The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 127: The Deposed Crown Prince (1)

The Empress Dowager's birthday celebration was held in a grand and lively manner under the personal hosting of the Eighth Prince.

Yinyou saw with his own eyes that the Empress Dowager was smiling from ear to ear, and Kangxi was naturally extremely satisfied!
Looking back, a hundred years have passed!

At this time, Yinyou was already one of the many spectators in the audience, while the virtuous prince Laoba stood in the center of the stage he had always dreamed of, becoming the real star among the crowd.

Soon, another Spring Festival is here!

During the Spring Festival last year, there was a constant stream of traffic in front of Yinwei's mansion, and people coming and going, and those waiting to give gifts lined up at the entrance of the alley.

During this year's Spring Festival, almost no one came to pay New Year's greetings to Yinyu except the three generals, deputy generals, and lieutenants and assistant commanders under the Border White Army.

Yinyou, the Sixteenth and Eighteenth Brothers sat together on the kang, drinking tea and cracking watermelon seeds.

The Sixteenth Old Man said angrily, "Brother, when you were in charge of the Imperial Household Department, you treated them well. You didn't let them take any less money. Now, none of these bastards came to wish you a happy new year."

Yinyu smiled slightly and said, "It's New Year's Day, don't be angry, or you will get sick from anger, it's not worth it!"

The eight-year-old Eighteenth was already very sensible. He said softly, "Sixteenth Brother, I trust my eldest brother."

Yinyou knew what Lao Shiba meant, that sooner or later he would stand center stage.

Hey, this kid, it’s really worth the effort to train him!
Yinyou couldn't help but hugged Old Eighteen lovingly, let him sit in his arms, and kissed him hard several times.

The Eighteenth Prince cried out in pain from the stubble of Yinwei's beard, but he did not try to avoid it. Instead, he leaned into Yinwei's arms and made faces at the Sixteenth Prince.

After all, Old Sixteen was thirteen years old and couldn't act younger. He was so angry that he grabbed a handful of melon seeds and threw them at Old Eighteen.

For a moment, the room was filled with strong sibling love.

The Eighteenth suddenly hugged Yinyu's neck tightly, biting his ear and whispering, "Brother, I overheard the private conversations of the maids around Sixteenth Brother. They said that they would arrange a trial marriage for Sixteenth Brother next year. Brother, what kind of princess is the trial marriage?"

Yinyou suddenly realized, alas, his younger brothers are growing up day by day!

At this time, Yinyou's left shoulder was grabbed by Old Eighteen, and it actually hurt a little.

Yinyou gently stroked the tiger claw mark through his clothes. Well, Kangxi only suppressed him as a warning instead of kicking him into the dust. This old scar must have played a crucial role.

After all, Beile's title was not revoked, the 20,000-acre imperial farm was still there, and he also retained the job of managing the affairs of the three flags of the Bordered White Banner.

In the afternoon, the doorman came up to report that someone from the Nian family came to pay New Year's greetings.

At first, Yinyou thought it was Nian Gengyao who came, so he didn't read the manuscript.

Unexpectedly, after meeting him, I found out that he was Nian Xiyao, the current prefect of Guangping in Zhili.

"I am Nian Xiyao, your servant, wishing the best of the fifteenth master!" As soon as Nian Xiyao saw Yinyou, he immediately bowed.

"Get up." Yinyu smiled and waved his hand, asking Nian Xiyao to stand up.

Nian Xiyao stood up straight and said, "My father originally planned to come here in person to greet you and congratulate you, but unfortunately, he caught a cold and couldn't stand the cold wind outside, so he had to ask me to take leave and return to Beijing to pay New Year's greetings to Master Fifteen on his behalf, and wish him good luck and good fortune!"

From beginning to end, he never mentioned his younger brother Nian Gengyao.

Yinyu understood immediately after hearing it. Nian Gengyao thought that Yinyu had lost his power and did not want to continue to curry favor with him.

However, the old fox Nian Xialing called back Nian Xiyao, who was serving as the prefect, to come and pay New Year's greetings to Yinyou.

May I ask, what kind of high emotional intelligence is this?
No wonder that later, when Nian Gengyao was ordered to commit suicide, Nian Xialing and the entire Nian family were almost unharmed.

Yinyu was always soft-hearted, and since Nian Xialing was very sensible, he bowed and said, "Brother Nian, please give my regards to your father and wish him good health."

Nian Xiyao quickly stepped aside and returned the greeting, saying with great respect: "My father knows that you, the fifteenth master, have everything you need, but with a large family and great wealth, there are always times when you need to reward your servants. I came in a hurry, and I have prepared a small gift that is not worth mentioning. I hope you will accept it."

In fact, when Nian Xiyao entered the room, he had already given a list of gifts.

Now he took out another list of gifts, which clearly showed that he had something to say in private.

Yinyu was also a very smart man. Not only did he not look at the gift list, but he gave an order, "Come on, call Nian Guanyin to come over and meet her elder brother!"

Nian Xiyao never dreamed that Yinyou would be so reasonable?

When the Nian siblings met, Yinyou deliberately stepped out of the door, leaving them room to talk in private.

After Nian Xiyao said goodbye and left, Yinyou found out that the last gift list from the Nian family was actually two bills: a large one for 20,000 taels and a small one for 500 taels.

Yinyou understood it at a glance. The twenty thousand taels were a gift to him as a filial gift, while the five hundred taels were for Nian Guanyin to spend on herself.

This old guy Nian Xialing really understands the ways of the world.

This is just like family members sending money and gifts to the county jail. Only when the bulk of the money goes to the jailers and wardens can the prisoners in there have a few full meals and even have a chance to eat some meat.

Yinyou was not a bumpkin who had never seen money before, so he would definitely not be so short-sighted. He gave both tickets to Nian Guanyin.

During the entire Spring Festival, Prince Yu's mansion seemed unusually deserted.

However, Yinyu seemed to be fine and was in a good mood. This was because before the New Year, Yinyu received New Year gifts from more than a dozen Green Camp officers he had promoted.

Every time you kill a dog out of righteousness!
To be honest, the lower the rank of the officers, the more loyal they are. Even though they knew that Yinyu had lost power, they still remembered his favor of promoting him.

Of course, the world is extremely fickle. Among the dozens of young Green Camp officers promoted by Yinyu, less than half of them still remembered his kindness.

In particular, Brother Sun Jiu, who was far away in the Green Camp in Shaanxi, actually sent people from afar to deliver a group of beach sheep to him.

According to Brother Sun Jiu's letter, these sheep are raised on a diet of tender grass and black beans, and they taste especially delicious whether they are boiled or grilled.

Ten flocks of sheep are not worth much money, but Sun Jiuge expressed his gratitude to Yinyu vividly.

After the beginning of spring, the weather became abnormally hotter and hotter.

Kangxi was very afraid of heat, so he issued an order to go to Rehe in advance to escape the summer heat.

Yinyou and Lao Shiba also went to Rehe.

Originally, Yinyu thought that he would be ignored by Kangxi for a while and stay in the capital.

Unexpectedly, the Eighteenth Prince cried and made a fuss, insisting that Yinyou accompany him to Rehe.

Kangxi couldn't stand the crying of the Eighteenth Prince and had to agree.

Perhaps it was because the eighteenth prince had made too much noise, Kangxi actually brought the nineteenth prince to sit in the imperial carriage with him.

How could Yinyou not know this? It clearly meant, "Eighteenth brother, stop being so cocky. I have so many lovely sons."

However, this year was a disastrous year for the Eighteenth Prince. Several foreign missionaries who studied medicine also went to Rehe with Yinyou.

To be honest, Yinyu didn't know what kind of emergency the Eighteenth Old Man would suffer from. However, Yinyu prepared a lot of Houttuynia cordata and Achillea millefolium for a rainy day.

In the past, when the old leader was hospitalized for recuperation, Yinyou heard from the expert group's traditional Chinese medicine master that scallion, garlic, Houttuynia cordata and yarrow are all natural antibiotics with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

In this era without penicillin, Yinyou did not dare to be careless at all. He brought sufficient quantities of these four things and set off with Lao Shiba.

This time when he went to Rehe, Yinyou was just a spectator.

However, one thing must be admitted, Lao Ba is indeed very talented.

The entire team's journey north was arranged in an orderly manner by Lao Ba.

After arriving in Rehe, Yinyu and Lao Shiba were assigned to a separate courtyard together.

However, the location of the villa is quite far from the main gate of the palace.

Yinyou pretended to be ignorant even though he knew the truth, and deliberately did not bring the Eighteenth Prince to get close to Kangxi.

What's there to gather?
Old Eighteen was always by Yinyu's side. Once he fell ill, Yinyu could immediately organize a medical consultation, then mash the natural antibiotics he brought into juice and feed it to Old Eighteen to drink.

If so, the Eighteenth Prince stayed by Kangxi's side, it would be difficult for Yinyou to even get close to the imperial tent, let alone rescue the Eighteenth Prince in time.

After arriving at Mulan Paddock, Yinyu was too lazy to hunt and deliberately set up his tent far away from the imperial tent.

Haha, when Kangxi gets crazy, he likes to talk nonsense and act like a hooligan.

How could the prince have such ability to get close to the imperial tent every night and spy on the emperor's every move?
Unless all the guards and imperial guards protecting the imperial tent are killed!
When Hai Cha was roasting the lamb leg, Old Fourteen suddenly came.

"Fifteenth brother, why don't you go hunting?" The fourteenth brother, riding on a tall horse, looked down at Yinyou triumphantly.

Yinyou knew that after the Fourteenth Prince took over his position and took charge of the Ministry of War, he had long wanted to show off in front of him, but he never had the chance.

Now, the good opportunity has finally come, how can Old Fourteen not be proud?

Sitting under the shade of the tree, Yinyou knew the Fourteenth Prince's temper very well.

In essence, the Fourteenth Prince is not a completely bad villain. He is just a naughty child who was spoiled by Concubine De since childhood.

For someone like Old Fourteen, it would be no big deal if we showed some weakness to satisfy his vanity.

"Brother Fourteen, my horse riding and archery skills have never been as good as yours. Even if I participate in hunting, I will definitely get less prey than you!"

The Fourteenth Brother had not expected that Yinyou would actually praise him like this. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter and said, "Fifteenth Brother, just because of what you said, when I become the general and attack the Junggar barbarians in the future, I will definitely ask Khan Ama to send you as my deputy commander!"

It’s so crazy!
However, Yinyu had the overall situation in mind and did not want to irritate the Fourteenth Brother, so he smiled and said, "Being the deputy commander for the Fourteenth Brother is something I would love to do!"

"Haha, Old Fifteen, I really love what you said today!" Old Fourteen rode away on his horse with a burst of laughter.

A few days later, when Yinyou was sleeping soundly with the Eighteenth Prince in his arms, he suddenly heard Wulin report an important news: the Nineteenth Prince was ill!

When Yinyou heard the news, he immediately realized that the thrilling dethronement of the crown prince had already begun.

PS: The second update is here. I am working hard to write the extra update in the early morning. Please give me monthly votes to encourage me to write better plots.

(End of this chapter)