"In the world of peace, you must not pay this person!" On September 30, 51, Kangxi, who had returned to Beijing from a tour, declared to the princes that he had ordered the second depose of Crown Prince Yin, and Yin's political career was completely ended, after which he would spend the rest of his life at Xian'an Palace.
1. Heaven descends on Takako
On the third day of May in the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Rong was born at the Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City.
Shortly after Yin Rong's birth, his mother, Empress Xiaochengren, died of difficult childbirth, and Yin Rong was not the first son born to Empress Xiaochengren. Previously, Empress Xiaochengren gave birth to her eldest son, Chenghu, but unfortunately, this little brother only lived for two years before dying, so Yin Rong became the de facto eldest son of Kangxi, with the second brother.
The death of the empress made Kangxi grief-stricken, and Empress Xiaochengren was Kangxi's wife, and the two had a very deep affection, but now they are separated by yin and yang. Therefore, Kangxi transferred his feelings for Empress Xiaochengren to the eldest son, and after only a year, he declared Yinrong the crown prince, the first prince of the Qing Dynasty and the only prince to be publicly appointed.
The author believes that the main reason why Kangxi made Yin Rong as the crown prince was not because of his feelings for the empress, but because he intended to change the system of reserves since the founding of the country.
During the Nurhaci and Emperor Taiji periods, the system of electing princes and nobles was implemented, although this system could elect a convincing and respected heir, but the drawbacks were also very obvious, and it was easy to produce internal tilts when the throne changed.
For example, when Emperor Taiji succeeded to the Khan's throne, including the later Shunzhi succession, Manchuria was on the verge of splitting. After Shunzhi's death, if it were not for Xiaozhuang's support, plus Shunzhi had fewer sons, Kangxi's succession to the throne would not be such a simple thing.
Kangxi's establishment of the crown prince system is a negation of the system of electing princes and nobles, and it is an inevitable trend of power concentration. However, what Kangxi did not expect was that the shortcomings of the crown prince system were also very large, which would not only cause contradictions between the emperor and the prince, but also aggravate the struggle between the princes.
On the third day of June in the fourteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Yin Rong, who had just turned one year old, was officially made crown prince:
"Heavenly Ancestors, born concubines, have reached the second age. The Emperor and Empress Dowager Are honored to be ordered to establish the Grand Ceremony of the Crown Princess and the Empress Dowager, which should be held immediately. Now he is crown prince with his concubine Yin Rong. Erbu scrutinized the ceremony and chose the auspicious period to play. ”
Sometimes, the more you cherish something, the easier it is to lose it.
When Yin Rong was four years old, he actually contracted smallpox, which was an incurable disease at that time, and watching Empress Xiaochengren's only bloodline become seriously ill, even during the critical period of quelling the Rebellion of San Francisco, Kangxi still put down his political affairs and guarded the side of Prince Yin rong for 12 consecutive days until Yin Rong was cured.
Seeing that his son's life had been saved, Kangxi was very happy and deliberately sacrificed the Taimiao Temple and Sheji. At the same time, Kangxi was convinced that Yin Rong, who would not die in great difficulty, would be the ideal heir he had chosen.
2. Prince Ren weak
From the moment of birth, Yin Rong was the focus of attention of the whole palace, and after he was made crown prince, people regarded him as a treasure, especially Kangxi himself, who personally took care of this son from the birth of Yin Rong, which can be said to be meticulous.
As Yin Rong grew up, Kangxi began to focus on cultivating this heir, and found several great Confucian teachers for Yin Rong, including Tang Bin, Geng Jie and others. Under the cultivation of these famous scholars, Yin Rong gradually became a quite talented prince.
In some film and television dramas, Yin Rong is deliberately portrayed as a cowardly and incompetent person, which is accurate.
First of all, Yin Rong is indeed talented.
When Kangxi went out on patrol, he often ordered Yin Rong to supervise the country and handle government affairs, and Yin Rong successfully completed the tasks given by his father, not as described in the film and television dramas.
A missionary named Bai Jin once said of Yin Rong:
It can be said that the 23-year-old crown prince at this moment, his handsome and upright appearance is the most perfect among the royal families of the same age in the Beijing court. He was a perfect crown prince, so much so that there was no one in the imperial family, not a single person in the court who did not praise him, believing that one day, like his father, he would become one of the greatest emperors of the Chinese Empire ever before. ”
Although Bai Jin's evaluation was inevitably praised, if Yin Rong was not a talented prince, Bai Jin would not say such a thing.
Secondly, Yin Rong is somewhat benevolent.
The "Chronicle of the Qing Dynasty" records: "Yin Rong was in the position of the reserve, and the Holy Ancestor personally conquered the Dzungars, and Yin Rong was ordered to supervise the country, and for the sake of sexual benevolence, he was lenient in government affairs." "The prince is benevolent and weak, easy to be ruthless, and unpretentious."
It can be seen that Yin Rong deliberately imitated his father Kangxi in governing the country, was lenient in government, and was too spontaneous in personality, that is, he had no intentions. To tell the truth, from the perspective of "benevolence and weakness and willfulness", Yin Rong is not a qualified heir. His character, too, was destined to be that he would not be a rival to Kangxi's other sons.
3. Cut off the wings
In the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi, Kangxi's first western expedition to Dzungar, on the way to the disease, the crown prince Yin Rong and the third brother Yin Zhi went to the palace to visit their father. Who knew that Yin Rong did not have the slightest sense of worry and sadness, was this still the prince he had cultivated for 16 years?
This incident was deeply imprinted in Kangxi's mind and became a mustard that Kangxi could never forget. Seeing that Yin Rong was like this, Kangxi let the two brothers return to the Capital Division, and perhaps it was at this time that Kangxi began to re-examine the heir he had chosen.
In the 37th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, after the three conquests of Gardan were victorious, Kangxi divided the titles of his sons, and the emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen and the emperor's third son Yin Zhi were made the king of the county, and Yin Chan, Yin Qi, Yin You, and Yin Yu were given the titles of Baylor.
In addition, Kangxi also assigned these sons to the leaders and let them participate in government affairs. The power in his hands is bound to aggravate the contradiction between the prince and the princes, Kangxi's move, indeed biased, but in order to make other sons become talents, Kangxi must not do it, hey, Kangxi is also very bitter in his heart!
In the forty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi imprisoned the university scholar Suo Etu, calling him "discussing state affairs and forming a party to act arbitrarily", and regarded him as "the first sinner of this dynasty".
In fact, Kangxi's move was to warn the crown prince YinRong, who was the uncle of Yin's biological mother, Empress Xiaochengren, that is, Yin's uncle and grandfather, who could be called Yin's right and left arm. In addition to Suo Etu, Kangxi believed that the prince would have many rules after that, because in Kangxi's view, it was Suo Etu who taught the prince to spoil.
4. First dethronement
However, the matter of Soetu did not sound the alarm bell for Yin Rong, and the enmity between him and his brothers had already been sown, and he would not be able to put an end to it.
In May of the 47th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi led the princes out of the siege, accompanied by the Crown Prince Yin, the Emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen, the Emperor's thirteenth son Yin Xiang, the Emperor's fourteenth son Yin Zhen (zheng), the Emperor's fifteenth son Yin Zhen (wu), the Sixteenth Son Yin Lu, the Seventeenth Son Yin Li and the Eighteenth Emperor Yin Zhen.
The eighteenth son of the Emperor, Yin Yuan, was the younger son born to Kangxi by Concubine Shunyi, who was only eight years old at the time, and Kangxi was very fond of this son. However, Yin Gong was seriously ill on the way. However, as the crown prince, Yin Rong did not have the slightest bit of fraternity, which disappointed Kangxi again, which reminded Kangxi of 18 years ago, when the crown prince Yin Rong went to visit himself in the palace, and there was no worry at all.
At this time, the eldest brother YinZhen appeared on the scene.
Yin Yu reported to his father Kangxi many of the bad deeds of the crown prince Yin Rong, such as tyranny and inhumanity, wanton tarting at many princes, privately intercepting Mongolian tribute, and conniving at the extortion of Ling Pu, the head of the internal affairs office of her mother's husband.
At this time, Kangxi began to realize the seriousness of the problem, if Yin Rong's previous performance was only no filial piety. Then, these few events fully exposed Yin Rong's offside behavior, and Kangxi severely reprimanded Yin Rong, who knew that Yin Rong had arbitrarily confronted his father Kangxi.
What made Kangxi even more chilling was another thing.
On the way back to Jingshi, Yin Rong peeked into Kangxi's tent many nights, and Kangxi had to worry about his own life. To this end, Kangxi finally ordered the depose of Crown Prince Yinrong in September of the 47th year of Kangxi.
5. Deposed again
After Yin Rong was deposed, the other sons of Kangxi realized that their opportunity had come, especially the eldest son of the Emperor, Yin Zhen. At the crucial moment, the eldest son of the Emperor actually said, "If you want to curse yin and punish you now, you don't have to come from the hands of the emperor's father." ”
In this regard, Kangxi Longyan was furious and severely criticized Yin Zhen.
Seeing that he had no hope of seizing Chu, Yin Yu actually recommended the eighth son of the Emperor, Yin Yu, which made Kangxi begin to be alert to Yin Yu and realize that his sons had already formed a party.
At this time, the third son of the emperor, Yin Zhi, stood up and said that Yin Zhen had done something to the crown prince, which made Kangxi very shocked, and ordered the removal of the title of the emperor's eldest son Yin Zhen and confined himself to a high wall.
At the same time, Kangxi realized that the sons' struggle for the throne was already very serious, and someone needed to stand up and stabilize the situation, and the best candidate was Still Yin. Of course, Kangxi was also to give his son Yin Rong one last chance, after all, he was the eldest son born to the original Empress Xiaochengren.
In the first month of the 48th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, only three months after Yin Rong was deposed, he was again made crown prince. However, what people did not expect was that Yin Rong still went his own way, and even stepped up planning to seize power.
Among the ministers whom Yin Rong befriended, there was one named Toheqi.
Toheqi was the elder brother of Concubine Ding of the Kangxi Harem, the uncle of the emperor's twelfth son, Yin Qi, and of course, the eldest brother-in-law of Kangxi, so he was quite valued by Kangxi. From the forty-first year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Toheqi was appointed to lead the post of commander of the infantry, which was known as the Admiral of the Nine Gates, which was a key position, in charge of the safety of the Nine Gates of the capital, so that non-emperor's cronies could not get this position.
Unexpectedly, at a banquet in the fifty years of Kangxi, Toheqi actually said good things for Crown Prince Yinrong in public. When Kangxi learned of this, he immediately ordered to be sent to prison, and a year later, when Toheqi died in prison, Kangxi ordered that the body be ashes and not be buried.
The prince's purpose in making friends with Tuoheqi was obvious, and he was preparing for the seizure of power, after all, Toheqi was the commander of the infantry and was in charge of the security of the guards of the Beijing Division. Kangxi realized that his ancestors had inherited the inheritance and could not entrust him with it. In September of the 51st year of the Kangxi Dynasty, Kangxi ordered that the crown prince YinRong be deposed again and imprisoned in the Xian'an Palace, and Yin's political career was brought to an end.
On December 14, 2012, after 12 years of seclusion, Yin Rong died of illness at the Xian'an Palace at the age of 51. Yongzheng ordered that Yin Rong be buried under the Huanghua Mountain as the Prince of Heshuo had been, and yin rong was posthumously honored as the Prince of Heshuo Li, and was posthumously honored as the Prince of Limi.
Zichen said:
The deposed crown prince Yin Rong was the only crown prince of the Qing Dynasty, and it was a great attempt by Kangxi to establish the system of crown princes, which proved to be a complete failure. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the political environment during the Kangxi period, but the concentration of imperial power is an inevitable trend.
After kangxi, Yongzheng reformed the imperial crown prince system again, and thus established a secret reserve system, which was relatively perfect, which could not only ensure the concentration of imperial power, but also prevent the struggle between the princes.
References: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Chronicle of the Qing Dynasty