Chapter 30 Empress Xiaoyiren
Empress Xiaoyiren, surnamed Tong, was a member of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. She was the third empress of Kangxi, the granddaughter of Tong Tulai, the Prince's Grand Tutor, the daughter of Tong Guowei, the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard and the First-Class Duke, the niece of Empress Xiaokangzhang, and also Kangxi's cousin.
She entered the palace in the 15th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, was canonized as a noble concubine in the 16th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, raised the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi, Yinzhen in the 17th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, and was promoted to imperial noble concubine in the 20th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign. In the 22nd year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, she gave birth to the eighth daughter of Emperor Kangxi, who died after living for more than a month. On the 9th day of the seventh month in the 28th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, she was canonized as empress, and died the next day.
Tong Jia Yuxiu raised Yongzheng and the Eighth Wise Prince Yinsi throughout her life. The Fourth Prince Yinzhen grew up at her side since childhood. She put in so much effort in raising him from a hungry baby to a handsome young man. Even until her death, she gave all of her dowry to Yinzhen.
But after her death, Yinzhen was sent back to Concubine De by the emperor. Even though Concubine De treated him badly, he was still willing to please her. In order to please Concubine De, he claimed that he was not living well in Chengqian Palace and missed his biological mother very much.
Although she was angry, she also knew that this was a way to save the lives of the children in the harem. Without the protection of his adoptive mother, he had to fight for the protection of his biological mother and win her favor so that his life would not be miserable.
But what she found hard to accept was that, in order to avoid suspicion, Yinzhen kept his distance from her brothers and nephews from her mother's side, and remained unmoved even when Tong Jia tried to coax him humbly.
The Empress Dowager did not allow Tong Jia Yuxiu to give birth to a prince with Tong Jia blood. Now the Emperor has made up for his guilt towards Empress Zhang Xiaokang within the Tong Jia family. The Tong Guogang brothers are deeply favored by the Emperor.
If Tong Jia Yuxiu gave birth to a child with Tong Jia blood, the emperor would inevitably be partial to him, which would threaten the prince's position.
The Queen Mother would not allow it, and the Hesheli clan would not allow it either.
Therefore, Tong Jia Yuxiu had to settle for the second best and raised the child of a low-ranking concubine, and took great care to protect and raise Yinzhen. For Yinzhen's sake, she even sent her new son Yinsi to Huifei's palace, just to let Yinzhen see her and Tong Jia's true feelings.
But Yinzhen betrayed her sincerity. As soon as she died, he rushed to find Defei as his new mother, which made her feel that all her efforts were not worth it.
When the nine princes competed for the throne, the Tonggiya clan naturally stood behind Yinzhen, but they were not taken seriously by Yinzhen. Although Yinzhen had his own ideas and opinions, he would not tell the Tonggiya clan.
After the second dethronement of the crown prince, Yinzhen seemed to have withdrawn from the fight for the throne, went to the farm to farm, and lived a free and easy life.
Tong Guowei and others went to the farm to find him several times, but did not get any clear instructions from Yinzhen. They thought Yinzhen had given up the fight for the throne, and that Tong Jia was already stuck in the quagmire and had to fight even if she didn't want to.
At this time, Yinsi contacted Tong Guowei, who helped Yinsi and the Fourteenth Prince compete for the throne.
In the 61st year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the emperor passed away and Yinzhen ascended the throne. After gaining a firm foothold, he began to suppress the Tonggiya clan. He imprisoned the Tonggiya clan in the garden under the pretext of taking care of Longkodo, making it impossible for the Tonggiya clan to turn over.
The Tonggiya clan’s talents declined, and they never had a chance to rise to prominence again.
……
"Cousin, when Wuya's baby is born, I will bring him to you to raise!"
"Okay, thank you for your trust, cousin. I will take good care of the little prince."
"Well, I believe in my cousin too."
Now, Uya was placed in a side hall of Chengqian Palace. The dragon fetus was already four months old. The emperor would visit her every time he came to Chengqian Palace. After all, he didn't have many children, so he naturally had to pay attention to her.
The original owner wanted a son, a son who could continue to maintain the glory of the Tonggiya clan, but the current situation was that neither the Queen Mother nor Hesheli wanted the Tonggiya clan to have a prince.
The best way to solve a problem is to solve the person who raised the problem.
The first person Zhang Shan attacked was the prince. The little prince was now only five years old and still a little baby. Historically, the prince contracted smallpox in the 19th year of Kangxi's reign, but Zhang Shan moved the time forward.
Although it was immoral, she used cowpox to help the prince save his life.
In May of the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign, the weather was hot. The prince wanted to stay cool at night, and when he woke up in the morning he found his forehead was burning hot. He thought it was just a minor cold, but a few days later he developed small pimples on his body.
People who had contact with the prince were also infected, and Yuqing Palace was sealed off.
"Xuanye, the prince got smallpox, it's not a coincidence. How else can you explain that you just agreed to let Tong Jia raise the little prince of Uya, and then this happened to the prince?"
"Madam, I believe my cousin would not do this. I also had smallpox in my life. I know whether anyone was plotting against me or not."
When Kangxi got smallpox, the late emperor was worried that other princes would be infected, especially his favorite "eldest son", so he sent Kangxi out of the palace. It was the careful care of Empress Xiaokangzhang and the people of the Tonggiya clan that helped him overcome smallpox.
As a result, he defeated Fuquan and became the master of the world.
Therefore, there was a reason why Kangxi favored the Tonggiya clan.
At this moment, Kangxi was still trying to quell the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories and still needed the help of the Empress Dowager. He did not dare to disrespect the Empress Dowager. Although he could not punish his cousin Tong Jia, Uya was still moved to Yonghe Palace to recuperate.
As for the little prince of the Uya clan, we will have to talk about it later.
Zhang Shan did not make a fuss and sent Uya away, which made Kangxi feel more sympathetic towards her. However, the most important thing now was the prince's illness.
Because the preliminary work was not done properly, the prince had scratched a lot of pimples on his face. Without Zhang Shan's intervention, it would be difficult to heal the scars on the prince's face.
Zhang Shan did not feel sorry for the prince. After all, the princes in history were too miserable. If he had lost his identity as prince because of the scar on his face, the ending might have been much better.
The Empress Dowager and the Emperor couldn't help but sigh when they saw the scar on the Crown Prince's face. They both knew that it was impossible for the Qing Dynasty to produce an emperor with a flawed face.
But the Three Feudatories Rebellion has not yet been quelled, and deposing the crown prince will not be beneficial to the current situation.
While the Hesheli clan was looking for scar-removing ointment, they were also training their youngest daughter, hoping that she would give birth to a prince to replace the crown prince.
Because the imperial physician confirmed that Uya's dragon fetus was a prince, all parties were keeping an eye on her. Without the protection of the original owner, Uya suffered a lot.
Uya's foundation was not very stable, and there were always areas that were not taken care of. Before Zhang Shan could take action, Uya herself had a difficult delivery.
Fortunately, the baby in her belly was strong and was born safely, but Uya's uterus was injured and she would not be able to bear children for several years.
The younger prince was temporarily raised by Concubine Hui, and coincidingly the older prince was also brought to the palace to study. Although Concubine Hui loved the younger prince, her own son was the most important.
At the beginning of the year, Kangxi revised the Jade Book of Emperors and ranked the princes and princesses. The youngest prince was ranked fourth and became the Fourth Prince.
Although the Fourth Prince was not neglected, he did not receive Huipin's wholehearted love either. He was in a state of neither being well fed nor starving to death.
In July, the largest earthquake in the history of the Forbidden City occurred. Uya saved Kangxi's life while accompanying him and was demoted to Depin.
Unfortunately, the Empress Dowager was crushed to death by the collapsed roof beams, and Su Malagu was also killed.
The Empress Dowager died suddenly, and Kangxi was in great grief. He suspended court for more than a month before his officials began to make remonstrances.
Without the pressure from the Empress Dowager, Kangxi acted more freely. Although he was restrained in his favor towards his concubines, he was more willful than before.
In the 20th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories ended and the previous dynasty was stable. Emperor Kangxi wanted to confer titles on the harem and appointed Zhang Shan as empress, while at the same time deposing the crown prince.
Rongpin, Huipin, Yipin and Depin were promoted to concubines. Uya relied on the dragon fetus in her belly to advance to a higher position, which made many people jealous.
After Zhang Shan ascended the throne, she quickly became pregnant. Although Kangxi loved the second prince, he wanted an outstanding child without any flaws.
In June of the 22nd year of the Kangxi reign, Zhang Shan gave birth to the ninth prince Yinchu, the second legitimate son of the Empress.
The princes of the Qing Dynasty would not be raised by their biological mothers. As the future crown prince, Yinchu was taught by Kangxi together with the second prince, while Zhang Shan adopted the two younger princes Yinzhen and Yinxi.
After the eldest prince, the third prince also returned to the palace from outside to study. The fourth prince Yinzhen was raised in Huifei's palace, the fifth prince Yinqi was raised in the Empress Dowager's palace, the sixth prince Yinfu was raised in Rongfei's palace, the seventh prince Yinyou was raised in Huifei's palace, the eighth prince Yinsi was raised in Defei's palace, and several little princesses were raised in Yifei's palace.
Now, Zhang Shan sits firmly on the throne of queen, and all the concubines in the harem depend on her for a living. Kangxi also respects Zhang Shan, and his son is also extremely intelligent, talented in both civil and military affairs, and has both moral integrity.
But this is far from enough. No matter how well she does, the Tonggiya clan always lags behind and will be finished sooner or later.
Especially Longkodo, who actually did something like snatching his father-in-law's concubine. The original owner let him do it and thought it was no big deal, but Zhang Shan would not do that and directly ordered Li Si'er to be executed.
Perhaps Longkodo had found true love, and was very dissatisfied with Zhang Shan, so he was about to break into the palace with a knife.
Zhang Shan will not indulge him. Longkodo is the original owner's biological brother, but not his, Zhang Shan's.
Zhang Shan ordered people to kill Longkodo and began to train other people.
It’s not that Zhang Shan is cruel, but the imperial power is like this. The emperor has been vaguely impatient with the Tong family.
How could Kangxi, who held great power, allow the existence of Tong Banchao?
Afterwards, Tong Guowei also resigned. Although Kangxi tried to retain him several times, Tong Guowei was determined to leave, so Kangxi had no choice but to let him retire and return home.
There were only a few small members of the Tong family in the court, and none of them held important positions. Kangxi was very confident in training his young second son.
This is also Zhang Shan’s intention.
Twenty years later, Yinchu married Crown Princess Niohuru, and gave birth to his eldest son the following year. Kangxi named him Hongye. As the saying goes, "greater generations are closer", Kangxi loved this grandson very much and issued an edict to confer him the title of Crown Prince.
Yinchu's position as the crown prince was very stable, but Zhang Shan thought that Kangxi began to suppress the crown prince in the later years of his reign, and led the princes to fight each other like raising a Gu.
Moreover, Kangxi was lenient in his administration, and chaos gradually began to appear in the court.
In order to prevent her son from being dragged down by Kangxi, Zhang Shan killed the dragon in advance and allowed Yinchu to ascend to the throne smoothly.
At this time, Yinchu was in great favor and his power team had been cultivated by Kangxi, so no one jumped out to oppose him.
……
Let’s talk about this separately.
When Yongzheng woke up, he found that he was reborn in the year when his eldest son Honghui died. Just after saving Honghui, he found that the person on the throne now was not his father, but his younger brother who did not exist in his previous life.
He is also the biological son of Emperor Tongjia.
Could it be that the eighth sister in the previous life was not a younger sister, but a younger brother?
Yongzheng couldn't figure it out, but the current situation didn't allow him to think too much.
In this life, he no longer had the conflicts between his biological mother and adoptive mother, but both his biological mother and adoptive mother disliked him. His adoptive mother, Concubine Hui, had her own son, and his biological mother still loved the Fourteenth Son the most, and he also had the sweet-talking and capable Eighth Son by his side.
There is no place for him anymore with his biological mother or his adoptive mother.
What made him even more disappointed was that Thirteen was no longer his good brother.
Instead, they are the die-hard fans of Lao Ba. Lao Ba, Lao Thirteen and Fourteen are very close to each other. Although they will not rebel, there is no way that other brothers can bully them.
In his previous life, the Ninth and Tenth Brothers from the Eighth Master's party have become the Prince's party. Even the second brother of the "Prince" supports the Ninth Brother, and the power of the Ninth Brother is at its peak.
Before he could even start to make any effort, he was kicked aside by the Emperor.
Yongzheng entered the palace with his head down, knelt at the gate of Yonghe Palace, and begged his biological mother, Concubine De, to go with him to Prince Yong's Mansion to live in his old age. But Concubine De not only refused to see him, she also claimed that she did not want to live with her fourth son and wanted to live in the fourteenth son's mansion.
Although he had expected it, Yongzheng was still stabbed and his heart was in throes of pain.
The Fourteenth Prince was the darling of Concubine De, and she had children one after another in her mansion. In contrast, there were only a few cats and kittens in Yongzheng's mansion, and they were all sickly, which was really not pleasing.
In the end, Yongzheng was unable to persuade Concubine De, and Concubine De lived in the mansion of the Fourteenth Prince. The Fourteenth Prince was still a bald prince, and the mansion was small, with many women and children. Concubine De was not used to living there.
The brothers took their mother out of the palace to live with her, leaving Yongzheng's mansion deserted. Gradually, rumors began to spread that Yongzheng was unfilial.
In his dreams at midnight, Yongzheng wanted to return to his original world, because this world was too painful. Although he did not ascend to the supreme position, he still felt unprecedented loneliness.
The second prince was also a legitimate son. When Kangxi was still alive, he was granted the title of Prince Li. After Yinchu ascended the throne, he was promoted to a double-salary iron-hat prince, a title that was hereditary.
Kangxi was very busy, either with state affairs or with sowing seeds in the harem. Although he paid attention to his two children, he only found various teachers to teach them and tested their homework from time to time.
The two brothers lived together, and there was no estrangement between them without the instigation of Hesheli. Moreover, Yinchu was brought up by Yinreng, and their relationship was much closer than that of Zhang Shan.
Tong Guowei has resigned for so many years and has been staying in the clan to train the clan members, but the results seem to be not very good. Among his own lineage, only Shun Anyan and Yue Xing'a are worth looking at.
It is the lineage of Tong Guogang that has more potential. Tong Guogang had three sons. The eldest son is not worth mentioning, but the last two sons are both good seedlings. Many of their descendants look smart and sensible. If I remember correctly, the lineage of Tong Guowei later produced a queen.
But it is not impossible to help people get out of poverty. To help the poor, we must first help them to have the aspirations to do so. Zhang Shan feels that if people just grind walnuts and walk their birds every day, they cannot be helped out of poverty.
Therefore, after Zhang Shan became the empress dowager, she did her utmost to help the Tong Jia clan rise and get rid of the predicament of relying on women's nepotism to gain power.
The Tonggiya clan wanted to give up, but Zhang Shan would not allow it. As a result, the spirit of upward mobility began to prevail within the Tonggiya clan. Although there were some unpromising descendants in the future, none of them had the mentality of waiting for help.
Relying on its strict family tradition, the Tonggiya clan remained a major Manchu family until the late Qing Dynasty and remained standing.