(The Woman Who Told History – Issue 1080)
The gradual decline of the history of the Qing Dynasty has a great relationship with the emperor who succeeded him.
From the perspective of the entire Qing history, the early Yang flourished, the middle period highlighted the momentum of Yin Sheng Yang decline, the late Yin flourished to the extreme, and the Yang declined to the lowest point. But this dividing point between yin and yang came from the Xianfeng Emperor.
The Xianfeng Emperor was the fourth son of the Daoguang Emperor and was made crown prince on February 25, 1850, when the Daoguang Emperor was critically ill. On March 9, the Xianfeng Emperor succeeded to the throne. At that time, the Xianfeng Emperor was a 20-year-old young man with great ambitions and a desire and determination to make great plans. However, the Qing Dynasty at that time, after experiencing the Opium War in the Daoguang period, was like a body suffering from a hundred diseases, and it was impossible to completely cure it with a strong dose of medicine. On the contrary, if the medication is not used properly, it will be counterproductive. This was an extreme test of political wisdom, and the young Xianfeng Emperor still lacked the ability to reverse the dilemma, and as a result, during the Xianfeng Emperor's period, the Qing Dynasty was even more difficult at home and abroad: on the inside was the largest Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the history of the Qing Dynasty that broke out in 1851, and outside was the diplomatic defeat of the great powers in 1860, and the British coalition army invaded Beijing.
Within ten years, if nothing else, these two major problems alone had caused the Qing court, which was trapped in internal and external affairs, to affect its marrow. The Xianfeng Emperor even fled to the Chengde Mountain Resort in Rehe before the Anglo-French forces invaded the imperial capital. However, the performance of the Xianfeng Emperor after he came to the place of escape was shocking, the reason was that the country was in trouble, and the first priority was to consider how to save the national crisis, but the Xianfeng Emperor did not seem to be thinking about this, and he did something that hurt his life and died here, and the reason was very simple - no wonder the Xianfeng Emperor died violently at the age of 31, what do you see him doing after fleeing to Rehe? Day and night indulged in 4 things, each fatal. Even if he was in good health, he couldn't stand up to doing 4 deadly things every day, not to mention that the Xianfeng Emperor was in poor health.
Regarding the poor health of the Xianfeng Emperor, there are two records:
The first place says that during the Daoguang Emperor's period, an old emperor took the princes to Nanyuan to hunt, and as a result, the Xianfeng Emperor, who was still the prince, fell from his horse, and his lower limbs were injured, and later after being treated by the royal orthopedic doctors, the medical level at that time could not be cured, resulting in the Xianfeng Emperor being disabled for life and walking a bit upside down, so the Xianfeng Emperor was also nicknamed the Lame Emperor.
The second record is related to the birth of the Xianfeng Emperor, saying that when the Xianfeng Emperor's mother Quan Guifei was pregnant with him, the situation was a bit special, because the Daoguang Emperor's eldest son Ai Xinjue Luo Yiwei had died prematurely, and the Daoguang Emperor's Xiang Concubine was also pregnant with the crown prince Yixuan, and a little earlier than Quan Guifei. In this way, for Quan Guifei and Xiang Concubine, if whose son is born first, then whose son deserves to be the eldest son, and the possibility of the eldest son succeeding to the throne since ancient times will have one more chip.
In this case, Quan Guifei, who was eager for her mother and son, moved her mind, and she secretly bribed the imperial doctor to eat the induction drug to make the child premature. As a result, there was a brief dramatic gap between the birth times of the two princes: the Xianfeng Emperor was born on the ninth day of June in the eleventh year of Daoguang, while Yi Xi was born on June 15 of the eleventh year of Daoguang.
The difference of six days, but there is a difference between the elder and younger brothers, and more seriously, even the status is also a difference, the Xianfeng Emperor's succession, the elder is also one of the factors.
However, one of the factors for this succession of the Xianfeng Emperor was also to pay a lifetime of physical costs, that is, as a premature baby, the physical quality of the Xianfeng Emperor has been very poor, and he has been weak and sick since he was a child, although he is a prince, he has been more conditioned, but he is also powerless to change the damage caused to the body by this premature birth. Such a sick body, cherish the conditioning, in order to be safe, but the Xianfeng Emperor in the late succession, especially because of foreign enemies into the capital to flee to Rehe, his performance is quite disappointing, day and night indulged in 4 things, for his weak body, it is simply worse, accelerated and even directly caused the Xianfeng Emperor's violent death.
Thing #1: Super cuffs.
As mentioned earlier, the Xianfeng Emperor's body is extremely poor, and one of the ways to adjust is to rest more. However, after the Xianfeng Emperor hastily handled official duties, he did not cultivate his body, but was obsessed with listening to drama. In the place of refuge in Rehe, the Xianfeng Emperor actually had a drama team that sang opera for him, and later transferred the opera class in the palace to the summer resort.
If it is said that as entertainment, it is not impossible to relax occasionally, but the degree of obsession and addiction of the Xianfeng Emperor is amazing, he also listens in the morning, and listens to it in the afternoon, and he also has a beautiful name - "flower singing" in the morning and "cappella singing" in the afternoon.
If you listen to it, it is easy to say, but the Xianfeng Emperor is not, he is a theater enthusiast, an expert, and he has a lot of research on the words of the play, and even knows it well, the actor sings a wrong word, can not escape his ear, will also be pointed out by him.
The good time of the day was thus exhausted by the Xianfeng Emperor in the "flower singing" and "cappella". There is not much energy in life, so depleted, how can the body be good?
Thing #2: Strange drunkards.
After listening to the play, the Xianfeng Emperor was very happy, and then continued the entertainment activity, that is, drinking fine wine.
Shi Zai Xianfeng Emperor was very addicted to alcohol, and he had to drink every day, and every drink would be drunk.
But after getting drunk, it was very troublesome, because the Xianfeng Emperor's wine was extremely poor, "Emperor Wenzong was fond of drinking, and every time he got drunk, he would be angry." "Some people were drunk and talking nonsense, and some people were drunk and sleeping, but after the Xianfeng Emperor was drunk, he became angry and punished his close attendants, and even committed murder. Therefore, the people around the Xianfeng Emperor were particularly unlucky, if they encountered the Xianfeng Emperor when he was drunk and crazy, he would be stabbed if he was unlucky, and if he was lucky enough to avoid the knife, when the Xianfeng Emperor found regret, he would be rewarded heavily.
The greedy cup addiction has reached this point, how can the body of the Xianfeng Emperor not be damaged?
Thing 3: The Adulterous King.
During the day, he covets the joy of silk and bamboo, comes late to drink and become a demon, and at night he does not think about cultivating his body, and he is absurd. In the historical record, after the Xianfeng Emperor fled to Rehe, the empire was in danger, and there were constantly defeated war reports, and various bad things continued, but it was still impossible to stop the indulgence of the Xianfeng Emperor. He took aifei to the garden every day, but later he was not satisfied with this, and introduced "wild game" from outside.
For example, there is a record in the history of Ye that the Xianfeng Emperor introduced a small widow from Shanxi, Cao Shi, who looked particularly beautiful and charming, especially the feet were particularly small, and she also liked to wear shoes with pearls, making the small feet more attractive. The Xianfeng Emperor summoned him to the palace, pampered him, and enjoyed himself day and night.
As the king of a country, how can the country not be corrupted by the head of the country, and if he does not think of saving the country, but he is absurd to this point, how can he not corrupt his body?
Thing 4: Smoker Emperor.
After the British East India Company's trade in India was affected, it began to open up markets, and at first, the British East India Company continued to import tea, porcelain, and silk fabrics from China and sold them throughout Europe. Later, they discovered the more profitable trade, which was big smoke. For the Qing Dynasty, the great smoke was like a cancerous tumor, which not only sucked away the white eyes of the Great Qing Dynasty, but also destroyed the bodies of the Qing subjects. Therefore, in Qianlong and other emperors, it can be said that they are deeply disgusted with big smoke, resolutely prohibited, and even smoked at Humen.
However, when he arrived at the Xianfeng Emperor, it was unusual, and the Xianfeng Emperor actually forgot the ancestral training, forgot the efforts of the previous emperors, and smoked himself, and the smoking addiction was so great that it was shocking. We all know that big smokes too much and meets yellow bodies thin. The Xianfeng Emperor's health was already poor, so wouldn't it be a desperate attempt to suck it like this?
Conclusion: In general, looking at the Xianfeng Emperor, before he had an inferior body, after he arrived at Rehe, he had all kinds of indulgences, greedy for drama, unlimited desire for wine, unlimited desire for lust, unbridled desire for lust, unbridled desire for greed, and the four absurd and unruly demons entangled in his weak and unbearable sick body. (Text/Woman Who Tells History・ Wind Man Lou)
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, "Bitter Destiny of Heavenly Sons: Xianfeng Emperor Yixuan".