Chapter 158: The Situation of Repeated Jumps (V)
On the third day of the fifth month of the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, Mr. Ding, who was sitting in front of Huo Chong, looked at Huo Chong with a calm and determined look. It was true that appearance reflects the heart. Seeing Mr. Ding unconsciously showing a look of indifference to life and death, Huo Chong was a little surprised.
For the happiness and future of the people, and for the great ideal of communism, the revolutionary martyrs were so righteous and awe-inspiring, which is naturally admired by all generations. You, Mr. Ding, are a dog slave of a feudal dynasty, and a dog slave of a feudal dynasty ruled by a foreign race. How can you be so righteous and awe-inspiring?
Mr. Ding himself did not seem to realize this. He praised: "Mr. Huo is really smart, not just a little smart. You will be easy to talk to from now on. Mr. Huo, the emperor deposed the crown prince twice. What do you think?"
Huo Chong had to retract his thoughts, "Well...Kangxi still has expectations for the prince."
"Then Mr. Huo thought the emperor was in good health, so why did he suddenly die of illness? I saw something in Mr. Huo's manifesto."
Huo Chong had already made up his mind to kill, so he no longer concealed it. If a frank attitude could be exchanged for a frank answer, then what reason was there not to be frank at this time?
"Brother Ding, I wrote that just to make myself look more reasonable. No one feels sorry for a man who murdered his own father and was beaten to death. But first of all, I don't believe that the name Fourteenth was changed to Yu Four. Kangxi released the Fourteenth Master to be the Great General King, and he certainly never thought of letting the Fourteenth Master succeed to the throne." After saying that, Huo Chong stared at Mr. Ding, trying to see the change in his emotions from his face.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Ding just nodded and didn't care at all. Since Huo Chong changed the address, Mr. Ding also changed the address, "Brother Huo, in the 61st year of Kangxi, when the emperor was in good health, the deposed prince was already terminally ill. I wonder what Brother Huo would think after hearing this?"
Huo Chong had no idea about the deposed crown prince, so he could only think about it based on what Mr. Ding said. After thinking for a while, Huo Chong suddenly felt that he had figured out the connection. After thinking about it again, an idea that he had never thought of before popped up.
There was nothing wrong with this idea, but Huo Chong had never heard of it before. Seeing that Mr. Ding was nervous but trying to appear calm, Huo Chong asked excitedly, "Does Brother Ding want to say, 'See the Holy Grandson?'"
Huh... Mr. Ding let out a long breath. He felt relieved after letting out this breath, and even felt happy as if he had met a close friend. Mr. Ding was about to stand up when he heard Qian Qing, who had been watching him closely, shout, "Sit down, don't move!"
Even though Qian Qing scolded him, Mr. Ding didn't care. He sat back down with a look of joy on his face. "Brother Huo, the Eighth Master sent me here to tell me that Brother Huo was able to escape from Prince Yong. He must be extremely smart. Now I really believe it."
Being praised like this, Huo Chong lost his confidence. He could only smile helplessly and said, "I wonder what Brother Ding believes in?"
"Look at the holy grandson. That's what Mr. Fang Bao said. Brother Huo, do you know Mr. Fang Bao?" Mr. Ding asked with the frankness he would show to a comrade.
Mentioning this person also indirectly proved that Fang Bao might have really said this. Huo Chong thought about it for a moment and suddenly believed it.
After believing this, Huo Chong couldn't help but exclaim loudly: "So that's how it is, so that's how it is!"
Mr. Ding also looked like he felt the same way. Judging from his expression, if he had a wine glass in his hand at this moment, he would clink glasses with Huo Chong. Even one clink would not be enough, he would have to clink glasses three times.
Seeing that Mr. Ding was getting a little carried away, Qian Qing secretly grabbed his revolver, ready to shoot him if he showed any sign of misconduct.
Huo Chong didn't see it this time. He was completely immersed in thinking about sorting out his thoughts.
Qianlong was a boaster who loved to flatter himself. According to historical records, he personally said that in the later years of Kangxi, the ministers did not know who to choose as the successor. When asked Fang Bao, Fang Bao said, "Let's look at the holy grandson." Kangxi laughed and agreed when he heard this.
When Qianlong boasted about this, he was very proud. His father became emperor because of him, and this was something worth bragging about for the son for the rest of his life.
Huo Chong originally thought that this incident might not have happened and was made up by Qianlong. But now Huo Chong believes that this incident is very likely to be true.
Huo Chong had read Er Yuehe's book about Qianlong, but had no impression of the content. For some reason, he was impressed by the fact that during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, many members of the royal family risked their lives to overthrow Qianlong and establish the son of the deposed crown prince as emperor.
Huo Chong had long forgotten the rest of the content, but this incident was so inexplicable that it left an impression on Huo Chong.
However, putting these things together, a new context becomes reasonable.
Kangxi deposed the crown prince twice, but this was the result of a power struggle. If the crown prince was really incompetent and incompetent, Kangxi would have given up hope and deposed him long ago. It would have been even more impossible to depose him and then reinstate him as crown prince.
According to this line of thinking, the so-called virtuous Lao Ba is actually a simpleton who doesn't understand what's going on. Those who support Lao Ba should also be a bunch of simpletons. For example, Lao Shisi, who was once played around by Lao Si and almost beat Huo Chong to death.
In contrast, the fourth and thirteenth sons were clever. Or conspirators. They took full advantage of this contradiction, and it was very likely that they were the ones who killed the eagle. Kangxi was about to regain his status as the crown prince, so he took advantage of the situation and announced that he would sever the father-son relationship with the eighth son.
However, the forces supporting the crown prince had basically all collapsed when he was deposed for the first time, so that the crown prince himself could no longer gain a foothold in the court. Seeing the situation had come to this point, Kangxi had to reluctantly depose the crown prince for the second time.
However, stubbornness is a normal mentality of the elderly. Kangxi could not take his eyes off the son who had devoted most of his life to him. Although the family relationship between him and this prince son was destroyed, it did not mean that Kangxi did not love this son.
Therefore, Kangxi was unwilling to appoint another crown prince, not because he wanted to examine which of his sons was more useful, but because he wanted to rely on his good health to wait out this son who was already terminally ill, and then appoint his grandson as the crown prince!
In this case, Qianlong's description is completely correct.
In his later years, Kangxi asked Fang Bao, who had always followed him , who should be made the crown prince? Fang Bao, who knew Kangxi's thoughts well, said "look at the holy grandson". That is to say, don't make a crown prince, look at the son of the deposed crown prince.
This inference is not only proven by isolated cases. Another proof is the reaction of Yongzheng's mother after Kangxi's death.
When Yongzheng's mother heard that Yongzheng had succeeded to the throne, she publicly stated, "It is not my dream to appoint my son to succeed the throne."
Many people think that this old lady thought that the fourteenth son should be the emperor, so she refused to accept the reality that the fourth son was the emperor. But even if Yongzheng was forced to death and the fourteenth son became the emperor, the old lady could not take back what she said. The fourteenth son was also the old lady's biological son.
Huo Chong never understood what was wrong with this old lady. If she said this for Old Fourteen, wouldn't that mean Old Fourteen would die?
But from another perspective, if the old lady loved her husband the most, who doted on her for decades, she could not have been unaware of who her husband Kangxi favored. It is even possible that she went to cheer Kangxi up when she saw her husband frowning over the choice of a crown prince. Kangxi told his wife, who had been with him for decades, about his plan to establish a grandson, and he probably told her many times.
So Kangxi was in good health the night before, but died the next day. The successor was not the son of the deposed crown prince, as Kangxi had said many times, but the old lady's own son.
In this palace, the old lady who has been a royal concubine for decades knows a lot and has seen a lot.
Her own son was not originally an option for heir, and before her husband died, the only person by his side was his son's "uncle" Longkodo.
What do you think the old lady will think?
In this situation, it is only natural to say, "Appointing my son to succeed the throne is not something I could ever dream of."
Because the old lady deeply suspected that her son had murdered her husband.
That's why she embarrassed Yong in public. That's why the old lady was unwilling to accept the title of empress dowager. That's why the old lady said that she wanted to commit suicide and follow Kangxi.
Her husband was murdered by her own son. Does the old lady have any other choice besides committing suicide?
Her husband, who had been with her for decades, was murdered by her own son, and she was still proud of herself and became the queen mother. It is really not easy for a normal person to do this.
Huo Chong felt that although this explanation was bland, it was much more credible than the thrilling and varied story of the Nine Dragons fighting for the throne.
In the past, Huo Chong always believed that Kangxi had never thought of letting the fourteenth prince succeed to the throne, so he did not believe that Yongzheng murdered his father.
But now Huo Chong believes that Yongzheng is suspected of murdering his father, and this suspicion is very strong.
Because the deposed crown prince was about to die, Fang Bao accidentally said "look at the holy grandson", which was heard by Qianlong and other grandchildren who gathered around their grandfather.
Kangxi thought that these stupid kids were ignorant and didn't pay much attention to it. But Kangxi underestimated Qianlong, and Qianlong remembered it and went back to tell his father. After Yongzheng heard Kangxi's words from his son, he understood who his father wanted to succeed him.
Although I don't know what Yongzheng was thinking, maybe he was out of a sense of responsibility for the Qing Dynasty? Or maybe it was out of some other insistence. Anyway, from the perspective of whoever benefits the most is the biggest suspect, Yongzheng killed his father with a bowl of medicine.
After figuring this out, Huo Chong felt a sense of relief that his thoughts were clear. Even though this was just a hypothesis, and even though there was no way to prove it, this sense of clarity had allowed Huo Chong to completely let go of the matter.
What does the mess of the Qing imperial family have to do with Huo Chong? What bothered Huo Chong was just the strangeness of this case. When this case had such a reasonable explanation, the matter of other people's families was over, and the curiosity about this matter would no longer bother Huo Chong.
Looking at Mr. Ding, Huo Chong said with a clear mind: "Thank you, Brother Ding, for making me understand this matter. Thank you so much. Next, I want to talk about Brother Ding's own affairs. Since you are here, if you have nothing else to say, I'm sorry, Brother Ding. In order to give an explanation to the people here, Brother Ding, you have to die."
"Haha!" Mr. Ding laughed. "Brother Huo is not only smart, but also a real person. I want to ask Brother Huo, have you ever thought about surrendering?"
“Hahahaha!” It was Huo Chong’s turn to laugh. “Brother Ding, do you believe what you said?”
"If Prince Yong becomes the emperor, I certainly don't believe it. But if another prince becomes the emperor, would you like to give it a try, Brother Huo? The reason why Brother Huo rebelled was because he was forced to do so. If a wise ruler ascends the throne, Brother Huo will have a place to stay."
