My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 114 Yongzheng Reprimands His Third Son
Yongzheng did not speak, but took off the Buddhist prayer beads from his wrist and began to twirl them in his hand.

The sixteenth prince bowed to the thirteenth prince and looked at Yongzheng with curiosity.

At this point, Yongzheng put the Buddhist prayer beads back on the table.

suddenly!

Yongzheng spoke up: "At the very least, we cannot let Orondai and Arsona live!"

"They are not easy to kill either, one is a relative of the late emperor and empress, and the other is the nephew of Empress Dowager Renshou."

The thirteenth prince replied directly.

Yongzheng said in a deep voice, "I know they are not easy to kill! Otherwise, Father would not have let them go so many times when he was in power. But I cannot let these two scourges live like Li Shanchang, and continue to harm the next generation of the country in the future!"

The thirteenth prince fell silent after hearing this.

"I never expected Fourth Brother to think so far ahead!"

After a long pause, the thirteenth prince finally spoke, asking Yongzheng, "Have you considered the consequences of killing them, Fourth Brother?"

"As long as your thirteenth brother stands by my side, those who are dissatisfied with what I'm doing will only curse me behind my back; they won't dare to actually rebel against their own Great Qing!"

Yongzheng looked at the thirteenth prince.

The thirteenth prince remained silent.

The hall fell silent once more.

"Master, Third Master and Fifth Master request an audience!"

Su Peisheng then came to report.

Yongzheng suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with anger.

The thirteenth and sixteenth princes also turned around.

"Are Third Brother and Fifth Brother here to plead for them too?"

The sixteenth prince asked a question and looked at Yongzheng.

Yongzheng then stood up, walked to the thirteenth prince's side, put his hand on the prince's shoulder, and then pulled the prince's arm to make him sit down.
“Thirteenth brother, we must kill Orondai and Arsona before Hongli returns.”

"It will be harder to kill him once Hongli returns!"

After speaking, Yongzheng looked at the thirteenth prince.

"Hongli?"

The thirteenth prince remained silent until a moment later when he looked up at Yongzheng: "I can persuade Manduhu and Ablan to leave and ensure that there is no unrest in the palace and the capital! But fourth brother, we cannot touch the eighth brother, nor can we touch Prince Yu. The tenth brother still holds the Plain Yellow Banner! Nian Gengyao is still suppressing the rebellion in the northwest!"

Yongzheng nodded: "I won't do anything to the Eighth Prince, but you have to secretly investigate whether he was involved in the Fuque incident!"

The thirteenth prince nodded, then cupped his hands in a salute and said, "Your subject takes his leave!"

The thirteenth prince encountered the third prince, Yin Zhi, and the fifth prince, Yin Qi, as soon as he came out.

As soon as the third prince, Yinzhi, saw the thirteenth prince come out, he turned his face to the other side.

Back then, the third prince shaved his head in violation of etiquette during the mourning period for the thirteenth prince's mother, which enraged the thirteenth prince, who wanted to beat him. However, Emperor Kangxi favored the third prince and severely punished the thirteenth prince instead, thus creating a grudge between the two princes.

Therefore, the thirteenth prince snorted coldly, too lazy to bow to the third prince, and only greeted the fifth prince, Yinqi.

Anyway, everyone knows about his conflict with the third brother.

Emperor Yongzheng also knew this.

Therefore, he knew that Yongzheng would not do anything to him because of his disrespect towards the third prince, and might even be happy to see him and the third prince at odds.

Because, among the two sons born to Consort De, the third prince actually had a better relationship with the fourteenth prince than with Emperor Yongzheng, and his relationship with Emperor Yongzheng was not very good.

This was mainly because the third prince had once planned to rely on the fourteenth prince to seize the throne for him. Therefore, during the fourteenth prince's campaign in the Northwest, he was very active in raising provisions and other matters for the fourteenth prince.

Let’s get back to the topic.

Yinqi naturally knew that the two had a deep-seated grudge, so he did not try to persuade them. Instead, he asked the thirteenth prince in Mongolian, "Thirteenth brother, what did the Emperor say?"

The thirteenth son shook his head: "I did my best."

Yinqi asked the thirteenth prince with a surprised look, "Your attempts to persuade him were useless?"

The thirteenth brother nodded: "Orondai has really angered the fourth brother!"

The thirteenth prince then declined, saying he still had to go and persuade the ministers who were waiting outside, and left.

As soon as the thirteenth prince came out, he went to the Qianqing Gate and stood in front of the princes and ministers who were kneeling before the gate. He shouted, "Olundai has no respect for the emperor and his father. He should be executed! What are you all meddling in here for?"

“Thirteenth brother, no matter how wrong Orondai is, he cannot be killed. Even the late emperor did not kill him.”

Bao Tai then shouted.

The thirteenth brother laughed and said, "I say, cousin, just because the late emperor didn't kill him doesn't mean that fourth brother can't kill him. Besides, he committed such a serious crime. Even if you're confused, you can't be so confused as to disregard the proper etiquette between ruler and subject."

“Cousin Manduhu, and Abulan, what are you doing here making a fuss?”

The thirteenth prince then looked at Manduhu and Ablam and said something, then patted them on the shoulder, signaling them to come with him.

So the two of them got up and followed the thirteenth prince to the side.

"Thirteenth brother, does the Emperor really intend to kill Orondai?"

Kangxi's nephew, Manduhu, inquired about the thirteenth prince first. He had always had a good relationship with the thirteenth prince, mainly because he had been the thirteenth prince's riding and archery instructor. Now, Yongzheng was also trying to win him over because of his relationship with the thirteenth prince, and had made him the commander of the Plain White Banner.

The thirteenth prince nodded.

Manduhu and Abulan were both greatly alarmed.

Manduhu frowned and asked, "Why kill them? Couldn't they have been imprisoned?"

"The key issue is that Fourth Brother is so old; how can we just put him under house arrest and feel at ease?"

The thirteenth prince replied.

Abulan then continued, "But, Thirteenth Prince, if Orondai is killed, it will break the precedent set by the late Emperor for not killing meritorious officials for many years after Oboi!"

Abraham and the thirteenth prince were both members of the second prince's faction, so they had some connection.

However, Abulan later betrayed the former crown prince Yinreng, and in the case of the alum book, he reported Yinreng's conspiracy to Emperor Kangxi, thus extinguishing Yinreng's hope of being reinstated.

Now that Yongzheng has ascended the throne, Abulan has returned to the command of the thirteenth prince and was recommended by the thirteenth prince to become the commander of the vanguard battalion.

“I know, but Fourth Brother has his reasons. If you can’t bear it, you can send someone to Zunhua to wait for Hongli.”

"At this point, it's estimated that only Hongli can persuade Fourth Brother."

The thirteenth brother replied after Abraham spoke.

Abraham nodded.

Manduhu said, "But it's too late. By the time Hongli finishes his rites at Jingling, it will be too late."

The thirteenth prince chuckled inwardly, but outwardly remained solemn as he said, "But if you just put on a show, it will at least give an explanation to the princes, ministers, and Hongli, won't it?"

The two nodded.

Next, the thirteenth prince summoned his eunuch, Ursu, and said, "Go and investigate whether Prince Lian was involved in this matter."

"Whoo!"

Meanwhile, Emperor Yongzheng also summoned his third and fifth sons for an audience.

"Fourth Brother, I shall also take my leave now!"

The sixteenth prince also didn't want to see the third prince, so he took his leave and departed from the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Are you still holding a grudge against Third Brother about what happened back then?"

Yongzheng asked.

The sixteenth brother said, "It was Third Brother's fault to begin with! He made a mistake first, but he refused to admit his mistake and apologize to Thirteenth Brother. He acted like an older brother, and when Thirteenth Brother was punished, he didn't even try to help him out. I don't like this kind of older brother!"

"Then you can go through the back door!"

Emperor Yongzheng had no time to persuade the sixteenth prince, and only said this one sentence.

However, when the third and fifth princes met with Yongzheng, they saw the sixteenth prince leaving through another palace gate.

"Following the thirteenth prince every day, he's learned to look down on us older brothers just like him. How did Consort Mi teach him!"

The third brother couldn't help but say something as well.

The sharp-eared and sharp-eyed sixteenth son heard the last sentence and couldn't help but turn around.

But by then, the third and fifth princes had already entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The sixteenth brother didn't say anything more, but clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and left.

Here, after meeting his third and fifth brothers, Yongzheng asked, "Third brother and fifth brother, are you here also for the matter of Orondai?"

"Your Majesty, could you please spare Orondai's life? Even though he has committed a grave error, he is still our uncle!"

The third brother spoke first.

The fifth prince chimed in, "Yes, Your Majesty, you have only been on the throne for a short time, and you are already killing nobles. It would be bad if word got out!"

"You don't need to concern yourselves with this matter! It involves the dignity of the emperor, and I have no choice but to do it this way."

Yongzheng replied.

The third prince didn't expect that Yongzheng wouldn't even give them face, and directly removed the hat ornament from his head: "Then how about I exchange my princely title for his life?"

"no!"

"Don't think that your princely titles can protect anyone else; you'll be lucky if you can protect yourselves!"

Emperor Yongzheng shouted angrily.

The fifth prince then asked, "Your Majesty, Fourth Brother, what do you mean by this? What do you mean by protecting us?"

"Don't think I don't know what you've been doing."

"Take this year for example. The capital region suffered a great famine this year, and there will definitely be a famine next year. You and your third brother are therefore hoarding rice and not allowing it to be sold, waiting to make a fortune off the national crisis."

"On this point alone, I could have stripped you of your titles, but I didn't. You may be shameless, but I am!"

Emperor Yongzheng rebuked him sternly.

(End of this chapter)