Yixin's teacher Zhuo Bingtian served as a university scholar for a long time before his death, and successively served as a scholar in the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Industry. The character of Zhuo Bingtian www.biquge.info also greatly influenced Yixin in his words and deeds. Although Yi Xuan's teacher Du Shoutian had a low position (at that time, he was only from the second grade but served as the chief master of the study), he was much better than Zhuo Bingtian in terms of handling things and pondering the thoughts of Emperor Daoguang.

Once, Emperor Daoguang led all the princes to Nanyuan to hunt in order to take the opportunity to compare the princes. The princes are also well aware of the importance of this hunt to their political future, and the most important ones are Yi Xuan and Yi Xin. Yi Xuan knew that he was far inferior to Yi Xin in riding and archery, so he sought advice from his teacher Du Shoutian before leaving. Du Shoutian asked Yi not to send an arrow when he screwed it, as the emperor asked, it can be said that now is the opportunity for all things to germinate in spring, and it is the opportunity for birds and beasts to live and reproduce. At the end of the hunt, among the princes, Yi Xin hunted the most, and Yi Xin returned empty-handed. Daoguang asked the fourth elder brother why he didn't get anything, and Yi Xuan retold the teacher's teaching before leaving, Daoguang was happy, and praised the fourth elder brother for being really benevolent. The scales of the reserve began to tilt in favor.

Emperor Daoguang was seriously ill and summoned Yi Xuan and Yi Xin to the bedside, so as to finally decide the heir to the throne. Yi Xuan and Yi Xin knew the importance of this calling, and each asked their own teachers for advice. Yixin's teacher, Zhuo Bingtian, taught that, if the emperor asked, he should know everything and say everything. And Yi's teacher Du Shoutian believes that in terms of current affairs, the fourth elder brother will definitely lose to the sixth elder brother, and the only way is to cry when the emperor says that he is old and sick, so as to show his benevolence and filial piety. According to his words, Daoguang was very pleased, and then he became the crown prince. And Yixin staggered with the throne within reach.

The reason why Yi Xuan succeeded in ascending to the throne was because he relied on the power of Du Shoutian, and Du Shoutian won by figuring out the mind of Emperor Xuanzong. Although Yixin learned Zhuo Bingtian's pragmatic talent gained from his long-term concurrently in charge of Jingyin, Zhuo Bingtian ultimately failed to obtain the throne for Yixin, and the history of the Qing Empire has taken a different path since then.

On the twenty-sixth day of the first month of the thirtieth year of Daoguang (March 9, 1850), Yi Xuan, who was not yet nineteen years old, ascended the throne and changed the next year to the first year of Xianfeng. Respect the imperial concubine as the imperial concubine; The third brother of Zaoxu was posthumously named the king of the county, and the younger brother Yixin was the prince of Gong (Xianfeng was divided in April of the second year, and his life was still walking in the inner court), and the rest of the brothers were all county kings.

With the development and growth of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the situation of the Great Qing Kingdom is getting worse and worse, and the Yi twist at this moment obviously does not think that the corruption of the situation is due to the lack of ability of his own Zhi Da Cai, in his opinion, the reason is that the internal and military aircraft, and the external governor have failed themselves. In the third year of Xianfeng, the Taiping army Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang's troops gradually approached Gyeonggi, and Emperor Xianfeng, who had been completely disappointed in those old ministers, remembered his twenty-year-old brother - Prince Gong Yixin.

In September of the third year of Xianfeng, Yixin was ordered to walk in the military aircraft. This is the third prince to serve as the Minister of Military Aircraft since the establishment of the Military Aircraft Department (Fang) in the seventh year of Yongzheng (the first is Yunxiang, Prince Yixian, but Yunxiang died after less than a year in office; And the second Prince Chengzhe, Yongzhen, was only on duty in the military for ten months). At this moment, Yixin has just turned 20 years old, and he is a new entrant in the military aircraft department, but with the acquiescence and support of Xianfeng, Yixin soon became the de facto foreman of the Minister of Military Aircraft. However, in July of the fifth year of Xianfeng, he was dismissed on "trumped-up" charges.

Until the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth month of the tenth year of Xianfeng (September 22), when the British and French forces were about to break through Beijing, Yi Xuan used the strategy of Su Shun to flee to Rehe (Chengde) in the name of "sitting in the north of Beijing" and "preparing for the patrol as a pro-expedition", and at the same time appointed Yi Xin as a "special grant to stay in Beijing, supervise the peace bureau, act cheaply, and have full powers to send ministers" to stay in Beijing to deal with the aftermath. This so-called "Minister Plenipotentiary of the Imperial Mission" was in fact a means of Su Shun to crowd out Yi Xin, and this position put Prince Gong into a situation that was both dangerous and difficult to take off guard.

Yixin began negotiations with the invaders in Beijing, assisted by Gui Liang and Wen Xiang, and it was at that time that Yixin also put on the hat of a "traitor" for the first time.

Yixin remembered the past and couldn't help but shed tears.

“…… Before the defeat of Dagu, it can be suppressed and appeased; After the defeat of Dagu, it can be soothed but not suppressed. When the soldiers enter the city, there is nothing to defend in battle, and they will be harmed and harmed. …… Therefore, it had to be expedient. In fact, under such circumstances, the so-called negotiation is nothing more than letting the foreign powers take what they want, no matter who is replaced to negotiate, there will never be any completely different results, in addition, Xianfeng, who was hiding in Rehe, ordered Yixin to "quickly make a decision on the retreat of all levels, and wait for the Yi chieftain to enter the city, that is, to live and draw a prisoner to exchange the contract before leaving, to preserve the overall situation, without any further delay, resulting in complications." At this time, the weather is not yet bitterly cold, and if Caiyi can leave early, I can return to Luan to calm people's hearts." In September, the treaty was reached, Yixin played from the request office, and Xianfeng said that "Prince Gong handled the Fu Bureau, which is not easy." I forgive my brother who was a scapegoat.

In this process, the strength and advancement of the invaders undoubtedly gave Yixin a great shock, Yixin from the original "rational faction" (Yixin in the eighth year of Xianfeng on the "overall situation can not be slightly involved in the concession" advocated the refusal to sign the "Tianjin Treaty", and then on the "Jiang'an trade and trade is very troublesome, it is advisable to prepare for war early" advocated active preparation for war) into the "Shiyi self-improvement faction", Xianfeng 10 years of December 10 (January 20, 1861) Xianfeng approved by Prince Gong Yixin, Wenhuadian University scholar Guiliang, Nine days ago, Minister of Military Aircraft Wen Xiang and others proposed the establishment of the "Prime Minister's National (Trade) Affairs Yamen" in the "General Arrangement of the Overall Situation" to oversee all foreign-related affairs, and appointed Yixin as the chief prime minister, and Gui Liang and Wen Xiang as the prime ministers; For this reason, Yixin got the title of "Devil Six".

In the early morning of July 17, 11th year of Xianfeng (August 22, 1861), Qing Wen Zongyi collapsed in the east warm pavilion of the Yanbo Zhishuang Hall of Chengde Summer Resort. Prince Gong Yixin, who stayed in Beijing, soon got the news of Emperor Xianfeng's death and the content of the edict, putting aside the news of his brother's death, Yixin was extremely shocked by the list of "ministers who care for life" that was both reasonable and unexpected, and he did not expect that he would be completely excluded from the new power center by his brother when he was ordered to be in danger. Not only Yixin himself, but the defeat of Wen Xiang, the Minister of Military Aircraft, shows that the entire "King Gong faction" has been excluded. In this case, Yixin is unwilling to accept such a tragic future after many years of grievance. For his own sake and for the sake of the people who supported him, the young Prince Gong resolutely embarked on the road of resistance.

On the first day of the eighth month of the 11th year of Xianfeng (September 5, 1861), Yixin arrived in Rehe, and was immediately summoned separately by the empress dowager of the two palaces after knocking on the Zi Palace in the Jingcheng Palace. During the meeting, the two sides apparently reached a tacit understanding to overthrow the existing system of "ministers who care for their lives" and replace it with a new system of "hanging curtains in the two palaces and respecting the king's administration". The secret communication between the two sides was changed to be passed on by the wife of Wang Yilu (Cixi's own sister).

On September 28, the 11th year of Xianfeng (October 31, 1861), the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, together with Emperor Zaichun and seven ministers including Zaiyuan and Duanhua, arrived at the Nanshichao Palace in the northwest of Shunyi County. Prince Gong Yixin took over here and was summoned by the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces; The political center of the Qing Empire was returned to Beijing by Rehe.

On September 30 (November 2), the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces sent a special order to summon Guiliang, a scholar of Wenhuadian University, Jia Zhen, a scholar of Wuyingdian University, Zhou Zupei, a scholar of Tirenge University, and Wenxiang, the Minister of Military Aircraft, to be led by Prince Gong Yixin, but Zaiyuan and others were unable to stop him. The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces wept to the crowd in the East Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Palace, and then showed the edict written by Cao Yuying in Rehe, accusing the eight ministers (especially Zaiyuan, Duanhua and Sushun) of usurping imperial power, deceiving the first emperor, and mishandling foreign policy and "discrediting the countries, the Dianyuan was disturbed", and "the cold outside the mouth...... The Eucharist violated the harmony" caused Wenzong to collapse in his line, and he was dismissed from office immediately after "Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Sushun." Jing Shou, Mu Yin, Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying withdrew from the Military Aircraft Department. Prince Pai Gong, together with the scholars of the Sixth Division, Jiuqing, Han, Zhan, Ke, and Dao, will be the blame that Yi and others deserve, and they will be played impartially according to the law. Zaiyuan, Duanhua, and Sushun were immediately removed from their knighthoods and handed over to the Zongren Mansion.

This successful coup d'état has been dubbed an "uncle-sister-in-law conspiracy". In fact, without the military support of Prince Gong Yixin, the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces would definitely not be able to defeat Minister Gu Ming. In Yixin's view, with the support of the Queen Mother, it is certainly twice the result with half the effort, but if not, it may not be impossible to write and act in a "Zhou Gong Guan Cai".

Judging from the needs of the Qing Dynasty at that time, it is best to have an outstanding monarch like Taizong of the Qing Dynasty; And Yixin is obviously such a suitable candidate, and it can be said that he is the closest to the throne at this time. Because he could have had the strength to establish himself as the emperor, but he finally chose to give up and once again passed by the emperor.

The throne was too heavy for him.

When he was young, he was high-spirited but missed the throne, and in middle age, he struggled in the troubled times. He saw too clearly about the outside, and deeply tasted the hardships of mediation, the hardships of compromise, and the hardships of powerlessness, which was enough to make his fear of fate go deep into his bone marrow.

Prince Gong clearly saw that he was mending a Qing Empire that was riddled with holes. Although he has always worked in the direction of self-improvement and revival, he has always been worried. The fiasco of Bali Bridge had already made him begin to experience disappointment as if he had just woken up from a big dream.