Chapter 122: The First Disaster Relief (VI)
After Kangxi's death, the drama of the Nine Dragons' succession entered its final stage. Although Huo Chong did not want to get involved in this mess, as it concerned his own life, Huo Chong had no choice but to send people to the capital to continue to inquire.
With all the turmoil in the court , no one cared about disaster relief. The Spring Festival came in a blink of an eye. Before the end of the year, Huo Chong encountered a large number of applications from farmers who were not members of the Zhongfu platform. Most of these applications were to borrow money from the Zhongfu platform, or to put it more bluntly, to borrow new debts to repay old debts. Those people wanted to borrow money from the Zhongfu platform to repay their debts from other landlords and gentry.
Huo Chong felt that this matter needed to be analyzed, but his mind was not on this matter, and Huo Chong could not concentrate. Most of the news from the capital seemed to be something Huo Chong had some impression of, such as the fourteenth prince went to guard the body of Emperor Kangxi again. The Eighth Prince was conferred the title of Heshuo Lian Prince by Emperor Yongzheng, and was ordered to handle the affairs of the Ministry of Works and concurrently serve as the Minister of the Lifanyuan.
According to later legends, Yongzheng was accused of many crimes, the three most famous of which were "patricide", "forcing his mother to death" and "tampering with the imperial edict".
The patricide refers to Yongzheng colluding with his uncle Longkodo, the governor of the Nine Gates, and taking advantage of Kangxi's sudden illness, he killed Kangxi with a bowl of medicine.
The most famous example of tampering with the imperial edict was changing "pass the throne to the fourteenth son" to "pass the throne to the fourth son."
Huo Chong didn't actually believe these things. However, in Huo Chong's opinion, Yongzheng was not without responsibility for "forcing his mother to death".
According to history books, the old lady was not a wise person either. After Kang Si died, Yongzheng and his ministers followed the rules to respect the old lady as the empress dowager. As a result, the old lady embarrassed Yongzheng in public and said to the ministers, "It is not my wish for my son to be the emperor."
Even an outsider like Huo Chong felt that this was too much. However, the old lady who could do such a thing saw her eldest son Yongzheng and then attacked her beloved youngest son, the fourteenth brother of Yongzheng.
After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he called the Fourteenth Prince back to the capital and immediately sent him to guard the imperial mausoleum for Kangxi. The old lady could not accept this and died soon after.
The old lady certainly had a great deal of responsibility in this matter, but Yongzheng just wanted the old lady to obey his decision no matter what, without considering the old lady's perspective and finding a way to resolve this conflict.
The two of them were at loggerheads with each other. For the old lady's death, Yongzheng could not be said to be completely blameless like Bai Lianhua.
But there was no news in the capital that the old lady had died. It was impossible for Yongzheng to find someone who looked like the old lady to pretend to be the empress dowager, nor was it possible to block the news and pretend that the old lady was not dead. The only option left was that the old lady was not dead.
Although Huo Chong didn't think the world revolved around him, he couldn't help but think about what this meant. Could it be that his appearance had triggered some kind of butterfly effect?
If the butterfly effect exists, then what kind of storm will the effect you trigger turn into and come back to you?
Just when Huo Chong was feeling anxious, Yongzheng in the capital had already dressed up and went to the Empress Dowager's palace to pay a visit. My mother invited Yongzheng to dinner, and Yongzheng was surprised but couldn't help but be cautious.
Concubine Nian once said that Yongzheng and the Empress Dowager were cut from the same cloth. Although Yongzheng loved Concubine Nian very much, he almost wanted to curse her after hearing this. Perhaps other sons would think it was normal to hear someone say that they had the same temperament as their mother, or even think it was a compliment. But Yongzheng really couldn't appreciate such "compliments".
Compared with Queen Tong Jia, who raised Yongzheng, Yongzheng had no idea how to deal with his own mother, and even gave up the idea of dealing with his biological mother.
When my own mother saw my younger brother, the Fourteenth Brother, she could talk to me. However, when she faced me, I had no idea how to communicate with her. It was as if there was an indescribable barrier in front of me that I could not break through no matter what.
Yongzheng now went to the Tianhou Palace to pay his respects almost every morning. To put it simply, he would go to the palace to check in before the Empress Dowager got up and then slip away. This was so that he would not have to face his mother in person. Even so, when the Empress Dowager ordered Yongzheng to have dinner with her, Yongzheng still had to go.
The meal was quite rich. Even during the so-called mourning period, Yongzheng did not dare to let the empress dowager suffer the slightest punishment. Especially since Yongzheng knew that he did not want to see the empress dowager, he did not want anyone to find any flaws. If any of the ministers dared to say that this was not in accordance with etiquette, Yongzheng decided to deal with it severely. However, no one said anything about it.
Completely ignoring the food on the table, Yongzheng lowered his head and assumed a respectful posture so that he would not have to look his mother in the eye.
"Fourth brother, let your brother go." The Queen Mother's voice was full of fatigue.
Yongzheng was unhappy and lowered his head to answer: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, my fourteenth brother roared in front of my father's coffin and showed no respect for etiquette. If he wants to..."
"Fourth Brother, mother begs you."
The Queen Mother's voice was still full of fatigue, but Yongzheng could not continue. The words he wanted to blame the Fourteenth Old Man were instantly forgotten, and Yongzheng was confused at this moment. With Yongzheng's experience, his mother should bow her head and beg him at this time. A normal person should do so. However, his mother, the Master of Yonghe Palace, was different.
Yongzheng naturally raised his head and looked at his biological mother in confusion. He saw that the 64-year-old old lady had gray hair and a sad look. Yongzheng was slightly angry. This sadness was not directed at Yongzheng, nor was it directed at the brothers fighting each other. It was because of the fourteenth brother, just because of the fourteenth brother.
Yongzheng lowered his head quickly. He knew that he couldn't be angry with his mother. But Yongzheng knew very well that he was really angry.
"Son. Are you angry with me?" The Queen Mother asked tiredly.
Yongzheng was stunned, his mind was in a mess. Suddenly his nose felt sore and his eyes turned red. It was the first time in so many years that Yongzheng heard his mother call him son.
But then Yongzheng heard the empress dowager say: "Your Majesty, spare your brother."
Yongzheng raised his head again. He never thought that one day he would hear a word from his mother that he could understand. In a moment, Yongzheng felt a thousand grievances in his heart, which made him feel so miserable that he wanted to cry.
The Fourteenth Prince roared at him in front of his father's coffin and refused to kowtow to the new emperor. All these rebellious behaviors made Yongzheng want to tell his mother about them. He even expected his mother to blame the Fourteenth Prince.
But Yongzheng didn't dare to say it. He was afraid that if he said it, his mother would stand on the side of his younger brother, the Fourteenth Brother. If that happened, it would be better for him to say nothing.
"Your Majesty, you are Fourteenth's biological brother. He is your biological brother, please spare him." The Queen Mother's tired voice was choked with sobs.
Yongzheng couldn't help himself and finally asked, "What does the Queen Mother want?"
"You are the emperor, you can make the decision." The Queen Mother's voice was completely choked with sobs.
Yongzheng felt that the world seemed to have returned to normal. Although he didn't know why, the world was actually normal. This feeling was so strange that it made him feel uneasy. Summoning his courage, Yongzheng gave his mother an answer, "I know."
