The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 126 Eye of Typhoon

Kangxi was not so easily fooled, so he simply called the fourth son to the Qianqing Palace as well.

The fourth brother said with a straight face, "No money!"

No matter what Kangxi said, the fourth brother insisted on the three words "no silver" and refused to give in.

"Look, it's not that I don't want to give out rewards, it's that there is no money in the treasury."

Yinyou understood immediately that Kangxi wanted him to persuade the people of the Bordered White Banner because the court really had no money to pay them.

"My Lord, I understand."

Yinyu had seen similar famous scenes of the top leader and the finance director working together to perform a double act many times, and he himself had played the leading role more than once.

In fact, Lao Si once said that there were still 4000 million taels of silver in the national treasury. However, not a single tael of this silver could be moved.

What if the Dzungars launched a massive attack, or if the Yellow River and Huai River flooded again? What would the court do if it had no silver?
Besides, it’s just overdue payment, it will be reissued sooner or later!
Therefore, Kangxi was definitely clear about the real important issues.

In the Qing Dynasty, people were always extremely wary and fearful of refugees who were starving!

The Empress Dowager's birthday was approaching, but the longevity tower that had been built in front of Ningshou Palace suddenly caught fire.

At that time, the fire was blazing high into the sky and thick smoke was billowing. Many people saw it.

Kangxi was so angry that his nose was almost crooked. He called Yinyou, Heyi and Ling Pu together and started scolding them.

The Shouta was supervised by He Yi himself, so it was only natural that he was scolded.

Yinyou and Ling Pu are just unlucky together!

When he lowered his head and was scolded, Yinyou thought to himself, the three general managers are not subordinate to each other, this system is really wonderful!
However, Yinyou always suspected that the sudden fire in the longevity tower might be the result of Ling Pu's secret plot.
After all, Ling Pu and He Yi are in serious conflict!
In fact, we can sort out the logic of this matter by using the process of elimination.

If the prince really wanted to win over Yinyou, Ling Pu should not have the courage to frame Yinyou.

He Yi was in charge of a project himself, so it was impossible for him to set fire to the empress dowager's longevity tower.

Suddenly, Yinyou was shocked. If someone wanted to bring disaster to him, that would make sense!

The question is, who has the energy to do something as big as arson in front of everyone?

At first glance, even if Yinyou was driven out of the Imperial Household Department, no prince would dare to say that he could definitely take over the Imperial Household Department.

However, if Yinyou was sent back to the Shangshufang to study because of this, the Fourteenth Prince would definitely be the first to stand up and ridicule him harshly.

Thinking of this, Yinyu closed his eyes and felt a chill in his heart!
Alas, my adoptive mother, Concubine De, has been in charge of the palace for many years. She really has the ability to instruct others to set fire without anyone noticing.

"Fifteenth Prince, why don't you say anything?" Kangxi was tired of scolding, so he took a gulp of herbal tea and suddenly turned his attention to Yinyou.

"My Lord Khan, I am responsible for all the mistakes. Our plan now is not only to find out the cause of the fire, but also to make the Empress Dowager's birthday a happy and peaceful occasion. I would like to resign from all my duties and return home to study and reflect on my mistakes!"

Yinyou is not a young boy who has never seen the world. Since Concubine De wants to deal with him secretly, he might as well give up!

However, Yinyu took a step back to advance and did not plan to return to the Shangshufang to study, but to return to the Beile Mansion to reflect on his mistakes.

"It is impossible that no one will take responsibility for such a big incident." Kangxi said coldly, "He Yi, you will be dismissed from your post but retained in office, and fined three years' salary. Ling Pu, you will be demoted three levels but retained in employment. Yin Yu, you will be dismissed from your duties as the manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of War."

When Yinyou heard the word "Ministry of War", he understood everything almost instantly.

"I accept your order and thank you!" Yinyou accepted the punishment without hesitation and had no intention of defending himself.

However, among Yinwei's three major assignments, Kangxi at least gave him some dignity and he was not dismissed from his position as the manager of the three banners of the Bordered White Banner.

When he took his leave, in full view of everyone, Yinyou still stood straight and walked out of the Qianqing Palace with his head held high.

As expected, a few days later, an imperial decree was issued from the palace.

"Imperial decree, the fourteenth prince, Yinzhen, is to be in charge of the Ministry of War..."

"... Order the eighth prince, Prince Yinsi, to manage the Ministry of Internal Affairs..."

The Fourteenth Prince had no title or job before, but overnight, he became the emperor of the Ministry of War. Naturally, he was extremely proud and elated.

Kangxi was very satisfied with the performance of the Eighth Prince as regent twice, so he transferred him from Guangshanku to manage the Imperial Household Department, which was definitely a reward for his merits.

For a time, the prestige of the Eighth Prince's party was greatly boosted. Many Manchu nobles who had been secretly watching before thought they had seen through Kangxi's intentions and took the initiative to move closer to the Eighth Prince.

In the Ningshou Palace fire incident, the people who were most seriously injured, apart from Yinyou, were Ling Pu.

When the fourth son came to visit Yinyu, he slammed the table and said, "Khan Ama must have been deceived by the traitor!"

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the more power Yinwei held, the more beneficial it would be for the fourth prince.

Now, Yinyou has lost two of his three major tasks, and the loss of the fourth one is also huge!
Yinyu was not angry at all, and said calmly: "Fourth brother, I am still young, and I have suddenly been promoted to a high position. If I don't know how to advance and retreat, I will inevitably become arrogant!"

What could he say?

Oh, fourth brother, to tell you the truth, it was actually your own mother who instructed others to secretly sabotage me?

Can you say that?
In addition, Kangxi became increasingly intolerant of the crown prince and was on the verge of deposing him.

At this critical juncture, Kangxi's weakening of Yinyou's power was just a precautionary measure of the emperor's mind.

After all, Yinyou is the prince's brother-in-law!

Kangxi was planning to depose the crown prince, so he naturally had to be on guard against Yinyou. Can you tell this to the fourth child?
Originally, with Yinyou's covert support, the Fourth Brother's secret plan went extremely smoothly.

However, Yinyou suddenly lost his power, and the fourth brother was forced to stop working on his half-finished work.

Unlike most people, after receiving a warning, Yinyou ate, drank, and took care of all the affairs of the Bordered White Banner.

However, after leaving the Imperial Household Department, Yinyou had a lot more free time.

Managing the affairs of the three banners of the Bordered White Banner was a temporary assignment and there was no fixed government office.

So, Yinyou simply stayed in the Prince's Mansion and no longer had to get up early to go on duty.

Whenever there was something going on, the three generals under his command would come to the Prince's Mansion to find Yinyou.

When he had nothing to do, Yinyou didn't want to go to the Dutong Yamen and be picky and annoying.

If we were to say who would be the happiest person after Yinyou had some free time, who else could it be other than Old Eighteen?
Apart from attending classes, Old Eighteen always stuck to Yinyou.

Yinyou took advantage of his rare free time to restore various children's toys that did not require batteries as best as possible according to his memory for the Eighteenth Prince to play with.

Yinyou, who had never formed a clique, suddenly had few visitors after he left the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of War. For ten days or half a month, not a single guest came to visit.

However, Lao Shisan comes to drink almost every day!
The fifth brother would come to visit every half a month. He never came empty-handed, and Yinyu's favorite pork elbow in sauce was indispensable.

The twelfth brother, who had no job, would come to the Prince's Mansion with the sixteenth brother every now and then to eat for free.

What surprised Yinyou was that the seventh brother, who was always a loner, actually came so often.

As time went by, the princes who did not form cliques actually developed a good relationship with Yinyou.

Of course, Yinyou knew very well that friendship was one thing, but it was impossible to get the fifth, seventh and twelfth brothers to support the fourth brother!
As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed!

Even though he was not the final companion of the fifth, seventh and twelfth brothers, Yinyou still felt touched by them.

In the past, when Yinyou was at the height of his power, his three brothers did not get much benefit from it.

When Yinwei lost power, they took the initiative to come to comfort Yinwei.

As for the pretendingly virtuous Eighth Elder, she was busy entertaining new members of her party every day, so how could she have the time to care about Yinyou?

In the afternoon, Yinyou was busy with the new toy of the Eighteenth Prince when the Thirteenth Prince came again.

Lao Shisan doesn’t like drinking tea, he likes drinking wine.

Yinyou ordered someone to bring two pots of distilled white wine and a plate of fried peanuts sprinkled with salt.

As an old wine lover, Lao Shisan can do without vegetables.

However, Lao Shisan also liked the fried peanuts he grabbed with his hands and stuffed into his mouth one by one.

"Fifteenth brother, I see that you are not anxious at all. No matter how you look at it, you seem to be confident."

Old Thirteen is indeed a shrewd and capable "Workaholic" with a unique vision.

Yinyu sighed and said, "Brother Thirteen, to be honest, Khan Ama didn't let me go back to the Shangshufang and accompany the prince to study. I am already very satisfied!"

Old Thirteen thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That's right. Your Highness, the Crown Prince is feeling very frustrated right now, being scolded by Master Xu every day."

Yinyou looked at Old Thirteen deeply, grabbed a peanut, put it in his mouth, and began to chew it slowly.

The younger Fourteenth Prince has already risen to the position of managing the Ministry of War. Doesn’t Yinyou believe that the Thirteenth Prince doesn’t have any ideas?
However, when the 18th-level typhoon just formed at sea, Yinyou was swept down by the tail of the typhoon.

What’s more, what about Old Thirteen, who has a big “Chu” character carved on his head?

Before the Saint’s Birthday Festival, there is a grand gold awarding ceremony.

The Golden Award Festival is the festival marking the official birth of Manchuria.

Deliberately changing the name of Jurchen to Manchuria was precisely the cunning and cleverness of Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Taiji.

Another extremely sinister measure taken by Huang Taiji was to change the country's name from Jin to Qing.

The legendary story of Yue Fei's resistance against the Jin Dynasty has long been deeply rooted in the folk culture of the Central Plains.

According to custom, on the day of the Golden Festival, princes and ministers would go to the Qianqing Palace to pay homage to Emperor Kangxi.

The wives and concubines of princes and nobles had to go to the Ningshou Palace to pay homage to the Empress Dowager.

Originally, these were just routine matters.

However, after Yinyou mingled in the crowd and paid his respects to Kangxi, before he could even get to the banquet, shocking news suddenly came from Wulin.

"Master, I don't know how the pearl flower our wife was wearing collided with the Empress Dowager's headdress. Dezhuer scolded her on the spot and made her kneel down as punishment!"

No matter what, when Concubine De slapped Cuiqing in the face in public, she was slapping Yinyou in the face!

Yinyu's eyes were cold, but he said, "Go and keep an eye on Fu Jin, and be sure to personally escort her out of the palace and back home!"

"Whoo!"

Wu Ya, just wait and see. One day, if I don’t instigate the fourth brother to force you to death, it will be considered a great blessing for your ancestors!

PS: Today is the first update. No bragging, the thrilling palace fighting drama that Sikong is best at has begun again. There are more than 15000 monthly tickets. I will not sleep at all. There will definitely be four updates!
(End of this chapter)