"Longevity" is a topic that never goes out of fashion, especially for those in power, who do not want to let go easily after tasting the taste of power, especially the ancient emperors. They can easily decide the life and death of civilians but they cannot prevent death from descending on them, so when they are alive, they ask the immortals to delay the death of life.
Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to lead people out to the sea to find the Immortal Mountain, and often ate the "Immortal Elixir" to the Taoist priests, which Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also indulged in in his later years, but some scholars studied that it was precisely because these "Immortal Elixirs" accelerated the end of their lifespan.
The elixir refined by the ancients contains heavy metal elements such as mercury and lead, which are not easy to digest in the human body for a long time and cause death over time.
According to incomplete statistics, the average life expectancy of Chinese emperors is about 39.2 years, and a total of 83 dynasties have emerged, with a total of 559 emperors, of which not many have lived for 60 years. In recent years, the average age of China has been around 77.7, which is a huge difference.
The longest-lived of the hundred emperors was the 89-year-old Qianlong Emperor, and according to legend, Emperor Zhao Tuo of South Vietnam died more than 100 years old but there is no historical evidence, so Qianlong firmly sat in the first place.
With the longest-lived comparison there is the Short-lived Emperor, among whom there is a Tongzhi Emperor we know better, who only lived to the age of 19 and drove to the west of the crane and was buried in the Huiling Tomb of the Qing Dynasty in Hebei Province.
Some people feel sorry that they died at a young age and did not enjoy life well, but after learning of his living habits, they sighed: it is already a "high life" to live to this age.
The Tongzhi Emperor died at the age of 19
The Tongzhi Emperor was the 10th emperor of the last feudal dynasty and the son of the famous Empress Dowager Cixi. The Xianfeng Emperor had a total of 18 wives and concubines, but only this one son, when he was critically ill, he summoned the imperial ministers to let them assist the 6-year-old young emperor.
After his death, Cixi colluded with Yi Chen to launch a coup d'état to kill the chancellor, and the empress dowager of the two palaces bowed to the government, and Cixi worked in calligraphy during his tenure as a concubine and was deeply favored by Xian Feng, and even approved the recital on his behalf.
Emperor Tongzhi reigned 13 years ago and 12 years ago, and the empress dowager of the two palaces was the one who actually held power.
As the only heir to the emperor, Tongzhi grew up in a honeypot when he was a child, so some people spoiled him, but it was also the doting of Empress Dowager Cixi that killed him. Although the emperor's life expectancy is not long, 19 years old is really short, and this is also related to living habits.
Bad habits
The Tongzhi Emperor did not do the right thing since he was a child, and there was no one to guide him whether it was correct in his childhood, and the identity of the only future Son of Heaven was fearsome, and after inheriting the unification, Cixi did not want him to be pro-government, and naturally would not specially delegate his power to let him manage the government, and the little emperor still lived a life of sound dogs and horses, indulging in fun all day.
The teacher Weng Tonggong once recorded his reading at the age of 16:
Governing the country is a chore in the eyes of the rulers, and lazy ideas become more and more pronounced as we age.
When he was a child, he was only addicted to playing with Keju and then married his wife, Tongzhi liked Empress Cixi but wanted him to be close to Concubine Hui, so the emperor often stayed alone with the Qianqing Palace, guided by Wang Qingqi, and Zai cheng became more and more open after getting acquainted with it, and it is said that the two often went to folk wind and moon places to find flowers and ask for willows.
The "Diary of the Peach Blossom Saint Xie'an" records that "the feast of the peach blossoms, the drowning of the male pet, the day is naked, the carbuncle is swirling, the neck is one, all are thick, the sun is not faint, and the unknown people are unknown" The "Records of CiDe Wai" says: "Private writings are said to be the empress dowager's wandering, and to the point of illness, and not being careful to care for it, so that it is deeply unbearable,...... Emperor Gai often drank outside, and when he summoned the military plane the next morning, he did not return home, or he lost his speech in drunkenness, and mixed with the obscene things in the southern city.
It is rumored that he was infected and sick during the search for flowers and willows, and the imperial doctor treated him as smallpox and eventually died. In fact, one of the reasons for the short life expectancy of ancient emperors was that they took on the responsibility of childbearing at a young age.
Indulging in pleasure and hollowing out his body, heavy and heavy pressure of government affairs, heavy work intensity, and eventually died early, and Tongzhi's habit of often looking for flowers and asking for willows has also become one of the inducements.
However, there are also documents that record that he did die of smallpox, several theories are divergent, how exactly we do not know, I hope that the future discovery of new cultural relics can be conclusive.
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