These days, Yinzhen goes out early and returns late every day. Changning is pregnant and sleeps lightly, so he is afraid of disturbing her and simply stays in the front yard with his sons.
Honghui suddenly lost his birth mother and kept having nightmares. Fearing something might happen to him, Yinzhen had Hongyan sleep with him while he slept in the main hall next door.
The two brothers would always whisper to each other at night, and Yinzhen was pleased with their friendly relationship.
Previously, there always seemed to be an invisible barrier between the two brothers, just like between him and the fourteenth brother. But now, Hong Yan is always more patient and tolerant towards Hong Hui, and is willing to take care of his older brother in everything. Hong Hui has also opened his heart more openly, and the relationship between the two brothers is better than before.
Yinzhen couldn't help but think of his mischievous younger brother, the Fourteenth Prince.
Although he's still a bit unreliable, he's improved compared to before. Whether it was helping me collect debts at the Ministry of Revenue or protecting the imperial palace this time, he's made significant contributions.
He decided he had to give him something this time too, and would get up early tomorrow morning to pick out a suitable bow and arrow from the storeroom. Fourteenth loved these things the most.
The next day, Yinzhen entered the palace, and the Imperial Clan Court and the Imperial Household Department began preparing for the funerals of the Fourth Prince's wife and the Third Prince's concubine.
Although Changning was pregnant, she tried her best to do everything herself, which Honghui noticed.
It's not that no one around him says that with his mother dead, Chun's mother will definitely take over, and she might not be so happy about it.
However, what Honghui saw was that Chun'e's mother truly had a pure heart; the handwritten Buddhist scriptures were neatly written, showing that she had put her heart into them.
She conducted her mother's funeral in a dignified and respectable manner. Honghui was saddened, but he was not so easily swayed as to listen to the slander of others and instead blame Chun'e's mother.
He felt guilty and blamed himself.
If I had run a little faster, if I hadn't fallen, if I hadn't been so weak, I could have fought the enemy and protected our mother like my other brothers, and the outcome would definitely be different now.
Amma is right. The deceased are gone, but the living should always remember them and live up to their expectations.
Honghui thought that he would avenge his mother and take good care of Ulanara in her place.
As the funeral rites in various households came to an end one after another, the Emperor finally issued an imperial edict.
First, Suo'etu, the mastermind behind the rebellion, was executed along with his entire family.
Emperor Kangxi did leave the deposed crown prince with some dignity; apart from this family, the rest of the Hesheli clan were not implicated in the slightest.
As for the three princes who plotted rebellion, Kangxi did not take their lives, but instead ordered them to be imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court for life, never to be released, and stripped of their yellow sashes, demoting them to commoners.
The Eighth Prince's wife and other family members were also released and returned to their homes, and their property was confiscated.
As for the other accomplices, their entire families were exterminated without exception.
It is worth mentioning that Consort Yi in the palace was also demoted to a commoner and taken to the Cold Palace.
The rest is Longkodo.
This man had planted many of his own people in the court, and this time he was implicated in a large part of the treason case. Kangxi no longer gave this troublemaking cousin any face and directly punished him with execution. As for Li Si'er, who was always jumping around, Kangxi also dealt with her.
Today, this arrogant couple finally received their due punishment and were beheaded at Caishikou.
I heard that on the day of the execution, many people who had been oppressed and deceived by them spontaneously formed a group and threw roasted vegetable leaves and rotten eggs at them. The executioner was almost accidentally injured. This shows how much the people have suffered because of their atrocities.
Anyone in or outside the court who colluded with the rebels and was involved in treason was given a death sentence.
There's a reason why Songgotu was previously known as Suo Zhongtang; he had disciples all over the world.
As a result, many vacancies appeared in the government's official positions.
This was the perfect opportunity for Yinzhen to place his own people.
Kangxi also promoted some people, but he didn't fill all the positions. Everyone knew perfectly well that these positions were reserved to bestow favors upon the new emperor.
The punishment is over, and now it's time for the reward.
The credit for saving the emperor rests primarily on the Fucha family and the Mongol Ujumchin tribe.
Emperor Kangxi conferred upon Mengguqing the title of Prince of Ujumchin and bestowed upon him a great deal of grain, enough to sustain them through a bountiful winter. He also greatly expanded trade between the Qing Dynasty and Mongolia, which was then entrusted to Fucha Boder's third son, Fucha Changxing.
As for the Fucha family, they were already extremely noble.
Emperor Kangxi bestowed upon Boder the title of First-Class Duke, allowing his eldest son, Fucha Changhua, to inherit the title, and promoted Fucha Changhua to the rank of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a second-rank official.
Fucha Changrong, who had served alongside Boder on this mission, rendered outstanding service and was thus promoted to the rank of Commander of the Eight Banners Guards, a second-rank military position. This was an extremely important military post in charge of troops, and only close, important, and favored ministers of the emperor could hold it.
Changxing has been acting as the Minister of Revenue ever since the Ministry of Revenue’s debts were exposed and the two ministers fell from power.
With this, the Fucha family officially entered its golden age.
For this reason, Emperor Kangxi did not designate a successor for the Fourth Prince's wife.
The Fucha clan's power had grown so immense that it gradually replaced the three giants—Song'etu, Mingzhu, and the Tong family—becoming the most powerful family in the court.
With a concubine of such high birth, who knows what might happen if a primary wife were to come along and keep her in check? Besides, looking at all the officials in the court, whose daughter could possibly keep her in check?
In terms of birth, favor, and offspring, no one can suppress Fucha Changning anymore.
She was the only one who could be the next wife.
However, if she were to be made the heir, Yinzhen's power would be unprecedented, even greater than that of the former Prince Zhi and the Crown Prince.
Having just dealt with his young, powerful, and extremely threatening son, Emperor Kangxi was naturally unwilling to personally promote another one.
Although Emperor Kangxi had a good impression of her and was particularly fond of his two grandsons, Hongyan and Hongzhao, he still had to consider this issue.
Moreover, it was Yinzhen himself who submitted a memorial, stating that he would not marry a secondary wife within a year.
Emperor Kangxi couldn't help but sigh, "No wonder Yinzhen is the one who wins my heart the most."
The emperor's reluctance to remarry due to his fear of his son is completely different from the son's voluntary request not to remarry.
With his memorial, Kangxi's headaches were largely resolved. Therefore, he was extremely generous and directly conferred upon Yinzhen the title of Prince Yong.
Thirteen and Fourteen also made contributions this time, and Kangxi generously granted them two noble titles.
Thirteen is a Beile, fourteen is... Beizi.
The 14th is going to explode!
Why?! Father Emperor is so biased!
Both were meritorious guards, so why was the fourth brother a prince, the thirteenth brother a beile, and I only got a beizi?
How embarrassing!
How embarrassing!
Fourteen felt so ashamed that he was too embarrassed to even go out.
However, he was still so angry that he jumped up and down and went straight to Yonghe Palace.
As expected, Consort De gave him another good scolding.
After he finished cursing, he became much more sober. Indeed, he and his fourth brother were siblings born of the same mother, and it was impossible for them to both be given high titles.
Fine, I'll just consider this my decision to give in.
Fourteen thought to himself, "I have to get some good stuff from Fourth Brother."
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