The achievements of the Yongzheng Emperor in governing the country are very outstanding, and the process of Yongzheng ascending to the throne is very tortuous, which can be summarized as the nine sons seizing the concubine, the story of the nine sons seizing the concubine is widely spread in the human world, and due to the fire of many Qing palace dramas in the past few years. People probably know that the harem princes are fiercely competing for the throne, and the brothers kill each other. The Yongzheng Emperor is also the male protagonist in many TV series.
The emperors of each dynasty ascended the throne, and there were many sacrifices of life behind them. It's just that the Yongzheng Emperor's competition for the throne is even greater, and there are more than a dozen brothers competing, including the Eight Masters Party and the Four Masters Party. Yongzheng was a meticulous and fierce-hearted person, after the Yongzheng Emperor took the throne, he once competed with him for the throne and other brothers, how did a total of 19 princes end up?
First, the struggle for power before ascending the throne
Emperors in our impression are all murderous without blinking an eye, without paying any attention to righteousness, as long as there is a threat to their rule, whether it is a former confidant minister or a concubine who sleeps next to him every night, he will shoot and kill.
The image of the Yongzheng Emperor in many film and television dramas is also the same. "Step by Step" also tells the story of the nine sons and sisters, and the plot of this film and television drama in terms of politics is relatively close to the facts.
There was also an emperor's eldest son, because he was Shu Chu, who had no hope of seizing the throne, deliberately framed the crown prince, and after being known by the Kangxi Emperor, Kangxi imprisoned him to death in a fit of anger.
The crown prince was the second prince, because the Kangxi Emperor had reigned for a long time, and the crown prince had been in the position of prince for more than thirty years, so the second prince was anxious to ascend to the throne, and even wanted to harm the emperor. When Kangxi found out, he was particularly disgusted by this character of rushing for quick success and short-term gains, and disregarding everything for the sake of power, so he deposed the prince.
Later, the prince sincerely repented and was reinstated as his crown prince. It was only after the crown prince was reinstated that he made the same mistake, and Kangxi was completely disappointed in him and deposed his position as crown prince.
After the crown prince was deposed, the nine sons began to take the concubine, and Kangxi was also afraid that the emperors would compete too fiercely for the throne, so he never announced his choice. Kangxi was afraid that he would say in advance that he and the elected prince would be targeted and that his safety would not be guaranteed, so the emperor did not pass down the edict until his death, passing the throne to the four princes.
The succession was highly controversial, and none of the rivals of the four princes recognized that passing the throne to the fourth master was Kangxi's true will. Before Kangxi's death, the palace was surrounded by soldiers and generals arranged by the four princes, so even if this edict did not write about passing the throne to the four princes, the four princes also had plans to use the army, and the competition for the throne was inevitable.
Although the last edict was written to pass the throne to the four princes, the Eight Masters party speculated that Kangxi originally intended to write the fourteen princes on the edict, and as a result, he was moved, changing the word "ten" to the word "Yu" and becoming the fourth prince, which was indeed possible. The fourth prince is very ruthless and very capable of doing great things, and he can do anything in order to compete for the throne.
Second, treat former opponents with a fierce heart
The crown prince married the sister of the general Nian Qianyao, and after the death of Kangxi, the fourth prince sent Nian Qianyao to lead his generals to surround the palace and avoid riots and seize the throne. Therefore, even if the other princes were very skeptical about the ascension of the four princes, there was no way, and the four princes first passed the first hurdle and successfully ascended to the throne.
Because it was the Ninth Son who took the concubine, the princes were mainly divided into the Four Masters Party and the Eight Masters Party, and after the Four Princes ascended the throne, they were actually not stable, and he was also afraid that other princes would unite to rebel, and he might not have the strength to stabilize the imperial court.
After he ascended the throne, the next thing he had to do was to stabilize his politics, and after the politics was stabilized, the Eight Masters began to suffer.
The eldest rival of the four princes, the eighth prince, after Yongzheng ascended the throne, he was still unwilling and hoped to overthrow the fourth brother and ascend the throne himself. The fourth prince naturally did not like these actions of his, after his political stability, the eighth prince was cut by Yongzheng, and renamed the eighth prince "dog" in Manchu, imprisoning the eighth prince, and the eighth prince died after being imprisoned for several years.
The Eight Masters also had nine princes, ten princes, and fourteen princes. Both the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Prince were imprisoned by Yongzheng, and the Ninth Prince died in prison. The Tenth Prince knew that the Qianlong Emperor had only been released after he ascended the throne. The Tenth Prince suffered an injury in prison and died not long after being released.
The fourteenth prince was the brother of Yongzheng's half-father and mother. It's just that the fourth prince has a gloomy personality from childhood, not liked by the emperor and his birth mother, and the fourteenth prince has also gotten along more with the better-looking eight princes since childhood, and the fourteenth prince is also a member of the eight masters' party.
Hindered by the love of his brothers, Yongzheng Ye was inconvenient to directly punish the fourteenth prince too severely, otherwise he would be criticized for being ruthless and ruthless, and he could be so cruel to his brothers who were half father and mother. So Yongzheng sent the fourteenth prince to guard the Yellow Tomb, keep him away from the political center, and let him have a way to live. It also made him impossible to rebel in this life.
Third, give preferential treatment to your true brother
Yongzheng's only good brother in the process of fighting for the throne, the thirteenth prince, because during the reign of Kangxi, he bowed down for the fourth prince, and was imprisoned by the Kangxi Emperor for a period of time, and also left a sick root. After the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, he was very kind to the thirteenth prince, but the thirteenth prince was not blessed with these blessings because of his illness, and he died very early.
The other princes, who did not participate in the struggle for the throne, only one of the three princes, who took bribes after Yongzheng ascended the throne, was imprisoned by the Yongzheng Emperor until his death. The nine sons and wives were really the story of these nine princes, and the other princes had not done anything to harm The interests of Yongzheng, and there was no need for Yongzheng to kill them all.
Yongzheng was mainly very cruel to his political enemies, leaving no way back, treating the other ten princes who were not involved in the struggle for the throne, And Yongzheng did not specially deal with them, which was the treatment of a normal prince. Otherwise, if you treat the prince who has no grudges and deals with him fiercely, the people around Yongzheng will also be very afraid of him, who would dare to be Yongzheng's courtiers.
4. Summary
The ancient hierarchy was strict, in order to obtain the highest power, even the prince had to pay a lot for it, and once involved in this power struggle, either you die or I die, it is difficult to retreat. Therefore, after participating in this fierce struggle, we must be prepared to accept defeat. Before the new emperor ascended the throne, the princes fought openly and secretly, and the eldest prince, the second prince, that is, the prince, and the third prince were dealt with because they were impatient in other countries, and the emperor saw their ambitions.
Yongzheng fought to the end with his wisdom and successfully ascended to the throne, showing no mercy to his former rivals, the Eight Masters, who were either imprisoned or sent to the frontier. To his brother who had helped him, the fourth prince also knew how to repay the favor, and was very good to the thirteenth prince. The other princes did not threaten, and the four princes also normally made them princes.
If any one of the Eight Masters ascended the throne, the fate of the four princes would not be good. It's like an animal world, where natural selection, the law of the jungle, only the interpretation of these stories has become a living person, which makes people shudder.