The most thrifty emperor in Daoguang history could not stop the decline of Manchu.

Although China was a family in ancient times, there were still many thrifty monarchs. Especially for the founding emperor, it is not easy to win the world, and most of them are relatively economical. Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty was also frugal, but he took the lead in frugality and did not purify the social atmosphere of the whole country. On the contrary, he played many jokes. What's going on here? Today I want to talk about Daoguang's frugality.

Daoguang was the only emperor in Qing Dynasty who succeeded to the throne as the eldest son. In fact, he is the second prince of Jiaqing emperor, and his mother is the queen litmus. But because the eldest son of Emperor Jiaqing died young, he was the first prince who grew up and his mother was his first wife, so he was actually the eldest son of Emperor Jiaqing. He was born in the forty-seventh year of Qianlong. Although his father was just an ordinary prince when he was born, even an ordinary prince is also a prince, and his birth is destined to be prominent. But Daoguang developed the habit of thrift, and he saved it himself. After he married Fujin, his Fujin followed him to save him. How do they live? The couple didn't eat meat, so they asked the eunuch to go outside and buy baked wheat cakes to bring them back. When it is cold in winter, the couple drink hot water and eat while drinking. After that, people with better family circumstances stopped eating cakes.

When Daoguang became emperor, he promoted thrift and urged ministers to save together. The dragon robe is broken, put on a patch and continue to wear it. The emperor is like this. How can a minister be ashamed to wear new clothes? So, just like the emperor, wearing a patched official uniform, the so-called up and down effect! When he went to court, the emperor wearing a broken dragon robe sat high on it, and here were the civil and military ministers wearing a broken dragon robe. What is this scene like? Beggars' guild meeting. For a time, the price of patched rags in Beijing soared, but the price of new clothes was cheaper. The new official in Beijing can't even afford rags. What should I do? Then mend your new clothes! The emperor's original intention was to lead by example, so that everyone could be as diligent as him in managing the family and managing the country well, but things really didn't develop in the direction that the emperor wanted! But it is impossible for these emperors who live in the deep palace to know.

In ancient times, the queen's birthday was a big event and should be celebrated. But the queen of Daoguang emperor can't enjoy these, and there are such husbands. When Queen Tong Jiashi was 40 years old, Daoguang finally remembered to celebrate her birthday. After all, it's a lifetime, and there's no point in not celebrating. But how did this thrifty Daoguang master celebrate the queen's birthday? Well, only two pigs were approved. On the queen's birthday, the concubines in the harem and the nobles who specially entered the palace to congratulate the queen's birthday only had a bowl of noodles with two thin pieces of meat floating in it. This is the life of the Queen at the age of 40. It can be seen that Daoguang usually doesn't give too much reward to the harem. On weekdays, concubines in the harem are dressed in plain clothes and don't wear makeup. It was nothing at first, but later Daoguang learned that when he mended his clothes, the eunuch would fill his pockets. Daoguang once chatted with Cao Zhenyong, a college student in Wuyingdian, and asked him how much it would cost to make clothes with two palms. Cao said he wanted it. Hearing this, the emperor said that it was really cheap to repair a palm of clothes. I need five taels of silver to buy two palms. Through this incident, the emperor knew that the eunuch would give him a clothes rebate, so he ordered all the concubines in the harem to learn needlework, and the concubines would mend their rags in the future. Alas, the emperor and eunuchs fought bravely, but they suffered those concubines.

Except Cao Zhenyong, a bachelor, all the other ministers wore patched clothes for the emperor to see, but he was not a scholar. He is as frugal as Daoguang Emperor. He has a broken donkey cart, and he asked the chef who cooked for him to drive it. Being a cook and a driver, one person can do the work of two people, which can save one person's labor. He rides a broken donkey cart and carries a scale to buy food every day. After the court, he took off his royal clothes and went to the vegetable market to buy food. He is worried about the lack of money for selling vegetables. He said that he was bargaining and often fought for a long time for a money. When such a minister meets an emperor like Daoguang, it is endless for him to get together with his subjects, because their hobbies are the same!

Cao often inquires about the prices of vegetables in restaurants in Beijing, and then reports to Beijing restaurants. Beijing restaurant compared the food in the restaurant outside with the food in the kitchen, and found that the price of the food cooked in the kitchen was always high. Once, the emperor asked Cao what to eat for breakfast. Cao said that he ate four eggs in the morning. The emperor said that an egg costs five taels of silver. You ate four and spent twenty taels of silver in the morning! Of course, Cao knew that the eunuch was fooling the emperor and said that all the eggs he ate were laid by his own hens. What's wrong with that lamp? He ordered chickens to be raised in the palace, and all the eggs were laid by chickens raised in the palace.

To tell the truth, Daoguang has made great efforts in punishing extravagance and glitz. He took many concrete measures to stop extravagance and waste. He was in office for 30 years, really 30 years of practice, taking the lead in frugality. But by the time he came to power, corruption had penetrated into the Qing dynasty, and officials at all levels bullied their superiors and deceived their subordinates and practiced favoritism and malpractice. How can we put an end to corruption by relying on an emperor who lives in a deep palace, wears rags and calculates food and money? What's more, Daoguang himself is in the alternation of old and new civilizations, but he doesn't know the general trend of the world.

By the time of the Opium War, the British had arrived in China, but Daoguang didn't know where Britain was. When I learned that Britain was ruled by the Queen, I even asked if the Queen was married. The first unequal treaty in China was signed during the Daoguang period. Daoguang wants to change, but his vision is always limited. Seeing that he reused such a minister as Cao Zhenyong, he saw that he had problems in employing people. Cao Zhenyong's favorite pupil once asked him how to be an official. Cao Zhenyong said, "Nothing more than kowtowing and talking less." In this way, Cao Zhenyong made a meeting of Daoguang for fifteen years. In the fifteenth year of Daoguang, Cao Zhenyong died of illness at the age of 8/kloc-0. He saved money with Daoguang Emperor appreciate each other and Cao Zhenyong, and posthumous title Cao Zhenyong was named "Zheng Wen".

After Cao Zhenyong's death, Daoguang once again activated the Zhang Mu family. Compared with the former, the Zhang Mu family can please the emperor better. Not only that, Zhang Mu A also took advantage of Daoguang's frugality to accept bribes. One year, the empress dowager was born, and the emperor wanted to get a big one, but he was afraid of spending money. Knowing the emperor's psychology, the minister told the emperor that the birthday of the empress dowager should be commemorated by his subjects, without the money of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The emperor was very happy and ordered Zhang Mu to get ready. What did Zhang Mu do? He extorted money from various government offices in the name of celebrating the birthday of the Queen Mother. Every official takes out his pocket, and the lowest official is 120. In order to prepare the birthday for Empress Dowager Cixi, Zhang Mu spent 10200 dollars alone. Daoguang appointed such a minister and regarded such a minister as a confidant. No matter how frugal and responsible, corruption cannot be eliminated. Instead, he became more and more corrupt, and he was helpless.