When Yinreng was at his wit's end, he cursed out all sorts of unpleasant things, including but not limited to -

"The Manchus have successfully turned themselves into rats in the gutter, hated by everyone."

"In the five thousand years of Chinese history, there have been more than fifty ethnic groups that have merged, and the Manchus have a worse reputation than the Hu people."

"You keep saying that the Manchus and the Han are one family, and you only speak human words, but you should do something humane!"

"Kangxi Kangxi, you deserve this reputation for being poor and poor!"

…

Kangxi suppressed his anger as he listened at first, but eventually he calmed down.

He also watched with interest the way Yinreng was so frustrated that he was jumping up and down.

Yinreng had cursed enough and made an excuse to leave.

Although Kangxi was not very angry, he could not let Yinreng go so easily, otherwise he would have been scolded in vain!

"I've been busy with government affairs these past two days, please help me share some of the burden!"

Kangxi planned to find fault with the government affairs handled by Yinreng, and he would always be able to find a problem, and then he would take advantage of the situation to make a fuss.

"My son has some things to do!"

Yinreng was obviously unwilling to stay in the Qianqing Palace and serve Kangxi like a slave.

"Is there anything more important than government affairs?"

Kangxi asked back.

“…”

Yinreng actually wanted to say that handling government affairs was not his job, that was Kangxi's job, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

The crown prince does have the responsibility to assist the emperor in handling government affairs.

But it was impossible to ask Yinreng to compromise like this. He immediately thought of the Queen Mother.

"But the Queen Mother hasn't been feeling well these past two days. My son has already made an appointment with the Crown Princess to go to Ningshou Palace and talk with her for a while."

Calculating the time, it was around nine o'clock in the morning, so there was no problem for him to go to Ningshou Palace to see the Empress Dowager.

And he was not saying this to fool Kangxi. He did tell Guaerjia yesterday that he would go to Ningshou Palace to visit the Empress Dowager, but he did not mention talking to her.

When Kangxi heard this, the smile on his face froze slightly.

Compared to fulfilling filial duties by the Empress Dowager's bedside, government affairs are naturally more important. However, government affairs can be postponed, but the Empress Dowager's health cannot.

Even if the Empress Dowager's illness was not serious, Yinreng said he wanted to go and fulfill his filial duty, and Kangxi could not stop him.

But Kangxi was determined to punish Yinreng, so after just a few breaths, he decided to accompany Yinreng to Ningshou Palace.

He frowned, pretending to be worried.

"I've heard about this, too. I was originally planning to go check it out, but I was so busy these past few days that I forgot. You reminded me today. Let's go! I'll go with you!"

He stood up and walked out, while Yinreng was a little dumbfounded -

'No... this old man is sticking to me?!'

When Kangxi heard this, his steps froze for a moment, and then he walked out as if nothing had happened.

Although he didn't understand what "Lao Deng" meant, he knew that this word was definitely not a compliment.

This evil creature is addicted to scolding him today!

Kangxi walked outside, looked at the bright sun outside, and decided to walk to Ningshou Palace, and on the way listen carefully to how Yinreng cursed him in various ways.

Isn't this bastard the one I hate dealing with the most?

Then he should temper his temper!

Kangxi was furious!

For the next five consecutive days, as soon as Yinreng left court, Kangxi would call him directly to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Except for sleeping at night, Kangxi kept Yinreng by his side all the time, and even let him sit in when he was meeting with the cabinet.

After the curfew at night, Yinreng could not return to Yuqing Palace and could only sleep in a side hall of Qianqing Palace.

Kangxi could be said to have tied him to his belt.

It only took Yinreng three days to go from feeling depressed and angry at first to feeling helpless and hopeless.

In the next two days, he began to slack off while reviewing memorials.

"It seems the old man has decided not to equip the treasure ship with cannons. I have to find a way myself... or ask the crew to go to Franky to buy a few?"

"That won't work. Pirates aren't as prevalent now as they will be a hundred years from now, but there are still plenty. Without guns and cannons, encountering pirates is a sure death."

Henry's merchant ship was equipped with four cannons, and there were two boxes of shells left. He used up a few of them on the last trip, and now there is only one box left. If he goes out two more times, they will definitely be used up.

Yinreng probably figured out the reason why Kangxi didn't want to install cannons on the treasure ships. It was simply because more than 80% of the sailors on the ships were Han Chinese, and he was afraid that they would never come back after leaving, or even become rebels.

Although the Qing Dynasty had produced many guns and cannons, they were no match for the Han people, who outnumbered the Manchus by nearly a hundred times.

If the Han people were really determined to rebel, when the ammunition ran out, it would be time for the Manchus to exterminate their entire race.

Kangxi was well aware of the intelligence of the Han people, so he did not want to give them any hope of rebellion.

At least Kangxi didn't want to take any risks before he completely won over the hearts of the people.

He has been on the throne for forty years and believes that he has worked diligently for the country and the people, but even now, news of rebellion still comes from various places from time to time.

Although they were all minor incidents, most of the civil unrests recorded in history started from minor incidents.

Yinreng tried to persuade Kangxi several times, but found that Kangxi didn't listen to him at all.

Only then will the defense be broken.

"Damn it, if there's no artillery maker, can't I just make my own? One nitrate, two sulfur, three charcoal, and a little sugar, Big Ivan, make the bomb first. How about some grenades first?"

"But how do you light a grenade? I need to find some veterans familiar with ordnance to research it."

"The process of creating something from nothing is the most difficult. At this rate, I may not even see a steam engine or a train until I die."

Yinreng stared at the memorial from the Governor of Fujian, thinking in a daze.

"If the Industrial Revolution had started in China, why would future generations have needed to learn English? The whole world would have been learning Chinese! How could those 26 crappy letters compare to a 5,000-year-old written language?"

In later life, his English was decent, otherwise, with his commoner background, he would not have been able to climb to a middle-level position in the financial industry.

But having good grades doesn't mean he likes it.

If it weren't for his grades, the subject he would least like to learn would be English.

Yinreng muttered to himself, glancing at Kangxi from time to time.

Seeing that Kangxi was also holding up his head and the brush was still on the inkstone, he knew that Kangxi was also interested in the affairs of later generations. So he took this opportunity to say a few more words.

"It's better to wait a few hundred years. I can get to England in less than a day by taking a flight!"

Kangxi paused what he was doing.

Flying drops?

What is that?

Getting to England in less than a day?

How is this possible?

Kangxi’s first reaction was that it was impossible.

Henry came from England. As far as he knew, it took Henry's merchant ship more than four months to travel from England to the Qing Dynasty.

This is still relatively fast. If the weather is bad on the way, it may take more time.