The succession of imperial power in the Qing Dynasty has always been a thorny issue. The emperor of the ascending generation must clearly designate the heir to the throne during his lifetime to ensure the continuation of the dynasty and the smooth transition of power.
The cause of all this can be traced back to the fourteenth year of Kangxi. That year, Emperor Kangxi fell into one of the most painful periods of his life - his young queen Hesheri died of dystocia, leaving behind his infant son Yinren. Emperor Kangxi was deeply in love with this beautiful and virtuous empress, and the death of Hesheri dealt him a heavy blow. Facing Yinren, who had lost his mother, Kangxi felt guilty and loved him very much. So in the following year, he appointed Yinren, who had just turned one year old, as the crown prince, hoping that this son could inherit the throne and continue his career.
Since then, Yinren has become Kangxi's favorite eldest son. Sixteen years later, the rebellion of the three feudatories was the darkest period of Kangxi's life. At that time, his younger brother Dang Tongxun mutinied and approached the Forbidden City. The young Yinren followed Kangxi and was displaced in Beijing together. Later, when Kangxi went on an expedition to the border, it was Yinren who sat in Beijing and was in charge of military affairs. It can be said that Yinren has been getting along with Kangxi day and night since he was a child, and the relationship between father and son is extremely deep.
However, the inheritance of imperial power is a complicated matter. In order to maintain the imperial power, Kangxi had to guard against the excessive power of the crown prince. He used Suo Etu, Yan Song and others from the queen's mother's family in the court, making them dignitaries of the government and the opposition, and they could check and balance the prince's party. At the same time, Kangxi also reused the two sons, the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother, to make their power compete with the power of the prince. Kangxi understands that only in this way can he maintain his imperial power to the greatest extent and avoid being overthrown by the prince's party.
However, Kangxi obviously did not expect that his own approach would become a fuse for fratricide. The eldest brother and the eighth elder brother were already arrogant, and Kangxi attached great importance to them, so the two began to be arrogant and had the ambition to seize the storage position...
Kangxi's reuse of the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother was originally to balance the power of Prince Yinren's party, but this undoubtedly gave the two great opportunities and motivation. The eldest brother and the eighth elder brother gradually eyed the storage position, and each formulated a strategy to seize the heir.
First of all, Big Brother. As the eldest son, he was the first to play the slogan of "Lichang", trying to clear the way for himself to seize the storage position with the help of the Confucian traditional idea of "valuing the elder". When Kangxi canonized Yinren as the crown prince in his early years, the eldest brother expressed his dissatisfaction, believing that the position of the crown prince should be inherited by the eldest son. Now, the eldest brother has been planning for a long time, and he is full of energy to rebel and seize the heir.
The first thing he did was witchcraft. The eldest brother secretly found a warlock and used the method of victory on the prince Yinren, intending to destroy the prince's body and mind. At that time, the government and the opposition were in an uproar, and the prince suffered from nightmares repeatedly, and his spirit almost collapsed. Kangxi was furious when he found out and strictly ordered an investigation, and the eldest brother was temporarily silenced. But he didn't stop there, but turned his attention to the eighth elder brother.
The eighth elder brother has been loved by Kangxi since he was a child, and he is even more prepared to practice martial arts, and he has a brave and good fighting temperament. The eldest elder brother saw this and thought that the eighth elder brother was most likely to become a strong contender for the storage position, so he began to vigorously support the eighth elder brother and form a faction for him in the government and the opposition.
At the same time, the eighth elder brother himself was also ready to move. Different from the eldest brother's theory of "establishing a long", he put forward the idea of "establishing a virtuous", trying to obtain the position of the crown prince with his own martial arts. Although the eighth elder brother's mother, Xin Fujin, is only a concubine, she is very favored by Kangxi. The eighth elder brother used this as capital to publicize his deeds of being both civil and military and deeply appreciated by the emperor, in a vain attempt to win the support of the government and the opposition.
What's more, the eighth elder brother once directly asked Kangxi for a prince. Kangxi was hunting in Xishan at the time, and the eighth elder brother led the army to "trek" thousands of miles away. Kangxi was furious when he saw this, thinking that the eighth elder brother was planning to mutiny, and turned him away. But the eighth elder brother still doesn't know how to restrain himself, and he is still active in the government and the opposition, winning people's hearts everywhere.
These plots of the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother to seize the crown are undoubtedly a direct threat and challenge to the crown prince Yinren. With the help of different slogans and means, the two are secretly plotting for the position of the crown prince, trying to overthrow Yinren and replace him. For a time, the forces of all parties clashed violently in the government and the opposition, and the undercurrent within the royal family was also turbulent, and a timeless battle for the throne began.
The conspiracy of the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother to seize the crown made the government and the opposition nervous. Kangxi was naturally aware of this, and he set up a bureau to try to balance the power of these brothers.
Kangxi first promoted Suo Etu, Nalan Mingzhu and others in the court, making them high and powerful and becoming dignitaries of the court and the opposition. Suo Etu is the younger brother of Kangxi's favorite concubine Nian, and has always been a member of the prince Yinren's party; Nalan Mingzhu is a relative of Concubine Hui, and has been connected with the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother for a long time. Kangxi's intention was to let these two forces balance in the court and avoid one dominance.
At the same time, Kangxi also took some special measures. On the one hand, he frequently favored the crown prince Yinren, such as giving him a ceremonial crown and uniform to show his favor; On the other hand, he reprimanded the actions of the eldest brother, the eighth elder brother and others from time to time to prevent them from taking the opportunity to interfere with the government. For a while, there was a delicate balance in the court.
However, the balance is temporary after all. With the passage of time, the contradictions between the brothers became more and more acute, and the rift between the government and the opposition became bigger and bigger. Although the eldest brother and the eighth elder brother once colluded together to deal with the prince, they were also intrigued and suspicious of each other in private. The two of them are trying to win the hearts of the people in the government and the opposition, and they are secretly planning how to take advantage of the opportunity to replace them.
What's more, at that time, there were still some incidental sayings in the society, such as "The eighth elder brother's name is Yinxiang, which is homophonic with the crown prince Yinren, and he wants to replace him" and so on. This undoubtedly added fuel to the fire, making the screaming of the government and the opposition more and more intense. Monks and Taoist priests even prophesied in vain, saying that Yinren would not be able to enjoy the position of the prince, and even more seconded to it was widely spread. Some high-ranking officials and nobles who love to guess also waved their flags and shouted one after another, pointing out the country, causing a storm in the court.
At that time, there was a restless scene in the Jingshi. Even the princes of the clan, the important ministers and some literati were coerced by the party struggle of the brothers, and they expressed their stance and formed gangs. An unprecedented power struggle has raged in the Forbidden City. Although Kangxi tried his best to stop this raging frenzy, the situation was gradually out of control and out of control.
Just when the government and the opposition were in turmoil, an even more shocking thing happened - the eldest brother instigated a murder operation against the crown prince Yinren.
This matter starts from the sixty-first year of Kangxi. That year, Kangxi was hunting in Rehe. The eldest brother took this opportunity to secretly instigate an army of cronies, preparing to launch an attack on Prince Yinren while Kangxi was away. This army is led by Ma Zuo, the henchman of the eldest brother, and it has been secretly assembled, and it will be carried out after Kangxi leaves.
However, this conspiracy was discovered by Prince Yinren's men. At that time, the crown prince was in charge of Beijing, and he had a horse team led by his cronies. This horse team happened to bump into the assembly of the eldest brother's personal soldiers, so they immediately reported it to the prince. When Yinren learned of this movement, he was shocked and hurriedly sent someone to check it out.
After a thorough investigation, the prince quickly got conclusive evidence - this personal army was the eldest brother's men, and they were indeed preparing to assassinate Yinren. Yinren was naturally terrified when he heard the news, and immediately passed on Kangxi, asking for the royal driver to return early, and sent someone to arrest Ma Zuo and others.
When Kangxi learned of this, he was furious, immediately stopped his hunting activities, and hurriedly returned to Beijing. After returning to the capital, he immediately ordered the eldest brother and his henchmen to be dismissed and investigated. After several interrogations, the eldest brother's crime was undoubtedly conclusive, so he was punished extremely harshly - to correct the law on the spot and raze the nine clans.
What happened to the eldest brother shocked the government and the opposition at that time, and made everyone stand on the dragon plate. However, just at the time of this turbulent wave, another wave rose again - the eighth elder brother took advantage of the situation and openly asked Kangxi for storage. At that time, Kangxi had already taken the life of the eldest brother, and the crown prince Yinren also held a grudge because of the assassination. In this case, the eighth elder brother thought that the opportunity had come, so he publicly proposed to Kangxi the theory of "Lixian".
The eighth elder brother thinks that he is Kangxi's favorite son, and he is brave, so he should be the prince more than the feminine and incompetent Yinren. So he personally led the army to the place where Kangxi was hunting, intending to march and threaten to force the palace to seek the prince. At that time, there was a saying: "Not only surround my brother, but also force the lord."
In the face of the unreasonable threat of the eighth elder brother, Kangxi was naturally furious. He immediately ordered the Eighth Elder Brother to be arrested and personally summoned Eighth Elder Brother's mother, Xin Fujin.
Xin Fujin is Kangxi's favorite concubine, and she is especially favored on weekdays. However, in this incident, Kangxi reprimanded her mercilessly. Kangxi pointed out that she connived at her son's arrogance and domineering, which led to such a catastrophe. Under Kangxi's angry reprimand, Xin Fujin could only bow his head and admit his mistake and ask for forgiveness.
After disposing of Xin Fujin, Kangxi then issued a decree to remove the eighth elder brother from all his original positions and titles, and imprisoned him in the palace. Not only that, but the party henchmen of the eighth elder brother were also severely punished, some were demoted, some were dismissed and investigated, and some were even sentenced to death. For a time, the eighth elder brother's henchmen scattered and fled, invincible.
Just when the eighth elder brother's henchman Lan Ye was destroyed, Kangxi once again summoned the eighth elder brother's mother, Xin Fujin. This time, Kangxi did not hold a grudge as before, but used both grace and might, hoping to curb the arrogance of the eighth elder brother through the power of Xin Fujin.
Kangxi said to Xin Fujin that the eighth elder brother was arrogant, arrogant, and lawless. If their ambitions are allowed to swell any further, they will surely cause great disaster. Therefore, Kangxi hopes that Xin Fujin can discipline him well, so that the eighth elder brother can restrain his spirit and stop doing nonsense.
At the same time, Kangxi also described his good intentions to Xin Fujin. He said that although he was the king of the dynasty, he was just a son, and he was also worried about the heirs. Now that the position of the crown prince has been basically determined, it is really sad to suffer such a catastrophe. Kangxi hoped that Xin Fujin could understand his distress and dissuade his son from doing crazy things again.
In the face of Kangxi's edict, Xin Fujin was naturally very afraid and apprehensive. She had to bow to the ground, and promised to do her best. Since then, Xin Fujin has been strictly disciplined and always vigilant against the eighth elder brother, for fear that he will offend Kangxi again.
And in this environment, the eighth elder brother can only temporarily restrain his edge. However, his ambition has not been extinguished, but the time has not yet come, and he still needs to wait and see. A great drama of the great wall of brothers will continue to be staged, and more power struggles and intrigues will be staged one after another...