There is an old Chinese saying that tiger poison does not eat children, but Before yongzheng died, he personally ordered the killing of his own son Hongshi. Hongshi was the eldest son of the Emperor in the actual sense of Yongzheng. Normally, in ancient China, the emperor's eldest son was supposed to inherit the throne. However, he did not expect that Yongzheng did not give the throne to Hongshi, but instead gave him death.
This is mainly because Hongshi, as a prince, has always been unable to handle things to the satisfaction of Yongzheng. Even after Yongzheng ascended the throne as emperor, He always interceded for Yongzheng's political enemies. This made Yongzheng feel very angry, and in a fit of anger, he passed on Hiroshi to someone else.
In the end, Hongshi's name was removed from the clan, and after this, Yongzheng feared that Hongshi would take revenge on the next emperor, that is, Qianlong. That's why I dealt with him before I died. In order to enable Qianlong to sit firmly on the throne.
Many Qing Palace dramas will have plots about fighting for the throne and seizing concubines, of course, this is also related to the historical background at that time. Throughout the Qing Dynasty, the most powerful concubines were Kangxi's sons. Because Kangxi was the emperor with the most sons in the entire period of the Qing Dynasty.
When he passed the throne, there was a nine-son conquest. In the end, Yongzheng won and got the throne. Because Yongzheng himself had experienced a cruel conquest war, he did not want his princes to experience this. But when Yongzheng chose an heir, there were also some problems.
Yongzheng's sons are not many, but there are also more than a dozen. According to the traditional cultural concept, when choosing an heir, the emperor should give priority to choosing the eldest son. Yongzheng's eldest son and second son died very early, and his third son was Hongshi. This means that he was the de facto eldest son of the Emperor at that time.
Hongshi's mother was Concubine Qi, a concubine whom Yongzheng loved. Concubine Qi was born into a famous family and was a well-known lady. Therefore, Yongzheng's blue eyes gave birth to Yongzheng very early. But surprisingly, Yongzheng did not choose Hiroshi as his heir. Instead, he chose Qianlong, Yongzheng's fourth son.
The reason behind this is mainly in Hiroshi. As a prince, Hiroshi received the best quality education from an early age. Whether it's in cultural knowledge or in horseback archery. Although Hiroshi became a very knowledgeable and visionary person, his personality was very unpleasant.
Hiroshi was a very indulgent and stubborn prince, and he acted very imprecisely. Being the eldest son of the Emperor is usually expected to be high, so Hiroshi is no exception. However, before Yongzheng ascended the throne, Hongshi's personality had already made Yongzheng very disliked. More seriously, after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne. Hongshi often said something in front of Yongzheng that Yongzheng did not want to hear.
Because Yongzheng had experienced the conquest of the nine sons, it was not easy to get the throne. Especially in the process of Yongzheng's conquest of the concubine, he was embarrassed by the eighth prince at that time, that is, his eighth brother. Therefore, that is to say, the eighth prince at that time was Yongzheng's political enemy and sworn enemy. The matter of competing for reserves and taking wives will be a matter of life and death if you are not careful.
Yongzheng managed to climb out of the life and death situation and sit on the throne. But this son of his own, Hongshi, stood up to himself every three or five minutes. Hiroshi always felt that Yongzheng was a little too cruel to his brothers and sisters. Hongshi still helped his eighth uncle speak, hoping that Yongzheng would let him go.
During the reign of Kangxi, he had already begun to highly centralize imperial power. Therefore, in the Generation of Yongzheng, this practice of Kangxi was also continued. After Yongzheng ascended to the throne, the first thing he did was to clean up his brothers and put all the power into his own hands. I just didn't expect that when my eldest son, Hongshi, was blocking himself every day.
So Yongzheng was angry and passed on Hongshi to his political enemies. This moment can frighten Hongshi, but the emperor's words are out of the word, and the horse is difficult to chase, and Hongshi has no room to turn around. The feelings between people are mutual, in fact, Hiroshi knew very early on that Yongzheng did not want to see him. Although he had the identity of the eldest son of the emperor, it was difficult to guarantee that Yongzheng would pass the throne to whom.
Hongshi also interceded with Yongzheng in order to have more people to support him. Hoping to pull his eighth uncle into his own camp, he did not expect to make Yongzheng unhappy. In addition, before that, Hongshi's performance had been unsatisfactory, and Yongzheng gave Hongshi a big punishment.
And this punishment not only made Hiroshi lose the opportunity to inherit the throne. Even the status of imperial heir was lost. Yongzheng first passed on Hongshi to the Eight Princes, and after that, he stripped the Eight Princes of their royal status, and did the same with Hongshi.
Hiroshi was originally an arrogant and personality prince, and there was still no small chance of inheriting the throne. As a result, I did not expect that all of a sudden, my identity was very different, and I fell into the quagmire. Less than a year after that, Hiroshi died of anger and depression. Of course, there are other accounts in history about the cause of Hiroshi's death.
Another theory is that Yongzheng executed Hiroshi before he died. Because in Yongzheng's heart, Hongshi not only has a bad personality, but also has a narrow mind. Therefore, Yongzheng was very worried that after his death, Hongshi would resent the future emperor because of all the previous resentments. Therefore, Yongzheng did not do two things and gave Hiroshi death.
But in any case, Hongshi is also Yongzheng's biological son, and Yongzheng is not completely unhappy. Yongzheng can also be regarded as the emperor of Wen Taowuluo. But in the historical data about him, there is such a stain, that is, he personally ordered the execution of his son. Because of this, Yongzheng was criticized.
But Yongzheng also did this in order to clear the way for the next emperor and to make the country's political situation more stable. After this, Qianlong, who came to the throne, indeed stayed in the position of emperor for 60 years, becoming the longest-ruling emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
Because ancient China was mainly a feudal society, it was different from democracy and civilization under the modern system. So, there were certain things that happened in ancient China that seemed incomprehensible to the present. Especially in the royal family, there are always things that challenge morality, such as father-son cannibalism. Yongzheng was like this when he was Hiroshi.
In fact, as a prince, Hiroshi has a better choice. That is, not to argue, not to grab, to live your life in peace and stability. However, he still had greed for the throne, and after this motive, he went to win over Yongzheng's political enemies. After this, I completely lost my chance. Hiroshi was not an open-minded person, and after that, he got angry every day and killed himself.