The "Seven-Step Poem" once said: "The original is born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry each other?" "In the feudal context, the struggle for imperial power was extremely fierce. If you accidentally lose the struggle for imperial power, you will reap a dismal ending and cause a personal fate to turn.
In ancient Chinese feudal society, emperors generally had three thousand harem beauties, which was also a major embodiment of imperial power. Generally speaking, after the emperor's death, there will still be many concubines in his harem, and when the new emperor ascends to the throne, he will treat these concubines as kindly as possible and win the title of benevolent prince for himself.
However, not all new emperors were able to treat their former concubines well after ascending to the throne. After the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, he expelled the Kangxi Emperor's concubines from the palace, and it was not until a hundred years later that people knew the real reason for Yongzheng's move. Why did Yongzheng have such an attitude towards Concubine Yi? After being expelled from the palace, what kind of life did Concubine Yi live?
Through the history of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, it can be seen that in the harem at that time, Concubine Yi was extremely favored. As we all know, the ancient harem concubines all paid attention to the mother and the son, and the Concubine Yi had three sons: the five brothers, the ninth brother and the eleven brothers. For many harem concubines, giving birth to a son is extremely difficult, and from this point it can reflect the importance that the Kangxi Emperor attached to Concubine Yi.
At the end of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, there was a storm among the princes who took the throne of the nine sons, and only the ninth brother under Concubine Yi's knee participated in the struggle of the crown prince. Under the favor of the Kangxi Emperor, Yifei's status in the harem also became higher and higher, and based on the expectations of the Ninth Brother, Yifei also began to attract former imperial ministers, and for a while, the Ninth Elder Brother also became the object of competition among the courtiers.
Although brother Jiu's mother was Concubine Yi, he himself did not intend to compete for the position of crown prince. Through the understanding of the situation during the Kowloon Conquest period, it can be seen that during this time, the Ninth Brother firmly sided with the Eighth Brother and helped the Eighth Brother to compete with the crown prince and the fourth brother for the position of crown prince.
Because of this, Concubine Yi naturally became a strong backing for Brother Ba. In the process of accompanying the Kangxi Emperor, Concubine Yi would often say many good things for Brother Ba. Under the influence of the Eight Brothers and one party, the Fourth Brother Yinchen, later Yongzheng, was often targeted by Yifei and others, which also made him very dissatisfied with Yifei in his heart.
Although in the process of the Kowloon conquest, the fourth brother was not the object of everyone's favor, but many people did not expect that before Kangxi's death, he would actually write down a secret message in his own handwriting and decide to pass the throne to the fourth brother Yinchen. After hearing this news, many people were extremely surprised, and those who had previously opposed the four brothers were also extremely panicked about their future.
Through relevant historical records, it can be seen that after the death of the Kangxi Emperor, Concubine Yi was extremely sad and lay ill in bed. During this time, Yifei was no longer as beautiful as before.
Affected by the physical condition, in the process of worshipping the Kangxi Emperor, Yifei always sat on the palanquin, although many people can understand Yifei, but in the eyes of the newly appointed Yongzheng, Yifei's move was a great disrespect to the former emperor, and since then, Yifei has been beaten into the cold palace and lost her former honorable status.
However, Yongzheng's revenge on Concubine Yi was far more than that, and in the later period, Brother Jiu and others were imprisoned by Yongzheng, and Concubine Yi was expelled from the palace for the crime of "buying property outside the palace". After the Yongzheng Emperor ascended to the throne, he once gave a great reward to the concubines of the former emperor, but Yifei did not receive any titles, which shows that in the heart of the Yongzheng Emperor, there was also endless hatred for Concubine Yi.
As for why Yongzheng expelled Yifei from the palace after The death of Kangxi, the Qing Dynasty historians did not describe this matter in detail, which also made Yongzheng's relationship with Yifei curious many people.
A hundred years later, when relevant experts reviewed this history, they found the answer mentioned above, and after further analysis of the harem story during The reign of Kangxi, relevant experts also found that the Yongzheng Emperor's hatred for Concubine Yi did not only come from the setbacks suffered by the Ninth Son when he took the concubine.
As mentioned above, Concubine Yi had almost monopolized all the favors of the Kangxi Emperor in the harem, which also caused the Yongzheng Emperor's mother to suffer from snubs for many years. From this point, it can also be seen that the Yongzheng Emperor's revenge on Concubine Yi was not only for himself, but also to help his mother out of anger.
From the story between the Yongzheng Emperor and Concubine Yi, it can be seen that in the feudal background, there are countless things that have failed to succeed the king, although the former Concubine Yi has unlimited scenery, but when her son is defeated in the Kowloon conquest, she is also destined to become a victim of political struggle.
In modern society, such feudal systems have long disappeared, and women can strive for a better life by their own efforts and avoid becoming victims of the struggles of others. It is believed that in the days to come, people will also warn about the feudal system and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, which will affect the construction and development of modern society.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty