Sure enough, after a few days, the list of princes accompanying the southern tour came out. Among them were the eldest, the third, the fifth, the seventh, the eighth, the thirteenth and the fourteenth. Of course, in addition to them, Yinzuo was also on the list.
In the harem, except for the Queen who accompanied the Queen Mother, everyone else stayed in the palace.
On the third day of February, the group sailed south.
I thought it was going to be a very pleasant journey, but less than two hours after I got on the boat, Old Fourteen collapsed. He felt weak all over, his face was pale, and he felt nauseous. All the symptoms of seasickness were present on him.
Yinzuo had no choice but to stay with him in the cabin to take care of him.
"Sixth brother, why am I the only one who gets seasick?" Old Fourteen, who is already eleven years old and a half-grown young man, hunched over and lay on his side on the bed, sounding depressed.
Yinzuo, who was drawing the scenery along the way for his mother, raised his head and looked at him. After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth to answer.
"Perhaps you are what the common people call a 'landlubber', you are not born to be able to go into the water, but I have asked for your help, we are all traveling by boat, no matter how uncomfortable it is, I am afraid you will have to endure it."
The Fourteenth Prince sat up in shock and asked, "Ah? Is this true? We won't get off the boat. Doesn't the Emperor want to check why the Yellow and Huai rivers burst their banks year after year? How can we check if we don't get off the boat?"
Yinzuo casually rolled up a piece of ink-stained waste paper into a ball and threw it over.
"How dare you make irresponsible comments about the Emperor's affairs! Stop talking nonsense and shut your mouth."
Old Fourteen made a face, but he didn't dare to argue with his beloved Sixth Brother. He just lay down obediently and opened the piece of waste paper to look at it.
"Sixth brother, isn't this a good painting you made? Why are you throwing it away? If you don't like it, just give it to me."
His sixth brother's paintings are special. In short, they are different from those of others. They are somewhat similar to Western paintings, but not completely similar. Anyway, in the eyes of the Fourteenth Brother, whatever his sixth brother does is the best.
"It's stained with ink. My mother didn't have the chance to come out and see it with her own eyes. I was going to take it back to her to see. Of course I can't have it if it's dirty. If you don't mind, then I'll give it to you."
"Don't mind, don't mind. Sixth brother, don't crumple it next time. I'll keep it and ask someone to frame it when I get home. I'll keep it as a family heirloom."
Seeing his surprised look, Yinzuo felt quite happy in his heart. It was a happy thing that his work was recognized by others.
Bang bang bang!
There was a hurried knock at the door and chaotic footsteps, as if a lot of people had gathered.
"Who is it?" Yinzuo asked loudly.
"It's us. Sixth brother, please open the door quickly. We're coming to see Fourteenth Brother." The voice speaking at the door belonged to Eighth Brother.
Yinzuo signaled to the servant guarding the door to open it, and saw the fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and thirteenth brothers all came.
The Fourteenth Prince Yinzhen rolled his eyes. They didn’t come to see him at all. They were more like people who came to snatch the Sixth Brother from him.
"I'm fine. That's enough. Brothers, please go back home. My house is small and I'm afraid it can't accommodate so many of you."
Old Fourteen didn't give them face, but the others were thick-skinned enough and none of them showed any intention of leaving.
"Fourteenth brother is joking again. He just came out from the Emperor's place and asked about you. I asked the boatmen who go out to sea all year round and asked them for some seasickness medicine for you. Try it and see if it makes you feel better."
"Thank you, myna." Old Fourteen was quite friendly to the kind and gentle myna.
"You're too polite, Fourteenth Brother. Sixth Brother is the one who suffers the most. He has been with you these days and has never even had to go into the splint." Although Eighth Brother Yinsi said this to Fourteenth Brother, his eyes were fixed on his Sixth Brother whom he was thinking about all the time.
Yinzuo smiled and said to Yinsi, "Xiao Ba is always meticulous. Thank you for your hard work. Please sit down and talk."
The ninth and tenth brothers moved the fastest and immediately occupied the two seats closest to Yinzuo, one on the left and one on the right. The eighth brother paused, turned around, took a step, and sat down directly opposite Yinzuo.
The others found seats and sat down. They were all teenagers and had a lot in common. They talked about the interesting things they had seen along the way and vied to show off in front of Yinzuo to make him happy.
Especially the ninth and tenth brothers, who were good at eating, drinking and having fun, and the descriptions were even more vivid and interesting, almost attracting all of Yinzuo's attention to them.
"Oh! I'm starting to feel dizzy again, brother! Sixth brother! I feel uncomfortable!" The neglected Fourteenth Brother started to pretend to be sick.
Yinzuo quickly stood up and walked to his side, took his pulse and checked his symptoms. Ever since the Queen and Kangxi had both fallen seriously ill in front of Yinzuo, he had secretly learned medicine from the imperial doctors. He read medical books the most and planted a lot of herbs himself. In recent years, he had personally helped the Queen to recuperate, and he was very knowledgeable in medical books.
"Maybe there's too little air in this room, it's very stuffy, and you have trouble breathing, so you feel more and more dizzy."
Everyone stood up, and the Eighth Brother Yinsi spoke up, "In that case, we'll leave first. Let Fourteenth Brother have a good rest, and Sixth Brother, don't get too tired."
Although the Ninth and Tenth Brothers were reluctant, they always listened to the Eighth Brother, and finally followed him in resigning.
"Then Sixth Brother, and Fourteenth Brother, we will come back another day."
"Sixth brother, if you are okay, go out and take a breath."
Yinzuo nodded and replied, "I will, and you guys should pay more attention too."
After they left, after a while, the fifth brother Yinqi came back.
"Xiao Liu, just let Fourteenth Brother rest by himself. It's just right for you to go with me to pay respects to Mama and Empress Dowager and talk to them."
Yinzuo looked at Little Fourteen and nodded.
"Okay, open the door and ventilate the room."
Yinzhen finally stretched out his hand towards his sixth brother's back and sat up in anger. Unfortunately, he started to feel dizzy again and had to lie down again.
The Thirteenth Prince Yinxiang, who was hiding in the corner and saw everything, wrote everything down, went back to his room, wrote a letter, and sent it by pigeon to Yinzhen who was guarding the Forbidden City.
A few days later, Li Guangdi, the governor of Zhili, wrote a memorial. No one else knew the content of the memorial, but Kangxi suddenly decided to take a small boat and go secretly to Gaojiayan, Guiren Dike and other places south of the Yellow River for inspection.
During the third expedition to Dzungar two years ago, Kangxi discovered that Yinsi was very good at riding and shooting, so he brought him along on this trip, while his eldest son, Prince Zhi Yinzhi, stayed on the ship to protect the empress dowager and the queen.
Yinzuo suddenly felt that his surroundings became unusually quiet. Except for the seasick Fourteenth Brother and the quiet Thirteenth Brother, none of his other brothers appeared again.
"Thirteenth brother, why haven't you seen anyone else recently? Where have you been?"
Yinxiang subconsciously lowered his head and answered softly, "Fifth brother is guarding Mama and is busy. The other brothers have been called away by eldest brother. He said that the emperor is not here now, and the others have to take on the responsibility of guarding Mama and the emperor's mother. Everyone takes turns to patrol to prevent any accidents."
Yinzuo turned a page of the medical book in his hand, nodded, and said, "So that's how it is."
The dying Old Fourteen asked listlessly, "Then why didn't you go?"
"I, I'm still young..." Old Thirteen's voice was a little unnatural.
Yinzuo rolled up the book in his hand and tapped the Fourteenth Prince's head lightly.
"There are so many people on this ship, so why would you need Thirteenth Brother, a kid under thirteen, to protect them? What are you talking about? Look at yourself, you can't even stand steadily. You always say how powerful and amazing you are. My martial arts skills are not high, so Thirteenth Brother is naturally here to protect you and me."
Old Thirteen bit his lower lip lightly, looked up at Sixth Brother, and found that there was a smile in his eyes, as if he knew everything but didn't say it.
"Speaking of which, I wonder how my mother and fourth brother are doing in the capital. I want to write a letter. How about you, Thirteenth Brother, take it back for me?"
Yinxiang agreed without hesitation and said, "Okay! No problem!"
The fourteenth old man on the side began to complain unhappily, "Sixth brother, you are always thinking about Yinzhen. He has a deadpan face. What good is there? You are biased!"
"Calling him Fourth Brother is disrespectful. He just doesn't like to talk and looks cold, but he is actually very caring. The medicine you are drinking and the incense you are burning were all prepared by Fourth Brother in advance. You are not allowed to say that about him. If you continue like this, I will be angry."
"Fourth Brother, Fourth Brother! That should be fine, right? He and I call him by the same name, so what's wrong with me calling him that? My name is Yinzhen too, Sixth Brother, you are too protective of him."
Listening to the Fourteenth Brother's chattering complaints, the Thirteenth Brother finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that the Sixth Brother would realize that he was sent by the Fourth Brother to keep an eye on him. Those who loved to pester the Sixth Brother were now sent away one by one by the Fourth Brother. It turned out that the Fourth Brother was the most powerful one among all these brothers!
Five full days passed before Kangxi reunited with them.
Everyone finally got off the boat and stepped on solid ground, feeling much more comfortable. The Fourteenth Prince immediately regained his energy and started running around. Yinzuo was worried and always followed him out personally.
There is a Hongze Lake here. Because the flood had nowhere to drain, it submerged a large area of houses and fertile fields in the surrounding area. The victims who lost their homes huddled on the roadside. Yinzuo and his companions also saw people chewing on tree bark.
"What are they doing? Why don't they eat rice but those things? Do they taste better?" Old Fourteen had never seen such a scene.
Yinzuo shook his head and saw a woman crying while holding a baby, so he walked forward.
"Master! Please save him! Save my child. I will work like a slave for you! Please save him!"
"Don't worry, give the child to me and I'll take a look at him first."
After a moment, Yinzuo felt relieved.
"Fortunately, he was just hungry for too long and ate some food that he couldn't digest, so he was not very energetic. Just feed him some soft food that he can eat and he will recover immediately."
The woman kowtowed with tears in her eyes.
"He has no food to eat. The wild vegetable roots I fed him just now were found with great difficulty. Master, please take him away. As long as he can survive, it's fine for him to serve you as a servant!"
This child was born of good parentage, but was given away by his own mother to be a slave. In this dynasty, slaves of low birth were not treated as human beings. For example, if a slave beat a good parent, the offender would be hanged or even beheaded. If a slave hurt his master, he would be beheaded regardless of whether he was injured or not.
"Sixth brother, do you want to take him back? But there are so many children here. You can save one, but you can't save everyone, right?"
The Fourteenth Brother warily stared at the disaster victims who seemed to be surrounding him, and he and the Thirteenth Brother protected the Sixth Brother on the left and right.
"No, let's go back. Only one person can save everyone here."
Yinzuo did not take the child away. Instead, he found a few strong young men who had been helping others among the victims. He took them to the grain shop, used all the silver he had to help them buy some grain, and asked them to go back and distribute it to everyone. In order to prevent them from embezzling the money, he also sent two guards to accompany them.
As soon as Yinzuo returned to his residence, he went to find his father.
"Manager Liang, is the Emperor free right now?"
Liang Jiugong was very friendly, smiled and greeted him, and asked, "Sixth Prince, why are you here at this time? The emperor is discussing the river management method with the ministers of grain transport and river governor, so I'm afraid he won't be available."
"So that's how it is. Can I wait here for the Emperor to come out?" Yinzuo did not insist on forcing his way in and making things difficult for others.
"Of course you can, but we don't know when the discussion will end. Why don't you go back and change your clothes and take a rest? As soon as the emperor is free, I will send someone to inform you. Do you think it's okay?"
Yinzuo accepted his kindness and agreed.
"Then I'll have to trouble Manager Liang."
"Sixth Prince, that's not what I'm supposed to do.
"Then I'll go back first."
"Sixth Prince, go slower and take an umbrella. It's starting to rain again. Be careful with your steps."
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