In early August, battle reports came from the front.
The Qing army's carefully planned encirclement strategy was successful.
However, this also provoked a fierce counterattack by the remaining troops of Galdan, like a trapped beast, and the first-class duke Tong Guogang died in the counterattack by the remaining troops of Galdan.
When Kangxi learned about this, he was extremely angry and ordered that Galdan must be captured alive at all costs. He wanted to take Galdan's head to his uncle's grave as a sacrifice!
When this news reached the capital, it was like a bolt of thunder across the sky, spreading rapidly throughout the court and the country, causing a huge shock.
The Tong family naturally found it the hardest to accept.
Tong Guogang was Kangxi's uncle and died for his country. When the war subsided, Kangxi would naturally show mercy to the Tong family. However, as long as a person is alive, he has the right to speak. If a person is dead, even if his son Orondei inherited the title without being demoted, Kangxi's attitude towards his uncle would be completely different from his attitude towards his cousin.
But the people are dead, and no matter how unwilling they are to accept it, there is no way to change the result.
Most of the nobles and civil and military officials in the court were happy to see Tong Guogang's death.
Putting aside the titles, the top official positions in the Qing Dynasty were all assigned to specific positions. After Tong Guogang died, his position became vacant. Orondei could inherit his father's title, but he could not inherit his official position.
As for who will eventually get the seat under Tong Guogang, it depends on who is more capable.
There was only one person in the Tong family who did not feel sad about Tong Guogang's death, but instead felt extremely happy.
This person is Tong Guogang’s eldest son, Orondai.
Tong Guogang had three sons, the eldest son Orondai, the second son Fahai, and the third son Kuadai.
The biological mothers of these three sons are not the same person. Orondei's mother is Tong Guogang's wife, Kuadai's mother is Tong Guogang's concubine, and only Fahai's biological mother is a maid serving Tong Guogang.
Orondei was a man of arrogance and self-willed character. He had long harbored resentment towards Fahai's biological mother because of his mother's crying. So when Fahai's biological mother died, he openly made a scene in the mourning hall and refused to allow Fahai's biological mother to enter the ancestral temple.
By that time, Fahai had grown up and had achieved fame in the imperial examinations. Tong Guogang also valued Fahai's abilities and felt that he would be a great help to Orondei, so he promoted Fahai's mother.
But Orondei not only did not understand his good intentions, but also threw his face to the ground and spat on him in front of his relatives and old friends.
Tong Guogang was so angry that he wanted to sever the father-son relationship with Orondei on the spot.
Now Orondei became even more resentful, and he started to curse at Tong Guogang without caring about his face. He called Fahai a bastard. Tong Guogang fainted on the spot and then submitted a memorial requesting the execution of Orondei.
The feud between father and son was complete.
It seems like they will never have anything to do with each other again.
During that period, the nobles in the capital city had their curiosity satisfied.
Until now, the relationship between Orondei and Tong Guogang has not eased much.
By the time Tong Guogang's ashes were transported back from the front line, it was already late August.
In fact, if there was even the slightest possibility of transporting Tong Guogang's body back to Beijing intact, Kangxi would not have used cremation.
However, the autumn heat in August was still fierce. Even if there was ice, it was not realistic to completely seal Tong Guogang's body. In desperation, Kangxi could only choose to cremate it.
Thus, the mourning hall that had been built for twenty days finally welcomed its owner.
In order to show the royal family's attention, Emperor Kangxi specially sent a message to Yinreng, asking him to go to the Tong family to pay homage on his behalf.
There was naturally no reason for Yinreng to refuse.
In his previous life, he went alone, but in this life, he brought Yinzhen with him.
After all, he was the adopted son of the Tonggiya clan. If Yinzhen wanted to ascend to the throne, the Tong family would be an indispensable helper.
After much thought, Yinreng still felt that Yinzhen's ascension to the throne would bring substantial benefits to the people.
It’s not that the other brothers are bad, but as history has shown, under Yinzhen’s policies, the population of the people has grown explosively, which is why he is willing to give Yinzhen a push.
Of course, it was just a push. He was unwilling to do anything more.
Yinreng brought Yinzhen to the door of Tong's house, and Orondei, Longkodo and others came to greet them directly.
This is the deterrent power of imperial power.
If it was not Yinreng who came today, but only the bald prince Yinzhen, Orondei and others might have welcomed him in, but they would not have paid as much attention to him as they do now.
The moment Longkodo saw Yinzhen, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes.
Then his brows furrowed.
Ever since he last met the Fourth Prince at Jianting, he had not paid attention to the Fourth Prince's movements.
After all, with the Tong family's status in the court, even if they sent out some signals of getting close to the Fourth Prince, it would make the Fourth Prince's future much easier. However, the Fourth Prince actually rejected the Tong family's goodwill.
Longkodo was still a little annoyed about this.
In his mind, the Fourth Prince was mediocre in talent and short-sighted, and had missed the opportunity to be supported by the Tong family.
He didn't expect that Yinreng would bring him here today.
Longkodo fell into deep thought.
What is the prince's intention in doing this?
Longkodo was a little confused, so his eyes were always on Yinzhen.
Yinzhen seemed to sense something and couldn't help but look back at Longkodo.
When Longkodo was caught peeping, he was not panicked. Instead, his gaze became even more presumptuous. He stared at Yinzhen's face, trying to find some clues from his expression.
When Yinzhen saw that the person staring at him was Longkodo, a look of disgust suddenly appeared on his face. He then stepped over and quickly chased Yinreng two steps, as if Longkodo was some kind of dirty thing.
Longkodo was stunned, his face turning blue with anger. What was that expression on his face?!
As the third master of the Tong family, he was flattered wherever he went. He had never suffered such blatant disdain, so much so that his mentality was somewhat unbalanced.
Yinreng would never have thought that his sudden urge to find a powerful backer for Xiaosi would result in Longkodo and Yinzhen becoming increasingly disgusted with each other.
In fact, it is not Yinreng's fault for not thinking it through. After all, the ages of both of them are there. Two years ago, Longkodo was already an imperial guard and imperial envoy, which shows that Kangxi favored him.
He is only twenty-four years old this year, and his mind and scheming are still very immature. It is normal that he does not recognize his own status.
As for Yinzhen, he had a purely childish temperament. With his second brother backing him up, he had no intention of concealing his likes and dislikes.
Yinreng and Yinzhen walked inside under the leadership of Orondei.
As soon as they entered the yard, they found that the yard was full of white sails. The servants coming and going could only walk beside and behind their masters when they saw their masters. They understood their status and knelt down to salute them.
After passing through several doors, the mourning hall appeared before everyone.
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