believe that the Yongzheng Emperor ordered Hongshi to commit suicide in order to eliminate him as a rival to his more favored brother, Hongli. Qing dynasty researcher Tang Bangzhi (唐邦治), in his 1923 book Qing Huangshi Sipu (清皇室四谱), includes a passage that seems to suggest Hongshi died on the same day he was expelled from the imperial clan, but did not elaborate further. This passage, which is not consistent with the official Draft History of Qing, led later historians to speculate about the reasons of Hongshi's death. They postulated that the Yongzheng Emperor, in recalling his own bitter struggle against his brothers over the succession to the throne, as well as his brothers' continued attempts to sabotage his rule during his reign, wanted to avoid a repeat of the same situation for his own successor. This theory, while widely circulated, was never conclusively proven. Hongshi, unlike his uncles, was never well-established politically in his own right – he neither participated in military campaigns nor undertook any significant assignments during his father's reign. Many historians remain skeptical that Hongshi was put to death by his father. The skeptics suggest that the emperor could have placed Hongshi under house arrest – as was common practice during the reign of the Kangxi emperor – or exiled him and achieved the same ends. Moreover, Yunsi and his associates had been largely rounded up and neutralised by the time of Hongshi's death. Even if Hongshi was set free by his father, he would not have had nearly sufficient political clout to mount a challenge against Hongli. Hongshi's death made Hongli the undisputed heir apparent for the remainder of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign (their younger brother, Hongzhou, did not express interest in the struggle for succession). Shortly after the death of the Yongzheng Emperor in 1735, the imperial prince Yunlu (允禄) wrote a memorial to the newly enthroned Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor, asking for Hongshi to be posthumously rehabilitated and restored to the Aisin Gioro clan. The Qianlong Emperor obliged and remarked that while Hongshi was "young and reckless", because "many years have passed since his demise", such harsh treatment was no longer necessary. The emperor also said that he still felt "brotherly love" towards Hongshi. Apart from some generic comments and a reference to Hongshi's association with Yunsi, neither Yunlu nor the Qianlong Emperor mentioned any specific crimes committed by Hongshi. It is therefore still