The Ming Dynasty was a strange dynasty, and many emperors had wonderful dramas about the struggle for imperial power during their reigns. For example, the Battle of Jingyan, the change of seizing the door, the rebellion of the Han King, the Donglin party struggle and so on.
Also, it is not uncommon for eunuchs to cover the sky with one hand, the emperor has not been in court for decades, and has become a puppet in the hands of traitorous ministers and ministers.
In short, there were few emperors in the Ming Dynasty who could live in peace, and the palace fighting drama was always staged, with climaxes and chaos, which made people dazzled.
In contrast, the Qing Dynasty was much quieter, and for more than 260 years in the entire Qing Dynasty, except for Kangxi's removal of Aobai and the coup d'état of the nine sons of Xinyou, there was no bloody storm among their own people.
As for the phenomenon of eunuchs interfering in politics, it was basically extinct in the Qing Dynasty, and eunuchs such as Li Lianying and An Dehai were just small fish and shrimp, and they did not make any waves at all.
The reason why the eunuchs who "performed well" in various dynasties had no ability in the Qing Dynasty and became obedient cats one by one is because of the ancestral precept that "eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics", and we will not discuss it today. Let's focus on it, why didn't there be powerful ministers like Zhang Juzheng and Yan Song in the Qing Dynasty? Why is the prince of the Qing Dynasty so decent and so ideologically conscious?
Speaking of the Qing Dynasty, there were no powerful ministers to interfere in politics, and some people would definitely come out to refute that after the death of Huang Taiji, his son Fulin ascended the throne at a few years old, and there was a phenomenon of temporary decline in power.
After the death of Huang Taiji, there was a fierce struggle between the emperor and the prince around the imperial throne, which did not turn into a large-scale bloody conflict, and the two sides reached a consensus and the imperial power was transferred peacefully.
Before the pro-government of Shunzhi, the major military affairs were in the hands of Dolgon, and the Qing army entered the customs and eliminated Li Zicheng and the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, which was basically carried out under the leadership of Dolgon.
and after Shunzhi's death, Kangxi was also less than ten years old, and the power was held by Ao Bai and others, and Kangxi had to eradicate it before he took control of the government.
A more typical example is that Emperor Xianfeng died violently in Rehe, and the person who ascended the throne was also a baby emperor. Gu Ming's minister Su Shun and other 8 people did not take the emperor and the empress dowager of the two palaces in their eyes, which led to the Xinyou coup d'état, and several ministers who did not know the height of the sky were eliminated.
The above examples have one thing in common, that is, the ministers are legitimate, and their actions are carried out as permitted by the "law" and are not out of control.
For example, Dolgon, he is Shunzhi's uncle, the son of Nurhachi, and the son of Aisin Jueluo.
He is the regent recognized by everyone, and it is normal for him to control the government, after all, it is his own family matter. Ao Bai and Su Shun and others were authorized by the former emperor and were ministers of care, and it was completely legal for them to deal with state affairs.
When Dolgon was in power, there was the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang; When Ao Bai was in power, there was the Empress Dowager of Xiaozhuang. There are also ministers such as Su Shun, who did not make any intolerable acts like Cao Cao and Sima Zhao.
In general, their behavior is manageable.
It's a pity that once the Queen Mother turns her face, they can only be slaughtered and taken out effortlessly. In short, they did not form a huge force in the imperial court, which made the emperor feel unshakable.
In any case, the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty was more stable than that of the Ming Dynasty, and there were not so many strange things happening.
For example, the emperor went out in the middle of the night and forced the people's daughters; Get the animals to the harem and build a leopard house inside. For example, after the emperor ate the milk of his wet nurse, he spoiled him and named him a concubine, and his power was for a while; There are also emperors who give their nurses the treatment of concubines and let her enter and leave the palace freely, which is majestic; For another example, the emperor did not go to court for thirty years and focused on carpentry; and the emperor was keen on alchemy and was almost strangled to death by the palace maid; What's more, after the emperor ascended the throne, he was given eight beautiful girls, who hollowed out the emperor's body overnight, and he couldn't afford to be sick and died.
The most unspeakable thing is that a little palace maid named Li Xuanzhi ascended to the sky in one step because she raised the emperor, and after the emperor died, she held the prince hostage. Then put forward various conditions, and if he did not agree, he would not be allowed to ascend the throne (the palace transfer case).
In the entire Qing Dynasty, such strange events basically did not happen, what is the reason?
Emperors lived a long life, and most of the princes were adults when they ascended the throne.
Most of the Ming emperors were short-lived ghosts, and their average life expectancy was only 42 years, which was even lower than the average life expectancy of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty (45 years).
Among the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di had relatively long lifespans, reaching 71 and 65 years respectively.
Other emperors had a pitifully short lifespan, with 10 emperors dying before the age of 40. Among them, the life expectancy of emperors such as Zhu Changluo of Mingguangzong, Zhu Zhanji of Xuanzong of Ming, and Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of Ming Dynasty did not exceed 38 years old.
In this way, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty either had no sons, did not designate a crown prince, and hastily appointed a successor when he was dying, which led to chaos in the transition of power.
In contrast, Qing emperors lived longer, with an average life expectancy of a staggering 53 years, 8 years longer than the average life expectancy of the common people.
Among them, Kangxi and Qianlong are both close to ancient or even over ancient times, Prince Yinren has been a full 38 years, and Yongzheng was 45 years old when he ascended the throne.
Qianlong is an old birthday star, living to be 88 years old, and his son Aixin Jueluo Yiyan was 36 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and they have admitted that there is no need to set up a regent and Tuogu.
Put the prince in a "cage".
There is a popular saying in modern times: keep power in a cage. This means that power is like a tiger, and if it is not checked, those with power may do bad things and mess up the country.
The same is true for the prince, they are the emperor's sons or brothers, once they rebel, they have a certain legitimacy, and there are many people who respond. In this case, it is easy to cause instability and large-scale bloodshed.
During the Ming Dynasty, the prince could not enter Beijing, and only the prince, who was favored by the emperor, could make an exception to stay in Beijing.
Zhu Gaoxu, the king of the Han Dynasty, died begging for nothing, and was loved by Zhu Di and did not want to leave Beijing. Fu Wang Zhu Changxun was deeply favored by his father Emperor Mingshenzong and his mother Zheng Guifei, and he always kept his beloved son by his side. The vast majority of princes had to leave Beijing and become vassals in their territories.
The prince in the field, the emperor is far away, not supervised, and has his own financial income. In this way, it was possible to turn the fiefdom into an independent kingdom and build up its own armed forces, which became a factor of destabilization.
The Ming Dynasty's Jingyan Battle and the Han Dynasty's rebellion were all outside the prince, and the emperor was beyond the reach of the whip and could not supervise them, so they slowly became bigger, and then made things out of the way, which could not be cleaned up.
The princes of the Qing Dynasty were on the contrary, they did not have their own fiefdoms and could not leave the capital. The prince's expenses are taken care of by the imperial court to ensure your glory and wealth, but it will not let you have too much money to use to form a party for personal gain and support the army.
The prince of the Ming Dynasty did not allow him to stay in Beijing because he was afraid that they would collude with the ministers and plot against him. After the Qing Dynasty prince stayed in Beijing, he could not leave the palace, and he had to ask for instructions where he wanted to go, and then registered.
The princes of the Qing Dynasty only had a few princes, such as Prince Gong Yitong, etc., who could come out to be officials with the permission of the emperor, and most of the princes could not participate in court politics, let alone control military power. This effectively put an end to the hidden danger of the prince's rebellion and kept the court stable.
Dual-track system of orphans
It is true that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty generally lived a long life, and when they died, there were still many princes who were relatively young, such as Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzhi, etc. This is very likely to lead to the phenomenon of the monopoly of ministers and the abduction of power. In order to prevent the ministers from doing wrong, the emperor would set up two sets of teams when he was dying: the queen mother and the minister of the order to supervise the country at the same time.
When Emperor Xianfeng died, the empress dowagers of the two palaces (Ci'an and Cixi) listened to the government, and they also held the two large seals of "Imperial Reward" and "Tongdaotang", which symbolized imperial power. In this way, it is very likely to prevent the dictatorship of the minister, and it can also prevent people like Empress Lu and Wu Zetian from appearing.
Although Cixi later killed Su Shun and others, she could not monopolize power in the short term, so she could only share it with Ci'an. It was only because of Ci'an's short life that Cixi became the second after Lu. However, this cannot be denied because of this, and it is still relatively perfect.
Han ministers were kept out of the center of power
The Qing Dynasty was established by the Manchus, and after the power of the prince was locked in a cage, only the eunuchs and Han ministers could endanger the imperial power.
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty was very competitive, and he was always very vigilant against eunuchs who were neither male nor female, and did not let them interfere in the government affairs.
Don't look at Cixi's reuse of An Dehai, but after Ci'an and Prince Gong joined forces to kill her, she could only accept the reality.
Because she is very sober and knows that the harm of eunuchs is too great.
The eunuchs could not interfere in politics, and the threat was only left by the Han ministers.
No matter which Qing Dynasty emperor, he always adhered to a bottom line and did not allow the Han people to interfere in the government. Han minister, you can work for the Qing Dynasty, but if you want to enter the center of power, there is no door.
In a TV series, Zhang Zhidong called himself a slave, and was immediately reprimanded by the prince: Can you call a slave?
It can be seen that Hanchen was only a second-class slave in the Qing Dynasty.
Zhang Tingyu was a veteran of the three dynasties, and he was also allowed to enjoy the Taimiao, and Emperor Qianlong still said that he would turn his face, and when he retired, he beat him severely.
Zhang Tingyu is the only minister among the Han people who is qualified to enjoy the Taimiao, and even so, let alone others.
Zeng Guofan exterminated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, pulled the Qing Dynasty back from the death line, and after capturing Tianjing, he also had to tremble and take the initiative to apply for the disbandment of the Hunan army.
Although Li Hongzhang was later in charge of foreign affairs, he never had the courage to meddle in royal affairs because of Cixi's strict precautions against Hanchen.
In addition to the above three reasons, the Qing rulers implemented literary prisons, imprisoned the Han people's minds, tightened the pockets of autocracy, and made them from ministers to the people, one by one, have to become obedient people, which is also a very key factor in the absence of powerful ministers in the Qing Dynasty.
It has to be said that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty did a very "successful" job in centralizing power, and if it had not caught up with the world trend of the republic, it would have ruled for a longer period of time than the Ming Dynasty.
References: "Qing History Manuscript" and "Ming History"