The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 229 Old Seventeen Appears

Kangxi stayed in the Lion Garden, but Yinyu stayed up late because he had to arrange security measures.

However, Yinyou was awakened by Wulin not long after he fell asleep.

"Master, His Majesty has already gotten up and ordered us to return to the palace!" After hearing what Wulin said, Yinyou remembered that Kangxi liked to choose his bed when sleeping.

Kangxi slept on the same bed all the way from the capital to Rehe.

Since Kangxi had gotten up, Yinyou couldn't continue to sleep soundly, so he quickly got up.

It is completely understandable that elderly people don’t sleep much.

After sending Kangxi back to the palace, it was already dawn and Yinyou still had to be on duty, so it was obvious that he could not sleep.

Zhang Tingyu, who was sitting opposite Yinyu, also did not sleep well. However, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was energetic and not tired at all.

You can tell at first glance that he is a night owl who often stays up late.

Yinyou yawned three times in a row. Seeing that it was still early, he simply leaned over the desk and planned to take a nap.

However, the plan did not change quickly, and not long after, Wei Zhu came to convey the message to Yinyou.

When Kangxi saw Yinyu, he ordered, "Little Seventeen is making a fuss about going to pay homage to Concubine Shuhui on her anniversary. Can you take him to the mausoleum of your royal ancestor?"

"Whoo."

Yinyou knew that the Seventeenth Prince was raised by Concubine Shuhui since he was a child, and he and Concubine Shuhui had a deep relationship.

Concubine Shuhui, the younger sister of the current Empress Dowager, passed away last year.

When Shunzhi was alive, he had a serious disagreement with Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, so he never touched Concubine Shuhui.
However, Yinli still had no title, so it would be very disrespectful for him to go alone to pay homage to Concubine Shuhui.

Kangxi was an emperor who cared about his reputation, so naturally he didn't want others to poke him in the back and scold him for being unfilial.

Let Yinyou take Little Seventeen to pay homage to the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and no one will be able to gossip!

Of course, this "who" refers to the current Empress Dowager. No one else dares to spread gossip about Kangxi.

The journey from Rehe to the Xiaoling Mausoleum is not far, only about three hundred miles.

Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince sat in the carriage, while the guards followed outside on horseback.

The Seventeenth Prince had long wanted to get close to Yinyou, but had never had the opportunity.

This time, the two of them went to Xiaoling Mausoleum together, and Old Seventeen finally got the chance.

"Fifteenth brother, I never thought that Khan Ama would arrange for you to accompany me to worship the Empress Mother." As soon as the Seventeenth Brother opened his mouth, Yinyou knew that he and Concubine Shuhui had a very deep relationship.

Mama in Manchu means grandmother.

But the problem is that the current Empress Dowager is the real grandmother of Yinyou and Prince Seventeen.

The Seventeenth Prince privately addressed Concubine Shuhui as "Empress Mother", which was obviously not in accordance with etiquette. However, emotionally, it made sense.

Yinyou glanced at the Seventeenth Prince and thought, the palace really does make people mature quickly!
Don't underestimate Old Seventeen, he is only seventeen years old, but he is very smart.

The Seventeenth Prince deliberately left some excuse for himself, obviously wanting Yinyou to be closer to him.

Compared with Yinyou, although the family background of the Seventeenth Prince was also ordinary, his mother's family was from the Han army of the Bordered Yellow Banner.

Moreover, Lao Shiqi’s maternal grandfather, Chen Bingzhi, once served as the governor of Zhejiang.

This is much better than Yinyou's maternal grandfather, Wang Guozheng, who just held an empty title and got by!
However, Prince Seventeen’s biological mother is still just a concubine who enjoys the treatment of a noble.

In the palace, either the mother is honored because of her son, or the son is honored because of his mother. There are only two situations. Yinreng is a typical example of a son being honored because of his mother, while Concubine Mi is a typical example of a mother being honored because of her son!
As an emperor, he can have as many beauties as he wants. However, he has few sons he can trust!
"Seventeenth brother, I heard that you are good at playing the piano?" Yinyu asked the Seventeenth Brother with a smile.

Old Seventeen sighed and said, "To be honest with you, Brother Fifteen, this is all I have as a hobby."

Yinyou knew that Kangxi liked music, and the Seventeenth Prince was good at playing the piano, so this must be a way to please him.

Think about it, with the same hobbies as Mr. Jin, it’s only a matter of time before Old Seventeen will soar to great heights!
This is indeed the case. Before Kangxi's death, the Seventeenth Prince was one of the few princes who held military power.

In the history of Emperor Yongzheng's reign, Yinyou was truly the Prince of Idleness, while the Seventeenth Prince was the Prince of Guo who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

As the vice emperor, the Thirteenth Emperor, before he died of exhaustion, the beginning of the title he wrote must have been: Prime Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Prince Heshuo Yi, and your servant Yinxiang.

You know, Prince Heshuo Yi is the most powerful prince among the ministers!

From this we can see that the position of the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is even higher than that of Prince Tiemaozi!
This time when they went to the Xiaoling Mausoleum, because they were going to worship their ancestors, Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince did not bring any women to serve them.

Although Yinyou was lustful, he only made minor mistakes and never committed major crimes!

On the way to worship the ancestors, he dared to bring a woman with him. He was afraid that the Eighth Brother and others would not be able to find an excuse to bring down Yinyou!
In the Qing Dynasty, it was really good to be at home for a thousand days, but difficult to go out!
Given the status of Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince, they were naturally qualified to stay at various post stations along the way.

Because it was a light-equipped team, they moved very quickly. On the afternoon of the second day after their departure, Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince arrived at the Hongshankou Pass of the Zunhua Great Wall.

There are nine passes along the Great Wall in Zunhua.

Among them, Hongshankou, Xifengkou and Da'ankou were all bombarded by Huang Taiji with heavy artillery in the second year of Chongzhen, causing the capital to be in a state of emergency, which indirectly led to Yuan Chonghuan being ordered to be cut into pieces by Chongzhen.

In the old drama, Kangxi once sighed and said that the mountains and rivers are about virtue, not danger. In fact, since the advent of heavy artillery, even the indestructible bastions in the cold weapon era will be blown down sooner or later.

When Lieutenant General Liu, who was stationed at Hongshankou, heard that Yinyou and the Seventeenth Prince had arrived, he personally went out ten miles to greet them.

Yinyou was not in charge of the Ministry of War now, and was too lazy to pay attention to Brigadier General Liu. He went straight into the pass and stayed at the post station with Old Seventeen.

The post stations in the Qing Dynasty were roughly divided into large, medium and small according to their locations.

The post station had detailed reception specifications for receiving passing high-ranking officials.

Hongshankou Post Station is a medium-sized post station because of its extremely special geographical location.

If the untitled Seventeenth Prince had come alone, the standard for entertaining the prince's envoy would have been eight dishes and one soup, costing less than two taels of silver.

However, with Yinyou's company, the standard of the reception suddenly rose to a table of food worth ten taels of silver.

According to convention, the reception expenses of Hongshankou Post Station were fully borne by the Zunhua Prefecture Government, and the governor would then report to the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue to approve the relevant expenses.

Yinyou was well versed in government affairs, and he knew very well that local officials often used the excuse of deficits at post stations to make up excuses to make money.

As soon as the Seventeenth Prince and Yinyou settled down in the post station, they heard Wulin come to report, "Master, Seventeenth Prince, the Zhili Governor Zhao Hongxie is outside to see you."

"Fifteenth brother, how long have we been out? This guy Zhao Hongxie has already rushed here from Baoding." The Seventeenth Brother's implication was that Zhao Hongxie was very tactful and knew that he could not afford to offend Yinyou.

After all, Old Seventeen knew nothing about military affairs and had no idea how far it was from Baoding to Zunhua.

Yinyou had led troops many times, so he naturally knew that Zhao Hongxie could not have come from Baoding.

Because the official road from Baoding to Zunhua is about 700 miles long.

The governor of a province is not a courier who can travel 600 miles a day on horseback, so how could he possibly travel 700 miles in two days?

Even if it was possible to travel 700 miles in two days, after Kangxi learned the news, he would only conclude one thing: Zhao Hongxie wanted to curry favor with Yinyou.

After the meeting, just as Yinyou had expected, Zhao Hongxie happened to be surveying river affairs in Yutian County, so he hurried to Hongshankou.

(End of this chapter)