Emperor Kangxi sent me to marry

At midnight, the three accompanying bachelors were pulled out of bed in an emergency and headed to Kangxi's dormitory in the Naturalization Palace.

The night outside the Great Wall is cool and not tormented by the heat. Three old men over sixty years old, wearing slightly bulky autumn clothes for fear of catching cold, silently exchanged greetings with each other with their eyes.

They are saying: 'Misfortune and fortune are unpredictable, and it is expedient to act accordingly. ’

In fact, none of them dared to sleep tonight, trying to stay awake just in case something big happened.

Qibele, who had followed the prince back to the palace, came out of the bedroom to greet them.

"Three of you are here to work. The Queen Mother has invited you."

24 glass lanterns hang high, illuminating the dormitory as brightly as day. A group of temporarily hired lamas chanted sutras loudly in the hall, causing the ears of the passing bachelors to buzz.

The Queen Mother moved a couch to block the door of the inner room. She sat on the couch and did not allow anyone to enter. She saw Kangxi's current state.

The bachelors were the last ones to arrive, and the princes, clan members, and ministers had already arrived for a while.

When the Queen Mother saw them coming, she just nodded slightly and then waved to greet Qibele.

"You go out and ask the masters to rest for a while and go to the Buddhist hall to have a vegetarian meal. If the Ai family has important matters, please talk to the princes and ministers."

After Qibele agreed to go out, the chanting gradually stopped. The Queen Mother ordered the Thirteenth Brother, who was standing at the back, to close the palace door and get straight to the point.

"Everyone must have heard some rumors. Your Majesty, he is possessed by evil spirits."

Others in the hall immediately started talking, but the three bachelors did not raise their heads and only stood quietly.

They smelled a coup.

Because among the group of princes, the prince who was arrested by the emperor's order was standing at the head; the eldest brother, Prince Zhi, who had always been at odds with the prince and secretly competed for the throne, was not present. Standing next to the prince was San'a. elder brother.

This group of people had figured this out before leaving the capital.

On this northern tour, the emperor wants to remove Suo Etu. That’s why I chose three of them to accompany me.

Before the northern tour, Kangxi changed his mind several times about which of the seven bachelors in the south study room would accompany him. Two days before leaving, he even changed his mind.

The person who was replaced was Ma Qi, the younger brother of General Masika; the person who replaced him was Zhang Yushu, a bachelor of Wenhua Palace and the Minister of Household Affairs.

Among the seven bachelors, Wang Xi and Zhang Ying were old, weak, and suffering from diseases. They were already semi-retired and could not even enter and leave the Forbidden City on a daily basis. It was really impossible for them to make the trip; Yisang'a was Suo'etu's son-in-law, and he was the first one to be killed. Kangxi excluded him and stayed in the capital, guarding the south study room and handling all matters.

So, there are only four people left to choose from. And at least one must be left to restrain Ethan.

Originally, if Ma Qi was not brought along, none of the accompanying bachelors would be of Manchu origin, which would look outrageous, so it was originally planned that Zhang Yushu would stay.

But Kangxi finally replaced him.

Because Ma Qi was under fifty years old and had just been promoted to bachelor at the end of the year before last. He was famous for sticking to his own opinions and would not even look at the emperor's face when he had a hot temper.

Kangxi was determined to get rid of Suo'etu. He even considered whether to abolish the prince.

If Ma Qi jumps out to object, the Manchu-born bachelor is invisibly much higher than Han Chen, and the remaining two bachelors together may not be able to make an argument against him. Therefore, Kangxi was decisive and replaced Ma Qi at the last moment.

The remaining scholar of Dongge and the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Xiong Cilu, had a long-standing grudge with Suo'etu because of the sign-chewing case; Wu Jun, the bachelor of the Baohe Palace and the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, had been a pure minister for many years, but He was a trusted confidant of Kangxi who stood in line, did not form any clique, and only focused on running errands. With such a combination, it would be impossible for Suo'etu to gain any support in the temporary meeting of bachelors.

Last night, Suo'etu was caught for the assassination; this morning, the prince fled in panic. It is almost certain that the prince will be deposed. Only half a day passed, and the situation was completely reversed.

If what the Queen Mother said is true and the Emperor is possessed by evil and cannot handle the affairs of the government, then the Prince with the support of the Queen Mother can naturally supervise the country and hold the power of life and death. If the three of them were rash and jumped out to oppose, they might become the first batch to be dealt with after the prince came to power.

Wu Jun, Zhang Yushu, and Xiong Cilu, three important ministers who had lived in the south study room of Qianqing Palace for most of their lives, tacitly chose to wait and see together.

The Queen Mother waited for the discussion to subside before speaking again.

"The Ai family is not as wise as my great-aunt, and they always have no idea when things happen. Everyone go in first, see the emperor's situation, and then come out, share your thoughts, and work together to come up with a comprehensive way to deal with it. The country cannot live without a day. Jun, we must work together to handle this matter properly."

After saying that, he got up and got off the couch, called the prince and the third elder brother to come forward, moved the couch, and opened the door to the inner room.

The inner room is actually not big, so the number of people who can enter at one time is limited. Zhang Yushu was among the first to enter and hurriedly confirmed the emperor's safety. Although the emperor's eyes were closed, they kept moving, and his hands and feet seemed to be out of control, twitching frequently. Zhang Yushu boldly called the emperor twice, but received no response.

After everyone went in in three groups to visit, the prince and the third elder brother moved the couches back to their original places. The queen mother still sat down, sighed deeply, and called the new imperial steward Zhao Chang.

"What's going on with the emperor today? Tell me word for word."

Zhao Chang really didn't see anything, so he could only spell out a paragraph about what happened from morning to night. How was he temporarily recruited to serve as the royal steward? How did several princes and princesses kneel in front of the palace to plead for mercy. The other masters and emperors all called back, and only the fourth princess was asked to stay for acupuncture.

"There seemed to be a piece of porcelain broken in the house. The servant asked. The fourth princess said that the gun went off. The emperor only asked the servant to go to the kitchen to pass the bird's nest and duck for lunch, and said nothing else. When the servant came back with the dishes, he heard that People say that the emperor shot the fourth princess and she almost died."

The Queen Mother waited for Zhao Chang to say this and interrupted him loudly.

"The Ai family saw this with their own eyes. Not only the Ai family saw it, but the princes and princesses who were there at the time also saw it. Isn't that right? The princesses were not here, brothers said!"

The princes, except for the eldest brother, all replied in unison to the Queen Mother's words.

"Yes, my grandson saw it."

The brave eighth prince even added some details.

"I once begged Khan Ama to spare the life of the fourth sister; the fifth brother only held the musket for a while, and then he was beaten by Khan Ama, accusing him of being the helper of the fourth sister. It seems that from that time on, Khan Ama Ma has lost her mind."

Uncle Tong Guo coughed slightly and asked Zhao Chang, "Then, what happened next?"

"Uncle, after returning to China, the Queen Mother and the Emperor were talking in the room, and the slave did not dare to go in. The bird's nests and ducks were cold, and the Emperor did not take a bite. It must have been more than an hour, and the eldest brother who stayed in the room, Suddenly he came out and said to his servant: 'Khan Amma has a decree. He immediately ordered Longkodo, the envoy of Luan Yi, to give the gift to the fourth princess. Bai Ling committed suicide.'"

The Queen Mother sneered and ordered the eldest brother to be escorted in.

"During the day, the emperor just asked the eldest brother to bring the fourth princess and confront him in front of the Ai family. When he said it, it turned out to be a murder without mercy! If the fourth princess was not in the palace, if not after the prince came back, If Zhao Chang and Longkodo were stopped, wouldn't the fourth princess die unjustly? The Ai family would like to ask you to tell me, what crime should the eldest brother deserve for falsely spreading the imperial edict and killing his brothers and sisters?"

After fighting for the throne for so many years, the eldest brother has always accumulated a lot of connections. There are so many courtiers and clans who are already planning to plead for mercy. But the eldest brother, who was tied up with five flowers and pulled into the palace by Qibele, spoke first and secretly signaled to them not to be exposed yet.

He was confident and thought he could get away with it smoothly with just a few words.

He was defeated by the information gap.

He didn't know that Kangxi was in a coma.

"Mama! My grandson is wronged! Khan Ama did ask her grandson to give Bai Ling to my fourth sister. My grandson didn't lie!"

The eldest brother really didn't cause any trouble this time.

Kangxi personally conveyed the decree of giving death to Hai Feng to the Queen Mother when she was not paying attention.

Kangxi, who was trapped by the Queen Mother, thought about it and felt that he could not let go of the fourth princess easily. He can't do anything, but the fourth princess can move freely, which invisibly creates many more variables.

According to the order he gave to Longkodo, all the people in the palace who can be sent out should go out to find the prince. In other words, the palace's defense is extremely weak right now. Without Masika, the right guard's garrison was under the control of the Seventh Prince. These two people have close personal relationships with the fourth princess.

In addition, the whereabouts of Dun Duobu, the emperor's consort, are now unknown.

A single thought of a woman's kindness might ruin the Qing Dynasty's century-old foundation.

Princess Heshuo Kejing, who was ambitious and wanted to imitate Princess Taiping, must die.

This choice was conveyed too slowly.

At that time, Haifeng had successfully left the palace and arrived at the prince's side.

But the kind and simple Queen Mother listened to Kangxi's excuses and let her brother go rashly.

So when she heard her eldest brother's 'quibble' again, she was so angry that she almost fainted.

"Okay! You are really a filial person! According to you, the Ai family is so young, here, in front of these princes and bachelors, making up lies, right? Okay! You are really powerful! The Ai family..."

The eighth elder brother rushed forward, smoothed the Queen Mother's back with all his strength, and scolded the eldest elder brother fiercely.

"Brother! According to filial piety, my younger brother shouldn't contradict you, but you made Mama so angry and violated your filial piety first, then my younger brother will say a few words. Mama has always treated us as her own grandchildren, taking care of us everywhere. Brother What you committed was, in fact, a crime, at least it was to reduce your rank and imprison you. Ma Ma framed you for such a big crime for no reason. What did she want? Besides, Khan Amma is so kind, how could he issue an order to kill his own son? Where is my daughter?”

The prince, who had been standing in the front row but faced everything with silence, finally started to take action.

"Eighth brother, let me tell you."

The prince turned 180 degrees and faced behind him all the people who could decide his life or death.

"Khan Ama fell under the witchcraft of my elder brother and lost his mind. My eldest brother not only cast a curse on Khan Ama, but also used witchcraft to bewitch me."

The eldest brother's gang members, seeing the critical situation, did not care whether they were exposed or not, so they knelt down and complained loudly.

"Whether His Highness is falsely conveying the imperial edict, we will know when the Emperor wakes up and asks; His Highness the Crown Prince is making false accusations against His Majesty the Emperor..."

"Who said that this prince's words are empty?"

The prince walked through the crowd step by step, looked at each of them coldly, then walked to the palace door and opened it suddenly.

In the dark night, Qibele and a lama had been waiting outside for a long time.

The prince stared at the witness Haifeng handed him, and for the first time his heart became completely cold and hard.

No matter how much we fought, I never had the intention to kill.

And you, the brother I have called for more than 20 years, are really looking forward to my death.

"Brother, come and identify yourself. He is the one who cast the curse, Bahangron."

The eldest brother, who was kneeling at the Queen Mother's feet, was instantly frightened and collapsed on the ground.

It’s over.

Now, let alone being a prince, I'm afraid it's hard to save my life.

Because he hid it from everyone, secretly invited the lama, performed the practice in the capital, and cursed the prince, his name was exactly Bahangelong.

Notes for personal use
1. Ma Qi is not an ordinary stubborn person. His most famous fight was with Kangxi. It was really a fight, in front of a lot of courtiers. This happened in the 47th year of Kangxi. Afterwards, Ma Qi was hidden in the snow for two years, and came out to become an official again in 49. Kangxi's stomach was okay and he didn't hold any grudges.

2. The official history of Xiong Ci's chewing sticks is unknown. It is only written in extraordinary detail in Li Guangdi's "Sequel to Rongcun Quotations".

But readers are asked to judge for themselves whether what Li wrote is true. I just wrote it to share:
It is said that Xiong Cilu wrote the wrong document and wanted to cover it up after finding out. Back then, there was a minister named Doolittle in the South Study Room, who was often confused. Xiong chewed up the wrongly written paperwork and swallowed it, then secretly tore a piece of paper from Du's notebook to fill it in.

When Du arrived, Xiong took the initiative to remind him that you wrote it wrong. But that day, Du was very clear-minded and refused to take the blame. He asked Zhongshu on duty what was going on. Zhongshu didn't know, but Suo'etu heard them arguing and intervened, saying that this was all recorded, just check the file. The bear was a little panicked and said stiffly, "Are you saying I lied?" The quarrel was so fierce that a bachelor nearby couldn't stand it anymore and came out to testify. It turned out that he came early and lay down on the kang to rest, and completely saw how the bear stole documents. The bear stopped talking. Those who were watching the excitement said forget it, but Suo'etu insisted on dragging Du to complain to the Ministry of Personnel. The officials called the bear over, but the bear still didn't speak. Suo'etu took the opportunity to taunt Xiong a few words. Xiong couldn't stand the humiliation and said, "So be it," and he was dismissed and went home. More than ten years later, it was used by Emperor Kangxi.