In 1708, while passing the summer in Jehol, Emperor Shêng-tsu angrily declared Yin-jêng to be a culprit, charged him with having insulted princes and high officials, with having usurped power, and with extravagance and immorality. He also affirmed that Yin-jêng had been plotting against him and had even intended to murder him--perhaps to avenge the death of Songgotu. Yin-jêng was deprived of his position as Heir Apparent and placed in confinement, but he retained the pity of his father who thought him insane. Hence when it was discovered that the eldest prince, Yin-t'i [禔 q.v.], had employed Lamas to cast evil spells on Yin-jêng, the latter was pardoned in 1709 and restored to his position as Heir Apparent. Yin-t'i was placed in confinement and the other princes were admonished to abandon their struggles for the throne. However, in the ensuing three years Yin-jêng's condition became worse and the Emperor abandoned hope of effecting a cure. Consequently in 1712 Yin-jêng was again degraded and placed in perpetual confinement.
The Emperor firmly resolved not to designate another Heir Apparent, even in defiance of the repeated requests of such high officials as Chao Shên-ch'iao [q. v.] in 1713, Wang Shan [q. v.] in 1717 and in 1721, and Chu T'ien-pao 朱天保 (T. 九如, H. 鶴田, chin-shih of 1713) in 1718. For their temerity, and because they were each suspected of promoting their own candidates, Wang was reprimanded and would have been banished, except for his advanced age; and Chu was executed. As to Yin-jêng he did not resign himself entirely to his fate, for in 1715 it was discovered that a physician who had attended Yinjeng's wife had acted as an intermediary in passing secret letters (written in invisible ink) between Yin-jêng and a member of the imperial clan. The prisoner thus hoped to learn if he might be released and whether it would be possible for him to be appointed commander of the armies in the northwest. The physician and others involved were severely punished.
When Yin-chên [q. v.] ascended the throne, late in 1722, he made Hung-hsi 弘皙, heir of Yin-jêng, a prince of the second degree with the designation Li (理郡王). Yin-jêng died in prison in 1725. He was posthumously given the rank of Li Ch'in-wang 理親王 and was canonized as 密. In 1728 Hung-hsi was raised to a prince of the first degree, but eleven years later was deprived of that rank by Emperor Kao-tsung. After the degradation of Yin-jêng succeeding Ch'ing rulers declined, except for a short time in the Kuang-hsi reign-period, to announce formally the choice of an Heir Apparent. Yin-chên established the practice, followed by later rulers, of placing the name of his chosen successor in a sealed box behind a tablet in the hall, Ch'ien-ch'ing kung 乾清宮, a tablet on which are carved the characters, Shêng-ta kuang-ming 正大光明. The name was made public only after the Emperor's death.
It is worth noting that the missionary, Matteo Ripa 馬國賢 (1682–1745), was present at a scene which took place at the Ch'ang-ch'un yüan in 1712 when the princes, and the Heir Apparent in particular, were subjected to punishment. He relates the incident in his Memoirs.
[1/226/32; Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u (see Fu-lung-an) 3/12b; Tung-hua lu, K'ang-hsi 42:5, 47:9, 48:1, 51:10; Memoirs of Father Ripa, London, 1855 p. 83.]
YIN-lu 胤祿, July 28, 1695–1767, Mar. 20, the second Prince Chuang (莊親王), was the sixteenth son of Emperor Shêng-tsu. During the lifetime of his father he was not in great favor with his half-brothers. Like Yin-hsiang [q. v.], he sided with the faction of Yin-chên [q. v.] after the latter ascended the throne late in 1722. Early in 1723 the new Emperor rewarded Yin-lu by naming him successor to the heirless first Prince Chuang, Boggodo 博果鐸 (1650–1723, posthumous name 靖). Boggodo's father, Šose 碩塞 (Jan. 17, 1629–1655, Jan. 12, posthumous name 裕), was the fifth son of Emperor T'ai-tsung and held the first-class princedom known as Ch'êng-tsê ch'in-wang 承澤親王. Boggodo inherited this princedom but with the altered designation, Chuang. Because of the merits of Sose in the early days of the dynasty, the house of Prince Chuang became one of the eight highest princedoms, with rights of perpetual inheritance. Hence appointment to inherit such a high rank was an extraordinary favor to Yin-lu and his descendants, and at once caused jealous gossip among members of the Imperial Family. To seal the mouths of his relatives, Emperor Shih-tsung felt it necessary to issue a decree declaring that he had no share in the elevation of Yin-lu. Nevertheless it is officially recorded that Yin-lu was one of the princes who was present at the death-bed of Emperor Shêng-tsu and thus was in a position to be a material witness to the
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