In 1678, after Kangxi died, his fourth son Yinzhen ascended the throne as Emperor Yongzheng.
After ascending the throne, Yongzheng diligently governed and implemented a series of effective policies, steadily strengthening the Qing Dynasty.
Yongzheng first rectified the bureaucracy, viewing it as closely tied to the stability of people's lives. He could not tolerate corrupt and degenerate officials; whenever there was solid evidence of bribery, embezzlement, or illegal activities, he never showed leniency. In the early years of his reign, he investigated officials in provinces such as Hunan, Shanxi, and Zhejiang, dismissing many who had committed crimes. For officials who governed for the people and acted according to the law, Yongzheng held them in high regard. Before ascending the throne, he had asked Ortai, a vice director of the Imperial Household Department, to handle some private matters, but Ortai refused. After becoming emperor, Yongzheng did not punish Ortai for this; instead, he praised Ortai's strict adherence to the law and promoted him to a position of greater responsibility.
Emperor Yongzheng also carried out tax reforms, implementing the policy of merging the head tax into the land tax. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty's entry into the Central Plains, many imperial family members and court officials used their power to forcibly occupy Han Chinese land, leading to widespread land annexation. Later, with the development of a commodity economy, landlords became even more unscrupulous in annexing land, concentrating vast amounts of land in their hands while many peasants lost their property. At that time, the government levied taxes based on land and population, so those peasants who had lost their land still had to pay taxes. As a result, in many areas, impoverished peasants fled in large numbers because they could not afford the taxes, severely impacting the Qing government's fiscal revenue. To solve this problem, Yongzheng implemented the policy of merging the head tax into the land tax. This tax system incorporated the head tax into the land tax, meaning that the amount of head tax owed was determined by the amount of land one owned. This policy curbed the increasingly serious problem of land annexation and allowed many poor and landless peasants to survive.
Among Yongzheng's many achievements, the establishment of the Grand Council is one that must be mentioned.
Before establishing the Grand Council, Emperor Yongzheng had to review and approve numerous memorials every day, then discuss his opinions with ministers. If he found his own views incorrect, he would have to retrieve the memorials, admit his mistake, and write the correct opinion on them. Because he had to handle so many memorials daily, Yongzheng worked until the early hours of the morning. In 1729, he launched a military campaign in the northwest, but fell ill from overwork. For a long time, he had personally managed most court affairs, so his illness severely disrupted government operations, greatly increasing the workload of close ministers like Zhang Tingyu. Zhang Tingyu lamented, "I am overwhelmed with endless affairs lately, unable to handle them properly, and even my meals and rest are severely affected. When will I ever have time to attend to family matters?" To ensure the smooth functioning of state affairs, Yongzheng established the "Office of Military Affairs" to handle critical national and military matters. The following year, he renamed it the "Office for Handling Military Affairs," commonly known as the "Grand Council."
After the Grand Council was established, it played a very important role. It was responsible for handling various confidential state affairs, wielding power higher than that of the Six Ministries. Before memorials from various regions were presented to the Yongzheng Emperor, they had to pass through the Grand Council for ticket endorsements. The Grand Council also drafted the Yongzheng Emperor's confidential edicts, which were then sent to the regions via the Ministry of War. Additionally, the Grand Council managed the rotation of military troops, drawing up lists of officials for reassignment and submitting them to the Yongzheng Emperor for decision. From its establishment, the Grand Council became the political center of the imperial court, handling all major military and governmental matters.
After the establishment of the Grand Council, the efficiency of the imperial court improved significantly. Typically, the Grand Councilors had to enter the palace to meet the emperor by five o'clock each morning, immediately drafting documents upon receiving the emperor's orders. Once written, these were submitted for the emperor's review, and after receiving his approval, they were promptly transmitted to the relevant departments. Imperial edicts destined for outlying regions were sealed by the Ministry of War and then dispatched according to urgency, using express delivery methods such as three-hundred-li or four-hundred-li relays. For particularly confidential documents, the Grand Councilors would personally seal them, inscribing the words "Secretly Sent by the Grand Councilors." The establishment of the Grand Council allowed Emperor Yongzheng's directives to reach central and local officials with maximum speed, eliminating many intermediate steps and thus greatly enhancing efficiency.
Although the Grand Council held great power, the Grand Councilors themselves had no real authority, functioning merely as secretaries to the emperor. Therefore, the establishment of the Grand Council strengthened imperial power, marking the peak of autocratic rule in the Qing Dynasty. Founded during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, the Grand Council remained in use until the end of the Qing Dynasty.
Although Emperor Yongzheng reigned for only thirteen years, his policies advanced the Qing Dynasty and greatly contributed to the Kangxi-Qianlong Golden Age.