Chapter 185 Orondai's Discord

Yin'e didn't pay much attention to the Third Prince's teasing, nor did he feel that he had lost face. He was just annoyed that after leaving the inner city, he didn't enter the outer city to see the bustling and prosperous street scene, but instead plunged into the desolate wilderness.

The terms "inner city" and "outer city" are incredibly misleading! Normally, shouldn't the outer city completely encompass the inner city? Shouldn't leaving the inner city mean entering the outer city? Otherwise, how can there be a distinction between the inner and outer cities...?

With a pout, Yin'e lowered his head and muttered sullenly, "This is my first time leaving the palace. How am I supposed to know where the outer city is or which way to go..."

Yin'e originally thought he was joking when he called himself a country bumpkin, but he didn't expect he was actually blowing his own bucket. Since his birth in this life, Yin'e has stayed in the Forbidden City and never left, and he really has become a country bumpkin!

"Tenth Brother, this really is your first time leaving the palace," the Third Prince said with amusement, stating a factual but ultimately meaningless statement. He then teased Yin'e, "Before you left the palace, didn't you think about learning about the layout of the inner and outer city?"

He glanced at the Third Prince, but Yin'e was too lazy to answer the question and instead gritted his teeth with the Third Prince.

Yin'e had never been to Beijing in his previous life and didn't know that the three gates connecting the inner city to the outer city were called Zhengyangmen, Xuanwumen, and Chongwenmen. In fact, he only knew that Beijing had Tiananmen Square…

In this life, Yin'e had never left the palace since birth, living entirely within the Forbidden City. This time, being specifically ordered by Emperor Kangxi to leave the city to receive Tong Guogang's coffin was Yin'e's first time leaving the palace, and he indeed knew very little about Beijing.

Yin'e also lacked the means to inquire about the layout of Beijing in advance. When he lived in Yongshou Palace, he rarely went out before entering the palace. Even after entering the palace, when he was fortunate enough to accompany Emperor Kangxi on his tours, he traveled by carriage. The Consort Gui, who was also unfamiliar with the capital, would not tell Yin'e about the layout of the capital, because the Consort Gui was not very familiar with it either.

Once Yin'e entered the Imperial Study to study, the inner attendants wouldn't waste time on such trivial matters. There were so many Confucian classics, histories, philosophical works, and other texts that they couldn't possibly teach them all. The inner attendants wished they could abolish all the afternoon riding and archery lessons and replace them with cultural classes, teaching the princes continuously.

Seeing that Yin'e was hanging his head and looking dejected, the Seventh Prince explained the layout of the nine gates of the inner city to him in detail, focusing on the layout of the outer city and the inner city.

After listening to the Seventh Prince's explanation, Yin'e finally understood what the inner and outer cities of Beijing were all about. He couldn't help but feel frustrated and said, "So, if we want to go to the outer city later, we'll have to go in a big circle and cross the entire inner city before we can get to the outer city from the south gate?"

The Seventh Prince nodded slightly, giving an affirmative answer to Yin'e's question.

Looking up at Deshengmen behind him, Yin'e became even more annoyed, pouting and muttering under his breath, "Why did they choose Deshengmen for Tong Guogang's coffin to enter the city?"

Deshengmen is at the northernmost point, but it is the inner city gate that is furthest from the outer city, except for Andingmen.

However, since Tong Guogang was already dead, having died in battle during the campaign against the Dzungars, Yin'e only muttered a few words and didn't continue complaining. He simply asked, "After we leave the Tong residence, which city gate should we take to get to the outer city?"

There are three city gates on the south side of the inner city. Zhengyang Gate, which is only open to the emperor's imperial carriage, will not be considered. So, we will choose one from the remaining Xuanwu Gate and Chongwen Gate.

The only one present who could make this choice and make the decision was undoubtedly the eldest prince. He pondered for a moment, glanced at his seven younger brothers, and considering that they were all young and had never been on the battlefield, with the youngest, the ninth and tenth, having only studied in the Imperial Study for a year, he quickly made a decision: "Let's go through Chongwen Gate."

Xuanwu Gate has another name: "Death Gate".

Xuanwumen connected the inner and outer cities of Beijing, with a massive daily flow of people. The surrounding area was bustling and was known as the Caishikou and other major markets of the capital. For this reason, Xuanwumen was chosen as the site for the daily midday executions of condemned prisoners, and prison carts passed through Xuanwumen every day.

The eldest prince didn't like to interact much with his younger brothers, because he felt they were too young. They hadn't gotten married yet, hadn't started performing official duties, and were confined to the Imperial Study to study. They were in completely different circumstances from him, and he couldn't find any common topics to talk about.

The eldest prince considered himself grown up and didn't like to play with his younger brothers. He still regarded his younger brothers as children and didn't plan to take them to Xuanwu Gate, fearing that the younger brothers would be frightened if they witnessed the execution scene.

In any case, both the Xuanwumen and Chongwenmen areas are considered part of Qianmen Street, and both are equally bustling and lively. Although more people enter the city through Xuanwumen, Chongwenmen is not much quieter.

Moreover, the First Prince had his own ulterior motives: outside Chongwen Gate was the wine route, and fine wines from places like Zhuozhou in Hebei Province came from the south and entered Beijing through the south gate. Wine merchants entered Beijing from the Zuoan Gate in the outer city, and after paying taxes on their wines at Chongwen Gate and completing these formal procedures, they could finally enter the inner city.

The eldest prince had no other hobbies but drinking. He was thinking of taking a stroll around Chongwen Gate later to see if he could intercept some of the fine wines and spirits recently sent to the capital from the south.

The Ninth Prince was itching to go and take a stroll around the outer city. He looked out along the official road, but after a long time he still hadn't seen any sign of the procession. He couldn't help but ask, "When will Tong Guogang's coffin arrive in the capital? Are we going to be stuck here waiting until noon or even the afternoon?"

"We will definitely arrive before noon," the eldest prince replied with great certainty.

Yesterday, Tong Guogang's coffin arrived in the outskirts of Beijing, and Emperor Kangxi even sent his son-in-law Shang Zhilong and others out of the city to welcome it. Shang Zhilong and his men rode to the imperial estate in the outskirts of Beijing, where they met up with the convoy transporting Tong Guogang's coffin. After that, someone was sent back to report the news, and they agreed on the time for the convoy to arrive at Deshengmen today.

There were no other buildings outside Desheng Gate except for a few farewell pavilions. It was still early, only 9 a.m., and Tong Guogang's coffin wouldn't arrive anytime soon. The eldest prince didn't want to wait on horseback, so he dismounted first and planned to take his younger brothers to sit and wait at the farewell pavilions near the city gate.

The princes dismounted behind the eldest prince and were about to walk towards the farewell pavilion surrounded by guards when two handsome and noble-looking young men emerged from the farewell pavilion closest to the city gate.

The two young men whispered a few words to each other, and then walked straight toward the princes and their entourage.

Before they could even get close to the prince, the two young men were stopped by the outermost guards. They didn't force their way in, but instead spoke politely to the guards who stopped them.

Soon, the guard who had been on guard at the outermost edge strode up to the eight princes. After bowing to the eight princes, led by the eldest prince, the guard explained his purpose: "The two young masters of the Tong family said they wanted to come and pay their respects to the princes."

The eldest prince exclaimed "Eh," glanced at the two young men standing outside the cordon waiting to be summoned, and nodded slightly: "It is only natural for the Tong family to send people to welcome Tong Guogang's coffin back to the capital."

After sizing up the two young men and recognizing them, the eldest prince's face darkened and his brows furrowed slightly.

"Are those Fahai and Kuadai?" The eldest prince took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that surged within him. "Where is Orondai? He is Tong Guogang's eldest son. Why is he not here for this occasion?"

The guard who came to deliver the message kept his head down and did not answer. It was clear that when Fahai and Kuadai requested an audience with the princes, they had not mentioned Orondai. This guard did not know the specifics and therefore could not give an answer.

Tong Guogang had three sons: Orondai was the eldest, Fahai was the second, and Kuadai was the youngest.

After coming of age, Orondai was appointed as a first-class imperial bodyguard through hereditary privilege. Two years ago, in the twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, he was promoted by the emperor to the position of deputy commander of the Guangxi garrison. In July of this year, the Kangxi Emperor ordered a personal expedition against the Dzungars, and Orondai also participated in the war against the Dzungars.

After Galdan suffered a major defeat at Ulan Butong and retreated with his remaining troops, Orondai did not stay behind to return to the capital with the armies of Fuquan and Changning. Instead, he first traveled lightly back to the capital with the First Prince. Since he was already in the capital, there was no possibility that he would not be able to make it back in time.

"Let them come over." The eldest prince's expression turned cold, and his face looked very unpleasant.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince stood hand in hand behind their brothers. The Ninth Prince glanced at the eldest prince, whose face was ashen and who was barely suppressing his anger, and quietly leaned over to whisper to Yin'e, "Why is the eldest brother so angry? Is it because he's angry that Tong Guogang's coffin returned to the capital and his eldest son didn't come to greet it, but we had to come all the way out of the palace to welcome it?"

The Ninth Prince felt that if the First Prince was angry about this, then the First Prince had a very good reason to be angry!

The Ninth Prince was furious just thinking about it, finding Tong Guogang's eldest son, Orondai, utterly despicable. All the princes had traveled a great distance from the city to welcome Tong Guogang's coffin, yet Orondai, of such high status, refused to even show up to greet his father's coffin upon its return to the capital?

Yin'e's eyes flickered slightly, and he said in a low voice as if deep in thought, "Olundai returned to the capital with my elder brother, so he must have a good relationship with him. My elder brother's anger is more... because he is angry at his lack of ambition."

Yin'e's impression of the Tong family was rather lukewarm.

What he found interesting was that the Tong family was very good at choosing sides.

Tong Guogang died young on the battlefield, so we'll leave his branch aside for now. But Tong Guowei's line is more interesting. Tong Guowei was a supporter of the Eighth Prince, yet his son, Longkodo, had connections with the Fourth Prince. He certainly knew how to play both sides, using his status as Kangxi's maternal relative to hedge his bets between the princes.

While Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were whispering to each other, Fahai and Kuadai had already passed through the guards and arrived in front of the princes, bowing and paying their respects to each of the eight princes.

After the eldest prince and Fahai had exchanged greetings with all the other princes, he asked in a deep voice, "Where is your eldest brother, Orondai? Why isn't he here?"

Fahai and Kuadai exchanged a glance, and finally Kuadai spoke up in a low voice: "My elder brother said that the knife wound he suffered on the battlefield is aching again, and he is afraid that the old wound will flare up and he will have to stay in bed again, so he will not come to the city to welcome Father's coffin today."

"An old wound reopening?" Upon hearing this utterly perfunctory excuse, the eldest prince couldn't help but laugh in anger.

Kua Dai flinched in fright, lowered his head, and dared not say another word.

Orondai was arrogant and violent, and was stubborn and unconventional.

Although he and Tong Guogang were father and son, they had long been at odds and their relationship was extremely bad. Now that Tong Guogang's coffin was about to return to the capital, Orondai refused to come to greet it, and simply made up an excuse to get by.