Among the many temple numbers, Taigao is the four with the highest gold content, and the emperors who have made outstanding contributions to the dynasty will basically get one of these four temple numbers, and the founding emperors of the general dynasty are Taizu or Gaozu, the second emperor is Taizong, the emperor of the Zhongxing Dynasty is Zhongzong, and the emperor who has made significant contributions to national governance and historical development is Sejong.
Gaozong was originally also a relatively good temple number, according to the normal meaning of the temple number, "high" should be second only to "too", because it contains both the meaning of Zhongxing rejuvenation, and the meaning of establishing rules and ascending to a high position, the ancient saying: "Zhao Ji Li Ji said high", so those who can get the temple number of "Gao" are ruthless people but looking at history, most of the emperors who have obtained the temple number of Gaozong are not very good. We might as well take a look at several Gaozong emperors in history to judge whether Qianlong's Gaozong Temple number is reasonable.
1, Shang Gaozong Wuding
Wu Ding was the 22nd monarch of the Shang Dynasty, during his reign he carried out a series of wars against the western and northern states that invaded the Shang Dynasty, and at the same time carried out a southern expedition, which broadened the territory of the Shang Dynasty, from the seashore in the east, to Longyou in the west, to the Jianghan area in the south, and to the north of Hebei in the north, laying the general territory of the Chinese nation. In terms of governing internal affairs, Wu Ding selected talents from the people, promoted the good and eliminated the disadvantages, the politics were clear, and the people were rich, so that the Shang Dynasty reached its peak, and the history was called "Wu Ding Zhongxing".
The Shang Dynasty was a dynasty that strictly implemented the temple number system, because Wu Ding had great contributions to the Zhongxing Shang Dynasty, so after Wu Ding's death, the successor gave him the temple name Gaozong. During this period, the gold content of the temple name of Gaozong was still very sufficient.
Wu-ch'ing
2, Han Gaozong Liu Zheng
Friends who are familiar with history may know that there are only four emperors in the Western Han Dynasty who have temple numbers, namely Liu Bang, Emperor Taizu Gao, Emperor Taizong Wen Liu Heng, Emperor Shizong Wu Liu Che, and Emperor Zhongzong Xuan Liu Xun. But in fact, there are three emperors in the Western Han Dynasty who have temple numbers, Emperor Liu Zheng of the Han Yuan Dynasty and Gaozong, Emperor Liu Biao of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Liu of the Han Dynasty have the temple number Tongzong, and Emperor Liu Zhen of the Han Ping Dynasty has the temple number Yuanzong. However, after Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, he thought that Emperor Yuan, Emperor Cheng and Emperor Ping did not have many merits, so they canceled their temple numbers.
Liu Zheng
Liu Zheng is the eleventh emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, as early as when he was the crown prince, Emperor Xuan said: "Those who mess with my family, the prince is also." In view of his gratitude and repayment to the late Empress Xu, he did not change the crown prince in the end, which is also a great luck for Liu Zheng.
After Liu Zheng succeeded to the throne, it was difficult for him to govern himself because he was weak and sick, so he appointed eunuch Shi Xian and others to political affairs, regardless of size, resulting in the eunuch dictatorship. Later, the government became more chaotic, the government was corrupted, the dictatorship of foreign relatives was autocratic, and the exiles were everywhere, and the Western Han Dynasty began to decline. Therefore, Liu Zheng was also criticized by future generations.
3. The three Gaozong of the Southern Dynasty
Xiao Luan, Gaozong of Southern Qi, was the nephew of Xiao Daocheng, the founding emperor of Southern Qi, and Emperor Wu of Qi ordered Xiao Luan to assist the government before his death, but Xiao Luan successively abolished Xiao Zhaoye, King of Yulin, and Xiao Zhaowen, King of Hailing, and succeeded to the throne in 494. Due to the improper position, he was suspicious and worried in his heart, and almost slaughtered Xiao Daocheng and Xiao Zhen's descendants. He died after only 4 years of reign, and he had no political achievements.
Southern Liang Gaozong Xiao Tong was the eldest son of Emperor Xiao Yan of Liang Wu and served as the crown prince for 29 years, but he died in front of Xiao Yan and failed to become the emperor. In 555 AD, after Xiao Jing, the third son of Xiao Tong, established the Western Liang, the temple number of Xiao Tong was Gaozong.
Xiao Tong
Before Emperor Chen Wen died, he planned to pass the throne to Chen Xuan, but Chen Xuan did not accept it, and rejected Emperor Chen Wen earnestly, and in desperation, Emperor Chen Wen passed the throne to his son Chen Bozong. However, after Chen Bozong succeeded to the throne, Chen Ji staged a coup d'état on the grounds that Chen Bozong's personality was too weak to take on the big responsibility, deposed Chen Bozong, and established himself as emperor. During his reign, Chen Ji built water conservancy, reclaimed wasteland, and encouraged peasant production, so that the social economy at that time was restored and developed to a certain extent. After his death, the temple was called Gaozong.
The three emperors of Gaozong in the Southern Dynasty, Xiao Luan and Xiao Tong obviously lowered the level of Gaozong, Chen Ji said that he sat on the throne in an improper way, but his political achievements during his reign were not bad, and he was worthy of the temple name of Gaozong.
4, Tang Gaozong Li Zhi
Li Zhi can be regarded as bringing Gaozong's grade back. Due to the dispute between the princes during the Zhenguan period, Li Shimin's eldest son Li Chengqian and his second son Li Tai were deposed from the qualification to inherit the throne, and the third son Li Zhi Yuweng Deli was established as the crown prince by Li Shimin, and after Li Shimin's death in 649 AD, Li Zhi succeeded to the throne as emperor.
Tang Gaozong Li Zhi
During the reign of Li Zhi, he continued the policy of the Zhenguan period internally, so that "the people of Fu'an, there is the legacy of Zhenguan", which is known as the rule of Yonghui in history. Externally, the destruction of the Western Turks, Baekje, and Goguryeo made the territory of the Tang Dynasty reach its maximum. Therefore, Li Zhi's contribution to Datang is still very great. Therefore, in terms of contribution, there is nothing to say about him getting the temple number of Gaozong. It's just that Wu Zetian's title to emperor has cast a shadow on Li Zhi's reputation.
5, Song Gaozong Zhao Gou
What really made Gaozong's temple stinky was Zhao Gou, who unjustly killed Yue Fei. So much so that in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, there was no emperor whose temple name was Gaozong.
At the time of the Jingkang Change, because Zhao Gou was not in the capital, he escaped a catastrophe, the Zhao and Song clans, including the two emperors of Huiqin, were captured by the Jin army and went north, so under the support of the ministers, Zhao Gou succeeded to the throne in Nanjing Yingtianfu (now Shangqiu, Henan), and still took Song as the country name, and continued to continue the Great Song Dynasty, known as the Southern Song Dynasty in history.
If Zhao Gou has a little ambition to regain the lost ground, he may get the temple number of Shizu or Zhongzu. But he "doesn't want to make progress", and always thinks about making peace with Jinren. Even though there are famous anti-gold generals like Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, even if Yue Fei has fought near Bianjing City and smashed the Huanglong Mansion, Zhao Gou still wants to make peace.
Zhao Gou
And Zhao Gou's own performance was even more collapsed, he was chased by the Jin Wushu everywhere, and even fled to the sea, losing his prestige, and finally humiliating himself to the Jin State. When Yue Fei had the advantage, he recalled him with 12 gold medals, and finally killed Yue Fei on trumped-up charges, which can really be described as self-destruction of the Great Wall. This incident made Zhao Gou completely fall to the bottom in the wind criticism of later generations, and he was spurned by both the court and the people. Therefore, in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, there was no longer an emperor's temple name Gaozong. It can be seen from this that the people at that time were disgusted with the temple name "Gaozong". And the temple name of Mr. Gao appeared again, which was the Qianlong Emperor, who was very famous in history.
6. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty loved Xinjueluo Hongli
There is no need to say much about the life of Emperor Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty reached its peak under his rule, but the later period of his reign began to become a great success, a large number of buildings, corruption began to prevail again, and the Qing Dynasty also began to decline.
Emperor Qianlong himself admired Yue Fei very much, and he also took time to go to Yue Temple to pay respects and praise him for "Yunwen Yunwu". Moreover, Qianlong himself was extremely disgusted with Song Gaozong, and he publicly criticized Zhao Gou's stupidity many times, and even wrote a poem to satirize. So now that Emperor Jiaqing gave the temple name of Gaozong to Qianlong, is he sincerely satirizing Qianlong?
Personally, I think it's still a little, by the time of Qianlong, several high-grade temple numbers have been used, Taizu gave Nurhachi, Taizong gave Huang Taiji, Shizu gave Emperor Shunzhi, Shengzu gave Emperor Kangxi, and Shizong gave Emperor Yongzheng. After Qianlong's turn, Gao is a temple number with a relatively high grade.
Emperor Qianlong
Qianlong has been keeping up with his grandfather Emperor Kangxi all his life, since Emperor Kangxi is not the founding emperor, but he got the ancestral temple number, then Qianlong is also okay, so Qianlong has repeatedly told his son and ministers that he must not give himself the ancestral temple number, and he must not break the rules. Qianlong's move was really to refuse and welcome, and he said that he didn't want the ancestral temple number, but he actually wanted to get the temple number of Gaozu.
The ministers all knew this, who knew that after Qianlong's death, Jiaqing directly crossed the ministers and went to the temple number of "Gaozong" on the grounds of respecting his father's wishes. Although they knew that Jiaqing was pretending to be confused, the ministers couldn't find fault with it, after all, it was Qianlong himself who told him not to let the ancestral temple number.
Emperor Jiaqing
As for why Emperor Jiaqing did this? Maybe he had some revenge. He was not Qianlong's preferred heir to the throne, Qianlong's successive crown princes Yonglian and Yongcong died earlier than Qianlong, and in the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong, Qianlong's surviving sons were only 4, and the general could only be canonized as the crown prince.
When Qianlong ceded the throne to Jiaqing, Qianlong still held the power, Emperor Jiaqing was a puppet, and even looked at the face of He Shen, the "second emperor", and this state lasted for three years, you can imagine how aggrieved Jiaqing had to be at that time.
Therefore, after the death of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Jiaqing quickly did two things, one was to quickly give Qianlong the temple name of Gaozong, but to quickly arrest and kill He Shen.