Using Hoa Than as a “chess piece” to suppress her children, Qian Long was laughed at by posterity because of this bad character
In Chinese feudal society, the emperor was the head of the world and was hard to replace. Except for cases like the collapse of the dynasty or there are traitors, most of the time, only when the emperor dies will a new emperor succeed. If the emperor abdicates while he is still alive, he will become the emperor, but there are not many cases like this in history.
Resignation to the Supreme Emperor
During the Tang Dynasty, during the “An Su” rebellion, Duong Huyen Tong Ly Long Co instead of fulfilling his responsibilities as a king, he sent Duong Quy Phi to flee to Ba Thuc. As a result of this flight, he was no longer recognized as emperor. After that, Crown Prince Ly Hanh ascended the throne in Linh Vu. Because of that, Ly Long Co was forced to become the emperor.
Qianlong didn’t abdicate until his 80s until he was emperor. (Photo: Baidu)
In addition, there are also cases of voluntary abdication, that is the Qianlong emperor of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Qianlong was over 80 years old, he chose to voluntarily abdicate and died after three years as the emperor. However, during these three years, Qian Long did not really “retire” but always did the following things.
Ever since Qianlong announced his decision to become the emperor, all the officials and people were amazed. In fact, this act of Qianlong is deeper than people imagine. Firstly, Although he abdicated, he still held the power of the Qing Dynasty in his hands. Secondly, Qian Long’s health is no longer as good as before. If he continued to waste time and energy because of the government affairs, it would be difficult to live a few more years. Therefore, Qianlong chose to abdicate after 60 years as emperor.
Life after “retirement”: Still greedy for power
Although he himself announced his abdication, in reality, Qianlong’s “retirement” was very incomplete. His abdication was in name only, the new Emperor Gia Khanh had absolutely no power in his hands. Gia Khanh was the king but could only manage a few small things, a little bigger things, he had to go to Ninh Tho Palace to ask his father’s opinion.
Even when Qianlong abdicated, he once issued a decree declaring: “Although I have already abdicated, but important military affairs of the court still need to consult with me.” . Thus, it can be understood that Qian Long did not want to give real power to his son.
Hoa Than is the chess piece used by Qianlong to control his son’s power. (Photo: Baidu)
Qian Long also sought to control everything in the court by empowering the great minister Hoa Than. At the time of Qianlong’s abdication, Hoa Than’s position in the palace was very high. Qian Long wanted to use Hoa Than as a chess piece that he had “planted” in the court. Therefore, Hoa Than’s words represent the will of the Supreme Emperor. Hoa Than’s power reached its peak, if Gia Khanh wanted to remove him, he had to get Qian Long’s consent.
But it was not easy for Qianlong to train Hoa Than, how could the king agree to dismiss him. Therefore, later, when Qian Long died, King Gia Khanh immediately “liquidated” Hoa Than. Hoa Than committed suicide in prison and had all his possessions confiscated.
Emperor Gia Khanh – The famous and unreal king
Contrary to popular belief, although Qianlong has already abdicated, he still requires etiquette to treat himself to be followed like an emperor. For example, Qian Long still called himself “Tru”, the ministers when meeting him had to shout “Long live thousand years”, while the real emperor Gia Khanh could only shout “Long live”.
When local officials came to Beijing to report on work, they only went to Qianlong, not to King Jiaqing. Not only stopping there, Gia Khanh also had to regularly go to Ninh Tho Palace to see his father, and also had to bow 3 times and bow his head 9 times.
Gia Khanh, although ascended to the throne, is actually still a puppet emperor. (Photo: Baidu)
At that time, the biggest thing that King Gia Khanh could do was participate in various ritual activities. For example, every year the royal family has to perform a ritual to sacrifice to heaven, the Qianlong will not participate. Anyway, this takes a lot of time and effort, so King Gia Khanh will do it.
From here, it can be understood that for Gia Khanh, these three years of being emperor must not have been as comfortable as when he was a crown prince. After all, the power in Gia Khanh’s hands is not much different from when he was a crown prince, moreover, he had to suffer certain limitations.
In history books we can discover an extremely interesting point that after Gia Khanh ascended the throne, the era name was changed to the first Gia Khanh year. However, in the archives of the internal affairs of Thanh Cung government, the date of Qian Long is still used. Thus, it can be seen that Gia Khanh’s “puppet” status in the palace can be seen. It was not until Qianlong’s death that Emperor Gia Khanh could take over power and become an emperor who was no longer a “real name”.
Law and Readers
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
