As the saying goes, "Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", the emperor is the lord of the world, holding the power to kill and seize, and can even do whatever he wants. Some highly capable ministers tend to ignore this, resulting in a different head. For example, the Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty once said to a minister: You are the benefactor of Yuan! No one expected that just one year later, this minister would be the Yongzheng Emperor who gave death, what was going on?
This minister is a rare figure in the history of the Qing Dynasty who is both literate and martial, and he is Nian Tangyao! Nian Qianyao was born in the Han Army with a yellow flag, and his father was an old official who went to Huguang to patrol. Don't look at Nian Qianyao as a flag man, but he was born in the imperial examination, and he entered the examination in the thirty-ninth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, and there were many celebrities in his same year, such as Zhang Tingyu. During the Kangxi period, Nian Qianyao was promoted very quickly, and by the forty-eighth year of Kangxi, he had become the governor of Sichuan.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungars were at war in Qinghai and Tibet, and Sichuan became the military frontier of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor appointed Nian Qianyao as the governor of Sichuan and the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and led his troops to participate in the war, and in this year, Tangyao was transferred from Wen to Wu. After the death of the Kangxi Emperor, the general Wang Yunyu was recalled to the capital, and Nian Qianyao was ordered to take charge of military affairs with Yanxin. Speaking of the Yongzheng Emperor and Nian Qianyaolai, the relationship between the two of them is really not ordinary!
In the 48th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the fourth son of the emperor, Yin Chan, was given the title of Prince of Yong. According to the rules, when the crown prince divides the palace, the emperor will assign some of the collars to him. At this time, Nian Qianyao's collar was given to Yin Chan the Prince of Yong! That is to say, in this year, prince Yong and Nian Qianyao formed a master relationship. Not long after that, the Kangxi Emperor instructed the marriage, and Nian Qianyao's sister married the Prince of Yong and became his side Fujin.
That is to say, before the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, he and Nian Qianyao had two layers of relationship, one was the relationship of the main subordinate, and the other was the relationship of Lang Uncle. At the beginning of the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, he lacked confidants inside and outside the imperial court, so he attached great importance to Nian Qianyao, and appointed him as the general of Fuyuan, commanding a large army to garrison the northwest, while managing the military affairs of The four provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Yunnan, and even the governor of Yungui had to obey his orders.
Nian Qianyao did not live up to the expectations of the Yongzheng Emperor, and in a very short time, he put down the rebellion of lobzang Tenzin, the leader of the Heshuo clan. In this battle, Nian Qianyao led the Qing army to the desert and plateau, and in only fifteen days, he crushed tens of thousands of rebels and consolidated the direct rule of the Qing Dynasty in the Qinghai region. When the news came, the Yongzheng Emperor, who was worshipping his ancestors in Dongling, was very happy and rewarded Nian Tangyao generously, and even called him a "benefactor" in the edict.
However, more than a year later, the Yongzheng Emperor turned his face and actually gave death to his former benefactor, why is this? In fact, the reason is very simple, Nian Qianyao did not humble himself after making battle achievements, but instead took pride in his achievements and did many illegal things. For example, Nian Qianyao was arrogant and arrogant, and actually treated local officials as courtiers and made them kneel to him. In front of the Yongzheng Emperor, Nian Qianyao "sat in front of the imperial court, and no one was courted."
At the same time, Nian Qianyao used his power in the northwest to appoint his own henchmen on a large scale, and there was a behavior of forming parties for personal gain, which was also intolerable to the Yongzheng Emperor. In addition, Nian Qianyao also had all kinds of illegal behavior, which made the Yongzheng Emperor very dissatisfied. The Yongzheng Emperor also knocked Nian Tangyao several times, but he was indifferent and still went his own way. In order to maintain imperial power and consolidate his rule, the Yongzheng Emperor decided to get rid of Nian Tangyao.
References: 1. "Nian Tang Yao Recital Folding Album"; 2. "Qing History Draft"; 3. "Yongzheng Dynasty Han Chinese Composition Compilation"