The Iron Hat King is definitely the title that all the princes of the Qing Dynasty most want to get, because the title of the Qing Dynasty is to be demoted in the next generation. For example, if you are a prince, then under normal circumstances, the next generation who inherits your title can only be the king of the county, unless he himself has made a great contribution.
But the Iron Hat King is different, this thing is a golden oil, you are the Iron Hat King, then your generations of descendants can inherit the title of the Iron Hat King, this is the hereditary replacement, never demotion of the special treatment.
Therefore, I don't know how many princes, after they can't win the throne, they want to fight for an iron hat king. However, it is a pity that in the entire Qing Dynasty, there are only 12 iron hat kings. Eight of them were canonized at the founding of the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, in peacetime, if you want to obtain the title of Iron Hat King, you either have a good relationship with the emperor, such as Yin Xiang, the Prince of Yi, or you have made great merits, such as Prince Gong Yi.
Who are the 12 Iron Hat Kings?
1. 8 iron hat kings in the early Qing Dynasty.
When the Qing Dynasty first started to build a country and start a business, it was natural that it was time to make the most military achievements, so the chance of being able to obtain the Iron Hat King was even greater.
In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the four most famous iron hat kings were Daishan the Prince of Li, Dolgun the Prince of Rui, Duoduo the Prince of Yu, and Hauge the Prince of Su.
Among them, Daishan, Dolgun, and Duoduo, all sons of Nurhaci, were the brothers of Emperor Taiji, the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Hauge, on the other hand, was the eldest son of Emperor Taiji.
In addition, in the early Qing Dynasty, there were four iron hat kings, namely Zilharang the Prince of Zheng, Shuosai the Prince of Zhuang, Yue Tuo the King of Keqin County, and Leke Dehun the King of Shuncheng County.
Among them, Zilharang the Prince of Zheng was the sixth son of Nurhaci's younger brother Shulhaqi, and he was the only iron hat king of the non-Nurhaci clan. Shuo Sai was the fifth son of Emperor Taiji.
As for Yue Tuo and Lek Dehun, it is more special, Yue Tuo is the son of DaiShan, and Le Ke Dehun is the grandson of Dai Shan, so that Dai Shan, the big son, has produced 3 iron hat kings.
The above 8 are the early years of the Qing Dynasty, when they started their own business, the 8 iron hat kings who obtained knighthoods through military merit, except for those who have no descendants, have always had the qualification of hereditary replacement.
2. The 4 Iron Hat Kings in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.
The above 8 Iron Hat Kings are the people that the future princes hope to become. But how easy is it? Because without war, there is no chance of meritorious service. Since the Yongzheng period, in fact, the Qing Dynasty has had very few wars. There are only local wars, which are completely incomparable with the opening of national industries.
So in the next two hundred years, only 4 iron hat kings were born,
They were Yin Xiang the Prince of Yi, Yi Bi the Prince of Gong, Yi Zhen the Prince of Alcohol, and Yi Li the Prince of Qing.
Yin Xiang, the Prince of Yi, is the protagonist we mentioned, he is the thirteenth prince of Kangxi and the most important younger brother of the Yongzheng Emperor. Because he helped Yongzheng to seize the throne and helpEd Yongzheng govern the world, he received the title of King of the Iron Hat.
Prince Gong was the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor and the younger brother of the Xianfeng Emperor. The Seventh Son of the Daoguang Emperor, Yizhen the Prince of Alcohol married Cixi's sister and gave birth to the Guangxu Emperor. After Guangxu ascended the throne, he also became the Iron Hat King.
Prince Yi of Qing was the grandson of Qianlong's seventeenth son, YongXuan, who was made the Prince of Qingjun in the tenth year of Guangxu and the Prince of Qing on the sixtieth birthday of Cixi. After Cixi's death, the regent Zaifeng, in order to win over the support of the clan, gave Prince Qing the title of hereditary iron hat king.
2. The title of Prince Yi was passed to the sixth generation and was revoked for 3 years.
Yin Xiang, the Prince of Yi, was the first of the last 4 Iron Hat Kings to be crowned hereditary prince. It can also be said that it is precisely because Yongzheng made an exception to Yin Xiang that the future Emperors of the Qing Dynasty will wantonly reward the next 3 Iron Hat Kings.
The last 3 of them are stained with Yin Xiang's light. As early as when Yongzheng was not yet emperor, Yin Xiang had the best relationship with him. The two played from childhood to adulthood, read books together, bent their bows and hunted together, and later worked together to handle government affairs.
When it was time to take the concubine, Yin Xiang expressed full support for Yongzheng, and even went so far as to be imprisoned by Kangxi for more than 1 year. After Yongzheng came to power, he naturally wanted to repay this younger brother.
Yongzheng not only gave Yin Xiang the title of Iron Hat King, but also put Yin Xiang in charge of various administrative affairs, which was completely the treatment of the prime minister of the country, but unfortunately Yin Xiang died at the age of 44.
After Yin Xiang's death, his son Hongxiao succeeded to the title of Prince of Yi. Forty-three years after Qianlong, Hongxiao died, and his son Yonglang inherited the title of Prince of Yi, the third prince of Yi.
Yonglang's grandson Yixun inherited the title of Prince Yi and became the fourth Prince yi. Yi Xun died in the fifth year of Daoguang, and his son Zaiyuan became the fifth Prince of Yi. The problem is Zaiyuan.
Because before the death of the Xianfeng Emperor, Zaiyuan was appointed as one of the eight ministers of Gu Ming, although he was not the boss, but he was also a high power. At that time, Cixi and Yi Bi were plotting to seize power and launched a coup d'état by Xin You.
After this coup, Su Shun, the eldest of the eight ministers of Gu Ming, was dragged out and slaughtered, and Zaiyuan could not avoid disaster, because Cixi revoked Zaiyuan's identity as the Iron Hat King, and Cixi directly let him commit suicide.
Therefore, at this time, the descendants of Zaiyuan were not eligible to inherit the title of Prince Yi.
Three years later, that is, three years after Tongzhi, Cixi saw that the political situation was stable, and in order to appease people's hearts, he restored the hereditary title of Prince Yi, but let Zaiyuan's brother Zaidun inherit the title, which had nothing to do with zaiyuan' branch.
After that, the title of Prince Yi was passed down again until the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the last Prince yi was Zai Dun's grandson Yu Qi, who was already Puyi's nephew.
Summary: Where there is any hereditary replacement, it is just a matter of doing things.
The emperor of the Qing Dynasty wanted to tell these princes and grandchildren that although there was only one throne, the Iron Hat King could have several. As long as you keep to yourself and make meritorious achievements, you can naturally be crowned the King of the Iron Hat.
However, this iron hat king was actually not so iron in the late Qing Dynasty. Because of Cixi's words, the Iron Hat King family suffered bad luck. In fact, from the generation of Zaiyuan, Prince Yi's vein was broken.
Later, he found other people from other branches to inherit, purely in order to buy people's hearts. Therefore, it is very good for contemporary people to do a good job of contemporary people, and future generations have their own descendants.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty