(Kangxi’s biological mother, empress Xiao Kangzhang, Tong Jiashi)
When Emperor Kangxi was a child, life was very bad.
When his mother Tong Jiashi gave birth to him, she was just an ordinary princess, and her status was quite low. Even if her status was low, she was not very popular at ordinary times.
Kangxi’s father is Shunzhi.
As the whole world knows, brother Shunzhi was a favorite of Dong Hubei Princess, and later Dong Hubei Princess died. That Shunzhi was uncomfortable, and it was not fragrant to eat or sweet to sleep. He was in a trance all day, Lacrimosa.
Moreover, we know that during these years when Shunzhi became emperor, his uncle Dourgen was in charge for the first half of the time, and then Dourgen died in a traffic accident. In the second half, he was bound by his mother, Empress Xiao Zhuang. The emperor was depressed politically in his career, and finally he was accompanied by such a confidante as Dong E Fei. As a result, Dong E Fei also died. Shunzhi really couldn’t stand it, and once wanted to.
To sum up, we can draw a conclusion that the emperor shunzhi has been in a huge psychological crisis during his short imperial career.
He can’t even control himself, and he can’t take good care of himself, let alone how much care he has for a son born to an ordinary princess.
Moreover, the child suffered from smallpox shortly after birth.
Smallpox is a severe infectious disease, which is very old. It appeared about 4,000 years ago. It has a rapid onset and strong symptoms, and it is contagious, and the mortality rate is even higher.
According to some data, smallpox was rampant in Asia, Europe, Africa, America and other places. In Europe in the 18th century, 400,000 people died of smallpox every year. In the past 1000 years, the number of people who died of smallpox in the world accounted for one tenth of the world’s total population.
In 1980, the World Health Organization announced that smallpox virus had been eliminated, but the problem is that although smallpox virus has disappeared, people have not yet found a specific drug for this disease.
Therefore, smallpox is still an incurable disease for human beings, and it can only be prevented by vaccination.
(The wax figure of Emperor Shunzhi in the Summer Resort)
Modern medicine has not completely conquered this virus, not to mention ancient times, and even the emperor shunzhi later died of smallpox virus.
Adults can’t resist smallpox, not to mention Kangxi, who was still in infancy.
Generally speaking, when the prince is suffering from such a serious disease, the father must be in a hurry, and more importantly, he must be concerned and cared for. But in fact, as soon as Kangxi was diagnosed, he was immediately taken out of the Forbidden City with arms and legs and sent to the palace for raising.
To put it mildly is to raise, but to put it mildly is to abandon Kangxi’s children.
Since you have smallpox, it is tantamount to a critically ill notice, so don’t worry about whether you are a prince or a prince, you can only live and die, and you are rich in the sky.
Between life and death, it is so cruel.
People will cheer for the birth of Kangxi, but people will not make more efforts for Kangxi infected with smallpox.
Generally speaking, such a small child must have died of smallpox, but it seems to be God’s help. Apart from leaving some spots on his face, Kangxi did not have any serious problems and miraculously recovered.
Everything is often lost in the east corner, and everything is harvested. After Kangxi recovered from smallpox, he gained permanent immunity to this terrible virus, and this factor became a key point for Kangxi to become an emperor in the future.
Shunzhi did not have a crown prince before his death, because he was only twenty-four years old when he died. No one thought that the first emperor after the Qing army entered the customs should die so young.
On his deathbed, Shunzhi consulted a missionary named Tang Ruowang on the question of who to pass the throne to.
(Tang Ruowang)
This Tang Ruowang, a German, came to China when he was in the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, he has been serving in the imperial court, and his relationship with Shunzhi is quite good. They are both teachers and friends, and they have deep feelings. In Tang Ruowang’s view, smallpox is rampant, and there is a danger for everyone. In this case, the first factor to inherit the throne is no longer whether Chu Jun is wise or not, but whether he has fresh vitality.
Shunzhi is about to die of smallpox, so the new owner of this empire in the future must not die of this terrible disease, so Kangxi was pushed out.
When Kangxi ascended the throne, he was only eight years old. At the age of eight, he lost his father. At the age of ten, he lost his mother.
When he was a child, he was kept outside the palace when he was able to enjoy himself. Now he is a little older and wants to find a father and mother, but his parents have already driven the crane to the west.
He didn’t feel much when his father died in Shunzhi, but when his mother Tong Jiashi was seriously ill, Kangxi was quite sad.
When he waited on his mother, he accompanied him before bed in the morning and evening, personally gave medicine, and stayed in his mother’s palace for several days, without even changing his clothes. For several days and nights, he was out of his eyes.
When Kangxi was ill, there were only a few little eunuchs waiting on him outside the palace. He didn’t get the care of his relatives even for a day. However, at this moment, he just wanted to give his mother unlimited care, just to keep her by his side.
However, mother still left.
For Kangxi, this was a great blow. He arranged a grand mourning hall for his mother, and he stayed awake all night, crying and wailing, and couldn’t get in all day.
(Portrait of Emperor Kangxi in his later years)
Later, when Kangxi recalled these years in his later years, he couldn’t help but leave such a sigh:
Parents’ knees, not a day trying.
However, Kangxi didn’t know that he would experience such pain again in the future.
When Kangxi was a child, his only impression of his relatives was his grandmother, Empress Xiao Zhuang.
As the wife of Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty, the mother of Emperor Shunzhi of Qing Dynasty and the grandmother of Emperor Kangxi, Xiao Zhuang’s life is legendary.
Because, Xiao Zhuang took two generations of kings, he began to reign as a child, so in the early years of Shunzhi, Xiao Zhuang had to pick up the outline to assist Shunzhi, and when Kangxi began to reign, she had to play the role of listening to politics.
Just like Lv Wu, just like Liu Chu, just like Feng Taihou in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Xiao Zhuang’s life was closely blended with the Qing Dynasty, and also projected with her son Shunzhi and grandson Kangxi.
To support the emperor, it will inevitably be contaminated with power. However, Empress Xiao Zhuang is not in power, especially for Kangxi, who has always shown a kind of broad-minded, loving and peaceful emotion.
At that time, she assisted Emperor Taizong to achieve great achievements, and even there was a story about her surrender to Hong Chengchou. However, at the last step of great achievements, Huang Taiji fell in front of Shanhaiguan.
Later, she raised her toddler son Shunzhi, but who expected that a white-haired man would end up sending a black-haired man.
Now, Xiao Zhuang devoted all his life’s efforts to his grandson Kangxi.
For Xiao Zhuang, Kangxi is a summary of her life memories, and for Kangxi, his grandfather Xiao Zhuang is one of the few close relatives in this world.
(Xiao Zhuang’s casual portrait in his later years)
Xiao Zhuang, who is full of political mind, pays attention to the cultivation of Emperor Kangxi since she was a child. She often holds Kangxi in her arms and tells him about the hardships of Emperor Taizong’s starting a business and keeping his job, and constantly urges Kangxi’s studies, royal laws and etiquette rules … It can be said that Xiao Zhuang directly or indirectly taught Kangxi how to be an emperor, how to develop his own personal habits and even his usual hobbies. The emperor will be influenced by Empress Xiao Zhuang.
Under such an experience, this pair of grandparents and grandchildren formed an extraordinary friendship.
When Kangxi was in his prime, he went out to fight. Every time he went to a place, he would write to the Empress Dowager to greet him. When he met the delicious local seasonal fruits and vegetables, he would immediately send them back to the palace to ask the Empress Dowager to taste them, so as to learn about the local customs and the emperor’s own experiences. He would even tell them in a letter and present them to the palace from time to time.
Emperor Kangxi once said: Without the grandmother, the Empress Dowager, it would never have been established today.
If there were no Empress Dowager (referring to Xiao Zhuang), there would be no me today, let alone the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty.
However, after three dynasties, the strange queen mother couldn’t survive the prime of Kangxi, and soon she died suddenly.
Everyone in this world is actually like this. Everyone you meet can only accompany you for a period of time, whether parents, brothers, lovers or friends. They can only accompany you for a while, and sooner or later they will be separated.
Kangxi likes reading history books and understanding culture. He understands a lot of truth, and standing in this position of the emperor, he can feel many feelings that ordinary people can’t taste.
However, philosophy is, after all, a superstructure. When you have nothing to do, reading it can be beneficial to your body and mind and exercise your brain. However, when illness comes, all knowledge seems to be useless to Kangxi.
After Xiao Zhuang’s death, Emperor Kangxi set up a spiritual shed outside the Queen Mother’s bedroom, and for many years, he stayed awake, forgot to sit on his shoes, and lay down without a seat, only to be persuaded by ministers to come out.
Since Xiao Zhuang’s death, the emperor can’t mention the deeds of the Empress Dowager, but whenever he does, he always bursts into tears. This yearning has affected the emperor’s body, making him dizzy all day and his health abnormal to some extent.
(Statue of Emperor Kangxi)
After a lifetime of chaos, his father, mother and grandmother finally left, and he finally became a real loner.
The yearning for my grandmother was so painful that it accompanied the emperor’s life.
It was recorded in A Record of Emperor Sheng Zuren of Qing Dynasty:
In the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi, Ding You’s birthday was celebrated in December … That is, it has been thirty years since the Empress Dowager visited the sky, and the emperor spoke to the courtiers the day before yesterday, crying like rain, and his grief was overwhelming.
The 56-year-old Kangxi experienced many vicissitudes. His face was haggard and his figure was rickety, but he still often dreamed that his grandmother, Empress Xiao Zhuang, was holding his hand in his dream, pacing slowly in the ancient and magnificent Imperial Palace Forbidden City, one step, two steps and three steps, just walking slowly, as if the road would never end.
Kangxi was born in the capital and grew up in the capital. He never went outside Shanhaiguan to feed horses or catch fish, but he knew that his grandmother had left a dashing posture on the Horqin grassland.
The moon sets and the stars are sparse and the sky is unclear, and the solitary lamp shines alone.
It’s hard to get together in a dream, but when I wake up, I’m full of tears.
That beautiful past has been a snap of fingers for thirty years.
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