Chapter 36 Chapter 36 Chapter 36

As Kangxi listened to Hutu's words, the smile on his face slowly faded.

Is life also so difficult in Mongolia?

But before this, he had not received any news from anyone about the serious losses caused by heavy snow in Mongolia.

During his silence, System 679's words made him no longer want to maintain the fake smile on his face.

Did this person think he was a fool? He wanted to ask him for food and then sell it to others?

They are all really good at crying poor.

Thinking of this, he hugged Yinyu, lowered his eyes to look at Hutu, and said with regret in his voice, "Really? That's really a pity. The heavy snow around the capital this year also caused great losses."

"I was thinking, there are more cattle and sheep in Mongolia, so I asked you to bring more, so that the people affected by the disaster can have a better life."

“Who knew you would also be affected by the disaster?”

The last time Mingzhu got the best of both worlds was still fresh in Hutu's mind. Hutu wanted to use the same trick again, but there was no such good thing.

If you, Hutu, really encountered a disaster, he would not really ignore it. But you sold the grain to others, but came to him crying poor, wanting to take the grain from him without spending a penny.

Where can such a good thing happen?!

Now, not only you are suffering from the snow disaster, he is also suffering from the snow disaster. Can you also give him some money to help him with the disaster relief?

Thinking of this, he looked at Hutu's pale face, lowered his head and looked at Yinyou's fair and tender face gently, and a cold light flashed in his eyes.

Yinyu listened to System 679's words and asked him in his mind, "System, what exactly does this Hutu do? Why do you say he eats both ends?"

At this point, he fell silent. He asked System 679, "Could it be that he sold all the grain to Junggar?"

If that's the case, it makes sense.

The situation in Mongolia might be as difficult as Hutu said, because he sold the grain in advance, thinking that he could bring it back from the capital. However, two heavy snowfalls trapped Hutu and his men on the road, delaying their arrival in the capital for half a month.

And now Hutu wants to get food from Kangxi.

But Kangxi had obviously seen through Hutu's intention and was not going to give it to him.

This made life difficult in Mongolia.

Thinking of this, he began to understand the key. He hugged Kangxi's neck and watched the corners of Kangxi's mouth, which had originally been pursed into a line, continue to rise.

His father is very smart. He can see the key point at a glance.

Hutu's face was filled with disbelief. After a long while, he adjusted his expression and said to Kangxi, "Your Majesty, the snow in Mongolia is very heavy this year. It's already difficult to survive the winter. There will be another wave of cold waves after the spring. If we can't survive, I'm afraid many yurts will be empty. Please help us, Your Majesty."

He had good plans when he came, but he didn't expect them to change so quickly.

First, he encountered heavy snow, which caused him to arrive in the capital half a month late. Now the emperor has rejected his request for food.

If these people hadn't brought back food, there would have been chaos in Mongolia.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Soetu standing beside him, and the light in his eyes was a little heavy.

Soetu received Hutu's gaze. He was silent for a moment, then took two steps forward and stood in the middle. He saluted Kangxi and said, "Your Majesty, I feel that Mongolia has suffered a great disaster and has brought us a lot of things. We should at least give them some food to help them get through this difficult time."

Hutu and he had a business relationship, and he couldn't bear to see him go without any food.

At that time, it will affect his relationship with Korchin and his income.

Kangxi's eyes fell on Soetu. He was waiting for Soetu to say this.

He remembered clearly the last time the system told him about his land enclosure.

Since there is so much land, there will be a lot of food. If he can't help, then Soetu must be able to.

Thinking of this, a faint smile crossed his lips. He said to Suo Etu, "Suo Etu, I heard that wherever your horses go, they are your farmland. Since you have so much land, you must have a lot of grain, right? You have saved a lot in the past few years. Since you have a close relationship with Mongolia, I will leave the grain they need this time to you."

At this point, he ignored Suo'etu's grim expression and said to Hutu, "Hutu, it's not that I don't want to help you. It's that this year, first there was drought, then there was flooding. At least there are cattle and sheep on the grassland to eat, but my people can only eat grass roots and tree bark. Comparing the two, should I let them starve to death or give you food?"

There is no choice between these two options. Just tell Hutu directly that if you want food, so many people will starve to death. You will also be hungry, but no one will starve to death. At least you will have cattle and sheep to eat.

His people didn't even have cattle or sheep.

Who is more pitiful?

When Soetu heard what Kangxi said, his heart skipped a beat and cold sweat broke out on his back.

The emperor actually told him directly that he knew about Hutu's land enclosure and that he had a lot of grain. He would not give Hutu grain, and if Hutu wanted grain, he had to come to him.

But he doesn’t have much food!

Thinking of this, the corners of his mouth formed a straight line. He did not respond to Kangxi's words, but he did not refute them either.

Hutu fell silent after hearing this. He understood that the possibility of getting food from Kangxi this time was very small. He could only get food from Soetu as Kangxi said.

But what kind of person was Suo Etu? If you wanted to get food from him, you had to pay for it.

Although he made a lot of money by selling it to Junggar, he was afraid that this time it would all fall into Soetu's hands and he might even lose money.

Thinking of this, he looked at Soetu with a grim expression. When he met his eyes, his heart couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Soetu lowered his head and didn't look into Hutu's eyes at all. He now regretted that he had rashly spoken to Hutu to plead for mercy. If he hadn't spoken at the beginning, perhaps the emperor would not have noticed him.

Who was Hutu? He was a Khorchin man on the surface, but in fact he secretly sold grain to the whole of Mongolia, and then transferred the grain to the Junggar through those small tribes.

Apart from the food supply that Hutu turned a blind eye to, how could a small area like Junggar possibly fight against the entire Qing Dynasty?

Yinzhen listened to what they said, smiled, turned to Hutu, and said to him with some regret: "Hutu, if it were before, my father might have helped you a little, but you don't know how many people died in the snowstorm here this winter. How many people were left homeless? Why didn't you think of helping us overcome the difficulties at that time?"

When he said this, the smile on his face did not fade, but there was a chill in his expression.

Hu Tu's heart trembled slightly when he was looked at by Yinzhen's eyes. At this moment, he felt as if he was being seen naked.

It was as if the Emperor and Prince Zhi had known what he had done long ago, and that was why they were finding all kinds of excuses to make things difficult for him.

But he did it so secretly that few people, even those close to him, knew about it. How did they know?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Thinking of this, his chest heaved violently and his breathing became rapid.

Soetu felt Hutu's gaze, he lowered his head, said nothing, and completely ignored his gaze.

Yinyu listened to the verbal battle between the others, put his arm around Kangxi's neck, and yawned. He thought to himself, "Look, my father and my brother are really powerful. With just one word from each of them, they made Hutu speechless."

"He's like this, and he still wants to eat both sides."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Hu Tu. Looking at his slightly flushed face, a bright smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

System 679 looked at the smile on Yinyu's face and said in a childish voice, "Host, have you ever thought about why Suo Etu has so much land, but he hasn't handed over much grain? Where did all the grain from his land go?"

When Yinyu heard what System 679 said, he looked towards Suo Etu, who was standing in the middle and was somewhat silent, and said to him, "Did he sell all his grain to Hutu?"

At this point, he asked in confusion, "Then why does Hutu need so much food?"

"If they were all sold, Suo Etu would be very rich."

So much land was enclosed for growing crops. Besides the portion that had to be kept, the rest was sold? Where did the money go? And who ultimately owned the grain?

Thinking about it this way, one feels a little uneasy.

System 679 listened to Yinyu's mumbling, his childish, mechanical voice tinged with melancholy. "The host guessed correctly. Soetu's grain production is very high, and the total grain he sells is also very high. For years, your father has been feigning ignorance for your second brother's sake."

"Suo'etu's wealth is beyond your father's imagination."

Yinyu's eyes brightened as he listened to System 679's words. He looked at Suo'etu as if he were looking at a large golden ingot, drooling as he thought to himself, "Wow, if we confiscate his property, wouldn't we all have enough to eat?"

If Suo Etu had been executed, would the entire Qing Dynasty have been exempted from taxes for a year? With silver in the treasury, wouldn't many people be able to eat? Would the little girl who stuck straw in the short video no longer have to sell herself to bury her father?

Thinking of this, he looked at Soetu more eagerly.

System 679 listened to Yinyu's words and said to him, "The host's idea is too naive. If we confiscate Soetu's property, then many people will need to be confiscated. Do you know how many people are involved with Soetu? Aside from Mingzhu, everyone in the Eight Banners is Soetu's subordinate. How do you say we should confiscate them?"

"If you really want to copy it, do your eldest brother or your second brother agree?"

"The bottom line is, everyone is corrupt. There's no way to eliminate it. There have been corrupt officials in every dynasty, and there have always been cliques. The entire Qing Dynasty, after Yongzheng ascended the throne, used extremely cruel methods to deal with corrupt officials, but even this couldn't be eliminated. The profits from corruption are too tempting."

He paused briefly before continuing, "Although Yongzheng's methods were harsh, they also fundamentally reduced the rampant corruption of officials. This laid the foundation for Qianlong's ascension to the throne."

When Kangxi listened to the words of the 679 system, his heart trembled slightly. Qianlong, this was the first time he heard this name. Is this the emperor under Yinzhen?

Which son was Yinzhen? He still had to investigate thoroughly.

No, Yinzhen doesn’t have a son yet!

Thinking of this, he loosened his grip on Yinwei a little, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Yinyu listened to System 679's words, his mouth unconsciously raised. His eyes fell on Suo Etu, and he asked with some reluctance, "Then what do you think we should do?"

No matter what he did, he wanted to kill Soetu, just like he was confiscating the pearls from his family.

Mingzhu's house was searched some time ago, and the silver and various good things that were seized were all listed and sent to Kangxi's desk. He and the system were amazed when they saw it. There were too many, really too many.

Soetu was obviously richer than Mingzhu, so how much could he have copied?

Kangxi also wanted to know, if he followed the 679 system, how much could he seize when he confiscated Soetu's property? If he confiscated all the Eight Banners descendants who participated, would he have to build a few more warehouses?

Life is not easy. It’s all because of the greed of the people below. It’s difficult to put an end to it.

The system has said so much, is there already a solution?

Thinking of this, he looked silently at Hutu and Soetu below.

The two men had something to hide, and when they saw that Kangxi and others didn't say anything, they didn't dare to speak for a while.

System 679 was silent for a moment. Its childish, mechanical voice was filled with worry as it said, "If we really want to eliminate this, we use a chip. Anyone can wear it. If anyone receives unidentified income, it will trigger an alarm. The main brain will then intervene and investigate."

"With the current level of technology, it's completely impossible to implant a chip. So we have to use humans."

"People are prone to change, so we have to constantly reshuffle them. We need different people every year to participate and implement supervision. This is easier said than done. It's not uncommon in previous dynasties for people to do this, but later on, they basically all went along with it."

"You can only transfer appointments during a fixed term. The shorter the fixed term, the less likely it is to be bribed. But it can also be very troublesome."

It’s not that no one has tried this idea, but most of them failed.

Kangxi listened to the words of the 679 system, his eyes flickering slightly. The system was actually right. It was really troublesome to completely eliminate it. Manual work would not only cost money, but also lead to complicity. If the opposite was used, perhaps this problem could really be solved.

He was thinking in his mind, listening to the reports from the people below, and looking down at Yinwei.

I saw him lying in his arms with his head tilted and falling asleep.

Looking at him sleeping soundly, Kangxi unconsciously raised a bright smile at the corner of his mouth.

Yinyou listened to the chattering of several people. He got up early in the morning and fell asleep in a daze.

When he opened his eyes, he was already lying in the Qianqing Palace. He yawned, climbed up from the couch, and called out to Kangxi, who was concentrating on reading a memorial beside him, "Daddy?!"

When Kangxi heard the voice, he raised his head and looked at Yinwei. Seeing his little face which had become a little flushed because he had just woken up, he smiled, put down the memorial, and walked towards him.

He held the man in his arms and smiled at him, "Fifteen has woken up. Daddy prepared delicious food for you this morning. After you finish eating, let Fifteen choose something sent from Mongolia, okay?"

The child Fifteen was so adorable. His adorable look made him want to pinch his soft little face.

It’s a pity that this kid holds a grudge. If he pinches him now, he’s afraid he’ll come back soon.

By then, the loss will outweigh the gain.

When Yinyou heard that there was a treasure to choose from, his eyes suddenly brightened.

Liang Jiugong came in with porridge and said to Kangxi, "Your Majesty, it's snowing outside again."

When Kangxi heard this, he said to Liang Jiugong in a deep voice: "You will pass on my order to let Yinreng guard the city wall and give porridge to the people. Make sure everyone has enough to eat."

"If any houses in the city collapse under the weight of the snow, have the idle Eight Banners men in the city help rebuild them. Anyone who refuses will be punished with thirty lashes of the cane, with Yinreng personally supervising the execution."

Someone reported this matter two days ago and he sent someone to deal with it. I don’t know what the situation is now.

He was also worried that the people below him would deceive their superiors, so he decided to send Yinreng to guard the place personally, and only then did he feel at ease.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jiugong placed the porridge on the table, bowed slightly to him and said, "Yes."

After the others left, Kangxi took a handkerchief to wipe Yinwei's face and hands, and served him porridge bit by bit.

Yinzhi walked in with Yinzhi and Yinzhen, looking very cold. He saw Kangxi's actions and saluted him, saying, "Father, we have done our duty and finally found out the result of the investigation."

When Yinyou heard this, his eyes suddenly brightened. While eating porridge, he kept looking at Yinzhi and others.

Kangxi paused slightly while holding the porridge, then looked towards him and said, "Go ahead."

Yinzhen glanced at the two men and said to Kangxi, "Reporting to the Emperor, Yinreng was indeed the last person to see that young eunuch, but he ordered him to find something to use against me, preferably something dark about me."

"Who knew that Mingzhu was taking advantage of him? Mingzhu had someone copy Yinreng's handwriting and secretly stamped Yinreng's seal, and forged a letter. That was what the young eunuch saw, and he wanted to take action against Yinyu."

"It's just that Mingzhu didn't expect Sun to be so loyal, and he didn't expect that he would fall first. As a result, the young eunuch didn't receive any orders for a long time, and there was no way to continue."

He paused slightly before continuing, "This is also why the Sun family hasn't taken action yet, but no one is urging them to do so. As for him mentioning Yonghe Palace, it's also to incriminate Concubine De. After all, Concubine De is already disliked by you, so if we push the blame onto her, it won't cause any problems."

This little eunuch actually had such a mind. He felt that this little eunuch was not simple.

Apart from this, he might know some things in the palace, so he planned to keep people there to see if he could get more.

When Kangxi heard this, the corners of his mouth formed a straight line. He took a few deep breaths and asked him, "Does this matter have anything to do with Suo Etu?"

Having said that, he was somewhat shocked.

No matter how you look at it, this matter seems to be the work of Soetu, but at the end of the investigation, it was found that it was Mingzhu who did it.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Yinzhen with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

Yinzhen bowed slightly to Kangxi, then said respectfully, "Father, this matter may not have much to do with Suo'etu. I checked the young eunuch's interpersonal relationships and found no contact with Suo'etu at all."

"Besides these, even my son suspects that the letter in which Mingzhu gave the order to the young eunuch came from Suo'etu's hand."

At this point, he paused slightly, looked at Kangxi with a wry smile and said, "It's just that my son has no evidence."

Just as the 679 system said, Soetu did not show up at all and had no contact with the young eunuch. How could this false accusation be pinned on him?

Kangxi listened to this and nodded at him: "Well, since we have found this far, let's continue investigating."

"What's the result on Zhang Ying's side?"

Zhang Ying has been investigating Mingzhu's case for some time, but there has not been much news so far.

Yinzhen was silent for a moment, then he said to Kangxi, "Father, the results of Zhang Ying's investigation are almost out. Mingzhu will acknowledge anything he finds evidence for, but he will deny anything he doesn't."

"We can't use harsh punishment on Mingzhu. We can only find a breakthrough from the side, so it will take some time."

He didn't expect that Mingzhu had done so many things without telling him. Especially after seeing the evidence found by Zhang Ying, his heart was in turmoil, fearing that Mingzhu would be involved in more things.

After all, everything Mingzhu did at the beginning was under the banner of doing it for him.

The key point is that he didn't let Mingzhu do these things.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh, looked at Yinyou's fair and tender little face, and raised his hand to touch it.

Kangxi nodded to Yinzhen without stopping his hands.

After finishing the porridge, Yinyu patted his belly and said in a baby voice, "Feel full."

Kangxi reached out and touched his belly. Feeling the fullness under his hand, he couldn't help but smile and praised: "Fifteen is really good."

He stood up straight and said to the people outside, "Bring everything in."

As soon as Kangxi finished speaking, a group of palace servants came in one after another carrying things.

For a moment, the entire Qianqing Palace was filled with Yinyu's babyish exclamations: "Wow, wow."

Yinzhi looked at the expression on his childish face and couldn't help but smile. He reached out and held him in his arms and asked him, "What does Shiwu want? I'll hold you and go get it, okay?"

Yinyou nodded his little head at him with a bright smile on his face. He put his arms around Yinzhi's neck and looked at the rare treasures one by one.

Yinzhen pointed to a yellow jade plate and said to Yinyu, "This is made of beeswax. It's very rare to find one this big. If Shiwu likes it, I think we can use it as a fruit plate in the future."

He took two steps forward while holding the person in his arms, and pointed to something on another tray. "This thing is quite old. I heard it's a Dzi bead from a Tibetan Lama. I wonder if it's real."

As he said this, he took the things and explained them to Yinyu one by one.

Then he walked back and said to Yinyu with a bit of bitterness: "The emperor loves you. These things are so rare, and he actually let you choose first."

At this point, he muttered to himself, "I didn't even choose first."

Kangxi looked at the expression on Yinzhen's face and couldn't help asking, "Yinzhen, is Father not good to you? Don't you have enough?"

At this point, he picked up the teacup, blew away the foam on it gently, took a sip and said, "If you feel you've suffered a loss, then compare with the other brothers and share the extra."

With just one sentence, Yinzhen was successfully silenced.

Compared with his other brothers, his possessions might be second only to Yinreng's.

There will be too much to divide up by then.

Yinyou couldn't help laughing when he heard what Kangxi said.

In the blink of an eye, it was evening, and the snowflakes continued to fall from the sky. Yinyu sat in the house, holding up his chubby chin, looking out the window, and said to the 679 system: "System, is it so difficult for people outside to eat?"

He paused briefly, then continued to 679, "I still have a box of gold in my warehouse. If I take it out, how many people can it help?"

The only thing now is that he can't speak and doesn't know how to start the conversation, asking his father to take the gold and save people.

System 679 listened to Yinyu's words, its childish voice filled with confusion: "Host, don't you love gold the most? Why are you willing to give it away?"

As he spoke, he scanned Yinyou up and down, but he could not find any reason why he did this.

When Yinyu heard this, a trace of melancholy appeared on his tender face: "How can a person be compared to gold? If I lose my gold, I can earn it again, but if I lose my person, it is really gone."

"I really like gold, but I wouldn't compare it with human life."

When Kangxi heard what Yinyou said, he felt a slight pang in his heart. This child was only one year old, and he could actually have such thoughts.

Among all the treasures, he liked gold the most, but between gold and people, he chose people.

This child really made him look at him with new eyes.

System 679 suddenly said, "Host, I have some bad news for you. Just now, your second brother was attacked by someone."

"I'm on my way back to the palace now."