In the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong, when Qianlong met with the British emissary Ma Garni, he once said a passage: "At that time, the five sons of the Emperor were more valuable among the sons, and the Things such as Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, Horse Steps, Riding Archery, and Algorithms were all skillful, which was quite intentional with the other, and showed the words, and died of illness." ”
In this passage, the fifth son of the emperor mentioned by Qianlong is the fifth brother Yongqi that we are familiar with, and it is true that Yongqi is indeed a prince who is both literate and martial. Moreover, Yongqi had also saved Qianlong's life in the fire of the Qingyan Hall in Jiuzhou, the Yuanmingyuan in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, and it was a matter of course that Qianlong was "willing", but from some historical facts, Qianlong seemed to have lied.
First of all, Yongqi's birth mother was the Yue Guifei Kerryeet clan, and the Kerryeite clan was most likely a clothed woman from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it was the kind that was punished for a crime, and yongzheng came to qianlong, who was still a prince, to serve, and only then did she have the honor of jumping into the court and becoming the imperial concubine of the Qing Dynasty.
Although the Kerryet clan gave birth to the fifth brother Yongqi in the sixth year of Qianlong, since Qianlong was promoted to the title of Princess Yu in the tenth year until Qianlong's death in the 57th year, in these forty years, the position of the Kerryet clan did not change in any way, which shows that the Kerryet clan was unfavored for most of his career in the harem. If you want to ask, if you are not born well and are not favored, how could Qianlong let her son inherit the throne?
Secondly, in July of the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, Prince Yunyu of Qianlong died, and Qianlong ordered prince Hongzhi and the fifth brother Yongqi to wear filial piety. Speaking of this, the Qing Dynasty had an unwritten convention, under normal circumstances, the crown prince would not give filial piety to a certain prince or concubine, so at least in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong, Yongqi was no longer the candidate for the crown prince in Qianlong's heart.
Moreover, according to the data, a month before Yongqi's death, a person outside the gate of LaifuYuan had shaved his head, and qianlong was furious when he found out, and severely punished the general manager and Yongqi's zhida, combined with the fact that Yongqi was already seriously ill at that time, Qianlong obviously did not give this son who had saved himself a little thin noodles.
Finally, yongqi's burial place after his death was also somewhat inappropriate.
In March of the 31st year of Qianlong, Yongqi died of bone gangrene at the age of 25, and soon after, Qianlong ordered Yongqi to be buried in the Prince's Mausoleum. In this cemetery, there are also buried the emperor's eldest son Yong Huang and the emperor's third son Yong Zhang, both of whom were reprimanded and punished by Qianlong. Unexpectedly, Qianlong did not give Yongqi a single independent stele, but directly engraved the inscription on the back of the tombstone of the emperor's eldest son Yong Huang, and the two princes shared a tombstone, and Qianlong finally lived a life.
What is even more unexpected is that the tomb where Yong qi was buried was not originally prepared for him, but for Fujin (daughter of Princess Gulun and Jing, that is, Qianlong's granddaughter) who was yonghuang's son Miande, that is, Yongqi was eventually buried in the tomb of his niece and daughter-in-law, which is obviously not the treatment that a prince should treat.
Judging from these several things, Yongqi does not seem to be the candidate for the crown prince in Qianlong's heart, and as for how much weight Yongqi has in his father Qianlong's heart, I believe only Qianlong himself knows.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Miscellaneous Records of Xiaoting, Chronicle of Miyun County