Portrait of the Jiaqing Emperor
Spring, the sun is shining.
The Jiaqing Emperor set up a banquet in the Yuanmingyuan to entertain his close courtiers, and the atmosphere between the monarchs and courtiers was peaceful and harmonious. This was the 8th year of his ascension to the throne, and the 4th year of his pro-government.
At the beginning of February, the Forbidden City suddenly caught fire due to the dryness of the weather, and Qin Tianjian told the Jiaqing Emperor Chen that there was a bad omen, so He Yan took his favored concubine to the Yuanmingyuan to escape the palace.
Previously, there had been many "disturbances by the people" and the invasion of "cults," and the court was unstable, and the people's hearts were very worried. He was also deeply tired and did not think about eating and drinking for several days in the Yuanmingyuan.
In retrospect, the Qing Dynasty had reached its peak long before he ascended the throne. He thought he was standing on the shoulders of giants and taking over this rich country from the hands of Emperor Ama Qianlong.
After all, in his childhood memory, Emperor Ama had received foreigners several times, and they were all shocked and admired by China's vast land and wealth and cultural and economic prosperity.
From the exaggerated expressions and language of the foreigners, the royal family gained great satisfaction. Emperor Ama's hearty laughter that went straight to the Ninth Heaven was still vivid in his ears, but somehow, by his own dynasty, the country seemed to have faintly appeared in decline.
Emperor Yan's great-grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, was also revered by countless literary giants as "the First Emperor of the Ages", and in the 61 years of his reign, he pushed the national prestige of the Qing Dynasty to the peak.
Later, under the rule of emperor's grandfather Yongzheng and emperor Ama Qianlong, the territory of the Qing Dynasty expanded unprecedentedly, the people lived in peace and contentment, and the population soared, and in those 134 years, the Qing Empire was in full prosperity.
By the time Emperor Yan ascended the throne, although the Qianlong Emperor was already 85 years old, his body and bones were still very healthy.
However, Chinese has been advocating respect for the heavens and ancestors since ancient times, Kangxi has been the emperor for 61 years, in order to express the heart of "filial piety and virtuous grandson", Qianlong chose Zen to be located in Yanyan during his 60-year reign.
Therefore, when the last emperor was still alive, He Yan was honored as the "new emperor".
But how this new emperor tasted, only Yu Yan knew best. Although Emperor Ama "modestly" claimed to be the "Emperor Taishang", according to the Confucian idea of "father and son", how could he make up his own mind for everything that was a son.
Moreover, every day, He Yan also had to go to the Yangxin Hall on time to listen to Qianlong's "instructions." Yes, "go" to the Yangxin Temple, not "live" to the Yangxin Temple. Because, the Yangxin Hall was still qianlong's residence, and Yu Yan could only temporarily live in Yuqing Palace.
The Jiaqing Emperor's biological mother, Empress Xiaoyichun, of the Wei Jia clan
In terms of righteousness, the civil and military officials and the people have changed the era name to "Jiaqing Year", but in fact, in the Forbidden City, among the royal family, everyone still calls it "Qianlong Year".
Even the medical records in the history books about Qianlong's death still say how Qianlong was sixty-three years. Therefore, in the first four years of his reign, the days of The Emperor were rather humiliating.
It is also because everyone knows in their hearts that the government is actually still controlled by Qianlong, so everything respects the "will of the Emperor Taishang", and the "Jiaqing Emperor" has become the emperor with the least sense of existence, and slowly lost the majesty that the emperor should have among the imperial family and hundreds of officials.
It was not until January of the sixty-fourth year of Qianlong, that is, the fourth year of Jiaqing, that the Qianlong Emperor collapsed, and Emperor Qianlong began to pro-government. However, he missed the great opportunity when he first ascended the throne to return to the hearts of all the people, and from the time he was pro-government, he was distressed by the unpopularity.
The Forbidden City is majestic
Therefore, on the second day of his pro-government campaign, Emperor Yan was full of ambition to attack the first powerful minister of the Qianlong Dynasty, he yan, and exiled him from his home, hoping to reform the government in a drastic way in order to prolong the prosperity of the world and win the hearts and minds of the people.
This was the first fire after He took office, and he did it. In the sixth year of Jiaqing, he personally established his own favored Niu Hulu clan as empress, and then successfully suppressed the "White Lotus Sect" uprising and the bandits in Shaanxi.
Seeing the clear scene of the court, the ambition to make Guotai Min'an more and more prosperous in his chest was about to be unleashed, and the emperor was happy and the subject was pleased. In the garden, there are songs and dances, and the chips are intertwined.
One day, after a full day of wine and dinner, the Jiaqing Emperor returned to the palace with a red light on his face. The group of concubines, internal prisoners, forbidden soldiers, and palace ladies brought by them was nearly two thousand people, and the procession stretched for one or two kilometers, showing the majesty of the Heavenly Family, and there were hundreds of guards with knives alone.
The Kangxi Emperor
The palace people were on the way to the front and back, and the Jiaqing Emperor sat in the warm palanquin of the jade and closed his eyes to recuperate, and the concubines who were like heavenly immortals were serving on the side.
On both sides of the road, the people of the capital shouted long live the mountains, deafening. In the scene of this faction of Guotai Min'an, Yu Yan finally realized the grandeur and prestige of being an emperor, and his heart was extremely comfortable for a while.
Nearly half a day later, the honor guard of the Jiaqing Emperor arrived at the Shenwu Gate and successfully arrived at the Forbidden City. After passing through the Shenwu Gate, the Jiaqing Emperor routinely changed into a palanquin in the palace and entered the Shunzhen Gate.
Just when everyone thought that they could breathe a sigh of relief when they arrived at the palace, an assassin suddenly appeared inside the Shunzhen Gate, and the man was holding a short dagger and coming straight at the jaw.
Yongzheng Emperor
Between the lightning and flint, the Assassin had already caught the Emperor's shirt. The hundreds of guards were so useless that they were all dumbfounded, so that the Assassins could easily break through the human wall that should be as impregnable as an iron wall.
Saying that it was too late and fast, Prince Ding's love for Xinjue Luo Mian'en was the first to react, he stepped forward to fight with the assassins, because the man was holding a murder weapon close to Tianzi, Prince Ding had to protect the Jiaqing Emperor from harm while fighting.
You know, even if Tianzi is cut off by an assassin, it is a "accident" that will go down in history that will damage the royal majesty. Therefore, mian'en did not dare to move, and could only unfold his moves to block before the emperor, and did not dare to move the weapon again.
Between the beards, Mian'en's embroidered robe had been cut by the Assassins. At this time, the "brother-in-law" of the Jiaqing Emperor, Gulun Erzhu Rawan Dorji, reacted, and he also joined the battle, and the Mongol prince was as angry as an ox, and within a few moves, the assassin fell behind and was captured by the donkey.
Shun Zhen Gate
After this incident, the Jiaqing Emperor was completely frightened out of a cold sweat, but no matter what, the emperor could never lose his attitude in public. Looking at the Janissaries like a decoration, he was even more angry, and severely punished the hundreds of guards who were strong and powerful.
This is the first time since the founding of the Qing Dynasty that an emperor has been assassinated. Although the status of the Jiaqing Emperor in the minds of the Wenwu Hundred Officials was far inferior to that of the three "Kangqian Prosperous World", it also caused a big wave of rendering in the court.
In recent years, there have indeed been many peasants in all parts of the country who have been revolting, but there has never been a precedent for daring to kill them in the capital and the imperial palace. Moreover, this matter has already leaked into the people's minds, causing material discussion to boil over, if it cannot be thoroughly investigated and severely punished, where is the majesty of the Heavenly Family?
The Inspectorate, dali temple, and the Ministry of Punishment stepped up time to conduct three trials of the Assassins, but the conclusion was greatly disappointing. This person's name was Chen De, and he was not a cult leader or a peasant revolt leader, but a "member of his family" of the Qing rulers, the Manchurian Yellow Banner people.
Prince Mian En
He was originally a domestic slave bought by the deputy of the prefect of Qingzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province, and later defected to his nephew who served as a protector in Beijing because he longed for the prosperity of the capital. Through his nephew's introduction, he became a cook in the guards.
Chen De's family was poor, and he also performed very hard in the escort army, and with the frequent snubbing of the leader, he successfully entered the Ministry of Internal Affairs and went to the imperial dining room as an errand boy. In layman's terms, Chen De is not a martial arts master with a clear bone, but a cook who serves dishes.
The elite of the imperial court did their best, but they investigated such a result, and the whole hall was in an uproar. The Jiaqing Emperor was even more dissatisfied, and there was a fire in the Yangxin Hall, and the emperor of the Nine-Five Emperor was almost assassinated by the chef in the palace, not to mention how he felt in his heart, I am afraid that even the historian did not know where to start.
"Retrial! Strict trial! Who does he obey, who responds to him, and what henchmen?! Ying Yan asked angrily, and the reporting official knelt on the ground, and the atmosphere did not dare to come out.
Forbidden city
Even if he is unpopular, he is still the emperor who holds the power of life and death! The Qunchen trembled and solemnly agreed, and the Jiaqing Emperor only left one sentence: "If you can't find out, you can be dismissed from your post and investigated!" He whisked his sleeves away.
The officials of the Third Division had no choice but to raise Chen De from the heavenly prison for interrogation, but no matter what interrogation methods were used, the answers they got were very uninformative.
Chen De confessed: "My family has a 70-year-old mother and two children under the age of sixteen who need to be fed, so they work hard all day, work hard to curry favor with the superior officials, and barely earn enough money for the whole family," until they worked in the wupin official's home, and they saw the taste of wealth and pleasure in the world." ”
Ruins of the Old Summer Palace
"But since entering the palace, when I occasionally went in and out of the palace of the emperor and his concubines when I delivered meals, I learned what is called 'rich and noble', and the silver that the ladies and ladies spend on a meal will take me years to earn."
"Not to mention the small gadgets of the Brothers and Geges on weekdays, even the food and clothing of the palace girls around the concubines is something that ordinary people like me can't earn in a lifetime."
"Everyone says that we live in a rare prosperous world, but I see that this prosperous world is the prosperous world of the emperor's children, not the prosperity of our poor family!"
The interrogator did not expect that Chen De would dare to make such a rebellious remark. He lashed out at Chen De, warning him that Hugh was going to talk nonsense, after all, talking nonsense would beheaded.
Although Chen De's crime was a heinous crime, his last confession was really frightening. The recorder did not dare to record, and the interrogator did not dare to report to the emperor, although the thunder and rain were all the grace of the king.
But who would get tired of living and stick their necks out for the emperor to cut? To say such a thing, even if the parrot learns the tongue, it will not be able to live.
Snow view of the Forbidden City
But in fact, Chen De's words revealed the truth about the tip of the iceberg of "Kangqian's prosperous life".
The kangqian flourishing period was the heyday of China's feudal system, which was generally recognized by even Western society, and they more bluntly called this period "HIGH QING". In the 134 years, Chinese mouth not only broke through 100 million for the first time, but also broke the 300 million mark.
Dong hua men
From a sociological point of view, the increase in population usually gives the most direct explanation of the living standards of the people at that time. The easiest thing to see is that a considerable part of the population should have solved the problem of food and clothing at that time, and the mortality rate of infants was low and the survival rate was high.
However, such a prosperous world is actually only a "return to the light" of feudal society, since the Central Plains were conquered by the Manchurian Tatars, although farming and economy have exploded, but the productive forces and industry have stagnated.
The Manchu rulers were self-righteous, proud and complacent, completely unaware that elsewhere on the planet had ushered in the Age of Discovery.
Xihua Gate
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty closed the country, and the foreigners found that as long as they were hyped up to them, they could easily get a priceless reward. So when the Industrial Revolution had risen in Europe, the so-called "Kangqian Prosperous Era" was still stuck in its own way.
The whole Central Plains seems to have become a "paradise", the steam whistle of Europe has sounded, and feudalism and bureaucracy are still indulging in the idyllic life they have created.
Therefore, the "prosperous era of Kangqian" was not a solid foundation and precious wealth left by the ancestors to the Jiaqing Emperor, but on the contrary, after the imperial fortune was squandered, the state of death was slowly revealed.
Shenwu Gate
Although the ancestors deliberately reformed and launched the "Salty and Restoration", the strength and talent were really insufficient, and the so-called reform was only "to cure the symptoms but not the root causes", but it caused more dissatisfaction among the people at the bottom.
Chen De was only one of the more radical ones, and besides, he also had the convenience of his position and was able to enter and exit the palace, which created this crying and laughing assassination operation.
After more than a hundred years of peace and prosperity of the Manchu Qing Iron Horse, the slack of soldiers was becoming more and more serious.
When the close bodyguards on duty at the emperor's side were still unable to fight heroically in the face of a mediocre cook, the folk rebels not only mocked, but also saw the decline of the imperial court and the opportunity to change the world.
Qianlong Emperor
The officials who tried Chen De never dared to report his true situation to the Jiaqing Emperor, because the incident was undoubtedly a joke. In the most sacred and solemn palace, the most noble and powerful emperor of the empire was assassinated by an anonymous cook.
Therefore, the finally closed case of the historical official did not dare to record, afraid of the emperor's authority, a simple case that seemed to make a oolong became a suspense case in the history books.
In the end, the Jiaqing Emperor put Chen Deling to death, and his two minor sons were also beheaded.
Jiaqing Emperor
In fact, like the protection of minors in modern society, according to ancient laws, young children can be exempted from the death penalty, but the so-called law of the feudal dynasty is just a decoration before the emperor, and the officials neither dare nor disdain to fight for Chen De's son.
The assassination in the Forbidden City was thus solved in such a way that Yuan Yan did not know that this was not the only danger he was facing.
No one can save the building from falling, Jiaqing has no talent to delay the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and only ten years after the "Chen De case", the Forbidden City has encountered a greater crisis.
Long Zongmen
In the eighteenth year of Jiaqing, in Henan, Shandong, Zhili and other places, the "Tianli Sect" led by Li Wencheng launched a vigorous peasant uprising under the banner of "Opening the Way to Fengtian".
More than 200 believers disguised as merchants and peddlers poured into the capital, but the defense of the Capital Division was so lax that no one noticed that the severe punishment of the guards by the Jiaqing Emperor ten years ago did not play its due role in the army.
A few days later, together with the eunuchs around the Jiaqing Emperor, they actually invaded the Donghua Gate and the Xihua Gate and directly attacked the palace.
Even the great eunuchs and cronies around the emperor can be rebelled, which is rare in the history of the past five thousand years, which shows that under the decline of the country, the Jiaqing Emperor has completely lost the hearts of the people.
The Tenrikyo Sect rose up
Although this mutiny was eventually suppressed, there is still a feather arrow inserted into the plaque of the Longzong Gate of the Forbidden City, and when the peasants who unveiled the pole shot through the majesty of the royal family, it also completely heralded the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
It is not so much that the Jiaqing Emperor is unpopular as that feudal rule is unpopular. The population explosion and industrial stagnation in the prosperous era of Kangqian exhausted the last essence of the Qing Dynasty.