When we evaluate the Hanchen of the Qing Dynasty, we habitually regard Zhang Tingyu as the first Hanchen. The reason is simple, it is nothing more than that he has received the honor of being worthy of the Taimiao Temple. Then, there is a question here, what are the criteria for enjoying the Taimiao Temple in the Qing Dynasty, and does Zhang Tingyu have this qualification?
Before answering this question, let's talk about what "entitlement" is.
In layman's terms, it is at the place of sacrifice, on both sides of the main throne god card, the god card of the lower status is offered, and as a supporting role, the incense is shared with the main seat god card. Devotion has a long history in China, for example, in the Confucius Temple, there are "four pairs", these four people are the most accomplished disciples of Confucius. Later, there were the "Twelve Philosophers", who were also the sages who were revered by all generations.
Taimiao refers to the family temple of the imperial family, which enshrines the emperors, empresses, and heroes of the previous dynasties. But in terms of theory, it is completely different, the emperor and the queen, as the protagonists of the Taimiao Temple, are called "Shengyuan" Taimiao, and others can only be called "worthy".
It was also very common for feudal rulers to enjoy the Taimiao Temple as the highest reward for meritorious heroes in all dynasties, such as in the Ming Dynasty, the founding heroes Xu Da and Chang Yuchun were given the highest honor of enjoying the Taimiao Temple. The same was true in the Qing Dynasty, but the attitude of the emperor was always very cautious about who was entitled to the Taimiao Temple, and it had a lot to do with the likes and dislikes of the emperor himself.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were two main types of courtiers who enjoyed the Taimiao Temple, the first was the imperial family, that is, the Ai Xin Jue Luo clan, who were enshrined in the East Hall in front of the Taimiao Temple; the second type was the non-imperial banner people, only Zhang Tingyu was a Han Chinese, and they were enshrined in the West Hall of the Front Hall of the Taimiao Temple.
How many people in the Qing Dynasty received the honor of being worthy of the Taimiao Temple? The total number is only 29 people, including 13 meritorious kings and 3 Fujin, as well as 13 meritorious men. It can be said that there are very few people in the Qing dynasty who can enjoy this honor.
What are the specific criteria for enjoying the Taimiao Temple?
As mentioned above, whether the wang chancellor can enjoy the taimiao temple has a lot to do with the emperor's personal likes and dislikes. Judging from the relevant records of historical materials, there is no unified standard. However, from the perspective of the 13 meritorious kings and 13 meritorious men who deserve to enjoy the Taimiao Temple, they basically have the following two characteristics:
First, the founding fathers of the Qing Dynasty established outstanding military merits.
Among the 13 meritorious kings of the East Temple, 3 were the elders of Nurhaci, who deserved to enjoy the name of the Temple more than the substance, and belonged to the posthumous title. One of Nurhaci's younger brothers named Yarhaci, although he did not establish much merit, received this honor because of his deep affection for Nurhaci.
The rest, such as Daishan the Prince of Li, Dolgun the Prince of Rui, Zilharang the Prince of Zheng, Duoduo the Prince of Yu, Hauge the Prince of Su, and Yue Tuo, the Prince of Keqin County, all of them were experienced in hundreds of battles and made great achievements for the opening of the country of the Qing Dynasty. Similarly, the XibeiDian also had 5 people, Named, Fei Yingdong, Yanguli, Turge, and Turai, all of whom were also heroes of the founding of the Qing Dynasty.
Second, praise for merit or safeguard national sovereignty and unity, or even sacrifice for the country.
Among the meritorious kings of the Eastern Palace, such as Prince Yunxiang of Yi and Prince Yi of Gong, they all belonged to the title of hereditary replacement for the meritorious service of the emperor, and they were also assigned to the Taimiao Temple. These two people the author will not elaborate on it, compared with friends who understand the history of the Qing Dynasty, they are clear that with their merits, it is appropriate to enjoy the Taimiao Temple.
Among the heroes, such as Prince Celing of Chaoyong, among the heroes, Tuhai, Zhaohui, Fu Heng, Ah Gui, Fu Kang'an, and Senggelinqin, they all fought as commanders and leaders, or quelled rebellions in the northwest, suppressed uprisings in the southwest, or resisted foreign aggression, and all of them had established outstanding merits.
Of the 13 meritorious kings and 13 meritorious men who enjoyed the Taimiao Temple, only 2 remained, namely Ertai and Zhang Tingyu, who were not mentioned above. These two people deserve to enjoy the Taimiao Temple, which is problematic in the author's opinion. It can even be said that it is not qualified.
Let's start with Ortai. The Ortaiqi people are well known in Kangxi Korea, he was reused after Yongzheng ascended the throne, and he had a lot of experience as a local official, serving as a political envoy, inspector, and governor. At that time, Ertai, along with Li Wei, Tian Wenjing, and Nian Qianyao, was known as the four governors and was deeply trusted by Yongzheng.
Ortai's main merit was to carry out land reform and return to the stream during his tenure as viceroy of Yungui, and achieved good results, and he had military merit in suppressing the Rebellion of Sichuan Tusi, and was later promoted to the rank of sergeant and chief military minister of Bohol Temple.
Throughout Ortai's life, he has achieved brilliant achievements, with both military merit and auxiliary merit. But after all, the merit was limited, and the Yongzheng Emperor gave him the first assistant and the chief military chancellor, and also made him a count, which was already considered to be the limit.
Look at Zhang Tingyu again. Objectively speaking, Zhang Tingyu is indeed a cadre minister, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a famous minister of the Great Qing Dynasty. However, his merits are also very limited, in the final analysis, it is the Yongzheng Emperor's royal secretary, and most of the work he is engaged in is also written. Moreover, compared with Ortai, Zhang Tingyu did not have any military merits, at most he praised Xiangxiang for his national merits.
In any way, Zhang Tingyu was not eligible to enjoy the Taimiao Temple. He himself is very clear about this, or very weak-minded. When he retired, he reminded the Qianlong Emperor in person not to forget the Yongzheng Emperor's will and let himself be worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
According to Zhang Tingyu's usual cautious style, he should not have made such a request to the Qianlong Emperor, which was obviously distrustful of Qianlong. In doing so, he was actually weak-minded, afraid that Qianlong would cancel this supreme honor. The Qianlong Emperor was furious about this, and once issued a decree to disqualify Zhang Tingyu from enjoying the Taimiao Temple, and claimed that Zhang Tingyu he de He Neng could enjoy incense with his ancestors. However, after Zhang Tingyu's death, Qianlong still obeyed the yongzheng Emperor's will and made him worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
Perhaps some readers will think that the author is deliberately slandering Zhang Tingyu, originally only Zhang Tingyu was the only one among the Han people who deserved to enjoy the Taimiao Temple, if he was not qualified, wouldn't he have to be bald?
In fact, from the perspective of entitlement, there are not many Han people who can really enjoy the Taimiao Temple. Like Zeng Guofan and Zuo Zongtang, one of them suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and extended the life span of the Qing Dynasty for fifty years; the other recovered Xinjiang and built the Ancient Qigong, shouldn't they be more worthy of the Taimiao Temple than Zhang Tingyu?