The kangqian prosperous era was the last prosperous era of China's feudal era, from the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty to the late Qianlong dynasty, and this prosperous era lasted for more than a hundred years. Because of this, the names of Kangxi and Qianlong are relatively loud in history, while Yongzheng, who is in the middle, seems to be very aggrieved.
Any prosperous era in history is consistent with a characteristic, that is, continuity, that is, it requires the efforts of generations of emperors. Yongzheng, as the inheritor of Kangqian's prosperous world, played a huge historical role, and it is accurate to say that Kangqian's prosperous world should be called Kangyongqian's prosperous world. Since Yongzheng's contribution is great, why is he not as well-known as Kangxi and Qianlong? There are several key reasons for this:
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > one, the reign time is short</h1>
Yongzheng was 44 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he did not live as long as his father and son, so he only served as emperor for 13 years. Although Yongzheng implemented the New Deal during his reign and eliminated many of the shortcomings of Kangxi in his later years, after all, 13 years was still too short, and he still had many things to do.
Kangxi and Qianlong reigned for sixty-one and sixty years respectively, and in terms of probability, such a long reign will experience many more major events. When we evaluate Kangxi's Wenzhi martial arts, we will mention the removal of Aobai, pingsan domain, the seizure of Taiwan, the expulsion of Tsarist Russia, the pro-conquest of Kaldan, and so on.
If it took nearly 30 years from the beginning of the elimination of Aobai to the pro-conquest of Gardan, if Kangxi had reigned for only 13 years like Yongzheng, then it is conceivable that he would not have been able to achieve so many great achievements.
The same is true of Qianlong, who boasts of having "Ten Great Martial Arts" and "Six Southern Tours", the first of the ten martial arts to pacify Jinchuan occurred in the twelfth year of Qianlong, and the last Pacifying Gorkha occurred in the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong, which lasted more than 40 years. If Qianlong also reigned for 13 years, then he could only catch up with the first time, and the next nine martial arts were the affairs of the future emperors.
Yongzheng was a diligent and accomplished emperor, but his reign was too short, and he did not have the opportunity to establish more merits for the Qing Dynasty like Kangxi and Qianlong.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="30" > second, the reputation is not too good</h1>
Objectively speaking, Yong is a relatively harsh and cruel person. In the later years of the Kangxi Dynasty, due to the vacancy of a crown prince, the princes formed different camps for the throne. After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he severely cracked down on these former political enemies.
When Yongzheng ascended to the throne, his brothers were already creeping under the imperial power, and at this time Yongzheng could appropriately take measures against those who threatened the imperial power, such as the Baye Party group.
Judging from the historical records, Yongzheng's blows were too large and the means were too cruel. All those who had not sided with him were severely punished, either by knighthood or imprisoned to death. In addition to the Eight Ye Party clique, many brothers and patriarchs were implicated.
This practice of Yongzheng more or less left people with the impression of meanness and widowhood, and the history is like iron, even if the emperor is high above, he will inevitably be criticized by later generations.
Not only that, Yongzheng's attitude towards the hundred officials was also not lenient enough. Of course, this is related to the corruption of the officialdom in the later years of Kangxi and the fact that Yongzheng was not allowed to clarify the rule of officials, but the means adopted by Yongzheng were indeed harsh, thousands of officials were raided and exiled, and there were not a few unjust and wrong cases.
The officials are all scholars, or a group of literati, and the terrible thing about the literati lies in the pen in their hands, and it is these literati who have been hit and the tens of millions of pens in their hands that record a lot of negative news about Yongzheng. Yongzheng also undoubtedly became the most ill-known of the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty, such as blood droplets, beheading by Lü Siniang, and so on.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > third, not a few beautiful battles</h1>
When we evaluate an emperor, martial arts is the most important plus. For example, Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, Emperor Wu of Han rejected the Xiongnu in the north, and Tang Taizong surrendered to the Turks. Even Kangxi also recovered Taiwan and attacked Tsarist Russia in the north, and Qianlong also had great achievements in recovering Xinjiang and pacifying Tibet.
The Yongzheng Dynasty's state use of troops was mainly concentrated in the northwest, but the progress of the entire war was not smooth, and the war of the Dzungars was still unresolved until Qianlong succeeded to the throne. Only Nian Tangyao won the Battle of Pacifying Qinghai.
Of course, this does not mean that Yongzheng did not make achievements in the military field, but because the national treasury was empty at that time and the government was unstable, it did not provide Yongzheng with a ripe opportunity.
Yongzheng's main credit lies in internal affairs, and in the later years of Kangxi's country, the country has been in peace for a long time, coupled with the struggle between the princes and the conquest of concubines, the entire officialdom and society are permeated with a corrupt atmosphere. It can be said that the Jiangshan left by Kangxi to Yongzheng is nothing more than a false prosperity, and the internal troubles are already very serious.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he took the inventory of deficits as the starting point, and then introduced a series of new policies, implementing measures such as dividing up the land into acres, returning envy to the public, integrating the gentry into the field, changing the land and returning to the stream, and abolishing the untouchables.
The implementation of these new policies has made the national treasury more and more abundant, the administration of officials has gradually become clean, and the society has tended to be stable. These are all the great contributions that Yongzheng has made to the country, but after all, it belongs to the internal strength of the mountains and water, unlike fighting a victorious battle and recovering a piece of land, it is easier to attract the attention of the world.
In fact, for a dynasty, external troubles are scabies, and once overcome, there are not too many sequelae. The real chronic disease lies in internal troubles, and the problem of corruption has always been a problem that plagues the rulers, and no dynasty can effectively solve it. It is not difficult for us to comb through history and find that only the Zhu Yuanzhang period and the Yongzheng period of the dynasties and dynasties can be regarded as the real rulers of Qingming, which is very difficult to achieve.
It was the Yongzheng Emperor's day and night and tireless efforts that laid a solid foundation for Qianlong, and after solving all the internal problems, the whole society was on the right track and Qianlong was able to enjoy peace in peace. Therefore, when we talk about the prosperity of Kangqian, we must not forget Yongzheng, the emperor who has done something and dares to take responsibility.