Chapter 197: The ungrateful Prince Yong was assigned to the Ministry of War...
The Prince of Yong was assigned to the Ministry of War, and that was the Military Selection Department!
What was the Wuxuansi (Martial Arts Examinations) responsible for? It was responsible for the military examinations. Although not as important as the imperial examinations, those who passed them were generally low- and middle-ranking military officers.
Prince Yong went here. What did Prince Yong want to do? Don't forget, the Minister of War is Prince Yong's father-in-law!
Yinzhen hadn't been angry much in recent years, but today he was furious. He didn't care that Honghui was still beside him and kicked over the painting vat on the shore: "Fourteen!"
Honghui was startled by the sound of the jar shattering. He had never seen his father lose his composure like this before. He quickly said, "Father, calm down." Seeing Yinzhen about to wade over the debris, he quickly stopped him, saying, "Father, be careful! Don't hurt your feet!"
"Someone come!" He called Su Peisheng in loudly, "Clean these up quickly."
Su Peisheng had heard the noise inside a long time ago. When he came in, his neck almost shrank. He didn't dare to call anyone else. He took the tools and cleaned the floor carefully by himself.
After this interruption, Yinzhen's anger subsided a little, but his face was still as dark as the bottom of a pot. He ordered gloomily, "Go and invite the Fourteenth Master over!"
While waiting for the Fourteenth to arrive, Yinzhen asked Honghui to describe the situation of the imperial hearing that day in detail twice before sending him away.
By the time Fourteenth arrived, Yinzhen had completely regained his usual composure.
This time, Yinzhen seemed more relaxed and proud than usual, and he even smiled, a rare sight for him: "What's the matter with calling me here?"
Yinzhen stared at him coldly: "Did you recommend Honghui to the Ministry of War?"
Hearing him talk about this, Yinzhen's smile grew even wider, and he said nonchalantly, "Yes, he's my nephew after all. It's just a matter of a word."
"Oh, just a word?" Yinzhen sneered, "Fourteenth Master is really arrogant."
Yinzhen felt that this sentence was a mockery of him, and his face changed immediately: "What do you mean!"
"What I mean is..." Yinzhen leaned forward slightly, his eyes cold as he spoke word by word, "It's like a dog trying to catch a rat, meddling in other people's business!"
"You!" Yinzhen was furious. "Yinzhen, don't be so ungrateful! Hongxi is now with the Emperor every day, Hongyu is in the Imperial Clan Court, and even Hongsheng from my third brother's family is doing well in the Ministry of Rites. If it weren't for me, Honghui would have been working as a craftsman in the Ministry of Works by now! What future can he have! What help can an idle prince like you give to Honghui? The previous dynasty had a carpenter emperor. Do you want your son to be a 'craftsman prince'? You can afford to lose this person, but I can't! The Aisin Gioro family can't afford to lose it even more!"
Yinzhen was not moved by his words at all, and said with an annoyed look: "Get lost."
Yinzhen laughed angrily: "Alright! Alright! Get out of here! I want to see what will become of you, Prince Yong Yinzhen! Retreat from the world and avoid politics?" He sneered, "What do you mean by retreating from the world and avoiding politics? It's just a fig leaf for cowards to cover themselves up!"
He walked out while talking. When he reached the door, he paused and cursed, "You coward without balls, dare to call yourself king." After that, he left quickly without waiting for anyone to react.
The veins on Yinzhen's forehead bulged. He tried to hold back but couldn't, so he grabbed the teacup beside him and threw it out.
Qi Buchen walked in at this moment, and the teacup fell directly at her feet, scaring her so much that she jumped back.
"Get out! Who told you to..." After scolding Yinzhen, he realized that it was his wife who came. He quickly stood up and asked, "Are you okay? Where did you hit it?"
Qi Buchen came back to his senses: "It's okay, it's okay, nothing was hit." As he said that, he was about to walk towards Yinzhen and asked with concern, "Are you okay?" He hadn't been so angry in many years.
"Don't move!" Yinzhen stopped him, "Su Peisheng! Come in now!"
Su Peisheng crawled in, bent over and quickly cleaned the floor.
The couple sat down on the couch together. Qi Buchen looked at his red face and thick neck, and patted his chest distressedly to help him calm down: "Why are you so angry? That guy, no matter what he says or does, you lose if you pay attention to him."
"Humph!" Yinzhen said coldly, "Some people just can't give me face. I ignore them, but they really think they're important!"
Qi Buchen frowned: "What did Fourteenth do again?" She heard Honghui talk about the imperial memorial. Although this matter was infuriating, it was not enough to make Yinzhen lose his composure like this.
Yinzhen said nothing, but just said: "Don't worry about this matter, I have my own plans."
After he said that, Qi Buchen stopped asking questions and just treated him gently and kindly, at least letting him get the anger out of his heart first.
Since that day when he parted ways with Yinzhen on bad terms, Yinzhen took time out to return to the city several times. When asked what he was doing, he refused to say anything and acted mysteriously.
Qi Buchen didn't pursue her relentlessly. Husband and wife need some private space occasionally. Besides, she was not idle. Her son was about to start working, and she had to give her daughter-in-law some training in wifely diplomacy.
After sending his son and daughter-in-law away, Yinzhen finally stopped going into the city so frequently.
"What have you been doing these days?" Qi Buchen asked, poking the man's chest at night.
Yinzhen held her waist and said vaguely, "You'll know in two days."
"Okay." Qi Buchen asked again, "What did Fourteen do that day?"
When this was mentioned, Yinzhen's brows knitted together, his face frosted and his eyes looked murderous. He said stiffly, "Nothing."
Just look at you like this, who would believe you if you said it was nothing? And Su Peisheng, every time she asked this question recently, her face looked like she had been constipated for three months, and then she refused to say anything. In this situation, how could she not be curious.
She didn't necessarily want to stir up Yinzhen's unpleasant memories, but since he was so angry, Fourteenth must have done something bad. Her man was bullied, so she had to find out the truth and then give him a taste of his own medicine.
But she also understood her man. It seemed that he would never tell her anything even if she was beaten to death. So she would first see what response Yinzhen would give, and then infer based on that and teach Fourteenth a lesson.
Qi Buchen didn't have to wait long. When the Ministry of Personnel was about to announce the candidate for the Governor of Sichuan according to Kangxi's wishes, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Justice stepped forward first.
"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to submit."
"explain."
"The Ministry of Justice apprehended the fugitive Meng Guangzu the day before yesterday and brought him to justice for questioning. According to Meng Guangzu's confession, during his escape, the Jiangxi Governor Tong Guorang and the Sichuan Governor Nian Gengyao not only failed to pursue him, but instead accepted gifts and tributes from him, facilitating his escape. The Ministry believes that Tong Guorang and Nian Gengyao, despite holding important positions, failed to show loyalty to the emperor and instead accepted bribes and colluded with the criminals. Such disloyal and dishonest individuals are unfit to serve in office. They should be dismissed pending investigation to serve as a warning to others."
There was silence in the court. No one expected that the Ministry of Justice would make such a big move right away. If their information was correct, Nian Gengyao would be one of the next candidates for the governor of Sichuan. Oh no, there was some fun to watch.
Those who had nothing to do with the matter were just watching the show, but the Fourteenth Prince, who was in the court, was extremely anxious and kept looking at Yinsi and others on the side.
Nian Gengyao was strongly supported by their faction!
In other words, he was the one who strongly advocated it.
Yinsi noticed Fourteenth's gaze. Although he was also caught off guard, he was not as anxious as Fourteenth. Even if he wanted to protect Nian Gengyao, he would not jump out impatiently. He had to give people time to think about it.
Yinsi signaled to a few people on his side with his eyes, and then gave Fourteenth a look to calm down. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In the past two years, he had been too unlucky in doing things.
They were anxious, but there was someone on the scene who was even more anxious than them, and that was Prince Cheng Yinzhi.
Yinzhi couldn't help but be anxious, because the Meng Guangzu case concerned him most. Who was Meng Guangzu? He was a retainer in Yinzhi's household, but this retainer was no ordinary one. Instead of offering Yinzhi advice, he stayed away from the capital, making friends with local dignitaries across the country. He chatted and laughed with governors and high officials in Yinzhi's name, exchanging gifts, doing everything he could to win them over, yet he never made any personal demands, as if he was trying to form a faction.
Unfortunately, this man was not careful in his actions and was soon discovered by inspectors from various places and impeached overnight.
This impeachment memorial shocked the court, and Yinzhi was terrified. Honestly, although he had his eye on the crown prince, with the examples of Yinreng and Yinzhen before him, how could he dare to win over ministers, especially high-ranking officials at the provincial level? What was he trying to achieve by winning over these people? Was he planning to start a rebellion from the local level?
Yinzhi immediately went into the palace and knelt before his royal father, crying bitterly to express his loyalty. It was not known whether his royal father believed him because of his previous behavior, or whether his royal father had other sources of information. In any case, his royal father did not suspect him because of Meng Guangzu's incident, but just scolded him and asked him to manage his subordinates well.
From then on, Yinzhi prayed day and night to capture Meng Guangzu as soon as possible. He wanted to ask him in person why he was harmed like this. Unfortunately, no one knew what Meng Guangzu was made of. He was as slippery as a loach and managed to escape for more than half a year despite being hunted across the country.
Now that the man had been apprehended, the subsequent news had landed Yinzhi in trouble again. Why would Tong Guorang and Nian Gengyao, high-ranking officials, help Meng Guangzu? Was it really for that little thing? Or was it for someone behind the scenes?
If Nian Gengyao was not indeed a lieutenant commander under Prince Yong and had not been closely involved with the Fourteenth Prince, many people would have pointed the finger directly at Yinzhi.
Yinzhi could not wait to step forward and ask the Minister of Justice: "Has Meng Guangzu been apprehended? When was he apprehended? Has he explained why he bribed the officials?"
The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice looked at him hesitantly: "This..." You are the biggest suspect in this case. Is it really appropriate to ask this question so openly in public?
"Third brother." Kangxi finally spoke.
Yinzhi said unwillingly: "Father Emperor..."
"Step back." Kangxi didn't give him a chance to speak.
Yinzhi returned to his seat in disappointment.
Kangxi looked at the Minister of Justice and asked, "Do you have any evidence for what Meng Guangzu said?"
The assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice replied, "We have both physical and witness evidence." He then presented the confession and physical evidence he had with him.
After reading it, Kangxi signaled Liang Jiugong to take down the confession and physical evidence to show to the ministers in the hall.
After most of the ministers had finished reading, Kangxi asked, "What do you think?"
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