Part one: How did Emperor Chongzhen die? In the seventh year of the Apocalypse (A.D. 1627), in August, Xizong was critically ill and called the letter king to the palace for orders. Soon after, Xi Zong died, and Zhu Youjian, a loyal gentleman who was only 17 years old, acceded to the throne, giving amnesty to the world. The following year was changed to the first year of Chongzhen (AD 1628). The young Emperor Chongzhen faced a precarious situation. The last emperor of Ming Dynasty wanted to rebuild a peaceful world with his passion. After he acceded to the throne, he appointed Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch carved from the root, and devoted himself to rejuvenating the country. But in the end, the peasant rebels in Li Zicheng attacked the capital, and the Ming Dynasty fell, and he hanged himself. Zhu Youjian, Emperor Chongzhen, was cowardly and opinionated, but the Ming Dynasty was politically corrupt when he ascended the throne. Emperor Chongzhen is also helpless. Ministers are wise to protect themselves, and few people think of the country. Moreover, Chongzhen was extremely suspicious, and ministers were even more cautious and rarely spoke. Even when the insurgents advanced on the capital, they did not take the initiative to share their worries for Chongzhen. When the rebel army in Li Zicheng was advancing violently, Emperor Chongzhen lost his mind in a panic and pinned his hopes on ministers from all over the country, hoping that they could provide him with good strategies and even make decisions. But what can ministers do in an emergency? In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (AD 1644), Emperor Chongzhen summoned ministers every day, sometimes as many as three times a day. At first, everyone seriously planned for Emperor Chongzhen and proposed "moving south" and "withdrawing customs", but Emperor Chongzhen always made up his mind and ministers gradually gave up. When summoned, the minister always said in fear: "I am guilty, I am guilty!" "Then I stopped talking, and I was really anxious. I just used some words like "training" and "raising salary" to deal with Emperor Chongzhen. Every time he was summoned, Emperor Chongzhen was very dissatisfied. He often left halfway and cried and cursed when he returned to the palace: "There is no one in the DPRK! There is no one in the DPRK! "Three mornings before the demise of Daming, Emperor Chongzhen came to the East Gate, called 32 new examiners and asked them for urgent advice. Emperor Chongzhen wanted to find a good solution from the new minister, but when he saw the answer sheet, it was all rhetoric. Less than half of the call, suddenly a eunuch sent a seal, and Emperor Chongzhen's face suddenly changed when he opened it. It turned out that this was the general report of the loss of Changping (now Changping District, Beijing). Li Zicheng's army has attacked Changping. But the panicked Emperor Chongzhen still couldn't come up with the ministers' good plan. The next morning, Emperor Chongzhen once again called the civil and military officials, and everyone was silent for a long time. Emperor Chongzhen tearfully begged his ministers to find a way, and the ministers responded with tears. Suddenly, a minister woke up from a big dream and tried to play it well. When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he immediately stopped his tears and prepared to listen carefully. He only heard the minister say, "The most important thing is the exam. "I think it's a good idea, but I don't want it to be a cliche again. But at the beginning of this minister, many ministers followed suit and said that they would hire this person. Emperor Chongzhen was impatient for a long time and bowed his head and wrote seven big characters on the imperial case: "All officials can be killed. "Get up, signal to retreat. There have always been different opinions about the death of Chongzhen. Ji's "Xiao Ming Bei lue" volume 20 records: "I entered the imperial palace with five drums, and I gathered a hundred officials with them, and none of them arrived. Then he sent his staff, with Wang Chengen, into the inner garden, unknown to everyone, to the Shouhuang Pavilion on the Long Live Mountain and the Red Pavilion in Jingshan Park. This pavilion was newly built, which was specially built by the first emperor for reading internal skills ... So he committed suicide under the begonia tree under the pavilion, and the eunuch Wang Chengen hanged himself on the opposite side. " Another "History of the Ming Dynasty" volume 390 "Biography of Rogues" said: "On the 19th, in Ding Wei, the sky was not clear, the imperial city was not kept, the bells were ringing and hundreds of officials gathered. But when he returned to Jingshan Park, the skirt of the book was a suicide note. He hanged himself in the pavilion with silk, and the emperor collapsed. However, A Brief History of the Ming Dynasty said: "Ding Wei, the inner city fell, and the emperor collapsed in the western hills. "It is still a mystery how and where Chongzhen died. It is thought-provoking that a monarch who tried to revive China should end up in such a bleak situation. Ministers are still passive Nuo Nuo, prevaricating, and their tricks are nothing more than patrolling the streets behind closed doors, not allowing access and so on. At this time, the city guard came to report that the city guard was defeated. Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help crying when he saw the city fall in front of him. He cried and said, "I was wrong here! "I can't make up my mind, but I have to blame the minister. When ministers saw that the situation was "impossible", they bowed their heads and wailed with Emperor Chongzhen, and the cries resounded through the hall, which was very tragic. At noon, Chongzhen called the ministers again. At this time, the ministers have thoroughly seen through the young and indecisive emperor and simply answered Emperor Chongzhen with silence. Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help shouting: "In this case! Why don't we all commit suicide together in Fengxian Hall? "That's right. 19 in the morning, Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide in despair. Part One: The Mystery of the emperor shunzhi Becoming a Monk In the short life of the second the emperor shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, he married 19 wives and concubines, almost every year, but Dong E Fei was the only one who pleased him most. In the eyes of Shunzhi, Dong E Fei is his heart. Although the two never made any vows, the inseparable feelings can really make people cry. On August 17th, the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, Dong Eshi's imperial concubine died, and Shunzhi was in great pain. In order to mourn Dong Efei, he ignored state affairs for five days. Not long after, he personally issued a letter to the Ministry of Rites, and specially adopted the method of posthumous seal, sealing posthumous title: Xiaoxianzhuang and Zhide Ren Xuan Wenhui Duan for Dong Fei to show his respect for the Queen. As for what gift should be given to the extra queen, he ordered the etiquette department to discuss it seriously, in detail and quickly and submit it to him for consideration. After the death of Dong E Fei, Shunzhi's heart also left, just as Yuan Zhen wrote: "Wei will open his eyes at night, the brow of lifelong troubles." "He not only retired for five days, but also promoted her to queen. In Cai Dongfan's Romance of the Manchu Dynasty, he wrote: "the emperor shunzhi, after this tragic incident, also saw through the world, so he left this world in the first month of the following year, leaving only a heavy imperial edict to spread outside the palace. "In addition, there are stories about the emperor shunzhi's becoming a monk because of the death of Dong E Fei in books such as Qing Chao and Qing unofficial history Grand View. The emperor shunzhi ran away from home, which made the Qing palace panic. In order not to arouse the criticism of the world, they had to declare the emperor shunzhi dead. However, this kind of lie won't last long. Soon, it was widely spread among the people, and the Qing emperor cut his hair for a woman. Shunzhi has always been a good Buddha, and there are two Zen masters, Mujiang and Yu Lin, in the palace, and they are named as "Dust Hidden Taoist" and "Divine Taoist". He once said to Mujiang, "May the old monk regard me as a disciple of Xu Anan, not the son of heaven. "He would have wanted to cut his hair and become a monk. A few days before he announced his death, he also asked Wu, the most respected internal supervisor, to go to Benjamin Chung Temple for a haircut. Therefore, some people think that Shunzhi became a monk because he was at odds with Empress Xiaohui, so when his beloved Dong E Fei died, he used this as an excuse to convert to the pure land. It is said that after Kangxi, the Qing sage made many visits to Wutai Mountain under the pretext of pilgrimages, hoping that Shunzhi could return to the palace, but Shunzhi was unmoved. Emperor Kangxi has a poem mourning: "Once again, in a cool environment, rock and roll is falling again. Self-examination, long bones and thin bones. Frost language follows the fragrant festival, and frost cherishes the big time. Manjusri is there, but I hope ghosts and gods know it. " The tone is very sad. It is also said that during the Kangxi period, the two palaces were hunting in the western expedition. After passing through the northern part of Shanxi, the local government was unable to prepare imperial vessels, but found imperial palace vessels on Wutai Mountain. This seems to be another evidence that Shunzhi became a monk. However, during the Republic of China, Meng Sen, an expert in the history of Ming and Qing Dynasties, quoted Dong Hua Lu and other historical records and thought that Qing ancestors died of smallpox and did not become a monk. Some people think that the "room" in Wu Meicun's poems is a miracle from heaven, and "the room has not moved" means that Shunzhi will die suddenly because of Wutai Mountain, and the last few poems are regarded as remorse by Meng Sen. So whether Shunzhi became a monk or not is still a mystery. The first part: The secret storage of emperors began in Kangxi. Kangxi was a famous sage in Qing Dynasty, with 35 sons and 20 women. Yin is the oldest. In the 14th year of Kangxi, he became the Crown Prince, and in the 51st year of Kangxi (A.D. 17 12), he deposed Yin for the second time in October. In February of the following year, Zhao Shenqiao, Zuodu suggestion, once again put forward the request of conferring the crown prince. This is the first time that courtiers have made demands on this matter after the second abolition of the Prince. Michelle Ye after watching the hydrophobic, specially called ministers to explain this matter. He said: "I can't forget the big things, and the relationship is very heavy. Some people can't take it lightly ... If you want to set up a crown prince today, you must take my heart as the heart to set up it. Should I go into battle lightly? "The imperial edict shows that he accepted the painful lesson of abolishing the Crown Prince twice and faced the complicated situation of the battle for storage. Michelle Ye is thinking deeply about the relationship between Crown Prince and Crown Prince, the Chu Jun standard, the way of construction and storage, and trying to find a better way to avoid previous mistakes. We will never edit it hastily until we find a feasible method. He publicly stated his views to ministers, indicating that he had begun to draw up a new storage plan in his later years. After more than four years of summing up, thinking and carefully selecting Chu Jun, Michelle Ye began to implement his purchasing and storage plan. The first discussion about building a reservoir appeared in the fifty-second year of Kangxi (A.D. 17 13). According to Records of Emperor Sejong of the Qing Dynasty, "In the winter of the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi, Emperor Saint Zuren summoned his ministers and asked about the construction of the reservoir." In April of the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi (A.D. 17 18), the North Korean envoy returned to Korea from China and said to korean king, "When I came, I asked the Queen Mother that there should be a proposal to build a reservoir." Although the matter of building storage has been circulated around the country and has a great response, people know nothing about its specific content. This shows that Michelle Ye only consulted the prince and etiquette about building the reservoir, but he didn't show his attitude, let alone make any decision. It can be seen that he has begun to consciously take confidential measures on major issues such as Chu Jun's candidate and the date of award. The long imperial edict appeared in the fifty-sixth year of Kangxi (A.D. 17 17)12/month/day. When Empress Dowager Cixi was critically ill and herself was seriously ill, Michelle Ye called all courtiers to discuss issues related to construction and storage. The saying of "long-winded" comes from this. Kangxi's two imperial edicts on February 52 and November 56 constituted a new storage plan. Compared with the system in which the eldest son inherits the throne, its specific strategies, such as the emperor's full decision on Chu Jun's candidate, the selection criteria of "sages ascend to the top" and "meritorious service", the confidentiality principle of Chu Jun's candidate, and the related issues of repository construction, are novel and secret, and can be called the secret repository construction plan. If this plan can be implemented and formed into a system, it will reduce some disadvantages of the traditional system of building and storing, and further strengthen centralization. Michelle Ye reformed the building and storage system that has been implemented for more than two thousand years, although he didn't realize the significance of doing so himself. The core of this secret storage plan is that the emperor has full authority to decide the candidate of Chu Jun, completely excluding any group or individual of the ruling class from interfering in storage. In a sense, it is also a prerequisite for the implementation of the other three parts. This cannot be guaranteed, nor can the other three parts be realized.