My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 39 The same surprise as Li Yunlong
After returning to Prince Yong's Mansion, Hongli continued to study at the palace school.

And because of this, he and Hong Zhou naturally have to be together day and night.

Hong Zhou was naturally very happy.

But at the same time, he couldn't avoid meeting Hongshi every day.

Hongshi was not very happy, and even became colder, with some hatred in his eyes towards him.

Hongli didn't care about it. He just maintained the courtesy of a younger brother for the sake of common courtesy.

The same was true for Hongshi, who only maintained the superficial friendship of an older brother.

During this period, Hongli was as low-key as Yongzheng.

Yongzheng lived in seclusion and prayed for Kangxi day and night, hoping that God would make Kangxi recover soon.

In addition to studying, he also copied Buddhist scriptures every day, hoping that this action would move the Bodhisattva and help Kangxi recover from his illness.

For this reason, when Yongzheng was at home, Hongli would take the initiative to borrow Buddhist scriptures from Yongzheng, and ask Yongzheng to supervise his sincerity in copying the Buddhist scriptures.

Yongzheng was deeply moved by this.

Sometimes, Yongzheng would take the initiative to take Hongli to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings.

However, in addition to copying Buddhist scriptures and praying to Buddha, Hongli also learned from Yongzheng that the assistant commanders assigned to him had been arranged and had been approved by the imperial edict.

This made Hongli quite excited to find out who his three assistant commanders would be.

On this day, when Hongli was copying Buddhist scriptures at home, the cabinet came to convey an imperial edict.

"Imperial decree: Following the petition of Ablan, Commander-in-Chief of the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner, Luo Deerjin, Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Bordered Blue Banner, and Tang Se, Commander-in-Chief of the Han Army Bordered Blue Banner, the appointments of the 10th Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Manchu Bordered Blue Banner Commander, the 7th Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifth Mongol Bordered Blue Banner Commander, and the 3rd Lieutenant Colonel of the Ninth Han Bordered Blue Banner Commander, to Prince Hongli, are granted. This is my decree!"

"Sun Chen accepts the order and thanks you!"

After receiving the order, Hongli immediately asked Sui Hede to go to the Eight Banners Division of the Ministry of Revenue to check the information about these three captains.

What surprised Hongli was that he finally learned that the hereditary commander of the tenth lieutenant colonel of the second lieutenant colonel of the Bordered Blue Banner Manchu was actually Ortai!

Although, Ortai is still a Yuwenlang in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and has not been promoted for many years.

But he knew that this man was a famous official in history, and his greatest achievement was that he presided over the policy of converting native peoples into officials.

"The servant E'ertai pays respects to the master!"

The next day.

Ortai was also very sensible. He did not look down on Hongli, the young lord, just because he was only in his teens. Soon after he knew that his new lord was Hongli, he came to pay a visit to Hongli.

Now that Ortai was under Hongli's command, it was natural for him to come and see him, and it was not considered as forming a secret clique.

After Ortai saluted him, Hongli raised his hand and said, "That's all!"

Ortai thanked him and stood up, but still kept his head down, standing aside, waiting for Hongli's instructions.

According to the Eight Banners system, Hongli was his legal master.

Unless the emperor gave him the green light, even if Hongli wanted to execute Ortai, or decide who Ortai's children should marry, whether they should serve him, or even divide Ortai's property, Ortai had to obey, and the emperor could not directly intervene.

Therefore, even though Ortai now holds the lucrative position of Deputy Director of the Imperial Household Department, he has to be cautious in front of Hongli.

At this time, Hongli said to Ortai, "You are currently working in the Imperial Household Department. Logically, it's a good position with a lot of benefits. Moreover, there have been rumors that you would rather have a Lang official in the Imperial Household Department than a Vice Minister in one of the six ministries. To keep this position, the most important thing is not to come to see me, the lord, immediately, but to associate with someone worthy of association."

"Why, you come to see me first without waiting for me to pass it on?"

Hongli asked.

Ortai glanced at Hongli in astonishment, then bowed and replied, "Master is indeed no ordinary young man. He is well aware of the current state of the officialdom. However, I only know that abiding by the rules is more important. Since Master has become my new overlord, I will naturally come to pay my respects to you immediately!"

"Besides this?"

"Don't you want to just stay in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and make money?"

Hongli looked at Ortai with a smile.

Ortai looked up in astonishment again, then bowed deeply to the ground: "Master, you are wise. I really want to make progress!"

"Although the Imperial Household Department is lucrative, it is ultimately just a place where rats can live in comfort. I, a servant, have received the grace of the country for generations. How can I be willing to live in comfort as a rat and ignore the righteousness of loyalty to the emperor?" Ortai expressed his thoughts sincerely.

Hongli nodded after hearing this, and then asked, "Then why didn't you make progress before? Was it because you didn't have enough money to buy off connections, or was it because you couldn't lower yourself?"

"My Lord, that is because I do not want to betray you and join the Eighth Master's party."

Ortai replied.

Hongli then asked, "Who was your Zuoling's former leader?"

"It's the eldest prince."

Ortai replied.

Hongli was not surprised by this.

The eldest prince Yinzhen was stripped of his title and imprisoned, so it would be best if the banners he belonged to were divided.

Therefore, the Manchu zuoling assigned to him was also divided from the zuoling of the eldest prince.

However, he did not expect that the Manchu zuoling assigned to him would be the zuoling of the Ortai hereditary system.

As Ortai was once a slave of the eldest prince, it was understandable that he refused to join the Eighth Prince's party even when the eldest prince had lost power and did not get promoted.

Now, because he has become his lord, he is actively trying to acknowledge his master, which undoubtedly shows that Ortai has long wanted to change his backer.

However, no matter how anxious he was to change his backers, he did not want to break the rules and take the initiative to change his backers. Instead, he waited for the court to arrange who would be his new lord, and only then would he actively recognize the new lord.

Only in this way can he maintain his integrity and be considered to be following the emperor's orders to find a new backer, without being disloyal or unrighteous.

"How many people, fields, cattle, horses, money, grain, and property does your captain have now?"

At this time, Hongli asked specifically about the situation of the assistant commanders under Ortai's charge.

Because it was Yongzheng who was worried about assigning him a zuoling position, and Yongzheng had been staying at home during this period and had not told him much about the specific details of the zuoling position he had been assigned.

He also sent Sui Hede to inquire.

Therefore, Hongli is still unclear about the specific situation of his three assistant commanders.

He also asked about Ortai.

After all, these are the human, material and financial resources that he can control, so he naturally has to figure it out.

"My Lord, the number of men under my command is 736, the number of people living there is 653, and the land is 345 hectares..."

Hongli couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Although, he knew that the Qing Dynasty's assistant commanders would also follow the example of the previous dynasties and conceal the true numbers of population, land, etc. from the court.

However, he did not expect that Ortai's commander would have so many people and properties!
You have to know that officially, many captains have only about 300 people at most.

And the captain of Ortai is undoubtedly equivalent to two or three captains, and is a strengthened captain.

"This is the white register of land, taxes, etc. for the people, please have a look at it, Master."

The so-called white book is the account book used for internal management by the Zuoling, and is not submitted to the court.

Just like at the local level, the government has a tax and labor service register for tax and labor service collection, which is data reflecting the real situation of a place.

Hongli took it immediately and looked at it carefully.

The more he looked at it, the more he couldn't help but sigh that this Ortai was a talent who could expand territory and develop the economy.

I really found a treasure.

Yongzheng did find someone to assign a good captain to him.

This made Hongli feel the same pleasant surprise as Li Yunlong.

That is, he originally thought that he only had the strength of a "regiment", but who knew that he actually had the strength of a "division"!

(End of this chapter)