At the end of October of the seventeenth year of Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng Yinzhen was born in Yonghe Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing. He was the fourth son of Emperor Kangxi. Regarding Yinzhen's image, "Records of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty" said that he was "amazing in the sky, with a tall and slender body, half-drooped ears, bright eyes, loud voice, and dignified manner", which means: he is a handsome guy, rich Handsome, I can’t praise him enough. These remarks should not be completely flattering Yinzhen, because the third-party historical materials of the Koreans also said that he was "heroic in appearance and resonant in language."
Yinzhen’s mother was De Fei Wu Ya. In the royal family, sons are honored by their mothers, and Wu Ya's family background was low, which did not bring any innate political advantages to Yinzhen. This was very different from the emperor's second son Yin Reng (réng) who was named the prince when he was just one year old. . In terms of age, Yinzhen belongs to the first rank among the many princes of Kangxi, and is only one year younger than the third prince Yinzhi (zhǐ). But later, the eldest son and the third son of the emperor were both named county princes, and Yinzhen was only named Baylor, which was the same title as the eighth son of the emperor, Yinhu (sì). Therefore, in his early years, Yinzhen believed that he had no hope of succeeding to the throne, and gradually developed a character of pure heart and few desires, and once yearned for Tao Yuanming's life. He liked to write poems in his early years, and many of his works have been passed down to this day. One of them is "A Day's Leisure":
After a day behind closed doors, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city, Yuan Ming was too lazy to bow down.
Watching the chess game, I realized that the Hengqin only played the ancient tune.
All new feelings are drained into the cup, and all old worries are sold out on the pillow.
Believe that all the rest of life is an illusion, and you will never feel free in this life.
If we don’t say who the author of this poem is, some people might think that it was written by a monk or Taoist who is indifferent to fame and fortune, right? Was it written by a scholar-official who was tired of political struggle and wanted to resign and return home? Few people would have thought that this was written by the early Yongzheng Emperor Yinzhen. Looking through the "Collected Works of Emperor Shizong of the Qing Dynasty", you can find that Yinzhen wrote many similar poems.
Later, Yinzhen was named Prince Yong. At this time, he became more and more interested in Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, which pursues spiritual freedom. His Prince Yong's Mansion was close to the Berlin Temple, and the Berlin Temple became a place where he frequently visited. It was also in Berlin Temple that Yinzhen met the famous eminent monk Jialing Xingyin, and often asked Jialing Xingyin to be a guest at Prince Yong's residence. The two had a good personal relationship. On several occasions, Yinzhen even turned the palace into a place for holding religious ceremonies. Seeing that Yinzhen was so enthusiastic about this Zen master, many eminent monks admired him.
He yearns for Tao Yuanming and likes Zen Buddhism. In today's terms, he is a Buddhist young man.
Later, our Buddhist young man became the emperor. Although he no longer had the desire to "be born out of the world" in his early years, he carried forward the spirit of "pure heart and few desires" in his poems. , he tempered this "pure heart and few desires" into the virtue of "temperance", so as an emperor, he had almost no sense of personal enjoyment. "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" records that after Yinzhen succeeded to the throne, he "worked hard day and night, without any civil or sensual entertainment." In other words, he was devoted to governing the country and had no interest in eating, drinking and having fun. In the words of Er Yuehe, he is a "cold person".
For people who want to achieve something, this quality of "temperance" is particularly important. Let’s take a look at the other two emperors of the Qing Dynasty. Emperor Kangxi neglected government affairs in his later years, resulting in official corruption. Emperor Qianlong simply became mediocre in the later stages of his rule, which directly led to the decline of the Qing Dynasty. One of the reasons why they are like this is that they have the desire for pleasure. Once the desire for pleasure expands, it will cause them to be unable to start well and end well. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was also this kind of person. As soon as the country prospered, he began to act voluptuously. Only our "cold man" Emperor Yongzheng, from his accession to the throne to his death, started well and ended well. He never slacked off for a day and was never arrogant or extravagant. As a result, the careers of both Kangxi and Qianlong were deficient: in the later period of Kangxi, people's livelihood was still good, but the national treasury was increasingly empty; in the later period of Qianlong, both the "country" and the "people" were in poverty, and netizens are still complaining about it to this day.
During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, both "national wealth" and "people's wealth" were achieved, breaking the myth that "national wealth and people's wealth cannot have both". "Xiaoting Miscellaneous Records" records that at that time, "the national funds were abundant and the people were prosperous."
There is a philosophical view that "wisdom", "justice", "bravery" and "temperance" are not four different virtues, but describe all virtues from four perspectives. In other words, a person who is truly "temperate" can also possess other virtues accordingly. Yinzhen had the virtue of moderation in his early years, and then developed the ideas of "loving the people" and "sympathizing with the people". His most outstanding achievement was the rectification of official administration. As for why it is necessary to rectify the administration of officials, he said: "If the administration of officials is unclear, how can the people be safe?" This means that if there are too many corrupt officials, the people will be oppressed.
In fact, as early as when he was his elder brother, Yinzhen had already shown his concern for people's livelihood. In the mid-Kangxi period, the Yongding River flooded many times, causing considerable losses to the people along the coast. In the 33rd year of Kangxi and the 39th year of Kangxi, the young Yinzhen followed Emperor Kangxi to inspect the Yongding River twice. During his second inspection, Yinzhen composed the poem "Yue Yongding River Yingzhi", in which he praised Emperor Kangxi for doing things that were beneficial to the people. This also reflected Yinzhen's own awareness of "people's livelihood" from one aspect. . In Wanping County, Yinzhen found that the pile wood used in the project was cut corners and substandard, so he immediately reported it to Emperor Kangxi and asked for rework. The results were immediate.
A person who is truly "temperate" can also possess other virtues accordingly. On the contrary, a person who is not temperate will not be very noble in other aspects. As a result, a character who can contrast with Yinzhen - Crown Prince Yinzheng, is placed in front of us. Yinreng's mother was the original queen of Emperor Kangxi, Hesheli. A son is more valuable than his mother, so Yinreng was established as the prince as soon as he turned one year old. This prince who was above tens of thousands of people since he was a child and was doted on by Emperor Kangxi did not develop Yinzhen's pure heart and few desires. Instead, he became a person with insatiable desires. Emperor Kangxi once said: "Since I came to the throne, I have been frugal in everything...Yinreng has used everything far better than me." He was accusing the crown prince: You are simply more luxurious than me, the emperor, which is outrageous. Moreover, the crown prince was eager to succeed to the throne and seize power. He once said: "In today's world, how can there be a prince who has been in forty years?" It can be seen that he wanted to take power, and he was a little crazy. He and Yinzhen are completely different types of people.
When Emperor Kangxi made his sixth tour to the south, Yinreng accompanied him. When Yinreng came to Jiangning, Chen Pengnian, the prefect of Jiangning, did not want to waste people and money, so his hospitality to Yinreng was relatively simple. Yinreng was used to living a luxurious life. He felt that Chen Pengnian had treated him lightly, so he immediately became furious and actually found the opportunity to instigate Chen Pengnian in front of Emperor Kangxi and demanded that Chen Pengnian be executed. Fortunately, two favorite ministers around Emperor Kangxi came out to stop him in time, and Chen Pengnian survived. Emperor Kangxi later saw clearly that he must not let this kid Yinreng succeed, otherwise the people would be miserable. The next year, the scene of "deposed prince" was staged.
Through the early images of Yinzhen and Yinreng, we can understand that anyone who wants to cultivate himself and achieve something must first "purify his heart and have few desires." "Pure heart and few desires" does not mean that people become indifferent to the world, nor does it mean that people become insensitive and lose all desires. It means that people abandon their excessive selfish desires and refuse extravagant enjoyment. On this basis, , cultivate the virtue of "temperance". Zhu Xi's famous saying that has been misinterpreted by modern people: "Preserve the laws of nature and destroy human desires" has the same meaning.
Of course, the reason why Yinfeng was deposed was because he had done many evil things besides the two things we just mentioned, so that Emperor Kangxi's anger against him defeated his opponent. His partiality. During the incident when the prince was deposed for the first time, Yinzhen's political activities began to increase. We will talk about this in detail later.