The Daoguang Emperor had a total of nine princes, of which three were crowned princes, of which the sixth son of the emperor, Prince Gong Yishi, and the seventh son of the Emperor, Yi Zhen, were very famous, they were not only the prince of the iron hat, but also deeply involved in the government of the two dynasties in Tongguang, and were the most prominent princes at that time. And only the fifth son of the emperor, Prince Yixuan, is not well-known, and is a recognized "confused prince".
In the historical records of the Qing Dynasty, there is no record of Yi Xi's political achievements, and even did not hold many practical positions, but his sister-in-law Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong Yi Bi were jealous of this prince and did not dare to easily offend him. Moreover, in the folk, Yi Xi also has a high popularity.
Yi Xi was the fifth oldest, but was only born 6 days later than his brother Emperor Xianfeng, and his birth mother was Princess Xiang niu cobalt Lu. Although the Niu Cobalt Lu clan was born famous, it was not highly famous in the Daoguang Dynasty, and was not promoted to concubine until after the birth of Yi Xie, and later demoted to nobleman, Xianfeng succeeded to the throne and was honored as Emperor KaoXiang Concubine, and Tongzhi succeeded to the throne as Imperial Ancestral Xiang Concubine.
Among the princes of the Daoguang Emperor, the emperor's eldest son Yiwei and the fifth son of the emperor, YiXi, were notoriously illiterate. Yi Wei did not like to read, so he hated his master's harshness towards him, saying that if he succeeded to the throne in the future, he would have to kill his master. After the Daoguang Emperor learned of this, he accidentally kicked Yi Wei to death.
Yi Xi did not like to read since he was a child, and his personality was also relatively impetuous, plus his birth mother was not favored by Daoguang, so the Daoguang Emperor did not have much expectations for this prince. When Yi Xie was about 14 years old, he was passed on to Miankai the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Jin.
Therefore, when Daoguang chose a successor in his later years, Yi Xi had already lost his qualifications as Miankai's heir, and the seventh son of the emperor, Yi Zhen, was young, so there were only two sons of the emperor and the sixth son of the emperor.
After Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, he was still quite concerned about this younger brother and ordered him to walk in the inner court. However, Yi Xi is really out of tune, his personality is very similar to Qianlong's younger brother Hongzhi, he does not like to participate in politics, and he does not pursue too much, and he only wants to be a rich prince.
As the saying goes, "if you don't want to be strong", Yi Xi does not seek progress in politics, so he does not have much scruples about acting and talking. Because of his repeated disrespect for running errands, Xianfeng was so angry that xianfeng reprimanded him several times, and also demoted his county king to Baylor and punished him to study in the study. But apart from these punishments, the Xianfeng Emperor also had no way to deal with Yi Xie.
However, Yi Xi was different from Yi Bi after all, and he did not pose any threat to Xianfeng's imperial power, perhaps out of brotherhood. Emperor Xianfeng soon restored YiXuan's title of Prince of The County, and in the sixth year of Xianfeng he was promoted to the title of Prince of Xianfeng, and succeeded his third uncle Miankai as prince.
After Tongzhi succeeded to the throne, the actual power was held by the empress dowager of the two palaces, and Cixi knew this little uncle very well, and did not arrange a real post for him, but only let him manage the zongren mansion with the dignity of a prince, and gave him some symbolic honors, such as exemption from prostration.
Although Yi Xi did not do much politically, he was very simple in life. According to historical records, he was very unimpressive in dressing and eating, wearing coarse cloth gowns in the palace on weekdays, wrapped in an old sheepskin jacket in winter, and there was no prince's shelf at all, just like ordinary people.
Moreover, this prince liked to join in the fun, often running to the Zhengyang Building to eat roast lamb, listening to commentaries in the tea house, and holding a fan to cool off in Shichahai. Therefore, he knows the suffering of the people the most, and he is closest to the people in the capital, and from time to time he also makes some acts to ask for the people's lives. Because of this, people at that time called Yi Xie "Little Fifth Master".
However, such a "loose" prince would actually make Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong Yi bi afraid of three points. In the early years of Guangxu, Cixi recovered from a serious illness and staged the "Octagonal Drum" at the Changchun Palace. Yi Xi was very dissatisfied with this, and one day he drank wine at lunch in the House of Internal Affairs, and just as he was summoned by Yi's will, he wore a small coat of gebu, coiled his braids on the top, and hummed the "Shi Bu Xian" minor tune in his mouth, and wandered into the temple. Li Lianying was stunned, but Empress Dowager Cixi had no choice but to say, "The fifth master is drunk!" The eunuch helped him out. Cixi knew in her heart the meaning of the king's advice, and from then on she no longer "listened to people speak to Cai Zhonglang".
Another time, Yi Xi went to the palace to ask Cixi for peace, but the eunuch in the worship room did not understand things and asked him for a bribe. As a result, yixi was dissatisfied, and he went to Cixi and said that he was a poor prince who had no money, even if he had money, he would not give it to them, and as a result, Cixi ordered that the eunuchs be severely punished, and no one dared to ask Yixi for bribes after that.
As for Prince Gong Yishi, he was also afraid of this uncontrolled brother. Once, at the end of the pilgrimage, Yi Bi's palanquin just walked behind Yi Xi. And several sedan drivers who carried the palanquin thought that Yi Bi was in charge of the center, and someone dared to walk in front of him, so they accelerated their pace and surpassed the palanquin in front.
Just when the palanquins were overwhelmed, Yi Bi opened the car curtain to see that the situation was not good, and it turned out that the palanquin in front of it was Yi Pei. He inhaled a cool breath and scolded the caravan fiercely, saying, "You have run into trouble, you should not overtake the fifth master."
As a result, Yi Bi had just entered the palace gate, and Yi Xi sent someone to ask for the guilt, causing Yi Bi to confess his mistake in a hurry. And those few sedans were also punished, Yi Xi installed a slow sedan of silver, let these sedans carry along the city of Beijing for a while, after walking tired of breathlessness.
Yi Xi seemed to be a confused prince, but in fact, he was not confused at all, and he was quite wise. Maybe he really didn't do anything politically, but it doesn't rule out that he is protecting himself in Mingzhe. In the face of great right and wrong, he has never been ambiguous, and it is precisely this innate "righteousness" in Yi Xi that is the fundamental reason why Cixi and Yi Bi are in awe of him.