The reason why Yongzheng established 13-year-old Hongli as his heir was that Hongli was luckier than Hongshi. Hongli was lucky to be 6 years younger than Hongshi.
On the 11th of the first month of the first year of Yongzheng (1723), Yongzheng went to the Temple of Heaven to worship heaven for the first time after he ascended the throne. Yongzheng gave 13-year-old Hongli a piece of sacrificial meat and asked him to eat it. Hongli ate the piece of boiled meat without saying a word. In August of the same year, Yongzheng wrote a secret edict to establish the crown prince and hid it behind the "zhengdaguangguang" plaque in Qianqing Palace. Of course, after Yongzheng died, it turned out to be Hongli. These were all approved by Qianlong. Whether this is the historical truth is unknown.
Hongli's first opportunity was in the 60th year of Kangxi. Not only Hongli but also Hongzhou had this opportunity, but Hongshi no longer had the chance.
In the 60th year of Kangxi's reign (1721), at the kind invitation of Yinzhen, Kangxi came to Chengde Summer Resort to have a lion garden. Here, Kangxi met 12-year-old Hongli and Hongzhou for the first time. Compared with Hong Zhou's coquettishness, Hong Li was born tall and handsome, with graceful salutes and agile and decent movements, which attracted people's attention. The day after Kangxi returned, he sent a eunuch to ask for Hongli's birthday and horoscope. After that, Hongli was fortunate enough to be taken into the palace and lived with Emperor Kangxi for half a year.
This historical material is usually considered to be important evidence that Kangxi appointed Hongli to succeed him. But everyone ignored the more important issue.
That is, Yinfeng's son Hongxi was also raised by Kangxi's side since he was a child, and his favor level was definitely no less than that of Hongli; and when Yinfeng went to war on behalf of Kangxi, several of his sons Hongxi Chun and others were often brought into the palace by Kangxi. Kangxi had more than 90 grandsons. Kangxi could not cover everything, but whenever he had the opportunity to get close to Kangxi's grandsons, Kangxi had a record of "love".
And all this is because Kangxi reached his twilight years and was exhausted mentally and physically unable to cope with the various problems that emerged in the Qing Dynasty. And it is the pleasure of old people to play with their grandchildren. It is human nature to like old people and children. At this moment, all the clever princes would look for opportunities to send their sons over to please Kangxi. But not every grandson can coax his grandfather. Hong Zhou also had a chance, but unfortunately, he couldn't take it.
However, the 18-year-old Hongshi was already married and had long lost the opportunity to be interviewed by Kangxi. Moreover, Hongshi probably had a bad temper and was not very good at making Kangxi happy, because he even I can't even please you.
Hongli’s second chance was in the first year of Yongzheng. Be a good boy, watch the changes, and enjoy the results.
When Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he was already 44 years old. He basically did not worry about state affairs in the first half of his life. He is obsessed with Buddhism and Taoism, and likes to make elixirs and so on. He has practiced in both sects. The reason is simple, because Yin Reng's status has been determined, and the throne has nothing to do with him. What I am most concerned about is my son's survival rate.
The descendants of Emperor Yongzheng were not prosperous. Although 10 sons were born, which was not too few in the first place, few survived, and some of them did not die until they were 8 or 9 years old. For example, Yongzheng’s real eldest son Aixinjueluo Honghui 8 Sui died. In theory, if he had been alive, it would be really hard to say who Yongzheng would choose in the end. Therefore, after Qianlong succeeded to the throne, he named his eldest brother a prince and his posthumous title was Duan.
In fact, in the first year of Yongzheng's reign, Yongzheng did not have many choices. In fact, there were only 4 candidates, namely 19-year-old Hongshi, 13-year-old Hongli and Hongzhou, and 2-year-old Hong Sheng, although these four are all concubines, Hong Sheng is Yong Zheng's most preferred candidate because he is the son of Concubine Nian.
Although he was a concubine, Hongshi became the eldest son of course. According to the eldest son inheritance system that has been passed down for thousands of years, Hongshi must have a sense of superiority, because if Yongzheng implemented the "eldest son inheritance system", he would naturally have priority. However, after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he granted the title of three princes, Hongli, Hongzhou, and Hongsheng (Fuhui) respectively (note: the prince of Hongsheng was granted a posthumous title and his name was changed, and many historical materials conflict with each other). The meaning is very clear. Because there is no Hongshi here. How would the 19-year-old Hongshi, who grew up in the palace and the hands of women, react when he learned that Yongzheng did not intend to implement this established system? Hongshi, a young man who was in the rebellious stage, and Yongzheng were stubborn, and the results were predictable.
There are very few records about Hongshi in the "Manuscript of the History of the Qing Dynasty". There is only a one-word introduction from Qianlong's mouth: "Young man acted indulgently and carelessly". The meaning is very clear, that is, he is immature and even a little rebellious. That was a riot. As for the specific process of the riot, there is no record in the history books. But the results were all recorded, and he was directly adopted as his son by political enemy Yunhu; he was evicted from the Forbidden City, and in the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, Yunhu and Hongshi were removed from the yellow belt and removed from the jade certificate; finally Yunhu died, and Hongshi Shijiao and Yunqi were bound to support him. Hongshi died at the age of 24 in the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign.
In September of the 6th year of Yongzheng's reign, another popular candidate, Hong Sheng, died suddenly. In fact, by the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, Hongsheng had lost its competitiveness because Nian Gengyao had died. On the 7th day of November, the eighth prince Hongsheng's name was changed to Fuhui. After 10 years of practicing Jade Spy, he no longer had a prefix, so he could only be called Fuhui. In fact, what's more important is that in the 6th year of Yongzheng's reign, Hongzhou suddenly carried out a "living funeral" to show that he had no intention of taking the throne. Then the only remaining candidate is the obedient Hongli.
In fact, in the so-called "secret establishment" process, it is even more cruel to seize the direct descendants. However, after Hongli succeeded to the throne, he did not seem to be very grateful to Yongzheng for paving the way for him. He repeatedly emphasized the intimate meeting with Kangxi in the 60th year of Kangxi's reign, so he was indeed more suitable to be emperor.