My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 50 It is better to appoint Hongli as the crown prince as soon as possible
Yongzheng took it, looked through it, and said with a moved face: "He copied a lot, which shows that his filial piety is much stronger than Hongshi's!"

Yinxiang knew that once Yongzheng had a bad impression of someone, it would be difficult for him to be lenient with all the crimes and mistakes committed by that person. No one could persuade him, and the more he tried to persuade, the worse the situation would become.

Therefore, Yinxiang did not say much for Hongshi and just drank tea.

Yongzheng felt that Hongshi was far less filial than his younger brother Hongli, and his expression became increasingly cold, so cold that the Fourth Lady couldn't help but take two steps back.

"Let Su Peisheng bring Hongshi here!"

Suddenly, Yongzheng called out in a stern tone.

"Whoo!"

Not long after, Hongshi arrived here.

Hongshi was much more respectful than before. When he saw Yongzheng, he immediately knelt down and said, "Greetings to Khan Ama and to Fu Jin!"

Then, Hongshi stood up and saluted Yinxiang: "Greetings to Uncle Thirteen!"

"I heard that you are still copying Buddhist scriptures?"

Yongzheng asked in a deep voice.

Hongshi trembled slightly: "Yes, I copied slowly and delayed Khan Ama's work. Please forgive me, Khan Ama!"

"You're not delaying my business, you're delaying your Khan Mafa!"

"The fact that you, Khanmafa, passed away so suddenly has a lot to do with your lack of filial piety!"

Yongzheng always spoke very harshly when he hated someone.

Therefore, he does the same to Hongshi now, directly identifying Hongshi as the culprit who caused the death of Kangxi. This is equivalent to pointing at Hongshi's nose and calling him an unfilial descendant!

After all, he has long been dissatisfied with Hongshi's behavior over the years.

Moreover, Kangxi had once told Yongzheng that Hongshi had behaved improperly when entering the palace to attend important celebrations, and asked him to discipline him more because Hongshi had done the same thing as the old prince.

The only difference is that Yinreng loves his stepmother, while Hongshi loves his nanny.

Otherwise, Kangxi would not have cooperated with Yongzheng and would not have allowed Hongshi to become the crown prince. He even treated Yongzheng coldly for a time and watched the fourteenth prince disrespect Yongzheng at one point without Kangxi saying anything.

However, since this involved a family scandal, Kangxi did not publicize it.

Later, Yongzheng himself found an opportunity to confess his true feelings to Kangxi, and Kangxi told him the real reason why he had once treated him coldly.

Yongzheng only found out about this and replaced Hongshi's teacher He Qing. When he later reprimanded Hongshi, he revealed the secret.

Therefore, this made Yongzheng feel resentful towards Hongshi very early on, especially when Yongzheng was anxious and wondered whether Kangxi had no intention of passing the throne to him, he would feel even more that it was Hongshi who influenced him.

However, Hongshi did not know that Yongzheng knew about his affair with a certain young mistress. He only knew that his father had become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty and he had become a prince.

If he wanted Yongzheng to change his opinion of him, he had to admit his mistakes honestly, correct his attitude, and stop making the same mistake as before, thinking that his fourteenth uncle had the greatest hope of becoming the emperor, or even that his eighth uncle had a greater chance of becoming the emperor than his father.

Yes, Hongshi now regrets his previous misjudgment.

Therefore, he decided to apologize to Yongzheng and try to make Yongzheng change his opinion of him.

He no longer resented Yongzheng's coldness towards him, but decided to ease his relationship with Yongzheng and show his filial piety.

Not to mention, Yongzheng is the emperor now. If he makes Yongzheng unhappy again, the consequences will be serious.

All he had to say was that he was now a prince, the de facto eldest son. If he could please Yongzheng, he might even become the next emperor, achieving the supreme position he had never dreamed of. Indeed, after Yongzheng became emperor, Hongshi began to have some ideas about becoming emperor himself.

Of course, for Hongshi, even if he could not become the next emperor, being able to change Yongzheng's opinion of him would be more conducive to him obtaining the title as soon as possible.

Therefore, even though Yongzheng's words were very harsh and made Hongshi feel hot, he still held back and kowtowed sincerely to admit his mistake:

"Khan Ama is blaming me, and I am guilty. Please give me a chance to reform!"

As Hongshi spoke, he began to cry. He continued, "I shouldn't have been so self-righteous before. I shouldn't have disregarded my father's orders and the emperor's orders. I shouldn't have been so indifferent to my brothers. Now I am willing to correct my mistakes. Please give me another chance, Khan Ama!"

"I don't have time to lecture you right now. Go back and reflect on yourself first. Have you behaved like a son?"

Yongzheng waved his hand.

"Whoo!"

Hongshi retreated.

After Hongshi left, Yongzheng was still furious because he thought of Hongshi's previous words and deeds, and said to Yinxiang:
"He is short-sighted and has evil intentions. He only just now admitted his mistakes. It seems that if I hadn't become the emperor, I wouldn't be worthy of his filial piety!"

Yinxiang then said, "Compared to Hongshi, Hongli is much calmer and more respectful. When so many princes and grandchildren were worried about who would inherit the throne, he was still so devoted to copying so many Buddhist scriptures for Khanmafa. It's really rare. He is more filial than a son like me."

"Yes, tonight when we entered the garden, I dragged Hongli with me, and he even shed tears in the car."

"Obviously, he was thinking of Khan Ama. This child is affectionate and grateful. Even though Khan Ama only kept him by her side for nearly two years, he didn't become arrogant."

Like Yinxiang, the Fourth Lady knew that she could not persuade Yongzheng directly when he was angry, so it was better to use other ways to make Yongzheng happy and prevent him from continuing to be immersed in bad emotions.

Yongzheng was indeed clear about what he loved and hated. When he hated someone, he refused to believe all the good things about him. When he liked someone, he was happy to believe all the good things about him.

Therefore, after hearing Yinxiang and the Fourth Lady praising Hongli, Yongzheng felt much better and thought of what Kangxi said to him before his death.

"You know, Khan Ama told me before he died that I am already old and it is better to appoint Hongli as the crown prince as soon as possible."

"It's just that Khan Ama didn't make it clear because he had trouble choosing a successor. Now that I think about it, Khan Ama's choice of me was indeed closely related to Hongli."

Yongzheng's expression was solemn, and he inexplicably felt a sense of gratitude towards Hongli in his heart, as if he felt that it was Hongli who helped him succeed in his bid for the throne.

It should be noted that during the sixty years of Kangxi's reign, he was indeed very skilled in the use of political tactics, which made many of his sons and ministers very uncomfortable.

Even someone as patient and astute as Yongzheng often fell into confusion and anxiety. He even followed the example of some officials in later generations and prayed to gods and Buddhas to divine whether he could eventually seize the throne.

Therefore, Yongzheng inevitably felt that it was the appearance of Hongli that enabled him to successfully seize the throne.

Even Yinxiang couldn't help but have this thought.

Because he had just experienced a major political failure. If he had not gone all in on Yongzheng after the crown prince was deposed, he would still be an idle prince who had just been completely abandoned and placed under house arrest by Kangxi because Yongzheng had successfully won the throne.

Therefore, Yinxiang also took the initiative to ask Yongzheng at this time: "Then your Majesty, how do you plan to decide the position of heir to the throne for Hongli?"

"I intend to make him the crown prince in reality, but not in name only!"

"How do you solve this?"

"Appointing a crown prince in secret! This means that everyone in the world only knows that I have chosen a crown prince, and they also know who it is, but I won't reveal it explicitly!"

(End of this chapter)