The Yongzheng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was a very individual emperor, who reigned for 13 years, exerting great efforts to govern and reform. If Kangxi's credit was to stabilize the territory of the Qing Dynasty, then Yongzheng's credit filled the Qing Dynasty's treasury. Although Yongzheng was a very diligent emperor, he did not have many sons, in addition to Qianlong (Hongli), there were also Hongzhi and Hongyao (who passed out), but it is difficult to find the news of Yongzheng's other son, Hongshi in history. Hongshi, yongzheng's third son, mysteriously disappeared at the age of 24, and there is no record of hongshi's whereabouts in the history, so there are many rumors in the folk that Hongshi was killed by Yongzheng himself. Until the holy will of the Qing Dynasty was discovered in the Forbidden City in Taiwan, some scholars said: Yongzheng is really cruel.
Yongzheng did not have many heirs, the first two sons died prematurely, although Hongshi was the third son, but after Yongzheng ascended the throne, Hongshi was actually the titular eldest son. Throughout the qing dynasty emperors, the eldest son of the emperor was very active, but Hongshi rarely appeared in the main history. The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty describes Hongshi's life in only 11 words:
Hiroshi, Sejong's third son, died early and had no heirs.
The Qing Dynasty's record of Yongzheng's reign was as many as one hundred and fifty-nine volumes, and it is very strange that the two words "Hongshi" were not found.
Leaving aside many non-canonical historical materials such as commentaries, film and television dramas, Hongshi's whereabouts are indeed a mystery. It was not until the Qianlong period that Qianlong "remembered the love of brotherhood" and re-included Hongshi in the jade, and admitted that Hongshi had a son named Yongzhen. This information made everyone understand that the original Hongshi was not "early death, no heir", but somehow, was removed from the royal jade.
Qianlong recalled in the Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty:
The third brother was young and ignorant, indulgent in temperament, and acted imprudently, and the emperor was severely punished!
It is admitted here that Hongshi made the mistake of "acting imprudently" during the Yongzheng period and was removed from the jade by Yongzheng. But what mistakes were made, I don't know.
Many historians speculate that the main reason why Hongshi was removed from Yongzheng's name was that when Yongzheng was eradicating the Eight Masters, Hongshi was on the wrong side, and even if Hongshi did not explicitly help Yinyu, at least he expressed great sympathy for Yinyu. This statement is even reflected in the well-known writer Mr. February River in his work "Yongzheng Emperor".
The question is, why did Hiroshi do this? In fact, after Yongzheng himself experienced the bloody "Nine Sons and Nine Sons", he began to create a "secret reserve", and in the first year of Yongzheng, Yongzheng put the edict of succession behind the Zhengda Guangming plaque and announced to the outside world that he had secretly established a reserve. Because Yongzheng only had three sons at that time, Hongshi, Hongli, and Hongzhi, Hongzhi was weak and sickly, and basically withdrew from the ranks of heirs, Yongzheng wrote in the edict of succession that it must be Hongshi or Hongli.
But then, in the temple of heaven sacrifice that year, Yongzheng gave a piece of zuo meat (white meat for sacrifice) to Hongli to eat. On the first anniversary of Kangxi's death in November, Yongzheng sent Hongshi's father to the sacrifice, you know, Kangxi's first death day is such an important day, Yongzheng let Hongli replace himself, which is equivalent to external propaganda, and my edict is written with the name of Hongli. Therefore, as Hongli's older brother, Hongshi must take some actions, otherwise the throne will have nothing to do with him. Therefore, Hiroshi sided with Yin Yu, hoping to win opportunities through Yin Yu's strength.
While sorting out the old archives, the National Palace in Taipei accidentally found the holy will of the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, which read:
...... Yun Yu has been punished for his crime, and he has been removed from Yumu.com. Since Hongshi is a son, he cannot but restrain the belt of Hongshi.
Translated into the vernacular, yin yu's yellow belt (a symbol of royal status) has been taken back and he has been removed from the jade. Since Hiroshi had inherited him as a son, he could not but remove the yellow belt from Hiroshi.
Scholars deliberated on the context of the Holy Will, and with the addition of other auxiliary materials, they found that it turned out that when Yongzheng attacked Yin Yu and others, Hongshi stood on the opposite side of Yongzheng, helping Yin Yu and others to speak, and even had the track of uniting with Yin Yu to rebel. YongZheng was furious, and since his son was facing Yin, he passed on Hongshi to Yinyu as his son, and removed Hongshi from the jade, and from then on, there was no more Hongshi in the history of the Qing Dynasty. When Hiroshi "disappeared", he was only 24 years old, and there is no way to speculate about whether he died at that time and how he died. But through these analyses, scholars not only sighed: Yongzheng actually passed on his son to the mortal Yin, really cruel!
The mysterious disappearance of Hiroshi is still a mystery in the history of the Qing Dynasty. Many writers, including Mr. February River, believe that Yongzheng personally killed Hongshi in order to protect Hongli, which is not supported by historical evidence, but it is also logical. After all, although Yongzheng was a good emperor, he never treated his brothers and nephews with mercy.