永璇 Yǒngxuán

Yongxuan, Prince Yishen of the First Rank

Yongxuan, Prince Yishen of the First Rank, was the eighth son of Gaozong. In the forty-fourth year of Qianlong he was made Prince Yi of the Second Rank. In the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing he was promoted to Prince of the First Rank and put in general charge of the Ministry of Personnel. In the second month he was relieved of it. An edict said: "The six ministries divide the work among them, each with its own charge; there has never been any such title as general director. Let no opening be made for the seizing of power." In the first month of the thirteenth year an edict said: "The princes who serve in the inner court come in on duty every day. Prince Yi of the First Rank is Our eldest brother and is past sixty; in the cold of winter, when there is no business, he need not come into the palace." In the first month of the fourteenth year his son Mianzhi was made Beile. In the seventeenth year, because the Wuying Hall, in printing Gaozong's Sacred Instructions, wrote out a temple-name taboo character in error, he was deprived of his princely stipend for three years. Edit

In the eighteenth year, when the rising of Lin Qing broke out and the rebels entered the Forbidden City, Mianzhi, following Xuanzong, fired a fowling-piece and killed rebels. Renzong praised his bravery and gave him the rank of a Prince of the Second Rank and an extra stipend of a thousand taels a year. Yongxuan too, for his diligence in directing the arrests, was excused all penalties. In the seventh month of the twentieth year he was ordered to make offerings at the Yu Tomb, but he was held up by rain and returned to the capital; for this he was demoted to Prince of the Second Rank, Mianzhi was deprived of his rank of a Prince of the Second Rank and his extra stipend, and Yongxuan was also fined five years of his princely stipend. In the first month of the twenty-fourth year Mianzhi's rank of a Prince of the Second Rank was restored, and he was granted a three-eyed peacock feather. In the seventh month Yongxuan was found to have been prying into affairs of state, and the emperor's edict said: "Our brother Prince Yi of the First Rank is already seventy-four, and his strength is gradually failing. The affairs he is in charge of are many, and he may have feared some neglect; his making inquiries can still be forgiven. We cannot bear to burden Our eldest brother so that he loses his rest in old age. Henceforth he shall only keep his place in the inner court and need not come in on duty in ordinary times." In the sixth month Mianzhi, for letting his concubine's father pose as an official and extort money, was deprived of his rank of a Prince of the Second Rank and fined four years of a Beile's stipend. Edit

In the seventh month of the twenty-fifth year, when Xuanzong came to the throne, he told Prince Yi of the First Rank by edict that he need not come far to meet him, and by another edict that when summoned to audience or granted banquets and gifts he need not kowtow. In the first month of the third year of Daoguang, Mianzhi's rank of a Prince of the Second Rank was restored, with an extra stipend. In the first month of the eighth year Yongxuan was allowed to ride in a sedan chair within the Forbidden City, and was given an additional five thousand taels of stipend silver, to show the emperor's affection for kin and respect for elders. In the eleventh month an edict again excused him from making obeisance at court congratulations. In the tenth month of the tenth year Yongxuan went to the Yuanming Yuan to see the Eldest Prince and went straight in through the Fuyuan Gate, and an edict dismissed Mianzhi from his offices. In the eleventh year an edict said that when rites were held at the Hall of Imperial Longevity and the Anyou Palace, he should perform them in his own mansion. Another edict excused him from attending the banquets for the imperial kinsmen on New Year's Day and on the fourteenth day of the first month, and a table of fruit and dishes was sent to him separately. He died in the eighth month of the twelfth year, at the age of eighty-eight. Five thousand taels of silver were granted for his funeral, the emperor came in person to make the offering, and he was given the posthumous name Shen. Mianzhi inherited as Prince of the Second Rank; when he died he was given the posthumous name Shun. His son Yiyin inherited as Beile, with the rank of a Prince of the Second Rank. When he died, his great-grandson Yukun inherited as Beizi. When he died, his younger brother Yuqi inherited as Duke Who Guards the State. Edit