When Huang Taiji died, Zhenglan Banner was directly in Haoge's hands, and the two yellow flags that originally belonged to Huang Taiji also supported Haoge's inheritance of the throne. Although Prince Zheng, who mastered Inlaid Blue Banner , did not clearly take the lead, he also preferred Haoge.
On the other hand, Ajige , Dorgon and Dodo directly control the two white flags, and their strength should not be underestimated.
On the issue of heirs, both sides refused to give in. The old minister of the two yellow flags said: the heirs of must be the descendants of Huang Taiji, otherwise they would not recognize ; and Ajige and Duoduo also said with a tough attitude: the heirs of can only be their own brothers (actually, they refer to Dorgon), otherwise they would not recognize them.
Just when the two sides were in a deadlock, the third plan was proposed: Since both Hauge and Dorgon would give the other party a big opinion, neither of them would establish them, and they would establish them as the son of Huang Taiji. However, Fulin, who was only 6 years old, was young and Dorgon came to be the regent. After the plan of
was proposed, Dorgon immediately agreed, because this plan was actually beneficial to Dorgon. Originally, he was not Huang Taiji's son, and there were problems in terms of legitimacy. In terms of military strength, two white flags against two yellow and blue may have to be added with blue flags, which was also at a disadvantage. This compromise plan allowed Dorgon to achieve a temporary backlash. The young emperor was young and he became the actual ruler of the empire. Of course, he would not object to such good things.
This plan was very uncomfortable for Haoge. With only Dorgon and his two candidates, the two yellow flags, which originally belonged to Huang Taiji, firmly supported him. However, after this compromise plan was proposed, since Fulin was also the son of Huang Taiji, the two yellow flags were acceptable to this plan. If Haoge insisted on his own, then the only one who firmly supported him was the Zhenglan flag that belonged to him directly. With one flag to the two flags of the Dorgon school, Haoge became a disadvantage. Therefore, although he was unwilling to accept it, Haoge could only hand over the throne to his younger brother Fulin.
This compromise plan is to balance the Dorgon brothers (Ajige, Dorgon, Dodo) and Huang Taiji's sons' faction. Therefore, after Dorgon became the regent, Haoge could not be the regent, otherwise the strength of the Huang Taiji's sons' faction would be significantly stronger than the Dorgon brothers' faction. Moreover, the emperor's brother was the regent, which itself was not conducive to national stability. However, if Dorgon was the regent, the balance of power would be inclined to the Dorgon faction. In the end, Prince Zheng, who was generally neutral but slightly inclined to Huang Taiji's sons' faction, acted as another regent.
In this way, the Qing ruling groups established a heir plan that both parties could accept with such a compromise plan, but the struggle for power would not stop there.
One move to lose chess
This heir plan formulated after mutual compromise is actually more beneficial to Dorgon. Despite going through a series of checks and balances, it is undeniable that the Dorgon faction has transformed from a disadvantage to an advantage. When Haoge and Dorgon were fighting before
, the Dorgon brothers wanted to use the two flags in their hands to fight against the Four Flags that supported Huang Taiji's son. Now, although the Four Flags that nominally support Huang Taiji's son are still the Four Flags, these Four Flags have been severely divided.
The new Emperor Fulin was young, which destined that the two yellow flags, which originally belonged to Huang Taiji, could not play an effective role. The situation of Haoge, who controlled the Zhenglan Banner, became extremely embarrassing. The other Regent Jirgalang, although he controlled the Inlaid Blue Banner, had no stable allies and his strength was still below Dorgon.
Simply put, the four flags supporting Huang Taiji's son were divided into three parts, and no part was as good as the two white flags directly controlled by the Dorgon faction.
Dorgon began to wield his strength with his own advantages. He first suppressed Jirgalang and gave himself higher authority. After weakening Jirgalang, the power of checking and balancing Dorgon in the court became much weaker, and he became the actual supreme ruler of the empire.
One year after Huang Taiji's death, Emperor Chongzhen hanged Coal Mountain, and Li Zicheng 's peasant army was not able to take over all the power of the Ming Empire at once, which gave the Qing army outside the pass a chance.
Dorgon seized the opportunity to surrender Wu Sangui and took over Beijing, preparing to prepare for the future victory.
leads After the Qing army entered the pass, Dorgon did not delay any delay and sent three armies to attack three forces that might threaten the Qing regime to seize the world:
The first route was led by Ajige, attacking Li Zicheng's forces, the second route was led by Duoduo, attacking Nanming forces, and the third route was led by Haoge, attacking Zhang Xianzhong's forces.
Among the three routes, two of them were Dorgon's brothers. At this time, the power balance was obviously inclined to the Dorgon faction. Li Zicheng's power was killed, Zhang Xianzhong's power was weakened, and after the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty was destroyed, Dorgon turned around and found an excuse to imprison Haoge. Four months later, Haoge died in prison. On the surface, Dorgon killed the most threatening opponent, and was only one step away from obtaining the highest power. But in fact, when Huang Taiji was alive, he had already made a layout within the Dorgon system. This was a trick to damage the chess, which accelerated the disintegration of his power after Dorgon's death.
Haoge
Ajige, Dorgon and Dodo are three brothers born to a mother. Among the three, Ajige and Dodo are simple military talents, and they don’t have much political mind at all, while Dorgon has a considerable political mind, so the three brothers eventually formed an alliance with Dorgon as the core.
But Dorgon's political mind was gradually shown, and the military talents of Ajige and Dodo were shown very early. During the Nurhaci period, Ajige and Dodo both led a flag of troops alone, while Dorgon, who was weak and sick, did not have such power. Among the three brothers of Dorgon, the eldest brother Ajige was once higher than his second brother Dorgon, and this was the basis for Huang Taiji to make a move to lose chess.
Huang Taiji handed Ajige's troops to Dorgon's command on the grounds that Ajige was the dodo's marriage. On the surface, he gave Dorgon the more talented Dorgon to lead the troops, but in fact, he planted a seed of mutual distrust between Ajige and Dorgon.
Dorgon became the most authoritative regent, and he also kept aside Ajige at all times, and even suppressed Ajige within the group, leaving Ajige without the strength to threaten his status. Huang Taiji had played a good move early on, and Dorgon's guard against his brother led to an insignificant division in Dorgon's faction: Dorgon and Dodo are ironclad, while Ajige is inseparable from Dorgon's appearance. Such a problem has no problem when Dorgon grasps absolute authority, but there are unexpected situations. After Dodo and Dorgon died one after another, the problems within his ruling group came to the brink of an outbreak, and such contradictions also gave the little emperor a chance to take advantage of.
The turmoil changes
In the sixth year of Shunzhi (1649), Dodo, who fought in the south, died of illness. Dorgon's most trusted younger brother was gone. At this time, although Dorgon had defeated all opponents that might threaten his status, he also faced another problem: The little emperor Fulin was growing up slowly.
Fulin and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang are not orphans and widows. The two yellow flags that belong to Huang Taiji are their political resources. However, because Fulin is too small, this political force does not really play a role. Dorgon killed Haoge and robbed his Zhenglan Banner. However, this obvious practice of ignoring the appearance of eating destiny made the Zhenglan Banner unable to be quickly digested. At this time, Dorgon lost his arm and Duoduo, and the struggle for the power center of the Qing court once again became white-hot.
Originally, if Dorgon was still alive, with the political resources he had accumulated over the years, even if he broke up with the young emperor Fulin and went directly to fight with the two yellow flags in the future, the Dorgon school's chances of winning would be slightly greater, but all of this would become even more impossible with Dorgon's death in Shunzhi.
Before Dorgon died, he looked around and his son Dorbo was only 10 years old, not enough to accept the entrustment of the orphanage. He could only focus his eyes on the brother Ajige who had a grudge against him.
If you only look at the brothers Ajige and Dorgon, the grudge between their brothers should be eliminated at the last moment, because at this time they have a common enemy. It should be sincere to Dorgon entrust the funeral to Ajige. However, the rift between Ajige and Dorgon brothers have been born for many years. To what extent Ajige can take over the political resources left by Dorgon is an unknown.
But no matter how many difficulties there are, even if you are on the shelves, Ajige has to take advantage of it. Ajige began to actively wander among the two white flag people who had been operating Dorgon for many years, preparing to take over the political resources left by Dorgon, and inherit Dorgon's regent.
But although the little emperor Fulin was only 14 years old at this time, years of cruel political struggles have given him some experience. Moreover, behind him is a strange woman named Xiaozhuang, who is outstanding in political wisdom. Now, the main figures of the other party's political group are dead. How could they miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? In the next few months, the little emperor Fulin (and his mother Xiaozhuang) began a series of amazing operations. Dorgon's group collapsed under this operation, and Fulin completely took back his power.
Ajige's tragedy
Fulin aimed the first target at Ajige. After Dorgon's death, the problem faced by his group was the collapse of the center. Ajige's task was to quickly fill the vacancy of the power center faced by the group after Dorgon's death, and what Fulin had to do was not allow the power system of Dorgon's group to be reorganized.
Fulin's operation to kill Ajige was quite clever. He did not start with Ajige, but started with the dead Dorgon. After Dorgon's coffin returned to the capital, Fulin ordered a state funeral for Dorgon, and the funeral specifications were extremely grand.
Then, Fulin issued an edict to praise Dorgon: said that his regent was extraordinary, and his contribution to entering the pass and winning the world was unprecedented.
This is not the end. Fulin then issued an edict, posthumously named Dorgon "Emperor Yi", the temple name was Chengzong, and Dorgon's spiritual position was praising the Taimiao. In this way, Dorgon's status after his death was no different from that of the real emperor.
Fulin's series of operations directly confused the two old white flag ministers controlled by Dorgon. For a moment, they even felt that the emperor and Dorgon were as close as a family, and Ajige was the villain who sowed the disagreement.
What Fulin wants is this effect. He can kill Ajige. Interestingly, before Fulin takes action, Dorgon sent his old ministers to show his loyalty to Fulin. They clearly rejected Ajige's win over and said that everything is best. They took the initiative to report Ajige's various ulterior motives to Fulin, and directly detained Ajige's father and son while escorting Dorgon's coffin back to Beijing.
The little emperor Fulin dared not neglect at all for Ajige, an important figure. He led the ban on Ajige at the meeting of the Ministers of the Political Consultative Conference, and personally cut off his son Lao from the title of prince and demoted him to Beizi . It is recorded that Ajige still refused to repent during his imprisonment, and kept talking crazy. Finally, he was sentenced to death by Fulin and his son.
After killing Ajige, the next thing became much simpler. The two white flags that lost the leader were the meat on the chopping board, and Fulin no longer concealed it. The time for the picture to be exhausted was already here.
Under the collapse of the nest
Compared with Emperor Fulin's step by step, Dorgon's two old white flag ministers were still in a dream until the other party raised their swords. At the subsequent imperial meeting, they actually hoped that Emperor Fulin would favor Dorgon's son Dorbo out of order. also said that he hoped that Emperor Fulin would hand over the two white flags to Dorbo to take charge, and Dorgon's Zhenglan flag snatched from Haoge was to hand over to Dodo's young son Doni.
It is estimated that Fulin and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang will be amused when they see such a request. Political struggle is to die. The moment when Ajige is handed over, the Dorgon faction will no longer have the opportunity to compete with the emperor Fulin. If they immediately admit defeat and hand over all the power to retire and return home, they may still be able to save their lives. At this time, they actually hope that Fulin will weaken themselves and strengthen the two white flag forces left by Dorgon. Such jokes are rare in Chinese history.
Emperor Fulin did not hesitate. Under his instructions, the ministers of the two yellow flags reported that Dorgon's confidants Luo Shi and Borhui formed a clique for personal gain and shake the foundation of the country. Fulin took advantage of the situation and arrested the two in the name of rebellion and executed them quickly. Wu Bai , Su Bai and others were also found an excuse by Fulin to dismissal for the people.
Through this series of thundering methods, Fulin has actually kicked the Dorgon faction out of the core of power, but this is not enough. To completely defeat the Dorgon faction, it is not enough to just start from the living, and the "dead people" cannot be let go.
In February of the eighth year of Shunzhi (March 1651), Shunzhi began to attack the dead Dorgon himself. Dorgon's close servant reported that before Dorgon was critically ill, he secretly ordered his subordinates to bring the emperor's clothes and ornaments into the coffin. And these things were prepared by Dorgon when he was born. Then, Dorgon's former close servant reported that Dorgon wanted to bring two white flags to Yongping, but did not make a trip later due to some special reasons.
Fulin reused Jirgalang, who was suppressed by Dorgon, after being re-established, Jirgalang was not idle after being reused. It took five days to list 13 Dorgon's crimes, ranging from conspiracy to usurping the throne and forcing Haoge to killing him, to the crimes of taking concubines being listed one by one.
Fulin, for the above reasons, removed Dorgon from his title, confiscated his property, and even destroyed his tomb and excavated corpses for the above reasons. In just two months, Dorgon changed from an infinitely mournful "Emperor of Yi" to a rebel who everyone shouted to beat. I have to sigh that Fulin's decisive decisive action is rare in the world.
After completing the pursuit of Dorgon, Fulin raised the status of the two yellow flags that belonged to the emperor, and then took the Zhenglan flag, which belonged to Haoge, into his own pocket, and then supported the two red flags. Jiergalang's blue flag was originally the leader of the emperor, and the two white flags that belonged to Dorgon were almost the same. The remaining people immediately changed their attitudes when they saw the wrong momentum, called Dorgon a rebel and firmly stood on the emperor's side. At this point, Fulin uprooted Dorgon's power that he had been operating for many years, took back all his power, and truly became the supreme ruler of the empire. It was also from this moment that there was no force within the Qing Empire that could threaten the imperial power.
At the age of 14, Fulin mastered the rhythm of the Dorgon faction very cleverly. He first stabilized the two old ministers of the White Banner under Dorgon's command with his death, and then killed Ajige with lightning speed. Then he took advantage of the two old ministers of the White Banner when they were still in their dreams and finally wiped out all the glory given to Dorgon and labeled him as a thief. Everything was carried out in an orderly manner and linked manner. These old masters of the actions were indeed not like the actions of a 14-year-old young monarch. The real master of the sword was probably the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang who was well versed in power.
What's ridiculous is that the old minister of Dorgon was completely unaware of the power struggle and was fond of life and death. He actually fantasized about supporting Fulin to kill Ajige in exchange for giving all the two white and one blue three flags to Dorgon and Duoduo's sons. If Fulin really did this, would he wait for Dorgon and Duoduo's son to grow up and use the power of these three flags to fight against himself?
Of course, these old Dorgon ministers could not completely describe these seemingly childish actions. As military generals who grew up in the nomadic tribe culture outside the pass, they may be familiar with the rules of the nomadic tribe alliance. What they did not expect was that after the Qing army entered the pass, the empire changed from a nomadic tribe country to a unified feudal country dominated by agriculture. The previous one was completely invalid in the new environment.In the new rules, all power depends on the emperor. As the emperor's former enemy's subordinates, there are only two ways out: either unite and fight to the end with the emperor, win and replace the emperor, lose to pieces; or completely change the party, completely surrender to the emperor, hand over all power, and perhaps even save one's life.
These old ministers who had no bargaining chips actually fantasized that the emperor took the initiative to hand over power to Dorgon and Duoduo's sons, waiting for their ending. There was no second type except for losing their heads.
After Dorgon's death, the struggle between Fulin and Dorgon's old ministers was the last chance for the Yongli regime of the South Ming in the southwest. As Fulin took back all his power without bloodshed and strengthened centralization, the last chance of the Southern Ming regime was about to be lost. With Shunzhi taking back his power, the conflict between the powerful ministers and the emperor within the Qing court was resolved. However, within the Southern Ming Dynasty, the conflict between the two powerful ministers of Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo and the Yongli Emperor without real power has been difficult to resolve. The result of the Ming and Qing decision was destined from this moment.
