Turn your hand to make clouds and rain
The new emperor dealt with a number of people with swift and decisive action, which frightened the court officials for a while. While they knew the reasons for the punishments, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their spine at the emperor's wrath. A more discerning individual might have wondered: Was this a sign that the emperor was about to take action?
Because of the rule of "no change of father's ways for three years", the successor emperor must even declare that he is following the will of the late emperor when issuing an edict, and express it in a tone like what the late emperor once thought. You want to change people? Please take it easy, this is not in accordance with the rules.
Therefore, when the successor emperor could no longer endure the three years of lonely waiting and wanted to take action, he always needed a plausible reason or a breakthrough. And that breakthrough was ready-made!
First, those who are directly or indirectly responsible for the death of the late emperor, and then, should we adjust everyone's titles at once?
For a time, the situation in Beijing was tense. During Kangxi's lifetime, he constantly transferred officials from the Imperial Household Department, who had strong ties to Yinreng, to central government positions. These individuals typically first served as assistants, gaining experience in the six ministries before becoming vice ministers, and so on. The relationship between a future boss and a current boss is inherently complex in the eyes of the officialdom. Even if the two are relatively indifferent, the subordinates often harbor their own concerns, leading to awkward situations for both.
Now the new emperor has begun to move against his courtiers...
What a meaningful ellipsis!
Of these, Li Guangdi was the most thoughtful. Having served as Yinreng's tutor, he should have had a good relationship with the new emperor, but this was not the case. Li Guangdi was a slippery ball, untouchable. During his time with Kangxi, he favored neither. So what if he was the crown prince? He always maintained a safe and ambiguous distance from the Crown Prince's attempts to win him over.
The safe distance at that time now seems a little dangerous. It was not too close, but too far.
Li Guangdi was extremely melancholy! Li Guangdi tried so hard! Li Guangdi was full of schemes! Li Guangdi was filled with regret!
The elderly Li Daxueshi pulled himself together and continued to forge ahead. He had already taken the initiative, namely, being the first to initiate the enthronement of the Crown Prince by order of the Empress Dowager. But this was not enough; he still had to work hard, at least to make the Emperor forget his previous disrespectful behavior.
Holding a grudge didn't matter; Li Guangdi hadn't expected Yinreng to forget those unpleasant experiences. Think about it: neither of them was a political novices, playing Tai Chi. One knew the other wanted him to side with them, while the other saw a fishing rod for rejection in his eyes. Want to forget? Is that so easy?
It's just a matter of atonement for one's sins. There's no need to be afraid of one's sins. Being able to atone for them is better than forgetting them.
Three candles were lit on the desk, and Old Man Li was sorting through the documents, studying...
The others weren't so calm, starting with the Tong family. Tong Guowei could only consider himself unlucky. He had previously considered following Kangxi, but that was a momentary emotional outburst. After a period of calm, he couldn't even die. While he was alive, he was still Kangxi's elder, and Yinreng couldn't treat him too harshly. His death would be a way to pay for Kangxi's life. Regardless of whether it paid off, it would provide an explanation, and it would probably help Yinreng relieve his anger.
But he couldn't die now.
Tong Guowei had seven sons. The eldest and second sons were already dead. Longkodo, the third son, was the oldest surviving son.[1] Could one trust the family to be handed over to a man who was so well-regarded by the emperor? At least he had to wait until his sons had grown up and could take charge of the family and suppress Longkodo. This was the only way to keep the family safe.
He was the one who was most worried about Yinreng's actions.
However, even if the rich live in remote areas, they may have distant relatives; even if the poor cause trouble, no one will know. Seeing the Tong family's decline, few in the court were willing to help him. Tong Guowei could only endure the hardship on his own; a few more years of life would be victory. As a last resort, he had to hand over Longkodo, and Tong Guowei felt a sharp pain in his chest.
I should have intervened when this bastard stole someone else's concubine from his father-in-law! And Aling, what a bastard who only benefits himself and harms others!
Fortunately, that bastard is not having an easy time either.
Alinga's family was already in turmoil! Alinga hadn't expected the new emperor to be so angry. He was certainly angry; he'd been mentally prepared when the emperor fell ill. But then, Alinga thought, after all, his family was the descendant of a meritorious official, a royal family, and he was Yun'e's uncle and Yunli's father-in-law. He could calm down and recover in a few years.
Not to mention the distant past, even when Oboi committed such a serious crime, he didn’t implicate many of his relatives, right?
The population of bannermen was small, and those of pure Manchu bannermen were even smaller, so they had to be used even if they didn't need to. The extermination of nine generations of a clan almost never happened in the Manchu banner.
Alinga is living a very happy life in seclusion.]
One day, he was sitting in a cool room, closing his eyes and humming a little tune. Two pretty maids were peeling grapes and stuffing them into his mouth beside the rocking chair. Suddenly, the emperor passed away!
A big grape got stuck in Alinga's throat and he almost choked to death!
Oh no, this is a big deal. Well, it's okay, the Tong family is still there to support them. As long as they are fine, our family won't punish them more severely than them. He felt relieved again and asked the whole family to wear mourning clothes.
One or two days, one or two months, everything was quiet and nothing happened. Alinga was relieved because the emperor's sister-in-law was still in our house.
Crack! A thunder struck overhead and the Duke was gone.
The title is gone, and I can no longer live in the Duke's Mansion. When Faka lost the Dukedom, he moved out of this mansion and was given a small house. Now, Alinga, you two should switch.
Yin'e didn't speak up for Aling'a. Even though he was his uncle, it was just a matter of face. When he inherited the title, he persuaded him because he didn't want his maternal family to fall into trouble due to the leader's misjudgment. Now the dukedom has gone to Faka, who is also his uncle. With his maternal family safe, Yin'e no longer cares about Aling'a. You messed up my mother's funeral back then. I cried my heart out, and you talked nonsense outside.
There was also some movement in the Shi family; Shi Wenbing was ill. He was aging, and his health was failing. He was the new empress's father, after all, and he had to perform well at the late emperor's funeral. Weeping is a physically demanding job, requiring punctuality (it's a must, otherwise he'd be punished), quality, and quantity (a certain number of tears must be shed—every time). It's truly not a job for humans! The old man was ill.
"Don't disturb the palace. The master is busy right now. Prince Yu's wife is about to give birth. Don't disturb them." Shi Wenbing gave the order seriously. It didn't matter if he was sick. The important thing was the overall interest.
The next day, he received a gift package from the palace: two imperial physicians. The emperor had heard about the situation and had specially dispatched the imperial physicians to treat him.
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The situations of the above three families are very telling. The emperor is paying attention to new relatives and attacking old relatives. This can be seen as a signal: the court needs a blood transfusion!
But everyone guessed wrong!
But this was not what the emperor cared about; he had a more important goal.
While the late emperor lay in state, the court continued to function as usual. The new emperor even granted permission for Cao Yin, a close confidant of the late emperor, to come to Beijing to mourn and receive him cordially. The two men then engaged in a long, private conversation, during which Cao Yin emerged, sweating and tearful, looking as if he were still dedicated to his country.
No one really could guess what the emperor was thinking, and everyone had a very difficult time during this period.
Soon, their mood of "waiting for the other shoe to drop" was comforted - the shoe dropped!
After the late emperor's memorial tablet was inscribed, an auspicious date for burial was determined, and the tomb was moved to the mountain. The date was set for November. This was fine. The rituals should be a bit more grand than those of the Shunzhi Emperor, and there were still several months to prepare. The problem was that after the tomb was moved to the mountain, the memorial tablet had to be immediately enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. While the emperor's memorial tablet was enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the memorial tablet of his wife naturally followed his own wishes.
Empress Renxiao had no objections, but the emperor expressed strong opposition to the simultaneous enshrinement of Kangxi's two successors, Empress Xiaozhao and Empress Xiaoyi! He demanded that they be moved out even if they were already enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The court erupted in uproar.
How could our family of N, three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, and our father and son, be slammed on the pillar of shame by your two idiots? Oh, the marriage didn't go through, and a scandal broke out in the other family, which infuriated the man's grandfather? Who wouldn't want to share such a sensual, secretive, and exciting topic?
Yinreng sneered. "To silence them is a foolish idea, but to come out and confess is to try to cover up one's own faults." "Don't you guys love to discuss things? Then let's discuss them. I'll give you a new topic."
You discuss and I am the referee. You act and I am the director and audience. However, as the director, I will not explain the play to you, so you don’t know that I am the director.
Get rid of your anger at the same time.
Face, face, face, do you understand? It's hard to relieve the hatred in my heart without giving it a couple of hard slaps!
Well, there are some unreliable guesses from the bystanders to testify that Yinreng did not have a very good impression of these two stepmothers.
Furthermore, this incident made Yinreng wary: Was the shareholder a bit too bold? After the incident, Yinreng naturally dug up the little interactions between Tong Guowei and Alinga, and after his anger, he was shocked. Let me give you a little insight, let you know: what is the relationship between monarch and minister? This is the fate of a servant who schemes against his master! And it even leads to the death!
He is abusing his power for personal gain.
As a crown prince who had studied the various books on sexual ethics very well and had a very high level of theoretical knowledge, how could he not know that it was impossible to dismiss his father's wife? He had never thought that he could succeed from the beginning. The following was his ultimate goal.
When discussing the two successors, we must uncover why they weren't enshrined. Of course, no one would say that the living had implicated the dead, but they certainly wondered. As for the emperor's lame excuse that someone only accepted the imperial seal without performing a ceremony, no one believed it—your father accepted it.
In this way, everyone must know that the current Crown Prince is a victim.
Yinreng was anxiously waiting for his son in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. This was a test for Hongdan to see if his son could understand him. It was also an exercise for Hongdan. He informed his son in advance and they acted out a play. In this way, the road was arranged so that his son would never grow up!
In Yinreng's plan, Hongdan came to ask for a favor, and he agreed. Then the image of both father and son would be elevated, enough to cover up the previous scandal.
This is like birth: humble origins and tempered experiences are the glittering gems on the medal of success. The victim's generosity is a virtue. Of course, the emperor couldn't help but be angry, otherwise he would be too shameless and unfilial.
The prince had to plead for mercy. It was obviously inappropriate to plead for the two scumbags, but it was perfectly reasonable to plead for the deceased who was lying down (realistically speaking) and was also shot. Since they were all going to be buried anyway, he might as well squeeze the value of this matter to the maximum.
Come on, son! Don't be afraid, I'm waiting for you. Go forward, I'll catch you and won't let you fall.
Hongdan remained silent for two days, letting his subordinates clamor incessantly. This time, the discussion was truly chaotic. Originally, the handling of the Tong family and Alinga was an internal matter for the bannermen, but once the question of the empress's status became a matter of debate, the conflict escalated, and many Han officials rolled up their sleeves, a Jinshengzi throat lozenge in their mouths, and took the field.
Wang Fan was the first to speak out, arguing that the emperor's justification was insufficient, given that during Kangxi's reign, the two empresses had always received offerings and incense during memorials. Then, several former officials of the Crown Prince's palace also submitted memorials, urging the emperor to "reconsider." Zhao Shenqiao, the dismissed official, even submitted a petition, arguing with Wang Fan.
Yinreng glanced at the list and silently wrote down all the names.
On the third day, after the court session, Hongdan came over and said, "Father, I have something to tell you."
It’s finally here! Yinreng breathed a sigh of relief, but for the rest, he would wait and see what his son said before deciding whether to put it down or bring it up.
Smile: "Come and sit down, and talk slowly."
Hong Dan spoke slowly, "Father, there's such a commotion outside... Are you... still going to do this?"
Yinreng raised his eyebrows and said in a voice so loud that it could be heard from miles away: "What? Just because they are arguing so fiercely, I have to give in to them?! Using power to bully the emperor, how can this be tolerated?!!" He was unhappy. How could he be so soft-hearted?
Hongdan continued slowly, "Empress Xiaozhao and Empress Xiaoyi are always innocent. Besides... let's not judge by the monk, but by the Buddha. Empress Xiaokangzhang is always Mafa's biological mother."
This reason makes sense.
Yinreng sneered, "What else?" accompanied by the sound of slapping tables and stools.
Hongdan stood up swiftly and knelt before his father, hugging his father's legs. With a sincere expression, he tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle and said, "Father, Father, I know you're suffering, and I'm sad too. I know you can't bear to see me suffer. I understand."
Yinreng sighed and decided to let his son go back to practice.
Hongdan whispered, "The Empress Dowager is also the Empress Dowager, you..."
Yinreng's face was furious and he refused. In his heart, he actually praised his son, saying, "This damn boy, why didn't he write a memorial to come and chat with me?"
"Ama~"
"Go write a memorial."
"Huh?" What I said before, can I write it down? Hongdan was a little dumbfounded, stunned for a moment, looking at his father.
He has good talent, but he's still young and needs to be nurtured! Yinreng felt the same way Kangxi did back then, and he also looked at his son playfully.
Hongdan was stunned for a moment, as if he had realized something.
The father and son smiled at each other, and Yinreng probably understood his Khan Father a little bit.
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While the father and son were acting, Shujia was busy as she was anxiously waiting for Shuhui to give birth.
Upon hearing the news that Shuhui was about to give birth, Shujia ordered the wet nurse to keep an eye on Wuyunzhu, and then hurried to Gandongwusuo with the others. When they arrived, they found that the place was relatively orderly, the delivery room door was already closed, and the eunuchs and palace maids were not unsteady on their feet, but they did not act like headless flies.
When they saw the queen arrive, everyone seemed to have found a backbone and paid their respects to her in unison.
"Come on, go about your business. Aside from those assigned to this department, everyone else should go wherever they need to go. Don't make a fuss! Where's the midwife? Where's the imperial physician? Where's the wet nurse? Tell them to bring more hot water!"
Fang Niu hurried over and said, "My lady, I've sent for the midwife and the imperial physician. The wet nurse is waiting in the side room. The hot water is being boiled, but it's not available yet. Our wife just lay down a short while ago."
As she spoke, she welcomed Shujia to sit in Shuhui's main room, served her tea, and stood by to chat with her. While Fang Niu was talking to Shujia, she looked anxiously at the door that blocked her view.
"Don't hang around me anymore, go in and help, I'm here outside!" As soon as Shujia finished speaking, the midwife arrived.
Shujia raised her hand and said, "I've made note of this courtesy. You can go in and see the Lady! If you serve me well, I'll reward you handsomely." There was no need to say the second half of the sentence.
Shujia stood up again and said to her sister, "Fourth girl, I'm here with you, just hold on!"
Time ticked by, with only various noises to be heard from within, but no report of the birth. First births are always more difficult, Shujia knew this from her own experience. But people are like that; knowing doesn't mean they're not worried. The armrests of the armchair outside Shuhui's bedroom door were about to be twisted off by the Empress!
Damn! This is more tiring than giving birth to my own child!
Just before the Queen completed her powerful Vajra Hand, a loud baby cry was heard from inside the room.
"My Lord and Madam, it's a little prince!"
"Where's Fu Jin?"
"Mother and child are both safe!"
Shujia was relieved: "Serve your master well, hang a bow outside the door, and send someone to tell the Fifteenth Master..."
After giving all the instructions, by the time Shujia returned to the East Palace, the palace gates were almost locked.
He didn't get any rest after coming back. According to insider information, when the prince met the emperor, the emperor was very angry, shouted loudly, and even slammed the table.
Shujia's heart tightened again.
Although the butterfly itself didn't know how it worked, its role had already become apparent, but Shujia had also lost her advantage in foreseeing the future (she didn't know much herself). She could only take things one step at a time.
Hongdan did come back to live, and his former yard finally came in handy. Shujia called him over and asked, "Did you make your father angry?"
Hongdan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Mother, where did you hear that? It's not true. Father is not unhappy today. Father asked me to write a memorial, and I have to show it to you tomorrow."
Shujia was very worried. Has her son learned to tell "white lies"?
Seeing that she still didn't believe it, Hongdan had to reveal a little: "That's... for others to see." He lowered his voice.
I don't understand anymore.
"Ah, mother, leave the external affairs to my father and me, and you can just enjoy your life in peace. Your son is going to write a memorial."
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! This is outrageous! Being despised by Yinreng is fine, he really is quite capable, and now he is being "comforted" by his son. Shujia wants to tickle him.
The man's world lets women stay away, uh, no, now a group of men are discussing around two women, oh, and they are both dead women.
Shujia was anxious but helpless. Which side should she support? From the perspective of etiquette and law, the ministers were right. From an emotional point of view, they would definitely support Yinreng.
In this swing, the third day bath of the eldest son of the fifteenth prince began.
With the Empress in charge, everything went smoothly. The baby was growing well, though Shujia saw it as a little less developed than her own son. Meanwhile, Lady Xiluo appeared. She, too, was worried and couldn't tell her daughter that her husband was seriously ill. She claimed to be exhausted and asked to leave early.
Crying for the emperor was a tiring job. Shujia and Shuhui both expressed their understanding. Shuyi knew a little about the inside story and helped to keep it secret - she would keep it secret for now, and then turn against him if his condition got any worse.
So Shujia returned to the Eastern Palace by herself, but she heard good news: "His Majesty has approved the Crown Prince's memorial, and Empress Xiaozhao and Empress Xiaoyi will also be enshrined in the temple. People outside say that His Majesty is very receptive to advice and that the Crown Prince is benevolent."
Damn! These two bastards are really just showing off! Hindsight is hindsight, and that's what Shujia is like.
The author has something to say:
[1] Tong Guowei had seven sons, Longkodo was the third, but it was written as the fourth.
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