After arriving at Zhangxiadian in Changqing in the afternoon, Mingxiu began to feel the hardship of the journey. After traveling for several more days, she finally left Shandong on the 23rd.
After that, they traveled by boat. Then Kangxi became very busy, inspecting the waterways, comforting those who had worked on flood control projects, and reviewing court officials. He was extremely busy. The princes also began to follow Kangxi's lead. The eldest and the youngest, Yinzhi with his third son and Yinreng with his fourth son, did what they could to help.
The most important thing was to understand the people's plight. The young Yinzhen followed Yinreng, concealing his identity, and saw some people on the roadside who were starving. He felt that his heart was greatly shocked.
Yinreng was somewhat better off, because the cat had shown him some pictures of poor people's lives before, which he found unbelievable. Although he was shocked, Yinreng always thought that there shouldn't be such people in the Qing Dynasty. However, after he started handling palace affairs with his father, the Emperor, he realized that there were many such people even in the Qing Dynasty.
Yinreng was sad for quite some time. Although sweet potatoes and potatoes had high yields later, it was still too difficult for some people who didn't even have land.
Yinreng looked at the poor people with compassion in his eyes. Suddenly, he felt someone tugging at his clothes. He looked down and saw his fourth brother staring at him in disbelief.
Yinreng found it somewhat amusing, but still bent down and looked at Yinzhen earnestly.
"Second Brother, they're so thin, their bones are showing. Why are so many people starving?" Little Yinzhen asked with great confusion, looking at these emaciated people with great surprise.
Yinreng looked at Yinzhen with a serious expression and said, "It's our problem that we can't feed them properly."
Yinzhen didn't understand and looked at Yinreng in surprise.
Yinreng looked at Yinzhen and continued, "These people used to be able to afford food, but then a flood occurred, which washed away their homes, so they are now starving."
"Didn't the imperial court provide disaster relief later?" Yinzhen tilted his head and looked at Yinreng.
Yinreng nodded: "Yes, but the imperial court's grain supply is limited. There are too many people in the Qing Dynasty, not enough to feed them. In addition, there are corrupt officials who take profits in the middle, secretly raising the price of grain or taking away all the land. Naturally, they cannot support themselves."
Yinzhen stared wide-eyed in disbelief, muttering, "How could this be? Second brother, is nobody doing anything about this? Why are there so many bad people?"
"Because the Qing Dynasty is too vast, Father Emperor alone cannot manage it all. Father Emperor cannot go to every place, and if someone conceals something from Father Emperor, he will not know," Yinreng said with some sadness.
"Then, what should we do?" In Yinzhen's mind, his father had always been the most capable. If there were things that his father couldn't handle, then was there no one else who could manage them?
Seeing Yinzhen's serious expression, Yinreng began to coax him, "Of course we need to grow up quickly. Others may lie or hide things from Father, but we brothers certainly won't."
"We need to grow up quickly so that we can share the burden with Father Emperor. Then, a few of us can go here and there, and we'll know the specific situation. We won't have to worry about anyone lying to Father Emperor, and we can also try our best to make sure everyone has enough to eat."
Yinzhen's eyes lit up. That's right, he wouldn't lie to his father. His father was so good to them, always giving them good food, drinks, and fun things to do.
So Yinzhen nodded vigorously: "Yes, Second Brother is right, we should grow up quickly, but, but how long until I grow up?" As Yinzhen spoke, he began to look worried.
Yinreng smiled and said, "Soon, as long as you study hard in the Imperial Study, you will grow up quickly and then you can help Father Emperor."
"Ah, then can I not study properly?" Yinzhen was still troubled by his studies.
What should I do if I don't really want to study?
Yinreng narrowed his eyes, looking at Yinzhen with an unfriendly gaze. "Good lad, you still don't want to study properly."
Yinreng retorted directly: "If you don't study hard, you won't know anything. How can you share the burden for Father Emperor? Think about it, if you go out to inspect the waterways, but you don't know where the problems are, how can you inspect them? Wouldn't you just believe whatever people say? Wouldn't that be deceiving you?"
Yinzhen was taken aback. It seemed that this was indeed the case. If he didn't understand it himself, wouldn't he just believe whatever others said?
Seeing that Yinzhen was somewhat hesitant, Yinreng continued, "Think about it again. If you don't study hard, what if Father Emperor asks you to manage the money in the Ministry of Revenue in the future? If you don't understand, won't you be easily fooled by someone who makes up a reason? Then the money in the national treasury will be swindled away. Will there be enough money for disaster relief and for everyone to have enough to eat?"
Yinzhen's ears twitched; how could he allow someone to swindle him out of the money?
But if he doesn't understand, he really will be swindled out of his money.
Yinreng continued to chime in, "If your father asks you to go out and do something in the future, but you don't understand, won't your father think you're a fool? And if you do the thing, you'll just be stuck in the Imperial Study with your younger siblings who are more than ten years younger than you."
It's like killing someone by breaking their spirit.
Upon hearing this, Yinzhen's expression became somewhat flustered. He thought about how he had to study alongside his much younger brothers, and how they all graduated while he remained behind. Yinzhen's eyes hardened, realizing that he really needed to study hard, otherwise his father might think he was a fool and have to study alongside his brothers.
He doesn't want to; that's too terrible.
Yinreng looked at Yinzhen with satisfaction, his eyes filled with determination. He thought, "Now you know how to study hard, right?"
Little did he know that after Yinreng's intimidation, Yinzhen became the most diligent student among all his brothers, and successfully got himself to wear a pair of glasses.
He is truly one of a kind among princes.
However, Yinreng was unaware of this at the moment, so he continued to lead his younger brother on the inspection tour.
The more they investigated, the bigger the problem became. Finally, when they went back and told their father, the problem became even bigger.
Mingxiu stayed quietly in her small room; she had gone out for a stroll all day.
The Jiangnan region is still very prosperous, even more so than last time.
As Mingxiu walked down the street, she saw that while not every household had windows, at least most homes had windows, and there were many glass products, making the place bright and comfortable.
Then Mingxiu learned that Kangxi and his people must have made a lot of money in Jiangnan.
But Mingxiu just looked around and then happily went shopping.
She used to be very purposeful when she went shopping, buying what she wanted and leaving, but later she forced herself to like everything she saw.
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