I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With

If Qi Xiuyuan had no choice but to voluntarily abdicate power to Qi Wenchen due to his health issues, that was a special case at most. It was Qi Wenchen’s voluntary abdication of the throne to his son that started a tradition in Great Qi.

This was also believed by historians to be the reason why Great Qi had existed for the longest time.

When Qi Wenchen abdicated power to his son in his 28th year of rule, the Emperor Emeritus, Qi Xiuyuan, was still alive. Not only did Qi Xiuyuan get to see the throne passed down to his grandson, but he also saw Great Qi becoming more and more prosperous.

After Qi Wenchen left office, he focused on serving his father. It was not until Qi Xiuyuan passed away that he began to travel around like his Royal Father and Fourth Uncle in their later years and helped his son supervise the provincial governments.

The officials of Great Qi were already used to the Emperor Emeritus ordering the capture of corrupt officials from time to time. Therefore, very few officials in the provinces dared to act recklessly.

Since nobody knew when the Emperor Emeritus, who was traveling around the country, would suddenly show up to deal with the corrupt officials, all the provincial officials were vigilant and kept a low profile. Not only must they steer free of corruption, but they also had to do their job well. This was because in Great Qi, inaction was considered malfeasance, and an official guilty of malfeasance would be investigated.

Therefore, Great Qi remained free of corruption for nearly a hundred years since the founding of the country, the longest period ever recorded in history. Incorruptibility and frugality had also become a social culture. Even if the officials became more extravagant later, signs of corruption were quickly corrected.

The revival of the abdication system made it rare for Great Qi to have a monarch who started off wise in his early years and became muddle-headed in his later years. Any emperor who had lived long enough and ruled long enough would usually follow in Emperor Taikang’s footsteps and abdicate the throne voluntarily.

And because Emperor Taikang was only 54 years old when he abdicated the throne, he had been in power for 27 years. Therefore, an Emperor who ascended the throne late would not remain in power for more than 27 years. Emperors who ascended the throne at an early age would pass on power to his descendants when he was 54 years old or before.

Because of this, the battle for the throne of Great Qi was way less intense than the previous dynasties.