"Don't say this in front of the Emperor."
Yinsi felt that they felt good after hearing these words, but the emperor might not be happy if he knew about it.
"Why? An An would ask Ama first if he could take it~" the little guy said with his head tilted.
Feeling that he was about to ask, Yinzhen said, "The Emperor is our elder, and we should respect him. It is not reasonable to ask for his things. Of course, his rewards are another matter."
Cheng An nodded to show that he understood, and then his brows knitted again: "But what if Brother Jiu has no money?"
Seeing that he was seriously worried about Yin'e, Yin'e couldn't stand it any longer: "Don't listen to your ninth brother complaining about being poor. If he has no money, then I, your tenth brother, will be a pauper!"
"What kind of egg is a pauper's egg? Is it delicious?"
Yinsi chuckled, thinking that the little guy's focus was always on eating.
"Didn't your tenth brother say that he was a pauper? You'll know whether it tastes good or not after you take a bite of it." Yin'er said as he grabbed Yin'e's hand and brought it to his mouth.
The little guy's first reaction was to cover his mouth and shook his head, "You can't bite Brother Shi, it will hurt!"
"You haven't bitten it yet, so how do you know if it will hurt?" Yinzhen said with a smile.
Yinreng thought of the time he saw him biting his arm, and couldn't help but say, "He really did bite it, but he bit himself."
"Why is he biting himself?" Yin'e asked curiously.
Sometimes children do things for no reason at all, they just think it's fun or they want to bite themselves out of curiosity.
In any case, after hugging the little guy and playing with him for a while, Yinzhen felt much better and decided to write a letter to Kangxi when he returned.
Before dinner, Yinreng, Yinzhen and others sent the little guy back to Changchun Garden together.
In the carriage, the attentive Yinsi did not forget to remind him again that he was just saying it before and asked him not to really go back and ask his father for things.
Cheng'an remembered this, but did not mention it to Kangxi when he returned to Qingxi Study. However, when he was sitting on the Luohan bed after dinner, he suddenly asked, "Father, am I a pauper?"
The bed was divided into two sides by a small table. The little guy occupied most of the space, sitting on it with various toys scattered around him. In contrast, the position on the other side where Kangxi sat was much tidier.
Kangxi was reading a book. He looked up when he heard his words: "If you want to be a pauper, wait until your next life."
At such a young age, he already had his own private treasury full of good things, but he was still a pauper. Kangxi found it funny just thinking about this word.
Kangxi thought that he would not ask this question without any reason, so he asked again: "Who said you are a pauper?"
"No." The little guy shook his head, "It was Brother Ten who said he was a pauper."
This was harmless and Kangxi was not angry. He just thought that Yin'e was really ambitious for crying out loud in front of his younger brother.
"Liang Jiugong, send ten taels of gold to Yin'e tomorrow and tell him to spend it carefully and stop crying poor everywhere."
“Yeah.”
Kangxi's order was obviously intended to embarrass Yin'e, but the little guy didn't understand the deeper meaning of it. When he heard his words, he stood up and rushed over.
"Ama, you are so nice!"
Seeing that he was acting silly, Kangxi smiled and reached out to hold him in his arms, holding him with one hand while continuing to read with the other.
"Ama~"
"Um?"
Kangxi originally thought that he couldn't sit still on his side, and was about to let him go to the other side to play, but he heard him suddenly say: "An An is also a pauper!"
Obviously, the little guy saw that Kangxi gave gold to Yin. The pauper. Russia, and he also wanted some.
He was naturally not short of gold, and even had many gold-related items piled up in his private vault. But for a dragon cub who loved gold, who would complain about having too much gold?
Kangxi knew him very well and immediately understood his thoughts. He could not help but reach out and tap him on the forehead: "Stop talking nonsense, or I will really make you
You become a pauper.”
Seeing that he didn't give him the gold and was even slapping himself, Cheng'an covered his forehead and puffed his cheeks at him.
"Do you know what a pauper is?" Kangxi asked without waiting for his answer. "It means that everything in your private storehouse has been taken away by me. You have nothing left. That's what a pauper is."
The little fellow's eyes widened slightly when he heard his words. He couldn't bear the thought of all his goldenness gone. He immediately stood up and said obediently, "I can't disturb Ama from reading. Go play by yourself, An An."
After saying this, he walked around the small square table on the Luohan bed, returned to his previous position and sat down. With his back to Kangxi, he picked up a Luban lock and started playing with it. While playing, his little ears pricked up slightly, as if he was worried about hearing his father say that his things were taken away again.
Kangxi was not that bored. After all, he had to comfort the man who had made him cry late at night. When he saw that the man had calmed down, he looked away and continued reading.
After playing by himself for a while, the little guy turned back quietly and saw his father reading a book seriously. He patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief, as if he was glad that he didn't really become a pauper.
Liang Jiugong, who was waiting on the side, saw his little action and couldn't help but smile.
The next morning, Yin'e was a little confused when he received the ten taels of gold sent by Kangxi. After learning the whole story, he was even more desperate to cry.
Cheng'an, don't speak half of your words. Brother Shi was obviously just making an analogy...
Yin'e was actually a very open-minded person. After being depressed for a while, he suddenly realized that he didn't seem to lose anything in this incident. Instead, he got ten taels of gold for free.
As for Kangxi's words to Liang Jiugong, it didn't seem to be a big deal for him who was often scolded.
"Looking at it this way, I still made a profit!" Yin'e said to the eunuch beside him, then ran to find Yin'er with ten taels of gold.
When Yin'e came over, Yin'er was writing memorials in the study, and Yin'si was beside him helping him with his advice.
"Look what this is!" Yin'e saw that Yinsi was also there, and after greeting him, he walked past them holding the tray.
When Yinzhen saw the gold on the tray, he looked at him with a look that said, "Are you okay?"
"What do you mean, tenth brother?" Yinsi asked puzzledly.
Yin'e did not answer but asked: "Guess where I got this gold?"
Ten taels of gold is a lot for ordinary people, but it is not worth showing off for princes.
Seeing that he had taken it out to show him, Yinzhen guessed, "Did Cheng'an give it to you?"
Yin'e chuckled and said, "No, it was given to me by my father."
After saying that, he added: "But it does have something to do with Cheng An."
When Yinzhen heard his words, his mind started working quickly, and he guessed the reason in a short while: "Could it be that Cheng'an went back and told the emperor that you were a pauper, so the emperor rewarded you with gold?"
Seeing that he had guessed it, Yin'e put the gold down casually, nodded, and told him what had happened when Liang Jiugong visited him just now.
"You are really carefree." Yinzhen felt that if it were someone else, not to mention being terrified, at least they would not treat it as a good thing like he did.
Yinsi reminded: "Have you gone to thank the Emperor?"
Yin'e was not so ignorant of propriety, but Liang Jiugong had said when he delivered the message that there was no need to go over to express his gratitude.
"What are you guys busy with? Do you want to go out for a drink at noon? I'll treat you."
Yin'e felt no different from being at home here at Yin'e's place. He came over and glanced at the memorial in front of him, then found a seat and sat down.
"Why drink wine? Didn't the Emperor just tell you to be careful with your spending?" Yinzhen refused without even raising his head.
"Forget it. I'll save all the money to buy delicious food for Cheng An."
After Yin'e finished speaking, he took a sip of tea, put down the teacup and said, "Cheng'an really still likes me the most. You see, he is worried that I don't have money to spend, so he asked the emperor for money for me."
Seeing that he regarded this as a good thing and even boasted about it, Yinsi shook his head helplessly, wondering if the emperor would regret rewarding him with gold if he knew about it.
In the end, they didn't really go out drinking, but instead started writing essays together.
The next day, Yinzhen, accompanied by Yinsi and Yin'e, personally went to ask for an audience with Kangxi with a letter.
"Your son pays respects to the Emperor."
After Kangxi exempted them from the formalities, perhaps because of the reward, his gaze stayed on Yin'e for a second before he asked them what was the matter.
Even though Yin'e was showing off in front of Yin'er and the others yesterday, he felt nervous unconsciously when Kangxi took a second look at him.
After Yinzhen explained his purpose, he handed over the memorial in his hand.
Liang Jiugong stepped forward, took the memorial, and turned to present it to Kangxi.
There had been no major events in the court recently, and Kangxi was in a good mood. However, after reading the contents of the memorial, his expression gradually turned cold.
He did not think as Yinzhen had thought before. He felt that Yinzhen should not send ships to the East for no reason. After all, in his mind, the Qing Dynasty was so great that there was no place where he could not go!
It can be seen from Kangxi's evaluation of Japan that he did not have a good impression of this country, especially when he thought about the time when he talked about Ming history with his ministers and mocked the Japanese pirates in the previous dynasty. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese pirates immediately retreated to their hometown. This would inevitably feel a bit slapped in the face.
"Send Xu Baoguang and Hai Bao to see me!"
“Yeah.”
Coincidentally, last year was the time when Ryukyu was enthroned, and the envoys who went to Ryukyu were Xu Baoguang and Hai Bao.
Not long after, the two adults who were summoned hurried over. Feeling the atmosphere in the imperial study, their hearts began to beat nervously as they saluted.
"Let me ask you, did you pay attention to Japan when you went to Ryukyu to confer titles?"
As soon as Kangxi finished speaking, Xu Baoguang and Haibao's foreheads suddenly broke out in sweat, and their first reaction was to apologize.
It turned out that when they went to Ryukyu to confer the title, they had noticed some of the situation, but they thought it was better to have less trouble than more, and the most important thing was to complete the conferring as soon as possible, so they didn't take it to heart.
When they saw Kangxi asking about this, they thought that Kangxi would hold them accountable after finding out about this, so they became scared.
"What's going on?" Kangxi asked in a dignified manner.
Xu Baoguang and Haibao felt that they were very unlucky. After all, the situation in Ryukyu was not the same as when they went there. But the emperor had not shown any interest in intervening before, but now he started to ask about it.
Thinking so, they quickly told everyone what they saw and heard when they went to Ryukyu, as well as what they discovered.
It has to be said that Japan is really disgusting. On the one hand, it is afraid of the Qing Dynasty, and on the other hand, it wants to make small moves. Relying on the fact that the Qing Dynasty does not pay much attention to small vassal states like Ryukyu, it not only invaded Ryukyu, but also collected taxes from Ryukyu.
However, once they discovered that the Qing envoys were heading to Ryukyu, the Japanese people stationed in Ryukyu quickly hid themselves.
Kangxi had long seen through the nature of Japan, and he still looked very unhappy after hearing this.
Speaking of which, after Shi Lang recaptured "Dongning", he proposed to use this momentum to capture the nearby Japan in one fell swoop, but Kangxi did not agree.
First, the Qing government was busy dealing with the Galdan rebellion, so it had no spare energy or money to fight Japan. Second, Japan was afraid of the Qing Dynasty and stayed at home, so it seemed unnecessary to fight. Third, Kangxi did not think highly of this small country, and felt that it would be difficult to manage it even if it cost a lot of money and effort to conquer it, so he finally rejected Shi Lang's proposal.
After listening to what Xu Baoguang and Hai Bao said, Kangxi vaguely remembered that someone seemed to have mentioned the situation in Ryukyu before, but he was busy with other important matters at that time and did not take a small vassal state seriously.
Thinking of this, Kangxi finally only fined the two men half a year's salary as a minor punishment.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."
After Xu Baoguang and Haibao left, Kangxi looked at his sons and waved his hand, saying, "I know about this matter. If there is nothing else, please leave first."
"I'll take my leave."
As soon as Yinsi and the other two came out of the imperial study, Yin'e couldn't help but whisper, "Do you think the emperor will send troops to attack Japan and teach them a lesson?"
"Nine out of ten times, no." Although Yinzhen wanted to do so, he thought about it.
I think it's unlikely.
It's not that the Qing Navy couldn't defeat Japan. You have to know that in order to recover "Dongning", Kangxi attached great importance to the construction of the navy. Each of the main warships, the "bird ship", was nearly twenty meters long, and each bird ship was equipped with nearly forty large cannons. The Qing Navy had nearly seventy such gunboats.
Yinzhen thought it was impossible, mainly because in Ganzhou, Yinzhen and his men were still preparing to attack Junggar, and their food and military supplies had already been greatly consumed, so he thought they would not attack Japan, and at most they would send people to give a warning.
"It's a good deal for them!" Yin'e was a little unhappy after hearing his opinion.
In the imperial study, Kangxi turned the jade ring on his thumb, apparently considering how to deal with the matter.
Just as Yinzhen had guessed, Kangxi's first reaction was not to attack Japan.
The statement that a cannon shot would be worth a fortune is no joke. As an emperor, he certainly could not start a war as he pleased, but had to calculate the gains and losses first.
To be honest, it would be easier if Japan bordered the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi would definitely not hesitate and would directly send troops to attack and occupy the place. The problem is that Japan is isolated in the sea, and attacking it may not be cost-effective.
There was no rush for this matter, and Kangxi finally decided to think about it again.
I don’t know if it’s because he thought about it during the day and dreamed about it at night, but the next night, Kangxi had a dream after falling asleep.
In his dream, he saw a war from the perspective of a bystander. When he found out that the two sides of the war were the Japanese and the Qing Navy, Kangxi frowned subconsciously...
"Father, what's wrong with you? An An is here, don't be afraid..."
Kangxi woke up to the sound of the little guy's baby voice. When he opened his eyes, he saw him lying on him, patting his chest with his little hands.
It was not yet completely light outside, but the bed curtains had been hung, and the bed was illuminated by a candlestick not far away. Liang Jiugong stood beside the bed with some worry.
It turned out that Kangxi had suddenly uttered a few angry noises, which not only woke up the little one sleeping next to him, but also made the eunuch on guard call Liang Jiugong over quickly.
Liang Jiugong saw that Kangxi seemed to be in a haunted state and tried calling him a few times but to no avail. Finally, it was the little guy who jumped into his arms that woke him up.
"What time?" Kangxi sat up while hugging the little guy who was still leaning in his arms, and raised his other hand to rub his eyebrows.
"To reply to Your Majesty, it has just passed the Yin hour."
Kangxi waved his hand to let him leave first, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Normally, people would forget most of what they had dreamed after waking up, but this time Kangxi still remembered the ridiculous dream.
In Kangxi’s dream, Japan actually dared to take the initiative to attack the Qing Dynasty. This was ridiculous for him. What was even more ridiculous was that the Qing Dynasty in his dream actually lost!
Not to mention that Japan is a tiny country and it is impossible for it to have such large ships. Even if there were, with the ferocity of the Qing Navy, it could not even fight against the Netherlands, which is known as the "coachman of the sea", let alone Japan.
Kangxi felt it was absurd, but he couldn't help but think about it carefully. The more he thought about it, the more strange it seemed to him. He wondered where Japan got so many warships, and why the Qing Dynasty's bird ships in his dream were so shabby, otherwise they would not have been defeated like that.
In fact, if he thought about it carefully, it was not difficult to guess the reason. The Great Qing Navy was originally built to recover "Dongning". Now the purpose has been achieved. It was better when he was still alive. Later, it seemed not surprising that the Great Qing Navy gradually declined.
"Father, what's wrong with you?" Cheng An saw him frowning, and stretched out his little hand to smooth his face while showing concern for him.
It was just a dream...
Kangxi thought to himself and shook his head at him: "Father, it's okay. It's still early. You can go back to sleep."
The little guy looked up at him for a while, and seeing that his father was no longer frowning, he followed his words and lay down obediently.
But maybe he couldn't fall asleep right after waking up, the little guy opened his eyes again after lying down for a while, and when he saw him still sitting, he asked in a baby voice, "Aren't you going to sleep, Ama?"
"I'm not sleepy."
Even if it was just a dream, Kangxi could only sleep soundly after seeing the Qing Dynasty defeated, and defeated by the Japanese country that he despised.
strangeness.
The little guy didn't want to sleep anymore. After hearing what he said, he sat up again and said, "I'm not sleepy either~"
Seeing that he looked quite energetic, Kangxi did not force him to continue sleeping, but instead reached out and held him in his arms, lowering his head to lean on his soft, milky little body.
The little guy blinked and seemed to find it a little strange, but didn't say anything. Instead, he put his arms around him.
The little guy who was lying there and didn't want to sleep just now leaned on Kangxi's arms for a while, but soon closed his eyes again.
When Kangxi noticed it, he couldn't help but smile and shook his head, then put him back on the bed.
There was still some time before the court session, so Liang Jiugong and others were waiting outside. The bedroom was exceptionally quiet except for the little guy's steady breathing.
In this silence, Kangxi suddenly had an idea and wondered if the dream might be the future Qing Dynasty.
But he immediately shook his head and denied it, obviously unwilling to believe that the Qing Dynasty would be reduced to the point of being defeated by a tiny country.
It was because the dream was still clearly remembered in his mind after he woke up that Kangxi felt it was absurd and couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.
However, when it was dawn and he was about to attend the morning court, Kangxi immediately put these messy thoughts aside.
He probably woke up once in the middle of the night, and then Cheng'an fell asleep again and didn't wake up until the sun was shining on his butt.
Since he didn't have to attend court and was not old enough to work in the Shangshufang, naturally no one cared about him sleeping in.
The first thing the little guy did when he woke up was to look for Kangxi. After making sure that he was busy again, he had breakfast with the service of Liu Cai and others.
After breakfast, he played for a while by himself. Seeing that his brothers did not come to see him, he went to see the Queen Mother.
As soon as the Queen Mother saw him coming, she immediately smiled and asked someone to bring up the fresh fruits that Kangxi had sent over earlier.
Kangxi was very filial to the Empress Dowager, his biological mother, and always thought of her for any good things. However, the Empress Dowager was old and didn't like to eat those things. She used to share them with the concubines who came to pay their respects to her, but now she left them all to her little grandson Cheng'an.
"Ma, you're so nice!" Cheng'an saw the fruits, grapes and lychees on the table, and his eyes curved into crescents with smiles.
He likes sweet things. He is fine with sweet and sour grapes, but he really likes honeydew melons and lychees.
When the Queen Mother heard his words, her smile became even more loving, and she even fed him a lychee with her own hands.
"So sweet~"
When you take a bite of the pitted lychee flesh, the sweet juice and the unique aroma of lychee burst out on your tongue. It is so delicious that the little one's feet start to shake unconsciously.
Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, the Queen Mother was happier than if she had eaten it herself.
"Mom, you eat too!" The little guy loves to eat, but he is not the type who likes to eat alone. Seeing several freshly peeled lychees on the plate, he reached out and picked up one with a silver skewer and held it up.
The Queen Mother lowered her head to eat it out of respect, and then saw him feeding her another one. She touched his head and said, "Madam is old and can't eat too much. Can Cheng'an eat it for Madam?"
The little guy felt a little sorry when he heard this, but he still nodded and said, "An An, help Mama eat more!"
"Okay." The Queen Mother was amused by his tone.
The little guy said so, but he stopped on his own initiative after eating five lychees.
"Why don't you eat anymore?" The Queen Mother asked when she saw him looking at the lychees on the plate and obviously wanting to eat them but not touching them.
"Ama said I can only eat five a day..."
Cheng An looked at the remaining lychees on the plate and couldn't help but sigh softly.
It is true that you can’t eat too many lychees at one time, but when the Queen Mother heard him sigh, she couldn’t help but feed him another one: “It’s okay to eat one more once in a while.”
Cheng'an wanted to say he couldn't eat it, but when he smelled the sweet fragrance of the lychees, he couldn't refuse the lychees that were right in front of his mouth.
Although Kangxi was not there, the little guy still looked around, quickly opened his mouth to eat the lychee, and then covered his mouth with his little hands.
Seeing his series of actions, not only the Queen Mother, but also the maids and palace maids beside him couldn't help but
Stop laughing.
When the little guy was about to leave, the Queen Mother asked him to take some fresh fruit to Concubine Mu.
Mu Bin was naturally happy to see her son coming over. Thinking that he liked to eat lychees, she stuffed a few of the lychees he brought into his pocket.
"I can't eat anymore today!" Cheng'an's tone showed a little regret, but in the end he still packed two lychees and went back, saying that he would bring them to his father to eat.
Kangxi naturally had enough lychees, but when he saw him taking out lychees from his purse and holding them in front of him like a treasure, he felt very happy.
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