My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 73: Hongli Shocks the Imperial Household
December 20th, the 61st year of the Kangxi reign.

A day later, Yongzheng issued another imperial edict to the head of the Imperial Household Department and others:
All the stewards in the inner court are people who have served the Imperial Father, and among them are also sons of ministers and officials. I will ask the general managers of their respective places to select and recommend them, and I will consider whether they will be employed!
Anyone who is proficient in Manchu and Chinese should write a statement.

Hongli knew that Yongzheng was preparing to make major personnel adjustments in the Imperial Household Department in order to prepare for the subsequent rectification of the Imperial Household Department's deficits.

Hongli also called Lai Bao from the stick-sticking office and ordered him to:

"Have your people keep a close eye on Nanny Jin and the officials from the Imperial Household Department behind her. If they try anything, inform me as soon as they do."

"Whoo!"

Hongli nodded and let Lai Bao retreat.

For Hongli, this investigation of deficits by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was also an opportunity for him to help the Fourth Lady establish her authority in the harem.

He had to let the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs know that in the harem, they could not arbitrarily deduct money from anyone without the permission of the Fourth Lady.

Of course, Hongli also knew that it was impossible to eliminate corruption in the Imperial Household Department, and he did not really want to eliminate it.

Because, unless the emperor himself does not want to enjoy himself in his spare time and live a comfortable life, he will have to allow the people in the Imperial Household Department to take bribes.

Therefore, even someone as strict as Yongzheng only asked the people in the Imperial Household Department not to go too far.

However, Hongli just wanted to deduct the share of the corresponding personnel in the harem and wanted to discuss it with the Fourth Lady. The Fourth Lady could not share the benefits, but these people had to be known to the Fourth Lady.

As long as the Fourth Lady can really intimidate the Imperial Household Department in the harem, he, the prince following the Fourth Lady, will be able to gain more benefits, and even establish the order he wants in the harem through the Fourth Lady.

For example, if he wanted to allow Hong Zhou to concentrate on being a prince who devoted himself to studying various skills, then everyone in the Imperial Household Department and the harem must cooperate and not hinder him.

Every time Hongli went to pay his respects to Empress Dowager Renshou, he still went with the Fourth Lady.

Because the Fourth Lady did not want to meet the Empress Dowager Renshou alone.

She only felt more at ease when she asked Hongli to join her.

There was no way. The Fourth Lady actually couldn't stand Empress Dowager Renshou's temper.

Unfortunately, as a daughter-in-law, she naturally couldn't say much.

Hongli could see it, so every time he accompanied the Fourth Lady to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager Renshou, he would take the initiative to joke with the Empress Dowager Renshou on behalf of the Fourth Lady, so that the Fourth Lady would not feel pressured by the Empress Dowager Renshou.

Hongli intended to guide Empress Dowager Renshou to become a virtuous queen, and collected many folk ethical stories about motherly love and filial piety, and told them to Empress Dowager Renshou whenever he had the chance.

Empress Dowager Renshou, who was unable to leave the palace, listened with great interest, and her temper was indeed much better than before.

Because of the investigation into the deficit, the Fourth Lady has been much busier these days than before.

Hongli also volunteered to help the Fourth Lady calculate the actual share received by each palace and hall.

The Fourth Lady knew that Hongli was proficient in mathematics and physics, so she did not refuse.

After Hongli helped the Fourth Lady with the calculations, the verification process was indeed made much faster.

According to the rules, the share of the harem was collected by the eunuchs from each palace and hall at the Guangchusi of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Guangchusi would distribute the shares that had been divided in advance according to each palace and hall to the eunuchs in each palace and hall.

After the eunuchs in each palace and hall received these shares, they would be checked and registered by special eunuchs when they entered the left or right gates of the inner palace for future audits.

This is done to prevent the situation where short hair is too short.

However, because there were too many people in the harem, especially during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the number of concubines far exceeded that of the reign of Emperor Shunzhi.

Therefore, after the eunuchs checked the registration, few people went to check.

Basically, I won’t check.

This made the people in the Imperial Household Department more and more daring, and the situation of openly withholding the shares of concubines and royal princes became more and more common.

Therefore, when Hongli was helping the Fourth Lady to calculate, he found that the actual share received by the noble ladies in the harem was basically less than the amount paid according to the rules.

This means that there is basically a situation of withholding in every palace and hall.

It’s just a matter of severity. The less power and influence you have, the more serious it is.

Of course, there are also cases where there is no deduction, and some even receive a lot more.

For example, his share, that of the Fourth Lady, and even that of Lady Niuhuru, was considerably higher than the standard allotment. Meanwhile, Hong Zhou's share this month was not particularly high.

After all, Hong Zhou is a prince after all.

But the deduction for next month was too severe.

This made Hongli squint his eyes, thinking that someone was trying to deceive Hongzhou, to make him understand that voluntarily giving up the fight for power was not a good thing.

In order to make it easier for the Fourth Lady to see the severity of the embezzlement in each palace and hall, and to make it difficult for the Fourth Lady and even Yongzheng to ignore the embezzlement of Geng and Hongzhou, and even to let bystanders support Geng and Hongzhou and speak out for them.

Hongli made a table and a bar chart of the embezzlement, making the embezzlement of Geng and Hongzhou in the next month particularly prominent.

"It's rare that you'd be so thoughtful as to draw a chart like this."

"This way, Enie will understand everything immediately."

After looking at the bar chart, the Fourth Lady looked at Hongli with satisfaction and said with a smile.

But the Fourth Lady also frowned at this. "Why are Geng and Hongzhou's allowances for next month so small? Did the Imperial Household Department re-determine the allowances for the princesses and princes, or are they deliberately deducting a large amount from them next month?"

According to the regulations, the amount of supplies of silk, charcoal, spices, etc. to each palace and hall was determined by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The mistress of the harem, who commands the six palaces, can supervise whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs has paid out actual amounts.

Therefore, after discovering that Geng and Hongzhou's allowances for next month were seriously insufficient, the Fourth Lady could not hastily conclude that they were being deducted. She still needed to send someone to ask the Imperial Household Department and check the accounts.

"Chen Shishun!"

The Fourth Lady also gave an order at this time.

Chen Shishun, the eunuch in charge of Yongshou Palace, came over hurriedly: "Master, please give your instructions."

"Take the order from the Empress Dowager and tell Uncle Sixteen to send someone to bring us the detailed supply list for Xianfu Palace."

The Fourth Lady gave the order at this time.

"Whoo!"

Chen Shishun then immediately went to the Guangchusi.

Hongli thought that although Chen Shishun was the chief eunuch beside the Fourth Lady and was three levels higher than her, he might have been captured by the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a sugar-coated bullet, thus delaying his chance to use the Fourth Lady to establish his authority in the harem.

So Hongli said to the Fourth Lady, "Eunuch Chen, I'm afraid it's not enough for him to go. I'm afraid some people will take advantage of his lack of math skills and use other accounts to fool him. It would be better for me to take him there while I have time."

After hearing this, Chen Shishun glanced at Hongli with horror.

After hearing this, the Fourth Lady also glanced at Hongli, then nodded with a smile: "Okay, you take him with you!"

Hongli took Chen Shishun out of Yongshou Palace and walked towards the Imperial Household Department.

As soon as the two of them left Yongshou Palace, Chen Shishun knelt down before Hongli and said, "Fourth Master, please allow me to report this. I did not intentionally hide this from Fifth Master. It was Nanny Jin who told me that it was Fifth Master's intention, so I did not dare to speak out. I beg your forgiveness, Fourth Master!"

Hongli smiled slightly. He knew that Chen Shishun knew that Hongzhou's allowance had been severely deducted, but he just didn't tell the Fourth Lady. It was obvious that he had accepted benefits from others.

"Get up!"

"Since you, Eunuch Chen, told me the truth, I will naturally not bother with you!"

Hongli said this and walked away with his hands behind his back.

Chen Shishun secretly breathed a sigh of relief and followed, whispering to the eunuchs following him, "From now on, be careful around the Fourth Master! This Master is incredibly skilled!"

"My son understands!"

"You don't understand shit! If you did, you should pay more attention to whether this gentleman is happy or angry every day, and who he hangs out with."

After Chen Shishun finished speaking, he caught up with Hongli and said to him with a flattering smile, "Don't worry, Fourth Master, I will tell you everything I hear and know in the future!"

"Firstly, you are the one our master loves the most, and secondly, you are the one who understands our master the most."

"Only if we tell you first can we please the master and satisfy him."

Hongli nodded and said sullenly, "Let's go to the Imperial Household Department first! I'm very happy that you have this awareness, but I don't like it that the Imperial Household Department bullied Hongzhou without my and Fu Jin's permission!"

(End of this chapter)