The swansong of the swansong

Chapter 153: The Holy Favor
The fourth brother knew that the fourteenth brother said this on purpose just to rub salt into his wounds.

Even though the Fourteenth and the Fourth Brother are brothers from the same mother, the grudge between them is extremely deep!
The more unhappy the fourth brother is, the happier the fourteenth brother is!
Who told the fourth son to be unfilial to Concubine De?
He is Prince Yong, but the birthday gift he gave to Concubine De was more than 30% lower than that given to Prince Fourteen, a Beizi. This is really intolerable!

It's a matter between brothers, so even for the Thirteenth Prince and Yinyou, it's not convenient to talk nonsense.

Yinyu knew better than anyone that the sharp conflict between the fourth and fourteenth princes was mainly due to Concubine De's partiality.

Even a fair judge cannot settle family disputes, and every family has its own problems!
Even among Yinyu's three brothers, Concubine Mi loved the eighteenth brother the most, followed by the sixteenth brother, and finally Yinyu's turn.

Yinyou was too powerful, and his biological mother and concubine's actions were somewhat like helping the weak.

As for why Kangxi, his biological father, favored and valued Yinwei, it was because Yinwei not only protected him, but also played an important role in consolidating the imperial power!

In crucial positions, Yinyu always stands with Kangxi, and this is the source of Yinyu's strength!

This is not the first time that a son has died in Prince Yong’s mansion.

According to palace custom, all imperial grandchildren who died young were given a simple funeral.

Of course, people have double standards!

If Hongxi unfortunately died, he would at least be buried with the rites for a prince.

The Fourth Lady was also very sad.

Although, the Fourth Lady and the Concubine Li were not on good terms with each other.

However, from the perspective of the fundamental interests of Prince Yong's Mansion, Hongyun's death was like the fall of the sky!

The fourth child, who has only one son, is obviously at a disadvantage in the future struggle for the throne.

After the Toheqi banquet case broke out, everyone with a discerning eye knew that it was only a matter of time before the crown prince was deposed again!

However, the fourteenth prince's four sons were all very lively and showed no signs of death.

This is very intriguing!
The fourteenth brother, who is ten years younger than the fourth brother, is rising unstoppably!
Alas, my brother has become one of the mortal enemies in the fight for the throne. Who can I turn to for justice?

Cuiqing and Huixiang had bulging bellies, making it inconvenient for them to go out, and the Fourth Lady knew about it.

Hongyun was the young grandson of the emperor who died young. The scale of his funeral was so simple that it was heartbreaking.

The Twelfth Brother and the Fourth Brother had no friendship, but for Yinyou's sake, the Twelfth Brother took the initiative to come over and help with Hongyun's funeral.

The fourth brother didn't say anything, but he naturally looked up to the twelfth brother several times in his heart!

For a person, when he is at the lowest point in his life, it is the time to see people looking down on him, but also the time to remember favors.

After sending Hongyun to the Emperor's Grandson Cemetery, the Fourth Brother, as per custom, took out 1,200 taels of silver to thank the Twelfth Brother for his help.

The Twelveth Brother waved his hands and said, "Fourth Brother, Hongyun is also my nephew. Giving him money is like driving me away."

This is a very nice statement, he is worthy of being the good disciple taught by Su Malagu!

Su Malagu was more than 40 years older than Kangxi. Even if Kangxi was extremely hungry, it was impossible for him to take an old woman as his concubine as some dramas made up stories about.

After Shunzhi's death, the Empress Dowager and Oboi jointly controlled the government. How could they have the energy to teach the young Kangxi?

In fact, Su Malagu was the adopted mother of Kangxi and the adopted grandmother of the Twelfth Prince.

"Fourth brother, don't be polite to twelfth brother, we are brothers!" Yinyu wanted to help the twelfth brother to gain a favor, so he deliberately set up a ladder so that the fourth brother and the twelfth brother could have a close relationship.

After taking care of Hongyun's funeral, Yinyou continued his previous life of going back and forth between home and work.

However, these two points form a straight line, not the same as those two points.

It was because Kangxi had been enjoying himself in Changchun Garden and didn't want to go back to the palace to be bound by the rules.

The distance between Changchun Garden and the capital city was said to be only twelve miles, but in fact, from Xizhimen to Qingxi Study, where Kangxi lived, it was a full twenty miles.

Yinyou simply took his cousin Wang Xiyue and lived in the Ciyuan next to Changchun Garden.

Kangxi did have a special place for Yinyu in his heart, and the garden he gave to Yinyu was right next to Changchun Garden.

After Yinyou went out, he arrived at the Xiaodong Gate in less than a hundred steps.

Although Kangxi granted Yinyu the special privilege of riding a horse in the garden, he would always lead the horse when he entered the garden for the first time every day.

This person must know the limits, especially he must know how much he can eat!

If you become arrogant when you succeed, you will fall sooner or later!
When Yinyou walked to the front of Xiaodong Gate, suddenly, a senior official with a red hat came out from the crowd and bowed to him.

"The Governor of Sichuan, your servant Nian Gengyao, wishes you the best of health!"

Oh, is Nian Gengyao back in Beijing to report on his work?

According to the rules, officials returning to Beijing from their postings outside the capital must first come to see the emperor before they can go home.

Yinyu asked Nian Gengyao calmly: "Liang Gong, when did you come back?"

"My Lord Fifteen, I came back the day before yesterday. The Emperor has shown me His Grace and summoned me three times in a row."

Yinyou blinked. He had not heard from the fourth brother about the news of Nian Gengyao's return.

"Liang Gong, have you gone to pay your respects to Prince Yong?" Yinyu had clearly guessed that Nian Gengyao had most likely not visited the Fourth Prince, but he deliberately asked this question. "Replying to the Fifteenth Master, the Emperor is very concerned about the chaos at Dajianlu, and I have no time to think about other things!"

Since Nian Gengyao wanted to kill himself, why should Yinyou interfere?
Nian Gengyao totally despised the mean and ungrateful Fourth Brother, and was very close to the virtuous Eighth Brother. Alas, Yinyou had no choice!
In front of Qingxi Study, Yinyu was shocked to find that Ma Qi, whom he had not seen for a long time, was standing in front of the door.

To be honest, Kangxi was indeed more humane than the fourth prince and Qianlong.

Considering Ma Qi's vile act of knocking off the crown in public, if Yongzheng were in power, he would have been killed eight times already!

"Your servant Ma Qi wishes you the best of luck, Master Fifteen!"

"Get up." Yinyu's attitude towards Ma Qi was unusually cold.

In addition to the fact that Ma Qi was Kangxi's childhood friend, he had served as the Prime Minister of Manchuria for a long time, and his students and former officials were spread throughout the court and the country.

Yinyou, who holds military power and enjoys the emperor's favor, would never get too close to Ma Qi even if his head was caught in the door.

Today, Ma Qi is no longer the powerful Grand Secretary of Baohe Hall, but one of the envoys sent to the Rakshasa Kingdom.

Yinyou knew that the secret sale of muskets by the Russian Empire played a crucial role in the resurgence of the Dzungar Khanate in the west under Tsewang Arabtan's rule.

Because the supply distance was too long, the Russian Kingdom was temporarily unable to invade the Qing Dynasty on a large scale, so it secretly added fuel to the fire and supported the Dzungar Khanate to cause trouble for the Qing Dynasty.

Kangxi sent Ma Qi to Luosha Kingdom, firstly to let him go out to avoid the limelight, so as not to be drowned by the saliva of the censors, and secondly, to cut off the foreign aid of the Dzungar Khanate and lay a foundation for completely solving the problem of the northwest.

However, even if Yinyou thought with his feet, he knew that Kangxi's fantasy was doomed to fail!
Throughout history, whenever Russia suffered a great loss in Europe, it would inevitably seek to make up for the loss in the East.

The meaning of the Tsar’s existence can be summed up in four words: expanding territory.

The aggressive nature of the Rakshasas determines that they are extremely greedy for territorial expansion.

When Kangxi heard that Yinyou had arrived, he met him first.

When Yinyou entered the room, Zhang Tingyu was kneeling in front of a small table, writing furiously.

Haha, this guy Zhang Hengchen is now the chief secretary of the Qing Dynasty. He knows much more secrets than Yinyou, but his mouth is tighter than a clam. No wonder he can become a veteran of three dynasties.

“Little Fifteen, Ma Qi is back!” Kangxi seemed very happy, and he started talking about the embarrassing things Ma Qi had done in the past. “That year, I really rode Ma Qi like a horse…”

Yinyou understood as soon as he heard it. Even though this old guy Ma Qi had a thousand faults, he was still a capable minister in Kangxi's mind.

Unlike others, Ma Qi clearly supported the Eighth Prince. He really looked down on Crown Prince Yinreng.

"Ma Qi made great contributions to the court during this mission to Russia. He successfully persuaded the Tsar to agree not to supply matchlock guns to the Dzungars." Kangxi praised Ma Qi happily.

Yinyou sneered in his heart. Anyone who dared to believe the Tsar’s promise must be a fool!

However, Kangxi was in high spirits, and there was no need for Yinyou to pour cold water on him.

Kangxi's time was precious, and there must have been a reason for his advance preparations.

As expected, after Kangxi praised Ma Qi a lot, he asked for Yinyou's opinion.

"I'm thinking about letting Ma Qi assist you in managing Changchun Garden?"

Kangxi’s meaning was very clear. He wanted Ma Qi to slowly start from the periphery and gradually return to the center of the court.

Yinyou knew very well in his mind that as long as Kangxi still missed the old times, Ma Qi's return would be unstoppable.

"Khan Father, Ma Qi has too much experience and a bad temper. If he doesn't want to assist me, I can't spank him, can I?" Yinyou deliberately reminded Kangxi that if Ma Qi, this old man, dares to hit even you, how much more so me?

Kangxi was slightly stunned, and then he understood that Yinyou didn't want to play with Ma Qi at all.

"Well, Ma Qi is a stubborn donkey. If we don't teach him a lesson, he won't be obedient." Kangxi quickly made up his mind and turned to Zhang Tingyu, "Minister Heng, draft a new decree and order Ma Qi to go to Qiqihar to serve in the army."

Qiqihar is the location of the Heilongjiang General's Office.

How could Yinyou not understand?

Before he came in, Kangxi had asked Zhang Tingyu to prepare an edict, intending to appoint Ma Qi as the deputy general manager of Changchun Garden.

While Zhang Tingyu was re-drafting the edict, he secretly felt fear towards Yinyu!

When Yinreng's position as the crown prince was on the verge of crumbling, Yinyou's influence on Kangxi was truly astonishingly great!

Yinyu said only one word to the emperor's childhood friend Ma Qi and sent him to Heilongjiang to freeze.

How amazing is this?
When summoning Nian Gengyao, Kangxi called back Yinyou who wanted to escape.

"Little Fifteen, the chieftains in Sichuan have always been disobedient to our Great Qing. Don't leave yet. Listen to what Nian Gengyao has to say."

"The Governor of Sichuan, your servant Nian Gengyao, respectfully wishes His Majesty the best of health."

"Get up!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

As soon as Nian Gengyao got up from the ground, he saw Yinyou standing next to Kangxi.

Nian Gengyao's heart suddenly tightened!

No matter how stupid Nian Gengyao was, he knew that if Yinyou was unhappy, his performance report would not pass smoothly!
PS: The regular two-update task has been completed! If there are enough monthly votes, there may be three updates!
(End of this chapter)