奕訢 Yìxīn

Yixin, Prince Gongzhong of the First Rank

Yixin, Prince Gongzhong of the First Rank, was the sixth son of Xuanzong. He studied in the same schoolroom as Wenzong and practiced martial arts there; together they devised twenty-eight stances of spear technique and eighteen of sword technique. Xuanzong gave them names, calling the spear technique "Joint Strength of Brothers" and the sword technique "Precious Blade Proclaims Might," and bestowed the White Rainbow sword on Yixin. When Wenzong came to the throne, he enfeoffed him as Prince Gong. In the fourth month of the second year of Xianfeng he set up his own residence, and was ordered to continue to attend in the inner court. Edit

As Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard he managed patrol and defense, and was ordered to continue to wear the White Rainbow sword. In the tenth month he served in full on the Grand Council. In the fourth year he was appointed in succession Lieutenant-General, Right Supervisor of the Imperial Clan Court, and Director of the Imperial Clan Court. In the fourth month of the fifth year, because the metropolitan region had been cleared of rebels, he was given generous recognition. In the seventh month, when Empress Xiaojingcheng died, the emperor reproached the prince for being careless in ritual and decorum, and relieved him of his posts as Grand Councillor, Director of the Imperial Clan Court and Lieutenant-General, though he still attended in the inner court and studied in the Upper Study. In the fifth month of the seventh year he was again appointed Lieutenant-General. In the fourth month of the ninth year he was appointed Chamberlain of the Imperial Guard. Edit

In the eighth month of the tenth year, British and French troops pressed upon the capital. The emperor ordered Zaiyuan, Prince Yi of the First Rank, and the Minister Muyin to negotiate peace with them; they lured and seized the British envoy Parkes and fought, and the army was not successful. Wenzong went to Rehe, recalled Zaiyuan and Muyin, and appointed the prince Imperial Commissioner with plenipotentiary power to act as circumstances required. The prince went out and was stationed at Changxindian, and memorialized asking that the commanders of troops be ordered to rouse the spirit of their soldiers so as to preserve the overall situation. Qinghui, Prince Keqin of the Second Rank, and others memorialized asking that Parkes be released, and urged the prince to enter the city to negotiate peace. The British and French troops burned the Garden of Perfect Brightness. Yidao, Prince Yu of the First Rank, and others memorialized that the city gates be opened and the British and French troops allowed in. The prince entered the city and negotiated peace with them and fixed the treaty, agreeing entirely to what the British and French requested; he memorialized asking that an edict be issued to proclaim it, and of his own accord asked to be tried for it. The imperial edict said: "Prince Gong's handling of the conciliation was by nature not easy. We deeply understand his difficulties; there is no need for him to be tried." In the twelfth month he memorialized on trade and the various matters of the aftermath. The Zongli Yamen was established for the first time, and the prince, with the Grand Secretary Guiliang and the Vice Minister Wenxiang, was ordered to direct it. The prince submitted a memorial asking to train the banner troops of the capital, and, regarding the dealings of Jilin and Heilongjiang with Russia, to discuss training troops and raising provisions. The emperor ordered the Lieutenant-General Shengbao to discuss the training of the capital troops, and the General Jingchun and others to discuss the training of the troops of the Three Eastern Provinces. Edit

In the seventh month of the eleventh year, Wenzong died. The prince asked to hasten to the place of the court, and the two empress dowagers summoned him and told him how the Princes and Ministers Assisting in Government, Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Sushun and the others, had been usurping power. Muzong, attending the two empress dowagers, escorted Wenzong's coffin back to the capital, rebuked and dismissed Zaiyuan and the others, and appointed the prince Prince Counsellor, serving in the Grand Council. The prince's rank was ordered hereditary, he was to draw the double stipend of a prince of the first rank, and he was excused from kowtowing when summoned for audience and from writing his name when presenting memorials. The prince firmly declined the hereditary rank, and soon was ordered also to be Director of the Imperial Clan Court and to command the Firearms Division. Edit

In the first year of Tongzhi, when the emperor began his schooling, the two empress dowagers ordered the prince to attend in the Hall of Nurturing Virtue and supervise the lessons. In the third year, Jiangning was recovered. An imperial edict said: "Since Prince Gong was appointed Prince Counsellor, three years have now passed. The military affairs of the southeast are at their most pressing, and in employing men, in administration, in levying troops and raising supplies we have relied deeply on his planning and on his loyal and diligent assistance. The rank of beile is added to his titles and conferred on his son, the Duke Who Assists the State Zaicheng; and Zaijun is also enfeoffed as Duke Who Assists the State, and Zaiying as Duke Who Assists the State, without the Eight Privileges." In the third month of the fourth year, the two empress dowagers issued an edict rebuking the prince for trusting his relatives and for being at times improper at audiences in the inner court, and relieved him of the post of Prince Counsellor and of all his duties. Soon, because Yizhen, Prince Dun of the First Rank, Yixuan, Prince Chun of the Second Rank, and the Commissioner of the Office of Transmission Wang Zheng, the censor Sun Yimou, the Grand Secretariat Academician Yin Zhaoyong, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief Pan Zuyin, the Reader-in-waiting of the Grand Secretariat Wang Weizhen and the Supervising Secretary Guangcheng memorialized asking that he be employed, with Guangcheng's words the most earnest, the two empress dowagers ordered him to continue to attend in the inner court and manage the Zongli Yamen. The prince entered to give thanks, wept bitterly and took the blame on himself, and the two empress dowagers again issued an edict: "The prince is a trusted minister and our close kin, whose joys and sorrows are bound up with ours. Our expectations of him are high, and so our reproof could not but be severe. He shall continue to serve in the Grand Council." Edit

In the second month of the seventh year, the Western Nian rebels pressed upon the metropolitan region, and the prince was ordered to command the commanders of troops on all routes. He was appointed Right Supervisor of the Imperial Clan Court. In the ninth month of the eleventh year, at Muzong's imperial wedding, the prince's rank was again ordered hereditary. In the first month of the twelfth year Muzong took up government in person; in the seventh month of the thirteenth year an imperial edict rebuked the prince for improper conduct at an audience and demoted him to Prince of the Second Rank, still serving in the Grand Council, and Zaicheng was deprived of the rank of beile. The next day, by command of the two empress dowagers, the hereditary rank of Prince of the First Rank and Zaicheng's rank were restored. In the twelfth month, when the emperor's illness abated, a prince's stipend was granted to him in addition to the double stipend. Soon the illness grew worse again, and the emperor died. When Dezong came to the throne, he again ordered that the prince be excused from kowtowing at audiences and from writing his name when presenting memorials. Edit

In the first year of Guangxu, he was acting Director of the Imperial Clan Court. In the tenth year, France invaded Vietnam; the prince and the Grand Councillors did not wish to speak lightly of war, and the censors submitted memorial after memorial impeaching them. The Empress Dowager issued an edict rebuking the prince and the others for being listless and dilatory, relieved them of the Grand Council, and stopped the double stipend. He lived at home recovering from illness. In the tenth month of the twelfth year the double stipend was restored. From then on, in matters of the state and the number of jia, at the seasonal sacrifices he was granted sacred cakes, and at festivals and seasons there were gifts and rewards, as a matter of routine. Edit

In the twentieth year, Japan invaded Korea; [...] Youqing repeatedly increased the guard as the matter was urgent, and the Empress Dowager summoned the prince to an audience and brought him back to manage the Zongli Yamen and to take overall charge of the navy, to handle military affairs jointly, and to attend in the inner court; she also issued an edict that since the prince's illness had not been cured he was excused from regular daily attendance. Soon he was further ordered to oversee military affairs and command the commanders of troops on all routes. In the eleventh month he was appointed Grand Councillor. In the twenty-fourth year he was appointed Director of the Imperial Clan Court. The prince's illness flared up and grew worse in the intercalary third month; the emperor, attending the Empress Dowager, visited him three times, and in the fourth month he died, at the age of sixty-seven. The emperor again went in person to the offering, suspended court for five days, and wore mourning for fifteen days. He was given the posthumous name Zhong and was sacrificed to alongside the imperial ancestors in the Ancestral Temple. An edict said: "The prince was loyal and sincere in setting right and assisting, and all he did suited the moment; the ministers should take the prince as their model." Edit

He had four sons. Zaicheng, a Beile with the rank of a Prince of the Second Rank, died and was given the posthumous name Guomin. Zaiying went out as heir to Yilu, Prince Zhongduan of the Second Rank, and inherited the rank of beile, but was convicted of an offense, deprived of his rank and returned to his own line. Zaijun was enfeoffed at the same time as Zaiying. Zaihuang was enfeoffed as Duke Who Assists the State, without the Eight Privileges. Zaicheng, Zaijun and Zaihuang all died before the former prince. When the prince died, Zaiying's son Puwei was made the heir of Zaicheng and inherited the rank of Prince Gong of the First Rank. Edit