There are so many princes, why is Yongzheng Dudu and the old thirteen Yinxiang so good?

Mondo History Updated on 2024-01-31

"As we all know, Emperor Yongzheng was known for his brutality!But why does he have such a deep relationship with Yinxiang, the thirteenth son of the emperor?”

When Yongzheng is mentioned in brutality, it usually refers to the harsh punishment he inflicted on several of his own brothers after his accession to the throne, as well as the extermination of meritorious officials such as Nian Qianyao and Long Keduo.

This period of history cannot be ignored.

Yongzheng was only forty-five years old when he ascended the throne, and he knew that his life was not long, and his father Kangxi reigned for 61 years, as the "generation of holy masters". This undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on him;In addition, the eighth elder brother and his supporters are always eyeing him, and there is a possibility of a coup d'état at any time, overthrowing him and putting him to death. Under such circumstances, Yongzheng was forced to take tough measures and showed no mercy to his relatives and political enemies, because he understood that if he was not ruthless, others would inevitably be cruel to him, and this kind of "brutality" was also a helpless move in desperation.

The relationship between Yongzheng and the thirteenth brother Yunxiang has its own uniqueness - first of all, Yunxiang has absolutely no will to compete for the throne, and it does not pose a threat to Yongzheng, which is fundamental;Secondly, Yinzhen and Yinxiang have had a close relationship since childhood, understand and care for each other, and Yongzheng has full trust in this younger brother;Moreover, whether it was at the beginning of Yongzheng's accession to the throne or during his reign, Yunxiang gave full support to the imperial brother, and was praised by Yongzheng as "Zhushi Virtuous Brother".

These are the three main reasons for the seemingly deep relationship between Yongzheng and Yunxiang.

Why do you use the words "seemingly affectionate"?Because in the face of the throne and national events, all those "veils of affection and affection" are actually illusory. As an emperor, what he valued was the attitude of his brothers, uncles, nephews and others towards the throne, as well as his attitude towards himself as emperor.

Yinxiang, born in the twenty-fifth year of Kangxi (1686), is the half-brother of Xiao Yongzheng, whose biological mother is Concubine Min, who is favored by Kangxi.

Kangxi also loves Yinxiang, the prince, very much. During the twelve years from the age of thirteen to the twenty-four years of Yinxiang (from the thirty-seventh year of Kangxi (1698) to the forty-eighth year (1709)), Kangxi carried Yinxiang almost every time he went out, whether it was a southern tour, a northern hunt, a western tour, or a tomb. Even if there are only two or three princes accompanying him, Yinxiang is always among them. Kangxi made six southern tours, while Yinxiang accompanied him four times, enjoying the same treatment as the crown prince Yinren.

Due to his close relationship with the prince Yinren, Yinxiang interceded for the prince when he was deposed for the first time, but he was also implicated and suffered from the pain of "melon Luoer".

According to the Outline of the Emperor's General Chronicles, Yinxiang was placed under house arrest together with Yinren and Yinren.

In "Yongzheng Living Note", Yongzheng said that Yinxiang was "innocently implicated" because of his relationship with Yinren, and he was offended for a while, and the imperial examination was immediately examined.

However, this does not mean that Kangxi forgave Yinxiang. Afterwards, when Yinren was re-established as the crown prince, Kangxi gave several princes, but Yinxiang did not receive the title, showing that Kangxi did not really forgive him.

With the deposition of the crown prince, Yinxiang fell out of favor, but his relationship with Yinzhen gradually increased.

The friendship between the two began much earlier. Before the crown prince was deposed, Yinzhen and Yinxiang had traveled alone with Kangxi. Once, the two of them wrote together, and Kangxi even invited the ministers who accompanied him**.

However, after the crown prince was deposed, Yinzhen took the initiative to deepen his relationship with Yinxiang. Perhaps because he saw that Yinxiang did not seek the position of crown prince, and dared to intercede for the crown prince Yinren when he was in trouble, Yinxiang was obviously a kind person.

With this change, Yinxiang's opportunities to travel with Kangxi have decreased significantly. Whenever Yinzhen accompanied Kangxi on a tour, Yinxiang could only stay in the capital. Despite this, the two still kept in touch through poems and letters, and after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, these exchanges even preserved thirty-two poems.

Before Yinzhen ascended the throne, he also gradually formed his own "small team". However, the establishment of this team was relatively late, far later than Yinxi, Yinyu, Yinzhi and others in Kangxi's later years;At the same time, he is extremely strict with the selection of members, and only those who have been repeatedly verified can enter this inner circle;In addition, he exercised strict control over his team members, and once verbally reprimanded Nian Qianyao, Dai Duo and others, and even used his children as pledges. In addition, Yinzhen used Buddhist activities as a cover, causing Kangxi to think for a long time that he had not cultivated political power and had no desire to compete for the throne.

Yinzhen has been constantly reviewing the members of his team. In this team, Yinxiang is undoubtedly the most satisfied member of Yinzhen.

In the eighth year of Yongzheng, that is, on the fourth day of May in 1730, Yunxiang unfortunately died.

After Yongzheng learned of Yunxiang's serious illness, he was deeply distressed and issued more than a dozen edicts one after another, praising Yunxiang as "the virtuous king of the country", the "pillar of optimus" of the country, and the "virtuous brother of my pillar stone".

On the recital of the most trusted minister Ortai, Yongzheng commented——

I once hoped that there would be a wise king who would continue to uphold the national program before and after my death, both inside and outside the court, and now I am really relieved by it, and I have no doubts. However, now my brother has passed away ...... meThere was chaos between the square inches, and the heart was sad.

Yunxiang's assistance to Yongzheng is undoubtedly extremely important, and this loss makes Yongzheng feel sad.

First of all, Yunxiang spent the most difficult time for Yongzheng in the early days of Yongzheng's reign.

Yongzheng Dynasty Living Registration" records in detail the important contribution of Prince Yi to Yongzheng's governance of the world

The king has actually given me great support in governing the world, and I am completely dependent on the king's assistance to ensure the peace of the country. Looking at the deeds of the virtuous king recorded in the annals of ancient history, no one has ever been able to compare with the king.

In the early days of Yongzheng's accession to the throne, he appointed Prince Lian Yunxi, University Shi Ma Qi, Prince Yi Yunxiang, and Shangshu Long Keduo as the Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs.

However, among the four, only Yunxiang is Yongzheng's right-hand man.

Three years later, Yun Xiang stepped down as Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs. Yongzheng praised and said: "Prince Yi is extremely respectful, full of loyalty to all the affairs I have handed over, and handles them diligently. In the past three years, he has made great contributions to helping me govern the country. Yongzheng also said: "The king is independent, and his calm and resolute temperament makes it impossible for the traitor to act recklessly." ”

This shows that Yunxiang played a firm mainstay role in the early days of Yongzheng's accession to the throne when the political situation was not yet stable.

Second, Yunxiang has carried out a meticulous and thorough clean-up work in the financial aspect.

After Yongzheng ascended the throne, one of his first tasks was to clean up the finances and straighten out the national treasury.

During this period, Yunxiang served as the primary person responsible for the economy, clearing up the deficit, and rectifying the finances.

At that time, it was a busy time to deal with the funerals of Kang Xuan and the Queen Mother, and Yunxiang participated in these affairs during the day, and led a team to clean up the old accounts of the household department at night.

At the same time as rectifying the household department, Yunxiang organized manpower to conduct an inventory on the one hand, and established a system of rules and regulations on the other hand, so as to make the relationship and responsibilities between the household department and the local governor more clear and orderly.

In the following year, Yun Xiang comprehensively reviewed the accounts of the state treasury - in the sixty-first year of Kangxi, the silver taels stored by the household department were 27.12 million taels, and the deficit reached 2.593 thousand taels.

Yunxiang and Yongzheng had different opinions on how to make up for the shortfall, but this did not prevent Yunxiang from faithfully carrying out the emperor's orders. As a result of Yunxiang's loyalty to his duties, the malpractices of the household department were eliminated on a large scale, and the financial situation was significantly improved. By the fifth year of Yongzheng, the silver taels stored in the treasury had increased to 50 million taels.

Yongzheng sincerely praised Yunxiang and led the household department to achieve the achievement of "no disadvantages and no benefits".

During this period, Yunxiang ordered the reduction of taxes in many provinces, allowing all localities to breathe, and production and the economy grew substantially.

Some of the reform measures implemented by Yunxiang have achieved remarkable results. In the sixth year of Yongzheng, he began to secretly prepare for the campaign against the northwest region. Previously, the official regulations required more than 110 taels of silver per stone to transport grain to Altai, and according to the grain consumption of more than 40,000 people for half a year, a total of 15.4 million taels of silver was consumed. Yun Xiang adopted the commercial transportation method and switched to the merchant Fan Yubin to transport, and only used 25 taels of silver per stone. In this alone alone, the expenditure of nearly 10 million taels of silver was reduced.

The third point is to be selfless and actively promote outstanding talents.

When Yongzheng first ascended the throne, he faced the dilemma of lack of talents. This situation can be traced back to his original small team, as well as his policy of trying to avoid associating with the imperial court. At the same time, he is concerned about the personal motivation and the formation of a partisan party for promoting talent.

In the period after Yongzheng's accession to the throne, he issued several edicts, urging ministers to actively nominate outstanding talents.

In the second year of Yongzheng, he commented in the prelude to the minister Tian Wenjing: "At present, in the imperial court, the only person who sincerely thinks about the country and respects talents is Prince Yi." He especially praised Yunxiang for his outstanding performance in recommending meritocracy. After Yunxiang's death, Yongzheng once again lamented Prince Yi's loyalty and dedication in protecting the interests of the country and cultivating talents, and this idea was deeply rooted in his heart.

Yunxiang once recommended the seventeenth elder brother Yunli to Yongzheng.

Yongzheng didn't know anything about Yunli, and later heard that Long Keduo's secret music said that Yunli was related to Yunli**, so he sent the seventeenth elder brother to guard Jingling.

However, Yunxiang resolutely recommended the seventeenth elder brother and told Yongzheng that Yunli was open-minded and a loyal and righteous person.

Yongzheng then conferred the title of the seventeenth elder brother as the king of Guojun and was responsible for the affairs of the domain. In the third year of Yongzheng, the prince was given the corresponding salary, and the guards were configured according to the prince's standards. In the sixth year of Yongzheng, he was further named Prince Guo, making Yunli another prince who assisted Yongzheng.

In the early days of Yongzheng's accession, Yunxiang recommended Li Wei to Yongzheng.

is different from ** and the TV series that Li Wei is the coated slave of the Yinzhen family, in actual history, Li Wei is not like this.

When Yongzheng first ascended the throne, he didn't know much about Li Wei. However, Yunxiang strongly recommended Li Wei to Yongzheng, saying that he was outstanding in talent and morality and could take on important positions. Yongzheng then appointed Li Wei as Yunnan Yanyi Road**. When Li Wei asked for the hadith, Yongzheng said: "If there is something that needs to be explained, you can submit it to Prince Yi to report it on your behalf." Since Yunnan is far away from the capital, if there is anything that needs to be reported in detail, it can be described in detail in a separate chapter, which is also forwarded through Prince Yi. ”

When he first took office, Li Wei had some problems, especially the frequent display of his close relationship with Prince Yi, which caused Yongzheng to reprimand him several times. However, at the critical moment, Yunxiang successfully persuaded Yongzheng, so that Li Wei could continue to be highly valued by Yongzheng, and eventually became one of the "Three Heroes of the Governor".

According to the record of "Qianlong Zhu Pi Fold", after the death of Yongzheng, Li Wei once secretly played Qianlong and said: "The minister was colluded by Nian Qianyao inside and outside, and fell into a dispute between friends and friends, and King Xian protected me with his own family strength. Later, the Veiled Oracle revealed that the details of it were known. "And so on.

In addition to Li Wei, Yunxiang also recommended to Yongzheng the governors of Fujian, Liu Shiming and Zhao Guolin, the governor of Shaanxi, Cha Langa, and the governor of Shanxi, Shi Lin, and others.

Yunxiang also made a lot of contributions to "protecting the good class", such as Yue Zhongqi from being implicated in the "party of Nian Qianyao" and so on.

Fourth, the draconian decrees should be corrected in a gentle and meticulous manner.

After Yongzheng ascended the throne, perhaps due to the tremendous pressure he faced, some decrees became too harsh, causing dissatisfaction among the ministers. This makes there be no shortage of complaints under **.

Yunxiang is good at gaining insight into these public opinions, on the one hand, he reports to Yongzheng and puts forward corrective suggestions;On the other hand, a number of corrective actions were taken among the subordinates.

Until his death, his mediating role in these two areas was remarkable.

There are many specific examples, so I won't go into details.

Yunxiang's personality is humble and peaceful, and he is very polite to Yongzheng and other ministers. Therefore, Yongzheng praised Yunxiang as "the whole person of the universe".

It is recorded in the Yongzheng Dynasty Living Registration that when Yunxiang was alive, Yongzheng once said to the ministers: "The king is eight years younger than me, not only thanks to the king's assistance, but also hopes that the king can be used as a pillar of support in the future to establish the cause of the Duke of Zhou, so that our country will suffer endless blessings, which is actually my original intention." ”

After Yunxiang passed away, Yongzheng said: "Wang Shengping humbly retreated, whenever I added favor, the king always refused again and again. ”

This is also an important reason why Yongzheng and Yunxiang have always maintained a close relationship.

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