The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 22 Favors are greater than debts

After Liang Jiugong finished asking, he immediately laid down his arms and said with a fake smile, "Master Fifteen, I am only following the instructions of Your Majesty. If there is any transgression, please bear with me, Master Fifteen."

Yinyu leaned over to help Liang Jiugong up, and said politely: "It is only natural for Master Liang to question Khan Ama!"

Liang Jiugong wanted to say goodbye and leave. When Yinyu saw him off, he took a piece of paper handed to him by Wulin.

"Master Liang, you serve Khan Ama all day long, and it's really hard." Yinyu deliberately grabbed Liang Jiugong's right hand and stuffed the piece of paper into his sleeve.

Liang Jiugong only took a glance and knew clearly that this slightly yellowed piece of hemp paper must be a large-denomination bill from the "Tian Di Hao" in Beijing.

Tiandihao was a large trading company opened in the capital by wealthy merchants from Zhejiang. It mainly engaged in silk trade and also engaged in long-distance foreign exchange business.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, there was no such thing as silver bills. The paper exchange vouchers that had similar functions to silver bills were called huipiao.

"This..." Liang Jiugong put on an embarrassed look and pretended to push back, but Yinyou grabbed his sleeve tightly.

"Master Liang, the rules of the palace must not be broken!" After Yinyou said this, Liang Jiugong "reluctantly" accepted the ticket.

Liang Jiugong nodded secretly, Old Fifteen is a sensible boy!
The eunuchs in the palace, because they no longer have power, have two main needs: to make money and to maintain face.

In the palace, if you lose your dignity, you will lose the qualifications to make money. The two have always been complementary.

As a prince, Yinyou gave Liang Jiugong enough face, and Liang Jiugong was grateful for that.

In the palace, with Liang Jiugong's identity, as long as he showed up, the basic price for a red envelope must not be less than fifty taels of silver.

Considering Yinyou's status, he took the initiative to see Liang Jiugong out and walked down the steps in front of the door, which was considered a great respect.

Liang Jiugong left with satisfaction. On the way, he took the time to look at the bill, which turned out to be a denomination of two hundred taels of silver.

Well, although Old Fifteen is young, he really knows how to behave!
After Liang Jiugong left, there was no further news from the Qianqing Palace, which just fits Yinyou's previous guess: Kangxi was just testing him.

In his later years, Kangxi became more suspicious and fickle due to the growing threat posed by the crown prince.

The Crown Prince kicked the Fourth Prince unconscious, Yinyu and the Sixteenth Prince went to visit the Fourth Prince, the Crown Prince took his anger out on Yinyu, and the Crown Princess hosted a banquet for Yinyu in the East Palace. All these things happened under Kangxi's nose, there was no way he was unaware of them.

So, Kangxi must find out what Yinyou's intentions are.

Yinyou’s attitude was actually very clear. He would continue to spend his days in the Shangshufang and not get involved in anything.

In the battle for the throne of the Nine Dragons, the earlier the princes entered the game, the worse their fate would be. For example, the eldest prince.

A few days later, the fifth brother sent someone to send an invitation, because his fourth son Hongang was celebrating his full month, and he invited Yinyou to join in the fun.

According to the customs of the Banner people, the baby's full moon banquet is held with extra grandness.

On the wedding day, Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince walked out of the palace side by side from the Shenwu Gate and got on a carriage to the Beile Mansion of the Fifth Prince.

The Prince's Mansion was located in Shaojiu Alley inside Chaoyang Gate. Yinyu and Prince Sixteen took a carriage from the palace gate to the mansion, which took at least an hour to get there.

On the way, the Sixteenth Prince asked Yinyu casually: "Brother, what gift have you prepared?"

This guy is still outspoken. Their common eldest brother can only be Yinzhi.

Yinyu frowned and scolded unhappily, "Call me Fifteenth Brother, and stop calling me Big Brother. Do you understand?"

The Sixteenth Brother chuckled and said, "Fifteenth Brother, I get it. But I heard with my own ears that Ninth Brother dared to call Fifth Brother 'Big Brother' in front of everyone." Yinyou knew from his frivolous look that this guy didn't listen at all.

In the palace, even if one was a prince, it was forbidden to have any other ranking among brothers except the one decided by Emperor Kangxi.

However, there were several pairs of princes who were brothers, for example, the fourth and the fourteenth, the fifth and the ninth, and then Yinyu, the sixteenth and the eighteenth.

"Ninth brother and eldest brother don't get along, that's just to deliberately anger eldest brother." Yinyu felt it was necessary to remind the Sixteenth Brother to avoid trouble, "Don't forget, our background is different from theirs."

The Sixteenth Brother was silent for a long while, then suddenly said, "Seventeenth Brother is the same as us, we are all pitiful creatures."

Yinyu said calmly: "It is better to worry less about others and mind your own stinky mouth."

The biological mother of the Seventeenth Prince, Concubine Chen, was nominally the daughter of the former Zhejiang Governor Chen Bingzhi and was a member of the banner.

In fact, everyone in the palace knew that Concubine Chen was just a beautiful Han woman who was presented as tribute by Chen Bingzhi from Hangzhou.

Because of their roughly similar backgrounds, it is indeed easy for the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Brothers to sympathize with each other!
Yinyu prepared a longevity silver lock weighing ten taels for the one-month-old baby.

Among many brothers, the fifth brother has a particularly calm temperament and is kind to everyone.

Perhaps out of pity, or perhaps out of affinity, the fifth brother treated Yinyu a little differently, and from time to time he would use pure Mongolian to give Yinyu some advice in a roundabout way.

Yinyou was not a stubborn person, so he would naturally return the favor.

Considering his income level, giving him a silver lock weighing ten taels was already very generous.

The Sixteenth and Fourth were very close, but had almost no interaction with the Fifth. The silver longevity lock he gave to them weighed only two taels.

To be honest, Old Sixteen gritted his teeth and gave away the two-liang silver longevity lock. He already had to tighten his belt and live a hard life, so he couldn't possibly give more.

There’s no way, every family has its own problems.

Kangxi had too many sons, and the frequency of their visits was very high. For the poor Sixteenth Prince, this was an extremely heavy burden of favors.

The common people and cattle and horses were worried about going hungry, while the princes were worried all day long because they had no money to give gifts, no money to reward the palace maids or eunuchs.

It is true that every family has its own problems!
The Sixteenth Prince always went out of the palace to play with Yinyu, eating Yinyu's food, drinking Yinyu's drinks, and taking Yinyu's things, which saved a lot of money.

Moreover, when the Sixteenth Prince traveled in Yinyou's carriage, he didn't even need to bring guards, and he could save a lot of money on tips.

Kangxi once told his sons that they could save any reward money except the cooks, palace maids, eunuchs and guards around them.

If there is no benefit, why should others be loyal to you?

Today, Shaojiu Hutong is bustling with traffic and people coming and going.

When Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince arrived, the alley was already blocked by a long line of carriages.

Now that they were there, the carriage had no way of flying over the many obstacles, so Yinyou and the Sixteenth Prince had no choice but to sit in the carriage bored, slowly moving in with the queue of carriages.

Today, Shaojiu Hutong was packed with adult princes and their wives. The carriages of these top-level Tianlong people left no room for Yinyu to use his privilege to cut in line.

(End of this chapter)