Which prince of the Qing Dynasty had the most power? I am afraid that there are only three selected, one is Prince Rui Dolgun, the second is Prince Yi Yunxiang, and the third is Prince Gong Yixuan. There are many authors on the platform who have written articles saying that Yun Xiang is the "executive vice emperor", in fact, he seems to have a slight gap compared with Yi Xun.
Objectively speaking, the most powerful prince in the Qing Dynasty was definitely Dolgun, but he had a special situation, and he had the title of "Emperor Regent of the Emperor Father" before his death, and was posthumously awarded the title of "Righteous Emperor". Although later liquidated by Shunzhi, Dorgon should be positioned as the "prince of the imperial power". Therefore, There is no comparison between Dolgun and Yoon-hsiang and Yi-ching.
Yun Xiang was the main helper of Yongzheng during the conquest of Concubine, and Yi Xiang was the hero of Xin You's coup d'état. In addition, Yun Xiang was the first chief military aircraft minister; Yi Xun was also the first prince to serve as the chief military aircraft minister after the Qianlong Emperor stipulated that "the prince should not enter the military aircraft as usual", so the two of them have many similarities.
Since the comparison is "power", it is natural to start from the two aspects of the position held and the honor obtained.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > let's look at Yunxiang first</h1>
Yun Xiang belongs to the type of non-ming is already a blockbuster. During the Kangxi Dynasty, Yun Xiang was just an ordinary prince without any title. However, after Kangxi's death, the day after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he ordered the appointment of Yunxiang as one of the four prime ministers. On the same day, Prince Jin and Shuoyi.
The Prime Minister's Minister was a temporary position, to put it bluntly, to help the Emperor deal with various administrative matters. In the first year of Yongzheng, Yun Xiang was appointed to take charge of the affairs of the Three Treasuries and the Household Department. During the Shun, Kang, and Yong dynasties, the princes of the clan would generally concurrently serve as ministers, above Shangshu.
Therefore, from the beginning of the first year of Yongzheng, Yunxiang was in charge of financial power and assisted Yongzheng in establishing the HuikaoFu, responsible for the liquidation of the national treasury and the recovery of deficits. On many of the folds, Yun Xiang will sign the words "General Manager of the Household Department Sanku".
At the beginning of Yongzheng's ascension to the throne, the northwest side was in the process of using troops, and the Yongzheng Emperor took the opportunity to set up a military aircraft department, with Yunxiang, Zhang Tingyu, and Jiang Tingxi as the military aircraft ministers, of which Yunxiang was headed and responsible for planning matters related to the northwest war. Therefore, Yun Xiang has a great say in the military, but it is limited to the right to speak, and there is no right to decide.
In addition to the Prime Minister's Affairs Minister, in charge of the Household Department, and the leading military aircraft department, Yun Xiang was also responsible for the affairs of the Gyeonggi Water Conservancy Camp, handling the funerals of Empress Kangxi and Empress Xiao Gongren, and the General Administration of the Examination Office, the Construction Office, and the Eight Banners of the Yuanmingyuan Ban Army, and at the same time took on the temporary errands assigned by Yongzheng.
In general, Yun Xiang is YongZheng's big housekeeper, but Yong Zheng has a lot of trust in him, and many important matters are often handled by Yun Xiang, as long as the results are reported at any time. From this point of view, Yun Xiang was the first prince to hold real power since the Kangxi Dynasty, and could even be said to be the most powerful prince in the Kangxi to Daoguang period.
In terms of honor, Prince Yi was also one of the most prominent princes of the Qing Dynasty. Eating double portions of the prince, adding honor guards, and rewarding silver are some common practices. Most importantly, Yongzheng allowed Yun Xiang to choose a son to inherit the throne at will (not to be demoted to the hereditary throne), and also gave an additional title to the king of the county, allowing his son to inherit. In this way, among Yun Xiang's sons, there was a prince and a county prince, which was rare in the Qing Dynasty.
In order to allow Yun Xiang to accompany him after his death, Yongzheng first opened the case of the prince not entering the imperial tomb, and gave Yun Xiang a cemetery in the Tai Tomb, but Yun Xiang resigned and was not buried in the imperial tomb. But even so, Yongzheng gave a very high standard when he built the Yunxiang Mausoleum. Therefore, Yun xiang's royal tomb is also the highest standard among the princes of the Qing Dynasty, surpassing the empress system.
As for posthumous honor, Yun Xiang was also the only prince in the Qing Dynasty who received nine titles after his death. As a rule, the prince gave only one word to the emperor, and after Yunxiang's death, Yongzheng decreed that "Xian" and "loyalty, sincerity, diligence, prudence, and honesty" preceded the title. Moreover, Yun Xiang was also the first iron hat prince to be enthroned since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and after Qianlong succeeded to the throne, in view of the merits of the thirteenth emperor's uncle, he ordered the hereditary replacement of the title of Prince Yi.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" ></h1>
Yi Xun was already very famous in the Daoguang Dynasty, and was a competitor to the Xianfeng throne, and the Daoguang Emperor made him a prince in his will, and after Xianfeng succeeded to the throne, he was officially crowned Prince Gong.
During the Xianfeng Dynasty, YiXun was suppressed, and although he also walked on military aircraft, he basically did not have much real power. After Xianfeng's death, the empress dowager of the two palaces joined forces with YiXun to overthrow SuShun and the other eight ministers and successfully launched a coup d'état by Xin You.
After the Coup d'état of Xin You, Yi Zhi was awarded the title of "Prince of Parliament", although not as good as the regent and auxiliary prince, but in fact Yi Xun was a prominent prince who actually took charge of the government in the early years of Tongzhi.
So, what important positions did Yi Bi hold? Here's a list:
On the first day of October in the eleventh year of Xianfeng: Prince Gong Yixuan, entrusted to the king of the council, walking on the military plane; the Zongren Mansion ordered Prince Gong Yixuan to make up for it;
On the second day of October of the same year, Prince Gong yixun was appointed as the minister in charge of the Interior Ministry;
On the eighth day of the first month of October of the same year, Prince Gong Yixuan first rewarded the Prince with a double feast;
On the tenth day of the first month of October of the same year, the university scholar and the Ninth Secretary of State met with the Empress Dowager Kangci (Yi Chen's biological mother) to honor her, and asked to be promoted to the Temple;
On the ninth day of the first month of December of the same year, the eldest daughter of Prince Gong Yixuan was immediately promoted to Princess Gulun;
On the first day of the first lunar month of the first year of the Tongzhi Dynasty, Prince Gong Jia'en sat in a four-person sedan in the Forbidden City.
……
In just over two months, Yi Xian almost ascended to heaven in one step and became the most powerful prince of the Qing Dynasty. This is not all, in fact, the position held by Yi Chen was also the most numerous and prominent among the princes of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, he received the honor of hereditary resignation.
Since the coup d'état of Xin You, Yi Bi gathered the government, the chief military aircraft minister, the prime minister of state affairs, the zongrenfu zongling, the minister in charge of the internal affairs office, the lingshen machine battalion, and the inspection of all the affairs of the Hongde Hall (the place where Tongzhi studied and governed). It can be said that the political, diplomatic, military, and imperial affairs of the Qing Dynasty were all integrated. In this contrast, Yun Xiang naturally dwarfs it. Strictly speaking, Yi Xun was the "executive vice emperor".
The biggest difference between Yun Xiang and Yi Xi is that the former is Yongzheng's right-hand man, and the latter is the sharer of imperial power, and the two are fundamentally different. But it was this difference that allowed Yun Xiang to die well, while Yi Xi suffered several blows from Cixi and was finally stripped away.