The emperors of the Qing Dynasty since Shunzhi entered the Guanguan, ostensibly flaunted the Manchu Han family and abandoned the Manchu Han clan. In fact, they were more or less uneasy about Han Chen, and the top leaders of some key departments and the highest honor of the imperial court were often not rewarded to Han Chen.
What are the highest honors of Qing dynasty courtiers? This is a question worth exploring. Specifically, it should be divided into two major aspects:
The first is the honor of life: including official positions, knighthoods, titles (such as Batulu), riding ceremonies, crown rewards, painting of heroes and so on. In layman's terms, a certain minister has senior titles such as gong, hou, and bo, as well as yellow coats, four dragon suits, and dazzling eyes, as well as the title of Batulu, the forbidden city horse, and so on.
The second is posthumous honors: including the addition of titles, the bestowal of the title, the enjoyment of the Taimiao Temple, the entry into the Xianliang Ancestral Hall, the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall, the establishment of the History Museum, the entry into the city to manage the funeral, and so on. After death, the honor that best reflects status is the three items of deserving the Taimiao Temple, the title and the bestowal.
The list above is only a rough approximation, and most of these honors have been won by many Hanchen. For example, Zhang Tingyu was given the Taimiao Temple, Li Hongzhang gave the Three-Eyed Flower Plume, Zeng Guofan gave Wenzheng and so on. Among all the honors, the enjoyment of the Taimiao Temple should be the most difficult to obtain, not to mention the Han Chen, even the Manchurian princes and nobles are also out of reach. Therefore, we often say that Zhang Tingyu was the first Han courtier of the Qing Dynasty.
Then, in addition to enjoying the Taimiao Temple, there are also the following kinds of honorary emperors who are not easily given to Han Chen.
1. Taishi
Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao were known as the "Three Dukes" in ancient times, and most of them were fictitious titles, and the emperor often gave them to the most meritorious and prestigious ministers in the imperial court. In all the dynasties and dynasties, the number of Taishi recipients is not small, generally there are more than a dozen or dozens.
In the Ming Dynasty, this false title of Taishi was not easily given to the minister. Yu Shi could think of Li Shanchang, Zhang Juzheng and Zhou Yanru. Because after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the system of ministers, the first assistant of the cabinet became the de facto prime minister, and if the first assistant added a taishi title to his head, then the emperor would not be able to control it.
In the Qing Dynasty, how many Taishi Yushi had not been carefully examined, but even if they were princes and nobles of the Eight Banners, not many of them had received this title, and yushi could temporarily think of Ao Bai and Shu Bilong (there should not be more than three). Has any of the Hanchen ever obtained the Taishi? There were also two of them, one of whom was very famous, he was Du Shoutian (giving Wenzheng), the teacher of the Xianfeng Emperor, and the remaining one was the Libu Shangshu Gu Badai of the Kangxi Period, after his death Kangxi posthumously gave Taifu, and Yongzheng posthumously gave Taishi.
Among the three dukes, there are many who posthumously give Taifu and Taibao, and there must be dozens of them if they are counted at will. Because the title of Taishi was too honorable and easy for people to understand as the emperor's teacher, it was generally not easy to give to the chancellor.
2. Enter the flag
The main symbol of political status in the Qing Dynasty was the "flag nationality", and the flag and the Manchu were an important dividing line for delineating identity, because the flag people enjoyed political and economic privileges.
Flag entry refers to the fact that it is not originally a flag, but is licensed to join a flag, and there is also a flag of higher status from a lower status flag, which belongs to the "flag raising". There is a standard for entering the flag and raising the flag: "Either by merit, or by grace, or by collar, or by support, all are special orders." ”
In contrast, flag raising is more common, while flag entry is extremely rare. There were several instances of entering the flag during the Qianlong period, such as in the Battle of Jinchuan, Sichuan Tufan Sangistar was given the title of "Chardan Batulu" by Qianlong for his merits, and was promoted to the first class bodyguard and entered the Manchurian Banner of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In addition, during the Qianlong period, two of the Han courtiers were also specially appointed to enter the flag. One was in the Daniel Zhang of the neutrality of the Three Domains, Qianlong fifty-nine years, specially from the Daniel Zhang of the third sun, his family into the Han army Zhenghuang Banner; the other is Sun Shiyi, who was specially ordered to join the Han army Zhengbai Banner in April of the first year of Jiaqing. Yushi only found the above three special cases of Han Chinese entering the flag.
3. Paint the image of the hero
The Qing Dynasty also imitated the examples of the Twenty-Eight Generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Twenty-four Heroes of the Tang LingYan Pavilion, and drew the Purple Light Pavilion for the meritorious ministers. There were images of heroes painted in the Shunzhi and Kangxi dynasties, but the real formation of customization was in the Qianlong Dynasty.
The Qianlong Dynasty was known as the "Ten Great Martial Arts", and all the ministers who had made great achievements in these ten famous battles were awarded the honor of drawing the Purple Light Pavilion. The vast majority of them were bannermen, and only a few of them, including Gao Tianxi, Yu Minzhong, Wang Jie, Dong Yu, and Sun Shiyi, were Among the Han courtiers. In the Qing Dynasty, there were only nine Hanchen who drew the Purple Light Pavilion.
Drawing the Purple Light Pavilion is based on military merit, and the Hanchen of the Qing Dynasty did not lead the troops to fight, so military merit seems to have become the privilege of the flag people. Until the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, the Han bureaucracy led by Zeng Guofan rose, but they did not receive the honor of drawing the Purple Light Pavilion.
4. Build a special shrine for sacrifice
After the death of the Qing Dynasty minister, if there are major meritorious deeds, the wenchen is routinely entered into the Ancestral Hall of The Virtuous Liang, and the Martial Minister is enshrined in the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall. In the Qing Dynasty, the princes and ministers were honored to enter the Ancestral Hall, but the overall number was not small, there were 177 in total. There are many people who have entered the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall, and there are more than 1,500 officials, and if you add soldiers, there are more than 130,000 people.
Whether it is the Xianliang Ancestral Hall or the Zhaozhong Ancestral Hall, their posthumous tablets are enshrined in these two places, and every year they are sacrificed on time, eating the same piece of cold pork. The shrine is different, which is a place of worship for individuals built by the imperial court in recognition of the merits of a certain minister.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were very few people who built special shrines to worship, and among the manchurian princes and ministers were Er Yidu, Shu Bilong, Tu Hai, Tong TuLai, Li Rongbao, Fu Heng, Le Bao, and Senggelinqin. Among the Han courtiers, only Li Hongzhang enjoyed this honor.
Of course, honors such as giving Wenzheng and the Three-Eyed Flower Plume are also not easy to obtain, but these do not highlight the distinction between Manchu and Han in essence, as long as they are up to standard or the emperor's grace, they can be specially given.