Yongzheng has been on the throne for three hundred years since he ascended the throne, and this problem has not been solved for three hundred years, which means that there has always been a mystery of Yongzheng's succession. The Yongzheng mystery case can be divided into three parts, a prelude, a second doubtful case, and three aftermaths. Let's talk about the prelude first, which is the prelude to the mystery of Yongzheng's succession, which has to start from the beginning.

Kangxi has a total of 35 sons, some died early, died without a name, the order is 24, to Kangxi 47, when the prince was abolished for the first time, there were 12 princes over 20 years old. Therefore, the competition for Kangxi's posthumous throne is mainly among these 12 princes. I divided his 12 princes into three groups for the throne, the first being the crown prince's group, referred to as *. The Second Emperor Eight Sons Group, referred to as the Eight Elder Brothers. The Third Emperor and Four Sub-groups, referred to as the Four Elder Brother Party.

Let's talk about it first*, Prince Yunren is actually Kangxi's sixth son, but when sorting, he is the second. He was born in the 13th year of Kangxi, and his mother Kangxi was very fond of him, but when his mother gave birth to him, she died of dystocia, and Kangxi was very sad. The mother dies with the son, and the son is valued by the mother, Kangxi takes special care of this child and especially educates him. In the 14th year of Kangxi, when Yunren was two years old, Kangxi officially canonized him as the crown prince.

To give another example, in the 17th year of Kangxi, it was the rebellion of the three feudatories, when the situation was very serious, the crown prince had smallpox, and Kangxi took care of him in every way, and for 12 consecutive days, Kangxi did not reply to the recital. When Kangxi was in charge of Geldan, he let the crown prince stay in Beijing, and Kangxi's major military and political affairs were divided by the crown prince, so that he could be trained and educated, and the crown prince had a deep background, and his mother's father, Kabula, was the minister of the guard. His mother's uncle, Suo Etu, was a scholar, a prime minister, a minister of the guard, and the famous Sino-Russian Treaty of Nebuchu, and the head of the delegation who went to participate in the negotiations was Suo Etu. The queen's grandfather, Sony, was Kangxi's auxiliary minister when he was in office. Kangxi officially established Yunren as the crown prince, and the crown prince's maternal grandfather's family had such a deep background in the imperial court, so a political force was formed around the crown prince, that is*. Kangxi has been on the throne for a long time, and by the time the crown prince was abolished, the crown prince had been waiting for 33 years. The people around the crown prince, including the crown prince, were eager to seize power, and were noticed by Kangxi, who was very angry. He said: "I don't know if I will be killed today, and tomorrow I will be killed, and I will be cautious day and night." In a fit of rage, Kangxi ordered the execution of the scholar Suo Etu, meaning that he wanted to weaken* and let the prince learn the necessary lessons. However, instead of learning a lesson, the crown prince carried out more intense activities, and in the 47th year of Kangxi, Kangxi could not bear it anymore, and gathered all the ministers and princes in the Burhasutai Palace in the Mulan Enclosure, and Kangxi solemnly announced the deposition of the crown prince. Kangxi said some words, very distressing, he said that the crown prince is four sentences and seventeen words, Kangxi said that this prince: "lawless ancestors, do not follow the precepts, but wanton and abuse the public, violent and fornicatory." Very serious, when Kangxi announced his edict in public, the history books recorded that he "cried and cried", crying while preaching, after the edict was finished, Kangxi fell to the ground, and others helped him up. Because he was in a very sad mood, he didn't think about sleeping, eating, eating or sleeping for seven days and seven nights in a row. Because he was too sad, Kangxi had a stroke and could not write with his right hand, so he used his left hand to answer the recital.

Kangxi thought that after the deposition of the crown prince, the contradictions between the princes could be eased, but on the contrary, the struggle between the princes for the throne became more and more serious. At this time, the Eight Elder Brother Party with the Eighth Son as the core actively studied and carefully planned to obtain the status of the crown prince. The Eight Elder Brother Party mainly has the eldest elder brother, the eighth elder brother, the ninth elder brother, the tenth elder brother, the fourteenth elder brother, etc., and some courtiers support it. The eighth elder brother Yunxi is talented and virtuous, smart and capable, has a wide range of contacts, and has won the hearts of the people, Kangxi has also considered whether to set up the eighth elder brother as the crown prince, once Kangxi wanted to consult the ministers, the court minister also noticed that Kangxi had a good impression of the eighth son, and the university scholar Ma Qi and others wrote an opinion respectively, and when they arrived at Kangxi, they hoped to establish the eighth son of the emperor as the prince. This helped Yun Xi a disservice, and Kangxi saw that he abolished a *, which did not form another emperor and eight sons party. At this time, the eldest brother also came out, the eldest brother's mother, Concubine Hui, once raised the eighth elder brother Yunxi, and the two of them have a special relationship. The eldest brother participated in the Eighth Elder Brother Party, and one day the eldest elder brother said to Kangxi, saying that if the Eighth Elder Brother is appointed as the imperial prince, I will do my best to assist. Kangxi became angry when he heard this, don't you want to set up the Eighth Elder Brother Party, reprimand the eldest brother, and imprison him. The eighth elder brother begged for mercy, and Kangxi wanted to lock up the eighth elder brother. At this time, it was the fourteenth elder brother, so he knelt and begged Kangxi, begging his father to calm his anger, don't do this. Kangxi is even more popular, and when he pulls out his saber, he wants to kill Yun Yu and kill the eighth son of the emperor. At this time, the fifth elder brother, holding Kangxi's legs, begged bitterly, the imperial father was angry, and the other elder brothers knelt on the ground and begged, Kangxi put away the saber and ordered the eighth elder brother to be pulled out, whipped Yunxi, and then locked him up. After this Kangxi saw that * was abolished, there was an Eight Brother Party, and he still wanted to set up a prince, who should he appoint? Let's stand for it. Then Yunren was reinstated as the crown prince, but the struggle was still very fierce, Kangxi saw that it was not good, and in the 51st year of Kangxi, the second time the crown prince Yunren was abolished, so Kangxi, the crown prince, was two and two abolished, and then Kangxi said that it would not work like this, and under Kangxi's anger, the minister in the courtiers, a scholar, and those who supported the party struggle, were nailed to death with five nails. Another minister was already dead, and Kangxi was angry and dug up his body, chopped up the body, and then burned it, which shows that Kangxi hated the struggle between the princes for the throne.

The result of the struggle between the Emperor and the Eight Sons of the Emperor was defeated, and this led to the introduction of the Four Sons of the Emperor.

The core of the four sons of the emperor is Yinzhen, Prince Yong, who later became Yongzheng. Yongzheng did not participate*, nor did he participate in the Eight Elder Brothers' Party, his younger brother Fourteenth Elder Brother participated in the Huang Bazi Party, he neither supported nor interfered with his younger brother, and he was neither attached to nor opposed to the Huang Eight Sons Party. Prince Yong was obscure himself, kept quiet, and covered up his inner thoughts about seeking a storage position. Prince Yong had a friend named Dai Duo, who gave Yongzheng an idea, he said: It is difficult to be the son of a wise father, "too much to show his strengths, I am afraid that he will be suspicious". Doubt, "do not show its strengths, afraid that it will be abandoned", give up. Even if it is not long, it is not long, and it is not long. So what to do? Prince Yong, based on his own philosophy, on the lessons of the struggle between his brothers for the throne, and on the advice of his staff members on his staff, summed up four points.

First, it is called the emperor of filial piety. In the future, Yongzheng will not inherit the throne, can he be the crown prince, the key is his father, he has to please his father, how to please his father? Two words, sincerity and filial piety. Be loyal to your father and be filial. Sure enough, this trick is very clever, because Prince Yong has always implemented the strategy of filial piety to his father, which is deeply liked by his father.

Second, fraternal brotherhood. Prince Yong has a lot of brothers, and if he offends any of them, his brother goes to his father and plays a copy for him, and he can't bear it. His principle was to love his brothers and to please them.

Third, be diligent and dedicated. His father taught him a lot of things to do, first, to be diligent and conscientious. Second, be cautious and cautious. Don't be bad, cherish everything, do it successfully, do it well, and make his father satisfied.

Fourth, be patient and do not be hasty. Yongzheng is a person who is moody and short-tempered, Kangxi has criticized him many times, Yongzheng, he thinks of ways to cultivate his character and restrain his temper. So he took what his father taught him as his motto and restrained himself. Therefore, Yongzheng told his father and emperor about honesty and filial piety, brother brotherhood, diligence and prudence in work, and patience with himself. His true intention was to seize the throne step by step without a sound.

In Kangxi's later years, the storage position was undecided, and Kangxi had a premonition that there would be a fight between his sons behind him. Kangxi himself said: He said that after I finish the exam, in the future, I will be placed in the Qianqing Palace after a hundred years, that is, I will be placed in the Qianqing Palace, and the corpse will be parked in the Qianqing Palace. There is a historical allusion here, that is, one of the five tyrants of the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi Huan Gong, after Qi Huan Gong died, his five sons competed for the position. Qi Huan Gong stopped the corpse, and before he was buried, the five sons fought, some of the sons cried next to the corpse, and some of the sons shot his brother with arrows, and his brother hid as soon as he saw that an arrow was coming, hiding under the corpse, and the arrow was shot at Qi Huangong's corpse, and the arrow was shot at Qi Huangong's corpse. There was a fight next to the body, all the way to the outside of the morgue, locked up, Qi Huan Gong did not mourn or bury for 67 days after his death, the body was decomposed, and maggots crawled out of the window. Kangxi quoted an allusion, that is, an allusion to the Duke of Qi Huan, saying that in the future, his body would stop in the Qianqing Palace, and he would wait for the armor to fight, at this time Kangxi's heart was very sad, as a wise monarch, a great monarch, did not deal with the problem of his successor, and a historical tragedy occurred in his later years. In the 61st year of Kangxi, on November 13, Kangxi passed away, and the prelude to Yongzheng's succession ended, and the mystery of Yongzheng's succession began.

The mystery of Yongzheng's succession to the throne has not stopped since the day of the succession to the present 282 years.

First, the edict succeeded to the throne. is to follow Kangxi's edict Yongzheng to succeed to the throne, this is the legal succession. There are three reasons for this claim. The first reason is that Yongzheng performed better and won Kangxi's trust, how to prove it? When Kangxi was seriously ill in 61, he sent Yongzheng to the Temple of Heaven to worship the heavens on his behalf. The major events of the country are in the worship and Rong, and the sacrifice is the sacrifice. Kangxi sent Yongzheng to personally sacrifice to the heavens on his behalf, meaning that he might succeed to the throne in the future. The second reason is that on the day of Kangxi's death, in the 61st year of Kangxi, on November 13, at about four o'clock in the morning, Kangxi summoned his seven sons, the monk Long Keduo, to the front of the imperial couch in Changchun Garden, and Kangxi announced to them that "Yinzhen, the fourth son of the emperor, has a noble character, and he bows deeply, and he will be able to inherit the great unification and succeed me to the throne, that is, the emperor." Kangxi's dictation is very clear. The third reason is Kangxi's edict, Kangxi died and left an edict, the edict was very long, and the key words in the end were the same as what I said just now. According to these three reasons, some scholars believe that Yongzheng's succession to the throne according to Kangxi's edict is legitimate, so there is no doubt. Other scholars disagree.

Second, change the edict and usurp the throne. That is to say, Yongzheng tampered with Kangxi's edict and usurped the throne. That's not legal, this opinion also has a reason, the first reason is that Kangxi asked Prince Yong to sacrifice to the heavens on his behalf, and it can't be proved that he will inherit the throne, then you say that the country's major affairs are in the worship of Rong, and "Rong" is military, then he sent his fourteenth son of the emperor to be the general of Fuyuan, according to this logic, it is also to inherit the throne, so this reason is not valid. Second, I just said that Kangxi's dictation before his death, when the oracle was read, Yongzheng was not present, because Yongzheng was going to sacrifice to heaven at the Temple of Heaven fasting, so Yongzheng was not present, but on this day, Prince Yong was summoned to Changchun Garden three times to see his father, and at about eight o'clock in the morning, he saw his father for the first time. According to the record of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi said to Prince Yong, "My illness is getting worse", which means that my illness is gradually improving, which shows that Kangxi is not confused at this time and can still speak, but why didn't he tell Yongzheng that you will succeed me in the future? Some people say that Kangxi kept it secret, and he told his seventh son, the monk Shu Long Keduo, how could he keep it secret from his heir? Impossible. Therefore, these scholars said that Kangxi's edict was forged.

Third, it is the edict of Kangxi just mentioned, in the 54th year of Kangxi, Kangxi promulgated an edict, which was very long. In the end, Kangxi said, "This edict has been prepared for ten years, and if there is an edict, it is nothing more than that." The edict of Kangxi that I see now is basically the text of this edict. There are also different opinions. It is the last sentence that was added, that is, the sentence we just said: "Yinzhen, the fourth son of the emperor, has a noble character, and he bows deeply, and he will be able to inherit the great unification and succeed me to the throne, that is, the emperor." These scholars proposed that your Kangxi edict should have been made before Kangxi's death, and he wanted to agree, but Kangxi did not announce it when he died. Kangxi passed away on the 13th, and he only took it out on the 16th, so you Yongzheng did something in the middle. Therefore, these scholars believe that Kangxi's edict is full of loopholes. I suspect that the words in front are Kangxi's, and the key sentence in the back is added by Yongzheng.

Fourth, Yongzheng knew that he inherited the throne, not because he saw the edict, not because he saw the edict, nor because he heard his father's edict with his own ears, he himself said that it was passed on to him by his uncle Long Keduo. In the imperial era, who inherited the throne was the first priority, such a big matter, Long Keduo did not announce Kangxi's edict in front of the ministers, nor in front of the princes, and said it to Yongzheng alone, without circumstantial evidence.

Fifth, after Kangxi died. The nine gates of Beijing City are under martial law, and the prince and the prince are not allowed to enter the palace without Yongzheng's edict. is Kangxi's son, and his qualifications to mourn his father in the palace have been restricted. Therefore, these scholars say that Yongzheng did this, indicating that he has ghosts.

Sixth, the fourteenth son of the emperor, General Fuyuan, was in the northwest, and after getting his father's death, he hurried to Beijing to mourn, and when he arrived in Beijing, he reported to Yinzhen, saying that I congratulate Xinjun on his ascension to the pole first, or first mourn the emperor's father? In principle, how did Yongzheng reply? He was unable to enter the city, so he was asked to go to Jingling in Zunhua, Hebei Province to guard, and later imprisoned his younger brother and the fourteenth son of the emperor from Dongling to the Shouhuang Palace in Jingshan. You want to inherit the throne in a righteous and bright way, you don't need to be like this, his father has an official edict, which brother can resist? No way.

Seventh, after Yongzheng died, he was not buried in Dongling, he was buried in Xiling. Some people say, why didn't Yongzheng dare to bury him in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty? is afraid that after death, his soul will not dare to see his grandfather Shunzhi and his father Kangxi. Eighth, after he succeeded to the throne, he dealt with his brother and brother. From the side, it shows that he may be in the wrong position. Ninth, after he succeeded to the throne, he killed the two people who helped him succeed to the throne the most, Nian Qianyao and Long Keduo, and killed people to kill people, which shows that he was not in the right position. Of course, there are some other reasons, in short, changing the edict and usurping the throne, it is believed that Yongzheng tampered with Kangxi's edict and usurped the throne.

Now let's think about it, Yongzheng's edict to succeed to the throne is said to cause people to be suspicious, you say that Yongzheng changed the edict and usurped the throne, how did this edict change? There is no solid and strong evidence to prove it. So the two views have been holding each other for three hundred years.

In this, I will explain a few questions, the first question about Yongzheng to seize the heir, as you know, the Qing Dynasty did not adopt the eldest system, Kangxi in his later years, especially before his death, did not establish a successor, did not establish the eldest son as the crown prince, since the Qing Dynasty did not have a successor system, Kangxi did not establish a successor in his later years, the crown prince, so what can Yongzheng take away? Therefore, the theory of Yongzheng seizing the heir is not valid.

Second, Yongzheng usurped the throne. Yongzheng usurped the throne and said that there must be a person who usurped the throne, he is the crown prince, or he inherits the throne, and Yongzheng takes it over and counts it as a usurper. So whose position is Yongzheng usurping? Now I can't find the materials, saying that Kangxi set up who was the prince, and before he died, who was the prince and who was established? Who will inherit the throne, who will inherit the throne other than Yongzheng, so far there is no material, so Yongzheng usurped the throne is also worth studying, whose throne did he usurp? Someone said that the usurpation of the throne of the fourteenth son of the emperor, Kangxi's edict in his later years was to pass on the fourteenth son, and Yongzheng changed the word "ten" to the word "Yu", which is equivalent to usurping the position of his younger brother. Everyone looks at this, pass the fourteenth position, then change it, add a horizontal at the top of the cross, and add a hook at the bottom, and it will be "passed on to the four sons", and the position will be passed on to Yongzheng. There are so many books, a lot of stories, and wild histories all say so. This matter can't stand scrutiny, why can't it stand scrutiny? The first point is that at that time, the word "Yu" was written in traditional Chinese, and we write simplified characters today, and traditional characters are written like this, so it is not easy to change the word "ten" to the word "Yu", which is one. Second, the Qing Dynasty's habit of writing at that time, it was called the fourteenth son of the emperor, the fourth son of the emperor, there was an emperor in front of it, if it was changed, it would become "the fourth son of the emperor", it would not work, and third, the edict of the throne at that time was Manchu and Han, Manchu and Chinese, and the Chinese language you said to change the word "ten" to the word "Yu" also has a little meaning, then you can not change the Manchu text. According to these three reasons, it is not established to say that Kangxi passed on the fourteenth son, but changed to the fourth son. Here's a little bit of clarification. There is another point to explain, that is, the name of "Jade" was changed, it is said that the original "Jade", Yongzheng is called Yinzhen, and the younger brother of his compatriot is called the fourteenth son of the emperor, called Yinzhen, the above Zhen is the name of Yongzheng, a "Zhen" is a real "true", and the following is his fourteenth brother Yinzhen, this word is pronounced "Xuan", also pronounced "Xuan". The glyphs of these two words are similar, and the pronunciation is also similar, so one opinion says that when Kangxi passed on the throne, it was passed to Yinzhen, the two of them were about the same, and Kangxi passed the throne to him, at this time, the fourteenth son of Emperor Yinyu was not in Beijing, and General Fuyuan was outside, Yongzheng became the emperor, then these two words are similar, Yongzheng asked his younger brother to change his name, we don't delve into this matter, but this matter cannot prove that Yongzheng usurped his brother's position, and this cannot be proved.

Therefore, in the past 300 years, several opinions have been staggered, and no one has accepted each other. It can't be necessarily in one respect, and there is a third opinion, that is, there is no edict to seize the throne, and the first is to succeed to the throne. The second is to change the edict and usurp the throne, and the third is to say that there is an edict without an edict, and that opinion says that Kangxi's edict is tampered with, fake, and forged. Seriously, the First Historical Archives has archives of testaments, but there are many doubts and loopholes. You say that it has been tampered with, and it seems that there is no very convincing evidence in the favor. Therefore, there is a third opinion, that is, the theory of seizing the throne without edicts. Even before Kangxi's death, it is difficult to say, there is a clear edict, but there is no clarity, so who will inherit this throne? It is also not clear that the competition between the brothers was mainly between the twelve sons, from the eldest to the fourteenth, two died in the middle, and there were twelve people, and the twelve princes were competing for the throne, the strong defeated the weak, and the survival of the fittest. Prince Yong, after a long struggle among his 35 brothers, finally seized the throne. How is it legal? How is it illegal? It is all a matter between their brothers, who becomes the emperor may be beneficial to his brother's group, and the other group may be unfavorable, but for the entire Manchu people, for the Chinese nation, and for the development of history, it mainly depends on who contributes to the development of Chinese history after becoming the emperor. This is the main criterion by which historical figures are judged. But for 300 years, it can be said that up to now, no consensus has been reached on this issue. Therefore, the Yongzheng issue is still a historical mystery case, but the mystery of Yongzheng's succession did not end because of his succession, so after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, the mystery of Yongzheng's succession continued to have aftermath.