"Prince Rucheng's talent is very useful, and his heart has to be discarded, so that forty years of brotherhood is clear, and it is still difficult to use it."
As Yongzheng said, Yin Zhi the Prince of Cheng was talented among Kangxi's many sons, but his heart was never with Yongzheng, so he was abandoned. At Yin Xiang's funeral, Yin Zhi's performance was of a disaster level, and eventually caused disaster, ending up with a fate of being imprisoned to death.
1. Both culture and martial arts
In March of the sixteenth year of The Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Zhi was born in the Forbidden City, before that, Kangxi already had nine sons, but seven died prematurely, and in order, Yin Zhi became the third son of the emperor.
Yin Zhi's mother was One of the four concubines of the Kangxi Dynasty, The Rong Concubine Ma Jia, who was a very favored one in the Kangxi Dynasty. The Ma Jia clan came from the Manchurian Zhenghuang Banner, and the Yongzheng Qiju Notes once recorded: "After marsai was the old one, the minister of the pillar of the state was also a relative of the mother party of Yun Zhi. ”
Judging from this record, Ma Jia's origin is very unusual, after Xun Gui, there was a cousin named Tu Hai, who led troops to quell the Bourni rebellion, and later paid tribute to the General Fu Yuan to quell the rebellion of Wu Sangui, and was enfeoffed as a first-class duke and incorporated into the Xiangtai Temple.
Ma Jia was extremely favored in the early years of Kangxi, and five of Kangxi's first ten sons were born to Ma Jia, including the third son of the emperor, Yin Zhi,the favorite of the Ma Jia clan. In the twentieth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, the Kangxi Grand Seal of the Harem, Ma Jiashi was promoted to the title of Rong Concubine, at the end of the Fourth Concubine (Hui Yi DeRong).
As we mentioned earlier, Kangxi's eldest son Yin Zhen was a brother who was both literate and martial, and compared with Yin Zhen, the third son of the Emperor, Yin Zhi, seemed to be superior.
Needless to say, Yin Zhi, who is known for his calligraphy, was ordered to preside over the compilation of two large-scale books, "The Origin of the Law Calendar" and "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books". In terms of martial arts, Yin Zhi was also not to mention more, when he was 15 years old, Yin Zhi accompanied his father Kangxi out of the Sai Wei, during which Yin Zhi and his father Kangxi, who had always been known for riding and shooting, had a test, and it was even not up or down, which showed the excellence of this prince.
2. Storm of conquest
As we all know, Kangxi's second son Yin Rong was only two years old when he was crown prince, the name has been determined, although Yin Zhi is excellent, but he has established a cognition from an early age, his second brother Yin Rong will become the future Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, therefore, Yin Rong has a good relationship with the crown prince Yin Rong from an early age.
In the 29th year of Kangxi, Kangxi went out for the first time to attack Dzungar, and the 13-year-old Yin Zhi went with his second brother Yin Rong to visit his sick father Kangxi at the Gulu Fuer Jian jia hunga mountain palace. However, this time, Yin Rong had no intention of grieving, which disappointed Kangxi greatly, and then Kangxi drove the crown princes Yin Rong and Yin Zhi back to the Capital Division.
In the thirty-fifth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi again personally conquered the Dzungars, and the 19-year-old Yin Zhi was ordered to take charge of the red flag camp and began to emerge. Two years later, Kangxi was crowned on a large scale for the first time, and the 21-year-old Yin Zhi was made the King of Duoluocheng County, and the eldest brother Yin Zhen became the only second son of Kangxi to be crowned king.
In September of the 47th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi suddenly ordered the deposing of the crown prince Yin Rong and handed over to the custody of the emperor's eldest son, Yin Zhen.
Although Yin Zhi had always been friendly with the crown prince, Kangxi did not punish him: "Although Yin Zhi and Yin Rong had a good relationship in the past, they did not encourage Yin Rong to be evil, so they did not blame him. ”
Subsequently, the eldest brother Yinzhen, who had a non-divided idea of the throne, actually asked his father Kangxi to kill the crown prince Yinrong, saying: "If you want to punish Yinrong now, you don't have to come from the hands of the emperor' father." In the face of Yin Zhen's request, Kangxi was horrified, and he realized that the princes already had the intention of taking the concubine, so he reprimanded Yin Zhen, saying that he was "anxious and stupid, how can he be made crown prince?" ”
In the face of the attack of the eldest brother, Yin Zhi began to stand up for the crown prince Yin, saying that the eldest brother Yin Zhen had previously done evil things to the prince Yin Rong, and Kangxi knew that Hou Long Yan was furious and directly called Yin Zhen a "chaotic thief". Subsequently, Kangxi ordered that the title of Grand Elder Brother Yinzhen be removed and imprisoned within the high walls, and the political career of the Great Elder Brother Yinzhen came to an end.
3. GeJue is imprisoned
In the forty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Rong was restored to the position of crown prince. In order to restrain the crown prince, Kangxi also divided the titles of his sons, and Yin Zhi and his two younger brothers Yin Chan and Yin Qi were made princes, called the Prince of Cheng.
However, what Kangxi did not expect was that Kangxi's arrangements actually led to more intense struggles between the princes, and three years later, Crown Prince Yinrong's attempt to seize power was deposed by his father Kangxi for the second time. This time, don't say Yin Zhi, even the Heavenly King Lao Tzu could not save Yin Rong, and Yin Rong's political career was also declared over, and he was imprisoned.
In the later years of the Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Zhi focused on the cultivation of books, and successively presided over the compilation of two books, "The Origin of the Vinaya Calendar" and "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books", in addition, Yin Zhi was also ordered to participate in some sacrifice activities.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he was also quite jealous of his eldest brother Yin Zhi, because Yin Zhi had a good relationship with the crown prince Yin Rong, so he ordered Yin Zhi to be sent to Jingling and asked him to guard the tomb for his father Kangxi. Who knew that in the sixth year of Yongzheng, Yin Zhi actually asked Su Keji for a bribe, and Yongzheng ordered that Yin Zhi be demoted to the position of king of the county, and Yin Zhi's son Hongsheng was imprisoned in the Zongren Mansion.
In addition, it seems that this Yin Zhi has not had a good relationship with Yin Xiang, the Prince of Yi.
For example, in the thirty-eighth year of Kangxi, Yin Xiang's mother Concubine Min died, and the 100-day mourning period had not passed, and Yin Zhi actually shaved his hair privately, and Kangxi was very upset after he knew it, so he demoted Yin Xiang to Baylor.
In May of the eighth year of Yongzheng, Yin Xiang the Prince of Yi died, but Yin Zhi, who had just been promoted to prince, did not arrive for a long time, and then Yin Zhi did not show sadness at the funeral, which was remembered by Yong Zheng.
Who is Yin Xiang? He is the brother who has the best relationship with Yongzheng, and disrespecting Yin Xiang is equivalent to disrespecting Yongzheng, from this time on, in fact, Yin Zhi's end is already doomed, and he is dead.
Sure enough, Yin Zhi's behavior caused some resentment, and Prince Zhuang Yunlu was a wise man, and he wrote to the Yongzheng Emperor to request that Yin Zhi be punished. Yongzheng ordered that Yin Zhi be removed from his title and that Yin Zhi and his family be imprisoned in the Yong'an Pavilion in Jingshan. Two years later, in May of the tenth leap year of Yongzheng, Yin Zhi died in the yushou at the age of 55.
Only two months later, Yin Zhi's son Hongsheng also died at the age of 35.
4. Wives and concubines and children
Yin Zhi had a total of 11 wives and concubines, and The Dong E clan of The Fu Jin dynasty was the fifth granddaughter of the founding father He Heli and the daughter of Yongqin Gong Pengchun. The consort Fujin of the Ninth Brother Yinyu also has the surname Dong E, and is related to the sisters of the same clan as the Yinzhi Fujin, that is to say, Yinzhi and Yinyu are not only brothers, but also brothers-in-law.
In addition, from the thirty-fifth year of Kangxi to the eighth year of Yongzheng, Yin Zhi's wives and concubines gave birth to twelve sons and six daughters, a total of 18 children, which shows that these sons of Kangxi have fully inherited the exuberant fertility of their father Kangxi, and the children are quite abundant, in contrast, Yongzheng, who inherited the throne, is much inferior.
Zichen said:
The third son of the Emperor, Yin Zhi, was a direct participant in the struggle of the sons of the Kangxi Dynasty to seize the throne, and although he was attached to The Crown Prince Yin in his early years, after Yin Rong was deposed, would he not have ideas about the throne?
Don't forget, the eldest brother Yin Zhen and the deposed prince Yin Rong were successively imprisoned, Yin Zhi became the de facto eldest son, in terms of age, he has an advantage, plus Yin Zhi was originally a quite talented prince, which naturally caused Yongzheng's jealousy, and this prince somehow had a disagreement with Yin Xiang, how could he escape Yongzheng's punishment.
Sometimes, we must deal with interpersonal relationships well, who should make friends, who should not make friends, and we must grasp the measure, otherwise, we may cause disasters to ourselves.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Genealogy of Ai Xin Jue Luo