Now, after hearing Kangxi recount the story again, he sighed helplessly, "It's ultimately unsustainable for the harem to remain without an empress."
For a moment, everyone in the hall fell silent.
After pondering for a long time, Emperor Kangxi finally said, "Since the passing of Empress Yuan and Empress Ji, I have no intention of establishing another empress. Now that Consort Yi and Consort Wenxi are in charge of the harem, I am quite content."
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, however, disagreed.
"If those two really had that ability, this kind of thing wouldn't have happened in the harem."
Everyone fell silent again.
Thinking to myself, this time the fire started in Cining Palace. Even if the two imperial concubines had a thousand abilities and methods, could they still use them in Cining Palace?
"Alright, alright, Grandmother has just recovered from a serious illness, let's not talk about this for now."
Seeing that he was trying to change the subject, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang stopped pressing the issue of choosing an empress.
"Your Majesty, how have the rumors outside the palace been dealt with?" Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang asked Emperor Kangxi.
"Faka led his men to investigate along the White Lotus Sect's trail and discovered that they were remnants that hadn't been completely eradicated last time."
Kangxi would get angry when the topic of remnants of the remnants came up.
The White Lotus Sect has only been established for a few years, so how come it has so many followers?
The last time he sent troops to suppress the rebellion, he almost scattered all the followers. How come they have made a comeback in the blink of an eye?
"How does Your Majesty intend to handle this situation?"
Emperor Kangxi smiled bitterly, "There is no other way but to suppress them."
Throughout history, the best ways to deal with cults, besides military suppression, have been through competition with other churches.
Church strife?
What does this mean?
Yinreng held his breath and listened carefully.
Buddhism is currently very popular in the capital, and although the White Lotus Sect operates covertly, it has still amassed a large following. If Buddhists feel threatened by the White Lotus Sect's existence, they will naturally take action against it. In short, if the court appropriately protects Buddhism or provides it with sufficient benefits, they will naturally use the White Lotus Sect as a pretext to establish their authority.
Yinreng thought this was a good idea.
Simply sending troops to suppress them would only make the followers think their sect was very powerful, which is why the imperial court would take notice and be wary of them.
But when it comes to competition between religious sects, it's a matter of personal opinion.
"Father, leave the matter of dealing with the White Lotus Sect to your son."
Emperor Kangxi always responded to Yinreng's every request.
Therefore, in the following period, Kangxi heard some interesting stories about the capital from different sources.
The main issue was that some followers of the White Lotus sect were secretly using the banner of overthrowing the Qing dynasty and restoring the Ming dynasty, but somehow they offended Buddhist temples, and the two groups started fighting.
The royal temples in the capital all have martial monks; how could those remnants of the White Lotus Sect be a match for them?
After only a few rounds, the White Lotus Sect members, who were only good at spouting nonsense, were beaten so badly that they wouldn't recognize their own parents.
The government was ordered to ignore any disturbances caused by religious followers.
Those people who were tricked into believing in the White Lotus Sect began to waver after discovering that the sect, which had boasted of being omnipotent, was being suppressed repeatedly.
The final straw that broke their back was the temple's public announcement that it would provide free porridge on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.
Suddenly, all the people who believed in the White Lotus sect rushed to the temple to pay their respects, hoping that the Bodhisattva would bless them with a bowl of porridge.
Thus, the White Lotus Sect, which had been suppressed by the imperial army several times but had not been completely eradicated, met a tragic end at the hands of its rivals.
When Kangxi saw these memorials, he couldn't help but burst into laughter, "The Crown Prince really knows how to come up with a plan, actually making them compete with each other."
Soetu and Mingzhu laughed along, “His Highness the Crown Prince is a man of great wisdom. The court did not intervene at all in this incident, yet the White Lotus Sect was still completely destroyed. The people will only think that the White Lotus Sect is incompetent, and will not think about the manipulation and connections behind it.”
Emperor Kangxi was very pleased and waved his hand, "Liang Jiugong, donate 100,000 taels of silver to the royal temples for incense money, and say that they have done a good job."
After receiving the order, Liang Jiugong immediately led his men to deliver silver to the temple. The abbot was delighted and immediately set up a plaque in the main hall to pray for the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty for a hundred years.
The White Lotus Sect suffered a truly devastating defeat this time.
Faka and his men had been waiting for a long time, ready to wipe them all out the moment they tried to escape.
Inside the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Kangxi looked at the reports that were presented to him, and he couldn't stop smiling.
"There are ways to ensure the success of the project."
When Liang Jiugong saw Kangxi, he smiled and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince was personally taught by His Majesty, so naturally he is different."
Emperor Kangxi also thought so.
Therefore, all political affairs and memorials before New Year's Eve were handed over to Yinreng for handling.
They called it "training his problem-solving skills."
Yin'e and Borjigit had already married last year. Because his wife was of Mongol descent, he frequently accompanied her to the Cining Palace and Shou Kang Palace.
Among all the princes' wives, she was considered to be one of the more favored by the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager.
Fourth Princess Consort Ulanara Xiurong brought Hongshi into the palace. He was not even a year old yet, a time when he was just beginning to have fun.
Perhaps because he was the only young prince in the Yongjun Prince's mansion, he was surrounded by a large group of servants. The child was fair-skinned and clean, but very unruly.
He had only been sitting for a short while when he started to want to get down and play.
Just then, Lady Guarjia brought Hongxi over, and the two little brothers started playing together, stumbling and falling.
Guarjia looked at Xiurong and smiled, "Now that the Fourth Prince has a little prince, it's quite lively."
Xiu Rong nodded with a smile.
Thinking back to when I went to the imperial palace, my two sisters-in-law taught me how to deal with Li Shi, and now that I think about it, it was surprisingly effective.
"It's not just the young prince who's having a good time; the backyard is bustling with activity too."
At this time, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was in good spirits. When she heard what the Fourth Prince Consort said, she knew that there was something going on in the backyard, and immediately turned her head to look over.
Xiu Rong then said, "Li is now a concubine, which is fine in itself. But she has always been arrogant, and now that she has given birth to the little prince, she has become even more arrogant, turning the backyard into chaos."
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang frowned.
"The fourth brother is also clueless."
Seeing that the old lady was unhappy, the Fourth Princess Consort dared not say anything more and changed the subject with the Crown Princess and others, talking about interesting things in the capital.
Originally, they planned to sit for a while and then take the child back to the mansion, but before they could say more than a few words, they heard the child crying from the side hall, and then Sumalagu walked in.
"The two young princes got into a fight, and I separated them. Fortunately, neither of them was injured."
As Sumalagu finished speaking, the two young princes were brought over separately.
Hongshi ran crying to the Fourth Princess Consort, then grabbed her hand and pointed at Hongxi, shouting, "Hit him! Hit him!"
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's face immediately darkened.
Hongxi didn't complain to the Guarjia clan, but he glared at Hongshi with resentment in his eyes.
"Hongxi, why are you fighting with your younger brother?"
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