On May 4, 1654, accompanied by a loud cry, the concubines of the Shunzhi Emperor gave birth to another prince. At this time, the Shunzhi Emperor was only 17 years old, less than four years before he took up the burden of the empire. As a novice in the political arena, although the Shunzhi Emperor had a large number of capable ministers to assist him, he still could not be at ease in the face of the military stubbornness of the Yongli regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the ethnic and class contradictions within the Qing Empire. Sometimes, it's not an exaggeration to say it's a mess. Therefore, for this newborn, the Shunzhi Emperor did not care for a long time. In fact, not only the Shunzhi Emperor, but also his birth mother, the empress dowager Xiaozhuang, who was famous for marrying the regent Dolgun in the early Qing Dynasty, did not pay much attention to the baby. However, what neither of them expected was that this baby later brought the Qing Empire into the first expansion climax since the Manchu Qing Entering the Customs. Not only that, but the prosperity of the empire under his rule was also quite rare in China's history of more than two thousand years. This infant is the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi, the male lord of the world who is known for his achievements in eliminating Aobai, Ping San Fan, breaking the Zungar, attacking the Russian invasion, recovering Taiwan, and controlling the flooding of the Yellow River. Here we need to highlight it. The kangxi achievements mentioned above are not just a few words on paper, but have truly played a role in safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country and enabling the people to live and work in peace and contentment. For the former, you can get a glimpse of the territorial changes from the early Qing Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty; for the latter, you can read the historical materials that recorded the years of military famine and chaos in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. So, why did Kangxi achieve so much?
The territory of the Qing Dynasty changed during the early and late Kangxi succession
First of all, the degree of Sinicization of Kangxi is very deep, especially the historical evolution of the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming Dynasty. This is of great benefit to him "taking history as a mirror", absorbing and integrating the rich experience of his predecessors in governing the country, and then building his own concept of governance; secondly, Kangxi is extremely diligent in government. Historical records record that since Kangxi became pro-government in 1668, he regarded "listening to the government at the imperial gate" as the main means of handling government affairs. The so-called "imperial door to listen to the government" means that the emperor goes to a certain place in the palace, listens to the performances of ministers at all levels, and then synthesizes the opinions of all parties to make a ruling on state affairs. Because the place where the Kangxi Emperor first listened to government affairs was the Qianqing Palace, it was called "The Royal Gate Listening to the Government". Of course, if you say "listening to the government at the royal gate" in layman's terms, you can summarize it in two words: early dynasty. According to the search for information, from Kangxi's pro-government to his death half a century later, in addition to illness, major festivals, important sacrifice days, ancestral death anniversaries, and major changes in the palace, almost every day did not insist on "listening to the government at the royal gate". This persistent spirit of governance, although it cannot be said to be unique in the history of China's feudal dynasty, can also be called one of the best; finally, kangxi reigned for a long time. According to his own words, since the first year of Qin Shi Huang, there are two hundred and ten people who have been called emperors and have the year number, and he is the only one who has reigned for sixty-one years. The land of China is vast, the Kangxi Emperor himself is of high quality, coupled with his long life span, in this situation of time, place, people and all gathered, it is natural to do things like a tiger. However, the emperor's long reign is not always a good thing, at least the contradictions between him and the crown prince are not easy to deal with. In short, as the crown prince grew into adulthood and began to enter politics, the emperor and the crown prince were bound to clash over the issue of retaining and competing for supreme power. According to the historical data, whenever there is a conflict between the emperor and the crown prince, other princes will inevitably take advantage of this conflict and use means in the open and in the dark to seize the position of the crown prince. In fact, when Kangxi and his crown prince Yinrong had a conflict, other princes did the same, such as the first big brother Yinzhen to stand up and eat grapes, the initiator of the Kangxi Dynasty's cruel conquest of concubines.
Why would The Eldest Brother Yinzhen be the first to stand up and challenge Prince Yinrong? The main reason is that The extremely high status and treatment that Yin Rong has had since childhood has given Yin Rong a lot of psychological stimulation. You must know that Yin Rong was crown prince when he was less than two years old. According to the system in the palace, the best things must first be used closely. Yin Zhen, who was two years older, looked at it in his heart, and his heart must be very lost. This kind of loss, as we get older, can also evolve into an unconvincing emotion. Of course, if the relationship between the Kangxi Emperor and Yin Rong had been maintained well, Yin Yu would not have dared to act hastily. However, Yin Rong did not do a good job at this point. For example, when the Battle of Qingzhun broke out in the 29th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the emperor fell ill due to overwork at the Battle of Ulanmutong. In order to prevent the unexpected from happening, Kangxi Nai sent someone to urgently summon Yin Rong to the front of the army. According to common sense, when he heard that his father was sick, Yin Rong should be extremely anxious. Who knows, after Yin Rong came to the Kangxi Army Tent, he showed indifference. Kangxi was very dissatisfied with this, so after returning to the dynasty, he suppressed the etiquette system of the crown prince. What about Yin Zhen? He accumulated a wealth of military experience in this year because of his military expeditions. From the 35th year of Kangxi to the 36th year of Kangxi, the Qing Zhun War broke out again, and Yin Yu was reused by Kangxi as the vanguard commander who commanded 67,000 soldiers and horses. Yin Rong, on the other hand, took advantage of Kangxi's two pro-enlistments to form a private party and provoked Kangxi's new rebuke. This and the other gave Yin a lot of encouragement. Therefore, Yin Zhen took advantage of his frequent participation in military and political affairs and state ceremonial activities to begin to make friends with Korean and Chinese officials. In fact, Yin Yu also had a unique convenience that could not be ignored, that is, his mother clan produced a powerful courtier named Nalan Mingzhu in the Kangxi Dynasty. The father of the famous Qing Dynasty poet Naran Zhide, although he had fallen out of favor in the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, he still had a certain influence in the dynasty. In addition, because Yin Yu participated in more military and political activities and received more rewards, he was extremely generous. With these three points, coupled with Yin Zhen's humble intentions, from the important ministers of the court, ErenDai, Long keduo, and the sons of the kings, down to the Eight Banners officials stationed in the northeast region, they became his guests, and even became his cronies. In this regard, Kangxi commented, "There are people with big brothers everywhere."
In the thirty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, with Yin Zhen being made the King of Doro County and Yin Rong's further fall from favor, Yin Zhen's desire to take a concubine was once again stimulated. Therefore, he "changed the defense to attack" and put the capture into action. According to historical records, Yin's attack on Yin was initiated by searching for him and a conversation with an important member of the princelings, Yin's uncle and grandfather, Soeto. In these conversations, there was a discussion of Suo'er's efforts to persuade crown prince Yin to cultivate private power. In view of the lessons of the Ming Dynasty, Kangxi has always hated the disputes of the partisans, plus Soetu was previously a master of making friends with the party. Therefore, when this conversation reached Kangxi's ears, it became ironclad evidence of Yin Rong's attempt to form a party. Soon, Soetu was arrested and died in prison shortly afterwards. Implicated, many ministers who were dependent on the crown prince and their co-emperors were also stripped of their positions. This great purge caused the princelings that Yin Rong had been running for many years to collapse in an instant. As for Yin Rong, although this matter did not affect him, it made his temperament change greatly. After that, Yin Rong began to give up on himself, and his treatment of people and things also became cold and ruthless. For example, in the summer of the forty-seventh year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Rong accompanied Kangxi on his northern tour, and the kings, belles, and ministers and officials made a slight mistake in doing things, and as long as they were seen by Yin Rong, they did not ask the truth and raised their hands to fight. What's more, when encountering the imperial horse offered to Kangxi by the outer domain, Yin Rong also dared to take it away. Kangxi saw these things in his eyes, but he put up with it. However, when the eighteenth son of the Emperor, Yin Gong, was seriously ill and Yin Rong was still indifferent, Kangxi was unbearable. Therefore, Kangxi rebuked Yin Rong for this matter. Unexpectedly, Yin Rong not only did not admit his mistake, but was "angry" with Kangxi. As soon as this matter came out, the relationship between the emperor and the crown prince instantly fell into a low point. Yin Zhen noticed this situation and arranged for his cronies to observe Yin Rong's every move. Soon, Yin Yu reported something to Kangxi: Yin Rong went to the vicinity of Kangxi's tent every night to spy on Kangxi's living quarters. When Kangxi heard the news, his mind suddenly came up with the past of the Sui Emperor's father seizing the throne. In the case of "not knowing whether he was killed today or killed tomorrow", Kangxi sent someone to detain the crown prince on his way back to Beijing in 1708 and subsequently deposed Yin Rong's crown prince.
According to historical records, after Kangxi abolished Yin Rong's position as crown prince, he immediately sent people to escort him back to Beijing. The man who was sent was the Great Brother Yinzhen. For this rather "important" appointment, Yin Yu, who was overjoyed, mistakenly thought that Kangxi was going to make him crown prince. Some of the princes and ministers saw that Yin Zhen was responsible for escorting Yin Rong, and they also had the same illusion. How quick Kangxi's mind was, he saw very clearly the psychological activities of officials at all levels and the princes and courtiers, and in order to prevent them from misunderstanding, Kangxi further explained that Yin Zhen was impatient and stubborn, and was not the best candidate for the prince at all. This statement completely wiped out Yin Zhen's dream of being a prince. So, is Yin Zhen dead set on this? No! Shortly after Yin Rong was imprisoned, Yin Zhen, in order to squeeze out the fierce enemy of the Eight Brothers Yin Yu who had risen in the process of his struggle for the throne with Yin Rong, then told Kangxi that there were people who said that the Eight Brothers would be very noble. At the same time, in order to prevent Yin Rong from returning to politics, he suggested to Kangxi that he personally remove Yin Rong. For the former suggestion, Kangxi did not investigate deeply, but only punished the Eight Brothers slightly and sent someone to meet the person to the end. The latter suggestion made Kangxi wary of Yin. He knew that Yin Zhen was not a good person, and he was very worried that his military actions would be dangerous and unfavorable to Yin Rong. Therefore, under the urgent arrangement of Kangxi, the prison of the deposed prince Yinrong quickly strengthened its protection. At the same time, in order to deter Yin Zhen, Kangxi severely reprimanded Yin Zhen in front of the princes.
As bystanders, through this series of events, the other princes thoroughly saw that the eldest brother Yinzhen was a man who would do whatever it took to achieve his goals. In order to prevent Yin Zhen from harming himself in the future, some princes have exposed the illegal things he has done. Among them, the Third Brother Yinzhi, who was quite close to the Crown Prince Yinrong, said the most powerful thing. It can be said that once this matter was said, it directly determined the fate of the second half of the life of the eldest brother Yinzhen. This incident was that Yin Zhen followed the method of witchcraft in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and behind his back instructed the Mongolian lamas to use witchcraft to suppress the crown prince. When the Kangxi Emperor heard this, he immediately sent his bodyguards to search Yin's mansion, and as a result, he found zhenyu objects in more than a dozen places in Yin's mansion, which was ironclad evidence. According to reports, after this matter was heard by Concubine Hui, the mother of Yin Zhen, Princess Huifei was worried that the emperor would blame her godson for having no way. In order not to be implicated, Princess Hui also reported Yin's unfilial behavior to Kangxi and asked Kangxi to severely punish him. Several crimes were punished at the same time, and the once glorious Grand Brother Yinzhen was soon dismissed from the throne by Kangxi and put into a seclusion. Later, taking into account Yin Zhen's high martial skills and many henchmen, in order to prevent his henchmen from taking advantage of Kangxi's tour to rescue him from rebellion, Kangxi consulted with the kings and ministers, and sent 16 eight banner generals who had experienced hundreds of battles and 80 strong martial arts protectors. In addition, Kangxi also sent a number of Manchu princes and ministers to take turns to supervise, and strictly advised everyone not to neglect, otherwise they would be punished with the crime of extermination. From then on, Yin Yu could no longer see the light of day, and could only spend the remaining twenty-six years under the close guard arranged by the Kangxi Emperor. So, what about Yin Zhen who spent these 26 years? In this regard, the "Qing History Draft" does not clearly record, but only lists the 20 children he gave birth to during the captivity. Counting the nine who gave birth before captivity, Yin Yu raised a total of 29 children. Being able to provide for so many family members shows from the side that in addition to yin's captive life, there is no freedom, and his living materials are still very abundant. This is also the best ending for a person who has been characterized by Kangxi as a "chaotic thief".
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Liechuan, Volume VII