What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The historical Tong Guowei has an extremely close relationship with the Kangxi Emperor.
Tong Guowei's sister was Kangxi's biological mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, And from this point of view, Tong Guowei was the kangxi emperor's uncle. At the same time, Tong Guowei's two daughters also married Kangxi, that is, the third empress of the Kangxi Emperor, The Empress Xiaoyiren Tong Jiashi, and the noble concubine Tong Jia of the Huihui Emperor, so Tong Guowei was also the father-in-law of Kangxi.
However, even Tong Guowei, who had such a close relationship and was the elder of the Kangxi Emperor, was publicly reprimanded and scolded by Kangxi.
The reason for this "embarrassing" scene was that Tong Guowei, knowing that Kangxi wanted to restore Yin Rong's position as crown prince, also tried his best to support the Eight Brothers Yin Yu, which in turn created great trouble and trouble for Kangxi, which eventually caused Kangxi to abandon his family affection and scold him in a very angry situation, and made him completely bid farewell to the political stage of the Kangxi Dynasty in his later years.
Tong Guowei's dislike of Prince Yinrong is both "public" and "private".
Tong Guowei's extreme dislike and dislike of the crown prince can be said to be a well-known thing in the court, however, there is no political interest involved in this.
Tong Guowei's Tong Jia family was originally the kangxi emperor's mother's family, and this relationship was incomparable to that of the other three foreign relatives, namely the Hesheli family where Soni and Soetu were located, the Yehenara family where Mingzhu was located, and the Niuhulu family where Qiu Bilong was located. In addition, Tong Guowei's eldest brother and the uncle of the Kangxi Emperor, Tong Guogang, was martyred in the "Battle of Ulanbutong" in the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi (1690), and the family's status was further elevated. At the same time, the descendants of his family, such as Orendai, Fahai, and Longkeduo, also held important positions in the dprk, and it can be said that the power and position of the entire family in the court were extremely stable.
Moreover, Tong Guowei married two daughters of Kangxi, namely Empress Xiaoyiren tong Jiashi and Emperor Wuhui's concubine Tong Jiashi, and did not give birth to an imperial heir, so there was no competition with Yin Rong for the position of crown prince.
Under such circumstances, Tong Guowei still has an incomparable dislike for Yin Rong, in fact, there are both "public" reasons and "private" reasons.
First, let's talk about Tong Guowei's "selfishness".
Prior to this, Tong Guowei also participated in the "Battle of Ulanbutong" between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate mentioned above, and witnessed the martyrdom of his eldest brother Tong Guogang, and he believed that it was precisely because of Soetu's lack of knowledge and poor rescue that Tong Guogang died in battle, in order to achieve his purpose of "killing people with a knife" and excluding dissidents, that is, from this time on, Tong Guowei developed a great hatred for Soetu. And Suo Etu is the uncle of Prince Yinrong, and also the most important political support force behind him, so Tong Guowei also "hates The House and Wu" and is full of hostility to Yinrong.
Let's talk about Tong Guowei's "Yu Gong".
During this period, the performance of the crown prince Yinrong could be described as extremely bad, not only living a luxurious and greedy life, but even openly asking for bribes from courtiers, which was completely unlike the appearance of a "prince of the country". Moreover, Yin Rong's attitude towards courtiers and other Kangxi princes was also extremely arbitrary and stubborn, and even Tong Guowei had been directly confronted by Yin Rong several times, and his two concubine daughters were completely ignored by Yin Rong.
It can be seen that whether it is out of resentment about the death of his eldest brother Tong Guogang, or concern about the survival and development of the Qing Dynasty, Tong Guowei does not want Yin Rong to inherit the throne in the future.
In Tong Guowei's mind, the most suitable heir to the throne was the Eight Brothers Yin, and this was also the common opinion of the vast majority of courtiers.
On the one hand, Yin Yu's personality was lenient and kind, which was in stark contrast to Yin Rong's flying and flapping, and this also won the support and support of many Kangxi princes, including the Ninth Brother Yin, the Tenth Brother Yin, the Fourteen Brother Yin Yu and many courtiers.
On the other hand, Yin Yu himself is indeed very capable, especially during Kangxi's several outings, arranging for him to stay in the capital to deal with related administrative affairs, Yin Yu's performance is also remarkable, and even Yongzheng, who later sits on the throne, has given high recognition to Yin Yu's ability:
"Yin Yu is a smart and capable person, and he is rich in talent, and he knows that he can do great things."
Therefore, in the forty-seventh year of Kangxi (1708), after the Kangxi Emperor deposed Yin Rong's crown prince for the first time on the grounds that "the prince is not filial and his deeds are not good", Tong Guowei, who had already been a minister at this time, resolutely chose to actively campaign for Yin Yu in order to seek to support him to ascend to the position of crown prince, but this was very different from Kangxi's ideas.
He tried his best to support Yin Yu and let Kangxi reprimand Tong Guowei in public.
Just after Kangxi "abolished the crown prince", the princes showed a strong desire for the throne, among which the eldest brother Yinfu and the eighth brother Yinyu were extremely active, which immediately caused Kangxi's great dissatisfaction. At this time, Kangxi already had the idea of restoring YinRong's crown prince, in addition to stabilizing the political situation to avoid further deterioration of the situation, but also because he did not want to waste half of his life's efforts to cultivate Yinrong.
In order to make his "restored crown prince" more "legitimate" and a solid public opinion foundation, Kangxi prepared to convene a special imperial council, hoping to unify thinking and reach consensus through the form of the meeting.
The courtiers who participated in this meeting and had important influence were the following four.
The Minister of the Interior of the Imperial Guard, Aling'a, the grandson of Eyidu, one of the "Five Founding Ministers" of the Nurhaci period, and the son of Shu Bilong, one of the four auxiliary ministers in the early years of the Kangxi Dynasty, his two sisters were married to Kangxi successively, namely the second empress of the Kangxi Emperor, Empress Xiaozhaoren, and the birth mother of the Ten Brothers.
The Minister of the Interior, Orendai, son of Tong Guogang, nephew of Tong Guowei, and a cousin of Kangxi.
The head of the Hanlin Academy, The Son of Pearl, was the daughter of prince Azig of England.
Hubu Shangshu Wang Hongxu, who was born as a scholar, was an important representative of the Han scholar class and the scholar at that time, and had a relatively high prestige among Han officials.
In fact, in this list of participants, two people were voluntarily excluded by the Kangxi Emperor, one was Ma Qi, the "chief scholar of Manchuria", who was a very staunch supporter of Yin Yu, and the other was Tong Guowei.
Although Tong Guowei had already been sent to shi at this time, Kangxi still had great trust in him, and had previously consulted Tong Guowei when discussing a series of major resolutions. However, this time, Kangxi excluded him from the list of participants because the Kangxi Emperor was very aware of Tong Guowei's thoughts and thoughts, and was afraid that he would openly "contradict himself", so he did not allow Tong Guowei to participate.
However, Tong Guowei not only did not consider Kangxi's feelings at all, but even together with Ma Qi, privately sent a note to Aling'a, Yuxu, and others, inviting them to jointly oppose Yin And protect the Eight Brothers.
Despite his many dissatisfaction with Tong Guowei's behavior, at first, Kangxi still gave Tong Guowei a bitter persuasion, hoping that Tong Guowei would understand his own thoughts and not add to the fire in it.
However, Tong Guowei not only did not make any restraint, but instead became more extreme in words and actions, and even directly threatened the Kangxi Emperor with the decision to accept Li Yinrong as the crown prince and establish the Eight Brothers Yinyu instead.
Finally, the Kangxi Emperor, who could not bear it, also completely lost patience with his obsessive uncle and father-in-law, and immediately reprimanded him extremely severely in front of everyone:
"In order to appease the courtiers, he did not want to be punished. Erchu Chen, the crowd praises, so can be described as the minister of state. Now that the situation is revealed, why will man be like a man? He who is not condemned is fearless, but he cannot be relieved of his responsibility. Guan Er is delusional, and it is also a villain? ”
It was only at this time that Tong Guowei discovered that the Kangxi Emperor was really angry with him, so he also stopped being stubborn and insistent, and had to acquiesce to the immediate result.
After this, Tong Guowei was deposed and returned home, and Kangxi no longer asked him for advice when things happened, which was considered to be a complete retirement, and disappeared into the political arena in the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty. In the fifty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1719), Tong Guowei died, and Kangxi still remembered his family affection and his previous merits, and gave him a funeral.
And Ma Qi, who secretly conspired with him and agreed to help protect the Eight Brothers, was also stripped of his title and position as a scholar after being reprimanded by Kangxi, and his two younger brothers Ma Wu and Li Rongbao, as well as other family members in the dynasty, were also implicated to varying degrees, and then slowly restored all their positions.
Fu Bao's Eight Brothers Yin Yu, but did not affect Tong Guowei's posthumous honor in the slightest.
In the sixty-first year of Kangxi (1722), after Kangxi died and Yongzheng ascended the throne, in addition to brutally suppressing and retaliating against those political enemies and brothers who participated in the "Nine Sons and Concubines", they also began to carry out crazy liquidations against the courtiers who had supported the Eight Brothers Yinyu and others.
And the first to bear the brunt of this are Alinga and Shushu. Although the two had long since passed away, Yongzheng changed their tombstones to "Tomb of the Unscrupulous and Greedy Alinga" and "The Tomb of the Infidelity and Filial Piety" to show humiliation.
Although before that, Tong Guowei had also strongly supported the Eight Brothers Yinyu, and even did not hesitate to "fight with their lives", but after Yongzheng ascended the throne, he instead gave him a rich reward, in addition to giving him the title of Taifu and the title of "Duan Chun", Yongzheng also personally wrote a list of "Benevolence, Filial Piety and Diligence", and ordered people to be listed on Tong Guowei's tomb to show praise.
The reason why Yongzheng treated Tong Guowei in this way was not how much he "missed" Tong Guowei, but because Tong Guowei's children were too close to Yongzheng.
Yongzheng's biological mother, Princess Wuya, was of a very low rank when she gave birth to Yongzheng, so she could not raise herself, so Yongzheng was raised by Kangxi to Tong Guowei's daughter, Empress Xiaoyiren. And Empress Tong Jia's care for Yongzheng was meticulous and regarded as her own, so that Yongzheng continued to sigh in the future that "it is better to be born than to raise grace".
Another daughter of Tong Guowei, the noble concubine tong Jia of the Huihui Emperor, also raised and cared for Yongzheng's son Qianlong after he was brought into the palace by Kangxi, and was also very grateful to Yongzheng and Qianlong thereafter, and gave him a very high-standard reward.
In addition, there is another important reason, that is, Tong Guowei's son Long Keduo.
After the death of the Kangxi Emperor, Long Keduo, who was then the governor of the Nine Doors, immediately closed the Nine Gates and imposed martial law in the capital, which finally ensured that Yongzheng was able to ascend the throne smoothly, which was called the first meritorious minister of Yongzheng to ascend to the throne, and Yongzheng directly called Longkeduo "Uncle Longkeduo" in public, which shows Yongzheng's dependence and weight on him.
It is precisely because of this that even if Tong Guowei had a "black history" of supporting the Eight Brothers, he was not retaliated against by Yongzheng, but gave enough courtesy, and even after Long keduo was taken down by Yongzheng and imprisoned until after his death, his position was not damaged in the slightest.
On the other hand, Tong Guowei's eldest brother Tong Guogang is not as "lucky" as he is.
Tong Guogang's son, Orendai, always sided with the Eight Brothers during the "Nine Sons and Sisters". After Yongzheng ascended the throne, although Orendai received Yongzheng's "forgiveness" and was entrusted with heavy responsibilities, he often embarrassed Yongzheng, not only maintained close contact with Alsong'a, the son of Aling'a, for many years, and jointly resisted Yongzheng, and even openly defecated at Qianqingmen to vent his dissatisfaction with Yongzheng.
Eventually, Orendai was sent to Shengjing by Yongzheng and later executed, and Yongzheng also criticized his father Tong Guogang:
"With the affection of the heart and the sending of the heart, it is the righteousness that is excited and willing to endure hardships." People are like this, Kou Xi foot is dead? But loyalty and courage, ershi and both! ”
It can be seen that the reason why the brothers Tong Guowei and Tong Guogang have such a clear difference in the honor behind them is because Tong Guowei's sons and daughters are definitely "strength protectors", while the sons and daughters of his eldest brother Tong Guogang can only be regarded as "strength pit fathers".