Prince Zhi has been having a very difficult time lately. He thought that by overthrowing the Crown Prince, he would be able to rightfully succeed to the position of Crown Prince with the Emperor's favor. However, the Emperor refused to see him, and even the Nalan clan was attacked. Mingzhu was scolded by the Emperor almost every day.
He seemed to see the scene before Suo'ertu's death, so similar to the present. Thus, the disgruntled Prince Zhi exploded when he met the triumphant Prince Cheng.
Prince Cheng was ordered to write a book, and he has already made some progress. So he hurried to the palace to show his face in front of the emperor. The emperor had seen too many troublesome sons recently, so he praised Prince Cheng with a rare kind smile and gave him a lot of rewards.
When Prince Cheng left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he saw Prince Zhi waiting there, and a subtle sense of superiority welled up inside him. "Look," he thought, "before, it was always you and the Crown Prince inside, while your younger brother waited outside. Now the tables have turned. How wonderful!"
"Brother, Father Emperor sent me out to deliver a message that he will not be seeing you today. Please go back and come again tomorrow." Prince Cheng said with a smile in his eyes, waving a folding fan, looking quite spirited.
Prince Zhi wondered to himself, could it be that his father had taken a liking to the third prince?
With such suspicions, Prince Zhi did not hold back and directly impeached several ministers who had risen to power by relying on the third prince. When the third prince saw that his spies in the court had been eliminated, he became anxious.
He was dedicated to compiling books, but he didn't intend to be blind. He simply left a few people in the court so that he wouldn't become cannon fodder without knowing anything.
Prince Cheng, having been a prince for so long, put in the effort to investigate and indeed discovered some clues.
Prince Cheng felt that his eldest son was a mad dog, who not only bit the Crown Prince but also bit him. He couldn't just sit and wait to die, so he racked his brains for a long time and came up with a brilliant plan.
October of the 47th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign
Prince Cheng submitted a memorial accusing Prince Zhi of using witchcraft on the Crown Prince, causing the Crown Prince to be possessed by evil spirits, behave inappropriately, offend the emperor, and disregard human ethics. He earnestly stated that none of this was the Crown Prince's fault.
Prince Cheng's literary talent is evident to all. Among all the princes, besides the Crown Prince, he is the one who studies Chinese classics most deeply. In this burst of inspiration, he first praised Kangxi's achievements, and then turned to say how the Crown Prince, whom he had carefully raised, could suddenly change his temperament. He said that there was a reason for this, and it was all Prince Cheng's fault!
The Eighth Prince fell silent as he watched Prince Cheng's impassioned speech. Had his Third Brother gone mad from reading too much? How could he come up with such an outrageous idea?
Even the Prince Zhi stood tall and wasn't afraid. The Emperor must be crazy to believe in witchcraft.
Just as everyone was laughing at Prince Cheng, Emperor Kangxi made his move. His gaze swept over the princes, and he said, "Investigate!"
Liang Jiugong personally led his men, under the supervision of Prince Yu, and launched a massive search of the palace.
As it turned out, they actually found several rag dolls in Yuqing Palace. The dolls had the Crown Prince's birth date and time written on them, and they were also pricked with silver needles according to some kind of rule. They looked rather sinister.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, all the princes were waiting for the results of the palace search. The Fourteenth Prince approached with a grin and said, "Third Brother, you've been keeping quiet until now, and now you've made a big splash. You even know about such secret matters. It seems you weren't just working behind closed doors."
Yinzhen glared at the Fourteenth Prince; while everyone else was trying to avoid him, he was actually moving closer.
Having been kept in check by Yinzhen lately, Fourteenth Prince subconsciously leaned back, trying to disappear from Yinzhen's sight.
Prince Cheng was sweating profusely. He was just angry and wanted to make Prince Zhi suffer, but he didn't expect his father to react this way.
What if I can't find it?
It is said that Prince Zhi destroyed it; he saw it with his own eyes, yes, that's it!
Prince Cheng was prepared to lie, but then he saw Liang Jiugong carrying a box over with both hands. Judging from his expression, it seemed as if the box contained something extraordinary.
Not long after Liang Jiugong entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he heard a series of crashing sounds, followed by approaching footsteps. He then saw Kangxi holding a sword and forcefully slashing at Prince Zhi, tearing a long gash in the prince's python robe.
He threw the sword to the ground and forcefully hurled the Buddhist prayer beads wrapped around his wrist at Prince Zhi: "You unfilial son! You plotted to murder the Crown Prince; your heart deserves to be punished!"
Prince Zhi was stunned. He looked up at Prince Cheng and found that he was also bewildered. He never expected that the excuse he made up on the spot would actually come true.
He didn't quite remember how Prince Zhi returned to his residence that day, only that he kept kowtowing and shouting that he was innocent, but his father, the Emperor, coldly ignored him.
Prince Cheng returned to his residence as if he were walking on cotton, his steps uneven, and he locked himself in his study, refusing to see even his favorite son.
Yinzhen's focus was on the emperor's title; he called him the Crown Prince, not the deposed Crown Prince—a single word that made a world of difference.
Unexpectedly, before the Crown Prince had truly fallen, Prince Zhi had already crashed out, and it was all orchestrated by the usually timid Third Prince.
The fact that the Emperor was so angry, practically jeopardizing Prince Zhi's future in public, suggests that the box Liang Jiugong took in must have contained very important evidence, most likely the witchcraft doll.
Yinzhen didn't think that this thing was made by the line of Prince Zhi. Prince Cheng's move was a stroke of genius, and no one could have predicted it in advance. Now that there is even physical evidence, the person who did it can only be... Liang Jiugong.
Based on this reasonable guess, Yinzhen felt as if he had grasped something.
******
The decree stripping Prince Zhi of his title and confining him once again silenced the court officials.
In just a few months, the two most glorious princes of the Kangxi era were each punished equally by the emperor, and neither of them got any credit.
Prince Cheng delivered a fatal blow, but was terrified and immediately declared that he would close his doors to write letters and would not see any guests.
When Yinzhen saw that the situation was not good and that his eldest, second, and third sons had all gone into hiding, he knew that he must not let the emperor's attention fall on him at this time. So he acted first and reported later, and took his wife and children out of the capital overnight to a manor to live a peaceful life.
Only Honghui was left in the capital because he had to go to the study.
When Honghui returned home, he found that his father, mother, Liuliu, Xiaolang, and the new member Doudou were all gone, leaving only Hongyun and Honghui looking at each other in bewilderment.
"Big brother, big sister left with Father and the others. Father said to have your younger brother tell you to take good care of the house," Hongyun relayed Yinzhen's words, concluding with his own words.
Honghui thought to himself, "Why is it that the whole family has gone on vacation, leaving only us brothers in misfortune behind? No way, I have to go too."
The idea was good, but Emperor Kangxi wouldn't release them.
"Your father has gone to find some peace and quiet." Kangxi naturally knew that Yinzhen had left overnight. He still had a good impression of this son, who never formed cliques or engaged in personal gain, was meticulous in his work, and was very useful.
“Come and read to Grandfather.” Kangxi pointed to a travelogue. Honghui noticed that Grandfather had been asking him to read to him more and more often lately, as if he didn’t want to use his own eyes.
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