My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 52: Convincing Concubine De
Upon seeing this, the Fourth Lady looked at Hongli with approval and knelt down, saying, "I second your motion. Please take back what I said, Mother!"

Because it was not the Fourteenth Prince who took over the throne, Concubine De was already in a bad mood. Now that Hongli and the Fourth Lady asked her to take back what she had just said, her face naturally turned pale.

"Hongli! What were the late emperor's last words before his death? Can't I even ask?"

Defei asked Hongli about this with some anger.

Hongli argued, "It's not that I can't ask, but as someone from the harem, if I ask, I shouldn't have any opinions, otherwise it would be like meddling in government affairs!"

"And according to our Qing Dynasty's ancestral system, the harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs!"

"So, to protect Grandmother's reputation for virtue, I, your grandson, have no choice but to remind her!"

De Fei's expression grew increasingly grim. She heaved several breaths before gritting her teeth and speaking, "So what if I told you? Are you still going to tell the Emperor?"

"If a ruler is not discreet, he will lose his ministers; if a minister is not discreet, he will lose his dignity."

"My grandmother will soon be the Queen Mother, and will also be the ruler. If you are not careful, and someone else spreads this, it will only harm Fourteenth Uncle!"

"Could it be that Grandmother Consort really wants to see Fourteenth Uncle and Khan Ama grow further apart because of what Grandmother Consort said?"

Hongli asked in a deep voice.

What he meant directly was that if you, Concubine De, don't want to make the Fourteenth Prince even more dissatisfied with Emperor Yongzheng and force Yongzheng to deal with the Fourteenth Prince's family and his followers in a more severe way, then you'd better control your mouth and restrain your biased behavior!

Because you can rely on the fact that you are the emperor's mother and know that Yongzheng can't do anything to you, but that doesn't mean that Yongzheng can't deal with your favorite youngest son!
After about a cup of tea, Concubine De gritted her teeth and replied, "Okay, I take it back. If what I just said gets out, all the servants present will be beaten to death!"

"Minions dare not!"

Hongli breathed a sigh of relief.

The mother plays a big role in whether a family is harmonious.

The conflict between the fourth and fourteenth princes has a lot to do with Concubine De herself.

Because Concubine De showed her favoritism towards the Fourteenth Prince so obviously, it was almost as if the words of her favoritism towards the Fourteenth Prince were engraved on her forehead.

The reason why Concubine De favored the fourteenth son was that the fourth son was not raised by Concubine De herself, but by Imperial Noble Concubine Tongjia, so the relationship between mother and son was not deep.

Another thing is that Concubine De has always hated Imperial Noble Concubine Tongjia the most, but Imperial Noble Concubine Tongjia is particularly fond of the fourth child.

This also made it even more difficult for Concubine De to like the fourth prince.

Now he said the taboo words "The new emperor is not what I expected" directly in his own bedroom.

But what made Hongli feel fortunate was that Concubine De finally listened to what he said and finally realized that this was not the time for him to show off his words.

After Concubine De calmed down, she did regain her sanity, and her eyes looked at Hongli with much kindness: "All of you get up."

"Thank you, mother!"

"Thank you, Grandma!"

Hongli helped the Fourth Lady stand up.

Then, Concubine De ordered, "Please take a seat!"

Hongli and the Fourth Lady hurriedly expressed their gratitude again.

"Thanks to you, Hongli, for reminding me. I am also old and confused. I almost caused a bad influence on the people of the world."

"Fujin is not a foolishly filial person. She knew to follow suit and dissuade him in time. She has the character that a harem master should have."

Defei smiled and spoke.

No matter what she thought in her heart, on the surface, she did appear to be magnanimous, open-minded, and happy to accept advice.

"Mother, you are so kind!"

"Grandmother Fei, you are so kind."

After Hongli and the Fourth Lady were humble for a moment, Defei asked the Fourth Lady, "You brought Hongli here to pay your respects today. Was it the Emperor's intention?" "My dear, it was His Majesty who asked my daughter-in-law to personally raise the Fourth Prince."

The Fourth Lady replied with a smile.

Defei nodded and looked at Hongli again.

When she saw Hongli sitting in front of her, looking mature, steady and reserved, she suddenly said to herself, "I understand."

"Hongli, when the late emperor was seriously ill, did he mention me?"

At this moment, Defei suddenly looked at Hongli seriously and asked whether Kangxi mentioned her when he was dying.

As far as Hongli could remember, Kangxi naturally never mentioned Concubine De.

But he knew that no matter what, Concubine De was still a woman, and she also cared about whether her husband had her in his heart, otherwise she would not ask this.

After all, all the concubines in the harem hope that their husbands love them more.

In order to make Defei feel better and help ease the relationship between Yongzheng and Defei, he told a white lie and nodded: "I mentioned it!"

De Fei's eyes lit up immediately: "Really?"

Hongli looked at Concubine De sincerely and said, "How dare I, your grandson, deceive you, grandmother?"

De Fei hurriedly asked, "What did the late emperor say?"

"He said you gave birth to two good sons, and that among all the concubines, only my grandson's grandmother is the most virtuous. He believes that with you around, the uncles, especially my father and fourteenth uncle, will be able to live in harmony and friendship in the new dynasty!"

So, when Hongli said this, it hit Defei's heart directly.

Defei couldn't help wiping the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief, tears still glistening in her eyes.

"Grandmother Fei, please don't be sad. If you are sad, your grandson will also start to be sad and miss Khanmafa."

Seeing this, Hongli also pouted and started to cry, and acted coquettishly.

His voice hasn't changed yet, and when he speaks, his tone still has that soft and sweet feeling of a child acting coquettish, which touches the softest part of people's hearts.

Therefore, Defei was in a very good mood because she knew that Kangxi was worried about her when he was dying. Secondly, Hongli's words also made her heart soften. She took Hongli's hand and put it in her arms, smiling and said, "Good boy, your grandmother is not sad, but happy."

"Perhaps, for the Great Emperor, as long as he is my son, he will look at me differently."

"It's me, as the concubine's mother, who hasn't treated everyone equally. I can't let the late emperor down!"

"As for the late emperor, he should have valued his grandchildren more. Hongchun is indeed much worse than you."

In a good mood, Defei began to become reasonable. At this time, she talked to herself and made up the reasons why Kangxi passed the throne to Yongzheng, which was equivalent to convincing herself.

This forced Hongli to admit that the older this man got, the more he acted like a child.

He is both willful and can't resist being coaxed.

At the beginning, he did not hesitate to say that the new emperor was not what he wanted and was suspected of interfering in state affairs. Now he has been fooled by his own lies and is brainwashing himself.

But for Hongli, he hoped that Concubine De would accept Yongzheng as the new emperor from the bottom of her heart, so as to avoid conflicts between mother and son, which would eventually make Yongzheng's character more and more extreme.

Therefore, Hongli decided to strike while the iron was hot and take advantage of the fact that Concubine De was now somewhat accepting of Yongzheng, and said:
"Grandmother, I have always known that you are highly respected in the Six Palaces, so the concubines of Khanmafa all respect you very much."

"Now that Khan Ama has taken the throne, according to custom, the late emperor's concubines are required to send palace maids to pay their respects to the emperor regularly. However, I'm afraid that Khan Ama's concubines, out of concern for your feelings, will not take the initiative to send people to pay their respects to Khan Ama. Therefore, you need to call them to send people to pay their respects and acknowledge Khan Ama as the rightful new ruler of the world."

Hongli remembered that in history, after Yongzheng became emperor, because Concubine De refused to acknowledge Yongzheng as the emperor, Kangxi's concubines were also reluctant to acknowledge Yongzheng as the emperor, and did not send people to Yongzheng to pay their respects regularly as per the rules.

After all, Concubine De had managed the six palaces for many years during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and the prestige she had accumulated could not be completely dissipated overnight.

However, this incident eventually made the sensitive Yongzheng very angry, and he even took his anger out on Lao Ba and others, saying that it was Lao Ba and others who caused it, which led to Yongzheng doing many extreme things.

Therefore, Hongli now hopes that Defei can take the initiative to avoid this situation, so that Yongzheng will not end up like in history, because Kangxi's concubines also made things difficult for him over the legitimacy of his succession, and then took his anger out on his brothers, exacerbating internal conflicts, so that Yongzheng can focus more on reform.

(End of this chapter)