As early as the enthronement ceremony was held on the third day of September in the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), Qianlong set a retirement time for himself.
He told the world at that time: "The former emperor's ancestor Yuji was sixty-one years old, and he did not dare to compare, if he invited the qiongcang to bless him, until the sixty years of Qianlong, he would give his life to eighty and five, that is, when he was the heir to the throne, he would return to the government and retire." ”
He was only 25 years old.
Throughout the Chinese dynasties, there are only a few people who have lived to the age of old age. Although Qianlong verbally said that he did not dare to exceed the reign of his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, no one knew whether he would live to this age. This may just be a life goal that Qianlong set for himself. From the heart, he still hopes that he can "be better than blue out of blue".
▲ Young Qianlong (1711-1799).
However, his ambition actually came true in the sixtieth year of Qianlong (1795). The issue of abdication at this time, for Qianlong, who is 85 years old and has a long life, is like a fish in the throat.
01
February 9, 1796, this day is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and it is also the day that Qianlong agreed to abdicate.
Qianlong had a total of 17 sons in his lifetime, perhaps because his life expectancy was too long, and many children could not see Qianlong dying of old age. When it was time to prepare for his abdication, there were only four princes around him, Yong Xuan, Yong Xuan, Yong Yan, and Yong Xuan.
In Qianlong's view, these four princes did not seem to be the best candidates to succeed to the throne. After all, Yongxuan is a cripple, indulging in wine and not thinking of making progress; Yongxuan is miserly and addicted to calligraphy and painting; Yongxuan is even more unsuccessful in literature and martial arts; only Yongxuan is mediocre and unremarkable, and his comprehensive strength is relatively balanced, as a candidate for the throne, it will not make people feel embarrassed.
In the end, Qianlong decided to pass on the throne to the fifteenth son of the emperor, Yongyan (颙琰), as the Jiaqing Emperor.
Regarding this Zen concession ceremony, Qianlong had already practiced it countless times in his heart. But he still felt uneasy about to take a back seat and surrender the highest authority of the empire—from ancient times to the present, no emperor of any dynasty had a comfortable life after abdicating to become the emperor of taishang. Whether they are as tall as Song Gaozong or as wise as Emperor Tang Ming, after becoming the Emperor Taishang, they have lost their former glory, and what awaits them is a coldness that is difficult to adapt to, and the end is basically depression.
For Qianlong, who has been in charge of the 60th year of the dynasty, getting up every morning must drink a bowl of rock sugar stewed bird's nest, taking nourishing ingredients according to the season at four o'clock, and paying great attention to health, depression is by no means the retirement life he hopes. The source of Qianlong's eternal youth is the power he has held in his hands for decades.
▲ Qianlong Rong costume, source: Palace Museum.
Therefore, at the only enthronement ceremony in the history of the Qing Dynasty, when the living emperor passed the throne to the new emperor, Qianlong, who abdicated the throne, made it clear that he would entrust Jiaqing with all the trivial chores, rituals, and other chores that he could not perform because of his advanced age. "After returning to power, I should still bow down to teach myself."
At the same time, he also demanded: "Emperor Si (Jiaqing) listens to the precepts day and night, and in the future he will know what he has done and will not make mistakes." ”
In other words, Jiaqing, who became the new emperor, was actually still a crown prince with the name of an emperor.
According to Qianlong's instructions, the Military Aircraft Minister also arranged an abdication ceremony higher than the specifications of the succession ceremony accordingly to show Qianlong's preciousness. It was also stipulated that the Emperor Taishang could still use the self-designation of "朕" when he lectured his ministers, and that anyone who encountered a folded text involving the Emperor Taishang should be ranked before the Emperor to show respect. Before leaving Beijing for their posts, all the civil and military officials who are about to take office need to go to the emperor to listen to the lecture, they also need to meet the emperor and "enjoy" the second round of imperial training. In short, as long as Qianlong has not lost his breath, his specifications will always be higher than Jiaqing. Therefore, Jiaqing, who had just succeeded to the throne, was not even qualified to live in the Yangxin Hall, and he only deserved to live in Yuqing Palace, which had always belonged to the residence of the Qing Dynasty's princes.
However, for him to live to eighty-five as he wished and upgrade to the Emperor Taishang, Qianlong was still in a good mood. As he wrote when he wrote his last poem as emperor on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve in the sixty years of Qianlong:
On this day, Qianlong Xi, the Ming Dynasty's Jiaqing Year.
Ancient and modern, the heavens and the earth are en-existent.
Parents dare to say thank you, and their hearts are pious.
The old man said that sixty lucky can be complete.
In this regard, the Jiaqing Emperor, who was 35 years old at the time, did not express too much "unhappiness", after all, his throne was still given by Qianlong, in case the old man was not happy, it was not impossible to abolish himself. At this point, Qianlongye's life as a Taishang Emperor who "has never come before or since" has begun.
02
The most important thing after Qianlong's abdication was the "Feast of a Thousand Sorrows" held to celebrate his Zen concessions.
The continuation of the Feast of the Thousand Sorrows was actually a large-scale banquet for the elderly held by Qianlong in order to show that he was following the example of the Emperor's grandfather Kangxi in everything. In terms of the form, frequency and specifications of the guests attending the banquet, Qianlong also strived to be infinitely close to Kangxi.
On the fourth day of the first lunar month of the first year of Jiaqing, the last banquet of the Thousand Sorrows in Chinese history was held as scheduled in the Imperial Pole Hall of the Ningshou Palace in the Forbidden City. This feast of a thousand monks has been held for a full decade since the last time it was held. Although when Qianlong was emperor, he only held a feast of a thousand monks once, less than the two times in the Kangxi Dynasty. However, Qianlong held this banquet of thousands of people in the posture of an emperor, which has to be said to be a manifestation of his inner desire to surpass Kangxi.
Under the preparation of the favored courtiers and Yan, all the civil and military officials over the age of sixty were invited. Afterwards, according to zhao's "Continuation of the Pavilion", more than 8,000 elderly people attended the banquet, including many old birthday stars over 100 years old. Although not every old man was entitled to eat at the same table as Qianlong, all those who came received a reward and blessing from the Emperor Taishang.
▲ The elderly Qianlong (1711-1799).
Perhaps feeling the splendor of Qianlong's prosperous world, the Emperor Taishang was extremely happy that day. He not only customized an exclusive silver medal for each elderly person who came to the meeting, but also specially gave a gift to the elderly who lived more than ninety years old.
And this last feast of a thousand monks also pushed the glory of Qianlong to the peak of his life.
Since then, the "good days" of Emperor Qianlong have gradually dissipated.
Just three days after the success of the Banquet of the Thousand Sorrows, on the seventh day of the first lunar month of the first year of Jiaqing, a huge White Lotus Sect uprising broke out in Yidu and Zhijiang, Hubei Province, mercilessly shattering the dream of the Emperor Taishang indulging in the prosperous world.
At first, The Taishang Emperor Qianlong, who received the report, did not think much of this rebellion with religious overtones, but only ordered Bi Yuan, the governor of Huguang, to lead troops to suppress it. Because in the thirty-ninth year of Qianlong (1774), one of the branches of the White Lotus Sect, led by Wang Lun, launched a rebellion, and qianlong at that time took less than a month to eliminate Wang Lun and other bandits. Nowadays, the White Lotus Sect has repeated its old skills, and it is not necessarily a big problem.
However, the Situation was more complicated than that of the Qing Dynasty in the first year of Jiaqing compared with the Qing Dynasty in the Qianlong Period. At that time, in addition to the White Lotus Sect uprising, Shi Liudeng, Shi Sanbao, Wu Bayue, and others also called on the Miao people at the junction of Xiang, Sichuan, and Qian to launch a Miao people uprising under the slogan of "expelling the guests and restoring the homeland" when Qianlong was about to abdicate, echoing the White Lotus Sect. Therefore, it was quite difficult for Qianlong and his Qing soldiers to recover the old mountains and rivers.
What is even more unfavorable is that because the White Lotus Sect uprising has been planned for a long time (originally scheduled for the tenth uprising in the first month of March in Jiaqing), when the news of the uprising spread, the White Lotus Sect members everywhere joined the uprising on the grounds of "officials forcing the people to rebel". It didn't take long for this originally localized White Lotus Sect uprising to suddenly evolve into a major uprising that affected the five provinces of Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Henan.
▲ Map of the Situation of the White Lotus Uprising, Source: Historical Atlas of China.
The reason why the White Lotus Sect uprising was so rampant was that, in addition to the thorough preparations in the early stages, it was also inseparable from the influence of the White Lotus Sect and the increasingly harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the middle and late period of Qianlong's reign.
The History of the White Lotus Sect in our country has a long history. The traditional view is that the White Lotus Sect evolved from the White Lotus Sect of the Song Dynasty monk Mao Ziyuan. Because of the beliefs in the doctrine that were contrary to the Buddhist concepts of the time, it was considered a cult. However, the Dutch sinologist Tian Hai believes that the White Lotus Sect created by Mao Ziyuan has nothing to do with the White Lotus Sect in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The prevalence of the White Lotus Sect in later generations was entirely caused by the rulers out of necessity to attack such rebellions with the help of religious propaganda into the White Lotus Sect.
As early as the Yongzheng Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty established a system of "returning envy to the public", and returned the part of the tax collected to the public when collecting money and grain to prevent wear and tear during transportation, so as to prevent officials from filling their own pockets. However, "consumption envy" has always been borne by the people, and the people are still suffering. After Qianlong, he invented far more "envy" projects than his father Yong Yong had reigned, and the people's lives were even more miserable.
In view of the large number of times during the Qianlong period, the war meant burning money, and relying solely on "consumption envy" other than normal taxes, the war machine of the Qianlong era could not operate well. Therefore, in addition to the positive endowment, salt tax, customs duties, fishing taxes, tooth taxes, pawn taxes, deed taxes, etc. became the main sources of fiscal revenue of the Qing government. When these taxes are levied, there is generally no fixed point, quota, or timing, and all are apportioned by officials, resulting in a piece of goods being heavily taxed and exploited. The trapping of peasants and sick businessmen has seriously affected the normal order of society.
Therefore, under the premise of not having enough to eat, the White Lotus Sect played the banner of "officials forcing the people to rebel", and the people who did not know the truth responded one after another.
03
Seeing that the White Lotus Sect rebellion exceeded his original plan, Emperor Qianlong was in a worried mood. Although at this time, he no longer needed to go to the court every day to listen to the reports of the courtiers as before, but in the Yangxin Hall, he still wrote a poem that "the memories of the Jiezhang have not yet arrived, and the time of the film has been at peace".
In order to calm his nervous and anxious mood, Qianlong thought of his most trusted general, Fu Kang'an.
Previously, with the achievements of pacifying Taiwan and the two conquests of Gorkha, Fukang'an was able to promote Baylor. At this time, he was dealing with the aftermath of the Miaomin uprising and other matters in Guizhou.
However, the weather is unpredictable. Qianlong's will had not yet reached Fukang'an, and the noble general who had made the most outstanding achievements in the later period of Qianlong actually died of illness, which made Qianlong, who was originally anxious, even more sad.
After hearing the news of Fu Kang'an's death, Qianlong specially posthumously named Fu Kang'an the King of Jiayong County, and wrote a poem:
Everywhere you call famous generals, success and courage are strategic.
Recently, Huang Ge returned, shocking the great star stream.
Lamenting the loss of the virtuous, it is difficult to suppress the tears of sorrow.
Deep gratitude is given, and loyalty can be rewarded.
However, all this will not help to quell the Rebellion of the White Lotus Sect. Due to the sharp increase in the number of Qing troops in the Hubei battlefield, the Xiangyang rebel army led by Wang Cong'er had to turn to Sichuan, which made the Chuanchu White Lotus Sect usher in a "conference division", and the momentum was even greater.
Qianlong could only show off the Qing army's housekeeping team, and ordered Fukang'an's cousin Liangming, who was also a fierce general, to fully preside over the suppression of the bandits. Even so, the Qing army was still at a strategic disadvantage in countering the White Lotus Sect uprising.
The White Lotus Sect uprising undoubtedly brought great mental pressure to Qianlong, so that people suddenly found that the once energetic Emperor Taishang had suddenly become an old man with some dementia. As Qianlong himself wrote in the poem: "Sitting for a long time without knowing the time and moment, the FanLou remotely announces the noon clock." "The old emperor often stayed alone in one place, lost in thought, forgetting time.
▲Portrait of Empress Xiaoxian.
In the contemplation of the Emperor Taishang, Empress Xiaoxian's Fucha clan was always an unavoidable miss. From an early age, Qianlong hoped to stay with Empress Xiaoxian. However, contrary to wishes, the red-faced and short-lived Empress Xiaoxian died of illness as early as the thirteenth year of Qianlong (1748), and qianlong was always remembered. During the critical period of the conquest of the White Lotus Sect, the elderly Qianlong brought the Jiaqing Emperor to Yuling to pay homage to Empress Xiaoxian, and immediately gave a poem: "Jidi is about to spin and stomp, and the pine is planted into the clouds." Twilight in the middle of the spring, forty-eight years. ”
Even after 48 years of separation, in Qianlong's heart, Empress Xiaoxian is still a "white moonlight" that others cannot surpass.
04
Qianlong's energy was repeatedly reduced, and his physical strength was much worse than before. In the past, he had been able to give orders personally, but he also had to hand over this action to his most trusted minister, Hezhen. This well-known qing dynasty's largest corrupt official ushered in the peak of his status at this time.
▲Japanese image.
In the Qing Dynasty, it was generally believed that "university scholars who are not concurrently military aircraft departments must not be true prime ministers" Coincidentally, with the trust of the Emperor Taishang, who controlled real power, Hezhen not only served as a university scholar and military minister, but also held important positions in various departments of the imperial court. In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), the foreman of the military aircraft minister Ah Gui died of illness, and He Yan successfully succeeded to the post, and thus became the number one important person in the imperial court. And he was very good at speculating on Qianlong's thoughts, so under the high authority, he once became the chief spokesman of the Emperor Taishang.
At that time, it was still the top priority of the imperial court to rule the world with all their might, so around Jiaqing and Qianlong, it was often possible to hear about the progress of the White Lotus Sect's suppression of bandits. It is said that once, when Qianlong heard that the people below had come to report on the White Lotus Sect's suppression of bandits, the old man had words in his mouth, which made the Jiaqing Emperor who was with him inexplicable. Subsequently, Qianlong suddenly opened his eyes and asked the people around him: "Who are these people?" Only He Yan replied, "Gao Tiande and Gou Civilization." A few days later, when Jiaqing asked About this scene again, Hezhen finally solved the mystery. It turned out that Qianlong was silently reciting a mantra that day, and Gao Tiande and Gou Wenming were the leaders of the White Lotus Sect.
▲ Qianlong's treasure of "returning to the government and still training the government", source: the Palace Museum.
Although Qianlong chanting the mantra had the effect of making one feel at ease, if he wanted to solve the scourge of the White Lotus Sect as soon as possible, he had to think of a way to do it as soon as possible.
From Bi Yuan, the governor of Huguang, to Liangliang and others, Qianlong tried his best to encircle and suppress the White Lotus Sect, but with little success. Instead of blaming Jiaqing, he believed that the sin lay with himself. Qianlong thought that the biggest mistake he had made in his many years of ruling the country was that he had traveled to Jiangnan six times in his lifetime, which had depleted the great Qing Dynasty's strong and prosperous national strength, so that the suppression of bandits was particularly difficult this time.
When Yi Mian, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, recommended to Qianlong the able general Lebao, Qianlong did not hesitate to transfer him to the Battlefield of Huguang and preside over the work of suppressing bandits in the White Lotus Sect. Le Bao was not a vegetarian, and after inspecting the war situation between the two sides on the spot, he proposed to replace the increasingly degenerate Eight Banners and Green Battalion officers and soldiers with township bravery, and cooperate with the policy of clearing the field to ensure that the White Lotus Sect could no longer receive supplies after capturing the city.
In this regard, Qianlong did everything accordingly.
In August of the third year of Jiaqing (1798), under the painstaking management of Le Bao, Wang Sanhuai, the leader of one of the white lotus sects, was arrested, and the power of the white lotus sect was frustrated. Qianlong's spirit was invigorated, and he specially rewarded meritorious personnel. In addition to the number one meritorious servant Le Bao was promoted to duke, with the superb skill of contemplating the holy will, He yan also praised the merits of "praising the opportunity" and was also listed as a duke.
05
Although on the issue of the White Lotus Sect, Qianlong behaved more calmly than ever before. However, during this period, in addition to normally handling military and state affairs, Qianlong was still very aware that he was an old man who had retired.
In the spring of the third year of Jiaqing (1798), Qianlong's grandson Ai Xinjueluo Zaixi was 15 years old. As a descendant of Qianlong's eldest son, Yong Huang, Zaixi has an identity that no one else can match - Qianlong is the grandson of the long house chief. In Qianlong's outlook on life, he lived a long life not only as a rare emperor in Chinese history, but also as the happiest old man in the Qing Dynasty. In his previous life for more than eighty years, he had the privilege of meeting his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, and also had the privilege of welcoming his own grandchildren before abdicating.
For any old man, the five generations are in the same house is a great joy. For Qianlong, who created history, what he wanted to do was to let ordinary people remember the great blessings, such as the sixth and seventh generations. However, the age was there, and the seventh generation was quite difficult for Qianlong. But with Xuan sun Zaixi, it is probably not a problem to ask for a hug from a grandson (Xuan Sun's son).
In order to realize this dream, Qianlong's grandson Zaixi was arranged for a wedding early so that he could "create people" as soon as possible. The Jiaqing Emperor and his princes and ministers also began to ask Qianlong to hold a ninetieth birthday celebration for Qianlong in the fifth year of Jiaqing (1800). In this regard, although Qianlong instructed the minister not to be extravagant and wasteful, and to follow the specifications of the eightieth birthday, it was not difficult to see that even he himself did not feel that it was not a problem to live to ninety. And then he will rewrite history once again.
But God didn't want to waste any more time on this prosperous emperor. At the end of the third year of Jiaqing, Qianlong occasionally felt a wind and cold, and then his physical condition took a sharp turn and he was bedridden.
▲ Qianlong "Treasure of the Taishang Emperor", source: Palace Museum.
On his sickbed, Qianlong ushered in his fourth year as Emperor Taishang as scheduled.
At this time, in addition to worrying about whether he could usher in the ninetieth birthday as scheduled, he was more concerned about the situation of the White Lotus Sect's frontline bandits. On the second day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), when his spirit was slightly lifted, he got up and inscribed a poem "Wangjie", the whole poem is as follows:
Three years of division opened repeatedly, the real number should not be guessed.
The cult was misguided, and the officers and troops suppressed it.
The number of leading soldiers waited and watched, and the remnants were overwhelmed.
The execution of the news is quickly ugly, and they all come against the head.
In the poem, Qianlong is still uneasy about the work of eliminating the White Lotus Sect that runs through his entire retirement life of the Emperor Taishang. Some people also say that through the poem, when Qianlong was about to end his life, he finally understood that the Qing Dynasty had long been accumulated and could not return.
Two days after the poem was written, on the fourth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), the Qianlong Emperor, who had actually held power in the Qing Dynasty for 64 years, died.
Shortly after Qianlong's death, he who devoted his life to reading and interpreting the Holy Will was also sent to prison and given to death, following the Emperor Taishang. However, the White Lotus Sect uprising that accompanied Emperor Qianlong along the way intensified, and the decline of the Qing Dynasty was inevitable.
All this, as Qianlong asserted during the British mission to China in 1793, "The ship will not sink immediately." It will drift around like a wreckage and then crash into smashes on the shore, but it will never be repaired."
In the middle of the 19th century, Magalni's prophecy came true. In the gunfire of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty was smashed to pieces. With the Xinhai Revolution in the early 20th century, the ship was wrecked and eventually sank.
bibliography:
Zhao Erxun et al.: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1977
Zhou Yuanlian: Portrait of Qianlong, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2005
Editorial Board of Chinese History: "The Prosperity of the Heavenly Dynasty and the Kingdom of Heaven", Jilin Publishing Group, 2006
Tang Wenji and Luo Qingsi: The Biography of Qianlong, People's Publishing House, 1994
[Netherlands] Tian Hai: The White Lotus Cult in Chinese History, The Commercial Press, 2017
Naito Hunan: Chinese Historical Day, Chinese Social Science Literature Publishing, 2004