Historically, in the later years of the Kangxi Emperor, there was a fierce struggle for the succession of the nine sons because of the issue of heirs, in which the nine eldest sons of the Kangxi Emperor fought a brutal competition for the sole throne.
However, from the perspective of modern people, why do these princes have to compete for the throne and give up a rich and comfortable life?
Not every prince can be a prince, because not all princes can receive the emperor's gifts and military achievements. In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, only by becoming an emperor or a close confidant of the emperor could one live a life of ease and wealth.
Even if it is a prince, if the matrilineal family is not powerful and does not have great merits, it will be difficult to obtain the title of prince. For example, Kangxi's tenth son, Dunjun Wang Yinqi, although he was supported by the powerful forces of the matrilineal family, he himself was not loved by Kangxi.
Kangxi was only because of the power background of the Wen Guifei Niu Hulu clan that he was named the king of the county. Although Yinqi is both Kangxi's son and the daughter of his eldest aunt, this does not guarantee that he will definitely be able to become a prince.
His father was one of the five founding ministers of the Qing Dynasty, and his mother was Princess Mukush, the daughter of the Qing Emperor Nurhachi.
This makes Ji Bilong and Kangxi's father Emperor Shunzhi cousins, and Kangxi's cousin in terms of seniority. His family is powerful and illustrious, and he has received special attention from Kangxi.
Therefore, Yinqi was named the king of the county from the very beginning, and he had no military merits and outstanding ability, but he was able to start directly from the king of the county, which was Kangxi's grace to his maternal family.
Although Yinyi was also knighted, because his mother was from a humble background, he was only named Beizi. It can be seen that Kangxi is more favored by the prince with a strong family background.
After the early and middle Qing Dynasty, the world gradually stabilized, and military merit was no longer the main way to become king. Enfeng became the main way to seal the king, and this method required the emperor's favor and a strong power background.
Most people can't have a mother who is loved by the emperor like Yinqi, so they can only be crowned king by pleasing the emperor and making the emperor love. For example, Kangxi's old sons, when Kangxi died, they were still young, even if they did not pose a threat to the throne, there were very few people who were named princes in the Yongzheng Dynasty.
These five old sons include the twenty-first son Yinyi, the twenty-first son Yinxi, the twenty-second son Yinhu, the twenty-third son Yinqi, and the twenty-fourth son Yinmi. Among these five people, except for the youngest Yinmi, who was favored by Yongzheng like a son and was named Prince Chen, the other four were only Baylor.
Yinxi was named the king of Shenjun because of Qianlong's love during the Qianlong period. Therefore, even if the prince does not participate in the competition for the throne, it is not easy to become a rich and idle prince.
In order to achieve wealth, there is not only one way to become a prince, but also a good choice as Baylor or Beizi. However, the princes grew up in the palace and enjoyed the emperor's father's fine clothes and food, but after the division of the government as adults, they had to earn their own money to support themselves.
How can you maintain such a life without knighthood income? Next, let's briefly introduce the income of knighthoods in the Qing Dynasty. The prince is the highest earnest, and can get 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 Hulu rice every year, and if he has a son, he can also declare the prince's son to the Zongren Mansion, and then have an income of 6,000 taels of silver and 6,000 Hulu rice every year.
In this way, a prince will have an annual income of sixteen thousand taels of silver and sixteen thousand hulu rice. In contrast, the income of the county king is lower. There are only 5,000 taels of silver and 5,000 Hulu rice every year, and if you have a son, you can also declare the eldest son of the county king to the Zongren Mansion, and you will have an income of 3,000 taels of silver and 3,000 Hulu rice every year.
In this way, a county king can have an annual income of 8,000 taels of silver and 8,000 hulu rice, which is less than half of the prince's.
During the Qing Dynasty, the living conditions of the princes varied greatly. Even the lowest knighthood, Beizi, had an annual income of only 1,300 taels of silver and 1,300 hulu rice, which was more than ten times different from the prince's treatment.
If the prince did not obtain the knighthood, he could only live an idle but poor life, and even in the Kangxi period, the idle clan did not have a penny of income every year. It was not until the middle of the Qianlong period that a subsistence allowance was set up for them, and 36 taels of silver and 43 Hulu rice were distributed every year so that they could live a decent life.
Princes, on the other hand, were able to receive rewards from the Ministry of Internal Affairs when they came of age, including pawnshops, granges, and other royal properties. The distribution of these estates will be influenced by the emperor's favor and the power of the matrilineal family, the favored prince and the powerful prince of the matrilineal family will get more estate, while the left prince and the prince of the lowly matrilineal family will only get a small amount of property and live a relatively poor life.
For example, Kangxi's thirteenth son Yinxiang, his life is like a roller coaster. At the beginning, during the period of Yinren, the abolished prince, he lost Kangxi's favor and was once imprisoned.
Therefore, when Kangxi was canonized twice, he did not get the title. His biological mother, Concubine Min Zhang Jia, came from a humble background, and the family status was not high, so Yinxiang lived a relatively poor life during the Kangxi period, and the property obtained after the division of the government was also very small.
However, when Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, Yinxiang's life changed dramatically. As a die-hard supporter of Yongzheng, he was named Prince Yi. In addition, he is conscientious and responsible, and he is dedicated to Yongzheng, so Yongzheng especially loves and trusts him.
Yongzheng was even often worried that he was too poor during the Kangxi period, afraid that he would not have enough money to spend, so he often found reasons to reward him with money every once in a while. Each reward started with at least 50,000 taels of silver, and let the Internal Affairs Office contract the expenses of his Prince Yi's mansion for six years, and also rewarded him with two kings.
After his death, Yongzheng also specially blessed him with the title of Prince Yi to enjoy the hereditary treatment of the Iron Hat King. You must know that the title of the Qing Dynasty is a hereditary descending system, that is, every generation of inheritance must be demoted to inherit the title, but only a very small number of princes have obtained the hereditary iron hat king treatment, and they do not need to be demoted to inherit the title.
For the sake of the wealth and prosperity of future generations, the princes must strive to inherit the throne or help their brothers who have a good relationship to inherit. Yongzheng and Yinxiang are the winners of the nine sons, so Yinxiang can hereditarily replace the iron hat king, so that future generations can share the glory and wealth and the Qing Dynasty.
If the winner is Lao Bayinyu, Lao Jiuyinyu, as the person who helps the most, will also enjoy the same treatment. In the Qing Dynasty, the inheritance of titles was hereditary, which meant that the income of each generation decreased.
The princes were accustomed to a luxurious life at birth, and they spent more money after the opening of the government. Even if he becomes a prince, he can't be rewarded by the emperor like Yinxiang, and it is difficult to make future generations rich and worry-free with the prince's income alone, unless he is like Yinqi, Prince Heng, the fifth son of Kangxi.
Yinqi was named Prince Heng during the Kangxi period, and he was loyal and kind, and was much loved. After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, although Yinqi remained neutral during the period of the nine sons, because his half-brother Yinqi was a political enemy, Yongzheng's attitude towards Yinqi was neutral.
The reward is not as good as the Kangxi period.
Yinqi is respected by people for his diligence and thrift, and his ability to save money. His son, Honghui, also inherited his family style, and despite his considerable income, he maintained a simple lifestyle.
According to the Qing Historical Manuscript, Prince Heng Ke Honghui advocated Confucianism, and in addition to his daily expenses, his fortunes were used to buy land and houses, in order to leave wealth for future generations.
Although some people ridiculed him for his "stinginess" at the time, he took a long-term view and foresaw the decline of the family after the hereditary succession of titles. As it turned out, Yinqi's foresight allowed his descendants to remain rich even in the late Qing Dynasty.
This tells us that as the princes of the Qing Dynasty, they must be careful in order to ensure the prosperity of future generations. And if you want to achieve this, you must either become the emperor, or help the emperor fight for the throne like Yinxiang.
Interests were the main factor that drove these princes to actively compete for the throne.
In the ancient imperial society, the struggle for the throne was extremely fierce. The Qing emperors were especially wary of their close relatives and often entrusted them with tedious errands in order to eliminate their coveting of the throne.
Even a person like Yinxiang, who was favored by the emperor, was inevitably punished. A low-key and introverted person like Yinyi, because his father-in-law was Kangxi's minister when he was dying, also aroused Yongzheng's suspicion.
He was demoted to the rank of Zhenguo Gong because he misspelled his surname when writing the book. This shows that even if you do not participate in the battle for the throne, it is not easy to be a carefree and wealthy prince, and you will also be suspicious and punished by the emperor.
Kangxi's twentieth son, Yinyi, was born when he was old, so his qualifications to compete for the throne were also very weak. He originally only hoped to live a rich and leisurely life, and was canonized as Baylor by Yongzheng.
However, soon after, Yongzheng asked him to guard Kangxi's Qingjing Mausoleum, which was a drudgery in the mountains. Of course, Yinyi didn't want to go, so he made an excuse to delay, but Yongzheng saw his perfunctory and demoted him to the Duke of Fuguo in a fit of anger.
This is all Yinyi's own fault, he violated the imperial order, and it has involved disrespect for the imperial power. If you have a close relationship with the emperor, then the emperor may be tolerant of such things, but obviously, Yinyi is not treated by Yongzheng.
His disrespect for the imperial power may be seen as a lack of support for Yongzheng, so Yongzheng must severely punish him. This shows that even if you don't participate in the competition for the throne, it is very difficult for you to live a rich and leisurely life as a prince.
In the royal family, any small mistake can have serious consequences, and the imperial power has no family affection to speak of.
Why did Kangxi's sons compete for the throne? They do so to protect their own interests and those of future generations. If they don't fight, princes and nobles like Yinqi, Yinyi, and Yinyi will not be able to live a rich and leisurely life.
Only like Yinxiang can we be truly wealthy, stable and worry-free. The fight for the throne is like a big gamble, if you win the bet, you may get rich overnight, and if you don't gamble, it won't be much better.
Born in the royal family, it is always full of helplessness and contradictions.