Aisin Gioro Sushun , from 1816 to 1861, was deeply trusted by Emperor Xianfeng. He relied on each other with his brother Prince Zheng and Prince Yi and his family, and was once proud. In July of the 11th year of Xianfeng (1861), Emperor Xianfeng was appointed as the minister of the king to support government affairs before his death. On the night of October 2 of that year, Sushun was arrested at Miyun on his way back to Beijing at the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng. He was later beheaded at Caishikou at 45 years old.
Sushun, Yuliting, has been beautiful since childhood, and is a perfect person among the children of the Eight Banners. Although he was born in a noble family, he did not like to study, was willing to be a poor student, liked to drink, and squander excessively. His greatest pleasure was to make friends and had the most typical style of Eight Banners children.
During the Daoguang period, Sushun was in a very ordinary state. Relying on his status as a royal family, he was granted the title of third-class general of the auxiliary state at the age of 20. He belonged to the military position and was awarded the title of the royal family as the tenth level. He only got a Fengshang Yuanqing at the age of 33. His duty was to manage the Yuanting Court and was a third-rank official.
After Emperor Weifeng ascended the throne, Su Shun became the imperial guard due to the recommendation of Zaitan and Duanhua. With the opportunity to walk in front of the emperor often, Sushun is a handsome guy, tall, majestic, and his demeanor is different from ordinary people, which makes Xianfeng leave a good impression on him.
In the late Qing Dynasty , Xianfeng was the most capable and reform-oriented emperor. Since he ascended the throne, he has been diligent in political affairs all day long, removed a group of foolish old ministers, and began drastic reforms, determined to save the Qing Dynasty from the fire and water with his own strength.
At this time, Emperor Xianfeng, who was eager to seek talents, discovered Sushun, who had outstanding political vision, and the two hit it off.
Although Sushun has little study, he is extremely talented. As long as you have met someone, you can recognize the face and never forget it for your life; as long as you have passed the documents you have made, you can still remember the general content after three or five years.
Sushun is an alternative. In the era when the Eight Banners' children were domineering and prosperous, even though their surname was Aisin Gioro , they despise Manchu in their hearts and respect Han people . Therefore, although he took power and accepted bribes, he only liked to beat the bannerman's bamboo snatch , and never took money from the Han people. His disciples once depended on many famous Han scholars, such as Zeng Guofan, , Hu Linyi, , , Zuo Zongtang, , etc., and all of them had received his appreciation, strong recommendation and support.
In the Xianfeng Dynasty, Sushun was really popular.
From 1854 to 1858 AD, Su Shun was promoted to a rocket, from the Imperial Guard and the Left Minister of Works to the top positions such as the Lifanyuan Shangshu, the Minister of Rites, and the Minister of Revenue. By the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), Sushun had become the former minister of the imperial court, the Minister of the Interior, and in October, he became the commander of the Han army.
Inlaid Yellow Banner is the most noble flag among Eight Banners , and its assistants are all personally held by the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. At this time, Sushun became the "President of the Han Army of the Inlaid Yellow Banner", which publicly stated that he had become the first powerful minister below Emperor Xianfeng. That is, the so-called: the government orders and the government of the three flags on the upper
are in charge of all matters such as the officials, households, rituals, soldiers, punishments and labour.
Faced with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, Sushun showed the political sensitivity of "everyone sleeps and I am awake alone".
After Su Shun took power, he faced corruption in the officialdom with an iron fist, cracked down on corruption, severely punished dereliction of duty, and purified the political style of the officialdom. He decisively handled the " Wuwu Case " and executed the first-rank official Bai Wei, which greatly improved the official atmosphere in the following decades of the Qing Dynasty, especially the increasingly intense corruption since the late Qianlong period.
Su Shun treated talented Han officials with special courtesy. He not only expressed his words, but also took action. He often selected underwriting talents in an unconventional manner. He successively recommended Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, Hu Linyi, Guo Songtao, and other Han officials to the court, recruiting talents for pacifying the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and Tongguang Zhongxing.
At that time, Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi were forming a group training, and then organized a new army, raising military funds to support more than 100,000 troops. Delegating power to the Hanguan Group? Or defend centralization? Faced with the contradictions, Sushun "compared with the least harm" and determined to vigorously use the Han people, and secretly gave strong support to Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi.
Zuo Zongtang has a successful career. He served as the head of the Ministry of War and the fourth-rank military affairs assistant, Taichang Temple Shaoqing and the governor of Jiangxi Xuezheng, Zhejiang Governor, Fujian and Zhejiang Governor, Shaanxi and Gansu Governor. It is precisely because of Sushun's strong recommendation. He not only gave him a general to defeat the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Guard, but also promoted a rare commander to fight against Tsarist Russia, list Xinjiang as an province, and fight against France.
In August of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), the British and French coalition forces attacked Beijing. After Emperor Xianfeng fled to the north, Rehe , Sushun was the Grand Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue and the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Secretary of the Interior of the Office was the Minister of Guards. "The is in charge of the affairs of and entrusted him with the matter." Co-organized by the Grand Secretary in December.
On July 16, the eleventh year of Xianfeng (1861), Emperor Xianfeng died of illness, Su Shun and eight ministers including Zaiyuan and Duanhua were "Ministers who praised the government affairs" and assisted the young emperor Zaichun.
At this point, Sushun was powerful and prosperous for a while.
What Su Shun never expected was that he, who was at the peak of power, would then sow the seeds of death that would suffer humiliation and death in the future due to a trivial matter between accidents.
In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), the British and French forces invaded the capital, and Su Shun followed Emperor Xianfeng to "hunting north", that is, he fled to the Rehe Palace. Due to the hasty escape, except for Xianfeng taking a palace cart, the concubines could only ride in civilian carts hired along the way. It can be imagined that the configuration of these cars is extremely simple, and the comfort level is naturally incomparable to that of the imperial palace. Su Shun naively thought that in the critical moment, all the empresses of gold branches and jade leaves should be understandable and considerate.
Just as he was in a hurry and ran around and took care of this huge escape team, the Concubine Yi and Guifei , who were mixed in the crowd, came to him in person. To be honest, he couldn't stand the bumps in the road and asked for a better carriage.
Su Shun was so busy that he whispered a few perfunctory words. Turning around, I forgot about this matter. Concubine Yi was very flirty and was very angry when she saw Su Shunmiao's lack of news. However, under the eaves, she had to bow her head and went to Sushun with shame and asked to implement the car change matter as soon as possible. Su Shun was polite and could explain patiently at first, but later, he was really irritated and contradicted a few words. Concubine Yi was so angry that the golden hairpin trembled, and it was difficult to get angry in public, so she could only swallow the anger back to her stomach.
Since it is a escape, the food supply is naturally very bad. The concubines on the journey often don’t have to take the next meal, and they often can’t eat when they are at meal time, and they are so hungry that they are whimpering and crying along the way. What Sushun didn't know was that rumors began to spread rapidly in this rushing team. Some people even said that Sushun had big fish and meat every day, and there were fine wine and beautiful women to serve at night. These rumored rumors made Concubine Yi, who was already indignant, feel unhappy about Sushun deep in her heart.
After arriving at the Rehe Palace, supplies were still very scarce in a short period of time. Sushun devoted all his thoughts to taking care of Emperor Xianfeng and military affairs, and did not promptly ask about the living and treatment of the concubines. For a moment, the heavens and the others resented, but Sushun and Emperor Xianfeng were completely unaware of it.At this time, Concubine Yi's hatred for Sushun was even more obvious.
In this way, Sushun, who was smart and glorious for a while, was running around day and night, sleeplessly, and messed up a fatal enemy for himself.
This Concubine Yi, who is deeply fond of holy grace and favor, is the later Cixi .
She was only 25 years old at that time. Because of his extraordinary talent and knowledge of bed, Xianfeng was fascinated by it and gave birth to his only son. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Uprising, there were many military reports and memorials from various places. Cixi was literate and lost her writing. Xianfeng was in poor health, so she told her oral words to let Cixi write and review the memorials. This deeply stimulated Cixi's desire for power invisibly.
During the Rehe period, Emperor Xianfeng trusted Sushun more and his political status grew. He was awarded the title of former Minister of the Imperial Affairs and Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was co-organized by the Minister of Revenue and the Office of the Ministry of Revenue. He was in charge of the Interior Minister of Guards and was in charge of all affairs.
On July 16, 1861, Emperor Xianfeng was seriously ill and sent an edict: The eldest son of the emperor is now appointed as the crown prince, and he sent Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Jingshou, Sushun, Mu Yin, Kuangyuan, Duhan, , Jiao Youying, , and to assist in all government affairs. It is known in history as "Eight Ministers of Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible Responsible
Not long after, Emperor Xianfeng died.
After the prince Zaichun ascended the throne, Cixi immediately encouraged Empress Dowager Ci'an to compete for power with the eight ministers, and jointly launched a coup with Yili and others, which is known in history as " Xinyou Coup ". On the night of October 2, 1861, Sushun was arrested on the way to escort the coffin of Emperor Xianfeng back to Beijing, and was later imprisoned.
In the Qing Dynasty, the royal family enjoyed privileges and was usually severely resigned and imprisoned. Even if you are given death, it will be more decent than ordinary people, such as hanging yourself or drinking poison. Never openly took him to the execution ground to behead him in public.
However, this first precedent was left to Sushun.
Cixi not only ordered Su Shun to be beheaded, but also allowed him to suffer all kinds of suffering in the world from prison to execution. It can be described as life is worse than death.
In the Qing Dynasty, the royal family was imprisoned, "not shackles, no locks, no insults, no scolding, no hungry, no thirst, no punishment, no abuse." According to the records of sect mansion , after Su Shun was imprisoned in the sect mansion, in the cold and cold season, there was only a bed with thin straw in the room, and he was not even given a quilt. Su Shun in prison had no freedom of movement at all. He wore heavy shackles all day long and was bound by several iron chains so that he could not stand straight. Sushun, who was once mighty, was already haggard and withered in less than a few days.
At the end of October, Sushun was taken to Caishikou for execution. On the prison cart escorting Sushun, an inverted triangle white flag was hung on the high cage pole, which read: The treacherous traitor Sushun!
Before the execution, Sushun's mouth was pried open, hooked out his tongue, and cut it off. His mouth was filled with blood and he was dying. After waking him up with cold water, the executioner did not even cut off his head. In name, it was beheading, and the crime suffered by Sushun was actually no different from the execution of Lingchi.
In front of Caishikou, Guo Songtao, Zeng Guofan and others sighed. Zeng Guofan said tragically: "This is an unjust prison, and he has ruined the Great Wall of . "In the Ningshou Palace, Cixi, the actual ruler of the late Qing Dynasty, had a rare smile on his lips.
