Qianlong is one of the more familiar emperors of all dynasties. This is mainly due to novels and film and television works: "Book of Swords and Vengeance", "Snow Mountain Flying Fox", "Huan Zhuge Ge", "Joke about Qianlong", "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", "Iron Tooth Copper Tooth Ji Xiaolan", "Yanxi Raiders", "Ruyi Zhuan" and ,,,,,, almost half of the film and television works set in the Qing Dynasty, whether it is martial arts themes or palace fighting themes, almost half of them are filmed in Qianlong. However, the Qianlong that many people know may not be a real image in history, but the kind of image created in film and television works.
What is the image of Qianlong in film and television works? Realistically speaking, Qianlong in the film and television drama is either engaged in making an object with his sister, or he is teasing Liu Yong, He Yan, and Ji Xiaolan. In short, the Qianlong Emperor in the film and television drama is a master who loves to play and love entertainment, as if he is like a master of piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, playing, playing and singing, but he has never seen him govern the country. Of course, the real Qianlong in history would not be like this, otherwise the territory of the Qing Dynasty would not have reached its maximum in his hands.
The Qianlong Emperor, who died at the age of 88 and reigned for 60 years, is generally considered the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history. Of course, some people believe that zhao Tuo, the 103-year-old Emperor Wu of South Vietnam, is the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history, but Zhao Tuo's South Vietnamese state is more often regarded as a divided regime, so zhao Tuo is generally not recognized as an orthodox emperor in zheng history. If we leave aside the controversy of whether Zhao Tuo is an orthodox emperor, then there is really no emperor in Chinese history who lives longer than Qianlong.
In his later years, the Qianlong Emperor recalled his life's experience and listed himself the "Ten Perfections of Martial Arts", so the Qianlong Emperor called himself the "Ten Perfections of the Old Man" in his later years. The Qianlong Emperor's so-called "Ten Complete Martial Arts" was, in his own words, "The Ten Meritorious Ones, ping-dzun Gar II, Dinghui One, Jinchuan two, Jing Taiwan one, Burma and Annam one each, that is, now descended by Gorkha, combined into ten." Among the "Ten Perfections of Martial Arts", three times they used troops against Xinjiang (two Ping Dzungars and one must return to The Army), and two times they used troops against Tibet (two times they counterattacked the Gurkha invasion).
These five uses of troops are of great historical significance to consolidating the rule of the central authorities in Xinjiang and Tibet. These five military operations have made a major contribution to safeguarding the unity and integrity of the country's territorial sovereignty. In the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong (1759), Huibu Dahe and Zhuo fled westward into the Badak Mountains (in present-day northeastern Afghanistan), where they were captured and killed by the Leader of the Badak Mountains, Suletansha. At this point, the western regions north and south of the Tianshan Mountains were once again incorporated into the territory of the Central Plains Orthodox Dynasty, and Qianlong was named Xinjiang for the qing dynasty's new territory. At this time, the territory of the Qing Dynasty reached a historical maximum of more than 13 million square kilometers.
However, Qianlong's "Ten Complete Martial Arts" also had elements of making up numbers: Pingzungar had counted one martial art on two occasions, and the military operations against Gorkha had also been combined twice. It seems that the Qianlong Emperor also took pains to make up this perfect number. Moreover, the military operations against Burma and Annam in the Ten Perfection Martial Arts were actually failures, and it was also the Qianlong Emperor who deliberately described the defeat as a victory in order to make up the Perfect Martial Arts for himself. It can be seen from this that the Qianlong Emperor's so-called "ten perfect martial arts" are not as perfect as he himself boasts.
Although Qianlong is not the master who only knows how to play like in the film and television drama, qianlong's preference for vassalage and elegance is indeed a fact. Film and television dramas only further exaggerated and amplified the characteristics of Qianlong's vassal style and elegance. Qianlong, who loved to collect, liked to stamp and inscribe the former herringbone paintings, so he often stamped the precious relics of the predecessors like psoriasis. Wang Xizhi's "Qing Ti in the Fast Snow" has only 28 characters, but it has been repeatedly inscribed by the Qianlong Emperor more than 60 times, so that the blank space is all covered by the Qianlong Emperor with a stamped bullet screen. Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Festival" also suffered a similar doom.
There is a "Fuchun Mountain Residence Map" that was stamped 55 times by the Qianlong Emperor's inscription, but fortunately the one that was ruined by the Qianlong Emperor was a fake, while the real Huang Gongwang's true deeds were mistaken by the Qianlong Emperor and escaped the disaster. Among the antique treasures collected by Qianlong in his lifetime, the most valuable are pastel hollow porcelain vases and Kowloon swords, but unfortunately, now the pastel hollow porcelain vases have been lost overseas, and the whereabouts of the Kowloon sword are unknown. In November 2010, Qianlong pastel cut-out porcelain vases set the highest price ever auctioned globally for £51.6 million (about 550 million yuan) at an auction house in London, England.
The Nine Dragon Sword was buried as a funerary item in the underground palace of Yuling after the death of the Qianlong Emperor. On July 2, 1928, the warlord Sun Dianying stole the Qing Tombs and the whereabouts of the Nine Dragons Sword have been unknown ever since. There are rumors that Sun Dianying gave the Nine Dragon Sword as a gift to Dai Kasa, the head of the military command, and Dai Kasa temporarily gave the sword to his agent Ma Hansan for safekeeping. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ma Hansan sacrificed his sword to save his life. The sword has since fallen into the hands of the Japanese spy Yoshiko Kawashima. After the victory of the War of Resistance, the sword returned to Dai Kasa's hands. The whereabouts of the sword after Dai Kasa's death became a historical mystery.
In addition to collecting treasures, Qianlong also liked to compose poetry. Qianlong composed 41,863 poems in his lifetime, an average of 1.3 poems per day. Before his death, Qianlong had been complacent and boasted to people that the poems he had written alone were about to catch up with the number of Quan Tang poems. Quan Tang Poems contains more than 48,900 poems by more than 2,200 poets of the Tang Dynasty. Qianlong alone composed more than 40,000 poems, and the number of poems is indeed close to catching up with the Quan Tang Poems. Most of Qianlong's poems were written by impromptu dictation or essays, and then copied and transcribed by the chancellor, but few of them are widely circulated to this day.
Although the number of poems composed by Qianlong is almost catching up with the Quan Tang Poems, the ideological content and art form are not of much value. However, one of them, "Flying Snow", unexpectedly went to the textbook of primary school students: one piece after another, two pieces of three pieces of four or five pieces. Six pieces of seven pieces of eight or nine pieces, flying into the reed flowers are not seen. If every poem of Qianlong is of this level, then it is not surprising that his poems have not been widely circulated. In fact, this is still a rare masterpiece of Qianlong: although there is no specific meaning, it is written in a few lines of words to write the appearance of snowflakes falling.
In addition to being a good vassal, is Qianlong as popular as in film and television dramas? During his lifetime, Qianlong had three empresses: the Fucha clan, the Nala clan, and the Wei Jia clan. Qianlong's original empress, Fucha, was a Manchurian yellow flag bearer, and her younger brother Fucha Fuheng and nephew Fu Kang'an were all important vassals of the Qianlong Dynasty. The second queen, Narashi, is the prototype of the sinister and vicious queen in Huan Zhu Ge ge. Historically, Qianlong's relationship with this empress was indeed not good. On July 14, 1766, the thirty-first year of Qianlong (1766), after the death of the Nala clan, he was buried as an imperial concubine.
Although the Nala clan was not deposed as empress by Qianlong during his lifetime, in fact, in the end it was equivalent to abolishing it without abolishing it. Qianlong's third empress, Wei Jiashi, was the prototype of Concubine Wei Yongluo. Wei Jia's mother's family was originally a Han Chinese (surnamed Wei), and was later carried by the Qianlong Emperor into Manchuria with a yellow flag, so he was qualified to enter the palace. Wei Jia's entry into the palace was originally only a palace maid, and Qianlong was given the title of concubine (later converted from concubine to concubine) in the first month of the tenth year of Qianlong, and after Nala's death, Wei Jia was crowned empress. During his lifetime, Wei Jia bore Qianlong four sons and two daughters (including Jiaqing, who later succeeded to the throne).
In addition to these three empresses, there were 5 imperial concubines, 5 noble concubines, 6 concubines, 6 concubines, 12 nobles, 4 Chang Zai, and 2 agreed in Qianlong's harem. The most legendary of Qianlong's concubines may be Xiangfei, in fact, Xiangfei did have a prototype in history. In both the Book of Swords and The Book of Vengeance and the Huan Zhu Ge Ge, Xiangfei is portrayed as being captured by Qianlong in the war of the Pinghui Department, and Xiangfei was persecuted by the empress dowager and the empress after entering the palace, so there are rumors that Xiangfei was given death by the empress.
In fact, the prototype of Xiangfei was The Qianlong Emperor's Concubine Rong and Zhuo. In the twenty-second year of Qianlong (1757 AD), the Huibu and Zhuo of Xinjiang launched a rebellion. This rebellion was not supported by the local ethnic groups in Xinjiang, or even within the Hezhuo family: at that time, Princess Rong's uncle E se Yin and brother Tur led their troops to cooperate with the Qing army to suppress the rebellion. After the war, the Qianlong Emperor married the various tribes of Hui Xinjiang that supported the Qing army in suppressing the rebellion. It was in this context that Concubine Rong entered the palace and was given the title of "Noble One". Concubine Rong was not a prisoner of war and had not been persecuted in the palace.
On the contrary, Concubine Rong had always been one of Qianlong's favorite concubines: as soon as she entered the palace, she was crowned a nobleman. The absence of the two levels of Constant Presence and Promise itself shows the importance the emperor attaches to marriage, and also shows the emperor's love for this Uyghur woman from Xinjiang. Qianlong specially set up a Hui cook in the palace for Concubine Rong, and also set up a place of worship in the palace. On December 30, the 26th year of Qianlong (1761 AD), the Qianlong Emperor was enthroned by the Empress Dowager Yi and made a noble concubine. Since it was promoted to the throne by the emperor and empress dowager, it is difficult to establish the so-called empress dowager's persecution of Concubine Rong.
Qianlong not only had many concubines, but also many children: Qianlong had a total of 17 sons and 10 daughters. Qianlong had said in his early years that he would never exceed the reign of Saint Zu Kangxi. Perhaps at that time, Qianlong did not expect that he could live so long, but when Qianlong was sixty years old, he was still alive and jumping. In the same year, Qianlong chose Ton to be the fifteenth son of the Emperor ,颙琰(later Jiaqing Emperor). At this time, 13 of Qianlong's 17 princes actually walked in front of Qianlong, and only four of the surviving princes were Yongxuan, Yongxuan, Yongyan, and Yongxuan.
In fact, 27 of Qianlong's 34 imperial grandchildren at this time had passed away. The long-lived Qianlong was stunned to death most of his sons and grandsons, and he himself finally met the great-grandson zaixi of the "Zai" generation. The Qianlong Emperor originally wanted to establish the eldest son, but the eldest son died early. Later, Qianlong took a fancy to the fifth prince, Yongqi, and as a result, Yongqi only lived to the age of 25 and died. When Qianlong wanted to set up a reserve again, there were only four princes left to choose from, and in the end, only the short one could choose the tall one to set up Yongyan.
After saying that, the concubines and princes of the Qianlong Dynasty came to see the ministers of the Qianlong Dynasty. Probably the most familiar of the ministers of the Qianlong Dynasty were Liu Yong, He Yan, and Ji Xiaolan. This is mainly influenced by film and television works, in fact, the real Liu Yong, Ji Xiaolan and He yan are not one level: whether it is larger than the official position or the degree of heavier than the emperor, it is more cattle than the emperor. The Wall Street Journal in the United States once summed up the 50 richest people in the world over the past thousand years. Among them, there are 6 Chinese on the list: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Liu Jin, He Kun, Wu Bingjian and Song Ziwen.
He Yan is regarded as the most corrupt official in China's history: jiaqing confiscated all the property of he yan in four years and made a total of 109 records. If the list is detailed enough for a book, the value of the property registered in only 26 of the books that have been valued is more than 200 million taels of silver, and the total assets are estimated to be more than 800 million taels of silver. Qianlong's national tax revenues from fifty-five to sixty years were half corrupted by He Yan alone. In 2001, the Wall Street Journal Asia included it among the world's richest individuals.
However, the wealthy and invincible Hezhen began step by step in poverty: Qianlong fifteen years of May 28 (July 1, 1750) and Yan were born in the family of The Deputy Governor of Fujian Province, Niu Hulu Changbao, the third year of he yan's mother died of dystocia when he gave birth to his brother Helin, and his father Chang Bao died of illness when he was nine years old, but fortunately, the two brothers Hezhen and Helin were saved from the fate of being expelled from the family. The brothers He yan and Lin knew that they had nothing to rely on, so they redoubled their efforts more and more.
Later, through his own efforts, He Yan was admitted to the Xian'an Palace Official School, which specializes in cultivating the children of the Eight Banners Nobles, and here he felt the blank eyes of other classmates, and no one took the death of his parents and took He Yan seriously. However, He Yan decided to use his own practical actions to let his classmates know what it was to punch their faces--at that time, almost all the Eight Banners disciples were already a group of hungry children who could not get on horses and could not practice martial arts, but He Yan was proficient in riding and shooting martial arts, and also read the Four Books and Five Classics, and he was also proficient in the four languages of Manchu, Han, Mongolian, and Tibetan, which was unique in the entire Xian'an Palace official school at that time.
In the thirty-third year of Qianlong (1768), the 18-year-old He Yan married Feng Shi, the granddaughter of Feng Yinglian, the governor of Zhili, and this marriage belonged to Gao Pan for He Yan— although the Niu Cobalt Lu family born to He Yan was also a powerful family of the Eight Banners, at this time He Yan had long lost all dependence, and it was enough for He Yan to marry a high-ranking official family like the Governor of Zhili. The following year, He Yan participated in the imperial examination, but his name was Luosun Mountain. As a clerk, He yan inherited the position of third-class light vehicle lieutenant.
In the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong (1772), he was awarded a third-class bodyguard, and was later selected as a guard at the sticking pole. In the thirty-eighth year of Qianlong (1773), a fortuitous opportunity enabled He yan to win the favor of the Qianlong Emperor: one day as a bodyguard, He Yan served the Qianlong Emperor to appreciate the spring light of the Summer Palace, and when the emperor was on his head, a bodyguard urgently came to report that a fugitive had escaped from prison, and the Qianlong Emperor Long Yan was furious: "The tiger is out of the wood, and the turtle jade is destroyed in the tree, who is it that is wrong?" The guards who were serving on the side were too frightened to come out, and as a result, Hezhen calmly replied, "The pawn keeper must not resign his responsibility!" ”
Perhaps it was the people who were accustomed to being cautious and flattering in their daily lives, and when leng Buding saw that someone could answer himself so unhurriedly and calmly, he paid special attention to this bodyguard. At the age of 23, he was appointed Minister of Treasury, and from this job he learned how to manage money. At this time, He yan had not yet developed his future habit of greedy ink, and he diligently managed the treasury for the Qianlong Emperor, and thus won qianlong's affirmation. Judging from the history of Hezhen's early years, he undoubtedly wanted to make a career and get ahead.
As far as He yan's personal life experience is concerned, it is indeed inspirational, why would such a good young man with ideals and ambitions quickly become corrupt and degenerate? In the final analysis, this is related to the general environment of the officialdom at that time: when he was already in a high position in the later period, he actually represented not only him personally, but represented the epitome of the vested interests of the entire Qing Dynasty officialdom at that time--the members of this group achieved the purpose of pulling everyone into the water by bribing each other, and if anyone unknowingly refused to accept money, it would be regarded as breaking the unspoken rules that had long been established in the official arena.
Then such a person is bound to be unanimously excluded by other officials. Naturally, there will be many people in the position of Hezhen who will compete to give him gifts, in fact, a high-ranking official like Hezhen does not care at all what people give him, what he cares about is that the gift-giving itself shows an attitude - that is, this person is a person in my circle. If one day He yan stopped collecting money, then the connections he had painstakingly managed would disappear. The emergence of such a huge corruption as He yan is actually just a microcosm of the background of the corruption of the Qing Dynasty officials.
Just as the Qing Dynasty was becoming increasingly corrupt, the Western world was undergoing earth-shaking changes, and in 1799, just as mankind was about to usher in the 19th century, a great power in the east and the west of the world passed away: the one in the east was Ai Xinjueluo Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty of China; the one in the West was George Washington, the first president of the United States of America. More precisely, the two have one thing in common – they are actually former heads of state: Qianlong died as the official emperor of the government; Washington died as a retired former president.
Washington and Qianlong were not only people of the same era, but they were also on the same foot: the Qianlong Emperor died in February 1799, and Washington died of illness on December 14, 1799. Although Qianlong and Washington lived in the same era, the two people who grew up in different social forms were completely people of the two eras in terms of psychological state and spiritual outlook: Ai Xinjueluo Hongli, despite his abdication, still actually took charge of state affairs as the emperor of the ether; George Washington voluntarily relinquished power after the expiration of two terms.
Aisin Kyora Hongli gave way to his son and still practiced the traditional family system; George Washington did not claim the title of king, did not pass on his descendants, and pioneered a democratic republic. Aisin Kyora Hongli regarded the people of the country as his own slaves and enjoyed the grand scene of many people creeping on the mountain and calling for long live; George Washington advocated the natural human right that all people are created equal. The powerful Ai Shin Kyora Hiroshi favored and favored the court so that there was no official or greedy at all levels of the court; George Washington followed the principle of separation of powers, so that power was constrained by the system.
Aishin Kyora Hiroshi was so intoxicated by the dream of a heavenly kingdom that the defense armaments were increasingly empty and unaware; George Washington introduced the Industrial Revolution in the hope of making the country rich and the army strong. Aishin Kyora Hiroshi was closed to the outside world and refused any contact with the outside world; George Washington advocated free trade and actively opened up ties with the rest of the world. Aisin Kyora Hiroshi left behind a devastated empire, and George Washington laid the foundation for the rise of the United States... People with so many generational gaps will naturally give people the illusion that they are not the people of the times at all.
In fact, this sense of chronological discrepancies in the history of the East and the West appeared before Qianlong: the world's earliest joint-stock company was born in the Netherlands in the 30th year of the Ming Dynasty; the royal society of the British society was founded in the seventeenth year of Qing Shunzhi; the French Academy of Sciences was established in the 5th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty; the bank of England was established in the 33rd year of the Qing Kangxi; the world's earliest rice futures market was born in Osaka, Japan in the 49th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty; the russian Academy of Sciences was established in the second year of the Qing Yongzheng; montesquieu published "On the Spirit of the Law" in the thirteenth year of the Qing Dynasty. The establishment of the New York Stock Exchange in the fifty-seventh year of the Qianlong Dynasty...