Qianlong called himself the Old Man of the Ten Perfections, and one of the things he was most proud of was that he was the longest-lived emperor in ancient Chinese history, living to the age of 89, being emperor for 59 years, emperor for 4 years, and Qian Gang for 63 years. Qianlong had such a high lifespan, but his children were only 27, 17 sons, and 10 daughters, which is estimated to be in the top ten of the chinese emperor's children. Emperor Taizong of Tang reigned for 23 years and had 35 children. Qianlong's father Yongzheng's road to the emperor was extremely difficult, and he experienced the severe pain of the nine sons snatching each other. Qianlong was also exhausted in choosing an heir, and the biggest problem was that whoever he chose would die first, and staged ten tragedies in which the white-haired man sent the black-haired man, which made his liver and intestines cut off.
After Qianlong recovered in 1773, he began to secretly establish reserves. At this time, the only candidates who could compete for the crown prince were Yongxuan, the eighth son of the Emperor, Yongxuan, the eleventh son of the Emperor, Yongxuan, the twelfth son of the Emperor, Yongyan, the fifteenth son of the Emperor, and Yongxuan, the seventeenth son of the Emperor. The twelfth son, who was the tallest born, was also disqualified from competition due to the fall of his birth mother, the Nara clan, and soon died. The eighth elder was the oldest, but he was frivolous in his work, could not get on the table, and his legs and feet were still a little disabled, and Qianlong once said in front of the Korean envoys that he was addicted to wine and had no expectations. When both of his younger brothers were crowned princes, Lao Ba was still a county king, and Lao Ba was naturally excluded.
The seventeenth son of the Emperor, YongXuan, was the youngest son of Qianlong, and when Qianlong selected an heir, the younger son was only 8 years old. At the age of 8 years old, all aspects of talent can not be revealed, and whether it can grow up healthy is a problem. Naturally, he is not in the competition for examination. This left the Emperor's eleventh son, Yong Yao, and the Emperor's fifteenth son, Yong Yan, to become the pk of these two brothers. At first, Qianlong praised his eleventh son, Yong Yao, and said that Yong Mao was filial piety and the most benevolent filial piety. Yong Yao's biggest advantage is that he loves to read and is diligent in writing, and his calligraphy can be said to have raced through Qianlong, and he is known as the four masters of Qianlong Dynasty calligraphy with Weng Fanggang, Liu Yong and Tie Bao. But Cheng ye calligraphy, defeat also calligraphy, Qianlong is most unaccustomed to Yong Yao is his nerdy temperament. Qianlong finally chose yongyan, the fifteenth son who had no advantages or disadvantages, as his successor, that is, jiaqing in the future.
Many people say that Yongyan's ability is a hundred times worse than that of his brother Yongyao, which is the view of posterity in hindsight. In Qianlong's view, the fifteenth son, Yongyan, was the most like himself. In addition, Qianlong's selection of successors mainly depends on the status of his mother, Yong Yao's mother was the Jiashu Emperor's concubine who was favored in the early Qianlong period, and Yong Yan's mother was the Ling Concubine in the Huan Zhu Ge Ge, the most favored concubine in the late Qianlong period, and was later crowned empress. It can be seen that Qianlong does not think that Yongyan is inferior to Yongyan.