Chapter 211 The First Step of Plan 211

After the morning reading session ended, before the imperial kitchen brought breakfast over, the Fourth Prince turned around and looked at Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, who were sitting behind the Fifth Prince. A hint of relief appeared on his cold and stern face: "I originally thought you were just fooling around, but I didn't expect you to actually have a plan."

The Fourth Prince gave Yin'e an approving look and lowered his voice slightly: "When the ruler has a certain preference, the people will follow suit. This may not be a bad solution."

"But..." The Fourth Prince frowned, his eyes filled with worry. He hesitated for a moment, then finally said in a low voice, "Have you ever considered that by forcing the Imperial Household Department to vouch for you, you are actually wasting your political reputation?"

At this point, the Fourth Prince sighed softly, his tone suddenly becoming heavy: "If you squander your political reputation like this, and are regarded as纨绔子弟 (spoiled brats) by the entire court of civil and military officials and nobles, how will you gain a foothold in the court in the future, and how will you recruit followers?"

Although they were brothers, the Fourth Prince and Yin'e and the Ninth Prince never had a deep relationship, so these words were actually a bit too forward for someone they didn't know well.

If the Fourth Prince hadn't genuinely cared for them, he wouldn't have said those words. The Fourth Prince was aloof, but he was actually warm-hearted. Even though their relationship wasn't deep, he was still willing to say those words to advise and dissuade Yin'e and the Ninth Prince.

Unfortunately, the Fourth Prince's efforts were in vain. The Ninth Prince curled his lip indifferently, too lazy to explain: he and the Fourth Prince had fundamentally different views, and even if he explained, it would be a waste of breath. The Fourth Prince, a top student, simply could not understand the slacker's laziness and idling away.

"Fourth Brother, I know you mean well, and Ninth Brother and I are grateful for your kindness." Yin'e first expressed his gratitude to the Fourth Prince, then gently shook his head and said in a calm but firm tone, "But everyone has their own ambitions. Ninth Brother and I have no ambitions in this area, so Fourth Brother doesn't need to worry about us."

The Ninth Prince raised an eyebrow, his smile both roguish and unrestrained: "My tenth brother and I just like making money, and we just want to do things we enjoy. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? As long as we're happy, that's all that matters."

“Perhaps Father Khan thinks we’re useless,” Yin’e shrugged, looking nonchalant. “But Father Khan has many sons who are both scholarly and martial, and are outstanding in many ways. He also has to accept that some of his sons are just not as good as others!”

At this point, Yin'e grinned and gave the Ninth Prince a high five, exchanging knowing smiles: they were determined to make their father realize that among his sons were not only academic geniuses like the Crown Prince, who excelled in both literature and martial arts, but also academic failures like them who were good at nothing.

While saying that Kangxi should accept that his sons were both excellent and ordinary, Yin'e couldn't help but think to himself: How dare Kangxi find fault with his sons? He himself wasn't a very good father either.

Whether Kangxi was a good emperor or not is for future generations to judge; Yin'e has nothing to say about it.

But when it comes to being a father, Yin'e has a lot to say. If he were to judge, Kangxi was truly a remarkable man:

Kangxi could be considered a kind father to the Fourth Prince. He was concerned that the Fourth Prince's adoptive mother had passed away and that his birth mother was not kind to him. He knew to arrange a marriage for the Fourth Prince early and arranged for the Fourth Prince to get married ahead of schedule. The prince's residence had a wife to help with the affairs.

But even though it was the same Emperor Kangxi, he has deliberately dragged it out until now and still hasn't arranged a marriage for the Crown Prince!

The Crown Prince is the heir apparent and the second-in-command of the country. Several years have passed since he left the palace at the age of thirteen to begin his studies. He can still only listen in on court affairs and has no real power to handle government matters.

The saying goes, "To establish a family and then a career, one must first establish a family." The Crown Prince is nineteen years old this year (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning), and is already seventeen, but he is not yet married. Not to mention a wedding, even the selection of his second wife or Crown Princess has not been decided.

At this age, the eldest prince had already married and had two legitimate daughters.

Last year, in the 29th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, the eldest prince, who had just turned eighteen, accompanied Prince Yu, Fuquan, to the battlefield where the Qing Dynasty was fighting against the Dzungars. He earned a lot of military merits and returned to the court to officially begin his struggle against the crown prince.

It's hard to tell whether Emperor Kangxi, who acted as both father and mother and raised the crown prince with great difficulty, loved his son or not.

The eldest prince has been married for four or five years. If it weren't for his first wife giving birth to three daughters, he would still be without a legitimate son. Now, the crown prince, who doesn't even know where the crown princess is, would have been in turmoil long ago. The crown prince's actions in the past two years have been quite inappropriate, and there are reasons for that.

The Fourth Prince, of course, had no idea what rebellious words Yin'e was thinking. He carefully examined Yin'e for a few moments, and after seeing the openness and composure in his clear almond eyes, he realized that what Yin'e said was true; Yin'e's ambitions were indeed not in the court.

After a moment's hesitation, the Fourth Prince did not continue to persuade him, but asked with concern, "Aren't you worried that Father will punish you?" After a pause, the Fourth Prince added, "Father knows you, and I'm afraid that if he punishes you, he will only punish you by making you copy books."

Yin'e: ...

Ninth Prince: …………

His smile froze on his face. Yin'e's mood changed from sunny to cloudy in an instant, like the calm before a storm: Kangxi had already figured out how to control Yin'e. Every time Yin'e made a mistake or caused trouble, Kangxi would punish him by making him copy books instead of punishing him for anything else.

Having learned from his repeated mistakes, Emperor Kangxi had figured out the right way to punish Yin'e and the Ninth Prince. Punishing them with monthly allowances, rebuking them with great indignation, and even spanking them were ineffective. Yin'e was not short of money and was so thick-skinned that he didn't care about being scolded. He even used the excuse of being injured to ask for leave when he was spanked.

As for confinement... what difference is there between that and a holiday for Yin'e? If he were truly confined, Yin'e would only shout "What a wonderful thing!" and then happily stay in the West Third Palace without going out. He wouldn't even be happy if Kangxi wanted to let him out.

This is what's called "a dead pig doesn't fear boiling water"—conventional punishments are completely ineffective against Yin'e. On the contrary, when Yin'e is punished by copying books, once the quantity and deadline are set, as long as Kangxi strictly inspects and prohibits proxy copying, Yin'e can only obediently bury himself in copying the books.

"Father won't punish us, right? Haha." Yin'e chuckled dryly, his voice involuntarily becoming strained. "Ninth Brother and I didn't cause any trouble... We just developed some small hobbies, it's nothing, right?"

The Ninth Prince finally seized the opportunity. He raised his eyebrows and looked at the Fourth Prince with a smile. His beautiful phoenix eyes shimmered with light as he said meaningfully, "There are only a few of us in the Imperial Study. As long as everyone keeps their mouths shut, how will Father know what my Tenth Brother and I did?"

"Khan Ama is very busy with state affairs. As long as no one complains to him, he probably won't have time to deal with us."

The Ninth Prince spoke these words while looking at the Fourth Prince, but his phoenix eyes, with their slanted corners, kept glancing at the Third Prince, clearly indicating that the Third Prince was the real target of his words.

The Ninth Prince was subtly criticizing the Third Prince for not only liking to act like an elder brother and control them, but also for tattling to Emperor Kangxi.

The Third Prince, who had finished his breakfast as usual, twitched his lips and then chuckled coldly: "There are only a few of us in the Imperial Study, but there are many people and gossips outside the study. You don't really think you can hide it from Father Khan, do you?"

Without giving the Third Prince and the Ninth Prince a chance to continue arguing, the Fourth Prince shook his head and said, "Ninth Brother, this involves the wedding of a prince. Father Khan cannot possibly ignore it. The Imperial Household Department will not cover for you. It is meaningless whether the news leaks from the Imperial Study."

The Fourth Prince's words made sense, so the Ninth Prince gave up and stopped keeping an eye on the Third Prince.

He closed the food box again and beckoned to the personal eunuch waiting outside the study to take it out. The Third Prince glanced at the Ninth Prince, who was pouting and silent, and instead took the initiative to say, "I can't guarantee whether the Imperial Household Department will report this, but I guarantee that the matter will not be leaked from me."

With a slight upturn of his lips, the Third Prince revealed a somewhat mocking smile: "Don't worry, I'm not that free."

The Third Prince had vaguely overheard some of the Fourth Prince's words of advice to Yin'e and Yin'e's reply.

The Third Prince couldn't understand Yin'e's decision to slack off, because he genuinely had reasons to strive for improvement. For the sake of Consort Rong and Princess Rongxian, the Third Prince needed Emperor Kangxi's favor, so he would work hard to win Kangxi's appreciation, affection, and even trust.

But regardless of whether he understood it or not, the fact that Yin'e, the son of a powerful concubine, was willing to step aside and become a nobody was a good thing for the Third Prince. Resources are limited, and the Third Prince could never compete with the Crown Prince and the First Prince. If he were to be overtaken by his younger brothers, he would truly only be left with scraps and leftovers.

As for Yin'e and the Ninth Prince's tinkering with goat milk powder, the Third Prince was happy to see it succeed. If goat milk powder really had a future, the Bairin tribe in southern Mongolia could also benefit. If it didn't work out, he wouldn't lose out, since the Third Prince hadn't paid too high a price.

Judging from the Third Prince's expression, Yin'e knew what the Third Prince was thinking. He was just taking a few shots regardless of whether he had a chance or not, hoping to make a fortune if he won and not lose if he lost.

But Yin'e wasn't angry. His relationship with the Third Prince was so-so; the Third Prince had no obligation to understand or support him. It was already good enough that he didn't hold him back. Now, the Third Prince not only didn't hold him back but also opened the door for him to do some small favors. What more could he ask for?

Yin'e knew in his heart that, apart from the Ninth Prince, most of the others thought he was just fooling around, doing whatever came to mind, and that his enthusiasm would only last a short time before he gave up.

But that's not really the case. Yin'e may not have a concrete plan or a complete scheme, but he knows exactly what he's doing. He just wants to do something to prove he was here, and he just wants to try his best to change some things.

Yin'e knew he lacked the ability to change the world; all he could do was try his best to do something useful. The saying goes, "When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when successful, one should benefit all under heaven." While it was difficult for him to benefit all under heaven, he also didn't want to merely cultivate his own virtue.

Yin'e is almost eight years old. Counting the changes he has brought about, the only one that is worth mentioning is the smallpox vaccination. However, Yin'e only came up with the idea; the actual work was done by the Consort and the Niohuru family.

Yin'e also wanted to do something. Developing the economy and improving people's livelihoods were too grand and abstract. Yin'e thought about it carefully and decided to start with small things. The most important things for ordinary people in their daily lives are food, clothing, housing, and transportation. He would focus his research on these areas.

Yin'e's first target was the sheep of Mongolia. He was determined to form a marriage alliance with the Abahai tribe of Mongolia, so that his expansion into Mongolia would be justifiable, and having acquaintances on the grasslands would help him to make his business progress more smoothly.

On the grasslands, sheep are mostly raised for meat and for selling sheepskins. Most of the sheep milk is wasted. As for wool, Mongolians do make wool felt, but they cannot remove the smell and greasiness of wool, so most of the wool is also wasted.

Processing goat milk into milk powder and washing raw wool into yarn and lanolin transforms what would otherwise be wasted raw materials into valuable products, essentially creating two production lines. While I wouldn't presume to claim it's a grandiose claim, it certainly revitalizes the economy of a small region.

Yin'e also confided in the Ninth Prince that he didn't intend to make money on low-end products. For commodities like goat milk powder and wool yarn, which have large production volumes and are purely for people's daily needs, he would follow the path of low profit margins and high sales volume, just enough to break even and avoid losses.

The projects that truly made Yin'e and the Ninth Prince a fortune were, of course, high-end products aimed at earning money from the wealthy. These included meticulously branded milk snacks and candies promoted by the Imperial Household Department, handmade goat milk soaps and face masks, and cashmere yarn.