Chapter 163 The Sucker Jungar
"What does the Qing emperor mean by this? It's been half a month, and he still hasn't summoned us."
Batur was furious, pacing back and forth in the room, utterly agitated.
"Batur, calm down."
Galdan Tsering, dressed in guard uniform, sat upright at the table, his brows furrowed in thought. Although he was much younger than Batur, he was much more composed.
"Your Highness, the Qing court clearly doesn't take us Dzungars seriously. Why should we stay here?"
"Have you forgotten our mission?" Galdan Tsering glanced coldly at Batur, who immediately suppressed his arrogance, obediently sat down, and dared not complain anymore.
“This emperor is very different.” Galdan Tsering’s expression turned solemn as he thought of the information he had gathered these past few days. Compared to Kangxi, this Yongzheng Emperor was clearly a lurking lion, a man who was decisive and ruthless in dealing with domestic affairs. How could he not have other ideas about Dzungar?
Galdan Tsering felt threatened, but not significantly. After all, the Dzungars weren't fighting alone. Considering the unrest in Qinghai under the Qing government and their alliance with Tsarist Russia, Galdan Tsering was quite ambitious and arrogant. Of course, he wouldn't show it as openly as Batur. After all, they were on someone else's territory, so being cautious wasn't a problem.
"Your Highness, recently many people from Mongolian tribes have come to the capital. What is the Emperor planning?"
"Whatever his intentions, the longer he stays, the better it will be for our investigation." Galdan Tsering sneered. The Yongzheng Emperor thought that letting them stay was a show of force, but little did he know how much they had learned about the Qing court. "How are the contacts with the princes going?"
“Prince Yu loves money and was the first to accept our gifts; the other princes all refused, but I sent people to contact them privately a few more times, and Prince Li and Prince Lian accepted them.”
After hearing Batur's report, Galdan Tsering smiled with satisfaction. Sure enough, a prince who had failed in the struggle for the throne wouldn't be so willing to submit to others. As long as he stirred up internal strife within the Qing court, even the slightest bit would be beneficial to the Dzungars.
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, everyone gathered to discuss the final arrangements before the military exercise. Honghui was also brought along by Yinzhen.
After discussing the specifics, Yun Tang gave Hong Hui a dagger with a jewel-encrusted scabbard.
"Here, Honghui, this is for you."
"Thank you, Uncle Jiu." Honghui didn't stand on ceremony with Yuntang. He pulled out the dagger, looked at the sharp blade, and smiled happily at Yuntang.
"No need to thank me. This is the only decent gift from Jungar." Yun Tang leaned back lazily, exuding an air of wealth and power.
"Such a sharp dagger, capable of cutting hair in an instant, is only considered 'good' in your opinion, Ninth Brother. You've certainly seen a lot of good stuff, Ninth Brother." Yun watched from the side and couldn't help but sigh. It has to be his Ninth Brother, who would give away such a good thing so easily.
Yun Si didn't say anything, but took out a bag of gems from his sleeve and handed it to Hong Hui, "Take these and play with them. The gems from Jungar are quite clear."
Honghui took the marbles and poured them onto the table. A small pile of colorful gems, each about the size of a copper coin, was crystal clear and looked exceptionally delicate. Honghui thanked Yunsi, saying, "Thank you, Eighth Uncle. They're great as marbles for my younger siblings."
"As expected, I'm the only poor one." Using gemstones as marbles, Yun grabbed Yun Tang's shoulder and let out a mournful cry of poverty.
"Tsk, what kind of behavior is this?" Yunreng glanced at the eleventh prince and tossed him a purse. "Pick up the flowers. What's with a prince like you complaining about being poor every day?"
Yunreng didn't expect his second brother to talk to him, but when he opened his purse and saw the thick stack of silver notes, he didn't care what Yunreng said: "Thank you, second brother."
Yunreng couldn't bear to look, so he turned his head to look at Honghui to cleanse his eyes, took out a translucent jade pendant and handed it over, "Your brother Hongxi obtained the warm jade by chance and specially made it into a jade pendant to give to you."
Sometimes Yunreng was puzzled, not understanding why his eldest son, who was so much younger than Honghui, was closer to Honghui than to his own son.
"Thank you, Second Uncle, and thank you, Brother Hongxi." Honghui smiled as he put away the jade pendant, and couldn't help but sigh that sometimes being too popular and receiving too many gifts can be a nuisance.
"Second brother, where did you get so much money?"
The jade pendant was fine, it was Hongxi's gift, but seeing how easily Yinreng could give away so much silver made Yinzhi very unhappy. Ever since he had sent several daughters off to get married and emptied the family's coffers, Yinzhi had become somewhat "resentful of the rich." It was one thing for the ninth prince to be able to make money, but why was the second prince also richer than him?
"Given by Jungar." Yunreng turned his head, not wanting to see his eldest son's "resentful face." If you don't have the ability, don't force yourself to prepare so much dowry for your daughter.
"Why do the Dzungars give me and my eighth brother gifts, but only silver notes to my second brother?" Yun Tang asked, puzzled. If the Dzungars were trying to win him over, there was no reason for them to treat him differently.
“I told the people in Jungar that I don’t lack anything, except silver notes.”
After hearing Yunreng's words, everyone's lips twitched. He was so straightforward! And Jungar actually believed him. Thirteen couldn't help but sigh, "Junggar is such a sucker."
Yun, standing to the side, counted the silver notes and quickly added, "Still a rich sucker."
"Smack!"
As the group was complaining, Yunzhen suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stormed off, looking indignant: "What does Zhungeer mean? They only give gifts to Second Brother, Eighth Brother, and Ninth Brother, but why don't they give me any? I'm still the Emperor's own brother!"
"You've been silent the whole time, thinking about this?" Yunxiang asked incredulously, and seeing Shisi nod confidently, he helplessly covered his forehead.
The other brothers were also speechless, feeling that the Fourteenth Prince was getting more and more senile. Why would the Dzungars send gifts? Wasn't it just to stir up trouble? Everyone knew he was the emperor's own brother, how could they possibly send him gifts? Unable to understand this, everyone couldn't help but look at his older brother, Yinzhen.
Yinzhen: "..." He seems to be invisible when everyone is chatting, so there's no need to think of him now. It's just that there are a lot of government affairs to be assigned.
Logically speaking, he is only the fourteenth brother in terms of physical appearance; in reality, Honghui is his nephew.
At this moment, silence speaks louder than words. Receiving his father's deep gaze, Honghui was speechless. Fine, fine, so you're pushing everything onto him, huh?
He sighed deeply. There was nothing he could do; he had to take care of his own father. Honghui smiled and walked to Yunzhen's side. "Fourteenth Uncle, don't be angry. Once you've conquered the Dzungar Khanate, you can take whatever you want yourself. You won't need them to deliver anything."
"Honghui is right." Yunzhen's anger subsided instantly. It was his nephew who understood him best. Was he the kind of person who cared about gifts? What he cared about was his pride. Of course, more important than gifts was leading his troops to fight the Dzungars.
"I don't care about those paltry sums either. But when will you let me go and fight the Dzungars, my brother?"
"They haven't even grown their hair yet, and they're already trying to fight the Dzungars? If anyone's going to fight, it'll be me." Yun Ti sneered, showing his disdain.
"Who do you think you are? I'm young and strong. If I can't fight, who can? Brother, you're weak and sickly, so don't even think about it."
Who are you calling frail and sickly?
"I'm talking about you, I'm talking about you, I didn't say anything wrong."
"You brat, go out and have a go."
"Let's compete! Who's afraid of who!"
Let's go!
...
Seeing the eldest brother and the fourteenth brother arguing again, everyone eagerly followed behind to watch the spectacle, as if it were a joke. Yunreng walked slowly at the back, sighed deeply, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. With the eldest brother's intelligence being about the same as the fourteenth brother's, he had actually fought with him for so many years. It was really... he didn't even know how to evaluate it.
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