Shunzhi Emperor Fu Lin, the first emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, he succeeded to the throne at the age of six, accompanied the regent Dolgun into the customs at the age of seven, pro-government at the age of thirteen, reigned for eighteen years, and was posthumously honored as: Emperor TianlongYun DingJianjian Ji Yingrui Qin Wen Xianwu Dade Honggong to Ren Chun Xiaozhang, and posthumously honored at the age of twenty-four (actually twenty-two years old). The Shunzhi Emperor had four empresses, two of whom were honored as empress dowagers (one was Empress Xiaohuizhang of the Borjigit clan and one was deposed, i.e., the Borjigit clan after the shunzhi Emperor's abolition), one was posthumously honored as empress dowager by the Shunzhi Emperor after his death (孝贤皇后 Dong'e), and one was honored as empress dowager after the death of the Shunzhi Emperor and the succession of his own son to the throne, and was posthumously honored as empress (Empress Tong Jia of Xiaokangzhang) after his death.
Since November of the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651), when the Shunzhi Emperor's concubine Bi Shihe (Bashi) gave birth to the emperor's eldest son Niu Niu, the Shunzhi Emperor gave birth to a total of eight princes, six imperial daughters, and adopted three adopted daughters, a total of seventeen children, which is really a blessing for a young man who is only twenty-four years old.
However, among so many princes and empresses, none of them were born to the incumbent empress of the Shunzhi Emperor (that is, the two aunts and nephews of the deposed empress dowager and empress Xiaohuizhang), that is, all the children of the Shunzhi Emperor were concubines, and there were no concubines and concubines. The imperial daughter does not involve the succession of the throne, which will not be repeated here, and the eight sons of the Shunzhi Emperor, their origins are:
The eldest son of the Emperor, Niu Niu, was born in November of the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651) and was born to his mother, Princess Bishihe. Niu Niu died in the first month of the ninth year of Shunzhi (1652) and lived only eighty-three days on this earth. Niu Niu was also the first son of the Shunzhi Emperor, and when he was born, the Shunzhi Emperor was only fourteen years old (actually thirteen years old), which was too strong.
Emperor Fuquan's second son, Born in July of the Tenth Year of Shunzhi (1653), was born to Concubine Dong E (宁悫妃). Fu Quan grew up peacefully and was later promoted to the title of Prince of Yu.
The third son of the Emperor, Xuan Ye, was born in March of the eleventh year of Shunzhi (1654), and his mother was Concubine Tong Jia (Empress Xiaokangzhang). Xuan Ye was the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
The fourth son of the Emperor, born in October of the fourteenth year of Shunzhi (1657), was born to the concubine of the Shunzhi Emperor Dong Eshi (Empress Xiaoxian). The Shunzhi Emperor was extremely fond of dong Eshi, so he loved Wu and Wu and also liked the fourth son of the emperor very much, calling him the "first son of Yuan", and treated him like the eldest son. However, the fourth son of the emperor died in the first month of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), and even his name was not given.
The fifth son of the Emperor, Chang Ning, was born in November of the fourteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), and his biological mother was Concubine Chen. Changning grew up peacefully and was promoted to prince gong when he became an adult.
The sixth son of the Emperor, Qishou, was born in November of the sixteenth year of Shunzhi (1659), and his biological mother was Concubine Tang. QiShou died in November of the fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1665) at the age of seven.
The seventh son of the Emperor, Longxi, was born in April of the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), and his biological mother was Concubine Niu Cobalt Lu. After Longxi became an adult, he was promoted to prince of Chun, but he died early in July of the eighteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1679), at the age of twenty, and his son also died early, and the inheritance was severed.
The eighth son of the Emperor, Yonggan, was born in December of the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), and his biological mother was Concubine Saimu Ken. In December of the sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1667), Yonggan died prematurely at the age of eight.
From the above information, it can be seen that none of the eight sons of the Shunzhi Emperor were born of the empress (including the two empresses before and after), and all of them were concubines.
Among them, the fourth son of the Shunzhi Emperor was very popular with the Shunzhi Emperor because his mother Emperor Guifei Dong Eshi was favored by the Shunzhi Emperor, and when he was born, the Shunzhi Emperor made sacrifices to heaven and earth for this, ordered the courtiers to congratulate himself, and held a solemn celebration to celebrate the birth of the crown prince and also grant amnesty to the world, and these were the treatment that the eldest son born to the empress would have when he was born. This already shows that the Shunzhi Emperor regarded the fourth son of the emperor as his eldest son and treated him as the crown prince. If all goes well, the fourth son of the Emperor will be made crown prince by Ming, and his birth mother Dong Eshi will also replace the unfavored empress (Empress Xiaohuizhang) into the middle palace and become the third empress of the Shunzhi Emperor.
In the first month of the fifteenth year of Shunzhi (1658), the fourth son of the emperor, who had just turned a hundred days old, could not even take his name, and unfortunately died (most likely smallpox), which made the Shunzhi Emperor greatly devastated and distressed. In order to commemorate his beloved son, the Shunzhi Emperor disregarded the ancestral system and built a luxurious mausoleum for the fourth son of the emperor at the foot of the Huanghua Mountain in the northwest of the capital, and posthumously named the infant who died prematurely as "Prince Heshuorong".
After the death of the fourth son of the emperor, the imperial concubine Dong Eshi became ill and fell ill from then on, and after a delay of two years, she died in the Chengqian Palace in August of the seventeenth year of Shunzhi (1660), and the Shunzhi Emperor posthumously honored Aifei as Empress Dowager Xiaoxianzhuang and Zhide Xuanren Wen Hui Duanjing. Because his beloved son and his beloved concubine died one after another, the Shunzhi Emperor was depressed, did not think about eating, and had the idea of abandoning the world and leaving home. Although he did not fulfill his wish in the end, the Shunzhi Emperor was from then on in a trance and withered, and he was no longer able to handle government affairs, seize power, and manage a huge dynasty.
On the first day of the first lunar month of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), the Shunzhi Emperor suddenly suffered from smallpox and was very ill. By the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Shunzhi Emperor was terminally ill and could only lie in the Qianqing Palace's bedchamber, quietly waiting for the last moment to come.
Because before this, the Shunzhi Emperor did not establish the Crown Prince to determine the foundation of the country, so at the moment when he was critically ill, the issue of imperial succession had to be put on the surface, so that the Shunzhi Emperor had to make a choice.
At first, the Shunzhi Emperor considered that his sons were very young (the eldest Fuquan was only eight years old, and the youngest Yonggan had just been born and had not yet reached the full moon), and if the throne was passed to the crown prince, then the old events of his own age and ignorance and being subject to the regent Dorgon would largely happen again, and the emperor would also be in danger. In order not to cause the situation of social instability caused by the succession of the young lord, the Shunzhi Emperor was initially prepared to choose a cousin who was talented, prestigious, and loyal and peaceful, Yue Le the Prince of An (the second son of The seventh son of Taizu, Rao YuJun, Abatai the Prince), to succeed him, so that after his own death, the changjun would succeed him, and the imperial court would not have a situation where the young lord ascended the throne and the power was chaotic.
However, The Shunzhi Emperor's biological mother, Empress Borjigit, firmly opposed the Shunzhi Emperor's opinion: the Empress Dowager believed that it was precisely the shunzhi Emperor's eldest brother Hauge the Prince of Su and the fourteenth uncle Rui Prince Dorgon who did not give in to each other and refused to make concessions to each other after The death of Emperor Taizong, which made the princes and noble ministers of the clan choose the ninth son of Emperor Taizong, who was neither a concubine nor the eldest son, and the sixth-year-old Fu Lin as a substitute to inherit the throne. After that, the mother and son survived the tyrannical and arbitrary years of power of the regent Dorgon, and after Dorgon's unexpected death, they relied on the support of their old ministers to consolidate the imperial system and retain the emperor's position. How could such a hard-won imperial throne naturally be passed down from generation to generation among the descendants of the Shunzhi Emperor and have been passed down from generation to generation, so how could it be easily abandoned and passed on to outsiders just because he was afraid of the speculation of "the succession of the young lord and the chaotic administration of the powerful subjects"?
What worried the empress dowager even more was that Yue Le, the prince of An, was not a descendant of The Taizong lineage, and if the Shunzhi Emperor passed the throne to him, then the descendants of the Taizong lineage would bid farewell to the future imperial lineage forever, and at the same time, they were likely to suffer a tragic fate after losing the qualification for the succession of the throne, and the empress dowager herself, as a concubine of Emperor Taizong when he was alive, the birth mother of the incumbent emperor, and the empress dowager of the imperial lineage, would also be in jeopardy after the succession of outsiders in the future, and even the danger of being ousted from the throne of the honorable empress dowager.
Faced with a moment of vital importance that concerned the future fate of herself and the entire Taizong clan, the empress dowager did not dare to leave at all, and firmly guarded the Qianqing Palace, no matter how the dying Shunzhi Emperor repeatedly advised and begged for comfort from the aspects of social stability and Jiangshan Yonggu, that is, he was not allowed to let his dying son Yue Le, the prince of Xuan'an, enter the palace and pass the throne to him, and he must make sure that the Shunzhi Emperor chose a suitable person among the princes and entered the throne.
By the evening of the sixth day of the first lunar month, the empress dowager and the Shunzhi Emperor had been arguing fiercely all day, but they still could not reach an agreement. At this time, the Shunzhi Emperor, who was weak and exhausted, could no longer continue to insist, his breath began to become smaller, his physical strength could not be supported, and he saw that he was about to die. The empress dowager was grief-stricken on the one hand, and on the other hand, she could not allow the throne to be inherited by outsiders, so she suppressed her grief and once again persuaded the Shunzhi Emperor, and gave an example: Jin Taizong did not pass on his parents but to his nephews, resulting in the slaughter of more than seventy of his descendants in the future; Jin Zhangzong did not pass on his brothers but to his uncle, and as soon as he died, the pregnant concubines were executed or forcibly aborted, and the heirs were cut off; Emperor Mingwuzong passed on his cousins, and as a result, after his death, his mother was reduced in treatment and his mother's family was exterminated. The empress dowager used these examples as a living proof that the Shunzhi Emperor carefully considered not to disregard the heirs and mothers behind him, resulting in something that could not be said. The empress dowager also tearfully requested the Shunzhi Emperor that he must pass the throne to the crown prince in order to keep the imperial lineage from being transferred outward, which is the fundamental place for maintaining the inheritance of the imperial lineage of Emperor Taizong.
The empress dowager's pleading, bitter persuasion, and negative examples in history as evidence, made the young Shunzhi Emperor finally change his mind after thinking about it, agree with the empress dowager's opinion, and decide to pass the throne to the crown prince to ensure the stability of the imperial lineage.
After deciding to pass the throne to the crown prince, the Shunzhi Emperor began to consider which prince would inherit the throne. At this time, The Shunzhi Emperor's eldest son Niu Niu and the fourth son of the Emperor Rong had died prematurely, and there were still six surviving princes, namely: the emperor's second son Fuquan, the emperor's third son Xuan Ye, the emperor's fifth son Chang Ning, the emperor's sixth son Qishou, the emperor's seventh son Longxi, and the emperor's eighth son Yonggan. These six princes were all born to the concubines of the Shunzhi Emperor, and in normal times, none of them were particularly favored by the emperor's father, and neither of them had the advantage of being superior. Therefore, the empress dowager and the Shunzhi Emperor did not make up their minds, and decided at the first time which prince would succeed to the throne.
Among the princes, the fifth son of the emperor, Chang Ning, was only three years old (actually two years old) at this time, the sixth son of the emperor, QiShou, the seventh son of the emperor, Longxi, were all about one year old, and the eighth son of the emperor, Yonggan, was not yet a full moon, so the empress dowager and the Shunzhi Emperor reached an agreement in the next discussion, no longer considering these too young princes, and the goal of inheriting the throne fell on the emperor's second son Fuquan and the emperor's third son Xuan Ye.
The second son of the Emperor, Fuquan, was the de facto eldest son of the Shunzhi Emperor (the emperor's eldest son Niu Niu had died prematurely), and he had an advantage in the ranking of the emperor's ranks, and was also humble and courteous, stable and peaceful. However, although Xuan Ye was the third son of the emperor, he was personally raised by the empress dowager since he was a child, and he was deeply loved by his grandmother, so he also had certain advantages. According to the principle of order, the second son of the emperor, Fu Quan, should be made crown prince, but the empress dowager was relatively more fond of the emperor's third son Xuan Ye, so she tended to let the Shunzhi Emperor establish Xuan Ye as the crown prince.
After the empress dowager proposed to let Xuan Ye succeed to the throne, the Shunzhi Emperor also recalled that when he first inspected the princes to study and assess their knowledge, he had asked the sons about their future ambitions, and Fuquan's answer was "willing to be a virtuous king", while Xuan Ye replied "willing to emulate the emperor's father", and from this matter, we can also see the heart and disposition of the two brothers. Compared with the gentle and low-key Fuquan, Xuan Ye's performance is more extroverted, showing the characteristics of daring to do things and being decisive and atmospheric. (In addition, although Xuan Ye is young, he has extraordinary temperament, intelligence and wisdom, and has the demeanor of a monarch.) Although Fuquan is also gentle and peaceful, Mu Mu Zhongzheng, but the temperament is slightly flat, and there is a disease in the left eye, this physical defect also reduces the possibility of his succession. ）
In addition, for the sake of safety, the foreign missionary Tang Ruowang, who was very respected by the imperial family and had a certain amount of medical knowledge at that time (Tang Ruowang was honored by the empress dowager as a righteous father, and the Shunzhi Emperor called him "Tang Mafa", which is the meaning of grandfather) was quickly summoned to the palace by the mother and son of the Shunzhi Emperor and asked him for advice on the matter of Li Chu. After Tang Ruowang learned that the seriously ill emperor wanted to consult his own opinion, let himself start from the perspective of the health of the two princes, and consult the candidate for the crown prince, he did not hesitate to point out that the emperor's third son Xuan Ye had already had smallpox, and he already had a lifelong resistance to this terrible disease, and would not repeat the tragedy of the emperor himself (the Shunzhi Emperor was infected with smallpox and was about to die). And the emperor's second son Fuquan has not yet produced smallpox, and does not know how lucky he will be in the future, if he chooses Fuquan as his heir, in case of the calamity of smallpox in the future, then Sheji will once again fall into chaos, and the imperial court can no longer withstand the toss of the sudden death of the second emperor.
Therefore, for the sake of the stability of jiangshan sheji and the stability of the imperial lineage, Tang Ruowang suggested that xuanye, the third son of the emperor, be selected as the heir of the Shunzhi Emperor.
After receiving the impartial words of "Tang Mafa", whom he sincerely admired, the breathless Shunzhi Emperor finally made up his mind, and after exchanging views with the empress dowager, announced that xuan ye, the third son of the emperor, would be crown prince and inherit the throne. At this time, it was already the night of the sixth night of the first lunar month of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661).
The selection of the crown prince had been decided, and the empress dowager immediately summoned Wang Xi, a squire of the Ministry of Rites and the head of the Hanlin Academy, and Ma Leji, a former cabinet scholar, into the palace in the name of Emperor Shunzhi, and rushed to the Qianqing Palace to see Emperor Shunzhi, who dictated the edict to them in person. Wang Xi and Ma Leji firmly memorized the edict dictated by the Shunzhi Emperor, and then wrote it overnight in the temporary fence outside the Qianqing Gate. In the early morning of the seventh day of the first lunar month, the two finally wrote the edict of succession and immediately handed it over to the Shunzhi Emperor, who was waiting in the palace and did not sleep all night, to revise it.
The Shunzhi Emperor was already terminally ill, and after two days of difficult mental journey, in fact, he had run out of oil and could not eat, only a little drinking water, and his death was only in the blink of an eye. But because the most important edict of succession had not yet been implemented, he gritted his teeth and braced himself three times to personally revise and consider the words in it, and it was not finalized until the evening. During this period, the empress dowager endured the feeling of parting from life and death, accompanied the Shunzhi Emperor all the time, and personally arranged for the palace to guard in order to maintain stability inside and outside the imperial court.
On the seventh night of the first lunar month of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), the Shunzhi Emperor, who had determined the edict of succession and the selection of the emperor, no longer had the strength to continue to insist, swallowed his last breath under the protection of the empress dowager and the people of the inner court, and died in the Qianqing Palace at the age of twenty-four.
After the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, Ma Leji immediately handed over the edict to the empress dowager, so the empress dowager immediately issued a decree, ordering the princes of the imperial family, the cabinet scholars, and the ministers of the palace guards to enter the palace urgently, and read the will of Emperor Daxing to them in public, announcing that the emperor's third son Xuan Ye was crown prince, succeeding to the throne, inheriting the throne, and having Soni, Suksaha, Shu Bilong, and Ao Bai as the ministers of the imperial family, jointly assisting the new king.
On the ninth day of the first lunar month in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661), Xuan Ye, the third son of the Shunzhi Emperor at the age of eight (actually six years and ten months), held a grand enthronement ceremony at the Taihe Hall of the Imperial Palace, officially succeeded to the throne, becoming the second emperor since the entry of the Qing Dynasty, and the next year was the first year of Kangxi, which was the QingShengzu Kangxi Emperor, who reigned for sixty-one years in the future, and at the emergency moment when his father Shunzhi Emperor was critically ill and was about to choose a suitable successor from the princes, he was slightly older in his own rank and at the same time won the favor of the emperor's grandmother. With several favorable conditions that he himself had smallpox and would not repeat the mistakes of his father, he stood out from the brothers and became the final victor in one fell swoop, inheriting the unification as a concubine, ascending the throne as emperor, and becoming the new ruler of the dynasty.
And the other ups and downs of his long sixty-one years as emperor is another story.