This forgotten Emperor is sandwiched between his father and his son. Both of which had very long reigns of sixty years or more. The three of them together account for nearly fifty percent of the Qing Dynasty.   His official emperor name was Emperor Yong Zheng.  He is easily forgotten because he reigned only a short time, and was bookended by the long reigns held by his father and his son.

He was a decent emperor.  This is so despite the questions regarding the legitimacy of his reign from the succession crisis caused by his father's death.  He was a workaholic like his father. He was efficient, vigorous, and well educated. He fought corruption. He settled the Southwest region of China. He replenished a badly depleted national treasury. In 1727, he negotiated the Kyakhta Treaty between China and Russia. This treaty established trade relations between China and Russia.

The emperor died unexpectedly in 1735.  He named his son, Hong Li, to succeed him.  He became the great Qianlong emperor.  I will spend the next two episodes talking about the reign of Qianlong.

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