The first son died young and was chosen from ordinary sons.
Dragon had 17 sons in his life, and Emperor Jiaqing ranked 15. According to the principle of succession to the throne in Qing Dynasty, Yan Yong, who was in a low position and did not belong to ordinary families, had almost no possibility of inheriting and unifying. The dragon didn't take him into account at first. But God always seems to have a problem with Gan Long. Yong Lian, the second son, and Yong Cong, the seventh son, died one after another, while most other princes died young. By the time Yan Yong was born, eight of his 14 brothers had died, and even his fifth son, Yong Qi, who was deeply loved by Qianlong, died young a few years later. The range of options for the vassals becomes very small. Therefore, Emperor Qianlong had to give up the patriarchal clan system and chose Chu Jun from the remaining young Wang Zizhong.
The 1 1 and the15th sons became the best among the few sons of Emperor Qianlong. Yong Xun is smart, talented and very opinionated; Yan Yong is introverted, dignified and serious. With the decline of the national strength of the Qing Dynasty, it is reasonable to say that it is most appropriate for Prince Yong Xun, who has a distinct personality and strong opinions, to inherit the throne. In fact, however, Gan Long passed the throne to Yong Cong.
When choosing a successor, Long abides by the following principles: the successor must undoubtedly obey his will, inherit his policies to the letter, spare no effort to safeguard his authority and safeguard the prosperous era created since Kangxi. Yan Yong is honest, clever and filial, and always listens to Gan Long, which is undoubtedly the most in line with the criteria for selecting successors by Gan Long. All discerning people in North Korea can see Gan Long's attitude and intention towards Yong Cong. Even the North Korean emissaries who came to Beijing at that time reported to korean king many times: "Yong Cong is prudent and open-minded, and he is the favorite of Emperor Ganlong."
Don't want to decentralize, pass the throne, and don't pass the national seal.
In fact, the main and fundamental reason why Emperor Qianlong chose Yan Yong as his successor was that he didn't want to delegate power. Although Emperor Qianlong once vowed that "I didn't regain power until I was over 80 years old" and "I dare not be on an equal footing with my ancestors at the age of 60", when he was old and groggy, he paid more and more attention to the supreme imperial power, exceeding his own life, and refused to give in at all, even if the person who shared a share with him was his own son. How to "retreat without advancing" and how to continue to dominate the political affairs in his lifetime are the most concerned things when Emperor Qianlong died. To do this, we can only choose a successor who abides by benevolence, filial piety, honesty and obedience, and Yan Yong is such a person.
Sure enough, Gan Long made it clear at the same time when he passed the throne: "All military personnel will never be ignored, but they must still be handled in person." After abdication, Gan Long still called himself "I", and his imperial edict was called "imperial edict"; To the North Korean envoy who came to pay tribute, he said with dignity: "Although I returned to the government, I still did great things!" ; His excuse is that he has lived in Yangxintang for 60 years. Only here is "peace and good luck", which is convenient for him to convene ministers. He won't move out anyway. In order to limit Jiaqing, a farce of "passing the throne without printing letters" was once staged; Originally, after Jiaqing acceded to the throne, the Jiaqing new calendar should be used uniformly throughout the country, but the Qianlong year number was still used in the court, such as Qianlong 6 1 and Qianlong 62; After the new emperor ascended the throne, the coinage should be "Jiaqing Baotong", but in those days Baotong had two titles, Ganlonghe.
There is no denying that Yan Yong is still very qualified. He is diligent and studious. He began to study at the age of 6, and finished the Five Classics at the age of 13. Later, he learned modern poetry and ancient poetry from many masters. He has a solid cultural foundation. Especially in the long period of more than 20 years from the age of 14 to the age of 35, it withstood the constant observation and various tests of Emperor Qianlong with rich political experience and was finally established as the next emperor. All this shows that Yan Yong's quality and talent can't be ignored. But it is reasonable that his qualifications and talents are used in observing benevolence and filial piety, obeying orders, following the rules step by step, following the rules and so on. But when it is used to defend the country and forge ahead, it will look extremely pale.
Jiaqing was unable to save the decline of the Qing Dynasty.
If the world is stable and peaceful, it should be no problem to be a wise Taiping monarch with Jiaqing's ability. However, in the late Qianlong period, the national treasury was exhausted, the national strength was weak, the political corruption of the imperial court was rampant, and various contradictions were on the verge. Under the aura of "the prosperous time of kanggan", the Qing empire "looks vigorous from the outside, and the internal capsule is full", and it is in urgent need of a "capable monarch" with tough wrists and bloody policies to turn the tide. Unfortunately, Emperor Jiaqing did not inherit the genes of the ruling ability and pioneering spirit of the previous emperor. Although he is diligent and devoted to one thing, he can only be regarded as a loyal, upright and calm monarch at best.
A series of policies and measures adopted after the pro-Qing dynasty played a certain role in changing various disadvantages in the late Qianlong period, but they could not fundamentally reverse the decline of the Qing dynasty. Jiaqing has never been able to come up with a good prescription for the increasingly serious corruption and laziness. He can only warn and intimidate a large number of bureaucrats who "die without fear", and finally just cry "helplessness". He has a certain understanding of the invasion of western colonists, but he can't really deal with foreign invaders effectively. During his reign, the land was highly concentrated in the hands of big bureaucrats and big landlords, and a large number of farmers went bankrupt and went into exile. Politics is more corrupt than in the late Qianlong period, and social contradictions are deepening. Large-scale peasant uprisings broke out in Sichuan, Chu and Lu Yu. Since then, the once powerful Qing Dynasty can only inevitably decline along the road of decline.
Because of his vigor, Emperor Qianlong turned the powerful Qing Empire into a sign of decline and refused to admit that his rule was in crisis until his death. He even had a high fever. "Who fought for the Qing Empire?" He even thinks that he is still a powerful country for his descendants. This misjudgment of the situation at that time inevitably led to his wrong choice in determining his successor. Moreover, in order to covet vanity, manipulate power and satisfy his own selfish desires and interests, Emperor Qianlong passed the throne to a son who could not inherit the throne, and handed over the Qing Empire, which had a glorious inheritance of more than 200 years, to Emperor Jiaqing, who was incompetent in governing the country and mediocre in politics, so that the Qing Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline, and finally became a colony arbitrarily insulted and trampled by the powers. The decline of the Qing empire was in the hands of Qianlong rather than Jiaqing. As the saying goes, one careless move will lose the game. A lesson from the past may give some profound thinking and enlightenment to future generations.