Emperor Kangxi, that is, Aixin Jueluo-Xuanye, the grandson of Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty, and the third son of Emperor Shunzhi. He was born in 1654 in Jingren Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing. The second emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs. He was also the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history since Qin Shi Huang became emperor! During his lifetime, he made brilliant historical achievements for the development and expansion of the Qing Dynasty.
Why is Kangxi called the first emperor of the ages? The three major military exploits, the internal and external frontiers, deserve its name
When Emperor Kangxi was in power at the beginning of his youth, he once wrote six big characters "River Affairs, Cao Yun, and Three Feudatories" into banners and hung them on the pillars of his dormitory. In this way, remind yourself not to forget the three major issues that the Qing Dynasty faced in the early years of the Qing Dynasty at that time.
Heroes come out of youth, worship and seize imperial power
The ancients said: "Hardship and hardship, jade and you are successful". Kangxi succeeded to the throne at the age of 8, lost his father at a young age, and still shouldered the burden of the entire empire. But this is not the most painful, the most painful thing is that when Kangxi became sensible, he found that there was such a powerful minister who suppressed himself all the time.
When he was 14 years old, Kangxi became the real master of the empire on the surface, but in fact he still had to obey Aobai, and Kangxi, who had no real power, could only watch Suke Saha be unjustly killed. In order to regain the imperial power and get rid of the control of Aobai, Kangxi quietly selected a group of strong relatives and nobles to practice Buku as a play in the palace all day long, so as to confuse Aobai. Let Ao Bai think that Kangxi is young and playful, but in fact, he trained a pro-army to capture Ao Bai.
Two years later, this pro-army was also trained and matured, and Kangxi transferred Aobai's henchmen out of Beijing, and replaced the defending generals who defended the capital with his cronies. After everything was ready, Kangxi summoned Ao Bai into the palace, and finally this generation of powerful ministers who suppressed Kangxi for nearly eight years was captured by Kangxi with a trick, and finally withdrew from the political stage in the early Qing Dynasty, and Kangxi, a dazzling star, took this opportunity to ascend to this stage and began his brilliant life.
Equalize the three feudatories and avoid the emergence of a fragmented China
In the fourth year after the capture of Aobai, Kangxi, who had just completed the gift of the weak crown, decided to eliminate the greatest threat to the empire, the three feudatories. In the spring of the twelfth year of Kangxi, Emperor Kangxi made the decision to withdraw the feudal domain. In the same year, Wu Sangui refused to withdraw the feudal domain, killed Zhu Guozhi, the governor of Yunnan, and sent troops to rebel against the Qing Dynasty.
Because Wu Sangui waved the banner of "Xingming to beg for capture", attracted a large number of Han people to come to defect, and soon Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan and other places fell one after another, and Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Hubei, Henan and other places also responded to Wu Sangui's call. Half of the Qing Dynasty was at stake, and if it was not handled properly, a fragmented China could emerge at any time.
Fortunately, Kangxi put down the national mustard and reused the Han army, divided and re-recruited Geng Jingzhong and Shang Zhixin. Among the three feudatories, Wu Sangui was the only one left, and Wu Sangui, who jumped off the wall in a hurry, chose to be the emperor. Wu Sangui's practice broke the hearts of the Han people who restored the Ming Dynasty, and finally Wu Sangui, who rebelled against his relatives, died of depression and happiness, and passed the so-called "imperial throne" to his grandson Wu Shifan. Three years later, the Qing army entered Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, and Wu Shifan committed suicide, and the rebellion of the three feudatories, which lasted for eight years, was put down.
Resisted Tsarist Russia, recovered Taiwan, and maintained territorial integrity
As soon as the three feudatories were flattened, Kangxi pointed the finger at Tsarist Russia and Taiwan's Zheng family, which had been ready to move. As early as the eight years of the rebellion of the three feudatories, Tsarist Russia in the outer northeast region had already invaded the movement, and the Zheng family in Taiwan also had the corresponding actions of Wu Sangui, but at that time, all the main forces of the Qing army were in the interior to deal with the army of the three feudatories, and there was no time to look north and east.
In the spring of the 21st year of Kangxi's reign, Kangxi personally went out to inspect the northeast to inspect the defense of Shengjing and Jilin Wula, preparing to resist the invading army of Tsarist Russia. In the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi, the Qing and Russian fought two decisive battles in the city of Yaksa, and finally the Qing army defeated the invading army of Tsarist Russia. At this time, the situation in the northwestern Junggar region was unstable, and the Qing Dynasty, which was afraid of falling into a two-front war, had to negotiate peace with Tsarist Russia, and finally the two sides signed the "Treaty of Nebuchu", demarcating the eastern boundary between China and Russia and safeguarding China's territorial integrity.
In the twentieth year of Kangxi, Zheng Jing died of a stroke, and a coup d'état occurred in Taiwan's Zheng Dynasty, and Zheng Kexuan, who was only 12 years old, succeeded him as King of Yanping. In the twenty-second year of Kangxi, Kangxi took Shi Lang as the admiral of the Fujian Navy Division, sent troops to attack Taiwan, defeated the Zheng navy led by Liu Guoxuan in Penghu, and recovered Taiwan. In the twenty-third year of Kangxi, Kangxi ordered the establishment of one government and three counties in Taiwan, namely Taiwan County (now Tainan), Fengshan County (now Kaohsiung), and Zhuluo County (now Chiayi), which were subordinate to Fujian Province, and the treasure island of Taiwan finally returned to the embrace of the motherland again.
The pacification of Dzungaria avoided the loss of the Northwest Territory
In the twenty-seventh year of Kangxi, Galdan personally led 30,000 cavalry from Ili to the east, crossed Hangai Mountain, attacked Khalkha, and occupied the entire Khalkha region. In the face of Galdan's rebellion, Kangxi first ordered Galdan to withdraw his troops and return to the west. However, Galdan was arrogant and ignored it, but instead led his troops to take advantage of the situation and went south deep into the territory of Uzhumuqin.
In June of the 29th year of Kangxi, Kangxi drove his own expedition and divided his troops into two ways to attack. The left army left the Gubei Pass, and the right army left the Xifeng Pass, marching north from the left and right flanks in a roundabout way to eliminate the Galdan army in the Uzhumuqin area.
After quelling the rebellion of the Dzungar tribe led by Galdan, the northwest region temporarily returned to peace, and this battle also maintained the Qing Dynasty's control of the northwest region and avoided the loss of the northwest region.
After the war at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the social production in the Central Plains was greatly damaged. After the Kangxi Emperor Xuanye succeeded to the throne, Xuanye complied with the will of the people and worked hard to develop the social economy, reduce taxes, crack down on land enclosures, and various measures to restore and develop the economy in the early Qing Dynasty.
Although Emperor Kangxi was a Manchu, he liked Han culture, advocated that all ethnic groups in the Manchu and Han dynasties were equal as a family, promoted the integration of various ethnic groups, and also managed the floods of the Yellow River many times, so that the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. He used a series of internal and external troops to safeguard the sovereignty of China's unification and border territories, and made significant contributions to the formation of China's territorial area in later generations!
He was also very interested in European paintings, astronomy, calendars, science, mathematics, religion, and Western medicine brought by Western missionaries, and a large number of foreign missionaries such as John Tang, Nan Huairen, and Bai Jin had a profound influence on firearms, astronomy, and science in the Qing Dynasty. During his reign, the people lived peacefully, the national strength was strong and unified, and it was the beginning of the prosperous Kangqian era, so it is not an exaggeration to call him the first emperor of the ages.
If only in terms of contribution to the territorial integrity of the country, Kangxi's title of "Emperor of the Ages" is well-deserved. But it is still this wise Shenwu Emperor Kangxi who is arrogant and complacent. Even missionaries who were in regular contact with the West believed that China was too vast to have any need for Western "exotic skills" or to strengthen its contacts with the rest of the world. In the end, the Qing Dynasty continued to lag behind the West, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was even more humiliated by the West.
From the perspective of state operation, it was Kangxi's isolation and self-sufficiency that caused China to slowly lag behind the West. You must know that during the same period, the Russian Tsar Peter I traveled to Western Europe as a commoner, and after returning home, he opened the door of Russia and vigorously studied Western European civilization.