During Yongzheng period, Nian Gengyao was finally forced to death by officials. Is it culpable of punishment?
Regarding Nian Gengyao's domineering, it is clearly recorded in the Draft of Qing History: "Tang Yao is brilliant, relying on his superiors to receive him at an early date, and his teachers have made great contributions repeatedly, and he is arrogant and domineering. The writing of the consul, the name of the official's condemnation in the book. Please send guards to join the army, so that they can lead back and forth and whip the stirrup. On the way to Hajj, Governor Li and Governor Fan Shijie knelt down to meet them. This line is unique to the capital. The king greeted him in the suburbs as a gift.
Any one of them is arrogant enough, and some of them are even enough to be executed. For example, according to the laws of feudal society, they can even punish their nine clans, because the "equator" is the only way for emperors. Others, such as governor Wang kneeling to meet, meeting in the suburbs, etc., are nothing.
But these are just Nian Gengyao's hubris? As a wizard with both civil and military skills, "In the thirty-ninth year of Kangxi, he was a scholar and changed to Jishi Shu". He passed the "Jishi Shu" of Jinshi and Hanlin Academy. How many people are there in the world?
The pinnacle of his career was to pacify the rebellion of Luobu Tibetan in Qinghai and to win the first-class merit, which can be said to be the pinnacle of being a minister in feudal times. The famous martial arts are not inferior to the ancient masters.
The scholar in the article points to Hanlin, whose martial arts can't stand the achievements of the world. So he is a genius with both civil and military skills. Can he not understand the end of the reward? As a very important minister, the title has been sealed to the head (first class). How can he protect himself? In fact, if it weren't for Liu Bang's "White Horse Oath" and Liu since the Han Dynasty, it was normal for Yongzheng to make Nian Gengyao the monarch at that time.
The dignitaries of all ages, if they want to protect themselves, or like Cao Cao and Emperor Wu of Song, go further and usurp power and stand on their own feet; Or beheaded, over nine families, such as Li Shanchang, Hu and others; Or like Guo Ziyi, the king of Fenyang in the Tang Dynasty, he knew how to hide his strength and bide his time, or like Sean and Fan Li, he backed down. In fact, in the complicated political struggle, whether he dies or I die, it can be said that it is even more difficult and it is difficult to get away with it.
As a gifted scholar, Nian Gengyao, who was born as a scholar, knew all these by heart. But he did not choose any of them, but chose the fourth way: checks and balances.
Generally speaking, checks and balances are the common means for the emperor to control his men, that is, to maintain political balance through the mutual containment of political forces of various factions.
Nian Gengyao, on the other hand, tried to control the situation on its own. His wishful thinking is that Yong Zhengdi, Eight Lords Quinn, Longkodo and himself reach a certain balance among the four parties, and Yongzheng, Eight Lords Quinn and Longkodo are mutually restrained in North Korea, and they are fragmented and relatively detached. In this situation, Nian Gengyao, as the leader and master of the army, thinks he is safe, because without his own military leader, neither side can win.
Theoretically, this method was feasible, because the situation in North Korea was really complicated at that time, and both sides could not do without Nian Gengyao and his army. So Nian Gengyao has been in contact with eight lords such as Yin Gui. During the reign of Nine Kings, Nian Gengyao made contact with Yin Gui at that time, which can be said to be a good preparation in advance. After Yongzheng acceded to the throne, Nian Gengyao also made close contact with Yin Gui, the purpose of which was actually to support the eight lords and maintain the balance in the DPRK.
But Nian Gengyao underestimated Yong Zhengdi and his thunderous tactics; And overestimated Yongzheng's opponent, of course, is the ability of Eight Lords Yin Gui and Long Keduo. In the face of Yongzheng's superb political means, Yin Zuo and Long Keduo are vulnerable.
However, Nian Gengyao's self-righteous means, such as cultivating his own power and arranging his own personnel through "annual election", interfered with the implementation of the Yongzheng New Deal.
During the Yongzheng period, Nian Gengyao played a negative role in the three policies of "fire consumption turned to public", "gentry accepted grain in an all-round way" and "scattered grain into mu". The most important thing is that Nian Gengyao's "annual election" officials check and balance for the sake of checks and balances, which has considerable restrictions on local officials' implementation of Yongzheng's New Deal, which makes Yongzheng even more unhappy.
For an emperor, the skill of sandwich is the most important thing. Yongzheng attached great importance to several New Deal policies, which were constrained by the Party and the Eight Ye Party in 2000, and their implementation was extremely unsatisfactory. The political struggle of all parties made the situation more complicated, so that Yongzheng would do nothing but deal with these main political enemies unless he pulled out the pustules of Eight Lords Yin Gui, Nian Gengyao and Long Keduo.
In this case, Nian Gengyao's equilibrium strategy is completely ineffective. Because neither Yongzheng nor the Eight Ye Party will allow this to exist. Then there is only a showdown.
And the result of the showdown has been seen by everyone. Losers must die.