Emperor Kangxi's second son, Yinren, was the last true crown prince in the Qing Dynasty and even in Chinese history. And Yinren was less than two years old when he was established as the crown prince, which directly led to "In ancient times, how can there be forty years of princes?" ”。 Some people in later generations believe that Emperor Kangxi set up Yinren, who was less than two years old, as the crown prince because he liked Yinren's biological mother, Empress Hesheri. Is that really the case? This ghost talks about the words of a family.
After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing emperor faced two thorny problems: the first was the hidden non-cooperation of many Han scholars; The second is the strength of the Manchurian nobles. The second question was more threatening to the emperor than the first. However, the Manchurian nobles not only held military and political power, but more importantly, the three generations of emperors of the Qing Dynasty (Huang Taiji, Shunzhi, and Kangxi) were all elected by the Manchurian nobles.
Because of this, the establishment of the primogeniture inheritance system in accordance with the Central Plains ritual law became an important means for the emperor to attack the Manchurian nobles. The emperor was not only able to cancel the privilege of the Manchurian nobles to elect the emperor, but also to win over the Han scholars. But the Manchurian nobles were not fools, and of course strongly opposed the emperor's establishment of a primogeniture system. Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty once tried to establish a primogeniture system, but failed.
However, in the 14th year of the reign of Kangxi (1675), when Yinren was less than two years old, the Kangxi Emperor encountered a great opportunity to establish the primogeniture inheritance system - the rebellion of the three feudatories. Due to the great momentum of the rebellion of the three feudatories and the decline in the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners, the Manchurian nobles had to make compromises with the emperor, the Sinicized Manchurians, and the Han scholars, and no longer opposed the establishment of the primogeniture system. But Emperor Kangxi still had two problems to solve:
First, no matter what the outcome of the rebellion of the three feudatories was, the compromise of the Manchurian nobles would stop with the end of the rebellion of the three feudatories, and Emperor Kangxi could not wait for Yinren to grow up before appointing him as the crown prince; Second, the Manchurian nobles will inevitably counterattack after the end of the rebellion of the three feudatories, and the Kangxi Emperor needs to help support the development and growth of Yinren's power during the compromise period of the Manchurian nobles, and the position of the crown prince can just win the hearts of the people.
To sum up, the key condition for the Kangxi Emperor to establish the primogeniture system was that the Manchurian nobles made compromises because of the rebellion of the three feudatories, and their compromises were limited. Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor had to make the primogeniture system an established fact before the end of the compromise period, and in this way cultivate the forces that supported the crown prince. This is the main reason why Emperor Kangxi made Yinren, who was less than two years old, the crown prince.