Although Yinreng was suffering inside, he still had to maintain a respectable appearance.
He glanced at the freshly cooked mutton slices, put down his chopsticks, and said in a serious tone, "Your Ninth Uncle and Twelfth Uncle are busy with disaster relief at the Ministry of Revenue. Although it is called disaster relief, this heavy snow has not caused the collapse of people's houses. The main problems are insufficient heating supplies and insufficient food reserves."
He swallowed hard and continued, "Your Grandfather has already opened the national treasury and sent out some of the grain and vegetables stored by the court. Your Ninth Uncle has also quickly mobilized charcoal from other prefectures and counties, ensuring that no one will fail to survive this winter."
Yinreng picked up his chopsticks and ate a piece of meat... He was getting old.
Upon seeing his master's expression, He Yuzhu quickly added more slices of meat.
Hongyu also said, "My tenth uncle and I have been traveling among various families recently, trying to persuade them to donate money and grain, but with little success. Apart from the Niohuru and Guoluo clans who readily donated money and grain, the other families are not very cooperative."
Yinreng had anticipated this outcome. "So, what does your tenth uncle plan to do next?"
Hongyu couldn't help but laugh when he thought of his tenth uncle's plan. "Tenth Uncle said he was going to find Fourth Uncle and link today's donation of money and grain to the year-end performance evaluation of officials. Different donations would be allocated according to the rank of the official. If the donation was not met, no points would be deducted, but if it was met or exceeded, points would be added."
Yinreng almost choked.
As expected of the reckless tenth brother, only he could come up with such a solution.
"What's your fourth uncle's opinion?"
Hongyu finally burst into laughter, "Fourth Uncle's expression was very subtle, but he still agreed in the end."
Yinreng couldn't help but complain inwardly, "No wonder so many officials came to him today to speak ill of the Fourth Prince. So that's why."
Well, given the situation here, I imagine Father Emperor is even more determined to pursue and intercept him.
Inside the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Kangxi covered his ears, not wanting to listen to the incessant chatter of some of his senior officials.
He had already shouted "Shut up!" three times, but those old guys were still taking turns making accusations.
"Your Majesty, officials' year-end performance evaluations refer to their political achievements, how can they be linked to donations?"
"If we follow Prince Yong's strategy, wouldn't wealthy officials be able to get promoted by donating more money, while those officials who genuinely work hard for the people all year round would be ostracized simply because they can't donate money?"
Emperor Kangxi could no longer contain himself. He slammed his hand on the table and pointed at the two incessantly chattering old men, "Do you two not want to donate money?"
The two old men were initially confused, but after realizing that Kangxi had seen through their intentions, they shrank back somewhat embarrassedly.
"Your Majesty, it's not that we don't want to donate money..."
"You just don't want to donate money." Emperor Kangxi angrily stepped down from his dragon throne.
"Initially, it was the tenth brother who went around to persuade people to donate more. You old guys are so stingy. If each of you had donated even a little, the tenth and fourth brothers wouldn't have joined forces against you."
Kangxi, still not satisfied after cursing everyone, exclaimed, "Serves him right!"
After saying that, he left the two old men behind and hurriedly ran away.
Liang Jiugong was only distracted for a moment when he realized that his master had run away openly, which frightened him so much that he took off chasing after him.
My lord, why are you running? Do you think they'll eat you?
If you can't win an argument, just chop it up. Isn't that what you're best at?
Liang Jiugong followed Kangxi all the way to Yikun Palace, where he saw the Fifth Prince talking with Consort Yi, with a small stack of silver notes on the table.
"Your Majesty, why did you come so suddenly?" Consort Yi was startled when she saw Kangxi practically running in, and instinctively glanced outside.
There's nothing there.
Kangxi sat down and calmed himself down. Dongxue immediately served him a cup of hot tea.
Yinqi was a little puzzled. "Father, is there something urgent? Although the snow on the road has been cleared, you should still walk slowly and be careful."
Kangxi ignored all that and glanced at the silver notes. "What's this for? Fifth Prince, are you out of money?"
Consort Yi hurriedly explained, "It was I who gave it to the Fifth Prince to set up a soup kitchen."
"A soup kitchen?" Kangxi asked, puzzled.
Yinqi explained, "Third Brother, Seventh Brother, Thirteenth Brother and I discussed it together. We brothers were the only ones who couldn't help with the disaster, so we thought we'd each contribute some money to set up a soup kitchen outside the palace so that poor families could have a hot meal."
Kangxi looked at Yinqi seriously. This boy had been raised by Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, which had long since cut off his path to the throne.
After that, for various reasons, he was never assigned any serious work, but he always faced everything with a cheerful attitude.
It is a meritorious deed that you were able to come up with this solution by working with your brothers. You truly are worthy of being my son.
Kangxi became more and more pleased. "Fifth Prince, you did a great job." Then he looked at Liang Jiugong and said, "Take 10,000 taels from my private treasury and give it to the princes. It's a good thing to set up soup kitchens. I'll do my part too."
Seeing Kangxi's attitude, Consort Yi hurriedly said, "Since Your Majesty is so supportive, then why don't I also call on the sisters in the harem? If anyone wants to do good deeds, let's do it together."
Emperor Kangxi was very satisfied.
Thus, through Consort Yi's efforts, the harem raised a total of 100,000 taels of silver, which was then handed over to Yinqi and several other brothers.
Yinqi and his brothers were also very capable, setting up the porridge stall not far from the palace gate.
The people distributing the porridge were all guards on duty, and a large sign was erected next to the porridge stall, listing the names of those involved and the amount of their donations.
This made the people extremely grateful, and almost every day people would kowtow to the palace gate after finishing their porridge.
Emperor Kangxi was deeply moved when he learned of this.
"Have I neglected the Fifth Prince before?"
Yinreng, who was eating roasted chestnuts, pursed his lips and handed the peeled chestnuts to Kangxi. "It's understandable that you were wary when Wukuma was around. Now that Wukuma is gone, the power of the Imperial Mother is almost negligible. If you feel that you've lost money on the Fifth Prince, then you can reward him with some good jobs."
Kangxi carefully examined Yinreng. In the past, this boy would get upset whenever he heard that he was going to reward his brothers, but now he has really changed his ways.
"Aren't you afraid that his title is too high and will affect you?"
Yinreng...
Look, look, here we go again, they're starting to suspect and test us again.
I'm mentally exhausted.
"The one who has the greatest influence on me is my eldest brother. Now that he has given up his long-standing plans, the other brothers are no match for me."
Yinreng peeled another chestnut and handed it to Kangxi, saying, "If they are promoted and still maintain a deep brotherly bond with me, then I have gained kinship. If they turn their backs on me, then they will become my whetstone."
Emperor Kangxi held the warm chestnut in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.
Seeing Kangxi's behavior, Yinreng did not disturb him and continued eating chestnuts.
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