In September 1708, when the Kangxi Emperor was on a tour of Saiwai, his dissatisfaction with the crown prince Yin Rong reached its peak, declaring that the throne "must not pay this person", and then imprisoning him and putting the emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen in charge of custody. Just when people felt that the eldest son of the emperor had a chance to become the new crown prince, the Kangxi Emperor made another decision to remove the emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen from the title and imprison him. Then, as the eldest son of the emperor, why did Yin Zhen not become the crown prince and was imprisoned for life?
1. The eldest son of the Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor had many heirs, but many of them died prematurely, so at the time of the preamble, Yin Yu became the eldest son, and the crown prince Yin Rong was the second son. Since Yin Rong's birth mother is the empress, and Yin Rong's birth mother is Huifei, the identities of the two are very different. However, the Kangxi Emperor initially admired Yin. In 1690, at the age of 19, Yin Zhen became a deputy general and led a large army against the Gardan of the Dzungars. Six years later, Yin Yu again followed his father in his conquest of the Dzungars.
In 1698, the Kangxi Emperor crowned his own princes, only the emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen and the emperor's third son Yin Zhi were made county kings, and the rest of the princes, including the fourth son of the emperor, Yin Chen, were baylor. Whether the Kangxi Emperor went out on a campaign or on a tour, he would take the emperor's eldest son with him. The French missionary Bai Jin served in the court of the Qing Dynasty for many years, and according to his records, "The emperor especially loved this prince (referring to Yin Zhen), and this prince was indeed very cute." He was a beautiful man, talented, and had all other virtues. ”
2. Kangxi's outcasts
Because of his favor by his father and his status as the eldest son of the emperor, Yin Zhen was also very interested in the position of crown prince. At this time, the relationship between the Kangxi Emperor and the crown prince Yinrong began to deteriorate, and eventually led to the abolition of the crown prince. Yin Zhen was very happy about this, he misestimated the situation, naively thought that his opportunity had come, so Yin Zhen said something to the Kangxi Emperor, and as a result, he failed to be the prince, but led to the tragedy of the second half of his life!
Yin Zhen said to the Kangxi Emperor, "If you want to curse Yin Rong now, you don't have to come from the hands of the Emperor's father." Yin Zhen believed that his father hated the prince deeply and would definitely kill him, and he offered to take on this task, which would win the favor of his father. However, the Kangxi Emperor was very angry after hearing this, he had no intention of killing Yin Rong, in his opinion, Yin Zhen was a "fierce, stupid, ignorant and unreasonable" person. After returning to Beijing, the third son of the emperor, Yin Zhi, stood up and exposed Yin Zhen for using the art of evil magic against the prince.
3. Prisoners for life
The Kangxi Emperor was furious, and he characterized Yin Zhen's behavior, "it seems that those who do not understand the righteousness of the monarch and the courtiers, who do not read the love of father and son, are thieves of the chaotic courtiers." Finally, the Kangxi Emperor issued a decree that Yin Yu should be "stripped of the prince, that is, imprisoned in his palace." The Kangxi Emperor was still not at ease, and sent eight members of the Eight Banners Guard Army, eight people to protect the military academy, and eighty people to guard the army, and at the same time let the seventeen people of the Eight Banners Zhangjing take turns to supervise. The Kangxi Emperor also issued a strict decree that whoever dared to neglect his duties would destroy his full door.
In 1708, Yin was imprisoned, when he was only thirty-seven years old. After the death of the Kangxi Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor succeeded to the throne, and Yin Zhen still did not receive personal freedom and was still imprisoned in the palace. It was not until November 1734, when the Yongzheng Emperor received a report that "the eldest brother Yun Yu had died", that he issued a decree to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to request that the funeral be handled according to the example of Beizi. That is to say, Yin Yu was imprisoned from the age of thirty-seven until his death at the age of sixty-three, and he was a prisoner for more than twenty years.
References: 1. Draft History of the Qing Dynasty; 2. Records of the Qing Dynasty