The pace of life in modern society is relatively fast, although people's lives have become better and richer, but the pressure of life has also become greater. Many people fantasize about being able to travel back in time to ancient times and experience the carefree pastoral life of ancient times. But in fact, ancient times are not as beautiful as imagined, in the ancient times when the productivity was particularly backward, the pressure on the life of the ancients was actually greater than that of modern people, even the ancient emperors were no exception.
So, what were the ancient emperors busy with all day?
In the case of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, he should be regarded as the most leisurely emperor in ancient times, his grandfather Kangxi helped him sweep away the military threats in the surrounding areas, and his father Yongzheng left him a rich treasury. It is reasonable to say that Qianlong, the emperor, should be very relaxed, but in fact, he is still very busy every day, he has to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning and flip the card at 7 o'clock, such a full and boring day, he has spent sixty-three years and four months.
The Qianlong period was the largest period of the Qing Dynasty, and at its peak, the territory reached 13.1 million square kilometers, and the population exceeded 300 million. Moreover, during the Qing Dynasty, the imperial power was highly concentrated, and major events that occurred throughout the country needed to be handled by the emperor himself, even if Kangxi and Yongzheng had laid a good foundation for Qianlong, it was also a very difficult thing to manage such a huge empire.
In the eyes of many people, Qianlong was a very lazy emperor, who knew how to play in the mountains and rivers all day and went to Jiangnan six times. In fact, Qianlong was still relatively diligent, at least more diligent than most people now, and when ordinary people were still asleep, he had already begun to work.
During Qianlong's reign, the Qing Dynasty reached its highest peak since the heyday of Kangqian, and the lives of the people also improved greatly. However, the Qianlong Emperor still had to go to the court every day, because the Qing Emperor Kangxi had established a rule, and the emperor had to go to the court every day to discuss politics. Qianlong has always admired his grandfather Kangxi the most, and naturally did not dare to make any omissions in this regard, even if he worked hard, he still insisted on the early dynasty every day.
In ancient times, when traffic was backward, ministers who went to the imperial palace to participate in the early dynasty could only choose to travel on horseback. In order not to delay the early dynasty, the ministers have to get up at 3 o'clock every morning to prepare, so the morning dynasty is indeed a very hard thing for the ministers.
The Qianlong Emperor lived in the imperial palace, and although he was relieved of the fatigue of traveling, he also had to get up at 3 o'clock every day. Because before the early dynasty, the emperor would usually summon the military ministers between 3 and 5 o'clock at the time of Yin, to learn about the major events of the imperial court in advance, and then summon other ministers to the early dynasty. Generally speaking, the early dynasty begins at about 5 o'clock and ends at 7 o'clock.
After the end of the early dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor would go to the Yangxin Hall, during which he would take a little rest, replenish some energy by the way, and eat some melon and fruit snacks and the like. The Yangxin Hall was the place where the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty corrected the folds, and all over the country would gather here to wait for the Emperor's approval. On the matter of grading and reforming, Qianlong, like Yongzheng and Kangxi, did it himself, and Zhu Approved the decree that no one else should write it.
The territory of the Qing Dynasty was so large, the population under management was so large, everything was decided by Qianlong alone, and the daily workload could be imagined. When approving the recital, usually only particularly important events would attract Qianlong's attention, and they would be specially drawn out to wait for consultation with the ministers the next day. The vast majority of the reports are actually trivial things, and after reading them, the Qianlong Emperor will write the words "I know" and "comfort" to show that I know about this matter.
Some people may wonder, doesn't the emperor eat breakfast? Why did you go to the Yangxin Hall at the end of the dynasty early? In fact, the eating habits of the Qing emperors were very simple, and Qianlong only ate two meals a day, that is, breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is generally served from 6 to 8 p.m., dinner from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., and one hour in advance in summer and autumn.
The Qianlong Emperor's breakfast was simple, usually casually eaten before summoning the ministers to the Yangxin Hall, and the dinner was much more hearty, usually with dozens or hundreds of dishes. What if the Qianlong Emperor can't finish so many dishes? If they can't finish eating, they can only be poured out, and occasionally they will be rewarded to the ministers, and the ministers, whether they love to eat or not, whether they are hungry or not, the emperor must eat it after the reward, and it must be eaten very clean to show that it "tastes great".
Qianlong eats two meals a day, what if he is hungry at other times? For the emperor, this is not a thing at all, as long as one eye has an entourage will send a large number of melon and fruit snacks. Sometimes Qianlong corrections were folded into the middle of the night, and if his stomach was hungry, he would also order his entourage to add food, but this situation was relatively rare.
After dinner, if the political affairs were not handled, Qianlong would return to the Yangxin Hall to continue to deal with them. If you are busy with political affairs, you will take the concubines for a walk in the imperial garden, or do some other things, such as admiring the famous posters. However, there is one thing that Qianlong has to do every day no matter how busy he is, and that is chanting poetry. Qianlong wrote more than 40,000 poems in his lifetime, not to mention the quality, this quantity alone can be called the best in ancient and modern times.
When the day's things are almost busy, the sky will gradually darken, and this time it will be about seven o'clock in the evening, and it will be the time for Qianlong to flip the card. The Qing Dynasty was still very strict about the emperor's behavior, and when the time came, there would be an entourage to call for the door. This is the ancestral precept of the Qing Dynasty, and even if Qianlong is an emperor, he cannot violate this.
Although Qianlong was the emperor, he was also very busy every day, and he was not as idle as people thought. Therefore, the ancient emperor was not easy, even if he was the Wanli Emperor who had not been in the dynasty for more than 20 years, he also had his own troubles and could not choose an heir according to his own wishes. Compared with ancient times, modern society is actually very beautiful, although life is more stressful, but where does the motivation come from without pressure? Instead of wasting time in complaining, it is better to turn pressure into motivation and create a better tomorrow for yourself.