Yongzheng was the fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and among the first five emperors, he had the fewest children and the lowest survival rate.
When Yongzheng died, his youngest son, Hongyao, was only four years old, younger than Qianlong's eldest son, Emperor Huang's second son.
In the "Biography of Zhen Huan", Hongyao is the son of Zhen Huan and Prince Yunli of Guo, while in real history, Hongyao is the flesh and blood of Yongzheng, and he is also Qianlong's favorite brother, but when Hongyao was seven years old, he was passed on to Prince Yunli of Guo.
Qianlong had nothing to say about this younger brother, that was really good. When Hongyao was young, Qianlong liked him very much, and once, Qianlong wanted to call Hongyao to his side to talk and tease him, but who knew that the young and timid Hongyao ran away with a cigarette.
At that time, Qianlong had already ascended the throne as emperor, no matter who it was, it was a great crime of disrespect to see him and run away, Qianlong could not face it, but he could not bear to blame his brother, and finally just scolded the eunuch palace girl next to Hongyao.
This small matter did not affect Qianlong's love for Hongyao, and in order to cultivate Hongyao, he also specially invited the famous great poet Shen Deqian to teach Hongyao.
With a master like Shen Deqian as Hongyao's teacher, it is difficult for Hongyao to learn well. When he grew up, Hongyao was erudite and talented, especially liked to collect books, and he was good at poetry, and was known as "poetry returns to the right tone, not for ordinary".
Qianlong was very pleased to see that Hongyao was so outstanding, and as Hongyao grew up, Qianlong began to entrust him with heavy responsibilities.
When Hongyao had just turned 18 years old, Qianlong put him in charge of the Wuying Hall, the Eight Banners Guard Barracks of the Yuanmingyuan, the Imperial Library, and the Pharmacy.
At the age of 20, Qianlong put him in charge of managing the affairs of the manufacturing office.
Hongyao's stepfather Yunli was not only Qianlong's elder, but also a minister whom Qianlong relied on, and Qianlong ordered him to be the prime minister and give the prince a double, so Yunli was relatively rich among the princes, and Hongyao, as a stepson, never worried about spending money.
After Yun Li passed away, the young Hongyao inherited the Prince of Guo, and the young man became a prince at once, or a little impetuous.
Although Hongyao was very rich, he still frantically amassed wealth, and he also forcibly occupied the civilian industry by opening a coal kiln, which gradually caused Qianlong's dissatisfaction.
Whenever Hongyao made a mistake, Qianlong would reprimand him, but Hongyao, holding the status of a royal brother, thought that these were small things, even if Qianlong was the emperor, he could not do anything about himself.
In the end, Qianlong decided to clean up this younger brother and let him have a long memory. It happened that once Hongyao and Hongzhi together asked the empress dowager for peace, and they knelt on their knees next to the empress dowager's seat, and it happened to be the place where the emperor usually knelt, and Qianlong took the opportunity to rebuke the two younger brothers for "borrowing from the festival of etiquette", not only demoted Hongyao to Belle, removed him from his official position, and also fined 10,000 taels of silver and destroyed one of the prince's golden treasures.
Qianlong did not expect that after he lost his temper with Hongyao, Hongyao was greatly shocked, and after being dismissed from his post, he kept himself in his home, depressed, and from then on he could not afford to be ill, and it was not long before the news of his illness came.
In the end, Qianlong was still reluctant to watch this younger brother who had grown up since he was a child, and he personally visited Hongyao, who was very touched and took the initiative to confess his mistake to Qianlong.
It is said that when Qianlong saw his seriously ill brother, he was very sad and even whimpered and lost his voice at one point. He took Hongyao's hand, softened his tone, and said, "I saw that you were young, so I wanted to use this punishment to make you have a long memory and change your temper, I didn't expect that you would get so seriously ill because of this." ”
In order to make Hongyao a little happier, Qianlong specially reported to the empress dowager and restored the title of King of Hongyao County.
Unfortunately, Hongyao died soon after, only to be 33 years old. Qianlong was extremely remorseful, and made poems for Hongyao, which were engraved on the stone tablets of Hongyao Garden's bedchamber, and the words revealed his love and pity for this younger brother.