Chapter 36 2. A high degree of centralization, Shunzhi whipped Dorgon

On the ninth day of December in the seventh year of Shunzhi, Dorgon died in Kara City at the age of thirty-nine.Dorgon's death was so sudden that the internal groups of the Qing court fought secretly to gain Dorgon's power.At this time, Emperor Shunzhi had grown up and was able to govern.After Dorgon's death, the power of the auxiliary king Jierhalang was unprecedentedly expanded, and many ministers who had been loyal to Dorgon took refuge in Jierhalang at this time.Dorgon's death was an opportunity for Shunzhi, and he did not miss this opportunity. Emperor Shunzhi had already begun plotting and planning to seize the rights that should have belonged to him in the chaos.

From Dorgon's entry to the present, the political power of the Qing court has always been in Dorgon's hands.All political affairs, large and small, are handled by Dorgon alone. Although Shunzhi is called the emperor, he does not have the rights that the emperor should have, and he calls Dorgon the emperor's father.This gradually formed a shadow in Shunzhi's heart. Sometimes he even felt that he was not the emperor, and the real emperor was the regent Dorgon.But Shunzhi couldn't help it, he didn't have the ability to get back what should belong to him.After Dorgon's death, the situation changed suddenly, and Shunzhi believed that the opportunity to regain power had come.It is not easy to subdue Dorgon's old ministry and powerful ministers, and a breakthrough must be found.After Dorgon's death, the assistant king Jierhalang saw the needles, trying to gain Dorgon's power, thus creating a series of irreversible things that Dorgon did during his lifetime, whether true or false.Shunzhi felt that this was an opportunity, and by taking advantage of this, it was entirely possible for him to regain his power and make all the officials submit to him.

In the first month of the eighth year of Shunzhi, Dorgon's personal bodyguard Sukesaha handed over a letter of accusation to the Emperor Shunzhi, exposing that Dorgon had conspired with his party members before his death, and attempted to move the two white flags to Yongping to prepare for usurpation. It was added that Dorgon had secretly made the dragon robe for the emperor's enthronement, and the mansion housed jewels that only the emperor could use.Shunzhi couldn't help being furious, thinking about many things that happened when Dorgon was alive. His brother Hauge was murdered by Dorgon, took his mother forcibly, deprived himself of his rights, and made himself a veritable puppet emperor.He secretly rejoiced that the drum that covered him was finally broken. Dorgon's ending was destined by heaven, and he should be punished, but where is his punishment?After Dorgon's death, he was named Emperor Yi, and a luxurious mausoleum was built for him.Thinking about it from another angle, I am actually still a puppet emperor with no real power.Shunzhi was thirteen years old at the time, and he decided to manage the government personally, and held a secret meeting with princes and ministers.

Shunzhi felt a little nervous, after all, this was the first time for him to manage the government personally.He sat on the dragon chair and looked at His Royal Highness and his ministers, the feeling in his heart was different from before.Prince Zheng Jierhalang sat on his lower right. After the meeting started, he took out a memorial from his pocket and handed it to Shunzhi.Shunzhi took a closer look and found that it still described Dorgon's crimes during his lifetime. It seems that Dorgon made a lot of enemies during his lifetime.He nodded and said: "This is the first time that I preside over political affairs personally, and I am faced with such a serious problem." He looked at the ministers and said: "Even if you hide it well in life, it will definitely be revealed after death. I knew it too late, so I conferred his posthumous title and rebuilt his mausoleum. I will take these back now, so that he will still be punished after death."

The ministers were silent, and Ji Erhalang bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Dorgon has committed a serious crime, which cannot be summed up in a few words. I have worked with him for many years, and I have been coerced and lured by him many times. But the minister has been keeping back and ignoring him." Shunzhi said: "It was the first time I had a heart-to-heart talk with the ministers. Looking back on the past, it was like being in a dream. I just sat on this dragon chair and sat silently until I retired. Do you know what I think in my heart? I was thinking about when I could sit here and discuss political affairs with the ministers, so as to benefit the world. I know that when Dorgon was alive, he was in power and did not take me seriously. Now that everything has passed, I don’t want to Seeing that there are people who have made the same mistakes as Dorgon. It is not easy for the prince to do this. I think all the ministers of your highness think and do the same, right?"

Of course, the civil and military officials understood the meaning behind the emperor's words, and they were reminding themselves not to take advantage of Dorgon's death to cause trouble.But I thought in my heart, the emperor is being overwhelmed, the power is now taken away by Prince Jierhalang, what can we courtiers do?Jierhalang naturally understood what the emperor said, but he remained silent and didn't say anything. Shunzhi went on to say: "I will make a decree now to revoke Dorgon's title of emperor, cut off his title, revoke all the seals of his relatives and punish them, and put all his family property into the treasury. Dorgon lived without suffering, and died." He will be punished later. At noon tomorrow, I will personally move the tomb of the Nine Kings, destroy Dorgon’s mausoleum, and flog his corpse as punishment.”

Shunzhi's words shocked all His Highness, including Prince Jierharang, thinking that Dorgon was dead, and it would be too cruel to do so.Ji Erhalang's face was a bit ugly. He knew that Shunzhi's thoughts were not so simple. He was using this matter to warn everyone that he was already in power, and anyone who competed with him for power would fight against Dorgon. The same fate, a layer of cold sweat broke out on Jierhalang's back. Not long after Dorgon was buried, the tributes placed on the altar of the tomb were still fresh, as if they had just been placed on them.On both sides of the tomb are dozens of pines and cypresses, which have just been planted.Since Dorgon's burial, this place has become a royal forbidden area, and ordinary people have to take a detour when passing by.

Shunzhi stood in front of the grave for a while, and behind him stood a dozen guards with shovels in their hands.Prince Jierhalang stood behind Shunzhi, his eyes were fixed on the shovel in the guard's hand, he had an illusion, the shovel "cracked" all broke free from the guard's hand, and stabbed himself in the heart, Jierha Lang couldn't help but groaned.Shunzhi turned his head and said, "Is the prince uncomfortable?" Ji Erhalang said hastily: "No...no...maybe I have suffered from some wind and cold recently, it's not a problem." Shunzhi said: "The prince still needs to take good care of his body. My Daqing is short of talents now. The prince is the one I like the most. If my Daqing loses the prince, my burden will be much heavier."

Ji Erhalang nodded and said: "Thank you, the emperor for your concern, I should take good care of my body and share the hardships for the emperor." He said this in his mouth, but he secretly said in his heart that the emperor's words have become more and more explicit these days, and there are hidden meanings in his words. , very fierce, it is really different from before. Shunzhi was silent for a while, and said to Dorgon's grave: "Dorgon, the purpose of my coming today is to convict you. When you were alive, you ignored my existence and did so many treacherous things. I was deceived, and I thought that the regent had been working for my Qing Dynasty. All your crimes were not exposed until after you died. Now I will follow the example of the ancient Wu Zixu and punish you!" said He waved his hands, and a dozen guards with shovels behind him flocked to Dorgon's tomb.

After half an hour, the coffin board was exposed, and a guard took a crowbar to pry it hard, and the coffin lid rolled and fell to the ground.They overturned the coffin, and Dorgon's body rolled out, and the funerary objects along with the coffin were scattered all over the ground, and the strong smell of rotting corpses irritated everyone. Shunzhi stretched out his hand, and someone immediately handed him a whip.Shunzhi walked slowly towards Dorgon's body, and slowly raised his whip.All the people present held their breath, their foreheads were covered with fine beads of sweat, someone wiped it with their cuffs, and the beads of sweat immediately seeped out again.

"Crack...crack...crack..." Several whips sounded, and Dorgon's body was deformed immediately.Shunzhi didn't stop, and continued to beat. Some ministers didn't dare to look, and lowered their heads to cover their eyes with their cuffs. Shunzhi gasped for breath and finally stopped, and ordered: "Chop off Dorgon's head." The bearded man holding a ghost knife swung the knife, and there was a crisp "click", and Dorgon's head was in a different place. . Ji Erhalang's head was a little dizzy, he didn't know whether it was from fright or he was really sick, and he felt like his world was spinning. Shunzhi whipped away, and Dorgon's body was broken into pieces... Shunzhi's whipping of Dorgon's corpse caused a great sensation in the capital. People believed that Dorgon was still punished like this after his death, and he must have done a heinous thing during his lifetime.The civil and military ministers in the DPRK went further. They thought that the emperor had placed a warning sign on them. Those who originally wanted to take advantage of Dorgon's death to take advantage of the situation to do something changed their minds at this time, and they were glad that they hadn't done it yet. .This incident hit Jierharang the hardest. He felt that if this continued, he would be like Dorgon sooner or later.An ordinary sentence of the emperor also contains the meaning of warning, what a terrible thing this is.The emperor has grown up, he has a deep scheming, Ji Erhalang decided to let go of the power in his hands. After Shunzhi returned to the palace, he breathed a sigh of relief.He washed his hands, picked up the bronze mirror and looked at his face carefully, he was thinking, am I so cruel?I am not cruel, I just want to use the dead body of a sinner to warn the world.At this time, someone from outside the door reported that Prince Jierhalang had an audience.A smile appeared on the corner of Shunzhi's mouth, thinking to himself, the first person to hand over power is here. No matter from what angle you look at it, Shunzhi whipping the corpse of Dorgon has two meanings.On the one hand, Shunzhi really has innumerable and unknown hatred for Dorgon; on the other hand, it is his starting point for doing this. He wants to use Dorgon to warn those who are preparing or taking advantage of loopholes .Shunzhi's approach was indeed too extreme from a moral point of view, but from a political point of view, he grasped one point very well, relieved his inner concerns, and thus concentrated power.