In just two years, Nian Gengyao was quickly demoted and executed. At the end of the second year of Yongzheng, Nian Gengyao was still arrogant. In April of the second year, he was relieved of his position as a general. In June, he was impeached by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and sentenced to death in December. He had fallen from a hero to a sinner. Such a drastic change made both the government and the people dumbfounded. The relationship between Yinzhen and Nian Gengyao deteriorated suddenly. In the autumn of the second year of Yongzheng, Nian Gengyao was allowed to enter the capital in September due to his victory in quelling the rebellion in Qinghai. At that time, Yinzhen was eager to see this capable assistant. He wrote in the imperial edict to Nian Gengyao: "Zhen also wants to see you and has some court matters to discuss with you. After the success, the west will be peaceful, and the monarch and his subjects will celebrate. It will also be a great joy in the world."I am truly delighted to see you. You have arrived safely. Why should the celebration between the monarch and his subjects be so fast? Happy to meet you in November." Normally speaking, under such circumstances, Nian Gengyao would definitely be promoted after entering the capital. The truth was the exact opposite. After Nian Gengyao arrived in the capital, not only was he not appreciated by the emperor, but he was also in the wrong. When he returned to Shaanxi, he had to quickly apologize."I am humble and mediocre. I have been running around the throne for more than 30 days without any benefit to the profound, only increasing my mistakes. When I return to myself, I feel my heart, and I sweat in fear." The reason was that Nian Gengyao was proud of his achievements and violated the imperial power.
After receiving Nian Gengyao's memorial, Yinzhen pointed out,"Mortals cultivate their moral character and do things. If you want to be good again, you will find the right again, and it is inevitable that you will go too far.”It was obvious that this was a warning to Nian Gengyao to behave himself and not have any improper thoughts to avoid seeking a dead end. During the period when Nian Gengyao was the general of Fuyuan, he had too much power and stretched his hand too long. Relying on his power, he imitated the emperor in his daily activities. The road was paved with yellow soil when going out, the officials cleaned the streets, and the streets and alleys were closed. The palace is painted with four-clawed dragons, and the drummer wears a python satin robe. When the Mongol princes met with Nian, they had to kneel down and salute. Even the son-in-law, Ah Xuan, Governor Li Weijun, and Governor Fan Shijie were no exception. At the same time, Nian Gengyao was secretly expanding his military and economic strength. As the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi and the General of Fuyuan, he already had a large army, but he still had to secretly store chain mail, lead, and other military supplies. In terms of the economy, he stretched out his hand even longer and tried every means to amass wealth. Extorting and blackmailing local officials, privatizing salt and tea monopolized by the state, embezzling official taxes, salaries, foot money, impersonating military supplies, and so on. In a short three years, Nian Gengyao had used these methods to plunder millions of taels of money. He was carried away by his own thoughts and went to the capital for an audience.
When Nian Gengyao was far away in the west, all kinds of arrogant behavior were not easy to be controlled by Yin Zhen. At this time, he still did not restrain himself in Beijing, so it was easy for Yin Zhen to know. Yinzhen felt that these activities of Nian Gengyao were very different from his current practice of consolidating the imperial power. Nian Gengyao had actually become a potential threat to the imperial power and had to be stopped immediately.
In November of the second year of Yongzheng, Yinzhen summoned Nian Gengyao and gave him a serious warning for the first time: "If you rely on merit to create merit, you will definitely reflect on yourself as your enemy. This has always been the case." However, because the relationship between the monarch and his subjects had just begun to deteriorate, Yinzhen was still polite to Nian Gengyao and only reprimanded him in Nian's memorial. In the first month of the second year, the situation developed. Yinzhen announced the crime of Nian Gengyao. At that time, Nian Gengyao participated in the memorial to the court, saying that Cai, the governor of Sichuan Province, monopolized power and forced the prefect Jiang Xingren to die. According to the close relationship between the monarch and his subjects in the past, Yinzhen would definitely punish Cai Wei according to Nian Gengyao's opinion. But this time, he announced in public,"I think Cai's crime was reported by Nian Gengyao. Now if Cai Ting is punished according to law, people will think that I listened to Nian Gengyao's words and killed Cai Ting. Is it true that the power of the court's prestige and blessing is in the hands of the ministers?”In February, Yinzhen caught Nian Gengyao's small fault in his official duties and reprimanded him, once again exposing his conflict with Nian to the ministers. This time, he felt that Nian Gengyao had given too little relief money to the affected tribes in Qinghai. He warned Nian Gengyao,"If one or two people from the tribes are in distress and are unable to survive, they will flee far away and hide. If they flee to the land of Arabtan, I will punish them." The tribes in Qinghai and Xinjiang had always lived a nomadic life. Yinzhen's request to prohibit one or two people from Qinghai from fleeing to Xinjiang was obviously too harsh. He was just using this as an excuse to express his strict attitude towards Nian Gengyao. Not long after, Nian Gengyao, who was extremely nervous, made another mistake that he shouldn't have made, which provided the emperor with an excuse to punish him. At that time, there was an auspicious sign of the so-called "sun and moon combined, five stars linked together". Ministers from all over the country congratulated him one after another. Nian Gengyao also made a turn. In his negligence, he mistakenly wrote "Chao Qian Xi Ti"(or "Xi Xi Chao Qian") to praise the emperor as "Sunset (Ti is similar to the traditional Yang) Chao Qian". This wasn't a compliment, but a mockery. After reading it, Yinzhen was furious and reprimanded Nian Gengyao."I am not a careless person who does things on a daily basis. Do you not want to attribute the words 'morning and evening' to me?…A gentleman must serve me sincerely and respectfully. Even if the memorial is written by someone else, how can Yao not read it carefully? From this point of view, Nian Gengyao is self-reliant on his own merit and shows his disrespectful intention.”Although Nian Gengyao repeatedly pleaded guilty, he could not get Yinzhen's forgiveness. He knew that he had offended the Emperor and could not escape misfortune, so he could only start playing tricks. In March of the third year of Yongzheng, Nian Gengyao said in his apology letter to Yinzhen that he was sick and vomiting blood. He said,"I hope that the Lord will know that I am tired of my illness. If I am not careful, please forgive me." Who knew that Yinzhen would ignore it at all? After receiving the gift, he wrote,"If there is anything wrong, how can you forgive me?" This banquet is the divine weapon of our ancestors. How dare I steal the number? I refused Nian Gengyao's request. Yinzhen's decision to deal with Nian Gengyao had been made, and his attitude became more and more severe. In April, he removed Nian Gengyao from his position as Fuyuan General and transferred him to Zhejiang as Hangzhou General. The reason was: "Recently, Geng Yao had falsely recommended Hu Qiheng as governor, falsely involved Jin Nanying and other members, harassed the people of Nanping Stronghold, and made vague statements. He also hid the famine in Qinghai and Mongolia and did not report it. There are too many such incidents to mention. Nian Geng Yao did not reach this level before, either because he relied on his own merit, so he was lazy and playful, or because he killed too many people and made too many mistakes, so he became confused. How can such a person still be the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi?”Yinzhen's decision was like pulling firewood from under Nian Gengyao's feet. Nian Gengyao had been operating in the Northwest for many years. Not only did he have a certain military strength, but he also had considerable economic strength. If the pressure on him was too much, it was not impossible for him to unite with the remaining forces of the opposition and rebel. Yinzhen might have considered this factor and removed Nian Gengyao from his position as Fuyuan General. At the same time, he moved him away from his old nest and moved him to Hangzhou alone. Those subordinates who had worked with Nian for many years and cooperated well with him could not go with him. The huge sum of money that Nian Gengyao had amassed was also quietly dispersed for fear of adding to the crime, not daring to bring it to Hangzhou. After losing his military and financial power, Nian Gengyao could only resign himself to fate after arriving in Hangzhou. Both Yinzhen and Nian Gengyao knew this very well. Yinzhen wrote his thoughts on the thank-you note that Nian Gengyao had given him after he was appointed: "Zhen has long heard rumors saying that 'the emperor comes out of the mouth of the three rivers, and Jiahu is the battlefield'. I now appoint you to this post, and you have also played the theory of observing the elephant in Zhejiang Province. I think if you call yourself emperor, it's destiny, and I can't change it. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can lead me. You can't tolerate the three rivers in these thousands of miles. It's called emperor. Have you heard these two words?" Obviously, Yinzhen's words were worried that Nian Gengyao had a rebellious intention, and he was sure that Nian Gengyao would be powerless after arriving in Hangzhou. He mocked Nian Gengyao so harshly to vent the mixed feelings of regret in his heart.
Some of his peers had long held grudges against Nian Gengyao's extraordinary promotion and arrogance. However, with the protection of the Emperor, no one could do anything about it. At this time, Yinzhen's attitude changed, and people seized the opportunity to impeach Nian Gengyao's various illegal acts. Fan Shijie, the commander of the Han army, exposed that when Nian Gengyao was the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, he embezzled more than 700,000 taels of silver by eroding his feet. Yi Du Li, the governor of Shanxi Province, reported that Nian Gengyao had used his power to extort officials sent by the provinces to serve in the Northwest Army and ordered each of them to pay four thousand taels of silver. All the court to participate in the memorial said that Nian Geng Yao embezzled the people. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and other yamen proposed that Nian Gengyao should be dismissed from his post for "betraying righteousness and kindness, and breaking the law", and recover all the gifts he had previously given, such as the dragon's clothes, yellow belt, peacock feathers with two eyes, purple hand pull, etc. In this case, as long as Yinzhen pushed the boat with the current, he could dismiss Nian Gengyao. But he was, after all, a scheming and skilled emperor. Not only did he not punish Nian Gengyao immediately, but he also copied the memorial to impeach Nian Gengyao and sent it to Hangzhou. He ordered Nian Gengyao to explain himself and reply to the memorial. At the same time, he also issued an imperial edict to blame himself for the problems of Nian Gengyao and Long Keduo. He said,"At the beginning of my reign, I entrusted Long Keduo and Nian Gengyao with my heart without any suspicion. Who knew that I regarded him as a virtuous person, but he and others had second thoughts. I gave him honor and favor, but he and others were lucky enough to make friends with him, take bribes, bully him, dare to deceive him, bear the burden, and almost lead me to be framed by ignorance. I deeply regret that I did not defend him early, and that I was favored too much. I am ashamed and regretful, but I have no words to thank the world. I can only blame myself. Now I only remove the power of Longkeduo and Niangeng Yao and do not punish them. It is precisely because they are absurd and absurd because I trust them too much. Therefore, I can only blame myself and be lenient to them.”(Yinzhen did not do this sincerely, but because of the political struggle in the court.) At that time, Yinzhen's main political enemies were Yunti and others, while Nian Gengyao was a dissident who had split from his confidants. If he could not come up with a sufficient reason to punish them by force, he might be seen as a person who could do anything he wanted. He would lose a part of the people's hearts, weaken the strength of the struggle against the Yunka Party, and provide an excuse for the Yunka Party. Yinzhen ordered Nian Gengyao to defend himself and reply clearly, so that he could further verify the facts and show the ministers that he was cautious. And his self-reproach, because it was basically consistent with the truth, was quite sincere and won the hearts of the people. Then, he made an unexpected decision. He ordered the governors, governors, and generals to discuss how to deal with Nian Gengyao. Yinzhen did not take this measure as he claimed. He did it not because he would consult the internal and external ministers when it came to rewards and punishments, but because he wanted to win the support of the fishing boat. Since ancient times, it was not uncommon for emperors to kill meritorious officials. Yinzhen's punishment of Nian Gengyao was just a reappearance of some emperors in history. However, the environment he was in, where he fought with Yunchen and others, and his extremely vain personality, did not allow the fishing boat to regard him as a tyrant. Therefore, he took the initiative and repeatedly explained that Nian Gengyao's crime was his own fault, and not because he had run out of money.
Yinzhen's handling of Nian Gengyao could be said to be well-intentioned. Although Yinzhen's basic attitude on how to deal with Nian Gengyao had been determined since December of the second year of Yongzheng, he still spent nine months investigating and exposing Nian Gengyao's crimes, and repeatedly made fishing vessels in the court. It was not until September of the third year of Yongzheng that all the titles of Nian Gengyao were abolished. At this time, Nian Gengyao himself had admitted his crime of corruption and perverting the law, and a large number of stolen goods were found in the home of his henchmen. In this way, the execution of Nian Gengyao would not cause any commotion among the courtiers. Nian Gengyao knew that he could not escape the death penalty. He begged the emperor to forgive him on account of their old relationship."Today, I know my sins. If Master is kind enough to take pity on me and repent, I beg Master to spare me. I'm not old, so I left this dog and horse to serve my master slowly. If the master wants to enforce the law, no matter which crime I have committed, I can be sentenced to death. How can I reply to the memorial? Other than sincerely pleading with my master, I have no other way out. He knelt on the ground and wailed, hoping that his master would show mercy. I really can't help crying. I'll risk my life to report." Yinzhen's treatment of Nian Gengyao had already gone so deep that there was no room for redemption. In February of that year, Nian Gengyao was arrested and sent to the capital. The minister of state and others fabricated ninety-two major crimes for Nian Gengyao, and asked Nian Gengyao to be punished according to law and kill his father, brother and descendants. Yinzhen approved the memorial, but made some changes: "I remembered Nian Gengyao's contribution to Qinghai and couldn't bear to execute him. I wrote to the commander of the Jiaobu Army, Aqitu, and ordered him to commit suicide.”At the same time, he pardoned his father Nian Xialing and his brother Nian Xiyao. In Nian Gengyao's own family, only his son Nian Fu was hated by Yin Zhen and was executed this time. The other sons over the age of fifteen were sent to Yungui and other border areas to be banished.
After a whole year of careful planning, Yin Zhen finally eliminated Nian Gengyao according to his own intentions.
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