Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/327

 Emperor's agents. The Emperor, alert for such evidence, issued a long edict concerning the conduct of Yin-t'ang, designating his activities as treasonous. At the same time an edict was issued against Yin-ssŭ. The two were then expelled from the Imperial Clan, and thus made liable to the punishment meted out to commoners. Ordered to change their names, Yin-ssŭ complied by taking the name Acina, a Manchu word meaning 'cur', a chastisement supplemented by imprisonment in Peking. Because the Emperor was not satisfied with the name which Yin-t'ang suggested for himself, a grand council of princes decided to confer on him the name Sesḥe 塞思黑, meaning "pig". In the meantime Yin-t'ang was brought in irons from Sining to Paoting, Chihli, where on June 14, 1726 he was put under the custody of, the governor-general. There he was confined in a small three-room house surrounded by high walls with the gate locked and sealed, food being delivered by means of pulleys. At first four servants were permitted to remain with him but on July 25 the servants were imprisoned elsewhere. On August 12 he had an attack of dysentery and less than a month later showed weakness and lack of appetite. On September 20 he lapsed into a coma, and two days later he died. To Li's memorial concerning this event the Emperor added the comment that Yin-t'ang had been "called to justice by the nether world", and that anyone who came to mourn his death should be arrested and investigated. A few days later (September 30), Yin-ssŭ also died in confinement.

Yin-t'ang and Yin-ssŭ were never allowed to speak in their own defense. They were convicted on evidence proffered by the Emperor himself or extracted from their former supporters. The testimony against Yin-t'ang, given by Mourao, Ch'in Tao-jan, and others was the basis of an edict (issued on July 2, 1726) listing twenty-eight "crimes" of Yin-t'ang. The same edict also lists forty "crimes" of Yin-ssŭ. The courtiers recommended that they be executed, but the Emperor, unwilling perhaps to be branded as having decreed the execution of his own brothers, preferred to let them die in prison. What they endured during those summer months was probably less tolerable than outright execution. Even during his exile at Sining Yin-t'ang had told Mourao that the indignities he was subjected to were worse than death by the sword.

The followers of Yin-t'ang were convicted separately. Mourao died in confinement on August 18, 1726, in far-distant Kansu. Ch'in Tao-jan was convicted, not only for having been associated with Yin-t'ang, but on the charge that he had obtained a large sum of money unlawfully. He was imprisoned, but was released early in the Ch'ien-lung period. In like manner Yin-ê was released in 1737. Little is known of the fate of other members of Yin-t'ang's faction. Yin-t'ang's family remained commoners until 1778 when Emperor Kao-tsung re-instated them in the Imperial Clan. In 1782 Yin-t'ang's eldest son, Hung-chêng 弘晸, was made a prince of the eighth degree, but was deprived of the rank in the following year.

[See bibliography under ].

2em

 YIN-t'i 胤禔, Mar. 12, 1672–1734, Nov. 25, was the eldest son of Emperor Shêng-tsu. He often accompanied the Emperor on the latter's tours, and in 1690 was sent to assist his uncle,, in the expedition against in Jehol. He was recalled, however, before the battle of Ulan-butung took place because he had disputed with Fu-ch'üan. At the time of the expedition against Galdan in Mongolia in 1696 he was sent with to command the advance guard awaiting the Emperor at Torin, and after the Emperor returned to Peking he remained behind to make awards to the victorious troops. Made in 1698 a prince of the second degree with the designation Chih 直, he began to live outside the Palace in his own establishment.

Before long there ensued among the princes a struggle for the throne. , the Heir Apparent, was evidently unsuited for the position. Nevertheless it seems that he had the support of a brother,, whereas Yin-t'i and several other princes took up the case of another brother,. In 1708 when Yin-jêng, after a spell of insanity, was degraded as he was returning from Jehol, he was placed in the custody of Yin-t'i. While exercising this responsibility Yin-t'i reminded the Emperor that physiognomists had predicted Yin-ssŭ's succession to the throne and that it would be easy to get rid of Yin-jêng without leaving any imputation of blame upon the Emperor himself. For this malevolent suggestion Yin-t'i was severely reprimanded. Late in the same year (1708) he was accused by Yin-chih of employing a Lama sorceress to cast a  929