In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng, who was only 31 years old, suddenly died in a summer resort, why did he die so early?
Since Xianfeng entered the summer resort, he has done a series of things that hurt his body, and in this way, he can live to the age of 31 is considered a long life.
So what did Emperor Xianfeng do in the summer resort back then?
The one with the most loopholes wins
Xianfeng, the emperor, can be said to be a very magical one in the history of the Qing Dynasty. Because he was able to become a prince back then, it was very outrageous.
First of all, Xianfeng was not the eldest son of the emperor back then, but the fourth son of Daoguang.
When he was the prince, Daoguang set his sights on Xianfeng and later Prince Gong.
The two compare with each other, and if you want to say that Emperor Xianfeng has an advantage, he ranks fourth, and Yi Yi ranks sixth.
However, the emperor's family, as long as he is not the eldest son, generally does not look at his ranking. Wise emperors generally look at who is more capable.
In addition to being at the top of the rankings, it seems that Xianfeng is stronger than Yiyi.
Emperor Xianfeng was later known as the "Four No Emperors", which simply means that he has no talent, vision, deeds and courage.
And these four points are exactly the necessary abilities of an excellent emperor, and at that time, Yi Yi was much smarter than Emperor Xianfeng.
Like those princes who study together, Xianfeng's grades are the worst.
Xianfeng is not only inferior to Yi Yi in terms of ability, but even his appearance is not as good as others.
Emperor Xianfeng was relatively weak when he was born, and all this was due to his mother, Quan Guifei.
Concubine Quan was said to have taken some quick medicine at that time, which caused Emperor Xianfeng to give birth prematurely, so why did Concubine Quan do this?
Because there was also a concubine who was pregnant at that time, who gave birth to this child and it was a son, it was conducive to the later competition for the throne, because the eldest son of the emperor was gone at that time.
But Concubine Quan became pregnant later than the other concubine, so she asked the imperial doctor to arrange a quick medicine for herself, so as to achieve the goal of giving birth earlier than the other concubine.
Premature birth is very bad for the child, and those quick medicines also greatly affect the child's body, so Emperor Xianfeng is very fragile after birth, and it is estimated that a gust of wind can blow him away.
Of course, this is just a statement that Emperor Xianfeng was weak, and many historians do not agree with it.
In fact, it doesn't matter if they agree with it or not, Emperor Xianfeng's body was indeed very weak at that time, and his bone quality was not good.
Xianfeng was a very special lame emperor in the history of the Qing Dynasty, which many ministers did not know about at the time. Because Emperor Xianfeng had issued a holy decree before: "After retreating from the court, the ministers will go first, and the emperor will go last." ”
At that time, many ministers couldn't help but be very moved when they heard this: "This emperor is really too sensible. In fact, Xianfeng just wanted to hide his lameness.
However, when he went to the court once, Emperor Xianfeng was dizzy because he was angry, so he had to leave before he could disperse. It was also this time that he was a little excited to leave early, and Xianfeng fell directly to the ground.
After this incident, many ministers knew that Xianfeng was a lame emperor, so what did he do back then to become like this?
When Xianfeng was still a prince, he accidentally fell off during a horseback ride. Because the bones are relatively fragile, this fall directly made Xianfeng a disabled person.
Later, under the treatment of the orthopedic master, although Xianfeng was almost better, he still left very serious sequelae.
In addition, Xianfeng also had smallpox virus. Although he was later cured, he left many acne marks on his face, which was very unsightly, which greatly affected his imperial temperament.
On the other hand, at that time, Yi Yi was not only smart and talented, but also couldn't find anything wrong with his appearance.
So in contrast, many ministers feel that the probability of Yi Yi succeeding to the throne in the future will be much greater, but they all ignore one point, Emperor Xianfeng's mother Quan Guifei was also a queen at that time. She was later canonized, and Daoguang loved her very much at that time.
The front is strong and the back is weak
And the most inferior thing about Yi Yi is that his mother is not so favored. Perhaps it was for this reason that Emperor Xianfeng later succeeded to the throne.
When Xianfeng first succeeded to the throne, he was full of self-confidence, and he vowed to lead the Qing Dynasty back to glory. It's naturally good to be ambitious, but the reality is brutal.
Later, the Qing Dynasty can be said to be suffering from internal and external troubles, with peasant uprisings such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and invasions by foreign powers, which made the Qing Dynasty full of wounds and reached the point where it could not heal itself.
However, Emperor Xianfeng did not give up at that time, he reused many capable ministers like Zeng Guofan, and actively rectified the dynasty.
But in the final analysis, Xianfeng was a very mediocre emperor, he didn't have much outstanding contributions at that time, and there were no big mistakes to talk about.
But as the Anglo-French army marched all the way north to Tianjin, it was not long before the last strength of Emperor Xianfeng was completely defeated.
Originally, the British and French forces were fighting in the south, who would have thought that they would suddenly go north by boat and come directly to the mouth of Dagu in Tianjin.
But the second time was not so lucky, with the defeat of the Qing army in the Battle of Bali Bridge, they could no longer resist the fierce attack of the British and French forces.
This Qing army was the only main force of the Qing government at that time, and if it was lost, it might really be gone. Because the rest of the troops have been almost wiped out by the Taiping Army, otherwise why would there be individual arms such as the Hunan Army and the Huai Army.
Under the pressure of the British and French forces, Emperor Xianfeng said: "I want to inspect the summer resort. ”
The enemy had all hit the doorstep, and the emperor actually wanted to take refuge elsewhere, and it was obvious that Emperor Xianfeng did not want to become a prisoner of the great powers, so he had to flee for his life quickly.
So Emperor Xianfeng left his younger brother Yi Yi in Beijing to deal with the enemy, while he led the rest of the people to the summer resort. I went and never came back.
Originally, Xianfeng wanted to take a summer resort to temporarily avoid the enemy's edge, but it became his burial place.
During those days at the summer resort, bad news came one after another. One of the events that had the greatest impact on Xianfeng was the burning of the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces, and Xianfeng burst into tears when he learned about it.
The Old Summer Palace was the largest museum in the world at that time, and the treasures in it were unique at that time, but they were destroyed during Xianfeng's reign.
As the bad news grew, Xianfeng's spirit had a big problem. Slowly, he no longer dealt with political affairs, but handed over to Cixi and Ci'an to take care of.
Xianfeng's four hobbies
What about Xianfeng, what did he do? Naturally, he ruined his body.
Although Xianfeng also likes beautiful women, it is not his favorite. At that time, he had a total of four hobbies, the first of which was that he liked to listen to opera very much.
When he came to the summer resort, he also brought his own private troupe.
At that time, Xianfeng's eyes were open, and it was the start time of the work of the troupe.
While listening to the pleasant sound of opera, while shaking the wine in his hand, this little day is really moisturizing.
When the weather is nice, I go outside to listen, but if it rains or something, I have to be inside the house.
Anyway, the weather will not affect Xianfeng in the slightest.
Sometimes when listening to the play very much, Xianfeng will give you a paragraph in public. Although he can't study, he still has some ability in opera.
Then Xianfeng's second hobby is that he likes to drink fine wine, and every time he drinks it, he gets drunk, and the amount of alcohol is really bad.
If you say that he is drunk and sleeping, it is okay, every time he drinks after Xianfeng, he will play drunk, to put it in detail, he beats the palace maids and eunuchs, and catches who beats whom, which made many palace maids and eunuchs hang colors on them at that time.
After waking up, Xianfeng realized that he was wrong, and he was weak in his heart, and he would reward those palace maids and eunuchs more.
In fact, Xianfeng, the emperor, is not bad in nature, and his heart is relatively gentle, but the reality has hit him too hard.
Then Xianfeng's third hobby is to like beautiful women, in fact, this is also human nature, since ancient times heroes love beauties! It's just that Xianfeng is not a hero, at most a Manchu wearing yellow clothes.
At that time, there were still many beautiful women among Xianfeng's concubines, the most famous of which was Cixi, who was called Yi Guifei at that time.
Maybe now we look at her appearance and think she is too ugly. Even if you put aside the things she did, looking at this person, she still feels extremely ugly.
However, there is one thing to say, when Cixi entered the palace that year, her exquisite beauty fascinated Xianfeng, and Cixi became the most favored concubine at that time.
Time is actually a pig-killing knife, even if you are a beautiful and handsome person, after that glorious period of time, it will seem mediocre, and you will even become another person.
In addition to pampering Cixi, Emperor Xianfeng, who was in the summer resort, also attracted many local beauties. There are thousands of beauties from all over the world, and the beauties in each place also have their own characteristics.
Perhaps only by drowning in beautiful women, fine wine, and opera can Xianfeng's inner pain be alleviated, but these will only speed up his pace towards death.
Xianfeng's last hobby is to like opium, which was once banned by Emperor Daoguang, but he didn't expect to be favored by the emperor one day.
Needless to say, the harm of opium will only make Xianfeng's already thin body weaker.
It is precisely because of these four hobbies that after Xianfeng arrived at the summer resort, his body was not as good as day by day, and in the end he couldn't even get out of bed.
Of course, he did, but every time his condition improved slightly, Xianfeng continued to indulge, so it was the same as not being treated, and finally Xianfeng suddenly collapsed.
If he was born in a peaceful era, Xianfeng might still have something to do, but the situation in the last years of the Qing Dynasty was really too difficult for him, a mediocre emperor, even if Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong came, it was difficult to have a good plan.
"Born in sorrow, died in sorrow", this is the true portrayal of Emperor Xianfeng's life!