In the early years, the Qing court TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty", "Li Wei as an Official" and so on were broadcast over and over again, making Yinxiang, the thirteenth son of Emperor Kangxi, known to the public all of a sudden.
The "Thirteen Masters" in history are really similar to the TV series, of course, there are still discrepancies.
The "Thirteenth Master" Yinxiang in history is the thirteenth son of Emperor Kangxi. Because his mother was a palace maid, he left his mother as soon as he was born and was raised by a high-status imperial concubine. The feudal dynasty has a strict hierarchy, but there is no such thing as equality for everyone, even if the emperor's woman gives birth to a prince to the emperor, as long as she is not promoted by the emperor, she has no right to raise her own children. The prince must receive a good education, learn various cultural knowledge and riding and archery skills, how can a palace maid raise a prince in the eyes of the royal family? Even if there is a special teacher to teach every day, but parents are one of the most important teachers for children, don't the prince have to be with his mother when he goes home after studying? This was the way of life in that era, which was very realistic and cruel.
However, it was a coincidence that Yinxiang was arranged to be raised by Yongzheng's biological mother, and his future prosperity is inseparable from this beginning coincidence, which is the earliest "fate" between him and Yongzheng. However, he and Yongzheng were not raised by the same mother, and they did not live together when they were children, because Yongzheng's mother did not have a high status when he was a child, and Yongzheng was not raised by his biological mother, and the brothers can be described as "sympathetic to each other". It is not difficult to understand why the relationship between the fourth elder brother Yongzheng and the fourteenth elder brother born to the same mother at that time was not so good, because they did not grow up together under the same roof since childhood, what about the same mother?
Because of his mother's background, Yinxiang was looked down upon by the second elder brother and the prince since he was a child, and often bullied him. Similarly, the brothers of the eighth elder brother, who came from relatively good backgrounds, also looked down on him and were often not treated well by them. But his fourth brother, who was later Yongzheng, looked at him differently because of the relationship between his biological mother, and was appointed by Emperor Kangxi to teach him arithmetic when Yinxiang was young.
The princes of the Qing Dynasty, especially the princes of Kangxi, in addition to traditional cultural homework and archery, also had to learn mathematics, which actually had a lot to do with Kangxi's own love of studying mathematics, and he found that learning mathematics can make people wiser and smarter. Of course, there is another purpose for the princes to learn mathematics, that is, to test the prince's brain power and IQ. Yinxiang is talented, learning traditional culture and riding and archery is very easy, and everything is very good, the characters are also written very beautifully, and the learning of mathematics is also accepted quickly, which makes his fourth brother Yongzheng appreciate him very much, and lays an important foundation for him to develop his ambitions under Yongzheng in the future. At the same time, Yinxiang's personality and Yongzheng are particularly harmonious, the two have a common language, and he also listens to the words of the fourth brother Yongzheng, as if he is a sworn friend's younger brother: the fourth brother will fight wherever he directs, and the fourth brother will do whatever he wants, and he also does a very good job, how can such a younger brother Yongzheng not like it?
As time passed, Yinxiang grew up slowly, and his intelligence and ability were soon noticed by Kangxi, and he was deeply loved by Kangxi. Whether Kangxi is out hunting or cruising to the south of the Yangtze River, the prince he must bring is the old thirteen Yinxiang in addition to the prince. Yinxiang's martial arts are outstanding, and he always wins a lot when he accompanies Kangxi on hunting, and sometimes encounters danger, but he can always deal with it calmly. Once accompanied Kangxi to shoot a deer, but suddenly a tiger sprang out of his side, everyone was shocked, and there was no time to react, but Yinxiang had already picked up a spear and stabbed at the tiger. To be able to react quickly in this situation, in addition to the need for a solid foundation of martial arts on a daily basis, it also requires superhuman courage, and Kangxi, who was on the side, naturally appreciated him greatly and was very gracious.
However, the good times did not last long, but Yinxiang was placed under house arrest because of the "abolished prince" incident, and the history books did not record it in detail, but it was not long, only one year. However, this year brought him both physical and mental damage, which is also the root cause of the illness that later led to his untimely death. In the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty", his house arrest time was directly added to ten years until Kangxi's death, which is inaccurate. If he is really under house arrest for ten years, I am afraid he will not be able to support his fourth brother to succeed to the throne. Because during this year, his leg inexplicably left pus, and he endured it himself and didn't take it seriously, but it turned out that no matter how he treated it, he couldn't be cured, which brought great harm to his health.
At the beginning, Kangxi set up the prince early, appointed the most learned teachers to carefully train and teach, and from time to time he personally trained and guided, and poured a lot of effort into the prince, and the prince's talent was also very good, and he studied seriously and excellently. However, there was a very important point that he overlooked, that is, he did not let the prince suffer a little. The prince grew up too smoothly, and felt that everything was so taken for granted, and everything should have been like this, so that he was mean and unkind, insatiable, did not know how to cherish and forbear, and did not know how to respect his father and brothers, so that in the end it became a bitter fruit.
In the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi, Kangxi was infected with cold fever and severe illness during his western expedition, and his life was in danger. This gave many princes infinite reverie, since then, the court began to stand in line with the princes from all walks of life, and the trend of forming parties for personal gain is becoming more and more serious, although Kangxi is extremely dissatisfied with the prince, but he has already noticed this atmosphere, so he has been holding back, not immediately abolishing the prince, but also hoping that the prince can wake up and reform himself. Then it backfired, and all the princes were secretly competing, and the movement was getting bigger and bigger; At the same time, the prince did not repent at all, and it was still the same, Kangxi couldn't bear it, and finally abolished the prince in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi. Some historians have inferred that the thirteenth master Yinxiang may have participated in the operation of the abolished prince, so that Kangxi was disgusted and implicated. Of course, Yinxiang is not so active for himself, obviously for his fourth brother Yongzheng, but in the end he resisted all the responsibilities, and Yongzheng hid it very deeply, so he was not noticed by Kangxi.
A year after the crown prince was deposed, he was reinstated, and Yinxiang was released, but his status has plummeted since then. In the next ten years, he got nothing, from Kangxi's favorite prince to the most marginal figure, and he can be called the worst treatment and the lowest position among all the princes. Even if the prince is deposed during the New Year's holidays, there are still some rewards, Yinxiang has nothing, and his state of mind can be imagined. In those ten years, he finally realized what the world is hot and cold, and what is the warmth and coldness of human feelings. However, it was those more than ten years that sharpened his perseverance, toughened his character, and laid the foundation for him to soar in Yongzheng in the future. Of course, in addition to his own perseverance, there is also a very important person who has supported him in the past ten years, without this person, I am afraid that Yinxiang will be difficult to survive, this person is his fourth brother Yongzheng. Yongzheng is extremely steady, he secretly supported the old thirteen things did not let anyone know, until the second day after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne directly promoted his thirteenth brother to the "second in command" of the dynasty, people suddenly realized, it turned out that he had formed a faction early, it can be seen how secret and strong Yongzheng's wrist is!
In the sixty-first year of Kangxi, Emperor Kangxi died in Changchun Garden of the Old Summer Palace, and the fourth son of the emperor, Prince Yong, Yinzhen, won the fierce "Nine Sons Seize the Inheritance" and successfully inherited the throne. After 12 years of silence, the thirteenth master Yinxiang was named "Prince Heshuoyi" on the second day of Yongzheng's succession, and was appointed as the Minister of Parliament, and later took charge of the household department.
Because Yongzheng has great trust in Yinxiang, all important things are handed over to him, and Yinxiang's power is extremely rare, and he is called "Executive Vice Emperor" by later generations, which is very appropriate. In the first few years of the Yongzheng Dynasty, there was also a situation of "brother co-governance" that was rare in history. However, Yongzheng is not so polite to his other brothers, the house arrest that should be under house arrest, the seizure of power, the arrest of the arrest, the side of the side, in short, except for the old thirteen, the other brothers have few good deaths. After all, even Kangxi couldn't control the situation of "nine sons seizing the heir" at that time, how could Yongzheng rest assured of them? There is no harm if there is no comparison, how miserable the thirteenth master was at the beginning, and now there is much scenery compared to other brothers, the changes in the world are really magical!
In Kangxi's later years, due to the delay in the establishment of the crown prince, several princes nakedly fought for power and seized the throne, and the ministers of the DPRK and China formed a party and a private team, plus Kangxi was old and powerless, and had no intention of taking care of government affairs and social livelihood, and the whole social development fell into a crisis in all aspects. Yongzheng came to power and faced a situation of officialdom corruption, economic stagnation, financial deficit, river flooding, flooding and military crisis in the northwest, so if Yongzheng wants to make a difference, so that the life of the Qing Dynasty can continue to continue, how important it is to have a good assistant, which is also an important reason why Yongzheng attaches great importance to Yinxiang.
Yongzheng at the beginning let Yinxiang be in charge of the household department, first to solve the financial problem, at that time the financial problems of the Qing Dynasty was very serious, the entire country's treasury almost no surplus, this is very dangerous, if you want to rectify the finances, you have to have a strong and capable person to come forward, otherwise the involvement is broad and deep, and the general ministers can't do it at all. At that time, there were only two people in Daqing who could solve this problem, one was Yongzheng himself, and the other was the thirteenth master Yinxiang. Yongzheng is known as the first diligent emperor of the Qing Dynasty, that is not blowing, working more than ten hours a day, reviewing hundreds of copies, 365 days a year, generally only resting for less than five days, reigning for more than ten years, in the end, not only his thirteenth brother was exhausted, but even he was put into it, he was so violent! Therefore, Yongzheng himself has no time to grasp these specific things, so the matter of rectifying the finances can only be done by the Thirteenth Master.
Yongzheng rectified the government and reformed the economy, which is notoriously iron-fisted, and it can't be said to be ruthless, but it's about the same. Relatively speaking, the Thirteenth Master is much better, but in the matter of rectifying the finances, he, like his fourth brother, solved the financial crisis with very tough means, and offended a large number of ministers and princes and nobles, but who made the family the Thirteenth Master? People are also princes and nobles, and they are also important ministers of the court, so what can they do if they are dissatisfied?
So there was a saying in the court at that time: I'd rather offend the emperor than offend the thirteenth master! Because he offended Yongzheng, sometimes the Thirteenth Master felt that it was not so serious, and he could still help to make peace, if he offended the Thirteenth Master, then no one would intercede! If this matter is changed to ordinary people and is known by the emperor, then the status may not be guaranteed, and even his life is in danger, but after changing the thirteenth master, Yongzheng laughed, and added: It makes sense! It can be seen that Yongzheng's trust in Yinxiang is deep, and it also fully shows that Yinxiang is indeed loyal and there is nothing to doubt.
With the resolution of the fiscal problem, the worst crisis of the Qing Dynasty has finally been alleviated, and social development has begun to get back on track, but this is not enough. Yongzheng immediately began to rectify and vigorously reform many areas of society, resolving various social contradictions and multiple crises accumulated in the last years of Kangxi, and the Qing Dynasty began to rejuvenate itself, and a new prosperous era was coming. In addition to Yongzheng's overall situation, of course, it is inseparable from the vigorous assistance of the thirteenth master Yinxiang. Yinxiang is extremely efficient, extremely capable, and very sophisticated, and very handy for the circulation and connection of the emperor and various departments, not at all like a novice in officialdom who has never experienced anything before. In addition to Yinxiang's talent and acquired learning, it is actually very likely that Yongzheng has been secretly cultivating him during the more than ten years that he was snubbed by Kangxi, making him do a lot of secret things, so that everyone is not aware of it. I have to say that Yongzheng's ability to finally obtain the throne is absolutely inseparable from his hidden and forbearant style.
Yinxiang's outstanding performance was greatly appreciated by Yongzheng and Chaozhong, and what awaits him behind him is not pampering, but more work. He began to repair the flooded rivers around Beijing and Hebei, which greatly improved the flooding in the capital. At the same time, he also ordered people to reclaim the farmland that had been abandoned due to lack of water, and learned from the south to grow rice, which greatly increased the local food production and improved the lives of the local people. Subsequently, he ordered people to survey the Jiangnan River and began to build a series of water conservancy projects in the south.
At the same time, as a "executive vice emperor", Yinxiang was also in charge of personnel, and he recommended local officials such as governors and governors of many provinces to Yongzheng, including Li Wei, who was well known through TV dramas, and Li Wei later became Yongzheng's right-hand man. As a civil and military prince, Yinxiang also helped Yongzheng deal with the rebellion on the northwest border, solved the military crisis in the northwest, in solving the problem of military spending and military rations, Yinxiang creatively used the help of Jin merchants, so that Jin merchants shined in the country, at that time Shanxi Jinzhong region began to gradually become the country's financial center, and made important contributions to the financial development of the Qing Dynasty.
With the passage of time, the health of the thirteenth master Yinxiang began to deteriorate, and the root of the disease that fell during the Kangxi period always destroyed his body, and the hard work day after day made him thinner and thinner, and then he couldn't afford to fall ill, and died suddenly in the eighth year of Yongzheng, only forty-four years old. Yongzheng personally held a grand funeral for Yinxiang to commemorate this capable "Zhushi Virtuous Brother" and praised him as the sage king of the country who has never been loyal to the country since ancient times!
Yinxiang fully assisted Emperor Yongzheng to make a series of social reforms, laying an important foundation for the subsequent Qianlong Dynasty. Because of his loyalty to the fourth brother Yongzheng, his concern for the country, and his important contributions to social development and the improvement of people's livelihood, he was praised as a generation of chivalrous kings by later generations!