In the eyes of most people, being born into an emperor's family means having good food, clothing, and a worry-free life, but is this really the case? Being born into an emperor's family does not worry about food and clothing like other poor people. But since ancient times, empero

• [Foreword]

Speaking of ancient history, people will always envy the emperor and have longing and yearning for "being born in an emperor's family". In the eyes of most people, being born into an emperor's family means having good food and clothing and a worry-free life, but is this really the case?

Born in an emperor's family, it is true that he will not worry about food and clothing like other poor people. However, since ancient times, emperors have many children and grandchildren. The intrigues and intrigues between relatives are not simpler than life. On the contrary, a little carelessness may lead to death. worries.

There is only one dragon chair. In order to compete for the throne, the princes often use all their strength. But in the end, only one person will succeed, and the rest will often become victims in the struggle for the throne.

Therefore, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the ten-year-old Prince Liu Song once said in his last words: "I wish I would not be born in the imperial family."

From this, we can also see the sadness of being born in the royal family.

So in the royal family, are there any princes who have never obtained the throne, but still retain the rich clothes and fine food?

The answer is yes. Although the person we are going to talk about today is not a successful person in seizing the direct descendant, in a sense, he is luckier than a successful person. This person is the fifth son of Yongzheng: Hong Zhou.

Portrait of Hong Zhou

Perhaps many people are not familiar with this name, but I believe everyone must be familiar with his brother. His brother's name was Hongli, who later became known as Emperor Qianlong.

While other princes were trying their best to fight for the throne, Hong Zhou's actions aroused confusion and even sighs from others. So, what exactly did Hong Zhou do during the fight for the throne? How did you spend your whole life "pretending to be crazy and acting stupid"?

The story we are going to tell today begins here.

[Racked his brains, Yongzheng used a clever trick]

When it comes to fighting for the throne, Emperor Yongzheng actually has a lot of say. As the winner of the "Nine Sons to Seize the Rightful Son", Yongzheng was well aware of the battles between the princes. , so Emperor Yongzheng was also afraid that his sons would fight over the same throne.

Emperor Yongzheng was well aware of the cruelty of a prince's road to inheriting the throne. In order to prevent this situation from happening again to his sons, he determined a special way of inheriting the throne.

In order to keep it secret, only Emperor Yongzheng himself knew this method.

Yongzheng

Of course, the princes who knew nothing about it were still eager for the throne. They intentionally or unintentionally showed themselves in front of Emperor Yongzheng in order to get a compliment, and thereby gain the favor of their father in the competition. .

Yongzheng had a total of fourteen children, ten boys and four girls. Among the men, several died young due to the widespread smallpox. In the end, only four survived, lived a healthy life, and participated in the competition for the throne. They are the third prince Hongshi, the fourth prince Hongli, the fifth prince Hongzhou and the sixth prince Hongzhan of Yongzheng.

Among them, Hongzhan was not qualified to participate in the battle for the throne because of his young age.

As the eldest prince among them, Hongshi's desire for the throne exceeded everyone else, but Hongshi's treatment was very doubtful to future generations. According to historical records, Hongshi, as the eldest son, was not only not named the "Crown Prince", but was also expelled from the royal family. And when Emperor Yongzheng established the crown prince, he did not consider Hongshi, who was already 19 years old at the time, but chose Hongli, the fourth prince who was still young.

So why did Hongshi receive such treatment? Later generations recorded Hongshi as "young and ignorant, with an indulgent temperament and careless behavior." In short, he was misbehaving, unfaithful and unfilial.

There are very few records of Hongshi himself in history. Some people say that Hongshi secretly knew about the candidate for Emperor Yongzheng's heir apparent, so he broke the bank; others said that he secretly colluded with his uncle Yinsi and conspired to seize the throne.

As for what Hongshi did to turn father and son against each other, we still don’t know.

Aixinjueluo·Hongshi

From this, what was originally a struggle between the four princes eventually became a mutual game between the fourth prince Hongli and the fifth prince Hong Zhou. For this throne, the two princes were naturally unwilling to give up, so how to play the game became a question they needed to consider.

Interestingly, these two princes were not popular with Emperor Yongzheng since they were children, and they had a very close relationship . They read and played together when they were young, and they had already developed a deep friendship.

However, in front of the supreme throne, what is the friendship between two people? Even Li Shimin, a generation of Mingjun, was willing to kill for the throne. His father, Emperor Yongzheng, even experienced a fierce "nine sons fighting for the throne." This shows the charm of the throne. It seems that after sitting in this position, everything in the world is at hand. master.

As a result, the two children who had a close friendship suddenly became enemies.

All this was expected by Emperor Yongzheng.

In order to ensure that the fourth prince Hongli could not be defeated and successfully ascend to the throne, Emperor Yongzheng also spent a lot of effort, and all this was noticed by the fifth prince Hong Zhou.

So, in response to this originally unfair competition, Hong Zhou chose a more clever method. What did he do?

• [Great wisdom is like a fool, retreat bravely from the rapids of Hongzhi]

At that time, anyone who had some understanding of the situation in the court. Everyone will be sensitive to the following: Emperor Yongzheng's attitude towards Hongli and Hongzhou was different.

What people don’t know is that the reason why Emperor Yongzheng was able to obtain the throne was actually related to Hongli.

This is about Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Kangxi was very fond of this imperial grandson. When Hongli was four years old, he brought him back to the palace to raise him. This shows that Kangxi loved this imperial grandson. of preference.

Of course, Hongli lived up to his expectations and showed wisdom and talent beyond his peers in front of Kangxi, which made Kangxi like him even more. Before his death, he not only succeeded to the throne to Emperor Yongzheng, but also specifically made a will to directly make the emperor's grandson the future prince. This means that Hongli has been determined to be the emperor of the next generation. This is also the "secret establishment" chosen by Emperor Yongzheng. One of the reasons for "Crown Prince".

Hong Zhou knew that no matter what, the possibility of him getting the throne from his brother Hongli was almost zero.

He also knew that the losers who had inherited the throne since ancient times often ended up being miserable.

Therefore, Hong Zhou himself no longer has many thoughts about competing for the throne. What he wants to think about is how to save his own life, or in other words, his life.

He saw his father's attitude towards his brothers. Fearing Yinsi and fearing that he would threaten his imperial power, Emperor Yongzheng even expelled his own son Hongshi from the royal family.

Therefore, as long as there is no threat to the new emperor, he may be able to save his life.

Hongzhou (right) in the film and television drama

Since then, Hongzhou has changed his attitude and lost the motivation to fight for imperial power. Instead, he enjoys the glory and wealth of being a prince. This is not only enjoyment, but also for Hongzhou. Historically, he showed weakness and compromised with Emperor Yongzheng.

Until the eleventh year of Yongzheng, Hong Zhou was named a prince. In the eyes of outsiders, this means that the fight for the throne between Hongli and Hongzhou has officially begun, but in Hongzhou's view, this only means that he can get better treatment.

At this time, Hong Zhou was completely unwilling to compete for the throne, but outsiders were completely unaware of this. Some people who supported Hong Zhou were angry and questioned why he was unwilling to participate in the struggle for the throne, but these people were often only a small minority.

However, there are also supporters of Hongli who worry that Hongzhou is just pretending not to fight for it, but in fact he is keeping a low profile, waiting for the time to come and taking measures to seize the throne in one fell swoop. These people advised Hongli and asked him to deal with Emperor Yongzheng, thereby suppressing Hongzhou and giving him no chance to seize the throne.

This approach was denied by Hongli.

Yes, as his best friend in childhood, the friendship between brothers prevented Hongli from taking some very cruel measures against his younger brother. How could he bear the heart to let his younger brother become the victim of his own attempt to obtain the throne? In the end, the matter dropped.

Hong Zhou didn't consider this? The answer is obviously no.

In order to prevent others from suspecting him, Hong Zhou finally gritted his teeth and chose an extreme path: pretending to be crazy and acting stupid.

Aisin Gioro·Hongli

For a dignified prince, it is not honorable to pretend to be crazy and act stupid, but for a person who wants to survive, why not do this? So, what did Hong Zhou do next?

• [Absurd Prince, Preserve the Wealth of Future Generations]

In order to dispel other people's suspicions, Hong Zhou started his own "absurd" life.

Historical records show that when Emperor Yongzheng sent Hongli and Hongzhou to the Miao Xinjiang Affairs Office to handle local government affairs, Hongli always worked seriously and handled every government affairs in an orderly manner. On the other hand, Hong Zhou, after arriving there, not only was he unwilling to deal with government affairs, but he also indulged in pleasure all day long, coming and going as he pleased, looking like a playboy.

This approach is very effective. Some people think that Hong Zhou is a playboy, and they feel sorry and sad for him. Some people think that Hong Zhou is trying to cover up his actions, just to make Hong Li relax his vigilance.

If this approach is normal, then Hong Zhou's next move can be said to make everyone dumbfounded and shocked.

When Hongzhou was sixteen years old, he organized a "funeral" for himself in a glorious way. He arranged all the utensils needed for the funeral beside his bed in a regular and standard manner, and then let his subordinates, relatives and friends mourn for him, while he sat aside and drank, and laughed heartily from time to time. This was... It is unheard of in history.

Someone asked the prince why he did such a ridiculous thing. After Hong Zhou heard this, he raised his head and asked him: "Human, death will always come. How can there be anyone who has lived for a hundred years and not died? What is there to avoid?"

After this incident happened, people really felt that the prince really had no intention of fighting for imperial power, so Hong Zhou could enjoy his life as a prince.

In the end, Emperor Yongzheng died, and the secret behind the "Justice" plaque was made public.

Hongli successfully succeeded to the throne and became Emperor Qianlong.

Qianlong

After Qianlong ascended the throne, rewards were inevitable. He knew that his younger brother Hong Zhou was not crazy, but was trying not to compete with him. Out of his debt to his brother and their deep brotherhood, he rewarded Hong Zhou more than anyone else, including his own brother Hong Zhan, who was also a prince.

After receiving such a generous reward, Hongzhou just thanked the emperor for his kindness, and then continued to be his own prince and live a chic life. Although outsiders call him the "Absurd Prince," only he knows that this is also a success.

After that, in order to dispel Qianlong's suspicion, he did many ridiculous things, such as beating up ministers in the court, teasing the maids around Qianlong, etc. Qianlong always laughed it off, and instead of blaming him, Instead, he was given more rewards.

Later, this "Absurd Prince" lived the rest of his life happily and unrestrainedly, and finally passed away peacefully, and his title was inherited to his son. Among the many princes who died because of the heir apparent, Hong Zhou was already considered the luckiest one.

• [Write to the end]

Some people say that as a prince, Hong Zhou only pursues pleasure and is unwilling to display his ambitions, and has no future.

Some people also say that Hong Zhou acted like a fool and retreated from the rapids, which was considered a great wisdom.

We cannot directly understand Hongzhou's thoughts, we can only get a glimpse of it from the historical records of predecessors.

Qianlong loved to write poems. This fact is widely known, but few of them have actually been handed down.As his younger brother, Hong Zhou once wrote a poem "Yin of the Golden Cup" after drinking: "The world is impermanent and the gold cup is drunk, and the man who drinks the cup is drunk in the mortal world. It is rare to have a close friend in life, and the cup changes the cup to talk about the past and the present."

It is said that people tell the truth after drinking. In the poem, Hongzhou pinned his ideal that he did not want to fight for imperial power and only wanted to indulge in a glass of wine. It also made people really believe that this prince had no intention of fighting for power, so there was also People call this poem a "life-saving poem".

After Hong Zhou's death, his posthumous title was "Gong". There has been the etiquette of "brothers, friends and younger brothers" since ancient times, and this posthumous title must be Hongli's recognition and praise of his younger brother.

In order to avoid unnecessary fighting between brothers, which would lead to unnecessary sacrifices, Hong Zhou was willing to sacrifice his own future to fulfill his brother. This is not a deep friendship between brothers.

Therefore, only the joke of "Absurd Prince" has been left in history. But behind the absurdity, there is the wisdom of great wisdom and foolishness, as well as the friendship between brothers and between monarch and ministers.

In the officialdom where intrigues and fights for power occur; in the world where the world is in trouble and brothers turn against each other, perhaps we should understand how to choose and how to achieve the overall situation. It was Hong Zhou's "attitude to avoid the world" that made the later "Kangxi and Qian Dynasties prosperous" possible.

Perhaps, when we praise the great achievements left by Emperor Qianlong, we should also think of this "absurd prince" who was both wise and foolish, and think of his great wisdom contained in madness. This kind of wisdom can not only be used to solve the situation at that time, but also bring some inspiration to solve some social problems now.