As the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor Huang Taiji has a high reputation in history. During the 17 years of his reign, he strengthened the army of the Later Jin Dynasty, paid attention to production, and strengthened the use of troops in the Ming Dynasty, which laid a solid foundation for the development of the Qing Dynasty. Surrounding this emperor, there is too much light on his body, and there are also many historical mysteries. For example, why did the strong and strong Huang Taiji die at the age of 52?
Recorded in the "Drafts of Qing History", the emperor was extremely tall and burly, strong and sturdy, able to wear quite heavy armor, and used a hard bow that was difficult for ordinary people to open. At Shisheng Temple in Shenyang, there is a collection of armor worn by Nurhachi and bows and arrows used by Huang Taiji. This armor cannot be lifted by a few people, and the armor of his son Huang Taiji is no worse than this one.
The bow and arrow used by Huang Taiji could not be opened by a tall and strong man, but Huang Taiji used it freely. During the conquest of Lin Dan Khan in Chahar, Mongolia, due to the uncertain whereabouts of the army and unable to provide food, Huang Taiji had to order his men to hunt and feed on wild animals. In an encirclement hunting, Huang Taiji shot 58 yellow sheep in one shot, and the record of one arrow shot through two sheep many times is enough to show the arm strength and physical strength of Huang Taiji.
However, such a brave and sturdy emperor drove Hexi when he was 52 years old. The record in "The Book of Emperor Taizong" is in the eighth year of Chongde (AD 1643). On that evening, Huang Taiji was reviewing documents, and then "无疾奔". Huang Taiji, who was physically strong, did not have any disease, and died in this way. It is unbelievable to say that. Therefore, there are many stories about Huang Taiji's death in later generations.
The most famous saying is that Huang Taiji was overwhelmed and depressed because of the death of his favorite concubine Hai Lanzhu.
Huang Taiji had 15 concubines in his life, but the dozen or so concubines were actually political marriages. Starting from Nurhachi, Houjin married the powerful Mongolian tribes to gain support from the Mongolian cavalry.
According to the Four Pupils of the Royal Family of the Qing Dynasty, among the more than a dozen concubines of Huang Taiji, seven are from Mongolia. Among these concubines, three are from Manggusi from Horqin grassland. The most noble empresses of the five palaces are also Mongolians.
Huang Taiji’s first concubine was Zhezhe from Horqin Grassland, which was later Queen Xiaoduanwen, also known as Queen Zhezhe. However, Empress Zhezhe did not give birth to a prince for Huang Taiji. In order to consolidate the relationship between Houjin and Mongolia, in 1625, Empress Zhezhe's niece was also married to the imperial concubine, later Zhuang concubine.
However, unfortunately, after nine years of marrying Huang Taiji, Princess Zhuang only gave birth to two daughters for Huang Taiji (Shunzhi Emperor Fulin was born later), but did not give birth. The prince of Manchu and Mongolian blood also said that he did not reach the consolidation of the relationship between Houjin and the Mongolian tribe. Therefore, in 1634, Huang Taiji married Concubine Zhuang’s sister Hai Lanzhu back again, with an attitude of not giving birth to a son and always marrying.
Hai Lanzhu was 26 years old when she married Huang Taiji. At this age, she has become a "leftover woman" in some places in modern times, not to mention the Qing dynasty who married as a child. However, the older and younger Hailanzhu is still unique. Although Huang Taiji married Hailanzhu for the purpose of political marriage, when he met such a unique woman, Huang Taiji plunged into love and couldn't help himself. .
After Huang Tianji became emperor, he began to canonize the harem, and the beloved Hailanzhu was named a concubine, and became a great fortune in the palace. The palace where she lived was also named "Guanju Palace" by Huang Taiji, who metaphors Hailanzhu as the lady in her heart. Two years later, Hai Lanzhu lived up to expectations and gave birth to a son, the eighth son of Huang Taiji. Huang Taiji was very happy. He regarded this child as the heir to the throne, feasted on the ministers, and issued the first amnesty decree of the Qing Dynasty.
However, the good times did not last long. Only two years later, Hai Lanzhu’s child died before he was named. The death of the child dealt a heavy blow to his mother, Hai Lanzhu. Since then, Hai Lanzhu’s health has deteriorated and eventually became seriously ill in 1641..
After hearing the news that Ai Fei Hailanzhu was seriously ill, Huang Taiji rode back on horseback for six days and six nights, but he still had no time to meet him. He was only 33 years old. Seeing her beloved concubine Hai Lanzhu who had just passed away, and the Northeast Great Han Emperor Tai Chi who was accustomed to life and death, she was overwhelmed and fainted for several days without eating or drinking. Thinking of the little bit of living with his beloved concubine Hai Lanzhu, Huang Taiji burst into tears and cried for seven or eight days.
From then on, Huang Taiji was depressed and his body went from bad to worse. Finally, in 1643, Huang Taiji, trapped by love, followed his beloved Hailan Zhu and drove away.
However, the reason why Huang Taiji died was not just because of the death of his beloved concubine, which was caused by excessive sadness. There is also an important reason, which is caused by the obesity of Huang Taiji. In the existing portraits of Huang Taiji, we can see that Huang Taiji's physique is relatively fat, and his staple food is mainly meat, which makes it easy to get the "three highs".
Moreover, it is recorded in historical materials that Huang Taiji "Yan Ruo Wo Dan, cold but not cold", the face is ruddy, not afraid of severe cold, here some scholars infer that Huang Taiji may be "hot blood" disease". Coupled with the death of his lover, Huang Taiji was hit hard, and the urgency of frontier wars kept the spirit in a tight state.
Under such circumstances, Huang Taiji probably died suddenly because of a stroke caused by the "three highs", which caused myocardial infarction or cerebral hemorrhage. A generation of heroes spent their entire lives in killings and conquering battles. The process was full of cruelty and blood. It is really a good death to die like this.
Reference: "Manuscripts of Qing History" "The Mystery of Huang Taiji's Death"
