Yinzhen copied the form and handed it to Yinxiang.
"Brother, what is this?"
“The data reported by local authorities is disorganized. In fact, we only need to collect the most essential data, such as the number of people affected and the causes of the disaster. This method makes it much clearer.”
Yinxiang closed the form and exclaimed in praise:
"Brother, you are truly brilliant to have come up with such a wonderful method. If this method could be promoted, it would surely save a great deal of unnecessary time and effort."
Yinzhen said expressionlessly:
"Alright, enough with the flattery. The more important thing now is the reconstruction work in the disaster area. Some of these people are Lao Ba's men, so we need to be aware of that."
"Fourth Brother, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
These are turbulent times, and he understands that his fourth brother must continue to keep a low profile and not expose himself.
Maintaining neutrality is the best course of action now.
The two princes stayed in the disaster area for about a month. When their report was presented to Emperor Kangxi, his eyes lit up.
"Fourth brother, is this what you wanted?"
"Your Majesty, this was made by your son based on Western books and adapted to the conditions of our Great Qing."
It is well known that Emperor Kangxi was a lifelong learner, and was even very interested in Western languages and mathematics.
In the arts, the palace has always supported Western painters.
He was quite surprised that his son was able to combine and improve upon Western ideas based on the situation in the Qing Dynasty.
"Then tell me, what are your thoughts?"
"Your Majesty believes that the original recording methods of our Great Qing Dynasty mostly followed the old system. It is not that it is bad, but it is very cumbersome and takes too much time and effort. If the Six Ministries can adopt this new statistical method according to their own circumstances, I believe that the efficiency can be improved by at least two times."
Emperor Kangxi nodded with satisfaction.
He knew that the court was now rife with factions, and it was truly remarkable that the fourth prince could focus all his attention on handling court affairs. Especially now that the factions were so complex, it was commendable that the fourth and thirteenth princes had consistently maintained neutrality.
Emperor Kangxi began to treat his two sons, especially Yinzhen, with special regard.
However, in order to make their neutral stance more obvious, Yinzhen and Yinxiang attributed the main credit to the Crown Prince.
For example, the crown prince dispatched many capable officials.
For example, during this investigation, several people who had secretly sided with the Eighth Prince were reported to the authorities by Yinzhen.
In short, Emperor Kangxi and the Crown Prince were very satisfied with the performance of Yinzhen and Yinxiang, while the Eighth Prince's eyes grew increasingly gloomy.
The core members of the "Eighth Prince Party" mainly included Yinzhi himself and his staunch supporters, the Ninth Prince Yintang, the Tenth Prince Yinxi, and the Fourteenth Prince Yinti.
Among them, the Fourteenth Prince Yinti was the younger brother of the Fourth Prince Yinzhen, but for some reason, Yinti had a better relationship with the Eighth Prince Yinsi.
"Eighth Brother, are we just going to let this go like this? Fourth Brother does his job well, but it's all our people who suffer losses! I can't stand this!"
"That's right, Ninth Brother, I support you too."
The Eighth Prince remained silent, but Yinzhen, unusually calm, spoke first:
“Brothers, it’s best not to act rashly now. Although Ninth Brother lost a lot of men this time, on the other hand, those people were brainless. They didn’t understand Fourth Brother and just rushed to him. It can be considered that they’ve dealt with some good-for-nothings for us. Besides, now is the time when Father Emperor is giving him important positions. I’m sure our Crown Prince won’t be happy for long.”
At this moment, Yinzhi spoke:
“Fourteenth Brother is right. Useless people should be discarded as soon as possible. Right now, we need to learn from Fourth Brother and bide our time.”
Old Nine outwardly agreed, but he couldn't get over it in his heart.
So they found people to cause trouble at several shops under Yinzhen's name, including a pastry shop in which Geng Youran had shares.
"Princess, Xiao Anzi just came back from the front yard. He said that someone got sick after eating the pastries from our pastry shop and is causing trouble at the shop entrance!"
"Impossible. We specifically reminded him to be careful when selling it, because some people get rashes and have difficulty breathing after eating the wrong things (Author: It's actually an allergy)."
"Furthermore, someone has reported that our goods are short-weight, and the Prince has already sent Gao Wuyong to investigate."
Geng Youran, however, felt that there was something fishy about this matter.
The Fourth Prince's shop has been thriving for a long time, so why are a bunch of troublemakers popping up now?
It's possible that someone is really behind this.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Prince thought that once the money was spent, the matter would be settled. But he didn't expect that the group of people he had hired were just street thugs who looked loud and boisterous but were actually just bullies who preyed on the weak.
After the Fourth Prince investigated everything without lifting a finger, he imprisoned all of these people.
Without food or water, they all confessed within four or five days.
That same evening, after the matter was resolved, Yinzhen visited Geng Youran in her courtyard and told her about it.
When Geng Youran learned that the Ninth Prince was the one causing trouble behind the scenes, she was speechless.
A prince resorting to such low-class means of revenge—no wonder he's so useless.
Yinzhen shook his head:
"Old Ninth was cautious enough. He thought that by deliberately picking some low-life scoundrels, I wouldn't suspect him. He was too clever for his own good."
Geng Youran remained silent because she did not want to get involved among the princes.
She hadn't forgotten what happened in Consort Hui's palace back then.
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