On December 2, 1908, the 3-year-old Puyi was placed on the dragon chair of the Taihe Hall and cried to accept the kneeling of the civil and military officials. After completing the enthronement ceremony, he became the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. His father, Zaifeng, was appointed regent by Cixi.
It is reasonable to say that at that time, the Qing Dynasty was worried about internal and external troubles, and Zaifeng, who had strong political ability, was obviously more suitable for being an emperor than puyi, who was 3 years old. And although Puyi was founded by Cixi, cixi is dead, why didn't Zaifeng directly seize the throne?
(Puyi ascended the throne)
Let's start by saying why Cixi didn't let the young and powerful Zaifeng inherit the throne.
Speaking of Zaifeng, this person has many advantages, he is low-key, down-to-earth, and very talented, and Cixi looks up to him quite a bit.
The reusable load is indeed remarkable.
For example, in 1894, because during the Boxer Rebellion, german minister Klinder was killed by the Boxers, Germany not only forced the Qing court to erect a monument in the place where Klinder died, but also asked them to go to Germany to bear the guilt of jingjing.
Since Zaifeng was both Guangxu's younger brother and Cixi's nephew, he became the perfect candidate to apologize.
After Zaifeng arrived in Germany, the Germans actually put forward the condition of "bowing to the German Emperor to apologize for his sins." Although Zaifeng was usually humble, he resolutely disagreed with this condition at that time. Even very tough to prepare to fight the road back home. In the end, after consultation between the two sides, it was changed to bowing.
This incident caused a sensation at home and abroad, and even the international community praised Zaifeng as the "Wise King of China". In this way, Zaifeng's political ability was once again affirmed by Cixi. At the age of 25, he sat in the position of minister of military aircraft and became a young and promising young cadre in the highest leadership circle of the Qing court.
On November 14, 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died.
Guangxu was childless, and at that time, the Qing Dynasty was in a dangerous moment of internal and external troubles, wind and rain. Logically, Cixi should find an adult and talented person to be the helmsman of the Qing Dynasty. However, she chose Zaifeng's 3-year-old son Puyi.
According to Cixi's edict, Puyi was passed on to Guangxu, and at the same time, he had two rooms on his shoulders, and inherited the son of Tongzhi and inherited the throne. Zaifeng, who had been highly valued by Cixi, was appointed regent.
(Cixi stills)
Cixi made this decision for three reasons.
First, Cixi was a powerful person, plus she did not consider that she would die at that time. Therefore, in order to firmly grasp the power in her hands, she could only set up a small child as an emperor, so that she could continue to listen to the government.
Second, the reason why Zaifeng was reused by Cixi was because Zaifeng was very well-behaved and obedient. To put it bluntly, it is a natural migrant worker, the execution ability is good, but the leadership ability is not good. This can be seen from his later handling of Yuan Shikai's problems. So Cixi thinks it's inappropriate for him to be the decision-maker of the country.
3. Zaifeng was the son of Yizhen the Prince of Alcohol. Yi Zhen originally had 7 sons, but 3 died prematurely, leaving Zai Xiang, Zai Feng, Zai Xun and Zai Tao. Among them, Zai Xiang was passed on to Xianfeng when he was 4 years old and became the Guangxu Emperor; Zai Xun was passed on to the descendants of Wang Yizhi of Rui County; Zai Tao was passed on to Wang Yi of Zhong County, so Zai Feng became the only son of Yi Zhen's branch. If Zaifeng is passed on to Xianfeng (it can also be said that it is passed on to Cixi), there will be no descendants in this branch of Yizhen. Yi Zhen had been instrumental in Cixi's coup d'état, and Cixi could not have done anything that would make him die, so Zaifeng had no chance to become a legitimate candidate for the throne.
However, although Cixi did not choose Zaifeng as his heir. However, after Cixi selected Puyi, he died a few hours later. At that time, Puyi was young, and Empress Dowager Longyu was weak, which was a good opportunity to seize power and usurp the throne, so why did Zaifeng not directly seize power and usurp the throne?
(Zaifeng stills)
I think there are three reasons why Zaifeng did not directly become emperor.
First, Zaifeng is not a person with political ambitions.
His ideal is the kind of life of "a book that is really rich and wealthy, and a little fairy who has nothing to do". So when he quit his job, he happily told his family that I could finally go home and hold the baby.
According to Puyi in "The First Half of My Life", Zaifeng also said that although Zaifeng has the highest power in the country, he is an honest man, and like his grandfather, he is a person who regards power very lightly.
Second, there is no need for Zaifeng to usurp the throne.
He has already taken charge of the military and political power, Puyi is his own son, and in the future, after Puyi is pro-government, he will naturally be too emperor.
Third, Zaifeng is a person who has a lot of concerns.
After Zaifeng became the regent, she realized that Yuan Shikai, who held the military power of the Beiyang Army, posed a great threat to his own monopoly of power. Coupled with the death of Guangxu, Yuan Shikai could not get rid of it. Therefore, in order to consolidate his power and avenge Guangxu, Zaifeng planned to kill Yuan Shikai.
But he thought left and right, or asked Yi Li and Zhang Zhidong and others to discuss.
Yi Xi said a word, killing Yuan Shikai, what should the Beiyang Army do if they rebel? It scared Zaifeng. In the end, he only removed Yuan Shikai from his post and let him go home and wash his sleep.
This thing is extremely not beautiful. If Yuan Shikai didn't kill him, he wouldn't make a fuss about everyone. Knowing and not killing, it is equivalent to letting the tiger return to the mountain, and then wanting him to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty, it is impossible.
Fourth, Zaifeng is a self-aware person.
After the outbreak of the Xinhai Revolution, the Beiyang Army did not listen to Zaifeng's dispatches in the open and in the dark. Seeing that all regions were independent, the Qing Dynasty was in jeopardy. Helplessly, Zaifeng had no choice but to appoint Yuan Shikai as the prime minister in charge of military and political power, and dissolved the imperial cabinet he had created, resigning as regent.
Zaifeng Dan as long as he has a little selfishness, he can still go crazy again if he has the heart to satisfy his selfish desires with the heart of the Qing Dynasty. However, he has self-knowledge, knows that his political ability is really mediocre, and he is easy to stutter, where can he be an emperor!
Therefore, no matter what, Zaifeng never thought about being an emperor.
(Reference historical materials: "The First Half of My Life", "Late Qing Court Life")