In the later years of the Kangxi Dynasty, a fierce battle for the throne broke out among the princes of Kangxi, known in history as the "Nine Sons and Concubines". In the end, the fourth son of the Kangxi Emperor, Yin Chan, became the ultimate victor, and after the death of the Kangxi Emperor in the sixty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1722), he successfully ascended to the throne, which was the later Yongzheng Emperor.
This struggle for the throne is not only a contest of ability and power between the princes, but also a struggle between political groups and political forces with the princes as the core, but also increases the fierceness of this war to seize the throne, from the central imperial court to the local officials, who have been involved in it.
Among them, two of the most powerful and contradictory political power groups were formed, namely, the "princeling" group and the "Baye Party" group.
The purpose of the "princeling" clique was naturally to help crown prince Yinrong ascend to the throne, and the prince who supported Yinrong was the three brothers who grew up with Yinrong (after the death of Yin's birth mother, Empress Hesheri, Kangxi arranged for the birth mother of the three brothers to raise Yinrong). The main members of the princelings included Suo Etu, a powerful minister in the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty, and his henchmen, as well as Ling Pu, Toheqi, Qi Shiwu, Geng Er, and others. Of course, these people also exonerated Kangxi for reasons, and almost all of them ended their lives by Being Brutally Executed by Kangxi, which shows Kangxi's resentment towards them.
The formation of the "Baye Party" group should be divided into two stages. First of all, during the period of contention between the two parties of Soetu and Mingzhu, the members of the Fubao Grand Brother Yinfu were basically members of the Mingzhu clan, such as Yu Guozhu, Fo Lun and others. The second and most critical stage is that after the fall of the great brother, the core position of the eighth brother Yin Yu was established, and the power supported Yin Yu.
And the "Eight Ye Party" in this period can be said to be unprecedentedly powerful; among the princes, there are nine brothers and ten brothers. The Yue Le family, the Prince of Zhong'an, the prince of Zhong'an, supported them considerably, and among the courtiers, including Tong Guowei, Kangxi's uncle and father-in-law, Shi Maqi, the chief university of Manchuria, Aling'a, the minister of internal affairs, orendai, the head of the Hanlin Academy, Nalan Shuxu, the head of the Hanlin Academy, and Wang Hongxu, the hubu Shangshu, were all members of the Eight Ye Party. Later, because of his performance during the "Two Wasted Crown Princes", he was disgusted by Kangxi, and because of the "Eagle Shooting Incident" that occurred because of the frame, the opportunity to compete for the throne was eventually lost, and the members of the "Eight Masters Party" were also changed to support the Fourteenth Brother Yinyu who was entrusted by Kangxi with the position of "Great General King".
Because the members of the "Eight Ye Party" were political enemies in the process of the Yongzheng Emperor's seizure of the throne, there were very few who could survive the good death, and many princes and courtiers, including the Eight Brothers himself, suffered cruel blows and torture after Yongzheng ascended the throne, and even officials who had died, such as Alinga and Nalan Shusu, were also humiliated by Yongzheng.
In the whole process of "nine sons and concubines", Yongzheng has always pursued the strategy of "fighting is not arguing, not arguing is fighting", which won the favor of Kangxi, during this period, there was no formation of the so-called "Four Masters Party", or that there were too few people who supported and supported Yongzheng, except for the thirteen brothers Yinxiang, Nian Qianyao and Long Keduo, others more often began to become the people of the Yongzheng Group before and after Yongzheng ascended the throne, and the final outcomes of these people were also different.
The thirteenth master Yin Xiang, Yongzheng is the most "hardcore" supporter.
It is no exaggeration to say this, and it can even be said that the relationship between Yongzheng and Yinxiang can be called a model of "brothers of kings and subjects throughout the ages" not only among the princes of Kangxi, but also in the history of the entire Qing Dynasty and even the entire history of the feudal dynasty.
As early as the "one abolished crown prince" period, Yin Xiang took the initiative to bear all the political consequences in order to cover Yongzheng, and then was imprisoned by Kangxi for a year, not only taking advantage of his political future, but also his own body deteriorating, completely withdrawing from the political stage of the Kangxi Dynasty in his later years.
After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he immediately reused Yin Xiang, was named the Prince of Heshuoyi, and appointed him as a heavy minister of the prime minister, especially after excluding several other prime ministers from the core power level, such as Yin Xiang, who was successively excluded from the core power layer, Yin Xiang became the well-deserved "second in command" of the country.
However, Yin Xiang was very self-aware. He wholeheartedly assisted Yongzheng, and gave Yongzheng great support in eliminating paralysis, replenishing the national treasury, military logistics, etc., but he was still modest and cautious, always able to correct his position, and repeatedly refused Yongzheng's special rewards, thus winning Yongzheng's trust and respect.
In the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730), Yin Xiang died at the age of forty-four, which can also be said that he was tired and exhausted. Yongzheng followed Yin Xiang's will and buried him in Laishui, and at the same time built a huge cemetery for him that covered an area several times the size of the prince's mausoleum, where Yongzheng personally presided over Yin Xiang's burial ceremony and shouted sorrow.
Yongzheng also gave Yin Xiang the title of "Xian" (贤), and was entitled to the Taimiao Temple, and in the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), he personally gave Yin Xiang the eight characters of "Loyalty, Honesty, Honesty, Diligence, Diligence, Honesty, and Honesty" in front of him, changing his name from "Yunxiang" back to "Yinxiang". Throughout the history of the Qing Dynasty, these are the exceptions of the exceptions.
At the same time, Yongzheng also arranged for Yin Xiang's fifth son, Hongxiao, who was only 8 years old, to inherit the title of Prince of Heshuoyi, and left a special holy will:
"My brother's son, Hongxiao, is the Prince of Fengyi, and he will inherit the world forever." By the grace of my brother, future generations may not be arbitrarily reduced. ”
This Xianyongzheng plan to reward the Yinxiang family with the title of king of the county, which was also honored, and he made Yinxiang's fourth son Hongxu the prince of Ning county.
It can be said that the YinXiang family enjoyed extremely high courtesy in the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties.
Nian Qianyao and Longkodo were proud of their achievements and had no monarch, and they could only end up with a dismal ending.
Nian Qianyao and Long Keduo were able to become members of Yongzheng's "Four Masters Party", in fact, they were inadvertently "arranged" by Kangxi.
In the forty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1709), while the Kangxi Emperor made Yongzheng the Prince of Yong, he also assigned to Yongzheng the fifth staff of the Han army with the white flag and the third staff of Manchuria with the white flag. At this time, Nian Qianyao's entire family was under the leadership of the Fifth Counselor of the White Banner Han Army, so from this time on, including Nian Qianyao's father Nian Lingling and brother Nian Xiyao, they all became the old people of Yongzheng's domain. At the same time, in the fiftieth year of Kangxi (1711), Kangxi let Yongzheng marry Nian Qianyao's sister Nian Shi as a side Fujin, which further made the relationship between Yongzheng and the Nian family closer.
As for Longkeduo, the Kangxi Emperor first arranged for Longkeduo's own sister Empress Xiaoyiren to raise Yongzheng, and later arranged for his other sister, Emperor Wuhui's noble concubine Tong Jiashi, to raise Yongzheng's son Hongli, and to work with Yongzheng for many years, thus linking the two together.
In this way, under kangxi's arrangement, Yongzheng can be said to have inadvertently had his own team, and it was these two people who played a key role in Yongzheng's ascension to the throne and the stability of the throne.
Longkeduo was the governor of the Nine Gates at that time, and was the only one who was not the Kangxi Prince at the time of Kangxi's death, and after Kangxi's death, Longkeduo immediately closed the Nine Gates, and the capital was under martial law for seven days until Yongzheng successfully ascended the throne. Therefore, whether Yongzheng's ascension to the throne is "seizing the throne without edicts", "usurping the throne without edicts" or "following the throne", Long Keduo is undoubtedly the most critical role.
Nian Qianyao, on the other hand, when Yongzheng ascended the throne, had a good position in the position of governor of Shaanxi and Gansu to restrain Yongzheng's fierce enemy, The FourteenTh Brother Yinxiang, and then in the rebellion to quell Therabuzang Tenjin, at a very small cost, quickly annihilated the rebels at a very fast speed, helping Yongzheng stabilize the throne.
And Long Keduo and Nian Qianyao, one was called "Uncle Long Keduo" by Yongzheng Zun, and the other was called "benefactor" by Yongzheng, but the two people embarked on the road of "death" in the same way.
The first is that the first is to be self-exalted, blind to the monarch, and to show off their merits for a long time and Yongzheng's respect for them.
The second is to form a party for personal gain and control the government of the DPRK. Long Keduo and Nian Qianyao took advantage of the Yongzheng Emperor's trust and respect for them to control the appointment, removal, and promotion of officials, and then there was the "Tong Election" of the officials of the six ministries of the DPRK and the "Annual Election" of local officials, and the two of them used this to spread their henchmen, making a miasma above the court and in the local official field.
The third is corruption, snaring wealth. At this time, Long Keduo and Nian Qianyao were already very greedy, not only corrupt and corrupt, accepting bribes, but also living extravagantly and extravagantly and wastefully, which caused Yongzheng to be extremely dissatisfied with the two.
In the end, when Yongzheng was in the third year of Yongzheng (1725), he first took Nian Tangyao to open the knife, and while convicting Nian Qianyao of ninety-two major sins, he gave Nian Qianyao to death. Then in the fifth year of Yongzheng (1727), Longkeduo was negotiating with Tsarist Russia on the border issue, and the Zongrenfu impeached Longkeduo for hiding jade, so Yongzheng immediately took action against Longkeduo, directly taking longkodo back to Beijing at the negotiated place, and convicting him of forty-one major crimes, imprisoned in Changchun Garden, Yongzheng sixth year (1728), after a year of captivity, Longkeduo died in Changchun Garden.
As for the Sixteenth Brother Yinlu and the Seventeenth Brother Yinli, their performance is more concentrated after Yongzheng ascended the throne, which can be called the "New Fourth Master Party".
Sixteen Brother Yinlu and Seventeen Brother Yinli did not have much performance during the "Nine Sons and Sisters", on the one hand, they were still young and did not have such abilities, on the other hand, their origins were not noble, so their strength was also very limited.
However, after Yongzheng ascended the throne, the other Kangxi princes who participated in the "Nine Sons and Concubines" adopted a "non-violent and non-cooperative" attitude towards Yongzheng, which was then attacked and persecuted by Yongzheng, and also provided a rare opportunity for the two princes to ascend to the throne.
Especially in the process of Yongzheng's liquidation of the Eight Brothers Yinyu and the Nine Brothers Yinyu, the handling of Longkeduo, and the later whistle-blowing and exposing of the Three Brothers, these two princes played a huge role, and thus gained Yongzheng's trust and respect.
The Sixteenth Brother Yinlu, in accordance with Kangxi's arrangement, smoothly passed on to BoGuoduo, the Prince of Laozhuang, and inherited the hereditary title of Prince heshuozhuang, and at the time of Yongzheng's death, he was appointed as an auxiliary chancellor and entrusted with a heavy responsibility. After Qianlong ascended the throne, he was also treated with courtesy, and was later deposed because of the "Hongchen Rebellion Case". However, in the end, it ended in a good ending.
Seventeen Elder Brother Yinli can be said to be Yongzheng's most important brother besides Yinxiang, not only as the Prince of Guo, but also entrusted with the heavy responsibility of assisting the government. However, Yin Li died only three years after Qianlong ascended the throne, and the Qianlong Emperor also passed on his younger brother, Hongyao, the youngest son of the Yongzheng Emperor, to Yin Li, inheriting the title of Prince guo, which can also be regarded as an affirmation of Prince Guo's contribution and respect for him.
In addition to the SixteenTh Brother Yinlu and the Seventeenth Brother Yinli, including Zhang Tingyu, Li Wei, Tian Wenjing, Ortai and other famous officials of the Yongzheng Dynasty, in fact, they also became Yongzheng's humeral ministers and important confidants after Yongzheng ascended the throne, and could not be counted as Yongzheng's party and members during the "Nine Sons and Concubines".