But there is one person who is different. When Xianfeng, options are in power. But this is not a bad evaluation. On the contrary, it was precisely because of his power in the ruling and opposition that the Qing Dynasty largely stabilized the completion of sovereignty. Unfortunately, Emperor Xianfeng was executed by Cixi shortly after his death. This person is-Su Shun.
Xianfeng-stills
Su Shun, Manchu Lanqi, Zheng Qinwang Duanhua's half-brother. In the 16th year of Daoguang, he was awarded the third-class assistant minister, served as the minister of Sanyi, in the 29th year of Daoguang (1849), and in the 30th year of Daoguang (1850), he moved to the cabinet and served as the assistant minister of rites. After Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne, Su Shun was promoted for his daring. Xianfeng was named the Imperial Guard in four years, and later served as assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry and assistant minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Xianfeng served as the minister of war and the minister of high command for seven years, and sent a trip to the Forbidden City in November, when he held the real power of the country.
At this time, the growing power of Su Shun attracted many people's attachment and formed the "Su Shun Group". Of course, the rise of Su Shun Group has a profound historical background.
Su Shun-Steels
We know that the Taiping Rebellion that shocked the ruling and opposition parties broke out in the year when Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne. In only half a year, it swept to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with Nanjing as its capital, forming the trend of the Northern Expeditionary Army marching into the capital. While the Taiping Army and the Qing Army were fighting fiercely in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Britain and France, with the support of Russia and the United States, took the opportunity to launch the Second Opium War, aiming at Beijing.
At this time of the Qing Dynasty, the political situation at home and abroad was difficult, and Emperor Xianfeng was struggling. At that time, the Ministry of War Shang Shu Peng and others were incompetent. They only know how to curry favor with others at ordinary times, but they have no opinions at critical moments. So people also called Peng "Peng Hulu" at that time. Such a minister can cope with daily political affairs when the political situation is stable and the country has nothing to do. Once the country is in crisis, it will be stretched everywhere. At that time, the country was at a critical moment, and Emperor Xianfeng naturally could not count on them, so he turned his attention to Su Shun, Zai Yuan, Prince Duan Hua of Zheng Qinwang and others.
Empress dowager cixi-stills
Su Shun and others were ordered to go to the front desk of history in times of crisis. Despite his growing strength, he not only knows how to please Peng Like Zhang Yun and others. In employing people, he continued to implement Wen Qing's policy of reusing Han Chinese and Xiang army, which is what the history books say:
"Salute to the han Chinese alone. It is said that Meng Man's fate is over and all future generations are upright. Its shogunate is quite famous, such as Hegao, who is well versed in Confucianism. Cao, the foreman of the Ministry of War Younihan, was called Master Cao when he met him. "
Hu Linyi, governor of Hunan Province, and Zeng Guofan, governor of Liangjiang River, were both recommended, and even Zuo was reused because of his recommendation. Thus, Su Shun knows people well and is good at their duties. In addition, when dealing with foreign invaders, Su Shun's attitude is also very tough, unmoved by various threats and inducements, insisting on the national position on territorial and trade issues, refusing to make concessions from beginning to end, and resolutely defending the interests of the country and the nation. This can be seen from the negotiations between the Qing government and Russia.
Su Shun-Steels
1858 On May 28th, Russia forced Yishan, the general of Heilongjiang, to sign the Treaty of Love, and the Qing government agreed to the Tianjin Treaty the following month. Since then, the Russian government has continued to use blackmail by diplomats, looting by force and other means to force the Qing government to cede land and re-sign a peace treaty. The Qing court immediately deviated from Yuan Ruichang, a senior minister, to negotiate with the Russian envoy, but stood firm and the negotiations broke up in discord. Subsequently, in July of 1859, Emperor Xianfeng sent Su Shun and Li Fan Yuan Shangshurui to negotiate with Russian special envoy ignatieff. By the end of May of 1860, the two sides had negotiated three times and passed more than 20 messages. During the negotiations, Su Shun firmly denied the Love Faint Treaty, and said: "Yishan, a signatory country with neither full credentials nor formal customs clearance certificate, has no right to cede the left bank of Heilongjiang to Russia."
Immediately, the exchanged infatuation treaty was still on the table, and it was immediately announced: "This is a dead letter and meaningless."
In addition, regarding the ownership of the area east of the Wusuli River, Su Shun also clearly pointed out that "this land belongs to Jilin, China, and has nothing to do with your country", and considered the Russian request "unreasonable". Later, after Su Shun came to power, with the support of Emperor Xianfeng, he began to rectify.
Portrait of Prince Gong
Su Shun Group members are decisive, aggressive and strong in internal governance, so they have won the appreciation and support of Xianfeng Emperor. Before the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Su Shun Group had been paid attention to, thus affecting national affairs.
In September of the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French allied forces attacked Beijing. Emperor Xianfeng led others to flee to Jehol Palace on the grounds of Mulan's hunting, and appointed Yi as an imperial envoy to stay in Beijing to supervise the lottery.
At this time, there were two political groups in Qing Dynasty, one was Su Shun Group, and the other was Gongwang Adherents Group. At first, there was not much confrontation between the two groups, but after the death of Emperor Xianfeng, Su Shun, as the first of the "eight ministers to take care of life" ordered by Emperor Xianfeng, was attacked by Cixi and Prince Gong and eventually died. This is what we are familiar with as "a coup in the heart". The fate of Su Shun Group has come to an end.
Empress dowager cixi statue
Of course, in the rapid and frequent political changes in the late Qing Dynasty, Su Shun Group once played a leading role in the political arena. After the rise of this group, they tried to change the decadent politics in the late Qing Dynasty. However, in the complicated and changeable historical environment and the situation of internal and external troubles, its role is very weak. At the same time, what they did also triggered contradictions within the ruling class, which eventually led to the outbreak of a coup, and they died for it. Of course, there are some extremely complicated logic in it. Due to the limited space, I won't go into details one by one. However, if Su Shun does not die, and if the history of China is rewritten, the fate of the Qing Dynasty is still unknown. Unfortunately, history has no ifs!