My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 86: The Tenth Prince is moved by Hongli, and Yongzheng confiscates his property.
The tenth prince never expected Hongli to appear.

During this period, however, none of his relatives were willing to help him. When they came to see him, they only did so to express their grievances or offer advice. As a result, he was disappointed in his brothers and nephews and was not in a good mood.

Now, seeing Hongli arrive, he assumed Hongli had only brought his mouth, so he kept a straight face and gave him a displeased look: "What are you doing here?"

"Your nephew has come to invite you back."

Hongli replied.

After hearing this, Lao Shi chuckled coldly and then sat down directly on the ground.

Then, he pulled the patched cloth jacket he was deliberately wearing into his stomach: "I'm not going back! I still owe the national treasury money. If I don't sell all my property and pay back the money, am I supposed to go back and wait to be scolded by my fourth brother, the emperor?!"

"Gentlemen, young and old, come and take a look! These are all top-quality porcelain and lacquerware..."

Then, the tenth prince deliberately started shouting orders in front of Hongli.

"Uncle, I have already paid it back for you."

At this moment, Hongli took the receipt given by the Ministry of Revenue and handed it to the tenth prince.

Old Ten stopped talking and stood there stunned for a moment.

Then, the tenth prince took the receipt and asked Hongli, "Who told you to return it?"

"I wanted to pay it back for my tenth uncle myself, but no one told me to."

Hongli replied with a smile.

The tenth prince then asked Hongli, "Where did you get so much silver?"

"Some of it was borrowed, and some was saved up in the past."

Hongli replied.

After hearing this, Lao Shi pursed his lips and stood up.

Suddenly, the tenth prince hugged Hongli and patted him on the shoulder: "Good nephew! I will remember your kindness today for the rest of my life!"

Hongli was naturally pleased, and after the tenth prince released him with tears in his eyes, he bowed again and said, "Tenth Uncle, please go back for your nephew's sake!"

“It is truly outrageous for a prince to be selling goods on the main street. It is a disgrace to the Qing imperial family and to the late emperor.”

“If someone with ulterior motives hears this, they might deliberately say that our Great Qing Dynasty was truly impoverished and its people were suffering under the rule of Emperor Khan, leaving the new emperor with a mess, and even his tenth son is now selling goods on the market.”

After Hongli said that, the tenth prince sighed, patted Hongli on the shoulder, and said, "Let's go. Only you, Hongli, are willing to help your tenth uncle!"

"If my tenth uncle is in trouble, I, as his nephew, will naturally have to help."

"After all, on New Year's Eve the year before last, even though Uncle Ten was closer to Uncle Fourteen, he didn't refuse to stand up for his nephew, did he?"

Hongli asked with a smile.

Old Ten waved his hand: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to Uncle Ten's house for a while. Uncle Ten will have your aunt cook you something delicious."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle Ten."

"Why are you and I, uncle and nephew, saying such things!"

Then, the tenth prince pulled Hongli along, chatting and laughing as they walked home.

The tenth prince's servants immediately followed, each carrying a lot of furniture and porcelain. Along the way, they attracted the attention and gossip of passersby.

"That's the Fourth Prince! It seems the Fourth Prince still cares about his tenth uncle!"

"It's also possible that the Fourth Prince was considering the bigger picture and didn't want the common people to continue making fun of our imperial family."

"The Fourth Prince is kind and benevolent. I heard that the late Emperor passed the throne to the current Emperor because of the Fourth Prince."

……

Amidst the discussions among the Manchus, Hongli reminded his tenth brother, "Tenth Uncle, you should take off that mandarin jacket. Don't leave behind a reputation as a beggar prince."

Old Ten laughed twice, then decisively took off his mandarin jacket and put on a vest made of Suzhou silk.

Then, Hongli went to his palace with the tenth prince and sent someone back to the palace to ask for leave.

While Hongli was visiting the Tenth Prince's home, a memorial from the Imperial Censor Mo Erhong, who was patrolling the city, impeaching He Yuzhu for bullying the market and killing people, was also urgently delivered to the palace.

Logically, Mo Erhong, an imperial censor, would not dare to impeach He Yuzhu, a eunuch who had the support of the Ninth Prince.

But Mo Erhong dares to impeach He Yuzhu now because Yongzheng had someone give him a heads-up beforehand.

He Yuzhu had just returned from a gathering with Lao Jiu, who told him to restrain himself and stop causing trouble in the capital.

Therefore, He Yuzhu still managed to create a handle for the censor today, and that handle was the scene that Hongli saw when he came.

Upon receiving Mo Erhong's memorial, Emperor Yongzheng was naturally furious. He immediately issued an imperial edict ordering the Infantry Commander's Office to arrest He Yuzhu and confiscate his property, and to order the Ministry of Justice to jointly try the murder case he had committed!
When Hongli came out of the tenth prince's mansion, he saw a large number of soldiers rampaging through the streets, surrounding some restaurants and shops.

Not long after, Hongli learned about the matter through inquiries by those around him.

"You reap what you sow!" Hongli sighed to himself before returning to the palace.

When Hongli returned to the palace, he heard the sound of Yongzheng and the Ninth Prince arguing outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

He couldn't help but smile slightly, thinking to himself that this Ninth Prince was also very well-informed, knowing so quickly that Yongzheng was going to take action against his people.

"I have no choice!"

“If Ninth Brother still cares about the foundation of the Aisin Gioro clan, the late Emperor, and your mother, Consort Yi, then you should hand over those wicked servants and retainers under your command!”

"I am dealing with them now in accordance with the laws of heaven and the state. You have no right to argue with me here!"

Upon hearing Yongzheng's words, Hongli shook his head.

In his view, Yongzheng was Yongzheng after all; he loved to explain, even if he had already decided to overturn the table, he would still explain at this moment.

Hongli then heard the Ninth Brother loudly say, "Fine, Fourth Brother, you might as well arrest me too. If they are guilty, I will definitely be the first one to instigate them. If they are to be beheaded and their property confiscated, they should behead me first and confiscate my property first!"

It was obvious that Lao Jiu didn't appreciate it.

"Don't think I wouldn't dare!"

At this moment, Hongli heard Yongzheng say something else.

At this moment, Lao Jiu laughed and said, "Why don't you issue the decree then!"

"Out of respect for the late Emperor and Consort Yi's mother, I'll give you one chance. Go see Consort Yi yourself and hear what she has to say!"

Yongzheng said.

Hongli guessed that the Ninth Prince was about to come out, so he quickly entered the Xianhe Right Gate and hid behind the gate. He saw that the Ninth Prince was indeed walking quickly towards the inner palace, his face glowing green and his fists clenched tightly.

Hongli had no idea how Yongzheng would deal with the Ninth Prince in this life.

But he was certain that the two brothers had fundamentally diverged in their interests and beliefs, making a peaceful resolution impossible.

When Hongli came to pay his respects to Yongzheng, he saw that Yongzheng still had a cold and gloomy expression.

"Amma!"

Hongli even called out to him first.

Yongzheng then asked, "You know about your ninth uncle's affairs?"

Hongli nodded: "I know."

"Stubborn and incorrigible, he won't give up until he's hit rock bottom!"

Yongzheng said angrily, clearly still angry.

Hongli also asked Yongzheng, "Then what does Father intend to do with him?"

"I originally intended to send him to Xining and, through Nian Gengyao's influence, have him die on the battlefield."

It seems that Yongzheng wanted to let Hongli know that an emperor should be ruthless, so he directly revealed his original plan.

Then, Yongzheng sighed and said, "But your thirteenth uncle is right. Fortunately, your fourteenth uncle didn't get involved with him this time. Being too harsh on him only provoked your fourteenth uncle to make trouble as well. So, I plan to let him go and guard the late emperor's tomb to reflect on his actions!"

Hongli nodded: "That's fine too."

However, Hongli knew that Yongzheng's punishment of Yintang was slightly less severe than in history.

Historically, Emperor Yongzheng directly ordered Yin Tang to go to the Northwest in the first year of his reign, intending for Yin Tang to die there.

In this lifetime, because Consort De was fooled by Hongli's empty promises, the harem did not make things difficult for Yongzheng, thus preventing the estrangement between Yongzheng and his brothers from fully escalating, and also preventing Yongzheng from no longer considering the feelings of the late emperor's concubines.

Moreover, the fourteenth prince did not make a big fuss because Consort De did not.

Therefore, Yongzheng did not decide to kill the ninth prince from the beginning.

However, the fundamental conflict between the two still exists, and it will be very difficult for Lao Jiu to have a good ending in this life!
Because Lao Jiu isn't stupid; if he could compromise, he would have done so long ago.

Shortly after this incident, Yongzheng received the results of the confiscation of He Yuzhu's property. When Hongli came to visit, Yongzheng threw the memorial containing the results of the confiscation at him, saying, "You should see how much national treasury and people's wealth your ninth uncle's servants have stolen!"

"Even one of his eunuchs stole so much public funds and money, yet he still allows his servants and retainers to run rampant!"

Emperor Hongli took the memorial and looked at it, only to see that it contained many numbers.

He roughly estimated that the gold and silver alone were worth more than 700,000 taels of silver.

He could also tell from Yongzheng's words that Yongzheng had clearly become more interested in confiscating property.

After all, confiscating property is much more cost-effective than making up for losses!

The key point is that there are no side effects. Because the confiscation of property is so severe, there is no need to worry that, like forcing officials to repay excessive debts, it will cause officials to shift the pressure onto the people below.

(End of this chapter)