The heyday of Kangxi and Qianlong was like the last fig leaf of the Qing Dynasty, and the entire Qing Dynasty was like a rag with a gold edge, and the gold and jade were ruined on the outside. Qianlong's reply to the King of England clearly revealed his ignorance and arrogance in

The prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong was like the last fig leaf of the Qing Dynasty. The entire and Qing Dynasty was like a rag with a gold edge, and the gold and jade were ruined on the outside. At that time, the Qing government was closed to the outside world and was arrogant. It always faced the world with the mentality of a heavenly empire. How arrogant could it be?

Qianlong's reply to the King of England clearly revealed his ignorance and arrogance in just 976 words. In fact, it is not wrong to be arrogant and ignorant. You can hide your clumsiness, but it is his fault to show it everywhere. What exactly did Qianlong do?

1

Qianlong's achievements

Qianlong was the protagonist of many Qing court dramas. Because of the blessings of the prosperous ages of Kangxi and Qianlong, his image was biased toward the positive, and later generations of historians and people also spoke well of him. But as the last emperor in the prosperous period of Kangxi and Qianlong, many of the praises he received from later generations were actually exaggerated.

The so-called prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong began with Kangxi and ended with Yongzheng . Qianlong was just born at the right time to enjoy his success. If he was in an ordinary wealthy family, he could only be regarded as a dandy.

After Kangxi came to the throne, he killed Obai and leveled the San Francisco dynasty, unified Taiwan to fight against Tsarist Russia, and wiped out the Junggar who wanted to rebel. He spent his whole life in war. These efforts stabilized the rule of the Qing court and laid a broad foundation for the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The territory made a good start for the prosperous era of Kangxi and Qianlong.

When he arrived in Yongzheng, the war to be fought was basically over, but the national treasury was almost depleted due to successive years of war. Yongzheng was focused on making money, rectified the administrative reform laws , abolished low status and increased the country's population and labor.

In that society dominated by agriculture, the labor force was the largest resource , and Yongzheng started from this aspect. At the same time, he also recuperated with the people, and made great contributions to the restoration of the social economy.

It is said that he spent 5 years to increase the national inventory of silver by 6 times, and solved a large part of the hidden dangers left by the Kangxi Dynasty.

Qianlong, on the other hand, the predecessors planted trees and the latter enjoyed the shade, sitting back and enjoying the achievements of their grandfather and father. As the old saying goes "Etiquette can only be known by the facts in the warehouse" , which translates to The economic foundation determines the superstructure . With the land and economic foundation laid by the first two generations, Qianlong began to engage in cultural construction. Whether you say he is arty or greedy for fame, he did preside over the compilation of many books, especially the voluminous " Sikuquanshu" .

Although his original purpose may be to unify thought by compiling books and delete content that is not conducive to the rule of the Qing court, and therefore damaged or tampered with a lot of content, but there are also many ancient books that have been preserved, which is very good The ancient culture has been inherited.

In addition, he was also very concerned about architecture. During his reign, he built many royal gardens . Although the main purpose at that time was for his own enjoyment, many of the preserved gardens have become world cultural heritage . It is a pity that the best The Old Summer Palace was burned down, but it was not his fault.

In general, Qianlong enjoyed success all his life. Although he felt that he was awesome when he called himself " Shiquan old man ", his life was more excessive than merit. He was blind and arrogant and did not look at the outside world. He inherited and carried forward the policy of isolation from the country, which made him China has accelerated its disconnection from the world, paving the way for subsequent disasters. Therefore, although he has made contributions, he is still more of a sinner of the country.

2

Qianlong's fault

The reason why Qianlong became the last emperor of the "Kang and Qian Dynasties" and let the Qing Dynasty begin to decline was entirely because he was too arrogant and could not be like his father Yongzheng.Determined to make progress , but don’t want to feel at ease As a conservative king, he barely inherited some of the rules of the previous dynasty, but they were all dregs, such as seclusion in the country, and a literal prison, and he also enriched and Shen.

Although Heshen is the one who bears the reputation of being a corrupt official, it is impossible to say that Qianlong didn't know anything about it. An emperor who controls the country, how could he not know what the ministers he met day and night were doing, so it is said that Heshen was So he dared to be so greedy because of Qianlong's connivance.

It may even be greedy to satisfy Qianlong. After all, He Shen is loyal to Qianlong, and it is very possible that he helps Qianlong bear some infamy.

In order to make money, He Shen took the "Money can make the world go round" to the extreme, and came up with the "cool trick" of using money to buy crime. No matter what crime he committed, as long as he gave enough money, he could be exempted from the crime. Qianlong and Shen colluded with each other and ignored the law, all just to enrich their own pockets.

But Qianlong never seemed to have thought that Heshen was poaching his own corners. The faster and harder Heshen dug, the faster the Qing court would collapse.

In addition to corruption, Qianlong also launched a large-scale literary prison. The literary prisons of the Qing Dynasty were the most serious in Shunzhi and Qianlong, but the problem was that Shunzhi ruled for a short time, while Qianlong was emperor for 160 years., so the literary prisons were the most serious, The purpose of catching rumors and organizing crimes is to attack dissidents and safeguard the rule of the Qing court .

In fact, Qianlong organized the compilation of "Sikuquanshu" for the same purpose. After all, the Qing court originated from Manchu and felt that it was not Chinese orthodoxy which led to serious suspicions.

Although the text prison maintained the rule, it also hindered the development of social culture and made Qianlong satisfied with the high-pressure rule and false prosperity in front of him. China began to decline, but Qianlong did not know it at all. He still believed that under the world, China still belongs to the whole world. Boss, the others are all barbarians, but little did they know that he would soon become a joke in the eyes of the barbarians.

3

Qianlong's arrogance

Because of the isolation of the country and the literary prison, Qianlong had no idea what the world was developing into. When Europe started the industrial revolution, China was still focusing on agriculture and suppressing business. Science and technology were regarded as miraculous skills. How could such an attitude be invincible?

When Qianlong had his 80th birthday, the King of England asked people to bring steam engines and looms to celebrate his birthday. However, Qianlong looked down on these things and thought they were used by the poor and humble. Just looking at them all tainted the emperor's dignity , completely unaware of how much progress this would bring to society.

Ignorant people are fearless. In his letter to the King of England, he belittled the other party in various ways. In just 976 words, he exposed his ignorance and arrogance. This is what the Qing Emperor did.

In the letter, he said that Britain was commendable for its loyalty in sending gifts. He also said that China had everything, and even he looked down upon rare treasures, let alone these objects sent by the British king.

If he had known at that time that Britain was already the world's most powerful country, known as the Empire on which the sun never sets, I wonder what he would have thought and would he have had the nerve to say these words.

Qianlong's letter is full of shocking things. He told people that the Celestial Kingdom will have whatever it wants. The scene of thousands of countries coming to the DPRK was also witnessed by the British ambassador.

It is not clear whether the British ambassador saw this at the time, but later it was common for the British to send troops to deal with Qianlong's descendants. I wonder if Qianlong knew about this, whether he would be unable to hold the coffin lid.

Qianlong was very bossy in his reply and completely looked down on the British king. Although the British mainland is small, it occupies a lot of land, and there is no shortage of strong ships and artillery. It has fought with Spain for hundreds of years to gain the world's number one position. How can it allow an emperor who has never seen the world to make irresponsible remarks? Fourth, he came back to take revenge soon after. Although it cannot be said that Qianlong's letter attracted British revenge, it allowed Britain to see the true face of China clearly.

This reply letter has not been lost in the UK to this day and is still on display in the British Museum. Qianlong’s arrogance has been on display with this letter for hundreds of years and will probably be on display for generations to come. This is really arrogant. Shame on you and throw it abroad!