How were Yinzheng and Yinzheng killed? Where are they buried?
In 1959, in a village on the outskirts of Haidian, archaeologists discovered an ancient tomb from the Qing Dynasty, and after identification, the owner of the tomb was identified as Yinxi, the eighth son of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
During the Kangxi period, the story of the nine sons vying for the throne was widely spread, and Yinxi was the main opponent of the Yongzheng Emperor in the battle for the throne. He formed the "Eight Masters Party" with the ninth son of the emperor, the tenth son of the emperor, and the fourteenth son of the emperor, Yinyu, and actively participated in the struggle for the throne.
Therefore, after Yongzheng ascended the throne, Yinxi and others suffered a heavy blow. There are different opinions on the cause of their death in history, so let's take a look at the specific causes of death of Yinzheng and Yinyu, the younger brothers of Yongzheng's political enemies, and where they rest after death.
In the process of fighting for the throne, Yinzheng and others were strong contenders for the crown prince, but because they were unwilling to submit to Yongzheng, Yongzheng adopted various strategies to break them and dispose of them separately.
Although Yongzheng promoted Yinzheng to Prince Lian and handled the government with others, in fact, it was Yinxiang, whom Yongzheng loved, who really held the power, and Yinxi's power was very limited.
Although on the surface Yongzheng promoted Yinxi, in fact, he was already subject to the power of his younger brother Yinxiang, whom he loved and trusted. In fact, Yinzheng has been completely suppressed by Yongzheng.
Yongzheng immediately recalled the old fourteenth Yinyu, who controlled the military power in the northwest, in the name of Kangxi's funeral, and sent him to guard the tomb for Kangxi.
After Yinyu was placed under house arrest, Yongzheng sent Lao Shi Yinqi to escort the shrine of the living Buddha Zhebuzundanba Hutuketu in Mobei Mongolia back to the Khalkha grassland. Then, in the name of following the ancestral system to send princes and nobles to the front-line army for training, Yongzheng sent Lao Jiu Yinyu to the front line in Xining.
In this way, after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he immediately dismantled Yinzheng **, did not let them gather, and then broke them one by one.
In the early days of Yongzheng, he took action against the two members of the royal family, Yinqi and Yinyu. Yinqi refused to carry out the task of escorting the ashes of the living Buddha, and was disrespectful to Yongzheng, so he was deprived of the title of king of Dunjun and imprisoned for life.
And Yinyu was charged with fourteen crimes, and he also lost his title and was imprisoned for life. However, both of them lived to the Qianlong period before dying. This is mainly because Yinyu's political influence is small, and the maternal and wife-line families are powerful, and Yinyu is Yongzheng's half-brother, Yongzheng is open to Yinyu because he respects his mother's wishes.
If Yinyu and Yinyu could express their obedience and surrender to Yongzheng after Yinyu and Yinyu were cleaned up, maybe their ending would not have been so miserable. After all, their attitude towards Yongzheng from beginning to end was too tough and unyielding, which undoubtedly angered Yongzheng.
At the beginning, when Yinxi was named Prince Lian, his disciples went to the palace to celebrate him, but he and his wife Guo Luoluo thought that this was Yongzheng's conspiracy and had no appreciation for Yongzheng's canonization.
Moreover, they also say to these people, "What is there to celebrate? I'm afraid I won't be able to keep this position. From these, it can be seen that Yinzheng does not appreciate Yongzheng's reward, and what he said will definitely make Yongzheng feel dissatisfied.
After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, Yinyu's expression was strange and he was openly dissatisfied. According to the "Records of Qing Shizong", Yongzheng accused Yinyu of being ungrateful and arrogant, and even said that he had passed away.
Yongzheng said that Yinyu was absurd, which made him exhausted. During his stay in Xining, Yinyu declared that he wanted to become a monk, which made Yongzheng extremely angry, calling him a person who was ungrateful and not afraid of the law.
Linghu Shiyi persuaded Yinyu to rebel, promising to rally the people of Shanxi affected by the drought in his name. But Yinyu refused Linghu Shiyi's request, but this matter was still known to Yongzheng, which made Yongzheng even more disgusted and suspicious of him.
At the beginning of the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), Yongzheng decided to punish Yinzheng and Yinzhen. For Yinxi, Yongzheng listed forty charges to make it clear that he deserved his crimes. However, Yongzheng said to the outside world that out of brotherhood, he was only deprived of his title and clan name, and renamed him "Aqina" and imprisoned him in the Zongren Mansion.
For Yinyu, Yongzheng also listed 28 crimes, and also said that out of brotherhood, he was only deprived of his title and clan name, and renamed him "Seth Black", and escorted him to the Baoding Zhili Governor's Mansion to be imprisoned.
However, this "leniency" was not really implemented. Yongzheng specially opened a single room for Yinxi in the Zongren Mansion and raised the courtyard wall. Not only that, but he also deliberately didn't let Yinxi enjoy the food, only provided coarse tea and light rice, and did not provide medical services, so that Yinxi was locked up in a small black room all day long.
This treatment was too much for the physically and mentally exhausted Yinxi, who coughed up blood and died at the age of 45 after less than half a year in captivity. For Yinyu, Yongzheng also gave bad treatment.
He was imprisoned in the Governor's Palace, and Governor Li Fu was ordered not to give him any comforts, including pens, ink, beds, tents, books, characters, ice, and soup. These treatments are undoubtedly worse for Yinyu.
Although Yongzheng claimed to be "lenient", the treatment and treatment of Yinzheng and Yinyu showed that he did not have the slightest forgiveness for these two younger brothers.
When Yinyu was imprisoned, it was a scorching summer, and the heat in the small black room was unbearable, and he was handcuffed and shackled, and his treatment was even worse than Yinyu. Later, he suffered from heat stroke and fell into a coma, but because Yongzheng issued a clear decree not to allow a doctor, Li Fu, the governor of Zhili, could only wake him up with cold water, and this treatment was already torture.
After three months in detention, he died of torture at the age of 43. Coincidentally, the day he died was his 43rd birthday, and he never expected his birthday to turn into a death day.
Later generations speculated about the cause of Yinzheng and Yinyu's death, and they all believed that Yongzheng secretly killed them. But if you think about it, the two of them have become meat on Yongzheng's caseboard, and he doesn't need to send someone to kill them clearly, which will leave a bad reputation for killing his brother.
But Yongzheng used a subtle way, deliberately treating the two of them harshly after captivity, not letting them eat enough, not letting them see a doctor and treating them, plus that kind of captive environment, I am afraid that no one will live for a year.
Therefore, Yinzheng and Yinyu were not killed by Yongzheng, but Yongzheng deliberately treated them harshly, making them extremely depressed physically and mentally to death. Although Yongzheng did not directly order their killing, he was absolutely responsible for their deaths.
He deliberately treated them harshly, intending to torture them to death as soon as possible, which led to their death at such an early age. In fact, Yongzheng also expressed regret for his behavior in his later years, and this is why Qianlong issued an order to forgive Yinzheng and Yinzheng in the name of Yongzheng.
The tomb of Yinyu has been discovered by modern archaeology, but the tomb of Yinyu has not been found so far. According to historical records, the burial place of Yinxi and Yinyu was recorded by Yinxi's son Hongwang in the "Outline of the General Chronicles of the Emperor Qing Dynasty".
After they were arrested by Yongzheng, their wives were also implicated. Yinxi's wife Guo Luo Luo was given death by Yongzheng and was crushed and ashes; Yinyu's wife, Dong E, was imprisoned until death, and their sons were expelled from the clan.
Yinxi's body was transported to Rehe and handed over to Hongwang, who was imprisoned there. Under the supervision of Yongzheng, Hongwang buried Yinxi's body near the stone cave ditch in Rehe.
Later, Hongwang was amnesty and moved back to the capital to house arrest, and was not released until Qianlong succeeded to the throne, and he moved Yinxi's body back to the capital for burial. In the forty-third year of Qianlong, Qianlong forgave Yinxi and Yinyu, gave them royal status to their descendants, and reburied Yinxu in the suburbs of Haidian as a national courtesy.
In the local Bada Gong Village, there is a group of grave watchers, who have guarded a tomb for generations, that is, Yinxi's tomb. Originally, in order to commemorate the eight kings, the village was called Bawang Village, but with Yinxi being abolished for offending Yongzheng, the name of the eight kings was no longer applicable, and Qianlong buried him with a national ceremony, and the village was renamed Badagong Village.
However, over time, the exact location of Yinxi's tomb was gradually forgotten. It was not until 1959 that the archaeological work of cultural relics inspection after the founding of the People's Republic of China found this tomb in Bada Gong Village, and the archaeologists finally confirmed the identity of the tomb owner through the comparison of the oral accounts of the old people in the village and historical documents.
After archaeological exploration, it was found that Yinxi's identity as a sinner before his death made him almost no funeral goods after his death, and Qianlong later only repaired the building outside the tomb for him according to the treatment of the national prince, so the burial goods in the tomb were very few, and there was no archaeological value, and the archaeologists did not excavate.
What is even more surprising is that for more than three hundred years, even tomb robbers have not been interested in this tomb, which is well preserved. All this shows how miserable Yinxi was after his death, his funeral goods were almost zero, and even tomb robbers didn't bother to dig up.
The tomb of Yinyu has not been discovered so far, and only the approximate location is recorded in the "Outline of the Emperor's General Chronicles". After Yinyu's death, because his son was imprisoned in the capital, Yongzheng ordered his sons to collect their bodies and bury them around the capital.
The eldest son, Hongsheng, was imprisoned in the Zongren Mansion and could not collect his father's body, so the second son, Hongsheng, collected his father's body in Beizi's Mansion and was buried near the suburbs outside Dongbianmen. However, due to the lack of a specific address, the tomb of Yinyu has not yet been found.
Yinzheng and Yinzheng were deliberately harshly treated and tortured to death by Yongzheng, although they did not kill them directly, but their death in the prime of life was also caused by Yongzheng. The tomb of Yinyu has been excavated, and the tomb of Yinyu is still to be discovered.
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