Among the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor was probably the most energetic. His 6 visits to Jiangnan have been widely circulated in the folk and evolved into many wonderful legends. Even the Qianlong Emperor himself was obsessed with it. On the 6th trip to Jiangnan, the Qianlong Emperor wrote the verse "The six degrees of southern patrol, he dreamed of traveling" for many years.
You see, the Qianlong Emperor was even dreaming of recalling the scene when he was in Jiangnan, and he was full of infinite attachment to the humanistic scenery of Jiangnan.
The Qianlong Emperor went down to Jiangnan
What few people know is that during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, he not only went down to Jiangnan 6 times, but also made 4 eastern tours of Shengjing.
Shengjing, today's Shenyang. Hundreds of years ago, Shengjing was the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty. Between 1625 and 1644, Shengjing was the capital of the Qing Dynasty (Later Jin) and the political, military, economic, and cultural center of the Qing Dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the capital was set in Beijing, and Shengjing was taken as the capital of stay, second only to Beijing in political status, where it still maintained 5 departments (without officials), including the Household Department, the Ceremonial Department, the Military Department, the Punishment Department, and the Ministry of Works (there was no official department), and each ministry set up a waiter to preside over the work. The Qing Dynasty set up a minister of the interior in Shengjing, who was fully responsible for the affairs of the left-behind. In the twelfth year of Qianlong (1747), the Qing court was changed to the general shengjing, who was zheng yipin and was mainly responsible for local military and political affairs.
Shenyang Imperial Palace
Why did the Qianlong Emperor tour Shengjing in the east?
A very important reason is that Shengjing has 3 ancestral tombs of the Qing Dynasty, namely Yongling, Fuling and Zhaoling. Yongling is the mausoleum of Nurhaci's ancestors, Fuling is the mausoleum of Nurhaci and the empress, and Zhaoling is the mausoleum of the emperor Taiji and the empress. The Qianlong Emperor always paid attention to "loyalty and filial piety" to govern the country, emphasizing the law of the ancestors: "In the three languages, only the heart of the ancestors is the heart of the heart. Gai takes the heart of the ancestors as the heart, then he must think about the dimensions of creation, know that it is not easy to keep, work diligently, and fear the heavens and love. To this end, he wanted to tour the east to worship the ancestral tombs and set an example of "loyalty and filial piety" to the people of the whole world.
The Qianlong Emperor's first eastern tour of Shengjing was in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743). On August 26 of that year, the Qianlong Emperor and his party set out from the Yuanmingyuan, passed through Miyun and Chengde, and headed to Shengjing. Halfway through, I once rested for 4 days at the Chengde Rehe Mountain Resort.
The Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor's second eastern tour of Shengjing was in the nineteenth year of Qianlong (1754), and he went to Shengjing to worship his ancestors on the orders of Empress Dowager Chongqing. On June 25 of that year, the Qianlong Emperor still set out from the Yuanmingyuan, and the route was roughly the same as the first time.
The Qianlong Emperor's third eastern tour of Shengjing was in the forty-third year of Qianlong (1778). On September 10 of that year, the Qianlong Emperor set out from the Forbidden City and took the shanhaiguan customs (the first two times from Gubeikou) to Shengjing.
The Qianlong Emperor's fourth eastern tour of Shengjing was in the forty-eighth year of Qianlong (1783). On June 23 of that year, the Qianlong Emperor set out from the Yuanmingyuan and passed through Chengde Rehe and other places to Shengjing. This eastern tour was because Shengjing had built a Wenshu Pavilion to store the Siku Quanshu, which required the Qianlong Emperor to celebrate in person.
Among the four eastern tours, the second eastern tour took the longest time, lasting a total of 153 days, almost half a year. The scale and pomp of the Eastern Tour are also the most grand, no less than 6 times down to jiangnan. The third eastern tour took the shortest time, with only 66 days in total. This was because Empress Chongqing had just died of illness the previous year (March 2, 1777), and the Qianlong Emperor was still in the mourning period, not in the mood to eat, drink and have fun, and the hunting and banquets along the way were canceled.
The Qianlong Emperor hunted
During the Qianlong Emperor's eastern tour, in addition to going to Yongling, Fuling, and Zhaoling to pay homage to him, he also did other things.
The first is to exempt the money and food in the corresponding areas and pardon the crime.
The emperor had to come to Shengjing once, so why did he have to bring a little welfare to the local people? For the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the easiest and most tangible benefit was to exempt money and grain.
During the Qianlong Emperor's first eastern tour, he pardoned the money and grain of the Fengtian Government in the area where the ancestor worship activities were held: "All the money and grain belonging to the Fengtian Palace, as well as the grain of each Zhuangtou, have been exempted. This year's bean rice grass bunch should be included, exempt from half of the levy. The arrears accumulated by qianlong seven years ago, together with the seven years of relief due to disaster relief, were ascertained by the ministry and pardoned together. During the third eastern tour, it was also announced that it would be exempted from "fengtian prefecture county Qianlong forty-four years of land ding zhengxiang money and grain." In addition, "the heads of the Shengjing household department should pay more than 10,000 stones of grain in the warehouse this year." During the fourth eastern tour, "all those who passed through zhili, Fengtian, and various prefectures and counties were exempted from five-tenths of the grain in this year." ”
Suddenly, everyone rejoiced.
Stills of the Qianlong Emperor
In order to create a peaceful atmosphere, the Qianlong Emperor also pardoned the military and civilian crimes in Fengtian Province: "All the military and civilians in Fengtian, Jilin, Heilongjiang, etc., except for the ten evil capital crimes and the autumn trial of the actual crimes, the rest have been settled, unsolved, and should be sentenced to death, and all of them have been reduced." Below the ranks of the army, they were all pardoned and used Zhao To show favors to the fullest. ”
The second is to give banquets and receive Mongolian princes to contact feelings.
Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, it has always paid attention to its connection with Mongolia. The Qianlong Emperor went to Shengjing to worship his ancestors, and to pass through the Mongolian region was a great opportunity to connect with each other.
During the Qianlong Emperor's first eastern tour, he made a special trip from Zhang Sanying into Mongolia. The princes and nobles of the 48 Banners of Mongolia heard the news and welcomed the Qianlong Emperor. The Qianlong Emperor immediately gave a feast to the Mongol princes and nobles. After that, the Qianlong Emperor, accompanied by Mongolian princes and nobles, went hunting in the Mongolian region and stayed for a long time.
The Qianlong Emperor toured the east
Almost every time the Qianlong Emperor made an eastern tour, he would give banquets and receive Mongolian princes and nobles.
In addition to exempting the Mongol princes from money and grain and giving banquets to the Mongol princes, the Qianlong Emperor would also arrange for deployment work, receive local military and political officials, inspect the border areas, observe the people's sufferings, and repair the royal buildings, which played a certain role in promoting the politics, culture, and economy of the Shengjing area.
Of course, the Qianlong Emperor, as a diligent poet, would write a lot of poetry every time he toured Shengjing in the east, leaving a certain number of verses. For example, the "Ao Han Waterfall Water" written during the second eastern tour: "I love the water of Ao Han Waterfall, and the road is three hundred miles away today." Inscription poem eyelashes for eleven years, flying into the east stream is not over. "Reading it now, it has the style of an old cadre.