Chapter 232 Live Broadcast from the Sky (12)

"The Jiangnan region stained with blood, what a blood-stained Jiangnan region..."

Viewers in other timelines see Yongzheng's decisiveness. But Kangxi sees the underlying situation in Jiangnan. With so many overlapping events, has Jiangnan truly become the Crown Prince's "money bag"?

Did these Han officials who claimed to be the legitimate rulers already side with the Crown Prince?

Kangxi's face darkened, and instantly a group of people knelt before the Qianqing Palace. Yinreng lowered his head, feeling Kangxi's suspicious gaze fixed on him, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Father, if you're unwilling to give it, how can you blame him for fighting for it? If he, the Crown Prince, doesn't fight for it, what good will his end be?"

In the latter half of the forty-first year of his reign, Emperor Kangxi made another southern tour. This time, he unusually brought the Crown Prince with him. Some say this was a signal that Kangxi was easing tensions with the Crown Prince, while others say it showed that Kangxi was becoming wary. Therefore, he no longer allowed the Crown Prince to oversee the country, but deliberately kept him by his side for supervision. You can think about the specific reasons yourself.

However, during the southern tour, Kangxi treated Crown Prince Yinreng very well, taking him to meet with officials from all walks of life, to visit the Confucius Temple, and to make incognito visits. As a result, the Crown Prince's faction, which had just suffered a great loss of vitality after the Jiangnan turmoil, became much more stable and regained its pride.

Then, during the southern tour to Beijing, something happened: the crown prince fell ill, and Emperor Kangxi specially summoned Songgotu, who was no longer holding any official position, to take care of the crown prince.

There is no historical record of what the two discussed during this meeting. However, at the end of the forty-first year, Suo'etu's younger brother, Hesheli Xinyu, was dismissed from his post for abusing his family, resulting in their tragic deaths. This incident was exposed by Tongjia Orondai, who had been reinstated by Emperor Kangxi after the Southern Tour.

Think about it, it's obvious that Kangxi was targeting Songgotu and the Hesheli clan. Considering this, Kangxi must have known about the content of Songgotu's meeting with the Crown Prince, and that this content angered him. That's why he issued such a direct warning to Songgotu.

In my opinion, at this point, Kangxi still gave Suo'etu some face because of the Crown Prince, but did Suo'etu reflect on his actions?

Not only did he not reflect on his actions, he also committed a major offense. Let us look at the shipwreck case of the 42nd year of Kangxi's reign, a case that shocked the court and the public, a case that almost led to a change of dynasty and nearly cost Kangxi and Yongzheng their lives.

Upon hearing the words "dynastic change" and "death," Kangxi's expression darkened further, and he even regretted having dragged Suo'etu away too soon.

The crowd in front of the hall dared not even breathe, listening intently to the narration from the sky.

This event marked a turning point in the deepening relationship between Emperor Kangxi and his son, Emperor Yongzheng. It is also important evidence that later generations recognized Yongzheng as Emperor Kangxi's first son.

How exactly did this shipwreck happen?

In the forty-second year, Emperor Kangxi embarked on another southern tour. This time, he only brought three princes, Yinzhi, Yinzhen, and Yinxiang, as if he had restored his trust in the crown prince and left him to oversee the country.

In fact, before the shipwreck incident, Emperor Kangxi had already encountered an arson attack, which could be described as a close call. Many people in later generations believed that it was the work of Songgotu. However, at that time, Kangxi did not make a big deal out of it, and only allowed Emperor Yongzheng to find out the arsonist.

On the first day of the third month, Emperor Kangxi and his entourage returned from Jiangning. In the dead of night, assassins swarmed into the dragon boat, not only to assassinate the emperor, but also to secretly drill a hole in the bottom of the boat.

Yongzheng was known to be unskilled in martial arts, so the Third Prince Yinzhi and the Thirteenth Prince Yinxiang led the way and fought off the assassins. Yongzheng protected Kangxi as they left in a small boat. During this escape, Yongzheng shielded Kangxi from an arrow with his own body, taking a wound to his left shoulder, and successfully escorted Kangxi to the boat.

At this time, besides Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng, and Emperor Kangxi's chief eunuch Liang Jiugong, there were only two guards rowing the boat.

But before the small boat had gone far, several huge dragon boats in front and behind it began to tilt into the water because their bottoms had been pierced.

Everyone knows how dangerous the current from the sinking of a huge ship is; it's something a small boat can't withstand. The few people on board paddled desperately, but they still couldn't escape and were eventually swallowed by the river.

Kangxi and Yongzheng simply vanished into the vast river.

This incident caused quite a stir at the time; the troops stationed on both sides of the river were all mobilized to search for the person, and all the princes staying in the capital also led a group of people to search along the river in sections.

After three days of searching, the two dead guards on the ship were found, as was Liang Jiugong, who had miraculously survived. But there was no trace of Kangxi or Yongzheng; all that was found was a blood-stained jade pendant with nine dragons.

When this news reached the capital, public sentiment was unsettled, and anti-Qing organizations among the people became active. Under the leadership of Songgotu, many officials submitted memorials requesting the Crown Prince to ascend the throne, which infuriated Yinreng, who forbade them to mention it again.

Yes, at this time, our Crown Prince Yinreng was still a loving son to his father. He was genuinely worried about Kangxi and truly unwilling to ascend the throne. In his mind, ascending the throne was tantamount to admitting that Kangxi was dead, which he certainly couldn't accept. Therefore, even though court officials repeatedly petitioned him, he resolutely refused.

Upon hearing this, Kangxi looked at Yinreng with a complex expression. If this were the timeline, would Yinreng also refuse such a request?

At this moment, Yinreng was also asking himself, if he were in such a situation, would he really refuse?

The Crown Prince wasn't falling for the trap, so Suo'etu got impatient and led a large group of court officials to coerce him into ascending the throne at the grand court assembly. No matter what Yinreng said, he only replied with "Please, Crown Prince, ascend the throne." It was at this moment that Kangxi appeared in the court like a divine soldier descending from the sky, frightening many officials into trembling and turning pale.

As you can imagine, the rest of the story ended with some being demoted, others imprisoned, and Suo'etu and his two brothers were even imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court, awaiting their reckoning.

The key question is, how did Kangxi escape such a dangerous situation? This part is not recorded in historical books. There are only some scattered texts that prove that it was Yongzheng who dragged his wounded body to save Kangxi.

No one knows where the two were or how they spent the days they were missing. The only thing that is known is that after Kangxi returned, he was still able to hold court and intimidate the officials, while after Yongzheng handed Kangxi over to the eldest prince Yinzhi, he collapsed and was sent back to the capital in a coma.

According to contemporary records, the imperial physicians went to great lengths to save Yongzheng, but the aftereffect was that his previously injured left arm could no longer lift heavy objects. However, later experts and scholars, based on records left behind by the imperial physicians, determined that Yongzheng's injury was not simply a matter of an arm injury; his early death was very likely due to the physical depletion caused at that time.

However, Emperor Yongzheng kept it a secret very well.

Of course, it wasn't just the trauma of the shipwreck incident; the kick the Crown Prince gave him when he entered the palace to meet Emperor Yongzheng after his recovery also had a significant impact. That kick later became a permanent nightmare for Prince Li, Yinreng. So much so that even on his deathbed, while holding Emperor Chengtai's hand, he was still saying sorry…