In the seventh year of Shunzhi (1650), the powerful regent Dorgon of the Qing Dynasty was accidentally injured while hunting, and died of his injuries a month later.
During this period, the Shunzhi Emperor continued to send people to greet Dorgon from the beginning of his bedridden recuperation, and it was extremely mournful to hear the news of his death. In order to show his respect for Dorgon, the Shunzhi Emperor put on his mourning clothes and personally led the ministers of the DPRK to walk five miles to retrieve Dorgon's body. After the funeral, the Shunzhi Emperor thought about it again and decided to posthumously honor Dolgun as "Qing Chengzong" and treat him exactly according to the emperor's specifications.
It is rare to be a courtier before death, but to be posthumously honored as an emperor. And throughout Dorgon's life, he really can afford this treatment. Even if the Shunzhi Emperor later reversed his treatment, it was still difficult to hide his brilliance. It was not until the forty-third year of Qianlong (1778) that the Qianlong Emperor insisted on overturning the verdict of his great-grandfather The Shunzhi Emperor, publicly restored dorgon's reputation, and posthumously honored him as "loyal", in recognition of his great contributions to the Qing Dynasty.
As nurhaci's fourteenth son, Dorgon followed his brother Emperor Taiji on a southern expedition to the north from the age of seventeen. Unlike those reckless teenagers who were flesh and blood, when Dorgon fought, he was not only "fierce", but also "stable", and almost did not lose any battle. In the ninth year of Tiancong (1635), the Later Jin army launched a surprise attack on the Mongol tribes, catching the Mongols by surprise. Under the fierce offensive of the Later Jin army, the Mongol tribes begged to surrender, but the Chahar tribe still insisted on resisting.
Seeing that the leader of the Chahar tribe, Lin Dan Khan, was very brave, Emperor Taiji decided to give this difficult bone to Dorgon. Dorgon was unambiguous after taking the order, and when he led his men to attack Lin Dan Khan, he put on a hard-hitting posture. After a fierce battle, Dorgon defeated Lin Dan Khan by an overwhelming margin and obtained the precious Heirloom Jade Seal. Relying on this jade seal, Emperor Taiji ascended the throne in the tenth year of Tiancong (1636) and changed the name of the country to "Great Qing".
At the time of the reward for meritorious deeds, the twenty-four-year-old Dorgon was named the Prince of Heshuo rui, the third of the six kings, which can be described as a young man. In the eighth year of Chongde (1643), Emperor Taiji died suddenly, and because he did not make the crown prince during his lifetime, the whole government and the public were in chaos. Those who wanted to be emperors were secretly attracting people's hearts, and the generals who held military power began to stand up. Seeing that Emperor Taiji's eldest son Hauge was eager to try the throne, Shuo Chen and Adali strongly advised Dorgon to establish himself as emperor.
Because, although Dorgon and Huang Taiji are brothers, he has both strength and battle achievements, and the limelight has always been above Huang Taiji's eldest son Hauge. However, Hauge is not an idle person. He held in his hands the yellow flag and the yellow flag of the Eight Banners, and his military strength made Dorgon quite jealous. Moreover, eight ministers, including Aobai, Sony, and Tan Tai, also strongly supported Hauge behind his back. In order to compete for imperial power, neither Dorgon nor Hauge backed down in the slightest. With the involvement of high-ranking ministers of the Qing Dynasty and many imperial families, the smell of gunpowder in the court became more and more intense.
Both have been in the field for a long time, and once the talks collapse, then it is likely that there will be a fire merger. In the end, some ministers even entered the palace with weapons, and their meaning was self-evident, that is, to start a fight if they could not talk. Dorgon and Hauge saw that the situation had developed to this point, and their hearts were also secretly bitter. Both men had a large army in their hands, and after the war, they could only lose both. However, the two forces are fiercely armed, Dorgon and Hauge are already riding a tiger, if they announce their withdrawal now, then they will not be able to account for their subordinates.
In the end, after more than ten days of deliberations, a unified agreement was reached between Dorgon, Hauge, and the ministers, that is, Fu Lin (Shunzhi Emperor), the ninth son of Emperor Taiji, would take the throne, and then let the Prince of Zheng, Zilharang and Dolgun, be regents, and assist the young emperor on the side. In this way, not only did the Crown Prince of Emperor Taiji ascend the throne, but also allowed Hauge and Dolgun to maintain a relative balance. Among them, there is still a great controversy in the historical circles as to whether Empress Xiaozhuang married Dolgun as the Shunzhi Emperor, and we will leave it alone here.
It can be said that Hauge and Dorgon eventually gave in one step each, which indeed avoided the split situation of the Great Qing.
Of course, the reason why Dorgon backed down in this power struggle was not only for fear of causing internal turmoil, but also for reasons such as Empress Xiaozhuang's maneuvering from it, that is, Dorgon did not have his own son. Dorgon had a large number of wives and concubines in his lifetime, and there are ten well-documented wives and concubines. However, he had only one daughter, Aisin Kyora Donggo, whose mother is said to be the daughter of Lee Se-seok of the Joseon Dynasty, but there is no evidence for this. To make matters worse, he was seriously injured in a battle with the Ming Army and fell ill with infertility for life.
When mentioned in the history books, in order to avoid secrecy, they were always vague, saying only that Dorgon was seriously wounded in this battle. And his pearl in the palm of his hand, the only daughter, was born before this battle. Perhaps, in Dorgon's view, it was already a sad fact that he was never there. Then, even if he tried his best to destroy Hauge and seize the throne, it would not make much sense. Therefore, after repeated weighing, he decided to take a step back to ensure the unity of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, although Dorgon did not have a biological son, he still had one adopted son, and he loved Shin Kyora Dolbo, the Manchu Qingyuan Branch. Grandson of Qing Taizu Nurhaci and fifth son of Duoduo, Prince of Yutong. According to historical records, after Dorgon's death and being whipped, Shunzhi handed over the orders of Donggu Gege and Dorgon's stepson to the custody of King Doni of Shingun. This is also the only record of Donggu Gege in history. After that, Donggu Gege seemed to have disappeared into history, without any waves.
Resources:
【Draft History of the Qing Dynasty" and "Manchu Old Archives"]