Chapter 165 The Foolish Crown Prince of the Capital

After Kangxi left Beijing, without him keeping a close eye on the Imperial Study, Yin'e's life suddenly became much more relaxed.

Although he still had to go to the Imperial Study to study every day and continued his daily routine of 3 days a week, with Kangxi no longer keeping an eye on him, the officials in the Imperial Study were much more lenient, and Yin'e had more free time to slack off.

Not long after Kangxi left, news came back that he was ill. At the same time, Kangxi sent back to the capital an imperial edict ordering the Crown Prince and the Third Prince to visit him at the front.

Yin'e was only slightly surprised by Kangxi's illness, but didn't pay much attention to it. However, Yin'e had many complaints about Kangxi's decree ordering the Crown Prince to travel a long distance to the front lines to visit him: Kangxi really couldn't do without his son; when he was at his most vulnerable, the first person he thought of was the Crown Prince.

It wasn't that Yin'e didn't care about Kangxi's life or death; it's just that he clearly remembered Kangxi living to the age of sixty-nine. It was only the twenty-ninth year of Kangxi's reign, and there were still thirty-two years until Kangxi's death in the sixty-first year. Kangxi still had plenty of time to live!

However, despite saying that, Yin'e was actually a little worried, fearing that Kangxi's condition might worsen and he might die on the front lines.

Honestly, Yin'e couldn't say he had no feelings for Kangxi. Moreover, while Kangxi was alive, he was a prince, with a high status and the Imperial Household Department providing for his daily needs. It was only natural for him to eat and drink what Kangxi needed and ask Kangxi for rewards.

However, if Emperor Kangxi had died so early, the successor would undoubtedly be the Crown Prince. Although the First Prince has begun to participate in the struggle for the throne in a high-profile manner this year, the Crown Prince's position remains stable, and it is far from the point where he will be deposed in a dozen years.

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne changed from a father to an elder brother, and the difference between them is not small.

Yin'e felt perfectly justified in accepting and using Emperor Kangxi's food and drink, taking it all for granted.

But if it were his half-brother, or the crown prince with whom he wasn't very close, Yin'e wouldn't feel so confident; he always felt awkward. What's more frustrating is that Yin'e was still young at this time, and even if he wanted to be independent, he couldn't.

Moreover, the Crown Prince, who was favored by Emperor Kangxi, was never a good-tempered person. He was arrogant, haughty, and disdainful of others. He always looked down on the other princes and treated them only as subjects of the emperor, regardless of their seniority.

Being treated coldly by the Crown Prince is nothing compared to being deliberately targeted by him. Others may not be sure, but if the Crown Prince really succeeds in ascending the throne, then the eldest prince will probably be in for a lifetime of trouble.

Therefore, Yin'e was indeed a little worried that his arrival would create a butterfly effect that would send Kangxi away prematurely. If that happened, things would be terrible.

Yin'e was confined to the Imperial Study all day to study, leading a very isolated life. In addition, Yin'e was determined to live a carefree life, so he rarely cared about the events of the previous dynasty and just lived his life leisurely.

However, Emperor Kangxi fell ill on his way to a personal expedition shortly after leaving Beijing. Yin'e, who couldn't recall whether this event had even occurred in history, became concerned and unusually focused on Kangxi's affairs, actively seeking out news from the front lines.

However, Yin'e was still young, had no useful people around him, and was confined to the Imperial Study to study. He had very few channels to learn about the outside world. In this life, Yin'e was forced to stay at home and was so miserable that he had never left the palace and had never even visited the capital city where he lived.

When Emperor Kangxi was alive, things were fine. After all, the Imperial Study was located in the Qianqing Palace complex, which was just a short walk away from where Emperor Kangxi conducted his daily work and government affairs. This gave him an advantage in getting information.

But now that Emperor Kangxi has left the capital to personally lead an expedition against the Dzungars in the north, one of the most important sources of information for the Imperial Study has been cut off, and information has naturally become scarce. News from the court has been delayed for a long time before reaching the Imperial Study, and it is unknown how many times the news has been passed on.

In fact, news from the Imperial Study was noticeably slower after Kangxi set off on his expedition. If Kangxi hadn't specifically requested the Third Prince to temporarily leave the Imperial Study to accompany the Crown Prince to the front lines, the princes like Yin'e who were studying in the Imperial Study would not have known that Kangxi had fallen ill on the road not long after his departure.

After the Crown Prince and the Third Prince set off from the capital, Yin'e, who was actively seeking information and inquiring about Kangxi's condition, had not yet received news from the front lines that Kangxi's illness had been cured and his health had recovered. Instead, he learned that the Third Prince was going to return to the capital and resume his studies in the Imperial Study.

If you calculate the time it would take to travel from the capital to the front lines, it's not hard to see that the Third Prince only went to the front lines, made a brief appearance before Emperor Kangxi, and was then sent back.

The Third Prince's visit to the Emperor was merely a formality; he had no opportunity to attend to the Emperor's illness or to impress him.

Yin'e originally thought that Kangxi was making things so difficult for the Third Prince because Kangxi only saw the Third Prince as a tool to accompany the Crown Prince to the front lines. After the Crown Prince arrived safely at the front lines, Kangxi sent the Third Prince, who was just an extra, back, leaving only his beloved Crown Prince to accompany him.

But soon, Yin'e realized he was wrong. The Third Prince wasn't the only one returning to the capital; the Crown Prince did too, and the two of them came back together.

The Third Prince wasn't sent back early by Kangxi as a third wheel; he was implicated by the Crown Prince's inappropriate behavior in front of the Emperor. After the Crown Prince offended Kangxi, the enraged Emperor banished both the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince back to the capital.

...Well, it's hard to say whether the Third Prince felt more aggrieved being treated like a third wheel and driven away, or being implicated by the Crown Prince and forced to return to the capital.

In short, the Third Prince was really unlucky. He was originally used as a tool to accompany the Crown Prince to the front line to visit the ailing Emperor Kangxi. He worked hard all day and didn't even have time to catch his breath, let alone make a good impression on Emperor Kangxi. He was immediately sent back because of the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince and the Third Prince embarked on their return journey. Before they arrived in the capital, more news reached the city, and more inside stories were uncovered.

It turned out that after the Crown Prince and the Third Prince arrived at the camp where Kangxi was stationed, Kangxi immediately summoned the Crown Prince and ordered him to attend to him and take care of his illness.

After falling ill, Emperor Kangxi was psychologically vulnerable and was already worried about his son. Upon seeing him, he wanted to have a good talk with his beloved crown prince and express his fatherly affection.

However, whether the Crown Prince was still concerned about Consort Chuxiu's pregnancy or was too spoiled and willful by Kangxi, he was negligent and poor in his care for Kangxi during the illness. He was indifferent to Kangxi's condition and showed no concern, pouring a bucket of cold, icy water on Kangxi's full of paternal love.

Emperor Kangxi, who was already ill and prone to mood swings, flew into a rage and rebuked the Crown Prince for having no sense of loyalty or filial piety. He immediately issued an edict to send the Crown Prince back to the capital.

The poor, unlucky Third Prince was naturally implicated by the Crown Prince. He had just arrived at the camp where Kangxi was stationed at the front line and did not even have time to rest properly to relieve the fatigue of several days of travel. He had no choice but to slink away and accompany the Crown Prince back to the capital.

When the news reached the Imperial Study that the Crown Prince had been reprimanded by Emperor Kangxi for lacking loyalty and filial piety and had been banished back to the capital, Yin'e's reaction was:

ah?

ah? ?

ah? ? ?

Black guy with a question mark face.jpg

Now that it was confirmed that this matter was true, not a rumor or a malicious fabrication by someone, a distortion of the facts or a fabrication of lies, Yin'e's expression twisted, a row of black lines appearing on his forehead. He couldn't believe that the Crown Prince could play such a winning hand so poorly.

Has the Crown Prince gone mad? Even if he truly doesn't care about Kangxi's illness, even if he doesn't care at all how serious Kangxi's illness is or how to restore him, can't he at least pretend? Can't he put on an act and play the role of a filial son in front of Kangxi?

The Crown Prince is well-read and knowledgeable, and is the most outstanding among the princes. Could it be that he has forgotten all the knowledge he learned before, and forgotten the stories he read before, such as the filial son tasting the medicine, carrying rice for a hundred miles, lying on the ice to catch carp, and entertaining his parents with playful antics?

Or is it that the Crown Prince was truly spoiled and forgot that although Kangxi was his loving father, he was also the Emperor, the ruler of the country, and someone he had to please? The Crown Prince probably didn't think that just because he had been in the position of heir apparent for more than ten years, he would definitely be the one to ascend the throne.

There are at least eighty or a hundred crown princes who have been deposed throughout history. This crown prince, who was carefully cultivated by Emperor Kangxi from a young age and was learned and knowledgeable, didn't he have any sense of learning from history? Didn't he even have a brain?!

The Crown Prince made such a foolish mistake, squandering a winning hand. When the First Prince, who was accompanying Prince Yu's army on the expedition, received the news, he must be grinning from ear to ear, feeling like a windfall had fallen from the sky.

It turns out that not only are business battles down-to-earth, but the struggle for succession is just as relatable.

The eldest prince didn't need to bother fighting for the throne at all; he could just wait for the crown prince to make a foolish mistake. His ascension to the throne depended entirely on his opponent's blunders and reckless moves. The crown prince's performance during the struggle for the throne was not just down-to-earth, it was down-to-earth. He was truly a "rare" genius.

Yin'e was speechless at the Crown Prince's actions. He was so angry that he wanted to roll his eyes, and he seriously suspected that the Crown Prince had lost his mind.

His reaction wasn't because he sided with the Crown Prince or particularly supported his ascension to the throne; it was simply because he couldn't bear the way the struggle for succession between the Crown Prince and the First Prince had begun in this manner.

If this weren't a real event, but a TV series, then Yin'e would definitely criticize the screenwriter for being brainless, deliberately making the Crown Prince less intelligent, and making the plot a mess with no logic at all.

After the Crown Prince and the Third Prince returned to the capital, Yin'e had no chance to see the Crown Prince because the Crown Prince did not study in the Imperial Study with the other princes. It is unknown whether the Crown Prince, who was scolded by Kangxi and sent back, had cleared his mind and returned to his previous level of intelligence.

The Third Prince, on the other hand, was visibly depressed after returning to the Imperial Study. His fellow princes noticed that he had become much more withdrawn and unusually quiet and reserved, a far cry from his usual flamboyant self.

Before any of the princes in the Imperial Study could step forward to express their brotherly affection and comfort the Third Prince, news came from the front lines that after the Crown Prince and the Third Prince returned to the capital, Emperor Kangxi, despite his illness, inspected the troops at Boluohetun. Because his condition had not improved and he had a persistent fever, the ministers who were with Emperor Kangxi at the front lines petitioned him to take care of his health and return to the capital first.

After much pleading and persuasion from his ministers, Emperor Kangxi finally abandoned his plan to personally lead an expedition against the Dzungars. He entrusted the frontline battle to Prince Yu, Prince Gong, and others, allowing them to take charge of the overall situation, while he himself set off to leave the front lines.

Because Emperor Kangxi was still ill, the imperial entourage traveled slowly and did not arrive in the capital until mid-August.