Ruyi's Rebirth: Ruyi's Disease Retreat Retreat

Chapter 220: Dismissal of Yinlu; Qianlong Promotes Neqin

In the fourth year of Qianlong's reign, Qianlong took advantage of the case of treason by Hongxi, the eldest son of Kangxi's deposed Crown Prince Yinreng, to implicate Yinlu and dismiss him from all his posts.

Hongxi was the eldest son of Kangxi's second son, the deposed Crown Prince Yinreng, and also Kangxi's eldest grandson. He was deeply loved by Kangxi since childhood and was raised by Kangxi in the palace for more than 20 years. When Kangxi died, he instructed Yongzheng in his will to treat Hongxi well and confer the title of king on him.

After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he really liked Hongxi and treated him very well. He first conferred him the title of Prince Li, and then promoted him to Prince Li. Hongxi was the first among Kangxi's grandsons to be conferred the title of prince. When Yongzheng conferred him the title of Prince Li, Qianlong had not yet conferred him a title.

After Qianlong ascended the throne, he was very suspicious of his cousin Hongxi, who was sensitive about his identity. Therefore, without any substantial evidence, he fabricated the Hongxi Rebellion Case on the grounds that Hongxi and Yinlu had secretive dealings. In this rebellion case, he killed two birds with one stone, not only getting rid of his cousin Hongxi, but also his uncle Yinlu.

Hongxi was stripped of his title and removed from the clan register by Emperor Qianlong. Qianlong also imitated the way his father, Yongzheng, dealt with his political enemies, his younger brother Yinsi and others, and changed Hongxi's name to Forty-Six. He confined him to the East Fruit Garden of Jingshan. Three years later, Hongxi died of depression.

Yinlu's ending was better. He was dismissed from all his posts by Emperor Qianlong and ordered to stay at home and reflect on his mistakes. From then on, Yinlu completely lost his political influence.

This shows that Qianlong's method of giving a slap in the face and then giving a piece of candy is very clear. He severely punished Hongxi, who was of a sensitive status, and used Hongxi to warn those royal relatives who had disloyalty to his newly ascended the throne. This was considered a slap in the face, but Qianlong had to give another piece of candy right after that.

The reason for this candy is that Qianlong did not severely punish Yinlu. After all, Yinlu was the uncle of Yongzheng who was left behind to assist him. Therefore, Qianlong only took advantage of the Hongxi Rebellion Case to take back the power from Yinlu. He did not investigate Yinlu in depth, and was able to show his leniency to the outside world. Therefore, this is a typical routine of giving a slap in the face and then a piece of candy.

After Yinlu was eliminated, Qianlong turned his attention to Zhang Tingyu and Ortai. However, the two of them did not cause Qianlong too much trouble. As early as the Yongzheng period, Zhang Tingyu and Ortai had been at odds, and their factional struggles intensified during the Qianlong period.

However, this was exactly what Qianlong wanted. On the one hand, Qianlong was happy to watch the two fight, and on the other hand, he just exercised some control to prevent the escalation of their factional struggle. At the same time, Qianlong promoted his confidants such as Nianqin and Bandi to the Grand Council to take power.

In the tenth year of Qianlong's reign, Ortai died of illness. As a result, Qianlong only needed to deal with Zhang Tingyu to basically get rid of all the important ministers left by his father Yongzheng.

So Qianlong took advantage of the death of Ortai to promote his trusted minister Nianqin to the position of Grand Councilor, and explicitly required that Nianqin be ranked before Zhang Tingyu.

You should know that Nianqin was a Manchu nobleman promoted by Emperor Qianlong. In terms of seniority and prestige, he was far inferior to Zhang Tingyu, who served in the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties. This made Zhang Tingyu very dissatisfied. He believed that Qianlong was deliberately humiliating him. So Zhang Tingyu started a strike and wanted to resign and return home on the grounds of old age and illness.

Qianlong's purpose was just to hope that Zhang Tingyu would hand over power tactfully, but he did not want him to retire and return home voluntarily, as that would make Qianlong be known as a mean old minister. Qianlong hoped that Zhang Tingyu would stay in name only but not be in charge of affairs anymore, so that Qianlong would not be known as a mean old minister.