In the early Qing dynasty, the state was jointly governed by the emperor and the Eight Banners' princely and noble kin. Before the ninth year of Tiancong, Nurhaci still identified himself as a Jianzhou Jurchen. After Dorgon subdued all of Southern Mongolia, Hong Taiji abolished the old tribal name and renamed it "Manchu." This was a new ruling group centered on the Jianzhou Jurchens, incorporating the Haixi Jurchens and portions of other tribes.
Although power became concentrated in the emperor himself after the capital was established in Beijing in the first year of the Shunzhi Emperor, the Eight Banners' princely and noble kin still held tremendous power even in Kangxi's later years. The imperial princes also formed a new group among the Eight Banners' princely and noble kin.
The old noble kin remained, while new noble kin emerged. In particular, the three major Eight Banners noble groups formed around the families of Kangxi's three empresses all took part in the struggle for the throne. Thus, Yongzheng's conflict with the Eighth Prince Yinsi was not merely a personal political struggle. It was a conflict between nearly the entire old and new Manchu noble groups and imperial power, with Yinsi serving as their spokesman.
Before ascending the throne, Yongzheng had been an ordinary prince and lacked the authority Kangxi possessed. The old and new Eight Banners noble groups centered around Yinsi posed a tremendous threat to imperial power. This was the dire situation he faced at the beginning of his reign. That was why, through constant wooing and division, and with the help of his younger brother Prince Yi Yinxiang, his maternal uncle Longkodo, and Nian Gengyao, he gradually eliminated the core members of the Eighth Prince's faction.
After eliminating this greatest opponent, the newly risen Eight Banners nobles, Longkodo and Nian