How frugal is Daoguang, which has always been known for its frugality? After reading these two short stories about Daoguang frugality, you will know.
Daoguang mending trousers
There is a story in Dream in the Spring of Ming Dynasty: A pair of "lake crepe pants" worn by Daoguang broke a hole. In order to show frugality, he ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to mend it. Later, the trousers were mended and looked seamless.
The emperor was overjoyed and asked how much money these flowers were worth. The servant replied, "Three thousand two hundred pieces of silver."
Daoguang was furious. "It doesn't cost 320 taels of silver to build a New Pants, but it costs 3,200 taels to fill a hole. What should you do if you lie to me like this? "
The Ministry of Internal Affairs quickly explained: "The emperor's royal trousers are made of lake crepe with flowers. We bought this kind of cloth and cut hundreds of pieces to find the right flower head, which is why it is so expensive. "
Daoguang Mausoleum was demolished.
It cost two million taels of silver.
After Daoguang's death, Emperor Xianfeng decided that Daoguang's temple name was "Xuanzong" and posthumous title was called "filial piety, heavenly help, Li Yunzhong's government, and Wu Wensheng's wisdom and courage as emperor".
Daoguang Emperor was buried in the Qing Xiling, named Muling.
The location and construction of Muling was quite turbulent, which was quite different from the original intention of Daoguang Emperor to strictly abide by the patriarchal clan system and advocate frugality.
In the early years of Daoguang, the tomb raiding team went to Dongling and chose a piece of "auspicious soil" in Baohuayu. The mausoleum project started in the winter of the first year of Daoguang, and was completed in September of the seventh year of Daoguang (Gregorian calendar 1827). The project cost was 2 million silver.
In the process of construction, because of the shallow groundwater level here, the underground palace has leakage problems. He Ying, the minister in charge of restoring the mausoleum, knows that once all the previous achievements are wasted, a lot of previous investments will be wasted, and feng shui problems and royal taboos will also be involved. Daoguang Emperor was sure to blame it, and it was hard to get rid of it, so he decided to bite the bullet and go through with it.
After the completion of the mausoleum, Daoguang visited the site for acceptance, but he knew nothing about the project acceptance. Seeing the magnificent mausoleum, he was very satisfied and presided over the relocation and burial of Niuzhilu's coffin.
In the autumn of Daoguang eight years, Daoguang went to Dongling to pay homage to the tomb. On a whim, he decided to have a look at his mausoleum.
This is no small matter. The "bean curd residue" project is full of loopholes, and the underground palace has become a "pool". The coffin of "Xiao Mu" is like a boat in the water, the lower part of which is soaked in the water, moldy and damp. Daoguang emperor quickly ordered the coffin to be carried out, and then cried and apologized to the deceased.
After Daoguang returned to Beijing, he cursed the spiritual minister for "losing his conscience" and ordered it to be strictly dealt with. At that time, all the ministers responsible for choosing the mausoleum site and presiding over the construction were arrested and imprisoned, and their property was confiscated.
After that, Daoguang sent people to choose the site of Qingxi Mausoleum in yi county, and finally chose Longquan Valley as the new mausoleum site to start construction. A person can't have two mausoleums, and this "tofu residue" project of He Ying and others has to be demolished.
The demolition work alone took two years. The demolition and construction of Emperor Daoguang's mausoleum was the most expensive in Qing Dynasty, even exceeding the cost of Emperor Qianlong's mausoleum, which was a great irony for Daoguang's advocating frugality and simplicity.
In the spring of the second year of Xianfeng (Gregorian calendar 1852), the Muling underground palace was opened for the last time, and the courtiers put the coffin of Emperor Daoguang on the treasure bed. ...
In this way, the Daoguang dynasty, which lasted for 30 years, ended. In terms of the length of time, this dynasty is second only to Kangxi, Qianlong and later Guangxu. But the merits and demerits of Daoguang have been deeply engraved in the once-in-a-thousand-year great change.