Why did Huang taiji, the only one of the twelve emperors in Qing Dynasty, use two titles?

The Qing Dynasty is often called "Thirteen Dynasties of Manchu Dynasty", but there were only twelve emperors in the Qing Dynasty. Then, why is there a saying of "Thirteen Dynasties in the Manchu Dynasty"? Because Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty used the titles of Tiancong and Chongde. However, it's just two titles. There are too many emperors with more than two titles in the history of China! Why should the two periods of Tiancong and Chongde in Qing Taizong be regarded as two dynasties? In fact, the Qing dynasty itself did not regard it as two dynasties, and many historians in later generations did not distinguish it in this way. The reason why Tiancong and Chongde are called two dynasties is some folk views.

Why is there such a view? There is a simple reason. In the first year of Chongde, Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty officially went to Khan to be the emperor and changed his name to Chongde of Qing and Yuan Dynasties. This is an epoch-making event of the Manchu regime! Before the first year of Chongde, although Nuerhachi, the Qing emperor, had been called Khan, he established the Jin (known as the later Jin) regime. However, at best, it can only be regarded as a separatist regime. Even the birthright is only sweat, and there is no emperor. In the first year of Chongde, everything changed. Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty changed from Khan to emperor, which was equivalent to denying the Ming Dynasty from the root. Since then, the Qing dynasty and the Ming dynasty have been on an equal footing, which opened the iron curtain for the Qing dynasty to unify the whole country.

Therefore, although the Qing Dynasty established in the first year of Chongde originated from the late Jin Dynasty, the emperor was still the sweat of the original late Jin Dynasty. However, it was a completely different regime from the post-Jin regime, which changed Khan to be emperor and changed Jin to be Qing, indicating that Qing Taizong had put himself in the position of the master of the world, that is to say, there was no turning back, and he could only fight against Ming and destroy Ming. Since it is a completely new regime, it should be separated from the original regime to show the difference. The name of the country has also been changed, and the original name can no longer be used. As a result, Qing Taizong was officially renamed Yuan Chongde. Although it is still in the northeast corner, it has already taken the world as a bag.

Eight years later, Regent Dourgen took Fu Lin, the youngest son of Emperor Taizong of Qing Dynasty, into the Forbidden City, and the Qing Dynasty officially became the real central government. And all this started in the first year of Chongde. Although Qing Taizu told the world with the "seven great hates" that he broke with the Ming Dynasty, he never dared to unify the whole country, completely replacing the Ming Dynasty and becoming the emperor! And his son, Qing Taizong, dared to think and do, and directly proclaimed himself emperor, on an equal footing with the Ming Dynasty. This is not only a change of country name and year number, but also a major turning point in strategy and policy. Therefore, it is of great significance for Qing Taizong to change Yuan Chongde. This is also one of the reasons why later generations identified Tiancong and Chongde as two dynasties.

As for why other emperors didn't use two or more titles, the reason is simple. China began to implement one emperor and one yuan from the Ming Dynasty. With the exception of Ming Yingzong, it has been implemented for more than 200 years. One emperor and one yuan have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and ordinary people have even called the emperor by title. Many aspects of the Qing dynasty followed the system of the Ming dynasty, and one emperor and one yuan was one of them. Emperors after the Qing Dynasty naturally won't have titles for so many years, and the constant change of Yuan does cause a lot of inconvenience. There is no reason for the Qing Dynasty to go back.