The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 91: Poison-proof

Chapter 91: Immune to All Poisons (asking for monthly ticket)

When Yinyou entered, in the eastern warm room of the Qianqing Palace, the fourth brother was arguing fiercely with the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Bo Ji (jì), with their faces flushed.

"Your Majesty, I, Yinyu, respectfully wish you the best of health."

"Get up." Kangxi waved his hand and said, "You came at the right time. They were arguing about the inconsistent numbers of military rations and almost blew off the roof of the Qianqing Palace."

"Stop arguing. It's giving me a headache. Tell the Fifteenth Prince what you mean."

The fourth brother cleared his throat and said loudly: "We transported grain from the Central Plains to Shaanxi and Gansu. Of the ten dan of grain we transported in, only one dan was returned..."

Bo Ji retorted, "Fourth Master, you underestimated the cost of transportation. We transported 20 dan of grain, but only got one dan..."

When Yinyou heard this, it was just as he had expected. It was really a matter of settling accounts.

Moreover, the fourth brother was really blind in military affairs. He made a fool of himself in front of Kangxi without realizing it.

In the past, when Yinyou was sorting out the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue, one of the major categories was military expenses in the northwest.

Because Yinyou was thinking about his future military power and would definitely start from the northwest, he paid special attention to the consumption of money, food and materials in the northwest.

It is no exaggeration to say that Yinyou's mind was filled with the military overview of the Northwest.

Opportunities always come to those who are prepared, this saying is indeed true!
Historically, when Qianlong asked a question, no one else understood it, but Heshen answered it correctly, which was the starting point of his rapid rise.

If it were an ordinary person, he would just tell the truth.

However, Yinyou was definitely not an ordinary person.

Kangxi, who was well versed in military affairs, must have been well aware of the money and grain consumption accounts in the northwest.

However, why didn’t Kangxi correct the fourth prince’s mistakes in person?

Haha, only when you stand high enough can you see far. The opportunity that belongs to Yinyu has just opened a crack!
The fourth son was proficient in government affairs but ignorant of military affairs, which must have worried Kangxi.

If Yinyou helps the fourth brother to make up for his military shortcomings, the fourth brother's position will be more stable.

Now, the only issue Yinyou needs to consider is the fourth brother's face.

Calculating the accounts clearly in front of the fourth brother, wouldn't that embarrass him?
Even if it were to embarrass Kangxi, it would be impossible to embarrass the fourth brother!

This is because Kangxi's mind and tolerance are far better than the narrow-minded fourth brother.

"My Lord, I know almost nothing about the military affairs of the northwest. I have never even seen a map. How dare I make comments?"

Those who are truly wise know when to advance and when to retreat.

If you only advance and never retreat, you are just a pawn on the chessboard. Sooner or later you will shoot yourself in the foot and become a discarded piece of the coach.

To ruin Kangxi's mood, at most he would complain to everyone or scold them.

What would happen if I humiliated the fourth brother in public?

Since it concerned Yinyou's future well-being and power, Yinyou had no choice but to let Kangxi suffer some grievances temporarily.

Kangxi looked deeply at Yinyou, then glanced at Bo Ji. When his eyes fell on the fourth brother, who was blind to military affairs, he seemed to understand something.

"Everyone, kneel down and pay your respects." Kangxi was obviously in a low mood.

Yinyou pretended not to see it, lowered his head, and followed the fourth brother out the door.

Haha, Kangxi was in power for decades and made the mistake that all emperors are most likely to make. He had a one-man show of thinking and was not good at changing perspectives and considering other people's positions and interests.

In the afternoon, in Rong Fei's palace, an aunt formed an affair with someone, but was reported by her enemy.

After Yinyou learned the news, he took the initiative to hand over a sign and come to see Kangxi.

After standing at the steps of the Qianqing Palace for half an hour, Kangxi finally summoned Yinyou in.

Yinyou knew that Kangxi was sulking.

After the ceremony, Yinwei first reported the scandal in Rongfei's palace to Kangxi in detail.

Kangxi asked Yinyu expressionlessly: "How should we deal with it?"

There was no grudge between Yinyou and Rong Fei, but Yinyou and the third brother were definitely mortal enemies.

"My dear Khan, without rules, how can there be order? I think we should deal with it impartially according to the palace rules."

Kangxi nodded and said listlessly, "Okay."

"I'll take my leave." Yinyu pretended not to notice Kangxi's strangeness. After finishing his job duties, he planned to leave.

"Come back." When Yinyu walked to the door, Kangxi finally couldn't hold it in anymore and asked him coldly, "Aren't you a true person?"

Kangxi indeed became suspicious!

Yinyu was not afraid at all, and said calmly: "My dear Khan, the war in the northwest is a matter of great importance to the country. I dare to speak without even looking at the map. How is I different from Zhao Kuo?"

Hehe, he had figured it out long ago, and his excuse was impeccable.

You know, in the Qing Dynasty, military maps were important national treasures, and even the princes and ministers could not easily see them. Yinyu was the steward of the Imperial Household Department, and he had no chance to come into contact with military maps.

"Hmph, I'd like to see how long you can keep quibbling." Kangxi loudly called Liang Jiugong in and ordered him to bring the military map of the northwest and spread it out on the ground.

When the military map was spread out, Yinyou took a closer look and realized that this was not a modern military map at all, it was simply a brain-burning hide-and-seek game.

On the map, the road from the Central Plains into Shaanxi is just a rough line. There are no mountains, roads, water, rivers, canyons, wells or other military geographical elements along the way.

Kangxi actually kept such inferior stuff as if it were a treasure.

The Qing Dynasty's subsequent defeat was not entirely due to corruption and weapons and equipment issues. The root problem was that it did not treat military issues as a science and did not keep pace with the times.

Yinyu pretended to study the map for a long time, and then asked a soul-searching question: "My dear Khan, why can't I see the steep Huashan Mountain and Tongguan?"

Yes, when fighting a war, don’t we consider the direction of the mountain?
Kangxi looked at Yinyou deeply. This kid asked the key point as soon as he opened his mouth.

Grain transported from the Central Plains to Shaanxi and Gansu must pass through Fenglingdu before Tongguan.

This involves common knowledge of military geography. The Yellow River flows eastward, and when it reaches the Hetao area, it makes a detour in the shape of a Chinese character "几". Hence the saying that the Yellow River has a hundred harms but only one benefit.

After the Yellow River flows through the territory of Yan'an Prefecture, the Hukou Waterfall, with its huge drop, divides the cargo shipping of the Yellow River into two sections.

Therefore, the only way for the money and grain from the Central Plains to enter Shaanxi was to abandon the ship and go ashore, and then cross the mountains along the line of Tongguan and Huashan on horseback.

It was precisely because it was impossible to use shipping to enter Shaanxi that for every dan of grain consumed in the northwest, the imperial court actually consumed more than twenty dan of grain.
It must be admitted that Kangxi was not Yongzheng. He was a rare military expert of that era and a strategic commander-level figure.

Yinyu's deliberate questioning led to Kangxi's lengthy explanation. Haha, this was exactly what Yinyu wanted!

Khan Ama, I am not an alien. How can I speak if you don’t explain it clearly?

Ever since his soul traveled through time and space, Yinyou has focused most of his attention on military affairs in the northwest.

If you want to gain military power, the Pacification War in the Northwest is the only way!
Yinyou pondered over the map for a while, and suddenly said: "Khan Ama, if we use the manpower of the people in the northwest to dig a few more artificial canals, the consumption of money and grain will definitely be greatly reduced."

When Kangxi thought about it carefully, his eyes lit up.

The labor of the people in the northwest who dug the canal was actually free labor.

The so-called corvée labor means that the common people, like cattle and horses, have to bring their own bedding and dry food to work for the government!
"Well, your suggestion is very good. Let those people in the northwest contribute more to the court to avoid causing trouble all the time." Kangxi was very interested in Yinyou's suggestion.

So, the father and son, looking at the map, began to discuss how to build the canal.

Yinyu couldn't understand the maps, but Kangxi knew them all. Kangxi gave detailed answers to Yinyu's questions without looking up any information.

When it was time for dinner, Kangxi wanted to keep Yinyou to have dinner with him for the first time.

Unexpectedly, Yinyu said, "Khan Ama, I want to eat stir-fried vegetables."

To be honest, the so-called delicacies in the palace were nothing special. Kangxi had been eating luxurious set meals for decades and had long been tired of them.

After Yinyou's persuasion, Kangxi simply took him out of the palace to eat stir-fried vegetables and a bowl of "Zheluo".

After eating and drinking, Kangxi did not want to go back to the palace. He said directly: "I think the story you told Zhen'er about the Three Strike of the White Bone Demon is better than the storyteller Xian'er in the teahouse."

So, Kangxi visited Yinyu's Beizi Mansion again.

This time, Kangxi walked in through the main gate with arrogance.

The first thing to do when entering the door is to test Lao Shiba's homework.

To be honest, Yinyou paid very close attention to the Eighteenth Prince's studies, so there was no possibility for him to skip school.

There was only one reason, which was to guard against Kangxi's random inspections.

Kangxi's teaching method was extremely simple and crude: read, recite and write 120 times. If you still can't do it, repeat it 120 times.

At night, Kangxi still sat on the warm kang holding the Eighteenth Prince, listening to Yinyou, who was sitting on the edge of the kang, telling wonderful stories from Journey to the West.

That night, according to the old rules, Kangxi and the Eighteenth Prince slept on the kang, while Yinyou slept on the floor right next to the edge of the kang.

In the early morning, before daybreak, Yinyu saw Kangxi off and got on the car to return to the palace.

When Kangxi stepped on the eunuch Sura's back and climbed onto the shaft of the carriage, he suddenly turned to Yinyou and said, "No one knows a son better than his father. You didn't want the fourth son to be exposed, so you pretended to be stupid. I was very angry. But the eighteenth son did a good job in his studies and told a wonderful story about fighting monsters, so I'll spare you this time."

It turns out that Kangxi understands everything!
"Khan Ama..." Even if Yinyou was pretending, he still had to explain.

However, Kangxi waved his hand and said, "Little Fifteen, ask yourself, how many years have I fought?
Kangxi turned and got into the carriage. At the moment the curtain fell, his voice reached Yinyu's ears again.

"You have great military talent, much better than the reckless eldest prince!" Kangxi left after leaving these thought-provoking words.

Looking at the direction where Kangxi was going away, Yinyou turned around and gave orders.

"Go tell your Eighteenth Master a bedtime story, and add half an hour."

With Kangxi's favorite, Old Eighteen, protecting him, Yinyou was like someone who had practiced the magical skill of the Golden Bell Cover. As long as he did not plot a rebellion, he was almost immune to all poisons.

PS: I had an important social event and drank a little too much today, so it's even later. Sorry. I'll wait until I sober up and see how I'm doing before getting up and writing again. If there's an update, it'll probably be very late, so I'll check it out in the morning. I wrote it very carefully, so I'd like to ask for some monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)

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