A hero who left behind incredible achievements at the peak, only to be mercilessly forgotten and slandered at the bottom moment. This is the life of Aixin Jueluo Hongli. As one of the greatest pioneers in Chinese history, he did not imitate other imperial careerists, but with a sincere heart, he added a vast territory to the motherland and created the most perfect territory of China. However, just as he was dying, the invasion of the Western powers brought severe upheaval to this ancient land, and his exploits were almost completely forgotten. How will this peace-loving emperor, who was forced to be drawn into the whirlpool of war, be evaluated by history in the end? Should he really be criticized by posterity?
Aixin Jueluo Hongli's road to expand the territory
The Qing Dynasty was established in 1636, and by the time Aixin Jueluo Hongli took over the imperial power, it was already a generation of rulers. The two monarchs of the previous dynasty, Kangxi and Yongzheng, both had the merit of opening up the territory and expanding the territory, but they only stopped at the grassland. It was not until Hongli ascended the throne that he truly extended his territory to the west of the motherland, unified the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and opened a new chapter in the history of the development of the Chinese nation.
In 1755, the thirtieth year of Qianlong, the Dzungar Khan was in civil strife, and the two groups of Dawaqi and Amur Sana fought for thirty years. After the defeat of Amur Sana, he joined the Qing Dynasty and sent troops to destroy Dawazi. Hongli took the opportunity to order that 50,000 troops and 140,000 horses under the command of Amur Sana should go forward, and in only three months, they conquered Ili, the capital of Dzungaria, captured Dawaqi alive, and destroyed his country.
However, Amur Sana was not convinced, and in August of the same year, he rebelled again and killed the garrison. In February of the following year, Hongli sent heavy troops to the expedition again, and finally completely destroyed the rest of the Dzungar remnants. At one point, the cunning Amur Sana disguised his surrender and deceived the Qing army into returning in vain. However, with the passage of time, civil strife broke out in his subordinates, coupled with the epidemic of plague, there was not a single soldier to fight, and the Qing army took advantage of the situation to occupy Ili. Amur Sana fled to Russia, where he died soon after.
The pacification of the Junggar Rebellion marked the return of the western region to its territory. In order to highlight this achievement, Hongli personally named Xinjiang: "the old land and the new return". In the following year, the Qing court set up a general's yamen in Ili to oversee the military and political affairs of the lands in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. A frontier that has lasted for thousands of years and has often been a source of internal and external disasters has finally reached peace and stability.
Since then, in order to suppress the rebel forces, Hongli has repeatedly sent large armies to the west, gradually occupying various prefectures and counties in Xinjiang. By 1759, the border of Xinjiang in the west, Russia in the north, and Kashgar in the south, became the most extensive territory in Chinese history. There are still hidden dangers in the Kang and Yong dynasties, and now Hongli has completely eliminated them in one fell swoop, which is well deserved.
Aixin Jueluo Hongli's internal political achievements
While it is true that the country has made great achievements in expanding its territory, it is also necessary for the prosperity and strength of the country to be governed by good governance. Hongli is well aware of this principle, and he has taken the lead in doing so, and has also done a lot in the construction of internal affairs.
Agriculture and mulberry are the foundation of people's livelihood, and Hongli attaches great importance to it. He actively promoted new agronomy, absorbed the advanced experience of the south, and ordered all localities to be simple and not stick to one pattern. At the same time, it adheres to the traditional concept of "the people are the only people, and food is the people", and implements a series of preferential policies to exempt farmers from paying taxes. According to statistics, during the Qianlong period, the government reduced or exempted about 300 million taels of silver, which greatly reduced the economic burden on the peasants.
At the beginning of Hongli's tenure, it was a famine year, and the remaining policies of the Yongzheng Dynasty came one after another, such as the return of envy to the public and the spread of land into acres, which increased the burden on the people. Hongli had a discerning eye and immediately ordered reforms to completely abolish these evils. At the same time, we should pay attention to water conservancy construction, build river embankments and pond dams, flood control and irrigation, and ensure abundant food and clothing.
In addition, Hongli policy took into account the civil and military, on the one hand, inherited and carried forward the spirit of the Kang and Yong dynasties, strengthened the imperial power, and rectified the rule of officials; On the other hand, he also advocates an enlightened culture, is keen on education, and advocates pragmatism. The Siku Quanshu, which he personally supervised, has become an unprecedented canon of literature, and has contributed to the dissemination of Chinese culture.
In terms of selection and appointment, Hongli broke the old routine and governed in many ways. For example, the Jingcha plan and the Qinqi system focus on examining actual performance, so that the meritocracy can be abundant in the government and the opposition. At the same time, corrupt officials should be severely punished and money corruption should be strictly prevented. It is reported that Hongli once personally issued an order to bring to justice the traitors and set an example for the chickens and monkeys, which shows that he is upright.
What's more worth mentioning is that Hongli is honest and fair, and treats everyone equally. Even if they are attached to the foreign clan, as long as they are loyal to the imperial court, they can be hired and reused. In the battle to pacify Dzungaria, although Amur Sana almost bit back, he was still canonized as one of the four great khans of Oirat, which shows that Hongli is grand and broad-minded.
In general, as a generation of wise monarchs, Aixin Jueluo Hongli not only razed the territory of his relatives, leveled internal worries, but also cultivated himself internally, and won the hearts of the people. His reign undoubtedly added incomparable glory to the Qing Dynasty and laid a solid foundation for a while.
Hongli is in a dilemma
However, just as the Hongli was booming, a turbid current from the west was quietly rolling eastward, shaking this ancient kingdom.
In 1793, British Prime Minister Pitt sent a McCartney mission to Beijing for the second time in a vain attempt to integrate China into the British trade system. Hongli took this as a matter of course as a tribute, and gave preferential treatment. However, McCartney openly flouted Huayi etiquette, refused to kneel, and was expelled from Beijing.
This incident greatly shocked Hongli, and he began to realize that the Western powers were no longer obedient subjects, but fierce aliens. In order to better cope with foreign troubles, Hongli ordered the establishment of a hotel in Panyu, Guangdong, to manage trade with Western countries.
However, the Western powers were not satisfied, and their greedy eyes were always on this land of abundance. In 1839, British drug dealers smuggled opium in Guangzhou, causing great chaos in society. In order to stop this scourge, the Qing government sent Lin Zexu to seize the smugglers of opium and destroy them all.
The British were furious and led warships to Guangzhou in 1840, provoking the First Opium War that shocked China and the rest of the world. The Qing army was unable to return to the sky, and was soon captured by the British army in Macao, Guangzhou and other places. Eventually, the Treaty of Nanjing, which humiliated the country, was signed in Beijing.
Since then, the great powers have swarmed like hungry wolves, and Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other countries have put pressure on the Qing Dynasty one after another. A series of unequal treaties were signed one after another: the Treaty of Whampoa, the Treaty of Tianjin, the Treaty of Beijing, etc. The Qing Dynasty had to open its doors to the onslaught of Western civilization.
In the face of this unprecedented external trouble, Hongli was quite helpless. After 300 years of isolation policy, the Qing Dynasty has fallen into the predicament of backwardness in science and technology, and is powerless to resist in the face of the naval artillery of the Western powers.
But Hongli still rests on his laurels and adheres to the old way of coping: he still thinks that the Waiyi are barbaric and ignorant, and the Middle-earth civilization is noble; Still sneering and proud. Even in his later years, he ordered the Daxing Literary Prison, where he severely criticized and imprisoned dissidents. Such stubbornness hastened the dynasty's path to decline.
Hongli's reliance on his cronies and Shen led to rampant corruption in his later years
Although he has made many miraculous achievements in politics and military, Hongli encountered a great disaster that he was helpless in his later years - the corruption and trampling of his cronies and Shen.
He Shen was originally the secretary of the cabinet of the Qing Dynasty, and successively served as the secretary of the household department and the minister of military aircraft. Hongli attaches great importance to his talents, regards them as confidants, and overtrusts them. As a result, He Shen actually called for wind and rain and interfered in politics without authority, which led to the rise of corruption in the late Qing Dynasty.
In 1783, Hongli ordered six southern tours, with the aim of personally inspecting the territory and solving the people's difficulties. However, his whereabouts were spied on by He Shen, who took the opportunity to embezzle money and indulge excessively. According to records, these six tours alone cost about 50 million taels of silver, which is equivalent to two years of national revenue at that time.
One year, Hongli left Beijing to visit most of China, and built 500 palaces and 400 temples during the journey, which were run by He Shen. Countless gold, silver and jewels were embezzled by He Shen and his family, and the treasury became more and more empty.
Not only that, Heshen also controlled the rule of officials through corrupt officials, and extortion became commonplace, and the people suffered even more. According to incomplete statistics, during the reign of He Shen, more than 300 corrupt officials and corrupt officials were discovered. Most of these scum are Heshen's henchmen, who are doing evil under his protection.
He Shen's corrupt behavior was almost unscrupulous, not only ruining the heavens and profligate, but also causing the people to live in poverty. It was not until Hongli died in 1799 that He Shen finally surrendered. But it was too late, and the Qing Dynasty was in a state of collapse.
Although Hongli had immortal feats during his reign, he favored He Shen in his later years, which was simply a curse. He Shenquan leaned towards the government and the opposition, the pockets were unreasonable, and the people's grievances arose, and the dynasty was finally twilight. What's even more tragic is that although Hongli has repeatedly heard slander and condemnation, he blindly protects his shortcomings and makes a big mistake.
In this regard, we cannot but sigh and regret. How could such a wise and martial lord fall into Si? It is caused by a blind eye, a mistake in a thought, and a lifetime of misconduct. In the end, it is difficult to solve this knot, which can be described as a great regret of the Qing Dynasty.
Hongli is a fierce old age
After reigning for more than 60 years, Hongli finally died in September 1799 at the age of 89. During his lifetime, he accumulated a lot of achievements and prestige, but in his later years, he was repeatedly questioned and slandered.
In the past few years, the dissatisfaction of the government and the opposition with Hongli has gradually emerged. The folk legend is that "the southern hunters eat grass, and the northern hunting king swallows pearls", satirizing the arrogance and lasciviousness of Hongli's southern tour, ignoring the life and death of the people. There are even literati and scholars who openly criticize him for his mediocrity and unscrupulousness, and compile books such as "Strange Masterpieces" and "Notes on the World" to violently criticize Heshen's rampant corruption.
In 1795, Hongli suffered a heavy blow - the Shunzhi Emperor had a tragic accident in Xiangshan, Beijing. A little eunuch Yang Lianfu actually opened the tomb of Emperor Shunzhi, dug up the imperial bones and burned them, intending to find treasures. The matter was arrested, and the case was verified, and Hongli was furious. He was sad and desperate, believing that the people's hearts had been completely dispersed, and the government and the opposition were resentful. Then he issued an order to collect literati in Beijing and severely punish them.
For a time, countless literati and scholars were implicated and suffered all the crimes. At that time, more than 400 people were arrested, most of whom were sentenced to death. Among them were Ji Xiaolan, who was very famous at that time.
But even so, Hongli still couldn't calm the people's anger. Finally, in 1799, when he was dying, he also asked the eunuchs around him to read aloud the reflections of the provincial music. Until his death, Hongli was diligently looking for a way out to save the Qing Dynasty.
It's a poignant sight. A generation of wise saints, a huge country is burdened by him alone. But no matter how hard he worked and how upright he was, he still couldn't resist the torrent of the times after all. This great era has arrived, and Hongli's obsession, self-containedness, and lack of protection in the evening will inevitably smear him with the stigma of mediocrity and decay.
However, looking back at his life's great achievements, people have to admire his immortal exploits. Perhaps this is the irony of history: every great man has both a bright and a dark face, and can never be 100% understood and recognized. But it is undeniable that Aixin Jueluo Hongli opened up the heyday of the Qing Dynasty straightforwardly, and he will eventually leave a glorious page in the annals of history.