The near-fight between the Fourth Prince's wife and the Eighth Prince's wife served as the apparent trigger, escalating the conflict between the Fourth Prince and the Eighth Prince to a fever pitch.
In Anning's opinion, the Fourth Prince's approach was naturally more skillful.
The struggle between the Fourth Prince and the Eighth Prince was mainly driven by the Eighth Prince's initiative and the Fourth Prince's passive approach. The key was that the Fourth Prince did not form factions. Although he had some influence behind him, it was within Kangxi's control and he could allow it.
This is where the Fourth Prince's brilliance lies.
In the imperial court, the Eighth Prince seemed to have the upper hand, but that was only on the surface. In reality, Emperor Kangxi valued the Fourth Prince more, after all, he was a capable man.
The Eighth Prince had a grand presence, but when it came to actually doing things, he wasn't as decisive and thorough as the Fourth Prince. He was reluctant to lose face, so his duties were only superficially impressive.
Yinyi was also serving in the court and was assigned to the Ministry of Revenue by Emperor Kangxi to work under the Fourth Prince.
The Fourth Prince was a meticulous man, and Yin Yi learned a lot from him, gaining a new understanding of his older brother.
“Mother, if your son doesn’t compete, Father will likely choose Fourth Brother as Emperor, barring any unforeseen circumstances.”
"What's wrong? You've been following the Fourth Prince on business lately, and you've developed some feelings for him?"
“My son only works in the Ministry of Revenue, but he has already discovered that there are many problems in the Ministry of Revenue. Many accounts do not match. The discrepancies are alarming to my son. This shows that the other five ministries are probably not much better than the Ministry of Revenue.”
What Fourth Brother is doing now is trying his best to eradicate corruption in the Ministry of Revenue. This is probably the Emperor's intention in sending Fourth Brother to the Ministry of Revenue. However, Fourth Brother's abilities are not the problem; it's just that his methods are a bit too harsh, and I'm afraid it won't last long.
There was something he didn't say: if he couldn't inherit the throne, or if the person who inherited the throne didn't value him, his fate wouldn't be good.
The Ministry of Revenue involves a vast chain of interests, making a one-size-fits-all approach impossible.
If he couldn't clean up the mess, he still had to purge the Ministry of Revenue, which meant he would offend people. Not only would he offend people, but those he offended might not necessarily suffer a terrible fate.
"What would you do if you were in that situation?"
"My son will be similar to my fourth brother. He won't let himself get too deeply mired in trouble. He'll use others' strength against him. Corrupt officials can't be eradicated. If the water is too clear, there will be no fish."
A clean and honest administration is very important. Now, the administration in the Kangxi era has problems. Kangxi was obviously aware that there were problems in every department, and this was already a big problem.
Emperor Kangxi placed his sons in various ministries, and even rotated them occasionally, partly to assess their abilities.
The Fourth Prince did alright; although his methods were a bit extreme, at least he got the points right.
The topic of the Eighth Prince has already gone off-topic.
He has gathered a motley crew behind him, which is a skill in itself, but his actions will only make the bureaucracy more corrupt.
"You're not even twenty yet, and your father is already over fifty. Go do what you want to do, do it boldly."
Yin Yi's intelligence was known only to Emperor Kangxi; his brothers and court officials were unaware of it. His age was a significant disadvantage, and he needed political achievements to demonstrate to the court officials and Emperor Kangxi that he possessed the potential to be a ruler.
“My son understands.”
——
Next, Yin Yi began to unleash his talents without reservation. At first, when he followed the Fourth Prince, he was thoughtful and methodical in his work. Compared to the Fourth Prince, who was a hard-working individual, Yin Yi not only worked hard but also had some natural talent.
This talent allows him to handle those thorny issues with greater ease and more tact.
His abilities caught the eye of the court officials, as well as Emperor Kangxi.
Then he became very busy, and like his brothers, he began to rotate through the six ministries, providing disaster relief and investigating corruption.
In the blink of an eye, three years have passed.
The political landscape of the imperial court has also changed.
There are the Eighth Prince Party, the Fourth Prince Party, and the less obvious Sixteenth Prince Party, Yinyi.
The reason it's not very obvious is that although some people support Yin Yi, he doesn't seem to have any intention of competing. He has a good relationship with the Ninth Prince, who is part of the Eighth Prince's faction, and also with the Thirteenth Prince, who is part of the Fourth Prince's faction.
Even the Fourth Prince had a good impression of him, and the two brothers could dine at each other's residences. To a certain extent, their short-term political goals were aligned, both focusing on the governance issues of the Qing Dynasty.
Such complex relationships, coupled with Emperor Kangxi's frequent probing of his ministers regarding the succession issue, have led to many ministers losing their positions or even their lives, and now they dare not openly take sides.
If Yin Yi doesn't actively form cliques, even if they wanted to, they wouldn't dare to come and invest!
The premise of hoarding rare goods is that you must be sure that the "goods" are worth investing in.
Yin Yi was a man whom the court officials could not fathom.
Kangxi was relatively satisfied with the current situation. At the same time, after three years of effort by Yin Yi, Kangxi regarded Yin Yi as one of the candidates for successor.
The reason why he was only one of them was mainly because Yin Yi was still too young, and also because Kangxi felt that he was still "young".
The benefits of being in sync with Anning are numerous. Anning is not yet forty years old, and she is in excellent health. She has a wood-type superpower that, although she cannot level up, is enough to keep her alive for a long time. Unless she wants to, she will never get sick.
Even though Emperor Kangxi had been in power for over fifty years, he still felt he had many more years to live.
Therefore, he believed he still had time to select a successor.
After deposing the crown prince, Kangxi did not intend to appoint another crown prince for the time being. Some people did mention it, but Kangxi severely punished them.
In addition, Kangxi would occasionally take his sons and court officials to Mongolia to show off his military prowess. Since everyone saw that he still seemed strong and healthy, no one dared to bring up the matter of establishing a crown prince again.
On this day, Emperor Kangxi arrived at Changchun Palace.
Anning handed him a cup of Biluochun tea: "Your Majesty, please have some tea."
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