History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Perhaps because Zhu Yuanzhang was born into poverty and had seen the coldest face in the world in his early years, this kind of suspicious personality has almost penetrated into Zhu Yuanzhang's bone marrow. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang completely ended the turmoil at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and unified the Central Plains and established the Ming Dynasty. But since Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he had been guarding against Li Shanchang, Hu Mei, and Liu Bowen, the old people who followed him to fight the world. After the Ming Dynasty gradually stabilized, Zhu Yuanzhang swung a butcher's knife at these founding heroes.
According to historians, Zhu Yuanzhang named 34 founding heroes when he founded the Ming Dynasty, and then killed thirty of them in various names. In the eyes of most emperors, there is nothing more important than their own country, so many emperors will carry out purges and kill those hidden dangers after they ascend the throne, and Zhu Yuanzhang just went too far. And after Yongzheng experienced the fiercest battle in history to seize the throne, how did he do it to his flesh and blood brothers?
According to the Qing History Manuscript, yongzheng, the fourth son of the Kangxi Emperor, ascended the throne in 1722, and among the princes who competed with him, only yongzheng's supporters, the thirteenth prince, were not banned from freedom, and the others were either exiled by Yongzheng (the fourteenth prince was sent to guard the imperial tomb) or imprisoned in the palace (the remaining seven princes). And Kangxi had a total of twenty sons who survived to adulthood, so what happened to the other princes who did not participate in the conquest?
After Yongzheng ascended the throne, the most trusted brothers were probably the thirteenth prince Yin Xiang (Yongzheng was named Prince Yi in the first year of Yongzheng) and the twelfth prince Yin qi (yongzheng was given the title of Prince of Yi in the first year of Yongzheng) raised by Su Ma Lama. Su Ma Lagu was originally the maid of Kangxi's grandmother, Empress Xiaozhuangwen, and Kangxi was entrusted to Su Ma Lagu for adoption shortly after birth, so Kangxi always regarded Su Ma Lagu as his mother.
In addition, Su Ma Lama began to teach Xiao Kangxi to read and write when he was 3 years old, and was the actual enlightenment teacher of Kangxi. When Kangxi was four years old, he was put outside the palace by the Shunzhi Emperor because of smallpox, and Su Ma Lama also rode to take care of Xiao Kangxi every day, and did not break it for a day. Therefore, Kangxi had a strong sense of gratitude to Su Ma Lama. Su Ma Lagu believed in Buddhism, and after Kangxi ascended the throne, she did not ask for glory and wealth, and still recited the scriptures in the palace all day.
When Empress Xiaozhuangwen died in 1687, Su Ma Lama was very sad and spent her days in front of the Buddha statue. Kangxi was worried that Su Ma Lagu's behavior would endanger his health, so he handed over the newly born twelfth prince Yin Qi to Su Ma Lagu to raise. At that time, Su Ma Lama was nearly 79 years old and wanted to resign, but she still obeyed the emperor's orders.
Su Ma Lagu had been in the palace for too long, and she found that many of Kangxi's heirs had great ambitions, and from an early age, she asked Yin Qi to keep a low profile, and his mother Dingfei was only a concubine and could not compete with other princes. Yin Qi also had great respect for Su Ma Lama, and from an early age, he understood that the way to act in the palace was to protect himself, so Yin Qi did everything down-to-earth.
Kangxi also admired this stable son, and in the fifty-seventh year of Kangxi (1718), Kangxi asked Yin To manage the Zhengbai Banner (Shangsan Banner, the imperial relatives were basically selected from the Zhengbai Banner), and many of the heavy soldiers of the Manchu Andmeng Han Were entrusted to Yin qi. However, Yin Qi only managed his own affairs and never fought for power and profit.
It was Yin Qi's way of doing things that Yongzheng was also more at ease with this younger brother, and when Yin Qi was older, he also handed over the Zongren Mansion to Yin Qi's administration and crowned him as the Prince of Heshuo. Yin Qi also remained loyal until Qianlong died of illness in the 28th year of Qianlong, at the age of 78. Because of Yin's Mingzhe's self-preservation, many people think that he is the smartest child of Kangxi.