Chapter 156: The Situation of Repeated Jumps (Part 3)
Sending troops to eliminate Huo Chong was a major matter, and it was not something that Yongzheng could decide by discussing it with a few people in private. Although the emperor could indeed do so.
Yongzheng, who had already made up his mind, asked casually at the morning court: "Prince Lian, what do you think of the candidate to lead the army?"
Everyone looked at Prince Lian. Over the past few years, Prince Lian's followers were gradually reduced by Yongzheng. The ministers who really had real power, such as Maerqiha and Chang Ming, were publicly denounced by Yongzheng as people who took advantage of their connections and were Prince Lian's followers.
Yongzheng always humiliated and attacked them in this way, and only dismissed them after a while. At this point, Prince Lian was just a dead tiger. However, Prince Lian had a good reputation, and the succession was a matter of the royal family, and there was no direct conflict with the civil and military officials. Therefore, no minister took the initiative to jump out and publicly accuse Prince Lian of any serious crime.
Seeing that Prince Lian was targeted by Yongzheng again, many ministers even had a bit of sympathy in their eyes. This sympathy was even more than before.
Yongzheng's governance of the government was not just talk. Starting from the ninth-rank clerks, county magistrates, prefectural magistrates, prefectural governors, prefectural governors, and provincial governors, imprisonment was nothing. Even being beheaded would not surprise colleagues, let alone surprise them.
After all, if something happens once, it will certainly be surprising. If something happens hundreds or thousands of times, people will get used to it. Even a first-rank minister like Nian Gengyao, a first-class duke, could receive the imperial edict that "since you are unwilling to commit suicide to apologize for your sins, I have no choice but to allow you to commit suicide." What can others do?
However, Prince Lian was Yongzheng's brother after all, so if he was dragged out and beheaded, it would be a quick death for Prince Lian. In this way, Prince Lian's followers were eliminated, while Prince Lian was still allowed to stay in the court, and he would be scolded and humiliated whenever something happened. The ministers had long been sure that Prince Lian was dead, and they felt that Yongzheng's actions were unkind.
Prince Lian heard Yongzheng's question and stepped forward to answer: "Your Majesty, I think the person you have chosen is suitable."
Yongzheng was somewhat disappointed to hear such a frank and skillful answer. He had always wanted to force the Eighth Prince to explode, to force him to make a stupid move, or even to rebel. But no matter how he tortured the Eighth Prince, he just insisted on holding his post. This guy has always been known as a wise king, and he has a way of dealing with people. Yongzheng wanted to find the mistakes in the Eighth Prince's words and kill him directly, but he had been trying for several years.
Of course, we have to keep trying, just in case we succeed.
However, at least this time, Yongzheng failed.
Seeing Yongzheng's expression, Prince Lian no longer cared. At this moment, he was thinking of an old incident, the Haidongqing incident on November 26, the 53rd year of Kangxi's reign.
At that time, Prince Lian was still the "Eighth Master". Because of his mother's death anniversary, the Eighth Master went to pay his respects. As a result, the two Saker Falcons sent to his father suddenly died. This was definitely not the Eighth Master's intention, and the Saker Falcons were not just in the hands of one person. The Fourth and Thirteenth Masters, who were still "Crown Prince's followers" at the time, had ample opportunities to come into contact with the Saker Falcons.
The Eighth Master once thought that it was the Fourth and Thirteenth Master who did it, but now the Eighth Master thinks that it was the Fourth and Thirteenth Master who did it. However, the Eighth Master no longer thinks that they did it for the Crown Prince. The Fourth and Thirteenth Master may have done it under the suggestion of Kangxi.
The purpose of the father Kangxi's explicit or implicit suggestion to the fourth and thirteenth sons to do this may also be the reason for the unclear death of the father Kangxi later...
Seeing Prince Lian's indifferent look, Yongzheng got angry . So Yongzheng prepared to try again, "This is available, what does it mean?"
"I don't understand military affairs. Since the candidate for the military commander was recommended by the Ministry of War, I think the Ministry of War would never dare to recommend someone who is unworthy to impress the emperor." Prince Lian continued to deal with Yongzheng's difficulties. He even withdrew his thoughts and focused on dealing with Yongzheng. Since Yongzheng regarded him as a green-headed fly, why not be a green-headed fly and continue to stay in the court to disgust Yongzheng.
Yongzheng felt that there was a chance, so he smiled and said, "Haha, does Prince Lian want to recommend anyone?"
If Lao Ba takes the opportunity to recommend his own people, this would be a good opportunity. Firstly, Lao Ba is already a dead tiger, and the person he dares to recommend at this time is undoubtedly Lao Ba's last trump card. Secondly, if there is any mistake in the person recommended by Lao Ba, then the blame will be directly placed on Lao Ba.
Moreover, if Lao Ba dared to interfere in the military power at this time, it would be equivalent to proving to the outside world that he still had some thoughts. It would also let the court officials who sympathized with Lao Ba understand that Yongzheng had a reason to punish Lao Ba.
After hearing Yongzheng's question, Prince Lian felt that Yongzheng's direct questioning was too childish. Could it be that Yongzheng hadn't figured out in the past four years that his father, Emperor Kangxi, publicly said after the eagle-killing incident, "From now on, the father-son relationship between me and Yinsi is over." Such a blow almost made Prince Lian so angry that he almost died of illness. But he didn't die in such a situation, so it was even more impossible for Yongzheng to force him to death with this method!
Especially with the advice from his fourteenth brother, who is an expert in military tactics, Prince Lian already has a way to deal with it.
"Reporting to the emperor, I heard that Nian Gengyao commented on Huo Chong's erratic use of troops and solid combat. Although Nian Gengyao's crimes are unforgivable, he was able to gain the favor of the late emperor and the emperor because as long as the emperor supports Nian Gengyao, he can fight a good battle."
Hearing what Lao Ba said, Yongzheng's face changed slightly. In the past few years, Lao Ba had been fighting with such fair and impartial arguments. He wanted to force Lao Ba to collapse first by making things difficult for him. The reason why Lao Ba insisted on standing firm was to appear in the court every time there was a court meeting to disgust Yongzheng.
But this kind of anger that only brothers understand may not be known to outsiders. What outsiders see is that Yongzheng constantly attacks Prince Lian, and Prince Lian responds with fair and impartial arguments that are in line with the status of a virtuous king. Yongzheng has thought about what these people will say.
So the answer given by the Eighth Brother just now really made Yongzheng sick.
When Yongzheng severely criticized Nian Gengyao , he said, "Whether you can win those victories depends entirely on whether I am willing to let you win them." The Eighth Prince used this statement directly.
Of course, Yongzheng could say that these military achievements were not worth mentioning, but it had been less than a year since Nian Gengyao died, and less than three years since he pacified Qinghai, and many ministers in the court knew clearly what had happened.
Apart from the statement of facts, it is the words in Nian Gengyao's petition. More people know this, and Yongzheng himself quoted Nian Gengyao's words. It is really not appropriate to say that the eighth son peeped into the secrets.
The only thing that seemed to be fabricated by Lao Ba was the sentence "As long as the emperor supports Nian Gengyao, Nian Gengyao can fight a good battle." However, this sentence was really Yongzheng's comment. If someone who didn't know the truth seized on this and criticized it fiercely, then they would have fallen into Lao Ba's trap.
Yongzheng wanted to tell the court officials loudly about the evil heart of the Eighth Prince, which he could see through with his sharp eyes , but he also knew that it was useless to do so. The court officials would approve of the Eighth Prince's attitude and acknowledge his "virtue".
Yongzheng patiently continued the struggle with the Eighth Prince that had been going on for several years, "Who does Prince Lian like?"
Prince Lian continued, "Your Majesty, I don't understand military affairs, but I think Nian Gengyao is arrogant and conceited. He even called Huo Chong's war 'using troops'. He also gave Huo Chong such a comment. I don't know what Nian Gengyao thinks. But since Nian Gengyao said so, why not be more cautious. I think Yue Zhongqi has been in the army for many years and has made many military achievements. Although he is brave and courageous in using troops, he must also know how to be cautious. Huo Chong is a thief who is very cunning. If the court uses Yue Zhongqi's cautious side when mobilizing a large army, it will be a complete victory."
After hearing this, the ministers who knew about war could not help but nod their heads slightly. The officials who did not know about war but were well educated were even more impressed.
Especially the ministers who did not understand military affairs, after hearing Prince Lian's suggestion on which person to use and which of that person's strengths to use to overcome the known flaws of Huo Chong, they felt that the logic was extremely reasonable and that they could solve similar problems in the future in the same way. They felt a sense of relief that their thoughts were clear.
Yongzheng did not expect that Prince Lian would recommend Yue Zhongqi, and he thought there was nothing wrong with this candidate. However, Yue Zhongqi was someone Yongzheng wanted to use in the northwest, and it was impossible for him to be transferred to Shandong. He could only snort, "Humph! It's totally unnecessary to use a butcher knife to kill a chicken."
But Prince Lian had no problem dealing with it. Yongzheng could not hold on to it, so he stopped punishing Prince Lian during his daily court sessions.
As soon as the matter was resolved, I returned to the study room and someone handed me a memorial. "Your Majesty, this is Xie Jishi's memorial."
Hearing this, Yongzheng quickly took the memorial, but found it was quite thick. He couldn't help but feel strange.
Xie Jishi was the son of Xie Cilü, the former general of Dengzhou Town and former governor of Shandong. Xie Cilü committed suicide before his defeat, which was a sign of great integrity. Yongzheng at least thought highly of Xie Cilü in this respect, so he personally wrote a letter of condolence.
Since Yongzheng wrote something to Xie Jishi, Xie Jishi must also write a letter of thanks. Xie Jishi was talented and wrote very good articles. But no one expected that he would write so many words in a letter of thanks.
When I opened it, I saw that the words were not big, but it seemed that there was a lot of content written.
As he read, Yongzheng first frowned, and then his face became more and more angry. After reluctantly finishing reading, Yongzheng stood up and slammed the letter of thanks on the table. He walked around the study room for a while, and suddenly he realized what he wanted to read. He shouted to the officials in the study room: "Bring the letter from Li Fusan and Tian Wenjing!"
The officials hurriedly followed the order. Li Fu's criticism of Tian Wenjing was public, and he did it many times. Soon, the memorials were sent in. Yongzheng put them together and compared them.
It turns out that the part about thanking Xie Cilü in his letter of thanks was quite conventional and not too long-winded.
However, along with this memorial came a memorial from the Minister of Advisory. Xie Cilu knew that he had to go home to observe mourning for his father, so before that happened, he urgently used his duty as a censor to assist the Minister of Advisory.
Xie Cilü could not wait until the three-year mourning period before impeaching Tian Wenjing, so he impeached Henan Governor Tian Wenjing before the mourning period.
