The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 117 Making a feint to the east and attacking in the west
"The Cabinet has received an imperial decree ordering the Fourth Prince of the Emperor, Prince of Yong, Yinzhen, to inspect the Yangtze River embankment in Huguang... I decree this!"

The decree was announced to the whole country, and all the provincial governors in the country knew the whereabouts of the fourth brother.

As for Yinyou, on the surface, he was still staying in the Prince's Mansion, enjoying his honeymoon leave comfortably.

Although Kangxi wanted to investigate the imperial examination fraud in Jiangnan, he deliberately released a smoke screen, attacking from all sides and making it impossible for Galin and Zhang Boxing to prepare in advance.

This is the brilliance of Kangxi!
After the fourth prince's official ship departed from Tongzhou Wharf, before arriving at Tianjin, he quietly took Yinyu, who was wearing plain clothes, on board.

Then, the imperial envoy's official ship sailed south along the Grand Canal.

Yinyou stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, silently watching the boatmen on the shore.

The boat trackers were all naked and barefoot, shouting sad slogans while struggling to pull the heavy official ship forward.

Whether it was the former Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, the poor people at the bottom of society were always the targets of oppression by the government.

Due to the large number of locks on the canal, Lao Si's official ship can only follow a fixed itinerary every day.

One more leg, one less leg, it is impossible. All we can do is to go at sunrise and stop at sunset.

Yinyou never formed a clique, and the fourth brother was a well-known mean and lonely minister. They had no trusted followers in any place along the canal.

Therefore, the fourth brother rejected all the welcoming and seeing-off activities organized by local government officials.

"Eating and drinking all day long, all you're wasting is the people's money." The fourth brother couldn't stand the unhealthy trend of officials taking advantage of their power.

Yinyou smiled slightly, jumped from five to four, but said nothing, letting the fourth brother spit venom.

Because he has been involved in specific government affairs such as dike repair, disaster relief, grain distribution, and account checking for many years, the fourth prince is the one who understands the suffering of the people best among all the princes.

The fourth brother's mission was to investigate the cheating in the imperial examinations in Jiangnan. To be honest, with his outstanding ability, it was not difficult and there was no risk to his life.

Yinyou was different.

Unlike the Eight Banners troops in the capital, who often had to travel far away to fight, the Eight Banners troops stationed in Jiangnan gradually put their weapons into storage and retired to the mountains after they pacified the Three Feudatories and took over Taiwan.

The result was a vicious cycle: the more incompetent the Eight Banners soldiers in Jiangnan became, the less the court wanted to mobilize them. As a result, their combat effectiveness continued to decline.

Yinyu's purpose of going to Jiangnan this time was to eliminate the weak and retain the strong, to help the garrisoned Eight Banners soldiers and restore the military bravery of the early years of the country.

Kangxi saw clearly that although the Eight Banners and Green Camp soldiers in Jiangnan could not kill people on the battlefield, if they lost their crops, they would probably take the risk and kill Yinwei.

History has clearly proven that once they were pushed into a corner, the soldiers would really draw their knives.

This is also the fundamental reason why Kangxi specially bestowed the sword on Ebilun.

The fourth child likes to play chess, including chess and Go.

However, although the fourth child is addicted to chess, he is a notoriously bad chess player.

Unlike when he dealt with Kangxi, Yinyou always won more than he lost when playing chess with the fourth brother.

If Yinyou lost too many games, the fourth brother would definitely keep pestering him to play chess until he won.

This person has two sides, it is impossible for him to show only one face to others.

Yinyou hid on the fourth brother's boat, so that no one could detect him.

However, Yinyu's 50 Solon guards were obviously savages, and they were too big a target. If they also went south along the canal, they would definitely alert the local government and garrisons.

Therefore, Yinyu specifically requested an imperial decree to let Haicha lead the Solon soldiers, travel by land, through Henan, go south from Huaibei, and meet up with Yinyu in Jiangning.

In these days, if a large number of the prince's guards left the capital without the emperor's permission, they would be charged with treason.

Because there was no time wasted along the way, the fourth brother and Yinyou soon arrived in Zhenjiang, then went westward against the Yangtze River and successfully arrived at the official ship dock in Jiangning.

At this time, the Jiangning official ship dock was filled with military and political leaders from Jiangnan.

According to the rules of the imperial court, even imperial envoys passing through the country had to be received with the highest standards in order to demonstrate the inviolability of imperial power.

At noon, the fourth brother's imperial envoy's official ship slowly approached the shore.

At the dock, the Jiangnan officials, led by Jiangning General Ekesun, came forward one after another.

The fourth brother, wearing a yellow jacket, was the first to walk out of the cabin, passed the gangway, and stood on the shore.

Just as Ekesun was about to go over and salute the imperial envoy, he unexpectedly saw a figure in a yellow jacket appear on the official ship.

There were two imperial envoys on the same ship. Even a fool would know that something big was going to happen.

"Zizi..." Ekesun couldn't help but take a breath and subconsciously turned his head to look at the Governor-General of Liangjiang, Galin.

Galin was also a little confused. The incident happened too suddenly. None of his connections in Beijing wrote to him to tell them about this?

Zhang Boxing, the governor of Jiangsu, did not know Yinyou. He thought he was an honest official and was not greedy, so he was not panicked.

Although Oksun and Galin were bannermen, they were both on long-term missions outside the capital and had no idea who Yinyou was now.

At this moment, Cao Yin, the Jiangning textile manufacturer, recognized Yinyu's face and blurted out, "Fifteenth Master!"

At this moment, Eksun and Galin suddenly realized that it was the fourth and fifteenth brothers who came to Jiangning together.

Zhang Boxing was a Han official and knew very little about the internal affairs of the Bannermen.

However, both Oksun and Galin, who were both high officials, knew that Yinyu was the most powerful prince. In particular, Oksun, who belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner Manchus, had long known about Yinyu's power through his relatives in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

After Yinyou walked across the springboard, he stood on the left side of the fourth brother, slightly behind by half a step.

Because the fourth brother was mistaken for an imperial envoy passing through the country, the officials in Jiangnan were caught off guard and they didn't even set up the incense table for issuing the imperial edict.

However, Ekesun was an old-time provincial governor after all, and he quickly calmed down. While ordering people to set up the incense table, he bent over and took the fourth son and Yinyou to the platform to receive the imperial edict.

After the incense table was set up, the fourth brother and Yinyou stood proudly in the center of the platform, facing south and back to north.

"General Jiangning, your servant Eksun, respectfully greets you!"

The officials in Jiangnan all followed Ekxun and knelt down in salute.

At the local level, the actual power of the garrison general is not as great as that of the governor.

However, in the ranking of officialdom, the garrison general always ranks first.

"Your Majesty, rest in peace!" The fourth brother clasped his fists high and bowed to the east to show his respect for the emperor.

"Imperial edict: ..." The fourth brother didn't want to waste time, so he took the imperial edict in his hand and read it aloud in public.

Ekson couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, fortunately, the fourth and fifteenth brothers came to investigate the cheating case in the imperial examinations and it had nothing to do with him.

After the official decree was issued, the fourth prince became the temporary emperor of Jiangnan, superior to Galin and Zhang Boxing.

However, Jiangning General Ekesun and Jiangning Textile Manufacturer Cao Yin were not under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Brother.

When Yinyou followed the fourth master down the platform, Cao Yin suddenly came over and said, "Your servant Cao Yin wishes you the best of luck, the fifteenth master."

"What a confused old man!" Yinyu glanced at the fourth brother's change of color and couldn't help but secretly curse Cao Yin for his stupidity.

To be honest, Cao Yin was quite clever when he was young and was able to help Kangxi capture Oboi.

Now, Cao Yin actually bypassed the fourth brother and paid his respects directly to Yinyou. Is this something a smart person would do?
To put it bluntly, Kangxi had spoiled Cao Yin so much that he completely forgot his own name and how many bowls of rice he had eaten.
Yinyou was the prince in charge of the Imperial Household Department and Cao Yin's immediate superior, so Cao Yin wanted to flatter him.

On the other hand, the fourth brother, who had been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, always urged Cao Yin to return the silver owed to the national treasury.

Unfortunately, Cao Yin was protected by Kangxi, and the fourth brother could not do anything to him.

After a long time, Cao Yin began to have complaints about the fourth brother.

Besides, at this moment, how could the Fourth Brother show any sign of becoming Emperor Yongzheng?
As for Cao Yin, he had the Crown Prince on his left and Old Eight on his right, which meant he was hedging his bets and would never lose.

When it comes to matters of principle and stance, there is absolutely no room for error!
Yinyu deliberately turned aside to avoid Cao Yin's greetings and coldly reprimanded him, "You little dog slave, your fourth master is the imperial envoy."

At this time, Yinyou scolded Cao Yin severely, so that the fourth brother would not hate him too much. This was a small scolding but a big help.

No matter what, Yinyou and Cao Yin are related and have some history!
More importantly, Kangxi was about to make another southern tour, and when that happened, he would live in the Jiangning Weaving Office.

If Cao Yin and Lao Si become too hostile, it is hard to say what the consequences will be.

The fourth brother ignored Cao Yin, who looked down on others, and walked straight down the platform. Surrounded by Galin and Zhang Boxing, he prepared to get on the sedan chair and enter the city.

After Yinyou finished scolding Cao Yin, he ignored him and walked down the platform.

When he reached the bottom of the platform, Yinyou found that only Galin and Zhang Boxing were there, squeezed next to the fourth brother.

However, General Eksun of Jiangning deliberately stood outside, apparently thinking that it was none of his business and wanted to watch the fun from a distance.

Yinyou knew that Ekesun was the eldest brother's man, and he didn't want to get too close to the fourth brother, for fear of arousing suspicion from his backers.

Although he had the secret decree to control Eksun in his arms, Yinyou pretended to be confused and said nothing.

Some things will happen, it’s not that they won’t be repaid, it’s just that the time has not come yet.

However, Yinyou did not expect that Ekesun was as brainless as his eldest brother and was as stupid as a pig.

Eksun actually thought that Lao Si's job had nothing to do with him, so he simply stayed out of it and watched.

Logically speaking, the imperial envoy's headquarters should be located in the Jiangning General's Office in the city.

However, Ekesun did not say a word. As a result, the fourth brother was angry and simply set up the imperial envoy's office in the Governor-General's Office of Liangjiang.

As soon as the fourth brother walked into the camp, he turned to Yinyu and said, "Ekesun, this dog slave, is too arrogant."

Yinyu smiled slightly and said, "Fourth brother, don't worry."

Seeing that Yinyou supported him without hesitation, the fourth brother felt very relieved and his mood immediately improved. He forced Yinyou to play a few games of chess.

After Lao Si revealed his cards, the entire Jiangnan region was shaken.

The various aristocratic families and scholar leaders in Jiangnan were all secretly following the progress of the imperial examination fraud case in Jiangnan.

After all, official positions could not be inherited, and the children of the leaders of the literati had to pass the provincial examination in the Jiangnan Imperial Examination Hall before they could go to Beijing to take part in the metropolitan examination.

It is no exaggeration to say that the arrival of the fourth brother could not fail to attract the attention of the great scholars in Jiangnan.

PS: I stayed up until 4:30 to update again. Please give me some monthly votes.

(End of this chapter)