An emperor holding a funeral for a deceased emperor was no exception in any dynasty. However, the scale and significance of Yin Zhen's funeral for Xuan Ye was different. The reason was also due to his special background when he ascended the throne.
At that time, there were not only powerful opposition parties such as Yunchen in the court, but there were also many ministers who did not trust the new king. Throughout the funeral, the opposition either watched the joke or looked for opportunities to make trouble, in order to give Yinzhen a bad reputation for being unfilial. If Yunfu had secretly reported to Yinzhen that if 20,000 men were used to move the coffin to the tomb, the cost of money and food would be too high, so it could be reduced by half. At first, Yinzhen thought that Yunfu's suggestion was for thrift, but later he realized that it contained the evil intention of slandering the new king for being disloyal and unfilial. Therefore, not reducing the labor service and successfully holding the funeral ceremony for Xuanye became an important measure to stabilize the situation.
On the night of Xuanye's death, Yin Zhen wept bitterly and fell to the ground. After a long time, he got up and personally changed Xuanye's clothes. Then, as the emperor, he ordered the seventh brother Yunyou to guard the Spring Garden, the twelfth brother Yunyu to return to the capital first to decorate the mourning hall, the sixteenth brother Yunlu and the son Hongsheng to guard the palace, and the thirteenth brother and Longkeduo to be responsible for the guards along the way from the Spring Garden to the Forbidden City. He personally returned to the palace with Xuan Ye's corpse in the imperial carriage.
The next day, Yinzhen held a funeral for Xuan Ye in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. In order to show his loyalty to the late Emperor, he ordered all the kings and ministers to enter Qianqing Gate, and the princesses and princesses to enter Qianqing Palace to pay their respects to Xuanye's remains. He himself was beating his chest and stamping his feet, wailing in grief, acting as if he was in extreme grief.
Xuan Ye's coffin was parked in the Palace of Heavenly Purity for twenty days before it was moved to the Hall of Longevity in Jingshan. During this period, Yinzhen issued a series of imperial edicts, claiming that he would not stay in the hall, not walk through the main door, not sit and drink tea after the court, and would break the old system of mourning for twenty-seven days and change to mourning for one hundred days. In fact, on the third day, the kings and ministers again petitioned that they should still take off their mourning clothes on the twenty-seventh day. Because various sacrificial ceremonies could not be missed for a long time, they had to take off their mourning clothes before they could be held. So Yinzhen pushed the boat with the current and, like the other emperors, reluctantly complied with the request and still took off their mourning clothes on the twenty-seventh day. When discussing the posthumous title and temple name for Xuan Ye, Yinzhen once again seized the opportunity to show his filial piety. He said: Our emperor inherited the throne, the old code should have been called the clan, but the scripture says: The ancestor has merit and the clan has virtue. My imperial examination…In terms of succession, it is to maintain success, and in terms of meritorious deeds, it is to create. My intention is to establish the title of ancestor, which is in line with the great achievements. From then on, the temple name Xuanye became Shengzu. In the Qing Dynasty, there were three temple names with the word 'Zu' in them. After the decision was made, Yinzhen pierced his middle finger and used the words " Holy Ancestor " to express his grief. Perhaps he was also worried that his actions would make others feel hypocritical, so he defended himself by saying, I don't think I'm filial here, nor do I have the reputation of being filial everywhere. Besides, white snow fell from the sky, and the trees were all white. Since I was able to hold the coffin in peace, the crows surrounded the court and wailed for seven nights. I looked up at God's will and looked down at the situation of all things. If this is the case, can I stop feeling sad? (
On the third day of December, Xuanye's coffin was moved from Qianqing Guan to Shouhuang Hall in Jingshan. A grand ceremony was held in the court. There were 20,000 burning paper ingots, 60,000 paper money, 50,000 five-colored money ingots, 20 tables of wine and rice, and nine whole sheep. The princes and ministers gathered according to their ranks at the entrance of Nanchizi outside Donghua Gate, the inner street of Dong 'an Gate, the entrance of Qihe Tower, and the entrance of Shatan. After Xuanye's coffin left Jingyun Gate, it was placed on a large sedan chair lifted by 80 people and sent to Shouhuang Hall by Yinzhen. From then on, Yinzhen went to the Shouhuang Hall three times a day to pay homage and eat for a month. On the 27th, after removing his mourning clothes, Yinzhen issued another imperial edict, saying: Qianqing Palace is the palace where Emperor Kao lived for more than 60 years. I live in it, and I can't bear to live in it. I want to live in Yangxin Hall outside Yuehua Gate. In this way, the Qing Dynasty emperors began to use Yangxin Palace Hall as their sleeping quarters. Yinzhen fasted there and wore plain clothes for three years.
On March 21, the first year of Yongzheng, Xuanye's coffin was escorted by Yin Zhen, Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager and concubines to Zunhua Jingling. When Xuan Ye was holding the funeral for Fulin, he did not personally escort the coffin to Dongling. In order to show his loyalty and filial piety, Yinzhen offered to personally escort Xuanye's coffin. Moreover, he changed the traditional Manchu cremation and decided not to burn Huang Kao's coffin, making Xuanye the first emperor to be buried in the Qing Dynasty.
From the capital to Zunhua Jingling about 300 miles, along the way set up a total of five stations for the spirit to stay. Each place had a net city, Jingmen, Yellow Curtain City and a reed hall where the coffin palace was placed. The emperor's carriage was escorted by the princes and ministers led by Yin Zhen. The Empress Dowager led the empress and concubines to take another road and gathered at the place where they stayed in the evening. Every morning and evening, they had to set up a ceremony outside the Yellow Curtain City to hold morning and evening libation ceremonies. All the civil and military officials within a hundred miles had to come to kneel and mourn. Along the way, they had to send ministers to sacrifice wine and burn paper money. Xuan Ye's heavy coffin was carried to Jingling by a team of 7,960 people, divided into 60 shifts. After the coffin arrived at Jingling, it was parked in the Temporary Peace Hall until the first day of September of the same year. It was buried together with Empress Xiaogongren, Yinzhen's mother, who died in May of the first year of Yongzheng.
Yinzhen's biological mother, Wuya, was the daughter of a powerful guard. She had been in the palace since she was a child and served Xuanye. After giving birth to Yinzhen, she was conferred the title of Concubine De. In the 20th year of Kangxi, she was promoted to Concubine De until Xuanye died. He was appointed Empress Dowager. Because of the death of Xuan Ye, Wu Ya's grief was too great, and his body was often out of control. When she personally sent the coffin to the mausoleum and returned to the capital after the matter was over, she was in deep sorrow. Therefore, she died of illness only half a year after Xuan Ye's death.
Within half a year, the Emperor and Empress passed away one after another, which was a heavy blow to Yinzhen. However, this blow was not emotional, but purely political. At that time, the opposition was constantly looking for various opportunities to create rumors in an attempt to shake the imperial power. The sudden death of the empress dowager undoubtedly provided them with a new opportunity to slander the new king. Therefore, Yinzhen's funeral for the Empress Dowager was not just a normal filial piety, but also had the meaning of cleansing himself and blocking the mouth of his political enemies.
The Empress Dowager's funeral was as grand as Xuanye's. It was worth mentioning that Yinzhen also decided to give his mother the posthumous title of Empress Xiaogongren and bury her in the same underground palace as Xuanye. On the first day of the ninth month of the first year of Yongzheng, he personally presided over the funeral of Empress Xuanye and Empress Xiaogongren. Before Xiaogong, Xuanye had three empresses, all of whom died first and were buried with Xuanye. Later, when he was mourning for Xuan Ye and Xiao Gong for three years, he made an excuse for treating his parents 'funerals so solemnly: Although there is a difference in the weight of the emperor's father and mother, my personal feelings cannot be divided.……I am not forcing myself to do so, selling the name of filial piety as a way to see the beauty, but only to seek peace of mind. When the ceremony is over, my heart will be at ease. () It was not for the sake of filial piety, but for his own personal feelings, which showed that Yinzhen paid so much attention to the funeral of his parents, and his purpose was extraordinary.
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