The Qing Dynasty had 12 hereditary iron hat kings, of which there were eight iron hat kings who were divided into battle merits in the early Qing Dynasty and four iron hat kings who were enfeoffed in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, of which the thirteenth master Yin Xiang's iron hat king was the latter. To become the King of the Iron Hat must be a great contribution to the Great Qing.
Of course, after becoming the King of the Iron Hat, there are also privileges: the title is hereditary, not demoted; feng lu is rich; there is a special iron hat royal palace. This is the privilege of the visible, and there are many privileges of the invisible and invisible. So, why could Yin Xiang become such a valuable Iron Hat King?
It should be known that before Yin Xiang, those who could become the King of the Iron Hat were those descendants of the Qing Dynasty royal family who made great military achievements in the early Qing Dynasty during the period of Nurhaci and Emperor Taiji and The Shunzhi Emperor, that is, the famous Eight Iron Hat Kings: Daishan the Prince of Li, Zilharang the Prince of Zheng, Dolgun the Prince of Rui, Duo Duo of Yu, Prince Hauge of Su, Shuosai the Prince of Zhuang, Yue Tuo of Keqin County, and Leke Dehun of Shuncheng County.
Except for Zilharang, who was the son of Nurhaci's younger brother Shulhaci, the rest were all descendants of Nurhaci, of whom Daishan, Dorgon, and Dodo were nurhaci's sons, Hauge and Shuosai were the sons of Emperor Taiji, Yueto was the son of Daishan, and Lek dehun was Daishan's grandson. They all made great achievements in the early Qing Dynasty, so they had the title of Iron Hat King, and their princeships were hereditary.
If it is said that the Eight Iron Hat Kings were sealed by merit, then the reason why Yin Xiang, who had not made any military achievements, became the Iron Hat King was obtained by enfeng.
People who have watched "Yongzheng Dynasty" know that the thirteenth master YinXiang is a hardcore supporter of the Yongzheng Emperor. Among the nine sons, Yin Xiang sided with Yin Chan, the only one among the brothers who supported Yin Chan, even Yin Chan's half-brother did not support Yin Chan, but Yin Xiang had always stood on Yin Chan's side, and the two were more like half-siblings, almost inseparable.
Therefore, when the Ninth Son took the throne, Yin Xiang had been helping Yin Chan, and after Yin Chan succeeded to the throne, Yin Xiang, the only younger brother who supported Yongzheng, naturally gained more trust from Yongzheng. Therefore, during the Yongzheng period, Yin Xiang's work was particularly much, and it can be said that if it were not for the existence of Yin Xiang, it would be difficult for Yongzheng's drastic reform to proceed smoothly.
Yongzheng is notoriously diligent, sleeping very little every day, it can be said that he handles government affairs day and night, and Yin Xiang, as Yongzheng's most trusted person, is also a non-stop laborer, even when he returns to the palace to rest, he often returns to the palace with the heavy affairs of the military state to deal with, and his hands do not stop criticizing, which shortens the length of his life for Yin Xiangsheng, who is already plagued by diseases.
In 1730, Yin Xiang, who was already seriously ill, still wanted to inspect the Qinglong Bay of the North Canal and preside over the dam reduction project, but the illness was so fierce that he could only give up and said to his subordinates: "This map is all over the rivers, so that the ying and shrinkage are manipulated in my palm. Three months later, Yin Xiang died of illness at the age of 44.
Yin Xiang's death was a great blow to the Yongzheng Emperor, who lost his dearest brother and most powerful assistant. After Yin Xiang's death, the Yongzheng Emperor paid more attention to his descendants. In fact, Yongzheng's love for Yin Xiang is multi-faceted, and there are many people involved. As soon as he succeeded to the throne, he posthumously honored Yin Xiang's birth mother, Concubine Min, as Emperor Xuan's concubine (i.e., Emperor Jingmin's concubine), and made an exception for her to be buried with the emperor and become the first concubine in the Qing Dynasty to be buried with the emperor.
This is Yongzheng's love for Yin Xiang's biological mother, and its love for Yin Xiang needless to say, after Yin Xiang's death, Yong Zheng will also use the name yin xiang back to the thirteenth master who was originally renamed Yun Xiang because of avoidance, which is unique, and after Yin Xiang's death, Yong Zheng is more protective of Yin Xiang's descendants, there is an edict:
"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 is also to make the hereditary title of Yin Xiang the Prince of Yi, which is to make Yin Xiang the ninth Iron Hat King of the Qing Dynasty, and his title was inherited by Yin Xiang's fourth son Hongxiao, in addition, Yin Xiang's second son Hongjiao was also named the King of Ning County. Among the sons there are princes and there are kings of the counties, and this grace is also unique.
However, the title of King of the County is descended in hereditary times, that is, the son of King Hongjiao of Ningjun inherits the title of Baylor (the third class of the clan title), and further down is the beizi (the fourth class of the clan title), and when the hereditary succession to the tenth rank of the clan title of the auxiliary general, even if the hereditary is the end.
The difference is that Yin Xiang's Title of Prince Yi (first class of the Clan Title) is hereditary, that is, it is not demoted during the hereditary period, even if in the process of inheritance, a certain Iron Hat King has made a big mistake, and the side branch can also attack the knight, of course, this is theoretical, the system is so.
In 1778, when Qianlong was rehabilitating Dolgun, he explicitly promulgated and issued the system of hereditary replacement of the iron hat kingship, and Yin Xiang's hereditary resignation of the iron hat king title was also truly determined by Qianlong, and when he remembered the merits of his uncle Yin Xiang, he issued an edict:
"Prince Yixian is loyal to the kingdom, and his title should also be hereditary."
Since then, Prince Yi's title has begun to be hereditary among Yin Xiang's descendants, and the first to inherit the title of Prince Yi is Yin Xiang's fourth son, Hongxiao, who was once a guard of the Qianqing Palace, because his eldest brother Hongchang and his half-brother Hongjiao were involved in the Hongxiang rebellion, so Hongxiao was implicated even if he was not involved in this matter, so he inherited the Iron Hat King, but was not reused.
After Hongxiao's death, the title of Prince of Yi was inherited by Yonglang, the eldest son of Hongxiao Shu, and this branch changed when it reached Zaifang, zaifang died without heirs, and the iron hat king fell into the hands of Zaifang's younger brother Zaiyuan.
Zaiyuan was the prince of Yi who inherited the title of Prince of Yi during the Daoguang years, became the King of the Iron Hat, Zaiyuan was deeply trusted during the Daoguang years, held many official positions, after Daoguang's death became the minister of Gu Feng, and then held an important position during the Xianfeng period, when Xianfeng was dying, Zaiyuan became the minister of Gu Ming again, as the minister of government, became the head of the eight ministers of Gu Ming, and assisted Zai Chun to succeed to the throne.
However, after Xianfeng's death, Empress Dowager Cixi, in Shengjing, said that Empress Dowager Ci'an would join forces with Prince Gong of Beijing to launch a coup d'état to seize power, and Zaiyuan and Duanhua, among the eight ministers, were forced to commit suicide, Sushun was beheaded, and the other five were stripped of their official positions and exiled. Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an listened to the government, and Prince Gong assisted the government.
After this incident, Zaiyuan not only died, but his title was also stripped away, and he was deposed as a duke of the Eight-Point Auxiliary State (the ninth rank of the Clan Title), and prince Yi's title was even at the end of the Hongxiao branch, and was inherited by the Hongjiao branch, but the initial inheritance was not the title of Prince Yi, but the dukedom of Zaiyuan who was deposed as an eight-point auxiliary state, which was inherited by Zaiyuan's brother Zaitai.
Two years later, Tongzhi ordered the restoration of the hereditary title of Prince yi, which was inherited by Zaidun, a descendant of Hongjiao, so Zaidun was the new Iron Hat King after Zaiyuan. After Zai Dun's death, the eldest son Pu Jing attacked the title of Prince of Yi.
Less than ten years after Pujing became the Prince of Yi, the Eight-Nation Alliance ransacked Prince Yi's palace, and Pujing was also removed from his official position and imprisoned for conniving with the Boxer Rebellion, and soon Pujing was depressed, and after his death, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered Pujing to be stripped of her title.
In 1902, the Guangxu Emperor ordered pujing's nephew Yuqi, who was only three years old, to inherit the title of Prince of Yi. When Yuqi became Prince Yi, it was already the last year of the Qing Dynasty, and he was the last iron hat king of the Yi Prince Yinxiang branch, and the last prince, who died in 1948.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Yin Xiang's branch still had titles to inherit, in addition to prince Yi, the iron hat king, there was also the title of King of Ningjun in Hongjiao, but this was a demotion, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty, it was already a low-level title of the clan title.