My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 97 Cursing the Upright Officials of the Imperial Court
The eighth day of the eighth month of the first year of the Yongzheng reign (Ding Si day).

Emperor Yongzheng issued an edict ordering Longkodo and Wang Xuling to supervise the compilation of the History of Ming, with Xu Yuanmeng and Zhang Tingyu serving as chief editors.

At the same time, Wang Yan also formally submitted a memorial in the court, taking the previous instability of the Ming Dynasty as a lesson for the chaos among the people, and requested that an heir be appointed as soon as possible.

Upon hearing Wang Yan's memorial, Hongli gritted his teeth and couldn't help but curse, "You old fool, you're asking for death!"

But he wasn't too angry about it, because he had already made preparations and even personally wrote a memorial requesting the secret establishment of an heir apparent.

Moreover, he also persuaded many Manchu and Han officials to share his views.

In addition, by supporting the rites, he unified the thoughts of many court officials, making them support Yongzheng's reforms and thus avoid making things difficult for Yongzheng on the issue of choosing an heir.

However, while Hongli was uniting more people to follow his ideas, Hongshi was also uniting many Manchu and Han officials with the help of the Eighth Prince.

On this day, Hongli had just come out of Yongshou Palace and was on his way to Maoqin Hall for his evening lesson when he met Hongshi.

Meanwhile, Hongshi was speaking quietly with Orondai, the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard who was on duty.

The two of them also saw him.

Hongli then greeted Hongshi according to etiquette.

Hongshi nodded lightly, gesturing for Hongli to stand up, without saying anything.

After paying his respects to Hongli, Orondai returned to his own guard post.

When Hongli saw that Hongshi didn't want to talk to him, he was too lazy to say anything more.

But before Hongli had taken more than a few steps, Hongshi suddenly turned around and called out to him, "Fourth Brother!"

Hongli couldn't help but turn around: "What's wrong, Third Brother?"

“That day, when Father asked about Uncle Jiu, I didn’t mean to betray you; I was just in a hurry.”

Hongshi suddenly explained.

Hongli smiled and said, "I didn't mean to blame you, Third Brother."

Hongshi nodded: "That's good, but I heard from people around my mother that the Imperial Household Department still cuts off my mother's allowance. I wonder if Fourth Brother knows about this?"

"I am just a young prince living in the inner palace. How would I know about this? Besides, Third Brother should know that shortchanging is a chronic problem of the Imperial Household Department, and it is something I cannot do about it."

Hongli would naturally not tell Hongshi that he could remotely control the Imperial Household Department's allocation of funds to the various palaces in the inner palace. If he admitted it, Hongshi would definitely tell others that Hongli had indeed extended his reach into the Imperial Household Department.

Seeing that Hongli hadn't fallen for the trick, Hongshi smiled disappointedly and said:

“I know! But I heard that Ertai, the secretary of the Guangchu Division of the Imperial Household Department, is your servant, Fourth Brother. So I hope you can restrain your servant and prevent him from going too far.”

Hongli nodded and said politely, "I will remember that, but these servants, once they become officials, generally do not listen to their lords. You should understand that, Third Brother, so my words may not be effective."

Hongli could tell that Hongshi was warning Ortai, but in reality, he was warning himself not to go too far.

Hongli himself was also unaware of what he had done wrong.

But he was too lazy to think about it further.

He knew that Hongshi probably also knew about Wang Yan's memorial suggesting the establishment of an heir, and might even genuinely feel that he would suffer a loss in this matter.

But Hongli felt that if Hongshi really dared to warn him about this, it was far too early for him to do so.

"By the way, I must congratulate you, Fourth Brother. I heard that Grand Secretary Wang has submitted a memorial requesting Father Khan to make you the Crown Prince."

Hongshi then said something else.

"Is that so? I didn't know about that."

Hongli replied with a smile.

You'll find out soon enough.

After saying this with a smile, Hongshi went to Li's place, a cold smile creeping onto his lips.

Hongli shook his head and tapped his folding fan in his hand.

He could only lament that Hongshi and others had underestimated his relationship with Yongzheng, unaware that it was more than just father and son.

And at this time.

Inside the Qianqing Gate, Emperor Yongzheng, who was attending to state affairs, indeed held Wang Yan's memorial and spoke to a group of princes and ministers:
"Wang Tan submitted a memorial proposing the establishment of an heir apparent, citing numerous classical texts and even suggesting that Hongli be made crown prince, claiming it was the late emperor's last wish. What are your thoughts on this?"

When Wang Yan heard that Yongzheng had indeed mentioned this matter, he slightly moved the corners of his mouth and secretly glanced at Prince Lian.

At this moment, the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard, Orondai, stepped out of the court: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, Hongli should be established as Crown Prince. The late Emperor's last wish cannot be ignored!"

"This servant seconds it!" said Arsona, the Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard, as he followed the others out of court.

Prince Lian, Yinzhi, also stepped forward and said, "Fourth Brother, the matter of choosing an heir should indeed be decided as soon as possible!"

Yongzheng nodded, a cold glint in his eyes, and asked Yinzhi, "Then, Eighth Brother, who do you think should be chosen?"

"This is not something that I, your younger brother, can decide. I will ask my fourth brother to decide based on the late emperor's last wishes and the opinions of the people."

Prince Lian then replied.

"Your Majesty, as Prince Lian said, the matter of establishing an heir must be decided as soon as possible. As for who to choose, everyone in the world already knows that it must be the Fourth Prince, Hongli!"

Prince Yu, Kangxi's nephew, Baotai, also stepped forward at this time.

Beile Sunu also stepped forward: "The virtue and benevolence of the Fourth Prince Hongli are evident to all the princes and ministers. In addition, there are the late emperor's last words to prove it. He should be established as the crown prince!"

Yongzheng smiled, then his face turned cold again: "It's clear that you all support Hongli."

Prince Lian and the others all became solemn.

Then Yongzheng asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to speak?"

At this moment, Zhu Shi stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, although the Fourth Prince Hongli is indeed intelligent, he is still young. Directly establishing him as the heir apparent at this time may be detrimental to his tempering of his mind. It would be better to establish him as the heir apparent secretly and not announce it to the public for the time being."

The fourteenth prince also stepped forward: "That's right, Fourth Brother, we must learn from Second Brother's example! Establishing an heir is necessary, but we cannot announce it to the court officials first, lest some wicked people take the opportunity to curry favor and corrupt the heir, which would be detrimental to the stability of the court."

At this moment, Wang Yan couldn't help but say, "Prince Xun, you can't say that. If the heir to the throne is not announced to the public, the people will not be at ease. Moreover, if the heir is secretly chosen, and it is not in accordance with the late emperor's wishes, it will cause the legal system to be disordered!"

"Old fool, what do you know? If the emperor secretly chosen is not chosen according to the late emperor's will, then it means that this person has lost the legitimacy and it is impossible for him to be secretly chosen as the crown prince!"

"Because the one who truly represents the legitimacy is Fourth Brother!"

"Back then, Second Brother lost the hearts of the people and the legitimacy of the government because you didn't protect him properly. Now you're trying to make Fourth Brother Hongli the heir under the guise of the country's interests, but you're clearly trying to harm Hongli and make him lose the hearts of the people and the legitimacy of the government again."

The fourteenth prince directly confronted Wang Yan.

Wang Yan couldn't help but look at the fourteenth prince: "Prince Xun, you, you, how could you say that? How could it be that I caused the former crown prince to lose the hearts of the people!"

"That's you!"

"If you had requested the secret designation of an heir earlier, instead of following your ancestor Wang Xijue's example of prioritizing his own reputation over his brother's safety, would your brother have ended up being imprisoned by the late emperor?"

"The late emperor once reprimanded you for this, saying that you were too selfish and followed your ancestor Wang Xijue, only caring about your personal reputation and disregarding the safety of our Great Qing Dynasty!"

"Don't deny it, the late emperor's edicts are still on file in the cabinet! You people are disloyal to the Zhu family, and you are disloyal to my Aisin Gioro family as well!"

The fourteenth prince continued, without any regard for propriety.

Wang Yan's mouth gaped open after hearing this, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

Finally, he had no choice but to kneel down before Emperor Yongzheng, tears streaming down his face in grievance.

"Your Majesty, since Prince Xun has said so, this old minister has no choice but to offer his life to prove his innocence!"

At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thankfully the new emperor wasn't the fourteenth prince, otherwise, he and his fellow Han officials and scholars would have been ridiculed even more.

Yongzheng ignored Wang Tan and simply waved his hand, saying, "Alright, let's only discuss the matter of establishing an heir today. Fourteenth Prince, stop rambling on! As a prince, you should watch your words."

The fourteenth prince dismissed this with disdain; he was always outspoken.

During Kangxi's reign, he was the kind of person who said whatever came to mind, not even giving face to his own father or brother. How could he possibly give face to a Grand Secretary?

Then, Yongzheng asked the others, "Is there anyone else who wants to say something?"

At this moment, Zhang Tingyu also stepped forward: "I also support the secret establishment of an heir! This is the truly good strategy to protect the foundation of the nation."

Fang Bao then added, "That's right, Your Majesty. The late Emperor had intended to secretly establish an heir apparent, and discussed it with me. He said that establishing an heir apparent as soon as possible was indeed the right thing to do, but it was not appropriate to announce it openly, in order to protect the foundation of the country. It's just that we didn't have time to establish it in the first place."

"Your Majesty, I also support the secret establishment of an heir, so that some people will not deliberately use the name of the heir to sabotage Fourth Brother's plans."

Yinxi then stepped forward.

Following this, Prince Yi Yinxiang, Prince Zhuang Yinlu, and Grand Minister of the Imperial Guard Marseille also stepped forward to support the secret establishment of an heir.

After everyone finished speaking, Yongzheng glanced at Prince Lian, the eighth prince.

Prince Lian's face was gloomy at this moment, and he did not even glance at him.

Then Yongzheng stood up and said, "I have long had this intention, and I have written my thoughts into a handwritten edict. The princes and ministers can discuss it together after hearing it."

(End of this chapter)