide it behind the plaque of the Qianqing Palace, and wait until the emperor dies when the minister takes out the will and establishes a new emperor.
In the book, Qianlong put Yong Lian's name on the plaque less than two years ago, and the prince who had been pinned on hope died prematurely due to the wind and cold, and died less than ten years old.
There was no way, although the most favored crown prince died, but the inheritance of Ai Xinjue Luoshi could not be broken, Qianlong still wanted to set up the concubine born to the empress as the crown prince. A few years later, Qianlong and Fucha gave birth to the seventh prince, Yong chun. Therefore, Qianlong happily wrote Yong Chun's name on the edict and placed it after the plaque of "Zhengda Guangming", hoping that this son would continue the orthodoxy of the Qing Dynasty.
However, the time had not yet reached two years, and Yong Chun also died prematurely due to illness. For Qianlong, this blow was huge, but for Fu Chashi, this blow was almost unbearable. The Fucha clan, who had died two sons in a row, was depressed all day and finally died on his sickbed.
Qianlong originally thought that he would be relieved because of the death of fucha and set up other princes as heirs, who knew that the princes were like infected with a magic spell, and the dominoes died one after another.
First the eldest son of the Emperor, then brothers who did not even have time to obtain a name of nine or ten, followed by thirteen, fourteen, and sixteen brothers who did not live past the age of four. Although the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, twelfth, and seventeenth brothers lived longer, they still could not survive to adulthood and died early.
At this point, there were only four options left for Qianlong.
As we have already said in the previous article, these four princes are all "crooked melons and crack dates", and in other dynasties, these four princes have no possibility of inheriting the unification at all, but in the Qianlong Dynasty they became "fragrant and fragrant". Even though these four princes had unique conditions, three of them still did not know how to advance, and eventually made the throne easily obtained by Yongyan.
Jiaqing's ability is obvious to all, and his father Qianlong has left him the biggest "gold finger",—He yan. As long as you take down Hezhen, you can get billions of taels of silver. Moreover, the external troubles faced by the Great Qing Dynasty have all been solved by Qianlong. Therefore, Jiaqing's twenty-five years of emperorhood were quite moist.
It can be said that Jiaqing is the most likely emperor in the history of the Qing Dynasty to make some achievements, because his innate conditions are not available to all emperors. Jiaqing occupies such a good resource, but it has not been able to achieve half a point. This is enough to see that Jiaqing does not have the ability to be an emperor at all.
The prosperity of the Qing Dynasty began in Kangqian and declined from Jiaqing, which is recognized by historians. It has to be said that the greatest sorrow in Qianlong's life was that he failed to pass the throne to the correct heir, so that the ancestral inheritance was interrupted at the hands of his heirs.
Resources:
【Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "The Mystery of the Jiaqing Emperor's Ascension to the Throne"】